This book focuses on 147 historic places of importance to understanding the American War of Independence. They are drawn from the Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States (American Battlefields Protection Program, 2007). They are organized in such a way as to present a roughly chronological narrative of the war. Some sites, like Independence Hall, are repeated because significant events occurred there at different times. Each entry includes the place’s current name, location and information about any historical markers and nearby museums. Battles fought on land that is not open to the public are described without specific location information.
While the subtitle says this is a guidebook, it is not one in the sense that it provides descriptive and historic information about the sites themselves. Rather, it uses the places as anchor points for a narrative of the events that occurred at or near them. The narratives are drawn from 112 of the most notable books written about the war and which provide further information about the people, places, documents and events of the war. Much of the book consists of these excerpts strung together with some editorial narrative. The excerpts do not include the author’s notes and footnotes. Several excerpts come from Web sites and National Park Service brochures. There are also 30 illustrations, mostly maps and images of documents and a few objects.
Major events, like the battle of Monmouth (five pages) and the siege of Yorktown (nine pages) get longer coverage, while other narratives are very brief. The Gnadenhutten massacre, for example, gets only three lines. There is a paragraph for Camp Security, a prisoner of war camp and another for Fort Frederick, which was built during the Seven Years War and served as a prison during the Revolutionary War, but nothing about Newgate Prison/Simsbury Mine, Haddrell’s Point, the Provost and Liberty jails, or the New York sugar houses.
Some important battles, including Long Island in August 1776, are described but the sites, such as the Cortelyou house, Prospect Park and the “Martyrs Monument” are not covered nor are sites lost to development. The invasion of New York is treated under the Bentley/Conference House on Staten Island, sometimes referred to as the Billopp house. The seven-page account glosses over the battles of Kip’s Bay, Harlem Heights and White Plains with no mention of the White Plains National Battlefield Site or the Jacob Purdy house or the Elijah Miller house, both of which General Washington used as his headquarters. However, there is an eight and a half page narrative on the Hasbrouck house which served as Washington’s headquarters at the end of the war. More than half of that account deals with the peace treaty of 1783.
Some sites have no direct relevance to the war, such as the powder magazine in Charleston, South Carolina which was not used during the war and Fort Roberdeau which was built to guard a lead mine. There is a good representation of places along the frontier, such as Fort Laurens, Vincennes, Blue Licks, Logan’s Fort, Fort Boonesborough, Ruddle’s Station, Martin’s Station, but not Harrodsburg, Tensaw, Fort Panmure, Manchac, Fort Bute, Ouiatenon, Great Kanawha/Point Pleasant.
Appendices include the text of the Declaration of Independence, the Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the United States, a timeline from 1763 to 1791, a bibliography, a general index and an index of authors and publications. While most of the book consists of excerpts from these publications, there are no footnotes or endnotes. All citations are identified by author and title in the text. The references consist of a string of page numbers after the bibliographic information in the bibliography, permissions and copyright information section.
