The Last Men Standing
The 8th Virginia Regiment in the American Revolution
JUST RELEASED!
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After years of research, the complete history of the 8th Virginia Regiment has finally been written. Gabriel Neville’s book The Last Men Standing: The 8th Virginia Regiment in the American Revolution is a book that historians once thought impossible to write. It is about actual Revolutionary soldiers from their childhoods to their last days on the frontier. Every identifiable man who served in the regiment is included.
DISCOUNTS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE FOLLOWING RETAILERS: Amazon: $21.01 off The Fort Plain Museum: $10 off Paul Meekins Military & History Books (Britain): £10 off The 8th Virginia was unique in the Continental Army, and its story has never been fully told. George Bancroft called the 8th Virginia "one of the most perfect battalions of the American Army." Major General Charles Lee called them “a most excellent regiment” and chose them first in Virginia for Continental service “in preference to any other.” Two of its men rose from private to general. Sergeant John Vance, declared, "I served in our Revolutionary War for liberty."
The regiment is famous for its first colonel, the “fighting parson,” Peter Muhlenberg. The 8th Virginia was multi-ethnic, and its very existence tied north with south and east with west, contributing to national unity. About 800 men signed up to fight early in 1776. By the end of the war, only a few remained. The Last Men Standing is a unique narrative. These were Western men who cared more about Kentucky than the tax on tea. They were the original pioneers, setting cultural precedents that became fixtures in Western movies: fringed shirts, long rifles, migration trails, Conestoga wagons, Indian fighting, dueling, and buffalo hunting. To go west, they first had to fight first in the east. |
"I served in our Revolutionary War for liberty." |
Virginia initially intended the 8th Virginia to be a "German" regiment. It raised several companies in the Shenandoah Valley, to where thousands of Germans had migrated on the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania. Thousands of Scotch-Irish immigrants had come the same way, and they enlisted in equal numbers.
Frequently divided and detached, the regiment’s men served almost everywhere: Charleston, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Short Hills, Cooch's Bridge, Brandywine, Saratoga, Germantown, Valley Forge, and Monmouth. They suffered, and many died, from frostbite, malaria, smallpox, malnourishment, musket balls, bayonets, and cruel imprisonment. Their numbers dwindled until only a few remained to help corner Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. Victorious, those who survived turned west to build the America we know.
The Last Men Standing includes 149 illustrations, 22 maps, 18 graphs and tables, and an appendix listing every identifiable soldier. It was written using diaries, letters, muster rolls, pay rolls, newspaper accounts, local histories, private collections, and more.
Frequently divided and detached, the regiment’s men served almost everywhere: Charleston, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Short Hills, Cooch's Bridge, Brandywine, Saratoga, Germantown, Valley Forge, and Monmouth. They suffered, and many died, from frostbite, malaria, smallpox, malnourishment, musket balls, bayonets, and cruel imprisonment. Their numbers dwindled until only a few remained to help corner Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown. Victorious, those who survived turned west to build the America we know.
The Last Men Standing includes 149 illustrations, 22 maps, 18 graphs and tables, and an appendix listing every identifiable soldier. It was written using diaries, letters, muster rolls, pay rolls, newspaper accounts, local histories, private collections, and more.
"...one of the most perfect battalions of the American Army."
—George Bancroft