Customer Reviews

The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence (Clements Library Bicentennial Studies)

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This is a collection of memoirs of Revolutionary War veterans based on their pension claims after the war was over. It is a valuable resource and the author has done a very credible job in assembling them in one volume for easy use. They are assembled with a short biography on the author of the account, and some of the accounts are very lively and cover such topic as the apprehension of Major John Andre in conjunction with Benedict Arnold's treason, Arnold's epic march on Canada, recollections of the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and various reminiscences of the brutal warfare in the Carolinas. A word of caution when using pension accounts as references is in order here. They were generally written long after the instances took place and were submitted to seek the award of long-promised pensions that the veterans were undoubtedly due. All of us old soldiers have a prediliction for 'remembering with advantages.' It is one of the 'hazards' of military service, especially prolonged military service. Therefore, these accounts need to be matched against other first-hand accounts which were more recently written down after the event, such as Captain Robert Kirwood's Journal and Order Book. Relying mainly or solely on pension records for research and reliablility is a road filled with traps and pitfalls. Still this volume is highly recommended.

From 1818-1832 the US government solicited applications for pensions from Revolutionary War veterans. Thousands applied, creating subjective but vital docuents on ordinary soldiers' experiences. A few scholars have drawn on them, but they were underused and little known. (The main source collection on the War, Commager & Morris, "Spirit of '76" omits the pension applications.) Fading memories and personal advocacy tend to limit their value, but used in conjunction with other materials the narratives add nuance and detail, describing unknown incidents while shedding new light on familiar campaigns. Dann offers a judicious selection in a work designed primarily for students, but others will appreciate some exciting yarns along with their accessibility. In recent decades the Everyman outlook of oral and life histories paved the way for "Revolution Remembered;" it compares nicely with Studs Terkel's work and books quarried from the 1930s Federal Writers' Project.