Revolutionary America: A Nation Forged in the Heart of the Continental Army
Abstract:
A martyr, a traitor, a patriot, but most importantly, a soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin was one of many who fought with the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Detailing in an account of his personal experience with the Continental Army in a book written after his service, Martin portrayed a harsh reality of the war, that challenged notions which placed revolutionary soldiers as merely patriotic pawns for a much larger cause. Over the course of the American Revolution, from its days of enlistment, the experiences and conditions on the battlefield, to veterans and post-war society, the identity and image of Continental soldiers came to be defined by the actions, accounts and events which portrayed them in their true light; fighters for a people and a livelihood. By highlighting the first hand resources of Continental soldiers themselves, can this history be properly remembered; as a nation formed in the heart of the Continental Army.