The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781.

The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781. By Jerome A. Greene. (New York: Savas Beatie, 2005. Pp xx, 507. $34.95, ISBN 1-932714-05-7.)

This most recent work on the Yorktown campaign grew out of a National Park Service (NPS) study prepared in the mid-1970s for the American bicentennial. Jerome A. Greene, an NPS historian, has successfully revised this report into a book that both scholars and the wider public will welcome. Based on exhaustive primary and secondary research, archaeological digs, and contemporary maps, The Guns of Independence: The Siege of Yorktown, 1781 could easily be a guide for visitors to the battlefield. Equally important, it will become an indispensable study for those interested in the Revolutionary War's final decisive engagement.

A major theme that runs throughout Greene's account is the contrast between British and Franco-American leadership. Both Lord Charles Cornwallis and General Henry Clinton made critical mistakes that ultimately secured American independence. Greene argues that Cornwallis lacked enough tools to complete his fortifications around Yorktown by the time the siege began. Still, he inexplicably abandoned his outer works and instead depended on his weaker inner ones. Lacking aggressiveness, Cornwallis also made only limited attempts to disrupt his enemy's operations or escape, while confidently awaiting Clinton's arrival. Clinton, meanwhile, vacillated in New York City and only launched a relief effort after it was too late to save Cornwallis and his army. Greene contrasts this performance with the cooperation that existed between George Washington and the French officers, General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, and Admiral Francois Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse-Tilly. He also notes the contributions that lower-ranking officers such as Henry Knox and Louis Du Portail, Washington's chief engineer, made during the campaign. Anticipating victory, the American and French commanders massed their forces and then bludgeoned Cornwallis into submission by methodically implementing a for-real siege.

The Guns of Independence is well written, and Greene provides a highly detailed account of the science of siege warfare, from the steps in digging a parallel to how much space a cannon required in a battery. Quoting heavily from participants on both sides, he describes the devastating effect that the superior allied artillery, especially that of the French, had on Cornwallis's position and his soldiers' morale. Greene also discusses how smallpox and other diseases ravaged the British army and their black laborers, and he notes Washington's attempt to prevent a similar outbreak among the allies. In addition to the narrative, readers will also benefit from the large number of photographs and maps that Greene wisely included. Furthermore, the book contains each army's order of battle, five useful appendixes, including the Washington-Cornwallis correspondence and the articles of capitulation, and copious explanatory endnotes that contain a wealth of information. If The Guns of Independence has any weaknesses, it is that some readers may be overwhelmed by Greene' s level of detail, although others will find this one of the work's greatest strengths. The book could also benefit from a greater emphasis on the nonmilitary aspects of the siege, such as its impact on Yorktown's civilian population. In this regard, Greene's work is traditional military history. Still, it is well-done traditional military history and a strong addition to Revolutionary War historiography.

MICHAEL P. GABRIEL 

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania