Review by Choice Review
Formed in response to Pennsylvania's pacifist-dominated legislature blocking the establishment of a Colonial militia, the all-volunteer Pennsylvania Associators (or Military Association of Pennsylvania) provided defense for the colony from the eve of the French and Indian War through the first year of the War for Independence. Seymour (US Army Center of Military History) deftly traces the development of the organization, the socioeconomic composition and political involvement of its members, and their role in the Paxton Boys Uprising, the coming of the American Revolution, and the military campaigns of 1777. Much of the focus is on the Philadelphia Artillery (the only unit in continuous existence the entire three decades) and the Philadelphia Light Horse, the two most prominent and best-documented units of the Associators, but Seymour does not ignore companies from outside the city. Thoroughly researched and concisely analytical, this sophisticated study adds significantly to the understanding of Pennsylvania politics during the 1770s. It joins Fred Anderson's A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War (CH, Mar'85) and James Titus's The Old Dominion at War: Society, Politics and Warfare in Late Colonial Virginia (CH, Oct'91, 29-1115) among the essential studies of late Colonial military history. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. C. Bradford Texas A&M University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
