"The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (The Revolution Trilogy)" by Rick Atkinson

Above: The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 (The Revolution Trilogy) 560 pages.

It is said that "the moment makes the man." Despite Washington's imperfections and doubts, he summoned up enough strength to see the job through drawing from his core belief in the primacy of individual freedom as a God given right.

I completed reading this book today.

Historical Highlights: 1775 to 1777

It seems incredible. A rag tag aggregation of uncoordinated, disparate colonial militias known as the American Continental Army, full of untrained citizen soldiers, face off against the world's most formidable fighting force, and, after two years fighting, remarkably, have the British Army on the run.

The naïve American colonials had come up with the ridiculous idea that being taxed by their rulers without any representation was something they could not abide. Amazingly, they were willing to disrupt their already difficult lives to fight to secure freedom from Britain and create a country where government could not infringe on certain inalienable rights... rights that government should safeguard, not rights that government dispenses. What dreamers! Wait! What?!! They prevailed?!!

After Lexington and Concord, the Continentals experienced military gains in late 1775 to early 1776, including a successful siege which forced the British to relinquish their hold over Boston, and a resounding defeat of the British in Charleston.

The Continentals tried and failed to secure Canada in the early goings of their revolutionary movement. Retreating from Canada, the Yankees, at least, were able to secure Fort Ticonderoga, an inland bastion on Lake Champlain.

In August 1776, the Continentals lost New York City to the British at the Battle of Long Island in what turned out to be the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. After their defeat in New York, the Americans were chased south across New Jersey by the British to finally cross the Delaware River to hole up in Philadelphia for the winter of 1777/78.

The smug British, on the heels of their success in forcing the Continentals on the run in New Jersey, were confident of ultimate victory come Spring 1778. They decided spend the winter in Trenton and Princeton and then in the spring of 1778, renew their offensive against the Yankees.

The Brit head guys were so confident of their position of advantage that they left the field for the winter. British Army head, General Howe, returned to Britain. His number two, General Cornwallis, returned to the urbane life in British controlled New York City.

But, Continental leader, George Washington, seemingly at the nadir of the American war effort, did what the British assumed to be unthinkable. On a cold Christmas night, 1777, he rallied five thousand tired, hungry and freezing Continental troops to cross the Delaware River in bateaux and attack British affiliated, caught-with-their-guard-down, Hessian troops in Trenton.

Over the course of the next week, following the rout of the Hessians in Trenton, Washington, and his rag tag group of Continental soldiers, surprised the British garrison at Princeton, routed them, and secured a Continental Army stronghold from Philadelphia, north through the backcountry, to Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain.

It was a new day for the Continentals. They were back in the game. Britain's sea power was diminishing, the Brits had New York City, but General Washington owned the inland areas... and, Ben Franklin was working his magic in France. So ends the first of three books (two to be written) by Rick Atkinson on the American Revolutionary War.

The Cast

The Revolutionary War saga is really a story about incredible people. Those people highlighted in this first book of the anticipated Atkinson trilogy are:

Charles Lee: An American general who became legendary following his rout of the British fleet in Charleston, South Carolina in early 1776. But, he secretly began to rail against "the ineptitude" of American commander, George Washington, and was later fired for his disloyalty.

Henry Knox: A former bookseller who became Washington's artillery head. Loyal to Washington to the end.

Benjamin Franklin: Autodidactic, jack of all trades, and master of many of them, was America's chief diplomat. Atkinson's fifteen page account of Franklin in Paris in 1776 to engage the assistance of the French is wonderfully told.

Nathan Hale: Captured by the British as a spy in New York City, he is famous for having said, facing his imminent death on the gallows, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country." Washington was livid when he heard of Hale's execution. It became a motivational event to undergird Washington's resolve during times of despair.

Tom Paine: Thomas Paine was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist, and revolutionary. He authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American Revolution and inspired the patriots in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era ideals of transnational human rights. Historian Saul K. Padover described him as "a corset maker by trade, a journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination."

Benedict Arnold: For the first two years of the war, Arnold was viewed by Washington as one of his savviest, most capable generals. His foray in 1775 to secure Canada was not successful, but in retreat he was credited with saving Fort Ticonderoga, a critical, strategically important Continental outpost. Arnold's name has become a synonym for "traitor," but during the first two years of the war, which this book covers, Arnold was a highly valued asset in the American cause.

Nathanial Greene: Was once viewed as a "blue eyed bumpkin," but he later became one of the Revolutionary War's most brilliant battle captains.

George Washington: For much of the first two years of the war, Washington, in command of the American war effort, was tentative, indecisive, and despondent. Some of his most valued generals (Charles Lee, for one) "murmured" behind his back. His army was made up of citizen soldiers who had farms to run and families to care for. He had to cajole his soldiers to keep up the fight when their enlistment times were over. He often had no money to pay the troops... no supplies.... no shoes... no winter clothing. On the run, nearly down and out, in Philadelphia in the winter of 1777, George Washington learns the difficult art of leadership when the war seems all but lost.

King George III: Atkinson's account is also told from the British perspective, making it even more compelling.

Loyalists

Many, colonial Americans were loyal to the crown during the war. This complicated matters for both sides. Which colonist was "fer" you and which was "agin" you?

I have long thought it a blessing in disguise that Britain was able to hold on to Canada. Post Revolutionary War loyalists staying on in the new, emerging United States, would have been lost in a new nation where sacrifice, independent thinking, self reliance, entrepreneurship, and a love of individual liberty were essential attributes of citizenship.

George III's fawning colonial loyalists needed a place to go after the war and Canada, still in Britain's possession, filled the bill. The reputation Canadians have today of being, laid back, super polite, obsequious and compliant dates back to their penchant in colonial times to willingly, slavishly, unquestioningly, malleably, submit to the demands of venal centralized authority.

Ruminations

"The British are Coming" reads like a novel. Its not a turgid, ponderous read. There were a lot of uncommon vocabulary words. "Bargemen" and "calumnies" are knowable, and easy to figure out... but, not in common usage. "Hors de combat" is used without italic emphasis.

I knew the headlines of the revolutionary war. I have visited Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. But, reading Atkinson's account in older age has helped me understand the war in new ways.

Working in New York City for three years (1988 to 1991), I never thought about being on a former battle field where conflict had significantly altered the course of history. As I regularly channel the historical events of Summit County, Utah, where I now live eg. Mormon pioneers, transcontinental railway etc., I regret not making recollections of Revolutionary War events in New York City part of my experience there.

As I was reading the book, I tried to understand the Revolutionary War in broader historical context. My focus is on India, with which I have some familiartiy. During the 1770's, simultaneous with the rising movement for American independence, the British East India Company (BEIC) was reaching its prime in India. BEIC functionaries, Warren Hastings and Robert Clive, had become the functional equivalent of billionaires today.

Tipu Sultan, of Mysore, was aligning himself with the French in a bid to ward off British East India Company's appetite for growing hegemony in the sub continent.

After the Revolutionary War, in the 1790's, Lord Cornwallis, who surrendered to Washington at Yorktown, Virginia in 1881, thereby sealing American victory in the Revolutionary War, would become on site Governor of the British East India Company, resident in Calcutta.

Arthur Wellesley, later known as the Duke of Wellington, would cut his military teeth as a young BEIC Colonel, leading troops to fight Tipu Sultan. Wellington never fought in America, but did fight as a young lieutenant in Seven Years War skirmishes against the French contiguously with the American rebellion.

Napoleon would become emperor of France in 1804. And the Duke of Wellington would lead the charge to defeat him at the Battle of Waterloo, fought in 1815.

Its mind bending to try to imagine the scope and reach of the British Empire in the 1770's. You'd think that Britain would have more than enough on its plate dealing with the American rebellion. But, there was India, the Far East, Southern Africa, and the British spawned industrial revolution all keeping George III busy as well.

We learn from Atkinson's book that the maximum number of British troops and naval force committed to the Revolutionary War represented only half of Britain's military resources. Britain had a lot going on.

Much of American history at the time I learned it was sugarcoated. We never learned about George Washington's imperfections. But, Atkinson is skilled in showing that Washington made mistakes, had faults, and doubts about his ability to prevail. We know this from Washington's writings to John Hancock, then head of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Many of Washington's notes, preserved today, were hastily written on scraps of paper.

It is said that "the moment makes the man." Despite Washington's imperfections and doubts, he summoned up enough strength to see the job through drawing from his core belief in the primacy of individual freedom as a God given right.

It is astounding to realize that as of the end of this book, the Revolutionary War has six more years to go. Books two and three of the Revolutionary War trilogy are yet to be published... yet to be read. Considering the difficulty experienced by Washington and the Continentals during the first two years of the war, it is hard, now, to imagine how they ultimately prevail, as we know they did. I look forward to reading Atkinson's next two instalments.