Recommended Reading: 1776, by David McCullough

I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this after having read David McCullough's remarkable book, 1776.  But I'll say it anyway: how in the world did the Americans win the Revolutionary War?


To say this was a David vs. Goliath tale is to traipse precariously close to cliche, yet it is so. The description of Washington's ragtag rebel army is no exaggeration, especially in that final month of the year. 

Most of the troops, comprised of teenagers and older men, farmers and businessmen, had never served in a military, let alone been trained in the art of war. Many of them came to the end of that year literally barefoot, marching in snow, on ice, in sleet. The army's leadership emerged by instinct and sheer grit. The incredible story of Henry Knox, then a junior officer, and his successful effort to retrieve cannons from Fort Ticonderoga, is but one example. Words of hope or encouragement sometimes fueled the defeated army to fight another day, but it was often short-lived. 

Contrast the Continental army with the British military, well-disciplined, well-fed, well-supplied, constantly reinforced (those Hessians!), and, of course, His Majesty's Royal Navy, and, well, you can't help but wonder, as I did, again and again, if this time, the outcome will be different (spoiler alert: it isn't).  

But really, at any given point during this one year, the war should have ended in defeat. Some battles were literally decided on a change in weather--a fog, a sudden storm, a gale-force wind--or a disagreement between British officers about whether or not to advance today or wait until tomorrow. 

This book ends, of course, in Trenton, New Jersey, in December 1776. All depended on the element of surprise, a midnight (Christmas Eve!) march (barefoot!), and silence. But then, that storm. Should they proceed? Yes, they marched, which probably gave them the advantage. The Hessians were celebrating the season with no expectation of an attack in this kind of weather. 

George Washington ("that fox!") who had been outwitted again and again with only a few small victories to his credit, somehow managed to summon, deep within himself, the ability to persevere. After the victory at Trenton, John Hancock had this to say of Washington: "Troops, properly inspired, and animated by a just confidence in their leader, will often exceed expectation, or the limits of probability." 

That the Americans exceeded the limits of probability is an understatement. That they won that battle, and, in time, the war, certainly was improbable. 

Here's how McCullough ends the book: 

The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all-too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear, as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country, and that, too, they would never forget. 

Especially for those who had been with Washington and who knew what a close call it was at the beginning--how often circumstance, storms, contrary winds, the oddities of strengths of individual character had made the difference, the outcome seemed little short of a miracle. 

This is probably one of the best books I've ever read.