Saturday, July 2, 2016

A Good Book, not Merely for the 4th of July


     During junior and senior high school, I lived in the heart of many events from the American Revolution: Philadelphia, Valley Forge, Germantown, and Brandywine. I rode my bike and hiked in a state park that had been a camp for the Continental Army. My high school mascot was the Colonial: not an animal, but a person.

     Outside of the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, we did not do much about the war in the Southern colonies, except for the grand finale at Yorktown. Walter Edgar's book fascinated me, because it filled in the gaps.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1056100.Partisans_and_Redcoats

     Edgar is a retired history professor from the University of South Carolina, and is a major presence in the state's Public Broadcasting system. I have not heard him in public, but I hope to one day.

     The interesting thing about his book is that there were lots of Loyalists or Tories, not only in the South. In fact, there were likely more Americans on that side bearing arms than in Patriot ranks. In South Carolina's Upstate, land disputes between people often determined the allegiance, but it was not the only factor. For example, if your rival was a Patriot, you supported the Crown.

     A good book to read!


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