George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea - Softcover

Nelson, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0071628258 ISBN 13: 9780071628259

Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press, 2009

Synopsis

In 1775 General George Washington secretly armed a handful of small ships and sent them to sea against the world’s mightiest navy

From the author of the critically acclaimed Benedict Arnold’s Navy, here is the story of how America’s first commander-in-chief--whose previous military experience had been entirely on land--nursed the fledgling American Revolution through a season of stalemate by sending troops to sea. Mining previously overlooked sources, James L. Nelson’s swiftly moving narrative shows that George Washington deliberately withheld knowledge of his tiny navy from the Continental Congress for more than two critical months, and that he did so precisely because he knew Congress would not approve.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

George Washington's Secret Navy has been the happy recipient of two awards this year which speak both to the book's scholarship and the fact that it is a fun story to read. The first is the Rodney Houghton Award, given by the National Maritime Historical Society for the best article of the year in its popular Sea History Magazine. This particular article was an excerpt from George Washington's Secret Navy telling the story of naval battle that took place in Machias, Maine, in 1775, the "Lexington and Concord of the Sea."

The second award given to the book is the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, presented by the Naval Order of the United States to the author "who by his published writings has made a substantial contribution to the preservation of the history and traditions of the United States Navy." The Morison Award is one of the country's top honors given to maritime authors. Past recipients have included David McCullough and Patrick O'Brian.

About the Author:

James L. Nelson's fifteen books include the critically acclaimed nonfiction Benedict Arnold's Navy and several novels set in the age of sail. Glory in the Name won the American Library Association's W. Y. Boyd Award for Best Military Fiction. For more, see www.jameslnelson.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0071628258
• ISBN 13: 9780071628259
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400