Overview

About sunset we made a stand, when I was wounded, having a Ball with the Wad shot through my left forearm & the fuse set my coat and shirt on fire. So wrote Major Joseph Bloomfield in his journal on September 11, 1777, describing his experiences during the hard-fought battle of Brandywine. Bloomfield was an officer in the 3rd New Jersey Regiment from 1776 to 1779. His service took him from Fort Stanwix to Fort Ticonderoga in New York, to the battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania, and to the battle of Monmouth in his native state. He later served as governor of New Jersey from 1801 to 1812. A compassionate officer admired by his men, Bloomfield carefully recounted the hardships of military campaigns-the swings of morale, the shortage of supplies, the ever-present illnesses-and the intensity of combat. Of special interest are Bloomfield's important notes on the culture and behavior of the Iroquois tribes known collectively as the Six Nations, which played a crucial role in revolutionary New York. Unpublished and all but unknown when the first edition-skillfully edited by historians Mark Edward Lender and Joseph Kirby Martin-appeared, Bloomfield's wartime journal was praised for providing both scholars and general readers with new information on the Continental soldier; the revolution's impact on society; warfare in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and the motives and actions of the revolutionary generation. Soldiers and civilians, Patriots and Tories, come alive in this fascinating eyewitness narrative. This new edition of Citizen Soldier: The Revolutionary War Journal of Joseph Bloomfield-the first in thirty-five years-includes a new introduction and bibliographic essay by the editors.

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9781594162930

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Reviews

Praise for Citizen Soldier A treasure. --New York Times Thanks to the first-rate editing Bloomfield's journal is fully and clearly annotated. . . . It helps to fill a gap in the literature of the unsung officers and men of the Continental Army. --Don Higginbotham, author of Daniel Morgan, Revolutionary Rifleman

Praise for Citizen Soldier A treasure. --New York Times Thanks to the first-rate editing Bloomfield's journal is fully and clearly annotated. . . . It helps to fill a gap in the literature of the unsung officers and men of the Continental Army. --Don Higginbotham, author of Daniel Morgan, Revolutionary Rifleman

Author Information

MARK EDWARD LENDER is Emeritus Professor of History at Kean University. He has written widely on early American military and social history, including Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle, a finalist for the 2017 George Washington Prize. JAMES KIRBY MARTIN is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor of History at the University of Houston. Among his many books are Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero: An American Warrior Reconsidered and A Respectable Army: The Military Origins of the Republic, 1763-1789, with Mark Edward Lender.

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