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The Navy of the American Revolution: Its Administration, Its Policy, and Its Achievements
A comprehensive study of the crash program to build a navy during the Revolution and of the role the navy played in the ultimate victory over England. Extremely well written, it has great value for today's student of history. Dealing with the creation, organization, and control of the Continental navy and the various state navies in turn, he has emphasized that neglected page of our history rather than the well- known exploits of a few popular heroes. THE NATION "It is a real masterly book, well conceived, thoroughly studied, and judiciously written. It is a real contribution to the study of the American revolution. _C. H. VanTyne AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW "A valuable work of reference." NEW YORK TIMES THIS TITLE IS CITED AND RECOMMENDED Guide to the Study of the United States of America; Bibliography of Comparative Literature - Baldensperger.
549 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1906
About the author
Charles Oscar Paullin
58 books1 followerA specialist in the administrative history of the United States Navy, Charles Oscar Paullin served on the research staff of the Carnegie Institution and lectured on naval history at the George Washington University.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 20, 2024
Many books cover the brave exploits of Revolutionary ships at sea. This is one of the only ones to cover th enavy from the administration side, discussing the founding, planning and administration. This is really three books in one: (1) the Continental Congress navy, (2) the navies run out of France and the Mississippi River, and (3) the individual state navies. I was really only interested in (1), but it's good to know the others exist. The book is pretty thorough, but there are times one wishes more of the story would be told. It would also have been good to have had some analysis of the larger picture. For example, how many ships were launched in total? How many prizes did they all take and what was their monetary value? How can we measure the value of the navy activities in comparison to the total war effort? But this is unfortunately missing. The book does offer an extensive bibliography, lists of all the men who served and an index.
A few tidbits:
From p. 44: on the original rules for the government of the US navy in 1775: "The rules, 8 or 10 pages in length, are brevity itself as compared with the present rules and regulations of the US navy, which make a book of some 600 pages. More than one-half of the navy's first rules are concerned with the feeding, care, rights, duties and punishments of the ordinary sailor; while the present rules of the American navy in large part apply to officers."
From p. 57: "Hopkins had concluded that his armada might prove vincible on the stormy coasts of Virginia." Not every day you see someone using "vincible" anymore. There's a meme called "lost positives" referring to words like "gruntled". Maybe we could term this a "lost negative".
From p. 181: "Not a little of the interest and value of a study of the administration of the Revolution comes from the fact that the administrative practices and experiences of this period gave rootage to the later and more perfect executive organs." The word "rootage" is interesting. Today we would probably find "root" instead. The latter is stronger and more concise, but the latter is perhaps more descriptive as an entire system rather than a single factor.
The curious incident of the Connecticut ship Minerva seems to be a little-told story of the Revolution: Owned by Captain William Griswold, in August 1775 it was selected by the colony of Connecticut for naval service. (Many states had their own navies.) In September of that year the colony issued commissions for the ship's officers. In November, the Continental Congress, governor and his Council of Safety ordered the ship to intercept two transports bound from England for Quebec. The crew, apart from 10-12 sailors and marines, refused to obey this order. The crew were discharged and a new crew hired, but before they could sail, in December the ship was returned to its owner by the Assembly. In April 1778, the ship reemerged under state control. In 1781 it was purchased by the Continental Congress.
A few tidbits:
From p. 44: on the original rules for the government of the US navy in 1775: "The rules, 8 or 10 pages in length, are brevity itself as compared with the present rules and regulations of the US navy, which make a book of some 600 pages. More than one-half of the navy's first rules are concerned with the feeding, care, rights, duties and punishments of the ordinary sailor; while the present rules of the American navy in large part apply to officers."
From p. 57: "Hopkins had concluded that his armada might prove vincible on the stormy coasts of Virginia." Not every day you see someone using "vincible" anymore. There's a meme called "lost positives" referring to words like "gruntled". Maybe we could term this a "lost negative".
From p. 181: "Not a little of the interest and value of a study of the administration of the Revolution comes from the fact that the administrative practices and experiences of this period gave rootage to the later and more perfect executive organs." The word "rootage" is interesting. Today we would probably find "root" instead. The latter is stronger and more concise, but the latter is perhaps more descriptive as an entire system rather than a single factor.
The curious incident of the Connecticut ship Minerva seems to be a little-told story of the Revolution: Owned by Captain William Griswold, in August 1775 it was selected by the colony of Connecticut for naval service. (Many states had their own navies.) In September of that year the colony issued commissions for the ship's officers. In November, the Continental Congress, governor and his Council of Safety ordered the ship to intercept two transports bound from England for Quebec. The crew, apart from 10-12 sailors and marines, refused to obey this order. The crew were discharged and a new crew hired, but before they could sail, in December the ship was returned to its owner by the Assembly. In April 1778, the ship reemerged under state control. In 1781 it was purchased by the Continental Congress.
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