The Final Invasion: Plattsburgh, the War of 1812's Most Decisive Battle - Hardcover

Colonel David G. Fitz-Enz was a regular U. S. Army officer for thirty years, who helped set up and maintain the White House-Moscow "hot line." He is also the author of Why A Soldier?. He retired in 1993, and lives near Plattsburgh, New York.

Here is a carefully researched military history book that will rock you back on your heels and make you edit some of your assertions about past invasions of the United States. (Tulsa World)

The Final Invasion is a splendid account of one of the pivotal battles in American history. The books is thoroughly researched and beautifully told. Author Colonel Fitz-Enz relates, in exciting prose, this effort on the part of the British to recapture their priceless North American colonies lost in the Revolutionary War. The story of the battle between the English and American fleets on Lake Champlain in 1814 is a breathtaking blow-by-blow account, bringing out the horror of ship-to-ship encounters in that day. (Vice Admiral James F. Calvert, USN (ret.))

Colonel David Fitz-Enz has produced what will long stand as the standard account of one of the least known but most decisive military campaigns in American history. Though overshadowed by the burning of Washington, DC, and Jackson's defeat of the British at New Orleans, it was the 1814 campaign in upstate New York that determined the outcome of the War of 1812. During exhaustive research Fitz-Enz uncovered in Portugal a copy of orders sent to Sir George Prevost which lead to judgements much kinder to Sir George Prevost than those of many previous historians. Drawing on his experience as a soldier and a thorough understanding of the setting, both on land and of the nature of Lake Champlain, Fitz-Enz has produced a clear narrative that brings to life the people and events of September 1814 like never before. (James C. Bradford)

David Fitz-Enz has written a wonderful book on one of the more important but less well-known battles of our country. It tells a compelling story of how a few soldiers and sailors of our new nation defeated the best professionals of the British Army, fresh from defeating Napoleon. (John W. Foss, General of the U. S. Army (retired))

A highly readable work that serves as a companion book to the PBS documentary and should be in every U. S. history collection. (Library Journal)

An admirably well-researched and complete account of the Plattsburgh campaign, which has waited for such treatment for far too long. (Paddy Griffith, Ph. D., author of Wellington--Commander, The Viking Art of War, and Battle Tactics of the Civil War)

Fitz-Enz's research has produced illuminating documents, including diaries and secret battle orders, revealing new insights into the battle. This is one of the best books on the War of 1812 currently available. (Military Heritage)

Smoothly Written, well-researched, and comprehensive in approach and scope, The Final Invasion has much to commend and little to question. (Samuel Watson Book Review Digest)

Fitz-Enz provides a stirring narrative of the two-hour slugfest that was the Battle of Plattsburgh Bay. (History Teacher)