The Royal American Regiment
Subtitle: an Atlantic microcosm, 1755-1772
By: Alexander V. Campbell
Series: Campaigns and commanders -- v. 22; Campaigns and commanders -- v. 22.
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Norman
Language: eng
Number of pages: 356
ISBN-13: 9780806141022
Description: "In the wake of Braddock's defeat at Fort Duquesne in 1755, the British army raised the 60th, or Royal American, Regiment of Foot to fight the French and Indian War. Each of the regiment's four battalions saw action in pivotal battles throughout the conflict. And as Alexander Campbell shows, the inclusion of foreign mercenaries and immigrant colonists alongside British volunteers made the RAR a microcosm of the Atlantic world. Not just a potent, combat-ready force, it played a key role in trade, migration, Indian diplomacy, and settlement.

This book moves beyond the campaign orientation of most regimental histories to explore how the Royal Americans helped forge new Atlantic connections. Campbell draws on the regiment's rich archival legacy--including the private papers of its first three colonels-in-chief and of mercenary field officers--to describe more fully than previous accounts the lives these soldiers led in the context of their times.

Campbell takes a closer look at the motivations of regimental founder James Prevost, a Swiss mercenary in the courts of Kings George II and George III, and explores how migration to America attracted rank-and-file soldiers. He examines the unit's training, deployment, and operational conduct to reveal the use of new tactics, and also chronicles a year in the soldiers' lives as they attended to hard labor in preparation for the summer's campaigns. He also traces the postwar activities of these veterans, showing how many of them, by taking up land grants they had been promised upon enlistment, helped settle the frontier and expand commerce."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: a Royal American remembrancer; title: "Much regarded by the Duke": James Prevost and the Royal American Regiment; title: "A medley of all characters": recruiting the Royal American Regiment; title: "Canada belongs to the King": the Royal American Regiment at war; title: "No end to their fatigues": life within the ranks of the Royal American Regiment; title: "He seated our chiefs and warriors at his table": Royal Americans and Native Americans; title: "I shall settle, marry and trade here": Royal Americans in the postwar empire; title: Conclusion: Atlantic microcosm.