David Hackett Fischer has produced a highly readable and fact-filled account of the important battles of the Revolutionary War following the Declaration of Independence. This conflict required a young, self-made country to draw soldiers from among its colonies to go against the strongest army of the time without the knowledge of how or when the outcome would play out. I think the heart of the American War of independence was the people of all classes who joined regiments and went to war under sometimes terrible physical conditions, for pay, food and clothing which was meager when available, which was not often. The glue which held this together was the aristocratic George Washington, whose prior military experience several decades earlier in the French and Indian War was far from stellar. How all of this came together and led to ultimate victory is the driving force of the historical study of this war.

This story begins in the summer of 1776, after the new American commander, Washington, had driven the British from Boston. The Colonists were able to use the terrain around that city to make it unbearable for the occupying British to remain there. New York was a different story. General Howe landed a powerful army of British regulars and German "Hessians" on Staten Island. Washington's strategy quickly changed from stopping the invasion to moving his gradually disintegrating army from one disastrous defensive position to another. Fischer provides clear maps showing the defeats and retreats from Long Island to Harlem Heights to Fort Washington by Washington's army after being tactically outmaneuvered by the British Navy and Army.

Washington's only "successes" during these months consisted of brilliantly executed and lucky withdrawals of his forces while on the verge of being enveloped by the enemy on several occasions. After his retreat across New Jersey to Trenton, and then across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania, Washington was able to stop running, but most of his army was killed, captured or had deserted by then. The remnants were due to end their enlistments at the end of the year. It was entirely possible, by the winter of 1776, that the Revolution would run out of steam.

Washington made a daring plan to turn his fortunes around. He crossed the Delaware River during the evening of Christmas to attack the Hessian regiment which had taken up winter quarters in Trenton. He put his 2,400 men in boats and crossed the river at night in a strong ice and snow storm. Fischer's descriptions and maps show how the Americans were able to maneuver into position to defeat a force of professional soldiers. Not content to withdraw with his prisoners back to Pennsylvania and sit out the winter, Washington kept his forces in Trenton to face the British relief army of General Cornwallis at Trenton. The Americans skillfully withdrew back along the route the British marched from Princeton, and fought successfully against the British there. Unlike the two next disastrous winters when the American Army would almost starve and freeze to death in encampments, the 1776-77 winter would be spent by the Americans in New Jersey, carrying on a "forage war" of attacks which effectively kept the British main forces tied up in New York City until the following spring.

Fischer writes a history which describes one of the great military reversals of all time. The casual reader can find a wealth of interesting information in an enjoyable read, while the historian and scholar will be impressed by the depth of research used in writing the book. Fischer always, though, is focused on the General who was able to keep his army going under all challenges, and the people who he led. The American Army at this time could contain a collection of types such as: Virginia gentlemen, New England seamen, Scot immigrants, western frontiersmen, Pennsylvania and New Jersey farmers. Some were attired in their civilian clothing as part of militia regiments; some wore the uniforms of state regiments. Some were black (it is interesting that the novelty of a racially integrated army starting in 1948 was actually preceded by the Revolutionary War).

I didn't make up the preceding description of American types fighting with Washington. The list is actually from Fischer's critique of the iconic painting of "Washington's Crossing the Delaware" by Emanuel Leutze. This American treasure in the Metropolitan Museum of Art was actually painted to inspire the 1848 European revolutionary movements by the artist, who had returned to Germany from America. It is interesting that the original 1850 painting remained in Germany and was destroyed by the bombing of Bremen in World War II; the famous painting in the Met is an exact Leutze copy of the original dated 1851.

Fischer ends his book with an examination of the historiography of the contribution Washington made to the Revolution through his victories at Trenton I and II and Princeton. I enjoyed reading his descriptions of the differing historical interpretations of these events by the Romantic Historians, Whigs, Nationalists, Debunkers, Multiculturalists and others. This section is a mini education on historical method. Fischer's position on the subject is that you can assign any motives you want to Washington and the Patriots, but the only fair conclusion of the cause they fought for is that they were trying to build a country according to the highest principles.

Two discoveries concerning the human condition were being put to the test here, not in academia but in a war for survival. The first was the principle that a society could be organized on the basis of liberty and freedom, and it could actually work. The other concerned the capacity of humans for order and discipline. These Enlightenment altruisms, not necessarily compatible with each other, were at work in 1776, when Washington had to lead an army of individualists who came from different colonies representing different sectional interests, many of whom joined up to preserve the idea of American independence from vasalege to the Mother Country. Nevertheless, these individualists needed to be trained to subvert their will and talents to the service of others, and to accept the military system of punishment and reward used to drill soldiers.

A last note on the importance of Leutz's painting. Fischer is aware of the debunkers who have trashed this painting because it contains numerous historical inaccuracies. Even the American flag dominating the center of the painting is incorrect, since it was not adopted until the following year. Fischer, however, chose to use the painting on his book cover because it is the greatest visual symbol of the spirit of the times. Leutz correctly portrays a boatload of soldiers facing great odds. The atmosphere of high drama and feelings of desperation portrayed here were no doubt clearly felt by the small force who just faced five months of disastrous defeats and now were operating with a sense of urgency to attempt one more, high-risk try to save a movement that they had devoted their lives to. America's greatest generation? It could very well be that.