Black Jeremy - The War for American Independence, 1775-1783

For Thomas Otte,
a good friend and a good historian

By the Same Author

Military Strategy: A Global History

History of the Twentieth Century

A New History of England

Introduction to Global Military History: 1750 to the Present Day

England in the Age of Shakespeare

Charting the Past. The Historical Worlds of Eighteenth-Century England

War and its Causes

The English Press: A History

The World at War 191445

History of Europe: From Prehistory to the 21st Century

Imperial Legacies: The British Empire Around the World

Naval Warfare: A Global History since 1860

Plotting Power: Strategy in the Eighteenth Century

Geographies of an Imperial Power: The British World, 16881815

Combined Operations: A Global History of Amphibious and Airborne Warfare

A History of Britain 1945 to Brexit

First published in the United States of America in 1991 by St. Martins Press Inc.

First published in the United Kingdom in 1991 by Alan Sutton Publishing Limited under the title War for America: The Struggle for American Independence, 17751783

This edition published 2021 by

The History Press

97 St Georges Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Jeremy Black, 1991, 1994, 2021

The right of Jeremy Black to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9830 7

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

Endpapers:

Front: The battle of Lexington

Back: The surrender of Lord Cornwallis

Maps:

Photographs and illustrations were supplied by, or are reproduced by kind permission of the following: American Antiquarian Society (2, 3, 6, 58); Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries (23, 24, 25); Bodleian Library, Oxford (Endpapers, 1, 8, 9, 13, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 46, 51, 53, 57, 67, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80); Delaware State Archives (18, 44); Historical Society of Pennsylvania (29, 35, 41, 47, 48, 49, 50, 60, 65, 66); Mansell Collection (4, 12, 16, 45, 73); National Army Museum, London (39, 42, 55); National Portrait Gallery, London (5, 10, 11, 38, 52, 54, 62, 77); North Carolina Division of Archives and History (17, 19, 20, 22, 33, 64, 68, 70, 76); Peter Newarks Historical Pictures (14, 15, 21, 26, 28, 36, 37, 40, 43, 56, 59, 61, 63, 69, 71, 72).

It has been instructive to turn from the Jacobite cause discussed in my Culloden and the 45 to resume an old interest in the American War of Independence. Both were struggles that have been contrasted with the bulk of pre-Revolutionary eighteenth-century European warfare, being more political, bitter and decisive. In each it is necessary to consider the question of inevitability: victory for the British regulars against the Jacobites, defeat for their successors, and in some cases the same men, against the American Revolutionaries. The fate of the 45 confirmed the Anglo-centric nature of Britain and the solidity of the British empire in its native archipelago; that of the glorious cause the rending asunder of the English speaking world. It is understandable that American scholars have devoted so much attention to this war and it is appropriate at the outset to pay tribute to their scholarly insights and industry which have ensured that the conflict is the most thoroughly studied of all eighteenth-century wars.

On a personal note I would like to thank numerous Americans for their many kindnesses on my recent visits to their invigorating country and to express the wish that British libraries would emulate their opening hours, without which this study could not have been possible. I owe a great debt to those who have commented on earlier drafts: Ian Christie, Harry Coles, Bill Deary, John Morgan Dederer, John Derry, Ira Gruber, Tony Hayter, Don Higginbotham, J. Michael Hill, Piers Mackesy and John Plowright. I would like to thank Alan Sutton for asking me to write the book and Olive, Countess Fitzwilliams Wentworth Settlement Trustees and the Director of Libraries Sheffield for permission to quote from the Wentworth Woodhouse Muniments. I am very grateful for assistance from the British Academy, the American Embassy, London and the University of Durham. This book is about brave men in unpredictable circumstances faced with difficult tasks without the resources they required: troops for the generals, food, shelter, clothes and footwear for so many of the soldiers. These men were Americans, both Revolutionaries and Loyalists, British and French. For each the war was different and far from predictable, and in offering an overall account it is necessary not to lose sight of this.