A Little Off Topic...

So, I admit I've been a little lax in my reading of the 1776.. but I have been reading more in the Eleanor Roosevelt biography and I came upon some stuff I thought was interesting and that I'd share.

So, a while back, Ritsumei, you and our Cousin were having a discussion on Facebook about politics and parties and party loyalty. Now, at the time, I didn't really have much to add to things, so I didn't. But a few days later, while reading about ER, I came across her views on the subject. It was too late to post on Facebook ('cuz I couldn't find the thread) but then I thought that this would be a good place to post it:

As she was originally sorting out her political opinions, ER felt that party loyalty was very important. However, as she became more involved politically (especially in getting women exercise their newly won sufferage), she departed from that philosophy and

"argued that voters of "the modern stamps" no longer adhere slavishly to their party's candidates. Although she agreed that women should enroll in the party that best represented their principles, issues of personal integrity, vision superior qualification should determine a person's vote: "Small minded people will tell you that but for party regularity in all things party organization would not exist, and that party government is necessary to our National institutions. This argument has ... been refuted a thousand times." Better government depends on "individual nominees." If our partisans "appear to us unworthy, then we have an even higher duty ... America must come first, not party (Eleanor Roosevelt Vol. 1; B.W.Cook, pg. 303-304)."

Bracketing the Month

I see that the last post was on the first day of October. Today is the last day of October, so we'll have neatly bracketed the month. Hey, it's getting done, right? At the end of the year we'll be better informed than we were in the beginning. Hurray for setting goals!

So. Just to recap. Boston has fallen and the British fled. The Continental Army got some sweet spoils from the deal: much of what they need, except for arms and gunpowder. I find it somewhat amazing that they were so very short on that stuff. I mean, I knew that Valley Forge was bad; I'd heard that they were short on gunpowder. I had No.Idea.Whatsoever that when they said they were short on these supplies it meant that Washington had so little to work with that he had to conceal their lack from even his own officers! Wow. That's a shortage.

So, on to chapter 4, right? Right.

Washington sounds a little bit like a dandy again, escorted by two regiments with instruction that none should turn out "except those dressed in uniforms," all "washed, both face and hands clean, their beards shaved, their hair combed and powdered." (Page 116) I suppose though, that this is still pretty much the same. Those who get to be escort to the important folks dress their best and are often also selected from the ranks of the best soldiers. Still, it seems odd to read the descriptions.

Spirits are high as the army moves with all possible speed to New York. There is a certain amount of overconfidence:

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No one knew how many British there might be, yet few let that bother them. And enthusiastic new recruit from the Connecticut ranks, a farm boy named Joseph Plumb Martin, would recall, "I never spent a thought about numbers. The Americans were invincible in my opinion." As another soldier remembered, there was scarcely a militia man who did not think himself equal to two or three of the British. (Page 117)

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I think it was the year that Grandpa died, so around Thanksgiving when I was in 4th grade... uh, 1988. I had just learned to play chess, and played our cousin David, who was only a year or two older than me, though I remember him being "much older." I beat him soundly. This puzzled me, because I regularly lost to my Dad and knew that I wasn't that good of a player. So I asked Dad why it was that I won. Dad said it was because David was overconfident, so he wasn't careful; he made foolish mistakes. I rather suspect that there is some of that going on with both the British and the Colonists at this point in the war. The British don't take the Colonists seriously, so they get beaten soundly and driven out of their cozy spot in Boston. The Colonists read too much into their victory and are all sorts of cocky as they head for New York. Reading about this, it seems clear that John Adams knew this war was going to drag out. Likely others did too, but in general both sides seem to think they can lick the other at their leisure and no big deal. This causes some tactical errors on both sides of the fight.

It also places the Continental Army at an even greater disadvantage than they were already:

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New York was not at all like Boston, geographically, strategically, and in other ways. At Boston, Washington had known exactly where the enemy was, and who they were, and what was needed to contain them. At Boston the British had been largely at his mercy, and especially once winter set in. Here, with their overwhelming naval might and absolute control of the waters, they could strike at will and from almost any direction. The time and place of battle would be entirely their choice, and this was the worry overriding all others. (Page 117)

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At Boston, where the comparatively few Loyalists of Massachusetts had either fled the country or were bottled up with the British, there had never been a serious threat from "internal foes" ... In New York the atmosphere was entirely different. The city remained divided and tense. Loyalist, or Tory, sentiment, while less conspicuous than it had been, was widespread... two-thirds of the property in New York belonged to Tories. (Page 118)

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At Boston, washington had benefited greatly from a steady supply of valuable intelligence coming out of the besieged town, while Howe had known little or nothing of Washington's strengths or intentions. Here, with so much of the population still loyal to the king, the situation was the reverse. (Page 119)

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This situation called for careful, cautious strategy in much the same way my chess game with an older cousin did. It looks like some of the leadership appreciated this, but the whole army? Not so much.

New York

The difference in tone, between this chapter and the previous chapter, was very striking. In Boston the American troops had had great luck and blessing with their successes. They won Dorchester Heights, and spirits were buoyed up as they headed out to their next place of battle. In New York, not so much.

As Chapter 4 begins, the American Troops had begun their march from Massachusetts to Rhode Island, through Connecticut and into New York; speed was of the essence and energy was high - high enough to prevail over any doubts or worries the soldiers might have had about what awaited them in New York.

Despite fears to the contrary, the American troops were in New York well before the British arrived. However, things in New York were markedly different than things had been in Boston. In Boston, Washington had the information and, predominantly, the upper hand. Now, the tables were turned and George Washington was "gravely, realistically apprehensive about the magnitude of the enemy force en route. He fretted over when their ships might appear, and how, with no naval strength, to defend a city bounded by navigable rivers on two sides and a harbor of a size sufficient to accommodate the largest fleet imaginable (pg. 117)." Yet, the prevailing attitude of Congress, and the army leaders, was that New York had "vast importance (pg. 118)", and they must make a stand.

Further complicating things, Washington's troops were still disheveled and unruly. Also, there continue to be a lack of understanding of the importance of hygiene and the proper disposal of human waste. Consequently, many of the soldiers got very sick. In addition to hygiene issues, New York offered a brothel district that introduced its own set of problems.

As Washington and his committee began their plans to fortify the city, they opted to build Forts to fortify the area. Inspired by Ritsumei's previous use of maps to help her understand, I also sought out some GoogleMap goodness to help me get a better picture of where these Forts were.

It was decided that if "New York was the key to the continent, then Long Island was the Key to New York, and the key to the defense of Long Island was Brooklyn Heights (pg. 127)." So, the first Fort they completed was Fort Stirling, right along the water:

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Along with Fort Stirling (A), three other forts were underway, to create a line of defense to "check their drive for the river (pg. 127)."

There was Fort Putnam(B):

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Fort Greene (C):

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and Fort Box (D):

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**locations approximate**

On page 135, we read that on July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to "dissolve the connection" with Great Britain and the news reached New York on July 6th.

The timing seemed a little odd to me, what's this about July 2nd, what?? Well, apparently, the Declaration of Independence was signed on the 4th, giving an explanation of the legal separation that was announced two days earlier, thus making it more officially official.

In the last section of Chapter 4, there was an interesting interview that George Washington had with a British messenger.

On July 13th, General Howe sent a letter addressed to "Mr. Washington". He was sent away with the message that there was "no person in [their] army with that address (pg. 144)." Three days later, the messenger returned again, this time the letter was addressed to "George Washington, Esq., etc. etc." Again, it was refused. The following day, via a new messenger, a letter arrived again, and this time Washington, and his council, met with him.

I was fascinated by this interaction; even when Washington had admitted the messenger, he refused to accept the letter:

"The use of "etc., etc." implied everything that ought to follow", the messenger said. "It so does," said Washington, "and anything."

It's clear that Washington understood the importance of protocol and keeping up images; if they were every to be taken seriously, or have a chance at success, it must be all or nothing. It goes on to say, "A letter addressed to a person in a position of public responsibility ought to indicate that sation, Washington said, otherwise it would appear mere private correspondence. He would not accept such a letter."

One last thought I had on this chapter: Near the end, it talks about some movements of British ships. Then, almost as an offhand comment, the author says, "If anyone among the American command saw the return of the two enemy ships from upriver as a sign of trouble, there is no record of it (pg. 153)." Is that foreshadowing of disastrous events to come?

Coming

Turns out I don't have anything to say about the rest of chapter 3. So I read chapter 4, and I expect that I'll post something about it soon.

Schedule Tweak

I updated the reading schedule this afternoon, since clearly we're not going to be finished by the end of July! I've got some busy-ness going on this week & the week of the 21st, so I did 2 weeks for the next two chapters if that's OK with you. Let me know if it needs to be tweaked some more.

The King and I

Anna and the King of Siam is a 1944 semi-fictionalized biographical novel by Margaret Landon.

It's also our next book selection.

Dorchester Heights (Part 1)

Where Are We?



The first thing I did when I was looking at this chapter was try to figure out where they were talking about. I was surprised at how tricky that was! Of course, then I got distracted, and when I came back I googled again and it came right up this time. Go fig. Anyway, here's this map of Boston from 1775. And here's the map of present-day Boston. You'll have to zoom in about 3 times, plus recenter the map a bit in order to get the scale to be more or less the same. The countryside that the army was camped in is now part of the city. Dorchester Heights is now just another historic neighborhood in Boston, rather than a separate entity. My the difference a few hundred years can make! But it's nice to know where we are talking about.


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Englishmen

There is a striking difference between the relationship between England and the colonies then, and the relationship of England and America now. On page 77 McCullough talks about the men that England sent to command the troops sent to put down the rebellion.

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Clinton, Howe's second-in-command, was the least impressive in appearance, a short, fat, colorless man who could be shy and petulant. But he had a keen military mind and the advantage of knowing Americans from boyhood. He had grown up in New York, where his father, Admiral George Clinton, served as governor from 1741 to 1751.

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Quite a few of them had served in the French and Indian War, some owned land in "the Americas," and relations seem to be generally cozier then than they are now. This is, of course, to be expected. England was the seat of the colonies' government, the parent state, the people's homeland. But somehow I'd grown up with the impression that you were either in England or you were in America. (Think of Ever After, with it's "You are forthwith stripped of your titles and sentenced to be shipped to the Americas..." like so much baggage. And certainly not a round trip!) The book makes it sound like there was much more moving back and forth, at least among the well-connected and well-to-do, than I had previously been aware of. More like the way the various stories (and here I'm thinking Secret Garden) talk about English officers and their families going to India, but then coming back for school and marriage and whatever. England, the place, remained an important part of an Englishman's life, even if he did happen to be living in the colonies. It makes the Loyalists' position make more sense. Not that I agree, just that it makes more sense. They were Englishmen. Really, truly. It wasn't until they felt King George betrayed them that the colonists fought for independency. And even then, not all of them agreed; some remained loyal to the crown.


Fort Ticonderoga


Fort Ticonderoga was a fort built on a narrow section of Lake Champlaign in New York. It had been strategically important in previous conflicts between Britain and France, and now was the starting point of some very heroic action in the Revolutionary War. Originally it had been a French fort, but had been captured by the British in the French and Indian War. Americans then held it from shortly after the Battle of Lexington and Concord until 1777, including the time we are considering in our book, though at this time it was in some disrepair. The cannon and other armaments were transported to Boston by Henry Knox, in a move that proved decisive in ending the seige of Boston in the Americans' favor.

I was really impressed with Knox's achievement! Knox was not what you think of when you picture a military hero:

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Colonel Henry Knox was hard not to notice. Six feet tall, he bulked large, weighing perhaps 250 pounds. He had a booming voice. He was gregarious, jovial, quick of mind, highly energetic - "very fat, but very active" - and all of twenty five. ... To further complicate life, Knox had taken up the patriot cause and fallen in love with the daughter of a prominent Tory. ... In the tense days following the bloodshed at Lexington and Concord, the young couple packed up what little they could carry and slipped out of Boston in disguise.

It was Henry Knox who first suggested the idea of going after the cannon at far-off Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, an undertaking so enormous, so fraught with certain difficulties, that many thought it impossible. ... When Knox told Washington he was confident the guns could be retrieved and hauled overland to Boston, Washington agreed at once, and put the young officer in charge of the expedition. (Page58-59)

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So off Henry goes, taking his younger brother William with him and sending a letter to his wife with the encouraging news that he should not be facing any fighting on this assignment. But fighting is not the only difficulty to be considered in war time!

First, there's winter. They start this little trip in mid-November. Brrrr! Then, there's distance. On present-day highways the most direct route is 223 miles and 4 hours. But they didn't have highways and they did have snow, thaws, freezes, and more snow, boats, forty-two sleds, eighty yoke of oxen, and a need for stealth and speed. The book says the distance they actually covered was nearly 300 miles. What an undertaking! Here we see one of the advantages of the American army's willingness - necessity for - doing things unorthodoxly. In the English army a junior officer, of low birth and so young, would likely not have been able to get his scheme approved. Knox, however, was in the American army which was not in a position to be choosy about where their talent came from or looked like, so long as it was loyal. So he went. And his cannon were the decisive point which broke the stalemate at Boston.

To Be Continued...

Chapter 3 - Finally they get a Break!

Whew! Finally I finished this chapter! Yay for all that travel time, sitting around, that allowed me to buckled down and finish.

Such an exciting chapter! I was intrigued by the differences between the attitudes of the two armies' leadership and manner of promoting people. In the British army, if you had title, rank and money, you would be promoted. In the Americans' army, it was whoever was on hand who seemed like they could probably be counted on to step up to the plate.

Also, the British army had set regulations, set ways of attacking and defending; tried and true and that's the way it was. The American army, at a distinct disadvantage, was forced to think outside the box. Consequently, they had much more innovative methods, theories and ideas that would influenced their fighting. For example, Henry Knox convinced a crew to go with him to Ticonderoga and get those guns and, despite what could have justifiably been crippling difficulty, he successfully brought every single one home. That feat not only gave the American soldiers hope, it gave the army a fighting chance at success.

For the last couple chapters, the author has been painting a bleak, bleak picture. The Americans are significantly out-maned, the soldiers are sick and still not very orderly. The shortage of gun powder is causing General Washington to lose sleep and there isn't an expected break in sight. It's felt like, with the narrative, he's been leading up to something.. or at least something had to give, and finally it did.

The standoff outside of Boston had dragged on until spring with neither side making a move. After the heavy loss at Buncker Hill, Dorchester Heights remained empty, a "high, windblown no-mans land, neither side unmindful of its strategic importance, but neither side daring to seize and fortify it."

However, once the guns from Ticonderoga arrived, a new energy blew throughout the American camp; now they could consider making a move. Rufus Putnam, a resourceful lieutenant colonel, came up with the idea to build defensive structures off site and then assemble them in a single night on top of the Heights. Washington's council of war determined that it was the best option available and set about making it happen.

It was a complicated procedure, with many opportunities for the British to notice and take the Heights before the Americans could secure it. To prevent this, Washington cut off all correspondence to Boston so that the word would not leak out. Also, to cover the sound of the construction and assembly, the armies exchanged vollies of fire.

Records indicate a couple instances where the movements of the Americans were noticed and even reported. It seems clear that, if the news had fallen on more energetic ears, the Americans' efforts would have been discovered:

1- According to the diary of one British officer, a few of the British did find out as early as February 29, from deserters and from a spy referred to only as "Junius," that the rebels intended to "bombard the town from Dorchester (pg. 90-91)."

2- At about 10:00pm on March 4, the night the Americans took Dorchester Highets, a British lieutenant colonel, Sir John Campbell, reported to Brigadier General Fancis Smith that the "rebels were at work on Dorchester Heights (pg. 93)."

But in both cases, nothing came of it and the American army took Dorchester Heights, and the British army, by complete surprise.

It seems so evident to me that the hand of the Lord had to have played an active part in all of these happenings and it seems that many who were there felt similarly:

"The night was unseasonably mild - indeed, perfectly beautiful with a full moon - ideal conditions for the work, as if the hand of the Almighty were directing things, which the Reverend William Gordon, like many others, felt certain it was. "A finer [night] for working could not have been taken out of the whole 365," he wrote. "It was hazy below [the Heights] so that our people could not be seen, though it was a bright moonlight night above the hills (pg. 92)."

I appreciate that Mr. McCullough doesn't shy away from including descriptions of the circumstances and quotes that seem to support that very idea.

It Gets Better

I had a hard time getting into the chapter. But once I got going, I could hardly put it down. I was up till 1:30 last night finishing the chapter, and had to discipline myself to stop and write before I read the next chapter.

Looks Interesting

I don't know if we want to officially participate, as in it's part of the "assignment" we set ourselves, but this General Conference "book club" looks interesting. Maybe we could do it on a when-we-get-to-it basis? What do you think?