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Washington's Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Gallic Wars > Item 139
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Washington's Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge
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by Thomas Fleming
Sales Rank: 270682
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List Price: $27.95
$22.36
At Amazon
on 9-16-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 400 pages
Published by: Collins October 25, 2005
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0060829621
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0060829629
Book Dimensions:
9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
Weighs: 1.6 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Fleming enhances his position as a leading general-audience historian of the American Revolution in this convincing argument for the importance of internal diplomacy in the conflict's development. Like David McCullough's 1776, Fleming's volume depicts Valley Forge as the revolution's turning point, with the fulcrum being George Washington's ability to develop "a new kind of leadership" that combined military and political elements. Recognizing the limited applicability of European precedents in the new republic, Washington simultaneously had to revitalize an army on the point of collapse and energize a Continental Congress ignorant of how to conduct a war. He performed both feats while maintaining both his authority as commander-in-chief and the principle of military subordination to political authority. And, all the while, he managed to keep the British believing that conciliation was preferable to battle. Fleming credits Washington's achievement to a force of character that increasingly impressed soldiers and politicians alike, but even more to Washington's ability to persuade waverers and opponents to his point of view by using a "series of positive proposals, well researched and closely argued." Fleming's use of short chapters (one- to three-pages each) and lively prose helps keep the complicated political maneuvers easy to follow. (Oct. 25)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
George Washington's contemporaries regularly referred to his aura of gravitas, part of which was as an apparent ability to remain above the petty squabbles that characterize democratic politics. Yet, as Fleming indicates, that detachment from political warfare was mostly illusion. He focuses on the winter and spring of 1777-78, when the Continental Army was encamped in deprived, brutal conditions at Valley Forge. This, of course, was a turning point for both Washington and his army. Aided by Baron Von Steuben, the army emerged from their travails as a disciplined, professional fighting force. In Fleming's view, this was also the period when Washington honed his skills at political warfare. He was the target of constant criticism from members of the Continental Congress, and ambitious subordinates hoped to replace him. But Washington learned to give as good as he got, while still maintaining the appearance of aristocratic distance from the fray. Fleming has provided an original and provocative reinterpretation of a critical period in the struggle for independence. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Reader Reviews
The young American nation had lost its first capital, Philadelphia, in the fall of 1777. The army of General George Washington had suffered clear defeats from the British, and retired exhausted to Valley Forge, a wooded area 25 miles west of the former capital. The army was there to rest up for the winter in order to fight again when warmer weather came. Washington had to fight the British once again, but that is not the story in _Washington's Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge_ (Smithsonian Books / Collins) by Thomas Fleming. The war Washington had to wage while in retreat was not against the British, but against the good guys, well known founding fathers like Sam and John Adams and Benjamin Rush. In many ways, it was a matter of regional prejudice. Fleming writes of Washington's opponents, "They had long since decided that Virginians and almost everyone outside New England were morally inferior to high-minded, Harvard-educated descendents of the Puritans." They were insistent on an unrealistically idealized view of how an army of patriots could fight and how a nation of patriots might supply that army with its needs, and they were willing to sacrifice Washington in order to get their views put into practice. It might well have been that they would have sacrificed victory as well. Fleming presents a fascinating view of Washington's work as a consummate politician, using his strong understanding of practical motivations, to thwart the generals and politicians who were conspiring against him. Mention the words "Valley Forge" and a patriotic mist clouds the vision of many Americans. Fleming does a wonderful job dispelling the myths while never neglecting the importance of the encampment. The troops certainly suffered hardship; they did not freeze to death (the winter was relatively mild) but they did starve, sacrificed to a commissary and quartermaster system that was inefficient at best and fraudulent at worst. The conspiracy against Washington was not just over how the soldiers were to be paid or fed. The radical Whigs were intent upon replacing Washington with General Horatio Gates, one of their own but a timorous intriguer who enjoyed the flattery of the politicians and officers who boosted him as Washington's replacement. Gates's foul mouth and interest in sexual hanky-panky were in stark contrast to the serious, gentlemanly Washington, whose devoted marriage is depicted here since Martha came to stay the winter with him. There were plots to blame Washington for the army's previous defeats, for holing himself up at Valley Forge, and for whatever other ills his enemies could find. There was even a bizarre plot by Gates to have the Marquis de Lafayette lead an invasion into Canada which would have inevitably have failed and ruined the career of Washington's son-like hero. We think of our founding fathers as united in their just cause, but the picture here is of backstabbing and power-grabbing. Washington himself dealt with his critics openly, and often with generosity they did not deserve. During the six grim months at Valley Forge, he demonstrated not only military but political leadership. He was able to get concessions from Congress to support his army, and he not only remained the commander, but he was able to install men whom he had chosen and who led the troops to further success. The drills led by the colorful Baron von Steuben (who had imaginary credentials dreamed up by that hoaxer Ben Franklin) all worked well. In ten days after breaking camp, the Army was successful in meeting the British at the Battle of Monmouth. Fleming reflects that with the fame of Valley Forge "... came one of memory's favorite historical tricks: the simplification and sentimentalization of the story." Congressional ineptitude and the plot to unseat Washington didn't fit in with our view of the powerful heroes that brought us liberty, but Fleming's book is a wonderful corrective, as well as providing even more reasons to admire a master politician.
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