The Soldiers' Revolution: Pennsylvanians in Arms and the Forging of Early American Identity (review)

Focusing heavily on race and gender, Gregory T. Knouff takes a highly critical look at the formation of American national identity. By assessing how average soldiers experienced the Revolutionary War, Knouff concludes that these men created a "'localist white male nation' before, during, and after the war" (p. xiii). He further suggests that the memory of the war allowed vestiges of this identity to persist until today, much to the detriment of those excluded from it. In fact, "these ideologies were precisely responsible for many problems in the new nation" (p. 286). Knouff selected Pennsylvania for this study because of its rich ethnic and religious diversity and because it contained urban, settled, and frontier regions.

Two different, yet associated, themes run throughout The Soldiers' Revolution. According to Knouff, a strong sense of localism united many Americans, whether they served in the militia or the Continental army. As British forces threatened the southeastern part of the state in late 1776 and then again in summer 1777, Pennsylvanians enlisted to protect their homes and communities. As the British threat receded, so did participation rates. A similar, but more consistent phenomenon occurred on the frontier as Loyalists and Native Americans raided the area throughout the war. In both regions men responded to appeals to masculinity by enlisting. This ties into Knouff's second theme. Military service conferred citizenship on white males, because they alone had mandatory duty. Those excluded because of their race, gender, or different ideologies became "outsiders" who were deprived of membership in the political community during and after the Revolution.

One of the book's most interesting aspects is Knouff's account of the civil war in Pennsylvania between Whigs and Loyalists and his linking of this to local circumstances. The state's revolutionary government alienated many religious pacifists and political moderates with its radical actions. Knouff similarly explains the conflict in the Wyoming Valley as resulting from disputed land claims between Connecticut and Pennamite settlers. He further notes that both sides tried to portray the other as criminals. The British inadvertently undercut the Loyalists' argument, however, by treating captured Americans as prisoners of war, not traitors. In contrast to the revolutionaries' localist, white male viewpoint, the author notes that Loyalists frequently served in multi-ethnic and multi-racial military units because African and Native Americans assisted British forces, as did colonists from other areas. As a result, Loyalists developed a perspective that placed the empire's greater good before that of the local community.

The Soldiers' Revolution is well researched and strongly based on pension records and Loyalist claims. This gives the work a personal feel as readers see the first-hand accounts of numerous participants on both sides. The author also includes a thoughtful essay on the merits and limitations of these sources. While the book is generally well written and logically organized, at times Knouff lapses into jargon with his discussions of "hegemonic culture" and "otherness." Still, this work offers insights into how people from different races responded to the Revolutionary War in Pennsylvania, and it helps explain why they fought.