North Carolina Office of Archives and History

The Papers of George Washington. Revolutionary War Series. Volume 3: January-March, 1776by Philander D. ChaseReview by: E. Wayne CarpThe North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 66, No. 2 (APRIL 1989), pp. 262-263Published by: North Carolina Office of Archives and HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23520701 .

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262 Book Reviews

the settlement—here detailed in more than 100 pages of documents and

notes—provides a veritable window into the social and economic world of

Virginia's elite. More than ever, Washington was now a part of that elite as seen in his

increasing correspondence with Robert Cary and Company, his London business house, which supplied him with all the necessities and trappings that seemed essential to the life of a Virginia squire. All this and more await those who use this fine new edition of Washington's papers, which is

infinitely better than John C. Fitzpatrick's Writings of Washington, an edition that served an earlier generation reasonably well.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Don Higginbotham

The Papers of George Washington. Revolutionary War Series. Volume 3: January March, 1776. Edited by Philander D. Chase. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988. Editorial apparatus, illustrations, index. Pp. xxvi, 615. $47.50.)

Volume 3 of The Papers of George Washington. Revolutionary War Series

opens with the Continental Army in turmoil as Washington attempts to fashion a new army after thousands of Continentals, refusing to reenlist, depart for home. By early January 1776, fewer than 10,000 ill-equipped American soldiers faced the well-armed British troops ensconced in Boston. These circumstances led Washington to despair of having accepted com mand of the Continental Army. He remarked to Joseph Reed how much

happier he would have been if "I had taken my Musket upon my shoulder & enterd the Ranks, or, if I could have justified the Measure to Posterity, & my own Conscience, had retir'd to the back Country, & livd in a Wig-wam." Shortly thereafter, Washington learned of the American defeat at Quebec and the death of the northern army's commander, General Richard

Montgomery. Much of the remainder of the volume traces how Washington tried to

overcome the army's supply and manpower deficiencies while never losing sight of attacking the redcoats in Boston. To fortify the army, Washington repeatedly beseeched republican governors to call up the militia and forward gunpowder. To encourage enlistments, Washington advised Con gress to use bounties. Suddenly, the fortunes of war changed dramatically. Reinforced by cannon transported from Fort Ticonderoga by Colonel Henry Knox, American soldiers fortified Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston. Finding his position untenable, General William Howe decided to evacuate the city, and on March 17 the Continental Army took possession of Boston, including £30,000 of invaluable British military supplies. The volume closes with Washington and the Boston selectmen congratulating each other on saving Boston and expelling the British.

Like previous volumes, this one is superbly edited. Two counsels of perfection, however, are offered. First, a map of Boston and its environs could have improved the volume. Second, this reviewer would like to see more attention paid to explicating British motives. For example, Washington

THE NORTH CAROLINA HISTORICAL REVIEW

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Book Reviews 263

informed the troops that the British deliberately infected "all parts of' Boston with smallpox so as to spread the disease among Continental soldiers. It would be a service to readers if the editors would establish such a statement's accuracy rather than allowing British actions to be viewed

through American eyes. Nevertheless, these minor quibbles should not detract from the general high quality of the volume.

Pacific Lutheran University

E. Wayne Carp

War and Society in Revolutionary America: The Wider Dimensions of Conflict. By Don Higginbotham. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. Frontispiece, preface, index. Pp. xiii, 323. $24.95.)

In the preface to his collection of essays, Don Higginbotham expresses qualms about being labeled a military historian. He declares, in fact, that he has spent much of his academic life attempting to establish a wider

reputation as "a historian of Colonial and Revolutionary America."

Ironically, and despite his reservations, Higginbotham has established himself as one of the three or four most thoughtful, creative, and productive historians of early American military history in this generation. Perhaps the historical profession owes him a debt of gratitude for overriding his intellectual scruples and using his considerable powers to help save military history from "retired generals and journalists," for he has helped to elevate it to a high level of academic repute. Certainly it is true, as these essays attest, that Higginbotham has seen warfare as a central experience of human affairs that must be understood in the totality of history if humankind is ever to achieve a complete understanding of its past.

In these essays, Higginbotham produces a wide spectrum of articles, ranging from biographical sketches, analytical thought pieces, historio

graphical essays, and comparative exercises to constitutional considera

tions, institutional analyses, discussions of military leadership, and reflec tions on the militia. In light of this display of historical talent, Higginbotham has no reason to shun the label of military historian. Instead, he should embrace it and continue to provide his colleagues with his careful, thought ful, and synthesizing reflections upon the role of the military in early American history.

Berea College

Paul David Nelson

Essays on Liberty and Federalism: The Shaping of the U.S. Constitution. Edited by David E. Narrett and Joyce S. Goldberg. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, for the University of Texas at Arlington, 1988. Preface, introduction. Pp. xiii, 134. $17.50.)

This slim volume contains essays first presented as the 1987 Walter

Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures at the University of Texas, Arlington.

VOLUME LXV1, NUMBER 2, APRIL, 1989

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