Book Review: 1776 by David McCullough - Page 2

This was a younger Washington than our dollar-hero; this is the 40-something on whose shoulders rested the rest of the story - English colony or world power. He won and we became the world power. Only now do we worry of a nation in decline, its Constitution emperiled by the loss of memory of our revolutionary roots and the devotion of the men who forged a democratic republic ruled by law, not kings. This was the man who, even then, became a hero, a national hero before there was a nation.

McCullough gave me a far better picture of these mythological characters than I have had before. Washington, the Virginia gentlemen and slave-holder, is different than our popular myth. No apple tree here, but a man who sits tall on his horse, who presents his uniform as a symbol and frets over the problems of his command. He received the command from the Continental Congress but warned them that he might not be up to the task. The problems and, during that year, the routs and failures, some of them his failures, the dead and dying, the cold men in the storm heading down the road to the Delaware River on the retreat from the Battle of Brookly, are his burden, which he bears quietly.

In the beginning of August during the rebel siege of Boston, Washington discovers that there are less than 10,000 pounds of gunpowder. He now knows that the army which is to fight the experienced British army and hired Hessians has about nine rounds per man. "According to one account, Washington was so stunned by the report he did not utter a word for half an hour."

"These are," wrote Thomas Paine in The Crisis in December, 1776, "the times that try men's souls." Washington's soul is tried. He worries about the undisciplined army that often walks off when their short enlistments are up. In the middle of a battle, he must “change” armies. The Congress has given him a command but not enough money. A fighting army, we know, crawls on its' collective wallets.

After the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn and the loss of Fort Washington, New York City is lost and the victory for the Continental Army is only their successful retreat. It is possible to gain support by a disciplined retreat that leaves the enemy surprised that you are gone. But retreats do not win wars.

The army marched in the cold toward Philadelphia. Two men froze to death during the march. General Nathanael Greene had, wisely, suggested a trail of supplies for the retreat that had to come given the British fleet and the nature of New York harbor. It had always been indefensible and somehow Washington ignored that fact until he could no longer defend it. He was brave and charismatic and led the colonies to nationhood. He was not always right.

Article Author: Howard Dratch

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