Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency (20 page)
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Authors: Logan Beirne
Tags: #American Revolution, #Founding Fathers, #George Washington, #18th Century
BOOK: Blood of Tyrants: George Washington & the Forging of the Presidency
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Violently propelled by exploding gunpowder, the musket ball rolled around the gun’s barrel in an erratic spin. Like an inexperienced pitcher trying to throw a curve ball, the musket sent the ball hurling on an unpredictable path. A famous British marksman noted that “a soldier’s musket, if not exceedingly ill-bored (as many of them were), will strike the figure of a man at eighty yards” or perhaps more, but at a distance much farther than that, “you may as well fire at the moon and have the same hope of hitting your object.”
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Although this clumsy musket was the preferred weapon, both sides of the conflict had varied arsenals at their disposal.
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Although this clumsy musket was the preferred weapon, both sides of the conflict had varied arsenals at their disposal.
Both the Americans and the British used rifles as well. Rifles enabled far greater accuracy, but they were often “more noisy than useful” in warfare, for three main reasons.
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First, they required a longer reload time. While a trained soldier could reload a musket in about thirty seconds, a rifle could require a multiple of that time since the powder needed to be packed more tightly. And those extra seconds could mean the difference between life and death as the enemy swarmed towards him. Second, line marksmen had little chance to make use of their rifles’ accuracy: they lacked the time, and often they could not see well enough to aim amidst the smoke of battle. Finally, the rifle’s third fatal flaw was that it lacked a bayonet. Muskets were often fitted with sharp metal bayonets at the end of their barrel so the gun could be used like a spear. This was crucial. Just as a schoolyard fight might start out with punches and turn into a close grappling match, a battle of armies would often progress from distant shots to messy hand-to-hand combat. These factors helped ensure that the musket remained the weapon of choice for modern armies—fortuitously for Washington.
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First, they required a longer reload time. While a trained soldier could reload a musket in about thirty seconds, a rifle could require a multiple of that time since the powder needed to be packed more tightly. And those extra seconds could mean the difference between life and death as the enemy swarmed towards him. Second, line marksmen had little chance to make use of their rifles’ accuracy: they lacked the time, and often they could not see well enough to aim amidst the smoke of battle. Finally, the rifle’s third fatal flaw was that it lacked a bayonet. Muskets were often fitted with sharp metal bayonets at the end of their barrel so the gun could be used like a spear. This was crucial. Just as a schoolyard fight might start out with punches and turn into a close grappling match, a battle of armies would often progress from distant shots to messy hand-to-hand combat. These factors helped ensure that the musket remained the weapon of choice for modern armies—fortuitously for Washington.
The young Brits peered eagerly at the large enemy leader draped in his gold-trimmed blue coat astride a brawny, brown horse. Their glorious target mere yards away, they pulled their triggers, emitting a cloud of gunpowder that singed their hands and nostrils. The lead balls bounced around the chambers of their muskets, burst out haphazardly, and spun harmlessly past Washington and his horse. This gave the irate commander’s aides the opportunity to usher him to safety. Thus, the clumsiness of the old musket design saved the Revolution, allowing the commander an opportunity to flee with his troops up Manhattan.
While disgraced by his troops’ cowardly retreat, Washington did see one of his goals accomplished: the Americans left the British with a nasty surprise.
Downtown Manhattan erupted into a raging inferno. Although Congress had forbade Washington from destroying the city, some of his less deferential compatriots apparently took matters into their own hands. Ardent in their attachment to the revolutionary cause, some patriots declared that they “would set fire to their own houses sooner than they should be occupied by the King’s troops.”
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Around midnight on September 21, 1776, a fire broke out at Fighting Cocks Tavern and simultaneously in other downtown locations.
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How it started was never proven, but Americans and British alike believed that the patriots used “matches and combustibles that had been prepared with great art and ingenuity” to set the town ablaze.
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Around midnight on September 21, 1776, a fire broke out at Fighting Cocks Tavern and simultaneously in other downtown locations.
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How it started was never proven, but Americans and British alike believed that the patriots used “matches and combustibles that had been prepared with great art and ingenuity” to set the town ablaze.
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Aided by the summer evening’s warm breeze, the fire quickly spread among the wooden homes and shipping wharves. The sky soon turned a smoky red as the scorching heat engulfed a quarter of the city. Because Washington had taken many of the city’s church bells for smelting into cannon, the British had difficulty sounding an alarm.
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This not only slowed the containment effort but also exacerbated the panic. Many of the sleeping townspeople were not awakened to the danger until the fire was lapping at their doors. Others did not wake at all. One aghast British soldier described the heartrending scene:
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This not only slowed the containment effort but also exacerbated the panic. Many of the sleeping townspeople were not awakened to the danger until the fire was lapping at their doors. Others did not wake at all. One aghast British soldier described the heartrending scene:
It is impossible to conceive a scene of more horror and distress . . . . The sick, the aged, women, and children half naked were seen going they knew not where, and taking refuge . . . . The terror was encreased by the horrid noise of the burning and falling houses . . . the confused voices of so many men, the shrieks and cries of the women and children, the seeing the fire break out unexpectedly in places in the distance, which manifested a design of totally destroying the city . . . made this one of the most tremendous and affecting scenes I ever beheld.
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The redcoats wanted instant revenge. Mobs of British soldiers and Tories seized two suspected patriot saboteurs and threw them into the fire. The British brutally cut off the hand of another patriot suspect and hung him up by his feet.
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Some inevitably suspected that Washington was secretly behind the plot—especially in light of his professed desire to burn the city. “Many circumstances lead to conjecture that Mr. Washington was privy to this villainous act,” it was asserted.
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Finding “villainy even in the virtuous Washington,” the British pegged the arsonists as his “emissaries.”
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It is unlikely that Washington was directly complicit in starting the fires since Congress had forbade him and he remained deferential. But that did not mean he was unhappy about the blaze. Privately he applauded the destruction since he was convinced that the congressmen’s order was an imprudent one. “Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves,” he wrote.
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Finding “villainy even in the virtuous Washington,” the British pegged the arsonists as his “emissaries.”
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It is unlikely that Washington was directly complicit in starting the fires since Congress had forbade him and he remained deferential. But that did not mean he was unhappy about the blaze. Privately he applauded the destruction since he was convinced that the congressmen’s order was an imprudent one. “Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves,” he wrote.
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While Washington would have liked to see the whole of Manhattan burn to the ground, about a quarter of it did. And the Americans were not done making the British miserable.
Desperate to stand up to the British after months of defeat, Washington eventually succeeded in organizing a counterattack. He knew that even a moral victory would do much to assure Congress that their budding faith in him was justified. At Harlem Heights, miles north of the British forces, he got his troops to stop their panicked flight and huddle in a line of trenches that stretched across the woods and buckwheat fields that dominated the area.
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There, in the late summer heat, they lay in wait for their pursuers. His trap set, Washington patrolled on horseback, ready to ambush the rapidly advancing British forces.
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There, in the late summer heat, they lay in wait for their pursuers. His trap set, Washington patrolled on horseback, ready to ambush the rapidly advancing British forces.
When the redcoats finally arrived at Harlem Heights, they were stunned. Expecting the Americans to run away as usual, they “were never so surprised” as to see the Americans charging at them instead.
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The patriots fought ferociously, and many lives were lost on both sides. But then an unusual thing happened. From the booming smoke of battle, a mass of red uniforms began to real backwards. For the first time in the New York campaign, the British retreated. One “mortified” British officer later wrote to a friend, “If I only had a pair of pistols, I am sure I would at least have shot a puppy of an officer I found slinking off in the heat of the action.”
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The patriots fought ferociously, and many lives were lost on both sides. But then an unusual thing happened. From the booming smoke of battle, a mass of red uniforms began to real backwards. For the first time in the New York campaign, the British retreated. One “mortified” British officer later wrote to a friend, “If I only had a pair of pistols, I am sure I would at least have shot a puppy of an officer I found slinking off in the heat of the action.”
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The Americans had little time to gloat, however. British reinforcements soon arrived, and Washington prudently decided to retreat rather than pursue. Although his instinct was to fight, his level head prevailed. He knew that winning the war required him to protect his army.
Had Washington ordered a full retreat days earlier, as he had contemplated, the patriots would have had time to evacuate in an orderly fashion. But the commander had bowed to political pressure and the delays permitted the disastrous redcoat assault. Thus the evacuation was so chaotic that a large battalion became detached from Washington. Trailing behind, this 3,500-man force was marching up Manhattan away from the British invasion when it came terrifyingly close to an enemy contingent of 8,000 advancing along the same road. The British would easily have decimated the American force but for an unexpected bit of good luck named Mary Murray.
While Congress’s political pressure and meddling had helped get the Continental Army into this mess, she would help get them out. An ardent patriot who lived on that road, the fifty-one-year-old Quaker still possessed the wiles to attract the British officers’ attention. And work her charm she did, luring them into her home. Inside, she showered them with jokes, cakes, and generous helpings of wine.
Inexplicably, “they were induced to tarry two hours or more.” As the officers lingered with Mrs. Murray and her Portuguese wine, the patriots fled to safety. “It became almost a common saying among our officers,” wrote one soldier, “that Mrs. Murray saved this part of the American army.”
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Mrs. Murray may have helped them live to fight another day, but the Americans’ problems were far from over. With all the desertion and defeat, Washington’s army was now mostly a ragtag group of neophytes. One redcoat described them as a band of “lads under 15, and old men. And few of them had the appearance of soldiers. Their odd figures frequently excited the laughter of our soldiers.”
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The British were shocked to discover that the American soldiers were not even all male. The revolutionary cause was so desperate for manpower that some women entered the fight.
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The British were shocked to discover that the American soldiers were not even all male. The revolutionary cause was so desperate for manpower that some women entered the fight.
When John Adams wrote his wife of the army’s defeats, Abigail Adams confidently declared that if the men failed, the British forces would then be forced to fight “a race of Amazons in America.”
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And the British side certainly did confront some ferocious American women. The patriot ladies were particularly active on the home front, quartering soldiers, defending their homes, and hiding supplies from enemy raids. By working the fields and sewing uniforms, they fed and outfitted the troops. And as these ardent patriots played their part, God help those who opposed them.
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And the British side certainly did confront some ferocious American women. The patriot ladies were particularly active on the home front, quartering soldiers, defending their homes, and hiding supplies from enemy raids. By working the fields and sewing uniforms, they fed and outfitted the troops. And as these ardent patriots played their part, God help those who opposed them.
In one comical incident, a “stingy merchant” in Boston refused to sell his coffee, a commodity that was in very short supply. His refusal was seen as unpatriotic and it brought the ire of the local populace. Fed up, a hundred or more caffeine-deprived women marched down to demand the coffee. But when they arrived, the wealthy bachelor rebuffed them—not the smartest move. As “a large concourse of men stood amazed,” one of the women “seized him by his neck and tossed him into the cart.” Thoroughly frightened, the merchant handed over his keys and the women seized the coffee. The miser purportedly received multiple spankings before the women finally released him.
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Some women even followed the men right onto the battlefield. Like many others, Mary Hays McCauley was eager to take an active role in the fight for independence. She followed her husband to the army camp, where she cooked and cared for the soldiers. But the fiery twenty-three-year-old did not stop there; she became a “pitcher,” bringing water to cool the cannon that her husband manned. A strong, heavyset woman described as having a florid complexion and a love of banter, she dashed through the smoke, whizzing to and fro, helping her husband and his fellow soldiers.
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Accounts of the battle say that when her husband was wounded, an enraged Mary grabbed a ramrod, hiked up her dress, took over the cannon and continued to fire incessantly at the approaching British. Both the Americans and their enemies were stunned. Joseph Martin described the scene in his diary:
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Accounts of the battle say that when her husband was wounded, an enraged Mary grabbed a ramrod, hiked up her dress, took over the cannon and continued to fire incessantly at the approaching British. Both the Americans and their enemies were stunned. Joseph Martin described the scene in his diary:
One little incident happened, during the heat of the cannonade, which I was eye-witness to, and which I think would be unpardonable not to mention. . . . [W]hile in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat, looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed, that it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and ended her and her occupation.
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Even Washington was reportedly impressed. Mary and her husband survived the battle and she returned home to live a good, long life.
Mary Hays McCauley was far from the only female soldier among the patriots. Not only did other women jump to the aid of soldiers in battle, but some even enlisted.
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In fact, “It was not an unusual circumstance to find women in the ranks disguised as men, such was their ardor for independence.”
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The Americans needed all the help they could get, and Washington certainly appreciated patriotic zeal from wherever it came.
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In fact, “It was not an unusual circumstance to find women in the ranks disguised as men, such was their ardor for independence.”
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The Americans needed all the help they could get, and Washington certainly appreciated patriotic zeal from wherever it came.
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Washington’s men (and women) not only faced the well-trained redcoats, but also Britain’s German mercenaries—the dreaded “Hessians.” In the eighteenth century, Germany was not yet a united nation but a patchwork of impoverished smaller states. These agricultural communities had little commercial activity and poor farmland but droves of excellent fighters. And so their rulers utilized this resource by selling mercenary services to other princes and nobles around Europe. The German states became the largest suppliers of soldiers in the world and charged a premium for their men’s fighting prowess.
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Ever mindful of its coffers, England had first attempted to obtain cheaper troops. British envoys requested soldiers from Catherine the Great in Russia and Frederick the Great in Prussia, but both Greats refused. To them, lending troops to the British war machine was akin to throwing their young men to the wolves. After approaching the Netherlands and even considering the Moors in Morocco, the British finally decided that the Hessian warriors were worth their price.
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And it was steep. In fact, the Duke of Brunswick sent just 4,300 soldiers but received 160,000 pounds (roughly equivalent to $300 million in modern U.S. dollars), while another noble used the profits from his fighters to build a new castle. Taking on this hefty expense, Britain hired 30,000 German mercenaries to crush the American rebellion.
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And it was steep. In fact, the Duke of Brunswick sent just 4,300 soldiers but received 160,000 pounds (roughly equivalent to $300 million in modern U.S. dollars), while another noble used the profits from his fighters to build a new castle. Taking on this hefty expense, Britain hired 30,000 German mercenaries to crush the American rebellion.
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