Customer Reviews

Battles Of The Revolutionary War: 1775-1781 (Major Battles and Campaigns ; 3)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one of the best books on the battles of the American Revolution. having much of the smell of gunpowder about it, the author tells a straightforward tale of courage, hardship, defeat, and, finally, victory by an army of hard-bitten Continentals who became professionals through endurance, deadly on the job training, and the leadership of some of the best combat commanders in American history.

Wood gives credit where credit is due, and woe to the leader or soldier that incurs his wrath and disdain. He pulls no punches, and his incisive narrative and wry wit are as sharp as a sabre slash. There is no beating around the bush here, and you can tell who and what he admires, and what he doesn't.

The Continental Army may have been the best, most enduring army in American history. No American army ever had to endure, both from the type of hardship to the length of wartime service, that the Continentals did. They won because of three things: Washington, their own hard-won skill at arms, and the French intervention. These three factors are brought out in evidence in this volume. This excellent piece of scholarship and tale of high deeds beongs on every enthusiasts bookshelf and should be read and reread until the lessons sink in.

I've gone through quite a few histories of the revolution, but this book is different in that it is written purely from the military aspect. The author doesn't critique all the battles but makes a representative selection from each type of battle.

Each engagement is accompanied by detailed drawings showing the placement of troops, cavalry, and cannon. He discusses the use of terrain for each battle. In the case of the "Battle Of The Cowpens" he reflects on the purpose of the American commander in putting a river at his back was to prevent his soldiers from having an easy means of running away from the battle.

All in all, a good informative read.

If you are going to read one military book in your entire life, this is the one. It got me hooked on the Revolutionary War, and allowed me to gain a better understanding of the trials and tribulations involved in forging the nation

If you are looking for a book on the complete history of the revolutionary war, this is not what you want. It only goes through certain numbers of battles so if you are not familar with some background history of the American Revolution you might get lost between chapter. However.... it contain excellent descriptions of the battles it covers: strategy, tactics, weapons, logistics, maps.... everything someone who loves military history would enjoy reading about. If you like to read about wars this is the book for you

Pay no mind to a previous reviewer who questioned the books accuracy. At the time of the Revolutionary War, there was NO Vermont, therefore making it quite impossible to have a battle there. Present day Vermont was actually NY - thus the index. Dont base assumptions on the book off of that review.

I have found little to counter in the book, and nothing that isnt factually accurate. Go for it.

In my humble opinion, Wood's book, along with Henry Lumpkin's "From Savannah to Yorktown", are two of the best books on various Revolutionary War battles. Wood's text has the advantage of covering battles in both northern and southern colonies while Lumpkin focuses on the south.

Battles of the Revolution includes northern colony battles such as: Bunker Hill, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Oriskany, and Saratoga. Battles in the southern colonies include: Kings Mountain, Cowpens, Camden, Guilford Courthouse, and the Chesapeake Capes (including Yorktown).

The authors' knowledge of not only the war, but also terrain and strategy, are evident throughout the book. While most of the battles covered were American victories, Wood does include some battles won by the British. The text is easy to read and includes interesting anecdotes of the various Revolutionary War leaders. Battle summaries are interesting without being overly simplistic and lack the dry descriptions found in other military books.

The only reason I did not give the book 5 stars was the maps - not quite enough in number and detail. I'm a real stickler for books with good battle maps - including several such maps makes the flow of the battle and stategy easier to follow and understand.

Complaint aside, I highly recommend the book as quite possibly the best comprehensive book of a largely forgotten war.

Read and enjoy!

For those wanting to learn more about some of the key battles of the Revolutionary War, this isn't a bad starting point. John Eisenhower, in the Introduction, notes the approach adopted by the author, W. J. Wood (pages xiv-xv): ". . .he selects certain battles to describe, purposefully omitting others. His criteria for selection includes drama of a particular engagement, its ability to illustrate a certain military principle, and its uniqueness."

Needless to say, there will be questions as to which battles were selected and which were omitted. Only ten are included. These range from Bunker Hill to the Chesapeake Capes (for which, read Yorktown). Most represent American victories. One exception: the debacle at Quebec and, to some extent, Brandywine), and this is one issue: Why not the disastrous series of battles on Long Island and Manhattan? These illustrate the learning curve of George Washington and his top aides. Nonetheless, the battles covered here represent a reasonable choice.

Some of the other battles covered (besides those already mentioned) include Trenton and Princeton, Oriskany, Saratoga, King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Courthouse. The maps included in the text are useful for helping the reader to visualize what was going on. The text is competently written. There is enough detail to get a good sense of each battle (although, of course, there is not great detail on any single struggle).

In short, a nice volume for those who want a quick introduction to key battles of the Revolutionary War.

I read a library copy of this book to obatin some further information on several Rev. War battles. So I had to obtain my own copy when I saw it offered at the right price. The author not only provides a solid overview of the battles, but uses the opportunity to analyze significant circumstances which materially impacted those battles. This book does not cover all the War for Independence battles. It does cover some which are not particularly well known or included in general works. For example, Oriskany (NY) was a British pincer movement of British regulars, French militia & Iroquois in the Saratoga Campaign where Benedict Arnold provided some assistance in a quick march to aid a beseiged Patriot fort another NY militia group was striving to relieve when ambushed at Oriskany. It expands your view of the operations at Saratoga [as does reading Washington's correspondence (John C. Fitzpatrick online) during August 1777 moving troops & examining Howe's shifting British troop reinforcements from England while struggling to open the Delaware River at Philadelphia. Enlarge your operational theater when studying our Revolution to see that the written summaries often miss a more plausible explaination of the actions taken.

As this is my first book on the Revolutionary War since High school, I was excited to see what I missed as an student and to learn more of the military history behind the war.

This work is splendidly researched and written and was difficult to put down. The book covers all the major actions of the war of independece from Bunker Hill through to the siege of Yorktown in riveting detail. The author claims it is not a history of the revolutionary war but of its battles. Here he does not dissapoint! His descriptions of the maneuvers and actions are great. During the Guilford Courthouse battle, after hearing the sounds of battle, I too, saw the redcoats comming out of the woods to engage the Maryland and Virginia Continentals!

One can easily follow the strategic maneuvering and the reasons behind them from the viewpoint of both armies from the excellent maps provided. 16 pages of fine illustrations of all the major players both British and American grace the pages.

This book is a must have for any military history buff who wants to learn or relearn the major battles of the war of Independence.

I finally got around to reading this and I must say it's pretty good. The battles are well researched and remain pretty clear as to what's going no. There's not much who, what, where, when, what's a flank? syndrome. The illustrations and battle schematics were helpful. I only wish there were more.

Some of the generals make out great. Tarleton and Greene look like geniuses. Which to some extent they were, but not as much as Wood makes them out to be. The only knock against Greene is that he never decidedly defeated Cornwallis, allowing him to "escape" to Virginia. While Tarleton could probably be called a butcher...or jerk.

Others are not spared, Benjamin Lincoln for example, is written off briefly as a bad general. One could argue that Lincoln was not really a bad general because his subordinates refused to co-operate with him or they failed him at crucial moments. Regardless of those 0pinions Washington thought fairly highly of him as he allowed Lincoln to accept Cornwallis's sword at Yorktown.

Wood does a decent job with sources. He gives the title of where his secondary information came from. But if you've ever seen a copy of the "Encyclopedia of the American Revolution" it's not going to be easy to find a three line quote. The author also includes a nice essay on sources. Although short the list points the reader in the right direction. Having been a historian and currently a library science person bibliographies are necessary for historical research. Sorry, you can't Google everything...yet.

Overall, this is an excellent book for dispelling that old myth of the yeoman farmer dropping the plow, picking up the family Kentucky rifle and laying waste to the British Army one shot - one kill style. Also a nice introduction to some of the more in-depth studies of the major battles, especially Saratoga.