The History Book Club discussion

This is the Week Three - non spoiler thread for the book The British are Coming: The War For America, Lexington To Princeton, 1775-1777 (Revolution Trilogy #1) by Rick Atkinson.

by Rick Atkinson

Hello Everyone,

For the week of May 25th - May 31st, we are reading approximately the Chapters Four, Five and Six.

The third week's reading assignment is:

Week Three: -(May 25th - May 31st) (page 116 - through page 181)

4. WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF HUMAN NATURE? Cambridge Camp, July–October 1775   - page 116

5. I SHALL TRY TO RETARD THE EVIL HOUR Into Canada, October–November 1775  - page 141 

6. AMERICA IS AN UGLY JOB London, October–November 1775   - page 164

We will open up a thread for each week's reading. Please make sure to post in the particular thread dedicated to those specific chapters and page numbers to avoid spoilers. We will also open up supplemental threads as we did for other spotlighted books.

This book was kicked off May 10th

We look forward to your participation. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, other noted on line booksellers do have copies of the book and shipment can be expedited. The book can also be obtained easily at your local library, or on your Kindle.

There is no rush and we are thrilled to have you join us. It is never too late to get started and/or to post.

Bentley will be moderating this selection. And Lorna will be my backup.

Welcome,

~Bentley

TO ALWAYS SEE ALL WEEKS' THREADS SELECT VIEW ALL

by Rick Atkinson

REMEMBER NO SPOILERS ON THE WEEKLY NON SPOILER THREADS - ON EACH WEEKLY NON SPOILER THREAD - WE ONLY DISCUSS THE PAGES ASSIGNED OR THE PAGES WHICH WERE COVERED IN PREVIOUS WEEKS. IF YOU GO AHEAD OR WANT TO ENGAGE IN MORE EXPANSIVE DISCUSSION - POST THOSE COMMENTS IN ONE OF THE SPOILER THREADS. THESE CHAPTERS HAVE A LOT OF INFORMATION SO WHEN IN DOUBT CHECK WITH THE CHAPTER OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY TO RECALL WHETHER YOUR COMMENTS ARE ASSIGNMENT SPECIFIC. EXAMPLES OF SPOILER THREADS ARE THE GLOSSARY, THE BIBLIOGRAPHY, THE INTRODUCTION AND THE BOOK AS A WHOLE THREADS.

Notes:

It is always a tremendous help when you quote specifically from the book itself and reference the chapter and page numbers when responding. The text itself helps folks know what you are referencing and makes things clear.

Citations:

If an author or book is mentioned other than the book and author being discussed, citations must be included according to our guidelines. Also, when citing other sources, please provide credit where credit is due and/or the link. There is no need to re-cite the author and the book we are discussing however.

Here is the link to the thread titled Mechanics of the Board which will help you with the citations and how to do them.

http://www.africa-eu.com/topic/show/2...

Also, the citation thread: (for Unreasonable Men - look at examples)

/topic/show/...

Introduction Thread:

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Table of Contents and Syllabus

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Glossary

Remember there is a glossary thread where ancillary information is placed by the moderator. This is also a thread where additional information can be placed by the group members regarding the subject matter being discussed. In the case of this book we have two glossaries which are brought over from other selections (same timeframe) that we will add to.

Here are the links:

/topic/show/...

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Bibliography

There is a Bibliography where books cited in the text are posted with proper citations and reviews. We also post the books that the author may have used in his research or in his notes. Please also feel free to add to the Bibliography thread any related books, etc with proper citations or other books either non fiction or historical fiction that relate to the subject matter of the book itself. In the case of this book, Rick Atkinson's primary sources start on page 703.
No self promotion, please.

Here is the link:

/topic/show/...

Book as a Whole and Final Thoughts - Spoiler Thread

Here is the link:

/topic/show/...

by Rick Atkinson

Chapter Overviews and Summaries

4. WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF HUMAN NATURE?
Cambridge Camp, July–October 1775  

This chapter focuses our attention on the new Commander in Chief - George Washington. Washington commits to a reorganization of staff and direct reports and strategizes which generals will be in which location and what their specific duties and jurisdiction will be. Atkinson discusses Washington as a personality and we get to know about Washington's background, character, strengths and weaknesses. Washington begins to get settled in Cambridge; but gets immersed in tactical minutiae. Washington, for all of his aloofness was very political. To Washington - the minutemen were distasteful and had no discipline. “Discipline,” Washington had written in 1757, “is the soul of an army.” Certainly this army was still looking for its soul. American troops, one visitor claimed, were “as dirty a set of mortals as ever disgraced the name of a soldier.”

5. I SHALL TRY TO RETARD THE EVIL HOUR
Into Canada, October–November 1775  

In Chapter Five - Atkinson turns his attention to Canada. Benjamin Franklin made overtures to Canada to come to a meeting of the Continental Congress. The theme seemed to be that Protestant and Canadian Catholics were linked somehow by a common antipathy of British oppression. Fort Ticonderoga needed supplies and New York told Schuyler - “Our troops can be of no service to you. They have no arms, clothes, blankets, or ammunition; the officers no commissions; our treasury no money.” Schuyler was able to convince the Iroquois to remain neutral for now and not throw their lot in with the British. On top of everything they were facing; Schuyler, himself, was not well. Through some recklessness - Ethan Allen was taken prisoner. Montgomery captures Preston.

6. AMERICA IS AN UGLY JOB
London, October–November 1775

Lord North starts to believe that America is beginning to be a losing proposition. George III throws himself into the role of captain general. Atkinson discusses royal life and how that has not changed. There were some sympathetic overtures made concerning the plight of the Americans and the unfairness of it all - as Boswell tried to do. George III tries to get more foreign troops and immerses himself in the American War. Lord North was getting too weak in the knees about the entire American conflict (at least to King George III) and the king was looking for another stalwart supporter of his hard line. Burke attempted to ease the burdens on the colonists in hopes of ceasing the conflict with a vote of Parliament which was undercut by Lord George Germain. The Prohibitory Act was passed which made things worse. Things got worse for the colonists. There was zero light at the end of the tunnel and the British king was bent on revenge and making the colonists pay dearly for their resistance.

America is an ugly job is the title of one of the chapters.

How do you think the generals on both sides were feeling about Bunker Hill? And the prospect of having a new commander for the colonists?

What are your initial impressions?

This is Week Three and this what we will be reading and discussing this week (see below).

We can discuss on this thread anything up through the end of page 181.

The third week's reading assignment is:

Week Three: -(May 25th - May 31st) (page 116 - through page 181)

4. WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF HUMAN NATURE?
Cambridge Camp, July–October 1775   - page 116

5. I SHALL TRY TO RETARD THE EVIL HOUR
Into Canada, October–November 1775  - page 141 

6. AMERICA IS AN UGLY JOB
London, October–November 1775   - page 164

A wonderful Memorial Day Weekend to all group members

The moderators and Bentley will be enjoying and honoring this Memorial Day weekend just like everyone else; so please be patient.

And remember to honor those who lives were lost across the globe in places where they went to fight to protect us, our homes and our fiercely fought for liberties.

This weekend is about honoring them who made the ultimate sacrifice.

This was an interesting source cited by Atkinson:

Life Guards


William Sharp, "George Washington, Commander in Chief of Ye Armies of Ye United States of America," 1780

On March 11, 1776, from his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, overseeing the siege of Boston, General George Washington issued a General Order to Colonels or Commanding Officers of regiments of the Continental Army. Washington's order directed these officers to select four men from each regiment who would form his personal guard.

General Washington had a clear idea of the type of men he was seeking and the qualifications were laid out in the General Order. Washington wrote, "His Excellency depends upon the Colonels for good Men, such as they can recommend for their sobriety, honesty and good behavior; he wishes them to be from five feet eight Inches high, to five feet ten Inches; handsomely and well made, and as there is nothing in his eyes more desirable than Cleanliness in a Soldier, he desires that particular attention be made in the choice of such men as are clean and spruce."

Captain Caleb Gibbs, an adjutant of the 14th Massachusetts Continental Regiment, was selected by General Washington to command the new unit, promoted to the rank of Major, and given the title Captain Commandant. The task fell to Gibbs to organize the new unit, whose motto was "Conquer or Die." The explicit mission of the new group was "to protect General Washington, the army's cash and official papers." Among Gibbs' immediate staff officers was Lieutenant George Lewis, a nephew of General Washington.

The official designation of the new unit was "His Excellency's Guard," or the "General's Guard." Enlisted soldiers referred to the unit as "The Life Guards," "The Washington Life Guards," or "Washington's Body Guard." General Washington usually referred to the unit as "My Guards," while Gibbs signed dispatches and unit correspondence "Commandant C-in-C, Guards."


Illustration of the banner of the Commander-in-Chief's Guard. Image from Benson J. Lossing, The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution, Vol. 2. (New York: Harper, 1852), 120.

Within two months of the Lifeguards' formation, several enlisted men and Non-Commissioned Officers were at the center of what became known as the Hickey mutiny. A group of New York Tories had established a secret organization whose possible goal was to assassinate General Washington while he was encamped with units of the Continental Army on Manhattan Island. The plot was uncovered and resulted in the arrest of a number of New York Tories.

Several members of the Lifeguards, including Sergeant Thomas Hickey, were also arrested. Hickey was an Irish migrant who had deserted from the British Army and reenlisted in the Continental Army. The court martial testimony against Hickey was sufficient to convict him. He was sentenced to death and hanged on June 28, 1776 and became the first member of the Continental Army executed following a court martial.

For the remainder of 1776 the membership of the Lifeguards ranged between 50-70 soldiers. They participated in the Battle of White Plains and in the retreat to New Jersey. However, the majority of the Lifeguards' enlistments were due to expire at the end of the year. A number were allowed to resign from their posts upon the promise that they would join another unit. A small group of loyal soldiers volunteered to remain a part of the Lifeguards, and as a result took part in the Battle of Trenton in late December.

In early January 1777, with the remnants of the Continental Army encamped at their winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, General Washington commenced forming a new unit of Lifeguards built around the few volunteers who remained. In addition, Gibbs remained in charge of the unit. In the spring of 1777, correspondence refers to the Lifeguards being dressed in blue and buff uniforms with leather helmets adorned with medium blue cloth binding and a white plume tipped in blue placed on the left side of the helmet. Gibbs also decided to forgo the standard designated regimental number on the uniform buttons and instead opted for "USA," the first known record of the cipher being employed.

Throughout the latter half of 1777, the Lifeguards performed their duties providing close protection for General Washington and other elements of the headquarters staff. The unit, as part of the Continental Army, wintered at Valley Forge. In the spring of 1778, as a testament to the unit’s professionalism and military standards, the Lifeguards were selected by Baron Frederick von Steuben to fulfill the role of demonstration unit for the Continental Army. After being trained by von Steuben in the new American Drill, the Lifeguards moved amongst units of the Continental Army demonstrating von Steuben’s methods and principles.

For the remainder of the Revolutionary War, the Lifeguards were frequently employed in the role of light infantry and attached to larger military units for engagements. In each case the Lifeguards acquitted themselves well and enhanced their growing reputation as an elite unit.

Following the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in October 1781, the Lifeguard—who were present at the battle— retired with the Continental Army to the Hudson Highlands in New York. In the early spring of 1782, the group settled into camp at Newburgh and remained there for the final years of the Revolutionary War. In May 1783, with peace negotiations concluded, the Congress instructed General Washington to begin furloughing members of the Army drawn from all ranks and all units. General Washington issued the order on June 2, and on June 6 the entire guard was furloughed.

Between June and November 1783, the Lifeguards as a unit were comprised of men on temporary assignment and drawn from regiments stationed in Newburgh. William Colfax assumed command of the Lifeguards in1779 after Gibbs was promoted and transferred to another regiment, though soon after he was replaced by Captain Bezaleel Howe. It fell to Howe to command the Lifeguards’ last mission. On November 9, 1783 Captain Howe received orders from General Washington to "take charge of the Wagons which contain my baggage, and with the escort proceed with them to Virginia and deliver the baggage at my house, ten miles below Alexandria."

Six wagons filled with General Washington’s belongings, but more importantly the official records of eight years of war, were successfully delivered to Mount Vernon on December 20, 1783.

Upon his own retirement from the army in the summer of 1784, Caleb Gibbs gathered together the official records of the Lifeguards. They were secured in a trunk and stored at the Charlestown Navy Yard where Gibbs worked after the war. Despite surviving war, weather and constant movement, the vast majority of the records were destroyed in a fire at the Navy Yard in 1815.

Alan Capps, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of History
George Mason University

Sources: Atkinson cites source above, Mount Vernon

More:

(no image) Pictorial Field Book Of The Revolution by Benson John Lossing (no photo)

by George Washington

by George Washington

by Carlos E. Godfrey (no photo)

by Harry Ward (no photo)

by Robert K. Wright Jr. (no photo)

Sunday on Memorial Weekend - we are off to a start for Week Three.

Here - once again - are the reading assignments for Week Three.

Week Three: -(May 25th - May 31st) (page 116 - through page 181)

4. WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF HUMAN NATURE?
Cambridge Camp, July–October 1775   - page 116 - We are beginning this chapter today. This chapter should prove interesting.

5. I SHALL TRY TO RETARD THE EVIL HOUR
Into Canada, October–November 1775  - page 141 

6. AMERICA IS AN UGLY JOB
London, October–November 1775   - page 164

Good night!

At long last George Washington makes an appearance ... ever the suspenseful, Atkinson waits till chapter four to bring him on board ... and his audience is delighted (at least this member of it is).
Regards,
Andrea

Delighted that you are delighted - and a Happy Memorial Day.

And so we begin:

4. What Shall We Say of Human Nature? CAMBRIDGE CAMP, JULY–OCTOBER 1775

A sultry overcast thickened above the American encampments on Sunday morning, July 2. By order of General Ward, company officers had begun scrutinizing their troops during daily formation for signs of smallpox. Militiamen marched to prayer services for yet another sermon on the evils of profanity.

At General Putnam’s suggestion, they sometimes shouted Amen! loud enough to alarm British sentries. Even on the Sabbath, British cannons pummeled Roxbury. “The balls came rattling through the houses,” a soldier told his diary. “They neither killed nor wounded any of our men, which seems almost impossible.” The Yankees answered with a pointless spatter of musketry. Heavy rain began to fall at eleven a.m., sharpening the camp odors of green firewood, animal manure, and human waste.

Private Samuel Haws updated his journal: “July 1. Nothing remarkable this day. July 2. Ditto.” Private Phineas Ingalls was a bit more descriptive in his Sunday diary entry: “Rained. A new general from Philadelphia.”

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 116). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Just as a reminder - we gave a great deal of information on both Putnam and Ward on last week's thread - refer to 71 and 72 for Putnam and Ward - comment box 73 (Week Two thread)

The new general coming on the scene is Washington of course.

Refer to message 7 on this thread.

Discussion Thoughts and Questions: (what do you think?)

1. From the description given in the book, what were your first impressions of George Washington? What were some of characteristics that seemed to impress others? The soldiers? Abigail Adams? John Adams?

2. Was it surprising that Americans at that time had no idea what Washington looked like?

"Possibly not one of the seventeen thousand soldiers now under his command in Massachusetts knew what George Washington of Virginia looked like.

Few Americans did. Imaginary portraits that bore no resemblance to him had been sketched and printed in the penny sheets after his unanimous selection by the Continental Congress seventeen days earlier to be “general and commander-in-chief of the American forces,” a host to be known as the Continental Army.

Now here he was in the flesh, trotting past the sodden pickets just after noon with a small cavalry escort and baggage that included a stack of books on generalship, notably Military Instructions for Officers Detached in the Field and a volume with copperplate diagrams on how to build fortifications and otherwise run a war. At Hastings House, a dour Ward handed over his orderly book to the man Private Haws soon called “Lesemo,” a perversion of generalissimo. No salute was fired; the Lesemo’s new army could not spare the powder.

“His personal appearance is truly noble and majestic, being tall and well-proportioned,” wrote a doctor in Cambridge. “His dress is a blue coat with buff-colored facings, a rich epaulet on each shoulder, buff underdress, and an elegant small sword, a black cockade in his hat.”

At age forty-three, he was all that and more: over six feet tall, but so erect he seemed taller; nimble for a large man, as demonstrated on many a dance floor, and so graceful in the saddle that some reckoned him the finest horseman of the age; fair skin that burned easily, lightly spattered with smallpox pits and stretched across high cheekbones beneath wide-set slate-blue eyes; fine hair with a hint of auburn, tied back in a queue.

He had first lost teeth in the French and Indian War, symptomatic of the perpetual dental miseries that kept him from smiling much. “His appearance alone gave confidence to the timid and imposed respect on the bold,” in one soldier’s estimation, or, as a Connecticut congressman observed, “No harum-scarum, ranting, swearing fellow, but sober, steady, and calm.”

Abigail Adams, who would invite Washington to coffee soon after his arrival, told her husband, John, “Dignity with ease and complacency, the gentleman and soldier look agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every line and feature of his face.” Clearly smitten, she paraphrased the English poet John Dryden: “Mark his majestic fabric! He’s a temple / Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine.” John Adams, in turn, noted that Washington “possessed the gift of silence,” a virtue rarely found in Lawyer Adams.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 117). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Washington’s other traits, if less visible, would soon become conspicuous enough to those he commanded. Born into Virginia’s planter class, he was ambitious and dogged, with a resolve that made him seem tireless. If unquestionably brave, diligent, and sensible, he could also be humorless, aloof, and touchy about his lack of formal education.

Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 117). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Discussion Thoughts and Questions: (what do you think?)

1. As you read what the author has to say about Washington and we learn about some of his less visible traits - which traits do you think will complement his role as Commander in Chief of the forces and which traits will not? Why do you feel that way?

2. What were your thoughts about some of the resentments that Washington himself might have had against the British? Do you think that any of these still weighted upon his mind?

"Clearly he nursed resentments: at the preference given British land speculators, the imperial restrictions on western expansion, and the large debts accumulated with British merchants.

Twice he had tried to ascend from the Virginia provincials by securing regular commissions for himself and his officers, and twice he had been snubbed.

British tax policies jeopardized his commercial ambitions and offended his moral equilibrium; the royal governor in Virginia had threatened, through a technicality, to annul land grants issued twenty years earlier, which would have stripped Washington of twenty-three thousand wilderness acres."

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (pp. 118-119). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Discussion Thoughts and Questions: (what do you think?)

1. Did you think that Washington actually felt that he might never return from this duty and under those cirumstances would you draft a will?

2. Was there anything revealing about any of the quotes to relatives and friends?

"Few would guess that the imposing, confident figure who rode into Cambridge that Sunday afternoon concealed his own anxieties and insecurities. In tears he had told a fellow Virginian, Patrick Henry, “From the day I enter upon the command of the American armies, I date my fall, and the ruin of my reputation.” He also lamented leaving Martha alone in Virginia. “It has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service,” he wrote her. “I go fully trusting in the Providence, which has been more bountiful to me than I deserve.… I retain an unalterable affection for you, which neither time or distance can change.” To his brother he confided, “I am embarked on a wide ocean, boundless in its prospect & from whence, perhaps, no safe harbor is to be found.”

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 119). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

"Washington would soon move his headquarters into the vacant Vassall House in Cambridge, a gray, three-story Georgian mansion that had been abandoned by its loyalist owner. The orchards, outbuildings, and sweeping vista of the Charles evoked his beloved Mount Vernon, although the house had been used by medicos after Bunker Hill and then as a bivouac by a Marblehead regiment; sanding grease and filth from the floors took more than a week. Washington chose a high-ceilinged, ground-floor room with Delft tile for his bedchamber, parked his new phaeton and saddle horses in the stable, and then set out to fulfill his marching orders from Congress: “take every method in your power, consistent with prudence, to destroy or make prisoners of all persons who are now, or who hereafter shall appear in arms against the good people of the United Colonies.” Greene, the young Rhode Island general, would later observe of Washington’s arrival, “It seemed as if the spirit of conquest breathed through the whole army.”


Charles Lee

Washington quickly organized his army into three “grand divisions,” each commanded by a major general and composed of two brigades, typically with six regiments apiece. Ward led the division on the right wing, around Boston Neck. Putnam commanded the center, at Cambridge. The division on the left wing, overlooking Bunker Hill and ruined Charlestown, was led by Charles Lee, a brusque, vivid eccentric who had spent a quarter century in the king’s service before immigrating to America in 1773. Rather than the twenty-five thousand troops he had expected, Washington found—after excruciating efforts to get a reliable tally—that his host had less than fourteen thousand men actually present and fit for duty around Boston.


Longfellow National Historic Site, also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This house was George Washington's headquarters for 10 months in the Revolutionary War, and noted poet Henry Wadsworth Longellow's house for nearly fifty years.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (pp. 120-121). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Discussion Thoughts and Questions: (what do you think?)

1. Any thoughts or observations regarding Washington and how he is fitting in with his militiamen in Boston? What are your impressions of Washington in this chapter and how do they differ from the President that we have all read about? Were there any surprises? What did you think about Washington being called - "His excellency"! Do you think that the accounts that we read about him as President were inflated and embellished and how do those accounts differ from the man he was? Has Atkinson presented a more authentic view of the man - why or why not?

2. What were your impressions of how Washington restructured the army into three grand divisions and the choices he made for its three leaders?

3. What were his weaknesses as the commander in chief; what were his strengths? Being a political general has its pitfalls, what were they? What did Washington discover about his troops?

4. How in the coming weeks was Washington going to get to know his troops and they him? He knew that in the coming weeks and months that there was a required intimacy with his army and that he needed to build the mystical bond between leader and those he led. He knew he needed to ask himself - Who were they? What did they believe? Why did they fight? How long would they fight? Do you think that he was the type of commander who could bridge the gap between his upbringing in the South and Virginia and the Northern soldiers that he had shown contempt for before? Were his Life Guards a buffer and gate between himself and the men he was to lead? Any thoughts? There are no right or wrong answers? Are the accounts that we read in school about George just propaganda?

More:




Interesting story about Darby Vassall - an African American young boy/slave whose original owners of the Vassall house were Loyalists and had to escape back to England because they were loyal to the King. Their young slave was left to fend for himself and his second owner had died at Bunker Hill. Not knowing what to do he went back to his original home where Washington now had his lodgings. This account was sourced from Mount Vernon:

Link:

Sources: Wikipedia, American Battlefield Trust, Mount Vernon, Battlefields.org

Caricature Versus Authenticity



We are discovering the man that George Washington really was versus the caricatures that we learned about in school - how was this man going to transform himself so that he could transform the men who he was leading and still deal realistically and pragmatically with the hand that he had been dealt? Washington seemed to see the men as liabilities versus assets. How should Washington have approached the lack of discipline that he saw? What flaws did Washington have which may have impacted his progress?

1. Does our country (even today) suffer from a nightmare of liberty? Let us hear your opinions.

“Discipline,” Washington had written in 1757, “is the soul of an army.” Certainly this army was still looking for its soul. American troops, one visitor claimed, were “as dirty a set of mortals as ever disgraced the name of a soldier.” Each man lived in “a kennel of his own making.”

No two companies drilled alike, and together on parade they were described as the finest body of men ever seen out of step.

Their infractions were legion: singing on guard duty, voiding “excrement about the fields perniciously,” promiscuous shooting for the sake of noise, a tendency by privates to debate their officers, “unnecessary drum beating at night,” insolent “murmuring,” pilfering thirty bushels of cherries, thirty barrels of apples, and five hundred cabbages from one Chelsea farmer alone.

When a small reward was offered for each British cannonball retrieved so that they could be reused, “every ball, as it fell, was surrounded with a great number of men to see who would get it first,” a lieutenant in Roxbury reported.

Several lost their feet before the bounty was canceled.

The junior officers were not much better, notably those who used soldiers for personal farm labor, or falsified company returns to draw extra provisions, or pointed cocked pistols at their sergeants. Some officers, a Washington aide wrote in mid-August, were “not only ignorant and litigious but scandalously disobedient.”

Many regiments elected their captains, lieutenants, and even lowly subalterns, often on the basis of civilian friendships, social rank, or political influence; the army was said to suffer from a “nightmare of liberty,” inimical to executive power.

As for senior officers, few issues plagued Washington more than the endless jockeying for rank. Brigadier generals sulked and bickered all summer over seniority. When one threatened to resign in a snit, Lee wrote him in late July, “For God Almighty’s sake … for the sake of your country, of mankind, and let me add of your own reputation, discard such sentiments.” John Trumbull, a soldier, artist, and the son of Connecticut’s governor, wrote while serving in Roxbury, “Officers grumbling about rank and soldiers about pay, everyone thinking himself ill-used and imposed upon.”

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 123). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition, Biography

More:

by Joseph J. Ellis

by Richard Brookhiser

Video: George Washington - Full Episode
Link:

Military Justice or Abuse?

Washington’s conceptions of military justice had been shaped by his years under stern British command.

In the spring of 1757 alone, he had approved floggings averaging six hundred lashes each—enough to cripple a man, or even kill him—and presided over courts-martial that imposed more than a dozen death sentences.

Such draconian measures were impossible in an army saturated with democratic principles, principles, and Congress stayed his hand by restricting floggings to thirty-nine stripes (soon to be increased to a hundred, at his insistence). If a bit less vindictive, the cat-o’-nine-tails still fell routinely across the backs of convicted men tied to a whipping post known as the “adjutant’s daughter.”

“Saw two men whipt for stealing,” a corporal wrote. “O what a pernicious thing it is for a man to steal and cheat his feller nabors, and how provoking to God!” A deserter was not hanged or jailed but sentenced to clean latrines for a week while wearing a sign printed with his offense. A felonious sergeant was drummed from camp with the epithet “MUTINY” on his back.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (pp. 123-124). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Discussion Thoughts and Questions: (what do you think?)

1. How many of you when reading the passage above thought that Washington was going overboard and thought that this was absolute torture and draconian? Obviously Congress by staying his hand disagreed with its practice. What were your thoughts about this George Washington? George Washington seemed to have a disconnect with his men - what were your impressions of Washington's leadership capabilities when reading these passages? Were you shocked that a man who was so wealthy and from the South would absolutely not understand the sacrifices that these men were making to march and fight under his command and leave their homes and their families? Or did you feel that Washington had no choice? How would these infractions been dealt with in today's world?

More:

US Naval Institute article on Whaleboats being used - the beginning of the Navy

by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick




Link:



Link:

General Orders, 1 August 1775
General Orders
Head Quarters, Cambridge, August 1st 1775.
Parole Gibralter.Countersign Fairfield.

The General thanks Major Tupper, and the Officers and Soldiers under his Command, for their gallant and soldierlike behaviour in possessing themselves of the enemy’s post at the Light House, and for the Number of Prisoners they took there, and doubts not, but the Continental Army, will be as famous for their mercy as for their valour.1

Two Subs. two serjeants, one Drum and thirty Rank and File, to parade at Head Quarters at Noon; to escort the prisoners to Worcester. The Commanding Officer will receive his orders from the Adjutant General.2

For the satisfaction of all concerned; The General directs the following Resolution of the Legislature of this Colony to be inserted in General Orders. viz:

“In House of Representatives, Watertown 29th July 1775.

“Whereas sundry Complaints have been made, by some of the Soldiers raised by this Colony, that they have not received the allowance pay of Forty Shillings, agreeable to the Resolution of Provincial Congress,3 therefore Resolved, that a Committee be appointed forthwith, to apply to the Colonels of the several Regiments, raised by the Colony, and to the Muster Masters and Pay Masters in the Camp, at Cambridge and Roxbury; and obtain of them a compleat List of the Non Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, in their respective regiments, distinguishing those that have been muster’d and paid; from those that have not, that such Methods may be pursued, as shall remove all just ground of Complaint—read and ordered, that Colonel Cushing and Mr Webster,4 with such as the Honorable Board shall join, be a Committee for the purpose above mentioned.

“Sent up for concurrence.

James Warren, speaker.

“In Council, read and concurred, and Col. Lincoln5 is join’d.

Albt P: Morton, secy.”6

The Officers commanding Massachusetts Regiments, will pay all due Attention to the foregoing resolution.

One Man a Company, to be appointed a Camp Colour man, from every Company in every Regiment in the Army, whose particular duty it must be to attend the Quarter Master and Quarter Master serjeant, to sweep the Streets of their respective encampments, to fill up the old necessary Houses and dig new ones, to bury all Offal, Filth, and Nastiness, that may poison or infect the health of the Troops; and the Quarter Masters are to be answerable, to their Commanding Officers for a strict observance of this order, and by persevering in the constant and unremitted Execution thereof, remove that odious reputation, which (with but too much reason) has stigmatized the Character of American Troops. The Colonels and Commanding Officers of Regiments, are to be answerable to the General, for all due obedience to this order.

The General finding it is not uncustomary, for Officers to take the Liberty, of absenting themselves from Camp without leave, and going home; for the future, any Officer found guilty of so glaring an Offence, against all Order and Discipline, and setting so bad an Example to the Non Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, under their Command; such Officer or Officers so offending, may depend upon being punish’d with the utmost severity.

Least the late Successes against the Enemy, should occasion any relaxation in the Alertness of the Troops, the General recommends it in the strongest manner, to all the Officers and Soldiers of the Continental Army; to be the more vigilant in their duty, and watchful of the enemy; as they certainly will take every advantage of any supiness on our part.

Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1. This attack on the Lighthouse Island in Boston Harbor occurred early on the morning of 31 July. After Maj. Joseph Vose’s party burned the lighthouse on 20 July (see William Heath to GW, 21 July 1775), the British began rebuilding it, and by the night of 29 July their work was “in such forwardness as Actually to shew a Light” (James Warren to John Adams, 31 July–2 Aug. 1775, in Taylor, Papers of John Adams, 3:108–12). To destroy the new light and stop further construction, Maj. Benjamin Tupper set out with 300 men in whaleboats from Nantasket late on 30 July. They landed on Lighthouse Island about two o’clock the next morning, and after subduing the British marines stationed there, they burned all of the buildings on the island. For GW’s and Tupper’s accounts of the raid, see GW to Hancock, 4–5 Aug. 1775 and n.14. Benjamin Tupper (1738–1792), a resident of Chesterfield who served as an enlisted man during the French and Indian War, was appointed major of Col. John Fellows’s Massachusetts regiment in April 1775. During July he participated in three raids: the one of this date on Lighthouse Island, one on Brown’s house at Boston Neck on 8 July, and one on Long Island on 11 July. See GW to Hancock, 10–11 July 1775, Document II. Letter Sent, n.5, and 14 July 1775, n.5. In January 1776 Tupper became lieutenant colonel of the regiment commanded by Col. Jonathan Ward, and in July 1777 he was promoted to colonel. He commanded one or another of the Massachusetts regiments until the end of the war, fighting at Saratoga and Monmouth among other places.

2. The prisoners captured on Lighthouse Island consisted of: 2 marine sergeants, 2 marine corporals, 20 marine privates, and 12 Loyalists. In his orders of this date to the officer commanding the guard detachment, Horatio Gates specified that the prisoners were to be delivered to the chairman of the Worcester committee of safety, who was then to order a detachment of the local militia to escort them to Springfield where they were “to be Secur’d, so as to be forthcoming whenever an Exchange of prisoners, or a happy reconciliation between Great Britain and her Colonies shall take place” (DLC:GW). The prisoners marched out of Cambridge about nine o’clock this morning and arrived in Worcester on 3 Aug. (“Stevens Journal,” 53).

3. The Massachusetts provincial congress authorized this advance pay for the colony’s noncommissioned officers and privates on 20 May 1775 (Mass. Prov. Congress Journals, 246).

4. Joseph Cushing (1732–1791), a lieutenant colonel in the militia, represented Hanover, and Jonathan Webster, Jr. (1747–1826), represented Haverhill in the provincial congress.

5. Benjamin Lincoln (1733–1810) of Hingham was a lieutenant colonel in the Suffolk County militia. He served in all three provincial congresses and was elected to the council on 21 July 1775. In February 1776 Lincoln became a brigadier general of the militia, and the following May he was promoted to major general. Lincoln’s administrative abilities soon attracted GW’s attention, and on his recommendation, Lincoln was commissioned a Continental major general in February 1777. He was wounded at Saratoga in the fall of 1777 and was captured at Charleston in the spring of 1780. After his exchange Lincoln participated in the Yorktown campaign, and from 1781 to 1783 he served as secretary at war.

6. Artemas Ward’s orderly book reads “Attest. Perez Morton Secr’y” (MHi: Ward Papers). The resolution that appears here is nearly identical in wording to the version approved by the Massachusetts council on 29 July (“Mass. Council Journal,” July 1775–Feb. 1776 sess., 15). The version that the house of representatives passed earlier on that date varies somewhat from the council’s, but the differences are minor (Mass. House of Rep. Journal, July–Nov. 1775 sess., 22). For the General Court’s further actions regarding advanced pay, see Committee of the Massachusetts Council to GW, 11 Aug. 1775, n.2. Perez Morton (1751–1837), a young attorney from Boston, was appointed temporary secretary of the council on 26 July 1775. When Samuel Adams was named permanent secretary on 10 Aug., Morton became his deputy, and because of Adams’s long absences, he continued to perform most of the duties of the office until he resigned on 1 June 1776. During the Rhode Island campaign of 1778, Morton acted as an aide-de-camp to John Hancock.

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by Charles Burr Todd (no photo)

Shortages of supplies - equipment, food, gun powder - plagued Washington's Troops

Supplying Washington's Army


Keeping Bad News Secret (Washington)

"Precisely how destitute became clear from the report laid before the war council that convened at Vassall House on Thursday, August 3. The earlier gunpowder estimate had erroneously included stocks used at Bunker Hill and in various prodigal skirmishes over the summer.

Despite generous shipments to Cambridge from other colonies, the actual supply on hand, including the powder in all New England magazines, totaled 9,937 pounds, less than five tons, or enough for about nine rounds per soldier.

Washington was gobsmacked. “The general was so struck that he did not utter a word for half an hour,” Brigadier General John Sullivan told the New Hampshire Committee of Safety. “Everyone else was equally surprised.”

When he finally regained his tongue, Washington told his lieutenants that “our melancholy situation” must “be kept a profound secret.” This dire news, he added, was “inconceivable.”

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (pp. 126-127). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

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Bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick discusses his exciting new book, In The Hurricane's Eye. In this video, he talks about what set George Washington about from the other founding fathers, and his approach to winning the Revolutionary War. Ultimately, it was his determination, will, and gut instinct that led to winning the war.
Video:

"George Washington" Epic Historical 1984 Mini-Series - Part 1 - Episode One:


Sources: Youtube, Mount Vernon

by Nathaniel Philbrick

by James Thomas Flexner (no photo)

This sounds about right - not ever having supplies when you need it - has much changed?

Old Powder House, Somerville, MA. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"A rebel schooner from Santo Domingo, in the West Indies, sailed up the Delaware River in late July under a false French flag with almost seven smuggled tons hidden in the hold beneath molasses barrels. Loaded into a half dozen wagons, the powder was promptly sent north with an armed escort.

A second consignment of five tons soon followed, and by late August Washington had enough for twenty-five rounds per soldier, still a paltry amount. War could not be waged with an occasional smuggled windfall, yet not a single American powder mill existed when the rebellion began. Mills operating during the French war had fallen into disrepair or been converted to produce flour or snuff.

Of particular concern was the shortage of saltpeter—potassium nitrate, typically collected from human and animal dung, and the only scarce ingredient in gunpowder.

Identified as a strategic commodity in the medieval Book of Fires for the Burning of Enemies, saltpeter had been imported to Europe from India through Venice for centuries; imperial Britain bought almost two thousand tons a year.

The saltpeter was kneaded with small portions of sulfur and charcoal, then pulverized, dusted, glazed, and dried to make gunpowder.

By early fall, virtually all American cannons had fallen silent but for a single 9-pounder on Prospect Hill, fired occasionally in ornery defiance.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 128). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Discussion Thought and Question: (what do you think?)

1. Faced with such odds, did you ever wonder how the colonists and George Washington managed to pull this off?

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Sources: Journal of the American Revolution, Boston 1775

by (John Ferling
by John Leander Bishop (no photo)
by T.H. Breen (no photo)
by Jack Kelly (no photo)
by Robert Middlekauff (no photo)
by John Drayton (no photo)
by Hugh Mccall (no photo)
by Robert Wilson Gibbes (no photo)
by Joseph Clay (no photo)
by James M. Johnson (no photo)

Would you have guessed that Church was a traitor, a spy or not? (Your thoughts?)

"/>
Portrait of Benjamin Church, from Mary C. Gillet, The Army Medical Department, 1775-1818. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1981. Courtesy of the Northern Illinois University Libraries.

Findings:
That fate was sealed. The House promptly expelled him for what James Warren called “the wickedness of his heart.”

Under orders from Congress, Washington sent him with a nine-man prisoner escort to Connecticut, where Church complained of being confined in a “close, dark, and noisome cell”; Congress specifically denied him “the use of pen, ink, and paper.”

Not for more than 150 years, after scholars sifted through General Gage’s private papers, would Church’s guilt be irrefutably confirmed: he had been a British spy at least since early 1775, for cash, and had likely provided information about hidden weapons in Concord, among other rebel secrets.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (pp. 130-131). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

All I can say is wow - what a story! A spy, a traitor and a cipher!

Finally we are rid of him!

Out with Gage - In with Howe
Bunker Hill - The Last Straw for Gage

"But General Gage had gone, and he took his nose with him. In late September, Scarborough arrived in Boston with orders summoning Gage home, a decision made soon after the news of Bunker Hill reached London.

The king had insisted that the general’s feelings be spared by pretending that he was being recalled to plan the 1776 campaign.

Gage packed his personal papers in white pine boxes and, after a flurry of salutes, sailed aboard the transport Pallas at nine p.m. on October 11.

He was soon forgotten, both in America and in England, though he continued to draw a salary as the Crown’s governor of Massachusetts. Horace Walpole joked that he might be hanged for the errors of his masters.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 133). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

How true was this statement for both armies - the British, the Continental Army?


Cardinal Richelieu

As Cardinal Richelieu, the great French statesman during the Thirty Years’ War, had warned, “History knows many more armies ruined by want and disorder than by the efforts of their enemies.”

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 135). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

How did Falmouth solidify support?


The Burning of Falmouth - Mowat's Revenge

Few were angrier than General Washington.

He rejected Falmouth’s plea for ammunition and men—the commander in chief could hardly disperse his modest army among coastal enclaves—but in a pale fury he denounced British “cruelty and barbarity.”

More clearly than ever he saw the war as a moral crusade, a death struggle between good and evil. In general orders to the troops he fulminated against “a brutal, savage enemy.”

Many Americans now agreed with the sentiment published in the New-England Chronicle a month after Falmouth’s immolation: “We expect soon to break off all kinds of connections with Britain, and form into a grand republic of the American colonies.”

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (pp. 139-140). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition, Founder of the Day, Historynet, myrevolutionarywar.com

Note: The entire town of Falmouth was burned by Mowat and the British. At least 300 (and possibly up to 400) buildings were destroyed. A thousand people, almost half of the population, were left homeless while winter began to set in. Though times were tough for the small community, donations and support from the Massachusetts Provincial Government helped them through. It took almost 20 years to fully rebuild the area.

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That time the Royal Navy burnt an American city to the ground by Logan Nye

Rebels near the city of Falmouth, Maine, kidnapped a Royal Navy officer, but returned him to his ship after hearing pleas from the town. A Revolutionary War Pearl Harbor.

Five months later, the officer was authorized to raze American towns — and he returned to Falmouth to completely annihilate it.

The political backlash against the attack was real and immediate. Damage was estimated at 50,000 British pounds — converted to modern U.S. dollars, that's nearly $10 million. Royal subjects in Britain were outraged and those living in America were livid.

Even France, which was closely watching the progress of the rebellion in their rival's colonies, was shocked.

Graves, the admiral who ordered attacks on sea ports, was relieved of command and Mowat's career stalled for years afterward.

Link:

by Harry Gratwick (no photo)

Thursday morning - (1:30AM) - we have completed Chapter Four

Here - once again - are the reading assignments for Week Three.

Week Three: -(May 25th - May 31st) (page 116 - through page 181)

4. WHAT SHALL WE SAY OF HUMAN NATURE?
Cambridge Camp, July–October 1775   - page 116 - We have completed this chapter today. A long one. Very interesting discussing the many facets of the authentic General Washington

5. I SHALL TRY TO RETARD THE EVIL HOUR (turning our attention to Canada next)
Into Canada, October–November 1775  - page 141 

6. AMERICA IS AN UGLY JOB
London, October–November 1775   - page 164

Good night!

Film:

Washington's War (Full Movie) - General George Washington and the Revolutionary War

Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, 1775, and John Adams nominated George Washington to serve as the army's Commander-in-Chief. While there were over 230 skirmishes and battles fought during the American Revolution, these are the battles where General Washington personally secured his legacy as "First in War."

Link:

Source: Youtube, Mount Vernon

Film:

The Winter Patriots: A Revolutionary War Tale (Full Movie)

The Winter Patriots explores one of the darkest moments of the American Revolution and how the Continental Army, under the command of General George Washington, was able to save the cause of independence through one brilliant military campaign at the end of 1776 and the beginning of 1777. Follow Washington’s forces as they cross the icy Delaware River on their way to their surprise victory at the Battle of Trenton. Watch as Washington crosses the river once more and fights the British and Hessians on the Assunpink Creek and at the Battle of Princeton.

The Winter Patriots is the second animated feature presentation produced by Wide Awake Films and George Washington’s Mount Vernon – the home of General George Washington.

Link:

Source: Youtube, Mount Vernon

Film:

Opening George Washington's Tomb

Link:

Source: Youtube, Mount Vernon

American Revolution in Boston

Derek Beck talked about his books, Igniting the American Revolution: 1773-1775 and The War Before Independence: 1775-1776. Mr. Beck detailed the strategies on both sides of the conflicts that took place in and around Boston, Massachusetts.

Link:

Source: C-Span

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by Derek W. Beck

Beginning of the Revolutionary War

J.L. Bell talked about his book, The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War. He spoke about events dating back to September 1774, including the Patriot plot to steal four British cannons and the British plan to get them back

Link:

Source: C-Span

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by J.L. Bell (no photo)

The British Are Coming

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson talked about his book, The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777, in which he provided a history of the Revolutionary War in the first of his trilogy on that era.

Link:

Source: C-Span

Pamphlets and the American Revolution

Gordon Wood talked about the role of political pamphlets in helping to spark the American Revolution. Pamphlets were the primary medium for political debates at the time. Mr. Wood spoke about 40 of these works, with topics ranging from taxation without representation to natural rights.

Link:

Source: C-Span

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by Gordon S. Wood

by Gordon S. Wood

by Gordon S. Wood

Bentley wrote: "How do you think the generals on both sides were feeling about Bunker Hill? And the prospect of having a new commander for the colonists?

What are your initial impressions? "

My initial impression regarding the feelings of leadership after Bunker Hill comes down to an image of both sides being in a type of prison. The British cannot move because it is now too late in the season to sail and they cannot go by land because they lack the forage, food and supplies and army the size of theirs would require. Even if they at those supplies they do not have nearly enough horses and wagons to move the army. They are literally stuck in Boston. After Bunker Hill I do not thing they were very motivated to win another "hollow victory" in which they break out and still can't go anywhere or worse they have another Bunker Hill type victory where they take some more ground but lose far more men then the colonial army.

Washington and his team of leaders want to strike but cannot agree on just how and where to do so. They too are in a sort of prison. They want to fight but do not have enough powder and ammunition to actually carry out a battle. Atkinson makes they point that they are then reduced to raids and using riflemen to snipe at the British positions. Atkinson also makes that point that with winter coming Washington feels pressure to either attack or move into winter quarters where enlistments will run out and he is afraid the army will melt away.

I was amazed at the quantity of wood just for heat through the winter that the colonial army would require. This is only one commodity they would need.

It seems like this is a stalemate not of looking across the field and wondering who will make the first move; but rather one of we do not have what we need to attack. This being the case I will observe what the other guy does while trying to resolve my lack and perhaps get to a place that supply will allow a move.

As Washington came into the camp I was impressed by the description of his leadership and desire to know his army. He had a genuine desire to serve the country but also his men.

Falmouth, I believe, is a good example of what happens when a military establishment feels itself cornered and at some level powerless. I found myself feeling very angry with this attack. There were only a few militia men in the town. The British had marines on their ship so go like men and clean out the town. Nope, we are going to bombard it even though it there was absolutely no military reward for it. This attack and any of the others they tried if they could have pulled it off would not advance the British cause in North America. Not at all.

I had a sense of vindication as the author described this naval leader and his little fleet meeting road block after road block. Almost losing ships to mother nature rather than enemy action. The mightiest navy in the world suddenly impotent.

This was an attack against unarmed citizens. Yet, time after time, in history we see military leaders do something similar when they feel there back is against the wall. Can't get at enemy combatants then go after the citizens that help them.

I though Falmouth mad the British look inept, impotent and weak. Bombard the town sure, but you sill don't have your masts and you haven't come one step closer to winning the war.

Michael, I did not want to respond too soon - hoping other readers would jump in and I could allow the interaction to take place.

But I think you are right - both armies are in quite a fix - immobilized by each other and the lack of supplies. Washington, I fear, is in more of a quandary; because like you aptly pointed out - he is not even sure from day to day - how many men he is going to have in such fluid a situation.

Overall - Atkinson paints a picture of a three dimensional Washington - not the caricature that we have come to know in the country's history.

There are major flaws for sure and he does seem to have a superiority complex as it relates to the minutemen and the local militias who are giving up a lot to serve.

Also, he gets in his licks about the volunteers like Putnam and Ward regularly which is not terribly flattering either. But down deep he did want the army and their cause to succeed and he dug deep to make that happen though his draconian measures of punishment were over the top.

I have come to grips with the notion that without him - we would not have made it and our success is largely due to his leadership no matter how controversial it was at times. His great charisma and his steadiness and the determination to focus on the end goal I think carried the day.

He also may have been misunderstood at times and probably realized soon on that he could not waiver from his focus on absolute discipline in the face of a mighty and very disciplined and extremely well trained opponent. He knew the opponent intimately because he had been a part of its hierarchy - so that served him. Also, the British knew him as well - so it was a double edged sword.

This was a very enlightening chapter.

Today -Falmouth would have been a war crime and Britain would have been culpable.

I do not think the British punished the two men in charge enough. Both Mowat and Graves should not have had just difficulties in their careers moving forward - they should have both been court marshalled.

It was especially distasteful given that the Falmouth people released Mowat and he was sent back to the ship. They showed a lot of sympathy for him and got none in return.

What is worse is that others did the same thing subsequently firing on Bristol, Rhode Island and Stonington, Connecticut. Neither of these instances came even close to the brutality caused by Mowat and Graves. However, it did show that the officers were not curbed by the British military or their superiors or their King.

Washington flogged his men for looting - etc. but oddly enough he did endorse the burning of the Iroquois villages who were assisting the British.

See below:

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by Holger Hoock (no photo)

And so we begin Chapter Five:

5. I Shall Try to Retard the Evil Hour INTO CANADA, OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 1775

"Some 230 miles northwest of Boston, a second siege now threatened Britain’s hold on Canada.

For almost a month, more than a thousand American troops had surrounded Fort St. Johns, a dank compound twenty miles below Montreal on the swampy western bank of the Richelieu River in what one regular called “the most unhealthy spot in inhabited Canada.”

A stockade and a dry moat lined with sharpened stakes enclosed a pair of earthen redoubts, two hundred yards apart and connected by a muddy trench. A small stone barracks, a bakery, a powder magazine, and several log buildings chinked with moss stood in the southern redoubt.

Thirty cannons crowned the ramparts and poked through sodded embrasures, spitting iron balls whenever the rebels approached or grew too impertinent with their own artillery.

By mid-October, seven hundred people were trapped at St. Johns, among them most of the British troops in Canada—drawn from the 26th Foot and the 7th Foot, known as the Royal Fusiliers—as well as most of the Royal Artillery’s gunners, eighty women and children, and more than seventy Canadian volunteers. Sentries cried, “Shot!” whenever they spotted smoke and flame from a rebel battery, and hundreds fell on their faces in the mud as the ball whizzed overhead or splatted home, somewhere.

Source: Atkinson, Rick. The British Are Coming (The Revolution Trilogy) (p. 141). Henry Holt and Co.. Kindle Edition.

Philip Schuyler



Tall, thin, and florid, with kinky hair and erratic health, Major General Philip Schuyler was among America’s wealthiest, most accomplished men. He would command the invasion of Canada in 1775. - Ph. Schuyler, date unknown. (Courtesy Print Collection, New York Public Library)



Surrender of General Burgoyne, by John Trumbull, c. 1821. Courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol. Schuyler can be seen on the right side of the portrait, dressed in brown.

Philip Schuyler was born on November 11, 1733 in Albany, New York to parents Johannes “John” Schuyler Jr. and Cornelia Van Cortlandt. Schuyler’s family migrated from Amsterdam in 1650 and were related to the families of the old Dutch aristocracy. Schuyler’s second great-grandfather was the first mayor of Albany, New York, the place of his birth.

Philip Schuyler began his military service during the French and Indian War as a captain and was later promoted to major. He partook in the battles of Lake George, Oswego River, Ticonderoga, and Fort Frontenac.

After his first stretch in the military, Schuyler ventured into politics. He began his tenure as a New York State Assemblyman in 1768 and served until 1775 when he was selected as a delegate to the second Continental Congress in May of that year. On June 19, 1775, he was commissioned as one of only four major generals in the Continental Army. He established his headquarters in Albany, NY and began planning an invasion of Canada. Early into his campaign he was plagued with a medical condition that caused command to be deferred to General Richard Montgomery. After leaving his regiment he returned to Fort Ticonderoga and then later to his hometown of Albany. He remained there for the winter of 1775 to 1776 where he collected supplies and forwarded them to Canada. He also aided the American effort in subduing British forces in the Mohawk Valley region of Western New York.

Schuyler’s original plan to invade Canada fell short upon the death of General Montgomery and the Patriot force’s failure to capture Quebec. Upon the American troops’ retreat to Crown Point and the evacuation of Fort Ticonderoga, General Horatio Gates attempted to claim precedence over Schuyler and sought Schuyler’s dismissal from service. The matter was taken up in front of Congress and Schuyler was superseded in August of 1777. Schuyler requested a trial in military court to prove his case. Schuyler was acquitted on all charges in 1778, but his reputation was still damaged. He resigned from military service in April of 1779.

Upon his departure from military service he reentered politics and served first as a delegate from New York to the Continental Congress from 1797 to 1781 and then three terms in the New York State Senate from 1781 to 1997. He served a term as a United States Senator from New York but lost his seat to Aaron Burr, who’s campaign was backed by enemies of Schuyler. Alexander Hamilton was enraged by the Schuyler’s loss, as Hamilton backed his campaign due to his support of New York ratifying the Federal constitution.

In addition to being a political ally of Schuyler’s, Alexander Hamilton married Schuyler’s daughter, Elizabeth, in 1780. Once Hamilton regained control of New York State politics, Schuyler won back his seat in the United States Senate from Aaron Burr in 1797. Schuyler served only a few years of his term before resigning due to poor health. Philip Schuyler died on November 18, 1804.


Schuyler Mansion


Source: American Battlefield Trust, Encyclopedia Britannica, PBS, New Netherland Institute, Fandom, American Revolutionary War, Founders Archive, Schuyler Mansion, Albany Institute, Mount Vernon, Find a Grave, Times Union, Congress, National Park Service, Union College, Smithsonian

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(discussing a later yellow fever epidemic)


by Benson John Lossing (no photo)
(no image) Proud Patriot: Philip Schuyler And The War Of Independence, 1775 1783 by Don R. Gerlach (no photo)
(no image) Proud Patriot: Philip Schuyler And The War Of Independence, 1775 1783 by Don R. Gerlach (no photo)
(no image) Revolutionary enigma; a re-appraisal of General Philip Schuyler of New York by Martin H. Bush (no photo)


Original Summer Home - burned by the British- it was rebuilt

Video:

Video: Interesting - (more about Hamilton and Jefferson)

Video: Tour of Schuyler Mansion - and

Horatio Gates



A former British officer who had served capably as Washington’s adjutant general, Major General Horatio Gates traveled north in summer 1776 to take command of American troops in Canada only to find that the army had been driven helter-skelter back into New York. The battered force, Gates reported, was in a “deplorable state.”- James Peale, Horatio Gates, oil on canvas, copy after Charles Willson Peale, 1782. (Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)

Château Ramezay



A fieldstone mansion on the Rue Notre-Dame in Montreal, the Château Ramezay had once served as headquarters for the fur trade in New France. Benedict Arnold used it for his command post in early 1776 and received Dr. Franklin here on April 29, just as the American occupation of Canada was collapsing.- Château Ramezay, artist and date unknown. (© Château Ramezay, Historic Site and Museum of Montréal)

Canadian Invasion

Richard Montgomery



The youngest son of an Irish baronet, Richard Montgomery served sixteen years in the British Army before emigrating to New York in 1772 and accepting an American commission as a brigadier general three years later. “I have been dragged from obscurity much against my inclination,” he told his wife. - Alonzo Chappel, Richd. Montgomery, engraving by George R. Hall, 1881. (Courtesy Print Collection, New York Public Library)

Guy Carleton



Major General Guy Carleton, the British governor and military commander of Canada, was said by one acquaintance to be “a man of ten thousand eyes . . . not to be taken unawares.” Described by George III as “gallant & sensible,” Carleton confessed to London that with American invaders approaching Quebec, “I think our fate extremely doubtful.” - Eyving H. de Dirkine Holmfield, Guy Carleton, oil on canvas, c. 1895. (© Château Ramezay, Historic Site and Museum of Montréal)

By the end of 1775, the only significant place in Canada not under American control was Fortress Quebec on the St. Lawrence River. Although revetments, palisades, and walls extended in a two-mile arc around the city, the fortifications had fallen into disrepair.- Quebec in 1775, date unknown. (Courtesy Print Collection, New York Public Library)

General William Howe



After surviving the bloodletting at Bunker Hill, Major General William Howe took command of all British forces in America, overseeing both the evacuation of Boston and the attack on New York. Famously taciturn, he “never wastes a monosyllable,” one wit quipped.- Gen. Sir William Howe, date unknown. (Courtesy Print Collection, New York Public Library)

Henry Knox



An overweight Boston bookseller who demonstrated a genius for military engineering and gunnery, Henry Knox—shown here in a major general’s uniform—soon commanded the Continental artillery. Washington would say of him, “[There was] no one whom I have loved more sincerely.” - Charles Peale Polk, copy after Charles Willson Peale, Henry Knox, oil on canvas, after 1783. (Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)

I think we overlooked this fine man at Bunker Hill so I am adding him here.

Colonel John Stark


Colonel John Stark of New Hampshire, a veteran of battles against Indians and the French, commanded the largest American regiment in New England, vital in shoring up the rebel line at Bunker Hill. - John Stark, date unknown. (Courtesy Print Collection, New York Public Library)

Colonel Benedict Arnold of Connecticut



Colonel Benedict Arnold of Connecticut was “as brave a man as ever lived,” in one comrade’s estimation. Born to lead other men in the dark of night, both on land and under sail, he was perhaps the finest battle captain that America would produce in the eighteenth century. - H. B. Hall after John Trumbull, Benedict Arnold, engraving, published after 1879. (Courtesy National Archives, 532921)