3. INDEPENDENCE – AND THE NEW REPUBLIC

THE WAR TO CONFIRM AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE (1775-1783)

War breaks out at Lexington and Concord (April 1775).  Tensions thus mounted in the colonies, and the king decided to make a move to disarm their colonial militias in order to better secure his position there.  In April of 1775, his troops were sent out to seize the military stores at Concord, Massachusetts, but ran into resistance at Lexington – firing on a gathering crowd there, killing eight and wounding ten Americans.  His troops then moved on to Concord, where American minutemen were waiting for them.  Fighting broke out between the two groups – with the British taking a bad hit.  They found the military stores empty and, as it was late, decided simply to head back to Boston.  But American minutemen gathered to fire on the returning troops, inflicting heavy casualties on the British in the process.  This now gave the appearance of the existence of a full state of war between the colonials and their would-be British masters.

The Battle of Lexington – the morning of April 19th, 1775

The forming of the Second Continental Congress (May 1775).  Thus in May, delegates from the various American colonies met in Philadelphia to form the Second Continental Congress, to coordinate the American response to the British challenge.  In the process, they agreed to authorize an American Continental Army, and called on the Virginian George Washington to command it – a smart move designed to improve the likelihood of Virginia agreeing to join the rebellion, which at this point appeared to be mostly a New England rebellion. 

Washington and the Second Continental Congress
The Congress had just appointed him commander-in-chief
of their Continental Army (June 1775)

This decision of the Continental Congress to authorize a full rebellion against their king was a very brave thing to undertake, for in essence if this action ended in failure, it would mean that these Congressmen would all be hunted down and hanged or shot as traitors.  Furthermore, history offered no example of how this kind of action really ever was successful.  However, they counted not on historical statistics but on serious aid from God, with whom their ancestors had first covenanted a special relationship, one which they understood had brought them successfully to the present, and would take them successfully into their future.

George Washington.   The selection of Washington as Commander of the Continental Army was a brilliant move, not only politically in the way that it helped pull Virginia into this dangerous rebellion, it was brilliant in ways that the Continental Congress had as yet no way of knowing.  But they had selected someone who was truly a God-send to their cause.

As a young man Washington was typical of someone born to the ranks of Virginia aristocracy. He came of a highly respected family, and was very ambitious, seeking every opportunity to see his social rank improved even further.  But he had to work at this matter, which he did, diligently.  In being bold in this matter, he would make mistakes, suffer professional setbacks, but learn from the experience.  A big part of this was that from very early on, he felt that he was someone – chosen by Providence no less – destined to greatness.  And he would rely heavily on that divine hand in his life to move forward in the very competitive game of life.

As the younger brother of a prominent Virginia family, he would not inherit high status, but would have to work at his own advancement in life.  And thus Washington took up surveying, and soon found himself called to survey Virginia's land claim on the frontier (which at the time reached all the way into the Ohio Valley).  He thus learned a lot about land, and its challenges and possibilities, and added such land to his own holdings.  It also made him very knowledgeable about the lay of the frontier, which he would soon be called on to put to good use.

Along the way, Virginia Lieutenant Governor, Robert Dinwiddie became impressed with Washington's frontier work, and put Washington in charge of one of Virginia's four military districts. Actually, Washington's first military engagement against the French in the Ohio region brought "shame" in victory for Washington when his Iroquois allies killed and scalped surrendered French troops[1], and his second action at Fort Necessity actually brought him a humiliating defeat.  Washington thus resigned his position as commander.

But he was called back into service the next year, serving under British General Braddock, but efforts to dislodge the French from the Ohio region once again ending in disaster – General Braddock even losing his life in the contest.  Yet Washington held up valiantly in the battle, having two horses shot out from under him and bullets hitting his hat and coat.

This so impressed Dinwiddie (and some of the Indians) that Washington was asked, and agreed, to take command of the much-enlarged Virginia Regiment. But in doing so, he would find his command challenged by another ambitious officer – something that Washington would have to get used to, and learn to get around in order to keep going!

And in his only serious engagement as commander, he was able to finally take French Fort Duquesne in 1758, when the French abandoned it just before his arrival!

The following year he married a very wealthy widow, Martha Custis, and settled himself down as a Virginia "planter", now possessing huge estates worked by hundreds of slaves.  Furthermore, being such a planter, he was expected to be active in Virginia political affairs.  Thus he was called on to represent Frederick County in the Virginia House of Burgesses.  During this time, he began to distinguish himself as a very strong opponent of the effort by the British King and his Tory-dominated Parliament to bring the colonies under royal control, especially the effort to tax the colonies without their consent (supposedly a basic British right belonging to the people).  Indeed, working closely with George Mason, Washington was able to bring Virginia to support the boycott of British goods (1769).

Then as tensions mounted, particularly with the British effort to strangle Boston into submission, again working with George Mason, in 1774 he drew up a list of resolves (the "Fairfax Resolves") put forward by the Fairfax Committee that Washington chaired, which called for the creation of a Continental Congress.  And when a Continental Congress was actually called into being (autumn of 1774), he was sent off to Philadelphia to represent Virginia.  At this point he also took up the challenge of organizing Virginia militias, in anticipation of troubles ahead.

And when a Second Continental Congress was called in May of 1775, Washington headed off to Philadelphia to participate in its doings.  Things were looking very serious after the battles at Lexington and Concord.  War actually seemed to be unfolding, wanted or not.

And there in Philadelphia, he quickly impressed the Congress, particularly the Massachusetts firebrand Samuel Adams (organizer of the "Boston Tea Party"), and his cousin John Adams.  Thus it was that Washington was chosen (over Massachusetts commander John Hancock) to command the new Continental Army.

The Battle of& Bunker (and Breed's) Hill (June 1775).  Meanwhile, the colonies also began to send aid to Boston – including American militiamen (soon to be termed "Patriots" or "Whigs"), who in June gathered in the heights above Boston at Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill.  Here they found themselves armed with cannons and guns seized from Fort Ticonderoga by the troops of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold.  When English troops were then ordered to dislodge these threatening militiamen, it took several charges and a huge loss of British officers (by American sharp-shooters) to do so.  And even then, the American retreat was orderly – taking place only when the Americans ran out of ammunition.

But the next spring (1776), the Americans had resumed their positions above Boston, but with even more cannons – and Washington in place as commander.  At this point the English troops, understanding the resolve of these colonials – and the danger of the position they now found themselves in – withdrew from Boston.  Along with them went the "Loyalist" or "Tory" (pro-king) colonists who had taken refuge there.  They would not attempt a return to Boston during the remainder of what had now become an all-out war.

The Declaration of Independence (July 1776).  That summer, while the newly self-proclaimed independent states (Massachusetts, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, etc.) busied themselves drafting new constitutions for themselves, their representatives in Philadelphia drafted and adopted a formal Declaration of Independence from England.  

Its preamble became very well known to Americans over the generations:

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

The Signing of the Declaration of Independence –
by John Trumbull
Architect of the Capitol

Notice that this declaration, originally designed by the young Virginian Thomas Jefferson, makes it clear that Americans were created as equals, with unchanging rights that came from their Creator (God), not some human authority – not a king, not a parliamentary body, not a huge church establishment (such as the King's Church of England).

Then the delegates began work on drafting a new constitution for their Confederation of American States, a structure designed to help them work together in facing the task of securing that independence against the efforts of the British king to force them back into submission.

[1]Ironically this event became the initiating cause of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), and ultimately even Europe's bigger Seven Years' War!

Serious problems.  This was not an easy matter, because the war at that time seemed not to be going well for the American "Patriots."  American General Benedict Arnold's efforts over the winter of 1775-1776 to pull Canada into the war on the American side had, despite a very valiant (and costly) effort, failed miserably.

Arnold's column is shattered in fierce street fighting during 
the Battle of Quebec – 1775 – by Charles William Jefferys

Washington's attempt in the summer of 1776 to block the British takeover of New York had also failed miserably[2] (Washington nearly losing his army in the effort); American soldiers were deserting the cause; and other American officers were conspiring behind Washington's back to have him replaced (by themselves of course).

Trenton and Princeton. But on Christmas night of 1776 Washington took his men across the icy Delaware River and marched them ten more miles during a drizzly/snowy night to Trenton (New Jersey) – to catch an unsuspecting German unit of George's Hessian troops off guard and completely rout them – then hold off a British counterattack at nearby Princeton a week later – giving new courage to the American cause.

Washington Crossing the Delaware prior to the American attack on Trenton  the night of December 25, 1776 – by Emanuel Leutze
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art



The Battle of Princeton – January 3, 1777
Historical Society of Pennsylvania

British failure at Saratoga (September-October 1777).   The British responded to this humiliation by putting together a plan to converge on the northern States from different directions and cut off New England from the middle States – thereby hoping to cripple the American rebellion (running strongest in the North).  But the various British units failed to connect.  British troops coming from Canada turned back when their Indian allies deserted the cause upon hearing that Benedict Arnold was involved as an American commander (despite Arnold's failure to take Quebec, he was well known to be a fearless fighter); another British group was badly mauled in a battle which took place at Bennington; and the group which was supposed to come up from New York City went off on another venture.  Thus the main British force under John Burgoyne arrived at Saratoga, and then waited for the others to show up, as Americans gathered under the command of Horatio Gates, and for weeks the two armies sat there facing each other, but doing little.  Finally, Arnold disobeyed Gates' order to stand down and instead led his men on an attack, which inspired the rest of the American forces to join the action.  And thus it was in October of 1777 that a huge British army of 6,000 men was brought to surrender. 

   

But typical of the politics of the day, in Gates' victory report to the Congress, he failed to mention Arnold's role in the affair, Gates taking full credit for the victory as the "hero of Saratoga."

The French ally with the Americans (February 1778).  Nonetheless the victory was real, and majorly significant.  With this American victory, the following February, French King Louis XVI decided to jump in the fray to do some serious damage to his British rival George III by supporting the American rebellion.  Little did Louis realize that he was setting loose forces that would be the undoing of his own rule.  In any case, the French help would come to weigh importantly in the outcome of the American War of Independence.

The winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778).  Meanwhile, Philadelphia was lost to the British when they marched on the city (October 1777), the Continental Congress fleeing into the Pennsylvanian hinterland, and Washington having to take his troops into winter quarters at nearby Valley Forge, with nothing to show for his effort – except (most importantly) that the British had failed to bring the rebellion to a close.

But the Valley Forge winter would produce a highly disciplined American army – among those who survived the winter's ordeal anyway. 2.500 of his 10,000 troops would die that winter.  But the remainder would emerge as a highly disciplined fighting force.  Prussian Baron von Steuben's discipline and Washington's own example as a highly disciplined – as well as spiritually disciplined (including daily prayers) – individual served to produce that result with his men.  Indeed, the idea of an army at prayer grew right alongside the now well-understood role of physical training (and tightened discipline) caused by the death and dying.

Washington and Von Steuben at Valley Forge, Winter of 1777-1778

Washington:  military insight.  Washington understood the nature of the challenge in front of him as few others (if any) did at the time. While other generals typically understood the war between America and Britain as involving simply a battle of armies (ones they themselves commanded), Washington knew most importantly that this war was about a battle of wills, of human resolve, of sheer determination not to quit no matter how grim things looked.

The goal of all war is to make the other side tire of the game first and simply quit.  How that was to occur in colonial America with mere militia coming up against experienced and vastly more numerous British troops would entail far more than armies and battles, although they certainly weighed importantly in the matter.  But wars are won as a matter of the commanding officer's ability to see things from a much higher perspective than the viewpoint dictated simply by immediate circumstances, which is what lesser souls tend to focus on.    True, immediate circumstances had to be answered – as best as possible given the greater weight of military power of the British enemy.  But ultimately Washington's job was to keep the courage of the Patriots intact, to keep them focused on victory, while at the same time undercutting the morale of the British (and American Tory or Loyalist) adversaries – until the latter were willing to call it quits.

The mindset and spirit of a great leader.  Here is where leadership – true leadership, the kind that Washington offered America – came into play.  And, as is typical of great leaders, although Washington was as sensitive to public opinion as anyone else, ultimately he went to God, not public opinion, to take full measure of his own actions.  Washington was a man of very, very deep faith in God, in God's personal call to him to take up such dangerous and often very unrewarding service (materially speaking).

The role God played in Washington's life is well illustrated by a particular example recorded for us in the Diary and Remembrances of a Presbyterian Minister Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, who recorded a conversation he had with Isaac Potts of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (at whose home Washington was residing that winter):

I was riding with him (Mr. Potts) near Valley Forge, where the army lay during the war of the Revolution.  Mr. Potts was a Senator in our state and a Whig. I told him I was agreeably surprised to find him a friend to his country as the Quakers were mostly Tories.  He said, It was so and I was a rank Tory once, for I never believed that America could proceed against Great Britain whose fleets and armies covered the land and ocean. But something very extraordinary converted me to the good faith.

What was that? I inquired.  Do you see that woods, and that plain?  It was about a quarter of a mile from the place we were riding.  There, said he, laid the army of Washington.  It was a most distressing time of ye war, and all were for giving up the ship but that one good man.  In that woods, pointing to a close in view, I heard a plaintive sound, as of a man at prayer.  I tied my horse to a sapling and went quietly into the woods and to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other.  He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis and the cause of the country, of humanity, and of the world.

Such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man.  I left him alone praying. I went home and told my wife, I saw a sight and heard today what I never saw or heard before, and just related to her what I had seen and heard and observed.  We never thought a man could be a soldier and a Christian, but if there is one in the world, it is Washington.  We thought it was the cause of God, and America could prevail.

This was what gave Washington the power to answer unflinchingly the call to service, one that would morally exhaust others and make them quit. 

Tragically, this was the case for Benedict Arnold, who switched sides to the British because after giving the American cause his all, he finally tired of being undercut constantly by other colonial leaders, including fellow American generals.^[3]

Washington too (as all leaders) had his detractors, eager for his job as commanding officer (Gates and Lee for instance).  But Washington paid little attention to their maneuverings with the Continental Congress behind his back.  He simply stayed focused on the job at hand, the job he had been called to by God.  And to God and God alone did he answer. 

 

But Washington's spirit infused his troops (and again, the American people) with the same spirit:  to keep moving forward against huge obstacles – and not get lost in a concern with those immediate obstacles – because there was a higher calling to be answered.

He had his men pray with him, to understand that their cause was much bigger than just personal success; it was to preserve the precious independence of their American society, so that America could itself continue to serve God to great purpose.  His men were not just soldiers, they were crusaders, crusaders for the world's "little guy," the average person like themselves – average in social status but awesome in action!

Disappointment at Monmouth (June 1778).   As an example of the agony that Washington had to constantly overcome, the following June (1778) Washington had skillfully put his army in a position to deliver a crushing blow to the huge British force that had decided to abandon Philadelphia and head back to New York. But his plan was itself brought to near defeat by an arrogant American General Charles Lee, given actual command of the operation (officially second in command, although a constant thorn in Washington's side), who lost courage at the very moment that the action actually got underway.  Instead of pushing forward the American advantage dependent on a surprise attack from behind, Lee ordered a retreat, which immediately turned into a panicked rout of the American troops.  Washington miraculously was able to rally his fleeing troops, and then turn the battle ultimately into at least a military standoff.  That night an exhausted British army was able to slip away from an equally exhausted American army.  And thus a grand opportunity for the Americans to end things right there had been lost.  But at least it enabled Washington to finally get rid of the troublesome Lee.  And it made very clear to all that Washington's army was now a serious fighting force.

And actually, this led the British to decide to give up the war in the North and take the battle into the American South.

The war in the South.   Had the British attacked the South first, rather than the North, the war may have early gone in the British favor – for pro-British Loyalist or Tory sentiment was much stronger in the South, where many Americans saw no need for the rebellion against their king.  In fact many Southerners formed Tory military units to fight American Patriot units in support of the British effort to put down the rebellion.  But the British efforts in the South in the first years of the war had been quite timid – and the Patriots not only held off British efforts there but also humiliated the American Tory military units.

Disaster for the American Patriots (December 1778 to September 1780).   But at the end of 1778 the British finally decided to go all-out in their offensive in the South, hoping that American Tories would join them in the effort.  Mostly they didn't!  But huge British units captured the weakly defended Savannah (December 1778); they did the same in Charleston (May 1780) when 14,000 British troops, surrounded, cut off and defeated the 5,000 Americans attempting to defend the city.

And then they repeated that success in August at Camden (South Carolina) when incompetent Gates foolishly attacked directly British General Charles Cornwallis' well-disciplined army, and Gates' troops broke and fled – resulting in the loss of another 2,000 American troops.   

Then in September it was learned that Arnold had changed sides and was now fighting on the British side.  At this point the Patriot cause looked as if it were about to go down in defeat.

The war begins to turn in American favor (late 1780 - early 1781).  Yet the fortunes of war began to shift dramatically – when in October of 1780 an American Tory unit of about 1,400 was decisively defeated – ending any further ideas of American Southerners joining the British cause.  

The Battle of King's Mountain (October 7, 1780), in which Patriot 
troops destroyed an army  of Loyalist troops, collapsing Loyalist 
support for the British ... an important turning point in the war
in the South

Then the following January (1781) at Cowpens (South Carolina) the famous British cavalry raider Banastre Tarleton was delivered a humiliating defeat (barely escaping with his life). 

British Cavalryman Banastre ["Bloody"] Tarleton
 ... also known as "the Butcher"
by Sir Joshua Reynolds
London, National Gallery

The Battle of Cowpens (January 17,1781)
American General Daniel Morgan destroyed Tarleton's
forces when he lured them  into a trap ...
building further American Patriot fighting morale

Cornwallis decided to counter by chasing down the American army under the Southern commander Nathanael Greene – and indeed humiliated him at a battle in March (Guilford Courthouse, South Carolina) – but a humiliation that Greene managed to shake off with his army still intact – leaving the "victor" Cornwallis with the loss of a huge number of troops that Cornwallis could ill afford – something of a Pyrrhic victory!

   Charles Cornwallis                    Nathanael Greene

The Battle of Guilford Court House  (March 17, 1781).

Yorktown (September-October 1781).  Cornwallis badly needed more troops and supplies – and decided to head his army north into Virginia to the port of Yorktown to await reinforcements shipped in to him there by way of the Chesapeake Bay.  But he had marched himself into a trap, when Washington slipped his troops from New York (where the British were expecting Washington's attack) to a position surrounding Yorktown – along with General Lafayette's French troops who joined him there.  And the French navy was able to defeat the British ships sent to relieve Cornwallis. Thus Cornwallis found himself with nowhere to go and no help on the way.  A final assault on his position by the French (led by Lafayette) and the Americans (led by Washington's top assistant, Alexander Hamilton) forced Cornwallis to surrender his 8,000-man army to Washington.  This was the event that finally broke the British will to continue the war.

The Marquis de Lafayette               Alexander Hamilton  

Alexander Hamilton's American troops overrun the English 
Redoubt-10 at Yorktown – October 14, 1781
Virginia State Capitol

The British surrendering to French and American forces at 
Yorktown (October 19, 1781) –  by John Trumbull (1820)
(Cornwalis was actually not himself present at the surrender)
Rotunda of the US Capitol

When news reached England of what had happened at Yorktown, British Prime Minister Lord North declared "Oh God, it's all over."  And indeed it was.  Although British troops still held New York City, the British would undertake no more military ventures in America.

The Treaty of Paris (1783).  It took some time for the British and Americans to work out the terms ending the war.  But basically, the agreement drawn up in Paris (notably through the efforts of John Adams, Ben Franklin, John Jay, and a few others representing the Americans) acknowledged that the Americans were indeed an independent people, no longer part of the British Empire.

The Treaty of Paris – September 3, 1783
unfinished picture by Benjamin West
(the British refused to sit for the picture)

---

    Go on to the next section:

The Young American Republic

---

  Miles H. Hodges