Need freedom? Who you gonna call? The Marbleheaders!
This highly fascinating, well-researched, and well-written book is about the men of Marblehead, Massachusetts, who became indispensable in getting the American Revolution off to a successful start. Marblehead, at the time of the story, was a town whose people worked the Grand Banks fishing for cod, with that product being 1/3 of the Massachusetts economy. Fishing was a dangerous business, and the men on the boats quickly learned they needed to work together to stave off frequent life and death situations. Whatever the men’s color or creed, their worth was quickly assessed by their talent, quick-thinking, resourcefulness, and especially the content of their character. With trust and teamwork their bywords, these men and their leaders spearheaded the American Revolution as an indispensable team for the indispensable man, George Washington.
The author fills his book with little-known stories he gleaned from primary research he made into muster rolls and pension applications made by Revolutionary War veterans in 1820. He starts the book with a sailor seeking to retain his freedom by revolting against his impressment into the British navy. The author then goes into a discussion of Marblehead’s inoculation attempt against the deadly smallpox virus, which set up a mini-civil war with conservative loyalists who objected to the vaccinations sponsored by several of the book’s major Marblehead figures: Dr. Nathaniel Bond, Elbridge Gerry, and John Glover. Dr. Bond goes on to later inoculate Washington’s army (perhaps saving it from destruction by smallpox). Gerry becomes a towering political force in the Revolution and later becomes James Madison’s vice president. And Colonel/General John Glover leads Marblehead’s impressive military efforts and becomes a trusted confidant to Washington.
The main focus of the book, a list of Marblehead’s Revolutionary War involvement, includes:
Lexington and Concord
Bunker Hill
Battle of Brooklyn (ferrying Washington’s army out of Brooklyn to enable their escape)
Kips Bay (making a stand as the rest of the army melts away)
Washington’s Life Guard (staffing)
Throg’s Neck and Pell’s Point
Battle of Fort Washington
Trenton (ferrying Washington's men across the Delaware & capturing bridge to cut off Hessian escape)
Princeton
Helping to start the American Navy (strategy of capturing British ships to get ordnance & precious gunpowder for rebels and depriving said from British)
Saratoga
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Not mentioned in the book, but helpful to know as the action develops:
The town of Marblehead was earlier called Marble Harbour by Captain John Smith of earlier Jamestown fame, who also named the area “New England. Continuing the tradition of mistaking the town’s seaside granite ledges for marble, settlers would later name the town “Marblehead,” focused upon the ledges as a “head” or exposed rock (geologically the uppermost extremity or projecting part of land). Marblehead’s claim to be the birthplace of the U.S. Navy is disputed by a number of other towns: Beverly, MA; Machias, ME; Philadelphia, PA; Providence, RI; and Whitehall, NY.
Neck: a narrow piece of land that comes out of a wider part (e.g., Great Neck).
Point: a projecting usually tapering piece of land or a sharp prominence. (e.g., Pell’s Point).
Pounder – cannon descriptor indicating weight of cannon balls.
Trunions: Pins or gudgeons, especially a cannon’s two small cylindrical projections, which form an axis on which the cannon pivots as it is aimed.
Gunpowder constituents: 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur, and 75% saltpeter. Sulfur (yellow/gold) burns at a relatively low temperature (sort of like kindling), carbon (black) is the main fuel, and saltpeter (gray) is the oxidizer, the intense source of oxygen, the ignition accelerant. Not an accident is that black, gray, and gold are the school colors of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Tactics are outgrowths of technology. With the advent of gunpowder and the use of the musket as a weapon, battlefields were now smoky and noisy. Leaders needed to maintain control, via drums, bugles, and keeping their men close. Musket firing in volleys maintained the speed of loading and firing. The psychological effect of a round of mass fire, where many inaccurate muskets managed to hit at least something in an effort to shock and awe, was followed either immediately or after several more rounds by a massed bayonet charge. The speed of firing and cohesive unit movement was a critical focus of Prussian army drill. [Military tactics later changed with the advent of the rifled musket and Minie ball for speed and accuracy, allowing for dispersion of units, with soldiers now more often able to move independently as seen in America’s Civil War.] Note: P 54: The author writes, “Under the best possible conditions, a well-trained and well-supplied soldier could load and shoot four or five times per minute.” While it is said that a well-trained Prussian soldier (someone who spent many years practicing) could get off rounds up to six times a minute, some of the very best modern-day Rev War reenactors can barely make four times per minute. Many times in battle involving unit movement, a soldier would be lucky to get off one round per minute.
Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was a rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, with the help of the Scots and the French, to regain the British throne for his father, James (Latin Jacobus, hence Jacobite) Francis Edward Stuart, son of King James II/VII Stuart, who had been removed from power by William and Mary in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
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I believe you’ll find the author has a great style of writing. He uses many fine words that carry the story quite well. A few times, however, his tries to keep the action going by using logical but likely speculative supposition about various action (P 59: John Gerry…dipped his pen into his inkwell…. His pen scratched as he scrawled his missive, and he hastily sealed his letter with wax before handing it off to an express rider.) And how did the author know this? Sometimes, he also goes into great extended detail, which can either be engaging or not, depending upon the reader’s level of interest. And, at least once, I believe he makes an error of fact: P 196: "Lee [Washington's valet] was later described by Thomas Jefferson “as the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback.” Actually, the person Jefferson was describing was George Washington himself.
In his content, the author covers much of the first half of the American Revolution by “colorizing” the Marbleheaders in an otherwise black & white Revolutionary War history. Many times the Marbleheaders are major players, but sometimes the full event histories are recounted even if there are just slender threads of involvement. For example, for Lexington, we learn of it primarily because some of the involved Marbleheaders were there hiding in a frozen cornfield. Other times, we learn of a famous person because a Marbleheader worked for him. But whatever the action, the reader will find many revealing anecdotes, quotes, and origin stories of famous patriot personages not found elsewhere. One event I found particularly interesting was the propaganda race to get news of Lexington and Concord to England. Who fired the first shot? Who was at fault? Whoever got the news first to tell their story, the rebels or the Brits, would gain some advantage!
Overall I found this book about the truly Indispensables both engaging and enlightening. As well, it features excellent maps, portraits, and documentation. Bottom-line: very highly recommended!
Of possible interest:
George Washington’s Liberty Key: Mount Vernon’s Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul
, a best-seller at Mount Vernon. “Character is Key for Liberty!” and
Strategy Pure and Simple: Essential Moves for Winning in Competition and Cooperation
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Excellent research and discusion.
I used this product for my own personal information and I bought a second copy for my history buff grandson.
