The Indispensables Quotes

“the radical American principles of liberty and freedom drew more colonists to the Patriot side. These novel, world-changing ideas and ideals, while radical at the time, fueled one of the greatest revolutions in history and would inspire and influence generations.”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“Much of it boiled down to the fact that Americans don’t like to be told what to do. As he then responded, “Young man, what we meant in going for those red-coats was this: we always had governed ourselves, and we always meant to. They didn’t mean we should.”4 Sovereignty.”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“Stand your ground! Don’t fire unless fired upon!” “But if they want a war, let it begin here.”9”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“The Marbleheaders were one of the first and most diverse regiments in the colonies and, later, the army.”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“a deadly epidemic spurring profound political divisions that would play a role in the Revolution. Experience gained from that event would have an impact on one of George Washington’s most consequential decisions: to inoculate the army.”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“The Marblehead Regiment was blessed with considerable talent. Natural leaders who spent their lives ordering men in extreme hardships, sea captains commanded many of the companies, as they were well practiced in making split-second, lifesaving decisions involving one of the most brutal forces of nature: the ocean. Many of the men they commanded were weathered from the sea and worked as a team on the cramped quarters of fishing schooners, where each man depended on the other: race was eclipsed by survival.”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“told his flock and fellow Patriots, “Let us stand our ground. If we die, let us die here!”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware

“Gage misread the Americans.”
― Patrick K. O'Donnell, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware