Nestled on the banks of the Cape Fear River, Wilmington, North Carolina, remains famous as a blockade-running port during the Civil War. Not as renowned is the city's equally vital role during the Revolution. Through the port came news, essential supplies, and critical materials for the Continental Army. Both sides contended for the city and both sides occupied it at different times. Its merchant-based economy created a hotbed of dissension over issues of trade and taxes before the Revolution, and the presence of numerous Loyalists among Whigs vying for independence generated considerable tension among civilians. Based on more than 100 eyewitness accounts and other primary sources, this volume chronicles the fascinating story of Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear during the Revolution.

Situated on the banks of the Cape Fear River, Wilmington is awash in unusual tales and legends. A prevalent pirate hideaway, the area harbored the infamous Blackbeard and the cunning Calico Jack Rackham. Since its initial settlement, the region has witnessed an abundance of fantastical lore, including passionately fought duels, explosive train wrecks, Revolutionary and Civil War heroes and some legends that are said to take the form of apparitions. At the local Cape Fear Wine & Beer pub, the ghost of a fallen redcoat can't seem to get enough of a frothy porter brewed from yeast salvaged from an early nineteenth-century shipwreck. Wonder at these and other fascinating and strange tales as local author John Hirchak reveals the legendary history of Wilmington and Cape Fear.

It has been said that while the famous battles of the American Revolution were fought in the North, the decisive battles were fought in the South. During the Revolutionary War, no place was more important than the southeastern part of North Carolina. Based on eyewitness accounts (many never before published), including journals, diaries, military reports, archaeological studies, and family histories, this is the story of Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear during the Revolution.

This book provides a thorough introduction to the War of American Independence. Told with great authority and clarity the book describes and details the effects of each notable event from 1770 to 1781. The book examines each of the major battles and skirmishes but does not get bogged down in deep analysis of battle formations and strategies. Instead the book concentrates on the war as a whole and its political and ecomonic impacts on Britain and America and consequently how each commander's startegy was affected. The book is littered with anecdotes to give the reader a clearer understanding of how the war affected the lives of those involved.

In The Road to Guilford Courthouse, one of the most acclaimed military histories of the Revolutionary War ever written, John Buchanan explored the first half of the critical Southern Campaign and introduced readers to its brilliant architect, Major General Nathanael Greene. In this long-awaited sequel, Buchanan brings this story to its dramatic conclusion. Greene’s Southern Campaign was the most difficult of the war. With a supply line stretching hundreds of miles northward, it revealed much about the crucial military art of provision and transport. Insufficient manpower a constant problem, Greene attempted to incorporate black regiments into his army, a plan angrily rejected by the South Carolina legislature. A bloody civil war between Rebels and Tories was wreaking havoc on the South at the time, forcing Greene to address vigilante terror and restore civilian government. As his correspondence with Thomas Jefferson during the campaign shows, Greene was also bedeviled by the conflict between war and the rights of the people, and the question of how to set constraints under which a free society wages war. Joining Greene is an unforgettable cast of characters—men of strong and, at times, antagonistic personalities—all of whom are vividly portrayed. We also follow the fate of Greene’s tenacious foe, Lieutenant Colonel Francis, Lord Rawdon. By the time the British evacuate Charleston—and Greene and his ragged, malaria-stricken, faithful Continental Army enter the city in triumph—the reader has witnessed in telling detail one of the most punishing campaigns of the Revolution, culminating in one of its greatest victories.

These tales of the supernatural are an intrinsic part of the rich folklore of the coastal area, and they have been written with as much attention to authenticity and historical accuracy as possible.

Down the Wild Cape Fear: A River Journey through the Heart of North Carolina

A groundbreaking account of the American Revolution—from the bestselling author of American Dynasty In this major new work, iconoclastic historian and political chronicler Kevin Phillips upends the conventional reading of the American Revolution by debunking the myth that 1776 was the struggle’s watershed year. Focusing on the great battles and events of 1775, Phillips surveys the political climate, economic structures, and military preparations of the crucial year that was the harbinger of revolution, tackling the eighteenth century with the same skill and perception he has shown in analyzing contemporary politics and economics. The result is a dramatic account brimming with original insights about the country we eventually became.

In the early 1770s, the 33rd Foot acquired a reputation as the best-trained regiment in the British Army. This reputation would be tested beyond breaking point over the course of the American Revolutionary War. From Saratoga to South Carolina, the 33rd was one of the most heavily-engaged units – on either side – throughout the war. The 33rd’s rise to prominence stemmed from its colonel, Charles, Earl Cornwallis, who took over in 1766. In a period where senior officers wielded huge influence over their own regiments, Cornwallis proved to be the best kind of commander. Diligent and meticulous, he focussed on improving the 33rd in every regard, from drills and field exercises to the quality of the unit’s weapons and clothing. The 33rd subsequently became known as the ‘pattern’ for the army, the unit on which other successful regiments were based. Prior to the outbreak of fighting in the American colonies in 1775, the 33rd’s abilities, particularly in new light infantry drills, were frequently praised. At one point they even assisted in training the elite regiments of the Foot Guards. The 33rd missed the first year of the Revolutionary War, but sailed in early 1776 as part of the ill-fated expedition to capture Charleston, in South Carolina. After joining the main British force in North America outside New York in August 1776, the 33rd was brigaded with the best units in the army, including the composite grenadier and light infantry battalions. Over the next five years the regiment engaged in every major battle of the Revolutionary War, from Long Island and Brandywine to Germantown and Monmouth – it even had one unlucky company of recruits present at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights, and the subsequent surrender at Saratoga. In 1780 ‘The Pattern’ was part of Britain’s southern expedition, which put Cornwallis in command of the Crown’s efforts to subdue the Carolinas. Here the 33rd provided perhaps their greatest service – and fought their most desperate battles – at Camden and Guildford Courthouse. They marched to eventual defeat at Yorktown, but not all of the regiment’s companies were captured, and some continued to serve actively elsewhere right up until the end of the war. This work is partly a regimental history, giving the most detailed account yet of the 33rd‘s actions during the Revolutionary War. It is also, however, a broader study of the British Army during the revolutionary era. It assesses what a single regiment can tell us about wider issues affecting Britain’s military. Everything from training, weapons and uniforms, organization, transportation, camp life, discipline, food, finances and the role of women and camp followers is addressed alongside the marching, fighting and dying done by the men of the regiment between 1775 and 1783. Primary sources, particularly engaging accounts such as those of Captain William Dansey or John Robert Shaw, a regular enlisted man, provide an engrossing narrative to this part social, part military history of the British Army at war in the late eighteenth century.

Freedom of speech was restricted during the Revolutionary War. In the great struggle for independence, those who remained loyal to the British crown were persecuted with loss of employment, eviction from their homes, heavy taxation, confiscation of property and imprisonment. Loyalist Americans from all walks of life were branded as traitors and enemies of the people. By the end of the war, 80,000 had fled their homeland to face a dismal exile from which few would return, outcasts of a new republic based on democratic values of liberty, equality and justice.