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Acclaim for “A Vindication of My Conduct”

Dr. Todd E. Harburn and Rodger Durham 

“The surrender of the Island of St. Vincent in 1779 was only one skirmish in the global war between France and Britain that grew out of the American Revolution.  But the court martial record of Lt. Col. George Etherington, the unfortunate British officer who commanded St. Vincent, has much to say about racial, military, political, and commercial rivalries in the prosperous Caribbean sugar islands, including the efforts of the native Caribs to retain their lands.  Todd Harburn and rodger Durham have done a service by publishing the court martial of Lt. Col. George Etherington and revealing the complicated relationships and the varied cast of characters behind the events that unfolded on St. Vincent.”

Brian Leigh Dunnigan
Curator of Maps, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan

“Dr. Todd Harburn’s, biographer of Capt./Lt. Col. George Etherington of the famed  60th or Royal American Regiment, has uncovered significant new information through  intense research (with the assistance of Saint Vincent resident Rodger Durham)  that sheds new light on the events at St. Vincent during the American Revolution.  A Vindication of My Conduct is an interesting and thought provoking look at a unique soldier, the 18th Century British military judicial system, and a little known phase of the American Revolution.”
Tim J. Todish, author of America’s FIRST First World War: The French and Indian War 1754-1763, and the editor of The Annotated and Illustrated journals of Major Robert Rogers. 

The fascinating story of the surrender of St. Vincent’s Island, and the subsequent attempt by the colonial governor to make the military commander a scapegoat, is presented here from a fresh perspective based on new research and previously unpublished documentation.  A Vindication of My Conduct outlines this intertwined story of plots and subplots involving not only the colonial governor, Valentine Morris, and Lt. Col. George Etherington of the famed 60th Royal American Regiment, but also the Colonial Assembly, the Carib Indians of the island, the plantation owners and merchants, the British Government, and the 60th Royal American Regiment, which garrisoned the various posts on the island.  It illustrates the folly that occurred between military and civilian factions that ultimately contributed to the lost British cause – much like that which occurred simultaneously in the American colonies.

The main feature of this book is the original, never before published 1781 trial transcript which reveals the true “behind the scenes” story, not the least of which entailed a land grant dispute and the intense personality conflict that existed between Etherington and Morris.  The book contains several rarely seen orginal illustrations, documents, and prints, including Etherington’s recently discovered portrait, along with present-day photographs of the sites where these events actually took place.  It is arranged in three parts:  a chronological background of the events leading to the surrender; the original unedited trial transcript; and the authors’ in-depth analysis, annotation, and edit of the transcripts.  A fascinating read and fine addition to anyone’s personal library collection of the American Revolution.

Trade Paperback, 5 ½ x 8 ½ inches, 214 pages; 
Heritage Books, Inc, Bowie, Maryland, 2002, 
Price $16.95 U.S. ISBN 0-7884-2092-5 
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