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REVIEW BY FRED CHIAVENTONE
The American Revolutionary War of 1775 to 1783 had plenty of ‘turning points’, as might be the case with any war that lasted for the best part of eight years, but have they not all been identified and discussed ad infinitum? This is a question which John R Maass quickly puts to rest in his provocative and illuminating new book From Trenton to Yorktow. The five episodes he has chosen may initially seem a rather odd assortment as they are not exclusively battles – and nor are the battles he has chosen necessarily American victories. But there is, however, a decided method to this apparent madness.
The opening chapter of the book focuses on General George Washington’s indubitably magnificent victories at Trenton and Princeton during the winter of 1776-1777, but, before describing those, Maass goes back in time to a much more perilous period. In July 1776, Washington, newly named as the American rebels’ commander, had deployed some 20,000 troops to defend New York – but these men were volunteers, indifferently equipped and barely trained.
His decision to disperse the men over a large area of the city was a recipe for disaster. In a series of crushing defeats over the following months, British Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis chased the American rebels out of New York. Barely holding themselves together, Washington and his dispirited, ragged army fled south-west. After a hurried withdrawal across the Delaware river into Pennsylvania, Washington regrouped his much reduced forces and that December recrossed the ice-choked river to strike the enemy by surprise – first at Trenton and then Princeton, breathing new life into the faltering rebellion.
Maass then proceeds to examine how the desperate, but now hopeful, rebels went on to frustrate British plans for a three-pronged assault on Albany, New York. Beset by failures in communication, the men under generals Howe from New York City and St Leger from Lake Ontario failed to link up with those led by General Burgoyne descending from Canada.
Burgoyne was cut off, surrounded and forced to surrender his entire force to American general Horatio Gates. It was the first large-scale defeat for British forces in the war. More significantly, the American victory at Saratoga in the autumn of 1777 was critical in encouraging the French government to give full support to American independence.
Hard times
Maass is quick to point out that, despite this success, more hard times lay ahead for the Americans. Badly mauled at Brandywine on 11 September 1777, the Americans were unable to deter British forces from capturing Philadelphia less than a fortnight later. Needing to regroup and reorganise his army, Washington had to drop back to the west, out of reach of the British.
The Continental Army was forced into a brutal winter encampment at Valley Forge, where for six months they would struggle against the weather, a shocking lack of provisions, and a seemingly feckless Congress. The one bright spot in this interlude would prove to be the timely arrival of the Prussian officer Baron von Steuben, a brilliant drill master who was able to transform the ragged American volunteers into a well-trained and formidable fighting force.
At this point Maass shifts forward to 1781 to focus on the southern zone of the conflict, where a protracted game of cat and mouse was being played out between Cornwallis and American Major General Nathanael Greene. While Cornwallis had been able to subdue the rebellion in South Carolina and Georgia, it had been at the expense of a number of his irreplaceable troops.
Another such victory would ruin the British army.
Pyrrhic victory
Nevertheless, he pursued Greene’s retreating forces with determination, going so far as to destroy his own army’s excess baggage and equipment in case it might hinder his speed. As Greene’s army headed for Virginia, they finally took up defensive positions at Guilford Court House near present day Greensboro, North Carolina. The Americans appeared to hold the upper hand with some 4,500 troops arrayed in three successive lines of defence against Cornwallis’ 2,500 regulars, who were becoming ragged, hungry, and tired out with marching.
Despite the Americans’ superior numbers, the first two lines of defence were beaten back. The third line of Continentals fared somewhat better but the disciplined assault of the British regulars finally persuaded Greene to disengage his forces and abandon the field to Cornwallis. It was, however, a classic example of a Pyrrhic victory: the losses suffered by his command obliged Cornwallis to abort his campaign and return to Wilmington to recover. British Whig politician Charles Fox, on learning of the engagement, exclaimed, ‘Another such victory would ruin the British army.’
While the dubious British victory at Guilford Court House in March 1781 would not, in fact, ruin the British army, it would, as Maass explains, contribute to the ultimate loss of her American colonies. With the entry of France into the struggle, George Washington aspired to enlist their support in operations against British forces in New York. But the senior French commander, Comte de Rochambeau, noting the difficulties of landing sufficient troops and artillery to counter the strong British presence, had an alternative plan that envisioned eliminating the command of Cornwallis himself.
After his victory at the Court House, Cornwallis withdrew his forces first to North Carolina and then, in compliance with orders from his superior, Sir Henry Clinton, into coastal Virginia. Rochambeau was able to persuade Washington of the value of his plan and measures were taken to mislead the British in New York of their intentions. Thereafter Washington acquiesced and a combined force of American and French troops moved south into Virginia.
At the same time, a French fleet of more than 36 ships of the line sailed north from Haiti to seal off the Chesapeake Bay and deny Cornwallis either sea-borne support or a route of escape. After an intense three-week siege, the joint Franco-American force would accept Cornwallis’ surrender, effectively ending hostilities in North America.
From Trenton to Yorktown is a truly riveting work. Maass grabs the reader’s attention and holds it to the very end. Although generally well annotated, there is a paucity of maps of the actions described – this is undoubtedly an issue in a book that covers events as significant as Trenton, Saratoga, Guilford Court House, and others. But it is a small price to pay for such an engaging and worthwhile read.
From Trenton to Yorktown: Turning points of the Revolutionary War
John R Maass
Osprey, hbk, 272pp (£25)
ISBN 978-1472863751
