Embattled Farmers: Campaigns and Profiles of Revolutionary
Soldiers from Lincoln, Massachusetts, 1775-1783
By Richard C. Wiggin
They were ordinary farmers, laborers,
merchants, tradesmen, slaves, and former slaves, the cross-section of a typical
eighteenth-century New England farming community. But when faced with the loss
of their cherished liberties and long-standing tradition of self-government,
they were swept up in an epic struggle against long odds. These are the
forgotten men who fought the American Revolution.
Meticulously researched, Embattled
Farmers traces the footsteps of 252 individual men—all connected with the
Lincoln, Massachusetts, but with family and economic ties throughout New
England—who served as Patriot soldiers. Through repeated enlistments, they
served at Lexington and Concord, at the Siege of Boston, and during the
campaigns to Ticonderoga, Canada, New York, Saratoga, the Hudson Valley, The
Jerseys, Valley Forge, and Yorktown.
Embattled Farmers is the only known work that identifies and
profiles all known Revolutionary soldiers from any given community in the
nation. It examines the Revolutionary War from the ground up—from individual
records, rather than aggregate data. It brings to light many stories for the
first time, enriching and humanizing our overall understanding of the
Revolutionary War with specific details and biographical data.
Robert Gross, author of The
Minutemen and Their World, writes “Thanks to Wiggin, the American Revolution in
Massachusetts stands out as a triumph of popular mobilization and as a symbol
of what citizens can accomplish in common when motivated by a willing spirit of
self-sacrifice.” Mel Bernstein, moderator of the
minute man ARRT, believes that Embattled Farmers may be a prototype for future investigations
of the Revolution as it played out in other communities throughout colonial
America.
We all recommend this
new book to you, as does our Minute Man ARRT friend Mel Bernstein. It’s
available through the Lincoln Historical Society
http://lincolnhistoricalsociety.org/Pages/Embattled%20Farmers%20flier.pdf, as well as Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Embattled-Farmers-Campaigns-Revolutionary-Massachusetts/dp/0944856101/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368477425&sr=1-1&keywords=embattled+farmers
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