Losing America, Conquering India

On October 19, 1781, British general Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, effectively ending the Revolutionary War and conceding the independence of the United States of America. Britain soon overcame the humiliation of defeat by expanding its empire elsewhere. Five years after Yorktown, Cornwallis was installed as governor and commander of the army in India, determined to make the subcontinent the brightest jewel in the British crown.
Officers who served under him during the War rose to high positions in the British army and navy. Emulating Cornwallis’s deep sense of duty to king and country, they vigorously pursued the conquest of India, put down the 1798 Irish Rebellion, defended Canada, defeated the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope, occupied Ceylon and battled Napoleon. Prominent among them was General Sir James Henry Craig, governor of Canada, whose clumsy attempt to spy on the U.S. was a factor in setting off the War of 1812.

Psychiatrist Chaim M. Rosenberg is also an American history researcher and writer. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Chaim M. Rosenberg
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 244
Bibliographic Info: 48 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2017
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6812-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2834-9
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents


Preface 1

 1. Settlement of North America 7

 2. The 13 Colonies and Plantations 12

 3. Rebellion 18

 4. British Campaign of 1777 25

 5. The Penobscot Expedition 32

 6. ­Mid-Atlantic Battles 38

 7. The War of the South 43

 8. Gibraltar 69

 9. The Men and Officers of the British Army 74

10. The French Revolution and Flanders 80

11. Conquest of the Cape of Good Hope 87

12. Governor of the Cape Colony 97

13. Irish Rebellion of 1798 112

14. India—The Brightest Jewel 119

15. Craig in India 142

16. The Great Terror 151

17. Army of the Mediterranean 159

18. Carleton, Clarke, Simcoe and Craig in Canada 174

19. The John Henry Spy Scandal 192

20. Return to London 198

Conclusion 203

Chapter Notes 209

Bibliography 220

Index 227

“Interesting…This is a useful, quick and fairly detailed study of how Britain managed the loss of her North American colonies and would emerge as the premier global power until well into the 19th and early 20th centuries.”—The NYMAS Review