| True for the Cause of Liberty: The Second Spartan Regiment in the American Revolution Contributor(s): Gilbert, Catherine R. (Author), Gilbert, Oscar E. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1612003273 ISBN-13: 9781612003276 Publisher: Casemate OUR PRICE: $29.66 Product Type: Hardcover Published: November 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) - History | Military - United States |
| Dewey: 973.34 |
| LCCN: 2016429653 |
| Physical Information: 1" H x 6" W x 9.1" (1.20 lbs) 328 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 18th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Following their defeat at Saratoga in upstate New York in 1777, the British decided to implement a Southern Strategy against the American insurgents, a plan to "roll up" the rebellious colonies from Georgia through the Carolinas to Virginia. Instead, they triggered a savage partisan war of raids, ambushes, assassinations, and large pitched battles that rivaled any fought in the northern colonies. Untrained Patriot militiamen--occasionally stiffened by contingents of the Continental Line--were pitted against Britain's Cherokee and Creek allies, and Loyalist militia and British regulars led by General Cornwallis and his two ablest subordinates, Patrick Ferguson and the ruthless Banastre "Bloody Ban" Tarleton. In October 1780 the Loyalist militia was virtually destroyed at King's Mountain, the battle that Lord Clinton, the British commander in Chief, said was "the first link in a chain of events that followed each other in regular succession until they at last ended in the total loss of America." Other defeats at Blackstock's Farm and Cowpens, and a Pyhrric victory at Guilford Courthouse, gutted the British Southern Army and drove Cornwallis north to encirclement and surrender at Yorktown. This study uses battlefield terrain analysis and the words of the officers and common soldiers, from pension records and little-known interviews, to bring to life the crucial role of one militia regiment--the Second Spartans of South Carolina--that fought in virtually every action of the vicious back-country war that decided the fate of America. Or as one private in the Second Spartans said, expressing admiration for his colonel: ". . . a few Brave Men stood true for the cause of liberty." |
Contributor Bio(s): Gilbert, Catherine R.: - Catherine R. Gilbert is a retired speech pathologist and audiologist. Her interest in genealogy led to extensive research into the organization and function of the Southern state militias (from Maryland to the Carolinas) in the American Revolution. With Ed, she co-authored True for the Cause of Liberty: The Second Spartan Regiment in the American Revolution; Cowpens 1781: Turning Point of the American Revolution. Catherine holds the non-profit Presidential Service Center Distinguished Service Medal.Gilbert, Oscar E.: - Oscar E. "Ed" Gilbert Jr. served as an artilleryman and NCO instructor in the Marine Corps Reserve before earning a Ph.D., working for the Geological Survey in Alabama, and teaching at Auburn University. He enjoyed a three-decade career in worldwide oil exploration. Ed was the author of many books, including Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea (2006), and Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam (2008). He was awarded the 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa (2015). Ed passed away in February 2019. |