Wholesome History Reads Group discussion

This thread is for books and discussion covering Revolutionary Wars; the American Revolution, French Revolution, Russian Revolution, any and all revolutionary wars in history.

The author of "The War Before Independence" provided some good detail about the Battle of Chelsea Creek. This battle; "while overshadowed by the iconic battles at Concord/Lexington and Bunker Hill, the Battle of Chelsea Creek (which occurred on May 27-28, 1775) was actually the first victory for the 'United Colonies.' It was also the first naval engagement of the American Revolution and resulted in the capture and burning of the HMS Diana."

The Battle of Chelsea Creek:
https://www.landofthebrave.info/battl...

https://thehistoryjunkie.com/battle-o...

https://salinabakerauthor.com/2018/05...

"The War Before Independence" - Just prior to the start of the battle at Breed's Hill:

"Gage looked around and found Abijah Willard, one of his mandamus councilors. Offering him the spyglass, Gage asked, 'Do you recognize this rebel?'

Willard looked. He might have been surprised for a moment to recognize Prescott, joined by one of his subordinate captains who had just climbed the wall. 'I know him well. It is Colonel Prescott, my brother-in-law. I am sorry to see him there.'

'Will he fight?' Gage asked.

'Yes,' Williard replied, 'he is an old soldier; he will fight as long as a drop of blood remains in his veins. It will be a bloody day, you may depend on it.' Another version has Willard giving a different reply: 'I cannot answer for his men, but he will fight you to the gates of hell.'

Perhaps this shook Gage's confidence: 'The works must be carried he replied simply'."

The War Before Independence: 1775-1776 by Derek W. Beck

"The War Before Independence" - Just prior to the start of the battle at Breed's Hill:

"Meanwhile, General Putnam was riding the field on horseback, splitting his time between the rail fence, the new Bunker Hill entrenchments, and the neck, where he expected reinforcements. When he saw Callender apparently retreating, he was furious. Putnam, described as addicted to profanity, would later confess in church for how much he swore that day. Undoubtedly then, he was swearing all the way over to Callender.

When Putnam reached Callender, he ordered the officer to stop and go back. But Callender lied, claiming he had no cartridges. (Callender's supporters would argue he meant he had no proper-sized cartridges.) Putnam dismounted, flung open one of the cannon's side boxes, and saw plenty of cartridges and shot. Now Putnam was beyond furious. He first made sure Callender knew how the oversized cartridges could be broken down, just as he had earlier shown Gridley's men."

"The War Before Independence" - Once the fight at Breed's Hill had finished and the British forces started to count the cost. I don't think this British officer liked the Americans too much:

"Henry Hulton summarized the British sentiment of the evening: 'In this army are many of noble family, many very respectable, virtuous, and amiable characters, and it grieves one, that gentlemen, brave British soldiers, should fall by the hands of such despicable wretches as compose the banditti of the country; amongst whom there is not one that has the least pretension to be called a gentleman. They are a most rude, depraved, degenerate race, and it is a mortification to us that they speak English, and can trace themselves from that stock'."

🙄🙄🙄

The War Before Independence: 1775-1776 by Derek W. Beck

"The War Before Independence" - The different mindset from European armies:

Years later, the Prussian Frederick von Steuben, commissioned a major general in the Continental Army to serve as inspector general, would lament to a European friend, "You say to your soldier, 'Do this,' and he doeth it; but I am obliged to say to mine, 'This is the reason why you ought to do that;' and then he does it."

Baron von Steuben:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...

"The War Before Independence" - General Montgomery has just died leading the American assault on British held Quebec. At least the British up in Quebec appreciated the bravery of Montgomery and buried him with full military honours. It's interesting as some could have viewed Montgomery's service with the Americans as being traitorous to the British Empire although he was born in Ireland!

General Richard Montgomery:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...

American attack on Quebec 1775:
https://www.britishbattles.com/war-of...

"The War Before Independence" - The Americans are fortifying Dorchester Heights:

"Despite the noisy bombardment intended as a screen, the Americans were not undiscovered, given away perhaps by the full moon. British Lt. Col. John Campbell reported to Brig. Gen. Francis Smith, 'the rebels were at work on Dorchester heights.' Amazingly, it was exactly the same situation as the eve of Bunker Hill, when credible witnesses warned of the Americans fortifying. Now, again, the British had forewarning. Yet this time it was given to Francis Smith, the same dolt who had led the British to failure in the Expedition to Concord. 'The news required instant action; but action and Smith were irreconcilable terms.' The British failed yet again to take the initiative, failed to turn a gun toward Dorchester, failed to man their new batteries facing southward, failed even to inform General Howe, who, it might be guessed, would not have made the same mistake twice."

https://www.nps.gov/bost/learn/histor...

"The War Before Independence" - A funny story from the British evacuation of Boston:

"Two days more were required to await favourable winds. Finally, in the early morning hours of March 17, St. Patrick's Day, the remaining troops began to embark. Capt. Jese Adair, the headstrong marine who had led the British onto Lexington Green but was acting this day as an engineer, was ordered to strew crow's feet (caltrops) across Boston Neck to impede any rebel advance as the remainder of the rear guard got to their ships. 'Being an Irishman, he began scattering the crowfeet about from the gate towards the enemy, and, of course, had to walk over them on his return, which detained him so long that he was nearly taken prisoner'."

Aaah, the Irish! 😂😂😂

Crow's feet (caltrops):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltrop

"The War Before Independence" - I found this bit of information from the Epilogue in regards to identifying the remains of Dr. Warren quite interesting:

"As an accomplished silversmith, Paul Revere had found use for the trade in dentistry as well. Revere noted his own handiwork, where 'the left upper cuspidatus, or eye-tooth, had been secured in its place by a golden wire.' Revere's use of dentistry to identify the remains is cited as the first known use of dental forensics."

Paul Revere: The first American forensic dentist:
https://strangeremains.com/2017/07/04...

Who'd have guessed? Steeplechaser and Holmes prototype?

I've just started reading H.W. Brands' latest book; "Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution".

Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution by H.W. Brands

"Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution" - I quite like this account in regards to taxation in the American colonies by British parliament:

"It was a Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who said that the art of taxation was to pluck as many feathers from the goose as possible with the least amount of hissing, but the British ministries in London understood the principle and acted on it."

Today I started reading; "The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware" by Patrick K. O'Donnell.

The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware by Patrick K. O'Donnell

"Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914" - In 1780 the British invaded Nicaragua, the San Juan Expedition:

"The epidemic at Fort San Juan ended British hopes of seizing a chunk of Central America and acquiring a naval station on the Pacific. It confirmed Spanish faith in the 'climate' as a powerful ally. In terms of loss of life, it was the single costliest engagement for Britain in the War of the American Revolution: Nicaragua's mosquitoes killed more British soldiers in the summer of 1780 than the Continental Army did at the battles of Bunker Hill, Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Courthouse combined."

The 1780 British Invasion of Nicaragua:
https://allthingsliberty.com/2020/09/...

I will be starting this book in the next day or two; "Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution" by Eric Jay Dolin.

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin

"Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution" - Captain Charles Biddle, of the Cornelia and training new crew members (landlubbers):

"To make his men more comfortable with climbing the masts while the ship was in motion, he lashed the hand pump for the ship's water supply to the main topmast. If his men wanted to drink, they had to climb. Biddle later wrote that, for a few days, 'many of them would come upon deck, look up wistfully at the pump, but rather than go aloft would go down again,' Soon, however, the reluctant crewmen were scampering up the mast with ease. Biddle's confidence in his crew rose, and he felt they 'would fight well if brought into action'."

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin

"Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution":

"Congress's support for privateering, despite grumblings from some, brings to mind an observation made by the Welsh jurist and politician Sir Leoline Jenkins in the late 1600s. 'Privateers are like the astrologers of ancient Rome,' he said. 'Everyone condemns them, but whenever occasion offers, everyone makes use of them'."

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/ar...

"Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution" - The privateers caused much angst with British mercantile interests:

"Early in 1777, a group of London merchants sent a letter to the British Admiralty claiming that captures by American privateers and naval ships in the West Indies had cost them £1.8 million. A year later, the House of Lords was presented with statistics showing that American privateers—those commissioned by Bingham, as well as other coming from the American states—had captured roughly 250 British ships trading with the West Indies since the commencement of hostilities. It was estimated that the volume of British trade with the West Indies had fallen 66 percent from prewar levels. These losses ruined many West Indian trading firms and forced the British government to divert more naval ships to convoy duties, leaving fewer available for military actions."

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin

"Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution" - Also mentioned was the sterling career of Captain Ryan and his ship the Black Prince:

"Ryan died in 1789 in debtor's prison. His obituary in London's Gentleman's Magazine mentioned his poverty but also his string of successes as a privateersman, claiming that the Black Prince under his captaincy 'captured more vessels belonging to Great Britain than any other single ship during the war,' and that during his privateering career he 'did more injury to the trade of these kingdoms than any other single commander ever did'."

The Black Prince:
https://www.modelshipmaster.com/produ...

https://seahistory.org/wp-content/upl...

"Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution" - The author mentioned the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument:

https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/for...

https://nylandmarks.org/explore-ny/th...