Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence

by Joseph J. Ellis

  31. Martin, Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier, 31.

  32. Ibid., 32. GW to John Hancock, 16 September 1776, PWR 6:313–17, provides Washington’s official report on the battle, plus editorial notes on troop strength, logistics, and the naval bombardment.

  33. PWR 6:316–17; NG to Nicholas Cooke, 17 September 1776, GP 1:380.

  34. JA to William Tudor, 20 September 1776, LDC 5:200.

  35. Trevor Steele Anderson, The Command of the Howe Brothers (New York, 1936), 160; GW to Lund Washington, 6 October 1776, PWR 6:495.

  36. My treatment of the action at Harlem Heights is indebted to McCullough, 1776, 217–20; to Stephenson, Patriotic Battles, 246–47; and most especially to Bruce Bliven, Battle for Manhattan (New York, 1955), 65–107. The old but still reliable account by Henry P. Johnston, The Battle of Harlem Heights (New York, 1897), contains information not found elsewhere.

  37. GW to Lund Washington, 30 September 1776, PWR 6:440–43.

  38. Burr is quoted in Bliven, Battle for Manhattan, 84; Ashbel Woodwood, Memoir of Colonel Thomas Knowlton (Boston, 1861).

  39. See GW to John Hancock, 18 September 1776, PWR 6:331–37, for Washington’s official report of the battle. See also Johnston, Battle for Harlem Heights, 44–91. The Knowlton quotation is in Bliven, Battle for Manhattan, 94.

  40. GP 1:301–2, editorial note, nicely synthesizes the secondary literature.

  41. General Orders, 17 September 1776, PWR 6:320–21. See also GW to Philip Schuyler, 20 September 1776, PWR 6:356–58, noting that the victory at Harlem Heights “has inspired our troops prodigiously.” For newspaper coverage, see Virginia Gazette, 4 October 1776; Newport Mercury, 7 October 1776; Independent Chronicle, 26 September 1776.

  8. A LONG WAR

  1. General Orders, 21 September 1776, PWR 6:359–60.

  2. See John Hancock to GW, 3 September 1776, PWR 6:207, for the order not to burn the city. See Frederick MacKenzie, Diary of Frederick MacKenzie, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1930), 1:59–60, for an eyewitness account of the fire. See David McCullough, 1776 (New York, 2007), 221–23, for an excellent secondary account.

  3. GW to Lund Washington, 6 October 1776, PWR 6:495. John Shy, “The American Revolution: The Military Conflict Considered as a Revolutionary War,” in Stephen G. Kurtz and James H. Hutson, eds., Essays on the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, 1973), 121–56, argues that American control of the countryside, in which militia served as a roving police force, proved decisive in determining the outcome of the war.

  4. Caesar Rodney to Thomas McKean and George Read, 18 September 1776, LDC 5:197–98; William Hooper to Samuel Johnston, 26 September 1776, LDC 5:245–49.

  5. NG to William Ellery, 4 October 1776, GP 1:307.

  6. See editorial note, GP 1:244–45, for the recommendations of the visiting committee. See JCC 5:808, 810–11, 842–44, for the congressional vote on the recommendations. See John Hancock to GW, 21 September 1776, JCC 5:230–31, for Hancock’s assurance that the Continental Congress will provide whatever he needs; John Hancock to GW, 9 October 1776, PWR 6:515–16 and JCC 5:853–56, for the final vote on all resolutions.

  7. JA to Henry Knox, 29 September 1776, LDC 5:260–61.

  8. JA to William Tudor, 26 September 1776, LDC 5:241–43.

  9. GW to Hancock, 4 October 1776, PWR 6:463; Tilghman quoted in editorial note, PWR 7:105.

  10. GW to Patrick Henry, 5 October 1776, PWR 6:479–82.

  11. MacKenzie, Diary, 1:64; Leonard Lundin, Cockpit of the Revolution: The War for Independence in New Jersey (Princeton, 1940), 157.

  12. Committee of Correspondence to Silas Deane, 1 October 1776, LDC 5:198–99.

  13. JA to Daniel Hitchcock, 1 October 1776, LDC 5:271–72.

  14. Committee of Correspondence to Silas Deane, 1 October 1776, LDC 5:277–81.

  15. Benjamin Rush to Julia Rush, 18–25 September, 1776, LDC 5:198–99.

  16. William Williams to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 20 September 1776, LDC 5:208–11.

  17. JA to Henry Knox, 29 September 1776, LDC 5:260–61.

  18. JA to General Parsons, 2 October 1776, DA 2:444–46.

  19. JA to William Tudor, 26 September 1776, LDC 5:242–43.

  20. William Howe to George Germain, 30 November 1776, quoted in editorial note, PWR 6:535.

  21. GW to John Hancock, 11–13 October 1776, PWR 6:534–36.

  22. Robert Hanson Harrison to John Hancock, 14–17 October 1776, PWR 6:564–66.

  23. Council of War, 16 October 1776, PWR 6:576–77. A month later, on November 16, Fort Washington surrendered after spirited resistance. Greene had reinforced the garrison to 2,900 troops, of whom 150 were killed or wounded in the battle and the rest captured. More than two-thirds of them died on board prison ships in New York Harbor, quite scandalously supervised by Betsy Loring’s husband. See GW to John Hancock, 16 November 1776, PWR 7:162–69; NG to Henry Knox, 17 November 1776, GP 1:351–52; and editorial note, GP 1:354–59.

  24. See Charles Lee, The Lee Papers, 2 vols. (New York, 1871), 2:255–59; Thomas Fleming, 1776: Year of Illusions (New York, 1975), 369, for an excellent analysis of Lee’s arrival in camp.

  25. Henry Steele Commager and Richard Morris, eds., The Spirit of ’76 (Indianapolis, 1958), 487; George Billias, General John Glover and His Marblehead Mariners (New York, 1960), 121. It is revealing that Glover thought of Lee rather than Washington for military guidance.

  26. For different accounts of the engagement at Pell’s Point, see McCullough, 1776, 231–32; David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York, 2004), 110–12; Michael Stephenson, Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought (New York, 2007), 247.

  27. Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier (New York, 2001), 44–46.

  9. POSTSCRIPT: NECESSARY FICTIONS

  1. GW to NG, 8 July 1783, in John C. Fitzpatrick et al., eds., Writings of George Washington, 39 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1931–39), 26:104.

  2. GW to William Gordon, ibid., 27:51–52.

  3. E. Wayne Carp, To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Army Administration and American Political Culture (Chapel Hill, 1984).

  4. Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775–1783 (Chapel Hill, 1979), chap. 8.

  5. Connecticut Courant, 13 May, 24 June, 29 July 1783; Boston Gazette, 29 December 1783; James Morris, “Memoirs of a Connecticut Patriot,” Connecticut Magazine 11 (1907), 454.

  6. Royster, Revolutionary People at War, 353–58.

  7. Joseph Plumb Martin, A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier (New York, 2001).

  8. Ibid., 249.

  9. DA 3:184; AA to TJ, 6 June 1785, AFC 6:169–73.

  10. Howe published his initial speech as The Narrative of Lieutenant General Sir William Howe in a Committee of the House of Commons (London, 1780). Ira D. Gruber, The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution (New York, 1972), 336–39.

  11. PH 20:679.

  12. PH 20:705, 723–24.

  13. PH 20:748–49.

  14. PH 20:753, 758–59.

  15. PH 20:803–4.

  16. PH 20:805.

  17. William B. Willcox, ed., The American Rebellion: Sir Henry Clinton’s Narrative of His Campaigns, 1775–1782 (New Haven, 1954).

  18. Ibid., 39, 40–49.

  19. Charles Stedman, The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, 2 vols. (Dublin, 1794), 1:iii.

  20. Ibid., 1:212–26.

  21. Ibid., 1:230–49. For those interested in modern analogies, blaming the British defeat on William Howe is eerily similar to blaming the American defeat in Vietnam on William Westmoreland. In both instances, assigning culpability to the military commander obscures the deeper reasons for the defeat and the fatally flawed strategic assessment at the start.

  22. I solicited the opinions of four distinguished historians of the American Revolution in response to this question: Would the demise of the Continental Army and the capture of George Washington in 1776 ha
ve changed the outcome of the American Revolution? Edmund Morgan, Gordon Wood, and David Hackett Fischer all said no, though all agreed that the way the war played out would have been different. Ed Lengel, editor of the Washington Papers, disagreed on the grounds that Washington was indispensable and irreplaceable.

  INDEX

  Adams, Abigail (John’s wife), 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 6.1, 6.2

  on British departure from Boston, 1.1, 1.2

  marriage of John and

  on new political institutions after independence

  newspapers read by, 7.1, 9.1

  during smallpox epidemic, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  on women’s rights

  Adams, Charles (John’s son)

  Adams, John, prf.1, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, n2

  Abigail’s women’s rights proposal to

  Articles of War drafted by

  avoidance of slavery discussion by

  Board of War and Ordnance chaired by, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2

  at Court of St. James’s

  and defense of New York, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2

  Dickinson compared with

  in Dickinson Draft debate, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3

  family concerns of, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  foreign policy developed by, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1

  Germain’s threat to execute

  governmental structure envisioned by

  independence strategy of, prf.1, prf.2, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5.1, n33 (see also Declaration of Independence)

  marriage of Abigail and

  at peace conference with Howe, 6.1, 7.1

  response to New York defeats, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 8.1

  and Warren’s martyrdom at Bunker Hill

  Washington nominated as commander in chief by

  Adams, Nabby (John’s daughter)

  Adams, Sam

  African Americans

  see also slavery

  Alexander, General William, see Stirling, Lord

  “American Creed”

  American Expeditionary Force

  Aquinas, Thomas

  Arnold, Benedict

  Articles of Confederation, Dickinson Draft of, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4

  Articles of War

  Ashby (Massachusetts)

  Barnstable (Massachusetts), n7

  Bartlett, Josiah

  Blackstone, William

  Black Watch regiment

  Board of War and Ordnance, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2

  Boston, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 5.1, 6.1

  advocacy of independence in

  battles in, 1.1, 2.1 (see also Bunker Hill, Battle of)

  British evacuation of

  newspapers in

  Siege of, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 4.1, 6.1, n12

  smallpox epidemic in, 1.1, 3.1

  Tories in

  Boston Tea Party

  Bowdoin, James

  Braintree (Massachusetts)

  British Army, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2

  Atlantic crossing of

  Boston Siege defeat of, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 5.1

  at Bunker Hill, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1

  discrepancy in troop strength of Continental Army and, 5.1, 6.1

  enlisted men of

  Howe’s leadership of, see Howe, Gen. William

  on Long Island, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, map, 6.2, 7.1

  loyalists and deserters join, 2.1, 7.1, 8.1

  on Manhattan, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1

  New York strategy of, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  officer corps of, 2.1, 9.1

  at Pell’s Point

  on Staten Island, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  veterans of, as Washington’s senior officers

  Yorktown defeat of, 9.1, 9.2

  British navy, see Royal Navy

  Brodhead, David

  Brooklyn Heights, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2, 9.1

  evacuation of Continental Army from, 6.1, 9.1

  forts on, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5

  Bunker Hill, Battle of, 1.1, 2.1, 4.1, 7.1, 7.2, n26

  atrocities committed by British at, 1.1, 1.2

  British casualties at, 1.1, 2.1, 5.1

  “The Cause” and

  Howe at, 2.1, 6.1, n22

  Knowlton at

  Putnam at

  Warren as martyr of, 2.1, 2.2, 5.1

  Burgoyne, General John, 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, n20

  Burke, Edmund, 1.1, 1.2, 9.1, 9.2

  Burr, Aaron, 7.1, 7.2

  Burstein, Andrew, n31

  Calvinism

  Canada, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 5.1, n31

  campaign in, see Quebec

  Catiline

  “Cause, The”, prf.1, 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1

  Adams’s dedication to

  and Dickinson Draft debate

  Franklin on

  New England support for

  Paine’s contribution to, 1.1, 1.2

  Washington and, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4.1, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1

  Charleston (South Carolina), Battle of

  Chase, Samuel

  chevaux-de-frise

  Cicero, 1.1, 1.2

  Civil War

  Clinton, Gen. Henry, 3.1, 4.1, 6.1, 7.1, 9.1

  Howe’s rejection of tactical recommendations of, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.1, 9.1

  at Throg’s Neck

  Collier, Capt. George, 6.1, 7.1

  Commentaries on the Laws of England (Blackstone)

  Common Sense (Paine), 1.1, 1.2, 5.1

  commutation

  Concord, Battle of, 1.1, 5.1, 6.1

  Confederation Congress

  Connecticut, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  Continental Army in, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3

  Continental Congress delegates from, 5.1, 8.1

  militia units from, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 6.1, 7.1, 7.2

  see also specific cities and towns

  Connecticut Courant

  Constitution, U.S.

  Constitutional Convention, 5.1, 5.2

  Continental Army, prf.1, prf.2, 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2, n26, n22

  at Boston Siege, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4.1

  British disparagement of

  Continental Congress and

  demoralization of, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2

  deserters from, 7.1, 8.1

  Dickinson’s support for

  evacuation from Manhattan of, 8.1, map

  independence and, 1.1, 4.1, 7.1, 7.2

  lack of experience and military discipline in, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

  on Long Island, 3.1, 3.2, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 6.1, map, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 9.1, 9.2

  on Manhattan, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, map, 8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2

  militia units comprising, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2

  moved from Boston to New York, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2

  northern detachment of, 4.1, 5.1

  officers in, prf.1, 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 8.1 (see also names of specific officers)

  supplies and ordnance for, 4.1, 5.1

  tactical retreat from Long Island of, 6.1, 7.1

  unrealistic confidence in, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3

  at Valley Forge, 8.1, 9.1

  Washington’s appointment as commander in chief of

  Continental Congress, prf.1, prf.2, prf.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2

  British attitude toward

  Continental Army and, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 5.1, 7.1, 8.1

  draft of Articles of Confederation debated in

  foreign policy of

  Howe’s peace initiatives to, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

  and independence, prf.1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 5.1, 8.1, n2 (see also Declaration of Independence)

  loyalty to British Crown in

  military strategy of, 2.1, 4.1

  moderates in, prf.1, 1.1, 1.2, 4.1

  and occupation of New York

  overconfidence in Washington’s ability to defend New York of, 5.1, 5.2

  radical faction of, 1.1, 3.1, 3.2

  response to New York military dis
asters in, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2

  slavery issue avoided by

  state governments and

  Washington honored by

  women’s rights petition to

  Cornwallis, General Charles, 2.1, 4.1, 6.1, 9.1

  Court of St. James’s

  Cushing, William

  Deane, Silas

  Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking Up Arms (Dickinson and Jefferson), 3.1, n11

  Declaration of Independence, 4.1, 4.2, 8.1, n20

  drafting, 1.1, 3.1, 5.1, 8.1, n28, n29, n34

  passage of, 3.1, 6.1

  signing of, 3.1, 5.1

  Delaware, 2.1, 6.1, 6.2, 8.1

  Dickinson, John, prf.1, 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, n11

  draft of Articles of Confederation by

  Dorchester Heights, 1.1, 2.1

  Dunmore, Lord, 3.1, 3.2

  Eagle (ship), 4.1, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1

  English Civil War

  Fischer, David Hackett, n22

  Fishkill (New York)

  foreign policy, American, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4

  Fort Lee

  Fort Necessity

  Fort Schuyler

  Fort Washington, 4.1, 4.2, n23

  Fox, Charles, 9.1, 9.2

  France, 3.1, 5.1, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2

  Franklin, Benjamin, 1.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 7.1, n40

  biographies of, n27

  and British victory on Long Island, 6.1, 6.2

  demographic knowledge of

  and Dickinson Draft

  and framing of Pennsylvania constitution

  and Franco-American alliance, 5.1, 8.1, 9.1

  Germain’s threat to execute

  in London, 4.1, 5.1

  at peace conference

  Richard Howe’s friendship with, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1

  role in drafting of Declaration of Independence of, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

  submarine use advocated by, 4.1, 7.1

  Franklin, Elizabeth (William’s wife)

  Franklin, William (Benjamin’s son)

  Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia

  French and Indian War, 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4.1, 6.1, 7.1

  Gates, Gen. Horatio, 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1

  George I, King of England

  George III, King of England, 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 6.1, 8.1

  destruction of statue of