The indispensables The diverse soldier-mariners who shaped the country, formed the Navy, and rowed Washington across the Delaware

Historian O'Donnell (Washington's Immortals) offers a comprehensive look at the "indispensable" role of the Marblehead Regiment in the Revolutionary War. Made up of veteran seafarers from the region around Marblehead, Mass., the unit included free African Americans as well as Native Americans. Sketching the buildup to the war, O'Donnell profiles lesser-known historical figures including the regiment's commander, John Glover, and Elbridge Gerry, signer of the Declaration of Independence and eponym for the term "gerrymandering," and details how England's "Intolerable Acts," designed as punishment for the Boston Tea Party, led to the formation of militia companies and the stockpiling of military supplies. He delves into the origins of the Continental Navy and the Commander-in-Chief's Life Guard, an early version of the secret service, and recounts how Marbleheaders ferried troops across the Delaware River for the Battle of Trenton and evacuated Continental Army soldiers from the earlier Battle of Brooklyn, an operation later known as "America's Dunkirk." O'Donnell also offers fresh insights into obscure yet crucial engagements at New York's Throgs Neck and White Plains, and New Jersey's Assunpink Creek. Revolutionary War buffs will delight in the copious details and vivid battle scenes. Agent: Eve Attermann, WME. (May)

The Revolutionary War achievements of a Massachusetts regiment that, while not necessarily indispensable, deserves this admirable history. Prolific military historian O'Donnell begins with a history of Marblehead, Massachusetts, the second-largest New England town during this period. With an economy driven by fishing, its citizens were already primed to dislike British officials, who heavily regulated the trade and outraged its sailors by impressing them into the Royal Navy. Following the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the oppression of Britain's "Intolerable Acts," Marblehead citizens formed their own committees of correspondence, Sons of Liberty, and minutemen--a bumpy process because the city contained a pugnacious and often subversive loyalist faction. By the time fighting broke out in 1775, the town militia consisted of a series of companies that ultimately formed a regiment led by John Glover, "the most experienced officer." As the author points out, the forces included a surprising number of Blacks and Native soldiers. O'Donnell delivers an expert history of the first two years of the Revolution, with an emphasis on Glover's regiment. After the siege of Boston, Glover and his troops accompanied George Washington south to New York, where he suffered the disastrous defeat on Long Island. The author demonstrates--and most historians agree--that Washington's army was saved by a secret overnight evacuation to Manhattan in boats manned by Marblehead seamen. The regiment performed well during Washington's retreat across Manhattan and New Jersey before truly winning glory by conveying troops across the ice-choked Delaware to the heralded victory at Trenton in December 1776. Other units failed to cross. During this period, many Marbleheaders fitted out vessels as privateers whose captains and crews, many from Glover's regiment, began seizing British merchant vessels, marking the "origins of the US Navy." By January, the regiment's enlistments expired, and many, sick and often wounded, walked the 300 miles back to their now-impoverished city--though some stayed to fight. A vivid account of an impressive Revolutionary War unit and a can't-miss choice for fans of O'Donnell's previous books. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.