It's new. I had the Village Bookstore order it for me. Only took a couple of days to come in. Atkinson is writing military history, little to no discussion of politics, diplomacy, homefront morale, and all the other things that happen in a country at war. He opens his history with Lexington and Concord, and takes the story up to Trenton and Princeton. Two more volumes are planned to finish up the Revolutionary War. He writes about the American army, its maneuvers, its battles, victories and defeats, morale, leadership, Washington and his generals. Atkinson quotes extensively from soldier's letters, giving his work a fine authenticity. He writes of the high points (victories) and the low points (defeats, prison camps, looting of civilians, casualties). The British came close to winning in 1776 at New York. Washington started with 30,000 troops defending New York from a British force of roughly the same size, backed up by total naval supremacy, important in a well watered place like New York, where everything is close to the water. Sailing ships could move faster than troops could march, allowing the British to land forces anywhere they chose. By the end of the battle Washington's forces had been whittled down to 5000 men, close to annihilation. Had those survivors given up hope and gone home, the British could have won. They didn't, they stuck around long enough to fight Trenton and Princeton that winter. Washington managed to throw superior forces across the Delaware River against unwary British detachments and wipe them out. As you might expect, these victories did great things for American army morale.
A good read.
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