Holly A. Mayer - Congresss Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union

CAMPAIGNS AND COMMANDERS

GENERAL EDITOR

Gregory J. W. Urwin, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

ADVISORY BOARD

Lawrence E. Babits, Greenville, North Carolina

James C. Bradford, Texas A&M University, College Station

David M. Glantz, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Jerome A. Greene, Denver, Colorado

Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution of Stanford University, Stanford

Herman Hattaway, Leawood, Kansas

J. A. Houlding, Rckersdorf, Germany

Eugenia C. Kiesling, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York

Timothy K. Nenninger, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Frederick C. Schneid, High Point University

Bruce Vandervort, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington

CONGRESSS OWN

A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union

HOLLY A. MAYER

UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS

NORMAN

2800 Venture Drive

Norman, Oklahoma 73069

www.oupress.com

This book is published with the generous assistance of the McCasland Foundation, Duncan, Oklahoma.

Copyright 2021 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Publishing Division of the University. Manufactured in the U.S.A.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwiseexcept as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the United States Copyright Actwithout the prior permission of the University of Oklahoma Press.

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, University of Oklahoma Press, 2800 Venture Drive, Norman, Oklahoma 73069 or email .

ISBN 978-0-8061-6851-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-8061-6950-7 (ebook : mobipocket)

ISBN 978-0-8061-6971-2 (ebook : epub)

Congresss Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Unionis Volume 73 in the Campaigns and Commanders series.

This eBook was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at .

To my mother, Ruth Mayer, and brother, Jon Mayer

Huzzah!

CONTENTS

MAPS

PREFACE

Sergeant Major John H. Hawkins introduced me to Congresss Own Regiment ages ago. In search of soldiers stories that might reveal a developing consciousness of American identity, I had opened his journal at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The brown leather volume held some of the original small memorandum books in which Hawkins had recorded personal and regimental notes. Bound long ago with sections out of order and gaps indicating where Hawkins or time lost his daybooks, the journal revealed an alert observer who wielded a pointed pen and an active regiment that bore arms and axes from Canada to Virginia and back again.

As I transcribed the journal, I compiled questions about the regiment. My search for answers resulted in this study, which looks not only at the regiments formation and operations but also how it reflected and advanced the enterprise of the Continental Army and construction of the American union that became a nation.