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"Few know of the valor and courage of Benedict Arnold... With such a dramatic main character, the story of the Battle of Valcour is finally seen as one of the most exciting and important of the American Revolution." -- During the summer of 1776, a British incursion from Canada loomed. In response, citizen soldiers of the newly independent nation mounted a heroic defense. Patriots constructed a small fleet of gunboats on Lake Champlain in northern New York and confronted the Royal Navy in a desperate three-day battle near Valcour Island. Their effort surprised the arrogant British and forced the enemy to call off their invasion.Jack Kelly's Valcour is a story of people. The northern campaign of 1776 was led by the underrated general Philip Schuyler (Hamilton's father-in-law) , the ambitious former British officer Horatio Gates, and the notorious Benedict Arnold.



About the Author

Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly is an award-winning author and historian. His new book "VALCOUR: The 1776 Campaign That Saved the Cause of Liberty" tells the neglected story of one of the most critical and suspense-filled campaigns of the Revolutionary War. That summer, patriots knew they had to stop an enemy invasion from Canada by any means necessary. Their success meant they would continue to fight for another year, setting up their breakthrough victory at Saratoga. Kelly's "BAND OF GIANTS: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America's Independence" received the DAR History Medal. He is also the author of "THE EDGE OF ANARCHY," an account of the Pullman Strike of 1894; "HEAVEN'S DITCH", a cultural history of the Erie Canal; and "GUNPOWDER," an account of man's first explosive. He has published five novels, and is a New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in Nonfiction Literature. He lives and works in New York's Hudson Valley.



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