With the British Army in Philadelphia, 1777-1778

The American Revolution involved the British as well as the Americans, a fact the latter may be inclined to forget. This well-researched volume covers one exciting period of the war, the year 1777-1778, when the British, under their commander in chief in America, Sir William Howe, occupied Philadelphia. What a rollicking, riotous time it was, the perils of battle and the sufferings of war notwithstanding. To secure the city, the British had to capture the river defenses which were under control of the American army and the Pennsylvania navy. The line of fortifications had to be breached before the river froze over, or both the military and civilian populations of the city would face starvation. The author, a noted military historian, graphically describes the struggle to seize the river defenses. Scholarship is combined with the sheer human drama to make the account vivid and accurate. The major battle, fought at Germantown on October 4, is, with all its complication and confusions, one of the highlights of the book. Other significant engagements covered include Whitemarsh, Barren Hill, Crooked Bilet in Pennsylvania and Alloway's Creek in New Jersey. When not on the battlefield, the reader can revel with the British in a city of pleasures-cockfights, horse roaces, gambling, and the most extravagant entertainment of all, the Meschianza, a party given as a farewell tribute to Sir William Howe. The end of the British occupation of Philadelphia was swift, and the panic and frenzy of the Loyalists is described in detail. Here is history at its readable best.