It is difficult for us to imagine the hold that the Revolutionary War had on Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century. World War II would be analogous today, but even World War II only arguably saved our democracy, while the Revolutionary War both created and saved it.
In the nineteenth century, veterans who had served in the Revolutionary War were idolized, and in an age when books were scarcer and electronic media did not exist, children and grandchildren gathered around the hearth to hear their parents and grandparents tell their stories.
Nonetheless, the period after Yorktown and before the peace treaty, 1781 to 1783, was not much better known in the 1800s than today. Already schools had started to simplify the story so that the surrender at Yorktown in 1781 then, as today, was portrayed as the end of the Revolutionary War. The process of forgetting or perhaps deliberately ignoring the period between 1781 and 1783 had already started. Why dwell on events like the subject of this novel, the nascent insurrection, which might have besmirched the narrative of the unceasing and heroic struggle to found our country? Such a focus, while actually deepening the appreciation of what our founders did, might have, albeit briefly, detracted from the imposing narrative of Josiah and his comrades. (For those wishing to learn more about this period between 1781 and 1783, there are two excellent books, The Perils of Peace: America’s Struggle for Survival after Yorktown 1781–1783 by Thomas Fleming and American Crisis: George Washington and the Dangerous Two Years After Yorktown, 1781–1783 by William M. Fowler, Jr.)
WASHINGTON’S SCHOOLING AND HIS LETTERS, PAGE 4
Washington’s early education, as Josiah’s comments and just about every early biography of Washington have noted, was skimpy. The General had very little formal schooling, probably the equivalent of one year in fourth grade from a private tutor.
Washington was, however, like many in that era, a prodigious letter writer. Volumes of his letters and orders have survived, except for most of the letters to Martha, which, to the regret of historians, she burned. There are detailed editions of Washington’s writings, such as John C. Fitzpatrick’s The Writings of George Washington, but I have found the most readable, albeit selected, edition of Washington’s writings to be contained in Writings, edited by John Rhodehamel. I have therefore quoted that edition whenever possible. Many letters are quoted in this novel, and sometimes the quotations are contained in the conversations or views attributed to Washington.
DIVIDED FAMILY LOYALTIES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, PAGE 5
Divided loyalties of families such as Josiah’s were commonplace in the Revolutionary War, although by the 1840s when Josiah tells us his story, some families were already hiding their earlier fidelity to King George III. In Tories, Thomas B. Allen explains just how numerous Tory Americans were. Allen dismisses John Adams’s much-cited estimate that a third of the population had loyalist sympathies. Instead, he cites historians Henry S. Commager and Richard B. Morris for the estimate that if you added those who were either loyal to the crown or neutral, you probably had well over a third of the population (Thomas B. Allen, Tories, xiv–xxii). While no surveys were taken, it is generally recognized that percentages differed from area to area, e.g., New York City had a higher proportion of loyalists than Boston.
BREAKING UP FIGHT BETWEEN SOLDIERS FROM VIRGINIA AND MASSACHUSETTS, PAGE 7
The confrontation between General Washington and the Virginia and Massachusetts troops sounds like fiction, but it isn’t. There are numerous accounts, and the most vivid is by Massachusetts soldier Israel Trask:
Together the general and William Lee rode straight into the middle of the riot. Trask watched Washington with awe as “with the spring of a deer he leaped from his saddle, threw the reins of his bridle into the hands of his servant, and rushed into the thickest of the melees, with an iron grip seized two tall, brawny, athletic, savage-looking riflemen by the throat, keeping them at arm’s length, alternately shaking and talking to them.” Talking was probably not the right word. The rioters stopped fighting, turned in amazement to watch Washington in action, then fled at “the top of their speed in all directions.” (See David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, 25)
This confrontation understandably enhanced General Washington’s reputation for physical prowess among the troops and left them in awe of their General.
CURRENT ERRONEOUS IMAGE OF WASHINGTON AS A GRAY-HAIRED, PAUNCHY OLD MAN, 7
The image we have today of Washington reflects Washington in later years, when he was painted by Gilbert Stuart years after the Revolutionary War. That image was already gaining currency at the time of Josiah’s old age. In contrast, Benjamin Rush’s view that “there is not a King in Europe that would not look like a valet de chambre by his [Washington’s] side” was widely shared by Washington’s contemporaries and is reflected by the new sculptures of Washington in all his youth and vigor now found at Mount Vernon. These sculptures are based on modern forensic science and give us an accurate picture of how General Washington, a handsome six-foot-three inch, 209-pound physical specimen, really looked to others during the Revolutionary War.
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S AIDES, PAGES 4-5, 6, 9-12, 16-18
The aides mentioned here, except for Josiah, all existed, and their backgrounds and duties were as described. They were part of an evolving coterie of thirty-two who served the General during the Revolutionary War. (Those wishing to pursue the history of General Washington’s aides may want to read Washington and His Aides-de-camp by Emily Stone Whitely or the biography of one of Washington’s aides, Tench Tilghman, The Life and Times of Washington’s Aide-de-camp by L. G. Shreve.)
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S HEADQUARTERS, PAGE 9
General Washington’s headquarters and living quarters were in Hasbrouck House, which still stands in Newburgh, New York, and has been restored. Newburgh was a city of fifteen hundred people during the war, and the General, Lady Washington, and several of his aides lived and worked in Hasbrouck House, a seven-room stone house acquired from Catherine Hasbrouck, widow of a militia colonel who had died in 1780. Mrs. Hasbrouck went to live with relatives in nearby New Paltz. The rear of Hasbrouck House (which still exists today) looks down across a grassy hillside at the Hudson River. The most attractive room was Lady Washington’s parlor. For those interested in seeing the headquarters, you can visit Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh year-round. It was the first publicly owned historic site in our country (acquired in 1850), and events commemorating Washington and the Revolution are held regularly.
GENERAL WASHINGTON’S ACCOUNTING, 11-12
The General’s handling of accounts was super careful to the point of being ridiculed. The congressional finding, which Josiah recounts, about Washington undercharging the taxpayers by one dollar for his expenses during the war, did take place. (See E. James Ferguson, The Power of the Purse: A History of American Public Finance, 1776–1790.)