Customer Reviews

The Boys Of '76: A History Of The Battles Of The Revolution

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Although I love reading histories, I confess that the American Revolution never fully captured my interest and I am not very familiar with the fine modern literature on this subject. However, as a teen I came across a tattered but still readable copy of this in its 1876 first edition from Harper & Bros., a centennial tribute to its subject matter. I devoured it, spending much time staring at the fine pen and ink illustrations. As the title suggests, it is a descriptive chronology of the battles of the Revolution, and its slightly outmoded style somehow seems entirely fitting. It is full of evocative detail that brought the various campaigns to life for me. This, from the chapter on Saratoga: "And a grand supper General Burgoyne gave to his officers. The wife of one of the officers of the commisary department, who was no better than she should be, sat by his side at the table, and drank Champagne with him, and the officers clinked their glasses, and laughed and sung songs, while the poor wounded soldiers were lying half starved under the trees and fences, and the good Madame Reidesel was making them broth."

No doubt there are fuller, more modern treatments of the subject. But for sheer pleasure I can still recommend Coffin's history without reservation.

Unfortunately, the publisher (General Books) who has reprinted Charles Coffin's wonderful story has not taken the time to format or proofread this publication. The continuous margin-to-margin text is riddled with typos that are evidence of using a computer program to try to read and re-type the text. For example, the first full sentence I can find, after searching through lines of what might have been a contents but now appears as code, reads, "TT LIJAII FAVOR, lived in Ryefield, np among the New Hampshire- hills. On the morning of April 20th, 1775, as lie was milking the cows, he heard a clattering of hoofs, and, looking np, saw Deacon Clyde coming as fast as his old mare could brino; him, and that was not fast enough . . . "

I'm returning this reprinted copy and asking for a full refund. It's unreadable.