Sea power 2, session 1-american rev 1

Maritime Power
1763-1851
And ! A" of ! Democratic Revolution

Maritime Power
session i
$e Ame%can Revolution Begins

“In Maritime Supremacy, I suggested that we, the liberal western nations,
are the heirs of [Sea Power]: …our beliefs and the present dominance of
those beliefs throughout much of the world are the result of…the global
distribution of sea and land masses which has conferred strategic
advantage on powers able to use and dominate the seas….the first
maritime power in the modern era was the 17th century Dutch Republic;
the British superseded the Dutch in the 18th century and were in turn
superseded by the Americans in the 20th century.
“During their periods of dominance these three powers were
fundamentally different from rivals whose power was based upon
territorial dominion. The difference was merchant government.
[emphasis added—jbp] (hereafter, since neither source uses brackets I will
discontinue identifying myself as the author).
Peter Padfield, Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom.(2006), p. 1.

4:
The War of the American Revolution, I
“By the close of the Seven Years’ War the Duc de Choiseul, France’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs, had come to understand what Pitt had known from the beginning—that sea power was
the key to colonial conquest. It was then too late to save Canada and India, but immediately
after the peace Choiseul added the post of Minister of Marine to his duties and began to rebuild
the French navy.
“Of the 60 ships of the line with which France had begun the war, she had lost 37 by wreck
or capture. To replace these, Choiseul persuaded the cities and provinces of France to raise
money for gifts of ships to the navy. Eighteen were provided in this manner, including the
famous Ville de Paris,• the finest of her day…. ”
Sea Power, p. 66.

4:
“By the close of the Seven Years’ War the Duc de Choiseul, France’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs, had come to understand what Pitt had known from the beginning—that sea power was
the key to colonial conquest. It was then too late to save Canada and India, but immediately
after the peace Choiseul added the post of Minister of Marine to his duties and began to rebuild
the French navy.
“Of the 60 ships of the line with which France had begun the war, she had lost 37 by wreck
or capture. To replace these, Choiseul persuaded the cities and provinces of France to raise
money for gifts of ships to the navy. Eighteen were provided in this manner, including the
famous Ville de Paris,• the finest of her day. Choiseul also reorganized the Department of the
Marine, improved dockyards and arsenals, formed a corps of engineers from among the most
skilled workmen, and revived the manufacture of cannon, of which the French navy had been
almost fatally short during the war.
“While the French were thus purposely rebuilding their navy, the British allowed theirs to
decline in strength and efficiency…. ” Sea Power, p. 66.

“…and efficiency. Although appropriations were far larger than they had been even at the
height of the war, inordinate amounts were consumed in the maintenance of vessels that had
been hastily built imported oak, which quickly decayed. More serious, the corruption prevalent
in British politics had penetrated the Admiralty. Here it appears to have been condoned, if not
actually fostered,• by the Earl of Sandwich, who became First Lord in 1771. Large sums voted
for the repair and refitting of ships disappeared while the vessels rotted in the docks. Money for
rations was regularly appropriated for a larger number of seamen than were actually serving. As
a result of such practices, the official lists ceased to bear any relation to the actual strength of
the navy. When war broke out in America, there were not enough ships to provide even the
modest strength required on the American station. ”
Ibid.
4:

“TO THE ADMIRALTY In London the American rebellion was a peripheral irritant. Since
the end of the Seven Years War the attention of successive First Lords—the Earl of
Egmont,• Edward Hawke and from 1771 the fourth Earl of Sandwich •—had been fixed
on France and Spain. The two Bourbon powers, joined in a ‘Family Compact’ and
determined to avenge the humiliations of the late war, had yet again built up formidable
fleets.…
“For Sandwich the situation was more alarming than the bare figures indicated. In the
first place the French had an advantage in early mobilization; by conscripting from lists of
seamen, they could man their ships more quickly at the start of a campaign than the
British, who relied for the most part on impressing men from incoming merchant ships.
Second, France no longer appeared a threat to her mainland neighbors,• and Choiseul,
heeding the naval failures and humiliations of the late war, had framed a principle that the
country should not be drawn into Continental hostilities….”
12
The American
Revolution
Padﬁeld, Supremacy, pp. 229-230.

op. cit., pp. 230-231.
“…Continental hostilities. Consequently, there was little for Britain to form the kind of
European coalition against Louis which had in the past invariably drawn off resources and
caused French naval collapse.•
“The British administration took a complacent view of the situation. Lord North’s
main concern was to sustain financial credit by relieving the burden of the national
debt. His goal was to pay off at least £ 1.5 million each year. This meant trimming the
naval budget, particularly cutting the numbers employed in the dockyards, whereas what
the navy needed was additional building and refitting capacity, especially in the SW to
support the home fleet off the western approaches to the English Channel; four of the six
major yards were in the Thames and Medway facing E.•
“In justification of his policy of retrenchment, North told Sandwich he did not recall
having ever seen ‘a more pacific appearance of affairs’in Europe; France seemed unlikely
to go to war for some years….”
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The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 231.
“…some years. He admitted Britain had ‘suffered a little’ from unpreparedness at the start
of the last two wars, but then her credit and the length of her purse, ‘carefully managed
during the preceding times of peace,’ had carried her through to glory. And, he added,
’Great peace establishments will, if we do not take care, prove our ruin: we shall fail, at
the long run, by exhausting in times of tranquility those resources upon which we are to
depend in time of war.’•
“The argument appeared sound; all great powers had invariably retrenched in
peace to prepare their finances for the strain of the next great war. However, the
triumphant precedents of the last two wars were not necessarily valid: should Louis and
Charles III of Spain enter the war together and co-ordinate their strategy—as they had not
done in the last two encounters—and should Britain lack a powerful ally on the Continent,
as seemed inevitable, the dangers were clear.”
12
The American
Revolution

My grad school professor, Dean Joseph Holloway, had a brilliant explanation for how
we were able to overcome the world’s greatest ‘Great Power’ in our first and greatest
military and diplomatic victory.
America and Britain had differing requirements for victory.
They had to force us to submit with all the difficult obstacles noted above, while
facing a nearly united Continental opposition.
Whereas all we had to do was to hold out until their domestic opposition to the war
brought a peace government to power.
Does this remind anyone of a situation a half century ago where we were in Britain’s
situation!
jbp
Differing Conditions for Victory

Origins, 1763-1775
Arbitrament of the Sword, 1775-76
The War at Sea, 1775-79
“Saratoga, the Turning Point, 1777
Topics for Today’s Presentation

Origins, 1763-1775
Franklin’s 1754 Ca&oon from ! French and In'an War
Took on New Ur"ncy

Padﬁeld, Maritime Supremacy., p. 216.
“BRITAIN HAD LITTLE joy of the undisputed sway she had won in North America [in 1763] :
the colonists quarreled with her almost immediately and succeeded in breaking away. In
retrospect their achievement seems to have been as unpredictable and unlikely as the
outcome of the two great liberation movements preceding theirs, the emergence of the
Dutch Republic from Habsburg dominion and William of Orange’s ‘Glorious
Revolution’ in England. Yet from the maritime and demotic perspectives it can be seen,
like those earlier transformations, to have been a natural development….”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 216-217.
“…natural development.
“The population of the North American colonies had been growing at an extraordinary
rate since the beginnings of the previous century, more than doubling every twenty-five
years, and by the early 1770s the combined total had passed 2 million. The steep rise, due
both to a healthy birth rate and to immigration, was a sure indication of prosperity.• Adam
Smith pointed this out in his seminal work on political economy, The Wealth of Nations
(1776), and stated ‘Though North America is not yet so rich as England, it is much more
thriving, and advancing with much greater rapidity to the further acquisition of riches.’ •
Wages were everywhere far higher than they were in England for the same
occupations, the cost of provisions lower, hence the material standard of living was
considerably above that in the mother country—or anywhere else in the world.
“The colonies were, however, essentially rural. Whereas the Netherlands at the time of
their revolt against Spain had been the most industrially advanced, highly urbanized area
of Europe, with at least twenty-three towns and cities of over 100,000 inhabitants, …”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 217.
“…100,000 inhabitants, in North America in 1770 there were only five of such a size: the
seaport cities of Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Charleston and Newport, Rhode Island.
Over 90% of the population lived on the land or in small communities less than 2,500
strong.
“In the south, plantations worked by slave labor produced tobacco, rice and indigo for
export to the mother country. In the middle colonies and New England, some grain was
grown for export, but most farmers still produced for their own and neighborhood
consumption; they were of the rugged, self-sufficient sort portrayed by the French
nobleman • Alexis de Tocqueville after his travels through America half a century later: ‘it
sometimes happened that the same individual tills his fields, builds his dwelling, contrives
his tools, makes his shoes, and weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress is composed.’
“Along the coast of New England, communities of fishermen exploited the abundant
cod and other fish in the icy waters of the Labrador current from the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland to Cape Cod. Almost £300,000 worth of dried and salted fish was sold
abroad each year, making it the fourth most valuable colonial export after tobacco
(over £750,000), bread/flour and indigo.…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 217-220.
“…and indigo.
“Shipbuilding also contributed to export earnings. There were ample timber [naval
stores] and ample skills. Like the farmers of the interior, the American shipwright did not
confine himself to a single trade, but was master of all crafts required to construct, caulk,
paint, paint, and rig a ship, and could equally well build a house, make furniture or repair a
wagon. As Tocqueville observed with wonder, Americans were ‘never fettered by the
axioms of their profession,’nor rooted in old habits or prejudice, but ’suit their occupation
to the exigencies of the moment in the manner most profitable to themselves.’ They
seemed to him to live in conditions of perpetual change which kept them ‘in a state of
excitement above the ordinary level of mankind.’ From the early days they had
specialized in small, fast craft, even for fishing, to outrun their international competitors
and pirates and evade the British Navigation Acts—especially in their commerce with
the West Indies, where they provided the planting communities with beef, pork, dried
fish, flour, bread, Indian corn, timber and timber products, taking home rum, sugar
and molasses (the waste product of sugar production, which was used to make rum).
They did not restrict themselves, as they were supposed to under the laws, to. trade with
British colonies, but smuggled promiscuously with foreign islands—the French in
particular—even during the war.…”
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The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 220..
“…the war. They did not invent the schooner—contrary to Gloucester, Massachusetts,
tradition—but developed it for seagoing traders, and by the 1750s they were practically
the only exponents of this fast and rakish type….”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 220..
“…the war. They did not invent the schooner—contrary to Gloucester, Massachusetts,
tradition—but developed it for seagoing traders, and by the 1750s they were practically
the only exponents of this fast and rakish type.• They also built conventional merchantmen
for sale to British owners, and small warships to order for the Royal Navy.
“Apart from shipbuilding and some ironworking, both concentrated in New England
and the middle provinces [NY to DL, a few include MD] the colonies had developed little
industry. They remained dependent for most manufactures and practically all luxuries on
the mother country. The value of imports of English…linens, woolens, iron and brass
wares, cutlery, fashionable furniture, HEIC tea, drugs, spices, millinery and all the
accessories of civilized living rose rapidly in the years before the revolution to over £4
million a year. This was considerably more than the colonies earned from exports; a large
part of the deficit was made up by shipping and insurance services provided in the major
port cities.
“Of these, Philadelphia was the greatest. With a population by 1770 of over 30,000
—reminiscent of Amsterdam’s before the Dutch Revolution— it was the second
largest city in the British empire, surpassed only by London. Its trade had been
stimulated by provisioning British forces in the Seven Years War, …”
12
The American
Revolution

A Map of
Philadelphia and
Parts Adjacent,
With a Perspective
View of the State
House.
Philadelphia: Lawrence
Herbert, 1752.

1 Christ Church
2 State House (future
Independence Hall)
3 Academy (B Franklin
founds future U
Penn)
4 Presbyterian Church
5 Dutch Calvinist
Church
6 Quaker Meeting
House
7 Court House
8 The wharf at the end
of High Street (also
known as Market
Street)
9 Mulberry Street
(which is also
known as Race
Street and marks
the northern
boundary of
Philadelphia)
10 Sassafras Street (this
street would be
considered outside
the city limits)

op. cit., pp. 220 & 221..
“…Years War, and its merchants (who
owned three-quarters of the tonnage
clearing on transatlantic voyages) had
opened new lines of commerce permitted
them by the Navigation Acts with Spain
and the Med, and also sent a few ships
each year directly to Africa to bring back
slaves—notwithstanding an open
declaration of hostility by the Quakers…
against all who invested in or supplied
cargoes for the trade. They also had
increased their share of the vessels in the
colonial commerce with Great Britain.
They formed a confident elite who lived
in grand style, and, like their counterparts
in the second largest American city, New
York•,…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 220 & 221..
“…Years War, and its merchants (who
owned three-quarters of the tonnage clearing
on transatlantic voyages) had opened new
lines of commerce permitted them by the
Navigation Acts with Spain and the Med,
and also sent a few ships each year directly
to Africa to bring back slaves—
notwithstanding an open declaration of
hostility by the Quakers…against all who
invested in or supplied cargoes for the trade.
They also had increased their share of the
vessels in the colonial commerce with Great
Britain. They formed a confident elite who
lived in grand style, and, like their
counterparts in the second largest
American city, New York•, and the other
thriving northern seaports, Boston…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 220 & 221..
“… like their counterparts in the second largest American city, New York•, and the other
thriving northern seaports, Boston • and Newport,• RI, had attained a degree of power
within their own community and control over their own commerce which disposed them
want greater autonomy.
“Meanwhile the British government’s attitude toward the colonies had developed from a
simple ‘mercantilist’ desire to control colonial trade and shipping for the benefit of the
mother country into a belief that the colonists should contribute to the costs of their own
defense. This was a response to the huge expenses of the war during which the French had
been expelled from the continent, and part of the usual post-war attempt to reduce the
vastly increased national debt.…”

op. cit., p. 221.
“…national debt. It also appeared fully justified by the need to maintain British forces
in North America in peacetime; some 8,000 troops were stationed to defend frontier
colonists against Indian attack and also to prevent settlers moving westward into the
territory of Indians who had so recently been allies against the French; while the
North American squadron comprised twenty-six warships—the largest naval detachment
outside the home fleet—to deter a French descent, protect imperial trade and fishing, and
enforce the Navigation Acts. Policing the laws was indeed a major part of the navy’s duty.
American trade with the enemy in the WI during the late war and the impossibility of
dealing with smugglers in American vice-admiralty courts—since American juries would
never convict on this charge [early examples of jury nullification]—were issues that
rankled.…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 221.
“…national debt. It also appeared fully justified by the need to maintain British forces
in North America in peacetime; some 8,000 troops were stationed to defend frontier
colonists against Indian attack and also to prevent settlers moving westward into the
territory of Indians who had so recently been allies against the French; while the
North American squadron comprised twenty-six warships—the largest naval detachment
outside the home fleet—to deter a French descent, protect imperial trade and fishing, and
enforce the Navigation Acts. Policing the laws was indeed a major part of the navy’s duty.
American trade with the enemy in the WI during the late war and the impossibility of
dealing with smugglers in American vice-admiralty courts—since American juries would
never convict on this charge [early examples of jury nullification]—were issues that
rankled.•
“The government revealed its intentions in an Act of Parliament within months of the
Treaty of Paris in 1763. The most significant provision empowered RN ships to seize
smugglers, allowing officers and crews half the proceeds—in line with wartime captures
of contraband—and granting the squadron commander half of the other half or Crown
share. It was a powerful incentive.…”
12
The American
Revolution

Model of an 18th century British revenue cutter

op. cit., pp. 221-222.
“…powerful incentive. It was followed in April 1764 by the Revenue or ‘Sugar’ Act,
designed both to raise revenue and to render smuggling less profitable. A duty of
threepence a gallon was to be levied on the import into the British colonies of foreign
molasses, and, to inhibit smuggling, traders were required to give bonds, to present
detailed cargo lists, or ‘cockets,’ to the customs before starting loading, and , when loading
in British colonies, to obtain certificates from a Justice of the Peace detailing the origin,
quality and quantity of all rum, sugar and molasses taken aboard. These requirements—
particularly the need to take out bonds and ‘cockets’ before loading—made things difficult
and more costly for legitimate traders as well, and were in many cases simply
impracticable, as when the loading quay was miles from the nearest customs house.
“In Boston and New England ports the Act was seen as an alarming threat. The timber
and so-called ‘damaged fish’—fit only for consumption by slaves—they supplied to the
WI planters were staple exports. The rum they made from molasses brought home on the
return voyage was not simply a popular liquor but a currency used for trading in furs and
skins and by those merchants, principally from Newport taking part in the W African slave
trade.…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 222.
“…slave trade. Moreover, the Act accompanied a proposal for a Stamp Act’ to tax all
kinds of transactions—although the colonists were allowed a year to suggest a more
acceptable means of raising the revenue necessary to meet the costs of their defense.
It seemed evident to New England merchants, traders and a radical Boston group already
exercised over British-imposed search warrants to assist enforcement of the Navigation
Acts that the British government was seeking not only to remove the trading irregularities
which had become traditional and even vital to their economy, but to assert the principle of
taxation by Parliament. Boston’s representatives to the Massachusetts legislature were
instructed to expand on this issue to draw in the interior communities: ‘If our trade may be
taxed, why not our lands? Why not the produce of our lands and everything we possess
and make use of? This we apprehend annihilates our [British Crown] Charter rights to
govern and tax ourselves.’
“Here was the nub. The colonists were and felt themselves to be thoroughly British;
their political institutions were modeled on the British pattern: each colony had a
governor, representing the King, …”
12
The American
Revolution

“…the King, an elected Assembly or legislature on the lines of the House of Commons,
and an appointed upper chamber known as the Council. As in Britain, the elected
legislature had come to wield the real power in all colonies and vote the necessary taxes.
The colonists claimed that the British parliament, to which they sent no representatives,
had no right to tax them. A frequently quoted phrase, coined earlier by the Harvard-
educated Boston lawyer and radical leader, James Otis,• was ‘Taxation without
representation is tyranny.’ Such was the rhetoric; no doubt it was believed.
Nonetheless it is surely significant that it was in Massachusetts, whose merchants, together
with those of RI and CN, had most to lose from the Sugar Act and the RN’s power of
seizure, that the anti-parliamentary agitation began. Subsequently it was the MA
legislature that established a Committee of Correspondence to liaise and exchange views
with the assemblies of the other colonies; and it was a MA initiative that was to lead to
delegations from nine colonial assemblies meeting in NY the following autumn, 1765, to
adopt a common stance and present petitions for the repeal of the recent Acts to King
George III and both houses of the British Parliament.…”
12
The American
Revolution
Ibid.

In this c. 1772 portrait by John
Singleton Copley, Adams points
at the Massachusetts Charter,
which he viewed as a
constitution that protected the
peoples' rights—Wiki
Samuel Adams ( 1722 –
1803) was an American
statesman, political
philosopher, and one of the
Founding Fathers of the
United States

op. cit., pp. 222-223.
“…British Parliament,
“By this time the Stamp Act had been passed—failing an alternative suggestion from
the colonists. In Boston, riots had ensued. Mobs of rowdies organized and fired up by the
oratory of radical leaders, in particular a failed businessman and customs collector named
Samuel Adams,• first terrorized the appointed stamp distributor, who resigned his post,
then wrecked the residences of the lieutenant governor and high vice-admiralty and
customs officials.• RI followed Boston’s lead, then NY and other cities and towns
throughout the colonies, making it impossible to impose the stamp duty.
These preliminary skirmishes with the mother country were crucial triggers for
revolution, since they brought elected representatives of the widely separated and very
different colonies together in concerted action for the first time. They also provided the
young discontented or unenfranchised elements within the electorates with a common case
to champion and a common rhetoric. Groups of artisans, mechanics, skilled craftsmen,
small traders and others seeking a fairer representation within the colonial legislatures
became champions of colonial rights, pushing the merchant elites who held power to adopt
ever tougher attitudes towards Britain.…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 223.
“…towards Britain, So the grand issue between the British parliament and the colonies
became driven on the American side by the internal power play of the seaport elites.
“The British government might have put down the incipient rebellion at this or
practically any later stage by sending sufficient troops to ensure compliance and
make examples of the ringleaders. Had the ministers been driven by the compulsions of
a Continental court they would no doubt have done so. But they answered to the
representatives of merchant power in Parliament, and while they were determined that the
will of Parliament should prevail over the King’s unruly colonial subjects, their impulses
were more fiscal than military. They attempted to meet the American objections by
avoiding internal taxation, instead imposing duties on British manufactured goods
imported into the colonies. And an American Board of Customs Commissioners was
stablished…to enforce collection.
“It has been suggested that these duties were designed as a machiavellian provocation
to Boston, the boiler house of rebellion, since that city was by far the largest importer of
the listed goods. Once Boston had been brought into line, the argument runs, the other
colonies were expected to comply.…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 223-224.
“…to comply, If so the op was badly mishandled, as there were no effective preparations to
deal with the riots that should have been anticipated. These broke out in response to the
seizure by the customs of a sloop appropriately named Liberty, owned by John Hancock,
well known to the British as a smuggler and leader of rebellion. The customs
commissioners’ houses were wrecked, and they and their officers, in terror for their lives,
fled aboard the flagship of the N American squadron anchored in Boston harbor. The
commander of the squadron wrote home to a senior politician in Opposition: ‘What has
been so often foretold is now come to pass. The good people of Boston seem ready and
ripe for open revolt, and nothing, it is to be imagined, can prevent it but immediate armed
force.’
“Two regiments were dispatched to Boston directly news of the riots reached England.
These enabled customs commissioners to do their duties, but did nothing to quell the spirit
of rebellion. And if the original intention had been to divide the colonies, it failed. They
came closer together and organized boycotts of British imports; coming at a time when
British claims to possession of the Falkland Islands threatened war with Spain, this
led to a repeal of the duties and a more conciliatory attitude from a new British
administration led by Lord North.…”
12
The American
Revolution

Frederick North, 2nd Earl of
Guilford KG PC (1732 – 1792),
more often known by his
courtesy title, Lord North,
which he used from 1752 until
1790, was Prime Minister of
Great Britain from 1770 to 1782.

op. cit., p. 224.
“…Lord North, More significantly, the radical groupings in all the major seaport cities
built up their organizations, strengthened inter-colony links, and exploited every
opportunity for anti-British agitation, conjuring fears of a conspiracy to subvert colonial
liberties and utilize American resources exclusively for the benefit of British monopoly
merchants and corrupt politicians, driving the argument ever further towards revolt.
“Their moment came in 1773. Parliament passed an innocuous Act designed to help the
HEIC out of financial trouble by allowing its ships to unload tea in America without
first landing it in England for auction. Influential American merchants had secured
agency rights and stood to profit from direct sales; American colonists stood to gain from
lower prices. But the radical groups in the seaports seized on the issue of duty payable on
the tea and represented the Act as another sinister design to introduce the principle of
taxation without representation.
“By chance, the first East Indiamen arrived in Boston. Samuel Adams,•John Hancock
and their confederates and followers were equal to their historic opportunity. Groups of
rowdies in Mohawk Indian dress, brandishing hatchets, boarded ships, entered the holds,
stove in the chests, and consigned £10,000 worth of tea to the harbor waters watched by
approving crowds.…”
12
The American
Revolution

This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase
"Boston Tea Party" had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier's depiction, few of the men dumping the tea
were actually disguised as American Indians.——Wikipedia

op. cit., pp. 224-225.
“…approving crowds, When news reached England, Parliament reacted by instituting a
blockade of Boston harbor—until the tea was paid for—and legislating of a new form of
government for MA which would be more compliant to British direction, so apparently
confirming the radical thesis of a conspiracy to subvert American liberties.
“The resulting furore brought the separate colonies together again. Delegates from
twelve of the thirteen—missing only GA, which needed British support against the local
Indian tribes—met in Philadelphia the following Sept 1774, in what was termed the
First Continental Congress. Widely differing views were expressed. Those valuing the
British connection, or simply resigned to the impossibility of standing up to Britain
militarily, supported a proposal for a colonial legislature, the members to be selected by
the individual colonies, whose assent would be needed for parliamentary legislation
affecting America. Radicals fought hard against this eminently reasonable plan and
eventually won approval for a Suffolk County, MA, proposal to institute another boycott
of British goods and disobey the recent ‘Intolerable Acts’ to impose a new form of
government on MA. Militants in that colony styling themselves Patriots, meanwhile
overturned the government imposed by the new laws.…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 225.
“…new laws,
“The final steps to open war came the following Apr, 1775, when British troops
clashed at Lexington • and Concord—some twenty miles from Boston—with MA
volunteer militias raised to defend the colony’s liberties.….”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 225-226.
“…new laws,
volunteer militias raised to defend the colony’s liberties. Guerrilla attacks by the patriot
militiamen from behind cover on both sides of the British route back to Boston left 273
dead of wounded against American casualties of under 100….”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 225.
“…new laws,
volunteer militias raised to defend the colony’s liberties. Guerrilla attacks by the patriot
militiamen from behind cover on both sides of the British route back to Boston left 273
dead of wounded against American casualties of under 100.• These were the opening
shots of the American Revolution, for a second Continental Congress convening in May
voted to raise a continental army to defend American rights: a Virginian, George
Washington, who had led his colony’s militia during the Seven Years War, was appointed
CinC.
“Ostensibly the revolution was caused by the incompatibility of the British parliament’s
jealously guarded right to legislate on tax and expenditure throughout the empire and the
colonists’ equally jealously held rights to tax and govern themselves. It is evident,
however, that it was Parliament’s use of the RN to enforce the Navigation Acts, especially
with regard to the smuggling trades with the foreign WI islands, that provoked the New
England merchants to active defiance. Had their vital interests not been threatened by
effective enforcement, it is probable that the constitutional arguments deployed by James
Otis and his fellows would have remained the stuff of academic debate….”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 226.
“…academic debate, But, with their trades endangered, seaport merchants, great and small,
adopted Otis’ themes to justify confrontation, and in Boston the more militant organized
and animated fearsome mobs to terrorize revenue officials, bait British soldiers, and coerce
anyone involved in or sympathetic to the legislation of the mother country.
“By simplifying the dispute into the issues of taxation and infringement of rights,
the seaboard gathered the support of the interior and whipped up a ‘patriotic’ fervor
that raised political consciousness through all classes, increasing the pressure on the
merchant and planting elites to adopt a radical stance. This was by no means against
their inner feelings. Reason may have told them they gained much from the imperial
system and altogether lacked the armed strength to break free, but frustration with the
constraints it imposed, combined with a vision of the limitless growth to be expected on
the continent and self-confidence born of the recent surge in population and prosperity,
had produced profound, if unformed, aspirations for sovereignty.
“In the later stages two renegade Britons who brought personal discontents to the
colonies helped turn aspiration into commitment. The first was Charles Lee,• an
intellectually brilliant soldier who hated George III and his entourage for failing to
advance him….”
12
The American
Revolution

“…advance him, Declaring America
‘the last and only asylum f liberty,’ he
bought land in VA in 1773, attached
himself to the extreme wing of the
revolutionary cause, and published a
pamphlet which did much to dispel
American apprehensions that colonial
militias would not be able to stand
against trained troops….”
Ibid.
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 226-227.
“…trained troops.
“After him, in Nov 1774, an equally rancorous intellectual, ‘Tom’ Paine,• arrived in
Philadelphia. He was one of a great number of self-educated men from humble origins in
both Britain and France who lacked formal qualifications for a professional career but
drank deep of new political and scientific ideas from books, pamphlets and political
clubs. Having passed through a number of jobs, two marriages and dismissal from
the excise service for publishing a pamphlet arguing for higher wages, Paine met PAs
representative in London, Benjamin Franklin, like him a self-taught man of large
ideas. Franklin inspired him to seek his fortune in America and gave him letters of
introduction. With these he secured a post as editor assistant on the Pennsylvania
Magazine. The city was then a seat of artisan radicalism and revolutionary excitement
which complimented his own demons, and Paine was able to realize a genius for polemic
in numerous articles,…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 227.
“…numerous articles, among them a powerful indictment of the institution of slavery.
And, discerning beneath the colonists’ quarrel with Britain about taxation that what they
really wanted was independence, he argued the case for this in a fifty-page pamphlet
titled Common Sense. This so captured the American mood that within four months of
publication in Jan 1776 it had sold 120,000 copies. It is regarded as the single most
influential publication on America’s path to independence.
“That a majority of Americans—by no means all—finally viewed independence as
their goal was ultimately due to the failures of successive British governments over a
decade. They had done enough to provoke revolt but not enough to demonstrate the
will and power to command respect. They had given way on matters of principle,
allowed Boston to simmer for years despite alarming reports from the N American
squadron on the state of rebellion in the city, and finally reacted with arbitrary
interference and insufficient force.
“On 2 July 1776 delegates to a third Continental Congress in Philadelphia approved a
motion for independence [essentially drafted by Thomas Jefferson] To justify separation
from the other country, he proceeded from propositions derived from John Locke…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 227-228.
“…John Locke,
“With these phrases ‘the People’ was enthroned. It was a historic precedent. No doubt it
owed much to the special energy of democratic politics as evolved in colonial America,
and the colonists’ indifference to distinctions of rank, as to the declared interpretation of
the ‘social contract’ of Hobbes, Locke and most recently of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.• In
the same way, the undefined notion of ‘the pursuit of Happiness’ was a perfect reflection
of the individualism, activity and optimism of colonial society. There was of course a
dichotomy between the assertion that all men are created equal and the practice of slavery.
This too arose from the nature of colonial society. The Virginian Jefferson owned slaves
since he had inherited a great estate [not so], but he abhorred the institution [also debated]
—as did [some of] his colleagues—and the Quakers of PA had already freed their own
slaves; nevertheless, a denunciation of slavery written into the first draft of the Declaration
was excised to prevent the southern colonies breaking from the united front.
“From propositions [the 1st two ¶s], the Declaration proceeded to list the [22 some]
‘abuses and usurpations’ visited on the colonies by a British king seeking to establish ‘an
absolute tyranny’ over them, so arriving at the final statement…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., p. 228.
“…final statement, that ‘these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and
Independent States…Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown.’ Unlike the
United Provinces’ break from Spain or the English break from the threat of absolute
monarchy by the Stuarts, there was no resort to religion; the arguments reflected the
new age of reason. It will be recalled that David Hume had by this date characterized
reason as ‘the slave of the passions.’ More remarkable was the confidence implicit in
the rolling phrases; for this there was no military justification. Soon after the
document was signed…Franklin took ship for France to press for the financial and
military aid without which the rebellious colonies could not possibly survive.
A few weeks before the Declaration of Independence, Adam Smith • published his
masterwork, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The
conjunction was not chance. The gestation of the book had coincided with the American
Revolution. Discontent in the colonies had sharpened Smith’s focus on the stifling effects
of the control of trade and industry [remind anyone of our current debate?] in the
mercantilist system of national monopolies. His work was the theoretical complement to
the American plunge for independence…”
12
The American
Revolution

op. cit., pp. 228-229.
“…for independence
“He had long sought answers to the question of how so often self-interested
individuals were ‘led by an invisible hand …[to] advance the interest of the society.’ In
The Wealth of Nations he showed the invisible hand to be the effect of competition in free
markets. Conversely, he showed how regulation, excessive duties on foreign imports, and
monopoly rights drove prices up—no doubt to the advantage of the merchants concerned,
but to the detriment of ‘the great body of the people’ as consumers, and thereby of the
wealth of the nation as a whole. He inveighed against ‘the mean rapacity, the
monopolizing spirit of merchants and manufacturers,’ and identified their monstrous
effects:
“He argued for ‘natural liberty’ for men and nations to pursue their own interests
unfettered by artificial restraints on labor or trade, and an end to the beggar-thy-neighbor
policies of the great powers in which a rival’s gain was counted as the nation’s loss.…”
12
The American
Revolution
Commerce, which ought naturally to be, among nations, as among individuals, a bond of union
and friendship, has become the most fertile source of discord and animosity. The capricious
ambition of kings and ministers has not, during the present and preceding century, been more
fatal to the repose of Europe than the impertinent jealousy of merchants and manufacturers.

op. cit., pp. 228-229.
“…for independence On the contrary, he asserted, ‘A nation which would enrich itself by
foreign trade is certainly most likely to do so when its neighbors are all rich, industrious
and commercial nations.’
“The doctrine of natural liberty and self-interest as the motors of wealth creation led
him to the conclusion that slaves, while appearing to cost no more than their maintenance,
were in reality more expensive to employ than free men: ‘A person who can acquire no
property, can have no other interest but to eat as much, and to labor as little as possible.
Whatever work he does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance can be
squeezed out of him by violence only.’ He noted that sugar and tobacco planters could
apparently afford the expense of slave labor, whereas grain farmers could not.
“The Scotsman Adam Smith and the British-American leaders of the American
Revolution were prophets with a similar vision, but the natural inertia of the international
system was such that much discord, animosity and bloodshed were to ensue before their
message was heeded..…”
12
The American
Revolution

4:

The Outbreak of the

American Revolution
“Choiseul was astute enough to foresee the most likely opportunity for using the navy he had
revivified. Writing soon after the Seven Years’ War, he observed, concerning Britain’s American
colonies:
“As Choiseul had prophesied, it was the tightening up of the mercantilist system and the
reassertion of British authority in the colonies after the Seven Years’ War that led to the defection
of the Americans…. ”
Sea Power, p. 66.
As long as the vast American possessions contribute no subsidies for the support of the mother
country, private persons in England will still grow rich for some time on the trade with America, but
the state will be undone for want of means to keep together a too-extended power; if, on the
contrary, England proposes to establish imposts on her American domains, … they will easily part
from her, without any fear of chastisement, for England could not undertake a war against them to
chastise them.1
______
1 Quoted in Francois Guizot, History of France, trans. Robert Black, V (New York, n.d.), 259.

4:

The Outbreak of the

American Revolution
“…the Americans. The Revenue Act of 1764, with its threat of actual collection of threepence-
a-gallon molasses duty, appalled merchants and distillers who had evaded the previous sixpence
duty. The Stamp Act of 1765, by asserting Parliament’s internal taxing power, united in
opposition colonies that had grown accustomed to a large measure of practical independence.
Although the Stamp Act was repealed, the Townshend Acts of 1767, providing for import duties
on paper, lead, and tea, indirectly brought about the ‘Boston Massacre’ of 1770. ‘Have a care,’
Pitt warned the British government soon after Lord North • became Prime Minister in 1770,
‘Foreign war is suspended over your heads by a thin and fragile thread. Spain and France are
watching your conduct, waiting for your blunders; they have their eyes fixed on America.’.… ”
op. cit, pp. 66-67.

4:

The Outbreak of the

American Revolution
“…the Americans. The Revenue Act of 1764, with its threat of actual collection of threepence-
a-gallon molasses duty, appalled merchants and distillers who had evaded the previous sixpence
duty. The Stamp Act of 1765, by asserting Parliament’s internal taxing power, united in
opposition colonies that had grown accustomed to a large measure of practical independence.
Although the Stamp Act was repealed, the Townshend Acts of 1767, providing for import duties
on paper, lead, and tea, indirectly brought about the ‘Boston Massacre’ of 1770. ‘Have a care,’
Pitt warned the British government soon after Lord North • became Prime Minister in 1770,
‘Foreign war is suspended over your heads by a thin and fragile thread. Spain and France are
watching your conduct, waiting for your blunders; they have their eyes fixed on America.’•
“The Boston Tea Party of 1773 began a chain of events that led to war. This act of defiance
caused Parliament to pass the Coercive [or ‘Intolerable’] Acts, which among other things closed
the port of Boston and abolished the long-established liberties of MA, taking from the people
their right of selecting their Council.… ”
op. cit, pp. 66-67.

“…their Council. ‘The die is
cast:’wrote George III,’the
colonies must either triumph
or submit.’2… ”______
2 Quoted in John Richard Green,
History of the English People, V
(London, 1885-86), IV, 253.
op. cit, p. 67.
The Outbreak of the

American Revolution

“…or submit. British attempts to enforce the Coercive Acts led to shooting at Lexington and
Concord in April 1775.• After that there was little room for moderation or reconciliation.
“For Britain the war presented peculiar difficulties. Eighteenth-century logistics were weak at
best and many overseas expeditions of the era failed primarily because the invader was unable to
organize, transport, and supply a suitable force. Moving troops and supplies in quantity across
the Atlantic, a passage that might easily take two months, was a stupendous task. Realizing
the difficulty, Lord Barrington, British Secretary of State for War, suggested a naval blockade to
bring the colonists to terms, but Lord George Germain,• the Colonial Secretary, who was to direct
the war, seems scarcely to have considered such a strategy. The temptation to punish the
colonies by conventional occupation was reinforced by a desire to protect the loyalists
(‘Tories’), who were expected to assist. Britain was thus committed to a course that
ultimately proved disastrous.”
Ibid.
The Outbreak of the

American Revolution

Arbitrament of the Sword, 1775-76

This is a map, showing the
headwaters of the Kennebec
River, which empties into the
Gulf of Maine, and the
Chaudière River, which empties
into the Saint Lawrence River.
Benedict Arnold used this map
as a guide for his expedition to
Quebec in 1775.
prepared by British military
engineer John Montresor, circa 1760

4:

The American Oﬀensive, 1775
“Although the fray at Lexington and
Concord had precipitated hostilities, more
than a year passed before the colonies
declared their independence. While the
British were still gathering their forces, the
colonials seized the opportunity and initiated
a series of military ops that amounted to an
American offensive.
“Less than a month after Concord, Ethan
Allen [and Benedict Arnold] took Fort
Ticonderoga • on Lake Champlain, key to
communications between the rebellious
colonies and Canada. In the autumn of 1775,
colonial forces invaded Canada hoping that
the Canadians might join them in resistance
to Britain….”
Ibid.

4:

“…to Britain. General Richard Montgomery,
leading a thousand men by the Hudson
River-Lake Champlain route, took Montreal
in November.• Then, joined by Benedict
Arnold,• who had led 600 men across
northern Maine, he assaulted Quebec on the
last day of the year.• With Montgomery
killed and Arnold wounded, the attack failed,
but Arnold maintained a siege of the city •
till spring, when melting ice permitted the
British to bring in reinforcements via the St.
Lawrence River •….”
Ibid.

Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec
In September 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, Colonel
Benedict Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an
expedition from Cambridge,• (A) Massachusetts to the gates of
Quebec City. Part of a two-pronged invasion of the British Province of
Quebec, his expedition passed through the wilderness of what is now
Maine. The other expedition, led by Richard Montgomery, invaded
Quebec from Lake Champlain.
Unanticipated problems beset the expedition as soon as it left the last
signiﬁcant colonial outposts in Maine.• (C)The portages up the
Kennebec River proved grueling, and the boats frequently leaked,
ruining gunpowder and spoiling food supplies.• (D & E) More than a
third of the men turned back before reaching the height of land (F)
between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers. The areas on either side
of the height of land were swampy tangles of lakes and streams, and
the traversal was made more difﬁcult by bad weather and inaccurate
maps….
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
11 Sep
25 Sep
2 Oct
11 Oct
25 Oct

Arnold’s Map
by Col. Montresor, c. 1760

Detail from Montresor's map showing the
height of land; note absence of Spider Lake
and swampy areas.
Detail from a 1924 topographic map of the same area,
annotated with Arnold's approximate route over the height
of land (H). Note Spider Lake and swamps to east of Lake
Mégantic; parts of the expedition were lost for days there.

In September 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Benedict
Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an expedition from
Cambridge,• (A) Massachusetts to the gates of Quebec City. Part of a two-
pronged invasion of the British Province of Quebec, his expedition passed
through the wilderness of what is now Maine. The other expedition, led by
Richard Montgomery, invaded Quebec from Lake Champlain.
significant colonial outposts in Maine.• The portages up the Kennebec River
proved grueling, and the boats frequently leaked, ruining gunpowder and
spoiling food supplies.• More than a third of the men turned back before
reaching the height of land (F) between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers.
The areas on either side of the height of land were swampy tangles of lakes
and streams, and the traversal was made more difficult by bad weather and
inaccurate maps.• Many of the troops lacked experience handling boats in
white water, which led to the destruction of more boats and supplies in the
descent to the Saint Lawrence River via the fast-flowing Chaudière.•
By the time Arnold reached the French settlements above the Saint Lawrence
River in November, his force was reduced to 600 starving men.• They had
traveled about 350 miles (560 km) through poorly charted wilderness, twice the
distance they had expected to cover. Assisted by the local French-speaking
Canadiens, Arnold's troops crossed the Saint Lawrence on November 13 and
14 and attempted to put Quebec City under siege. Failing in this, they withdrew
to Point-aux-Trembles until Montgomery arrived to lead an unsuccessful attack
on the city. Arnold was rewarded for his effort in leading the expedition with a
promotion to brigadier general….
11 Sep
25 Sep
2 Oct
11 Oct
25 Oct

In September 1775, early in the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Benedict
Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an expedition from
Cambridge,• (A) Massachusetts to the gates of Quebec City. Part of a two-
pronged invasion of the British Province of Quebec, his expedition passed
through the wilderness of what is now Maine. The other expedition, led by
Richard Montgomery, invaded Quebec from Lake Champlain.
significant colonial outposts in Maine.• The portages up the Kennebec River
proved grueling, and the boats frequently leaked, ruining gunpowder and
spoiling food supplies.• More than a third of the men turned back before
reaching the height of land (F) between the Kennebec and Chaudière rivers.
The areas on either side of the height of land were swampy tangles of lakes
and streams, and the traversal was made more difficult by bad weather and
inaccurate maps.• Many of the troops lacked experience handling boats in
white water, which led to the destruction of more boats and supplies in the
descent to the Saint Lawrence River via the fast-flowing Chaudière.•
By the time Arnold reached the French settlements above the Saint Lawrence
River in November, his force was reduced to 600 starving men.• They had
traveled about 350 miles (560 km) through poorly charted wilderness, twice the
distance they had expected to cover. Assisted by the local French-speaking
Canadiens, Arnold's troops crossed the Saint Lawrence on November 13 and
14 and attempted to put Quebec City under siege. Failing in this, they withdrew
to Point-aux-Trembles until Montgomery arrived to lead an unsuccessful attack
on the city. Arnold was rewarded for his effort in leading the expedition with a
promotion to brigadier general.•
Arnold's route through northern Maine has been listed on the National Register
of Historic Places as the Arnold Trail to Quebec, and some geographic
features in the area bear names of expedition participants.
11 Sep
25 Sep
2 Oct
11 Oct
25 Oct
Arnold, two years later, a
MGen, at the height of his
popularity

“…Lawrence River.
“In Boston, center of hostilities, the
British found themselves besieged by 16,000
American militia who had swarmed to the
city from the surrounding colonies. The
defenders were virtually helpless until the
arrival in May 1775 of MajGen Sir William
Howe…” Ibid.
4:


General William Howe,
5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC
(1729 – 1814)
Youngest of the three distinguished Howe
brothers: General George, Admiral Richard.
Returned to Britain after the Saratoga disaster

Howe accompanied by Gens Clinton and
Burgoyne and 10,000 troops….”
Ibid.
4:


Burgoyne and 10,000 troops. Gen George
Washington took command of the American
forces in July and undertook to organize the
raw militia into an army, but he had so little
gunpowder that his troops could scarcely
return the British fire….” Ibid.
4:


Burgoyne and 10,000 troops. Gen George
Washington took command of the American
forces in July and undertook to organize the
raw militia into an army, but he had so little
gunpowder that his troops could scarcely
return the British fire. In early March 1776
he emplaced cannon from Fort Ticonderoga
on Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston
from the S….”
Ibid.
4:


Knox went to Ticonderoga in November 1775, and, over the course of 3 winter months, moved 60 tons of
cannons and other armaments by boat, horse and ox-drawn sledges, and manpower, along poor-quality
roads, across two semi-frozen rivers, and through the forests and swamps of the lightly inhabited
Berkshires to the Boston area.[

“…the S. Gen Howe, having enough of storming American-held heights at Bunker Hill • the
year before….”
Ibid.
4:


“…the S. Gen Howe, having enough of
storming American-held heights at Bunker
Hill • the year before and finding his
position untenable, evacuated his position by
sea and retired to Halifax, Nova Scotia,
where he waited till early June for
reinforcements from England….”
Ibid.
4:


“…the S. Gen Howe, having enough of
storming American-held heights at Bunker
Hill • the year before and finding his
position untenable, evacuated his position by
sea and retired to Halifax, Nova Scotia,
where he waited till early June for
reinforcements from England.
“If Washington had needed any lesson
on the importance of sea power, the
unopposed withdrawal of the British from
Boston would have supplied it. So long as
the British had free use of the sea, the
Americans were helpless either to prevent
the evacuation of a beaten army or to prevent
seaborne forays along the coast….”
Ibid.
4:


4:

The Americans on the

Defensive, 1776
“In 1776 the British, having
assembled their forces, took the
initiative. In the N, Sir Guy Carleton,•
Gov Gen of Canada, now reinforced by
British regulars under Gen Burgoyne,
planned to penetrate the colonies by the
Champlain-Hudson route.• A second
British expedition was to attack a point
in the southern colonies as a diversion,
while the main British army under Gen
Howe seized NYC as a base and began
ops against Washington’s army.• Each
portion of this plan required some sort
of naval support….”
op. cit., p. 69.

4:


Defensive, 1776
“…naval support.
“In the spring of 1776 Arnold retreated to Lake Champlain
where he began the rapid expansion of the tiny American
fleet already on the lake, thereby forcing the pursuing British
to stop and build a superior fleet. For obviously Carleton
could not maintain his line of supply with an undefeated
enemy naval force in his rear. With material brought overland
and by small boats up the Richelieu River, the British
constructed a 180-ton ship. In addition, they dismantled two
schooners on the St. Lawrence and reassembled them on the
lake. These vessels easily gave them superiority over
Arnold’s motley collection of smaller craft.
“When the British squadron was finally ready, on 11 Oct,it
moved down the lake before a N wind.• Arnold’s force,
concealed behind Valcour Island, let it pass, thus obliging the
enemy to beat back upwind to attack him….”
Ibid.

4:


Defensive, 1776
“…attack him. Despite the
advantage, the Americans
suffered so severely in the
ensuing battle that they were
fortunate to succeed that night
in slipping past the British
squadron toward Crown Point.
The British pursued, and in a
running two-day battle most
of the American vessels were
either captured or beached and
burned, while the survivors
took to the woods.
“While the British could
congratulate themselves that
they had rendered Canada
secure,…”

“…Canada secure, their months of shipbuilding had cost them their strategic opportunity, for
mid-October was too close to winter for them to resume their advance [cf. Hitler, fall of 1941].
’If we had begun our expedition four weeks earlier,’ lamented one of Carleton’s officers, ‘I am
satisfied that everything would have ended this year.’ In the circumstances however there was
nothing for the British to do but retire to Canada.
“American naval power had scored its first, and as events were to prove, its most important
success, for it had delayed the invasion when there was little else to do it. The colonists were
thereby granted time to gather forces which in 1777 would win the victory that brought France
into the war and tipped the balance in their favor. [and yet a 3rd time patriot Arnold had played a
key role in winning American independence]….”
Ibid.
4:


Defensive, 1776

“…Canada secure, their months of shipbuilding had cost them their strategic opportunity, for
mid-October was too close to winter for them to resume their advance [cf. Hitler, fall of 1941].
’If we had begun our expedition four weeks earlier,’ lamented one of Carleton’s officers, ‘I am
satisfied that everything would have ended this year.’ In the circumstances however there was
nothing for the British to do but retire to Canada.
“American naval power had scored its first, and as events were to prove, its most important
success, for it had delayed the invasion when there was little else to do it. The colonists were
thereby granted time to gather forces which in 1777 would win the victory that brought France
into the war and tipped the balance in their favor. [at yet a 3rd time patriot Arnold had played a
key role in winning American independence]
“The second British operation of 1776, the diversion to the S was a failure.• A squadron
attempting to land troops at Charleston, SC, was repulsed by fire from Fort Moultrie, a hastily
erected sand-and-log fortification, with heavy casualties in the bombarding vessels….”
Ibid.
4:


Defensive, 1776
The SC state ﬂag celebrates this victory

“…bombarding vessels.
“Only the expedition against NY was a success. Washington had fully anticipated this British
move, for NYC’s harbor occupied a central position on the American coast, and the city secured
the southern terminus of the Hudson-Champlain route to Canada, which in British hands would
split New England from the southern colonies. Hence he promptly moved troops from Boston to
Long Island despite the obvious vulnerability of Long Island to sea power. Here he was at first
puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear….”
Ibid.
4:


Defensive, 1776

puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear.
“Finally at the end of June Gen Howe arrived, escorted by a fleet under the command of his
brother, Adm Richard Lord Howe. Even then Gen Howe marked time on Staten Island until the
arrival of a convoy of Hessian troops…” Ibid.
4:


Defensive, 1776

puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear.•
arrival of a convoy of Hessian troops and the return of the inglorious Charleston expedition gave
him some 30,000 men to oppose Washington’s 10,000. Then on 27 Aug, Howe closed to Long
Island and began a leisurely advance….”
Ibid.
4:


Defensive, 1776

The fury of the first great battle of the war—and the first colossal defeat for the
Continental Army—at Brooklyn on August 27,1776, is dramatically portrayed in a
painting by Alonzo Chappel. In the distance at left, Lord Stirling leads a few hundred
Marylanders in a brave attack on the British lines, while in the right foreground other
American troops in a desperate retreat plunge into Gownus Creek.
caption by David McCullough, 1776. Simon & Schuster (2005)., after p. 52

The night escape of the
American army from Brooklyn,
across the East River, could
never have succeeded without
the intrepid Marblehead
mariners who manned the
boats. The pencil sketch of their
commander, Col John Glover,
is by John Trumbull.—Ibid

puzzled and then alarmed by the failure of the British to appear.•
arrival of a convoy of Hessian troops • and the return of the inglorious Charleston expedition
gave him some 30,000 men to oppose Washington’s 10,000. Then on 27 Aug, Howe closed to
Long Island and began a leisurely advance.• Washington slowly withdrew, aided by winds that
prevented British frigates from supporting Howe’s left flank and by a fog that enabled him to
slip across to Manhattan on the night of the 30th….”
Sea Power, p. 69.
4:


Defensive, 1776

“…the 30th. Within two months he was forced N to White Plains, whence he crossed the
Hudson into NJ. In another month he was forced across the Delaware into PA….”
op. cit., pp. 69-70.
4:


Defensive, 1776

“… Hudson into NJ. In another month he was forced across the Delaware into PA.
“By this time Washington’s army had dwindled to a mere 3,000 men, and only the lateness of
the season prevented Howe from advancing on and taking Philadelphia, seat of the Continental
Congress. It was at this point, when the colonial cause seemed hopeless, that Washington
demonstrated his greatness as a general by his dramatic crossing of the Delaware and capture of
Trenton on Christmas Day.…” op. cit., pp. 69-70.
4:


Defensive, 1776

“…the 30th. Within two months he was forced N to White Plains, whence he crossed the
Hudson into NJ. In another month he was forced across the Delaware into PA.•
“By this time Washington’s army had dwindled to a mere 3,000 men, and only the lateness of
the season prevented Howe from advancing on and taking Philadelphia, seat of the Continental
Congress. It was at this point, when the colonial cause seemed hopeless, that Washington
demonstrated his greatness as a general by his dramatic crossing of the Delaware and capture of
Trenton on Christmas Day.• After a series of attacks on British outposts, by which he regained
control of the greater part of NJ, Washington took a position at Morristown, from which he could
threaten any British move toward Philadelphia or up the Hudson.”
op. cit., pp. 69-70.
4:


Defensive, 1776

The War at Sea, 1775-79
Engraving based on ! painting “Action Between ! Serap( and Bonhomme Richard”
by Richard Paton, publ(hed 1780

4:

Early American Naval Eﬀorts
“Although Washington had no naval experience, he was quick to understand the importance
of sea power. Even while conducting the siege of Boston in 1775 he had on his own initiative
and without authorization from Congress begun to ready vessels to prey upon British shipping—
with the dual objective of embarrassing the enemy and relieving his own army’s acute shortage
of powder. These vessels he manned with troops from maritime areas, particularly Salem,
Marblehead, and Beverly. The first, the schooner Hannah,• sailed in early Sept and returned with
a prize.…”
Sea Power, p. 71.

4:

“Although Washington had no naval experience, he was quick to understand the importance
of sea power. Even while conducting the siege of Boston in 1775 he had on his own initiative
and without authorization from Congress begun to ready vessels to prey upon British shipping—
with the dual objective of embarrassing the enemy and relieving his own army’s acute shortage
of powder. These vessels he manned with troops from maritime areas, particularly Salem,
Marblehead, and Beverly. The first, the schooner Hannah,• sailed in early Sept and returned with
a prize. By the end of Oct Washington had half a dozen vessels in operation, but the results were
far from satisfactory. The crews were unruly and the officers often incompetent. Only Capt John
Manley • showed the qualities requisite for successful command; at the beginning of 1776
Washington made him Commodore of the fleet. After Washington moved to NY, the little
squadron continued for a while to cruise MA Bay, but early in 1777 it was broken up and the
vessels were disposed of by order of the Maritime Committee of the Continental Congress,
whereupon some of its officers transferred to the new Continental Navy. In its short existence
‘Washington’s navy’ had taken some 35 prizes, which considerably eased the American logistic
problem.…”
Sea Power, p. 71.

4:

“…logistic problem.
“Congress had taken the first steps toward creating a Continental Navy by establishing in Oct
1775 a ‘Naval Committee’ to acquire and fit out vessels for sea and to draw up regulations. The
following month the committee purchased two ships, two brigs, and subsequently two sloops
and two schooners, and Congress established a Marine Corps by authorizing the raising of two
battalions of marines. [10 Nov 75].…”
Ibid.

4:

battalions of marines. [10 Nov 75] • Esek Hopkins,• brother of the RI member of the Naval
Committee, was appointed ‘CinC of the Fleet.’.…”
Ibid.

4:

battalions of marines. [10 Nov 75] • Esek Hopkins,• brother of the RI member of the Naval
Committee, was appointed ‘CinC of the Fleet.’ Despite the obvious nepotism, Hopkins was a
reasonable choice. He had gone to sea at the age of 20 and had become the prosperous
commodore of a fleet of 17 merchantmen. In the Seven Years War he had proved himself a
daring privateersman.
“Taking advantage of a discretionary clause, Hopkins disregarded his orders to clear the VA
and Carolina coasts of enemy forces, and sailed instead for the Bahamas, where there was
reportedly a supply of powder. He landed a force on New Providence in early Mar 1776, took
the two forts guarding Nassau after only token opposition, and then spent two weeks loading the
captured munitions.…”
Ibid.

4:

“…captured munitions.
“This was the squadron’s only cruise. Partly because of deficiencies in the vessels
themselves, partly because of the impossibility of enlisting adequate crews. Hopkins found
himself unable to obey orders to go to sea and attack the Newfoundland fisheries. He was called
before Congress to explain his conduct and, despite an able defense by John Adams, he was
censured. Individual vessels however made successful cruises. Capt Nicholas Biddle, in the brig
Andrea Doria,• took several prizes,…”
op. cit., pp. 71-72.

4:

“…Capt Nicholas Biddle, in the brig Andrea Doria,• took several prizes, while Capt John Paul
Jones in the sloop Providence • captured 16 merchantmen off Nova Scotia.…”
op. cit., pp. 71-72.

4:

“…while Capt John Paul Jones in the sloop Providence • captured 16 merchantmen off Nova
Scotia. In a subsequent cruise in the Alfred,• Jones took several more, including an armed vessel
laden with winter clothing for Burgoyne’s army.…”
op. cit., pp. 71-72.

4:

“… Burgoyne’s army.
“After Hopkins’ raid on New Providence, the Continental Navy participated in only one
major operation—the so-called Penobscot Expedition of 1779. This was primarily a MA
enterprise against the British-Tory base at Castine, ME, but the 16 fighting ships that
accompanied the transports were stiffened by three vessels of the Continental Navy, of which the
most powerful was the frigate Warren, 32, under Capt Dudley Saltonstall, who commanded the
expedition.…” op. cit., pp. 71-72.

4:

“…the expedition. Arriving at Castine in the latter part of July, the ill-managed force made such
slow progress that a British relief squadron had time to arrive from NY in mid-August,
whereupon the Americans fled ignominiously up the river and beached their vessels [they
managed to burn some but others were taken as prizes],…”
op. cit., p. 72.

“The worst defeat of the American navy until Pearl
Harbor.”

4:

“…their vessels.
“All the thirteen colonies except NJ and DE created state navies during the war, but these
consisted principally of small craft and conducted few ops of significance. RI led the way when,
in June 1775, she fitted out two sloops to deal with a British vessel that had been patrolling
Narragansett Bay. CT followed by fitting out two vessels in July of the same year—a force
eventually increased to twelve. PA concentrated chiefly on small craft to defend the Delaware
River. VA created a large fleet of light craft to stop the depredations of a squadron formed by
Tory Governor Dunmore. SC provided one of the larger navies, having 15 seagoing vessels.
“Privateers made by far the most effective contribution to the American naval effort. in the
spring of 1776 Congress authorized privateering, and adopted a form of commission to be issued
by the colonial governments and by American agents abroad. MA had already authorized
privateers and prize courts, and some other colonies followed suit….While the individualistic
American seamen took rather badly to the disciplined life of a regular navy, his ingenuity and
resourcefulness fitted him admirably for the life of a privateer,…”
op. cit., p. 72.

“…a privateer, and the opportunity for profit was so attractive that the Continental Navy found
itself unable to compete with privateersmen for crews.• After some decline in 1777 as the RN’s
frigates took to sea to protect British commerce, American privateering revived in 1778, when
France’s entry into the war obliged the British to concentrate their naval forces. Thereafter the
number of vessels engaged in privateering increased and their quality and effectiveness
improved each year until the end of the war. Altogether there were nearly 800 American
privateersmen during the Revolution, and they captured some 600 British merchant vessels…”
Ibid.
4:

John Paul Jones made this
appeal to fit out Ranger in
the face of competition from
the privateers.

“…merchant vessels.
“The most remarkable accomplishment of the Continental Navy was carrying the war to
British waters. The use of French bases for this unneutral purpose presented some
inconveniences, for the French occasionally had to make concessions to British protests, but the
net effect was to embroil France with England. The first Continental vessel in European waters
was the brig Reprisal, commanded by Lambert Wickes,• who brought Franklin to France at the
end of 1776. Sailing from Nantes in January 1777, Wickes took five prizes; his bringing them
into French ports raised a storm of British protest. The fitting out of the cutter Dolphin and the
arrival of the Continental brig Lexington created a little squadron which Wickes led in a month’s
cruise around Ireland, netting 18 prizes.…”
Ibid.
4:


“…18 prizes. On the return voyage to America in the fall, the Reprisal foundered in a storm off
the Grand Banks taking her captain with her.…”
Ibid.
4:


“…18 prizes. On the return voyage to America in the fall, the Reprisal foundered in a storm off
the Grand Banks taking her captain with her.
“Meanwhile American agents in France had purchased the lugger Surprise, command of
which was given to Gustavus Coyningham.• Sailing from Dunkirk in May, Coyningham soon
returned with two prizes. British protests caused the French government to release the captured
vessels, seize the Surprise, and imprison Coyningham and his crew. But Benjamin Franklin
procured his release in time for him to take command of the cutter Revenge. Operating first from
French and later from Spanish bases, he contributed not a little to increasing tension between the
Bourbon powers and England.•
“If Hopkins’ squadron of converted merchantmen was the first Continental Navy, 13 frigates
authorized by Congress at the end of 1775 may be considered the second. These were to be real
men-of-war from the keel up, not mere conversions. To supervise their construction Congress
created a Marine Committee composed of a member from each of the 13 colonies. But the
promise of an effective fleet of genuine combat vessels was never realized.…”
Ibid.
4:


“…never realized. Six of the frigates for various reasons never got to sea at all, and of the
remainder, four had only short careers. The Hancock, 32, an exceptionally fine, fast vessel, was
taken in 1777 by a British 64.…”
op. cit., pp. 72-73.
4:


taken in 1777 by a British 64. The Raleigh was lost when Capt John Barry was driven ashore in
Penobscot Bay by superior forces in Sept 1778.…”
op. cit., pp. 72-73.
4:


taken in 1777 by a British 64.• The Raleigh was lost when Capt John Barry was driven ashore in
Penobscot Bay by superior forces in Sept 1778. The Warren was lost in the [disastrous]
Penobscot expedition.…”
op. cit., pp. 72-73.
4:


“…Penobscot expedition. Only the Randolph,• 32, died with glory. Her Captain, Nicholas
Biddle,• had commanded the Andrew Doria under Hopkins and had made a successful cruise
afterward. He was fortunate in being able to take the Randolph out of the Delaware and to sea
early in 1777, before the British moved on Philadelphia. Returning in the spring of 1778 from a
cruise to France, Biddle was given a small squadron headed by the Randolph to hunt down
British cruisers off the Carolina coast. In March he encountered the 64-gun Yarmouth near
Barbados. Biddle engaged her and, although unsupported by the rest of his squadron, appeared
near victory when the Randolph’s magazine exploded. ‘Biddle’s death deprived America of one
of her most promising officers.’…”
op. cit., pp. 72-73.
4:


4:

“…promising officers.
“Thus by 1780 only three of the 13 frigates survived. The Boston and the Providence after a
cruise to the S put in at Charleston, shared in the defense of the city, and were lost when it fell to
the British in May 1780. The Trumbull alone survived into 1781, principally because she was
unable to get over the Connecticut River bar and to sea before 1780.…”
op. cit., p. 73.

John Paul Jones, Qualifications of a
Naval Officer
“It is by no means sufficient that he be a capable
mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a
great deal more. He must be a gentleman of liberal
education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy,
and the nicest sense of personal honor.”
This was required memorization (plebe
knowledge) at the USNA in 1958.
I was surprised to learn later that it was probably
composed in the early 20th century during the
heyday of American navalism.
jbp

4:

“…before 1780.
“Greatest of all the Continental naval officers was John Paul Jones. Equal to the others in
courage and resourcefulness, he surpassed them all in his high concept of the naval profession
and his understanding of the strategic use of naval power. After serving as Lt in the Alfred under
Hopkins and making successful cruises in command first of the Providence and then of the
Alfred, he was in June 1777 given the new 18-gun Ranger.• Sailing her to France in the autumn,
he was in that country when she signed her treaty of alliance with the colonies and a week later
had the satisfaction of receiving a salute from LaMotte-Picquet’s squadron at Quiberon Bay.…”
op. cit., p. 73.
USS Ranger

“…Quiberon Bay. “Disappointed in his hope of commanding a squadron to carry the war into
British waters, Jones took the Ranger alone on a cruise around England, Scotland, and Ireland in
the spring of 1778. At Whitehaven he burned some shipping and spiked cannon, at St. Mary’s
Isle he raided ashore, and outside Carrickfergus he captured HMS Drake, 20, one of the few
vessels of the RN to become American prizes.
“For a year after this remarkable cruise Jones remained in France, repeatedly disappointed in
his expectation of a new command. Finally he was given an old, half-rotten East Indiaman,
which he armed with 42 assorted 9-, 12-, and 18-pounders, mostly secondhand, and named the
Bonhomme Richard in compliment to Franklin.• Included besides his Bonhomme Richard was
the newly-built American frigate Alliance, 32, commanded by a Frenchman, Capt Pierre
Landais, and three French vessels, the Pallas, 32, the Cerf, 18, and the Vengeance, 12. In a
clockwise circuit of the British Isles Jones picked up several prizes, and on September 24 off
Flamborough Head, on the E coast of England, he fought his most famous battle.…”
Ibid.
4:


“…famous battle.
“The Franco-American squadron, reduced to four vessels by the separation of the Cerf, was
stalking a British convoy when just at twilight its two escorts approached. These proved to be
the 50-gun frigate Serapis, Capt Richard Pearson, and the Countess of Scarborough, 22. While
the Pallas engaged the Countess, Jones headed for the Serapis, which was superior to the
Bonhomme Richard both in maneuverability and firepower. Jones cancelled the first of these
British advantages when he succeeded personally in lashing the two vessels side by side, but the
disparity in firepower increased as Jones had to forego the use of his 18-pounders after two of
them burst on the first round. Soon the Bonhomme Richard was so riddled that the British balls
were passing unimpeded through her hull, and only three American 9-pounders remained in
action. To all appearances she was a sinking ship and might have been surrendered honorably.
The master-at-arms released the prisoners, and a gunner made an unauthorized call for quarter.
When Capt Pearson asked if the American had in fact struck, Jones made his famous reply,…”
Ibid.
4:


I have not yet begun
to fight.3
______
3 So reported by Jones’ first lieutenant and certainly
Jones’ meaning if not his precise words.

Defence of Capt Pearson in his Majesty's Ship Serapis and the Countess of Scarborough
Arm'd Ship Capt Piercy, against Paul Jones's Squadron, 23 Sept 1779
by Robert Dodd, Br. marine engraver, published 1778—Wikipedia

“…famous reply.
“The French marines and a few Americans had by this time captured control of the tops • of
both vessels, and from that vantage had cleared the weather [fore, main, and quarter] decks of
the Serapis. About 9:30 pm a grenade thrown from the rigging entered a hatch of the British
frigate, ignited powder on the main gun deck, and set off an explosion that marked the turning
point of the battle.
“Throughout the action the Bonhomme Richard had been unsupported by her squadron, but at
this point Landais brought up the Alliance and fired a few broadsides indiscriminately into the
combatants, apparently doing more damage to friend than to foe. His presence however may
have been a factor in Pearson’s decision to strike. The battered Bonhomme Richard sank the next
day, and Jones transferred his flag to the Serapis.”
op. cit., pp. 73-74.
4:


Padﬁeld, Maritime Supremacy., p. 248.
“The action had no strategic significance, and Jones and his surviving men were forced to
transfer to his prize…, leaving the shattered Bon Homme Richard to sink, but the exceptional
ferocity of the contest, his refusal to submit and his capture of two RN escorts raised him
to international fame. Louis XVI made him a Chevalier of France,• and he was later awarded
a congressional gold medal. The son of a gardener on a Scottish estate, one-time master of
a slave ship, who had fled to VA to escape trial after killing a mutinous sailor, John Paul
Jones was much more than an inspirational fighter wit an unerring seaman’s eye; he was a
thinking officer and an ardent champion of sea power for the emerging nation he had
adopted, a fitting hero for the new navy.”
13
The War of American Independence
and the Chesapeake Bay, 1781

Saratoga;The Turning Point
‘Surrender of General Burgoyne
John Trumbull, 1821

4:

Saratoga, the Turning Point
“In 1777 the British undertook to
complete the campaigns that had
b e e n p o s t p o n e d b y w i n t e r.
Washington’s judgment told him that
the logical British objective was a
junction of Howe’s and Burgoyne’s
forces on the Hudson-Champlain
route,…”
op. cit., p. 74.

“In 1777 the British undertook to complete the campaigns that had been postponed by winter.
Washington’s judgment told him that the logical British objective was a junction of Howe’s and
Burgoyne’s forces on the Hudson-Champlain route, but the withdrawal of Howe’s forces from
NJ and their embarkation in early July suggested the possibility of a movement on Philadelphia
by sea.• For almost two months Washington was in grave doubt as to the proper disposition of
his troops, whether to move to the N or cover Philadelphia. The dilemma imposed upon him was
a striking demonstration of the mobility and initiative conferred by British sea power….”
op. cit., p. 74.
4:


“…sea power.
“As Washington has suspected, the British plan did in fact envisage Burgoyne’s moving S via
Lake Champlain and the Hudson to join Howe. Incredibly enough, it specified no cooperation
from the S, for the idea of coordinating the two armies seems to have occurred neither to
Burgoyne nor to Colonial Minister Lord Germain at that time. In the spring of 1777, Germain
approved Howe’s plan for moving on Philadelphia. It was not till summer that he thought of
ordering Howe to cooperate with Burgoyne, and by the time his letter reached America, Howe
was already at sea en route to Philadelphia and could do no more than order Gen Clinton, whom
he had left at NY, to make what diversion he could in favor of Burgoyne….”
op. cit., p. 74.
4:


Hessian map [labelled in French] of the campaign
from August 25 - September 26, 1777—Wikipedia

4:

“…of Burgoyne.
“The British moved on Philadelphia by the roundabout route of the Chesapeake • rather than
by the obvious way of the Delaware partly because of exaggerated reports of American defenses
on the river. Washington’s forces, exhausted by their marches and countermarches in an attempt
to anticipate British movements, could do little more than harry the British…” Ibid.
Delaware RiverChesapeake Bay

Nation Makers by Howard Pyle depicts a scene from the battle.

4:

“…of Burgoyne.
to anticipate British movements, could do little more than harry the British • as they marched on
the city, which surrendered at the end of September. However, in an attempt to make the British
communications as costly as possible, the Americans tenaciously defended the Delaware forts,
which did not fall until the middle of November….”
Ibid.

4:

“…of Burgoyne.
to anticipate British movements, could do little more than harry the British • as they marched on
the city, which surrendered at the end of September. However, in an attempt to make the British
communications as costly as possible, the Americans tenaciously defended the Delaware forts,
which did not fall until the middle of November….”
Ibid.
MUD ISLAND

“…of November.
“Meanwhile Burgoyne, who had retained the control of Lake Champlain,
won the previous autumn, moved up the lake in June and captured Fort
Ticonderoga in early July. By the end of the month he was on the upper
Hudson despite the obstructions put in his path by Gen Schuyler.….”
Ibid.
4:


Ibid.
4:

“…Gen Schuyler. But in early August British Gen St. Leger, who was advancing from Lake
Ontario by the Mohawk Valley to join Burgoyne, was stopped in a bloody battle at Oriskany, near
Fort Stanwix, and retreated to Canada upon news • that Gen Arnold was approaching with
American reinforcements.
“At the same time Burgoyne was finding his long line of communications through the
wilderness inadequate to supply his army. He therefore dispatched over 700 men to cross the
Green Mountains • near Bennington, seize the stores reported to be in that town, and then raid the
CN Valley for supplies, cattle and draft animals. This detachment got no farther than Bennington,
where the Green Mountain Boys destroyed or captured the entire force in mid-August….”
GreenMountains

“…in mid-August. After these disasters Burgoyne pressed on against growing opposition.
Finally, surrounded by American militiamen, now stiffened by regulars under Gen Horatio
Gates, Burgoyne surrendered his army of more than 5,000 men at Saratoga on 17 Oct 77….”
Ibid.
4:


“All of the figures in the scene are portraits of specific officers. Trumbull planned this outdoor scene
to contrast with the Declaration of Independence • beside it in the US Capitol rotunda..—Wikipedia

“All of the figures in the scene are portraits of specific officers. Trumbull planned this outdoor scene to contrast
with the Declaration of Independence • beside it in the US Capitol rotunda.
“John Trumbull (1756–1843) was born in Connecticut, the son of the governor. After graduating from Harvard
University, he served in the Continental Army under General Washington. He studied painting with Benjamin
West in London and focused on history painting.—Wikipedia

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