Virtual Book Talk - "The Philadelphia Campaign, 1777-78," by Michael C. Harris

During the Revolutionary War, the British Army in North America conducted two major campaigns in 1777. Lt. Gen. John Burgoyne led one army south from Canada to seize control of the Lake Champlain-Hudson River corridor resulting in the Battle of Saratoga and his army’s capture. Rather than assist Burgoyne’s campaign, Sir William Howe led his army from New York City against the rebel’s capital at Philadelphia. Author Michael Harris will present his new book showing that although Howe captured the city after his victory at Brandywine, the decisive events of 1777 led to the French Alliance the next year and ultimately American victory in American Revolution.

Michael C. Harris is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and the American Military University. He has worked for the National Park Service in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Fort Mott State Park in New Jersey, and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at Brandywine Battlefield. He has written two previous books on the Philadelphia Campaign: “Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America, September 11, 1777,” and “Germantown: A Military History of the Battle for Philadelphia, October 4, 1777.”