In Their Own Words

Table Of Contents

Preface
Sources
The Writers and Their Positions at the Time
Introduction: A Tale of Two Wars
A Note to the Reader
I: Tyranny
1. The Stamp Act
The Unhappy Controversy: Samuel Adams
This Year Brings Ruin or Salvation: John Adams

2. The Intolerable
The Boston Massacre: Samuel Adams
The Sense of the Town: Samuel Adams
After the Party: John Adams
Letter from the Town of Boston to the Colonies, May 13, 1774: Samuel Adams

3. The Arguments
In Congress: John Adams
Reflections on the Congress: John Adams
A Summary View of the Rights of British North America: Thomas Jefferson
A Full Vindication: Alexander Hamilton
II: Battle
4. To Arms
Minute Men: Samuel Adams
Mission to Concord: Jeremy Lister
Bottled Up in Boston: Thomas Gage
Ticonderoga: Ethan Allen

5. An Army, a Country
Congress Adopts an Army: John Adams
The Battle of Bunker Hill: Thomas Gage
The Conquest of Boston: George Washington
III: Crisis
6. Independence
Is Not America Already Independent?: Samuel Adams
Common Sense: Thomas Paine
A Declaration: Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress

7. To the Brink
The Defense of New York: George Washington
The Crisis: Thomas Paine
Trenton: George Washington
Princeton: George Washington

8. Philadelphia:
The Brandywine: Thomas Paine
Flight from Philadelphia: John Adams
Germantown: Thomas Paine

9. Saratoga
The Expedition from Canada: John Burgoyne
A Fortress and a Battle: Thomas Anburey
Wood Service: John Burgoyne
Down Wood Creek: Thomas Anburey
An Expedition to Bennington: John Burgoyne
Fort Stanwix: Barry St. Leger
Across the Hudson: John Burgoyne
With a Prisoner on the British Right: Thomas Anburey
On the Line in the Center: James Hadden
No Fruits: John Burgoyne
A Reconnaissance in Force: John Burgoyne
In the Redoubts: Thomas Anburey
Saratoga: John Burgoyne

10. Winter
Valley Forge: Albigence Waldo
Snatched from Destruction: Thomas Paine
IV: Victory
11. War Comes to the South
Invasion: Banastre Tarleton
Conquest: Banastre Tarleton

12. Greene’s War
King’s Mountain: Banastre Tarleton
Cowpens: Henry Lee
The Race to the Dan: Henry Lee
Guilford Court House: Henry Lee

13. Yorktown
March to Virginia: Charles Cornwallis
A Naval Station: Henry Clinton
A Secret Movement: James Duncan
Plans for a Siege: George Washington
The Fleet Arrives: François-Joseph Paul de Grasse
Naval Maneuvers: Henry Clinton
Siege and Assaults: James Duncan
The Want of a Covering Fleet: Henry Clinton
Defeat: Charles Cornwallis

14. Triumph
Negotiations for the New Nation: John Adams
Farewell Orders: George Washington