STEDMAN, Charles.

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The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War. First edition. Stedman's firsthand account of the American War of Independence is "considered the best contemporary account of the Revolution from the British side" (Sabin). The author was a native of Philadelphia and a Loyalist. After the war, he moved to England, where he authored the History. It "remained the standard work on the subject for the next century" (ODNB).Charles Stedman began his career with the British Army as commissary to the army of Sir William Howe. He knew German, perhaps learnt from the numerous German settlers in Pennsylvania, which enabled him to work first as an interpreter for Hessian auxiliaries and afterwards as commander of a rifle corps of colonists from the Palatinate. He was twice taken prisoner, and sentenced to be hanged as a rebel, but escaped on both occasions. Given his firsthand experience of the war, Stedman's History offers compelling eyewitness accounts of many campaigns, brought to life by expansive military plans, which are "of great interest and value" (Allibone). These include the Battle of Bunker Hill, attacks on Forts Clinton and Montgomery, and the Sieges of Charleston, Savannah and Yorktown. At the time, the Critical Review observed that Stedman "excels beyond all competition in the detail of military operations" (p. 309) and commended him for "throwing a light on the art of war" (p. 316).Stedman argues that Britain's defeat was largely due to the failure

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