Description

The Adventures of a Revolutionary Soldier, published in 1830, is Joseph Plumb Martin's unsparing, quick-witted chronicle from the enlisted ranks. From the New York campaign and the winter at Valley Forge to trench duty before Yorktown, he records marches, skirmishes, shortages, and bounty disputes in a plainspoken, sardonic style. Episodic yet closely observed, the narrative pairs humor with grievance, offering a picaresque, democratic counterpoint to officer memoirs—rich in camp talk, fatigue duty, and the minute textures of survival. Born in 1760 and raised in Milford, Connecticut after early years in Massachusetts, Martin enlisted as a teenager and served seven years, finishing as a sergeant in the Corps of Sappers and Miners. A Maine farmer after the war, he wrote amid debates over veterans' compensation and national memory. His keen tally of broken promises, work details, and battlecraft reveals a bid to dignify enlisted experience and a democratic impatience with Revolutionary-era hierarchies. This book rewards readers of military history, early American literature, and social history alike. Read it for the grit and wryness of a survivor's voice—and for the rare immediacy with which the Revolution's ideals and contradictions are measured in a private's daily ledger.

Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.