The men who lost America were also the men who saved Canada, India, Gibraltar, and the British Caribbean. The political leadership of the North government can be credited with the victory at the Saintes in 1782; the same year, Admiral Howe raised the Spanish siege of Gibraltar which had been heroically defended by a garrison of German mercenaries and British troops. In contrast to the British navy in the Chesapeake Bay, Howe was able to shield his transports and supply vessels behind his warships to enable them to relieve the garrison. This climactic end to the three-year siege was one of the most celebrated wartime subjects of artists like John Singleton Copley. The final voyages of Captain James Cook to Australia and New Zealand took place during the American Revolution, and the convicts formerly transported to America became the first settlers of Australia.
Marquis de Lafayette
Oil on canvas. Stratford Hall, Home of the Lees of Virginia, Stratford, VA.
Oil on canvas; 93" x 64". Annapolis Complex Collection (in the old Senate Chamber at Maryland State House), Annapolis, MD.
Cast when Marquis de Lafayette was 28.
Based on the life mask cast by Houdon in 1785.
Marble. State Artwork Collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA.
Bronze; H: 60 m.; W: 47 m.; D: 26 m. Musée franco-américain du château de Blérancourt, Picardy, France.
Terra cotta; 21 x 18 3/4 x 11 1/4 in. (53.34 x 47.625 x 28.575 cm). Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
Oil on canvas. Independence National Historical Park, Portrait Collection (Second Bank of the United States), Philadelphia, PA.
The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire (2013)