The Long Retreat: The Calamitous Defense of New Jersey, 1776 [Hardcover]

Arthur S. Lefkowitz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... a deeply researched and thoughtfully presented account... the best we have on the subject and perhaps the last word." - Mark Edward Lender, from the Introduction. -- Mark Edward

"Dispels myth and conjecture while offering an exciting and compelling history of the events of late 1776." - Richard Paterson, the Old Barracks Museum. -- Richard Paterson

From the Inside Flap

On the morning of November 20, 1776, General Charles Cornwallis overran patriot positions at Fort Lee, on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The attack threw George Washington's army into turmoil. Thus began an American retreat across the state, which ended only after the battered rebels crossed the Delaware river at Trenton on December 7. It was a three-week campaign that marked the most dramatic and desperate period of the War for Independence. In The Long Retreat, Arthur Lefkowitz has written the first book-length study of this critical campaign. He adds compelling new detail to the narrative, and offers the most comprehensive account in the literature of the American retreat to the Delaware and of the British pursuit. What emerges is a history misconceptions about the movements of the armies, the intentions of their leaders, and the choices available to rebel commanders and their British counterparts. Lefkowitz presents a patriot military pounded into desperate straights by the forces of the Crown, but in the end more resilient and wily than most previous scholarship has allowed. If brought low over November and December of 1776, Washington's battalions were still a force to reckon with as they pulled away from the advancing British. Despite serious losses in material and personnel, Washington managed to keep his units operational; and even while making mistakes, he sought to consolidate patriot regiments and longed for a chance to counterattack. The Christmas night riposte at Trenton, a dramatic reversal of fortune in any case, stemmed from measures the rebel Commander-in-Chief had initiated even as he completed his retrogade across New Jersey. How all of this came about emerges and crisp narrative of The Long Retreat. It is the definitive book on a crucial chapter in the history of American Arms.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 190 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813527597
• ISBN-13: 978-0813527598
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,892,484 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The wrap-around cover illustration for my soon to be published book is located in my photo gallery. The title of the book is Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes. I commissioned this artwork from artist Dahl Taylor for my book. I had the artist include my two dogs in his painting. My terrier Jackson is standing next to Benedict Arnold and terrier Schuyler is next to Arnold's two aides-de-camp.

I was recently surprised by a bestselling history author and friend who said that he was envious of me. He explained that he has a publisher, editor and agent who insist that he write books on subjects which sell instead of topics that were of interest to him. My friend is correct; I have no fellow academics to impress, quotas to reach or pressure to make money from my books. This freedom allows me to write about whatever subject appeals to me.

My latest book, Benedict Arnold's Army reflects my literary independence. This book is a narrative of the 1775 Arnold Expedition, a subject which interested me from childhood. I made four fascinating trips to Maine and Quebec to follow Arnold's route. My treks also gave me the opportunity to meet local historians who guided me along the trail as well as leading me to obscure reference sources.

While I enjoy many aspects of history, I focused my interest in the American Revolution after joining a Revolutionary War re-enactment group called The Brigade of the American Revolution. The organization's members included a number of excellent historians including George Woodbridge, George Neumann and John Muller.

I have a good formal education but never studied history except for a couple of college elective courses on the subject. When I became interested in writing a book about the 1776 American retreat across New Jersey, I returned to college to take some writing courses at New York University.

The result of my efforts was my first book, The Long Retreat, the Calamitous American Defense of New Jersey, 1776. It was published in 1998, and I went on to write on other off-beat Revolutionary War topics that interested me. They are a book about the submarine used in the American Revolution (originally published as Bushnell's Submarine); George Washington's Revolutionary War aides-de-camp (George Washington's Indispensable Men) and the 1775 Arnold Expedition (Benedict Arnold's Army).

I have worked hard to write my books and get them published. There have been many obstacles and detours along the way but I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to share my love of history through my books.


Why I Write About the American Revolution

I write about the Revolutionary War because I believe that it is the most important event in American history and a significant turning point in world history. It marks the beginning of the modern age in world history when men took action to decide how they would be governed.

I believe that the importance of the American Revolution is best explained in the words of the Declaration of Independence which was enacted during the war;
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

While these ideas were expressed prior to the Revolutionary War by philosophers, the American colonists went to war to defend their liberties. In the end, the rebels created an independent nation with a representative government which protected the rights of its citizens.

Understanding the American Revolution requires studying the political, economic, social, diplomatic and military aspects of the conflict. I find the military aspects of the war to be the most fascinating to study because the colonists won the war against incredible odds. At the start of the conflict in 1775, Great Britain had a good army and a great navy. By comparison, the rebels were mostly amateurs with little military equipment and no navy.

A militia system of self-defense existed in the colonies prior to the Revolution and it played a role in the war. However, while militiamen got the war started, the Americans realized that they had to create a conventional army of trained professionals to face the British and attract foreign aid. The so-called Founding Fathers were well aware of the dangers of a professional army that could seize power. But early defeats in the war combined with Washington's lobbying brought about what the commander-in-chief called a respectable army. How the patriot's army was kept from seizing control of the weak civilian government and setting-up a military dictatorship is one of the compelling stories of The American Revolution.

The Continental Army won the war against tremendous odds. Their success is a compelling story which I find fascinating. I believe that George Washington was right when he said that the American victory in the rebellion was little short of a standing miracle.


Recommended List of Books
About The American Revolution
For New Readers


Listed in the Order
In Which They Should be Read


1. Almost a Miracle by John Ferling

2. The First of Men, A Life of George Washington by John Ferling

3. The Road to Lexington, John Shy

4. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Bernard Bailyn

5. Revolutionary Characters, What Made the Founders Different, Gordon S. Wood.

6. Belonging to the Army; Camp Followers and Community During the American Revolution, Holly A. Mayer

7. Diary of the American War, A Hessian Journal, Captain Johann Ewald, Translated and edited by Joseph P. Tustin.

8. The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Gordon S. Wood.
(The most important book written about the conflict during the 20th Century. First published in 1992 this book has received many honors including the Pulitzer Prize in history)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Illuminating a dark period of the American Revolution, June 8, 2000

By 

Jerome A. Langer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Long Retreat: The Calamitous Defense of New Jersey, 1776 (Hardcover)

Arthur Lefkowitz has produced a fascinating, well researched and accessible narrative of the events relating to the retreat of George Washington from New York and across central New Jersey, to the relative safety of the western (Pennsylvania) shore of the Delaware River. These events of the fall of 1776 represented a critical period in the American Revolution, with the continental army demoralized and in disarray; had the British aggressively pressed their advantage, they could have destroyed the army, possibly providing a decisive end to the Revolution. Their failure to overtake and destroy Washington is, from our perspective, a remarkable (and fortunate) occurrence. Mr. Lefkowitz provides not only a continuous narrative of the action and the decisions of the major players, but clearly defines a number of issues for which historians have sought understanding. As a skilled narrator, Lefkowitz weaves various strands so that one can appreciate his evaluation of such issues as the character and education under fire of George Washington during this period, and Washington's ultimate ability to cross the Delaware back into New Jersey on Christmas Eve and to attack the British forces in Trenton and then Princeton. In addition, he provides sketches of major characters and, to the extent possible, minor characters whose letters or journal entries helped provide the primary documents for our understanding. As a resident of central New Jersey, I was struck by the brief and vivid description of various locales, the state of the rural and town economies and people, and his excellent ability to succinctly create a context, both in time and place. Lefkowitz is careful to maintain the narrative flow, placing considerable information - usually quite interesting in its own right - in easily accessed (bottom of each page) footnotes. If I have a quibble, it is that additional maps would have been useful, particularly to those not intimately familiar with New Jersey geography. While, as (merely) an educated layperson, I cannot critically judge the details of Mr. Lefkowitz' scholarship, I found the book fascinating and enlightening - all in just over 150 pages.

4.0 out of 5 stars George Washington and Nj, November 25, 2008

By 

D. Thomas Eller "Bound by Tom" (NJ, all the way) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Long Retreat: The Calamitous Defense of New Jersey, 1776 (Hardcover)

This is an excellent chronicling of George Washington's campaign in New York and New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. not only bringing insightful views to the table The Long Retreat gives us the best account of the military and cultural history of the Revolution in New Jersey.