Sea power 2, session 1-american rev 1

Maritime Power1763-1851

And ! A" of ! Democratic Revolution

Maritime Powersession i

$e Ame%can Revolution Begins

“In Maritime Supremacy, I suggested that we, the liberal western nations, are the heirs of [Sea Power]: …our beliefs and the present dominance of those beliefs throughout much of the world are the result of…the global distribution of sea and land masses which has conferred strategic advantage on powers able to use and dominate the seas….the first maritime power in the modern era was the 17th century Dutch Republic; the British superseded the Dutch in the 18th century and were in turn superseded by the Americans in the 20th century. “During their periods of dominance these three powers were fundamentally different from rivals whose power was based upon territorial dominion. The difference was merchant government. [emphasis added—jbp] (hereafter, since neither source uses brackets I will discontinue identifying myself as the author).

Peter Padfield, Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom.(2006), p. 1.

4:The War of the American Revolution, I

“By the close of the Seven Years’ War the Duc de Choiseul, France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, had come to understand what Pitt had known from the beginning—that sea power was the key to colonial conquest. It was then too late to save Canada and India, but immediately after the peace Choiseul added the post of Minister of Marine to his duties and began to rebuild the French navy. “Of the 60 ships of the line with which France had begun the war, she had lost 37 by wreck or capture. To replace these, Choiseul persuaded the cities and provinces of France to raise money for gifts of ships to the navy. Eighteen were provided in this manner, including the famous Ville de Paris,• the finest of her day…. ”

Sea Power, p. 66.


“By the close of the Seven Years’ War the Duc de Choiseul, France’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, had come to understand what Pitt had known from the beginning—that sea power was the key to colonial conquest. It was then too late to save Canada and India, but immediately after the peace Choiseul added the post of Minister of Marine to his duties and began to rebuild the French navy. “Of the 60 ships of the line with which France had begun the war, she had lost 37 by wreck or capture. To replace these, Choiseul persuaded the cities and provinces of France to raise money for gifts of ships to the navy. Eighteen were provided in this manner, including the famous Ville de Paris,• the finest of her day. Choiseul also reorganized the Department of the Marine, improved dockyards and arsenals, formed a corps of engineers from among the most skilled workmen, and revived the manufacture of cannon, of which the French navy had been almost fatally short during the war. “While the French were thus purposely rebuilding their navy, the British allowed theirs to decline in strength and efficiency…. ” Sea Power, p. 66.

“…and efficiency. Although appropriations were far larger than they had been even at the height of the war, inordinate amounts were consumed in the maintenance of vessels that had been hastily built imported oak, which quickly decayed. More serious, the corruption prevalent in British politics had penetrated the Admiralty. Here it appears to have been condoned, if not actually fostered,• by the Earl of Sandwich, who became First Lord in 1771. Large sums voted for the repair and refitting of ships disappeared while the vessels rotted in the docks. Money for rations was regularly appropriated for a larger number of seamen than were actually serving. As a result of such practices, the official lists ceased to bear any relation to the actual strength of the navy. When war broke out in America, there were not enough ships to provide even the modest strength required on the American station. ”

Ibid.


“TO THE ADMIRALTY In London the American rebellion was a peripheral irritant. Since the end of the Seven Years War the attention of successive First Lords—the Earl of Egmont,• Edward Hawke and from 1771 the fourth Earl of Sandwich •—had been fixed on France and Spain. The two Bourbon powers, joined in a ‘Family Compact’ and determined to avenge the humiliations of the late war, had yet again built up formidable fleets.… “For Sandwich the situation was more alarming than the bare figures indicated. In the first place the French had an advantage in early mobilization; by conscripting from lists of seamen, they could man their ships more quickly at the start of a campaign than the British, who relied for the most part on impressing men from incoming merchant ships. Second, France no longer appeared a threat to her mainland neighbors,• and Choiseul, heeding the naval failures and humiliations of the late war, had framed a principle that the country should not be drawn into Continental hostilities….”

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Padfield, Supremacy, pp. 229-230.

op. cit., pp. 230-231.

“…Continental hostilities. Consequently, there was little for Britain to form the kind of European coalition against Louis which had in the past invariably drawn off resources and caused French naval collapse.• “The British administration took a complacent view of the situation. Lord North’s main concern was to sustain financial credit by relieving the burden of the national debt. His goal was to pay off at least £ 1.5 million each year. This meant trimming the naval budget, particularly cutting the numbers employed in the dockyards, whereas what the navy needed was additional building and refitting capacity, especially in the SW to support the home fleet off the western approaches to the English Channel; four of the six major yards were in the Thames and Medway facing E.• “In justification of his policy of retrenchment, North told Sandwich he did not recall having ever seen ‘a more pacific appearance of affairs’ in Europe; France seemed unlikely to go to war for some years….”

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op. cit., p. 231.

“…some years. He admitted Britain had ‘suffered a little’ from unpreparedness at the start of the last two wars, but then her credit and the length of her purse, ‘carefully managed during the preceding times of peace,’ had carried her through to glory. And, he added, ’Great peace establishments will, if we do not take care, prove our ruin: we shall fail, at the long run, by exhausting in times of tranquility those resources upon which we are to depend in time of war.’• “The argument appeared sound; all great powers had invariably retrenched in peace to prepare their finances for the strain of the next great war. However, the triumphant precedents of the last two wars were not necessarily valid: should Louis and Charles III of Spain enter the war together and co-ordinate their strategy—as they had not done in the last two encounters—and should Britain lack a powerful ally on the Continent, as seemed inevitable, the dangers were clear.”

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My grad school professor, Dean Joseph Holloway, had a brilliant explanation for how we were able to overcome the world’s greatest ‘Great Power’ in our first and greatest military and diplomatic victory.

America and Britain had differing requirements for victory.

They had to force us to submit with all the difficult obstacles noted above, while facing a nearly united Continental opposition.

Whereas all we had to do was to hold out until their domestic opposition to the war brought a peace government to power.

Does this remind anyone of a situation a half century ago where we were in Britain’s situation!

jbp

Differing Conditions for Victory

Origins, 1763-1775

Arbitrament of the Sword, 1775-76

The War at Sea, 1775-79

“Saratoga, the Turning Point, 1777

Topics for Today’s Presentation

Origins, 1763-1775Franklin’s 1754 Ca&oon from ! French and In'an War

Took on New Ur"ncy

Padfield, Maritime Supremacy., p. 216.

“BRITAIN HAD LITTLE joy of the undisputed sway she had won in North America [in 1763] : the colonists quarreled with her almost immediately and succeeded in breaking away. In retrospect their achievement seems to have been as unpredictable and unlikely as the outcome of the two great liberation movements preceding theirs, the emergence of the Dutch Republic from Habsburg dominion and William of Orange’s ‘Glorious Revolution’ in England. Yet from the maritime and demotic perspectives it can be seen, like those earlier transformations, to have been a natural development….”

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op. cit., pp. 216-217.

“…natural development. “The population of the North American colonies had been growing at an extraordinary rate since the beginnings of the previous century, more than doubling every twenty-five years, and by the early 1770s the combined total had passed 2 million. The steep rise, due both to a healthy birth rate and to immigration, was a sure indication of prosperity.• Adam Smith pointed this out in his seminal work on political economy, The Wealth of Nations (1776), and stated ‘Though North America is not yet so rich as England, it is much more thriving, and advancing with much greater rapidity to the further acquisition of riches.’ • Wages were everywhere far higher than they were in England for the same occupations, the cost of provisions lower, hence the material standard of living was considerably above that in the mother country—or anywhere else in the world. “The colonies were, however, essentially rural. Whereas the Netherlands at the time of their revolt against Spain had been the most industrially advanced, highly urbanized area of Europe, with at least twenty-three towns and cities of over 100,000 inhabitants, …”

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op. cit., p. 217.

“…100,000 inhabitants, in North America in 1770 there were only five of such a size: the seaport cities of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Charleston and Newport, Rhode Island. Over 90% of the population lived on the land or in small communities less than 2,500 strong. “In the south, plantations worked by slave labor produced tobacco, rice and indigo for export to the mother country. In the middle colonies and New England, some grain was grown for export, but most farmers still produced for their own and neighborhood consumption; they were of the rugged, self-sufficient sort portrayed by the French nobleman • Alexis de Tocqueville after his travels through America half a century later: ‘it sometimes happened that the same individual tills his fields, builds his dwelling, contrives his tools, makes his shoes, and weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress is composed.’ “Along the coast of New England, communities of fishermen exploited the abundant cod and other fish in the icy waters of the Labrador current from the Grand Banks of Newfoundland to Cape Cod. Almost £300,000 worth of dried and salted fish was sold abroad each year, making it the fourth most valuable colonial export after tobacco (over £750,000), bread/flour and indigo.…”

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op. cit., pp. 217-220.

“…and indigo. “Shipbuilding also contributed to export earnings. There were ample timber [naval stores] and ample skills. Like the farmers of the interior, the American shipwright did not confine himself to a single trade, but was master of all crafts required to construct, caulk, paint, paint, and rig a ship, and could equally well build a house, make furniture or repair a wagon. As Tocqueville observed with wonder, Americans were ‘never fettered by the axioms of their profession,’nor rooted in old habits or prejudice, but ’suit their occupation to the exigencies of the moment in the manner most profitable to themselves.’ They seemed to him to live in conditions of perpetual change which kept them ‘in a state of excitement above the ordinary level of mankind.’ From the early days they had specialized in small, fast craft, even for fishing, to outrun their international competitors and pirates and evade the British Navigation Acts—especially in their commerce with the West Indies, where they provided the planting communities with beef, pork, dried fish, flour, bread, Indian corn, timber and timber products, taking home rum, sugar and molasses (the waste product of sugar production, which was used to make rum). They did not restrict themselves, as they were supposed to under the laws, to. trade with British colonies, but smuggled promiscuously with foreign islands—the French in particular—even during the war.…”

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op. cit., p. 220..

“…the war. They did not invent the schooner—contrary to Gloucester, Massachusetts, tradition—but developed it for seagoing traders, and by the 1750s they were practically the only exponents of this fast and rakish type….”

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op. cit., p. 220..

“…the war. They did not invent the schooner—contrary to Gloucester, Massachusetts, tradition—but developed it for seagoing traders, and by the 1750s they were practically the only exponents of this fast and rakish type.• They also built conventional merchantmen for sale to British owners, and small warships to order for the Royal Navy. “Apart from shipbuilding and some ironworking, both concentrated in New England and the middle provinces [NY to DL, a few include MD] the colonies had developed little industry. They remained dependent for most manufactures and practically all luxuries on the mother country. The value of imports of English…linens, woolens, iron and brass wares, cutlery, fashionable furniture, HEIC tea, drugs, spices, millinery and all the accessories of civilized living rose rapidly in the years before the revolution to over £4 million a year. This was considerably more than the colonies earned from exports; a large part of the deficit was made up by shipping and insurance services provided in the major port cities. “Of these, Philadelphia was the greatest. With a population by 1770 of over 30,000—reminiscent of Amsterdam’s before the Dutch Revolution— it was the second largest city in the British empire, surpassed only by London. Its trade had been stimulated by provisioning British forces in the Seven Years War, …”

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A Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent,

With a Perspective View of the State

House.

Philadelphia: Lawrence Herbert, 1752.

1 Christ Church 2 State House (future

Independence Hall) 3 Academy (B Franklin

founds future U Penn)

4 Presbyterian Church 5 Dutch Calvinist

Church 6 Quaker Meeting

House 7 Court House 8 The wharf at the end

of High Street (also known as Market Street)

9 Mulberry Street (which is also known as Race Street and marks the northern boundary of Philadelphia)

10 Sassafras Street (this street would be considered outside the city limits)

op. cit., pp. 220 & 221..

“…Years War, and its merchants (who owned three-quarters of the tonnage clearing on transatlantic voyages) had opened new lines of commerce permitted them by the Navigation Acts with Spain and the Med, and also sent a few ships each year directly to Africa to bring back s laves—notwi ths tanding an open declaration of hostility by the Quakers…against all who invested in or supplied cargoes for the trade. They also had increased their share of the vessels in the colonial commerce with Great Britain. They formed a confident elite who lived in grand style, and, like their counterparts in the second largest American city, New York•,…”

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op. cit., pp. 220 & 221..

“…Years War, and its merchants (who owned three-quarters of the tonnage clearing on transatlantic voyages) had opened new lines of commerce permitted them by the Navigation Acts with Spain and the Med, and also sent a few ships each year directly t o Af r i ca t o b r ing back s l aves—notwithstanding an open declaration of hostility by the Quakers…against all who invested in or supplied cargoes for the trade. They also had increased their share of the vessels in the colonial commerce with Great Britain. They formed a confident elite who lived in grand style, and, like their counterparts in the second largest American city, New York•, and the other thriving northern seaports, Boston…”

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op. cit., pp. 220 & 221..

“… like their counterparts in the second largest American city, New York•, and the other thriving northern seaports, Boston • and Newport,• RI, had attained a degree of power within their own community and control over their own commerce which disposed them want greater autonomy. “Meanwhile the British government’s attitude toward the colonies had developed from a simple ‘mercantilist’ desire to control colonial trade and shipping for the benefit of the mother country into a belief that the colonists should contribute to the costs of their own defense. This was a response to the huge expenses of the war during which the French had been expelled from the continent, and part of the usual post-war attempt to reduce the vastly increased national debt.…”

op. cit., p. 221.

“…national debt. It also appeared fully justified by the need to maintain British forces in North America in peacetime; some 8,000 troops were stationed to defend frontier colonists against Indian attack and also to prevent settlers moving westward into the territory of Indians who had so recently been allies against the French; while the North American squadron comprised twenty-six warships—the largest naval detachment outside the home fleet—to deter a French descent, protect imperial trade and fishing, and enforce the Navigation Acts. Policing the laws was indeed a major part of the navy’s duty. American trade with the enemy in the WI during the late war and the impossibility of dealing with smugglers in American vice-admiralty courts—since American juries would never convict on this charge [early examples of jury nullification]—were issues that rankled.…”

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op. cit., p. 221.

“…national debt. It also appeared fully justified by the need to maintain British forces in North America in peacetime; some 8,000 troops were stationed to defend frontier colonists against Indian attack and also to prevent settlers moving westward into the territory of Indians who had so recently been allies against the French; while the North American squadron comprised twenty-six warships—the largest naval detachment outside the home fleet—to deter a French descent, protect imperial trade and fishing, and enforce the Navigation Acts. Policing the laws was indeed a major part of the navy’s duty. American trade with the enemy in the WI during the late war and the impossibility of dealing with smugglers in American vice-admiralty courts—since American juries would never convict on this charge [early examples of jury nullification]—were issues that rankled.• “The government revealed its intentions in an Act of Parliament within months of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The most significant provision empowered RN ships to seize smugglers, allowing officers and crews half the proceeds—in line with wartime captures of contraband—and granting the squadron commander half of the other half or Crown share. It was a powerful incentive.…”

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Model of an 18th century British revenue cutter

op. cit., pp. 221-222.

“…powerful incentive. It was followed in April 1764 by the Revenue or ‘Sugar’ Act, designed both to raise revenue and to render smuggling less profitable. A duty of threepence a gallon was to be levied on the import into the British colonies of foreign molasses, and, to inhibit smuggling, traders were required to give bonds, to present detailed cargo lists, or ‘cockets,’ to the customs before starting loading, and , when loading in British colonies, to obtain certificates from a Justice of the Peace detailing the origin, quality and quantity of all rum, sugar and molasses taken aboard. These requirements—particularly the need to take out bonds and ‘cockets’ before loading—made things difficult and more costly for legitimate traders as well, and were in many cases simply impracticable, as when the loading quay was miles from the nearest customs house. “In Boston and New England ports the Act was seen as an alarming threat. The timber and so-called ‘damaged fish’—fit only for consumption by slaves—they supplied to the WI planters were staple exports. The rum they made from molasses brought home on the return voyage was not simply a popular liquor but a currency used for trading in furs and skins and by those merchants, principally from Newport taking part in the W African slave trade.…”

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op. cit., p. 222.

“…slave trade. Moreover, the Act accompanied a proposal for a Stamp Act’ to tax all kinds of transactions—although the colonists were allowed a year to suggest a more acceptable means of raising the revenue necessary to meet the costs of their defense. It seemed evident to New England merchants, traders and a radical Boston group already exercised over British-imposed search warrants to assist enforcement of the Navigation Acts that the British government was seeking not only to remove the trading irregularities which had become traditional and even vital to their economy, but to assert the principle of taxation by Parliament. Boston’s representatives to the Massachusetts legislature were instructed to expand on this issue to draw in the interior communities: ‘If our trade may be taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce of our lands and everything we possess and make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our [British Crown] Charter rights to govern and tax ourselves.’ “Here was the nub. The colonists were and felt themselves to be thoroughly British; their political institutions were modeled on the British pattern: each colony had a governor, representing the King, …”

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“…the King, an elected Assembly or legislature on the lines of the House of Commons, and an appointed upper chamber known as the Council. As in Britain, the elected legislature had come to wield the real power in all colonies and vote the necessary taxes. The colonists claimed that the British parliament, to which they sent no representatives, had no right to tax them. A frequently quoted phrase, coined earlier by the Harvard-educated Boston lawyer and radical leader, James Otis,• was ‘Taxation without representation is tyranny.’ Such was the rhetoric; no doubt it was believed. Nonetheless it is surely significant that it was in Massachusetts, whose merchants, together with those of RI and CN, had most to lose from the Sugar Act and the RN’s power of seizure, that the anti-parliamentary agitation began. Subsequently it was the MA legislature that established a Committee of Correspondence to liaise and exchange views with the assemblies of the other colonies; and it was a MA initiative that was to lead to delegations from nine colonial assemblies meeting in NY the following autumn, 1765, to adopt a common stance and present petitions for the repeal of the recent Acts to King George III and both houses of the British Parliament.…”

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Ibid.

In this c. 1772 portrait by John Singleton Copley, Adams points at the Massachusetts Charter,

which he viewed as a constitution that protected the

peoples' rights—Wiki

Samuel Adams ( 1722 –1803) was an American

statesman, political philosopher, and one of the

Founding Fathers of the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Singleton_Copley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explanatory_charter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_philosophy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States

op. cit., pp. 222-223.

“…British Parliament, “By this time the Stamp Act had been passed—failing an alternative suggestion from the colonists. In Boston, riots had ensued. Mobs of rowdies organized and fired up by the oratory of radical leaders, in particular a failed businessman and customs collector named Samuel Adams,• first terrorized the appointed stamp distributor, who resigned his post, then wrecked the residences of the lieutenant governor and high vice-admiralty and customs officials.• RI followed Boston’s lead, then NY and other cities and towns throughout the colonies, making it impossible to impose the stamp duty. These preliminary skirmishes with the mother country were crucial triggers for revolution, since they brought elected representatives of the widely separated and very different colonies together in concerted action for the first time. They also provided the young discontented or unenfranchised elements within the electorates with a common case to champion and a common rhetoric. Groups of artisans, mechanics, skilled craftsmen, small traders and others seeking a fairer representation within the colonial legislatures became champions of colonial rights, pushing the merchant elites who held power to adopt ever tougher attitudes towards Britain.…”

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op. cit., p. 223.

“…towards Britain, So the grand issue between the British parliament and the colonies became driven on the American side by the internal power play of the seaport elites. “The British government might have put down the incipient rebellion at this or practically any later stage by sending sufficient troops to ensure compliance and make examples of the ringleaders. Had the ministers been driven by the compulsions of a Continental court they would no doubt have done so. But they answered to the representatives of merchant power in Parliament, and while they were determined that the will of Parliament should prevail over the King’s unruly colonial subjects, their impulses were more fiscal than military. They attempted to meet the American objections by avoiding internal taxation, instead imposing duties on British manufactured goods imported into the colonies. And an American Board of Customs Commissioners was stablished…to enforce collection. “It has been suggested that these duties were designed as a machiavellian provocation to Boston, the boiler house of rebellion, since that city was by far the largest importer of the listed goods. Once Boston had been brought into line, the argument runs, the other colonies were expected to comply.…”

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op. cit., pp. 223-224.

“…to comply, If so the op was badly mishandled, as there were no effective preparations to deal with the riots that should have been anticipated. These broke out in response to the seizure by the customs of a sloop appropriately named Liberty, owned by John Hancock, well known to the British as a smuggler and leader of rebellion. The customs commissioners’ houses were wrecked, and they and their officers, in terror for their lives, fled aboard the flagship of the N American squadron anchored in Boston harbor. The commander of the squadron wrote home to a senior politician in Opposition: ‘What has been so often foretold is now come to pass. The good people of Boston seem ready and ripe for open revolt, and nothing, it is to be imagined, can prevent it but immediate armed force.’ “Two regiments were dispatched to Boston directly news of the riots reached England. These enabled customs commissioners to do their duties, but did nothing to quell the spirit of rebellion. And if the original intention had been to divide the colonies, it failed. They came closer together and organized boycotts of British imports; coming at a time when British claims to possession of the Falkland Islands threatened war with Spain, this led to a repeal of the duties and a more conciliatory attitude from a new British administration led by Lord North.…”

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Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford KG PC (1732 – 1792), more often known by his courtesy title, Lord North, which he used from 1752 until 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_of_the_Order_of_the_Garter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_the_United_Kingdom

op. cit., p. 224.

“…Lord North, More significantly, the radical groupings in all the major seaport cities built up their organizations, strengthened inter-colony links, and exploited every opportunity for anti-British agitation, conjuring fears of a conspiracy to subvert colonial liberties and utilize American resources exclusively for the benefit of British monopoly merchants and corrupt politicians, driving the argument ever further towards revolt. “Their moment came in 1773. Parliament passed an innocuous Act designed to help the HEIC out of financial trouble by allowing its ships to unload tea in America without first landing it in England for auction. Influential American merchants had secured agency rights and stood to profit from direct sales; American colonists stood to gain from lower prices. But the radical groups in the seaports seized on the issue of duty payable on the tea and represented the Act as another sinister design to introduce the principle of taxation without representation. “By chance, the first East Indiamen arrived in Boston. Samuel Adams,•John Hancock and their confederates and followers were equal to their historic opportunity. Groups of rowdies in Mohawk Indian dress, brandishing hatchets, boarded ships, entered the holds, stove in the chests, and consigned £10,000 worth of tea to the harbor waters watched by approving crowds.…”

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This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase "Boston Tea Party" had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier's depiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguised as American Indians.——Wikipedia

op. cit., pp. 224-225.

“…approving crowds, When news reached England, Parliament reacted by instituting a blockade of Boston harbor—until the tea was paid for—and legislating of a new form of government for MA which would be more compliant to British direction, so apparently confirming the radical thesis of a conspiracy to subvert American liberties. “The resulting furore brought the separate colonies together again. Delegates from twelve of the thirteen—missing only GA, which needed British support against the local Indian tribes—met in Philadelphia the following Sept 1774, in what was termed the First Continental Congress. Widely differing views were expressed. Those valuing the British connection, or simply resigned to the impossibility of standing up to Britain militarily, supported a proposal for a colonial legislature, the members to be selected by the individual colonies, whose assent would be needed for parliamentary legislation affecting America. Radicals fought hard against this eminently reasonable plan and eventually won approval for a Suffolk County, MA, proposal to institute another boycott of British goods and disobey the recent ‘Intolerable Acts’ to impose a new form of government on MA. Militants in that colony styling themselves Patriots, meanwhile overturned the government imposed by the new laws.…”

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op. cit., p. 225.

“…new laws, “The final steps to open war came the following Apr, 1775, when British troops clashed at Lexington • and Concord—some twenty miles from Boston—with MA volunteer militias raised to defend the colony’s liberties.….”

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op. cit., pp. 225-226.

“…new laws, “The final steps to open war came the following Apr, 1775, when British troops clashed at Lexington • and Concord—some twenty miles from Boston—with MA volunteer militias raised to defend the colony’s liberties. Guerrilla attacks by the patriot militiamen from behind cover on both sides of the British route back to Boston left 273 dead of wounded against American casualties of under 100….”

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op. cit., p. 225.

“…new laws, “The final steps to open war came the following Apr, 1775, when British troops clashed at Lexington • and Concord—some twenty miles from Boston—with MA volunteer militias raised to defend the colony’s liberties. Guerrilla attacks by the patriot militiamen from behind cover on both sides of the British route back to Boston left 273 dead of wounded against American casualties of under 100.• These were the opening shots of the American Revolution, for a second Continental Congress convening in May voted to raise a continental army to defend American rights: a Virginian, George Washington, who had led his colony’s militia during the Seven Years War, was appointed CinC. “Ostensibly the revolution was caused by the incompatibility of the British parliament’s jealously guarded right to legislate on tax and expenditure throughout the empire and the colonists’ equally jealously held rights to tax and govern themselves. It is evident, however, that it was Parliament’s use of the RN to enforce the Navigation Acts, especially with regard to the smuggling trades with the foreign WI islands, that provoked the New England merchants to active defiance. Had their vital interests not been threatened by effective enforcement, it is probable that the constitutional arguments deployed by James Otis and his fellows would have remained the stuff of academic debate….”

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op. cit., p. 226.

“…academic debate, But, with their trades endangered, seaport merchants, great and small, adopted Otis’ themes to justify confrontation, and in Boston the more militant organized and animated fearsome mobs to terrorize revenue officials, bait British soldiers, and coerce anyone involved in or sympathetic to the legislation of the mother country. “By simplifying the dispute into the issues of taxation and infringement of rights, the seaboard gathered the support of the interior and whipped up a ‘patriotic’ fervor that raised political consciousness through all classes, increasing the pressure on the merchant and planting elites to adopt a radical stance. This was by no means against their inner feelings. Reason may have told them they gained much from the imperial system and altogether lacked the armed strength to break free, but frustration with the constraints it imposed, combined with a vision of the limitless growth to be expected on the continent and self-confidence born of the recent surge in population and prosperity, had produced profound, if unformed, aspirations for sovereignty. “In the later stages two renegade Britons who brought personal discontents to the colonies helped turn aspiration into commitment. The first was Charles Lee,• an intellectually brilliant soldier who hated George III and his entourage for failing to advance him….”

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“…advance him, Declaring America ‘the last and only asylum f liberty,’ he bought land in VA in 1773, attached himself to the extreme wing of the revolutionary cause, and published a pamphlet which did much to dispel American apprehensions that colonial militias would not be able to stand against trained troops….”

Ibid.

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op. cit., pp. 226-227.

“…trained troops. “After him, in Nov 1774, an equally rancorous intellectual, ‘Tom’ Paine,• arrived in Philadelphia. He was one of a great number of self-educated men from humble origins in both Britain and France who lacked formal qualifications for a professional career but drank deep of new political and scientific ideas from books, pamphlets and political clubs. Having passed through a number of jobs, two marriages and dismissal from the excise service for publishing a pamphlet arguing for higher wages, Paine met PAs representative in London, Benjamin Franklin, like him a self-taught man of large ideas. Franklin inspired him to seek his fortune in America and gave him letters of introduction. With these he secured a post as editor assistant on the Pennsylvania Magazine. The city was then a seat of artisan radicalism and revolutionary excitement which complimented his own demons, and Paine was able to realize a genius for polemic in numerous articles,…”

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op. cit., p. 227.

“…numerous articles, among them a powerful indictment of the institution of slavery. And, discerning beneath the colonists’ quarrel with Britain about taxation that what they really wanted was independence, he argued the case for this in a fifty-page pamphlet titled Common Sense. This so captured the American mood that within four months of publication in Jan 1776 it had sold 120,000 copies. It is regarded as the single most influential publication on America’s path to independence. “That a majority of Americans—by no means all—finally viewed independence as their goal was ultimately due to the failures of successive British governments over a decade. They had done enough to provoke revolt but not enough to demonstrate the will and power to command respect. They had given way on matters of principle, allowed Boston to simmer for years despite alarming reports from the N American squadron on the state of rebellion in the city, and finally reacted with arbitrary interference and insufficient force. “On 2 July 1776 delegates to a third Continental Congress in Philadelphia approved a motion for independence [essentially drafted by Thomas Jefferson] To justify separation from the other country, he proceeded from propositions derived from John Locke…”

12 The American

Revolution

op. cit., pp. 227-228.

“…John Locke, “With these phrases ‘the People’ was enthroned. It was a historic precedent. No doubt it owed much to the special energy of democratic politics as evolved in colonial America, and the colonists’ indifference to distinctions of rank, as to the declared interpretation of the ‘social contract’ of Hobbes, Locke and most recently of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.• In the same way, the undefined notion of ‘the pursuit of Happiness’ was a perfect reflection of the individualism, activity and optimism of colonial society. There was of course a dichotomy between the assertion that all men are created equal and the practice of slavery. This too arose from the nature of colonial society. The Virginian Jefferson owned slaves since he had inherited a great estate [not so], but he abhorred the institution [also debated]—as did [some of] his colleagues—and the Quakers of PA had already freed their own slaves; nevertheless, a denunciation of slavery written into the first draft of the Declaration was excised to prevent the southern colonies breaking from the united front. “From propositions [the 1st two ¶s], the Declaration proceeded to list the [22 some] ‘abuses and usurpations’ visited on the colonies by a British king seeking to establish ‘an absolute tyranny’ over them, so arriving at the final statement…”

12 The American

Revolution

op. cit., p. 228.

“…final statement, that ‘these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States…Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown.’ Unlike the United Provinces’ break from Spain or the English break from the threat of absolute monarchy by the Stuarts, there was no resort to religion; the arguments reflected the new age of reason. It will be recalled that David Hume had by this date characterized reason as ‘the slave of the passions.’ More remarkable was the confidence implicit in the rolling phrases; for this there was no military justification. Soon after the document was signed…Franklin took ship for France to press for the financial and military aid without which the rebellious colonies could not possibly survive. A few weeks before the Declaration of Independence, Adam Smith • published his masterwork, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The conjunction was not chance. The gestation of the book had coincided with the American Revolution. Discontent in the colonies had sharpened Smith’s focus on the stifling effects of the control of trade and industry [remind anyone of our current debate?] in the mercantilist system of national monopolies. His work was the theoretical complement to the American plunge for independence…”

12 The American

Revolution

op. cit., pp. 228-229.

“…for independence “He had long sought answers to the question of how so often self-interested individuals were ‘led by an invisible hand …[to] advance the interest of the society.’ In The Wealth of Nations he showed the invisible hand to be the effect of competition in free markets. Conversely, he showed how regulation, excessive duties on foreign imports, and monopoly rights drove prices up—no doubt to the advantage of the merchants concerned, but to the detriment of ‘the great body of the people’ as consumers, and thereby of the wealth of the nation as a whole. He inveighed against ‘the mean rapacity, the monopolizing spirit of merchants and manufacturers,’ and identified their monstrous effects:

“He argued for ‘natural liberty’ for men and nations to pursue their own interests unfettered by artificial restraints on labor or trade, and an end to the beggar-thy-neighbor policies of the great powers in which a rival’s gain was counted as the nation’s loss.…”

12 The American

Revolution

Commerce, which ought naturally to be, among nations, as among individuals, a bond of union and friendship, has become the most fertile source of discord and animosity. The capricious ambition of kings and ministers has not, during the present and preceding century, been more fatal to the repose of Europe than the impertinent jealousy of merchants and manufacturers.

op. cit., pp. 228-229.

“…for independence On the contrary, he asserted, ‘A nation which would enrich itself by foreign trade is certainly most likely to do so when its neighbors are all rich, industrious and commercial nations.’ “The doctrine of natural liberty and self-interest as the motors of wealth creation led him to the conclusion that slaves, while appearing to cost no more than their maintenance, were in reality more expensive to employ than free men: ‘A person who can acquire no property, can have no other interest but to eat as much, and to labor as little as possible. Whatever work he does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance can be squeezed out of him by violence only.’ He noted that sugar and tobacco planters could apparently afford the expense of slave labor, whereas grain farmers could not. “The Scotsman Adam Smith and the British-American leaders of the American Revolution were prophets with a similar vision, but the natural inertia of the international system was such that much discord, animosity and bloodshed were to ensue before their message was heeded..…”

12 The American

Revolution


The Outbreak of theAmerican Revolution

“Choiseul was astute enough to foresee the most likely opportunity for using the navy he had revivified. Writing soon after the Seven Years’ War, he observed, concerning Britain’s American colonies:

“As Choiseul had prophesied, it was the tightening up of the mercantilist system and the reassertion of British authority in the colonies after the Seven Years’ War that led to the defection of the Americans…. ”

Sea Power, p. 66.

As long as the vast American possessions contribute no subsidies for the support of the mother country, private persons in England will still grow rich for some time on the trade with America, but the state will be undone for want of means to keep together a too-extended power; if, on the contrary, England proposes to establish imposts on her American domains, … they will easily part from her, without any fear of chastisement, for England could not undertake a war against them to chastise them.1

______ 1 Quoted in Francois Guizot, History of France, trans. Robert Black, V (New York, n.d.), 259.



“…the Americans. The Revenue Act of 1764, with its threat of actual collection of threepence-a-gallon molasses duty, appalled merchants and distillers who had evaded the previous sixpence duty. The Stamp Act of 1765, by asserting Parliament’s internal taxing power, united in opposition colonies that had grown accustomed to a large measure of practical independence. Although the Stamp Act was repealed, the Townshend Acts of 1767, providing for import duties on paper, lead, and tea, indirectly brought about the ‘Boston Massacre’ of 1770. ‘Have a care,’ Pitt warned the British government soon after Lord North • became Prime Minister in 1770, ‘Foreign war is suspended over your heads by a thin and fragile thread. Spain and France are watching your conduct, waiting for your blunders; they have their eyes fixed on America.’.… ”

op. cit, pp. 66-67.



“…the Americans. The Revenue Act of 1764, with its threat of actual collection of threepence-a-gallon molasses duty, appalled merchants and distillers who had evaded the previous sixpence duty. The Stamp Act of 1765, by asserting Parliament’s internal taxing power, united in opposition colonies that had grown accustomed to a large measure of practical independence. Although the Stamp Act was repealed, the Townshend Acts of 1767, providing for import duties on paper, lead, and tea, indirectly brought about the ‘Boston Massacre’ of 1770. ‘Have a care,’ Pitt warned the British government soon after Lord North • became Prime Minister in 1770, ‘Foreign war is suspended over your heads by a thin and fragile thread. Spain and France are watching your conduct, waiting for your blunders; they have their eyes fixed on America.’• “The Boston Tea Party of 1773 began a chain of events that led to war. This act of defiance caused Parliament to pass the Coercive [or ‘Intolerable’] Acts, which among other things closed the port of Boston and abolished the long-established liberties of MA, taking from the people their right of selecting their Council.… ”

op. cit, pp. 66-67.

“…their Council. ‘The die is cast:’wrote George III,’the colonies must either triumph or submit.’2… ”______

2 Quoted in John Richard Green, History of the English People, V (London, 1885-86), IV, 253.

op. cit, p. 67.


“…or submit. British attempts to enforce the Coercive Acts led to shooting at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.• After that there was little room for moderation or reconciliation. “For Britain the war presented peculiar difficulties. Eighteenth-century logistics were weak at best and many overseas expeditions of the era failed primarily because the invader was unable to organize, transport, and supply a suitable force. Moving troops and supplies in quantity across the Atlantic, a passage that might easily take two months, was a stupendous task. Realizing the difficulty, Lord Barrington, British Secretary of State for War, suggested a naval blockade to bring the colonists to terms, but Lord George Germain,• the Colonial Secretary, who was to direct the war, seems scarcely to have considered such a strategy. The temptation to punish the colonies by conventional occupation was reinforced by a desire to protect the loyalists (‘Tories’), who were expected to assist. Britain was thus committed to a course that ultimately proved disastrous.”

Ibid.


Arbitrament of the Sword, 1775-76

This is a map, showing the headwaters of the Kennebec River, which empties into the Gulf of Maine, and the Chaudière River, which empties into the Saint Lawrence River. Benedict Arnold used this map as a guide for his expedition to Quebec in 1775.

prepared by British military engineer John Montresor, circa 1760


The American Offensive, 1775

“Although the fray at Lexington and Concord had precipitated hostilities, more than a year passed before the colonies declared their independence. While the British were still gathering their forces, the colonials seized the opportunity and initiated a series of military ops that amounted to an American offensive. “Less than a month after Concord, Ethan Allen [and Benedict Arnold] took Fort Ticonderoga • on Lake Champlain, key to communications between the rebellious colonies and Canada. In the autumn of 1775, colonial forces invaded Canada hoping that the Canadians might join them in resistance to Britain….”

Ibid.



“…to Britain. General Richard Montgomery, leading a thousand men by the Hudson River-Lake Champlain route, took Montreal in November.• Then, joined by Benedict Arnold,• who had led 600 men across northern Maine, he assaulted Quebec on the last day of the year.• With Montgomery killed and Arnold wounded, the attack failed, but Arnold maintained a siege of the city • till spring, when melting ice permitted the British to bring in reinforcements via the St. Lawrence River •….”

Ibid.

Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec

In September 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Benedict Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an expedition from Cambridge,• (A) Massachusetts to the gates of Quebec City. Part of a two-pronged invasion of the British Province of Quebec, his expedition passed through the wilderness of what is now Maine. The other expedition, led by Richard Montgomery, invaded Quebec from Lake Champlain.Unanticipated problems beset the expedition as soon as it left the last significant colonial outposts in Maine.• (C)The portages up the Kennebec River proved grueling, and the boats frequently leaked, ruining gunpowder and spoiling food supplies.• (D & E) More than a third of the men turned back before reaching the height of land (F) between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers. The areas on either side of the height of land were swampy tangles of lakes and streams, and the traversal was made more difficult by bad weather and inaccurate maps….

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

11 Sep

25 Sep

2 Oct

11 Oct

25 Oct

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Army

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Canada_(1775)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Quebec_(1763-1791)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Montgomery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Champlain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennebec_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Height_of_land

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaudi%C3%A8re_River

Arnold’s Map by Col. Montresor, c. 1760

Detail from Montresor's map showing the height of land; note absence of Spider Lake

and swampy areas.

Detail from a 1924 topographic map of the same area, annotated with Arnold's approximate route over the height of land (H). Note Spider Lake and swamps to east of Lake Mégantic; parts of the expedition were lost for days there.


In September 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Benedict Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an expedition from Cambridge,• (A) Massachusetts to the gates of Quebec City. Part of a two-pronged invasion of the British Province of Quebec, his expedition passed through the wilderness of what is now Maine. The other expedition, led by Richard Montgomery, invaded Quebec from Lake Champlain.Unanticipated problems beset the expedition as soon as it left the last significant colonial outposts in Maine.• The portages up the Kennebec River proved grueling, and the boats frequently leaked, ruining gunpowder and spoiling food supplies.• More than a third of the men turned back before reaching the height of land (F) between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers. The areas on either side of the height of land were swampy tangles of lakes and streams, and the traversal was made more difficult by bad weather and inaccurate maps.• Many of the troops lacked experience handling boats in white water, which led to the destruction of more boats and supplies in the descent to the Saint Lawrence River via the fast-flowing Chaudière.•By the time Arnold reached the French settlements above the Saint Lawrence River in November, his force was reduced to 600 starving men.• They had traveled about 350 miles (560 km) through poorly charted wilderness, twice the distance they had expected to cover. Assisted by the local French-speaking Canadiens, Arnold's troops crossed the Saint Lawrence on November 13 and 14 and attempted to put Quebec City under siege. Failing in this, they withdrew to Point-aux-Trembles until Montgomery arrived to lead an unsuccessful attack on the city. Arnold was rewarded for his effort in leading the expedition with a promotion to brigadier general….


11 Sep

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapids

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadien

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuville,_Quebec

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Quebec_(1775)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_general_(United_States)


In September 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Benedict Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an expedition from Cambridge,• (A) Massachusetts to the gates of Quebec City. Part of a two-pronged invasion of the British Province of Quebec, his expedition passed through the wilderness of what is now Maine. The other expedition, led by Richard Montgomery, invaded Quebec from Lake Champlain.Unanticipated problems beset the expedition as soon as it left the last significant colonial outposts in Maine.• The portages up the Kennebec River proved grueling, and the boats frequently leaked, ruining gunpowder and spoiling food supplies.• More than a third of the men turned back before reaching the height of land (F) between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers. The areas on either side of the height of land were swampy tangles of lakes and streams, and the traversal was made more difficult by bad weather and inaccurate maps.• Many of the troops lacked experience handling boats in white water, which led to the destruction of more boats and supplies in the descent to the Saint Lawrence River via the fast-flowing Chaudière.•By the time Arnold reached the French settlements above the Saint Lawrence River in November, his force was reduced to 600 starving men.• They had traveled about 350 miles (560 km) through poorly charted wilderness, twice the distance they had expected to cover. Assisted by the local French-speaking Canadiens, Arnold's troops crossed the Saint Lawrence on November 13 and 14 and attempted to put Quebec City under siege. Failing in this, they withdrew to Point-aux-Trembles until Montgomery arrived to lead an unsuccessful attack on the city. Arnold was rewarded for his effort in leading the expedition with a promotion to brigadier general.•Arnold's route through northern Maine has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Arnold Trail to Quebec, and some geographic features in the area bear names of expedition participants.


11 Sep

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Arnold, two years later, a MGen, at the height of his popularity















https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapids

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadien

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuville,_Quebec

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Quebec_(1775)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_general_(United_States)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places

“…Lawrence River. “In Boston, center of hostilities, the British found themselves besieged by 16,000 American militia who had swarmed to the city from the surrounding colonies. The defenders were virtually helpless until the arrival in May 1775 of MajGen Sir William Howe…” Ibid.



General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC

(1729 – 1814) Youngest of the three distinguished Howe

brothers: General George, Admiral Richard. Returned to Britain after the Saratoga disaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_(United_Kingdom)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_Great_Britain

“…Lawrence River. “In Boston, center of hostilities, the British found themselves besieged by 16,000 American militia who had swarmed to the city from the surrounding colonies. The defenders were virtually helpless until the arrival in May 1775 of MajGen Sir William Howe accompanied by Gens Clinton and Burgoyne and 10,000 troops….”

Ibid.



“…Lawrence River. “In Boston, center of hostilities, the British found themselves besieged by 16,000 American militia who had swarmed to the city from the surrounding colonies. The defenders were virtually helpless until the arrival in May 1775 of MajGen Sir William Howe accompanied by Gens Clinton and Burgoyne and 10,000 troops. Gen George Washington took command of the American forces in July and undertook to organize the raw militia into an army, but he had so little gunpowder that his troops could scarcely return the British fire….” Ibid.



“…Lawrence River. “In Boston, center of hostilities, the British found themselves besieged by 16,000 American militia who had swarmed to the city from the surrounding colonies. The defenders were virtually helpless until the arrival in May 1775 of MajGen Sir William Howe accompanied by Gens Clinton and Burgoyne and 10,000 troops. Gen George Washington took command of the American forces in July and undertook to organize the raw militia into an army, but he had so little gunpowder that his troops could scarcely return the British fire. In early March 1776 he emplaced cannon from Fort Ticonderoga on Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston from the S….”

Ibid.



Knox went to Ticonderoga in November 1775, and, over the course of 3 winter months, moved 60 tons of cannons and other armaments by boat, horse and ox-drawn sledges, and manpower, along poor-quality

roads, across two semi-frozen rivers, and through the forests and swamps of the lightly inhabited Berkshires to the Boston area.[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkshires

“…the S. Gen Howe, having enough of storming American-held heights at Bunker Hill • the year before….”

Ibid.



“…the S. Gen Howe, having enough of storming American-held heights at Bunker Hill • the year before and finding his position untenable, evacuated his position by sea and retired to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he waited till early June for reinforcements from England….”

Ibid.



“…the S. Gen Howe, having enough of storming American-held heights at Bunker Hill • the year before and finding his position untenable, evacuated his position by sea and retired to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he waited till early June for reinforcements from England. “If Washington had needed any lesson on the importance of sea power, the unopposed withdrawal of the British from Boston would have supplied it. So long as the British had free use of the sea, the Americans were helpless either to prevent the evacuation of a beaten army or to prevent seaborne forays along the coast….”

Ibid.




The Americans on the Defensive, 1776

“In 1776 the British, having assembled their forces, took the initiative. In the N, Sir Guy Carleton,• Gov Gen of Canada, now reinforced by British regulars under Gen Burgoyne, planned to penetrate the colonies by the Champlain-Hudson route.• A second British expedition was to attack a point in the southern colonies as a diversion, while the main British army under Gen Howe seized NYC as a base and began ops against Washington’s army.• Each portion of this plan required some sort of naval support….”

op. cit., p. 69.



“…naval support. “In the spring of 1776 Arnold retreated to Lake Champlain where he began the rapid expansion of the tiny American fleet already on the lake, thereby forcing the pursuing British to stop and build a superior fleet. For obviously Carleton could not maintain his line of supply with an undefeated enemy naval force in his rear. With material brought overland and by small boats up the Richelieu River, the British constructed a 180-ton ship. In addition, they dismantled two schooners on the St. Lawrence and reassembled them on the lake. These vessels easily gave them superiority over Arnold’s motley collection of smaller craft. “When the British squadron was finally ready, on 11 Oct,it moved down the lake before a N wind.• Arnold’s force, concealed behind Valcour Island, let it pass, thus obliging the enemy to beat back upwind to attack him….”

Ibid.



“…attack him. Despite the advantage, the Americans suffered so severely in the ensuing battle that they were fortunate to succeed that night in slipping past the British squadron toward Crown Point. The British pursued, and in a running two-day battle most of the American vessels were either captured or beached and burned, while the survivors took to the woods. “While the British could congratulate themselves that they had rendered Canada secure,…”



“…attack him. Despite the advantage, the Americans suffered so severely in the ensuing battle that they were fortunate to succeed that night in slipping past the British squadron toward Crown Point. The British pursued, and in a running two-day battle most of the American vessels were either captured or beached and burned, while the survivors took to the woods. “While the British could congratulate themselves that they had rendered Canada secure,…”

“…Canada secure, their months of shipbuilding had cost them their strategic opportunity, for mid-October was too close to winter for them to resume their advance [cf. Hitler, fall of 1941]. ’If we had begun our expedition four weeks earlier,’ lamented one of Carleton’s officers, ‘I am satisfied that everything would have ended this year.’ In the circumstances however there was nothing for the British to do but retire to Canada. “American naval power had scored its first, and as events were to prove, its most important success, for it had delayed the invasion when there was little else to do it. The colonists were thereby granted time to gather forces which in 1777 would win the victory that brought France into the war and tipped the balance in their favor. [and yet a 3rd time patriot Arnold had played a key role in winning American independence]….”

Ibid.



“…Canada secure, their months of shipbuilding had cost them their strategic opportunity, for mid-October was too close to winter for them to resume their advance [cf. Hitler, fall of 1941]. ’If we had begun our expedition four weeks earlier,’ lamented one of Carleton’s officers, ‘I am satisfied that everything would have ended this year.’ In the circumstances however there was nothing for the British to do but retire to Canada. “American naval power had scored its first, and as events were to prove, its most important success, for it had delayed the invasion when there was little else to do it. The colonists were thereby granted time to gather forces which in 1777 would win the victory that brought France into the war and tipped the balance in their favor. [at yet a 3rd time patriot Arnold had played a key role in winning American independence] “The second British operation of 1776, the diversion to the S was a failure.• A squadron attempting to land troops at Charleston, SC, was repulsed by fire from Fort Moultrie, a hastily erected sand-and-log fortification, with heavy casualties in the bombarding vessels….”

Ibid.



The SC state flag celebrates this victory

“…bombarding vessels. “Only the expedition against NY was a success. Washington had fully anticipated this British move, for NYC’s harbor occupied a central position on the American coast, and the city secured the southern terminus of the Hudson-Champlain route to Canada, which in British hands would split New England from the southern colonies. Hence he promptly moved troops from Boston to Long Island despite the obvious vulnerability of Long Island to sea power. Here he was at first puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear….”

Ibid.



“…bombarding vessels. “Only the expedition against NY was a success. Washington had fully anticipated this British move, for NYC’s harbor occupied a central position on the American coast, and the city secured the southern terminus of the Hudson-Champlain route to Canada, which in British hands would split New England from the southern colonies. Hence he promptly moved troops from Boston to Long Island despite the obvious vulnerability of Long Island to sea power. Here he was at first puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear. “Finally at the end of June Gen Howe arrived, escorted by a fleet under the command of his brother, Adm Richard Lord Howe. Even then Gen Howe marked time on Staten Island until the arrival of a convoy of Hessian troops…” Ibid.



“…bombarding vessels. “Only the expedition against NY was a success. Washington had fully anticipated this British move, for NYC’s harbor occupied a central position on the American coast, and the city secured the southern terminus of the Hudson-Champlain route to Canada, which in British hands would split New England from the southern colonies. Hence he promptly moved troops from Boston to Long Island despite the obvious vulnerability of Long Island to sea power. Here he was at first puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear.• “Finally at the end of June Gen Howe arrived, escorted by a fleet under the command of his brother, Adm Richard Lord Howe. Even then Gen Howe marked time on Staten Island until the arrival of a convoy of Hessian troops and the return of the inglorious Charleston expedition gave him some 30,000 men to oppose Washington’s 10,000. Then on 27 Aug, Howe closed to Long Island and began a leisurely advance….”

Ibid.



The fury of the first great battle of the war—and the first colossal defeat for the Continental Army—at Brooklyn on August 27,1776, is dramatically portrayed in a painting by Alonzo Chappel. In the distance at left, Lord Stirling leads a few hundred Marylanders in a brave attack on the British lines, while in the right foreground other American troops in a desperate retreat plunge into Gownus Creek.

caption by David McCullough, 1776. Simon & Schuster (2005)., after p. 52

The night escape of the American army from Brooklyn, across the East River, could never have succeeded without the intrepid Marblehead mariners who manned the boats. The pencil sketch of their commander, Col John Glover, is by John Trumbull.—Ibid

“…bombarding vessels. “Only the expedition against NY was a success. Washington had fully anticipated this British move, for NYC’s harbor occupied a central position on the American coast, and the city secured the southern terminus of the Hudson-Champlain route to Canada, which in British hands would split New England from the southern colonies. Hence he promptly moved troops from Boston to Long Island despite the obvious vulnerability of Long Island to sea power. Here he was at first puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear.• “Finally at the end of June Gen Howe arrived, escorted by a fleet under the command of his brother, Adm Richard Lord Howe. Even then Gen Howe marked time on Staten Island until the arrival of a convoy of Hessian troops • and the return of the inglorious Charleston expedition gave him some 30,000 men to oppose Washington’s 10,000. Then on 27 Aug, Howe closed to Long Island and began a leisurely advance.• Washington slowly withdrew, aided by winds that prevented British frigates from supporting Howe’s left flank and by a fog that enabled him to slip across to Manhattan on the night of the 30th….”

Sea Power, p. 69.



“…the 30th. Within two months he was forced N to White Plains, whence he crossed the Hudson into NJ. In another month he was forced across the Delaware into PA….”

op. cit., pp. 69-70.



“… Hudson into NJ. In another month he was forced across the Delaware into PA. “By this time Washington’s army had dwindled to a mere 3,000 men, and only the lateness of the season prevented Howe from advancing on and taking Philadelphia, seat of the Continental Congress. It was at this point, when the colonial cause seemed hopeless, that Washington demonstrated his greatness as a general by his dramatic crossing of the Delaware and capture of Trenton on Christmas Day.…” op. cit., pp. 69-70.



“…the 30th. Within two months he was forced N to White Plains, whence he crossed the Hudson into NJ. In another month he was forced across the Delaware into PA.• “By this time Washington’s army had dwindled to a mere 3,000 men, and only the lateness of the season prevented Howe from advancing on and taking Philadelphia, seat of the Continental Congress. It was at this point, when the colonial cause seemed hopeless, that Washington demonstrated his greatness as a general by his dramatic crossing of the Delaware and capture of Trenton on Christmas Day.• After a series of attacks on British outposts, by which he regained control of the greater part of NJ, Washington took a position at Morristown, from which he could threaten any British move toward Philadelphia or up the Hudson.”

op. cit., pp. 69-70.



Philadelphia

The War at Sea, 1775-79Engraving based on ! painting “Action Between ! Serap( and Bonhomme Richard”

by Richard Paton, publ(hed 1780


Early American Naval Efforts

“Although Washington had no naval experience, he was quick to understand the importance of sea power. Even while conducting the siege of Boston in 1775 he had on his own initiative and without authorization from Congress begun to ready vessels to prey upon British shipping—with the dual objective of embarrassing the enemy and relieving his own army’s acute shortage of powder. These vessels he manned with troops from maritime areas, particularly Salem, Marblehead, and Beverly. The first, the schooner Hannah,• sailed in early Sept and returned with a prize.…”

Sea Power, p. 71.



“Although Washington had no naval experience, he was quick to understand the importance of sea power. Even while conducting the siege of Boston in 1775 he had on his own initiative and without authorization from Congress begun to ready vessels to prey upon British shipping—with the dual objective of embarrassing the enemy and relieving his own army’s acute shortage of powder. These vessels he manned with troops from maritime areas, particularly Salem, Marblehead, and Beverly. The first, the schooner Hannah,• sailed in early Sept and returned with a prize. By the end of Oct Washington had half a dozen vessels in operation, but the results were far from satisfactory. The crews were unruly and the officers often incompetent. Only Capt John Manley • showed the qualities requisite for successful command; at the beginning of 1776 Washington made him Commodore of the fleet. After Washington moved to NY, the little squadron continued for a while to cruise MA Bay, but early in 1777 it was broken up and the vessels were disposed of by order of the Maritime Committee of the Continental Congress, whereupon some of its officers transferred to the new Continental Navy. In its short existence ‘Washington’s navy’ had taken some 35 prizes, which considerably eased the American logistic problem.…”

Sea Power, p. 71.



“…logistic problem. “Congress had taken the first steps toward creating a Continental Navy by establishing in Oct 1775 a ‘Naval Committee’ to acquire and fit out vessels for sea and to draw up regulations. The following month the committee purchased two ships, two brigs, and subsequently two sloops and two schooners, and Congress established a Marine Corps by authorizing the raising of two battalions of marines. [10 Nov 75].…”

Ibid.



“…logistic problem. “Congress had taken the first steps toward creating a Continental Navy by establishing in Oct 1775 a ‘Naval Committee’ to acquire and fit out vessels for sea and to draw up regulations. The following month the committee purchased two ships, two brigs, and subsequently two sloops and two schooners, and Congress established a Marine Corps by authorizing the raising of two battalions of marines. [10 Nov 75] • Esek Hopkins,• brother of the RI member of the Naval Committee, was appointed ‘CinC of the Fleet.’.…”

Ibid.



“…logistic problem. “Congress had taken the first steps toward creating a Continental Navy by establishing in Oct 1775 a ‘Naval Committee’ to acquire and fit out vessels for sea and to draw up regulations. The following month the committee purchased two ships, two brigs, and subsequently two sloops and two schooners, and Congress established a Marine Corps by authorizing the raising of two battalions of marines. [10 Nov 75] • Esek Hopkins,• brother of the RI member of the Naval Committee, was appointed ‘CinC of the Fleet.’ Despite the obvious nepotism, Hopkins was a reasonable choice. He had gone to sea at the age of 20 and had become the prosperous commodore of a fleet of 17 merchantmen. In the Seven Years War he had proved himself a daring privateersman. “Taking advantage of a discretionary clause, Hopkins disregarded his orders to clear the VA and Carolina coasts of enemy forces, and sailed instead for the Bahamas, where there was reportedly a supply of powder. He landed a force on New Providence in early Mar 1776, took the two forts guarding Nassau after only token opposition, and then spent two weeks loading the captured munitions.…”

Ibid.



“…captured munitions. “This was the squadron’s only cruise. Partly because of deficiencies in the vessels themselves, partly because of the impossibility of enlisting adequate crews. Hopkins found himself unable to obey orders to go to sea and attack the Newfoundland fisheries. He was called before Congress to explain his conduct and, despite an able defense by John Adams, he was censured. Individual vessels however made successful cruises. Capt Nicholas Biddle, in the brig Andrea Doria,• took several prizes,…”

op. cit., pp. 71-72.



“…Capt Nicholas Biddle, in the brig Andrea Doria,• took several prizes, while Capt John Paul Jones in the sloop Providence • captured 16 merchantmen off Nova Scotia.…”

op. cit., pp. 71-72.



“…while Capt John Paul Jones in the sloop Providence • captured 16 merchantmen off Nova Scotia. In a subsequent cruise in the Alfred,• Jones took several more, including an armed vessel laden with winter clothing for Burgoyne’s army.…”

op. cit., pp. 71-72.



“… Burgoyne’s army. “After Hopkins’ raid on New Providence, the Continental Navy participated in only one major operation—the so-called Penobscot Expedition of 1779. This was primarily a MA enterprise against the British-Tory base at Castine, ME, but the 16 fighting ships that accompanied the transports were stiffened by three vessels of the Continental Navy, of which the most powerful was the frigate Warren, 32, under Capt Dudley Saltonstall, who commanded the expedition.…” op. cit., pp. 71-72.



“…the expedition. Arriving at Castine in the latter part of July, the ill-managed force made such slow progress that a British relief squadron had time to arrive from NY in mid-August, whereupon the Americans fled ignominiously up the river and beached their vessels [they managed to burn some but others were taken as prizes],…”

op. cit., p. 72.

“The worst defeat of the American navy until Pearl Harbor.”



“…their vessels. “All the thirteen colonies except NJ and DE created state navies during the war, but these consisted principally of small craft and conducted few ops of significance. RI led the way when, in June 1775, she fitted out two sloops to deal with a British vessel that had been patrolling Narragansett Bay. CT followed by fitting out two vessels in July of the same year—a force eventually increased to twelve. PA concentrated chiefly on small craft to defend the Delaware River. VA created a large fleet of light craft to stop the depredations of a squadron formed by Tory Governor Dunmore. SC provided one of the larger navies, having 15 seagoing vessels. “Privateers made by far the most effective contribution to the American naval effort. in the spring of 1776 Congress authorized privateering, and adopted a form of commission to be issued by the colonial governments and by American agents abroad. MA had already authorized privateers and prize courts, and some other colonies followed suit….While the individualistic American seamen took rather badly to the disciplined life of a regular navy, his ingenuity and resourcefulness fitted him admirably for the life of a privateer,…”

op. cit., p. 72.

“…a privateer, and the opportunity for profit was so attractive that the Continental Navy found itself unable to compete with privateersmen for crews.• After some decline in 1777 as the RN’s frigates took to sea to protect British commerce, American privateering revived in 1778, when France’s entry into the war obliged the British to concentrate their naval forces. Thereafter the number of vessels engaged in privateering increased and their quality and effectiveness improved each year until the end of the war. Altogether there were nearly 800 American privateersmen during the Revolution, and they captured some 600 British merchant vessels…”

Ibid.



John Paul Jones made this appeal to fit out Ranger in

the face of competition from the privateers.

“…merchant vessels. “The most remarkable accomplishment of the Continental Navy was carrying the war to British waters. The use of French bases for this unneutral purpose presented some inconveniences, for the French occasionally had to make concessions to British protests, but the net effect was to embroil France with England. The first Continental vessel in European waters was the brig Reprisal, commanded by Lambert Wickes,• who brought Franklin to France at the end of 1776. Sailing from Nantes in January 1777, Wickes took five prizes; his bringing them into French ports raised a storm of British protest. The fitting out of the cutter Dolphin and the arrival of the Continental brig Lexington created a little squadron which Wickes led in a month’s cruise around Ireland, netting 18 prizes.…”

Ibid.



“…18 prizes. On the return voyage to America in the fall, the Reprisal foundered in a storm off the Grand Banks taking her captain with her.…”

Ibid.



“…18 prizes. On the return voyage to America in the fall, the Reprisal foundered in a storm off the Grand Banks taking her captain with her. “Meanwhile American agents in France had purchased the lugger Surprise, command of which was given to Gustavus Coyningham.• Sailing from Dunkirk in May, Coyningham soon returned with two prizes. British protests caused the French government to release the captured vessels, seize the Surprise, and imprison Coyningham and his crew. But Benjamin Franklin procured his release in time for him to take command of the cutter Revenge. Operating first from French and later from Spanish bases, he contributed not a little to increasing tension between the Bourbon powers and England.• “If Hopkins’ squadron of converted merchantmen was the first Continental Navy, 13 frigates authorized by Congress at the end of 1775 may be considered the second. These were to be real men-of-war from the keel up, not mere conversions. To supervise their construction Congress created a Marine Committee composed of a member from each of the 13 colonies. But the promise of an effective fleet of genuine combat vessels was never realized.…”

Ibid.



“…never realized. Six of the frigates for various reasons never got to sea at all, and of the remainder, four had only short careers. The Hancock, 32, an exceptionally fine, fast vessel, was taken in 1777 by a British 64.…”

op. cit., pp. 72-73.



“…never realized. Six of the frigates for various reasons never got to sea at all, and of the remainder, four had only short careers. The Hancock, 32, an exceptionally fine, fast vessel, was taken in 1777 by a British 64. The Raleigh was lost when Capt John Barry was driven ashore in Penobscot Bay by superior forces in Sept 1778.…”

op. cit., pp. 72-73.



“…never realized. Six of the frigates for various reasons never got to sea at all, and of the remainder, four had only short careers. The Hancock, 32, an exceptionally fine, fast vessel, was taken in 1777 by a British 64.• The Raleigh was lost when Capt John Barry was driven ashore in Penobscot Bay by superior forces in Sept 1778. The Warren was lost in the [disastrous] Penobscot expedition.…”

op. cit., pp. 72-73.



“…Penobscot expedition. Only the Randolph,• 32, died with glory. Her Captain, Nicholas Biddle,• had commanded the Andrew Doria under Hopkins and had made a successful cruise afterward. He was fortunate in being able to take the Randolph out of the Delaware and to sea early in 1777, before the British moved on Philadelphia. Returning in the spring of 1778 from a cruise to France, Biddle was given a small squadron headed by the Randolph to hunt down British cruisers off the Carolina coast. In March he encountered the 64-gun Yarmouth near Barbados. Biddle engaged her and, although unsupported by the rest of his squadron, appeared near victory when the Randolph’s magazine exploded. ‘Biddle’s death deprived America of one of her most promising officers.’…”

op. cit., pp. 72-73.





“…promising officers. “Thus by 1780 only three of the 13 frigates survived. The Boston and the Providence after a cruise to the S put in at Charleston, shared in the defense of the city, and were lost when it fell to the British in May 1780. The Trumbull alone survived into 1781, principally because she was unable to get over the Connecticut River bar and to sea before 1780.…”

op. cit., p. 73.

John Paul Jones, Qualifications of a Naval Officer

“It is by no means sufficient that he be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He must be a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor.”

This was required memorization (plebe knowledge) at the USNA in 1958.

I was surprised to learn later that it was probably composed in the early 20th century during the heyday of American navalism.

jbp


Early American Naval Efforts“…before 1780. “Greatest of all the Continental naval officers was John Paul Jones. Equal to the others in courage and resourcefulness, he surpassed them all in his high concept of the naval profession and his understanding of the strategic use of naval power. After serving as Lt in the Alfred under Hopkins and making successful cruises in command first of the Providence and then of the Alfred, he was in June 1777 given the new 18-gun Ranger.• Sailing her to France in the autumn, he was in that country when she signed her treaty of alliance with the colonies and a week later had the satisfaction of receiving a salute from LaMotte-Picquet’s squadron at Quiberon Bay.…”

op. cit., p. 73.

USS Ranger

“…Quiberon Bay. “Disappointed in his hope of commanding a squadron to carry the war into British waters, Jones took the Ranger alone on a cruise around England, Scotland, and Ireland in the spring of 1778. At Whitehaven he burned some shipping and spiked cannon, at St. Mary’s Isle he raided ashore, and outside Carrickfergus he captured HMS Drake, 20, one of the few vessels of the RN to become American prizes. “For a year after this remarkable cruise Jones remained in France, repeatedly disappointed in his expectation of a new command. Finally he was given an old, half-rotten East Indiaman, which he armed with 42 assorted 9-, 12-, and 18-pounders, mostly secondhand, and named the Bonhomme Richard in compliment to Franklin.• Included besides his Bonhomme Richard was the newly-built American frigate Alliance, 32, commanded by a Frenchman, Capt Pierre Landais, and three French vessels, the Pallas, 32, the Cerf, 18, and the Vengeance, 12. In a clockwise circuit of the British Isles Jones picked up several prizes, and on September 24 off Flamborough Head, on the E coast of England, he fought his most famous battle.…”

Ibid.



“…famous battle. “The Franco-American squadron, reduced to four vessels by the separation of the Cerf, was stalking a British convoy when just at twilight its two escorts approached. These proved to be the 50-gun frigate Serapis, Capt Richard Pearson, and the Countess of Scarborough, 22. While the Pallas engaged the Countess, Jones headed for the Serapis, which was superior to the Bonhomme Richard both in maneuverability and firepower. Jones cancelled the first of these British advantages when he succeeded personally in lashing the two vessels side by side, but the disparity in firepower increased as Jones had to forego the use of his 18-pounders after two of them burst on the first round. Soon the Bonhomme Richard was so riddled that the British balls were passing unimpeded through her hull, and only three American 9-pounders remained in action. To all appearances she was a sinking ship and might have been surrendered honorably. The master-at-arms released the prisoners, and a gunner made an unauthorized call for quarter. When Capt Pearson asked if the American had in fact struck, Jones made his famous reply,…”

Ibid.



I have not yet begun to fight.3

______ 3 So reported by Jones’ first lieutenant and certainly Jones’ meaning if not his precise words.

Defence of Capt Pearson in his Majesty's Ship Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough Arm'd Ship Capt Piercy, against Paul Jones's Squadron, 23 Sept 1779

by Robert Dodd, Br. marine engraver, published 1778—Wikipedia

A top

“…famous reply. “The French marines and a few Americans had by this time captured control of the tops • of both vessels, and from that vantage had cleared the weather [fore, main, and quarter] decks of the Serapis. About 9:30 pm a grenade thrown from the rigging entered a hatch of the British frigate, ignited powder on the main gun deck, and set off an explosion that marked the turning point of the battle. “Throughout the action the Bonhomme Richard had been unsupported by her squadron, but at this point Landais brought up the Alliance and fired a few broadsides indiscriminately into the combatants, apparently doing more damage to friend than to foe. His presence however may have been a factor in Pearson’s decision to strike. The battered Bonhomme Richard sank the next day, and Jones transferred his flag to the Serapis.”

op. cit., pp. 73-74.



Padfield, Maritime Supremacy., p. 248.

“The action had no strategic significance, and Jones and his surviving men were forced to transfer to his prize…, leaving the shattered Bon Homme Richard to sink, but the exceptional ferocity of the contest, his refusal to submit and his capture of two RN escorts raised him to international fame. Louis XVI made him a Chevalier of France,• and he was later awarded a congressional gold medal. The son of a gardener on a Scottish estate, one-time master of a slave ship, who had fled to VA to escape trial after killing a mutinous sailor, John Paul Jones was much more than an inspirational fighter wit an unerring seaman’s eye; he was a thinking officer and an ardent champion of sea power for the emerging nation he had adopted, a fitting hero for the new navy.”

13 The War of American Independence

and the Chesapeake Bay, 1781

Saratoga; The Turning Point‘Surrender of General Burgoyne

John Trumbull, 1821


Saratoga, the Turning Point

“In 1777 the British undertook to complete the campaigns that had b e e n p o s t p o n e d b y w i n t e r . Washington’s judgment told him that the logical British objective was a junction of Howe’s and Burgoyne’s forces on the Hudson-Champlain route,…”

op. cit., p. 74.

“In 1777 the British undertook to complete the campaigns that had been postponed by winter. Washington’s judgment told him that the logical British objective was a junction of Howe’s and Burgoyne’s forces on the Hudson-Champlain route, but the withdrawal of Howe’s forces from NJ and their embarkation in early July suggested the possibility of a movement on Philadelphia by sea.• For almost two months Washington was in grave doubt as to the proper disposition of his troops, whether to move to the N or cover Philadelphia. The dilemma imposed upon him was a striking demonstration of the mobility and initiative conferred by British sea power….”

op. cit., p. 74.



“…sea power. “As Washington has suspected, the British plan did in fact envisage Burgoyne’s moving S via Lake Champlain and the Hudson to join Howe. Incredibly enough, it specified no cooperation from the S, for the idea of coordinating the two armies seems to have occurred neither to Burgoyne nor to Colonial Minister Lord Germain at that time. In the spring of 1777, Germain approved Howe’s plan for moving on Philadelphia. It was not till summer that he thought of ordering Howe to cooperate with Burgoyne, and by the time his letter reached America, Howe was already at sea en route to Philadelphia and could do no more than order Gen Clinton, whom he had left at NY, to make what diversion he could in favor of Burgoyne….”

op. cit., p. 74.



Hessian map [labelled in French] of the campaign from August 25 - September 26, 1777—Wikipedia



“…of Burgoyne. “The British moved on Philadelphia by the roundabout route of the Chesapeake • rather than by the obvious way of the Delaware partly because of exaggerated reports of American defenses on the river. Washington’s forces, exhausted by their marches and countermarches in an attempt to anticipate British movements, could do little more than harry the British…” Ibid.

Delaware RiverChesapeake Bay

Nation Makers by Howard Pyle depicts a scene from the battle.



“…of Burgoyne. “The British moved on Philadelphia by the roundabout route of the Chesapeake • rather than by the obvious way of the Delaware partly because of exaggerated reports of American defenses on the river. Washington’s forces, exhausted by their marches and countermarches in an attempt to anticipate British movements, could do little more than harry the British • as they marched on the city, which surrendered at the end of September. However, in an attempt to make the British communications as costly as possible, the Americans tenaciously defended the Delaware forts, which did not fall until the middle of November….”

Ibid.




Ibid.

MUD ISLAND




Ibid.

“…of November. “Meanwhile Burgoyne, who had retained the control of Lake Champlain, won the previous autumn, moved up the lake in June and captured Fort Ticonderoga in early July. By the end of the month he was on the upper Hudson despite the obstructions put in his path by Gen Schuyler.….”

Ibid.



Ibid.



“…Gen Schuyler. But in early August British Gen St. Leger, who was advancing from Lake Ontario by the Mohawk Valley to join Burgoyne, was stopped in a bloody battle at Oriskany, near Fort Stanwix, and retreated to Canada upon news • that Gen Arnold was approaching with American reinforcements. “At the same time Burgoyne was finding his long line of communications through the wilderness inadequate to supply his army. He therefore dispatched over 700 men to cross the Green Mountains • near Bennington, seize the stores reported to be in that town, and then raid the CN Valley for supplies, cattle and draft animals. This detachment got no farther than Bennington, where the Green Mountain Boys destroyed or captured the entire force in mid-August….”

Gre

en M

ount

ains

“…in mid-August. After these disasters Burgoyne pressed on against growing opposition. Finally, surrounded by American militiamen, now stiffened by regulars under Gen Horatio Gates, Burgoyne surrendered his army of more than 5,000 men at Saratoga on 17 Oct 77….”

Ibid.



“All of the figures in the scene are portraits of specific officers. Trumbull planned this outdoor scene to contrast with the Declaration of Independence • beside it in the US Capitol rotunda..—Wikipedia

“All of the figures in the scene are portraits of specific officers. Trumbull planned this outdoor scene to contrast with the Declaration of Independence • beside it in the US Capitol rotunda. “John Trumbull (1756–1843) was born in Connecticut, the son of the governor. After graduating from Harvard University, he served in the Continental Army under General Washington. He studied painting with Benjamin West in London and focused on history painting.—Wikipedia

“…in mid-August. After these disasters Burgoyne pressed on against growing opposition. Finally, surrounded by American militiamen, now stiffened by regulars under Gen Horatio Gates, Burgoyne surrendered his army of more than 5,000 men at Saratoga on 17 Oct 77 “This American victory was a turning point, for by demonstrating that the colonies had a chance of success it was to bring France into the war—and French assistance was to be decisive. But that result could not be foreseen in the autumn of 1777. While Howe’s army settled down for a comfortable winter in Philadelphia, the despairing remnants of Washington’s army endured cold and hunger at Valley Forge.” Ibid.



The British North American Colonies began American Exceptionalism.

A memorable phrase I recall from grad school: “The freest are the first to rebel.”

It seems counterintuitive. But the historical record supports it. I remember how the essay went on to compare our colonial society to every other contemporaneous one. No other matched our independence and favored situation.

When people are truly downtrodden it take a special set of circumstances to allow them to rise up, as Haiti did a decade after us.

The revolution has begun. Will it succeed?

But that’s another story… jbp

Fin

Education

Sea power 2, session 1-american rev 1