by William S. Schaill
Alternately praised as Britain’s greatest admiral and maligned as the incompetent who lost the North American colonies, Admiral Richard Howe played a significant but often misunderstood role in world history. In The Admiral on Trial, veteran nautical fiction author William S. Schaill delivers an illuminating and comprehensive account of Howe’s fascinating saga. It is the story of an officer beloved by his men and blessed with a brilliant military mind, but undone in his most renowned campaign by a temperate disposition and a compassion for the people he was sent to conquer. The author charts the course of Howe’s life, from his early years amidst the harshness of 18th-century London, through his first gut-wrenching voyage aboard the ill-fated Severn, to his pivotal role as commander-in-chief of the British naval forces during the American Revolution. Along the way, the reader becomes privy to how the admiral’s experiences forged him into both a great leader and a man who abhorred brutality. We learn how, in North America, Richard Howe sought not to snuff out a rebellion, but to mend an empire. As the ultimately disastrous results of his approach are brought to bear, a number of questions are dredged up to the surface, foremost among which is, “Did the Americans actually win their independence or did Admiral Howe, in his unwillingness to torment a people he respected, let the colonies slip through his fingers?”
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