“This rich quarry of historic wealth is now, in completed state, accessible to every American . . . Certainly no work is so well calculated to lure the minds of the young through different stages of the great drama of our independence.”
—New York Times
After working several years in New York City’s growing publishing industry, editor Benson J. Lossing became disappointed that few people in the country knew the history of the American Revolution outside of their own regions. This prompted him to begin a journey across the United States to record the testimonies of the veterans of the revolution, document their letters and diaries, and create the three-volume set, The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution.
Originally published in 1851, volume one in this collection begins Lossing’s journey. From the Battles of Saratoga to the nighttime attack on the British Pickets near Hackensack, this book recounts the major battles and skirmishes of the war and the strategic decisions that made each encounter important to the liberty of the nation.
Lossing traveled across the original thirteen colonies to research the war for independence firsthand. Featured in this volume are interviews with women who had an impact on the new country and Lossing’s personal sketches and drawings of landscapes and influential figures of the war.