In August 1776, little over a month after the Continental Congress had formally declared independence from Great Britain, General George Washington’s young army faced off against over 20,000 British and Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Brooklyn. This was the largest battle of the Revolution, and with the Americans outmanned and outmaneuvered, it was almost the end of the war, as well. But thanks to a series of desperate bayonet charges by a single heroic regiment from Maryland, known as the “Immortal 400,” Washington was able to retreat and regroup. He evacuated his men to Manhattan, and the Continental Army lived to fight another day. In Washington’s Immortals, bestselling military historian Patrick K. O’Donnell brings to life the forgotten story of these remarkable men. Known as “gentlemen of honour, family, and fortune,” they fought not only in Brooklyn, but also in key battles throughout the war including Trenton, Stony Point, Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and Yorktown, where their valor and resilience changed the course of history. Drawing on extensive unpublished original sources, including letters, diaries, and pension applications, O’Donnell weaves together the stories of these dauntless men—their friendships, loves, defeats, and triumphs. He chronicles their development into an elite unit amid struggles with dogged British opponents and hostile Loyalists. And through the prism of this regiment, which included rich merchants, tradesmen, and free blacks, he tells the larger story of the Revolutionary War. Washington’s Immortals is gripping boots-on-the-ground history that will transport readers to the bloodiest battles and darkest days of the Revolutionary War in the company of men whose extraordinary sacrifices, endurance of unimaginable hardship, and valiant fighting helped make the difference between defeat and victory. Product DetailsISBN-13: 9780802126368 Media Type: Paperback Publisher: Grove/Atlantic - Inc. Publication Date: 03-21-2017 Pages: 480 Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.40(d)About the Author Patrick K. O’Donnell is a bestselling, critically acclaimed military historian and an expert on elite units. He is the author of ten books, including Beyond Valor, Dog Company, and First SEALs. He served as a combat historian in a Marine rifle platoon during the Battle of Fallujah and speaks often on espionage, special operations, and counterinsurgency. He has provided historical consulting for DreamWorks’ award-winning miniseries Band of Brothers and for documentaries produced by the BBC, the History Channel, Fox News, and Discovery.Read an Excerpt Read an Excerpt CHAPTER 1 "Gentlemen of Honour, Family, and Fortune" Snow gently fell outside a Baltimore tavern on December 3, 1774, as thirty-two-year-old Mordecai Gist addressed the city's social elite. On his own initiative, Gist had gathered together a group of freemen, merchants, shipbuilders, and businessmen who were interested in forming the first independent military company in Maryland to protect their rights and potentially to break away from Britain. At the time, Baltimore, one of the primary trading centers in the colonies, was a boomtown with a seedy, rough-and-tumble quality about it. One member of the Continental Congress described it as "infinitely, the dirtiest place I was ever in." Another piled on the accolades and called it "the Damndest Hole in the World." A second-generation Baltimore native, Gist was the son of a prominent surveyor who had helped lay out the city's streets. His uncle, Christopher Gist, had served with George Washington in the French and Indian War, and on two separate occasions he had saved the future general's life. The younger Gist had already established himself as a sea captain and merchant, dealing primarily in textiles and firearms, which had earned him a sizable fortune. He was also a widower. Four years earlier, his first wife had died during the birth of their daughter, who then perished in infancy. At six feet tall, he was a man of impressive stature for his day. Others described him as having a "frank and genial manner." A natural leader known for his forceful opinions, Gist was among the colony's first agitators for independence and later emerged as one of America's most powerful Freemasons. In October he had participated in the burning of the Peggy Stewart. In an incident reminiscent of the Boston Tea Party, a captain had brought a ship loaded with tea into Annapolis harbor despite a colonial boycott. Outraged Marylanders gave the Peggy Stewart's captain a choice: either burn his ship and all its cargo or be hanged at his front door. The captain chose to run his ship aground and torch it. The Peggy Stewart incident occurred ten months after the Boston Tea Party, in which American demonstrators, some disguised as American Indians, had dumped an entire shipment of tea from the East India Company into Boston harbor to protest taxes levied by the British on the tea. It echoed the American cry "No taxation without representation." Many Americans demanded the right to elect the representatives who imposed taxes and passed regulations. The Crown had responded to the Tea Party swiftly with draconian measures that became known as the Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts. Among other provisions, they allowed British officials to be tried in Britain for crimes committed in the colonies. Another of these acts required colonists to house and feed British soldiers in their homes. British troops led by General Thomas Gage disbanded the elected colonial government in Massachusetts and shut down the port of Boston, throwing thousands of men out of work. The crisis in Boston escalated and fomented discord throughout the thirteen colonies, resonating strongly in Baltimore, where trade was the lifeblood of the community. On that December night in the tavern, like-minded Patriots had gathered to hear Gist, whom they elected as captain of their company, read aloud the articles of incorporation for the Baltimore Independent Cadets. The charter called for sixty men — "a company composed of gentlemen of honour, family, and fortune, and tho' of different countries animated by a zeal and reverence for rights of humanity" — to voluntarily join and tie themselves together "by all the Sacred ties of Honour and the Love and Justice due to ourselves and Country." Gist's gravitas and presence reverberated through the room as he read the articles: We, the Baltimore Independent Cadets, Impress'd with a sense of the unhappy [state] of our Suffering Brethren in Boston, the Alarming conduct of General Gage, and the oppressive Unconstitutional acts of Parliament to deprive us of Liberty and enforce Slavery on His Majesties Loyal Liege Subjects of America in General, For the better security of our lives, liberties, and Properties under such Alarming Circumstances, we think it highly advisable and necessary, that we form ourselves into a Body, or Company in order to [learn] the military discipline; to act in defence of our Country agreeable to the Resolves of the Continental Congress. The cadets promised to march within forty-eight hours to the aid of any sister colonies that needed their help, to obey their elected commander, to purchase their own uniforms and equipment, and to submit to a court-martial for any default "contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of this Engagement." However, as true gentlemen, they would not submit themselves to corporal punishment. The young merchant and the other newly inducted members of the company made history that day. Gist's independent company was the first of its kind in Maryland, but similar companies soon sprang up across the colonies. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the men in that tavern would become one of only a few core units crucial to the continued existence of the entire Continental Army throughout the Revolutionary War. At key points, their participation made a difference that allowed the army to survive — often at an enormous price. Sickness and privation of the most severe kind (including marching barefoot for thousands of miles over many years), British bullets, and the hazards of imprisonment would take their toll. Very few of the men who gathered that night at the tavern or those who joined them later would survive eight years of war, multiple campaigns, and dozens of battles unscathed. The cadets, later quietly renamed the Baltimore Independent Company, formed a cadre that was incorporated into multiple companies and regiments that played a key role in many battles of importance during the American Revolution and fought in both the North and the South. Built on personal relationships with deep family ties that spanned decades, the Baltimore Independent Company was a tight-knit group of close friends who forged one of the most legendary units of the American Revolution. One of those men crucial to the company was twenty-three-year-old Samuel Smith. A born leader, Smith was first elected sergeant within the company and quickly rose through the ranks as an officer. Like many of the cadets, he had been trained in the classics, studying Latin and Greek at school. As a young man, he had worked in his father's countinghouse and traveled to Europe on one of his father's merchant ships. He proved to be charismatic and a natural battle commander. Eventually, he would assume command of the Baltimore Independent Company and many other units. In time, he became one of the finest regimental commanders of the war. Like Gist and Smith, many of the company's members were prosperous merchants. For them, the decision to join the company meant sacrificing their livelihood — the ability to trade with Great Britain. For years they had been on the sharp end of onerous taxes and restrictions that required the colonies to trade exclusively with Britain. Responding to the spiraling crisis in Boston, delegates from the American colonies met in the First Continental Congress. Formed at the

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