The Day the Revolution Ended: 19 October 1781 - Hardcover

For anyone betting on the outcome of the American Revolution in October 1780, the smart money would have been on King George. A year later, against all the odds, Britain was vanquished – a turnabout that forms the lively subject here.
Historian Hallahan bookends his The Day the Revolution Began: 19 April 1775 (2000) with this popular study of tides turned and heroes made and unmade. He begins in November 1780 with the turncoat Benedict Arnold′s revelation of a "master plan for personally finishing the revolution" – namely, by seizing Philadelphia with a force of redcoats and American loyalists, burning the Continental Army′s supplies and ships, and hauling the Revolution′s leaders in chairs across the ocean to stand tall before the king. For whatever reason, Sir Henry Clinton, Arnold′s commanding officer, chose not to accept Arnold′s offer, instead committing him, and the forces of Cornwallis and other British commanders, to a safer course of warfare that entailed comparatively little risk. That strategy, Hallahan suggests, was a mistake. (Certainly Cornwallis, though so; after the war was over, h e wrote a scornful memoir blaming Clinton for the loss of the colonies.) Clinton′s failure to seize the initiative against a weakened rebel army roughly coincided with the reversal of fortunes in the South, where revolutionary forces were not crushing loyalist guerrillas and regular British troops. The emboldened rebels eventually broke Cornwallis′s southern flank, and the British general found himself cooped up on the heights of Yorktown, where he, too, failed to break out when the opportunity presented itself. Cornwallis′s surrender on October 19, 1781, effectively brought the Revolutionary War to an end. Hallahan defuses the drama a little by ending not with British officers weeping in shame at their defeat, but instead with an appendix reporting the postwar fortunes of the principal players – material that might have been better woven into the main narrative.
A reminder, for general readers, of the high stakes at risk in the Revolution, and of the chance turns that changed the course of the game. ( Kirkus Review, October 1, 2003)

"A reminder, for general readers, of the high stakes at risk in the Revolution, and of the chance turns that changed the course of the game." ( Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2003)

Praise for William Hallahan’s The Day the american Revolution Began

"Hallahan has successfully evoked all the passion and drama of the birth of the American Revolution."
Booklist

"A page–turning narrative . . . in–depth profiles of the actors . . . adds a delightful human dimension to the story of the struggle for freedom."
Virginian Pilot

Following the success of William Hallahan’s The Day the American Revolution Began, here is the dramatic conclusion to the American Revolution and the spirited beginning of a new nation. The Day the Revolution Ended vividly tells the story of America’s victory through the eyes of those who lived it. Using such rich primary sources as diaries, journals, memoirs, newspapers, letters, official documents, and other eyewitness accounts, The Day the Revolution Ended traces the tense chess game of troop movements, skirmishes, and tooth–and–nail battles that brought the American forces, their French allies, the British troops, and the Hessian mercenary soldiers to their fateful encounter at Yorktown. Hallahan paints a sharp portrait of the events and the colorful players in the war, including Benedict Arnold’s seething vengeance, Nathanael Greene’s ability to turn even a retreat into a victory, Lafayette’s military ardor, General Clinton’s incompetent leadership, and Washington’s high–stakes battles, as well as the extraordinary bravery of both generals and common soldiers alike.

William Hallahan’s skillful and colorful narrative details the exuberance of the new nation, as news of England’s surrender travels north, city by city, to Philadelphia, New York, Boston, then on to London and Paris, and our young nation takes its first steps toward fulfilling its brilliant destiny.