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Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War by [Tim Rowland]

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Tim Rowland

Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War Kindle Edition

by Tim Rowland (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Astonishing Events from the American Revolution That They Don’t Teach in School!

We all know about Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and Betsy Ross’s stitching together the Stars and Stripes, but how about a little-known, valid reason for the war itself and why General George was able to survive a plague that wiped out many of his fellow countrymen?

History buff Tim Rowland provides an entertaining look at happenings during and surrounding the Revolutionary War that you won’t find in history books. He digs into the war’s major events and reveals the unknown, bizarre, and often wildly amusing things the participants were doing while breaking away from Great Britain.

For example, conventional wisdom says that “no taxation without representation” was an important reason for the revolution, but not in the way we’ve been told. Colonists paid the wages of common-court judges, who were reluctant to rule against the men who paid their salaries. Therefore, duties on molasses (the key ingredient in rum) were generally unenforced until the British cut the tariff in half. Strange but true, the spark that touched off the revolution was in fact a tax cut.

During the French and Indian War and then again in the first year of the revolution, the British were accused of biological warfare, infecting blankets with smallpox and then concealing them in Indian camps. So feared was the disease that soldiers began to illegally inoculate themselves before widespread vaccination was finally ordered for the army. Washington himself was immune, thanks to a Caribbean trip taken as a young man when his brother Lawrence sought a cure for tuberculosis. Lawrence wasn’t cured, but George was infected with smallpox in Barbados. As a young man in a warm climate, he survived. As an older man in a northern winter, however, the story of the father of our country might have had a different ending.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Print length

190 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Skyhorse
Publication date

November 10, 2015
File size

3892 KB
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Tim Rowland is an award-winning columnist at Herald-Mail Media in Hagerstown, Maryland. He has written for numerous history and outdoor magazines and news syndicates nationwide. He has also authored several books, most recently Strange and Obscure Stories of the Civil War, as well as All Pets are Off: A Collection of Hairy Columns, Petrified Fact: Stories of Bizarre Behavior That Really Happened, Mostly, High Peaks: A History of Hiking the Adirondacks from Noah to Neoprene and Maryland’s Appalachian Highlands: Massacres, Moonshine & Mountaineering. He is also a regular columnist for several newspapers. He lives with his family in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Tim Rowland has authored a number of books, including histories of the Adirondacks and Western Maryland mountains, and the Strange and Obscure series, collections of historical essays focusing on lesser-known aspects of American history. An avid outdoorsman, Rowland has climbed in the Himalayas, hiked the Inca Trail, trekked throughout Europe, and ridden a bicycle across the United States. He has climbed all 46 Adirondack High Peaks over 4,000 feet. He and his wife Beth live in Jay, New York. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0175P5MKU
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Skyhorse (November 10, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 10, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3892 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 190 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1634503600
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #164,327 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #30 in 18th Century World History
- #56 in Revolutionary History
- #104 in US Revolution & Founding History (Kindle Store)

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640 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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James A. Thorson

Why did Gen. Dan Sickles's statue not appear on his memorial?

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2020

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Sickles, one of the least capable of the Union generals, was a political appointee and probably responsible for the slaughter of many a fine young soldier. He was also chairman of a monuments commission after the War. When it came time to memorialize the old General himself, no money remained in the fund. He had stolen it. This very readable book has many a nugget like that. I've been reading Civil War history for at least 40 years, and I learned a few new things. I'm happy to recommend this delightful history which, as advertised, has many a strange and obscure story.

18 people found this helpful

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Michael J. Rosen

Somewhat Interesting but Ultimately Disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2017

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The concept for the book is terrific. Unfortunately, the execution is weak. The author offers some interesting tales, some of which will be known to students of history while others will be fresh. However, it's disappointing that the author provides no footnotes to document his stories. Furthermore, there just aren't that many stories in the book. Stylistically, the book has a number of other problems including: needless repetition, run-on sentences, silly glibness, and condescending use of current cultural references. The book also ends abruptly without any summary or overarching insights. Better books covering the seldom told tales of the American Revolution exist.

32 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Read this book!

Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2019

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Superb book for beach or book club. As America enters yet another election cycle of name calling and outright lies, this book presents a horrible war in an unforgettable series of exhaustively researched stories. The author shows an almost poetic turn of phrase as in this quote, "the Monitor and the Merrimack, the two ironclads that pinged and doinked each other to a draw", page 174. However, I was left wondering about the reference to a weigh station on the Underground Railroad, page ,2. Whatever did they use for scales?
Again, read this book for its historical content. Never forget everyone, even those that couldn't read or write, kept journals and sent letters during the Victorian Age. This book reduces 2 hard drives of hard copy to a fascinating book.

14 people found this helpful

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Mike

Disappointed

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2017

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I read the intro and should have known this wasn't a great book for me. In the first chapter there are date errors (Washington starting the French and Indian war in 1774, etc. you may like the writing style. I didn't. Even so, I'm glad I read it.

25 people found this helpful

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Philip Jones

Really a history of the Revolution

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2018

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I was expecting odd anecdotes. The book delivers a brief history of the Revolution in a “Bet You Didn’t Know This “ style. I did learn a few things, like the Boston Tea Party was really about legit British tea undercutting the price of smuggled tea. It was not a strike for liberty at all. And that Isaac Shelby and John Seviere proclaimed a free Republic of Wautauga over the Smoky Mountains. Kind of fun but not what I expected. I took umbrage at the book’s cutting from the British defeat at Cowpens right to Yorktown, ignoring Gen Nathaniel Green’s campaign that drew Cornwallace further and further from his base. He finally had no choice but to withdraw to Yorktown and hope for rescue. Anyway it’s a pretty good little book, not as quirky as the title implies.

3 people found this helpful

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Marilyn (Mrs. Patti) Rudawsky

I thought it was a terrific read on some of the more "obscure" stories of ...

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2016

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While documented and accurate, those who seek a deeply serious tome won't find it here. That said, I thought it was a terrific read on some of the more "obscure" stories of the war, as it was intended to be. I've read a lot of Civil War history (taught history at university for 30 years), As I read this, I imaged Rowland sharing some of these stories at the Antietam battlefield, and the humor would absolutely add to his presentation. It would add to it in a university class as well. Perhaps one reason people have a negative attitude toward the field of history is that it is so ponderous and weighty. It's okay to lighten it up a bit. Excellent coverage on the ladies, especially Anna Ella Carroll; also on Daniel Sickles and Joshua Chamberlain.

21 people found this helpful

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Bettye Hull

Entertaining!

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2017

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War is hell, and reading about it can be, too, but not with this book. Rowland's style is witty and entertaining. I learned so much about the war that I had never known...so much left out of our history books for the sake of glory. Both sides fumbled frequently, and it was enlightening to see the reality. The story was ended on a note of dignity and honor ... For both sides.

13 people found this helpful

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Richard

Humorous but without documentation

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2018

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Chapters ramble on and drift from one person and topic to another without a reason. When the author inferred that Washington was thought by some to be unfaithful to his wife with many women I first wondered, where’s the documentation. I think the book may be much fantasy and I opted to just delete it.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

The Beagle

Generally Good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2016

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This book is a quick read, and despite the subject matter, rather light. The stories are obscure even to most hardcore Civil War buffs, generally interesting, and well written. Each tale is laced with the author's pleasant sense of humor which is a nice change when you are reading about a conflict so horrendous. You don't often get that when you read about the Civil War and for good reason, but Rowland manages to make it more fun than it really was for the people he is writing about.

The downside for me is that some of the stories are easy to just skip. There were a couple that just weren't all that interesting. I forced myself through a couple of stories, waiting for them to get better, but they simply didn't. I don't want to blame the author so much. I like his writing. I just think that there are probably better tales in the obscure corners of the Civil War.

M. J. Carter

Reveals qa believable account of the shindig the scenes action during the American war between theStates

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 28, 2016

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It demonstrates how some people find it easy to keep below the horizon yet achieve great victories with vey little resources and great saving of life. What it does not show is the loss of life that is largely greater through disease and bad hygiene than through agressive fighting between combatants.

Revd S. Waters

An interesting way of presenting history

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2016

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A very interesting book that showed some of the coincidences of life and odd connections that are a part of life. It gave me a new way of looking at the Civil War.

Gabe Kraljevic

Obscure Stories with strange writing style

Reviewed in Canada on May 8, 2018

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A good collection of some bizarre events and people from the civil war, but the author's writing was a bit lacking and his attempts at being witty don't really do justice to the stories. However, I definitely learned some interesting things making the read worthwhile.

Joan Ross

Great Read.

Reviewed in Canada on September 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

I totally enjoyed this book. Interesting anecdotes I hadn't read before concerning the Civil War. Strange coincidences and amusing tales amid horrid circumstances.

One person found this helpful

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