Necessary Roughness

David McCullough’s 1776 is a terrific read about the first year of the Revolutionary War. Building up to the Colonies’ victories at Trenton and Princeton in December and the first since Bunker Hill, 1776 tells the stories of both sides: the Americans in seemingly constant retreat and lacking proper gear, the British with their Hessians, superior navy, and well-trained soldiers.

McCullough’s George Washington delegates a lot of authority to his generals, some of whom scorn it as indecisiveness. He and his subordinates make blunders but turn their mistakes into valuable experience. His numbers are sapped by disease, British appeals for pardon, short commissions, and states saving back forces to protect their own turf.

The British general Lord Howe is very conservative, ever waiting to trap the rebels in the open field with superior numbers. The Hessians, while perhaps the best fighters, in their down time performed heinous deeds to the locals. The British are a lot cleaner and don’t have near the disease the Americans do.

1776 is less about military strategy and more about the personal interactions between the sides and among each side’s generals. At first General Howe doesn’t recognize Washington as a general or the rebels as an army. The British are consistently amazed at the fortifications the Americans build, but they are equally astonished that the Americans keep retreating from such high-quality builds. They don’t understand that the American army only averages around 6,000 troops during the first year. Howe gains respect for General Washington but never comes to calling the “rebels” an army.

There are intriguing pre-war dialogues among the British Parliament; some took the side of the colonists to their detriment. The American Congress doesn’t get much mention other than when they are evacuated from Philadelphia in anticipation of an attack that never came.

This is neither a gory book nor a tearjerker. If you don’t mind that, I cannot recommend enough The Killer Angels, Jeff Shaara’s Civil War novel. McCullough does a superb job of explaining the reasons and actions of the generals. 1776’s depiction of Washington crossing the Delaware and the attack on Trenton would be a nice supplement to a high school American History class. McCullough’s research is exhaustive: one sixth of the book is source citation.

1776 is well written, but with the level of detail offered the book needs to be read slowly or repeatedly to pick up everything. Maps and portraits are included in two sections. I recommend it for a intriguing review of Revolutionary War history.