The Founding of the American Republic 13; C. Carson

Dr. Carson shortly will join the faculty of Hills dale College in Michigan as Chairman of the Department of History. He is a noted lecturer and author, his latest book entitled ThrottlinA the Railroads. .1'71 472 THE FREEMAN August The scope of the war was great ly broadened from 1778 onward. It spread and extended over much of the North American continent. There was extensive fighting in the Ohio valley, in Georgia and the Carolinas (fighting which involved Loyalists on a considerable' scale, and heightened domestic animosi ties), in western New York, as well as elsewhere. Those who fol 19w only George Washington's army during the course' of the war lose sight of the vast amount of territory being contended for. The war became, also, a world war before it was over. France entered the fray against Britain in 1778, Spain in 1779, and Holland in 1780, though the last two were not allied with the United States. In addition, there was a naval League of Armed Neutrality of other Eur opean powers organized against Britain.

American diplomats went to Europe seeking allies, munitions, and, above all, loans, to bolster sagging finances. European mon archs were hardly devoted to the idea of the rise of a republic in America or its independence (though some Frenchmen were) ; most of them did have axes to grind with Britain. Moreover, there was territory they would like to acquire or protect, and trade they would like to gain for their ships and ports. The aborning United States was caught up to some extent in the cross currents of the conflicting interests of Eu ropean powers. Some Americans notably Silas Deane, Arthur Lee, Benj amin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay - experienced the machinations of European diplo mats at first hand, an experience which confirmed most of them in their beliefs about the corruption of the Old World. However, Amer ica came out of all this much bet ter than might have been expected.

Changed British Strategy Despite the French alliance and the portending entry of other Eu ropean powers into the conflict, the American military position did not generally improve for some while. British strategy did change from what it had been up to 1778. During the early part of the war, Britain had focused the major military effort on the Mid dle States and their seaport cities. This approach was largely aban doned after Saratoga. Though the British continued to hold New York City and to concentrate the maj or army there, as things turned out this was a defensive position from 1778 until the end of the war. British strategists at home pushed for the concentration of of fensive measures in the South. Having failed in their efforts to 1972 THE AMERICAN TRIUMPH 473 conquer America by attacking at the points of the concentration of strength, they advocated attack ing at the weakest point. This strategy had much to commend it.

After all, the key to the effective control over much of what had been English· America was Vir ginia. Virginia was the most pop ulous of the states, the oldest of the colonies, the one in which the Anglican religion had been long est established, the producer of much that was most wanted by British merchants for world trade, and the hub of the Southern wheel. If Britain could control Virginia and the lower South, plus Canada, it might still dominate the vast ea5tern Mississippi valley region. Virginia already laid claim to much of the territory west of the Alleghenies; the conquest· of Vir ginia might vouchsafe it to Brit ain. The approach to Virginia might be made from the lower South which was the weakest link in the colonial chain. Georgia was the least populous of the states, and a considerable portion of the population of South Carolina was slave. North Carolina was known to have an important Loyalist con tingent.

Savannah fell to British forces in December of 1778, and early the next year they took over· the rest of Georgia and installed a· Loyal government. But the British stationed in Georgia had little suc cess during the next year with their forays into South Carolina; the force sent there was not ade quate to such a campaign. Early in 1780, however, General Clinton, who had been reluctant to under take the Southern campaign, fin. ally did so; he was able to take Charleston May 12, 1780 with a vastly superior military and naval force. Clinton returned to New York, entrusting the Southern campaign now to Lord Cornwallis. Cornwallis was probably the ablest field commander the British ever had in America. He was daring, courageous, beloved of· his men, could win battles when the odds were against him by audacious tactics, ana. did win many battles. In fact, he won most of the battles and lost the war.

For the remainder of 1780, Cornwallis see-sawed" back and forth between South and North Carolina with his army. Virtually the whole Patriot army in that region had been surrendered at Charleston, necessitating the as sembly of a new force in the deep South. Congress sent General Ho ratio Gates, the victorious com mander at Saratoga, southward with a core of Continentals to do the job. As it turned out, his vic tory at Saratoga had given Gen eral Gates a much greater reputa tion than he deserved. Cornwallis 474 THE FREEMAN Au.gust routed his army at Camden in August; Gates fled the scene of battle on the fastest horse he could command, and was sixty miles away before he considered it safe to stop. His army was scat tered, and his reputation was ruined. Nathanael Greene assumed command of the Patriot forces in the Carolinas late in the year, and· he proved worthy of the call ing. He was as successful at ma neuvering as his mentor, George Washington, but Cornwallis did not tarry overlong to test his tal ents. Instead, Cornwallis moved northward into Virginia in 1781, while Greene drove southward in to South Carolina. In the course of the year he was so successful against British posts that they held only Charleston by the end of the year. Indeed, a pattern emerged in the South similar to the one elsewhere on the continent. The British frequently won the pitched battles, but once the main army moved on, the post left behind soon fell to Patriot forces.

During the late spring and into the summer of 1781 Cornwallis rampaged across Virginia with a much larger army than the Ameri cans could muster in that state. When the American forces were increased, Cornwallis decided to establish a base accessible to the sea. He decided upon Yorktown which is located on the penin sula between the York and James rivers. He set up camp there in early August. Showdown at Yorktown Virginians had for some time been pleading with Washington to come with his army to save his home state. However, Washing ton was confronting the largest Bri tish army in America in New York; victory over it would most likely be decisive; he wanted only the help of the French fleet to undertake it, and the French fleet was rarely available to him. How ever, he determined upon con centrating his effort against Corn wallis at Yorktown when the French agreed to aid him. Wash ington's Continentals were now re inforced by a major French army under the command of the Comte de Rochambeau. Washington took pains to tie Clinton's army down in New York both by leaving a sizable detachment behind and by getting misleading information to him.

The attacking army usually has a plan which, if it' works, should bring victory, much as each play by the offense in football is con ceived to make a, touchdown - if it works. In battle, the aim is to bring such force to bear at select ed points that it may be expected to break up the opposing army.

1972 THE AMERICANTRIUMPH 475 Timing and coordination are the requisite conditions and are the most difficult to achieve. Washing ton's plan depended upon much g~eater coordination of a variety of elements than would commonly be involved. He had to move an army several hundred miles, most of them going over land. His heavy artillery was dispatched by sea, but its arrival was dependent on the dispersal of the British navy. The French navy had to be available at the right time or Corn wallis might be reinforced or his army transported elsewhere. For once, all went well for the combined American and French undertaking. Clinton kept his army in New York; Admiral de Grasse, the French naval com mander, turned up with the fleet at the right time, and lured the Brit ish navy out to sea after having successfully engaged it in action. Cornwallis stayed where he· was, cut off by sea from retreat. The Continentals and the French were joined by the militia to make a formidably superior force under Washington. Cornwallis did not deign to attempt daring maneu vers to break out in these circum stances; after only a brief. try against the forces, which did not even bring most of his army into play, he surrendered his army in tact. The memorable date was Oc tober 19, 1781.

Yorktown was the great victory of the American War for Inde pendence. It had all, or almost all, of the right ingredients. Washing ton was in command of the victori ous; after so many years of per severance in the face of the odds, his hour had come. That Corn wallis should have been the British commander defeated was as it should be, too, for no other Brit ish commander had routed so many American armies. Even the surrender was dramatically con ducted, though Cornwallis sent a subaltern to do the dishonors. With the French lined up on one side and the Americans on the other, the .British marched be tween them to the tune of "The World Turned Upside Down" to the place where they laid down their arms. The British turned their eyes toward the French, as if in contempt of the Americans. They· were roundly jeered by the Americans who waited to do so, wisely, until the British had thrown down their arms. Thus ended the last great. battle of the war.

There had· been and· were to be American victories elsewhere, some' with great portent for the future, though none so dramatic or decisive for victory in the war as that at Yorktown. Neither the British nor Americans had entirely neglected the western and south.476 THE FREEMAN August ern frontiers. The British attempt ed to dominate the land beyond the mountains largely with the aid of the Indians. However, in 1778 and 1779 George Rogers Clark of Vir ginia broke the back of this domi nance. Of Clark's victory at Vin cennes in 1779, a military histori an has said: "His march across flooded Illinois may not compare for hardship with Arnold's long journey through the Maine wilder ness in 1775, yet the issue was happier, the victory complete and significant. British power in the West was broken, and despite the failure to take Detroit, Clark helped make it possible for the vast area to be included within the boundaries of the United States of America at the peace treaty."2 Less grand in its dimensions but equally important for a smaller area, Georgia was reconquered by the Patriots in 1782, the culmina tion of a long series of exploits by General Anthony Wayne.

Much went on during the War for Independence besides military and naval battles, of course. Nor was the American triumph, in the final analysis, simply a military triumph. What Americans would do with their independence was surely more important than wheth er they would have it. One thing Americans were determined not to have for very long was arbitrary government. They thought that the way to avoid this was to have a written constitution. When Rich ard Henry Lee made a motion for independence in the Second Conti nental Congress in June of 1776, he included with his resolution a proposal that some plan of confed eration be devised. Such a plan to be acceptable, of course, would have to be of the nature of a con stitution. A committee was ap pointed to attend to this even be fore independence had been form ally declareu. A few days after the adoption of the Declaration, the committee presented what were called Articles of Confederation to the Congress. They were drafted, in the main, by John Dickinson.

Congress did not move with such dispatch to approve them, how ever, nor the states to their ratifi cation. Some debate was wedged in from time to time between the more pressing items of business which confronted the Congress. The Articles of Confederation were finally adopted by Congress in 1777 and sent along in due course for the states to ratify. Most of the states acted within the next fourteen months, but Maryland withheld ratification for several years'. The main issue was western lands, particularly the ex tensive claims of Virginia beyond the mountains. Virginia. would have been huge in comparison with the other states if it had con1972 THE AMERICAN TRIUMPH 477 sisted only of the present states of Virginia, West Virginia, and Ken tucky, which it did; but that par ent state laid claim to vast terri tory in the Ohio valley as well. Agreements of the states involved to yield up their western claims brought Maryland into the fold on March 1, 1781.