REVOLUTIONARY WAR FORTS: NEW YORK

◗ Michael Garlock ◗ Casemate Publishers (2023) ◗ £34.05 ◗ 240 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781636242606 ◗ casematepublishers.co.uk

The American Revolutionary

War is primarily remembered for battles, such as Saratoga, Cowpens and Guilford Court House. Sieges – other than that of Yorktown, which effectively ended the war – and forts are not so well remembered. Yet this handsomely produced book, illustrated in full colour throughout, features over twenty forts in the New York region, ranging from purpose built, Vauban-style fortifications such as Fort Ticonderoga, to simple blockhouses like Fort Klock and wooden stockades.

Author Michael Garlock notes this range of forts and writes:

“In the array of actions that took place, from reconnaissance missions to ambushes, raids and massacres, sieges and assaults, to booming naval bombardments, inevitably the common denominator was the fort... the fort was often the nexus of a raid, a battle, or a campaign. Many were temporarily thrown together in a matter of days or weeks and deteriorated as quickly when they were no longer required. Many made way for development. Others, grander and more enduring, have survived to this day and are protected as a reminder of that epic conflict…”

A four-page Timeline from the original building of Fort Amsterdam in 1625 to the cession of six Northwest Territory forts and two New York forts under British control to the United States in 1796, precedes a two-page map showing the locations of the forts. Next is a too brief and superficial description of the evolution of forts from simple earthworks to the bastioned fortresses, designed by engineers such as Vauban, of the late seventeenth century which remained the preferred style until after the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The forts are listed and described in alphabetical order. The number of pages varies from a minimum of two pages on Forts Defiance, Golgotha and Herkimer, to a maximum of twelve pages on Forts Ticonderoga and Washington. The origins and construction of each fort, several of which had seen action in the earlier French and Indian War, the part it played in the Revolutionary War, and its fate are described, accompanied by reproductions of contemporary plans and illustrations of the fort, numerous portraits of British and American officers who served there and, where applicable, modern photographs of surviving buildings or reconstructions.

A brief Conclusion referring to the action at Lexington and the siege of Yorktown, is followed by a half-page Bibliography; there is no index.

This is a book to dip into, rather than read cover to cover, but it contains much interesting and useful information for wargamers whose primary interest is the American Revolutionary War, and may encourage them to devise alternative scenarios to the battles they have previously fought. The narratives of the origins and history of some of the older forts, such as Niagara, Oswego and Ticonderoga, will also be of interest to wargamers refighting the French and Indian War.