Review by Larry S. Sterett
Contributing Editor
SPECIAL OPERATIONS DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, by Robert L. Tonsetic. ©2013. Published by Casemate Publishers, Dept. TGM, 980 Darby Road, Havertown, PA 19083. Price: $32.95, plus shipping. Available at most bookstores.
This 276-page hardbound volume is devoted to a subject often overlooked among devotees of military history. Although many people have heard of Roger’s Rangers from an earlier era, few seem to realize or are aware of the fact of small, specialized groups of men, and a few women, being used to achieve certain objectives. This volume is an attempt to rectify that lack of knowledge.
Consisting of nine chapters, from The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga through George Rogers Clark’s March to Vincennes, plus nine maps, it does an excellent job of covering the subject. Other features include an epilogue, endnotes for each chapter, a bibliography, and an index. There are also 23 black and white photographs of markers, monuments, paintings, and sites relating to the text. Among these are views of Fort Ticonderoga as it appears today, a marker indicating where Lt. Colonel Patrick Ferguson fell during the battle of Kings Mountain, and a painting of George Rogers Clark’s small force of Americans attacking Fort Sackville at Vincennes, IN.
Each of the chapters is devoted to a specific group or area action, such as the major actions of Whitcomb’s Rangers, John Paul Jones’ raids along Britain’s coast, and partisan warfare in the northern and southern theaters. Most history books deal with the major battles, but without the aid of the many smaller scrapes, such as the New Providence raid to capture needed gunpowder and British artillery pieces, both of which the Continental Army had in short supply.
Special Forces, such as the SEAL teams, SAS, and others today receive a good bit of publicity, but they are not new. Such forces, often designated as “rangers,” have been with us for more than two centuries. (This reviewer’s great, great, great grandfather fought as a member of the Westmorland County Rangers during this period of time, but probably against the Indians allied with the British, rather than actual British troops.) They can achieve success in “hit and run” operations where larger forces might not be able.
For military history students or fans, or anyone wanting to learn more about the early days of American independence, this is an excellent book to provide such information on an often overlooked subject. The American “war for independence” was not fought just along the eastern seaboard, or on the Atlantic Ocean, but clear to the Mississippi River. (The Liberty Bell of the West can be viewed on Kaskaskia Island, that part of Illinois which is accessible only from Missouri, thanks to the Mississippi River changing course.) George Rogers Clark on his way to capture Vincennes traveled from Fort Massas on the Ohio River northwest to Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River, 75 miles south of St. Louis, then back eastward across southern Illinois to Vincennes on the Wabash River.
