The author builds a solid summary of colonial history before launching into the formation of a new government and war in 1775-76. He describes the social and cultural variations among Americans of the period, especially their religious diversity. By the 1750s, “at least 14 different languages were spoken on the streets of New York and at a tavern in Philadelphia, one Scottish visitor found himself in ‘very mixed company ... there were Scots, English, Dutch, Germans, and Irish; there were Roman Catholics, Churchmen, Presbyterians, Quakers, Newlightmen, Methodists, Seventhday men, Moravians, Anabaptists, and one Jew.’” The main topic of conversation was politics except for the Quakers, who were arguing about the price of flour!

He asserts that among the most important forces of the century was the Great Awakening which “helped bind Americans together with a shared sense of their spirituality as a people and, perhaps ‘prepared them’ in the words of one historian, ‘for the coming ordeal of sacrifice and war.’”

Bobrick follows the traditional paths of interpretation, citing the various tyrannies by the English government against the colonies, and the variety of ways the colonists resisted. He tells both the story of the hot-heads and malcontents of Boston and the conservative and restrained geniuses of the Continental Congress. He stresses the constitutional nature of the founders’ thinking and rhetoric but includes the passion of their resistance:

After Congress disbanded, John Adams took Patrick Henry aside and told him he thought all their “resolves, declarations of rights, enumeration of wrongs, petitions, remonstrances, and addresses, associations, and non-importation agreements ... would be but waste paper in England.” Henry agreed and said the best they could hope for was that their efforts might help sway English public opinion to their side. Adams then rather daringly showed Henry a letter from a militia major in Massachusetts that concluded, “after all, we must fight.” At those words, according to Adams, Henry “raised his head, and with an energy and vehemence that I can never forget, broke out with: ‘By God, I am of that man’s mind!’”

And fight they did. The title of the book comes from a letter to Thomas Jefferson from John Page in which he wrote on July 20, 1776, “We know the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the Strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm.” Dr. Bobrick’s best writing is his narrative of the whirlwinds and storms of battle and central to his account are telling quotes from primary source records.

Of the storming of Breed’s Hill, where 1,600 Massachusetts and New Hampshire men, supplied with bullets made from the lead pipes of the organ at Christ’s Church, squared off with an equal number of British regulars, Bobrick writes:

[British General] Howe’s first and second assaults had been thrown back with equal slaughter, and he experienced, he said, ‘a moment that I never felt before’ as he glimpsed what failure might mean. With a kind of stunned simplicity, he said to his officers, ‘To be forced to give up Boston would, gentlemen, be very disagreeable to us all.’

Once more he formed his troops, brought cannon to bear so as to rake the inside of the rebel breastwork, and made one final effort to storm it as the British bombardment from the ships and batteries increased. Just at this juncture, American ammunition gave out. Most of the men had begun the battle with only about fifteen cartridges apiece. Many had only two or three left. As the British surged up the slope, they were met by two tremendous volleys. But then, as they came on, there was only scattered shot. Yet the defenders, with incredible bravery, kept up what fire they could until the British were upon them with bayonets. One British officer recalled, ‘There are few instances of regular troops defending a redoubt till the enemy were in the very ditch of it. And [yet] I myself saw several pop their heads up and fire even after some of our men were upon the berm.’

Such is the author’s descriptive power throughout the records of all the major battles and campaigns.

One of the most stunning and interesting battles of the war occurred on the North and South Carolina border at a place called King’s Mountain. The opposing armies were almost entirely American except for the Tory commander Major Patrick Ferguson and 150 British regulars. The patriot forces were “over-the-mountain-men,” a fierce and colorful band of buckskin-clad stalwarts with hunting knives and “the long Deckard rifle of the Kentucky frontier.” They were said to be able to “travel up to forty miles a day, and march and fight ... for forty-eight hours without food or rest.” The boastful British commander told his Loyalist troops that their chosen position could not be forced “by God Almighty and all the rebels out of hell.” Tempting Providence is always a bad idea. After two assaults were repulsed, “the patriots prevailed on the third try, at which Ferguson’s men, ‘who were falling very fast’ began crying for quarter:

The carnage on the crest had been great. ‘The dead lay in heaps on all sides,’ wrote Collins, ‘while the groans of the wounded were heard in every direction.... On examining the dead body of their great chief [Ferguson], it appeared that almost fifty rifles must have been leveled at him at the same time. Seven rifle balls had passed through his body, both of his arms were broken, and his hat and clothing were literally shot to pieces.’”

The author does not varnish the harshness of the war — after the battle, the patriots hanged nine Tory field officers in retaliation for the torture and execution of forty-one American prisoners at Augusta and Fort Ninety-Six. War is a harsh business and this one saw its share of hard men on both sides.

The book does not end at Yorktown. Two more years of conflict and negotiation ensued until the Treaty of Paris. George Washington remains a central figure throughout the narrative, from his dealings with Congress and the Conway Cabal to the hardships of Valley Forge and the terrible and disappointing defeats on the battlefield. Through it all, one looks for the man to falter, lose faith, or resign his command. George Washington defies deconstruction or revision. He still towers above his contemporaries, a man of honor, courage, perseverance, and loyalty. His ability to keep his dispirited and disgruntled army in the field, win small victories, and display unflagging confidence in the cause made him the master of command, never equaled. Angel in the Whirlwind only increases admiration for the “father of his country” and rekindles an appreciation for the sacrifices all the founders made to recreate and preserve constitutional government. It was not a revolution but a bid to preserve historic liberties and cast them in the unique setting of a free Republic.

Reviewed by William Potter