Mary Sudman Donovan
George Washington at "Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry"
DonovanBooks.net Hudson River at Dobbs Ferry
Reviews

George Washington at "Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry" by Mary Sudman Donovan 

Comments from Art Kerr, University of Washington on Jan. 16, 2013:

I'm well into Mary's book and find it captivating and enjoyable, as
a long time student of American history.  It's a wonderful work.  It's a
unique experience to find a book that gets into the details a little known
local area (and of great interest to particular populations) explaining
events of great consequence that otherwise get "lost in the shuffle" of the
larger historical picture.

Reviewed by Robert Girard Carroon, PhD, President of The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut on February 4, 2010: 

            While it may seem that another book on the American Revolution is superfluous this is certainly not the case with George Washington at "Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry" by Mary Sudman Donovan.   Dr. Donovan, a well known historian and author, is the president of the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society and in that capacity became interested in the time General George Washington spent there as Commander-in-Chief of the American Army from July 4 to August 19, 1781.  Dr. Donovan has carefully researched the papers of Washington and others who were present and gives us a day by day account of the operations at the headquarters of the Continental Army in those two months setting them in historical context.

              The 48 days that Washington spent at Dobbs Ferry were crucial in bringing to a successful conclusion the American War for Independence.  It was at Dobbs Ferry that the Continental Army under Washington and the French expeditionary army under command of the Comte de Rochambeau finally joined forces.  It was also at Dobbs Ferry that Washington and Rochambeau made the joint decision, not to attack New York, which was Washington's preference, but instead to march south to Virginia where they entrapped the British army under Lord Cornwallis and forced its surrender at Yorktown.

            Mary Sudman Donovan in this splendidly written account captures the drama of this great moment in American history as she recounts the dispatches written by Washington from his "Head Quarters, Dobbs Ferry" This is a book that any one interested in the history of the American Revolution will want to own, and read and re-read as it shows again the great qualities of leadership exercised by George Washington on the eve of his greatest military triumph.

            The book is illustrated with portraits and maps from well known historical sources and also with original sketches by Larry Blizard.