Battle of Guilford Courthouse gets its due

News Record (Greensboro, NC) ^ | January 10, 2010 | Eddie Huffman

[Pharmboy]

He's a bit hard on The Patriot, but not totally wrong either.

The new book looks like a good one...

[Pharmboy]

The RevWar/Colonial History/Gen. Washington ping list...

[PeteB570]

I kinda’ like King’s Mountain.

[gusopol3]

The real turning point was discovering the work of David Hackett Fischer, whose "Paul Revere's Ride" taught me that everything I knew about the Revolution was wrong -- and that the truth was a lot more interesting and complex than the legend.

Great book, but he certainly overlooks the contribtions of Thomas Fleming, whose Now We are Enemies predates Paul Revere's Ride by 40 years. Speaking of Fischer , have you ever heard how/why/bywhom the PC crowd (presumably) squelched Colonial Plantations which was supposed to be installment II of his magnum opus , to follow Albion's Seed? This without so much as a whimper about academic freedom being compromised?

[Pharmboy]

No...unaware of those actions. Tom Fleming is a great guy...gave him a lift home one day (in NYC). We were both memebers of the NYC RevWar Roundtable.

[InkStone]

Thanks Pharmboy, Great Post! Knowing history is crucial- especially our own. We could do with less lawyers, and way more historians serving as our appointed employees (our representatives).

[silverleaf]

and a bit easy on Tarleton

men with reputations like that are seldom undeserving of them

[Pharmboy]

Agreed. Tarleton’s actions were even too brutal for Cornwallis. As you likely know, “Tarleton’s Quarter” meant “No quarter,” meaning no prisoners.

[jeffc]

Paige Smith's The Shaping of America

[the OlLine Rebel]

1) I agree that generally, the RevWar has been ignored, egregiously.

2) While 1 is true, we have had more things for it in the last decade or so, including SEVERAL good “mini-series” documentaries, starting in 1994.

3) “The Patriot” was far from perfect, but it was good that it was there at all (how many RevWar ONLY movies have there ever been? And yes, I’m an OLD movie buff.). It was also good generally. Also nice that they diverted from the usual myth, that it was a war of New Englanders IN New England.

[jeffc]

PAGE Smith . . .

[the OlLine Rebel]

Careful what you wish for. Far too many “historians” (including those that insist on “historic districts” which squelch the freedom these rebels wanted so much) are liberal as hell. Most of them have that “spin” on US history that it was all proof of how evil we are.

[Pharmboy]

Well, King’s Mountain had a lot going for it: Ferguson, the brilliat Scots soldier, commanding mostly Yankee Loyalists getting massacred by over mountain men. I will visit that place before I die...

[the OlLine Rebel]

I also dispute the view that “Brits were shown as evil brutal beasts” in the movie. Yes, it was heavy on Tarleton...em...Tavington, but many of the other Brits in charge were quite sympathetic (except for the silly representation of O’Hara as an arrogant superior lackey).

[Pharmboy]

"The Patriot" is the best RevWar movie ever made, but that is saying very little. As one critic said at the time, it was more like "Lethal Musket" (this time it's personal.

[Pharmboy]

C’mon, man...that “burning the patriots alive in the church” scene was pure fantasy.

[blam]

BFL

[gusopol3]

I had finished reading Albion's Seed (already a paperback) in spring '97, and having read the cover blurb, went on the hunt for Colonial Plantations but no luck. So I enthusiastically called the history office at Brandeis to ask when it was expected. The receptionist answered, "well, Dr. Fischer is standing right here, would you like to ask him?" Of course I thanked him for his effoert and inquired when vol. 2 expected. He said he was just back from Africa (I believe he said it was his second trip) and had just submitted his manuscript, expected revisions, etc. to take about a year. Many years went by, including publications of PRRide, Liberty and Freedom and DHF's 70th birthday, as well as many trips to Amazon. com to see if I'd somehow missed the release. When Champlain came out last year, I Googled everything I could imagine, came up with a number of DHF interviews, etc, but never any mention of CP. I had a weird experience in one of my internet trawls when I found a review of the book that flashed and then disappeared. It began " this is the first book to provide an account of what life was actually like on..." (liberal paraphrase compounded by memory growing faint). Interesting you met Fleming, the Philadelphia area roundtable gives a prize out named for him ( I've never been). He seems not to be cited much by the more academic historians, even the really good ones like Fischer, Fred Anderson, etc.

[Pharmboy]

Fleming is a non-academic writer, and thus pretty much ignored by the university community. He is the nicest guy you would ever want to meet...

Thanks for that story...very interesting.