Battle for New York : The City of the Heart of the America Revolution

by Schecter, Barnet (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780142003336
• ISBN10: 0142003336
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

The Battle for New Yorktells the story of how the city became the pivot on which the American Revolution turned: from the political and religious struggles of the 1760s and early '70s that made the city a hotbed of political action to the campaign of 1776 that turned today's five boroughs and Westchester County into a series of battlefields to the seven years of British occupation and martial law. The struggle for control of New York was by far the largest military venture of the Revolutionary War, involving almost every significant participant on both sides from General William Howe to Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold to George Washington. Barnet Schecter brilliantly links eighteenth-century events with the city's modern landscape, illuminating the forgotten battlefield that remains in our midst.

Author Biography

Barnet Schecter is a historian whose writing has appeared in the New York Observer, Metropolis, Village Voice, Washington Post, New Art Examiner, and Terra Nova.

Table of Contents

Prologue. Rethinking New York City's Place in the American Revolution	1	(10)
1 The Bastions of Authority	11	(14)
2 The Monster Tyranny Begins to Pant	25	(21)
3 A General Insurrection of the Populace	46	(23)
4 From Bouweries to Barricades	69	(13)
5 We Expect a Bloody Summer at New York	82	(13)
6 A Mighty Fleet of Ships Our Enemies Have Got	95	(17)
7 The British Juggernaut Reaches Full Strength	112	(14)
8 The Invasion of Long Island	126	(15)
9 The Battle of Brooklyn	141	(14)
10 A Wise and Most Fortunate Retreat	155	(13)
11 The First Submarine, a Peace Conference, and a Second Retreat	168	(11)
12 The Invasion of Manhattan	179	(15)
13 The Battle of Harlem Heights	194	(10)
14 The Great Fire and the Execution of Nathan Hale	204	(15)
15 Throg's Neck and the Battle of Pelham Bay	219	(12)
16 The Battle of White Plains	231	(12)
17 The Fall of Fort Washington	243	(15)
18 Trenton and Princeton, the End of the Campaign	258	(14)
19 Occupied New York	272	(14)
20 Philadelphia, Saratoga, and the Collapse of Britain's Grand Strategy	286	(20)
21 The Return to New York City, the Fulcrum of the War	306	(21)
22 New York's Impact on the War in the South	327	(19)
23 New York's Role at Yorktown	346	(14)
24 The Colonies Lost, New York Regained	360	(21)
Epilogue. Reconciliation, Rebirth, and Remembrance	381	(9)
Appendix. A Walking Tour of the Battle for New York	390	(4)
Notes	394	(35)
Bibliography	429	(8)
Index	437