Sunday, May 19, 2019

Benedict Arnold -- May 19, 2019

How coincidental.

Today I completed Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution, Nathaniel Philbrick, c. 2016.

I feel I know the Benedict Arnold story quite well after reading Nathaniel Philbrick's book: a biography of Benedict Arnold. George Washington was only a supporting actor, and in fact, only one among many.

At the end of Valiant Ambition I felt I had a good understanding of "the story." I don't know if I can say that Philbrick presented his analysis of Arnold's decision to commit treason. I will re-read that portion of the book to see how he "spins" it.

Today, of all things, I noted that in the winter issue of Claremont: Review of Books, Volume XIX, Number 1, Winter 2018/2019, Richard Brookhiser has a two-and-a-half page essay/book review on  two biographies of Benedict Arnold. The essay by Brookhiser was titled, "Hero Traitor." The book review is of two books:
  • Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty, Stephen Brumwell, Yale University Press, 384 pages, c. 2018; and,
  • The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life, Joyce Lee Malcolm, Pegasus Books, 336 pages, c. 2018.
Interestingly enough, in that essay Richard Brookhiser mentions Alcibades. Just one essay earlier in the same issue of the Claremont, there is an essay on Alcibades: "Ruined By His Own Glory," book review by Joseph Epstein. The book:
Nemesis: Alcibiades and the Fall of Athens, by David Stuttard, c. 2018, Harvard University Press, 400 pages. 

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Washington Crossing, David Hackett Fischer, c. 2004

General Thomas Gage, command in chief, British forces in America; before hostilities broke out in the Revolutionary War

Brothers Howe: Admiral Richard Howe and General William Howe sent o America to wage war and "peace" (end the war on peaceful terms).

General William Howe initially served under General Gage but then became the C-in-C.

General Henry Clinton was his second in command.

Long Island before the defeat of NYC:
  • first, General Nathanael Greene, took ill
  • replaced by General Sullivan; did poorly; relieved
  • replaced by Major General Israel Putnam (Connecticut, who had occupied Staten Island earlier) 
Autumn, 1776, plan: take three American colonies and then the rest, one by one
New York
Rhode Island
New Jersey

During the retreat across New Jersey, General Washington's #2 man, second in command, was General Charles Lee who wanted his own command. He was going to fight the war on his own. Fortunately he was captured early on and that allowed Washington to re-organize and greatly improve things.

#3 in line was General Horatio Gates, another problem for Washington. Gates aide was Major James Wilkinson.

At the beginning of the war, Alexander Hamilton was a young captain in the artillery and noted to be very, very good as a warrior-leader.

May 28, 2019: I’m reading Washington Crossing, David Hackett Fischer, c. 2004.
Tonight the chapters of the winter of 1776 - 1777 when Washington “crossed” the Delaware River from Pennsylvania into New Jersey to take Trenton, and then Princeton. As I look at the maps, I now realize how close I was to all these sites when I was selling dictionaries in Westfield, NJ, in the summer of 1971. If one draws an ellipse running somewhat southwest to northeast, from Princeton at the far southwest and Morristown at the far north, interstate I-287 is the exact boundary of the west side of the ellipse running from Princeton to Morristown. Westfield is on the northeast side of the ellipse and New Brunswick is on the southeast side. I recognize the names on the map: Westfield, Union, Plainfield, Elizabeth, Rahway. Linda, I believe, went to medical school at Rutgers for the first two years and then transferred to Harvard Medical School for the last two years. I don’t think she went to Harvard Medical School for all four years. When I knew her in 1973, she was a third year student doing her clinical rotations at Mass General. I was just beginning medical school in the fall of 1973 out in California. Her third year would have begun in the spring/summer (probably June) of 1973, and I saw her at the beginning of that summer and the end of that summer. We broke up in 1975, I believe. I would have to go back and look at the journal entries. In 1975 I would have been starting my clinical rotations and she would have been moving on to her internship in St Louis, Missouri. A lot of water under the bridge. [YouTube: google Casablanca a lot of water under the bridge.]

New Brunswick, about twenty miles southeast of Westfield: Rutgers College; Linda’s undergraduate school; first two years of medical school. Where Cornwallis retreated to during the winter of 1776 - 1777 after losing Trenton, Princeton.

Morristown: where George Washington wintered, 1776 - 1777 after taking Trenton, Princeton.

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