Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier [Paperback]

Joseph Plumb Martin (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pub Center Cultural Resources (December 1979)
• ISBN-10: 0890620474
• ISBN-13: 978-0890620472
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,180,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet A Man Who Made "US" Possible, October 26, 2001

By 

Wayne A. Smith (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Paperback)

Private Yankee Doodle, the diary of Joseph Plumb Martin, is an excellent account of the Revolutionary War told from the soldier's view.

Martin campaigned almost continuously from the beginning of the War through Yorktown (with the exception of the first winter after his initial three month service). He lived much of what have become the hallowed tales of our epic struggle for nationhood. He was at the Battles of Brooklyn, Harlem Heights and White Plains, endured Valley Forge (though for most of that winter stationed away from the camp as a forager), Monmouth, the other terrible winter encampments and Yorktown to name a few. Through it all, Martin marched, froze, starved and suffered for his service. It is remarkable that he kept at it for most of the war. (One reads of the constant lack of food (often for two or days) and is amazed that more soldiers didn't simply just quit.) It is more remarkable that he kept at it in fairly good humor - though he did parade with the Connecticut troops who conducted a minor mutiny over the lack of provisions. (An incident that Washington reported to Congress as more worrisome to the cause than the British force occupying New York.)

Martin is a good storyteller and raconteur. The reader will not find detailed accounts of battle here. In fact, battle is mentioned rather matter-of-factly. What is delightful to find is an account of the day in and day out hardships of life in Washington's army. Stories abound of camp life, foraging, marching, guard duty, scrapes with Torries, the hunt for clothing and the other ever-present challenges that soldiers had to endure and perform to simply survive between battles.

This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Early American Rebel, March 15, 2004

By 

Scott Bell (Jacksonville, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Paperback)

I was looking for a soldier's account of the Revolutionary War and came across this rare memoir in the Jamestown, Virgina Nationa Park Service bookstore. I sure was glad I did.
I have read many soldier's memiors from from all periods of time but never during the Revolutionary War. We have heard about the sufferings of our country's first soldiers but Martin tells us like it was as he lived it. There is not a lot of battle descriptions but he is a master story teller who will take you back in time to the days of the colonies and George Washington's army during America's struggle for independence.
If you love good personal history narratives and want to learn about the Revolutionary War then get this book. This would be an excellent book for classroom study or home school.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Study of the Revolution should begin with Martin's memoir., March 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Paperback)

It is unfortunate your format allows only five stars; on a scale of one to five, Joseph Martin's memoir is an eleven! As a university history professor, reenactor and volunteer at Brandywine Battlefield, I have been recommending "Private Yankee Doodle" for many years to anyone with any interest in history at all. It is the best account of the American Revolution by any participant on either side. To really know the War of Independence, you should read Joseph Plumb Martin's great memoir. Almost anyone who has ever read the book will say that.

Too many of the great events of history were either unreported, or told only by leaders bent on demonstrating their own greatness. "I came. I saw. I conquered!" We all know Caesar did it by himself without the Roman legions. Luckily, sometimes someone else who had no particular reason to flatter or even like the leader wrote about what happened. The Spanish conquest of Mexico is best seen through the blind eyes and extraordinary recollections of Bernal Dias de Castillo, who despised Cortez. The court of Louis XIV lives in the jaundiced memories of the Duc de Saint Simon. Martin, Dias and Saint Simon, despite differences in time, place and language, speak with similar literate, irreverant, funny, cynical, and bitter voices.

One reads Martin with wonder. They suffered so much! The Revolution becomes real. What were the soldiers like? Now we know. There is heroism at the Battle of Long Island, for example, but it is the hunger, cold and discomfort readers are likely to remember best, along with Martin's own personality. It is no coincidence that all three of the television series on the Revolution have quoted and used Martin so much.