‘To say that Atkinson can tell a story is like saying Sinatra can sing … A powerful new voice has been added to the dialogue about [America’s] origins as a people and a nation. It is difficult to imagine any reader putting this beguiling book down without a smile and a tear.’ New York TimesIn June 1773, King George III attended a grand celebration of his reign over the greatest, richest empire since ancient Rome. Less than two years later, Britain’s bright future turned dark: after a series of provocations, the king’s soldiers took up arms against his rebellious colonies in America. The war would last eight years, and though at least one in ten of the Americans who fought for independence would die for that cause, the prize was valuable beyond measure: freedom from oppression and the creation of a new republic.Rick Atkinson, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning An Army at Dawn and two other superb books about the Second World War has long been admired for his unparalleled ability to write deeply researched, stunningly vivid narrative history. In this new book, he tells the story of the first twenty-one months of America’s violent effort to forge a new nation. From the battles at Lexington and Concord in spring 1775 to those at Trenton and Princeton in winter 1776–77, American militiamen and then the ragged Continental Army take on the world’s most formidable fighting force and struggle to avoid annihilation.It is a gripping saga alive with astonishing characters: Henry Knox, the former bookseller with an uncanny understanding of artillery; Nathanael Greene, the blue-eyed bumpkin who becomes one of America’s greatest battle captains; Benjamin Franklin, the self-made man who proves himself the nation’s wiliest diplomat; George Washington, the commander in chief who learns the difficult art of leadership when the war seems all but lost.Full of riveting details and untold stories, The British Are Coming is a tale of heroes and knaves, of sacrifice and blunder, of redemption and profound suffering. Rick Atkinson has given stirring new life to the first act of America’s creation drama.
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Rick Atkinson. The British Are Coming
Contents
Maps
Illustrations. FIRST INSERT
SECOND INSERT
Prologue. ENGLAND, JUNE 1773–MARCH 1775. Inspecting the Fleet
Avenging the Tea
Preparing for War
1. God Himself Our Captain
2. Men Came Down from the Clouds
3. I Wish This Cursed Place Was Burned
4. What Shall We Say of Human Nature?
5. I Shall Try to Retard the Evil Hour
6. America Is an Ugly Job
7. They Fought, Bled, and Died Like Englishmen
8. The Paths of Glory
Part Two
9. The Ways of Heaven Are Dark and Intricate
10. The Whipping Snake
11. City of Our Solemnities
12. A Strange Reverse of Fortune
13. Surrounded by Enemies, Open and Concealed
14. A Dog in a Dancing School
15. A Fight Among Wolves
16. A Sentimental Manner of Making War
Part Three
17. Master of the Lakes
18. The Retrograde Motion of Things
19. A Quaker in Paris
20. Fire-and-Sword Men
21. The Smiles of Providence
22. The Day Is Our Own
Epilogue
Author’s Note
Notes
Sources
Acknowledgments
Index
Copyright
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To Jane, for forty years
—George Washington, General Orders, August 23, 1776
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A peal of bells marked the day, with an oration by the archbishop of Canterbury and an ode by a royal chorus. The poet laureate scribbled verse to fill up strophes, antistrophes, and various declamations on Charlotte’s virtues. The Tower guns fired at one p.m., and illuminations brightened Westminster; those at the French ambassador’s house were exceptionally radiant, a tribute, it was said, from Queen Marie Antoinette as a gesture of royal sisterhood. But it was the birthday ball that had kept West End milliners, mantua makers, and bespoke shoe cobblers in a stitching frenzy for weeks.
The evening began badly. A fine day turned wet, and churning fog limited the visibility around St. James’s to five yards. Even footmen wielding white wands could not prevent the collision of several coaches, with bones broken and horses entangled. Constables spotted seven suspected pickpockets sidling through the pandemonium, and marched them off to Bridewell Prison. The guests soldiered on, rescuing the night through determined elegance. Pigmented ceruse rouged the cheeks, and wigs were powdered to make the eyes appear brighter, an effect enhanced by false eyebrows made from mouse skins, which were applied with gum. “The dresses were splendid and magnificent, much beyond anything I had ever before seen,” one foreign visitor wrote. “The queen appears amiable.” Of 177 peers of the realm, including 23 dukes and 77 earls, a gratifying number strode through the fog to attend their amiable queen, who wore a new diamond stomacher over her brocaded gown, with matching necklace and earrings. The minuets began at nine p.m. and continued for two hours, followed by country dances. The Morning Chronicle would assure its readers that “more brilliants were never there at one time than was seen last night.”
