After dipping my toe back into U.S. history with Volume I of the series, I've just finished Volume II and will continue through the series in earnest moving forward.
Volume II covered the greater portion of Washington's involvement in the French & Indian War, through and including his engagement to Martha Dandridge Custis. The time period is 1754 through late 1758. While Volume I ended with Washington's resounding defeat at Fort Necessity and his subsequent demotion and resignation from the military altogether, Volume II ends with his high level involvement with the capture of Fort Duquesne (the site modern Pittsburgh, PA) from the French.
The book continues with its incredible scholarship, the heavily footnoted story of Washington's young adulthood. It's impressive just how documented Washington's life is, describing with constant, daily details of his whereabouts and activities. I mostly skip the footnotes as distracting, but the occasional attention to them shows how painstaking the writing of such a biography must really be. Several sentences in just one footnote, for example, might describe an active debate over exactly which inn Washington might or might not have stayed in on a particular night, each possibility having its own respective sources and documentation. Wow, I do not have the the patience to do this type of work!
Washington endures a painful education in military leadership by taking on ever increasing responsibilities in a nasty war, all while still in his mid twenties. Rising to the rank of Colonel in the Virginian army, Washington leads that largest of American colony's defenses against invading French and Indians. The French are on the offensive for most of the book, gaining territory, invading towns and homes, murdering, raping and scalping their way through the Shenandoah Valley. Washington fights for years against malaise, lack of funds, poor infrastructure and much else to keep rural Virginia safe from attack.
His ambitions take him to great heights for such a young man. He is esteemed throughout Virginia as one of its most prominent military leaders, even at such a young age.
At this early stage in his career, however, I'm critical of his ambition, as it was largely personal rather than national or colonial. He's proud to be British and Virginian for sure, but he takes on such great risks and responsibilities specifically to advance his personal honor, not for love of country.
Perhaps this is because American pride was fragmentary at best in the 1750s. This part of Washington's story is of Britain versus France, not Britain versus America. And although Washington and his colleagues are British citizens, they lack the same sense of national pride as those born on English soil. These early colonial Americans live in a sort of no-mans land; not quite British, not quite yet American. So that's my defense of young Washington's personal ambition over a lukewarm national pride.
I'm really enjoying this series, and will be off and running with Volume III in a matter of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment