“No one has studied the British enlisted ranks in the Revolution with greater diligence and insight than Don N. Hagist. Now he has given us a remarkable group portrait of these men, illuminating who they were, why and how they fought, and what their lives were like.”—Rick Atkinson, author of The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777, from the foreword to Noble Volunteers
“Anchored upon vivid vignettes of military life, many taken from previously unpublished documents, Noble Volunteers is a significant, ground-breaking study that reconstructs the entire arc of the humble redcoat’s experience, from recruitment to demobilisation. Above all, it restores humanity to the thousands of rank-and-file soldiers who fought so tenaciously in an ultimately futile effort to keep the rebellious American colonies within the British Empire.”—Stephen Brumwell, author of Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty
“Don Hagist has written what will prove to be the definitive account of British soldiers who fought in the American Revolution. Compelling, interesting, and brilliantly conceived—using previously unpublished records, Hagist’s impeccable research unearths the hidden war of the British enlisted men during the Revolution.”—Patrick K. O’Donnell, author of Washington’s Immortals
“Few American readers know anything about the British soldiers who fought against their colonial forefathers during the Revolutionary War. This book solves that problem by delving into myriad primary sources to illuminate details of the lives of the British soldiers who fought and died so far from home. The author, Don N. Hagist, is the editor of the Journal of the American Revolution, and he knows this subject well. . . . Only a few British soldiers left accounts of their days in uniform, but the author has conducted impressive research in archives located in the United Kingdom, as well as in Canada and the United States, in order to produce this very thorough study. All those readers who are interested in the American Revolution will definitely want to add Noble Volunteers to their military libraries.”—Journal of America’s Military Past