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[published by Random House, 1941]

Proceed, Sergeant Lamb and its prequel, Sergeant Lamb's America, are essentially a collaboration between novelist Robert Graves and Roger Lamb, sometime sergeant of the Royal Welch Fusileers.

Roger Lamb served as a non-commissioned officer in the British Army in America. He was captured with Burgoyne's army after Saratoga, escaped and made his way back to New York. Although he was offered the chance to return to England, he instead accepted a transfer to the Royal Welch Fusileers, and served under Cornwallis throughout the Southern Campaigns. Taken prisoner again at Yorktown, he again escaped and made his way across enemy-held territory to New York. Eventually, he retired from the army, returned to his native Ireland, and lived out his life as a schoolmaster. While serving in America, he kept a journal, which was published in 1809.¹

A prolific novelist, also known in his own time for his war poetry (he served in World War I), Robert Graves is best remembered nowadays as the author of two novels set in Imperial Rome, I, Claudius and Claudius the God. This duology forms a fictionalized biography of the Emperor Claudius, and was the basis for the critically acclaimed TV mini-series in the 1970s.

For Sergeant Lamb's America and Proceed, Sergeant Lamb, Graves took Lamb's journal, added information from reports Lamb filed with the army detailing his escapes -- one of which is now among the Clinton papers -- then stuck in some dialogue and a few supporting fictional characters. Much of the original account is retained, sometimes word for word, and many of the additions Graves has woven into the narrative are recognizable as period anecdotes. The purely fictional add-ins are well-researched and mesh in seamlessly. Sergeant Lamb's America covers Lamb's early days in America, up to Saratoga. As Proceed, Sergeant Lamb begins, he is in captivity with the Convention army. From there the novel chronicles his escape to New York, then takes him through the Southern Campaign to Yorktown, and back once again to New York.

John André features as a supporting character in Proceed, Sergeant Lamb. The historical Lamb met him in his capacity as acting Adjutant-General, and wrote of him in flattering terms which his fictional counterpart echoes. Unfortunately, Ban Tarleton and the Legion did not fare so well in the transition from eyewitness account to novelization. The historical Lamb served in close proximity to them for several months, and his commentary on Tarleton and his command is consistently positive. Novelist Graves, however, did his research in the 1930s and absorbed the common historical fallacies of the time. Where the Legion is concerned, his expansions and additions to Lamb's account are less than sympathetic.

If the books have a weakness, it is that Graves' writing style tends toward the monotone. His stories are interesting, but they could hardly be called thrilling page-turners, nor do they add much in the way of insight or analysis to the original historical material. He simply narrates the progression of events, with little snippets of characterization interposed. They're a painless way to absorb some history, but in this particular case I recommend Lamb's original journal over Graves' rehash. In addition to recounting military events, Lamb offers observations on the countryside, the flora and fauna, etc., which makes his book one of the liveliest and most accessible eyewitness accounts of the Revolution. Graves' version is enjoyable, but I prefer the original.

Notes:

¹ R. Lamb, An Original and Authentic Journal of Occurrences During the Late American War, from Its Commencements to the Year 1783 (Dublin: Wilkinson & Courtney, 1809). I expect the gangster-movie slang phrase "on the lamb" -- meaning on the run from the law -- was not derived from his name, but it could have been. [ back ]