In the summer of 1779, British general Sir Henry Clinton launched one last attempt to gain control of the Hudson River, the most strategically important waterway during the American Revolution. The campaign involved all of George Washington's main Continental Army and most of the forces around New York City under Clinton's command, but ended without a major battle. Still, the summer saw plenty of action. American cavalry sparred with their British counterparts in eastern New York; thousands of militiamen resisted brutal British raids along the Connecticut coast; and Washington stunned the British with daring night bayonet attacks on the fortified posts of Stony Point and Paulus Hook. This study details the strategy, tactics, officers, soldiers, and spies that shaped this critical campaign, which helped set the stage for America's final victory in the Revolution.

While attacking the British and their allies at Stony Point, Paulus Hook, and upstate New York, George Washington prepared a bold plan to end the war in New York City Despite great limits of money and manpower, George Washington sought to wage an aggressive war in 1779. He launched the Sullivan-Clinton campaign against Britain's Iroquois allies in upstate New York, and in response to British attacks up the Hudson River and against coastal Connecticut, he authorized raids on British outposts at Stony Point and Paulus Hook. But given power by Congress to plan and execute operations with the French on a continental scale, Washington planned his boldest campaign. When it appeared that the French would bring a fleet and an army to America, and supported by intelligence from his famed "Culper" spy network, the American commander proposed a joint Franco-American attack on the bastion of British power in North America--New York City--to capture its garrison. Such a blow, he hoped, would end the war in 1779. Based on extensive primary source material, Washington's War 1779, by historian Benjamin Lee Huggins, describes Washington's highly detailed plans and extensive prepara-tions for his potentially decisive Franco-American campaign to defeat the British at New York in the fall of 1779. With an emphasis on Washington's generalship in that year--from strategic and operational planning to logistics to diplomacy--and how it had evolved since the early years of the war, the book also details the other offensive operations in 1779, including the attacks in upstate New York, Stony Point, and Paulus Hook. Although the American and French defeat at Savannah, Georgia, prevented Washington from carrying out his New York offensive, Washington gained valuable experience in planning for joint operations that would help him win at Yorktown two years later.

Based almost entirely on materials reproduced from: The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources, 1745-1799 / John C. Fitzpatrick, editor. Includes indexes.

Winner of the George Washington Prize Winner of the Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History Winner of the Excellence in American History Book Award Winner of the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award From the bestselling author of the Liberation Trilogy comes the extraordinary first volume of his new trilogy about the American Revolution Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about World War II, has long been admired for his deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative histories. Now he turns his attention to a new war, and in the initial volume of the Revolution Trilogy he recounts the first twenty-one months of America’s violent war for independence. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1777, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force. It is a gripping saga alive with astonishing characters: Henry Knox, the former bookseller with an uncanny understanding of artillery; Nathanael Greene, the blue-eyed bumpkin who becomes a brilliant battle captain; Benjamin Franklin, the self-made man who proves to be the wiliest of diplomats; George Washington, the commander in chief who learns the difficult art of leadership when the war seems all but lost. The story is also told from the British perspective, making the mortal conflict between the redcoats and the rebels all the more compelling. Full of riveting details and untold stories, The British Are Coming is a tale of heroes and knaves, of sacrifice and blunder, of redemption and profound suffering. Rick Atkinson has given stirring new life to the first act of our country’s creation drama.

The fourth annual compilation of selected articles from the online Journal of the American Revolution.

This is the story of James, John, and Hamilton Armstrong, three sons of a yeoman farmer living on the Pennsylvania frontier at the outset of the American Revolution. James and John joined the Continental Army in 1776, rose from the ranks to become officers, and served until the army was disbanded in 1783. Hamilton remained home to work the farm, protect the family, and serve in militia and “ranger” units to defend the frontier from repeated attacks from hostile Indian tribes. Their combined wartime experiences encompassed almost the totality of the American Revolution, from Canada in the north to South Carolina in the south and along the western frontier. James and John fought in most of the major battles of the revolution, including Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Guilford Courthouse, Eutaw Springs, and Yorktown, where they distinguished themselves in the eyes of generals like the Marquis de Lafayette, Mad Anthony Wayne, Light- Horse Harry Lee, Nathanael Greene, and George Washington.