If by Sea The Forging of the American Navy From the Revolution to the War of 1812

The American Revolution-and thus the history of the United States-began not on land but on the sea. Paul Revere began his famous midnight ride not by jumping on a horse, but by scrambling into a skiff with two other brave patriots to cross Boston Harbor to Charlestown. Revere and his companions rowed with muffled oars to avoid capture by the British warships closely guarding the harbor. As they paddled silently, Reveres neighbor was flashing two lanterns from the belfry of Old North Church, signaling patriots in Charlestown that the redcoats were crossing the Charles River in longboats. In every major Revolutionary battle thereafter the sea would play a vital, if historically neglected, role. When the American colonies took up arms against Great Britain, they were confronting the greatest sea-power of the age. And it was during the War of Independence that the American Navy was born. But following the British naval model proved crushingly expensive, and the Founding Fathers fought viciously for decades over whether or not the fledgling republic truly needed a deep-water fleet. The debate ended only when the Federal Navy proved indispensable during the War of 1812. Drawing on decades of prodigious research, historian George C. Daughan chronicles the embattled origins of the U.S. Navy. From the bloody and gunpowder-drenched battles fought by American sailors on lakes and high seas to the fierce rhetorical combat waged by the Founders in Congress, If By Sea charts the course by which the Navy became a vital and celebrated American institution.

Drawing on decades of prodigious research, historian Daughan charts the course by which the Navy has become a vital and celebrated American institution. Illustrated.

From Boston Harbor to Yorktown; from wars with France and Tripoli to the dramatic Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812, the definitive history of the creation of the American Navy

Most historians trace the origins of the Continental Navy to George Washingtons official inauguration of the Federal Navy in 1793, but the story actually begins years earlier: in 1775, at the advent of the American Revolution. In If By Sea, historian George C. Daughan uses decades of primary research to brilliantly trace the navys little-recognized origins, showing that the battles of Lexington and Concord—as well as many subsequent battles, including Bunker Hill, New York, and Philadelphia—cannot be fully understood without taking the role of naval power into account.

George C. Daughan holds a Ph.D. in American History and Government from Harvard University. He spent three years in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. He taught at the Air Force Academy and was also director of the MA program of international affairs there. Subsequently, he held a professorship at Connecticut College, and also taught at the University of Colorado, the University of New Hampshire, and Wesleyan University. He now resides in Portland, Maine.