By the sixth year of the American Revolution, Britain determined that Virginia would be the key to subduing the entire rebellion. The American War for Independence was fought in nearly every colony, but some colonies witnessed far more conflict than others. In the first half of the war, the bulk of military operations were concentrated in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Following the battle at Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey, in 1778, British strategy moved to the South, where their armies clashed with Continental troops in Georgia and South Carolina. Surprisingly, Virginia saw little fighting up to this point in the war. This changed suddenly in 1781, when the turncoat Benedict Arnold led 1,600 seasoned British troops on a successful raid up the James River to Richmond, destroying Patriot property along the way. Arnold's bold stroke demonstrated Virginia's vulnerability to attack and the possibility that the colonies could be divided and subdued piecemeal. British General Henry Clinton decided to reinforce Arnold in Virginia, while events in North Carolina, including the battle of Guilford Courthouse, convinced British General Charles Cornwallis that defeating the Patriots in Virginia was the key to ending the war. As historian Michael Cecere relates in The Invasion of Virginia 1781, the war's arrival in the largest colony had unintended consequences for Cornwallis and his powerful British force. -- Inside jacket flap.

Excerpt from Arnold's Invasion of Virginia, 1781 As the year closes the General Assembly is in session; and if we may believe contemporary letters, Mr. Cleveland was not the first American Executive who found a legislative body a team of wild horses on his hands. As Christ mas approaches, writes Richard Henry Lee, so does the anxiety for getting home, and it remains a doubt whether the House can be kept together when the holidays come on. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"The troops in town are in high spirits, and wish for [another] attack in this quarter; they are all excellent marksmen, and fine, bold fellows... Lord Dunmore may now see he has not cowards to deal with!" Pinkney's Virginia Gazette 26 October, 1775 This bold statement, written in response to the outbreak of warfare in Virginia in late October 1775, conveyed both a sense of confidence, and a sense of relief, that Virginians had finally stood firm against the forces of the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore. Six months after the bloodshed of Lexington and Concord (and the inauguration of the Revolutionary War), Virginians had fired their first shots in anger and repulsed a small squadron of British ships bent on burning the town of Hampton. The fighting that occurred in Hampton spread to the James River and Virginia's Southside, where engagements at Kemp's Landing and Great Bridge led to the eventual destruction of Norfolk, Virginia's largest town. Combat continued sporadically into the summer of 1776, but ended in July when Lord Dunmore was driven off Gwynn's Island and abruptly sailed for New York. Dunmore's departure ushered in four years of relative peace in Virginia (except for the settlers on the frontier). Thousands of Virginians continued to fight, but they did so on distant battlefields to the north, south, and west of Virginia. Except for an occasional British raid or frequent engagement on the frontier, Virginia was relatively unscathed by warfare. This changed in 1781 with the arrival of General Benedict Arnold, the notorious traitor and turncoat, and 1,600 British troops. Ten months of nearly continuous warfare commenced with Arnold's arrival, during which British troop levels in the state eventually surpassed 7,000. It was time for Virginia to suffer through her fair share of the war. This book chronicles the war in Virginia from start to finish (1775-81), shedding light, and recognition, on many overlooked Virginia engagements. Readers will discover that although the war started off modestly in Virginia, it concluded with a dramatic flourish that required bold action and some good fortune for the allies to succeed.

The Americans didn't simply outlast the British, nor was the war just a glorified guerrilla action with sporadic skirmishes, says W. J. Wood. Americans won their independence on the battlefield by employing superior strategies, tactics, and leadership in the battles of Bunker Hill, Quebec, Trenton, Princeton, Saratoga, and Cowpens, among many others. Here in this groundbreaking book are detailed accounts of attempts by commanders to adapt their forces to the ever-shifting battlefield of the Revolutionary War, as well as analyses of the factors that determined the eventual American victory. Battles of the Revolutionary War is designed for "armchair strategist," with dozens of illustrations and maps--many specially prepared for this volume--of the weapons, battle plans, and combatants. It's an insider's look at the dramatic times and colorful personalities that accompanied the birth of this country.

In 1781, Virginia was invaded by formidable British forces that sought to subdue the Old Dominion. Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis, led thousands of enemy troops from Norfolk to Charlottesville, burning and pillaging. Many of Virginia's famed Patriots--including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Nathanael Greene'struggled to defend the commonwealth. Only by concentrating a small band of troops under energetic French general the Marquis de Lafayette were American forces able to resist British operations. With strained support from Governor Jefferson's administration, Lafayette fought a campaign against the veteran soldiers of Lord Cornwallis that eventually led to the famed showdown at Yorktown. Historian John R. Maass traces this often overlooked Revolutionary struggle for Virginia and details each step on the road to Yorktown.