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Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution
A rising-star historian offers a significant new global perspective on the Revolutionary War with the story of the conflict as seen through the eyes of the outsiders of colonial society
Over the last decade, award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal has revitalized the study of early America’s marginalized voices. Now, in Independence Lost, she recounts an untold story as rich and significant as that of the Founding Fathers: the history of the Revolutionary Era as experienced by slaves, American Indians, women, and British loyalists living on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
While citizens of the thirteen rebelling colonies came to blows with the British Empire over tariffs and parliamentary representation, the situation on the rest of the continent was even more fraught. In the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish forces clashed with Britain’s strained army to carve up the Gulf Coast, as both sides competed for allegiances with the powerful Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek nations who inhabited the region. Meanwhile, African American slaves had little control over their own lives, but some individuals found opportunities to expand their freedoms during the war.
Independence Lost reveals that individual motives counted as much as the ideals of liberty and freedom the Founders espoused: Independence had a personal as well as national meaning, and the choices made by people living outside the colonies were of critical importance to the war’s outcome. DuVal introduces us to the Mobile slave Petit Jean, who organized militias to fight the British at sea; the Chickasaw diplomat Payamataha, who worked to keep his people out of war; New Orleans merchant Oliver Pollock and his wife, Margaret O’Brien Pollock, who risked their own wealth to organize funds and garner Spanish support for the American Revolution; the half-Scottish-Creek leader Alexander McGillivray, who fought to protect indigenous interests from European imperial encroachment; the Cajun refugee Amand Broussard, who spent a lifetime in conflict with the British; and Scottish loyalists James and Isabella Bruce, whose work on behalf of the British Empire placed them in grave danger. Their lives illuminate the fateful events that took place along the Gulf of Mexico and, in the process, changed the history of North America itself.
Adding depth and moral complexity, Kathleen DuVal reinvigorates the story of the American Revolution. Independence Lost is a bold work that fully establishes the reputation of a historian who is already regarded as one of her generation’s best.
Over the last decade, award-winning historian Kathleen DuVal has revitalized the study of early America’s marginalized voices. Now, in Independence Lost, she recounts an untold story as rich and significant as that of the Founding Fathers: the history of the Revolutionary Era as experienced by slaves, American Indians, women, and British loyalists living on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
While citizens of the thirteen rebelling colonies came to blows with the British Empire over tariffs and parliamentary representation, the situation on the rest of the continent was even more fraught. In the Gulf of Mexico, Spanish forces clashed with Britain’s strained army to carve up the Gulf Coast, as both sides competed for allegiances with the powerful Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek nations who inhabited the region. Meanwhile, African American slaves had little control over their own lives, but some individuals found opportunities to expand their freedoms during the war.
Independence Lost reveals that individual motives counted as much as the ideals of liberty and freedom the Founders espoused: Independence had a personal as well as national meaning, and the choices made by people living outside the colonies were of critical importance to the war’s outcome. DuVal introduces us to the Mobile slave Petit Jean, who organized militias to fight the British at sea; the Chickasaw diplomat Payamataha, who worked to keep his people out of war; New Orleans merchant Oliver Pollock and his wife, Margaret O’Brien Pollock, who risked their own wealth to organize funds and garner Spanish support for the American Revolution; the half-Scottish-Creek leader Alexander McGillivray, who fought to protect indigenous interests from European imperial encroachment; the Cajun refugee Amand Broussard, who spent a lifetime in conflict with the British; and Scottish loyalists James and Isabella Bruce, whose work on behalf of the British Empire placed them in grave danger. Their lives illuminate the fateful events that took place along the Gulf of Mexico and, in the process, changed the history of North America itself.
Adding depth and moral complexity, Kathleen DuVal reinvigorates the story of the American Revolution. Independence Lost is a bold work that fully establishes the reputation of a historian who is already regarded as one of her generation’s best.
435 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2015
120 people are currently reading
2010 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen DuVal
27 books112 followersKathleen DuVal is a historian of early American, Native American, and women's history. She is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
July 7, 2015
http://ensuingchapters.com/2015/07/07...
Where was this book when I was growing up? Surely an elementary teacher mentioned the existence of colonies beyond the famous 13 in history class, but they apparently didn’t make much of a dent in the syllabus. Like most Americans, my founding geography is limited to the northeast.
In fact, there were another 13 or so British colonies in North America that did not partake in the revolution. Some of the most successful were along the Gulf Coast, and their history is as rich and fascinating as that of New England’s.
DuVal, an historian at the University of North Carolina, has revived their stories in this wonderful history of America’s “other” colonies. DuVal emphasizes narrative over trivia. Rather than a static recitation of dates and names, she tells the stories of nine citizens representative of the time, from Indian tribal leaders and English businessmen to soldiers and women trying to survive in the harsh environment.
In this respect, I found its structure similar to that of Dan Baum’s brilliant Nine Lives, which revisited Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of nine locals who experienced it.
The drawback to DuVal’s narrative is that, unlike Baum, she doesn’t have direct access (obviously) to the characters, and in the case of the women, it was particularly difficult to find source material.
What DuVal does with the little she has is marvelous. Through the crisscrossing lives of her characters, we encounter a vibrant South, very different from the one that emerges in the post-Revolutionary era. It is also distinct from the northeast. Rather than the us-against-them narrative of New England versus the British empire, the settlements along the Gulf Coast scrape together a tenuous coexistence with native tribes, the French, the Spanish and are more concerned with survival than revolution.
This is a fascinating look at American history forgotten, cobbled together from the disparate lives of the people surviving in the territories of East Florida and West Florida (which extended all the way to New Orleans).
You think you know your American history? Consider it incomplete if you’re just now learning about the importance of Pensacola.
And fill in the gaps with Independence Lost.
Where was this book when I was growing up? Surely an elementary teacher mentioned the existence of colonies beyond the famous 13 in history class, but they apparently didn’t make much of a dent in the syllabus. Like most Americans, my founding geography is limited to the northeast.
In fact, there were another 13 or so British colonies in North America that did not partake in the revolution. Some of the most successful were along the Gulf Coast, and their history is as rich and fascinating as that of New England’s.
DuVal, an historian at the University of North Carolina, has revived their stories in this wonderful history of America’s “other” colonies. DuVal emphasizes narrative over trivia. Rather than a static recitation of dates and names, she tells the stories of nine citizens representative of the time, from Indian tribal leaders and English businessmen to soldiers and women trying to survive in the harsh environment.
In this respect, I found its structure similar to that of Dan Baum’s brilliant Nine Lives, which revisited Hurricane Katrina through the eyes of nine locals who experienced it.
The drawback to DuVal’s narrative is that, unlike Baum, she doesn’t have direct access (obviously) to the characters, and in the case of the women, it was particularly difficult to find source material.
What DuVal does with the little she has is marvelous. Through the crisscrossing lives of her characters, we encounter a vibrant South, very different from the one that emerges in the post-Revolutionary era. It is also distinct from the northeast. Rather than the us-against-them narrative of New England versus the British empire, the settlements along the Gulf Coast scrape together a tenuous coexistence with native tribes, the French, the Spanish and are more concerned with survival than revolution.
This is a fascinating look at American history forgotten, cobbled together from the disparate lives of the people surviving in the territories of East Florida and West Florida (which extended all the way to New Orleans).
You think you know your American history? Consider it incomplete if you’re just now learning about the importance of Pensacola.
And fill in the gaps with Independence Lost.
July 23, 2015
Kathleen Duval, a master of perspective-flipping, looks at the American Revolution from the outside in in Independence Lost. Here are her main arguments:
1. For people outside of the 13 colonies, the decision to help the British or the rebels. Indians, French, Spanish, and others had their own interests and pursued those with little regard to the rebels' ideological claims. Dr. Duval brings this point across most effectively in regards to the 3 C's tribes of the Southeast. These tribes pursued classic international relations strategies such as balancing, hedging, and bandwagoning. The European powers needed these tribes to help them or at least remain neutral. These tribes, on the other hand, wanted to keep their autonomy and independence, particularly by stopping the flow of British settlers into their lands.
2. The Revolutionary War itself was seen by outsiders less as a struggle for liberty and independence by an internecine British struggle that created new opportunities and challenges. For France and Spain, the war was a continuation of the Seven Years' War that gave them the opportunity to get revenge and make territorial gains in North America, which Spain did quite successfully for the time. For Indian tribes, there were probably more dangers than opportunities. For leaders such as Alexander McGillivray, the war was an impetus to unite as many tribes as possible to resist European expansion. Many tribes drifted into partnership with Spain. By the end of the war, however, it became clear that the declining influence of European powers reduced Native power and autonomy because they could no longer be the balancing force between competing European powers. Instead, the emergence of a more hegemonic, racially defend, and land-hungry American republic with no European powers to help contain it spelled bad news for Indian autonomy and lives. Ultimately, the formation of the US started the process of closing down the complex geopolitical balance of North American history and ushering in an era of American dominance that was great for some and a disaster for others.
3. There is a double surprise regarding early American history in this book. First, people with the outside perspective were surprised to see the Americans win. Second, they were even more surprised to see the Americans form a fairly united and functioning nation. One of the cool things about the perspective-flipping in this book is that it helped me see many processes I've previously viewed as happening mainly in the 13 colonies as happening elsewhere. In this sense, the book reminded me of Thomas Bender's A Nation among Nations, except on a more continental level. First among these is the process of nation-building. The American nation building project of the late 18th century was the most successful on the continent, but Dr. Duval argues that this should not obscure the many other nation-building projects occurring in the same period, especially among Indians. She argues that the Americans built a more successful framework and ideology of united expansion that managed to incorporate territories as equal states rather than unequal colonies, even though that expansion came at the expense and/or exclusion of Indians and blacks.
4. Finally, understanding why the rebels won the war requires looking at the fighting and geopolitics beyond the 13 colonies. The intervention of France and Spain was undoubtedly crucial, and they intervened largely in order to stake out territorial and trade claims in the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. The Spanish takeover of Pensacola and other Franco-Spanish successes were big reasons why the British decided to cut their losses in North America. I'm still pretty convinced that the center of gravity of the war was in the 13 colonies themselves, however. If Washington's Army had ever been destroyed or captured, the war would have been over regardless of what happened outside the colonies. I was also a bit confused by the suggestion that Cornwallis' Southern strategy should have relied more heavily on Indian allies rather than exclusive reliance on regular troops. A huge part of the book was about how Indians pursued their own interests in this war, which often made them unreliable allies as they didn't want to expend precious human resources on someone else's fight. I therefore didn't quite see how Indians played into the failure of the Southern strategy. Still, incorporating the Gulf Coast into the more standard narrative of the war is clearly worthwhile.
Dr. Duval makes this argument in a 2/3 analytical, 1/3 narrative book. She orients many of the arguments around biographies of people who lived outside the mainstream of the American Revolution. Some of these biographies were very effective in helping me grasp the stories. I particularly enjoyed those about Patamayaha and Alexander Macgillivray. Other biographies mainly served to add personal touch to the history and illustrate how different kinds of people experienced these events. I found these to be less compelling.
I'll have to really think about incorporating the perspective and argument of this book in my teaching, although I haven't quite figured out what to do with it yet. This is continental history at its best, and I hope that people who are interested in a different take on the Revolutionary period in America will check it out.
1. For people outside of the 13 colonies, the decision to help the British or the rebels. Indians, French, Spanish, and others had their own interests and pursued those with little regard to the rebels' ideological claims. Dr. Duval brings this point across most effectively in regards to the 3 C's tribes of the Southeast. These tribes pursued classic international relations strategies such as balancing, hedging, and bandwagoning. The European powers needed these tribes to help them or at least remain neutral. These tribes, on the other hand, wanted to keep their autonomy and independence, particularly by stopping the flow of British settlers into their lands.
2. The Revolutionary War itself was seen by outsiders less as a struggle for liberty and independence by an internecine British struggle that created new opportunities and challenges. For France and Spain, the war was a continuation of the Seven Years' War that gave them the opportunity to get revenge and make territorial gains in North America, which Spain did quite successfully for the time. For Indian tribes, there were probably more dangers than opportunities. For leaders such as Alexander McGillivray, the war was an impetus to unite as many tribes as possible to resist European expansion. Many tribes drifted into partnership with Spain. By the end of the war, however, it became clear that the declining influence of European powers reduced Native power and autonomy because they could no longer be the balancing force between competing European powers. Instead, the emergence of a more hegemonic, racially defend, and land-hungry American republic with no European powers to help contain it spelled bad news for Indian autonomy and lives. Ultimately, the formation of the US started the process of closing down the complex geopolitical balance of North American history and ushering in an era of American dominance that was great for some and a disaster for others.
3. There is a double surprise regarding early American history in this book. First, people with the outside perspective were surprised to see the Americans win. Second, they were even more surprised to see the Americans form a fairly united and functioning nation. One of the cool things about the perspective-flipping in this book is that it helped me see many processes I've previously viewed as happening mainly in the 13 colonies as happening elsewhere. In this sense, the book reminded me of Thomas Bender's A Nation among Nations, except on a more continental level. First among these is the process of nation-building. The American nation building project of the late 18th century was the most successful on the continent, but Dr. Duval argues that this should not obscure the many other nation-building projects occurring in the same period, especially among Indians. She argues that the Americans built a more successful framework and ideology of united expansion that managed to incorporate territories as equal states rather than unequal colonies, even though that expansion came at the expense and/or exclusion of Indians and blacks.
4. Finally, understanding why the rebels won the war requires looking at the fighting and geopolitics beyond the 13 colonies. The intervention of France and Spain was undoubtedly crucial, and they intervened largely in order to stake out territorial and trade claims in the Gulf Coast and Caribbean. The Spanish takeover of Pensacola and other Franco-Spanish successes were big reasons why the British decided to cut their losses in North America. I'm still pretty convinced that the center of gravity of the war was in the 13 colonies themselves, however. If Washington's Army had ever been destroyed or captured, the war would have been over regardless of what happened outside the colonies. I was also a bit confused by the suggestion that Cornwallis' Southern strategy should have relied more heavily on Indian allies rather than exclusive reliance on regular troops. A huge part of the book was about how Indians pursued their own interests in this war, which often made them unreliable allies as they didn't want to expend precious human resources on someone else's fight. I therefore didn't quite see how Indians played into the failure of the Southern strategy. Still, incorporating the Gulf Coast into the more standard narrative of the war is clearly worthwhile.
Dr. Duval makes this argument in a 2/3 analytical, 1/3 narrative book. She orients many of the arguments around biographies of people who lived outside the mainstream of the American Revolution. Some of these biographies were very effective in helping me grasp the stories. I particularly enjoyed those about Patamayaha and Alexander Macgillivray. Other biographies mainly served to add personal touch to the history and illustrate how different kinds of people experienced these events. I found these to be less compelling.
I'll have to really think about incorporating the perspective and argument of this book in my teaching, although I haven't quite figured out what to do with it yet. This is continental history at its best, and I hope that people who are interested in a different take on the Revolutionary period in America will check it out.
October 8, 2015
I'd expected a bit more about the American Revolution proper than the book actually delivers. That said, I learned a great deal about 18th-c. Native politics and about the Florida panhandle, where my family's connections happen to make any history at all of interest. DuVal is not the smoothest of writers, but she tells a pretty good story. That's no mean feat, given that the structure of her work demands detailed attention to several POV characters of wildly differing influence on events.
August 24, 2017
I won a copy of this book during a Goodreads giveaway. I am under no obligation to leave a review or rating and do so voluntarily. I am paying it forward by passing this book along to a granddaughter who is studying this era in history.
October 27, 2015
An important contribution to a better informed understanding of the American Revolutionary War, DuVal focuses primarily on the southern reaches (West Florida and the other colonies south of Georgia (Spanish and English); Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole lands). She explains significant differences in cultures and their understandings of the war and their own efforts to create or sustain independence and dependence (noting the latter word had a rather different connotation in the 18th century than it does now). Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole, Creole, Arcadian, Spanish, enslaved peoples, free peoples of color, women, and British colonists who chose not to join the revolting colonies are carefully considered and presented.
December 4, 2015
While I cannot question either Dr. DuVal's scholarship, nor her writing ability, I do feel her gender and race bias blunts an otherwise interesting piece of work. To be fair, I must admit my own antipathy toward this new breed of social scholarship which, while in pursuit of more "points of view", tends to use as pejorative language as any misogynistic white male scholar of preceding generations. It was ignorance then; today, it is simply PC chauvinism, and all the sadder thereby. I know many of my colleagues - and especially the younger ones - will applaud DuVal's more "inclusive" historical outlook, but I, sadly, cannot. (Sigh)
July 8, 2018
This is a fascinating account of the lives of eight individuals/families living along the Gulf Coast during the times around the American Revolutionary War. The simple story of the war taught in grade school is that the brave colonial rebels fought and won independence from the oppressive British (okay, that's an oversimplification, but you get the idea). These "side stories" greatly expand the image of the colonies in southeastern America at that time and explore the thoughts and actions of Native Americans, slaves, women, and those loyal to the British Crown. Using a huge collection of primary sources (letters, diaries, legal documents, etc.), Kathleen DuVal researched and composed a truly illuminating and informative portrait of an early United States of which I was not totally aware. Thanks to Diane for her recommendation.
October 25, 2022
A solid book with an interesting degree of focus on the Gulf Coast. The eight figures chosen are interesting, but I feel that it is a counter intuitive choice to have each person represent specific groups on the periphery of Colonial North America. Groups are not monoliths and I find it an odd choice where peripheral peoples are the focus of the monograph. That said, the author does a great job weaving their narratives and illustrates why the Gulf Coast must be considered when discussing the Revolutionary period.
February 4, 2025
Not too flashy or earth-shattering, but provides a unique lens through which to explore the greater stipulations of the American Revolution. Nice storytelling and well-written!
A solid historical narrative that revolves around various ethnic and social groups in West Florida and Louisiana during the 18th century conflict. Places a spotlight on the meaning of “independence” and how people on the outer reaches of the conflict were affected, and later reacted, to their respective circumstances.
A solid historical narrative that revolves around various ethnic and social groups in West Florida and Louisiana during the 18th century conflict. Places a spotlight on the meaning of “independence” and how people on the outer reaches of the conflict were affected, and later reacted, to their respective circumstances.
December 22, 2024
Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the author of several books, including: Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution, and a co-author of the latest edition of the popular history textbook Give Me Liberty!
June 6, 2016
At various stages of the US education system, most students are given at least a basic familiarity with the American Revolution as it pertains to the "13 Colonies". Little, if anything, is mentioned of the people and settlements on the periphery of the conflict - West Florida, East Florida, the Louisiana Territory, and the Native American lands of the Chickasaws, Choctaws and others. In Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution, Kathleen DuVal delves into this overlooked region by introducing readers to a handful of "everyday" individuals and their struggles in the greater context of revolution, (in)dependence, and empire building.
First and foremost, Professor DuVal's research is thorough and compelling. Each of the individuals that she weaves into her narrative plays a significant role in the American Revolution, though most - if not all - will be unknown to all but the most dedicated student of Colonial North American history. The common Revolutionary players - Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Harrison, et al. - appear only as periphery figures, adding to the appeal of her work as a fresh examination from an uncommon perspective.
That said, throughout the book the reader is presented with Professor DuVal's opinion that the Americans were (and would be for generations to come) a blight upon the continent and certainly the greater of evils when compared to the established colonies of the Spanish and English. I was disappointed in the almost apologetic tone taken when describing the opportunities and above average quality of life that a colonist, Native American, or even enslaved person of color could expect under Spanish rule. I don't recall a single mention, other than the practice of slavery, of the human rights atrocities committed by agents of the Spanish crown in North America.
Stylistically, Independence Lost is an engaging narrative that does suffer a bit from repetitive details. Points are made, remade, and repeated again often enough to be noticeable. The result is a work that feels padded, which is unfortunate since I would be surprised if Professor DuVal didn't have enough tangential information to increase word count without sacrificing fresh ideas and facts.
Independence Lost is a worthy read for those interested in reading about the American Revolution from perspectives outside of the "original 13". The author's conclusions may not ring true with everyone, but there's no denying the value of the research she's undertaken to portray the lives of a handful of unsung individuals caught up in the massive political upheaval of their time.
First and foremost, Professor DuVal's research is thorough and compelling. Each of the individuals that she weaves into her narrative plays a significant role in the American Revolution, though most - if not all - will be unknown to all but the most dedicated student of Colonial North American history. The common Revolutionary players - Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Harrison, et al. - appear only as periphery figures, adding to the appeal of her work as a fresh examination from an uncommon perspective.
That said, throughout the book the reader is presented with Professor DuVal's opinion that the Americans were (and would be for generations to come) a blight upon the continent and certainly the greater of evils when compared to the established colonies of the Spanish and English. I was disappointed in the almost apologetic tone taken when describing the opportunities and above average quality of life that a colonist, Native American, or even enslaved person of color could expect under Spanish rule. I don't recall a single mention, other than the practice of slavery, of the human rights atrocities committed by agents of the Spanish crown in North America.
Stylistically, Independence Lost is an engaging narrative that does suffer a bit from repetitive details. Points are made, remade, and repeated again often enough to be noticeable. The result is a work that feels padded, which is unfortunate since I would be surprised if Professor DuVal didn't have enough tangential information to increase word count without sacrificing fresh ideas and facts.
Independence Lost is a worthy read for those interested in reading about the American Revolution from perspectives outside of the "original 13". The author's conclusions may not ring true with everyone, but there's no denying the value of the research she's undertaken to portray the lives of a handful of unsung individuals caught up in the massive political upheaval of their time.
October 25, 2016
DuVal's is the history of "the American Revolution without minutemen, without founding fathers, without rebels". It's what happened in the Gulf States - present day Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, where people chose sides less for revolutionary or loyalist fervor, but more for what would benefit them personally. She deals with the amazing number of interests in competition by focusing on a few actors, a few of which were actually known in their time. She is able to incorporate those without written history - slaves and Indians - treating them as entities at least as important as the whites. In fact, I haven't seen a better presentation of the complexity of the Native American scene in the American South of the time. And she never says "the British built" a fort, it's "British slaves built" the fort - if that's who did it. A refreshing specificity because now you know that if DuVal says "the British army" built something, it was white grunts who did that grunt work. I loved the kooky toothlessness of the Continental Congress and the hothead settlers who threatened the new republic in its early days by refusing to give up one iota of their independence, even though true independence is impossible, then as now.
The Indians of DuVal's account are neither the weak, backward, low-tech drunkards of our older textbooks, nor the smallpox-decimated, enslaved, rape victims of newer ones. Yes there were these things, as there was among the whites. These Indians are husbands and hunters, wives with power through their clans who sometimes mate with whites for political reasons. They are communities who disagree on what to do about white encroachment and though they ultimately lose, they are strong and fearsome, not just pathetic victims. The gulf between white understanding of things and Indian understanding of those things is just too wide.
In short I haven't read a better explanation of independence vs interdependence, of the personal reasons that contributed to the outcome of a period of history that has been too simplified.
The Indians of DuVal's account are neither the weak, backward, low-tech drunkards of our older textbooks, nor the smallpox-decimated, enslaved, rape victims of newer ones. Yes there were these things, as there was among the whites. These Indians are husbands and hunters, wives with power through their clans who sometimes mate with whites for political reasons. They are communities who disagree on what to do about white encroachment and though they ultimately lose, they are strong and fearsome, not just pathetic victims. The gulf between white understanding of things and Indian understanding of those things is just too wide.
In short I haven't read a better explanation of independence vs interdependence, of the personal reasons that contributed to the outcome of a period of history that has been too simplified.
January 11, 2019
I listened to this book on CD – an excellent reader.
Many times while listening to this book, I had the sense that I had not learned anything about the Revolutionary War in school. DuVal helps us to look at the war from the point of view of eight people in the gulf region from New Orleans to Florida. There is an excellent presentation of the war from the Indian point of view – most felt that the Americans were out to take land and tended to prefer, although not necessarily support, the British. DuVal also shows the views of slaves, women, and Loyalists, as well as a major supporter of the revolutionary cause, who basically loses everything to the cause.
I am overwhelmed and want to more from this amazing author.
Many times while listening to this book, I had the sense that I had not learned anything about the Revolutionary War in school. DuVal helps us to look at the war from the point of view of eight people in the gulf region from New Orleans to Florida. There is an excellent presentation of the war from the Indian point of view – most felt that the Americans were out to take land and tended to prefer, although not necessarily support, the British. DuVal also shows the views of slaves, women, and Loyalists, as well as a major supporter of the revolutionary cause, who basically loses everything to the cause.
I am overwhelmed and want to more from this amazing author.
August 21, 2015
DuVal provides a "new" perspective on Revolutionary-era America, focusing on the southeast and especially the Gulf Coast, and the tensions between slaves, Native Americans, British colonists on both sides of the Revolution, and the competing interests of these various parties and their European allies (especially the Spanish). I found a lot of new stories in this book, but unfortunately struggled considerably to get through it. With so many stories it was challenging to keep narrative threads and alliances straight, and the overlapping but not always intersecting subjects were equally challenging to follow.
February 3, 2016
Entirely disappointing. While the subject is intriguing (the under-reported struggle for the West Florida colony in the 1770s) DuVal is playing a different game. Her intense dislike of the U.S. in its present form causes her to twist like a pretzel, giving the Spanish Empire (a human rights offender in the worst way) a pass in the narrative and weighing the corrupt English imperium far ahead of those forces most praised by the radical Enlightenment figures of the time. Oddly, her selected set of real people (the eponymous "lost lives") are taken advantage of most by those monarchies DuVal so loves. I'd pass this one by.
April 2, 2024
One of the best history books I've read. The author acknowledges the complexity of groups of people not feeling the same way about main events and doesn't generalize, something many historians fall victim to. It was written in an engaging way and focused on a topic I knew nothing about. Highly recommend.
June 4, 2016
I received this book as a First Reads book.
This is a very well researched book that presents a more unique angle to the struggle for independence. It does not focus on the well documented founding fathers, which is a refreshing change.
This is a very well researched book that presents a more unique angle to the struggle for independence. It does not focus on the well documented founding fathers, which is a refreshing change.
November 18, 2022
This is a well written, interesting study of a side of the American Revolution that is rarely told in the books that most Americans read about this event. The focus is on the war on the southwestern frontier, in those areas that were known, at the time, as West Florida and Louisiana. In those areas, the major players were England, Spain, and the native nations of that region, most notably the Creek, the Chickasaw and the Cherokee. In fact, the Americans played such a minor role in the events in those places that the events that took place could hardly be considered to have been part of the "American Revolution." The imperial rivalry between the two European powers was, to them, an essential part of this international struggle, and the native tribes were constantly adjusting their policies in an attempt to find a path that would best guarantee their respective tribes' independence. The events that this book describes really puts the events that Americans celebrate as their national birth into a greater international context. Indeed, the author contends that the British decision to negotiate with the American revolutionaries in late 1781 was not simply about the defeat at Yorktown, but also due to their setbacks at the hands of the Spanish in the Gulf region. The book also makes a very convincing case that during the post-Revolution era, the destiny of that part of the continent was really "up for grabs." The Spanish had claims on territory also claimed by the state of Georgia, with the native tribes attempting to establish their own claims to sovereignty and territory. The refusal of the Spanish to allow navigation of the Mississippi River, as well as the attacks on American settlements by natives, had many western Americans seriously considering creating separate "republics" that would seek protection of the Spanish Empire. In the end, the promise of the American government to allow Americans in the western territories to be citizens (as opposed to being "subjects" of the Spanish crown), kept those territories (the future states of Kentucky and Tennessee) in the United States. My only complaint about the book is that it attempts to follow a wide cast of characters which, at least at the beginning of the book, is difficult to do. But for those looking to fill in some important gaps in their understanding of the American Revolution, this is an important book.
March 4, 2023
I was interested to read this book because of an author interview with Kathleen DuVal by Liz Covart on her Ben Franklin's World podcast. It took me a while to get to the book, and then to get through the book, but that's no reflection on the quality of the writing at all. As I re-listen to podcast episode 37 (all the way back to 2015), I realize I'm certainly not alone in my ignorance of the scope of the history of the American Revolution as it unfolded in the southern region and Gulf Coast of what is now the U.S., but in those times was a mix of contested native tribal lands and colonial claims of territory and trading by the British, French and Spanish. There is just SO MUCH in this book...the diversity of actors alone, among the various tribal nations, confederacies, loyalists, rebels, enslaved people, colonizers from France and Spain, and more, that it took careful and slow reading to follow the many threads in the story.
I enjoyed the way the author used a handful of individuals to represent the points of view and the ultimate fates of these different actors in what becomes the United States. The depth of research she provided brought these people to life and helped me understand their often conflicting motives and cultures.
If you're like me (and apparently even a lot of American Revolution scholars), you've likely only encountered a linear narrative of the revolution and American independence, that focuses almost exclusively on the white male actors who were either loyal British subjects or rebellious former British subjects, and on battles and negotiations that happened primarily in the northeast and along the East Coast. This book demonstrates that there was a lot more to it; and illustrates poignantly many instances of how things might have been very different today had even one of the many people or nations involved had made different decisions about their interdependence and independence.
I enjoyed the way the author used a handful of individuals to represent the points of view and the ultimate fates of these different actors in what becomes the United States. The depth of research she provided brought these people to life and helped me understand their often conflicting motives and cultures.
If you're like me (and apparently even a lot of American Revolution scholars), you've likely only encountered a linear narrative of the revolution and American independence, that focuses almost exclusively on the white male actors who were either loyal British subjects or rebellious former British subjects, and on battles and negotiations that happened primarily in the northeast and along the East Coast. This book demonstrates that there was a lot more to it; and illustrates poignantly many instances of how things might have been very different today had even one of the many people or nations involved had made different decisions about their interdependence and independence.
October 24, 2018
DuVal argues in Independence Lost that independence in the era of the American Revolution (1770s-1790s) remained a fluid category based on personal and individual interests and relationships instead of abstract ideas about liberty and rights. Her study views a handful of individuals: two Native American leaders, a slave, a New Orleans merchant and his wife, British officers in West Florida and one of their wives, the Spanish governor of New Orleans, and an Acadian in Louisiana and how the Gulf Coast theater of the American Revolution affected their status as independent persons. DuVal illustrates how those individuals pursued independence and dependence from a variety of interests or agendas as she chronicles their stories in the first part of her book and then in the second and third sections lays out how the war shifted their independence and dependence. A main subplot of the text is DuVal’s assertion that Manifest Destiny never remained a given but slowly grew only in the early nineteenth century. Her narrative style warms the imagination of the reader but those who pick up this book must be warned that DuVal does not assign agency to subaltern groups. Rather, she solely uncovers their various dependencies and moves toward independence of her chosen historical subject. Overall, Independence Lost is a great book for Americans interested in the history of a neglected theater of the Revolutionary War and scholars seeking an introduction to Gulf Coast history in the American Revolution.
August 7, 2022
Until reading this book, I must confess that I had never thought about how people outside the 13 colonies and Britain experienced the American Revolution. The narrative of the Revolution taught in schools focuses so completely on the American viewpoint, with the British and the French as the only other major players, that I genuinely did not realize that the Gulf Coast region was so involved with and affected by the war. In Independence Lost, DuVal tells the story of how the many diverse peoples of the Gulf Coast region experienced the American Revolution by focusing on a small group of individuals who represent the many different viewpoints of the region: Creeks, Chickasaws, British loyalists, Americans living in the region, Acadians, the Spanish.
I loved DuVal's emphasis on the contingency of the moment, and her style of storytelling was engaging. However, while the focus on individual lives is a great way to pull in readers and show what the war was like for everyday people, there was sometimes so much detail about their lives that I lost the forest for the trees. (This might be because I read the book over several weeks and took a couple of long breaks from it, however. Each time I went back to it, I had to refresh my memory of who each of the main "characters" were.)
I loved DuVal's emphasis on the contingency of the moment, and her style of storytelling was engaging. However, while the focus on individual lives is a great way to pull in readers and show what the war was like for everyday people, there was sometimes so much detail about their lives that I lost the forest for the trees. (This might be because I read the book over several weeks and took a couple of long breaks from it, however. Each time I went back to it, I had to refresh my memory of who each of the main "characters" were.)
June 3, 2019
In Independence Lost, DuVal focuses on the Gulf Coast during the American Revolution by telling the tale through the eyes of eight individuals who witnessed the shifting landscape of that tumultuous time. DuVal reminds us that the Gulf Coast saw the only battles that didn't take place in the rebelling thirteen colonies, one of which lasted for two months at the siege of Pensacola. She also points out that the US eventually won the land that now stretches from sea to shining sea by refusing to share. The modern US was achieved by dominance over several centuries, not just the victory of the American Revolution. Hence the title, when the colonies won their independence, it meant independence lost for many other people and nations. I enjoyed this book very much. I found it fascinating, as I did not know anything about this segment of history and it certainly adds great breadth to the typical revolution narrative. My minor criticism is that the differing viewpoints are hard to follow, and sometimes the author slides into unnecessary detail (like what Margaret Pollock may have served for dinner.) Overall, a compelling and unique read.
March 31, 2020
There is some great material in this book, which will add for most readers an important understanding of what the American Revolution actually meant, who it involved, and where it took place in addition to the basic stories everyone learns in school. At some point while reading it I realized this book was a lot more valuable than I had expected and my admiration grew.
For me as a professional historian, this book waffles in various chapters between a two and four star read. Sorting through 18th century history in multiple languages and with multiple conflicting accounts and agendas, and then conveying it clearly in this book is a feat for which the author should be commended. On the other hand, there were parts that were clumsily written, confusing sentences, and the opening biographies went on for too long (I get the idea behind why she did them, but for me it didn’t quite work). But again, the complex, ever-shifting history of the SE United States presented so well for a public audience in this book is a big achievement.
I also recommend “American Revolutions” by Alan Taylor.
For me as a professional historian, this book waffles in various chapters between a two and four star read. Sorting through 18th century history in multiple languages and with multiple conflicting accounts and agendas, and then conveying it clearly in this book is a feat for which the author should be commended. On the other hand, there were parts that were clumsily written, confusing sentences, and the opening biographies went on for too long (I get the idea behind why she did them, but for me it didn’t quite work). But again, the complex, ever-shifting history of the SE United States presented so well for a public audience in this book is a big achievement.
I also recommend “American Revolutions” by Alan Taylor.
December 15, 2018
Kathleen DuVal takes a topic I knew nothing about - the American Revolution in the Gulf of Mexico, and crafted both a fascinating story, and a cogent analysis of how the periphery of the war had a lot to do with what happened globally in the conflict, and locally over the next fifty years. She has chosen a eight historical figures as a thread to follow through the history; it wasn't until the final chapter that I really appreciated the care with which these figures were chosen, and the power of their particular narratives in shaping our understanding of the past.
I was so impressed by her book, which weaves these eight figures' stories together with her larger analysis of how the Spanish influenced the outcome of the American Revolution, ways the intersection of Spanish, British and Native peoples shaped political alliances in the southeast, and the enduring legacies of changing definitions of dependence, independence and citizenship.
I was so impressed by her book, which weaves these eight figures' stories together with her larger analysis of how the Spanish influenced the outcome of the American Revolution, ways the intersection of Spanish, British and Native peoples shaped political alliances in the southeast, and the enduring legacies of changing definitions of dependence, independence and citizenship.
August 26, 2024
I found this book totally fascinating. DuVal focuses on the Gulf Coast during the American War of Independence, an oft overlooked region in discussions of the conflict. I particularly enjoyed the focus on the indigenous communities, through the eyes of Creek leader Alexander McGillivray and Chickasaw leader Payamataha. DuVal expertly conveys their complex motivations and alliances with European powers. The narrative DuVal constructs is engaging, moving across the region more or less chronologically. This book fills in gaps in the standard story of the Revolutionary War as it is typically taught. I do wish there was more information about the enslaved population in this region(represented in this book by Petit Jean from Mobile) and more diverse look at contemporary women, as most of the women discussed in depth are land owning white women. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in early US history.
June 2, 2017
While most accounts of the American Revolution focus on the northeastern states, this book provides a counterpoint by looking at the concurrent events around the Gulf of Mexico. By taking a look at the stories of individuals from a range of social groups DuVal presents a nuanced analysis of varying relations within and between polities. The main theme, as the title suggests, is that of independence: simply that fought for by the American colonists, but the various systems of dependency or independence that were sought or crafted by various groups. This sets the press for American independence from the British Empire in the context of shifting relations between groups during and after the war. Rather, then, than a more simplistic view of American independence, the narrative shifts to an examination of the development of the north American continent as we know it today.
October 22, 2021
This is a wake up call for anyone who believes that the American Revolution only occurred on the East Coast. This book centers on the Gulf Coast from 1780-1781 as the Spanish and French were successful in driving the British from port cities like Mobile and Pensacola. People such as Alexander McGillivray and Galvez were instrumental in winning that part of the war. Also included are the travails of the many Indian tribes of the area such as Creek, Chickasaw, Alabama, and others. McGillivray is an interesting character and certainly deserves more attention by historians. This book goes a long way in rectifying that omission. A very good read. My daughter has made the perfect label. Books that are fiction are fun reads while non fiction books are classified as "learny" books. Great choice of words.
July 10, 2025
What a wonderful book for me. I've been on a kick reading deeply about Gulf Coast history. My reading of Kathleen DuVal's "Independence Lost" came after my reading of "The Gulf" by Jack E. Davis and "Shadows on the Gulf" by Rowan Jacobsen. A perfect trifecta for the history which I am trying to grasp.
DuVal did a seriously admirable job summing up and conveying in an accessible way the tangled dynamics of the Gulf South during the American revolution. So many contenders and interests but I came away feeling as if I really understood the interplay of the English, French, and Spanish empires with the emergent American "empire of liberty" and the indigenous tribes of the Gulf South such as the Creek Confederacy, the Choctaw, and the Chickasaw. The amount of work and care put into this text truly shows.
DuVal did a seriously admirable job summing up and conveying in an accessible way the tangled dynamics of the Gulf South during the American revolution. So many contenders and interests but I came away feeling as if I really understood the interplay of the English, French, and Spanish empires with the emergent American "empire of liberty" and the indigenous tribes of the Gulf South such as the Creek Confederacy, the Choctaw, and the Chickasaw. The amount of work and care put into this text truly shows.
January 6, 2019
This was a fascinating read. You won't find much mention of the Boston Tea Party or any of the other big battles of the American Revolution. The author instead focusses on events in the South East along the Gulf Coast. This illuminates a lot of aspects of the beginnings of the United States that many people aren't aware of. The Revolution is presented, not as simply a group of disenfranchised colonists standing up for their freedom against a despotic empire, but as part of a much larger conflict between the European empires and with the indigenous native groups trying to maintain their own sovereignty. If you are looking for a different perspective on American independence then this is a good book to read
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