Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution

by Robert H. Patton

Book Overview

In this lively narrative history, Robert H. Patton, grandson of the World War II battlefield legend, tells a sweeping tale of courage, capitalism, naval warfare, and international political intrigue... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375422846
• ISBN13: 9780375422843
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 291 Pages
• Weight: 1.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

A Wonderful Book!

I was hesitant to read this book at first, thinking it would be boring. Wow, was I mistaken! Patton writes in an entertaining, but informative manner about a little known aspect of the American Revolution. The true measure of a great book is one that's hard to put down, and believe me, I lost alot of sleep reading this book. I highly recommend it!

So the American Revolution was won by pirates?

Robert H. Patton makes the case that American Independence was won by pirates. And he makes his case very well. The colonists, lacking the resources to form a large professional navy, had a very small professional navy and a vast number of armed merchantmen with letters of marque and reprisal. Patton has dug into journals, letters, diaries, and other primary documents to demonstrate that these privateers (differing from pirates only in the possession of the letters of marque that were a license from the government to seize enemy vessels) were the backbone of the War of Independence. In modern terms, the privateers integrated the military and economic instruments of power. They were a naval militia that conducted operations against British warships, albeit with guerrilla tactics, and attacked the British lines of communication that moved all manner of profitable cargo to and from the Americas. At the same time, the privateers turned a healthy profit for the captains, crews, and investors behind them, often making the fortunes of families who are influential to this day. This book is a meticulously documented history, and as such is somewhat dry in places. Allowing for the needs of academic standards, this is still a very lively book, with vignettes of operations by and against the privateers, and the diverse intrigues surrounding them and the Revolution. This is not the U.S. history you heard in high school, but it is a heck of a tale, and provides insights into all levels of insurgency. Excellent book and highly recommended to any student of the period, military history, or insurgency (and those insurgents were some radical Capitolist extremists). Awesome stuff, can't recommend it highly enough! E. M. Van Court

Privateers through the Revolution

In Patriot Pirates, Robert H. Patton tells the story of the American privateers in the Revolution. The book covers the entire war from Boston to Yorktown. American merchants armed hundreds of small ships to interdict the British maritime supply lines. Patton illustrates how patriotism and business came together in the privateers. I read this book along with two other works, George Washington's Secret Navy (James L. Nelson) and If By Sea (George Daughan). Nelson's book recounts the the Siege of Boston (June 1775 to March 1776) when Washington took over the nascent Continental Army and quickly realized that he didn't have the assets to do more that continue the siege. He proceeded to arm several small schooners to interdict the British maritime supply lines. These five ships were the beginning of American maritime operations which eventually included the Continental Navy and privateers in an Atlantic campaign. Daughan's concentrates on the US Navy from 1775 to 1815. Together with Patton's book, this is a full history of Early American sea power. I'd add the following works for a library on this subject: Frederick C. Leiner The End of Barbary Terror Richard Zacks The Pirate Coast Ian W. Toll Six Frigates A. B. C. Whipple To the Shores of Tripoli John R. Elting Amateurs, To Arms! In the past year I've read several excellent books about pirates and privateers. My interest was originally sparked in 1995 with David Cordingly's "Under the Black Flag" because this book pictured the privateers/pirates as sea-going guerrillas. The 3 books mentioned above have one flaw. They don't provide any context for American attitudes toward privateers, smugglers, etc. The American coastal communities were very familiar with privateers and their business. Until the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) few Royal Navy ships came to North America. American's were used to doing for themselves, and making a profit therein. When the Revolution came, Americans were ready to bring the "fight" to the enemy. If this activity mostly involved taking merchant ships as prizes, so much the better. The following are worth reading: Peter Earle Pirate Wars The Sack of Panama Stephan Talty Empire of Blue Water Benerson Little The Sea Rover's Practice The Buccaneer's Realm Colin Woodard The Republic of Pirates Together these works cover piracy from the late 16th to the early 19th Century.

new perspective, well told

This was very enlightening for me. I got a totally new sense of the down-and-dirty Revolutionary world. There are ocean battles in it, but if that's all you're looking for there are probably other books to go to. This one has a much wider scope that includes business, naval strategy, politics, even the slave trade. It features an array of high and low characters, and most of them aren't household names, which I thought was a good thing but others may disagree. I think the storytelling is really artful and smooth, because in a pretty short narrative it presents all sorts of scenes from Massachusetts to the Caribbean to Paris and London, but it weaves them together well, and then it ends with a couple of teenage seamen whose adventures capture the suffering, persistence, and sheer guts of the American patriots. This book turned out to be a much more significant portrayal of history than I'd thought when I first bought it.

Different history of part of the American Revolution

This is one of the most interesting books I've read in recent years. Robert Patton, who it a descendant of the World War II general, has turned himself into a historian, and this is his first work of true history. He recounts in some detail the story of the Revolutionary War privateering industry, which caused considerable damage to the British economy. The author quotes George Washington as saying that the privateers were the "pivot on which everything turned". Patton writes carefully of the various events and circumstances of the privateer war. He goes over in some detail the various personalities involved in the war, everyone from interesting characters like Nathaniel Greene around to more obscure characters like the Brown brothers and John Manley, the prototypical privateer who made the first and last captures of the war. He also discusses the fortunes that were made, some of which continue to enrich old families on the East Cost. This is a fascinating account of a part of the Revolutionary War that's little-known except as a footnote. The author provides a considerable amount of information, and also analysis of the whole issue. I really enjoyed this book and felt I learned a considerable amount of information about the subject.