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
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
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