Customer Reviews

Gamecock: The Life and Campaigns of General Thomas Sumter

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General Sumter was a significant egoist, but never fled from battle or from the face of danger. Between the Bass book on Francis Marion, known as The Swamp Fox, and Sumter, known as The Gamecock, these tow men caused Cornwallis and Tarleton unmitigated fear, discomfort and harassment. I had not recognized that South Carolina was the site of at least 3 times as many Revolutionary battles as any other colony and Sumter and marion figured strongly in the great majority.

Bass did a superb job of research, gleaning information from private letters, dispatches to both sides, the British Museum, and many, many sources. He writes with an easy hand and makes no judgments , just reports the data as he found it. I liked both of these books and want to loan them to a British friend, but I am not sure i will get them back.

This book about Thomas Sumpter (original spelling of his surname) has proven to be not only interesting, but has also revealed important information about my great grandmother, Anna Sumpter's older brother, Tom Sumpter, when they both grew up on Preddy Creek in old Louisa and Orange Counties, Virginia in the mid 1700's (today's Albemarle County); Tom Sumter was closely associated with two other relatives and well known Indian Fighters, Frontiersman, and Revolutionary heros, Colonel Benjamin Cleveland and Colonel Joseph Martin. The three of them were the local characters of their day, and each had exciting lives and adventures. The book is well researched, very revealing, and contains little known facts about the life and times of Thomas Sumter, the Gamecock of South Carolina. Robert Bass is to be commended for his excellent work.

Doug Land
Stafford, Virginia