America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental ArmyA unique and revealing analysis of the diverse body that made up the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. One of the images Americans hold most dear is that of the drum-beating, fire-eating Yankee Doodle Dandy rebel, overpowering his British adversaries through sheer grit and determination. The myth of the classless, independence-minded farmer or hard-working artisan-turned-soldier is deeply ingrained in the national psyche. Charles Neimeyer here separates fact from fiction, revealing for the first time who really served in the army during the Revolution and why. His conclusions are startling. Because the army relied primarily on those not connected to the new American aristocracy, the African Americans, Irish, Germans, Native Americans, laborers-for-hire, and “free white men on the move” who served in the army were only rarely altruistic patriots driven by a vision of liberty and national unity. Bringing to light the true composition of the enlisted ranks, the relationships of African-Americans and of Native Americans to the army, and numerous acts of mutiny, desertion, and resistance against officers and government, Charles Patrick Neimeyer here provides the first comprehensive and historically accurate portrait of the Continental soldier. |
Contents
The Germans in | |
Black Soldiers in | |
The Struggle for Indian Allies | |
The Soldier as Wage | |
Resistance Punishment | |
Other editions - View all
America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army Charles Patrick Neimeyer Limited preview - 1996 |
America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army Charles Patrick Neimeyer Limited preview - 1997 |
America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army Charles Patrick Neimeyer No preview available - 1997 |
Common terms and phrases
African Americans American Revolution Anthony Wayne Archives arms Battalion Benjamin Black bounty British camp Captain Chapel Hill Charles Colonel colonial Connecticut Continental army Continental Congress Continental soldiers desertion Diary diss dollars Eighteenth Century emigration England ethnic Fitzpatrick forces frontier George Washington Georgia German Henry Henry Laurens Hessian Historical Society History Horatio Gates Ibid immigrants Indians Ireland James January Jersey John Adams Joseph Plumb Martin Journal labor land large number Laurens Lender Letters Library of Congress Manuscripts March Mary Quarterly Maryland Massachusetts military militia mutiny Nathanael Greene Native American Negro North Carolina North Carolina Press noted offered officers patriot Pennsylvania Line percent Peter Ph.D Philadelphia Philip Schuyler Princeton prisoners Private Yankee Doodle rebellion Records recruiting reel Regiment resistance Revolutionary Rhode Island Samuel Sergeant served slaves Social South southern Thomas tribes troops unit University of North University Press Virginia wages William and Mary Writings of Washington York