Posted on 07/06/2010 7:23:40 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Allow me to sketch out a few things: 1) From the beginning, he believed that HE should be the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army rather than Washington, but Congress wanted an American; 2) He had advised against the attack on Trenton, and when he was overridden, absented himself from the battle; 3) He worked against The General as part of the mutinous Conway Cabal; 4) He got lucky while behind the lines at Saratoga because he had real heroes do the fighting (e.g., Arnold, Morgan, Poor and Lincoln); 5) He was almost court martialed for his abysmal showing at Camden and broke records fleeing north from the advancing Brits.
Great reporting by the Times, eh?
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Gates was a Damn Fool!
But Gates illustrates another way in which General Washington was so outstanding, i.e., he never, to my knowledge, went after Gates after all the back-stabbing Gates had accomplished against The General.
Lesser men would have finished Gates off after his first insubordination...
Granny Gates was a well deserved and well earned nick name for the General. Arnold was the true hero of Saratoga and should have gotten much more credit than he did. Gates was more interested in his personal glory and perks, privelges and creature comforts than he was in executing the war. Gates undermined Washington at every opportunity and worked tirelessly to advance himself at the expense of the Revolution. He’s by far my least favorite Revolutionary Commander...I even prefer Charles Lee over him.
Sound familiar?
Damn the times we live in that such evil and hapless men try to fill the shoes of giants that have come before.
No wonder the NY Slimes is supporting a traitor.
What an uninformed, ignorant piece of work.
Wasn’t Gates challanged to like 7 duels after he retired?
Related? Or do they just share the "weenie" gene?
Lee was a bisexual, fond of dogs and likely a traitor to both England (when he joined our side) and to our side when he provided the Brits with information while their captive.
While visiting Christ Church in Philadelphia several years ago, I stumbled across Lee's grave.
The only one I know of (but there may certainly be more) was the duel Wilkinson challenged Gates to, but Gates cried and apologized when they met, so no shooting occurred. Lee was wounded in a dual against Laurens.
Thanks.
and Granny Gates ( using intrigue ) also displaced General Schuyler.
General Gates, piqued by the omission of the Continental Congress to appoint him one of the major-generals in the army , but only adjutant-general, with rank of brigadier-general...
Late in 1776 Gates repaired to the Congress at Baltimore and renewed his intrigues so successfully that, on account of false charges against Schuyler, he was appointed his successor in the command of the Northern Department in the spring of 1777. The report of a committee of inquiry caused Schuyler’s reinstatement a few weeks afterwards. Gates was angry, and wrote impertinent letters to his superiors. He refused to serve under Schuyler
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/general/philip-schuyler.htm
Then, Thomas Conway ( an Irishman who was educated in France ) started the Conway Cabal with Granny Gates and others
http://www.ushistory.org/march/other/cabal.htm
Thanks for the info.
(There’s so much I don’t know!)
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Thanks for the topic and pings. Washington was the greater general, because he soldiered on to victory after years of almost continuous defeat. |
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Gates over and above effort to seize all credit for Saratoga and deny Arnold any credit was one of the first dominos to fall in the series of events that resulted in Arnold’s treasonous effort to give West point to the Brits. It was insulting and enraging to Arnold that he suffered severe battle wounds that crippled him for life and Gates, sitting in a tavern near his HQ the whole time, took the glory.
You're right of course, that is a hard call, but I made the comment mostly in jest to illustrate my contempt for Gates. Lee was quite a fellow! I read somewhere that hiis retreat at Monmouth was probably treachery, part aof a plan hatched while Howe's prisoner. I also read that several British officers thought the most damaging thing they could do to Washington's efforts was to return Lee to him. They were right.
Was thinking just the other day that it is time to re-read Ketchum's Saratoga.
Lafayette toasts in 1824 with great emotion: "Light Infantry, Poor, and Yorktown, Scammell."
see Simms, William G, Edward D. Ingraham, and Rufus W. Griswold. Washington and the Generals of the American Revolution: With Sixteen Portraits on Steel. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1847. Free in Google Books.
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