S.W. O'Connell's Blog, page 7

Committee of Secrets

War in the Shadows

Students of insurgencies have long understood the need to deprive the insurgents of external support. In the course of history, few insurgencies or rebellions have succeeded without outside help, which could take the form of moral support, funding, training, weapons, equipment, supplies, political support, and military forces. 

                                                Moro insurgents vs US Army  in Philipines

Early on in the insurgency that would explode into rebellion after Lexington and Concord, the Americans established a means to maintain dialogue and coordination among the colonies and later states. It soon became clear America would need to reach across the Atlantic as well. Winning over Americans were just one piece of the complex struggle now underway. Tapping support in Britain, building alliances with sympathetic countrymen, would also be an important component in gaining recognition for the new nation. And the European powers would also provide a fertile ground for support, if properly “tilled.”

                                                    Burning of Revenue Cutter, Gaspee at                                                       Warwick, RI early act of Insurgency

A Secret Committee

By the time the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1775, this need for international support resulted in the formation of the Committee of Secret Correspondence via two resolutions of 29 November:

RESOLVED, That a committee...would be appointed for the sole purpose of corresponding with our friends in Great Britain, and other parts of the world, and that they lay their correspondence before Congress when directed.

RESOLVED, That this Congress will make provision to defray all such expenses as they may arise by carrying on such correspondence, and for the payment of such agents as the said Committee may send on this service.

Due to the secret nature of the work involved, the members soon added the word “Secret” to its name. The committee received considerable authority from Congress to perform multiple functions: public and secret diplomacy, intelligence gathering, and public relations/influencing opinion. In many ways, it operated as a State Department and CIA. It was the Continental Congress’s eyes and ears in Europe and would soon become its arm in Europe.

                                                  Extract of Committee's Secret Instructions

First Members

Congress did a good job selecting the initial members of the committee, coming up with such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Johnson, John Dickinson, John Jay, and Robert Morris. Others were added later, including James Lovell, former schoolmaster, Bunker Hill veteran (arrested by the British for spying), and member of Congress, who developed the committee’s first codes and ciphers.  One must surmise Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who for many years represented the American colonies with the British government, provided a trove of ideas and actions based on his experience abroad. John Jay and likely the others had experience organizing secret meetings and activities along the road to rebellion while surrounded by rings of Tories anxious to root them out.

                                                       The Committee at Work

Tactics and Tradecraft

It is a tribute to the American leaders of the age that they were so quick to learn and adopt the most sophisticated techniques and practices so long employed by the great powers of Europe. They used clandestine agents overseas, employed covert actions, created codes and ciphers, employed propaganda, and conducted covert postal surveillance of official and private mail. They employed open-source intelligence by purchasing foreign publications, which they analyzed.  Most significantly, they put in place an elaborate communication system, using a variety of couriers.  Another critical innovation was establishing a maritime capability separate from the Continental Navy, for purposes of smuggling, moving agents, and correspondence and interdicting British ships.

                                                  Secure communications were essential

First Actions

The committee moved quickly. They initiated regular correspondence with English Whigs and Scots who supported the ideas if not all the actions, of the Americans.  The experienced and worldly Benjamin Franklin was the most active, initiating correspondence with a wide array of contacts he had developed in Britain and Europe in a sophisticated campaign to build sympathy for the patriot cause.

                                                 Dr. Franklin's experience in London proved                                                          invaluable to the new committee

Franklin initiated secret correspondence with Spain, via Don Gabriel de Bourbon, a member of the Spanish royal family and an associate of Franklin. Franklin gave not so subtle reference to advantages to Spain, an American alliance might yield.

                                                                Don Gabriel de Bourbon                                                         one of Franklin's A-List contacts

Agents at Home

But curiously, it was France who reached out first dispatching Julien Alexandre Achard de Bonvouloir to Philadelphia to examine the feasibility of covert aid and political support.

                                                                 Achard de Bonvouloir

 In December 1775, the committee members Benjamin Franklin and John Jay staged a secret meeting with the French intelligence agent,  de Bonvouloir, who was using the cover of a Flemish merchant. 

Franklin and Jay wanted to know if France would aid America, and at what price. They stressed an urgent need for arms and munitions, which would be exchanged for American tobacco, rice, and other crops. De Bonvouloir advised the French government eschewed any role in transactions with the rebels. Instead, private merchants would be used.

                                     

                                      Father of American Counterintelligence - John Jay

Franklin assured de Bonvouloir America would not reconcile with Britain and that once it declared independence, France should form an alliance. This was the beginning of a long term campaign to bring not only French aid but also French arms into the struggle.

                                                                            Silas Deane

Agents Abroad

Franklin and Jay were heartened by French interest in the American cause. In early March 1776, the Secret Committee appointed Connecticut lawyer Silas Deane as a special envoy to negotiate in Paris with the French government. His mission was to establish covert aid and gain political support through Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, Louis XVI’s Foreign Minister. Vergennes was a master of public and secret diplomacy for the French king and ran both with a steady hand.

                                                      Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes

The committee eventually included an American living in London. Arthur Lee, a member of the famed Lee family of Virginia. Lee had contact with the French playwright Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, a  polymath, playwright, clockmaker, and diplomat who was also a secret French agent. Using a letter sent by the committee, Lee provided Beaumarchais with information about American successes – much of which was propaganda to influence French thinking. As an interesting aside, people today might recognize Beaumarchais, not for his devotion to freedom (and money-making) but for his composing the Figaro plays Le Barbier de Séville, Le Mariage de Figaro, and La Mère coupable. These later became adapted as operas that are still enjoyed today.

                                                                            Arthur Lee

But Beaumarchais was a champion of the American cause and needed no puffed-up reports to stir his passion for freedom. Working with Deane back in Paris, he helped influence French Foreign Minister Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, and King Louis XVI to provide the colonies with clandestine shipments of gunpowder and war material. Support critical in the early years of what was now, a war. The vehicle was the front company Rodrigue y Hortalez (R&H), chartered as a Spanish trading company. R&H was the vehicle for shipping surplus French arms and munitions to the West Indies (primarily the Dutch colony Saint Eustatius), where American agricultural products were exchanged for the war goods.

                                               Beaumarchais: Polymath and Freedom-Lover

Deane was responsible for the earliest aid to America’s struggling army resulted from his efforts. Besides arranging for clandestine shipments (R&H was just one covert operation), he recruited French officers, made introductions, sought out ships for privateering, and touted the American cause with the French cognoscenti.  Some of the officers recruited by Deane included the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron Johann de Kalb, Thomas Conway, Casimir Pulaski, and Baron von Steuben. A who's who of ex-pat freedom fighters.

                                                                   Marquis de Lafayette

The American commissioners in Paris rode a whirlwind of intrigue as they wooed and seduced the French and fended off Sir William Eden’s British secret service. Eden had dispatched an American named Paul Wentworth to Paris when Silas Deane arrived. Deane was acquainted with Wentworth and soon he was reporting on Deane’s activities and later, Franklin’s. Wentworth also recruited the American Commission's secretary, Edward Bancroft.

                                                        William Eden,1st Baron Auckland                                                                     & British Spymaster

But Lee was now in Paris. So was Benjamin Franklin himself, who sailed for France in December 1776. Throughout 1777 the full-court (sic) press was on. The British and French were opening the American commission's mail in a variety of clandestine operations. Servants and friends were recruited to spy, influence, and report. Bancroft provided inside reporting to Wentworth and Eden. And so it went. Meanwhile, Franklin charmed all men and women in sight, was the toast of Paris and continued to influence. He knew his every word and gesture were reaching Versailles and London and every step he took had that in mind.

                                            Franklin's every move and comment were tracked,                                                             and he acted accordingly

What's in Name?

The Committee of Secret Correspondence became the Committee of Foreign Affairs in April 1777 but retained its intelligence functions. As the first American government agency for both foreign intelligence and diplomatic representation, it was essentially the forerunner of both the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as today's Congressional intelligence oversight committees. Despite the name change, the Foreign Affairs Committee still served an essential and critical function for Congress, as the eyes and ears of the country in Europe. 

Note: Perhaps to confuse the British, Congress created a separate "Secret Committee" in 1775 to obtain supplies, which by its nature needed cloaking from British eyes and British ships. Many of its members also served on the Committee of Secret Correspondence. It became the Committee of Commerce around the same time as its 'sister" committee became the Committee of Foreign Affairs.

 

                                                The Committee of Foreign Affairs combined                                                 the roles of State and CIA, plus "Oversight"

Payoff

The Committee of Secret Correspondence/Secret/Foreign Affairs Committee’s efforts paid off in a big way when an American army, using arms and munitions covertly provided by France forced the surrender of a British army at Saratoga in October 1777. No one in France could recall the last time a British army surrendered to the French.  The long and winding road to a treaty with France was now a superhighway. But the committee was not done. The details of an alliance, future loans to America, the basis for negotiations and peace, were all work to be accomplished by the committee. The capitals of Europe were also a target as the commission sought to bring Netherlands, Prussia, Spain, and Russia to the side of the cause. But these are tales for another time.

 

The Queen’s Ranger

A Bad Rap

This profile is truly one of THE badasses of the American Revolution, a struggle that had more than its share of badasses. But John Graves Simcoe was not the usual badass, fueled by testosterone and a lust for blood – although the (very excellent) TV series TURN might have you think he was that and more – psychopath comes to mind.    

                                                Simcoe as played by actor Samuel Roukin
                                                   

But the real John Graves Simcoe was anything but. He was, in fact, a well educated professional officer, liked by his troops and superiors, and respected, and sometimes feared, by his adversaries. Born in Cotterstock, England on 25 February 1752, he was the son of a Royal naval officer who received a classical education at Eton and Oxford. But in 1771, Simcoe left school at 19 and purchased an ensign’s commission with the 35th Regiment. His education would place him above most of his peers as he had a thorough knowledge of classical Greek and Roman military tracts. He would soon get to put theory into practice in the dark woods and green fields of America.

                                                          Simcoe took a commission at 19
Off to America

Simcoe was delayed in sailing to America and arrived after his 35th Regiment was devastated in the bloodbath that was Breed’s Hill. So during the American siege that followed, he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment where he fought in several of the engagements in New York and New Jersey. Ambitious, he had sought command of the Queen's Rangers as early as the summer of 1776, when the army was on Staten Island. But it was not offered to him.

                                                                            Brandywine
Simcoe fought gallantly at the Battle of Brandywine in September of 1777, suffering major wounds during the British triumph. While recuperating, things went into play that would shift the trajectory of his career, snatching him from the humdrum career of a line officer. Simcoe was an outspoken critic of military tactics and had opined to his leadership that the British needed a light infantry force to counter the skirmishing tactics of the Americans.                               
New Kind of Unit

He must have impressed his commander In chief, Lieutenant General William Howe, who promoted him to major in October and gave him command of the Queen’s Rangers. The Rangers were once a storied unit formed by the even more storied hero of the French and Indian War, Major Robert Rogers. The unit’s star had faded along with that of Rogers, who had left the army. Simcoe went right to work drilling it in the unorthodox tactics he knew the American war demanded.  Outfitted in green uniforms and tirelessly drilled to fight as skirmishers in deep woods, patrol dense forests, and conduct raids and ambushes, they would eventually strike fear in all they faced. He eventually raised the unit to around 11 companies of some 30 men each. One was a “hussar” (light cavalry) company. He also added a light infantry and a grenadier company. 

                                   Queens Rangers were trained for strength and skirmishingNew Kind of Action

With the coming of the spring campaign in March 1778, Simcoe’s new unit had its first action. The Queen’s Rangers squared off against two American militia detachments in actions at Quinton’s and Hancock’s bridges, in New Jersey. The Americans were thrashed by the aggressive actions of Simcoe and his men. A few months later the rangers gave a sound drubbing to General John Lacey’s boys at Crooked Billet, Pennsylvania on 1 May. Less successful was the attempt to trap a reconnaissance detachment led by the Marquis de Lafayette at the end of May. But things were shifting in the middle Atlantic. The new commander in chief, Sir Henry Clinton, was directed to abandon the American capital at Philadelphia and march his army to the secure base of New York City. With the replenished and newly trained Continental Army hovering in nearby Pennsylvania, Clinton knew the move posed risks. So, he called on Simcoe to help screen the force.

                                                    Rare photo of Queens Rangers screening

The Queens Rangers were in their element and performed well at their task, covering the withdrawal through the hot, humid fields and woods of New Jersey. In June 1778, Simcoe received word of his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, a meteoric rise for a British officer and a sign of more to come.  The year 1779 would see Simcoe, the Queen’s Rangers, and the kind of warfare they were made for, come to the fore. A series of small actions and skirmishes took place throughout the New York region, but mostly along the North (Hudson) River. On 31 August 1778, he led a massacre of forty members of the Stockbridge Militia, Indians allied with the Continental Army, in what is today the Bronx. His men were known to burn houses, barns, and stores - all actions not unknown to American units in a war that had become one of fire and smoke.

                                                  Simcoe employed his rangers aggressively

In June 1779 his rangers successfully spearheaded the capture of Stony Point and Verplank’s Point on the North River. Simcoe’s men soon joined Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s British Legion in a successful foray against rebels at Pound Ridge, New Jersey. With two of the top three British badasses commanding, it was hard for the defenders. A series of small actions followed raids, ambushes, skirmishes, and patrols. During one foray, on 17 October 1779, Simcoe himself was ambushed and taken by the New Jersey militia. He was briefly interred and finally exchanged on 31 December. The Queen’s Ranger returned just as General Clinton’s amphibious expedition against South Carolina was commencing.

Rangers go South

In the spring of 1780, Simcoe sailed south to support the British siege of Charleston. After a brief siege, the city surrendered in May. In what may have proved an eventful blunder, Simcoe was returned north with Clinton and was soon dispatched to help Hessian General von Knyphausen conduct large-scale thrusts in the Jerseys. His talents and his rangers would have proved more useful in helping subdue the south, as would Clinton’s presence. Instead, after a remarkable start, the southern strategy would begin to unravel in the kind of warfare that demanded Simcoe and his men.

                                                                Seige of Charleston

Traitor’s Partner

In another curious turn (sic), in December 1780 Simcoe was assigned to support traitor in chief, British General Benedict Arnold’s powerfully destructive raid through Virginia. He was in-part placed at Arnold’s side to keep a close eye on him.  But the two talented leaders and co-bad asses actually got along well together. Brigaded with hessian Jaegers under major Johann Ewald, Simcoe’s command thrashed the hapless Virginia militia in several bold attacks around Richmond.  At a place called Point of Forks, Simcoe deceived former General Wilhelm von Steuben and seized a trove of valuable supplies.

                                                    Benedict Arnold  as a British general

Climax in the Old Dominion

As luck would have it, Simcoe was in the right place, but at the wrong time. Britain’s eight-year effort to maintain its hold on the 13 colonies would end, for all purposes, in the Old Dominion. Frustrated at every turn in the Carolinas, British General Charles Cornwallis marched his depleted and tired army north into Virginia. There, Simcoe and his queen’s Rangers joined him as part of the advance guard. As battle-hardened as the rangers were, they, like so many British units, were finding the rebels reaching parity. Things were definitely “going south.” One example is the 26 June 1781 engagement at Spencer’s Ordinary. There, in an unlikely turn of events, the Queen's Rangers were hotly engaged by Pennsylvania riflemen under Colonel Richard Butler. The precise adversaries they were created to defeat.  The rangers abandoned the field, and their wounded, and made a hurried march to Yorktown and the main army. 

           Colonel Richard Butler
               

When they arrived at Yorktown, Cornwallis sent them across the York River to secure Gloucester Point. During the summer, the rangers were on a quiet front. This worked well for Simcoe, who had suffered several bouts of illness during the war, exacerbated by his wounding. His health was in decline. 

                                                                Yorktown under Seige

While ill with a fever, the French blockaded the York River. A week later, the French Admiral Comte de Grasse defeated Simcoe's godfather, Admiral Thomas Graves, and the British fleet in the Chesapeake.  Cornwallis's army was trapped. In September the American-French army arrived at Yorktown. Not long after some 1,000 French troops cut off Gloucester Point. The siege was on.

                                                     Chesapeake: French fleet drives off                                                     British fleet under Simcoe's godfather

But Simcoe was too ill to be of service and his rangers fell under Tarleton’s command. Simcoe was not expected to live. Still, in mid-October, he requested permission to escape with his men on boats to Maryland and fight his way through to New York. He feared many of his men, being deserters, would hang if taken prisoner. But Cornwallis insisted the entire army share its fate. Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe did not die but suffered the ignominy of surrender on the field of Yorktown on 17 October 1781. He was soon paroled and sailed to New York with his unit. The Queens Rangers ultimately went to New Brunswick, Canada, and disbanded in October 1783. 

                                                                Surrender at YorktownConvalescent and Cupid

In 1782, the still ailing Simcoe returned home to Devon, England to convalesce. There, he met and married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, a wealthy heiress.  Her adopted mother, Margaret, had married Admiral Samuel Graves, Simcoe's godfather. So it was a family affair. They had four daughters and a son. By all accounts, he was a devoted family man. Venus, it turns out, was better to him than Mars.

                                                                       Elizabeth SimcoeAuthor, Author

It is beyond the scope of this blog to give details of Simcoe’s post-war life in England. He entered Parliament briefly and offered to raise a ranger unit to fight the French.  Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Rangers, titled "A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers" from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War, self-published in 1787 for distribution to his friends.

                                            Simcoe added Author to his other accomplishments
Lieutenant Governor

Simcoe returned to North America when he resigned from Parliament in 1792 to accept the post of Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) under Governor-General Guy Carleton. His tenacious personality, so suited to combat, kept him at odds with London.  But Simcoe proved a remarkably effective and visionary leader. His ideas were progressive for the period. While cherishing and promoting British institutions, he also promoted American style economics and self-reliance. He promoted agriculture, property rights, and settlement of what was then the Canadian frontier. He built roads.

                                                        As Lieut. Gov. Simcoe was a builder

He was even-handed with the Indians, supported the loyalists, and pushed for education and culture. He was anti-slavery when slavery was still a thing in the British Empire. Fearing a war with America, he moved the capital from Newark to York on the north shore of Lake Ontario - today's Toronto.  To help defend Upper Canada from possible American encroachment or invasion, Simcoe raised a Canadian version of the Queen's Rangers, with himself as its colonel. But illness would once more strike. In 1796, neuralgia and gout spurred a leave of absence to England. Simcoe resigned from his post in  1798 and did not return to Canada.

                                          Simcoe as colonel of the Queen's Rangers in CanadaWar with France

By 1797, war with France was on again and Simcoe was made governor of Santo Domingo. Simcoe faced a slave revolt with French Republican and Spanish support. He was also promoted to Lieutenant General (the highest rank in the army at the time). Illness again cut his time short. Simcoe returned to England to prepare the defenses of Plymouth against possible French invasion. Simcoe accepted command of the Western District but did not receive another active field command from the Pitt government. When the British were putting together a coalition against Napoleon in 1806, General Simcoe sailed to Portugal as part of a military mission. But his old illnesses caught up with him for the last time. He was forced to return home, where he learned of his appointment as commander in chief of British forces in India. 

                                                            Governor of Santo Domingo
                                             Lost Opportunity

India was arguably the most prestigious and challenging overseas appointment for any British military office or administrator. And Simcoe excelled at both. There is no telling how the future of the subcontinent might have fared with him at the helm. But it was not to be. He succumbed to his illness on 26 October 1806 in Devonshire.  Lieutenant General John Graves Simcoe was just 54. Simcoe was not the crazed character portrayed on television. Quite the opposite, Simcoe proved himself to be a learned and scholarly warrior and aggressive leader of partisan forces, among the best serving in the Revolutionary War. And a genuine man of peace who helped make Canada one of the best-governed provinces, and nations, on earth. And he might have done the same for India.

                                                            Simcoe monument in Toronto

Noble Warrior of Peace

Clash of Empires

The Native American tribes played an interesting role in the American War for Independence. In some ways, the friction caused by the westward push of European settlers contributed to the friction between the colonists and the British authorities in London, who viewed the Indian Territory west of the Alleghanies as a buffer against Spain. Americans settling the west posed a risk as possible future allies of Spain or a potential cause of war with Spain. The tribes were caught in the middle, especially in the Carolinas and western New York.

In New York, the British had forged strong trade and political alliances with the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederation, who were strong military allies during the French and Indian War. Most of the tribes aligned with the British. Among these was the Seneca nation. And among these proud people arose a leader who would garner laurels in war and praise in peace. His name was Gyantwakia, which in English was Cornplanter.

Seneca Chief

Cornplanter was born in 1740 to a Dutch trader named John Abeel and a Seneca woman in the village of Conawagaus, current Avon, New York. He grew up a Seneca, living among his mother’s prominent family, the Wolf Clan, which was a warrior clan. He led a war party in support of the British in the French and Indian War and by the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, was an established war chief, having made his bones as a young warrior. The Iroquois were among the most capable warriors of all the native tribes and both sides sought their support. Cornplanter, showing remarkable caution, urged neutrality in the white civil war.

                                                           Gyantwakia aka Cornplanter

Raising the Tomahawk

However, as the struggle grew more bitter, he could not keep the Seneca on the sidelines. In August 1777 the Seneca took up the tomahawk on the side of their former allies, the British.  By then, the war in New York was at its most intense with General John Burgoyne’s three-pronged campaign to seize New York well underway. It would be a campaign that in many ways would decide the course of the war.

                                                   The War Chief addresses the Wolf Clan

Valley of Death

Once committed, Cornplanter was all-in. He soon led a Seneca war party in support of the expedition of Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger’s thrust east through the Mohawk Valley. Standing between him and his objective, Albany, was the tiny bastion known as Fort Stanwix. In this capacity, he participated in the siege of Fort Stanwix, New York, and then helped plan the ambush of Colonel Nicholas Herkimer’s relief column in the dense woods near Oriskany on 6 August 1777. The ambush was classic Indian-warfare. Cornplanter’s braves surprised destroyed the column and mortally wounded Herkimer. But the approach of another column under Benedict Arnold forced the British to withdraw their regular forces from New York and resorted to hit and run guerrilla raids against frontier settlements.

                                    Seneca ambush at Oriskany mortally wounds Col Herkimer

Frontier on Fire

Cornplanter led many raids against American settlements, particularly at Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, where on 3 July 1778, his braves ambushed and wiped out a pursuit-force of 400 militia led by Colonel Zebulon Butler. In November, his Seneca supported Loyalist Captain Walter Butler (no relation to Zebulon) in a brutal attack upon Cherry Valley, New York. The Indian and Loyalist raids were so devastating to American lives, property, and morale, that General George Washington ordered a punitive campaign against the Six Nations the following year.

                                                              Cherry Valley Massacre

Yankee Retribution

American retribution came with the 1779-expedition led by General John Sullivan, who launched a punishing attack on 28 August defeating the Iroquois and Loyalists at Newtown (Elmira), New York.  Sullivan then launched a scorched earth campaign to punish Iroquois villages in the region. Under pressure, he Seneca stood-down for the winter, but the next summer Cornplanter was back on the warpath with raids against the Canajoharie and the Schoharie Valley, New York. At Canajoharie, his band took his father John Abeel prisoner. Cornplanter offered to make him a guest of his clan, but Abeel declined, so the dutiful son released him.

                                                                   Wolf Clan attacks

Smoking the Peace Pipe

At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, things became complicated for the Iroquois as they struggled to come to terms with the new American government. Cornplanter participated in the many treaty signings, that slowly resulted in the loss of his people’s land. The Iroquois had little leverage against the triumphant Americans, who did not forget their depravations in support of the British. Cornplanter argued in defense of his nation and clan with poise and determination. This caused the more bellicose leaders like Red Jacket to denounce him and forcefully oppose land sales hoping to boost his own standing among the clans.

                                                           The  Senecas and the rest of the                                                                 Six Nations stood-down

A Moderate Influence

The Ohio (Northwest) Territory burst into flames as tribes along the Ohio River began to chafe at American encroachment and British manipulation. The tribes formed a Great Confederation under such leaders as Little Turtle and had initial success, destroying an American army under Revolutionary War General Arthur St. Clair, in 1791. Because of his bearing and fame as a warrior, the new American government appointed him to represent them with the warring tribes at a great peace conference known as the Council on the Auglaize.  But Cornplanter and other moderate native leaders proved unsuccessful. The bitter war continued until former Revolutionary War leader Anthony Wayne broke the back of the confederation at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Ohio tribes made peace at the Treaty of Greeneville. For his services in attempting to reconcile the western tribes, the state of Pennsylvania granted Cornplanter a large tract of land on the Allegheny River.

    Treaty of Greeneville settled Indian Affairs in the Northwest Territory

Smoking the War Pipe

With the coming of war with Britain in 1812, the now aged chief Cornplanter offered his services to the United States, but was turned down. However, his son, Henry O’Bail served with some distinction. Cornplanter, one of the fiercest Seneca warriors, now lived peacefully on his land grant for two more decades.

                                                   Monument to Chief of the Wolf Clan

When he died on 18 February 1836, the great war chief was widely mourned as a man of peace. Many decades later, in 1871, Pennsylvania decided to honor the noble Seneca and erected a marble shrine on his grave as a symbol of respect and appreciation.

 

The Winter Spy

“I shall constantly bear in Mind, that as the Sword was the last Resort for the preservation of our Liberties, so it ought to be the first thing laid aside, when those Liberties are firmly established.”

Letter from General George Washington to the Executive Committee of the Continental Congress, January 1, 1777

                                                Washington's pen was as mighty as his sword

January 1777

The Jerseys are aflame in a deep winter-war!

Backs against a frozen river and facing a column of crack redcoats intent on their destruction, George Washington’s army has a serious gut-check. They must outfight or outwit the British to preserve the faltering struggle for independence. With the help of the winter spy, General Washington intends to do both…

Back cover of The Winter Spy, Legatum Books, June 2020

The Winter Spy

The Genesis

This is a book I never intended to write. But as I finished book two in the Yankee Doodle Spies series my research and interest took me the obvious question: what did Washington do AFTER he crossed the Delaware? Quite a lot, as it turns out. So much I became intrigued and crafted a follow-on story to capture the feel and the action of this critical, but little-understood chapter in the American War for Independence.

                                       What did Washington do, after he crossed the Delaware?

Winter Quarters

In the 18thcentury, armies traditionally did their fighting from late April/early May through Novemberish. In between campaign seasons, some soldiers and officers were sent home on furlough, but most just tried to survive the winter while the armies were replenished and outfitted for the next season of marching and fighting. The British had the luxury of quartering many of their forces in towns and cities, utilizing stores, shops, stables, public buildings, and private dwellings.

                                         Gen Steuben drilling American troops at Valley Forge

 

For the Americans, winter quarters were usually a painful ordeal of cold, disease, and starvation. For the British, a time of relative comfort in between numbing military chores. Of course, both sides would have to mount guards and sentries. Some patrols were sent out. And during the Valley Forge encampment in 1778, winter quarters became a training ground with the arrival of General Steuben as Inspector-General und Drillmeister.

Winter Action

My readings for my second novel, The Cavalier Spy opened my eyes to the actions General George Washington took following the Battle of Trenton: two pitched battles (2nd Trenton, Princeton), plus lots of skirmishing, marching, and suffering before his ever-dwindling army reached its final destination at Morristown, New Jersey. And that choice was very strategic. His actions forced the British to withdraw most of their outposts in the Jerseys, leaving them clinging to the area around Brunswick, the Paulhus Hook (Jersey City) as well as their main strongholds in Staten Island, Long Island, and the Island of New York. With the British in winter quarters, most armies would have hunkered down, licked their wounds, and reoutfitted. The selection was strategic because Washington could observe enemy activities with his forces safely ensconced behind the Watchung Hills, prepared to move in whatever direction the British marched in the spring. That was the original plan.

                                        Princeton was one of two actions fought in a many days

But as the British launched foraging parties into the Jerseys to purchase or requisition foodstuffs, the Jersey militia took action. Small parties were ambushed, engendering larger foraging parties and larger ambushes. The numbers grew to the point where Washington allowed some of his Continental regiments under the likes of  Generals Philemon Dickinson, William Alexander (Lord Stirling -an American who claimed a Scots peerage) and Ulster-born William “Scotch Willie” Maxell. By the end of this winter of discontent, the British had lost about as many men killed or wounded during “winter quarters” as they did in the previous three pitched battles. Losses British commander-in-chief, General William Howe could not afford.

                                                     Gen William Alexander - Lord Stirling

The Plot

No spoiler alerts here – read the book! But needless to say, Lieutenant Jeremiah Creed and his White Knights are thrown into action once more, operating in and out of the Continental Army. They again clash with the ruthless British dragoon, Major Sandy Drummond, who continues to leverage his intelligence network to break the rebellion. Along the way, a variety of soldiers and citizens clash, make friends, make enemies, fall in love, and struggle to stay sane during the time that tried men’s souls. Woven into the plot are two themes: the bonding of men in conflict and the war’s impact on families. And, there is always the weather. Winds that can cut a man in two, frigid temperatures, and ice-covered roads and rivers play a significant role in a story that, after all, was named for them.

The Book

All three books in the Yankee Doodle Spies series are published by Legatum Books.

The Winter Spy can be found at Amazon in Paperback or Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Spy-Yankee-Doodle-Spies/dp/B08JVNPPKG/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

 

 

Matriarch of Spies

Time to turn our attention back to two areas I have not commented on in some time. Women in the American War for Independence and espionage. Our subject today hits both counts, and did have honorable mention in a previous Yankee Doodle Spies post. This female first patriot helped George Washington’s efforts in a very unusual way – allowing the British to quarter troops in her home. She is also special because she was a Quaker, although her exploits would get her expelled from the pacifist Society of Friends.



Immigrant Patriot
Like so many of our first patriots, Lydia Barrington was born in Ireland, specifically Dublin, in 1729. At the age of 24, she met and married William Darragh, the tutor son of a clergyman. Not long after the couple emigrated and landed in Philadelphia where they became respected members of the local Quaker community. Although somewhat petite and frail, Lydia took up the trade of mid-wife and, as was common with many women of the time, did sewing on the side. Lydia and her husband led a prosperous and comfortable life in Philadelphia, and their large family five of nine children surviving childbirth) attests to it. The steady Quaker, Darragh became alarmed when one of her sons turned from the Friends to join the Continental Army with a commission as a lieutenant in the Second Pennsylvania Line. The Society eschewed any member who took an active role on either side, especially a military role.

Philadelphia in the 1700s

An Occupied City
As with so many Americans, life changed when the war came to Philadelphia. In October 1777, the British army under General William Howe occupied the erstwhile American capital. By chance, Lord Howe established his headquarters in the home of the patriot rebel leader, John Cadwalader, just across the street from the Darragh residence at 177 South Second Street. At some point, Howe demanded use of the Darragh parlor for staff councils and private meetings. Most war plans of the age were developed by “councils of war,” so this was a big deal. And a big opportunity.

Darragh's House

Making of a Spy
Just who recruited Lydia to espionage and how, is uncertain. What was her motivation?  Her son’s military service? Concealed patriotism? Anger at the British occupation? Whether volunteer or recruit to espionage, she clearly became part of an established network. Despite lack of formal education, Lydia had a brilliant mind and was incisive politically and perceptive to things going on around her. She was gifted with a remarkable memory as well. Perhaps her greatest asset, at least for the service she would do for her country, was her unassuming demeanor. The ability to hide in place.

Lydia's family operated at the center of
British occupied Philadelphia

Family of Spies
During the period of occupation, Lydia’s nurse activities enabled her to move freely through British lines. But soon her growing family was involved in helping the cause by providing intelligence from the very center of the British high command in North America. During the winter of 1777 – 1778, the occupation of the rebel capital gave the appearance of British ascendancy and the inevitable destruction of the rebellion. After all, Washington’s pitiable army was holed up on the frozen plains of Valley Forge. While the British had a surfeit of everything, the rebel army was withering away from lack of food, clothing, medicine, and other supplies. The British let their guard down, holding their meetings with the diminutive nurse in the background. And of course, they knew that the Darragh’s, as practicing Quakers, could not, would not support either side in the war nor take part in any acts contributing to the war. Lydia was able to listen in on most of the meetings and discussion that took place in her parlor.  Then she quickly dictated what she heard to her husband William, who carefully recorded the information in special shorthand on small strips of paper. Her seamstress skills were a critical piece of her tradecraft. Lydia would stitch the thin strips of paper into buttons on her 14-year-old son John’s coat. That done, she dispatched John as a courier. John would steal through the British lines and rendezvous with his older brother Charles, who was with Washington’s army. Charles understood the shorthand and transcribed the pieces and turned them into intelligence.

Lydia Darragh: Nurse, Seamstress, Spy

Secret Mission
But the spy ring’s MO and tradecraft would not play a part in what is considered Lydia Darragh’s boldest achievement. On 2 December, Lydia and her family were suddenly ordered to their rooms while an important meeting took place. An emergency council of war took place. This was before the Continental Army had settled in Valley Forge. Washington was still lingering near the capital hoping for an opportunity to take some action before both sides settled in to “winter quarters.”  Undeterred, and perhaps stirred, by the urgency of the British, Lydia put her ear to a keyhole and listened in as General Howe gave detailed instructions to his commanders. She overheard the British commander in chief give orders for a multi-column movement against General Washington. The date for the planned ambush was 4 December. The strike was to catch the rebels unaware and disperse their army and perhaps nab Washington in the attempt.

General Howe's secret plans to surprise and destroy
the Continental Army would spur a bold gambit

She would not leave this critical mission to her young son. Instead, she developed a quick “cover for action” and slipped out of town on 3 December with sacks hoping to replenish them with flour at a mill near Frankford, which was between the opposing army lines. The risk was great as patrols by both sides roamed the area. And it was a 13-mile trek in winter. Undeterred, she indeed went to Pearson’s Mill and left the empty sacks for the owner to fill. She would pick them up on her return. Her cover thus established, Lydia continued on her real mission: deliver the British plans to the American forces.

Clandestine Meeting
There are two versions of what happened next. In one, by happenstance encounters a friend, Colonel Thomas Craig, along the road, she told him what she had learned and he galloped off to report to Washington. Lydia then, secured her flour and made her way home. In the other version, Lydia makes her way to a tavern called, The Rising Sun. There, she met with Colonel Elias Boudinot,  Commissary-General of Prisoners, but who also operated as an intelligence officer. Allegedly, Lydia walked into the pub and handed him an old tattered needlebook and left. When he searched the book, Boudinot found a roll of paper in one of the pockets. The paper indicated General Howe was going to attack Whitemarsh the next morning with 5,000 men, 13 cannons, and 11 boats on wheels. Boudinot mounted his horse and galloped to Washington’s headquarters. He provided her report to Washington but protected Lydia’s cover by naming “captured prisoners” as his source. This is evidence of the critical role Lydia and the Darragh family played in providing intelligence from Philadelphia. The fact that Lydia knew Boudinot might be at the tavern is a further indicator of the sophisticated nature of the spy ring. I tend to favor the latter version.


Darragh at The Rising Sun
An Army Saved
The intelligence brought by Lydia, really a form of indications and warning (I&W), enabled Washington to prepare the Continental Army, which repulsed General Howe’s “surprise” attack at White Marsh. The multi-day battle saved the army and the cause, enabling it to eventually settle at Valley Forge. The British returned to Philadelphia in disgust.

The series of skirmishes at White Marsh
ended the 1777 campaign with a modest
American victory

A Critical Source
Upon her return, Darragh was questioned by the British who suspected treachery. She was able to disarm them and convince them she was not aware of their plans. But Lydia and her family continued to pump information from the heart of the British high command throughout the winter. As Washington trained the army at Valley Forge, reports from the capital were critical as he prepared for the spring campaign he knew was coming. So the commander in chief was not caught off guard when Howe was relieved of command in the spring and the British Army left Philadelphia on 18 June of 1778. The departure of the British ended the need for the spy ring and Lydia and her family’s service faded into the shadows like so many effective clandestine operations.

Darragh's espionage continued into 1778

Banned by The Friends
In June 1783, William Darragh died. The Society of Friends was not so friendly when rumors of the Darragh family’s role began to circulate. The Friends expelled Lydia later that year. Her oldest son John had already been expelled in 1781.  In 1786, Lydia moved from South second Street into a new house and with her children ran a store there until her death in 1789. She was laid to rest with other family members in a Quaker cemetery not far from where she lived out her post-wat life.


Lydia returned to a "normal" life after
the war, but lost her standing with  her "Friends"
Shadow Heroes
As with so many of the espionage and covert actions of the American Revolution, Lydia Darragh's tale came under scrutiny.  Darragh’s daughter Ann published the story of her mother’s spy work in 1827. But many were suspicious of the tale and discounted the veracity. Speculation subsided in 1909 when Elias Boudinot’s memoirs were published, corroborating Darragh’s role. In the memoir, he wrote of a woman who fit Darragh’s profile although he, for obvious reasons, did not mention her by name. And General Washington himself often lamented the inability to reveal and properly thank all those first patriots who served in the shadow war, unable to gain recognition or recompense for their risks. I for one think Lydia Darragh and her family are among those shadow heroes.

Elias Boudinot's memoirs pointed a light
on Lydia Darragh's wartime espionage

Right Hand Man

This edition of the Yankee Doodle Spies will continue with the theme of profiling Revolutionary War personalities who play a role in my upcoming novel, The Winter Spy. Coincidentally, we will once more profile a native of Ireland, this time our first-patriot is from the south.

School and Service
Edward Hand was born into a prominent Anglo-Irish family in King’s County (now Offaly), Ireland, on December 31, 1744. His family was able to send him to Dublin’s Trinity College, where he studied medicine and received a surgeon’s certificate in 1766.

Trinity College

True to the Irish way, rather than a 5-yeart apprenticeship, young Edward joined the 18th Regiment of Foot (later known as the Royal Irish Regiment) of the British Army, as a surgeon’s mate. In 1767, his regiment sailed from Cobh (Cork) to the colony of Pennsylvania. The regiment was quickly marched west to garrison the area around Fort Pitt ( today's Pittsburgh).  On the road they passed through Lancaster, in the heart of today’s Amish country. Hand was impressed with the beauty and promise of the region and it would play a role later in his life.

Private of the 18th Regiment of Foot
Frontier Doctor
Edward Hand the surgeon’s mate took an interest in some of the local native tribes, particularly their use of plants for medicine. Surgeon duties must have not been too taxing as Hand became interested in land speculation. He also made the acquaintance of a Virginia planter named George Washington, who visited Fort Pitt as colonel of the Virginia militia in 1770. The two hit it off and bonded, which would have a positive impact on young Hand’s future. As tensions grew between the Americans and the British government, the 18th was pulled back east to Philadelphia.  Here, Hand witnessed the buildup of resentment and the growing calls for liberty among the people of Philadelphia. As with many British officers, he evinced some sympathy for the growing cause.

Ft Pitt was the key British bastion in the west

Domestic Tranquility
Although Hand was able to afford an ensign’s commission by 1772, he did not hold it long. He sold off his commission for some 400 pounds in 1774 and moved to Lancaster, where he set up a private practice. He quickly assimilated into the local community. His medical practice took off, and he was financially set, as his land investments on the frontier had paid off. He was welcomed into Lancaster society, and through a local judge met 23-year-old Katharine (Kitty) Ewing.  Kitty’s parents, Captain John Ewing and Sarah Yeates, were one of Lancaster’s most prestigious families. She and Hand married in March, 1775. Events of the next month would soon take him far from his new bride.

Lancaster

The Surgeon Rebel
Over the previous year, Hand had become involved with the local patriot cause. So when the call to arms went out after Lexington and Concord, Doctor Hand was named a lieutenant colonel of the 1st Pennsylvania Rifles. This band of crack shots marched with other regiments gathering from throughout the colonies to face the British ensconced in Boston. Hand quickly developed a reputation for working directly with his men, making him well-liked by the soldiers he led.  Colonel Hand’s riflemen soon gained a reputation as expert marksmen but wildly undisciplined. Hand nevertheless performed capably and eventually smoothed out the rough edges of the troops. Ironically, Hand's old regiment, the 18th, was part of the British garrison that abandoned Boston to the rebel beseigers. In March 1776, he was appointed colonel in command of the regiment when it was re-designated the 1st Continental Line.
Colonel Hand's Pennsylvania Rifles sniping skills were put to
good use during the seige of Boston
Stopping Cornwallis 

Hand and his men served well during the New York campaign of 1776. But his hallmark achievement of the campaign was his masterful handling of his troops and canny use of the ground near Pell's Point at Throg’s Neck on October 12, which helped prevent disaster. Under his steady hand (sic), his riflemen coolly shot up the advancing British, completely thwarting a landing by General Charles Cornwallis. Hand’s men moved quickly, torching the bridge over a small creek and placing themselves behind a wood stack. From this vantage position, Hand’s riflemen sniped at the regulars marching steadily into their field of fire and successfully held off a vast force until more Americans came up. Hand’s measured application of firepower allowed Washington’s main army to escape. After similar good service at White Plains, Hand’s regiment retreated with the dwindling Continental Army across New Jersey that winter. 
Hand's Pennsylvanians stymied Lord Cornwallis's
British regulars and Hessians at Pell's Point

His next battlefield masterpiece would soon come, and again at the expense of Lord Cornwallis. On the cold day of 2 January 1777, Hand again stymied Cornwallis’s advance, this time at Assunpink Creek, near Trenton. This action is where Edward Hand appears in The Winter Spy. His masterful handling of several regiments thrown together to slow the British column enabled his friend, General George Washington, escape a British trap and take Princeton. Hand’s performance was noted and Washington soon recommended him for promotion to brigadier general, which was approved on 1 April, 1777. At the time, that made Edward Hand the youngest general in the Continental Army.

Hand's delaying action helped Washington's army
defend Assunpink Creek from another onslaught
by Lord Cornwallis

A New General, an Old Doctor
What to do with a new general? Well, since he had knowledge of the west, Washington soon dispatched Hand to the place they first met.  Brigadier General Hand reported for duty at his old post, Fort Pitt, where he had a challenge protecting western Pennsylvania from pro-British Indians and Loyalists. But Hand was immediately faced with something more dangerous than the marauding tribes and Loyalists - an outbreak of smallpox. Switching hats from General Hand to Doctor Hand, he had a hospital built to quarantine and treat the afflicted. Hand even donated six acres of a 331-acre plot of his own land in Westmoreland County for the site. The “smallpox hospital” was a log building, two stories high and three rooms on each level, guarded by ten surrounding blockhouses for its defense.


Hand's organizational skills garnered support
for Colonel George Rogers Clark's campaign

Hoping to take the offensive against the hostile British allies, he attempted to send expeditions against the tribes in the Ohio River. However, he could never muster enough men and supplies until February 1778.  In the dead of winter Hand assembled 500 men, but the column was doomed to failure. But Hand was able to provide critically needed assistance to Colonel George Rogers Clark whose campaign in the Illinois territory was instrumental in breaking British power in the west.

Returning East
Frustrated in the western backwater, Hand requested and received a reassignment back east. Along the way he found time to visit Kitty in Lancaster. From there Hand travelled to Albany, New York where he assumed command of the Northern Department. As such, he provided support to General John Sullivan’s punitive expedition and conquest of the Iroquois heartland in 1779, a more successful but no less tragic foray against the natives of New York.

Sullivan's campaign against the Iroquois was as tragic
as it was successful

Spy Catcher
No, he was not really a spy-catcher. But Hand was selected by General Washington to be part of the “blue ribbon” assembly of officers assigned to sit on the court martial of British Major John Andre, the officer who recruited American traitor Benedict Arnold. Hand was in the company of such luminaries as Nathanael Greene, Arthur St. Clair, Steuben, Lafayette, Henry Knox, John Glover, and others. On 29 September 1780, they held André as guilty of being behind American lines "under a feigned name and in a disguised habit" and ordered that "Major André, Adjutant-General to the British Army, ought to be considered as a Spy from the enemy, and that agreeable to the law and usage of nations, it is their opinion, he ought to suffer death."

Major John Andre's court martial had an all-star
cast of jurors, including Edward Hand

The Right Hand
A month later, Brigadier General Hand assumed command of a special light infantry brigade under the Marquis de Lafayette.  But Hand was soon called to Washington’s side, replacing Colonel Alexander Scammel as adjutant general on the Continental Army staff. The adjutant general was the key figure on 18th century military staffs, responsible for issuing orders to the army, receiving monthly returns from the regiments, the regulation of officers' appointments and leaves of absence, and oversight of military reviews, exercises, maneuvers and military discipline. Essentially, they ran the army for the commander. In that sense, Edward Hand had become General Washington's "right hand man."

Brigadier General Hand
was indespensible
to General Washington as Adjutant General

He remained in this key position at Washington’s request, playing an important role in the complex campaign that resulted in the dramatic victory at Yorktown in October 1781.  The war extended over two years past Cornwallis’s surrender – did I mention he had a way with confounding Cornwallis? Hand’s role was critical in keeping the Continental Army together as the peace accords dragged on.  He had to reach into his leadership kit sack once again in 1782.  Just as Colonel Hand worked well with his soldiers outside Boston, Brigadier General Hand was instrumental in squelching the army’s unrest and the infamous “conspiracy” at Newburgh, New York. In large part as an honorific for excellence service, Hand was made a brevet Major General before mustering out in late 1782.

Soldier to Surgeon to Politico to Soldier
With the eight-year struggle for independence over, Hand returned to the comforts of his wife and children. Besides his medical practice, he engaged in civics, serving in the Continental Congress, 1784-85, and the Pennsylvania assembly 1785-86. As factions developed in parties, Doctor Hand stood with his friend and mentor Washington. He became a staunch Federalist, and was appointed Customs Collector of Pennsylvania’s Third District by President Washington in 1791.

Hand served as Adjutant General in the Provisional Army
raised by President John Adams to fight the French

Hand managed to find time in 1794 to serve a short stint with the army, once more as adjutant general, during the Whiskey rebellion. And when war with France threatened four years later, Hand was commissioned major general and appointed adjutant general of the Provisional Army by President John Adams.  But with the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800, our surgeon lost his position as customs collector and returned to beloved Lancaster.

Family Man
Hand and his wife Kitty had four daughters and two sons, some born during the war, some after. Another daughter died in infancy. So, when he left his customs appointment, Hand had much to return home to. Unfortunately, he only had two more years of domestic bliss. Stricken with a sudden illness, he died at his home in Rock Ford, Pennsylvania on 3 September, 1802.


Hand's home at Rock Ford

As both doctor and general, Edward Hand was certainly one Pennsylvania’s most illustrious citizens and political leaders, having served as surgeon, businessman, military and political leader at both ends of the state. He also is one of the important but little-known circle of leaders, I call them first-patriots, whose dedicated efforts, patriotism and talents help win a nation.

Scotch Willie

The Winter Spy, the next book in the "Yankee Doodle Spies series" introduces some new characters, both historical and fictional. This post profiles one of those historical characters, an acerbic, two-fisted Scots-Irishman who seemed to tick off everyone, but was often summoned when there was fighting to be done and battles to be won.



Our subject is one William Maxwell who hailed from County Tyrone, Ireland. Born in 1733 young Maxwell came to the colonies with his parents in 1747, settling in what was Sussex County, New Jersey.  Little is known of his early life until he followed the drum and enlisted in the provincial forces when the French and Indian war erupted in 1754. 


The 21-year-old Maxwell was with Braddock's forces during the disastrous defeat at the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania. But the doughty Maxwell survived the massacre and continued service to King and Country, first as an ensign in Col. John Johnson's New Jersey Regiment and later as a lieutenant in the Jersey Blues.  


Maxwell was under arms during the 1758 campaign and the British defeat by General Montcalm at the Battle of Carillon (Fort Ticonderoga). But two disasters did not lead to three. Third time's a charm - he was a participant in the decisive British victory on the Plains of Abraham and the fall of Quebec in 1759.  French Victory at Fort Carillon


The drum and musket seemed to become our fiery Irishman. The end of the war saw him remain in the service of the crown. He was posted to the western frontier (Britain now had a larger empire to guard). Over time he rose to the post of commissary officer at Fort Michilimackinac. This speaks to Maxwell's adminsitrative talent, as he was responsible for purchasing and delivering the army's supplies.


When tensions between the colonies and the crown worsened, Maxwell stood firmly with the rebellion. He resigned his commission and headed east. Seeking to join the cause, he returned to his now adopted colony of New Jersey and took an active role in its political activity. Maxwell was appointed to the provincial Congress and eventually named Chairman of the Committee of Safety. This leveraged his military experience as Committees of Safety were charged with arming and preparing the colonies for eventual war.
Shjot Heard Round the world:
The firefight at Lexington turned insurgency into rebellion


 The shot heard round the world in April 1775 was heard loud and clear in the Jerseys and the call to arms was answered. Maxwell shed his political role for a military role, this time in defense of his adopted country. In November of that year, he was appointed colonel of the 2nd New Jersey Continental Line infantry. His field service would come fast and furious.  
Continental Line Infantry

A late 1775 campaign to win Canada to the American cause was struggling. So, in the spring of 1776, he joined General John Sullivan’s expedition to reinforce American forces in Canada. He fought under General William Thompson in the battle at Trois Rivieres on 6 June 1776.  Although he had another defeat on his record, he was by now a highly experienced field commander and there was more fighting to keep the shattered army from disintegrating on its retreat back to New York. 
General John Sullivan

Like so many of the military men of the war, Maxwell was quick to feel a slight, especially when it came to his achievement. When Colonel Arthur St. Clair was appointed a brigadier general ahead of him, he wrote bitterly to Congress. He was also outspoken against the commander of the Northern Department, General Philip Schuyler, and his plan to abandon the French fort at Crown Point, New York, to the advancing forces of General Guy Carleton. Crown Point is just north of Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Perhaps he felt some umbrage at watching another defeat on the lake.
Fort Ticonderoga

But Maxwell received good news, when on 23 October 1776, he too was appointed brigadier general. The promotion would land him back home in the Jerseys, this time serving under General George Washington at the very end of the New Jersey campaign. His knowledge of the Jerseys kept him in active service screening against British inroads after the successful one-two punch Washington inflicted at Trenton and Princeton. 
American attack on Trenton


The Continental Army went into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Throughout the winter of 1777, he led mixes of continental and militia units in a series of forage fights. He demonstrated the ability to orchestrate quick strikes, use intelligence and terrain, and win.  The British suffered heavy casualties during a period it was supposed to rest and recuperate. 


Maxwell struck at British forays for food throughout th winter

Maxwell was proving a brave combat officer but there were some rumblings about his personality and habits.  His taciturn demeanor and thick Ulster burr resulted in the nickname, “ScotchWillie.” 
Brigadier General William Maxwell

In the spring, Maxwell received a choice command and assumed control of the Light Infantry Brigade. This elite unit comprised handpicked men from every regiment in the army. The brigade was meant to fill the void created when the riflemen of Colonel Daniel Morgan, were dispatched to northern New York.
Maxwell's Light Infantry Brigade was an elite corps

Not for the last time, Maxwell was thrust into the forefront. Charged with screening the British advance, he handled his men adroitly at Cooch's Bridge, Delaware, on 3 September 1777.  This was the opening skirmish of General William Howe's fateful campaign to seize the rebel capital; at Philadelphia. Maxwell's command fought well until outflanked by Hessian adversaries and forced to fall back by superior forces. This was reputedly waged under the new “Stars and Stripes” flag recently adopted by Congress. 
 Cooch's Bridge
Maxwell  performed well at Brandywine and Germantown that fall, although he was brought up on charges of excessive drinking. A court of inquiry proved inconclusive, so he returned to Valley Forge that winter, leading a newly recruited New Jersey brigade. The following summer Maxwell’s troops were closely engaged ay Monmouth in August 1778, and he subsequently testified against General Charles Lee at his court martial for abandoming his post.
At Monmouth washington rallied the Army when
General Charles Lee mishandled the advance guard

In the summer of 1779 Maxwell again joined General Sullivan, this time on his controversial punitive expedition into the heart of Iroquois territory in central New York. Sullivan had specifically requested his services. His brigade was instrumental at the battle of Newtown. Maxwell did not disappoint, and in August, when Sullivan got sick, he temporarily assumed control of the entire army. 
Battle of Newtown, Sullivan's Iriquois Campaign

That fall, Maxwell returned to the Jerseys with his brigade. In June 1780 he proved instrumental in organizing troops and militia. With his forces now deployed to screen the Continental Army base at Morristown, they would prove instrumental in blunting the advance of British and Hessian columns in battles at Connecticut Farms and then Springfield. 
At Connecticut Farms, on 7 June, his men successfully delayed the advance of General von Knyphausen's six thousand British and Hessian troops. Maxwell was able to harass and slow the enemy advance while inflicting about an even number of casualties. Frustrated, von Knyphausen ultimately withdrew. 
Maxwell delayed the British-Hessian forces at Connecticut Farms

A few weeks later, von Knyphausen tried another thrust, his column colliding with Maxwell’s brigade, once again screening the army. Maxwell fought another delaying action, giving the American commander, General Nathanael Greene, time to arrange his defenses around Springfield. With Maxwell then assuming command of one of the reserve wings, Greene repulsed von Knyphausen, who retreated back to Staten Island. These victories were some of the last actions in the north, as the British were now committed to a southern strategy.


Around this time Maxwell was beset by troubles. He was concerend with the shrinking size of his brigade through failed enlistments and the spate of mutinies in the Army. Friction with subordinate officers weighed on him as well. And he had grown discontented with the lack of recognition. He pressed General Washington to forward his resignation to Congress, possibly in the mistaken belief he could gain promotion. But the ploy backfired when it was accepted and command of the New Jersey troops consequently devolved upon Colonel Elias Dayton, who had supporters in and out of the army.

Elias Dayton succeeded Maxwell
as Brigadier General


In a petition to Washington, Maxwell tried and failed to achieve reinstatement. Politics had caught up with Scotch Willie. Dayton now occupied his general officer billet and Congress was not inclined to demote him.  His military life over, Maxwell resumed his interest in politics. In 1783, he served a term in the New Jersey state legislature but otherwise failed to distinguish himself and returned to his farm at the end of the term. The hard-drinking Maxwell died at Lansdowne, New Jersey on 4 November 1796.


Scotch williw's Grave
  Scotch Willie falls into an interesting group of Revolutionary War commanders: not brilliant, flawed, but competent, brave and resolute. Sullivan himself and Lord Stirling fall into the same category. Yes, they are  overshadowed by the likes of Nathanael Greene, Henry Knox, Anthony Wayne and the Marquis de Lafayette. But they served in key posts, in key campaigns, and brought enough leadership and success to keep the cause viable in some of its worst moments. 

The Lord's Patriot

A Mighty Fortress
The connection between the fighting man and armies with religion goes back to earliest times. Biblical armies sacrificed to their God/gods and invoked divine protection and intervention to help in battle. The Iliad provides many examples of this from a Greek perspective. Roman legions had their totems and even placed them in a special tent that served as a field temple when making camp each night. The various barbarian tribes invoked their gods as well. The tradition carried into the Christian era. Priests and monks accompanied the knights into battle.
 Roman legionnaires worshiped their standards
 - the eagle chief among them


By the eighteenth century the idea of military chaplains began to approximate modern usage. And since the American cause was predicated on preserving God-given rights of men and the British cause the God-given authority of the king, things religious and military mixed with politics. The new nation recognized the need for “spiritual firepower.” So on 29 July 1775, Congress established the Chaplain Corps at the request of General George Washington. There would be one chaplain for each regiment in the Continental Army. Receiving a captain’s pay, they would attend to the spiritual, emotional, and even physical well-being of the troops.
Chaplains were established early in
the American Revolution

A Life for God
But our patriot pastor would not be one to join the corps. His road was quite different. John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was born in Trappe, Pennsylvania on 1 October 1764, the son of German immigrants Heinrich (Henry ) Melchior Muehlenberg (Muhlenberg) and Anna Maria Weiser. The elder Muhlenberg, a Lutheran minister, became quite prominent in protestant circles and was known as "the Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America" for his role in organizing the Lutheran churches.
Henry Muhlenberg was the patriarch
of the Lutheran Church in America

Valuing education, his father sent him to the Academy of Philadelphia. Muhlenberg then sent three of his boys, John Peter, Frederick Augustus, and Henry Ernst, to the University of Halle in Germany in 1763. But John Peter had a restless streak and eventually left Halle to work as a clerk in a counting house in the Hanseatic city of Lubeck. Not receiving the training promised, he left and joined a German dragoon regiment for a short time.

Halle University


John Peter returned to America in 1767 to study Theology in Philadelphia. In 1768 John Peter Muhlenberg was ordained a Lutheran minister. Muhlenberg first served as assistant rector for the congregations of Zion and St. Paul’s Churches in New Jersey. In 1769, he became the pastor at Bedminster. During this period, he met and married Anna Barbara “Hannah” Meyer, the daughter a successful potter. The marriage would prove to be a happy one for they would raise six children together.

Henry Muhlenberg founded Philadelphia's
 Old Zion Lutheran Church
The Patriot Pastor
Muhlenberg migrated south to the Shenandoah Valley where he opened up his own congregation of German immigrants in the town of Woodstock in Dunmore County, Virginia. At that time, the valley included a mix of German, English and Scots-Irish settlers. But the Old Dominion was Anglican country, so in 1772 Muhlenberg sailed to England where he was ordained in the Episcopal Church, although he maintained his connection to his Lutheran church. 
Muhlenberg was inspired by Patrick Henry's famous speech

Life in Virginia put John Peter in contact with many of the movers and shakers who would propel the colony towards rebellion, chief of whom was Patrick Henry. Muhlenberg supported the ideals of liberty and often preached about them. This put him at odds with his brother, Fredrick Augustus, himself a pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in New York City. The two maintained an increasingly heated correspondence during the run-up to the rebellion.
Local Committees of Correspondence were
crucial in building the rationale for resistance
and the network for insurgency and rebellion


Virginia’s march from political discontent to insurgency and then open rebellion swept Muhlenberg along with it. As the path to rebellion quickened its pace, he became a member of the local Committee of Correspondence. His activism got him a seat in the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1774. All the while he maintained his church affiliations.
From Cleric to Colonel
His military experience came in handy and in early 1776 he was appointed a colonel in the new Continental Army. Prior to marching off to war, Muhlenberg gave a farewell sermon based on Ecclesiastes 3:1. His final words reportedly were, “There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come.” At that, he tossed off his clerical robes, revealing his military uniform and encouraging his congregation to support the patriot cause.

From the Holy Spirit to the Spirit of 76

Colonel Muhlenberg’s first task was to recruit soldiers for 8th Virginia Continental Line. The unit was raised from several counties in western Virginia. In early 1776, Charleston was threatened by a British invasion, so the regiment marched south to support the famed South Carolina Colonel William Moultrie. The British were driven off in the famed siege that made the palmetto tree famous.
The Prodigal Brother
Meanwhile, his brother Frederick Augustus had an epiphany of sorts. Following the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, the British bombarded and invaded New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg's church was burned and his family had to flee the city. This turn of events brought Frederick to the cause of liberty and he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779. He would go onto prominence in Pennsylvania and national politics, serving as first Speaker of the House under the new constitution.
The once Tory Frederick Augustus would
become an unlikely first Speaker of the House

The Sound of the Drum
By 1777, Colonel Muhlenberg was back north with his regiment, which was now part of Washington’s main Continental Army at its Morristown cantonment. Noted for his steady hand, attention to detail and the troops, Muhlenberg was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned to Nathanael Green’s division, where he fought at Brandywine and Germantown. At Germantown he led the column that penetrated deep into the British right flank and came close to securing an improbable victory in the dark and fog.

Muhlenberg's brigade penetrated deep into the
British flank at Germantown


When the Continental Army emerged from the harsh winter at Valley Forge it was retrained and re-outfitted – an army that could now take on the British on equal terms. Muhlenberg led forces in the ensuing Monmouth campaign and was then attached to Major General Anthony Wayne’s division in New Jersey and later during the famed storming of the British fortifications at Stony Point, New York in the summer of 1779.


Stony Point
Defense of the Old Dominion
By 1780, things were heating up down south again, so Brigadier General Muhlenberg was dispatched to Virginia where he was in command of all militia forces in the state. Unfortunately, the militia was greatly weakened and he had to raise new troops, find equipment and organize them, all in the face of British naval and land threats. He managed to skillfully employ his militia to delay and contain the British around Portsmouth. Placed under General Friedrich von Steuben’s command, Muhlenberg would play a key role in foiling the British attempt to split Virginia at the seams.

British General Benedict Arnold
terrorized Virginia

In 1781, the infamous American traitor, British general Benedict Arnold was heading up a ruthless raid along the James River, threatening Richmond and Petersburg and torching everything in sight. Muhlenberg commanded the brigade of militia that successfully delayed British forces under General William Phillips near Petersburg, Virginia in April 1781. 



Muhlenberg's brigade supported
Lafayette in his defense of VirginiaWhen Washington dispatched the Marquis de Lafayette with a division, he was put in command of a brigade – this time Continental Line troops.  Lafayette’s division played a key role in screening Cornwallis’s advance from North Carolina and forcing the desperate British column down the Virginia peninsula to the “safety” of Yorktown. During the Yorktown siege in October of that year, his brigade supported Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Hamilton’s famed bayonet assault on Redoubt Number 10, which helped seal Cornwallis’s fate.

Muhlenberg supported the legendary assault on
Redoubt Number 10

From Parson to Politico
Like so many of his peers, Muhlenberg resigned from the Continental Army in September 1783 as the terms of the Treaty of Paris were bringing the eight-year struggle to a close. By then he had attained the rank of (brevet) major general, as high as anyone could rise, being that George Washington was the only lieutenant general in the Continental Army.
Brevet Major General John Peter Muhlenberg


As with so many of our first patriots, Muhlenberg’s war experience was just the beginning of his service to the new nation. Popular with the German residents in and around Philadelphia, Muhlenberg began a career in politics both long and distinguished. He became a member of the state supreme executive council, serving as vice president under Benjamin Franklin. He also served three terms in Congress and in 1801 was appointed (no elections then) a US senator. He gave up his senate seat when President Thomas Jefferson named him customs inspector for Philadelphia.
A Steady Hand
The struggle for independence was won on the backs of the soldiers. But those soldiers needed leaders who were steady - militarily, politically and spiritually.  Leaders they could trust.  It is the nation’s good fortune to have enough of those leaders to stay the course of an eight-year struggle.  John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was one of those essential leaders. Neither a “bad-ass” nor flashy, his steady hand helped form the moral, ideological, military and political grounding of the nation.  He died at Grey’s Ferry outside Philadelphia on 1 October 1807. He is a little-known first patriot today but was arguably the most prominent German-American of the era.
Muhlenberg Statue in
the Capitol


Muhlenberg is memorialized by many statues and monuments. Perhaps the most famous is in the capitol itself. His tombstone reads, “He was Brave in the field, Faithful in the Cabinet, Honorable in all his transactions, a Sincere Friend and an Honest Man.”
Monument in Philadelphia

The King’s Engineer

The struggle for North America during the 18th century featured an array of gallant and industrious men from frontier woodsmen, hearty yeoman farmers, professional soldiers, wily politicians as well as the merchants, tradesmen and famers whose industry financed and supplied them. There is another category, one critical to the building of empire, especially an empire carved from wilderness – the engineer. Skilled at planning, surveying, and map-making, engineers connected people to the land. And warfare in North America, was about land and shaped by the land. Geography drives history.


Montresor would spend most of his
military career in North America

Servant of Empire James Montresor
One such engineer was John Montresor. Montresor was the son of a British officer of French Huguenot roots, James Gabriel Montresor. John was born in 1736 on the key British base at Gibraltar.  The senior Montresor was chief engineer at the time. John spent four years (1746-1750) at Westminster school in England. When he returned to Gibraltar, his father instructed him in the principles of engineering and took him to North America when he was named chief engineer for General John Braddock. 



Fighting the French and Indians General Braddock
John Montresor was commissioned an ensign in the 48th Regiment of Foot in March 1755 and was appointed engineer in June. The Braddock campaign against Fort Duquesne is storied (see Yankee Doodle Spies Blog Post: Road of Destruction). The defeat of Braddock’s column by native warriors and French soldiers at the battle of the Monongahela, and the Braddock's death had a chilling affect on the British effort. It also made a hero out of young George Washington. Young ensign Montresor saw action in that battle and was himself wounded during the massacre. 


Montresor was wounded at
the Battle of the Monongahela

Promoted to lieutenant, Montresor was sent to New York, the main theater against the French. His engineering skills were honed by his construction of Fort Edward. In 1757 he served Lord Loudoun (British commander in N.A.) in a failed campaign against the mighty French bastion at Louisbourg. The failure did not put a dent on his career. 


Montresor's engineering skills helped
secure the fall of Louisbourg
The following year John received his commission as practitioner engineer and gave up his commission in the infantry. From a career perspective, he took the road least taken. Engineers were critical in modern warfare but rising above major was rare and certainly no path to general. But then as today, engineers favor the work over advancement. That summer he joined General Jeffery Amherst’s army in another go at Louisbourg.  As an engineer, he played a key role in the siege of the fortress. Montresor remained in Nova Scotia and in March 1759 performed a reconnaissance around the Bras d’Or lakes. 



British infantry scaling cliffs to
reach the Plain of Abraham during the
Battle for Quebec

Montresor’s skills were noted, and he was soon sent to join the army forming under General Wolfe in its successful but tragic (commanders on both sides mortally wounded) campaign against the capital of French North America, Quebec.




British General Wolfe died in battle for Quebec,
his opponent General Montcalm  was also mortally wounded

Carving out a New Land
Montresor remained in North America after the Treaty of Paris ended the war in 1763. A rugged new world needed to be mapped and infratstucture of all types need planning and construction - especially forts to protect the newly aquired empire. What better place for an engineer?  He stayed with the occupying army, serving newly appointed governor, General James Murray in a series of mapping expeditions of the newly conquered territory. Probably the most important of these was supporting Murray's mapping of the St. Lawrence River. But Montresor was also engaged in constructing forts in the new dominion. Montresor's French language skills also saw him in a pacification role, disarming local militias and ensuring the loyalty of the king’s new subjects.He also found time to explore the wilderness between Quebec and the Kennebec River (Maine). Ironically, his written record would be used by Colonel Benedict Arnold in his campaign against Canada in 1775.


John Murray commissioned a seminal
map of the Saint Lawrence River 

Pontiac's War
In 1763, Montresor was stationed in New York, but the eruption of Pontiac’s Indian rebellion saw him back in Canada.  There, General Jeffery Amherst tapped him for a dangerous covert mission: cross hundreds of miles of hostile wilderness to deliver dispatches to the commander of the besieged garrison at Detroit. His knowledge of the land made him the perfect choice to serve as chief engineer for the relief column sent to Detroit the following year.  But before heading west, Montresor took the time to constructed forts along the Niagara River. 



Montresor braved hostile Indian terrotory
to complete his mission to beleagured Detriot

On his return from the Detroit expedition, Montressor was shipwrecked on Lake Erie. Switching to another boat, geek-like the engineer Montressor  took the time on his way back to practice a little hydrography, exploring the depth and width of several of the lake’s tributaries along the way. 




Montresor made lemonade from lemons
using even a shipwreck to explore Lake Erie

Pause and a Promotion
The arrow of Eros struck him while in New York. Montresor married an American woman, Frances Tucker, in New York City on 1 March 1764. It must have been a good match because they  wound up raising six children. 



Frances (nee Tucker) Montressor decked out
as  Brisih officer. 
Stationed at Fort George (formerly Fort William Henry) in 1765, he saw the beginnings of the political movement that would eventually lead to insurgency and open rebellion with the rioting in Albany and New York City in in protest to the Stamp Act. Montresor made a voyage to England in 1766. When he returned to America, Montresor was a captain-lieutenant and master of the Ordnance for America. As such, he spent quite some time in the mid-Atlantic region, constructing forts, primarily along waterways such as Boston, New York and Philadelphia. One significant fort guarding Philadelphia on Mud Island would bear his name and be the venue of bloody combat a few years later. 



Montresor drew up one of the earlyiest
professional maps of  The Big Apple

During that inter-war period he managed to find time to survey the boundary between New York and New Jersey and built or upgraded forts and military bases. During his time in New York, he purchased an island in New York’s East River.  It was named Montressor’s Island after him but New Yorkers know it as Randall’s Island. Montresor oversaw the devlopment of a map of New York City during his time there.


Chief Engineer

In April 1775 he was in Boston when the outbreak of open war in North America once again changed the trajectory of his career. He was now thrust into the de facto chief engineer for the British forces in America. This resulted in a promotion to captain in January 1776. 



Captain John Montresor
For a while, he seemed to be the Forrest Gump of the British effort – seemingly everywhere and meeting everyone. He secured river crossings for the march on Lexington and Concord and helped relieve the British column skulking back to Boston after being stung by an aroused populace. His engineering skills were put to work in the defense of Boston and he was one of the last officers to leave the beseiged city.



Boston

As chief engineer during the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, he would have planned the siege works to blast Washington’s beleaguered force out of Brooklyn.  Montresor witnessed the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City the following month. He allegedly gave succor to Hale, letting him use his office to write final letters to his family. The British picked him to cross rebel lines to inform the Continental Army of the execution, which is said to have moved him greatly. 



Montresor witnessed Nathan Hale's Execution

He gave up his post as chief engineer and served as General William Howe’s aide de camp for a time, but Montressor was later reinstated as chief engineer.  When the campaign for Philadelphia was launched in 1777, he was in the thick of operations. He fought during the forage war in New Jersey. He also served at the battle of Brandywine later that year, and accompanied the army to Philadelphia where he rebuilt the garrison's fortifications and later launched the savage series of attacks that destroyed his former Mud Island defenses, which ironically included Fort Mifflin, the fort that once bore his name. 



Plans for Fort Mifflin, once known as Fort Montresor


With the British occupation of Philadelphia, he directed the construction of new defenses for the American capital. Montresor also planned the construction of pontoon bridge at Gray's Ferry on the Schuylkill River. 



Fort Montressor was renamed Fort Mifflin,
giving the King's Engineer the honor of attacking
his own creation

Major AndreA Rapid Closure
As the British occupation dragged on, the commander in chief, sir William Howe was recalled to England. Montresor, Howe’s former aide, helped Major John Andre (a future spymaster) plan a massive and extravagant farewell celebration called the Meschianza.  


The Meschianza included parades

This was a series of lavish events with shows, parades, musical concerts and displays, as well as banquets and a ball culminating in a firework show worthy of a Broadway or Hollywood impresario.


Major Andre arranging a Meschianza display
with and exotic oriental theme

The spring of 1778 brought a new commander in chief, General Henry Clinton, and at some point that year Montresor was superseded as chief engineer. He returned to England in October where he retired from the army, ending more than twenty years’ service to king and country, albeit a country he spent little time in. But the king’s engineer did not have good time of it in post-army life.  Montresor was not happy with his treatment by the army, feeling pique at not receiving a promotion. He blamed the Ordnance office for this and felt his talents and record were unappreciated and unrewarded.


Sir Henry Clinton replaced Howe
Montresor would follow later that year

It is unclear exactly why he left so abruptly. Perhaps he did not get along with Clinton because of his close association with Howe. But it might have had to do with something more basic – money. There were suspicions he misused his wide discretion in the exercise of his role as engineer. In that position, he controlled considerable funds for the procurement of the equipment, material and manpower for construction projects.  The lack of good accounting practices and financial controls may have enabled him to amass a considerable sum of money for his own pockets. 

Montresor was a very exacting and demanding engieer, frequentl requisitioning the best materials for his projects. During the construction of the forts around Philadelphia he submitted invoices for extensive materials ultimately denied by the colonial governement. His demading ways may have also crossed him with General Murray at Quebec, and perhaps Henry Clinton.
A Desperate End
In 1782, his accounts went through scrupulous audit, resulting in him being held liable for £50,000 out some £250,000 in expenses he claimed as chief engineer in America. Despite strenuous appeals by Montresor, he lost. The Exchequer went after his estate, seizing his London residence and property in Kent, ultimately recouping £48,000. Despite his service, Montresor eventually ended up in Maidstone prison, a debtors’ prison, where he tragically died on 26 June 1799. 


Debtor's Prisons were the final destination
of the bancrupt in the 18th century




Legacy
Two of Montresor’s sons received commissions in the British Army, despite their father’s difficulties. So the family tradition of service to king and country continued.One is struck by the tremendous contribution Montresor made to the British success in North America in three wars and an inter-war period of consolidation, yet he receives little mention. 
This likely was in part   due to the relative low regard for the more technical branches in an army drenched with arcane tradition and social stratification. Had he been a man of birth and not merit, or a member of a prestigious regiment, his transgressions might have been overlooked. And of course, as a descendant of French Hugenouts, he was not English. Just saying. This is not to rationalize sloppy accounting or look the other way at embezzlement, merely a period social observation.  

Cypher later adopted by
the Royal Engineers

Montresor, in engineer style, kept a scrupulous journal that pointed out minutiae in day to day operations and conditions. Exact distances and measures were noted. Daily temperatures as well. Those parts of his journal that survive show a man with great attention to detail, but his journal also reveals a bit of hubris as well. Perhaps that hubris led to friction with peers and superiors, and something worse. We will never know.


Surviving Montresor journals
provide a n insight into the man and his times

Yankee Doodle Disease

An Age-Old Problem

Throughout the course of history, the bane of most armies was not enemy swords, spears, bayonets, bombs or bullets. Up until at least the second world war, disease and infection killed or disabled more men than battle. Even with today’s Corona Virus Pandemic, there are reports of infections in the military at much higher rates than the regular population. Like so many people around the world, I have been sitting at home and watching a global epidemiological disaster unfold, while trying to ignore the inconvenient fact that I am at the center of it. As are we all. This led me, naturally, to ruminate on the topic in terms of the times of the Yankee Doodle Spies.
The Black Death wreaked havoc and terrorized
over centuries of outbreaks


Disease in War

In a strange irony, war brings people together. Not just the face to face clash of foes but the necessary formation of close—knit units who are thrown together to eat, sleep, train and fight. Camps and garrisons become breeding grounds, especially when hygiene is not maintained.  It is that very closeness that makes them so vulnerable when various outbreaks occur.
Gathering of soldiers in military camps was
ground-zero for the spread of disease

Epidemics have weakened armies, sometimes rendering them unfit for combat operations, outbreaks have frozen military operations, and of course there is the effect on civilian populations armies come in contact with. Geography plays a role, with both bitter cold and steaming hot climates playing a role in the spread of illness. Swamps, littorals and cities all present environments supportive of various types of disease. And of course, the transports of armies, placing soldiers in strange new lands where they can encounter new diseases and bring their own to impact the locals. 

Yankee Doodle Disease

The American Revolution in many ways exemplifies all of these factors. Men from farms and forests thrown together with men from towns and seaports. Undernourished, often poorly dressed and exposed to the elements, these men (and women) often faced a foe worse than any redcoat or Hessian. A foe invisible to the naked eye and who, in most cases, the best medicine of the age did not comprehend and could not combat. Simply put, they faced an array of germs that packed a punch as bad as any .69-inch musket ball or 17-inch bayonet. Diseases such as smallpox, dysentery, and malaria, were commonly suffered by American and British and Hessian soldiers alike. They were an enemy that did not choose sides. Given the close-quarters environments of 18thcentury encampments these diseases would spread through a camp like a windstorm across the high plains.

Disease killed more men than
musket balls or bayonets


A Different Kind of Battle

The soldier of the American Revolution faced highly professional armies equipped with the best weapons of the late 18thcentury. But if musket, cannon did kill the soldier, the state-of-the-art treatment for a wound or illness might. Data indicates the typical combatant stood a 98% chance of surviving battle, but around a 75% chance to walk (or limp) from the hospital. Unsanitary conditions, lack of knowledge of vectors, lack of practical remedies combined in a tragically unfair fight for the wounded or sick patriot. No antibiotics, but plenty of bleeding. No anesthetic, but plenty of bullets to bite. And if things really looked serious? Not to worry, there were an abundance of trained surgeons and their assistants who could cut off a limb or bleed the life blood from you.


State of the art medical kit of the Rev War


A Different Kind of Surgeon

During the time of the American Revolution, pretty much anyone could claim to be a doctor and begin practicing medicine as long as they spent a few years of apprenticing with another doctor. Very few were trained surgeons from Edinburgh or London. And even if they were, medical science of the day was based on theories (often bogus) not on real scientific knowledge. This was especially true when it came to illness, especially infectious disease. Doctors of the period thought most illness was brought about by “an imbalance of the humors” -- blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. How to regain the balance in the humors?  The typical procedure used was bloodletting or sometimes herbal concoctions to help induce vomiting or bowel movements. Lots of ways to restore the balance.


Bleeding was a common treatment for bad humors

A Different Kind of Pharmacist

Medicine in the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies was hard to come by. Prior to the war, medicine, like almost everything else, had to come from England. One reason we rebelled.  The war broke that supply chain until the French alliance in 1778. A new supply chain from France brought medicine to America. But even when medicine reached the army camps, most were of limited value, if not dangerous. In a medical field that lacked anesthetics, opiates were the go-to painkillers, followed by hard liquor, and the previously mentioned bullet. For various ailments some surgeons used mercury compounds, lavender spirits, and cream of tartar.


Medicines of the day were, interesting

Climate Change

Disease would strike in any climate. Winter brought seasonal flu and the resultant pneumonia that drowned the soldier in his own lungs. And the years of the American Revolution had some savage winters thanks to a mini-ice age. Many died at Valley Forge, Morristown, Newburgh and other winter cantonments. Summer, especially in the south and in the swamps and low-lying coastal flats, brought the noxious vapors, often malaria but more often the deadly yellow fever. Of course, the vapors, typically called miasmas, were not the vector. Insects provided that. In the case of the latter, the lowly mosquito.  

Swamps along the Georgia and Carolina littoral were a breeding ground
for the"noxious and bilious vapors"that plagued both sides


The war in the south was impacted greatly by disease. It was one of the biggest concerns of the British high command, who had experience sending soldiers into warmer climes. The outbreak of disease chronically weakened General Charles Cornwallis’s army in the Carolinas, impacting battles and strategy. At critical junctures, key lieutenants got ill, as did Cornwallis. When he finally had a reasonably fit and equipped force in hand at Wilmington, he decided to move north to Yorktown and not back into South Carolina in part to get his army into a healthier climate. We know how that turned out.

Disease factored into the strategy
 of Lord Cornwallis, with unpredictable results


Mother of All Maladies

Smallpox was a real killer in the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies. And it could leave permanent scarring when it did not actually kill you. Armies and their camp-followers were very susceptible to the disease and outbreaks threatened both sides. Smallpox in some ways resembles the Corona Virus in its manifestation. It spreads from direct contact, not other vectors such as insects. It can incubate a fortnight before victims are symptomatic. It manifests with some of the similar to Corona and the flu bringing fevers, headaches, and body ache. 
But the smallpox piles on with the outbreaks of pustules on the body. Soldiers suffered for about another fortnight before succumbing. It killed one out of three people infected (.3 mortality rate in Dr. Fauci terms) and the survivors take weeks and weeks to recover. Of course, the tell-tale scars make sure you (and those around you) never forget.
The Continental Army suffered outbreaks during the siege of Boston and the defense of New York, again large numbers of soldiers in a relatively confined area. There were two approaches to combating the disease, neither helpful when you are trying to wage a war.


Soldiers from a over a half-dozen states gathered outside
Boston, providing conditions ripe for the spread of disease


Social Distancing

The first was quarantine, the social distancing of the day. Hard to do when men are organized in unit sets, such as companies, regiments and brigades. Harder to do in winter quarters, where men huddled freezing around smokey camp fires and shared common meals together. Meals often sparse and un-nutritious. The Continental Army could not tele-work. Well, at least not for long.

Winter cantonments such as Valley Forge,Morristown
 and Newburgh offered little chance for social distancing


Variolation

As controversial in the time of the Yankee Doodle Spies as today, the smallpox was one of the few diseases preventable by inoculation, then called variolation. The variolator used a lancet with fresh matter taken from the pustule of someone with active smallpox. The matter was then scraped on the arms or legs of the recipient, or introduced through the nose.  There were risks to this, recipients often developed the symptoms like fever and a rash. But fewer people died from variolation than if they had acquired smallpox naturally. In a study conducted during an outbreak in Boston in 1722, those without variolation died at the rate of 14%, the variolated died at 2% (.14 versus .02 in Dr. Fauci terms). This might have been one of the first instances of data in medical science.


Surgeon-in-Chief

In addition to being commander-in-chief and spymaster-in-chief, General George Washington was the final arbiter on the use of medical procedures to battle outbreaks. He himself had a mild version of the smallpox earlier in life during an expedition to the West Indies. Yet military exigencies in 1775 and 1776 precluded him from ordering wide spread variolation. The British, meanwhile, were using it on any recruit coming to America. 
The year 1777 required forced inoculation to
prevent the army from wasting away from smallpox


By 1777 the situation changed. A series of outbreaks that year would take as many as 100,00 lives in North America. Only 2.5 million lived in the colonies, not counting the native tribes in the colonies, the Spanish-America and Canada. But a pretty large “numerator” as the good doctor would say. Washington had to take the risk that mass inoculation would not debilitate the Continual Army and finally approved the procedure, beginning with all new recruits. By the following year, however, a considerable number had still somehow avoided the procedure. This time, Washington gave strict instructions that these men would undergo inoculation. Washington made variolation for smallpox "settled science."

Father of Public Health

Just as the ravages of infectious disease helped bring the death knell of the Roman Empire, Medieval Europe and other civilizations, the great outbreaks of smallpox in America during the struggle for independence might well have done what masses of redcoats and Hessians could not do, break the will of the patriots.  It is not hyperbole to say that the mass inoculation ordered by Washington saved the army and thus the American cause. And he may be able to add the honorific, the “Father of Public Health” in addition to the “Father of His Country.”
First in War, First in Peace,
First in Public Health