The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777–1780
“[the] engrossing narrative often reads like historical fiction, drawing the reader deeply into the tale and vividly describing a battle scene with an uncanny ability that makes this a genuine page turner.”
In this second volume of his magisterial trilogy on the American Revolution, author Rick Atkinson chronicles the lesser-known period of America’s long struggle for independence, beginning with the critical Saratoga and Philadelphia campaigns of 1777 and ending with the opening of England’s southern strategy in 1780.
Similar to his early works, The Fate of the Day shows his deep research using a variety of primary and secondary sources, but more notably, his engrossing narrative often reads like historical fiction, drawing the reader deeply into the tale and vividly describing a battle scene with an uncanny ability that makes this a genuine page turner.
Beyond covering the major events and battles, Atkinson also shows insightful analysis of the strategy and operational capabilities of the American revolutionaries and their English opponents, bringing out some significant decisions made by generals and politicians that could have changed the course of the war. In particular, he makes the critical point that even though George Washington, always a central character, was not a very successful tactical or operational general, he was certainly the best strategic choice to keep the Continental Army in the field at many critical points of these middle years of the war.
More importantly, the author makes the critically important point that although the British often bested the colonists on the battlefield, they lost the most critical battle, the struggle for political control of the population. In any insurgency, the support of the local populace is the ultimate goal of both sides of the conflict. The colonists quickly assumed political mastery of the majority of the population, establishing their own government that could raise militias, collect taxes, and ensure the loyalty of the population to their cause. The Crown and the generals commanding the British forces continued to assume greater Loyalist support than actually existed, leading to overly optimistic assumptions about the numbers and capabilities of the few Loyalist forces raised.
As well as the political situation in the colonies, the ebb and flow of politics and support for the war in England is also an under-examined area of the war that the author brings a new perspective to. As more recent scholarship has explored, European politics and rivalries both within England and between England and her rivals on the continent had a profound effect on the course of the war. French intervention, and eventually the involvement of Spain and the Netherlands not only gave critical material and eventually military support to the American cause, but it also diverted significant British military resources as the Crown had to consider protecting its critical Caribbean colonies and the safety of their home waters.
The alliance between the colonies and France after the American victory at Saratoga introduced new operational possibilities for the colonists. But the alliance had tremendous growing pains as the new allies disagreed on strategy and objectives. During the critical period from 1778–1780 both sides struggled with allocating military resources and strategic plans. Washington needed the French Navy to assist in campaigns against British garrisons along the coast, particularly his desire to attack New York City, and the British continued to divide their forces between multiple objectives, none of them likely to bring about a decisive victory over the Continental Army.
An almost forgotten theater of the war the author addresses is the western frontier. The British maintained strong alliances with the native tribes along the Appalachian Mountain chain and in the Ohio River Valley, and during this period, the colonists conducted numerous punitive expeditions to secure their western settlements from attack, showing that the war extended far beyond the Atlantic seaboard in fighting that was particularly vicious and brutal.
As the colonists neared an economic crisis prompted by severe inflation and the effects of the British blockade, the Crown finally decides on a southern strategy to once again stir Loyalist support in the Carolinas and Georgia, hoping to secure these southern colonies even as the first tentative feelers begin about negotiating an end to the struggle. As the volume ends, the British forces have their first success in capturing Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina, beginning what will be the final phase of the struggle.
This volume covers a great deal of the middle part of the war that was often quickly passed by in previous histories. As Atkinson’s excellent research and brisk narrative show, this was the crucial part of the conflict when the American nation stood for independence even as the English government struggled to find a way to successfully quash its rebellious colonies. Marvelously timed with the beginning of America’s 250th Anniversary, it is a worthy intermediate in this trilogy.