Red Coats & Grey Jackets: The Battle of Chippawa, 5 July 1814

by Donald E. Graves

"... the definitive analysis of the battle of Chippawa. Donald Graves establishes its historical background, describes the opposing armies, brings them into battle, and assesses the results, without wasting a word yet his account of the battle combines high colour and exact detail. You find yourself alternately in the generals' boots and the privates' brogans, in all the smoke, shock and uproar of a short-range, stand-up fire fight."

- John Elting, author of Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee

Genres: History, Military History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 1994

About the author

Donald Edward Graves is a military historian who has worked for the Canadian National Historic Sites Service, the National Archives of Canada and the Canadian Department of National Defence. He is currently the director of Ensign Heritage Group.

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good no frills account of a straightforward no frills battle which proved the American army had come of age. There are lots of images and the maps are great.

[Maxwell Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, yet sweet.

Approaching its 30-year birthday, Graves work gave a good coverage of the Battle of Chippawa outside of Chippawa, ON during the War of 1812.

Dates were told, concepts were discussed, people on both sides told their stories, myths were debunked, and everything about the July battle was covered. Further, something that I like about Graves' book is that the average chapter featured 6–8 pages of paragraphs, followed by another 6–8 pages of pictures. This made it so it was not too hard for even a novice of the topic to learn.

In conclusion, a good book. I recommend it if you are interested in the history of the War of 1812, Canada, USA, Niagara, or military history of either Canada or the US.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars