Under alien skies environment, suffering, and the defeat of the British military in revolutionary America / Vaughn Scribner.
| Author/creator | Scribner, Vaughn |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2024] |
| Description | xiv, 234 pages illustrations, maps 24 cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from JSTOR University of North Carolina Press Publisher Collection (Backlist) |
| Subjects |
| Portion of title | Environment, suffering, and the defeat of the British military in revolutionary America |
| Physical medium | illustrations |
| Contents | Invasive species -- Nothing but sky and water around me: oceans apart (coming over) -- A barbarous business in a barbarous country: physical terrains -- The very elements seemed to conspire against us: flora and fauna -- I feel this miserable weather in my stomach and nerves: climate, weather, and disease -- What will become of us? Mental illness -- I have never enjoyed my health since my return from America: oceans apart (going home) -- Paradise lost. |
| Abstract | "The Revolutionary War is often celebrated as marking the birth of American republicanism, liberty, and representative democracy. Yet for the tens of thousands of British and Hessian troops sent 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to wage war under alien skies, such a progressive picture, as Vaughn Scribner reveals, could not have been further from the truth. In Under Alien Skies, Scribner illustrates how foreign soldiers' negative perceptions of the American environment merged with harsh wartime realities to elicit considerable physical, mental, and emotional anguish. Whether trudging through alligator-infested swamps, nursing a comrade back to health in a rain-sodden tent, or digging trenches in a burned-out port city, most who fought in America under the British army's flag ultimately deemed themselves strangers fighting in a strange land. For them, Revolutionary America looked nothing like the 'happy land . . . blessed with every climate' that Revolutionary republicans so successfully promoted. Instead, the War of Independence descended into a quagmire of anxiety, destruction, and distress at the hands of the American environment-a 'diabolical country,' as one British soldier opined, 'which no Earthly compensation can put me in charity with.'"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-228) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2024023902 |
| ISBN | 9781469680767 cloth alk. paper |
| ISBN | 9781469680774 paperback alk. paper |
| ISBN | epub |
| ISBN |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |