Tomorrow is the 4th of July, the day we celebrate as Independence Day.
Compared to all of the other periods in our history, we really know very little about the Revolutionary period. After the Civil War, for example, the Army created a thorough history of the war. It had 128 volumes and was still in libraries in my youth. Now it is on line:
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES
Many of the generals, including Grant wrote their own histories.
That wasn't done after the War for Independence. There are many reasons for that.
There wasn't an official military history because the Continental Army was disbanded. At one point in the mid 1780s, it had a total strength of 86 men commanded by a Major. Their job was to guard two armories, not to write books.
Also, there wasn't a market for books. Most of the population was illiterate. That changed when our system of public education was established.
Official records in that era were very skimpy. The record of the day that the Continental Congress authorized the calling of what became the Constitutional Convention was distilled into one paragraph. Congress, by the way, only authorized the convention to produce amendments to the Articles of Confederation.
Even those short records were put in peril when the British captured Philadelphia. The congressman who was responsible for their safe keeping lost his nerve and entrusted them to a quaker farmer, who buried them.
When the British evacuated Philadelphia, that farmer was one of two men hanged by the Americans as collaborators. Sounds dumb, doesn't it? That is a story for another day.
There are some fine books coming out about the period, but many rely on private letters.
Some rely on 80 reels of microfiche pension applications. When Congress got around to authorizing pensions for veterans of that war, it had no records. It solved the problem by requiring veterans making claims to write about their service, who they served under, what battles they fought in, a description of the battles, etc.
Those applications are being mined for information now. There is a new book out on the battle of Trenton which explains how Washington achieved tactical surprise even though the Hessians had been warned to expect an attack.
We've been told that the Hessian commander ignored the warning. It turns out that he didn't.
We probably owe our liberty to a half dozen angry militiamen who, acting on their own, chose that night to avenge the death of one of their comrades. They killed a single Hessian soldier. The Hessian command mistook their extremely small scale operation as the attack about which they had been warned, not guessing that Washington was still hours away.
As you enjoy the holiday tomorrow, think back to that time and wonder what we don't know about the people and events. Be amazed at how much we do know and are still learning. Unlike other wars, the information wasn't systematically saved.
Added: George Will enlightens us further about what we don't know, or didn't know.
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