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Arms, Country, and Class: The Philadelphia Militia and the 'Lower Sort' during the American Revolution

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Professor Rosswurm has produced a well researched though somewhat Marxist account of the events and significance of the American Revolution in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. His focus is the radicalized lower class, 'The Lower Sort' as he calls them, consisting largely of artisans and wage earners. They were forced to balance their concerns for democratic reforms and affordable food with the demands and sacrifices of patriotism and military service. Their service in the Associators, Militia, and Committee of Privates was the path to power, especially since the Conservative elite, such as John Dickinson, and including many Quakers, were rather lukewarm and lacking in leadership in oppostion to King George III and the British Parliament. Rosswurm argues effectively that the Revolution in Pennsylvania, especially as manifested in the Constitution of 1776, was the most radical and democratic of any of the thirteen American colonies though eventually a conservative backlash would dismantle many of these radical and democratic elements. Rosswurm is also particularly skilled in demonstrating who served in the Associators and Militia and who did not, their effectiveness, and where and when they served. The Pennsylvania and other colonial militia were not generally valued and were much criticized yet the Philadelphia Associators and Militia were often quite impressive, in battles such as Princeton and Germantown, and even won an accolade of being "a fine body of men" from General George Washington, no great supporter of militia and certainly not the Pennsylvania militia. Some of this performance can perhaps be explained by revolutionary zeal though the tragic clash of poorer militiamen, a mob of sorts, and the City Light Horse and Continental Dragoons who rode them down at 'Fort Wilson' in 1779 would do much to rein in such zeal. Rosswurm supports his findings with many statistical tables and very detailed endnotes and is to be commended for a work which clearly is an academic tome with monographic qualities yet has a narrative thread which can retain the interest of the more general reader. This book is a special treat for this reader whose ancestor, Caspar Dull, was an officer in the City Light Horse. Being able to place Caspar's service in a larger historical context was enlightening though Caspar would have been on the wrong side of Professor Rosswurm's class war in the streets of Philadelphia! Also, this book is a fine contrast and nice bookend with the more recent BEYOND PHILADELPHIA: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION IN THE PENNSYLVANIA HINTERLAND by John B. Frantz and William Pencak.