2010 Retrospective

New Year's greetings from North Dakota.

True to its name, A Miniature History of the American Revolution has covered only a small part of the totality of the American War of Independence. Posts last year were primarily concerned with the American invasion of Canada in 1775 and the late-war struggle for the Carolinas. My intention was to research those subjects extensively in the hope that I would be able to offer original perspectives on those subjects. I think I've had some success in this regard, and below I list some personal highlights of the past year. Perhaps this list will also be of some service to new readers as it points to what I think are some of my better posts.

In an upcoming post I will describe my plans for 2011.

2010 Highlights

1. I started the year by describing the battle of Hanging Rock, South Carolina, which I believe is one of the most dramatic battles of the war, and an inspiring case of rugged rebels taking on, and largely defeating, a superior force of British provincials and Loyalist militia. I started by offering a new interpretation of where the battle took place and then presented a blow-by-blow account of the fighting.

2. Last month I wrote about the battle of Longue-Pointe in Canada. This was a brief and one-sided affair, but I was pleased to once again be able to offer a new interpretation of where the battle took place.

3. Another personal highlight concerned the battle of Fishing Creek, South Carolina. I originally decided to write about this battle chiefly because I had written about the rest of Thomas Sumter's battles in the summer of 1780, not because I expected to have anything terribly interesting to say. However, in studying this battle I concluded that a historical injustice has been done to Sumter and he was not as culpable for the American defeat as some writers have asserted (see here and here, including comments made in footnotes).

4. Another subject about which I was surprised to be able to have something new to say concerned the American capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. One of the more interesting tidbits: Samuel Adams and John Hancock probably played a more important role in the planning of the expedition than has been generally recognized (a relatively obscure journal by one James Jeffrey shows that Adams and Hancock could have learned about the weak state of the fort 4 days before they met with Silas Deane, Edward Mott, and other conspirators; a copy of the journal can be found here).

5. I also enjoyed reading and writing about the battle of Ramsour's Mill in North Carolina. I don't think my treatment of this subject yielded any great revelations, but at least I was able to provide food for thought on this subject.

6. Quite a few blog posts were devoted to the siege of Fort Saint-Jean in Canada and several minor engagements that took place around the fort. These skirmishes may have been small in size, but I was pleased to be able to describe them in considerable detail (see here, here, here, and here).

Some other interesting subjects that I touched upon only briefly included the battle of Port Royal, and the battle of Cowpens, in South Carolina, and a remarkable painting of French and British infantry in action on St. Kitts.