Sydney George Fisher was a prolific historian of the American colonial and Revolutionary eras, and, to a lesser extent, of the early national period. Generally more popular than scholarly in his approach, he nevertheless made a substantial contribution to the historiography of the War for Independence.

Fisher, the son of lawyer Sidney George Fisher whose published diary has become something of a classic, was born in Philadelphia, where he attended private schools until the death of both his father and his mother, Elizabeth Ingersoll Fisher, in the early 1870s. The boy then went to St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, and, from 1876 to 1879, Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. While in college, Fisher served as president of the senior class and, as such, became embroiled in controversy over administrative control of student celebrations. His defiance of the authorities cost him a temporary suspension, but he still graduated with honors in...