The American Revolution Round Table of New York

New York's Revolutionaries
Sybil Ludington
Sybil Ludington (1761-1839), at the age of 16, rode alone through an April night, from her home in Putnam County, NY, to warn local militia of a British advance upon the Continental Army's supply depot in Danbury, CT.

Next Meeting

Date: Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Time: 7:30 pm

Where: On-line via Zoom

Speaker: Don N. Hagist

Subject: Waging War in America 1775-1783: Operational Challenges of Five Armies During the American Revolution

Studies of the campaigns of the 1775–1783 American War for Independence often suffer from a lack of understanding of the operational aspects of the armies involved. This collection of essays looks at many facets of military operations in America, showing how the armies (British, French, Spanish, German auxiliaries, and the nascent Continental Army) involved adapted their recruitment, training, tactics, and logistics to the specific challenges of this war. The European forces adapted – much more readily than they are given credit for – to the needs of this particular conflict. The British Army adopted a doctrine of open-order light infantry tactics and raised large numbers of Loyalist troops in the theater of war. The British government obtained the assistance of regiments from several German states, established military organizations that relied heavily on specialized skirmishing troops – jäger – and chasseur companies composed of picked men after the fashion of the British light infantry. The French government sent an expeditionary force from its regular army, while Spain largely employed colonial troops from its North American holdings; each of these armies faced significant logistical challenges while mounting major campaigns. Not least, of course, the American colonies rose to the monumental task of recruiting, training, and supplying an army created specifically for the conflict.

This collection of essays examines various aspects of the problems faced by each of these forces, and the solutions that they achieved – British training of regulars and raising of Loyalist militia, German adaptation of tactics, French and Spanish logistics and campaigning, and American recruiting and conscription. The authors featured have distinguished themselves by their use of primary sources to re-examine aspects of the period’s armies long obscured by assumptions or inaccurate generalizations. Throughout their writings conventional wisdom is challenged, and established assumptions are dispelled by well-documented evidence, showing the real strengths and weaknesses of wide array of professional and part-time military organizations involved in this world-changing war.

Waging War in America 1775-1783

Don N. Hagist

Don N. Hagist, managing editor for Journal of the American Revolution (allthingsliberty.com), is an avid historical researcher and has spent much of his life studying and researching the history of the American Revolution, focusing on the British soldiers who served in America during that war. Besides several books, he has published numerous articles on the subject. He gives lectures in America and Great Britain, and is available for speaking engagements. Don is an engineer for a major medical device manufacturer, and also writes humor material for syndicated cartoonists. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Cost: As long as ARRT-NY is meeting "virtually," our Board of Governors has decided to forego all charges. ARRT-NY's meetings are currently free and open to all.

Instructions for connecting to each Zoom meeting will be e-mailed to all members, together with their newsletters, approximately two weeks before the event. Non-members and former members are welcome, but requested to register 24 hours in advance of the meeting by e-mailing Board Member and Meeting Co-Host Andrea Meyer.

Future ARRT-NY Meetings

Dr. Joanne Grasso, Program Chairman, has arranged for the following scholar to address our February meeting:

  • February 4, 2025 -- Dr. Kevin Weddle, The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution
  • April 1, 2025 -- William Hogeland, Hamilton Scheme: An Epic Tale of Money and Power in the American Founding

    • Also scheduled, with topic to be announced:
  • June 3, 2025

    • About ARRT-NY Meetings

    The Coffee House

    For ten years (2011-2020), ARRT-NY met at The Coffee House in mid-Manhattan which, notwithstanding its name, is a private business-persons' luncheon club that has been in existence over a century. It was dedicated exclusively to ARRT-NY for five evenings each year. Unfortunately, that situation has not survived, and ARRT-NY is searching for new arrangements for future social gatherings.

    Take a look at our photo gallery of a recent meeting!

    ARRT-NY's Recent Featured Speakers

    October 2024 Robert P. Watson George Washington’s Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and a Nation
    June 2024 Jack Kelly God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America's Most Hated Man
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    February 2024 Richard Melnick Long Island City in 1776: The Revolution Comes to Queens
    December 2023 Ricardo A. Herrea Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778
    October 2023 George Kotlik East Florida in the Revolutionary Era, 1763-1785
    June 2023 Christopher F. Minty Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City
    April 2023 Benjamin L. Carp The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution
    February 2023 Ann M. Becker Smallpox in Washington's Army: Disease, War, and Society During the Revolutionary War
    December 2022 John Buchanan The Battle of Musgrove's Mill, 1780
    October 2022 Andrew Porwancher The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton
    June 2022 Christian McBurney Dark Voyage: An American Privateer's War on Britain's African Slave Trade
    April 2022 Per-Olof Hasselgren Revolutionary Surgeons: Patriots and Loyalists on the Cutting Edge
    February 2022 Michael C. Harris Germantown: A Military History of the Battle for Philadelphia, October 4, 1777
    December 2021 Steven Elliott Surviving the Winters: Housing Washington's Army during the American Revolution
    October 2021 Norman Desmarais The Road to Yorktown: The French Campaigns in the American Revolution, 1780-1783
    June 2021 John Buchanan "The Southern Campaign"
    April 2021 Mark Edward Lender "The Middle Atlantic Campaign"
    February 2021 Dr. Glenn Williams "The Northern Campaign"
    December 2020 Christian McBurney George Washington's Nemesis: The Outrageous Treason and Unfair Court-Martial of Major General Charles Lee during the Revolutionary War
    October 2020 John Gilbert McCurdy Quarters: The Accommodation of the British Army and the Coming of the American Revolution
    February 2020 Michael C. Harris
    Jonathan Carriel    		 Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777
    "The Battle of Golden Hill, New York City, January 19, 1770"
    December 2019 D.A.B. Ronald The Life of John André: The Redcoat Who Turned Benedict Arnold
    October 2019 Mary Stockwell Unlikely General: "Mad" Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America
    June 2019 Kevin Gutzman Thomas Jefferson - Revolutionary: A Radical's Struggle to Remake America
    April 2019 John Buchanan The Road to Charleston: Nathanael Greene and the American Revolution
    February 2019 Christian Di Spigna Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero
    December 2018 Mark Edward Lender Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle
    October 2018 Dr. Joanne Grasso George Washington's 1790 Grand Tour of Long Island
    June 2018 Christian McBurney Abductions in the American Revolution: Attempts to Kidnap George Washington, Benedict Arnold and Other Military and Civilian Leaders
    April 2018 Brooke Barbier Boston in the American Revolution: A Town Versus an Empire
    February 2018 Peter Lubrecht New Jersey Hessians: Truth and Lore in the American Revolution
    December 2017 Robert Ernest Hubbard Major General Israel Putnam: Hero of the American Revolution
    October 2017 Tom Shachtman How the French Saved America: Soldiers, Sailors, Diplomats, Louis XVI and the Success of a Revolution
    June 2017 Arthur Lefkowitz Eyewitness Images from the American Revolution
    April 2017 George C. Daughan Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence
    February 2017 Bruce M. Venter The Battle of Hubbardton: The Rear Guard Action that Saved America
    December 2016 John Oller The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution
    October 2016 Dr. Joanne Grasso The American Revolution on Long Island
    June 2016 Todd W. Braisted Grand Forage 1778: The Battleground Around New York City
    April 2016 Patrick K. O'Donnell Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution
    February 2016 John Steele Gordon Washington's Monument: And the Fascinating History of the Obelisk
    December 2015 Kathleen DuVal Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution
    October 2015 Christian McBurney Kidnapping the Enemy: The Special Operations to Capture Generals Charles Lee and Richard Prescott
    June 2015 Jonathan Carriel "The Stamp Act Crisis in New York City, 1765"
    April 2015 Thomas Fleming The Great Divide: The Conflict between Washington and Jefferson that Defined a Nation
    February 2015 Tim McGrath Give Me a Fast Ship: The Continental Navy and America's Revolution at Sea
    December 2014 Richard Welch General Washington's Commando: Benjamin Tallmadge in the Revolutionary War
    October 2014 David Young "Cliveden and the Battle of Germantown"
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    April 2014 Phillip Papas Renegade Revolutionary: The Life of General Charles Lee
    February 2014 Andréw O'Shaughnessy The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire
    December 2013 Richard Radune Sound Rising: Long Island Sound in the Forefront of America's Struggle for Independence
    October 2013 John Nagy Benjamin Church: Spy
    June 2013 Kevin Phillips 1775: A Good Year for Revolution
    April 2013 Stephen H. Case Treacherous Beauty: Peggy Shippen
    February 2013 Christian McBurney The Rhode Island Campaign
    December 2012 Todd Andrlik Reporting the Revolutionary War
    October 2012 Arthur Lefkowitz Benedict Arnold in the Company of Heroes
    June 2012 Thomas Schaeper Edward Bancroft: Scientist, Author, Spy
    April 2012 Joseph Smith "Philip Freneau"
    February 2012 Richard Berleth Bloody Mohawk: The French and Indian War & American Revolution on New York's Frontier
    December 2011 Maya Jasanoff Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World
    October 2011 John Nagy Invisible Ink: Spycraft of the American Revolution