Krishna
My God, what a novel rendition of a nonfiction story! The presentation was very interesting!
The title should give you a clue on what the story is all about. Yes, this is the independence story of US: the rebellion of the British colonies, the attempt by the British to bring the rebels to heel and the leadership of George Washington and others in US towards the fight for independence.
You have read the story in your history books or other narrations – a dry, plain speaking narrative, that is interesting to you if you are a history buff. This book attempts to make it interesting to a layman, and in the attempt, manages to surprise you (At least me, since I did not know the details of the US independence struggle. It surprised me several times, in fact. )
The story starts with King George III pondering the trouble the American colony is causing the mighty empire. We learn about loyalists in the US who are against the efforts of George Washington and fools aligned with him trying to be independent. (Samuel Cuwen was an example of a loyalist).
The first surprise is in the story telling itself. It reads like how the story would have unfolded in newspapers, if the newspapers like today’s papers (think The New York Times). It talks about the personalities, what they said; it quotes reactions to individual events by the participants in the event (for instance Washington’s reaction to a major defeat in the battles with the English). This gives a unique flavour to the story.
The second surprise is how inept the Americans were altogether. From reading this, you get the impression that it was very hard for the British to lose this war, very near impossible; yet they managed to do it!
Also interesting are the side tidbits: consider, for instance, the strange behavior—the so-called “madness” of King George III—for which he would be long remembered, did not come until much later, more than twenty years later, and rather than mental illness, it appears to have been porphyria, a hereditary disease not diagnosed until the twentieth century. Omterestomg/
American side had some colourful characters : We learn about Nathaniel Limp with no experience but a master intelligent and strategist, taught himself to read and taught himself military strategy too. But otherwise, the Americans only had a ragtag army with plenty of rum and food; the soldiers were simply farmers who did not even have a proper uniform or weapons. They brought whatever they had at home – axes, hammers, etc. They were trying to face the mighty army of the British, the most disciplined and the strongest force in the world at that time!
Vignettes like General Putnam asking an officer (corporal) to remove a rock because he is a General and will not do it. Nor will the officer!
What about George Washington himself? An interesting portrait including dad being a tobacco planter, very little education. He memorized 110 Rules of Civility because they will be useful when he became a “gentleman”.
Another interesting fact is that originally independence was not the goal even for Washington! King George III’s rigid speeches calling them traitors and refusing to consider more autonomy pushed them towards declaring independence as their goal, later!
Most of the army went back to farms and only the weak and the sick remained on the American side! Many times, if the British had pushed a little harder, they would have crushed the American army! Once for instance, they pushed the rebels out easily but inexplicably decided to stay and rest, instead of pursuing the retreating troops and make an end to the war then and there. But, on the other hand, the British had no intelligence, no idea of the weakness, no plans to guess how enemy will think or act, like Washington always did
The careful plan to occupy Dorchester Heights with cannons brought over is very well told. It is interesting to see how the British lost the good will of many of the people through pillage prior to evacuating Boston which they had occupied. The battle for New York is fun to read and you are surprised at the series of defeats that Washington’s “army” suffered. I don’t think many people have an idea of how one sided and how hopelessly outmatched the American side was by the British troops, in the beginning months of the war!
The reaction to the news of rape by British soldiers by the army higher officers (Lord Bowden said that ‘these acts only show their well fed and boisterous high spirits’) is shocking.
Or consider this quote: “The fair nymphs of this isle are in wonderful tribulation, as the fresh meat our men have got here has made them as riotous as satyrs. A girl cannot step into the bushes to pluck a rose without running the most imminent risk of being ravished, and they are so little accustomed to these vigorous methods that they don’t bear them with the proper resignation, and of consequence we have most entertaining courts-martial every day.” The General Howe was known as “Black Dick” affectionately (Wait, what?).
The letter to Britain written at this time said “The Hessians and our Highlanders gave no quarters [the letter read], and it was a fine thing to see with what alacrity they dispatched the rebels with their bayonets after we had surrendered them so that they could not resist…. You know all stratagems are lawful in war, especially against such vile enemies to their King and country.”
Even on the American side, Washington did not have it easy. His leadership was questioned. His colleague, General Lee, constantly undermined Washington’s arguments to the Congress. As luck would have it, he got stupidly arrested by the British and removed himself as a possible problem.
The story stops well before the independence. The battles raged on and off and the book ends at the real turning point, Washington’s audacious victory at Trenton against all odds and how that started the sequence of events that culminated in independence, a few years later. All in all, a great style and retains your interest in what could have been a dry and familiar subject all the way through.
I think that this book deserves an 8/10
— Krishna