You Never Know What Will Happen When You Stand Up for Your Rights

Dr. X posts this from the shores of the Mystic River:

"I come again in praise of Almost a Miracle, John Ferling's military history of the War of Independence. Each page is an education, be it a reasoned reassessment of something already known, or fresh points of knowledge that transform understanding. A few items from the early chapters:

"Howe the Galactic Hero: The man who leads the British attack at Bunker Hill is Lord Howe. Originally sent to Boston to stiffen the backbone of commander-in-chief Gage, Howe was 'forty-six years old and a veteran with twenty years service. Six feet in height, bulky, burly, and swarthy, with a mouth that had 'fallen in' from the loss of numerous teeth, Howe looked and carried himself like a soldier... [He] was a lieutenant colonel well before he was thirty, in part because of his privileged position, but more as a result of his bravery under fire and skills as a tactician.' Gage sends Howe to run the rebels off the hill, and Howe does so, after two tries and the loss of a quarter of the British soldiers in the region. Every member of his staff is killed or wounded in the fight. Later on he will be promoted to commander-in-chief as it becomes apparent this is a real war and a real fighting man will be needed to lead it.

"Fighting For Your Rights: The war is initially not for independence. John Rutledge of South Carolina rhetorically asks, 'do we aim at independency? or do We only ask for a Restoration of Rights...on our old footing.' Although some, like John Adams wanted independence from the start, they were in a minority. Adams felt that war would radicalize the population and make independence an easy sell, but, says Ferling, 'the war that Congress embarked on in May 1775 was not a war for independence. Congress was waging a war for reconciliation, but on its own terms. During the first fifteen months of hostilities, America fought to reconstitute the British empire into a confederation of sovereign states united under a common king, but one in which Parliament's authority, if it existed at all, was severely circumscribed.'

"A Rumor of War: The slaughter at Bunker Hill is disbelieved in England, or put down as an exaggeration, until 'the arrival in Plymouth of the Charming Nancy, a handsome three master, whose passenger list included nearly two hundred soldiers wounded on Charlestown Heights, "some without legs, and others without arms; and their clothes hanging on them like a loose morning gown," according to one story. Disembarking with them were scores of widows and children of the slain soldiers. '

"I Need Some Volunteers: After deciding they have a war on their hands, the British decide to staff up. This is made more difficult by the discovery that everyone in the North American force is trying to get out of Dodge: 'the government discovered that the existing regiments were not at full strength. They contained only about 60 percent of the manpower that the ministry had initially presumed. From the moment the war erupted, and especially after Bunker Hill, so many officers requested permission to transfer to corps posted outside North America, or to sell their commissions, that the King was compelled to announce in November 1775 that he would no longer listen to such petitions.'

"Most Damning of All: 'Incredibly, North's government had led Britain into a faraway war without a plan for waging it.'

"Unbelievable, isn't it?"