“This Week in 1776” is an ongoing almanac of events from that year in the American Revolution. Be sure to check out my novel HEARTLANDERS.
Sometimes it’s easy to write jokes and sarcasm into these summaries, and other times I’m impressed by the weight of what the Army was up against, so I just want to play it straight. This is one of those times.
The week of August 30–September 5, 1776 comprised one of the first real diplomatic tests of Congress as a legal body, and the colonies as a separate entity from Britain. But first, the military considerations:
New York
The evacuation finished on the morning of August 30 under cover of sudden fog, and if this were the American Iliad, you’d have to write in some cheeky behavior from Zeus to make that happen. Implications abound. With the whole of the army tired, hungry, and wet, the city is covered in men sleeping wherever they can—streets, houses, tents, whatever. Military order has basically evaporated. Nobody has their weapons ready and their individualized units are scattered. Washington, grateful to be spared and anticipating the magnitude of the task before him, sets up shop in the Archibald Kennedy house to get his bearings.
On August 31 he writes a full report to Congress, having just barely gotten off his horse and being without sleep for a ridiculous amount of time. All things considered, the retreat was a success, and they lost fewer men and resources than he’d feared. His officers would spend the day keeping the men in order, preventing them from looting, firing guns at random, and generally causing trouble. Remember, Daddy George wanted God on their side and for that to happen, they had to conduct themselves righteously. The officers started reorganizing the army and getting ready to move toward the northern end of Manhattan.
On September 1 the Army sets out under reorganized divisions: Putnam, Heath, and a recovered Greene. They were sort of stuck on Manhattan, though; the Brits held Long Island, their ships had the waters on lock, and the Howe Brothers could basically deploy troops on land wherever they wanted. The danger remained present. Abandoning the city seemed to be the prudent course of action, so on September 2, Washington wrote to Congress and asked whether they should burn New York on their way out. Otherwise it would be a very hospitable winter quarters for the British.
Congress received the letter and immediately shut down that option. On September 3, John Hancock said retreat was up to Washington, but burning the place was a big no-no. As such, Washington ordered his men to track British ship movements ruthlessly; they may very well have to fight again, and creatively so.
You guys are going to love what the Patriots attempt on the HMS Eagle next week.
Philadelphia
Remember John Sullivan? I might not have mentioned him, but he and Lord Stirling were two Patriots who got captured on Long Island. Sullivan will go on to have a successful military and political career, including a stint as governor of New Hampshire. For now, the Howe Brothers let him go to Philly with their proposal for surrender terms.
This is the diplomatic test: Howe told Sullivan to tell Congress that he could deal with them as gentlemen (a class thing) but not as Congress (a political thing) because the Crown didn’t recognize Congress as an entity. They were just unruly gentlemen who needed to get back in line, as far as the King was concerned. Howe wanted to give them good terms, and receive good terms in return, and have done with it before there was any severe bloodshed or destruction.
Congress understandably refused. The ink on the Declaration of Independence was still wet and they weren’t turning back. They sent their own proposal to Howe, that they would exchange two of their prisoners for Sullivan and Stirling, and continue according to their own objectives. Any dealings with Congress would have to be done with Congress as Congress. They wouldn’t settle for going unrecognized. This rule was passed on to other American actors including Washington, who was told that he shouldn’t receive any peace proposals from the Howes unless they were in writing and addressed to Congress or its agents.
If the Brits wanted to deal, they would have to deal with America, because Congress was not comprised of Ye Olde Fellow Brits.
The South
While the Americans and Brits duke it out in New York, the South continues to have its own war with the Cherokee. That campaign has morphed from a series of scattered raids and attacks to an organized affair along racial and political lines. The Cherokee are largely unified now, and the South Carolina militia is squaring off with them. There’s no military action this week, but I wanted to mention the state of things because the war gets a little spicier throughout September.
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