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Article: A new kind of army.(Washington's Crossing)(Book Review)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- April 5, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer (Oxford, 564 pp., $35)
FIFTEEN years ago, David Hackett Fischer published an extraordinarily illuminating book called Albion's Seed, which traced the influence of a number of British "folkways" in America. One of these folkways was of great importance in the settlement of Virginia: Among its early settlers were many distressed Cavaliers, fugitives from the rule of the Long Parliament and Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s and '50s. Not exactly "folk," they sprang from the prosperous gentry of the south and west of England, and the lower Midlands. This region remained loyal to King John in 1215 and was the last stronghold ...