A request from Politicalkiddo.
Posted on 01/07/2016 9:42:45 PM PST by Politicalkiddo
I'm looking for really in-depth resources about the Revolutionary War for my own personal knowledge. Documentaries, books, etc. Thanks in advance. :)
Campaign 1776 is a new program launched by The Civil War Trust. The Trust to date has saved over 41,000 acres of Civil War battlefields. It has an outstanding record of being cost-effective, minimizing overhead, and putting most of its contribution dollars into land acquisition. Due to its record, it was asked by the National Park Service to expand its scope to the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.
This was the subject of extended debate with the CWT, where people were conflicted between a broad interest in American military history and a desire not to lose a singular focus on its primary mission. The decision was to proceed. Campaign 1776 is strictly segregated from the CWT in land acquisition funding, so your preservation contribution will go strictly to the conflict (or sometimes, the specific battlefield) to which you are giving. What is shared is staff expertise, such as the professional land acquisition staff, the map-making gurus, and the historical interpretation team. The remaining Revolutionary War and War of 1812 sites that are eligible for preservation are dwarfed by the available Civil War acreage, so it was felt that the added scope was manageable.
Anyhow, Campaign 1776 just got started last year and is in its infancy. If the CWT can replicate its success on the Civil War, it will rapidly become the preeminent preservation group in the field. In this connection, I would note that the CWT has an excellent record of working collaboratively with local preservation groups as well. It does not hog the stage. There is plenty of work to go around, and anyone who can raise some bucks is welcome to pitch in.
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A request from Politicalkiddo.
I have been doing historical research and have discovered the old books that are actually source material for modern historians.
The actual old out of print books can be found on Google Books and project Gutenberg. The trick is to find a foot note in a book and then look for that old book on either of the two locations.
http://www.gutenberg.org/
https://books.google.com/?hl=en
A great book and well worth reading. I’ve read it twice and still keep it on the bookshelf in the
“library” as Gramps called the bathroom. The notes themselves are a treat to read and give plenty of sources for further reading.
Read some on militarily history and the use by colonials of good military tactics. Colonials were unusually conversant in good tactics and Americans still have much of that knowledge.
You know more about tactics than most people in the world, simply by osmosis through the culture.
I had a two volume set on the Rev. War, written in 1864 that was excellent. It included interviews with those who had fought, diagrams of the battles, etc. I wish I could remember the title and author for you. It was one of the best resources I have ever read.
Depends on how dry you like your history.
Years and years ago I rec’d the Shelby Foote three-volume Civil War series as an Xmas present. Got about 50 pages into V.1 and, since it was putting me to sleep at 5-10 page increments, put it back onto the shelf.
Then, sometime later, I picked up Michaeel Shaara’s “The Killed Angels”. Chewed through it, went and got the bracketing books his son Jeff wrote after his death (Gods and Generals, Last Full Measure).
The Shaara books are classed as historical fiction. But they are really excellent entry points into deeper study of the Civil War. After reading them, the true “history” non-fiction works are much easier to read and absorb. Yes, I’ve read the Foote trilogy cover to cover, as well as many of the Bruce Caton books and a couple dozen others.
Jeff Shaara has a two book series on the Revolutionary War - Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause. I haven’t read them (yet!), but if they’re anything like the Civil War series they should be an excellent starting point for a Revolutionary War novice.
Request for the Revolutionary War ping list. Perhaps some of you can help out. This FReeper is looking for good resources to further his education about this period of our history.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Revolutionary War/Founding Father ping list.
I also read this book awhile ago, and HIGHLY recommend. It's is very good at giving you a "You Are There!!!" perspective.
Instead of the focus on this leader or that of most other books, it explores the ground game, especially outside of Boston - like in Worcester area, a hotbed of activity. Boston was controlled by the Brits under Gov. Gage. But outside that, the citizenry basically ran their own institutions in defiance of the Governor.
Good account of how anybody doing the King's bidding outside of Boston was made to do "the right thing".
A few years back I read "Redcoats and Rebels" by Christopher Hibbert it is an outstanding book written from the British perspective and really focuses on the errors made by the British.
I've also heard that "The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire" by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy is very good, but I haven't read it.
I think that we as Americans often don't realize that we never should have won. The British army and navy were the most powerful in the world and the Revolution never even had the support of the majority of Americans, yet we managed to survive and win. Not unlike the American experience in Vietnam, the British never really had the willingness to do whatever was necessary for total victory.
What a great thread! I’ll have to start looking for some of these resources.
He had developed a map indicating the revolutionary battles in South Carolina. There were more battles there than any other state. He said he got tired of hearing about New Jersey and all the battles and decided to make a list and plot them on the map.
For those interested, there is a new National Historic Trail named The Over Mountain Victory Trail. It is the trail from Sycamore Shoals at Elizabethton Tennessee across the mountain to Morganton, North Carolina and down through Cow Pens SC to Kings Mountain. It is the 1780 route of the Overmountain men from East Tennessee to fight the decisive revolutionary battle of Kings Mountain.
It actually begins in Abington VA where the Virginia militia gathered to come to join the main force at Sycamore shoals. There is a nice National Park Service presentation and shop where you get a map guiding you along the route. You pass Sycamore Shoals State Park in Elizabethton TN where the forces gathered and there is a nice museum. There are very good places of interest at the National Battlefields at Cowpens and Kings mountain.
It makes a good week end trip
very nice. Should have it printed on antique paper and framed. I got a girl crush on him reading his letters at the national archives online. Martha was a very smart woman when she burned his letters to her.
Bookmarked.
“American Revolution” B.J. Lossing 1859 ed
Not 1864 as I was thinking.
I prefer the written word too. there is something about holding a book, turning the pages, that is special.
Absolutely.
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