Customer Reviews:
 Washy Nearly Loses It All! September 23, 2008
This new Osprey title brings a nice addition to growing publications on the Battles for New York in 1776. Like most Osprey titles this one provides a nice synopsis of the campaign. Those expecting more than this should turn elsewhere for additional works. For its size the book does a nice job providing an overview of the fighting around New York City. Some minor details may be a bit off. The references to the Delaware "Dandy 5th" seems to have illcited a lot of ire in some readers. To be honest I have never heard this unit referred to in this way, but perhaps the authors have consulted British works that provide a bit less insular perspective of events.
The Campaign for New York is a great example of bad generalship for both sides concerned. Washy gets perhaps less of the blame because he simply did not know what he was doing. His management of the battle of Long Island was non-existent. He simply stood back and watched the Marylanders get decimated at the Stone House. He did have a kind word or two for them though. What was Washy's great contribution to the American cause? He had the sense finally to realise what a trap Brooklyn was, and with the help of the British, managed to evacauate his defeated army over to Manhatten. Thereafter he does not do too badly, or we could say Howe does not even really try!
Howe's perfomance in the New York Campiagn is hard to fathom. Numerous times he had the opportunity to destroy the American cause. History will constantly debate the reasons why he didn't take advantage of the circumstances. The book points out the British fear of excessive losses, since whatever was lost could not easily be replaced. This made the British army a lot more fragile than it appeared to the Americans. This is as good a reason as any to try and understand why the American army was not assaulted and destroyed on Brooklyn Heights.
After giving a good account of the Long Island Battle the narrative continues on to the battles in Manhatten. Here again Howe loses major opportunities while Washy nearly loses it all as well. Nathaniel Green lauded so much as the genius of the later Southern campaigns here shows that he was something of a novice in thinking that Fort Washington could be held indeffinitely.
The book covers the retreat through New Jersey and ends right before the events of Trenton. Over all I think this is a pretty good summation of the New York 1776 campaign. While Schecter and Gallagher each have longer books on this subject, in the case of the former additional length does not convery greater detail. Schecter's book also concerns itself with New York during the whole Revolution, not just the battles in 1776. For its size, this work does a nice job. In additional there are some good color plates which may be disappointing to some who are into uniforms, but which provide nice period detail. A good buy for what you get.
 Sloppily Done May 3, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
After years of waiting, I finally got a copy of Osprey's latest addition to its Campaign Series, "New York 1776" by David Smith and Illustrated by Graham Turner. After a cursory read last night, I have to say it was certainly not worth the wait and is quite disappointing in comparison to the last two titles in the series, "Philadelphia 1777" and "Monmouth Courthouse 1778".
Originally set to be authored by Brendan Morrissey, who wrote "Boston 1775", "Quebec 1775", "Saratoga 1777", "Monmouth Courthouse 1778", and "Yorktown 1781", it is quite obvious that this was a secondary effort on Osprey's part. The first thing that struck me was that the illustration for the book is disappointing at best. The period images largely depend on the Library of Congress as a source, so there is a large degree of "been there, seen that". The majority though are from historically questionable 19th and 20th century images, including several by Lefferts, that are clumsily captioned. For instance, a 19th century depiction of Peter Francisco with the caption of "A rather fanciful depiction of a 'Patriot of 1776 defending his homestead.' The patriot in question has laid one dragoon low and setting about another." The image is completely inappropriate for use on the topic as the event in question took place in Virginia in 1781 and comes off as "filler". Other images, such as a depiction of Harlem Heights showing the 42nd Regiment of Foot in attire that is more appropriate for Waterloo than the American Revolution, demonstrates a clear disregard or ignorance of historic fact.
The modern illustration also leaves a great deal to be desired. Not only is it simplistic and crude in execution, the subject matter is uninspired. The three images include "The Charge of the Marylanders" (which for whatever reason the author is fixated with calling the "Dandy Fifth" throughout the book) which shows them carrying French muskets, "The Action at the Split Rock" in which a generic American in civilian clothing is taking a canteen from a British officer but every other detail is so far in the background as to be useless, and "The Fusilier Regiment von Lossberg at White Plains" which is a rather boring image of the Germans marching across a field. Again, there is little attention to drama, the style is coarse, and there certainly is no great storytelling or drama conveyed.
As to the text itself, I cannot say that I've read it in great detail, however after a quick read I am not optimistic. In the order of battle, two regiments of Nixon's Brigade are referred to as the 4th and 7th Colonial Infantry from Massachusetts and throughout the book the Delaware Regiment is consistently referred to as the "1st Delaware Regiment" (as if there was a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th...which of course there was not). As with most Osprey Campaign books, the maps are the most useful aspect of the book, since most battle maps from other sources rarely break down an action down in greater detail than the brigade level, so to have a battle map at the regimental level is nice to have. The "Battlefield Today" section is particularly disappointing as it only skims the surface. While most of the battlefields have been absorbed by sprawl and development over the years, one can still piece together the campaign more completely than the author provides information on. The fact that a stock image of the "Old Stone House" is used from the Library of Congress seems to indicate that the author did not travel to the battlefields himself for research since in other titles the entire book has photographs throughout of the battlefields.
In conclusion, I would not recommend this new Osprey book, even as a "quick and dirty" history of the campaign. Your money would be better spent on "The Battle for New York" by Barnet Schecter, which incidentally is cheaper as well.
A Winner that Follows Classic Osprey Format April 21, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
While the Battle for New York in 1776 has been fairly well covered in the history of the American Revolution - including major works such as Fischer's Washington's Crossing and Ferling's Almost a Miracle - Osprey's Campaign No. 192 by David Smith uses the classic Osprey format to best advantage to produce a compact and incisive summary of this famous campaign. Although I was a bit put off early in the volume by the appearance of so many well-known, iconic images and an introduction that seemed a bit puffy, the author quickly settles down and delivers a first-rate campaign narrative. Furthermore, this author knows how to use maps to best support his descriptions, which particularly helps readers who are new to this subject. Overall, this volume is a winner.
As noted, the introduction is a bit puffy, covering the Howe's evacuation of Boston and Washington's decision to defend New York. Although the author briefly mentions that New York was pro-loyalist, this issue should have received a bit more attention since it was a primary element of British strategy to re-capture centers of Loyalist influence and then use them as bases to expand from. The section on opposing commanders is decent, using capsule biographies to describe the well-known leaders on both sides. The following sections, on opposing armies and opposing plans, are a bit thin but are supplemented by a detailed 3-page order of battle. New York 1776 has six 2-D maps (North America 1776; Howe's retreat, spring 1776; the British build-up, 1776; prelude to White Plains, October 12-28, 1776; White Plains, October 28- November 10, 1776; Washington's retreat, November 16 - December 13, 1776) and three 3-D BEV maps (Battle of Long Island, 27 August 1776, American Right flank; same battle, center and left flank; Fort Washington, November 16, 1776). Overall, the maps are excellent and justify the purchase of this volume even if you have other books on the American Revolution. The three battle scenes by Graham Turner (the charge of the Marylanders at Gowanus, August 27, 1776; the action at Split Rock, October 18, 1776the fusilier regiment von Lossberg at White Plains, October 28, 1776) are also very good. The author also provides a robust 2-page bibliography that demonstrates that a serious effort at scholarship went into this volume.
The author's campaign narrative is straightforward and conventional, beginning with the British landing on Long Island and their brilliant outflanking maneuver and Washington's escape to Manhattan. The author does make the interesting point that while many historians have criticized Howe's slowness during the campaign, it actually worked to his advantage because Washington kept sending more troops onto Long Island where they were more vulnerable to defeat. It is certainly true that Howe could only win a decisive victory by defeating the major portion of Washington's army, not just a rearguard. The author also points out that the British flanking maneuver took 12 hours to march 8 miles - not exactly `foot cavalry.' The description of the desperate American withdrawal across Gowanus creek is very well told, particularly the charges of the Marylanders, although the author fails to note that this was the first bayonet charge in U.S. Military History. Throughout the volume, the author refers to Maryland's `Dandy Fifth' - which was actually known as the Maryland Battalion at this point - a unit whose modern descendent (the 175th Infantry, MD-ARNG) I served in for five years and became well versed in its history. The Marylanders were not provided bayonets by Congress - they purchased them before the war - and the 175th's modern crest has a bayonet on it to denote the charge at Gowanus.
The next section covering the British landing on Manhattan, Harlem Heights, the fall of Fort Washington and the final action at White Plains are also quite good, although the audacity of the British scaling of the palisades on the Hudson is not given its proper due. Despite Howe's dilatory behavior, the Anglo-German army fought very well in the New York campaign - perhaps the best British campaign of the war. The final sections cover Washington's retreat across New Jersey and what appeared to be an imminent American collapse. Overall, the author's approach and delivery is conventional but benefits from Osprey's superior maps and graphics.
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