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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Well Written Account of Revolution in the South, August 12, 2000
This book is very well written and thoroughly researched. If the reader is looking to gain an understanding of a critical area of Revolutionary War operations in the Carolinas -- an area that has not received its due in history -- this book will more than satisfy. Although often beating General Washington in the middle colonies, the British had certainly not subdued the Revolution in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or New York. They looked to Charleston and the Carolinas as an area where British arms could provide succor to loyalists and take those states and Georgia out of the war. The British won many battles, including the taking of Charleston and the capture of 5,000 rebels. But they could not win hearts and minds nor subdue the countryside. Rebel militia, aided by some of the finest Continental units sent by Washington, were married with a master strategy and excellent generaliship to bloody, thwart and ultimately force a stragetic defeat on British arms. This was done by volunteers, milita, who though often broke when confronted by the bayonets of regular troops, were led by enough able colonels that their guerilla attacks significantly drew upon British strength. The hero of the story is Gen. Nathaniel Greene, who was an excellent strategist. He mastered geography, his troops and militia commanders and drew Cornwallis hundreds of miles away from his base withoug exposing his weaker force to major battle until he was ready to strike upon fields of his own choosing. Greene never won a battle which he personnaly commanded, but won the war. General Morgan, his able lieutenant, did fight and win the masterful Battle of Cowpens, which gave in his words the British a "devil of a whipping" and set the stage for Greene's brilliant strategic dance with Cornwallis. Buchannon, the author, does a masterful job with this wonderful saga. He uses many first person accounts from diaries and published recollections. This gives his book an immediacy and perspective from those who fought similar to that found in the best Civil War books by Sears, Priest and others. The author does an excellent job of revealing the major commanders to the reader. Greene, Morgan, Gates, Cornwallis, Clinton, Marion, Sumpter, Tarleton and about two dozen other significant charactors are introduced with brief biographical sketches at their point of entry to the campaign. This is very helpful as the experience and charactor of commanders often had a significant impact on strategy and tactics employed in the dangerous circumstances most faced. Also, this approach satisfies the curiosity of the reader. Buchannon tells us what the actors did before and what became of them after the war. The best part about this book is that it is so well written. The author has a style and ease with language that make this very engaging. He is not afraid to editorialize nor draw conclusions and offer criticisms. But he presents significant and multiple sources to buttress his observations and they add to the book. This campaign was at its heart a brutal civil war. Neighbor fought neighbor in actions where sometimes no quarter was given. The British under Banestre Tarleton (Bloody Ban)were particularly brutal, burning, raping and slashing their way through a back country they hoped to ally with their presence and draw support from. Their behavior forced many passive citizens to the rebel side and greatly complicated the efforts of Cornwallis to receive native support. Often the actions were all american affairs of Tories fighting militia. At one significant battle -- King's Mountain -- the only British soldier on the field was Major Ferguson, the British commander. It was a very different kind of war than that fought by Gen. Washington in the more famous battles. The brutality, stategy, tactics and personalities are all weaved together in a memorable book that belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in understanding how our freedom was won.
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buchanan Hits the Spot!, January 16, 2001
In many ways I was raised to be the stereotypical southern white male amateur historian: the only war that mattered was the Civil War. The important battles were Chancellorsville & Vicksburg, Lookout Mountain & Gettysburg. The generals who mattered were R.E. Lee & Stonewall Jackson, Beauregard & A. P. Hill. All the action was in our own backyard. The American Revolution was but a footnote in our elementary and high school texts. At college in Davidson, North Carolina (where the college itself was named for a militia general, constructed on land once owned by him!), the War of Norther Aggression took top status. The Revolution was fought by a southernor, George Washington, on yankee battlefields: Lexington & Concord, Trenton & Saratoga, Valley Forge & Bunker Hill. The actions at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Yorktown were mere skirmishes which had little influence on the outcome of the war. I am loath to admit that Hollywood changed my perspective. After seeing Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" on opening day, a childhood interest in my ancestor, Francis Marion, was rekindled. I hastily began burying my nose in every book I could find on the subject. Now, six months and three dozen books later, I can say with conviction that if I had to pick one book as my solo source for what I could learn about the American Revolution in the south, it would be "The Road to Guilford Courthouse". Buchanan does a masterful job setting the stage. His research into the backgrounds of all the players is thorough, and his analysis fair and balanced. He understands completely the lay of the land at the time, both figuratively and literally, and he presents it well. I purchased copies of the book as Christmas gifts to my yankee in-laws, Bostonians who still think the American Revolution began and ended with Paul Revere's ride. I hope they will discover, as Buchanan so poignantly reveals, that the American Revolution was fought and won by southernors on southern soil.
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19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Campaign Study, July 5, 2000
If you're looking for a book on the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, this isn't it. Fewer than 25 pages are dedicated to it near the end of the book. However, this is one of the best campaign studies on Greene's southern campaigns that I have ever read. The author's treatment of the campaign as a whole is masterful, and of the Retreat to the Dan in particular, is superb. He presents to the reader what could be a very confusing chain of events, and puts them in logical order to give a sequence that is easy to follow and highly informative. This is military history at its best and it gives a more than clear picture of the campaign that led directly to Yorktown and American (and French) victory over the British. Nathaniel Greene was one of the most effective and talented commanders this country has ever produced. Never winning a battle, but always winning his campaigns, he is an American Turenne, and one of the American commanders the British feared. This volume belongs on the bookshelf of every military history enthusiast of the period.
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