1776

The lines were drawn now as never before, the stakes far higher. “The eyes of all America are upon us,” Knox wrote. “As we play our part posterity will bless or curse us.”

David McCullough’s 1776 recounts a pivotal year of the American Revolution, focusing on the challenges and triumphs of the Continental Army under George Washington’s leadership in the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. Re-reading the book this summer, I was struck by just how desperate the new nation’s cause was. After Washington successfully forced the British to abandon Boston by fortifying Dorchester Heights, the continental army marched to New York where it executed disastrous campaign to keep the city out of the hands of the British. Washington was defeated resoundingly at the Battle of Long Island and The Battle of White Plains and after losing Fort Washington were forced to retreat across New Jersey. If not for a critical (if small) victory at The Battle of Trenton, the cause may have been lost. It seems like the rebels were constantly outmanned, undersupplied and retreating from the British commander William Howe’s redcoats. The stories of the men at the center of the drama — Washington, Henry Knox, Nathanael Green and countless others add a captivating layer of human drama to this decisive point in American history.