The Siege, Fateful Summer, and the Long Retreat
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David McCullough did what I thought could never be done. He managed to make history interesting to me. 1776 turns out to be a book that once you start reading is impossible to stop. The title is a dead give away as to the content of the book. However because I am a novice in the realm of history at first the title did not provide any insight as to what the book would be about. There is no denying that 1776 has to be one of the most important years in American history, if not the most important year of our American history. David McCullough divides the book not by major military battles as one might expect, but by small events with major impact on those battles. The three major categories of the book are The Siege, Fateful Summer, and The long Retreat.
The first section, “The Siege” titled after the fortifications made at Dorchester Heights did more than recount the military aspects of war. The chapter opens with a quote “God save our King, Long live our noble King, God save the King! Send him victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign oer us; God save the King!” The quote was from a British newspaper and I was surprised to learn that the war was popular to the British. McCullough gave me insight to the minds of the soldiers on each side of the battle with exerts from many letters written by common soldiers. At this point soldiers on both sides felt they had good reason to fight, but that would soon change. The British leader Howe, I learned was a man of action and could not wait to defeat the rebels. On the other hand General Washington worried constantly about the lack on training and experience his men had. Most of all General Washington worried about his shortage of firearms and ammunition. The author quotes a line General Washington wrote to his brother stating that he had fewer bullets than riffles and not enough rifles for every man and not enough men to win the war. At one point General Washington requested that new enlistees bring their firearms from the farms with them when they reported for duty. It may be that I am a veteran but for what ever reason the thought of arriving to duty with my own weapon in hand is an image that I could not begin to imagine. This section was also full of correspondence back and forth between General Washington and his wife. I was surprised at the level of detail General Washington gave his wife about military affairs while he at the same time deceiving his key leaders. McCullough points out that Washington was secretive never letting his subordinates know how desperate their situation was. He was always concerned with his soldiers moral and said in a letter to his brother that he would rather be an enlisted soldier than hold the position he currently held. McCullough ends the section with great joy at the arrival of General Knox to Dorchester with the badly needed cannons. The future looked bright for the rebels, and I could not wait to start the next section.
McCullough called part two “Fateful Summer” because General Washington has come to the realization “that the fate unborn millions now depends on their success”. Once again the author uses a direct quote to open this chapter. General Washington conveyed in no uncertain terms to his soldiers that failure was not an option. Much of this section of the book is told through the memoirs of Major Joseph Reed, General John Sullivan and General Rufus Putnam. McCullough made it obvious at this point there was no unity among the colonies. Most of the Generals were from the south and revered themselves better soldiers than those from the northern colonies. A conversation between Generals Graydon and Washington they agreed that “Yankees were a miserably constituted” and did not think the northern regiments would be able to hold their ground in battle. In general most of the southern leadership were terribly disappointed when they met the northern regiments that had fought and won in Lexington and Bunker Hill. McCullough points out the difficulty many on the men had in joining forces with the regiments from the northern colonies. Washington himself was quoted as saying he did not have a problem with free negroes but was not particularly conformable with them in his ranks. McCullough portrayed the young soldiers as men that lacked discipline and training. To compound matters prostitutions was running ramped in the streets of New York and a large number of General Washingtons men fell victim to sexually transmitted diseases for which there was no cure at the time. Between venereal disease and smallpox General Washington estimated that he lost 10,000 men to include several low ranking officers. At this point in the book I was questioning how America ever became an independent nation. The answer came by the hand of Thomas Jefferson in a declaration renouncing the colonies allegiance to the King; the declaration severed as a point of no returns for every one not just the soldiers.