The Additionals: Spencer's Regiment and the American Revolution

Abbott shows how Spencer’s emerged as the most successful of the Additional regiment serving with distinction at Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Connecticut Farms. Operating without benefit of state support, the regiment, like all the Additionals, struggled to remain viable. Lacking sufficient manpower and supplies, it often labored in thankless obscurity: the quintessential “ragged Continentals.” 

Drawing from a wealth of unpublished primary sources, Abbott introduces new voices from the regiment’s ranks as well as its officers, who emerge in this narrative as a Revolutionary “band of brothers.” He explores the motivations of these soldiers in choosing to go to war, the trials they endured on the battlefield, and their experiences of civilian life in the new Republic. 

The Additionals brings to light the experiences of a uniquely American unit during the core years of the Revolutionary War. Masterfully interweaving the stories of individual soldiers, the inner workings of the Continental Army, and relevant social and historical contexts, the volume offers a wider lens for understanding the collective significance of the Additionals and the founding of the Continental Army as an early national institution.