Atlas of the Battles and Campaigns of the American Revolution 1775-1783 - David C. Bonk & George Anderson.

 

Continuing my look at recent book acquisitions to my AWI research library, it's time to look at another book from Helion and David C Bonk (DB) this time in collaboration with George Anderson (GA), namely 'Atlas of the Battles and Campaigns of the American Revolution 1775-1783' first published in hardback in 2023 and in paperback, which my copy is, in 2026, oh and this is definitely one book where I wont be complaining about a lack of maps!

The cover of the atlas illustrates a colonel of the 1st New York Continental Regiment, circa 1781, courtesy of the well known military artist Christa Hook, and DB has composed the text whilst GA put together the maps to accompany it; and with both being wargamers the subject matter gets a wargamers eye brought to the information we would want included alongside a broad collection of battle maps, that include large and small land engagements, together with sieges, and key naval battles.

My copy of 'A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution'
by Craig L. Symonds and William J Clipson published in 1986.

Things it seems have come along way since I picked up my copy of 'A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution' by Craig L. Symonds and William J Clipson in 1986, with its forty-one maps of pretty well all the key battles and actions of the war, but with frustrating gaps in the detail of the maps and missing many of the lesser well known actions that we historical wargamers are wanting to know about, which in a pre-internet age in which this book appeared, made finding the information required even more frustrating.

The Battle of Brandywine from 'A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution'
by Craig L. Symonds and William J Clipson. Pretty basic, but the state of the art back then.

The Battle of Brandywine map above illustrates the point, with just a basic indication of where various components of the two armies were in relation to key battlefield landmarks, and with no detail of elevation about the high ground indicated.

Helion describe their atlas on their website page thus;

'The Atlas of Battles and Campaigns of the American Revolution provides a comprehensive visual summary of the campaigns, major battles and minor skirmishes of the war. The atlas includes over 120 maps created using maps from the Revolution, including the large collection from the US Library of Congress and enhanced with more accurate topographic mapping from the 1880s. The maps also show troop dispositions and movements taken from a wide range of written sources to provide the most accurate representation of the battles and campaigns. The Atlas will be a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in the American Revolution, including wargamers, reenactors, and students of the conflict.

Beginning with the opening skirmishes at Lexington and Concord the Atlas follows the course of the war including the major engagements at Brooklyn, Trenton, Brandywine, Saratoga, Monmouth, Savannah, Guilford Courthouse and Yorktown. The Atlas also includes a large collection of minor actions, including Harlem Heights, White Plains, Short Hills, Barren Hill, Stony Point, Hobkirk’s Hill and Green Springs. The Atlas addresses critical naval battles as well as key engagements in the West Indies, Gibraltar, and India.

The sample pages hosted on the Helion website illustrating maps from the book display a marked improvement on what has gone before, as illustrated by the example map of the Battle of Chatterton Hill, a key engagement fought during the Battle of White Plains on October 28th, 1776, where British and Hessian forces captured the strategic high ground from American troops.

The Battle of Chatterton Hill, October 28th, 1776

As you can see we now can enjoy colour to give a much more precise indication of ground elevation and a much more detailed illustration of the position taken by various units involved together with the maps showing their strengths on the day of battle, a feature I particularly liked, as well as an indication of other key terrain such as orchards, fencing and marshy ground lining the Bronx River.

The atlas is composed of nine sections looking the key military and naval events:

• Section I: The Road to War
• Section II; 1775
• Section III: 1776
• Section IV: 1777
• Section V:1778
• Section VI: 1779
• Section VII: 1780
• Section VIII: 1781
• Section IX: 1782

Each of these sections commences with a Strategic Summary and map to illustrate an overview of the period being looked at, with the example map below showing the positions of British garrisons and the various partition lines between the colonies, province of Quebec, Native American Reserved Lands, Nova Scotia and Spanish territory in April 1775 as war loomed in British North America, Section I: The Road to War. These summary maps are very useful for folks planning campaigns centred on a particular year.

The strategic overview and battle maps covered by year are:

1775 - The 1775 Strategic Summary, The March to Lexington and Concord, Concord: Opening Phase, Concord: Final Phase, Bunker Hill: First Assault, Bunker Hill: Second Assault, Bunker Hill: Third Assault, Ticonderoga and St Johns. The March to Quebec, Assault on Quebec, Great Bridge.

1776 - The 1776 Strategic Summary, Dorchester Heights, Moore's Creek Bridge, Sullivan's Island, New York Operations, Brooklyn, Kip's Bay, Harlem Heights, Pell's Point, White Plains, Fort Washington, The Retreat Across New Jersey, Prelude to Trenton, Assunpink Creek, Advance to Princeton, Princeton, The Struggle for Lake Champlain, Valcour Island.

1777 - The 1777 Strategic Summary, Bound Brook, The Danbury Raid, Short Hills, Burgoyne's Advance, Fort Ticonderoga, Hubbardton, Oriskany, Bennington, Freeman's Farm, Bemis Heights, Staten Island, Howe Moves to Head of Elk, Cooch's Bridge, Advance to Brandywine, Brandywine (North), Brandywine (South), The Battle of the Clouds, Paoli, Germantown Opening Phase, Germantown Final Phase, Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery, Philadelphia Defences, Fort Mercer, Fort Mifflin, Advance to White Marsh, Edge Hill, Valley Forge.

1778 - The 1778 Strategic Summary, Barren Hill, The March to Monmouth, Monmouth the Morning, Monmouth the American Retreat, Monmouth the Conclusion, Newport, Rhode Island, The Grand Forage, The Capture of Savannah.

Concord: Opening Phase, 19th April, 1775

1779 - The 1779 Strategic Summary, Briar Creek, Stono Ferry, The Penobscot Bay Expedition, The New Haven Raid, Sullivan's Campaign against the Iroquois Confederation, Advance to Stony Point, Stony Point, Paulus Hook, The Siege of Savannah, The West Indies, The Vigie Peninsula St Lucia.

1780 - The 1780 Strategic Summary, The Charleston Campaign, The Siege of Charleston, Charleston Neck, Waxhaws, Connecticut Farms, Springfield, Hanging Rock, Camden, King's Mountain, Blackstocks.

1781 - The 1781 Strategic Summary, Cowpens, New Garden, Guilford Courthouse, Guilford Courthouse Third Line, Cape Henry, Hobkirk's Hill, The Virginia Campaign Part One, Petersburg, The Siege of Ninety Six, The Virginia Campaign Part Two, Spencer's Ordinary, Green Springs, The Raid on New London, Eutaw Springs, The Advance to Yorktown, The Battle of the Capes, The Siege of Yorktown, Gloucester Point, The Assault on Redoubts 9 and 10.

1782 - The Treaty of Paris, The Siege of Gibraltar, The Naval Attack on Gibraltar, The Battle of the Saintes, Suffren's Indian Ocean Campaign, Trincomalee.

So as you will see a very broad and comprehensive list of battles you would want included in an AWI Atlas and one that makes this a must have book in the AWI library, and one I have found myself dipping into frequently whilst compiling my individual unit showcase posts, when following the history of campaigns and battles participated in by the unit being featured.

Before I turn to my additional comments, and before I am asked, 'should I get this book JJ?', my answer is yes indeed; this is to my knowledge the best and most comprehensive collection of battle and campaign descriptions with accompanying maps to illustrate the war as a whole currently available, and will save you a lot of time scrolling through the 'Library of Congress' collection and other internet sources, plus specific books on specific campaigns, to get a similar level of understanding, not that you wont want to do that as well, but just saying.

My gentle criticism of this atlas principally centres around when I compare it with similar battlefield atlases I have in my library, and particularly with what I consider to be the best I have come across too date, both from Colonel Nick Lipsombe and published by Osprey, The English Civil War and The Peninsular War atlases, the former reviewed here on JJ's back in 2020, link below.

My Peninsular War Atlas, published back in 2010, I note is showing a bit of wear on it that betrays how often it has been thumbed through in previous years when I was working on my own Peninsular War project covering Sir Arthur Wellesley's first campaigns in Portugal and Spain, culminating in me recreating the Battle of Talavera, my English Civil War atlas less so, in anticipation for when I build an English Civil War collection. As they say, 'never say never'.

JJ's Wargames: The English Civil War, An Atlas and Concise History of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1639 -51 - Nick Lipscombe

One of the key stand outs for me that differentiates these two works from my American Revolution atlas is the lack of contour heights, with the AWI maps having some three shades of green to indicate height variation, but with no clear indication what those variations are, or if they are the same from one map to another, which I suspect they aren't.

The colour contours are all very well and nicely presented, but without height indicated makes it very difficult to determine matters such as line of sight blocks and the likely extent of dead ground from one high point to another, something that as a wargamer trying to better represent the battlefield on my table is really useful, and something the Osprey books include.

The Pajar Vegara redoubt on my Talavera table.

I have learnt how helpful this level of detail is, and I would have thought is easy to include with the modern representations of ground surveys and maps to refer to for guidance. When working out the ground scale for my Talavera table, back in 2018, identifying the precise elevation of one ridge line to another, especially as the French and opposing British lines faced each other across a valley, with gun batteries aiming to play on the opposite lines, became a key issue.

The Pajar Vegara feature, middle left, and close up below, seen as the eye would have it and without telephoto lens in 2019 when I walked the battlefield, and seen from the Allied line. Such a low feature, you would miss it if you were walking too quickly!
JJ's Wargames: Battles and Actions in the Tagus Valley, Part Two (Battle of Talavera) - Peninsular War Tour 2019

Peninsular War ridge lines and dead ground for round shot and visibility are a key aspect that was included on the table, with discreet markers along hill tops indicating where the military ridge was so that players could determine how far back to keep their infantry lines to avoid long range firing, but be close enough to move up and over to contest matters with approaching enemy troops.

The hill is so discreet, on ground rising to about eighty feet above where I am standing at its highest point, and takes a close up picture using the telephoto lens to illustrate its height compared to the ground around it. This level of detail is why height contours are so useful.

On some contemporary maps of Talavera the small mound at the Pajar Vegara farm on which the Anglo-Spanish constructed a small redoubt is somewhat exaggerated in size and seeming height, and it was really pleasing to see that my representation on the table, as seen above, and based on Nick Lipscombe's map matched my interpretation when I saw the actual feature back in 2019.

Map of the Battle of Stone Arabia, October 19th, 1780, from ‘The Burning of the Valleys’

In addition I have two other slight 'niggles', namely how comprehensive the battle list is, understanding that the focus is rightly and primarily on land actions and engagements rather that naval, which is very understandable, and there are other tomes around covering the naval war in more detail should the want arise.

However I was a bit disappointed to find that although the overview of the punitive expedition against the Iroquois by General Sullivan in 1779 was included, the response to that campaign that followed in 1780, namely the Mohawk and Schoharie expedition by Sir John Johnson and Joseph Brant, and the subsequent, all be it small and minor battles of Stone Arabia, October 19th, 1780 and the Battle of Klock's Field fought the same day are not.

Map of the Battle of Klock's Field, October 19th, 1780, from ‘The Burning of the Valleys’

Very often when an author is laying out ‘the stall’ for a new book there will often be a comment or two stating what is included and what is not and the editorial decisions that lie behind the choice, but without such a disclaimer it is hard to firstly comment on why these omissions occur, and secondly to what extent other actions are not included and how comprehensive the atlas actually is.

I have included the best maps I have in my collection to help me recreate these actions going forward, one covering Stone Arabia from the US Battlefields Trust and the others from a Canadian publication, “The Burning of the Valleys’ by Gavin K. Watt and James F. Morrison, an excellent read covering the 1780 expedition, and which reminds me that I should do a review of it in a following book review.

Which leads me on to my next issue concerning the references for the maps to enable a look at the source material for them.

JJ's Wargames: The World Turned Upside Down - His Majesty's 1st Light Infantry Composite Battalion, 1777.

I mention this because during my research on one of my recent unit posts I was looking at the atlas and then thought I would check other sources to compare and contrast the accounts in the book to other sources.

Battle of Cooch's Bridge, 3rd September 1777, Atlas of the Battles and Campaigns of the American Revolution 1775-1783. The position of the British 1st Light Infantry (B) and their subsequent movements to outflank the Americans defending Cooch's Bridge, shows them on the left flank of the Jägers, and ending up mired in a swamp at Point 9 on the map, failing to close the trap on the American retreat.

My confusion arose when studying the movements of the British 1st Light Infantry composite battalion at the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, 3rd September 1777, link above and the map in the atlas illustrated above when compared to other accounts and similar maps.

For example the map shown below and used in my post shows a close look at the positions at 10.00 am in the lower map as the American retreat commenced with Iron Hill on the left flank of the Jägers advance, and with the British 1st Light Infantry clearly shown to their right below Cooch's Bridge, similarly mired in said swamp.

This map of Battle of Cooch's Bridge, 3rd September 1777 was created by Sean Moir
for the Pencader Heritage Area Museum in Newark, DE

Similarly the map below clearly illustrates the British 1st Light Infantry to the right of Cooch's Bridge, , and marked as the British Flanking Column, similarly on route to mire in said swamp, north of the Christiana Creek, whereas Sean Moir's map above suggests the mire was south of Christiana Creek.

Battle of Cooch's Bridge, from Campaign to Valley Forge by John Reed.

Clearly all the maps have discrepancies with each other, but only the atlas map has the British 1st Light Infantry out on the left flank of the Jägers battle to take Cooch's bridge, which had me erring towards the Moir map as a preferred reference, somewhat none the wiser.

I'm not stating the atlas is wrong, as I simply don't know, but it would be very handy to be able to check the veracity of GA's map and DB's account, especially as they come up with a different version from other sources.

To be fair to DB, I sympathise with his dilemma in his choice of sources and the inconsistencies he encountered, illustrated here in the other two maps of Cooch's Bridge and he mentions, in the Author's Note at the back of the atlas, his intentions by stating that;

'Many of the modern histories of the American Revolution repeat errors perpetrated in earlier works, in large part because many authors have apparently never attempted to match the details of a battle with a map of the terrain over which the battle was fought.

Authors trying to describe the tactical movements of large bodies of men fail to appreciate that their descriptions of dispositions and subsequent movements are highly unrealistic given the terrain in which the action took place. The perpetuation of previous inaccurate narratives and the lack of mapping provide an incorrect picture of these battles.'

This is a laudable aim for the book and is to be applauded as I have other such tomes that have similarly exploded often repeated myths that have gone on to correct the historical record in subsequent accounts thanks to that work, however I think it is beholden to 'submit the receipts' that support and back up the corrections to such inconsistencies so it is possible to confirm the assertion’s arrived at.

Atlas of the Battles and Campaigns of the American Revolution 1775-1783 | From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 | Helion & Company

In conclusion then, I think David Bonk & George Anderson are to be congratulated for this welcome addition to the wargamers resource library and Helion for their support for our hobby of historical wargaming, and I am very happy to have a copy with the caveats I have mentioned.

Next up the spotlight is shone on my latest addition to 'The World Turned Upside Down' project with a showcase of the 8th Virginia Continental Regiment.

As always, more anon.

JJ

Battle Tactics of the American Revolution - Robbie MacNiven, and Illustrated by Adam Hook, (Osprey Elite 238).

Continuing my look at some recent books added to my library, I thought I would turn my attention to 'Battle Tactics of the American Revolution' by Robbie MacNiven (RM) and published by Osprey as part of their Elite series of books.

The first thing that struck me as curious when I first got this book is that despite the author being British and Osprey itself being a British publisher, and the book published in the UK, the title of the book refers to the American Revolution rather than the more usual descriptor for the war on this side of the pond, namely the American War of Independence (AWI), and indeed the whole book is printed in American-English, with an overuse of Zees or Zeds, depending on your preference, which is simply a misspelling here in dear-old-blighty.

A contemporary image used in the book to illustrate the various troop types (line infantry, riflemen and artillery) under the command of Continental Army generals, and highlighting a diversity of tactics used by the forces contesting the AWI. (Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library)

That said, with my reading occupied with AWI uniform, vexillology (flags) and battle tactics research front and centre at present, this book looked like a useful resource to help answer some questions I had, and to some extent still have, about the best way to represent what the historical armies of this period were up to on the battlefield versus what the various hobby writers and wargaming sources have to say on the matter.

As a Peninsular War student, the similarities between the tactics being deployed in North America between 1775-83 and those employed by the British Army that entered Portugal and Spain from 1809 to 1814 is unmistakeable and there are many aspects of the way Sir William Howe deployed his army that would have been instantly recognisable to Sir Arthur Wellesley, a generation later

The American, German States, French and American Indian forces present a different case study for each, which despite the adherence to linear tactics developed in Continental European warfare that influenced three of those forces also saw the application of distinct tactics that differentiated all four, which as a wargamer I am keen to see represented in any tabletop encounter.

As RM highlights in his introduction to the book;

'The American Revolutionary War (1775–83) pitted a huge array of opposed factions against one another in the largest conflict to take place in North America up to that point. Over the course of the war, combatants fought through the full gamut of 18th-century Western warfare. Armies traded body blows in pitched battles, skirmishers engaged one another in dense woodland, covert night time attacks resulted in massacres committed at bayonet point, amphibious operations were conducted under the thunder of naval broadsides, guerrilla ambushers struck from forests and swamps, and towns and fortresses were surrounded by the sprawling works of conventional sieges. The only factor that came close to matching the diversity of combat experiences during the war was the diversity of its combatants.' 

Illustration of the Paoli Tavern attack by Stephen Walsh - British Light Infantry in the American Revolution, another Osprey title by Robbie MacNiven.

If, as I suspect, the reference to 'covert night time attacks resulted in massacres committed at bayonet point' is referring to the so called 'Paoli Massacre', more accurately known as either the Battle of Paoli or Paoli Tavern.

With the Oxford English Dictionary defining Massacre as "The indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) animals; carnage, butchery, slaughter in numbers . . ", then this is an interesting description of an affair, that saw 70 prisoners taken, 150 wounded and 52 killed, obviously indicating many of the attackers failed to get the memo about what a massacre implies, but not detracting from a better point that this was, as most civil wars are, a fiercely fought conflict, often sadly the very nature of war.

With those caveats mentioned what does Battle Tactics of the American Revolution cover?

So RM also highlights the principle forces in his introduction and the challenges posed to them by the nature of warfare in North America imposed by the terrain in the 18th century.

'On the side of the British Empire, British Army regulars served alongside American Loyalist militia, American Provincials, Native American allies, escaped slaves, and soldiers from several German states. Against them were arrayed Patriots – the Continental Army, militia, and state forces – their own Native American allies, and the standing militaries of France and Spain.

The varied tactical doctrines and past experiences of these groups were put to test in the North American crucible. Military commanders had long understood that strictly European-style conflict was impossible in Britain’s Thirteen Colonies. Too often objectives were too far flung, roads too poorly developed, forests too dense, and waterways too wide and rapid for the easy manoeuvre of large armies. Logistics were difficult to maintain and the frontier wilderness could prove inimical to even modest bodies of men.'

Gálvez at the siege of Pensacola
"Por España y por el Rey, Gálvez en América" (2015), by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau.
The Spanish played a minor but important role in tying down and causing the British quite a few problems during the AWI and it would have been nice to have seen them included in Battle Tactics of the American Revolution.

Nothing controversial in those two paragraphs for anyone with a good understanding of the period and RM appears to be laying out his stall by providing the framework for this book, but again curiously, he mentions a comprehensive list of the combatants but on flicking through my copy of the book for the first time I immediately noticed the absence of the Spanish.

JJ's Wargames: JJ's on Tour - Tenerife and the Battles of Santa Cruz (Part Two)

The Spanish are justly proud of the role their forces played in the AWI, as evidenced by recent trip to Tenerife and Santa Cruz earlier this year, and my trip to Corunna back in 2019, and  I have plans to build a Spanish force alongside my French to explore their activities with some later scenarios, so it is a shame that they are not assessed in this book.

Check out this fantastic model of the Spanish attack on British held Pensacola in 1781 during the American War of Independence seen at the Corunna Military Museum in 2019
JJ's Wargames: Corunna & The Retreat - Peninsular War Tour 2019

The book then goes on to look specifically at the British Army covering;

• Linear Tactics.
• Reality and modifications in America.
• Musketry.
• The bayonet.
• Grenadiers and light infantry.
• Cavalry.
• Artillery.
• Loyalists
• Irregular warfare and Native American Allies.

With just over 19 pages covering these areas of British military thinking and practice in the theatre the reader is presented with a good summary, which for a deeper understanding together with first hand accounts of the tactics described one can turn to Mathew Spring's, 'With Zeal and With Bayonets Only' listed in RM's references and reviewed here on JJ's in 2018 and a highly recommended read.

 JJ's Wargames: With Zeal and with Bayonets Only, The British Army on Campaign in North America - Matthew H. Spring

 

RM includes some very nice copies of pages from the 1764 Manual Exercise published in Boston in 1774 which illustrates the movements of a regiment in line and in column together with the positions to be taken by officers during the manoeuvres, and similarly forming a regiment from line to column and vice versa as well as crossing a river.

The Manual Exercise as Ordered by His Majesty in 1764 and referenced in the chapter looking at British battle tactics.

In addition to period references such as that illustrated above, the book is blessed with some seriously good portrayals of actual battlefield situations or usual tactical practice by the artist Adam Hook.

The 33rd Foot deployed in line at the Battle of Camden - Adam Hook (Osprey, British Tactics of the American Revolution).
An example of Adam Hook's work illustrating the book, with this illustration depicting a typical British infantry battalion deployed in the open order two deep line, showing the eight 'hatmen' companies, less the grenadier and light companies detached to the amalgamated grenadier and light battalions, with their Colour party in the centre, and with the officer commanding, mounted, and to the rear.

For me, the most interesting references in this chapter were the sections looking at the Irregular Forces and particular the tactics employed by Lt. Colonel John Butler leading Butler's Rangers and his Seneca allies under chiefs Sayenqueraghta and Cornplanter at the Battle of Wyoming, July 3rd 1778; another 'so-called massacre' that RM does point out, although a definitely brutal encounter, typical of frontier warfare with native Indian forces involved, but also illustrating a carefully arranged ambush that resulted in the overwhelming defeat for the Patriot militia, likewise enhanced with another illustration by Adam Hook showing the tactics used in the battle.

Massacre of Wyoming (Pennsylvania) - Alonzo Chappel

Loyalist and Iroquois forces (110 Butler's Rangers and 464 Seneca warriors) launched a surprise attack on the American militia near Forty Fort. The American forces (360 regulars, militia and irregulars) were quickly overwhelmed, and within thirty minutes, the battle turned into a rout. Many American militiamen fled in panic, and those who remained faced brutal combat. Estimates suggest that around 340 to 360 Americans were killed, while Loyalist and Iroquois casualties were minimal, with only a few reported deaths. Widespread looting and burning of buildings occurred throughout the Wyoming Valley subsequent to the battle, but non-combatants were not harmed. A highly inaccurate newspaper report claimed that hundreds of women and children had been massacred that has since been thoroughly discredited.

The next chapter, 21 pages, focusses on the Continental Army, Militia and State Troops, with sections covering;

• Organisation and reform.
• Standardised drill and Steuben's manual.
• Linear warfare.
• Defensive tactics.
• Musketry and the rifle.
• The bayonet.
• Militia.
• State Troops.
• Cavalry.
• Artillery.

Again RM has provided a good overview of the American forces outlining the struggle, principally led by Washington to improve and standardise military standards in the fledgling standing army, with an  institution that, as it was in Great Britain, was an anathema to a civil population wary of a standing army that could be used against them by any ruling authority, and plagued with having the billeting and provisioning of soldiers forced upon local populations.

This reluctance in the American revolutionary governing body, Congress, led to the early limitations on enlistment periods and the size of the army recruited to resist the Crown, with eventual reform inevitable as the war dragged on and the recognition that militia could not be relied upon, and that there was a need for a large standing force of trained and veteran soldiers that became a necessity.

Fredrich Wilhelm von Steuben

Battalion sizes and structures are covered as are the various drill manuals in use before the standardisation introduced under Fredrich Wilhelm von Steuben from 1778 onwards.

An example page of Steuben's, 'Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States'.

RM outlines Steuben's methods of forming a model company trained personally in his own drill that provided the 'chosen men' to then spread the new drill throughout the army, the drill being Steuben's simplification of the British 1764 drill manual incorporating elements of his own formal military education, that would become 'Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States'.

The new drill ostensibly mimicked that of the British, with the adoption of a two rank, open order line as the preferred battle order, with several lines of troops deployed by American armies.

However an interesting point made by RM was that given the Americans usually enjoyed a numerical advantage when facing British opponents, there seems to have been a ready use of a more close order arrangement to their lines, they not needing to extend their frontage greatly to avoid envelopment.

This ironically could, and indeed did, lead to problems in the pace and ableness to manoeuvre in the difficult terrain, that the British were so aware might impede their own previous drill techniques, with Lt. Colonel John Mercer complaining that at the Battle of Green Spring on July 6th, 1781, General Wayne's Brigade were drawn up in such close order - the line was necessarily broke by trees as they passed the wood, he going on to describe how the British regulars opposing them engaged in their customary looser formation; 

'The British advanc'd in open order at arms length and aiming very low kept up a deadly fire'.

The Battle of Green Spring took place near Green Spring Plantation in Virginia on July 6th, 1781. Brigadier General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, leading the advance forces of the Marquis de Lafayette, was ambushed near the plantation by the British army of Earl Charles Cornwallis in the last major land battle of the Virginia campaign prior to the Siege of Yorktown. British reports of casualties in the battle listed 5 officers and 70 enlisted men killed or wounded. American casualties were reported to number about 140, including 28 killed.

He then states that - In this situation Gen'l Wayne gave repeated orders to the line to charge, but this operation was really impossible from the manner in which they were form'd and they could not push forward. Mercer then going on to blame the Steuben drill for the debacle, claiming that;

'we had just begun to assume the stiff German tactics, as the British acquir'd the good sense, from experience in our woody country, to lay it aside'.

Another interesting section dispelled a few myths about American musketry and the use of the rifle, with a common claim that rebel forces relied on accurate firepower to win battles, since offset by recent scholarship that has shown the emphasis British commanders placed on both weight and rapidity of fire as well as accuracy, with British soldiers benefitting from live firing at targets and shown how to aim their muskets for effect at different ranges.

Interestingly Continental Army regiments did benefit from a larger number of officers and NCOs versus their British counterparts that likely enabled better regulation of firing during combat, with a similar ability to issue fire by battalion, platoon or division.

An American rifleman - Don Troiani

With regard to the use of rifles by American troops, RM points out the often overlooked downsides that came with these weapons, principally the inability to attach a bayonet, often requiring riflemen to operate closely with line or light infantry to provide security against such close in attacks. The fragility of rifles subjected to the rigours of campaign, being more prone to fouling and damage, too which I would add the added complexity of maintaining the American long rifles, they being individual hand built weapons unique from one to another with the user needing to prepare their own shot to get the best from the weapon.

Likewise any early advantage American troops gained from the use of rifles was offset by the increased use by British and German troops with similar weapons, and certainly with the advent of the British pattern 1776 Infantry Rifle issued primarily to the light companies of British regiments and to Loyalist units such as the Queen’s Rangers and Emmerick’s Chasseurs, seeing extensive service in North America, participating in most battles where British light infantry were engaged, with the rifles valued for their accuracy being used in skirmishing and sharpshooting roles.

The British Pattern 1776 Infantry Rifle featured a 30.5-inch barrel with a hook breech and was chambered in .62 calibre for a carbine ball. It incorporated eight-groove rifling and was the first British pattern rifle to include the captive ramrod design. The rifle had a full European walnut stock, brass mounts, and a flat bevelled flintlock mechanism with a goose-neck cock. Its overall length was approximately 44 inches, and it included a sliding wooden patch-box and sling swivels for field use

Perhaps the most interesting fact about the use of rifles was their undoubted ability for longer range accurate fire and the possibilities they offered for killing British officers and NCO's to disrupt the command of their troops, this sniping ability causing great concern at the time, such that British officers were instructed to remove as much lace and other identifiers of rank as possible to reduce the risk of being singled out; however it seems that after the experience of Bunker Hill, the ratio of deaths and wounding in battle for officers did not exceed those of other conflicts during the period.

As with the all the chapters covering the different nations, the text benefits from some very helpful illustrations from Adam Hook, with perhaps the most informative being the one concerning Continental Artillery, showing the placement of the heavier 6-pounder batteries, to compliment the fire effect of the smaller 3-pdr battalion guns attached at battalion or brigade level.

The chapter looking at the German State Armies consists of eight pages covering;

• Hessian Organisation.
• Tactical limitations in America.
• Other German states.
• Cavalry.
• Artillery
• Jäger

RM provides an overview of the German states that helped Britain deal with its mobilisation crisis in 1775, highlighting the inaccuracy of describing these troops as mercenaries, in that these professional soldiers were serving their own ruler, country or principality just as the armies of Britain, France or Spain served theirs.

Lieutenant General Leopold von Heister

A succinct description of the various German troops organisation and the soldiers that composed them capturing the fact that the Hessians for example were well aware of their need to adapt their tactics to work alongside their British counterparts as well as the terrain obstacles presented by the American battlefields, and reference is made to them adopting a two rank formation for their line infantry, whilst retaining the close-order of their traditional three rank formation.

The situation was no doubt encouraged by the views of the commander of the First Hessian Division, Lieutenant General Leopold von Heister, writing to his sovereign, the Landgraf on the 21st March 1777, reporting that he was unimpressed with the 'newfangled' ideas of the British, this following continued disagreements with General Howe, that likely played a role in his removal from command in 1777 following the Battle of Trenton and the appointment of his second in command, Wilhelm von Knyphausen as his replacement.

General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel, c1795 - Johann Heinrich Schröder

Other German states commanders get a worthy mention to illustrate the efforts German commanders made to prepare their soldiers, with Major General Friedrich Riedesel working hard to enable his troops to work in concert with their British allies on the Burgoyne expedition in 1777 with his instructions quoted below;

'. . . Gen. v. Riedesel, while complimenting them on the bravery and good conduct of the men, urges the necessity of instructing them to fight in open order, to secure the shelter of trees or cover of any kind, and only to fire from that position, except when meeting the enemy in the open, then to fire and attack at once with the bayonet, in close order, . . .

Brunswick von Barner Light Battalion - Don Troiani

He also went on to describe drilling his troops in the use of firepower during irregular fighting, here describing the efforts made by Brunswick soldiers to adapt to North American warfare;

" As soon as the first line has jumped into the supposed ditch, the command ' fire' is given, when the first line fires, reloads its guns, gets up out of the ditch, and hides behind a tree, rock, shrub or whatever is at hand, at the same time firing off four cartridges in such a manner that the line is kept as straight as possible. As soon as the first line has fired off the four cartridges, the second line advances and fires off the same number in the same manner. While this is taking place, the woods have been thoroughly ransacked by the sharp shooters who have thus become familiar with every part of it."

Perhaps the most unique combat troops that the German states contributed to the Crown were of course the rifle-armed Jäger, typically recruited from huntsmen, foresters and gamekeepers and considered an elite skirmishing force.

RM devotes a couple of pages outlining the role these key troops played, with examples of actions they participated in together with several descriptions of how they operated and coupled with another excellent portrayal by Adam Hook of the Hessians advance at Flatbush Pass during the Battle of Long Island.

The final chapter covers the French Army and consists of eight pages covering;

• Assault columns.
• Cavalry.
• Artillery.

An illustration of the look of French troops in North America.
The French Army in the American War of Independence, René Chartrand and Francis Back,
(Osprey Men at Arms)

This chapter looking at the reforms carried out by the French in the wake of the disastrous losses suffered in the Seven Years War compliments another previous title from Osprey as part of their Men at Arms series, number 244, 'The French Army in the American War of Independence', by the late René Chartrand and artwork by Francis Back with an example of an illustration of French troops above, and perhaps also noteworthy for its use of British-English terminology in its title and text.

Again with a Peninsular War perspective brought to this chapter, it is easy to see the development of French tactics and organisation being the progenitor of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies that would follow; and the action fought on the Vigie Peninsula on Saint Lucia between French columns up against British heavy artillery and veteran British infantry benefitting from their experience of fighting in North America and demonstrating their skirmishing skills as well as the use of the two deep line to repel the French assault on their positions was very much a precursor to what was to come.

Battle Tactics of the American Revolution is a useful look at the tactics employed by the various nationalities involved in the American War of Independence, by no means comprehensive, but with its list of bibliography at the back providing a good pointer to another twenty-eight sources to support further research and with several illustrations by Adam Hook adding to the text, and pointing to the age-old maxim 'a good picture is worth a thousand words'.

I am still on the lookout for a similar tome to Mathew Spring's 'With Zeal and with Bayonets Only' but instead covering the tactics of Continental and American troops in the AWI based on eyewitness accounts, and sources from the time, perhaps entitled 'Not all Skirmishing and Rifles'.

As always, more anon.

JJ

Victory or Death a Wargamers Guide to the American Revolution, 1774-1782 by David C. Bonk.

With the previous twelve months taken up with exploring the delights of the American War of Independence I thought I would share my thoughts on some recent additions to the reading and research resources that are helping to develop the new collection of figures; starting with 'Victory or Death, a Wargamers Guide to the American Revolution, 1774-1782' by David C. Bonk (DB), who is a long-time wargamer, military history author and student of the American Revolution.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure how useful this book was going to be when I purchased it, given that I'm a fairly 'long-time wargamer', and 'student of the American War of Independence (AWI)' myself, with a collection of books, rules and other paraphernalia, that no doubt most of us who've been doing this daft hobby for a while are likely to have.

Some of my Napoleonic 'Wargamer Guides' that, despite their vintage, and my own knowledge, are still useful references today.

That said, compared to another passion of mine, the Napoleonic era, the AWI/American Revolution is not as blessed with that many wargaming guides, such as those which have been very helpful and guiding in my early years in the Napoleonic corner of the hobby, and have proved useful resources in my latter years as well.

In my experience a wargaming guide is quite a tricky publication to pull off, because the audience you are aiming at is likely to have quite a range of knowledge and experience in the hobby theme you are pitching at, with often very differing needs from such a book, with a level of detail or lack thereof, appealing to one whilst potentially putting off the other, and over the years I have come across offerings that missed that mark and caused me to either not buy them or rehome them soon after purchase.

So I guess I can frame my comments both from my memory of being a novice once, as we all were whatever our experience, and probably now more leaning more towards the 'been there, seen that' grognard element.

The Contents in Victory or Death.

Ok, so with that disclaimer and preamble done, what did I think of this guide and the description of it by Helion, which describes this tome, as follows;

'This wargamer’s guide provides a comprehensive overview of the American War of Independence (or American Revolution), 1775–1782. The guide includes a series of maps showing the location of major battles by year with accompanying summaries of those battles and of the major campaigns of the war, and additionally it includes details of many lesser-known engagements. The book also provides information on, and organisations of not only American Continentals, French regular units and British regular units but also on American militia, the British Army’s German Auxiliaries, and the British provincial and loyalist units, and will thus enable wargamers to focus their efforts on specific campaigns or battles.

Orders of battle for selected campaigns and specific battles are provided. Uniform guides, including uniform colours and facings for each of the participants are included along with descriptions of the armies’ colours. The guide provides information on rules for the period and an overview of various miniatures available in a range of scales. Several tabletop wargaming scenarios, accompanied by maps, orders of battle and painting guides are also included in the book; additionally, information for several historical campaign scenarios are given, showing how campaigns can be used to add a new dimension to wargaming and to generate tabletop battles.'

The Helion summary is a good one and was what I based my decision to buy a copy of the book, but I thought I would try and give a bit more of an impression, chapter by chapter, now having read it.

Part 1. Why the American Revolution, lays out DB's interest in the theme and its growing attractiveness to wargamers, that has led to a similarly growing range of miniatures and terrain now available to bring the period to the table; and explains that the guide is designed to help provide an overview and framework for gamers to build their armies around the types of battles they might like to fight, including campaigns to create generated scenarios or to refighting historical scenarios, some of which are detailed in the guide.

Chapter 3 focussing specifically on the West Indies.

Parts 2 & 3. These chapters outline the history of the war, by year, outlining the key military strategic events, accompanied by a colour map to illustrate when those activities were happening, and I liked particularly the inclusion of Chapter 3 focussing specifically on the West Indies as British focus was forced to shift to this very important theatre with the entry of France 1778, Spain 1780 and later the Netherlands.

Although the events in the West Indies are summarised, similar activities in India during the First Anglo-Maratha War, and France's alliance with Hyder Ali, the Sultan and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India, are not included, but it would be particularly 'picky' by me for wanting a couple of pages covering that aspect, however it should be remembered that the last battle of the American War of Independence wasn’t fought at Yorktown or anywhere in the emergent United States, but rather on the other side of the globe, as British and French naval forces met at Cuddalore on the Bay of Bengal off the coast of modern-day India; the battle raging all day on June 20th, 1783, and only ending when a British ship appeared on the horizon flying a white flag, and bringing news that King George had agreed to a provisional peace treaty with the American Patriots in Paris fully six months earlier.

If you are really new to the AWI then the background information in parts 2 & 3 is a great source of information for getting to grips with what happened in a chronological order to underpin any ideas you might have about building a collection of figures to fight actions for a particular part of the war, and these chapters will certainly provide a basis for further reading with DB providing a bibliography of useful sources in his final section.

For me, I have found this summary useful when I was constructing ideas around a potential future campaign structure, with the yearly summaries of troop dispositions and garrisons listed on the maps a very handy aide-memoire for setting up my army and garrison start points for a particular year in my planned game.

A recent addition to my collection of Continental Regiments has been the 11th Virginia Regiment of Continental Infantry, with DB's quick reference guide to Washington's lottery of regimental coat colours for 1778, being particularly helpful in their completion.

Part 4. The Armies of the American Revolution is perhaps the heart of this guide and the section I have found myself referencing the most alongside my other books and internet references on the subject whilst constructing my own collection of figures.

The information it contains is by no means unique if you already have a decent collection of books on the subject, but what I have found most convenient is that it brings much of that information together in one place, amid the 110 odd pages that cover off pretty much all you might want to look up when building your armies.

Pages 124 and 125 in the section covering British uniforms with the table detailing the key colour options for portraying the particular British infantry regiments present at any time.

I say 110 pages because DB goes into a good level of detail covering off, Organisation and Training, Regiments of Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery, their structure, uniforms, and tactical doctrine for the American (Militia, Continental and Legions), British Crown, British-German Allies, French, Spanish and Native American or Indian forces.

The ready-reference charts covering uniform details are particularly handy, and I have the book close to hand at my painting desk just in case I need to check a particular facing or lace colour, and although not exhaustive, particularly with the Americans, who to be fair had regiments changing uniform in as many years of the war, or with no particular reference at all as to what they might have had on at any particular time, with even DB making it quite clear right from page one, that this section was intended to provide an overview, and in my opinion does a very good job of that.

Pages 130 and 131 in the section covering Loyalist uniforms, giving a good overview, but serving as a start point for a reference, and pointing to further research if wanting to say portray Johnson's Royal Green's or King's Royal Regiment of New York, who likely first appeared in the traditional Loyalist Green uniforms, but switched to a more British regular red later in the war for the large raids along the Mohawk Valley.

As well as the uniform reference, this section also includes information around items carried such as the flags and drums.

You might note from the reference pictures that the book has copious numbers of pictures of tabletop figures in action, but with the majority sadly in black and white and just a few in colour on the back cover, which is a shame, as I love seeing how others produce their units and the colour options they choose, but I guess Helion decided to do this to keep the costs of printing within budget.

Part 5 has about fifteen pages covering off the various types of weapon most likely to be encountered in the AWI together with a summary of their effectiveness or lack off and summarising, Muskets, Brown Bess, 1776 Pattern Rifle, Ferguson Rifle, Fusils and Carbines, Committee of Safety Muskets, Pennsylvania Rifles, German Musket, Jaeger Rifles, Amusettes, French (Charleville Model) Muskets, Halberds, Spontoon, and artillery with a detailed look at the American artillery in 1777, Burgoyne's Artillery Train, and Rochambeau's Artillery in 1780. This section is completed with a useful guide to the types of Fortifications and Fieldworks the various factions were capable of building and did build during the war.

My old copy of B P Hughes' classic 'Open Fire', a great reference source on the capabilities of smooth bore artillery.

As an inveterate rules adapter I find this is the kind of information I tend to turn to when checking out rules to see if they capture what a particular weapon or defensive structure was capable of offering to the user and it takes me back to my copy of Open Fire by B.P. Hughes which was referenced by the old WRG Napoleonic rules when they were working out chances to hit and likely casualties at various ranges for artillery.

The AWI was fought on the great oceans, lakes and rivers from mainland America, the wider Atlantic, British home waters, Caribbean and off the Indian sub-continent, providing plenty of scope for age of sail naval wargaming.

For those of us inclined to dip our toes in water occasionally, Part 6 provides a three page overview of the types of vessels used by the Americans, British, French and Spanish, including the types of small ship that might be encountered on the Great Lakes and large rivers, which whets the appetite for those who might choose to delve deeper to model those actions on the tabletop.

Part 7 is a nice inclusion looking as it does at the Strategic Overview and Choices not taken, with DB succinctly capturing the propositions this chapter in the book offers for the more imaginative wargamers among us;

'This section addresses the strategic options considered and plans adopted by British and American leaders during the war. While the American Revolution provides wargamers with many unique and challenging historical scenarios, an examination of other options not taken opens another realm of possibilities. This section includes both a description of the historical options and actions available to each side and notes possible 'what if' scenarios that could be used to generate interesting campaigns or battles.'

Each year from 1775 to 1782 has a section devoted to it that neatly captures the key events for that year and combines them with the conversations and plans being discussed by the opposing factions that could have been implemented instead of those that were, together with the potential forces that could have been deployed to facilitate those alternate plans. 

As an example, when considering Howe's Philadelphia campaign in 1777, DB rightly points out that the decision to move by sea from New York to Head of Elk took 32 days, four times the estimated time and at least twice that if the march had been done overland; but with Howe opting for the sea route to avoid the necessary detachments from his main army being left in his wake to guard his lengthy supply line through New Jersey.

However if Howe had committed to such a march he may well have been able to force Washington into the decisive encounter he was looking to create. If the march had been commenced in late spring he might have been able to defeat Washington and capture Philadelphia by June, and still have had enough time to send troops north to support Burgoyne 

Once Howe landed at the Head of Elk, he could have moved against the Continental supply bases of Reading, Lancaster and York. One of the 'what-ifs' considered in 'Part 7, The Strategic Overview and Choices not taken.'

Similarly having landed at Head of Elk in Delaware, Howe had several options to the one he chose that led to the fight above Chads Ford on the Brandywine river, and DB highlights the option for Howe to do what Washington feared he might have done, which was to advance west towards the Continental supply bases of Reading, Lancaster and York, the loss of which would have had catastrophic consequences for the rebel army and actually caused Washington to manoeuvre his army to allow him to counter just such an advance.

Part 8. Wargaming the American Revolution covers off what you will need to bring a collection to the table, covering miniatures from scales ranging from 6mm to 60mm, metal, plastic and printed resin, with a list of key manufacturers to get one started, together with flag suppliers, rules, different types of terrain, and buildings with a few suppliers listed likewise.

Carnage&GloryII Computer Moderated Wargame Rules

Personally, it was nice to see DB highlighting Carnage & Glory computer moderated rules and we share a common enthusiasm for the great games these rules can produce.

Part 9. Wargaming Scenarios offers a selection of historical scenarios that DB has written initially for use with Carnage & Glory, but here for the book has organised them more generically to allow them to be easily used with other rule sets as well.

Once my collection is where I want it, I am looking forward to bringing his ideas to the table, with the following scenarios offered covering Chatterton Hill, 28th October 1776, Birmingham Hill,  Battle of Brandywine 11th September 1777, Battle of Camden, 16th August 1780, Battle of Eutaw Springs, 8th September 1781 and Battle of Green Springs, 6th July 1781.

Each scenario is illustrated with a nice coloured map that makes the set up very clear.

Each scenario has the historical background, some nicely detailed orders of battle with numbers of men in each unit and a key that references the placement of those units on the table, illustrated with some nice coloured maps that makes the set up very clear. Additionally there are scenario notes giving start times, specific terrain types, the objectives for each side, and the historical outcome to be able to compare with the result of your game.

An extensive library of books enables me to do my hobby, and I am always interested in the Bibliography section of any good book, as that enables me to do further research and learning. DB knows this period and brings a wargamers eye to the types of books that will help get a collection ready for the tabletop.

Finally the Bibliography section lists twenty publications that anyone interested in wargaming the American War of Independence is likely to want to have on their bookshelf, providing as they do excellent background reading to the period, uniform and organisational information, all essential to being able to produce the units needed to grace your table as well as a broad understanding of how these armies manoeuvred and fought.

So in summary, I think Victory or Death is a very useful guide for the experienced or new wargamer looking to get into the American War of Independence/Revolution part of the hobby, and would congratulate David Bonk and Helion for producing a handy resource for this theme and it is definitely a good book to have on the shelf.

JJ