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Editorial Review Product 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.
Rather than focus on previously documented animosity between British regulars and provincials, Campbell reveals how soldiers from different backgrounds formed a multiracial, multilingual society that reflected a truly cosmopolitan transatlantic identity. ... Read more Customer Reviews (3) 
THE ROYAL AMERICAN REGIMENT: AN ATLANTC MICROCOSM, 1755-1772
THE ROYAL AMERICAN REGIMENT: AN ATLANTIC MICROCOSM, 1755-1772
ALEXANDER V. CAMPBELL
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS, 2010
HARDCOVER, $34.95, 368 PAGES, ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS, TABLES, APPENDIX, ABBREVIATIONS, NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX
After Braddock's defeat, the British Parliament voted just before Christmas, 1755, the sum of 81,000 Pounds for the purpose of raising a regiment of four battalions (three recruited from Germans in the German states and the other from German colonists in the American colonies), each one 1,000 strong for service in British North America. This regiment was raised for the purpose of defending the thirteen colonies against attack by the French and their Native American allies. The regiment was designated the 62nd or Royal American Regiment of Foot but later it was changed to the 60th in February, 1757. This was due to the surrender of both the 50th (Shirley's) and 51st (Pepperel's) Regiments of Foot after their removal from the rolls of the British Army when they surrendered at Fort Oswego. Recruiting for the regiment in North America was disappointing, and more than half its strength was drafted from men rejected by British regiments in Ireland. From this unlikely collection of foreigners and cast offs was fashioned one of the most famous regiments of the British Army. The regiment was intended to combine the characteristics of a Colonial Corps with those of a Foreign Legion. These men were Protestants, an important consideration for fighting against the predominantly Catholic French. The officers were also recruited from Europe-not from the American colonies-and consisted of English, Scotch, Irish, Dutch, Swiss, and Germans. It was the first unit to use foreign officers that were commissioned in the British Army. The total regiment consisted of 4,160 enlisted men, 101 officers, and 240 NCOs and the battalions were raised on Governors Island, New York. Among the officers recruited from Europe were two able Swiss soldiers-Henri Bouquet and Frederick Haldimand-who commanded respectively the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the new regiment. Bouquet trained his battalion as light infantry, emphasizing the skills required for forest warfare. Haldimand also adapted his European experience to war in the American wilderness. The 1st and 4th Battalions of the 60th accompanied General Abercromby's advance up Lake Champlain in 1758 and participated in the disastrous assault on Fort Ticonderoga in July, 1758. In November, 1758, Bouquet's 1st Battalion played a major role in the successful advance to Fort Duquesne, which secured the western border of New England against the incursions of France's Native American allies. In 1758, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were assigned to the forces of General Amherst for operations in eastern Canada. Both battalions participated in the capture of Louisbourg and then advanced on to Quebec with Wolfe in 1759. The performance of the 60th at Montmorency Falls on 31 July 1758 won the regimental motto Ceter et Audax (Swift and Bold) from General Wolfe. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions participated in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759 and in 1760, elements of all four battalions participated in the final advance on Montreal. THE ROYAL AMERICAN REGIMENT: AN ATLANTIC MICROCOSM, 1755-1772 is a remarkable story-full of drama, tragedy, and heroism. Through exhaustive research and excellant use of the private papers of many of their officers, author Alexander V. Campbell has carefully crafted the history of a unit that served with distinction during the Seven Years' War. Breaking with the usual regimental history that has been written in the past, Campbell puts a human face on the men that served in the 60th and how they helped shape the new American nation.
Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida
US connections
My interest in the book, which was recommended by a relative, was to find out more about the involvement of family members in the US, and found some surprising and interesting bits of information.
Great
This is a good read, generally well-written (though the prose would not be what one would call "quick") and nice idea--taking a look at one regiment to learn about the Trans-Atlantic world of the 18th century.A good concept, well-executed.Some prose is clumsy, such as the repeated (and unexplained) use of the term "foreign Protestant officer."The chapter on soldier life and its miseries is excellent.
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