The First American Army

By Bruce Chadwick,

Book cover of The First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and the Men Behind America's First Fight for Freedom

Book description

This is the first book that offers a you-are-there look at the American Revolution through the eyes of the enlisted men. Through searing portraits of individual soldiers, Bruce Chadwick, author of George Washington's War, brings alive what it was like to serve then in the American army.


With interlocking stories…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The First American Army as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The new national Congress of the United States had to invent both a government and a military to defend it on the fly in 1776. Militias had been around for decades, encouraged and supported to varying degrees by colonial, later state, governments. Before and after the creation of a regular “Continental” army, militia units were chartered by the thirteen states. The soon-to-be self-declared fourteenth state of Vermont also had militia regiments, and these also played important roles at Saratoga.

Some members of Congress thought that the creation of a regular army was dangerous and unnecessary, but Washington and his supporters…

From Dean's list on the 1777 Saratoga campaign.

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