When the American Revolution began, the colonial troops had little hope
of matching His Majesty's highly trained, experienced British and German
legions in confrontational battle. Indeed, Washington's army suffered
defeat after defeat in the first few years of the war, fighting bravely
but mainly trading space for time. However, the Americans did have a
trump, in a reservoir of tough, self-reliant frontier fighters, who were
brave beyond compare, and entirely willing to contest the King's men
with unconventional tactics.
In this book, renowned author, and former U.S. Army Colonel, Robert
Tonsetic describes and analyzes numerous examples of special operations
conducted during the Revolutionary War. While the British might seize
the coastlines, the interior still belonged to the Americans should the
Empire venture inward. Most of the operations were conducted by American
irregulars and volunteers, carefully selected, with specialized skills,
and led by leaders with native intelligence.
While General Washington endeavored to confront the Empire on
conventional terms--for pure pride's sake at the founding of the
Republic--he meantime relied on his small units to keep the enemy off
balance. The fledgling Continental Navy and Marines soon adopted a
similar strategy. Realizing that the small American fleet was no match
for the powerful British navy in major sea battles, the new Navy and its
Marines focused on disrupting British commercial shipping in the
Atlantic and Caribbean, and launching raids against British on-shore
installations first in the Bahamas and then on the British coastline
itself.
As the war continued, Washington increasingly relied on special
operations forces in the northeast as well as in the Carolinas, and ad
hoc frontiersmen to defy British sovereignty inland. When the British
and their Indian allies began to wage war on American settlements west
of the Appalachians, Washington had to again rely on partisan and
militias to conduct long-range strikes and raids targeting enemy forts
and outposts.
Throughout the war, what we today call SpecOps were an integral part of
American strategy, and many of the lessons learned and tactics used at
the time are still studied by modern day Special Operations forces. As
this book establishes, the improvisation inherent in the American spirit
proved itself well during the Revolution, continuing to stand as an
example for our future martial endeavors.