It's Getting Hot In Here (So Stack Up With Your Bros)
This Week in 1776, #32-33
“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.
Apologies for missing last week, I didn’t write up the summary before going camping out in the Cherokee Nation. Speaking of the Cherokee, they pop up in this week’s Almanac, and not in a good way.
July 26-August 9
New York
For months the story has been “Washington continues to fortify the city.” Now the story is “Britain sailed right past those fortifications and is amassing a gigantic ground army that soon grows to 30,000 strong, comprised of Brits and Hessians, and they are not [bleep]ing around.”
William Howe and Richard Howe (I don’t remember who was Lord Major This or Surgeon General That) are putting together a force to be reckoned with. Doesn’t hurt either that on August 1st, Lord Cornwallis and Henry Clinton arrived, fresh off getting their butts kicked at Sullivan’s Island, and added 3,000 men to those of the Brothers Howe. They’re pissed off and ready for round two.
Things don’t look good. Washington is now asking for reinforcements from Connecticut and New Jersey. If they want this thing to pan out, they have to pony up the men and guns to fight. The usual curse of D&D—disease and desertion—continues to thin his numbers. On August 3rd, Lt. Col. Benjamin Tupper led a Patriot attack against a British position on the Hudson that failed, further eroding morale.
That was one instance of very limited kinetic action. The greater threat was the constant tension that only accelerated the decaying optimism.
Philly
While the Declaration of Independence continues its victory lap around the colonies, filling the newspapers and being read aloud on street corners, the actual signing of the document takes place on August 2nd, starting with John “John Hancock” Hancock, who left his giant John Hancock on it, front and center.
Side note: while there are plenty of pedantic asides in HEARTLANDERS, I decided not to get too pedantic about the physical signing of the Declaration (although descriptions of the event are technically incorrect in the book.) By history and tradition we celebrate July 4 as Independence Day, and while the signing was a storytelling mechanism, there is a such thing as too much, and I wanted the reader to focus on July 4.
Most of the State delegations sign on Aug 2nd, with a few others signing later on.
Down South
Everything old is new again, as the South Carolina backcountry starts to see bands of Cherokee teaming up with Loyalists against Patriot forces, and little pockets of action break out across the region. On August 1, Major Andrew Williamson (patriot militia) squared off against a Loyalist/Cherokee force, with the patriots being outnumbered roughly 4 to 1. Despite this, the patriots held their line until reinforcements arrived.
One notable casualty was Francis Salvador, a colonial merchant who is known to history as the first Patriot Jew to die in the Revolution, and it happened during this battle. Over the next couple of days, Major Williamson would lead his forces to different Cherokee settlements, burning them out so they could no longer coordinate with the Loyalists against the Patriots.
There was also some action including minor sea scuffles around Virginia, which was in a state of turmoil after its royal colonial governor, Lord Dunmore, was ejected from power by the rebels. Overall, things were getting spicier and the temperature would only continue to rise.
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