"Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War" by Tim Rowland

This book was so much fun!  I absolutely loved Tim Rowland's writing -- he had such a slyly funny writing style, and I laughed aloud multiple times while reading this.  I made my family listen to me reading selections aloud because they tickled me so much.  When I finished reading this, I ordered his similar book about the Civil War because I am sure I will enjoy it too.

Was every one of these Strange and Obscure Stories of the Revolutionary War new to me?  No.  Were they all super strange?  No.  But they were a great way to explore some of the less-touted events and aspects of the American Revolution.  It's kind of hard to explain really -- this isn't exactly revisionist history or trying to ruin your view of the Founding Fathers, but it does point out some foibles here and there.  But not in a mean way.  It's funny and... almost a British humor flavor, if you know what I mean? 

If you like to learn trivial and little-known facts and stories, you would probably dig this book.  I'll share a couple of my favorite passages below so you can get a taste of this book's specific flavor.

Particularly Good Bits:

The idea that Americans might one day make a break for it was as old as America itself, and a veritable cottage industry arose in Britain out of speculating on the American future.  The British were well aware of a couple of points.  One, there were certainly people who sailed overseas for adventure and to seek fortune, but in the main, few people cam e to the New World because they were tickled with the way things were working out for them in the old.  This wasn't shaping up to be a territory that longed for leadership from across the pond.  Two, from the British perspective, the colonies were becoming a collection of every screwball sect and religious mutation on the face of the planet, and good luck governing that (p. 18).

When the British first arrived on the Carolina coastline in the spring of 1776, the patriots were in the process of throwing up a log and sand fort at the entrance to the Charleston harbor.  Washington's man, General Charles Lee, didn't like the looks of the forward position and ordered Colonel Moultrie to abandon the fort and regroup closer to town.  Moultrie thanked the colonial commander for his suggestion, which he summarily ignored.  This caused the predictable cries by lee of insubordination, and the intervention of Rutledge, who sternly told Moultrie he was to obey the commands of General Lee unless he didn't want to (p. 132).

If This was a Movie, I would Rate It: PG-10 for discussions of wartime wounds and violence, and a little bit of rough language.  Kids probably wouldn't get the humor anyway.

This is my fifth book read for my #RevolutionaryWarReads challenge that I set myself as part of my celebration of our country's 250th birthday this year.