Post #101: Books - "My Intention Is To Give A Succinct Account Of Some Of My Adventures"

I am a fan of "living history", and do enjoy visiting historic sites, tours and lectures, but of the opinion that the best way to learn about history is reading.  There are plenty of choices when it comes to books regarding the Revolutionary War era, some good, some not so good.  These are my top three. 

The first two have nothing to do with the 1777 march of the Convention Army.  Only two of the nine accounts in the third are from soldiers who fought in the Saratoga campaign with Burgoyne.  That's because regardless of one's interest in a particular aspect of the Revolution, it's essential to have some understanding of the broader framework of the war - and the world in the eighteenth century - to truly appreciate what happened with respect to any single person, battle or event.

First on my list is Joseph Plumb Martin's Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier.  If, for some reason, you are only going to read one book about the Revolutionary War, this should be it.  Martin introduces the story of his service by noting "My Intention Is To Give A Succinct Account Of Some Of My Adventures". [1]  Judging from the number of positive reviews online ranging from Hugh T. Harrington's on the Journal of the American Revolution's website ("This book is must reading for anyone interested in the American Revolution.  It is by far the best account written by a private soldier...."), to a snappy video by the American Battlefield Trust ("The memoir of Joseph Plumb Martin - or ‘Private Yankee Doodle’, veteran of battles and harsh winters - paints a vivid picture. (Runtime 2:42)"), Martin succeeded.

Martin begins his account of his service during the war with his enlistment for six months in June of 1776, at the age of fifteen, having been born on November 21, 1760, in the town of Becket, Massachusetts (one town north of the route of march of the German column of the Convention Army), but sent to live with his grandparents in Connecticut.  Despite the trials and tribulations of his experience in the British taking of New York City, in April of 1777 he joined the Continental Army as a private in the 8th Connecticut Regiment.  Over the next six years he served in Washington's main army, spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, and fought at Germantown, Monmouth, and Yorktown.  What's most remarkable however are the tales that he tells of life in the army, ranging from what he ate and how he cooked it (including several which involve camp kettles), how he interacted with those he met along the way, and the suffering that he and his comrades endured as soldiers.

The second is Professor Jill Lepore's Book of Ages, the Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin.  This choice might surprise those who tend to look at "Revolutionary War history" as the story of battles and who fought them, but it was an easy choice for me.  Lepore's book uses Jane Franklin's account of births, marriages and deaths (her own "Book of Ages"), and the letters that she and her brother Benjamin exchanged over the years to illuminate us not just on the life of a man many recognize as a "founding father" of our country, well known to the world then and now, but his sister, a woman who lived in relative obscurity in colonial and Revolutionary War era Boston.  

In doing so this book reveals that on a broad scale the American Revolution was not only a fight by thirteen colonies in North America for independence from Great Britain, but a clash of ideas as the world moved from the order of the seventeenth century with its reliance on the "devine right of kings", into the "age of reason".  Lepore's book brings those differences to life as they play out through the experiences of two people, and offers us a woman's perspective on the turmoil of period, including dealing with births, deaths, work and family.  

No one book will enable any of us to understand "the role of women" in the Revolutionary War (or as Benjamin Franklin put it, "One Half of the World does not know how the other Half lives"). [2]  Book of Ages, and a number of others, can help us understand what some women did, and the challenges they faced.  Among these are Belonging to the Army, Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution, by Holly A. Mayer; The Way of Duty: A Woman and Her Family in Revolutionary America, by Joy Day Buel and Richard Buel Jr.; and while set in the period after the war, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.  All illustrate that what women were doing during the war varied depending on the time, place and their circumstances.

Picking a third for a list of only three books was a challenge from me, until I read Don Hagist's British Soldier, American War, Voices of the American Revolution.  (Hagist is also the managing editor of the online Journal of the American Revolution, which published an article I submitted on General John Burgoyne's Stay in Albany).  In a list of three books, it rounds out Martin's account of his service in the Continental Army with a look at the war from the British perspective.    

British Soldiers, American War, uses the first-hand accounts of nine soldiers to look at topics such as reasons for enlisting, literacy, and in the case of one who served under Burgoyne and made part of the 1777 march (he deserted after crossing the Connecticut River into Hadley and marching as far as Western - now Warren), the rather unsavory end of his life in the autumn of 1779.  Hagist does an outstanding job of supplementing these first person accounts with in-depth analysis and other examples to provide a context in which to better understand that aspect of his subject's service.  As a result, each of the soldiers he writes about is remarkable in his own way, but tied to the army as a whole - and in many cases a challenge to common misconceptions we may have of the British solder in North America during the Revolutionary War. 

Fortunately, none of us are limited to having or reading three books on the Revolutionary War.  One way of reading Martin's book is to access the 1830 edition online, but I find having a hard copy to be more satisfying.  You can search for and purchase a copy online, but I'd recommend that you buy it from your local book store, or perhaps a historic site or Revolutionary War National Historic Park, as many have carried it over the years.  In the alternative, your local library may have a copy, or no doubt can obtain one - or the any of the other books that I've mentioned - through interlibrary loan.  Regardless of whether you browse, buy or borrow a book on the Revolutionary War, these three will provide you with meaningful insight as we commemorate its 250th anniversary.

Next Time: What They Drank - “Once In A While Sum Caffe” 

Last Time: Maps - “Sitting In Their Closets, With A Map Before Them”   

For more on the Convention Army's 1777 march from Saratoga to Boston, see:

   1777 March Blog Home             Overnight Stopping Points        Towns and Villages Along the Way 

   General Whipple's Journal         Burgoyne in Albany                    Annotated Bibliography 

[1] Joseph Plumb Martin, Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier (Hallowell, ME: Glazier, Master & Co., 1830), iii.

[2] Jill Lepore, Book of Ages, the Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), a quote from Poor Richard's Almanac immediately preceding table of contents.