Founded by the Legendary Robert Rogers and Later Led by John Graves Simcoe, a Loyalist Unit that Fought Alongside the British Army Against the American Patriots Prior to the British attack on Long Island in August 1776, French and Indian War hero Robert Rogers organized a regiment to join the fight--but not on the side of his native New Hampshire. Named in honor of Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III, Rogers's regiment recruited the bulk of its soldiers from the large number of Loyalist refugees on Staten Island who had fled from New York. Rogers's command of the unit was short-lived, however, after a humiliating defeat in late October by a surprise attack on his headquarters. Under new leadership, the unit played a decisive role and suffered heavy casualties at the battle of Brandywine that brought them their first favorable attention from the British high command. With this performance, and under the able leadership of John Graves Simcoe, the Queen's American Rangers--sometimes known as "Simcoe's Rangers"--were frequently assigned to serve alongside British regular troops in many battles, including Monmouth, Springfield, Charleston, and Yorktown. Receiving frequent high praise from Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, the Commander in Chief of the British Army in America, the unit was placed on the American Establishment of the British Army in May 1779, a status conferred on provincial units that had performed valuable services during the war, and was renamed the 1st American Regiment. Before the end of the war, the rangers were fully incorporated into the British regular army, one of only four Loyalist units to be so honored. The Queen's American Rangers by historian Donald J. Gara is the first book-length account of this storied unit. Based on extensive primary source research, the book traces the complete movements, command changes, and battle performances of the rangers, from their first muster to their formal incorporation into the British Army and ultimate emigration to Canada on land grants conferred by a grateful British crown.

A commander's account of the campaigns of his famous regiment Robert Rogers and his Rangers are familiar to students of the early wars of America. During the French and Indian War, they won lasting renown originating an operational style that has endured to be an essential component of modern armies. Scant few years after the defeat of France in the New World another war would come. It would be a bitter conflict between Crown and colony, neighbour against neighbour, friend against former friend. As the emergent American nation began its painful birth, its people divided between those who fought for old allegiances and those who sought independence. Robert Rogers allied himself to the British cause. As a 'loyalist' he formed a new regiment--The Queen's Rangers. Commanded by John Simcoe, with whose name they would forever be associated, these rangers embodied the spirit of their forebears. They were light troops, clad in green, expert shots, skilled in scouting and ambush. Now there was even a mounted contingent--the Huzzars. This fascinating book chronicles the campaign Queen's Rangers against the new Continental Army, Militia and its old enemies the French and the fierce Indians of the Eastern Woodlands--every action described in detail by their leader.

During the American War for Independence in Augustand September, 1777, the British invaded Delaware aspart of an end-run campaign to defeat GeorgeWashington and the Americans and capture the capitalat Philadelphia. For a few short weeks the hills andstreams in and around Newark and Iron Hill and at Cooch's Bridge along the Christina River were the focus of worldhistory as the British marched through the Diamond State between the Chesapeake Bay and Brandywine Creek.This is the story of the British invasion of Delaware,one of the lesser known but critical watershedmoments in American history.

Prologue: lives, interrupted -- Fathers and sons -- Moses and Phoebe -- Son of Linonia -- The unhappy misunderstanding -- More extensive public service -- A very genteel looking fellow -- The terrible crisis of my earthly fate -- Post mortem

John Graves Simcoe (1752 -1806) was first a British army officer who saw action in the American Revolutionary War, in the Siege of Boston. During the siege, he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment of Foot. In 1777, Simcoe was offered the command of the Queen's Rangers. Simcoe is a central villain in the 2014 AMC drama Turn, portrayed by Samuel Roukin. Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Rangers, titled "A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers" from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War, which was published in 1787. THE military journal of Lt. Col. Simcoe, was printed by the author in 1787, for distribution among a few of his personal friends. The production has hitherto, it would seem, entirely escaped the attention of those who are curious in the history of our Revolutionary War. As a record of some interesting particulars and local occurrences of that memorable struggle, and as a well written documentary illustration of the times and the circumstances of the American Rebellion, it deserves circulation and favour. Simcoe's ambition invariably led him to aspire at command; and even when the army first landed at Staten Island he went to New York to request the command of the Queen's Rangers a provincial corps then newly raised, which he did not finally obtain until after the battle of Brandywine, in October, 1777. He knew that common opinion had imprinted on the partisan the most dishonourable stain, and associated the idea with that of dishonesty, rapine, and falsehood. Yet, on the other hand, he also knew that the command of a light corps had been considered as the best source of instruction, as a means of acquiring a habit of self-dependence for resources, and of prompt decision so peculiarly requisite in trusts of importance. The corps of Rangers claimed all the attention of the now Major-commandant Simcoe, and contributed greatly to lessen his paternal fortune, for though warmly alive to the interests of others, he was always inattentive to his own. The incidents, as recorded, were written out just after the war, while fresh in the memory and the note book of the author. In the narrative we get an interior view of the camp of the best of the royal partisan warriors, and receive an impression of the spirit of' the contest, the feelings of parties, and the state of the country and people, not so well imparted by any previous publication. Simcoe was a highly educated gentleman, and a brave and ingenuous soldier, enjoying the confidence of his superiors in command, the affection of his Rangers, and the respect of his American opponents. We perceive so much of interest to the inhabitants and natives of several parts of the country, that we do not doubt the book will be sought with eager curiosity, and it certainly will well repay a careful perusal. We can merely indicate, here, the neighborhoods of New York and Philadelphia, the grounds of New Jersey, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, and those quarters, generally, where the war was waged at different times, as the fields in which the operations of the corps were performed. We may mention that no account so full and circumstantial of the British campaign of 1781, in Virginia, including Arnold's doings, and Cornwallis's movements, assisted by Simcoe and Tarleton, has, till now, come before us in print. A large proportion of the volume is filled with the details of this concluding scene of the Revolution, finely illustrated by military maps from the author's clever drawings.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Turn: Washington’s Spies, now an original series on AMC Based on remarkable new research, acclaimed historian Alexander Rose brings to life the true story of the spy ring that helped America win the Revolutionary War. For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and deep into the shadowy underworld of double agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed men who inhabited this wilderness of mirrors—including the spymaster at the heart of it all. In the summer of 1778, with the war poised to turn in his favor, General George Washington desperately needed to know where the British would strike next. To that end, he unleashed his secret weapon: an unlikely ring of spies in New York charged with discovering the enemy’s battle plans and military strategy. Washington’s small band included a young Quaker torn between political principle and family loyalty, a swashbuckling sailor addicted to the perils of espionage, a hard-drinking barkeep, a Yale-educated cavalryman and friend of the doomed Nathan Hale, and a peaceful, sickly farmer who begged Washington to let him retire but who always came through in the end. Personally guiding these imperfect everyday heroes was Washington himself. In an era when officers were gentlemen, and gentlemen didn’ t spy, he possessed an extraordinary talent for deception—and proved an adept spymaster. The men he mentored were dubbed the Culper Ring. The British secret service tried to hunt them down, but they escaped by the closest of shaves thanks to their ciphers, dead drops, and invisible ink. Rose’s thrilling narrative tells the unknown story of the Revolution–the murderous intelligence war, gunrunning and kidnapping, defectors and executioners—that has never appeared in the history books. But Washington’s Spies is also a spirited, touching account of friendship and trust, fear and betrayal, amid the dark and silent world of the spy.

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The British Surprise Attack into New Jersey and New York to Support Their Planned Invasion of the Southern Colonies After two years of defeats and reverses, 1778 had been a year of success for George Washington and the Continental Army. France had entered the war as the ally of the United States, the British had evacuated Philadelphia, and the redcoats had been fought to a standstill at the Battle of Monmouth. While the combined French-American effort to capture Newport was unsuccessful, it lead to intelligence from British-held New York that indicated a massive troop movement was imminent. British officers were selling their horses and laying in supplies for their men. Scores of empty naval transports were arriving in the city. British commissioners from London were offering peace, granting a redress of every grievance expressed in 1775. Spies repeatedly reported conversations of officers talking of leaving. To George Washington, and many others, it appeared the British would evacuate New York City, and the Revolutionary War might be nearing a successful conclusion. Then, on September 23, 1778, six thousand British troops erupted into neighboring Bergen County, New Jersey, followed the next day by three thousand others surging northward into Westchester County, New York. Washington now faced a British Army stronger than Burgoyne's at Saratoga the previous year. What, in the face of all intelligence to the contrary, had changed with the British? Through period letters, reports, newspapers, journals, pension applications, and other manuscripts from archives in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Germany, the complete picture of Britain's last great push around New York City can now be told. The strategic situation of Britain's tenuous hold in America is intermixed with the tactical views of the soldiers in the field and the local inhabitants, who only saw events through their narrow vantage points. This is the first publication to properly narrate the events of this period as one campaign. Grand Forage 1778: The Battleground Around New York City by historian Todd W. Braisted explores the battles, skirmishes, and maneuvers that left George Washington and Sir Henry Clinton playing a deadly game of chess in the lower Hudson Valley as a prelude to the British invasion of the Southern colonies.

Nine Historians and Writers Investigate the Role of Cavalry in the War for Independence.

- Vibrant color paintings illustrate soldiers and battles of the war - Color photos of seldom-seen period artifacts such as uniforms, weapons, and other equipment In this collection, renowned artist Don Troiani teams up with leading artifact historian James L. Kochan to present the American Revolution as it has existed only in our imaginations: in living color.From Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Washington to Cornwallis, from the Minute Men to the Black Watch, these pages are packed with scenes of grand action and great characters, recreated in the vivid blues and reds that defined the Revolutionary era. Troiani's depictions of these legendary fife-and-drum soldiers are based on firsthand accounts and, wherever possible, surviving artifacts. Scores of color photographs of these objects--many of them from private collections and seen here for the very first time--accompany the paintings. Items range from muskets and beautifully ornate swords to more unique pieces such as badges with unit insignia or patriotic slogans and Baron von Steuben's liquor chest.More than just a glimpse into a world long past, this is the closest the modern reader can get to experiencing the Revolutionary War firsthand.