When George Washington Became Great

City Journal ^ | Myron Magnet

[yinandyang]

-snip-

Washington had made every mistake in the book in the New York campaign. He had misread the enemy’s intentions; he had divided his forces in the face of superior numbers; he had provided no cavalry; he had hesitated almost fatally to get his army out of Manhattan once he grasped the folly of keeping it there; he had allowed Greene to persuade him against his better judgment to keep men in Fort Washington; he had allowed a wealth of precious tents, flour, ordnance, and ammunition at Forts Washington and Lee to fall into enemy hands. And now, on December 17, he had two weeks before the enlistments for most of the rest of his army expired.

-snip-

“These are the times that try men’s souls,” Paine passionately proclaimed, telling his exhausted fellow troopers just what they hungered to hear. “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” Let’s not talk about “peace in my day” but think instead that, “If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.”

-snip-

“The achievements of Washington and his little band of compatriots between the 25th of December and the 4th of January, a space of 10 days,” pronounced one of the era’s foremost generals, Frederick the Great, “were the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievements.”

[aculeus]

I read this article earlier. Deserves wide readership!

[neverdem]

BTTT!

[hinckley buzzard]

Probably the best biography written about Washington is by James Flexner: Washington: The Indispensable man. Flexner wrote an encyclopedic four volume biography but recognized the need for an accessible one volume work. He emphasized that the one volume work is not simply a cut and paste of the larger work, but was written more or less de novo to capture the essence without sacrificing integrity.

I recommend it highly for anyone who actually wants to learn about this remarkable man. "The Father of his Country" is not an exaggeration.

[dsutah]

I remember having a text-book in college written by Flexner! The miniseries in the 80s on George Washington was based in large part on that book and book series. At the end of the show, actor Barry Bostwick (played Washington) sat down at a table w/the book series, along w/other books and papers, and spoke of how the series was based on those Flexner books. There were some other books and papers from The Library of Congress, that were used for references as well.

I remember digging in the store-room in our house; trying to find the book (condensed form of book series) and finding it! I’d hoped somehow, that book was still around, and sure enough, it was! Thankfully, I hadn’t sold it along with some of my other books!