In Time for the Fourth

A scholarly and conservative discussion of the Founding Documents

I must confess that I generally learn history through reading biographies.  And if not a biography, I prefer the kind of narrative history that David McCullough writes.  I want to read the kind of book whose back cover blurb's say, "Fast paced," "Like a novel," or "a page turner." 

But sometimes, we have to plod through more serious, less compelling reading.That said, I am sure you now want to run out and buy and read The Founders' Key:  The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It.  This book is published by Thomas Nelson, and I received my review copy through BookSneeze.

The author of this book is Dr. Larry Arnn, who is the president of Hillsdale College.  He received his M.A. and Ph. D. from the Claremont Graduate School.  Those credentials fairly guarantee a conservative perspective to this work.

This book accomplishes several things.  First, it answers those (like historian and author Joseph Ellis) who contend that the Declaration and the Constitution are far apart in terms of philosophy and worldview.  Second, it defends or explains some of the questionable aspects of the founders' actions (in contrast to their beliefs).  Of course, the difficult issue here is always slavery and Dr. Arnn gives a credible defense of the founders' inconsistencies on that point.  Third, it calmly warns against the ever encroaching administrative state.  I don't always mind the shrill critics (meaning, the ones I agree with in this case), but there is the place for the calm, rational look at the documents that formed our government in contrast to the current trends.

Consider this one paragraph:

Constitutionalism in the old sense seems a relic of a distant past.  Article I, section 8, of the Constitution lists in seventeen paragraphs the things about which Congress may legislate. Half of them concern national defense. The rest mainly concern the guarantee of an unimpeded national system of commerce and property rights and the ability of the federal government to operate on the territory it posseses. There is no word about education, health, retirement, welfare, or any of the hundreds or perhaps thousands of areas of policy in which the Federal government now operates.

That paragraph may not fire you up in the same way that a Reagan speech would have, but it is sound and solid. 

I think this book would be useful for a high school or college government class.  Dr. Arnn's writing covers only 123 pages and the rest of the book is generally familiar primary source material, such as the Constitution and several of the essays from the Federalist.  The subject would be useful for generating discussions with an eye to the sources and examples being brought in from current practices and issues (including last week's Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare).

Arnn says, "We cannot soon have a government that operates entirely within the confines of the Constitution."  A book like this will help us on the way to such an ideal future.

Other books that I have used and benefited from in regard to the Founding Documents and Founding Fathers:
1.  The Patriot's Handbook by George Grant.  A great collection of documents.  This book is a thorough look at the history of America through key writings, including poems, songs, and speeches.

2.  Christianity and the Constitution by John Eidsmoe.  Jam-packed full of information about the worldviews of the era of the American Revolution and of the Christian ideas of most, nearly all, of the Founding Fathers.  I use this book in my government classes.

3.  The Federalist Papers.  I like using Mary Webster's updated and revised version of the Federalist Papers. After several occasions now to teach through at least some of the essays, I have come to appreciate and stand in awe of what Hamilton and Madison (these 2 mainly) and John Jay thought about the Constitution.  And one cannot help but be awed by their knowledge of history and political science.  I really would like to have a more thorough knowledge of these 85 essays.

4.  The Anti-Federalists Papers.  While Madison, Hamilton, and Jay compiled the essays that became The Federalist Papers, there never was a unified coherent set of essays opposing the Constitution.  Collections of Anti-Federalist writings include a wide assortment of political thinkers of that time who had some worthy objections. The best known opponent was Patrick Henry.  Some of their objections helped secure the writing of the Bill of Rights.

5.  Democracy in America by Alexis deTocqueville.  This traveling Frenchman relied heavily on The Federalist Papers for his thought.  I use portions--large portions--of this book in my Humanities class.  I wish I could engage in a more thorough study of deTocqueville also.

6.  It Is Their Right:  The Declaration of Independence and What Has Followed by James Bulman.  It is has been many years since I read this, but I recall really liking it.  He does make the politically incorrect, but still compelling case for defending the 1861 secession movement from the Declaration.

7.  Defending the Declaration:  How the Bible and Christianity influenced the Writing of the Declaration  by Gary T. Amos.  Another book I read many years ago and really liked.  Before I read this book, I had a much more negative view of Jefferson's intent in the Declaration.  Jefferson was not a believer (as emphasized by Amos here and Eidsmoe in the previously listed book), but he was writing in a Christian context or culture.

8.  Worthy Company: Brief Lives of the Framers of the Constitution,   Original Intentions: On the Making and Ratification of the United States Constitution, and A Better Guide Than Reason: Studies in the American Revolution, and any other political essays by M. E. Bradford.  One of my chief regrets in life is my not having crawled on my knees to Dallas back in the 1970s and 80s to study under Dr. Bradford.

9.  This Independent Republic and The Nature of the American System by R. J. Rushdoony.  Early, formative works on my thoughts.

10.  The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. Wood.  Read this book for a graduate class.  Began reading with lots of skepticism and was convinced of the thesis and of the author's gifts as a historian.

But to weave this back to where we began, I really have enjoyed the biographies of the Founding Fathers more than the analytical works on their accomplishments.

Yet Another Reminder of the Scots-Irish and Our Independence

 "They were the first to proclaim for freedom in these United States.  Even before Lexington, the Scotch-Irish blood had been shed for American freedom."
President William McKinley

The story of the Scots and the Scots-Irish is rich.  It is quite amazing how God has blessed those rugged islands to the north of continental Europe.  And God has blessed the world through the Scots.  Not only have they provided many soldiers who fought for America's independence, but they have given the world preachers and teachers, including Thomas Chalmers and the Haldane brothers, who have ministered to God's people.

Below are a few books that tell parts of the story of Scottish Christianity and the impact of the Scots and Scots-Irish on this world.



Good account of many Scottish preachers.



Ian Murray's book does not deal with the Scottish impact on America, but it is a good historical narrative with spiritual applications showing what God did among the Scottish folk.



James Webb's account of the Scots-Irish in America

James Webb's account of the Scots-Irish in America is anecdotal and uneven, but still enjoyable and informative.  He would have been better off if he had pursued his writings instead of serving (poorly) in the Senate.

This account of the Scots' influence on America is useful.



Scholarly study of an overlooked Scottish Founding Father

Jeffrey H. Morrison's scholarly study of Reverend John Witherspoon is a very serious work.  Witherspoon signed the Declaration of Independence, served in the Continental Congress, served as president of Princeton College, and taught a whole generation of future American political leaders.

Further Proof of the Scots-Irish in the American War

Thanks to Paul David Robinson for sharing this marvelous mural from Northern Ireland. 

Fourth of July--Celebrating Our Christian Heritage


On July 4 we celebrate our nation's victory in the War for Independence. We acknowledge our Declaration of Independence, addressed to the world, about the British government-a government that protected the colonies for over 150 years and provoked them for about twelve years.

The 13 colonies revolted against the most liberal (in the best sense of that word) government of its day. They revolted over a tea tax with rates so low as to make any modern libertarian green with envy. They separated themselves from the land of their mother tongue, cultural heritage, and religious background. Some of the actual causes were so principled as to baffle us in our age of pragmatism. The risks and improbabilities of success were so great as to as astound us in our age of careful calculations. The degree of internal colonial dissent is perplexing to us in an age of 'truth by polling.' The number of Patriot leaders that emerged-political, military, and theological leaders-seems mythical to use in an age of mediocrity. The rhetoric of freedom and the political acuity amazes us in our age of political banality.

We tend to know all too little about our War for Independence. It was twice as long as that other long war, the War Between the States. (It was seven years after the signing of the Declaration and nine years after the firing of the first shots of the war.) It also was, in a true sense, an actual civil war, with about a third of the colonists-the Patriots-fighting for independence, a third-the Tories or Loyalists-fighting just as fiercely against independence, and another third straddling the fence.


In this mix of shared images, forgotten details, and complexities, we have much neglected the religious aspects of this war. Carl Bridenbaugh, in his book Mitre and Sceptre, stood almost alone among modern historians in proclaiming, “Religion was the cause of the American Revolution.” What has been somewhat slighted by modern historians and largely forgotten in the public mind was well known by the participants in that war.

Congregationalists in the New England colonies were the descendants of the Puritan Roundheads, those who raised the banner with Cromwell and Hamden against the Royal forces under King Charles I. Scots-Irish on the frontier were the descendants of the Covenanters who, in the tradition of John Knox and Andrew Melville, opposed the imposition of Anglican Prayer Books and Bishops. In our day, we still have enough cultural memory of our fathers' wars against Nazi and Japanese aggression and against Communist expansion to rile us anew against the tyranny of modern terrorism. In colonial America, the memories of fighting for the Crown Rights of King Jesus, for a free church, and religious freedom were not forgotten. British suppression of the rights of Englishmen and British imposition of taxation apart from representation dovetailed naturally with the fear of a British-appointed Anglican Bishop to the colonies.

So the spiritual sons of Calvin and Knox and the Puritans from New England through the Middle Colonies to the Southern frontier all armed for battle.

A Hessian captain wrote in 1778, “Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American rebellion; it is nothing more or less than a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian rebellion.” In Parliament, Horace Walpole agreed, saying, “There is no use crying about it. Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson.” In particular, he was referring to the Reverend John Witherspoon, a key Founding Father, and immigrant from Scotland who signed the Declaration of Independence. King George III himself was reported to have called the war a Presbyterian War.

From the colonies, an Episcopalian from Philadelphia said, “A Presbyterian loyalist was a thing unheard of.” A representative of Lord Dartmouth wrote from New York in November 1776: “Presbyterianism is really at the bottom of this whole Conspiracy, has supplied it with Vigour, and will never rest, till something is decided upon it.”

John D. Sergeant, a member of the Continental Congress from New Jersey, speaking favorably of the Presbyterians, credited the Scotch-Irish as being the main pillar supporting the Revolution in Pennsylvania. A New Englander, who took the opposite view of the war, called the Scotch-Irish “the most God-provoking democrats this side of Hell.”

An English official noted that the war “is at the bottom very much a religious war.” British wags caricatured the colonials in print with the character "John Presbyter," an ingrate, filled with deceit and pride against the pure maiden mother country.

The British and colonials did not just imagine this vast Calvinistic conspiracy. Alan Heimert, says, “When the time came for action, moreover, the Calvinistic ministry were the first and longest in the field.” As an example he cites the case of Benjamin Pomeroy, who at the age of 71, rushed to serve in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Other examples abound. Calvinist John Cleaveland served on Washington's staff. Calvinist Thomas Allen was described by Washington Irving as “a belligerent parson, full of fight.” Missionary David Avery fought at Bunker Hill and Ticonderoga (where a musket ball passed through his eye) and Saratoga. David Jones, a Baptist Calvinist in the tradition of Isaac Backus, nearly died at the hands of Tories in New Jersey. He went on to serve in the military from 1776 to 1781. Some years later, in the War of 1812, at the age of 76, he enlisted for his second war with Britain.

In one episode of the war, the Reverend James Caldwell in New Jersey was away from home when British soldiers killed his wife (whether intentional or not is not clear) and burned his home. With a price on his head and filled with desire to punish the enemy, Caldwell joined to meet the Patriot army in battle. At a point when the soldiers were running out of the paper wadding needed to hold the powder and ball in place in their muskets, Caldwell gathered up copies of Isaac Watts' Psalms and Hymns. Ripping out pages, he passed them out to the soldiers, saying, “Put Watts into 'em, boys! Give 'em Watts!”

Henry Alexander White tells the following story: “A call for soldiers to fight in the Revolutionary army was sent out by the Virginia legislature. When the people of Rockbridge Country met together to consider this call, they were addressed by [Pastor] William Graham. He urged the men to offer themselves for the battle, but only a few stepped forward. Then Graham walked out from the crowd and offered himself as a soldier. A large number of men followed him; the company of men were made up at once and William Graham was chosen as captain.”

When the British General Cornwallis entered Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, the men of seven churches congregated and formed a unit to oppose him. After confronting this assembly in battle, Cornwallis referred to this area as “the Hornet's Nest.” He wrote, “It is evident…that the counties of Mecklenburg and Rowan are more hostile to England than any in America.”

James Hall, the pastor of three Presbyterian congregations in Iredell County, North Carolina, preached to his congregations about the wrongs that had been inflicted upon their South Carolina countrymen, and then he called upon the men to take up arms and fight.

The men then called upon Pastor Hall to lead them. White tells us, “He put on a three cornered hat, buckled a long sword about him and rode away into the field. Whenever his men went into camp he preached to them the gospel of grace and liberty.”

This pattern of pastoral leadership in the pulpit and field was common throughout the colonies. Alan Heimert points out, “In the spring of 1775 whole Calvinist congregations, often in response to a single sermon, followed their preachers into battle, and for eight years members of the household of faith served at Valley Forge and Bennington, at Cowpens and Eutaw Springs.”

Even the young men studying in the Classical Christian academies of that day joined in the cause. In the Prince Edward Academy, it is told, “After July, 1776, all of the students over sixteen years of age, about sixty-five in number, were organized as a military company. John Blair Smith was chosen captain. Each of the young soldiers wore as a uniform a hunting shirt colored with purple dye. The next year (1777) they answered the governor's call and marched to Williamsburg to meet the British.”

Pastor Samuel Doak prayed for the men who were marching off to the battle of King's Mountain and exhorted them saying, “Go forth, my brave men and may the sword of the Lord and of Gideon go with you.”

William Henry White summarized the war on the Southern frontier (arguably where the war was won) by saying, “And who were the men who destroyed Ferguson's force and caused the plans of Cornwallis to fail? They were mounted riflemen from the Presbyterian congregations of the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia.”

Battle of Bunker Hill--June 17, 1775

Opening Shots at Lexington, April 19, 1775

Today is not the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.  But it is the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.  So it is a good time to start getting ready to celebrate the Battle of Bunker Hill in June.  This topic will be further explained by the following information provided for me by American History Press.

Classic Account of a Major Battle

Last year, American History Press (http://www.americanhistorypress.com/) published the 50th Anniversary Edition of the most important book written about Bunker Hill. The book is Now We Are Enemies: The Story of Bunker Hill by Thomas Fleming, a distinguished American historian. 

The publication of this special edition of his acclaimed book is both a literary event in its own right and a celebration of Thomas Fleming’s outstanding writing career. He has written 20 works of nonfiction and 23 novels, among them many award-winning and best selling books on the American Revolution.  (I have several of Mr. Fleming's books and hope to add more of his works to my collection.). 

Now We Are Enemies was Thomas Fleming’s first book and is still considered today to be the most complete account of the June 17, 1775 battle that changed the course of American history. Its publication in 1960 was greeted with nationwide critical acclaim. It was a main selection of the Literary Guild and was condensed in Readers Digest, reaching an audience of over 18 million people; and it became the springboard for his many books that followed on the American Revolution.

One of our best historians: Thomas Fleming

TEN THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

1. The Americans lost the battle. They ran out of ammunition and had to flee. Only several days later, when they learned of the staggering British casualties, especially among their officers, did the rebels begin to think of it as a victory. “I wish we could sell them another hill at the same price,” said General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island.

2. The American fort was not on Bunker Hill. It was on nearby Breed’s Hill, where the battle was actually fought.

3. Of the 900 men who marched out to build the fort on the night of June 16, 1775, only 500 remained when the British attacked the following day. The rest had deserted or withdrawn, claiming illness, exhaustion and other similar excuses.

4. The American army did not have one single general who was in charge. They were commanded by several colonels. That was another reason the Americans lost the battle.

5. Although it was a British victory, it proved that the Americans could stand up to the mighty British army— considered the best in the world. To the British, “the success was too dearly bought.” British casualties were staggering — 1054 killed and wounded, almost half of their attacking force.

6. There were at least a half-dozen black soldiers in the American ranks. One, Peter Salem, killed Major John Pitcairn of the British marines during the final British assault. Pitcairn had commanded the detachment that opened fire at Lexington on April 19, thus starting the Revolutionary War.

7. The British planned to send a column of light infantry up the Mystic River beach and attack the fort on Breed’s Hill from the rear. The plan was blocked by a little known hero of the battle, Colonel John Stark, who built a barricade on the beach and stationed 200 of his best marksmen behind it.

8. John Stark and a hefty percentage of his men were Irish-Americans. Both Stark’s parents were born in Ireland. His second-in-command, who died in the battle, was six-foot-six Major Andrew McClary. All told, there were 600 Irish-Americans in the battle.

9. Spies in Boston had discovered the British were planning to attack the Americans on June 18, in a thrust from Dorchester Heights, south of the city. The fort on Breed’s Hill forced the British to fight on ground of the Americans’ choosing.

10. Ben Franklin never mailed the famous letter he wrote after the battle to a friend in England, signed “You are now my enemy and I am yours.” Instead he published it in numerous American newspapers.

50th Anniversary Edition of NOW WE ARE ENEMIES: The Story of Bunker Hill, by Thomas Fleming
Publication date: June 17, 2010 • Cloth • Price: $22.95 • ISBN: 978-0-9842256-6-8 • Newly Indexed
American History Press • 888-521-1789 •
http://www.americanhistorypress.com/

With Zeal and With Bayonets Update

I was informed by the University of Oklahoma Press that the book I recently reviewed--With Zeal and With Bayonets Only by Matthew Spring--was awarded the Cox Book Prize.

From the web-site describing this prize [http://www.societyofthecincinnati.org/book_prize.htm]  , I have borrowed the following details:
This prize has been awarded every third year since 1989 to the author of a distinguished work of American history in the era of the American Revolution.

The prize is awarded by a committee consisting of members of the Society and distinguished academics in the field of early American history. The prize is made possible by an endowment gift of $100,000 from the family of Dr. H. Bartholomew Cox and was named in their honor in grateful recognition of their generosity and long service to the Society.

Matthew H. Spring, Ph.D., a history instructor at the Truro School in Cornwall, England, received this award in recognition of his book With Zeal and With Bayonets Only: The British Army on Campaign in North America, 1775 - 1783 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008). In his book, Mr. Spring offers a new perspective on the military tactics of the British Army during the American Revolution, including insight into the operational and logistical problems it faced as well as its reliance on bayonet-oriented shock tactics.

The prize was presented to Mr. Spring at a black-tie dinner at Anderson House on September 11, 2010. The Society congratulates Mr. Spring and offers thanks to the members of the committee who reviewed the many outstanding books considered for the prize.

Past winners of this prize include:

1989: Bernard Bailyn, Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (New York: Knopf, 1986). (My comment: I WANT this book.]

1992: Peter D.G. Thomas, Tea Party to Independence: The Third Phase of the American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). (My comment: Interesting title.)

1995: Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993). (My comment: Have it and need to use it.)

1998: Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (New York: Knopf, 1996).  (My comment: I wish I had this book and had a friend who read this book.)

2001: Saul Cornell, The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999). (My comment: Sounds great.)

2004: Elizabeth Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2001). (My comment: Not familiar with the book, but recall that Washington's earlier bout with smallpox is what saved him from possible death during the war.)

2007: Alan Taylor, The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006). (My comment: Taylor is a good historian. He has written on the colonial period and on James Fenimore Cooper's family and hometown. I regret not having bought this book on a couple of occasions when I saw it on some bargain tables.)

Postscripts to the Fourth--I

We learn history through outlines, timelines, isolated stories, and fragments of information. The study of any historical event should awaken in us a sense of our finitude of knowledge and understanding and of God's infinite understanding and knowledge. We have in recent weeks surveyed and recommended a small selection of books on American history with an emphasis on our founding and with an eye toward our celebration of Independence Day on July 4.

The books I recommended, if all read and thought through, would provide a good beginning point for a serious study of our nation's beginnings. As always, there are so many books and so little time. My usual rule of thumb is that a person needs to read 10 books in a given area to have enough understanding so as to sit quietly and listen to the experts. After 100 reads, a person can hop in with a few comments. [I grant that this is not the way we actually function and I surely cannot have read even 10 books on every aspect of every subject I teach. But the main idea is to shake us back to a point of humility.]

The American War for Independence was far from over when the Declaration was signed. In fact, the cause was almost lost several times after 1776. We usually wrap up our studies of the war with the surrender of Cornwallis' army at Yorktown. That battle ended in 1781. It was 2 years later before a peace treaty was secured.

Thomas Fleming is a prolific and multi-tasking author. He has written histories on a wide range of topics from the American War for Independence to the conduct of Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt in World War II. (Shocking books coming from a man with a more liberal background who reveals many unfavorable traits of two liberal icon Presidents.) He has also written some historical novels. Fifty years ago (1960), he wrote Now We Are Enemies--The Battle of Bunker Hill. It has just recently been reprinted. [See Thomas Flemings' web-site: www.Thomasflemingwriter.com ] I bought a copy of that book many years ago at some used book source and have many of the Literary Guild book club edition of it at book sales and used book stores. It was hard to believe that the author of that book was the same Thomas Fleming who keeps pouring out books. With his many areas of scholarship and authorship, Fleming usually returns to the War for Independence for his books.

Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival After Yorktown is an excellent and revealing book by Fleming. Yes, the British lost a naval skirmish on the waters outside of Yorktown and also lost a whole army with Cornwallis' surrender. But they were far from defeated and the Americans were far from finished with the war.

Consider: 1. The British still had large numbers of forces in North America--in Canada, in the northern parts of the 13 States, and in the still occupied areas of the southern states.
2. The British navy which was thumped by the French off the coast of Virginia shortly afterwards destroyed the French navy in a skirmish in the Caribbean area. (A forgotten theater of the war.)
3. The British and French angled a bit toward negotiating a peace treaty between those two nations, leaving the U.S. out. What a game changer that would have been.
4. The American political and diplomatic struggles were almost as internally divisive as the war was externally violent.

The road leading from Yorktown to the Peace of Paris was a long hard struggle. Our survival during those two years was itself an amazing series of calamities, near-disasters, recoveries, and God's gracious deliverances.

"No harm is done to history by making it something someone would want to
read."
David McCullough

POSTSCRIPT TO POSTSCRIPT: A couple of people told me that my blog was unreadable. I thought they meant that I was deep and profound, but they were actually talking about the appearance of it on their screens. It was showing up as dark on dark and nearly impossible to view. I am working on that problem, but have currently been unable to get my links, followers, and archives listed on the sight. Any advice or comments would be helpful. If you cannot see this, let me know!

Countdown Complete--July 4

The Fourth of July is a celebration of Rhetoric. Of course, the Patriot Army, the bold and principled political leaders, and the sacrificial families supporting independence were the arms and feet of the cause for independence. But something had to inspire women to suppress their tears and fears as the menfolk shouldered rifles and marched off to uncertain fates. Any account of Washington's army echoes the recurring theme of enlistments running out. Outnumbered, out-manned, under-supplied, the Continental Army was almost always on the verge of extinction with men anxiously awaiting the end of the month or the end of their enlistments. In fact, the crucial game-changing battles of Trenton and Princeton were fought by men who were days away from being able to put the war behind them and return to their plows. (The victories prompted many to give the Army another stint.)

But rhetoric saved the cause again and again. Rhetoric steadied the nerves and focused the aim. The Declaration of Independence--not actually signed by all the names we read on the document--gave both the Patriots and the world a summary of that key question: Why? And it was not the Declaration alone. Thomas Paine, a scoundrel with a flair for words, wrote Common Sense, which inspired many. According to John Adams, the anonymous Calvinistic political tract Claims Against Tyrants bolstered many Christians who were grappling with the idea of justified rebellion. Add to that political sermons by John Witherspoon and many others.

No study of history is complete without going to the sources. The analytical and narrative historians provide wonderful insights, but the sources are vital.

My friend, George Grant, compiled a great collection of original source documents, poems, speeches, along with a few original essays that celebrate the American experience and educate students on that part of the Great Conversation that concerns America. This work, titled The Patriot's Handbook, has long been a part of my reference collection. No collection of American history books is complete without it.

As expected, such writings as the Declaration of Independence, Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty" speech, and George Washington's Farewell Address are in this book. But it also contains tributes and poems about great events, such as "Paul Revere's Ride" by Longfellow. And it contains selections that Grant wrote, such as his "Forgotten Presidents" essay. If you have never heard him give this speech, you are missing an oratorical and history learning experience. In it, Grant gives short biographical sketches of the 14 men who presided over the Continental Congress and who thus served as the newly founded nation's chief executive some years before George Washington became the first President under the 1789 Constitution.

This book covers more than America's founding era. It includes historical materials about this country from Columbus to Ronald Reagan. It contains a large number of Christian writings that support the ever-controversial contention of our nation's Christian roots. Fittingly, the section on the founding era, titled "An Experiment in Liberty," begins with a selection from a sermon by Rev. George Whitefield from the time of the Great Awakening (which was the precurser to the American War for Independence).

The selections are not designed to present a monolithic viewpoint. America's freedom includes the freedom of thought which means freedom to disagree. Being an American means being free to debate, argue, change positions, and take stands that are unpopular. One thing that is beyond debate is this--the sources are vital reading for understanding our history.

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 13

We are all victims of poorly formed ideas, fostered in part from elemental teachings, from movies, from myths, and from lack of serious thought. Watch such movies as Patton, The Last of the Mohicans (the 1992 Daniel Day-Lewis version), or The Patriot. All three are great movies with much in the way of artistic worth and entertainment value. Yet all three have a particular way of portraying British soldiers. The British are stuffy, arrogant, tradition-bound, contemptous of the frontier-born common sense of the American soldier, and unable to adapt to the world of change. From the movies, it is clear that Patton is a better soldier than Montgomery in WWII, Nathaniel Poe (who really should be Natty Bumpo) is head and shoulders above Duncan Heyward in fighting and survival skills (which includes both killing Indians and wooing women), and the Swamp Fox-like* officer played by Mel Gibson repeatedly bests the Redcoats in his nobility, uncanny tricks, and fighting skills. [Comparable to Francis Marion, known as the Swamp Fox.]

The favored American image of the British army is that of an inflexible, rigid caste system that pushes soldiers forward in bright red uniforms against a wily enemy with brains enough to hide behind rocks and trees. With drums drumming and troops dressed in perfect order, stopping for nothing--except tea time, the British blundered their way into battle after battle against the buckskin clad frontiersmen. No wonder we whipped 'em--twice (both the War for Independence and the War of 1812).

This telling of the story is great, especially for Hollywood productions, but history is much more complicated than that. With Zeal and Bayonets Only: The British Army On Campaign in North America, 1775--1783 by Matthew H. Spring is a serious and in-depth study of the British army.

As he notes in the beginning of the book, "[T]he King's troops won the vast majority of their battlefield engagements in America because they tailored their conventional tactical methods intelligently to local conditions--very much as they had done in similar circumstances during the French and Indian War (1754--63)."

In a later part of the book, he says, "[D]uring the course of the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, and the Seven Years War, the redcoats earned a reputation for being the best infantry in the world."

This might seem to be an unusual book to list in a series that highlights the Patriot cause and conduct in the war, but a study of the incredible skills of the British army only increases my amazement at the American victory (or perseverance) during that war.

How did Americans manage to defeat...or outlast the British army? Great question that calls for continued study (like all historical questions). Part of the answer can be found in Spring's conclusions. "The resilience of the Continental Army," he says, "was central to Britain's eventual failure in America."

Resilience--In a time when many Americans might be prone to be defeatist, cynical, and depressed, we need to look at the enemies we have overcome. We are not facing the best infantry in the world. The enemies of the best of Christian and conservative principles are themselves rather pathetic, weak opponents. As R. J. Rushdoony often used to say, "With enemies like these, our job is made much easier." We just need a resilient faith.

With Zeal and Bayonets Only is volume 19 in the Campaigns and Commanders Series published by the University Press. This series includes biographies, battle studies, and historic texts about military events from American and European history.

On the same subject as With Zeal and Bayonets, I look forward to reading Redcoats by Stephen Brumwell (which has been ordered) and Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall ofthe First British Empire by Brendan Simms.

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 12

It is the battles of the American War for Independence that are the most fun to study. Whether touring a battlefield, like Yorktown, or reading a rousing account of a battle, a general, or the Continental army, or watching movies, such The Patriot, the clash of arms gives the most excitement to the history of our nation's beginnings. Yet, battles are consequences in the sense of Richard Weaver's often quoted book title--Ideas have Consequences.

It is the ideas that provide the reasons why farmers, preachers, plantation owners, mechanics, lawyers, and merchants to drop the tools of their trades and pick up muskets and march off to certain war and probable death.

The Ideological Reasons why the colonies went to war has been researched, studied, debated, and written upon by many college students. (The course I took on Southern history at UALR, taught by Dr. Carl Mooneyhon, had one question on the mid-semester exam: Why did the Southern colonies go to war. I do not have fond memories of that test.)

In every bibliography and in many a footnote and on every list of essential books on the American War for Independence, Bernard Bailyn's Ideological Origins of the American Revolution occupies a key position. No one could dare begin to discuss the Revolution without having at least consulted Bailyn. This book grew out of his study of the pamphlets of the times leading up to the Revolution. As John Adams said, the Revolution was in the minds of the colonials long before shots were fired. (Not the exact quote, but the main idea.) There were a host of influences--tied to the Reformation, the Puritan Revolution in Britain, the struggles of the Scottish Covenanters, the Glorious Revolution, and Parliamentary debates--that contributed to the mindset that led to the shooting war.

I think the Theological Origins of the American War for Independence are as important or more important for our understanding than just the Ideological Origins. Carl Bridenbaugh's study titled, Mitre and Sceptre: Transatlantic Faiths, Ideas, Personalities, & Politics, begins with the words, "Religion was the cause of the American Revolution." Along with Bridenbaugh, others historians, such as Bailyn, Page Smith, David Hackett Fischer, Ellis Sandoz, and Kevin Phillips have discussed the role of religious beliefs found in both the leaders and followers of the Patriot cause.

The best, most comprehensive, and most thoroughly documented study of the theological ideas that were the roots of our origins is David W. Hall's Genevan Reformation and the American Founding. I have reviewed the book, quoted extensively from it in my own book, and gleaned its extensive bibliography numerous times for plotting future purchases. In short, this book shows the Calvinistic foundations of American history. As the German historian Ranke said, "John Calvin was the virtual founder of America." Since some American history texts never mention Calvin, such an assertion demands some proof. Hall's book is a good and convincing proof of that assertion.

[During the past several years, Pastor Hall has been busy authoring, co-authoring, and editing a series of books on John Calvin and his Institutes that expound the various applications of Calvinism to all areas of life. I have been reading this week from a book titled Election Day Sermons that Hall compiled and contributed to.]

Countdown to the 4th--Day 11

There was a most uncivil civil war being waged in the South. Ragged, poorly uniformed Southerners gathered under home-bred and home-trained rough-hewn colonels and generals. Men brought their guns to shoot invaders to their land. For years, they had honed their shooting and survival skills in the wilderness where bear, rattlers, and Indians were ever-present threats. Not always the most disciplined units, nevertheless, they formed one of the most spectacular armies in the history of war.

We speak of the southern units of the Continental Army who were waging war against Cornwallis and Tarleton in the Carolinas and who were joined by men from the neighboring Franklin colony--the over the mountains folks from present-day eastern Tennessee. With more than a dash of Scots heritage giving them a Presbyterian and Celtic edge to their ferocity, these soldiers made up the bulk of the army that fought, retreated, fought again, nearly disbanded, formed again, and continued fighting until the Redcoats were stretched too far from their supply posts and were too wearied by the battles.

As General Nathaniel Greene said after the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill, "We fight, get beat, rise and fight again." After a series of retreats, outright devastating defeats, and withdrawals through out South Carolina, these southern units began battling down the Redcoats. Names such as Cowpens, King's Mountain, and Guilford Courthouse entered the halls of military fame for the American soldier. Their ultimate success came when an exasperated Lord Cornwallis burned his excess supplies and bee-lined toward a port in Virginia called Yorktown.

Along with Greene, there was Lighthorse Harry Lee (father of Robert E. Lee), Daniel Morgan, and Francis Marion, and a host of other commanders, many of whom were elders in the much abused Presbyterian churches on the frontier. Also there was an angry young man named Andrew Jackson, still seething at having been sword-slashed by a British officer and at having seen family members perish in the war.

The drama of the southern campaigns can be found in two excellent studies of the war. Partisans and Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned the Tide of the American Revolution by Walter Edgar and The Road to Guilford Courthouse: The American Revolution in the Carolinas by John Buchanan are both excellent books for learning about this much neglected field of warfare that secured our nation's freedom.




Just thinking about the southern campaign and the Carolinas gets my heart longing for the land of my fore-fathers. How I would love to see those sights in South Carolina and North Carolina where the tide turned against the British and our freedom was won.

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 10

American Exceptionalism is highly debated today. The Left scorns the idea of that America has unique, exceptional, and different ways of approaching problems in the world. Granted that sometimes Americans have been arrogant, short-sided, self-centered, and unaware of the historical implications of their actions. America is exceptional, not perfect or sinless.

Our beginnings were exceptional. The origins of most nations is fog, mystery, and myth. They began somewhere way back in time, long ago, before written records. But America's origins are documented and dated. We know when Columbus arrived in the New World; we know when and why Englishmen settled Jamestown; we know who the Pilgrims were and what they believed; and we know the time when 13 colonies became 13 free and independent states.

Maybe the history of Norway is just as rich as that of the United States. I doubt it, since Norway does not have the size, the climate, the location, and the other factors that have affected U.S. history. I certainly would not discourage Norwegians or sons and daughters of Norwegian immigrants to neglect their culture, but I would never put the history of Norway on a par with that of the United States.

Never Before in History: America's Inspired Birth by Gary Amos and Richard Gardiner is a wonderful recounting of the most important factor in American Exceptionalism--the Christian influences on the Colonial Era and on the Founding Era of our history.
The American story is the sequel to the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther and John Calvin were as much or more important in the establishment of this country than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

This book gives such credit to Reformers, Puritans, Christian laymen and ministers, and other Christian influences in our history. And it is a really beautiful hardback book, filled with great artistic renditions of our Christian history.

As a Christian history teacher and author of a book about teaching history, I found this book to be a great review, a powerful argument, and a source for some information I had not heard before.

Our celebration of independence must be strongly linked with praise for our dependence: Both our independence and dependence are from God.

Never Before In History, the book and a study guide, can be ordered from this web-site: http://www.neverbeforeinhistory.com/

Countdown to the 4th--Day 9

In 1976 when I was a college student, I joined the History Book Club and received a four-volume set on George Washington by James Thomas Flexner. Since it was the year of our Bicentennial Celebration, I read the set during that year. Those four volumes have since been abridged to a more managable one volume edition, titled George Washington: The Indispensable Man. Historians and biographers have to be careful when calling a person "indispensable" because we simply cannot know enough to know whether or not another person could have filled a similar role equally or better. In Washington's case, it is hard to imagine anyone else being able to hold the Continental Army together for eight years, cultivate leaders like Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene, endure the political ineptness of the Continental Congress, find the few vulnerable chinks in the British armor, and work within the alliance of the French. And it is not just a case of imagining, since the likely candidates for Washington's role--Horatio Gates, Benedict Arnold, Nathaniel Greene--are all part of the cast.



Along with Flexner's biography, the best known multiple volume biography was compiled by the great Southern historian, journalist, and Virginian, Douglas Southall Freeman. Along with chronicling the lives of his heroes from the Confederacy--in his multi-volume R.E. Lee and Lee's Lieutenants,
Freeman undertook the task of writing about Washington. Altogether, his set numbered seven volumes. Freeman died before the work was completed, so he himself only wrote the first five volumes. (Amazingly and irritatingly, I only have those first five volumes. How can I face the future without the other two hard to find volumes?)

There have been many other massive biographies of Washington written, including several lengthy one and two volume works. Whole books have been written on Washington as a military man or Washington as President or Washington as a soldier in the French and Indian War. One quite amazing and lengthy book is George Washington's Sacred Fire by Peter Lillback, which focuses just on Washington's strong and devout Christian faith. (Abridged version of Lillback: "Washington was an orthodox Christian, not a Deist.")



To paraphrase Will Rogers, I never met a biography of George Washington that I did not like. I think my library shelf of Washington studies is double-stacked with a few smaller works resting on top. Recent acquisitions include a book about Martha Washington and a book about how Washington used spies to keep abreast of his military enemies. Along with the lengthier studies, there is much to be said for shorter works, particularly on a man like Washington. I would think that in many ways it would be easier to write a long biography of him than a short one. (And short biographies are great for beginning a study of a person or for reviewing their life.)

Paul Johnson, who in his earlier years proved to be the master of epic-length histories, has in recent years written some really good short biographies. His recent work on Churchill is compact, fun, and informative. His work on George Washington is a delightful combination of a great writer working with a great subject and producing a small, useful book.

A few memorable observations from Johnson as recorded in my Moleskine journal:

"So, like Napoleon a generation later, who missed joining the British navy as a midshipman for the same reason, Washington failed to enter the British forces because they did not recruit on merit."
[Just imagine: If Washington had been granted his wish of an officer rank in the British army and Napoleon would have become a naval officer! Would that have changed history a bit?]

"George Washington, entirely as a result of his personal qualities--charisma--possessed, for the first time in history, a first class general staff, who understood his mind and methods and could carry out his intentions religiously."
[And this is why books are written on Washington's officers and staff. Charisma makes a difference--if it has some substance for a foundation as seen with Washington, Churchill, and Reagan.]

"A central element of George Washington's strategy, and a source of his confidence, was that time was on his side."

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 8

A study of the men who led our country during the founding of our nation, which encompasses the years both prior to and after the War for Independence, is always rewarding. The depth and range of leadership abilities is astounding, especially considering the small population of our nation at that time. We can scarcely imagine such a host of leaders today.

In his History of the American People, Paul Johnson wrote, “Unfortunately for Britain—and fortunately for America—the generation that emerged to lead the colonies into independence was one of the most remarkable group of men in history—sensible, broad-minded, courageous, usually well educated, gifted in a variety of ways, mature, and long-sighted, sometimes lit by flashes of genius. It is rare indeed for a nation to have at its summit a group so variously gifted as Washington and Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Adams….Moreover, behind this front rank was a second, and indeed of a third, of solid, sensible, able men capable of rising to a great occasion.”

Many historical biographies and multi-biographical books have compared and analyzed the Founding Fathers. Joseph Ellis, one of our more gifted historians in our time, has done a fine job of discussing key leaders of this time. No study of these men is complete, and there are always questions about who was left out and what was left out. Still, Founding Brothers is a fine work.

Ellis' study covers George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr. Of course, these men were real flesh and blood, fallen, but gifted creatures. They were far from perfect, even further from unanimous in their thinking, and even more far apart in terms of their gifts and strengths. But they were amazing.

Countdown to the 4th--Day 7

We squeeze almost a decade of fighting the War for Independence into a one-day celebration--July 4. We have good and sufficient reasons to celebrate and commemorate April 19 for it was on April 19, 1775 when the boycotts, letters, correspondence, Continental Congress meetings, petitions, and discussions ended with the firing of guns at Lexington and Concord. A British officer yelled out, "Ye villians, Ye rebels, disperse; damn you, disperse." This was the moment of truth for those men standing there with their rifles. Standing there with them and helping them uphold their resolve was Pastor Jonas Clark of the Church of Lexington.

In the early years of our Republic, the events surrounding the Battles of Lexington and Concord were staples of the patriotic diets of Americans. The great Schoolroom Poets of the middle of the 1800s all turned their poetic muses to celebrating this part of our heritage. Best known among the poems are Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Paul Revere's Ride" and Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Bridge" (which contains the unforgettable line about the farmers firing "the shot heard 'round the world."

One of the best ways to get a first-hand look at the events of April 19, 1775 is to read The Battle of Lexington: A Sermon and Eyewitness Narrative by Pastor Jonas Clark of the Church of Lexington. This work was originally titled The Fate of Blood-Thirsty Oppressors and God's Tender Care of His Distressed People after the sermon was preached on the first anniversary of the battle.

Nordskog Publishing has re-printed Pastor Clark's sermon and personal experiences at the battle of Lexington. Nordskog is a Christian publishing company that has published a number of practical Christian books that apply Christian thinking to all areas of life. This particular publication includes some introductory materials and four of the poems (including the two I named above) that were written in celebration of the events.

The role of the clergy in the War for Independence is one of the most important aspects of that war. Pastors were community leaders. Their influence would be comparable and favorably superior to the modern day role for politicl leaders, media spokesmen, and sports and movie stars. The clergy were prime movers and shakers of events. In Pastor Clark's case, he stood there with the men of his congregation as they faced the hostile Redcoat army. A year later, he set forth the theological case for why the colonists were fighting the war.




A monument to those who stood their ground at Lexington and Concord.

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 6

Private Yankee Doodle by Joseph Plumb Martin is the most descriptive account of the live of a Continental soldier in the American War for Independence to be found. The historians can narrate and analyze the war, but it is the record and memoir of the actual experiences that best gives a sense of what it was like to serve under General Washington and the Patriot Army.

Several years ago--1992--Stephanie and I spent a wonderful couple of days at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. At one point, we were involved with a group of tourists who were able to experience something of the drills of soldiers. Of course, we were given sticks instead of guns and our enlistments lasted only about a half an hour, so we could not claim real military experience (unless we were Democrat candidates for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut). The tour guide (or was she a drill sergeant?) read an amazing quote about the hardships of soldiers. Always the researcher, I asked her for the source. She said it was from a book called Private Yankee Doodle by Joseph Plumb Martin.

A day or two later, when we were at Yorktown, I snatched up a copy of the book. It was available only as a cheaply done trade paperback published by the National Parks Service. Some years later, I read the book and did a report on it for a graduate course on Colonial and Revolutionary War history.



Since that time, I have discovered an abridged version of the book which is titled Yankee Doodle Boy. I have taught this book to several junior high American history classes. It retains the flavor of the complete volume. The soldier's life was one of scrounging for food, enduring long, difficult marches and encampments, and then enduring the horrors of battle. Joseph Plumb Martin was right in the center of the key events. He was heavily involved in the fighting in the New England and Middle Colonies (or States) and then was involved in the transfer of his unit to a peninsula in Virginia near a tobacco port village called Yorktown.


Monument at the grave of Joseph Plumb Martin

Countdown to the 4th--Day 5

One of the greatest of our Founding Fathers and the Founding Father who had the most cogent, consistent Calvinistic political theology was the Reverend John Witherspoon, who migrated to New Jersey from Scotland. He came here to preside over Princeton University and to get away from the political climate of Scotland where he had experienced much trouble.

Even though there are few books available about Witherspoon, there are some valuable resources. Jeffrey Morrison's book, John Witherspoon and the Founding of the American Republic, is an outstanding study of the converging theological, political, social, economic, and educational views of a much neglected hero. Witherspoon was what we would now call a Christian Worldview thinker.

From Punic Wars and Culture Wars:

Witherspoon’s political influence included involvement in the debate in the Continental Congress over independence. His writings included his “Pastoral Letter” of 1775, which urged Presbyterians to both show respect to King George III and to the resolutions of Congress. Witherspoon even wrote appeals to the British people to hear the colonial cause. Most notably, Witherspoon was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. He expressed the depth of his commitment to the cause by saying, “For my own part, of property, I have some; of reputation, more; that reputation is staked, that property is pledged on the issue of this contest. I would infinitely rather my gray hairs descend into the sepulcher by the hand of the executioner than desert at this crisis the sacred cause of my country.”#
His actions and role in the war resulted in him being burned in effigy by the British. Witherspoon, declared a British officer, was a “political firebrand, who perhaps had not a less share in the Revolution than Washington himself.” Another Englishman said that he trembled at the thought of Adams, Franklin, and the 150,000 or so rebels “with Johnny Witherspoon at their head.”
Witherspoon also influenced his students at Princeton. John Adams spent time with Witherspoon at Princeton and was favorably impressed with Witherspoon’s preaching, but noted that the students “sang as badly as the Presbyterians of New York.” Musical talent aside, Witherspoon assured Adams that all the students were “sons of liberty.” Among Witherspoon’s students were soldiers of whom eleven became captains, six majors, four colonels, and ten lieutenant-colonels. Four of these men died in the war. Seven out of eleven of Witherspoon’s students who became chaplains also died in the war.

A statue honoring Reverend John Witherspoon, America's greatest political Calvinist

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 4

One of the best historians and writers of our time is David McCullough. His book 1776 is a fine history of the most critical year and events of our War for Independence and a great read. I rank the book among the best that I have read on American history.

In my book Punic Wars and Culture Wars, I wrote:

On January 1 of 1777, Robert Morris wrote to George Washington, “The year 1776 is over. I am heartily glad of it and hope you nor America will ever be plagued with such another.” History has a way of recasting difficulties as triumphs. It is a perspective that only makes sense if there is something transcendent and beyond the experience of the moment. We live in an age that too often assumes that the pronouncements of the evening news or the findings of the latest poll are the final judgment of truth and reality. Robert Morris showed both a recognition of the miseries of 1776 and the expectation that both America and George Washington would go on to better things.
We celebrate the year 1776. We remember one event of that year—the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The year of 1776 was filled with a number of great events from the War for Independence, including the siege of Boston, the capture and removal of the guns from Fort Ticonderoga, defeat of the American raid on Canada, the defense and loss of New York City, the retreat across New Jersey, and Washington’s victories at Trenton and Princeton.

One could do well to go from here to read the rest of my chapter which deals with both this book and Fischer's Washington's Crossing. One could do even better to read David McCullough's fine work.




Historian David McCullough. Author of 1776, John Adams, Truman, Mornings on Horseback, and other books.

Countdown to the 4th--Day 3

Presbyterians and the Revolution by W. P. Breed is a valuable collection of quotes, anecdotes, and details about Presbyterian involvement in the War for Independence. Thanks to American Vision for reprinting this valuable resource.

While it is not true that all Scots immigrants and Presbyterians (and most Scots were Presbyterian) supported the Patriot cause, an incredibly large number did. There were very strong connections in the Scottish Presbyterian Calvinistic Covenanter mindset between the cause for freedom in the colonies and the ages-long battle of the Scots for independence from the English crown.

Presbyterians filled the ranks of the Continental Army, and they paid a price in that the Redcoat army was always quick to burn, pillage, or confiscate Presbyterian meeting houses.

Some of the many statements made during the after the War for Independence testify to the Presbyterian involvement in that war:

A Hessian captain wrote in 1778, “Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American rebellion; it is nothing more or less than a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian rebellion.” In Parliament, Horace Walpole agreed, saying, “There is no use crying about it. Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson.” Many think he was referring to the Reverend John Witherspoon, a key Founding Father, and immigrant from Scotland who signed the Declaration of Independence. King George III himself was reported to have called the war a Presbyterian War.

From the colonies, an Episcopalian from Philadelphia said, “A Presbyterian loyalist was a thing unheard of.” A representative of Lord Dartmouth wrote from New York in November 1776: “Presbyterianism is really at the bottom of this whole Conspiracy, has supplied it with Vigour, and will never rest, till something is decided upon it.”

John D. Sergeant, a member of the Continental Congress from New Jersey, speaking favorably of the Presbyterians, credited the Scotch-Irish as being the main pillar supporting the Revolution in Pennsylvania. A New Englander, who took the opposite view of the war, called the Scotch-Irish “the most God-provoking democrats this side of Hell.”

An English official noted that the war “is at the bottom very much a religious war.” British wags caricatured the colonials in print with the character "John Presbyter," an ingrate, filled with deceit and pride against the pure maiden mother country.

Countdown to the Fourth--Day 2

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer is every bit as powerful and moving as the replica of the painting on the cover.

The generalship and leadership of George Washington is one of the greatest stories of the American War for Independence and of all history. Washington ranks above the great generals of history, such as Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Wellington, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, U.S. Grant, and R.E. Lee. But Washington's superiority is not one of battlefield tactics or winning campaigns. Often, frequently, repeatedly, Washington either lost a battle or abandoned a battlefield to keep from losing his whole army. His greatest tactical and strategic skill was perseverance.

But he did have a few moments of battlefield glory. The crossing of the Delaware River in December of 1776 was part of the execution of one of the grandest surprise attacks in all of history. It resulted in his victory over the Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey. That victory was followed up by skillful manuevering of his army north toward Princeton, New Jersey where they scored another victory over a British column. More moves put the Continental army back on the northern shore of the Delaware where they drew fire again from the still dazed British command. Soon afterwards, Washington was able to get his army back across the river into a more safe position.

Before the battles of Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey was falling under the control of the British army. The Redcoats were bidding their time until the spring in which they expected to end the rebellion once and for all. Washington's crossing was a game changer. It dried the ink and confirmed the assertions of the Declaration of Independence which had been signed some six months earlier.

It sealed the historic importance of the year 1776 for the American nation.