Japhy
Banned
A New, Brief Timeline by Japhy
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As always, thoughts, comments, and especially criticisms are welcome.
Where may the wearied eye repose
When gazing on the Great;
Where neither guilty glory glows,
Nor despicable state?
Yes --one--the first--the last--the best--
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Whom envy dared not hate,
Bequeath'd the name of Washington,
To make man blush there was but one!
When gazing on the Great;
Where neither guilty glory glows,
Nor despicable state?
Yes --one--the first--the last--the best--
The Cincinnatus of the West,
Whom envy dared not hate,
Bequeath'd the name of Washington,
To make man blush there was but one!
-Lord Byron
Options at York
With the signing of the Treaty of The Hague and the final evacuation of British forces and those loyalists not swayed by the Newburgh Declaration the Colombian War of Independence --- though not the world world spanning clash of empires it had spawned --- was officially over in the early fall of 1780. Having taken possession of New York the majority of the Continental Army --- all of the State Line Units --- were discharged, and its weary commander, once more finding himself loaded into a small carriage due to yet another outburst of Gout, departed to see the Confederation Congress in York.
Historians have long argued about what other options there were as the Hero of Harlem, Princeton, Englishtown, and Tarrytown came to issue his report on the War’s end, not to mention his five hundred strong Lifeguards. President of the Congress Richard Henry Lee seemed keen on supporting his Friend and Ally, and based on the historic vote as well as various letters its clear at least most of the Congress was willing to go along with placing further laurels on the man who had saved the revolution throughout the dark days of 1776 and 1777. Had the General been a different man, perhaps he might have turned the post down but the options were few, and by 1780 mostly gone.
Its hard to imagine what men killed years before the event would or would not have done, but that has stopped no small legion of writers on the subject to conjure more Cincinnatian figures. John Hancock the first Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army is often suggested, either in the context of him surviving the rout at Kip’s Bay and remaining in command or never receiving his commission in the first place. His poor performance at the Battle of Brooklyn and in trying to defend Manhattan though does not bode well for his chances of lasting in Command though the entire war, nor for that matter in his ability to keep the war going. A political course would have been more productive but only with a different Army Command in place, his sucsessor standing out to many historians as the most likely alternative. Nor does his remaining in Philadelphia solve the coming crisis of government under the Confederation, his letters and speeches indicating a clear support for just such a government to be established.
George Washington, who for regional reasons was the first commissioned Major General of the Patriots is another option, his brilliant defense of Charleston in 1776 seeing a barely completed fort hold off an entire Crown Fleet, and beating back attacks from the landward side at Sullivan’s Island speaks volumes, as well as the organization and dispatch of the invasion and conquest of British East Florida. That the later occurred while he slowly died of wounds from the former, shows a commitment rarely seen by the Professionals who would follow him. That said, there is no guarantee he would have chosen a different course had it been he who assumed the overall command. While more militarily proficient than Hancock, there’s also his French and Indian War experiences in the Ohio Valley that make one question if he could have handled the complex negotiations that served to achieve Patriot Aims and contain British Forces to garrison that allowed the Continental Army to grow stronger in the second half of the Revolution.
Contrary to the thoughts of varied novelists and cocktail historians neither Horatio Gates nor Thomas Conway had the popular appeal to assume high leadership, even after each man’s great Victory at Stillwater or the Second Defense of Charleston, though they did have the support within the Army and in Congress. Neither man held serious doubts or divisions in regards to serving under their Patron, while some historians and authors have dreamed of seeing the Continental Army’s Triumvirate be shattered, neither man could easily be swayed away from their professional and personal friendships. It should also be noted that Conway’s late arrival to the revolution, only after the war had begun and at the prompting of his French patrons was another means of preventing his rise, while Gates on the other hand shows a lack of military skill though the rest of the war that damningly contrasts against his victories in New York.
The final major possibility of the war would be Major General Benedict Arnold. Perhaps the only major opponent of his Commanding General After the bloody Hangman's Year. Arnold’s chances at assuming command were delayed by a necessary rise in the ranks, years spent on the Northern front in Canada and New York, recovery from his wounds gained in Quebec. When he finally came south following his part in the Victory at Stillwater he was hurt by his poor relations with Horatio Gates, and then a rapidly developed tendency to partake in the shadowy conspiratorial politics of Army and Congressional Gadflies and Gloryhounds. His problems of temper certainly rivaled his commander’s, which would lead inevitably to his loss of Command at the Battle of Englishtown followed rapidly by his calls for an inquiry, a court martial, a duel with his commander, and his death. Arnold perhaps is an over discussed option but no man in the second half of the Revolution had more of a chance of assuming command of the Army then he. The great problem with discussions for using him as an alternate is that there is nothing to truly suggest he would have done anything differently had the Continental Army been his.
Discussion of What-Ifs aside, by the time the Commander-in-Chief and his Guard arrived in York, the Congress, the Army and Militia, and a large part of the general population was ready and hopeful about what came next. The General addressed the body and offered them back both the commission he had received in 1775, appointing him third Major General of the Continental Army and the letter he had received “On an unremarkable trail after crossing the North River” appointing him Commander-in-Chief after he had stemmed the flight of the Army, won the holding action on the Harlem Heights and saved the cause from defeat after the loss of New York in 1776. When he suggested returning to his Virginia homestead and entrusting his “small force and scattered garrisons” to the Committee of War with whom he had “The utmost confidence to be able to contain any perfidious schemes of our former associates” he was met by a silence broken only by Lee who offered instead a fateful, and most definitely pre-scripted alternative.
And so it was that Charles Lee, one-time British regular Lieutenant Colonel, General Officer in the armies of Portugal, Poland and Russia, critic of King George and Lord North, supporter of the Patriot cause in Peace and War, and grandson of a Tory MP would assume a vague title of “First Citizen” which would lead him and the young Republic inexorably to High Offices yet to be created and a new constitution yet to be written.
With the signing of the Treaty of The Hague and the final evacuation of British forces and those loyalists not swayed by the Newburgh Declaration the Colombian War of Independence --- though not the world world spanning clash of empires it had spawned --- was officially over in the early fall of 1780. Having taken possession of New York the majority of the Continental Army --- all of the State Line Units --- were discharged, and its weary commander, once more finding himself loaded into a small carriage due to yet another outburst of Gout, departed to see the Confederation Congress in York.
Historians have long argued about what other options there were as the Hero of Harlem, Princeton, Englishtown, and Tarrytown came to issue his report on the War’s end, not to mention his five hundred strong Lifeguards. President of the Congress Richard Henry Lee seemed keen on supporting his Friend and Ally, and based on the historic vote as well as various letters its clear at least most of the Congress was willing to go along with placing further laurels on the man who had saved the revolution throughout the dark days of 1776 and 1777. Had the General been a different man, perhaps he might have turned the post down but the options were few, and by 1780 mostly gone.
Its hard to imagine what men killed years before the event would or would not have done, but that has stopped no small legion of writers on the subject to conjure more Cincinnatian figures. John Hancock the first Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army is often suggested, either in the context of him surviving the rout at Kip’s Bay and remaining in command or never receiving his commission in the first place. His poor performance at the Battle of Brooklyn and in trying to defend Manhattan though does not bode well for his chances of lasting in Command though the entire war, nor for that matter in his ability to keep the war going. A political course would have been more productive but only with a different Army Command in place, his sucsessor standing out to many historians as the most likely alternative. Nor does his remaining in Philadelphia solve the coming crisis of government under the Confederation, his letters and speeches indicating a clear support for just such a government to be established.
George Washington, who for regional reasons was the first commissioned Major General of the Patriots is another option, his brilliant defense of Charleston in 1776 seeing a barely completed fort hold off an entire Crown Fleet, and beating back attacks from the landward side at Sullivan’s Island speaks volumes, as well as the organization and dispatch of the invasion and conquest of British East Florida. That the later occurred while he slowly died of wounds from the former, shows a commitment rarely seen by the Professionals who would follow him. That said, there is no guarantee he would have chosen a different course had it been he who assumed the overall command. While more militarily proficient than Hancock, there’s also his French and Indian War experiences in the Ohio Valley that make one question if he could have handled the complex negotiations that served to achieve Patriot Aims and contain British Forces to garrison that allowed the Continental Army to grow stronger in the second half of the Revolution.
Contrary to the thoughts of varied novelists and cocktail historians neither Horatio Gates nor Thomas Conway had the popular appeal to assume high leadership, even after each man’s great Victory at Stillwater or the Second Defense of Charleston, though they did have the support within the Army and in Congress. Neither man held serious doubts or divisions in regards to serving under their Patron, while some historians and authors have dreamed of seeing the Continental Army’s Triumvirate be shattered, neither man could easily be swayed away from their professional and personal friendships. It should also be noted that Conway’s late arrival to the revolution, only after the war had begun and at the prompting of his French patrons was another means of preventing his rise, while Gates on the other hand shows a lack of military skill though the rest of the war that damningly contrasts against his victories in New York.
The final major possibility of the war would be Major General Benedict Arnold. Perhaps the only major opponent of his Commanding General After the bloody Hangman's Year. Arnold’s chances at assuming command were delayed by a necessary rise in the ranks, years spent on the Northern front in Canada and New York, recovery from his wounds gained in Quebec. When he finally came south following his part in the Victory at Stillwater he was hurt by his poor relations with Horatio Gates, and then a rapidly developed tendency to partake in the shadowy conspiratorial politics of Army and Congressional Gadflies and Gloryhounds. His problems of temper certainly rivaled his commander’s, which would lead inevitably to his loss of Command at the Battle of Englishtown followed rapidly by his calls for an inquiry, a court martial, a duel with his commander, and his death. Arnold perhaps is an over discussed option but no man in the second half of the Revolution had more of a chance of assuming command of the Army then he. The great problem with discussions for using him as an alternate is that there is nothing to truly suggest he would have done anything differently had the Continental Army been his.
Discussion of What-Ifs aside, by the time the Commander-in-Chief and his Guard arrived in York, the Congress, the Army and Militia, and a large part of the general population was ready and hopeful about what came next. The General addressed the body and offered them back both the commission he had received in 1775, appointing him third Major General of the Continental Army and the letter he had received “On an unremarkable trail after crossing the North River” appointing him Commander-in-Chief after he had stemmed the flight of the Army, won the holding action on the Harlem Heights and saved the cause from defeat after the loss of New York in 1776. When he suggested returning to his Virginia homestead and entrusting his “small force and scattered garrisons” to the Committee of War with whom he had “The utmost confidence to be able to contain any perfidious schemes of our former associates” he was met by a silence broken only by Lee who offered instead a fateful, and most definitely pre-scripted alternative.
And so it was that Charles Lee, one-time British regular Lieutenant Colonel, General Officer in the armies of Portugal, Poland and Russia, critic of King George and Lord North, supporter of the Patriot cause in Peace and War, and grandson of a Tory MP would assume a vague title of “First Citizen” which would lead him and the young Republic inexorably to High Offices yet to be created and a new constitution yet to be written.
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As always, thoughts, comments, and especially criticisms are welcome.
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