by Michael C. Harris
El Dorado Hills: Savas Beatie 2025. Pp. xxxvi, 448.
Illus., maps, personae, appends, notes, biblio., index. $34.95. ISBN: 1611217423
The Final Phase of the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777Preceded by Brandywine (2017) and Germantown (2023), this new volume completes Michael Harris’s award-winning trilogy on the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777. It covers the final phase of the campaign, from the aftermath of the Battle of Germantown (October 4. 1777) through the arrival of Washington at Valley Forge in mid-December. Harris covers the British effort to secure the Delaware River route to Philadelphia, defeating the small Patriot naval force, and then capturing Fort Mercer, Fort Mifflin, where Washington gave them a rough time, and the town of Gloucester, culminating in some inconclusive fighting around Whitemarsh (December 5–8), shortly after which both armies went into winter quarters.
While Harris gives us a good account of the movements and fighting by the two sides, perhaps the best part is his coverage of the politics and infighting on the Patriot side by the “Conway Cabal,” the ultimately unsuccessful campaign by generals Thomas Conway, Thomas Mifflin, and Horatio Gates, to convince the Continental Congress to get rid of Washington and replace him with Gates.
Also of great value is Harris’s use of many personal accounts drawn from the letters and diaries of various officers and enlisted soldiers throughout the book to give us a first person understanding of the events.
Harris often comments on histories of the campaign, such as those by John Reed, David Martin, and Thomas McGuire.
Harris remarks upon the relative neglect of these events in the literature, being overshadowed by events further north, where the Saratoga Campaign culminated in the surrender of the British northern army on October 17th. This had tremendous morale and diplomatic consequences, leading to French intervention, a victory in part due to the diversion of British troops from New York to campaign against Philadelphia.
Harris’s work offers an exploration of how Washington, his army, and the small Patriot naval forces, waged an effective campaign of attrition against the British, using their home field advantage.
Highly recommended.
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Our Reviewer: David Marshall has been a high school American history teacher in the Miami-Dade School district for more than three decades. A life-long Civil War enthusiast, David is president of the Miami Civil War Round Table Book Club. In addition to numerous reviews in Civil War News and other publications, he has given presentations to Civil War Round Tables on Joshua Chamberlain, Ulysses S. Grant, Abraham Lincoln, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the common soldier. His previous reviews here include, We Shall Conquer or Die, Dranesville, The Civil War in the Age of Nationalism, “Over a Wide, Hot . . . Crimson Plain", The Atlanta Campaign, Volume 1, Dalton to Cassville, Thunder in the Harbor, All Roads Led to Gettysburg, The Traitor's Homecoming, A Tempest of Iron and Lead, The Cassville Affairs, Holding Charleston by the Bridle, The Maps of Second Bull Run, Hell by the Acre, Chorus of the Union, Digging All Night and Fighting All Day, The Confederate Resurgence of 1864, Building a House Divided, Feeding Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, A Grand Opening Squandered, “No One Wants to be the Last to Die”, A Campaign of Giants, The Battle for Petersburg, Vol. 2, The Sixth Wisconsin and the Long Civil War, Gettysburg: The Tide Turns, and The Second Manassas Campaign.
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Note: Fighting for Philadelphia is also available in e-editions.
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