The Glorious Cause (77 page)

He returns to England, and in 1797, accepts the lucrative posts of commander in chief and governor-general of Ireland, and serves as Plenipotentiary to France. The honors are more symbolic than enjoyable, and he yearns to return to India, for which he has developed a deep affection. He arrives in 1805, but contracts an illness and dies soon after. He is sixty-seven.

Ironically, it is in America that his name carries the stigma of the man who “lost” the Revolution. In England, he does not receive any of the public censure that is given to Howe, Burgoyne, or Clinton. His one grave mistake was marching his army to Virginia without the consent of his superior, but fault must be placed far more at the feet of Henry Clinton for failing to recognize Cornwallis’ crisis at Yorktown.

King George shares the sentiments of the English people that during this most unfortunate war, Charles Cornwallis was the one capable officer, who, if he had served under a capable commander, would likely have destroyed Washington’s army.

J
EAN-
B
APTISTE,
C
OUNT
R
OCHAMBEAU

While not entitled to full credit for engineering the strategy that resulted in the astounding victory at Yorktown, he is nonetheless the man who convinced Washington to look beyond New York as a means of ending the war.

He remains close to Yorktown until January 1783, then returns to France. King Louis grants him considerable favors, and for his heroic role in the American Revolution, Rochambeau receives the highest regard of the French people, second only to Lafayette. He serves King Louis in various government posts, and in 1789 is named military commander of the Alsace Region, which borders the incendiary Germanic states.

During the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, he is imprisoned, but returns to the army to serve Napoleon, who promotes him to marshal of the French army in 1803. He dies in 1807, at age eighty-two.

Though so many of the French senior command viewed their American allies as no more than a rabble, Rochambeau is credited with both patience and tolerance of the continentals and their commanding general. His obedience to Washington, against the sentiments of so many of his subordinate officers, provides the most important link in the chain that connects the alliance, and thus secures the American victory.

F
RANÇOIS,
C
OUNT DE
G
RASSE

The French admiral sails away from his triumph at Yorktown in November 1781, and returns to action in the West Indies. In one of the largest naval battles to that time, he is soundly defeated by the British, captured, and imprisoned in London. Released in August 1782, he returns to France and serves as the go-between for the crucial peace negotiations between France and England that will end their part of the war.

Loudly blamed for the naval catastrophe, de Grasse seeks to exonerate himself by laying blame on a lengthy list of subordinates, which instead lowers him further in the eyes of both the French people and King Louis. He dies near Paris in 1788, at age sixty-six. His descendents escape the Reign of Terror by sailing to America and settling in the Carolinas.

C
HARLES
G
RAVIER,
C
OUNT DE
V
ERGENNES

The French minister most credited with helping to finance the Revolution continues his active role in American affairs by participating in the negotiations of the final peace with England. Though King Louis is seen by most Americans as their financial savior during the war, it is the persuasiveness of Vergennes that influences Louis’ policies. His closeness to Louis creates enemies, and his generosity to the Americans is blamed for the financial chaos that grips France in the mid-1780s, which many believe contributes to the French Revolution. While he certainly would have been a primary target of the Reign of Terror, he escapes by dying in 1787, at age seventy.

W
ILLIAM
H
OWE

On his return to England, he begins a lengthy campaign to exonerate himself for his failings in America. But no conclusions are drawn by either Parliament or King George, and Howe is allowed to languish in relative inactivity. He is promoted to full general in 1793, and named to a key position to defend England from Napoleon, though the British Isles are never directly threatened. Upon his brother Richard’s death in 1799, he becomes the fifth viscount Howe. In 1803, his health begins to fail, and he resigns from the army, becomes governor of Plymouth, England. He lingers for a decade as a sickly invalid, and dies in 1814, at age eighty-five.

His legacy is often more satirical than military, and thus in many ways he is a tragic figure. Several poems are written to his dishonor, including some that mention his noted relationship with his mistress:

Sir William he, snug as a flea,

Lay all the time a snoring,

Nor dreamed of harm as he lay warm

In bed with Mrs. Loring.

—F
RANCIS
H
OPKINSON

In amazing contrast, Charles Lee writes:

He is all fire and activity, brave and cool as Julius Caesar . . .

B
ENEDICT
A
RNOLD

After leaving Virginia, he commands a mission to assault the town of New London, Connecticut, which accomplishes nothing militarily except the wanton destruction of much of the town. He convinces Henry Clinton to allow him to raise a special legion in his name, assumes that loyalists will flock to a man of such lofty stature. Barely two hundred enlist, and the project is abandoned.

With little to do, he and Peggy sail to England in December 1781. Though he makes every attempt to place himself in friendship with prominent Tories, including King George, he is for the most part ignored.

In 1785, frustrated by the army’s unwillingness to grant him any further command, he sails to Canada and embarks on a business career, which fares no better. He returns to England in 1791, spends his final years as a bitter, dejected man, whose dreams of fortune and fame die with him in 1801. He is sixty.

Peggy Shippen Arnold survives him by only three years and dies in 1804. In America, those who participated in the affair of Arnold’s treason, including George Washington, continue to believe that Peggy had nothing to do with Arnold’s decision to betray his country. It is only after the deaths of nearly all concerned that an account by Aaron Burr surfaces, revealing Peggy’s frank admission of the extraordinary acting performance she had exhibited for the sake of Washington and his men. Though Burr’s reliability is discounted by many historians, irrefutable documentation is unearthed in British military archives in 1920, which contains damning evidence that there were
two
traitors at West Point.

H
ENRY
C
LINTON

After the disaster at Yorktown, he returns to England to find his name has become synonymous with defeat. The British government is sufficiently satisfied by those conclusions that it refuses Clinton a Parliamentary hearing, unlike what had been performed for William Howe. He publishes his memoirs, which contain scathing criticisms of everyone but himself, and which inspires a hostile exchange with Charles Cornwallis that continues for the rest of his life. He serves in Parliament, and though he is given no significant military duties, King George promotes him to full general in 1793. He becomes governor of Gibraltar in 1794, and serves only until his death in 1795, at age sixty-five.

W
ILHELM,
B
ARON
VON
K
NYPHAUSEN

He endures the final months of the war with Clinton in New York, but in 1782, his failing health causes him to resign. He returns to his home in Hesse-Cassel, where he is appointed military governor. The quiet life of the respected old soldier rejuvenates him, and he spends a lengthy retirement in the company of his family, survives until 1800, until age eighty-four.

B
ANASTRE
T
ARLETON

After Yorktown, he returns to England, immediately begins work on his memoirs. Published in 1787, they are a one-sided assault on anyone who ever disagreed with him, most notably Charles Cornwallis. He dismisses his former commander as an utter incompetent, though his analysis is rife with errors of fact, and thus, his work is rarely taken seriously. Tarleton tries his hand at politics, and after several attempts, he gains a seat in Parliament in 1790, serves until 1806. He continues to serve in various army posts, from Portugal to Ireland, is promoted eventually to full general. For his sheer longevity of service, he is knighted in 1820 by King George IV, and survives until 1833.

In a fitting irony, Tarleton’s name virtually disappears into English military history. He is remembered primarily in America, not for his skills as a capable cavalryman, but as a petty, coldhearted and vindictive brute, his name a symbol of the worst kind of ruthlessness.

C
HARLES
O’H
ARA

Cornwallis’ most capable field commander returns to England early in 1782. On the strength of Cornwallis’ energetic recommendation, he is promoted to major general. In 1792, he is appointed lieutenant governor of Gibraltar. In 1793, he is captured by the French and imprisoned in Luxembourg. Released in 1795, he returns to Gibraltar as governor, and dies there in 1802, at age sixty-two.

A
ND,

G
EORGE
W
ASHINGTON

I am become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomac, and under the shadow of my own vine and my own fig tree. Free from the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life . . . I am retiring within myself, and shall be able to view the solitary walk and tread the paths of private life with heartfelt satisfaction. I will move gently down the stream of life until I sleep with my fathers.

—G
EORGE
W
ASHINGTON TO
L
AFAYETTE
, 1784

In 1787, the gentleman farmer accepts a call from Virginia to participate as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and upon his arrival in Philadelphia, he succumbs to considerable pressure to become president of that body.

As the Constitution is ratified by the states, it is apparent to Washington that no other person is considered a suitable candidate for the office of the first president of the United States. Though he has spent precious few years at his beloved Mount Vernon, he accepts the inevitable, and in 1788, moves Martha into the presidential mansion in what is now the nation’s capital, New York.

He governs from the strength of his neutrality, preventing unwise American involvement in the various violent conflicts in Europe, realizes more than many in his own cabinet that the United States must meet its own challenges before pursuing alliances that could lead to further war that America cannot afford. NaÏve in the ways of politics, he steadfastly holds the government together despite the enormous strain of the two factions led by the bitterly opposed Hamilton and Jefferson. As his term nears expiration, there is little enthusiasm for any other candidate to succeed him, including his vice president John Adams. From every part of the nation he receives entreaties to remain in office for a second term, and despite personal exhaustion, and the furious disappointment of Martha, he accepts election to a second term.

In 1797, he adamantly refuses to consider a third term, despite a wave of pressure to do so, and finally retires to Mount Vernon. He lives out the brief remainder of his life in the soft comforts of his wife, who has endured long years of sacrifice both by the absence of her husband and the death of all four of her children. In December 1799, while tending to the chores of his farm, he is stricken by a severe throat infection, and two days later, on December 14, 1799, with Martha beside him, he dies. He is sixty-seven.

For three days, he lies in state in the dining room at Mount Vernon, then Martha orders his body placed briefly on the porch of the mansion, for his last magnificent view of the Potomac River.

To measure his impact on history, one must consider the world as it might have been without him. Of those who had serious designs on his position as commander in chief, from John Hancock to Artemas Ward to Charles Lee to Horatio Gates, it is impossible to envision anyone maintaining such a dedicated grasp on the tormenting necessities of the army, the congress, and the people.

Not even his dearest friends and most ardent supporters claim perfection in the man. He possessed none of the oratorical skills of Patrick Henry, none of the scientific inventiveness of Ben Franklin, none of the instinct for political science of John Adams. Few claim he was the most expert military tactician, or the most efficient politician. But without Washington, there would have been no Trenton, no Monmouth, and no French alliance. Without Washington, there would have been no General Lafayette, General Greene, or General von Steuben.

Throughout the entire ordeal of the American Revolution, and throughout the exhaustive historical studies of this time, no other name has risen, no other name has ever been placed into the same historical arena as George Washington. By his patience, dignity, perseverance, and his unwavering devotion to his cause, he is entitled to claim absolute responsibility for those triumphs that ensured the existence of the United States of America. He is indeed, the Father of His Country.