Читать книгу Blood of Tyrants - Logan Beirne - Страница 24

The lessons may be forgotten, but history never dies.

Early in the Revolution, an enraged General Washington wrote to Congress regarding the capture of a young woman “of easy virtue.”² The “trollop” of a Loyalist spy, she had been instructed to transmit to British forces an encrypted letter concerning American military plans.³ But she proved to be a bumbling conduit. Disobeying orders, this “infamous hussy”⁴ gave the letter to a local baker with whom she had “shared idyllic hours of dalliance,” and requested that he deliver it instead.⁵ Noticing that the letter was directed to a British officer, the baker grew suspicious and turned it over to the American authorities.

Washington was outraged by the treacherous letter and dispatched his troops to capture the woman. They quickly located the not-so-sly minx and brought her back to their general. Washington notified Congress, “I immediately secured the Woman, but for a long time she was proof against every threat and perswasion to discover the Author.”⁶ He was desperate to find the mole among the American forces, but the “subtle, shrewd jade” obstinately refused to reveal the traitor behind the plot.⁷ General Washington faced a familiar dilemma: how far are we willing to go in order to save American lives?

Through undisclosed means, “at length she was brought to a confession.”⁸

The Americans captured a whopping 14,000 enemy soldiers during the Revolutionary War, and some of them became casualties in the United States’ struggle to forge a nation.⁹ The chapters in Part II analyze General Washington’s treatment of enemy combatants.¹⁰ Part I demonstrated that Washington served as the model for the future presidents’ war powers, and this part begins delving into precisely what his Revolutionary War precedents were.