Casemate's "Revolutionary Forts: New York" is an illustrated history and travel guidebook. It features 23 forts, spread along Long Island, the Hudson, Delaware, and Mohawk Rivers and Lake Champlain. Some are famous and well preserved, like Fort Ticonderoga, others are obscure and have disappeared without a trace, like Fort Defiance.
After the title page featuring a modern photograph of French Castle at Fort Niagara, this oversized work commences with a timeline running from the building of the first Fort Amsterdam in 1625 and continuing to the British cession of the six Northwest Territory and two upstate New York forts to the United States in 1796. Between those dates it fixes the actions at New York forts in the context of the greater war. The easy-to-read map is a valuable aid to follow while progressing through the book. After an introduction to the evolution of forts and their nature during the Revolutionary era, the narrative for each fort is presented, all concluding with a sidebar "The Fort Today". Other sidebars provide biographical information on personalities associated with the forts, military units, ships and weapons employed by both sides. The text is liberally supplemented by maps, sketches and historic and contemporary pictures.
As a continuing learner about early American history, I learned much from these 160 pages. I knew Illinois has a Tadeusz Kosciusko Day. I now know his principal contribution to our revolution was his engineering talents reflected in the designs of Revolutionary forts and that he later served as Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army. I was aware that British Major John Andre was captured while traveling to meet traitor Benedict Arnold. I learned that, rather than being a dispensable underling, he was head of British Secret Service in North America and that his negotiations began with Arnold's wife, Peggy Shippen and ended with his clever, but unsuccessful, defense in his trial for spying. Those are just a few of the items I found of interest. You will find your own.
For War History Network readers who find themselves in New York, this volume is a travel guide to sites where history happened. Each chapter is sufficiently independent to be profitably studied as your itinerary directs. Whether your interests are geographical or historical, "Revolutionary Forts: New York" is one you will want to read, sit on your coffee table and pick up to peruse again.
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