of Norman Ackroyd previously published in the journal Archipelago. Allen ends by describing his book as “a complement to the study of Irish writing and art in their coastal and archipelagic contexts,” but this crucial volume will energize and long sustain these and much wider conversations about humanity, culture, and our relationship to the nature and environment of the terraqueous globe. Colin Dewey, PhD Oakland, California Valcour: The 1776 Campaign that Saved the Cause of Liberty by Jack Kelly (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2021, 285pp, maps, illus, notes, biblio, index, isbn 9781-250-24711-7; $38.50hc) The 1759 Battle of Quebec put all of Canada under British control, and when the colonists to the south declared independence a decade and a half later, their leaders reasoned that their northern neighbors would be eager to join them in revolt. But the attempt to “free” Canada did not turn out well for the revolutionaries. The rout of colonial arms and the resultant
by Kurt D. Voss All proceeds from this pictorial history benefit the ELISSA preservation fund.
Published by Arcadia Publishing and Galveston Historical Foundation $21.99. 128 pages, 200 photographs Autographed copies available at (409) 763-1877, or online at:
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disorderly retreat set the stage for the Battle of Valcour and introduced to history the American general from this conflict remembered by history second only to George Washington—Benedict Arnold. His later treason notwithstanding, in the years before he turned his coat, Arnold was an American hero. What he did to save the foundering cause in 1776 is the subject of Jack Kelly’s latest book, Valcour: The 1776 Campaign that Saved the Cause of Liberty. Kelly’s book reads more like a novel than a historical exegesis. He begins with an unsettling description of the condition of American survivors of the fighting, the harrowing retreat, and the pox. Historians concentrate on battles, but disease is often more destructive than artillery, bombs, and bullets. Kelly’s description of the suffering associated with smallpox leaves nothing to the imagination. Moreover, the human suffering created organizational confusion. Reorganizing a defeated army is a herculean challenge under the best circumstances, and rebuilding a defeated army infested with a highly contagious and deadly disease is all but impossible. Notwithstanding, that was the challenge facing revolutionary leaders during the few months between the defeat and retreat and the Battle of Valcour. The Battle of Valcour is a tale of defeat for the American cause. British General Guy Carleton destroyed the American lake fleet, took hundreds of prisoners, killed scores and drove the Americans south to Fort Ticonderoga, all at small cost to his army and navy. Bottled up in a decaying fortification with exhausted, dispirited, and diseased men and little in the way of military stores, the Americans were ripe for annihilation at his hands. But considering the condition of the American forces after the defeat in Canada and the chaotic retreat south, Carleton’s victory was in many ways more a victory for the American cause—and that is the crux of Valcour. Credit for turning almost-certain defeat into a loss that saved the cause goes largely to Benedict Arnold. Kelly makes a case for Arnold the hero. He does not magnify the general’s contributions, but rather weaves them in with the accomplishments and failings of the other officers responsible for turning severe tragedy into mere misfortune. Arnold is presented warts and all.
Valcour will not reduce the smut on Arnold’s image, but it may illuminate his positive contribution in the war for independence. Valcour is well written and a delight to read. It will be of interest to general readers as well as those devoted to war histories and biography. David O. Whitten, PhD Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina New York’s War of 1812: Politics, Society, and Combat by Richard V. Barbuto (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 2021, 285pp, illus, maps, notes, biblio, index, isbn 978-08061-6833-3, $39.95hc) The thesis of Richard V. Barbuto’s latest book, New York’s War of 1812: Politics, Society, and Combat, is that the War of 1812 was New York’s war. Barbuto, a former career army officer and emeritus professor of history at the US Army Command & General Staff College, maintains that much of the fighting took place on or near New York’s borders and that the war affected New Yorkers’ lives and fortunes more than anywhere else.There were four military aspects to New York’s war. First, US pre-war strategy envisioned an advance from the northern part of the state into Canada to seize Montreal, and perhaps Quebec. Gaining control of the two cities would serve as a bargaining chip in prospective peace negotiations with Britain to negotiate an end to the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen and Indian tribes’ attacks on land-hungry American settlers, which the United States thought Britain abetted. Although the 1812 invasion petered out pitifully (and the subsequent 1813 invasion was a debacle), northern New York saw intermittent battles and raids. Second, New York had an additional battlefront: the Niagara frontier in the western part of the state saw some of the war’s most bitter fighting. Third, both sides raced to build warships on Lakes Ontario, Erie, and Champlain, recognizing the strategic importance of maritime supremacy on the inland lakes. Finally, the defense of Manhattan, then the largest city and port in the United States, required troops and fortifications against an expected seaborne British invasion, as there was in 1776. Into the breach stepped New York Governor Daniel Tompkins, who, accordSEA HISTORY 176, AUTUMN 2021