The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston 1777-1780, Atkinson - A*

                This magnificent history continues in France in the winter of 1777. The king and government were more than willing to forward endless amounts of contraband to the Americans, as any revenge against the British was exhilarating. In the capital, Franklin lied, prevaricated, and hustled for any and all help for liberty, egalite and fraternite in the colonies. In Bordeaux, Lafayette and the Bavarian, de Kalb, were plotting to escape to America. The marquis, only nineteen and one of the richest men in France, left against his king's and family's wishes. Only his wife approved.

               By July 1, the British army of 8,000 men had travelled 400 miles from Quebec to just north of Ft. Ticonderoga, the first objective of Gen. John Burgoyne's plan that would be followed by Ft. Edward, and Albany. Gen. Arthur St. Clair opposed with 2,000 men. Within days of the first shot, the Americans retreated. By the end of the month, the British were at Ft. Edward.  It had taken three weeks to go 23 miles. Supply shortages and the rugged frontier were slowing Burgoyne down.  

               To the south in New York City, Gen. William Howe worried about the breadth of his responsibilities and the length of his 3,000 mile supply line. He decided to break the stalemate by sailing to Philadelphia, leaving Gen. Henry Clinton behind to defend the city, ignoring the propitious advance that Burgoyne was making. Clinton argued endlessly for an advance north to support Burgoyne. On the 23rd of July, 280 Royal Navy vessels set sail. Howe opted for the long route to the Chesapeake, rather than the Delaware River. Washington had no inkling of where the British were headed. In late August he found out, and marched the army south through Philadelphia and on to Wilmington.

               In upstate New York, "the Canada Army remained fifty miles north of Albany, struggling in this hostile land to build up sufficient strength for a final lunge down the Hudson." Burgoyne was suffering from a serious lack of supplies.  A sally to the east ended in a rout at Bennington. Relief from the west was beaten back at Ft. Stanwix.

              After a month at sea, the British landed on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Washington's nineteen thousand men dug in at Brandywine Creek. Led by Gen. Charles Cornwallis, the British left outflanked the Americans. By dusk on Sept. 11, the Americans were in retreat. A British officer observed that Washington "beats us in running and nothing else." Two weeks later, the British entered the capital city. Twelve thousand Philadelphians had abandoned the city. Twice as many remained. Two weeks later, Washington attacked Cornwallis at Germantown. The Americans prevailed until they lost touch with their flanks in the dense and rocky forest.  

          In New York, Burgoyne wrote that he never anticipated "such a tract of country and hosts of foes without any cooperation" from Howe. After Burgoyne crossed on a temporary bridge which he then destroyed, a German general said "the Hudson has become the Rubicon." Burgoyne was approaching an army twice his, meticulously prepared by Gen. Horatio Gates, Gen. Benedict Arnold, and Col. Thaddeus Kosciusko. The lines were manned by experienced fighters, and skilled frontiersmen.  On Sept. 19, Burgoyne attacked. The battle was engaged at Freeman's Farm and fought all afternoon, on an 800 by 400 yard wheat field that changed hands six times. At day's end, the British held the farm. The British casualties were 566 men, the Americans a bit more than half that. It was a stalemate. On Oct. 3rd, Clinton sent forces north from Manhattan to assist Burgoyne. His men were stopped just south of Kingston. On Oct. 7, Burgoyne attacked at Bemus Heights on the American left. The day was soon lost. For the Americans, Benedict Arnold had carried the day as he had done the previous month.  Soon, the British were in full retreat. On Oct.17, they surrendered. America was triumphant and exultant. 

          As the year closed, many British officers were despairing of the fight in a continent where two key cities, Boston and Charleston, were separated by a thousand miles of hostile territory. It had taken the Royal Navy two months from the time the army reached Philadelphia to fight through multiple naval and ground acts of guerrilla warfare to join the army in the capital. Washington was just north in Valley Forge with 19,000 soldiers. Gen. Howe requested he be allowed to retire.

      In London, George III felt "rebellion posed the threat of mortal disorder" and "demonstrated intolerable contempt for a sovereign Parliament, as well as the sovereign himself." He could not fathom that the UK had prevailed against superior forces in the Seven Years War but could not vanquish such a minuscule opponent. Many ministers feared that the bad news from America would embolden France and Spain. Opposition in the Commons was rising.

      In Paris, the French were concerned about a British-American collusion leading to an attack on the French Caribbean possessions. The news of Saratoga reached Franklin on the 4th of December. Within two days, the king approved negotiations, and a month later, France recognized the new nation and the US had an ally.  At Valley Forge, the Continental Army survived a winter of desertions and a frightening lack of supplies. The news from France led to an explosion of national joy. When Gen. Clinton arrived in Philadelphia to replace Gen. Howe, he received orders from London to return the army to New York and prepare to fight the French and Spanish. He began a march through New Jersey. The Continentals harassed his rear and flanks until June 28th when the armies met at Monmouth Court House. The battle was a draw, and the British continued their march to New York. Washington headed to White Plains. After three years of war, Britain held New York City, and Narragansett Bay. 

      The French arrived in July, and at the end of the month  attacked Newport, which Clinton had recently reinforced. Ten British ships were scuttled, as the French entered the harbor. The ground attack consisted of French and American troops. When the British fleet appeared outside the harbor, the French withdrew to engage them at sea.  The fleets were scattered by such a fierce storm that both flagships were dismasted. When the French retired to Boston without returning to the fight in Newport, American morale suffered, and the British rallied. Fearing the return of the Royal Navy, the Americans withdrew. The British retained Newport. As the year drew to a close, the British sent forces south to the Caribbean, and to Savannah. They captured the Georgia capital in late December.

       The Spanish joined the French in the war against Britain in the Spring of 1778. In less than a year, the British had gone from "battling a noxious insurrection on the end of the earth to fighting a world war against two formidable adversaries." In New York, Clinton worried about being blamed for the loss of the war and complained endlessly to London about its failure to properly supply both materials and men. The year's strategy began in Hampton Roads, Virginia. A flotilla of twenty-eight ships and 2,500 men sailed from New York in May. The British plundered the area around Hampton Roads Bay for ten days essentially unopposed.   Clinton and Washington skirmished in the lower reaches of the Hudson River.  

      The English Channel saw a series of naval battles in August and September. The French had spent a fortune upgrading their navy and had thousands of men ready to invade England.  Nothing  came of their efforts. In the Caribbean, the French defeated the British Fleet at the Battle of Grenada, thus decimating much of Britain's sugar exports. The French money, men, and large naval presence in North America had made it impossible for Britain to recapture America.  Clinton abandoned Newport. Believing their success in Savannah could be replicated in Charleston, Clinton opted for a southern strategy.  The north was suffering its harshest winter in living memory when Clinton, with half of his army, sailed to Charleston arriving in February. They landed on the 9th, twenty-five miles south of Charleston. By the end of March, Britain had surrounded and blockaded Charleston. In early May, the garrison surrendered. The southern half of the US was unprotected. The United States suffered a significant strategic defeat in the war's fifth year. Clinton thought he had won the war. Much of Britain's elites never understood that the vast majority ofAmerican subjects of the Crown wanted the independence they demanded. Nor did they appear to understand that endlessly pillaging, marauding, and burning many US coastal enclaves endeared then to no one. Clinton left Charleston and 9,000 men under Cornwallis' command to march north in 1780. In London, George III could not see any advantage to letting the Americans go free. He believed most of his subjects were loyal. In his winter quarters, Washington received Lafayette, who had just returned from Versailles. France would not just send ships, but 6,000 soldiers as well. They would be placed under Washington's command.

     The author is probably my favorite historian and I do hope it doesn't take six years to publish the next book. I am beginning to finally appreciate that, although in American history teachings this war is portrayed as a dynamic victory over the empire, it really was much more like the post-WWII era when in the colonies of the European nations fought guerrilla wars of independence.