My Last Summer Read For Research Book

9/5/2024

Would you believe I finished this book a few weeks ago? I was in the middle of two posts I wanted to write, but I loved this book so much I had to do something – so I reviewed it for My Reads.

Here’s the link: Rinda Beach - Beach Reads - Rinda Beach

I found two ideas I wanted to share, but I ran out of time. The good news – you can find them in this book. The first is in Chapter 6. Ben Thompson broke the Declaration into three parts. Look for the real words in italics, and read what Ben said about each one.

Then skip to Pick Your Poison, it’s near the end of chapter 7. Did you know there were four different kinds of cannon balls? Solid shot, Grapeshot, Shells, and the red-hot kind you picked up with tongs. Check them out and learn more about ammunition.

#1. Today if you say Sam Adams, people think beer. But he was actually terrible at it and lost all of his money in his family’s malthouse business

The real Sam Adams was a much better patriot. He was red-hot about independence, from 1764 with the Stamp Act until tea was taxed in 1773. That’s when Sam Adams came up with a great idea. Perhaps you’ve heard of it . . . the Boston Tea Party.

#2. John Hancock was a Boston businessman before he got into the patriot business. In April 1775 the redcoats put a target on his back. Sam Adams too. Luckily, a few spies were watching and sent word to Hancock, Adams, and the minutemen in Lexington and Concord.

Most people know John was President of the Continental Congress, but they don’t know he was adopted by an aunt and uncle after his parents died. He inherited their business.
PS – Have you ever had your signature called a John Hancock? That’s because when John signed the Declaration, he wrote SUPERSIZE, so that King George could see it without his glasses.

#3. Have you ever heard of William Prescott? I hadn’t. His claim to fame – he commanded the army at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the first big battle of the Revolution.

It all started the night of June 16, 1775, when William sent his troops out to build a fort. The problem – they built it on Breed’s, not Bunker Hill. They did it so quietly that the British discovered it the next morning when they woke up. It took 3 tries for the Redcoats to win the hill. That’s because William kept his cool, his men too. They watched and waited until the British got close enough . . . THEN they fired, at the officers. The British won, but they lost 1,100 men, dead or wounded. Half the men they started with.

#4. Everyone knows George Washington. The general who beat King George and the British Empire. The first president who was wise enough to serve two terms, not three.

But did you know he’s the only president who led an army during his term? It started with another tax. Farmers in western Pennsylvania rebelled over a whiskey tax. They took up arms. Washington led an army across the state, but he was able to end the rebellion peacefully without firing a shot.

#5. Everyone knows John Adams too. Founding Father, member of the Continental Congress, the first Vice President, and second President. He only served one term thanks to his old buddy and Vice President, Thomas Jefferson. It’s funny how life works – Adams and Jefferson were good friends until Jefferson ran against him for the presidency. The former friends didn’t speak for years, but I’m glad they finally did.

Adams was always one of the loudest voices in the room, but no one listened to his suggestion that the president should be known as . . . “His Highness, the President of the United States, and Protector of the Rights of the Same.” I’m glad everyone disagreed with him.

#6. Everyone knows Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but did you know he didn’t want to? Or that he thought John Adams should write it? I didn’t. According to the book, Adams said he was obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. Jefferson was the opposite. He was also a Virginian AND a better writer. Thank goodness Adams got his way, and Jefferson did the writing!

You’ve probably heard of Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, but did you know it doubled the size of the country? That it became the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana? What a bargain!

#7. I’d never heard of Lord Stirling until I read this book. Would you believe William Alexander found research showing he was the senior male descendant of the First Earl of Stirling in the late 1750s? The House of Lords never recognized him, but American soldiers did.

Lord Stirling is best known for the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776. He and his men held off the British until the remnants of the Continental Army could escape. There were already twelve hundred casualties, but it would have been so much worse without him. Stirling surrendered to the British later that day. He wouldn’t live to see the end of the war, but his friend George Washington walked his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day.

#8. Before James Monroe became our 5th president, he was a lieutenant in the Virginia Militia during the days of the American Revolution. Look for him in the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware. Monroe’s the one holding the American flag.

When he landed on the other side, he was wounded by cannon fire at Trenton, New Jersey the day after Christmas. Later he’d fight in the Battles of New York, Brandywine, and Monmouth.

#9. You’ve probably heard of the Marquis de Lafayette. Do you recognize his other seven names? Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier.

The American Revolution followed Lafayette home to France. He named his only son George Washington. And when he died, his coffin was covered with dirt from Bunker Hill. That’s where the first major battle of the Revolution was fought near Boston, Massachusetts.

#10. Meet one of the toughest commanders of the American Revolution, Daniel Morgan. I’d never heard of him either.

Daniel commanded riflemen at the Battles of Quebec City, Saratoga, and Cowpens. He was taken prisoner at Quebec, but only after his men begged him to surrender. When he was released in 1777, he created Morgan’s Rangers, 500 men passed his test – hitting a life-size picture of a British officer from 100 yards. If you made the grade, you got a Pennsylvania long rifle. It was far more accurate than a British musket, but harder to load. Morgan and his Rangers made the victories at Saratoga and Cowpens possible.

Fun Fact: Today’s Army Rangers can trace their roots back to him.

#11. Meet Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben – That’s a lot of names! He came from Prussia, in Germany. He claimed to be a baron, but he wasn’t. Ben Franklin misread his bio and thought he was a general. He wasn’t, and he didn’t speak English either.

So, Ben sent him to the Continental Congress, who sent him onto Valley Forge. During the worst winter of the war, Von Steuben whipped Washington’s army into shape with all the finesse of a drill sergeant. He was asked to, and he finally wrote down his drills, in French. Alexander Hamilton and Nathanael Green translated them. Would you believe the American army used his instruction manual until 1814?

#12. Everyone knows Benjamin Franklin – author, inventor, printer, scientist, postmaster, and politician. He signed the Declaration, the Peace Treaty that ended the war, and the Constitution, but did you know his son was a loyalist? That William was the royal governor of New Jersey?

The father and son fought so violently over the war; they never spoke to each other again. Not after William was put into an American prison, nor after he emigrated to England after the war was over. War is a sad thing.

#13. This is the real Mary Ludwig Hays, also known as Molly Pitcher. Mary was an assistant on a cannon crew. Her job – to pass canteens to the men sweating and working over the cannons. Her husband John loaded them. Mary also poured buckets of water over the red-hot barrels to cool them down so it wouldn’t overheat and quit working.

Mary wouldn’t look this clean in battle. She’d be blackened by powder with bullets and cannon balls whizzing around. And if the men needed to rest, Mary loaded and fired the cannon herself. Would you believe she left the army in 1783 as a sergeant, with an army pension too?! She was a liberated woman before Women’s Liberation existed.

#14. Only one Revolutionary general was called mad. Not angry-mad, but crazy-mad. His name – Mad Anthony Wayne. If there was an impossible battle to fight like Stony Point, New York, Washington sent Wayne, but he gave him the best trained, best supplied soldiers in the Continental Army.

This battle was so impossible – Wayne asked a friend to take care of his wife and two children if he died. So impossible he asked for volunteers to run into the fort. The first one earned $500. The next four men, $100 each. And would you believe – Mad Anthony Wayne and his troops recaptured Stony Point?

#15. Have you watched Turn? Or heard of the Culper Spy Ring? Then you might know Benjamin Tallmadge. General Washington needed to get reliable, accurate information out of New York City, the headquarters for the British. He picked Tallmadge in late 1778 to create a secret spy ring. It stayed active, successful, and hidden until 1783 when the Revolution ended.

After the war, Tallmadge settled down and became a Connecticut postmaster and Congressman.

#16. George Rogers Clark – I knew his name, but not his BIG accomplishment. He captured the Northwest territory from the British, basically on his own. His victories and diplomatic skills doubled the size of the original 13 colonies. That land later became the states of Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. I was shocked to learn Clark died poor, after doubling the size of our country.

I bet you’ve heard of his brother and his friend, Lewis. They were the two men who traveled across the country with Sacajawea. She took them all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

#17. John Paul Jones started life as a poor Scottish sailor, and he wound up becoming the Father of the US Navy. If you’d like to visit his tomb, go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

If he had a brother from another mother, it would be Mad Anthony Wayne. They both fought impossible battles, and won. Wayne on land, and Jones at sea.

#18. A woman, fought in the Revolution?! True! Deborah Sampson Gannett served as soldier Robert Shurtleff. She was wounded several times. She even dug out her own bullets to keep her identity secret. She’s one of the few women who earned a pension during the Revolutionary War.

Her story is a tale of triumph. At age 5 her mother sent her off to live with friends. She bounced from house to house until she was 10. Then she was sold as an indentured servant. She spent the next 8 years working in the fields by day. At night she taught herself to read. Would you believe it was against the law for slaves and indentured servants to learn to read, and for someone to teach them?

#19. Nathanael Green was one of George Washington’s most trusted generals. He commanded troops from Boston to the Carolinas, but he’s best known as the Commander of the Southern Campaign. Think of the battles in Georgia and the Carolinas. They led onto Yorktown and the end of the war.

TWICE, he was asked to serve as Secretary of War, but he refused both times. He preferred to live a quiet life in retirement. No wonder, after all those years on the battlefield.

#20. Alexander Hamilton is famous for his duel with Aaron Burr. It started when Hamilton wrote a few mean pieces in the newspaper. The big problem, Hamilton fired into the air like he was supposed to, but Burr didn’t. He shot Hamilton in the gut, killing him.

Hamilton was more than a man who died in a duel. He was General Washington’s aide, and he commanded troops at the Battles of Trenton and Yorktown. Later he played a key role in developing and writing the Constitution, and he was our first Secretary of the Treasury. Sad – he’s not known for any of those things.

0 Comments

My Last Summer Read For Research Book

Leave a Reply.

Author

Categories

Thanks for stopping by!