Title: Red Coats & Grey Jackets: The Battle of Chippawa, 5 July 1814 Author: Donald E. Graves Pages: 210 Illustrations: 115 (both period and modern of battle scenes, terrain, uniforms, weapons, equipment, and personalities) Maps: 4 (1 strategic, 1 grand tactical, 2 detailed tactical down to individual regiments/batteries) Footnotes: 281 (10 pages) Appendices: 6 (25 pages) Bibliography: 13 archives for unpublished primary source material, 37 published primary sources, 70 secondary sources (including 8 unpublished) Index: 212 listings (5 pages) Publisher: Dundurn Press Ltd., Toronto, Canada Publication Date: 1994 Binding: Paper (softbound) Price: $16.75 ISBN: 1-55002-210-5 Summary: Entertaining to read, yet scholarly. An impressive work that should satisfy both the casual reader as well as the serious student of the War of 1812 in North America. Red Coats and Grey Rockets is a detailed examination of the Battle of Chippawa, a small military action fought on July 5, 1814, a few miles south of Niagara Falls along the U.S.Canadian border. The engagement was important because it marked the first time during the War of 1812 that American grey-jacketed regular troops met and defeated British red-coated regulars in a major action fought in the open. Also, Canadian forces and their native allies played a far greater role at Chippawa and suffered heavier losses than in most battles of the War of 1812. The extensive illustrations are impressive. These include scenes of the battlefield as it appears today, pictures of flags, weapons and uniforms, and even a detailed diagram of a British infantry battalion in line in 1814. The author, Donald E. Graves, is a historian with the Directorate General of History, Department of National Defence, Canada, and has published many articles and monographs on warfare in the Napoleonic period, including Sir William Congreve and the Rocket's Red Glare (1989) and The Battle of Lundy's Lane, 1824 (1993). The latter book covers the bloodier action that occurred three weeks after the Battle of Chippawa. Graves describes the strategic situation in the summer of 1814, discusses the personalities of the commanders of both sides, and analyzes the organization, tactics, and weapons of the opposing forces using considerable primary source documentation. Appendices include orders of battle down to regiment/ battery including strengths, notes on weapons and their performance at the battle, mortal casualties (by individual name or tribe), and six myths and anecdotes of the battle. Among the myths Graves debunks is that the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point wear grey uniforms in honor of the grey-jacketed troops of Brigadier General Winfield Scott's First Brigade at Chippawa. Not so, says Graves. The cadets at West Point had apparently been wearing grey as early as the summer of 1814 (at the time of the battle) for a simpler reason - a shortage of blue cloth in the United States. John Elting, author of Swords Around the Throne: Napoleon's GrandeArmie, gave these comments about the book: ". . . 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." Book Review: Napoleon's Last Victory Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 9 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com