Thomas F. (hardtack) -
This book blew me away. It made me understand that what I was taught in school---high school and college, at the latter I even took a year's course in American history---about the Battle of Yorktown, was greatly watered down and polished up.
We're taught Washington thought of trapping British general Cornwallis at Yorktown and acted on it. In fact, Washington made a big deal of this in his later years. The truth was the American/French victory at Yorktown was a fluke, due to just plain good luck on our side, the stupidity of some British admirals and bad weather! We came so close to losing here, Washington must have let his breath out with a great "whoosh" when it was over.
The author really did his research and the details are fascinating. For example, the French navy would never have gone to the Chesapeake if it had not been for hurricanes and a Spanish diplomat borrowing money from Spanish merchants in Havana. And Virginians were very upset with Governor Thomas Jefferson's almost total disregard of the British incursion into that state.
Finally, as the end, the author lets us know what happened to all the major players throughout the remainder of their lives. I was particularly upset with British officer Banastre Tarleton's life, as I always wanted him to end up being hung. He committed many atrocities during the war.
Another interesting statistic is that half---18,000---of all the American rebels who died during the war, died in New York, in the squalid British prisons camps and hulks, often because they were deliberately starved to death.
We're taught Washington thought of trapping British general Cornwallis at Yorktown and acted on it. In fact, Washington made a big deal of this in his later years. The truth was the American/French victory at Yorktown was a fluke, due to just plain good luck on our side, the stupidity of some British admirals and bad weather! We came so close to losing here, Washington must have let his breath out with a great "whoosh" when it was over.
The author really did his research and the details are fascinating. For example, the French navy would never have gone to the Chesapeake if it had not been for hurricanes and a Spanish diplomat borrowing money from Spanish merchants in Havana. And Virginians were very upset with Governor Thomas Jefferson's almost total disregard of the British incursion into that state.
Finally, as the end, the author lets us know what happened to all the major players throughout the remainder of their lives. I was particularly upset with British officer Banastre Tarleton's life, as I always wanted him to end up being hung. He committed many atrocities during the war.
Another interesting statistic is that half---18,000---of all the American rebels who died during the war, died in New York, in the squalid British prisons camps and hulks, often because they were deliberately starved to death.
