The subtitle of this book is “The Birth of American Independence”. Ellis writes about the summer of 1776, in detail. There were two main aspects of the fight for American independence going on at the same time. First, the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia, where they were about to officially declare our separation from England. Second, the Continental Army, under George Washington, was getting ready to do battle with the troops that England had sent over to try to keep these upstarts in line. And Ellis gives us a little bit of the British view of the situation as well, especially with regard to the Howe brothers.
Early in the year of 1776, there were still a few individuals in the Continental Congress who held out hope that there could be a reconciliation with the King. They were hoping that the issues they were having were the fault of Parliament. By July, they had been convinced that there was no going back. The fact that England sent thousands of troops, as well as Hessian mercenaries, made them realize this. Then the issues became delineating exactly how the new confederation was going to work; finding a foreign supporter (France); and trying to get all of the new states to fund the Continental Army. They never really were able to raise a standing army, for several reasons, and the Cause was maintained by support from the various state militias.
Meanwhile, the Army itself was having issues. Washington knew the British would try to take New York, and decided he needed to defend it. The problem was, New York, with all of the water surrounding the various islands, was basically indefensible. Washington found this out over the course of the summer. Some of the battles did cost the British, but there were loses on both sides. The only thing that apparently prevented the Howe brothers from decimating the Continental Army when they had the chance, and they had a couple of opportunities, was that they had also been given the ability to negotiate a peace. The Howe’s were still hopeful that there were only a few rebels, and that once they saw the might of the British army and navy, they would see the error of their ways. The Howe’s were mistaken.
If this was your family, how would you research them? If you had ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War, were they already serving in 1776? And not just as a soldier. Were they in one of the colonies, rewriting the constitution there? You could probably tell from the NARA records, or from Fold3 if your ancestor was actually in the Continental Army, or did they do their service in one of the state militias? You might be able to tell from the dates of service if he went home around harvest time; many soldiers did, whether they were authorized to do so or not.