Killing England

by Bill O'Reilly

  Chapter 31

    1. While Franklin did not gain Canada for America, he did get fishing rights for the United States—a privilege that exists to this day.

  Chapter 32

    1. In America, a Tory was an American colonist supporting the British cause. In Parliament, a Tory was a conservative voting in favor of King George’s policies.

    2. A halter is draped around the head of a horse to guide its movements. It is often synonymous with a hangman’s noose. Most infamously, Judas Iscariot is thought to have hanged himself with a halter after his betrayal of Jesus.

  Chapter 33

    1. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, was a novel in nine volumes based on the life of a fictitious narrator. Despite its lightweight tone and often graphic subject matter, its metaphysical bent led German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer to describe it as one of the greatest novels ever written.

  Chapter 34

    1. The American delegation was to have numbered five men. In addition to Franklin, Adams, Jay, and the waylaid Jefferson, Henry Laurens of South Carolina was unable to attend due to ill health after spending a year imprisoned in the Tower of London. Laurens was captured at sea by a British warship. He was released in a prisoner exchange with General Cornwallis three months after the Battle of Yorktown.

    2. America and Great Britain signed a separate preliminary peace treaty on November 30, 1782. This document did not include the other powers involved in the war, and thus did not guarantee a cessation of fighting.

  Chapter 35

    1. The black-and-white ribbon, called a cockade, was worn by both armies. Cockades were generally worn on military hats, but a special design was used to commemorate the alliance with France.

    2. In Nova Scotia, the town of Shelburne, Canada (also known as Port Roseway), became a haven for white Loyalists. Black Loyalists founded nearby Birchtown.

    3. The move to Annapolis was made for social reasons. The lively waterside Maryland city was known for its entertainments.

  Epilogue

    1. The thirty-seven words for the Presidential Oath of Office, which have been used to swear in every American president since Washington, are written into the U.S. Constitution. They were penned in 1787 by delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

    2. Thomas Jefferson took over Franklin’s role as minister to France. Alexander Hamilton was appointed to Congress, representing New York.

    3. The popular vote had strict rules. Only landowners over the age of twenty-one could cast a ballot. In some states, only certain Protestant denominations could vote, and everywhere, women, immigrants, servants, and slaves were prohibited from taking part. Out of a U.S. population of nearly four million, it is estimated that fewer than forty-four thousand Americans voted in the first election.

  Sources

  Killing England presented a unique research experience. The Revolutionary War was, of course, a time without video, photographs, or YouTube to help describe a scene. Likewise, there were no sound recordings allowing us to hear the charisma or inflection in our subjects’ spoken words. Very often, the mythologizing that builds around great historical figures became an impediment of its own, forcing us to sift through various accounts to see which are real and which have been built upon a fable constructed years after a character’s death. George Washington, for instance, did not chop down the cherry tree, and Martha Washington did not name her tomcat after Alexander Hamilton.

  As with all the Killing books, the research formed the backbone of the narrative. In the case of Killing England, online searches ran the gamut from the Central Intelligence Agency website to queries about colonial toilets, malarial mosquitoes, and how to load a musket. The Internet cookies we’ve left behind should see intriguing spam email for years to come.

  The Killing England investigation took us beyond libraries and the Internet to battlefields, archives, graveyards, museums, and even the British Parliament, where we were granted a behind-the-scenes tour and access to centuries-old documents in the Parliamentary Archives. It’s worth noting that the Royal Collection Trust has also placed an enormous amount of George III’s personal papers online for future scholarship. These papers dating from 1755 to 1810 were originally meant “to be destroyed unread,” an act that was luckily never carried out. While in London, we requested the chance to enter the Royal Vault in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, where King George III and many other sovereigns dating back centuries now rest. Due to the personal nature of the vault, that request was politely denied by royal officials.

  It was refreshing to find that some frustrating research questions could be resolved with a single phone call. So a word of thanks to the folks at Valley Forge, Monticello, Mount Vernon, and Independence Hall for taking the time to share their insights into the more arcane bits of American history. In every case, when those on the other end of the line did not have the answer at their fingertips, they pointed us to someone who did.

  Other research required a bit more legwork, for instance when we looked for the graves of British generals from the Revolutionary War. Included in this search were Benedict Arnold and his wife, Peggy, whose gravesite remains in the cellar walls of St. Mary’s Church, Battersea, in London, England. However, the church has changed over the centuries. The basement that houses their burial vault is no longer a crypt but a collection of offices and a children’s play area. The church asks that anyone wishing to see the tomb should phone ahead for an appointment.

  In that spirit, the reader is encouraged to undertake their own hands-on exploration of American history. It is one thing to read about what took place in these locations and quite another to walk in the footsteps of the men and women who so courageously fought to form a nation in the face of unfavorable odds. Sites such as Mount Vernon, Monticello, Independence Hall, Boston’s many historical sites, and the various battlefields maintained by the National Park Service should be required visiting for all patriots. Yorktown, in particular, is mind blowing. Both Yorktown and Philadelphia are now home to vast new museums devoted to the Revolutionary War.

  Most sites described in this book are well known and heavily visited. However, there is one historical location in America that is hidden in plain sight but almost completely overlooked: the Old Senate Chamber inside the Maryland State House. Located in Annapolis, the room has been carefully restored to appear as it did on the day George Washington resigned his commission at the end of the war, complete with a life-size statue of General Washington and an interactive display. The room looks just as it did on that day, with no curtains or electric lights and a wooden floor joined with dowels instead of nails. While you’re in town, make sure to visit John Paul Jones’s crypt beneath the chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy.

  It is helpful when writing history to read the works of others who have already researched and written about a topic. This becomes the jumping-off point, allowing us to expand our own research as the story guides us down countless new rabbit holes. Literally hundreds of books, articles, and archival websites were referenced in the writing of Killing England, but several works deserve the highest praise and should be on any Revolutionary War reading list. Among them are the enthusiastically researched Braddock’s Defeat by David L. Preston; The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 by John J. Gallagher; The Swamp Fox: How Francis Marion Saved the American Revolution by John Oller; 1776 by David McCullough; and William Franklin: Son of a Patriot, Servant of a King and The Making of a Patriot: Benjamin Franklin at the Cockpit by Sheila L. Skemp. Many a writer has peered into the mind of Benjamin Franklin, but the thorough scholarship of Dr. Skemp suggests a lifetime devotion to this subject.

  Books aside, an intimate and enlightening way to read about the period of time recorded in Killing England is by reading the letters of the great men themselves. Founders Online, a section of the U.S. National Archives website, features a digitized collection of writings by George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, and James Madison. Their personalities, hopes, fears, daily chores, and dreams come through powerfully. And because of the breadth of these letters, sometimes spanning decades, the reader can see the growth of not just the individual but also the nation itself—through their eyes.

  Illustration Credits

  Maps by Gene Thorp

  Here: Image in the public domain via Wikimedia Commons

  Here: Public domain

  Here: DeAgostini/Getty Images

  Here: © The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens/Bridgeman Images

  Here: Public domain

  Here: Granger, NYC—all rights reserved

  Here: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

  Here: Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

  Here: Gift of George Washington Custis Lee, University Collections of Art and History, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia

  Here: MPI/Getty Images

  Here: Drawing provided by Designpics.com: First Meeting of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, by Alonzo Chappel, from Life and Times of Washington, volume 1, published 1857

  Here: Photograph by Will/ullstein bild via Getty Images

  Here: Musées de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, France/Archives Charmet/Bridgeman Images

  Here: Granger, NYC—all rights reserved

  Here: Pictorial Press Ltd./Alamy Stock Photo

  Here: North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo

  Here: Granger, NYC—all rights reserved

  Here: Print Collector/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

  Index

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Adams, Abigail

  Adams, John

  independence debate

  Adams, Samuel

  Africa

  agriculture

  Albany

  alcohol

  America

  alliance with France

  French and Indian War

  Independence

  Revolution. See Revolutionary War

  taxation

  Treaty of Paris

  see also specific colonies, states, and cities

  André, John

  memorial to

  role in Arnold treason

  Anglican Church

  Annapolis

  Arnold, Benedict

  as “American Hannibal”

  in British Army

  death of

  finances of

  as governor of Philadelphia

  leg injury

  marriage of

  postwar life

  Saratoga battles

  treason of

  Virginia campaign

  Washington’s plot to capture

  West Point command

  Arnold, Peggy Shippen

  arsenic

  Articles of Capitulation

  Assunpink Creek

  Australia

  Bache, Benjamin Franklin

  Bache, Richard

  Bache, Sally Franklin

  Baltimore

  Bancroft, Edward

  Bancroft, George

  Banishment Act

  Barbados

  Barfield, Jesse

  bathing

  Battle Pass

  bayonets

  Beaujeu, Daniel-Hyacinthe-Marie Liénard de

  Biggin Bridge

  biological warfare

  Blue Savannah, Battle of

  Bonhomme Richard, USS

  Boone, Daniel

  Boston

  British occupation

  martial law

  Massacre

  siege of

  Tea Party

  Boston Gazette

  Boston Harbor

  Boston Port Act

  Braddock, Edward

  Braddock’s Defeat

  Brandywine, Battle of

  Breed’s Hill

  Brillon, Anne-Louise

  British Army

  Arnold’s treason and

  at Blue Savannah

  Braddock’s Defeat

  Bunker Hill

  cavalry

  fall of Charleston

  French and Indian War

  at Germantown

  Hessians

  Lexington and Concord

  at Monmouth

  at Monticello

  in New Jersey

  in New York City

  in Philadelphia

  at Princeton

  as prisoners of war

  punishments

  regulars

  Saratoga battles

  siege of Boston

  in South Carolina

  surrender of

  at Trenton

  uniforms

  in Virginia

  at Yorktown

  British Navy

  at Flamborough Head

  British Tea Act (1773)

  Brooklyn, Battle of

  Brown, John

  Buckingham House

  Bunker Hill, Battle of

  Burgoyne, John “Gentleman Johnny”

  Burke, Edmund

  Burr, Aaron

  Callender, James T.

  Camden, Battle of

  Canada

  French and Indian War

  cannibalism

  cannon

  Caribbean

  Carleton, Guy

  Catholicism

  chamber pots

  Champe, John

  Charleston

  fall of

  Charlestown Peninsula

  Charlotte, queen of England

  Charlotte, South Carolina

  Charlottesville, Virginia

  Charming Nancy (ship)

  Charon, HMS

  charter colonies

  Chatham, Lord. See Pitt, William

  Cherokee Indians

  Chesapeake Bay

  cholera

  Cholmley, Robert

  Church of England

  City Tavern

  Clinton, Henry

  postwar life

  clothing

  American uniforms

  of Ben Franklin

  British royalty

  British uniforms

  Parisian

  shortages

  spy

  cockade

  Coercive Acts (aka Intolerable Acts)

  Colleton, Jane

  common-law marriage

  Concord, Battle of

  Congress. See Continental Congress

  Connecticut

  Constitution, U.S.

  Constitutional Convention

  Continental Army

  African American soldiers

  Arnold’s treason

  at Blue Savannah

  Brooklyn defeat

  Bunker Hill

  Delaware River crossings

  deserters

  drills and training

  enlistment

  fall of Charleston

  at Germantown

  Lexington and Concord

  at Monmouth

  in New Jersey

  New York campaign

  at Princeton

  as prisoners of war

  retakes New York

  salaries

  Saratoga battles

  siege of Boston

  in South Carolina

  supply system

  at Trenton

  uniforms

  at Valley Forge

  in Virginia

  Washington becomes commander of

  at Yorktown

  Continental Congress

  Declaration of Independence

  end of war

  First

  independence debate

  Second

  Continental Navy

  at Flamborough Head />
  Cook, James

  Cooper, William

  Cooper River

  Copley Medal

  Cornwallis, Charles

  postwar life

  at Princeton

  surrenders to Washington

  at Yorktown

  Cowpens, Battle of

  Custis, Daniel Parke

  Custis, John Parke

  Dearborn, Henry

  Declaration of Independence

  signing of

  de Grasse, François Joseph Paul

  Delaware

  Delaware Indians

  Delaware River

  crossings

  Dickinson, John

  disease

  shipboard

  Dobbs Ferry, New York

  Dorchester Heights, Massachusetts

  drum and fife

  Dyer, Eliphalet

  dysentery

  East River

  Ede and Ravenscroft

  Effingham, Earl of

  Electoral College

  England

  Battle of Flamborough Head

  French and Indian War

  merchant ships

  population

  public opinion on war

  society

  taxation of colonies

  Treaty of Paris

  Erskine, William

  Fairfax, Sally

  Fayssoux, Ann

  firewood

  flags

  American

  British

  Hessian

  Liberty

  Flamborough Head, Battle of

  Florida

  food

  army kitchens

  shipboard

  shortages

  slave

  Fort Duquesne

  Fort George

  Fort Griswold

  Fort Lee

  Fort Necessity

  Fort Ticonderoga

  Fort Washington

  France

  alliance with America

  army at Yorktown

  clothing

  French and Indian War

  Navy

  Franklin, Benjamin

  Continental Congress

  death of

  early life of

  end of war

  French and Indian War