Jim Johnson's Reviews > 1776

Although classified as a work of history, this book reads more like a novel. It begins with the story of the siege of Boston by the Americans under the command of George Washington. It is partly tragic for the British troops and Loyalists under the command of William Howe, but he decided at the last minute to board ships and retreat from Boston rather than engage the American troops surrounding him and his men. Part I tells the background of this battle and the series of events leading up to the victory of Washington and his troops, who were also led by Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene. In contrast with Boston, the next site of battle in New York posed a much greater challenge for the Americans; still, they brought forth the Declaration of Independence, which put new spirit in the Americans with a new hope of liberty and freedom. The ultimately successful strategy employed by the British and their Hessian allies resulted in far more Americans killed, wounded and captured than on the victorious side. An interesting observation is that a number of the Americans were bayoneted (often to trees) after they had surrendered, although the author maintains that “no mass atrocities were committed” (181). Despite the defeat, the Americans, under the capable leadership of Washington and his subordinates, such as Thomas Mifflin, were able to use a favorable storm to retreat from Brooklyn virtually unharmed. Like a number of other instances in the book, this episode showed the Americans wresting some glory out of the hands of defeat, when the cause seemed lost.
Chap. 6 tells how at one point Howe and other British generals were charmed by Mrs. Robert Murray, a Quaker, who invited them to an afternoon tea at her country home at Murray Hill, known then as Inclenberg; this delayed them so that American troops were able to escape further defeat after being bested at Kips Bay. Soon after, the Americans enjoyed a minor victory in the Battle of Harlem Heights as they routed the British and sent them fleeing. In all these battles, leadership was a major issue for Washington, who came to realize that the problem was not so much the troops as the leaders, who needed better training and better payment. The devastating American defeats at Fort Washington and Fort Lee then led to Washington and his troops heading south to New Jersey. During all this, some of Washington’s subordinates began to question his leadership and the situation started to look grim. As the contemporary eloquent Thomas Paine expressed it, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Not surprisingly the British also were experiencing internal conflicts, with Charles Cornwallis chosen to replace Henry Clinton as Howe’s second in command. The pursuit of the Americans by the British proceeded from Newark to Brunswick and then ever closer to Philadelphia at the town of Trenton. The book ends with dramatic successive American victories at Trenton and Princeton. The former, in particular, turned the tide of this important stage of the war. The war between Americans and British actually went on for another six and a half years, until finally the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1893. The book maintains that Washington ultimately held the army together, above all with his perseverance, and rightly deserved the most credit for winning America’s independence; still, the book treats him objectively, showing both his strengths and weaknesses. This book is very well researched and narrated in a way to keep the reader’s interest throughout. Indeed, the struggle for American independence is a topic to engage most, if not all, American readers, and these readers will not be disappointed.