Tim's Book Review of 1776

Title: 1776
Author: David McCullough
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review: The year 1776 was a colossal year for the newly united continental states of the Americas and this is an epic telling of it. The book is divided into three parts: Part I: The Siege (of Boston); Part II: Fateful Summer (in New York); Part III: The Long Retreat. For a person who associates history only with a high school textbook, this book will convince him or her that history can be as exciting as the present--it just happened a long time ago.

Though the book opens in London with King George III addressing the opening of Parliament on “the increasingly distressing issue of war in America,” the scene quickly switches to the American Colonies and to the newly appointed general (of a newly appointed army) George Washington. Characteristically unpretentious, Washington wrote to his wife Martha, “far from seeking this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity ... It has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service.”

As previously mentioned, the first major division of the book describes the siege of Boston. Technically, it was the “rabble in arms” (the British designation for what Washington called the “Troops of the United Provinces of North America“) who were laying siege to the British troops held up in the city of Boston. But in actuality, it was difficult to ascertain who it was that had the upper hand, for, while the British were confined to the city, the Americans--in their makeshift and unsanitary camps, with no flag, no uniforms, and an evanescing supply of ammunitio--were no better off. A general stalemate ensued which lasted for months. [Though a certain Lieutenant from Connecticut named Samuel Bixby described at least one skirmish in which “many regulars (British) fell, but the riflemen (Americans) lost only one man” (39).]

In early 1776, the élan in the American camp could not have been worse. Washington himself confessed: “If I shall be able to rise superior to these, and many other difficulties which might be enumerated, I shall most religiously believe that the finger of Providence is in it, to blind the eyes of our enemies; for surely if we get well through this month, it must be for want of their knowing the disadvantages we labor under” (79).

The “finger of Providence” was indeed “in it.” Everything changed when, at the end of January, Henry Knox, the big, gregarious Boston book-seller, arrived with the “guns of Ticonderoga.” Knox had been gone for two months and had exceeded all expectations, “despite rough forest roads, freezing lakes, blizzards, thaws, mountain wilderness, and repeated mishaps that would have broken lesser spirits several times over” (82). He had succeeded, on a budget of $1,000, to transport 120,000 pounds of cannon nearly 300 miles through the dead of winter.

On the morning of March 5, the British of Boston awoke to the guns of Ticonderoga looking down on them from Dorchester Heights. In one night, the Continental Army had employed more than 14,000 men to establish the fortifications and position the cannons, all without being noticed. Now within range of the American cannons, the British were forced to choose between attacking the heights or abandoning the city and escaping by sea.. “Never [were] troops in so disgraceful a situation,” wrote a British officer. The British chose to take to the sea. The “rabble in arms” had outsmarted the British army and won control of Boston. Though the British would return (this time to New York) and the war itself would continue for another six and a half years (the Treaty of Paris ending the war was signed in 1783), the siege of Boston served as a prognostication of the success of the American cause.

As a Christian it is impossible to read history, even secular history, and not find it redolent with evidences of the “finger of Providence.” Unlike many historians of our day, McCullough does not glory in the execrable elements of society but simply tries to recount it as it happened. Perhaps a little slow at the beginning, the pace quickens up once the focus switches to the colonies. With no pedantry whatsoever, the book reads almost like a novel--except that it’s history, and history is always better than fiction!