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Informationen zum Autor George C. Daughan holds a Ph.D. in American History and Government from Harvard University and is a member of the American Historical Association! the National Maritime Historical Society! the North American Society for Oceanic History! and the Maine Historical Society. He resides in Portland! Maine. Zusammenfassung Most historians trace the origins of the Continental Navy to George Washington's official inauguration of the Federal Navy in 1793! but the story actually begins years earlier: in 1775! at the advent of the American Revolution. In If By Sea! historian George C. Daughan uses decades of primary research to brilliantly trace the navy's little-recognized origins! showing that the battles of Lexington and Concord!as well as many subsequent battles! including Bunker Hill! New York! and Philadelphia!cannot be fully understood without taking the role of naval power into account.
About the author
George C. Daughan holds a Ph.D. in American History and Government from Harvard University. Author of If By Sea and 1812: The Navy's War, Daughan lives in Portland, Maine.
Summary
The American Revolution-and thus the history of the United States-began not on land but on the sea. Paul Revere began his famous midnight ride not by jumping on a horse, but by scrambling into a skiff with two other brave patriots to cross Boston Harbor to Charlestown. Revere and his companions rowed with muffled oars to avoid capture by the British warships closely guarding the harbor. As they paddled silently, Revere's neighbor was flashing two lanterns from the belfry of Old North Church, signaling patriots in Charlestown that the redcoats were crossing the Charles River in longboats. In every major Revolutionary battle thereafter the sea would play a vital, if historically neglected, role. When the American colonies took up arms against Great Britain, they were confronting the greatest sea-power of the age. And it was during the War of Independence that the American Navy was born. But following the British naval model proved crushingly expensive, and the Founding Fathers fought viciously for decades over whether or not the fledgling republic truly needed a deep-water fleet. The debate ended only when the Federal Navy proved indispensable during the War of 1812. Drawing on decades of prodigious research, historian George C. Daughan chronicles the embattled origins of the U.S. Navy. From the bloody and gunpowder-drenched battles fought by American sailors on lakes and high seas to the fierce rhetorical combat waged by the Founders in Congress, If By Sea charts the course by which the Navy became a vital and celebrated American institution.
