George Washington's Generals and Opponents: Their Exploits and Leadership

by George Athan Billias (Editor)

"This volume is exceedingly well-executed. All the essays are of superior quality, and several make fresh contributions to knowledge. In every instance, the emphasis is away from drum-and-bugle history."-- New York Times Book Review





America's victory came as a surprise to many people. How did untrained American generals, essentially military amateurs at the outbreak of war, and their ragged, half-starved troops manage to defeat British professionals? To what extent did the quality of British military leadership affect the outcome? Was the American success due to the British commanders' incompetence and faulty strategy, or were timing and opportunity more responsible for Washington and his colleagues' achievement?





This book provides superbly balanced portraits of the British and American leadership. Renowned historians have contributed concise, remarkably informative, and authoritative essays on generals of both sides. The military gallery includes such Americans as George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, Benedict Arnold, Marquis de Lafayette, and eight others. The British are well-represented by Thomas Gage, Sir William Howe, Charles Lord Cornwallis, and seven others.




Each piece not only explores the subject's personality and exploits, but interprets his contribution to victory or defeat. In the process the scholarship never loses sight of the brave, touchy, brilliant, and flawed personalities who fought beside and against one another. Rarely, if ever, has one volume offered such stimulating commentary and insights into key commanders of the Revolutionary War.

Genres: History, American Revolution, Biography, American Revolutionary War

768 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 1980

About the author

George Athan Billias was professor emeritus of American History at Clark University.

Reviews

[Riq Hoelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are short chapter introductions to the main Patriot generals of the Revolution. Chapters are

1. George Washington: George Washington's Generalship
2. Charles Lee: Soldier as Radical
3. Philip Schuyler: The General as Aristocrat
4. Horatio Gates: Professional Soldier
5. Nathanael Greene: Revolutionary War Strategist
6. John Sullivan: Luckless Irishman
7. Benedict Arnold: Traitorous Patriot
8. Benjamin Lincoln: Old Reliable
9. Marquis de Lafayette: Eager Warrior
10. Henry Knox: American Artillerist
11. Anthony Wayne: Military Romanticist
12. Daniel Morgan: Guerrilla Fighter

Each chapter is by a different historian for the most part, but stylistically they all tend to read the same, probably indicating a heavy hand from the editor. But each writer makes the case for his own subject, which, since the generals often disagreed, makes for interesting implied debates between authors.

First published in 1964, by 2024 this is a little out of date. It's not that the history has changed, but we know more. There are a few statements that would be considered errors today. An example is that "there has been no thorough study of the Battle of Monmouth", but by now there is, the excellent Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle by Mark E. Lender (which I have reviewed previously). Daniel Morgan's chapter states that he fought for Washington at Monmouth, but in fact no one told Morgan about the battle and as a consequence his rifleman took no part in it.

But this is an excellent introduction to the main generals and a great way to discover in which directions you might like to read further.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good snap shot of leaders on both sides of the American revolution. Chapters are broke up by personality and written by different experts. Book is further divided in two with Americans up front and British in the back. Will keep around for reference.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good collection of a dozen essays, looking at the careers of many high-level American generals. Each essay includes a bibliography for further reading, including full-length biographies of each general; however, since the book was published in 1964, recent works on the war were not included.