From Youth To Yorktown

A dramatic, gripping history of the Siege of Yorktown, the last major battle of the American Revolution, told through vastly different perspectives In October 1781, American, French, and British forces converged on a small village named Yorktown—a place that the British would try to forget and Americans would forever remember. In his riveting, balanced, and thoroughly researched account of the Revolutionary War’s last pivotal conflict, author–historian Tim Grove follows the true stories of American, French, and British players, whose lives intersected at Yorktown. Through very different viewpoints—from General George Washington to the notorious traitor Benedict Arnold, from young French hero Lafayette to British General Lord Cornwallis, and an enslaved man named James who became a spy, The World Turned Upside Down tells the story of bold decisions made by famous military leaders, as well as the everyday courage shown by civilians. For every side involved, the world forever turned upside down at Yorktown. Profusely illustrated with archival images, broadsides, and letters, the book includes a timeline, endnotes, bibliography and index.

The early days of 1781 cast a cold shadow over the downtrodden American Continental army. Mutiny, the recent disastrous losses in South Carolina at Camden and Charleston, and Benedict Arnold's betrayal called General George Washington's leadership into question. Faced with the possibility of either a crushing defeat or a brilliant victory, Washington's loyalty to the fledgling United States compelled him to make a bold offensive stroke in the late summer of 1781. In less than a month, he marched the combined American and French armies to Yorktown, Virginia nearly 450 miles south of their encampment at New York to face the might of the British army. Through a riveting mixture of fact and dialogue, noted author Donald T. Phillips chronicles the remarkable events of the Siege of Yorktown. From dramatic artillery assaults to the celebrated American and French attacks and, finally, to the incredible British surrender, On The Wing Of Speed delivers a thrilling tale of courage, strength, and devotion.

Presents a pro-South, pro-state rights, pro-slavery, anti-Republican Party, and anti-Abraham Lincoln view of the Civil War.