Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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About 250 Years Ago … John Paul Jones

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm’s way.” (John Paul Jones – Letter to Le Ray de Chaumont (November 16, 1778))

John Paul (he added the Jones later) was born on the estate of Arbigland, Scotland on July 6, 1747. His father was the head gardener of the estate.

At the age of 13, he boarded a vessel where he signed up as a seaman’s apprentice.  At 17, he went into the slave trade as third mate, but later quit the slave traffic in disgust calling it an ‘abominable trade’.  John Paul had become a captain by his own merits at the age of 21.

Later, to protect his identity after he fled to avoid trial after killing a local mutineer in the West Indies, he changed his name to John Paul Jones.

Events were working up to the American Revolution; Jones was strongly on the colonists’ side.  Jones was advisor to the Naval Committee of the Continental Congress when they formed the Continental Navy’. He offered his services and was commissioned as first lieutenant on December 7, 1775.

On a famous September 23, 1779 battle off Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire coast of England, with over half of his crew either killed or wounded and many men horribly burned, Jones was asked if he wished to surrender.

Jones gave the reply “I have not yet begun to fight”.

They fought a bloody battle; the hand-to-hand combat and small arms fire of the Americans was deadly and accurate. Americans threw a grenade onto the British ship that caused a chain reaction of their gunpowder igniting and exploding in the lower deck. The British ship surrendered.

John Paul Jones is remembered in the United States as the ‘Father of the American Navy’. He became a distinguished naval officer fighting for both the US and Russia.

Frances’s King Louis XVI credited Jones with maintaining “The Freedom of the Seas.” In Britain he is remembered as a pirate. (Info here is from John Paul Jones Cottage Museum, US Naval Academy, Naval Institute, Battlefield Trust)

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250 Years Ago … Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale was born to a prominent Connecticut family in 1755 and attended Yale with hopes of becoming a teacher. He graduated with honors in 1773 and began teaching in New London, Connecticut.

When the Revolutionary War began in 1775, Hale recognized the importance serving in the military to fight for America’s independence from Britain.

He joined the Connecticut militia, becoming a First Lieutenant within five months. For reasons unknown, Hale was unable to join his troops on the battlefront during the Siege of Boston, which deeply troubled him.

Hale, intensely eager to go to combat against the Redcoats, leapt at the opportunity to serve in the newly established Knowlton’s Rangers.

General George Washington, then commander of the Continental Army, established the elite group under the command of Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton and tasked it with carrying out reconnaissance and raids.

In Nathan Hale’s time during the early years of the Revolutionary War, spying was not exactly considered honorable. But Hale believed in America and was willing do anything in his power to defend American freedom.

He volunteered to spy on the British Army after reportedly confiding in his classmate that he longed to be useful and that every kind of service for the public good was honorable by being necessary.

On the night of September 15, 1776, Hale left for Long Island outfitted as a schoolmaster and carrying his Yale diploma. He was using the cover story that he was a teacher looking for work.

Details of Hale’s espionage activities and capture are scant, though he almost certainly traveled around Long Island taking copious notes of British movements and fortifications just before his discovery.

On the morning of his execution on September 22, 1776, Hale showed great dignity and composure. His final words are purported to be: “I only regret that I have but one life to give to my country.” (All here is from the CIA.)

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About 250 Years Ago … Benedict Arnold

In the early years of the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold was one of George Washington’s most accomplished field generals.

His legacy today is quite different, with Arnold branded the most notorious traitor in American history, after a failed gambit to trade the vital American outpost at West Point for cash resulted in his defection to the British side.

A pharmacist by trade, he was short, solidly built (one acquaintance remembered that “there wasn’t any wasted timber in him”) and blessed with almost superhuman energy and endurance. He was handsome and charismatic, with black hair, gray eyes and an aquiline nose, and he carried himself with the lissome elegance of a natural athlete.

He was born in 1741. The first Benedict Arnold had been one of the colony’s founders, and subsequent generations had helped to establish the Arnolds as solid and respected citizens.

But Arnold’s father, who had settled in Norwich, Connecticut, proved to be a drunkard; only after his son moved to New Haven could he begin to free himself from the ignominy of his childhood. By his mid-30s he had had enough success as an apothecary and a seagoing merchant to begin building one of the finest homes in town.

From the first, he distinguished himself as one of New Haven’s more vocal and combative patriots. On hearing of the Boston Massacre, he thundered, “Good God, are the Americans all asleep and tamely giving up their glorious liberties?”

When in April 1775 he learned of the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, he seized a portion of New Haven’s gunpowder supply and marched north with a company of volunteers. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, he convinced Dr. Joseph Warren and the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to authorize an expedition to capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York State and its 80 or more cannons. (Smithsonian)

Benedict Arnold was part of the command (with Ethan Allen) of the Green Mountain Boys.  He created a navy for Lake Champlain, battled the British at Valcour Island, and burned the boats in what is now Arnold Bay during retreat from that battle, effectively stopping the British from gaining a foothold in the area.

Arnold’s forces eventually clashed with the British at Fort Ticonderoga – nestled along the shores of Lake Champlain in northern New York – capturing valuable artillery stores. He achieved this with relative ease, providing the Continental Army with its first victory of the war and a desperately needed boost of confidence.

The heavy cannons taken by Arnold proved instrumental in ending the Siege of Boston the following year. His exploits, however, were not without cost; he suffered the first of two serious leg injuries during a failed attack on British-occupied Quebec, Canada.

By early 1777, Arnold was back in the field, leading his troops in a blocking action against a British advance in Connecticut. The enemy force, commanded by William Tryon, the British Governor of New York and recently appointed general, was acting on intelligence from a British spy about a suspected Continental Army weapons depot.

The British achieved their objectives but at great cost, suffering twice as many casualties as the Americans in the ensuing skirmish. Arnold narrowly escaped death, having two horses shot out from under him on the battlefield.

Arnold was also instrumental in the historic American triumph at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. By virtue of his bravery and exceptional leadership, his men prevailed against a formidable army commanded by one of England’s brashest generals.

The lopsided victory at Saratoga, resulting in the surrender of thousands of British soldiers, was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, emboldening France to formally enter the war and strike a decisive alliance with America.

Arnold did not escape the battle unharmed, suffering a severe wound in the same leg he injured earlier. To facilitate his recuperation, Washington appointed him Military Governor of Philadelphia.

Brewing Troubles

Arnold’s patriotism and battlefield exploits earned him little reward. Though the British surrender at Saratoga was hailed throughout the colonies, other officers took credit for Arnold’s tactical success and diminished his role.

As a further insult, Congress refused to promote Arnold in rank, elevating several junior officers above him.

It is not clear when 37-year-old Benedict Arnold first met 18-year-old Peggy Shippen; however, on September 25, 1778, he wrote her a love letter—much of it an exact copy of one he’d sent to another woman six months before.

But in September 1778 he did not yet have the money he needed to maintain Peggy in the style to which she was accustomed.

There was also the matter of the Shippens’ politics.  They might not be outright loyalists, but they had a decided distaste for the radical patriots who were waging an undeclared war on Philadelphia’s upper classes now that the British had gone.

Given Arnold’s interest in Edward Shippen’s daughter and his lifelong desire to acquire the wealth his bankrupt father had denied him, it is not surprising that he embraced the city’s marginalized nobility with a vengeance. (Smithsonian)

As Arnold gradually became more disaffected, his wife, Margaret “Peggy” Shippen, was immersing herself in lavish spending, deeply indebting the general. Adding to the swirl of troubles, Arnold faced a court-martial on charges of misconduct and financial impropriety.

Though he was largely exonerated, he received a stinging rebuke from Washington, fanning a deep-seated resentment. Bitter, indignant, and desperate for money, Arnold decided to turn away from his country, brokering a secret agreement to begin spying for the British.

In 1780, Washington summoned Arnold to rejoin the Army as a top commander, but the disillusioned general had other plans. He requested and was granted command of the American defenses along the Hudson River at West Point. The fortified outpost held much strategic value, controlling lines of communication and transportation between New England and the rest of the country.

Arnold is usually credited with coming up with the idea himself, but there are reasons to think the decision to turn traitor originated with Peggy. Certainly the timing is suspect, following so soon after their marriage.

Arnold was bitter, but even he had to admit that the Revolution had catapulted him from the fringes of respectability in New Haven to the national stage. Peggy, on the other hand, regarded the Revolution as a disaster from the start.

By marrying Peggy, Arnold had attached himself to a woman who knew how to get what she wanted. When her father had initially refused to allow her to marry Arnold, she had used her seeming frailty – her fits, her hysteria, whatever you wanted to call it – to manipulate him into agreeing to the engagement for fear that she might otherwise suffer irreparable harm. Now she would get her way with her equally indulgent husband.

On September 21, 1780, Revolutionary War hero Benedict Arnold turned his back on his country in a secret meeting with a top British official.

Arnold proposed to turn over West Point in exchange for a large payment. For the revolutionaries, holding West Point meant preventing the British from controlling the Hudson River and dividing the colonies in two.

He offered an additional lure, the potential capture of George Washington during a planned visit. The British readily agreed.

Arnold’s Treachery Discovered

Arnold began discreetly weakening the stronghold while surreptitiously reporting to André on troop strength, planned movements, and defensive positions. After returning from one of their secret meetings, André was captured and searched by local American militia, who discovered documents implicating Arnold.

Alerted that André had been captured, Arnold fled West Point and managed to reach the HMS Vulture, a British warship nearby. He wrote to Washington, requesting safe passage to Philadelphia for his wife. Washington acquiesced, unaware of her involvement in Arnold’s scheming.

As for André, Washington ordered the captured British officer hanged as a spy. This came after an offer from Washington, proposing to exchange André for Arnold, was rejected by his British counterpart.

Arnold was soon rewarded by the British with a commission as a brigadier general. After clashing with redcoats for years, he would soon be leading them against his former comrades.

In the aftermath of the betrayal, Washington ordered his cavalry commander, Major Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee (the father of future Confederate commander Robert E. Lee) to plan the capture of Arnold from New York City.

Weeks after Arnold’s flight, the handpicked John Champe, Lee’s Sergeant Major, posed as a defecting Continental soldier and joined British forces in New York. From there, aided by local spies, he planned to abduct Arnold and return him to American lines.  A last-minute transfer saved Arnold, allowing the turncoat to elude Champe, who eventually returned to the American lines.

Three months later, Arnold led 1,600 men of the American Legion – mostly Loyalist troops and Continental Army deserters – to Richmond, Virginia’s capital, which was defended by only a small handful of volunteers.

After being chased off by Arnold’s men, Governor Thomas Jefferson offered a bounty of 5,000 gold coins for the capture of the former American general.

Arnold survived the war and moved with his wife Peggy to England, where he lived out the remainder of his life, mistrusted even by the British and consigned to relative obscurity. He died in London in 1801. (National Intelligence)

Click the following link to a general summary about Benedict Arnold:

Click to access Benedict-Arnold.pdf

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Battles of Saratoga

The failure of the American invasion of Canada in 1775–76 left a large surplus of British troops along the St. Lawrence River. In 1777 these troops were to move south for an attack on Albany, New York.

In 1777, British strategy called for a three-pronged attack seeking to gain military control of the strategically important Hudson River Valley, with three separate groups converging near Albany.

By August, British General John Burgoyne had captured Fort Ticonderoga, defeated fleeing American troops at Hubbardton (Vermont) and occupied Fort Edward, on the edge of the Hudson River. After a contingent of Burgoyne’s troops was defeated in the Battle of Bennington, his reduced forces marched south toward Saratoga in early September.

To disrupt the British advance south, Gates had his troops erect defenses on the crest of Bemis Heights, a series of bluffs from which both the Hudson River and the road can be seen. From there, American artillery had the range to hit both the river and the road.

The Americans also erected a fortified wall a little less than a mile from Bemis Heights. The wall extended about three-quarters of a mile, creating a line shaped like a large “L”. Twenty-two cannons were placed behind this defense, providing the Americans with artillery cover.

The two armies engaged in combat at Freeman’s Farm on September 19. While the British held off the Americans, their losses were great. Burgoyne’s battered forces dug trenches and waited for reinforcements, but none came.

Following intense fighting with the Continental Army in September, at Freeman’s Farm, the British Army fortified themselves behind two defensive redoubts (protective barriers) – the larger, better-defended Balcarres Redoubt and the weaker Breymann Redoubt. American forces, led by General Benedict Arnold, managed to take the Breymann Redoubt, which gave them a strong position behind the British lines.

Benedict Arnold galloped into the fray and rallied the Americans in the attack on the Breymann Redoubt. A fellow officer in the Continental Line said that Arnold “behaved more like a madman than a cool and discreet officer.” During this engagement, he sustained a serious wound in his left leg.

By early evening, the Americans secured possession of the Breymann Redoubt and gained a tactical advantage, as it was the far right flank of the British lines.

From here the Americans could easily get behind British lines. Realizing their plight, the British pulled back into their Great Redoubt near the river and held out for several weeks. (Battlefields)

On October 7, Burgoyne launched a second, unsuccessful attack on the Americans at Bemis Heights.  On the morning of October 8, General John Burgoyne’s army attempted to escape north, but a cold, hard rain forced them to stop and encamp near the town of Saratoga. Cold, hungry and weary, they dug in and prepared to defend themselves, but within two days the Americans had them surrounded.

With no means of escape, Burgoyne eventually surrendered to Gates on October 17. (Battlefields)

Why was it important?

American troops battled and beat a British invasion force, marking the first time in world history that a British Army ever surrendered. (NPS)  It was one of the most decisive American battles of the Revolutionary War.

Saratoga was unquestionably the greatest victory yet won by the Continental Army in terms of prisoners and captured arms and equipment. Nearly 6,000 enemy soldiers were taken, along with 42 cannon and massive quantities of stores. (Army-mil)

Following the American victory, morale among American troops was high. With Burgoyne’s surrender of his entire army to Gates, the Americans scored a decisive victory that finally persuaded the French to sign a treaty allying with the United States against Britain, France’s traditional enemy.

The entrance of France into the war, along with its financial and military support, in particular its navy, was in the end crucial to Washington’s victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781, which effectively ended the war.

But the French were not alone in supporting the Americans following the Battle of Saratoga. The Spanish and later the Dutch provided support as well, eager to seize the opportunity to weaken their British rival.

It also had a direct impact on the career of General George Washington.  Without the victory at Saratoga, American forces would likely not have received critical assistance from the French, and faith in the war effort would have been weakened.

On a personal side note, I am a descendant of Israel Moseley (he is my 4th Great Grandfather).  Israel Moseley was a Patriot who fought in the American Revolution.  Born in 1743, Israel graduated from Yale in 1766.

He served as a private in Captain Daniel Sacket’s company, Colonel Woodbridge’s regiment from August 20 to October 23, 1777 in the Northern department.  He fought in the Battles of Saratoga.

Click the following links to general summaries about the Battles of Saratoga:

Click to access Battles-of-Saratoga-1777-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Battles-of-Saratoga.pdf

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … US Constitution

The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777.

The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. It established a weak central government that mostly, but not entirely, prevented the individual states from conducting their own foreign diplomacy.

Congress sent the Articles to the states for ratification at the end of November. Most delegates realized that the Articles were a flawed compromise, but believed that it was better than an absence of formal national government.

On December 16, 1777, Virginia was the first state to ratify. Other states ratified during the early months of 1778.  The Maryland legislature was the last to ratify the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781.

The weakness of this confederation became increasingly apparent when the War for Independence was over and the staggering debt repayment, which Congress under the Articles could proportionally assess but not directly collect, became a point of conflict between the states and a source of intense domestic strife within several of the states.  (Williams)

Congress Tried to Revise the Articles of Confederation

The states’ disputes over territory, war pensions, taxation, and trade threatened to tear the young country apart. Alexander Hamilton helped convince Congress to organize a Constitutional Convention.

The Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in May of 1787. The delegates shuttered the windows of the State House and swore secrecy so they could speak freely.

Although they had gathered to revise the Articles of Confederation, by mid-June they had decided to completely redesign the government. There was little agreement about what form it would take.

One of the fiercest arguments was over congressional representation – should it be based on population or divided equally among the states? The framers compromised by giving each state one representative for every 30,000 people in the House of Representatives and two representatives in the Senate.

On July 26, 1787, after two months of fierce debate over the structure and powers of a new federal government, the Constitutional Convention was ready to commit its resolutions to writing. Appointing a “committee of detail” to draft a written constitution, the Convention adjourned until August 6.

After five weeks of debate over the committee of detail’s draft Constitution, the Constitutional Convention appointed a committee of style to prepare a final version; Gouverneur Morris, later known as the “penman of the Constitution,” did most of the work.

The state delegates approved the draft of the Constitution on September 15, 1787. The signing was set for the very next Monday.

Jacob Shallus, the assistant clerk for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, agreed to engross (copy in a fine, clear hand) the document. Over the course of about 40 hours, he created an accurate transcription of the draft. He was paid $30 for his efforts. On September 17, the document was ready for signing.

Thirty-nine of the 42 men present signed the Constitution. George Washington was first, followed by each state delegation descending from north to south.  (George Reed signed for John Dickinson of Delaware, who was absent.)

George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph refused to sign because the Constitution lacked a bill of rights. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams did not sign because they were on diplomatic missions in Europe during the convention, bringing the total number of signatures to 39.

The founders set the terms for ratifying the Constitution. They bypassed the state legislatures, reasoning that their members would be reluctant to give up power to a national government. Instead, they called for special ratifying conventions in each state. Ratification by 9 of the 13 states enacted the new government. But at the time, only 6 of 13 states reported a pro-Constitution majority.

The Continental Congress Institutes a New Government

By the summer of 1788, enough states had ratified the Constitution, and the Confederation delegates who were preoccupied in their home states came back to New York for the last few months of the government under the first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation.

There was much haggling that summer over whether Congress should admit Kentucky as a state or leave that issue to the new government. They debated incessantly over the seat of the First Congress, a question left for the new federal Congress itself to resolve.

They even debated whether another constitutional convention should be called to address the question of a bill of rights and other amendments, with both New York and Virginia calling for such a convention.

On July 2, 1788, Congress received the momentous news that New Hampshire had just become the ninth state to ratify the new Constitution, making it the law of the land.

Congress responded by appointing a committee to schedule the first federal elections and fix the date when the new government would begin operation in New York City. This was the last major act of the Continental Congress.

James Madison, George Washington, and other Federalists resolved to win the first federal elections to ensure that their vision of the new Constitution would have a fighting chance to succeed.

George Washington hoped the First Congress would find a way to deal with the proposed constitutional amendments “without overturning the whole system.” He concluded: “I earnestly pray that the Omnipotent Being who hath not deserted the cause of America in the hour of its extremest hazard, will never yield so fair a heritage of freedom a prey to anarchy or despotism.”

Only thirteen House members, representing five of the eleven states that had ratified the Constitution by March 4, showed up for the opening session. The Senate, too, failed to achieve a quorum. Both bodies adjourned in less than an hour, and the guns sounded again and the crowds cheered again, but the members themselves were disappointed in the anticlimax of their first day under the new Constitution.

What Does the Constitution Say?

The Constitution of the United States contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates.

The preamble sets the stage for the Constitution. It clearly communicates the intentions of the framers and the purpose of the document. The preamble is an introduction to the highest law of the land; it is not the law. It does not define government powers or individual rights.

Establish Justice is the first of five objectives outlined in the 52-word paragraph that the Framers drafted in six weeks during the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787. They found a way to agree on the following basic principles:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The first three articles establish the three branches of government and their powers: Legislative (Congress), Executive (office of the President,) and Judicial (Federal court system). A system of checks and balances prevents any one of these separate powers from becoming dominant.

Article I assigns the responsibility for making laws to the Legislative Branch (Congress). Congress is divided into two parts, or “Houses,” the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bicameral Congress was a compromise between the large states, which wanted representation based on population, and the small ones, which wanted the states to have equal representation.

Article II details the Executive Branch and the offices of the President and Vice President. It lays down rules for electing the President (through the Electoral College), eligibility (must be a natural-born citizen at least 35 years old), and term length. The 12th and 25th Amendments modified some of these rules.

Article III establishes the Judicial Branch with the U.S. Supreme Court as the federal court system’s highest court. It specifies that Federal judges be appointed for life unless they commit a serious crime. This article is shorter than Articles I and II. The Federal Convention left much of the work of planning the court system to the First Congress. The 1789 Judiciary Act created the three-tiered court system in place today.

Articles four through seven describe the relationship of the states to the Federal Government, establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and define the amendment and ratification processes.

Article IV outlines states’ powers in relationship to each other. States have the authority to create and enforce their own laws but must respect and help enforce the laws of other states. Congress may pass Federal laws regarding how states honor other states’ laws and records.

Article V explains the amendment process, which is different and more difficult than the process for making laws. When two-thirds of the Senate and two-thirds of the House of Representatives vote to change the Constitution, an amendment goes to the state legislatures for a vote. Alternatively, two-thirds of the state legislatures can submit an application to Congress, and then Congress calls a national convention at which states propose amendments. Three-fourths of the state legislatures or state conventions must vote in favor of an amendment to ratify it.

Article VI states that Federal law is supreme, or higher than, state and local laws. This means that if a state law conflicts with a Federal law, Federal law takes precedence.

Article VII describes the ratification process for the Constitution. It called for special state ratifying conventions. Nine states were required to enact the Constitution. Rhode Island became the 13th state to ratify the Constitution in 1790.

To date, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992.

Click the following link to a general summary about the US Constitution:

Click to access US-Constitution.pdf

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