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Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life Hardcover – December 12, 2018

by Albert Louis Zambone (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 171 ratings
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A Major New Biography of a Man of Humble Origins Who Became One of the Great Military Leaders of the American Revolution
On January 17, 1781, at Cowpens, South Carolina, the notorious British cavalry officer Banastre Tarleton and his legion had been destroyed along with the cream of Lord Cornwallis’s troops. The man who planned and executed this stunning American victory was Daniel Morgan. Once a barely literate backcountry laborer, Morgan now stood at the pinnacle of American martial success. Born in New Jersey in 1736, he left home at seventeen and found himself in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. There he worked in mills and as a teamster, and was recruited for Braddock’s disas­trous expedition to take Fort Duquesne from the French in 1755. When George Washington called for troops to join him at the siege of Boston in 1775, Morgan organized a select group of riflemen and headed north. From that moment on, Morgan’s presence made an immediate impact on the battlefield and on his superiors. Washington soon recognized Morgan’s leadership and tactical abilities. When Morgan’s troops blocked the British retreat at Saratoga in 1777, ensuring an American victory, he received accolades from across the colonies. 
In Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life, the first biogra­phy of this iconic figure in forty years, historian Albert Louis Zambone presents Morgan as the quintessential American everyman, who rose through his own dogged determination from poverty and obscurity to become one of the great battlefield commanders in American history. Using social history and other advances in the discipline that had not been available to earlier biographers, the author provides an engrossing portrait of this storied per­sonality of America’s founding era—a common man in uncommon times. 
 
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  1. Print length
    408 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Westholme Publishing
  4. Publication date
    December 12, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1594163154
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1594163159
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Zambone establishes himself as a gifted popular historian with this nuanced and engrossing look at the life of the soldier and colonial politician Daniel Morgan. . . . The result—a look at a consequential but now-obscure figure who came from as Zambone puts it, “the often-silent ranks of the colonial poor”—will fascinate readers.”—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Mr. Zambone tells Morgan’s story with gusto and wit. . . . Morgan succeeded with those unproven troops at Cowpens, Mr. Zambone writes, “not because he trusted militia as a group but because he believed in them as individuals.” There’s something peculiarly American about that, and it might say a great deal about whey we won the war and the British lost.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Zambone has done an excellent job re-creating Morgan’s life. This well-documented account offers a very readable, modern reappraisal of Morgan, the first significant treatment of this key Revolutionary figure since Don Higginbotham’s Daniel Morgan: Revolutionary Rifleman and North Callahan’s Daniel Morgan: Ranger of the Revolution (both, 1961).”—Choice



“This long-overdue reappraisal of the dramatic life of one of America’s finest military leaders places Daniel Morgan squarely in the context of his times. Rugged and defiant, Morgan was also a clever and innovative officer whose influence on the American military ethos reaches right down to today. Best of all, Zambone’s book is quite an enjoyable read!”—Edward G. Lengel, author of General George Washington: A Military Life

“Daniel Morgan has been overdue for a new biography, and Zambone has given us a tour-de-force. His volume is exhaustively researched, elegantly written, and deeply revealing—by far the best biography we have of this fascinating yet enigmatic member of the founding generation. A wonderful book.”
—Mark Edward Lender, coauthor of Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle

"Albert Louis Zambone's evocative and engaging book immerses readers in the fascinating life and tumultuous times of Daniel Morgan. The biography follows Morgan as he fought his way up: he was a nobody from nowhere who became a celebrated military tactician and war hero. Zambone restores Morgan to a place of prominence in the story of American independence. Through his exploration of Morgan's life, Zambone also illuminates the interplay between the Revolutionary War and the larger American Revolution, which transformed Morgan's life and the society he inhabited. Daniel Morgan is important and crisply written and not to be missed by readers interested in the origins of the American Republic."—Lorri Glover, Saint Louis University, author of The Fate of the Revolution: Virginians Debate the Constitution (Johns Hopkins, 2016) and Founders as Fathers: The Private Lives and Politics of the American Revolutionaries (Yale, 2014)

About the Author

ALBERT LOUIS ZAMBONE is host of the popular podcast “Historically Speaking.” He earned his PhD in American History from the University of Oxford, an MA in Medieval Studies at the Catholic University of America, and a BA in History from Johns Hopkins University. He has received a number of scholarships and awards in the field of early American history, including a Rockefeller Fellowship from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. 

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westholme Publishing; 1st edition (December 12, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 408 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594163154
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594163159
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 171 ratings

About the author

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Albert Louis Zambone

Albert Louis Zambone

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I was raised in Greenwich, a colonial New Jersey village still proud of hosting its own revolutionary tea party in the market square. Our neighbors were farmers, trappers, and watermen, and these Delaware Bay traditions sparked my interest in the past and its places.

As a historian, I'm particularly interested in the American South during the colonial and revolutionary eras. How people form their culture, build their society, work out what they believe–these are things that fascinate me.

My first book is about just such a person, Daniel Morgan of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Morgan was the action hero of the American Revolution. But he was more than that. He was one of those people that America and every society depend upon to build communities, to invest in them, nourish them, help them grow and succeed. How he managed to do that, after starting out as a homeless boy, is a great story, sometimes sad, sometimes inspiring.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
171 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Rick Schwertfeger
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific mix of biography and history
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2023
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Albert Louis Zambone did an terrific job setting Morgan's life story fully within the culture of Virginia and the events before, during, and after the American Revolution. Zambone is skilled at artfully mixing in appropriate amounts of detail while keeping the story moving. The narrative never dragged for me. Zambone also excellently drew deeper meanings from Morgan's life - how he symbolized currents and transitions within colonial America into the young Republic. To this reader, this book is masterful. Truly, I do not understand why it didn't win significant awards. Very recommended overall, and especially for students of the Revolutionary War.
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Jeffrey R. Chandler
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Battle Details!
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2019
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IMO Excellent first book! In particular liked detail and buildup in particular of Dan Morgan's command of Rifle Company tactics! Probably spend a bit too much time on Morgan's early life and later life and could have used more of the book space in more of the actions, perhaps could have talked some more about the mechanics of Rifle Company coordination and listings of specific Patriots in the key actions like Saratoga. I have been trying to track one of our family ancestors who likely was a Rifle Company Volunteer in Virginia, but very difficult with state of Revolutionary War records.
Key though was my poor knowledge of what happened at the Battle of Charleston and how key Dan Morgan was in coming out of retirement after that and leading us against the British at Cowpens and the road to Yorktown though he was in constant pain and physical ailment. This book helped be much better understand how lucky we were to eventually win our Freedom!
A must read for any American researcher of the period!
14 people found this helpful
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RobRoy
4.0 out of 5 stars new insight to Revolutionary war
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2020
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Enjoyable, illuminating, biography of colorful, uniquely American overachiever, Revolutionary hero Daniel Morgan. Morgan improved himself from illiterate wagon driver flogged by the British during the French and Indian War, to battlefield mastermind, and wealthy congressman.

Daniel Morgan kept his childhood a mystery, the poor, illiterate teenager left home and wandered alone to the Shenandoah Valley. Morgan drove wagons in the French and Indian War, received 500 lashes for striking a British officer, and took an Indian bullet through his mouth. The scar certainly enhanced his repute. A drinker and brawler, Morgan eventually married, acquired property and respectability, and raised his social rank to freeholder and militia captain. He learned to read and write at some point, probably from his wife. Accomplishing literacy in adulthood, albeit rudimentary, requires ambition.

Daniel Morgan was a superb guerilla commander; aggressive, gifted in tactical vision, decisive. He earned respect from men spanning all social ranks: aristocratic generals like Washington, glamorous officers like Benedict Arnold, and barefoot enlisted men. The semiliterate “old wagoner” humiliated bloody Banastre Tarleton, a brash, haughty, wealthy rake half his age.

Daniel Morgan’s bookend achievements were his flanking support at Saratoga and his brilliant command at Cowpens. The book describes these battles adequately, but further details are desirable inasmuch as both victories effected the war’s outcome. Only one good map is provided for Cowpens, but multiple maps are warranted for this tactical masterpiece. Tarleton fielded two cannons to Morgan’s none, considered the battleground ideal to overwhelm Morgan, but proceeded exactly as Morgan anticipated. At Cowpens, Morgan synchronized his cavalry better than any commander in the whole war, averted disaster when his right wing briefly retreated, and accomplished the rare feat of enveloping an equal foe. His piece de resistance was a diversionary retreat of undisciplined militia on his left wing, regrouping them in the rear, and then marching the same militia unseen around the right wing to flank British regulars. No map is furnished for Morgan’s flight north to escape Cornwallis, or observation that Cornwallis was in position to intercept Morgan (slowed by prisoners), but Cornwallis blindly veered in the wrong direction, ceding Morgan a precarious lead.

Overall, a fine book. The description of irregular forces is exceptional, other books fail to explain the vital role of “light” brigades deployed by both sides. Shortcomings are minor, some careless editing, some 18th century quotes are puzzling for 21st century readers.
5 people found this helpful
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John A.
5.0 out of 5 stars History as it should be written
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2019
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(Disclaimer: I read and commented on this book during the editing process).
One of my undergraduate history professors used to say, "History isn't boring; but most historians are." Boring does NOT apply to this book. The essence of history is, perhaps, "story", and Daniel Morgan comes to life in these pages. HIs life, his times, his place socially and geographically are all brought to light. The reader comes to know Daniel Morgan as a full person, his strenghts and weaknesses, his greatness and shortcomings. Morgan came of age and played key roles in the founding and growth of our nation; Dr. Zambone does an excellent job of intertwining the stories of Morgan and the U.S. He also provides a superb description of Morgan's contribution to military art (rifles, light infantry, and partisan warfare). And if those lessons have been relearned severaral times since, does not detract from Morgan's accomplishment.
All told, a well-written, well-researched book. HIghly recommended for those interested in the American frontier, War for Independance, and American military though.
26 people found this helpful
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John Emley
5.0 out of 5 stars A great history book and a great story
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2019
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Many history books are dry and dull. This one is not. Dr. Albert Zambone does a fantastic job of making history come alive as a story. It flowed very well and kept me interested. Not only did I learn about Daniel Morgan's life, I also received a good background on the Revolutionary War. Daniel Morgan was indeed an interesting character in the Revolutionary War. The fact that Zambone was able to pull as much of the story together as he did is pretty amazing since Morgan did not appear to be literate until later in life. I appreciate how the story does not embellish further than what can be documented. I highly recommend it.
5 people found this helpful
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific, well-written book!
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2019
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A terrific well-written book! Full of many surprises, humor, and lots of good parts. Advanced my knowledge and understanding of Daniel Morgan and the Colonial and American Revolutionary Era, and of it's impact on the world today. The book makes me wish that I had known Daniel Morgan personally, but the book is the next best thing. Now I have great ideas as to what I will read next!
One person found this helpful
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