Historical Dictionary of the American Revolution (Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest)

652 Pages·2009·5.32 MB·English

by  Terry M. Mays

HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES
OF WAR, REVOLUTION, AND CIVIL UNREST
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, by Ludwig W. Ada-
mec. 1996. Out of print. See No. 30.
2. The United States–Mexican War, by Edward H. Moseley and Paul
C. Clark Jr. 1997.
3. World War I, by Ian V. Hogg. 1998.
4. The United States Navy, by James M. Morris and Patricia M.
Kearns. 1998.
5. The United States Marine Corps, by Harry A. Gailey. 1998.
6. The Wars of the French Revolution, by Steven T. Ross. 1998.
7. The American Revolution, by Terry M. Mays. 1999. Out of print.
See No. 39.
8. The Spanish-American War, by Brad K. Berner. 1998.
9. The Persian Gulf War, by Clayton R. Newell. 1998.
10. The Holocaust, by Jack R. Fischel. 1999.
11. The United States Air Force and Its Antecedents, by Michael Rob-
ert Terry. 1999.
12. Civil Wars in Africa, by Guy Arnold. 1999. Out of print. See No.
34.
13. World War II: The War against Japan, by Anne Sharp Wells.
1999.
14. British and Irish Civil Wars, by Martyn Bennett. 2000.
15. The Cold War, by Joseph Smith and Simon Davis. 2000.
16. Ancient Greek Warfare, by Iain Spence. 2002.
17. The Vietnam War, by Edwin E. Moïse. 2001.
18. The Civil War, by Terry L. Jones. 2002.
19. The Crimean War, by Guy Arnold. 2002.
20. The United States Army: A Historical Dictionary, by Clayton R.
Newell. 2002.
21. Terrorism, Second Edition, by Sean K. Anderson and Stephen
Sloan. 2002. Out of print. See No. 38.
22. The Chinese Civil War, by Edwin Pak-wah Leung. 2002.
23. The Korean War: A Historical Dictionary, by Paul M. Edwards.
2002.
24. The “Dirty Wars,” by David Kohut, Olga Vilella, and Beatrice
Julian. 2003.
25. The Crusades, by Corliss K. Slack. 2003.
26. Ancient Egyptian Warfare, by Robert G. Morkot. 2003.
27. The French Revolution, by Paul R. Hanson. 2004.
28. Arms Control and Disarmament, by Jeffrey A. Larsen and James
M. Smith. 2005.
29. The Russo-Japanese War, by Rotem Kowner. 2005.
30. Afghan Wars, Revolutions, and Insurgencies, Second Edition, by
Ludwig W. Adamec. 2005.
31. The War of 1812, by Robert Malcomson. 2006.
32. The Arab-Israeli Conflict, by P. R. Kumaraswamy. 2006.
33. Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Warfare, by Benjamin C. Gar-
rett and John Hart. 2007.
34. Civil Wars in Africa, Second Edition, by Guy Arnold. 2008.
35. The Northern Ireland Conflict, by Gordon Gillespie. 2008.
36. The Anglo-Boer War, by Fransjohan Pretorius. 2009.
37. The Zulu Wars, by John Laband. 2009.
38. Terrorism, Third Edition, by Sean K. Anderson with Stephen
Sloan, 2009.
39. American Revolution, Second Edition, by Terry M. Mays, 2010.
Historical Dictionary
of the American
Revolution
Second Edition
Terry M. Mays
Historical Dictionaries of War,
Revolution, and Civil Unrest, No. 39
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2010
Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by Terry M. Mays
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who
may quote passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mays, Terry M.
Historical dictionary of the American Revolution / Terry M. Mays. — 2nd ed.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest ; no.
39)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8108-6066-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-75036
(electronic)
1. United States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Dictionaries. I. Title.
E209.M36 2010
973.3—dc22 2009020057
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
For Dan Beggs, a friend

Contents
Editor’s Foreword Jon Woronoff ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Maps xv
Chronology xxvii
Introduction xxxvii
THE DICTIONARY 1
Appendix 1: Documents 375
Appendix 2: Revolutionary War Battle Sites Today 395
Bibliography 405
About the Author 573
vii

Editor’s Foreword
The American Revolution was in its way the most important war the
(then formative) United States has ever fought, as its very existence
was at stake. Yet it was so long ago and so much has happened since
that it tends to be misinterpreted. One often assumes that victory for
the Americans was inevitable. Quite to the contrary, for a long time the
outcome was uncertain. If certain circumstances had been different, the
result could have been very different. Fought with what now appear to
be rudimentary tactics and primitive weapons, the war was a result of
patriotism and a yearning for independence, as well as a willingness to
sacrifice combatants and civilians alike. But this is not the whole story.
There were divisions among the Americans, and occasionally treachery,
and their victory depended on crucial support from allies. Nor was there
any reason why Great Britain had to lose.
These complications and variations on rather simplistic themes make
this second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the American Revo-
lution particularly useful. It was built on an already-strong first edition
and, by removing some entries that had less of a bearing on the conflict
and adding others not included before, the author has provided an amaz-
ing storehouse of information. The new edition contains more entries
on battles, more descriptions of military figures, and more explanations
of weapons and tactics. Other sections have been refreshed, including
a detailed chronology, an expanded introduction, more appendixes, and
a more focused bibliography, which will help readers find more works
on the war itself.
Terry M. Mays wrote both editions of this book. He is a professor of
political science at the Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina,
and has studied the American Revolution in considerable detail, not
limiting himself to reading books but also visiting major battle sites.
ix