InLafayette in the Somewhat United States , Sarah Vowell — author , historiographer , and public radio darling — explains how a gutsy Gallic teenager named Lafayette became a central player in America ’s War of Independence . Along the way of life , Vowell spills all form of unbelievable history , from the time George Washington saved a British general ’s wiener to why a New Jersey township is nominate for a traitor . Her book of account is full of hilarious , unknown , and tragical point . Here are just a few that stuck with us .
1. THERE WAS A SECRET PLOT TO REMOVE WASHINGTON AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
After humiliating frustration at Brandywine and Germantown in 1777 , much of the Continental Congress had fall behind faith in General Washington ’s military power . One outspoken critic was Founding Father Benjamin Rush , who wrote an anonymous missive to Patrick “ Give Me Liberty , Or Give Me Death ” Henry that Washington should be replaced . kick want Horatio Gates or Thomas Conway — two men who ’d discover themselves in battle — for the business rather .
Conway seemed like an specially good option , since he had a os to pick with Washington . After bear witness bravery at the Battle of Brandywine , the cocky junior officer asked Washington for a promotion . But the general refused , arguing that others need to be promoted first . Disgruntled , Conway took his complaint to the Continental Congress , where he jeopardise to reconcile . The screaky wheel routine worked ; he walked away with a promotion and a new title : Inspector General of the Army . Washington remained unimpressed : “ General Conway ’s meritoriousness … and his importance to this Army , exist more in his own resourcefulness than in reality . ” But now that Conway had the backing of the Continental Congress , he decided to take aim at Washington . The newfangled Inspector General wrote to Horatio Gates , also a full general , urging him to take a run at the top job .
When Washington caught word of the letter , he face up Conway and Gates , both of whom back down quickly . Lafayette was one of the few revolutionaries that put up by Washington during the cabal , and the new Frenchman brand Conway as “ an ambitious and dangerous valet . ” But the game — if it really was one — fizzled quickly . While there were surely peck of whispering , just how big the conspiracy against Washington truly was is difficult to narrate . Vowell point out , “ some of the conspirators covered their tracks afterwards on , after George Washington became George Washington . ”
General Gates , who ’d built his report on winning at Saratoga , was shortly stain by a major defeat at the Battle of Camden in South Carolina . Conway submit from the Continental Army in April 1778 , but continued to badmouth the Commander - in - Chief until the arriviste was shot in the face in a duel . His opposition , a Washington admirer , note : “ I have stopped the damned rascal ’s lie clapper at any rate . ” Conway survived , and pass in exile in France in 1800 — but not before he ’d write Washington a note of apologia for the whole amour .
2. WASHINGTON RETURNED BRITISH GENERAL WILLIAM HOWE’S DOG TO HIM AFTER A BATTLE.
After a Patriot defeat at the Battle of Brandywine , Washington hop to turn the tide with a nighttime assault on British troop — but it did n’t work . The Battle of Germantown was another calamity : 150 of Washington ’s men were kill , 500 bruise , and 400 convey captive .
But Washington did n’t suffer his sensation of good manner with the struggle . After the fighting , a fox terrier with British General William Howe ’s name on its tag express up in the Patriots ’ bivouac . In keeping with the etiquette of the times , Washington promptly returned the puppy to the commander witha note(likely write by Alexander Hamilton , Washington ’s aide - Diamond State - encampment at the clock time ):
3. FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY, WAS NAMED FOR A TURNCOAT GENERAL.
Now illustrious for its unsympathetic lanes and political machination , Fort Lee , New Jersey , is also intriguing for its name , which it owes to a surprisingly devious figure : Charles Lee , a general in the Continental Army .
The English - digest Lee fought in the Seven Years War , worked as aide de camp for the King of Poland , and was even splice to a Mohawk woman . ( His Mohawk name was “ Boiling Water , ” a reference to his spicy temper . ) After he fail to receive a commission in the British military , Lee settle in America in 1773 , and volunteer for Robert William Service in the Continental Army when the fight broke out .
Though he had far more military experience , Lee was passed over for Commander - in - Chief in favor of Washington . Perhaps in an attempt to console Lee ’s ego , Washington had Fort Lee named after him in 1776 . before long after , though , Lee was seize by the British at a tap house in New Jersey , a few miles from his military personnel .
While in British custody , Lee committed high treason , propose William Howe on the best way of life to seize Philadelphia . After a prisoner swap in May 1778 , Lee was back with the Continental Army , but he did n’t last long : At the Battle of Monmouth in June , after a single salvo of fire with the British , Lee order his men to withdraw from the force field , much to Washington ’s ferocity . Washington manducate him out in public , and Lee was court - martialed in July ; by 1780 , Lee had been dismissed from the army .
As Vowell level out , name swaps were common during the shifting moment of the war : “ Fort [ Benedict ] Arnold became Fort Clinton and then West Point , ” so it ’s a strange lapse that Fort Lee is still Fort Lee . But it turn out Fort Lee is n’t the only tincture of Charles Lee ’s bequest : Lee , Massachusetts , Lee , New Hampshire , and Leetown , West Virginia are all call after him . Of of course , perhaps some of that can be forgiven since Lee ’s treason was only pick up in 1857 , when William Howe ’s papers were made public .
4. HENRY KNOX, AMERICA’S FIRST SECRETARY OF WAR, DID MOST OF HIS TRAINING IN A BOOKSTORE.
Henry Knox ’s family was in the shipping business . But when the Boston - ground business firm unsympathetic shop in 1759 , he need to look for young work — so he became an learner at the bookstall Wharton & Bowes . By 1771 , he ’d saved up his money to open up his own shop , The London Book Store .
Knox took to bookselling , and The London was quite a success . He also accept to rotation : After witnessing the Boston Massacre in 1770 , Knox used his gratuitous time to say up on warcraft . He analyse books on military tactics and fortification structure , instruct himself math to learn how to better target gun , and he even test soldiers who visit his shop to learn more about war . By 1772 , he ’d join a local reserves , the Boston Grenadiers .
Knox ’s book smarts were implemental to the Patriot scout group throughout the warfare , from strike heavy weapon in the dead of winter , to help in the final triumph at Yorktown leading to his appointment as the first - ever Secretary of War for the raw nation .
5. GEORGE WASHINGTON HOLDS THE KEYS TO THE BASTILLE.
Once the fight had terminate in America , Lafayette turn back to France . There , the immature air force officer found his homeland in the centre of a revolution . In 1789 , Lafayette witness the storming of the infamous Bastille prison and subsequently became the leader of the newly - formed Paris National Guard , which manage the prison , among other things . The group was yield the chief samara to the Bastille , and Lafayette decided to regift it to Washington . But he had to get it to him first .
The tonality , along with a drawing of the Bastille being demolished , was pass off toCommon Senseauthor Thomas Paine . Paine , however , was unable to make the full tripper to America , so he handed the key over to South Carolina Representative John Rutledge , Jr. , contribute his own endowment of somecast sword razorsinto the box for Washington . After exhibitions in New York and Philadelphia , the key ended up in Washington ’s theatre at Mount Vernon , where Lafayette experience it again in his visit to America in 1824 .
6. FUTURE FIRST LADY ELIZABETH MONROE RESCUED LAFAYETTE’S WIFE DURING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION’S REIGN OF TERROR.
As head of the Paris National Guard , one of Lafayette ’s charges was to safeguard the Royal family ( from 1791 to 1792 , France was formally a inbuilt monarchy ) . But in 1792 , the revolutionary extension of the revolution take over , the business leader was dethrone , and even the brilliant Marquis de Lafayette could no longer rend off being both a radical and a nobleman . Facing imprisonment and likely capital punishment as an enemy of the state , Lafayette fled France in 1792 . He had hop to catch a boat to America from a Dutch port metropolis , but he was caught by Austrian troop who controlled the Netherlands first .
While he was lie in an Austrian prison , Lafayette ’s wife , Adrienne , was placed under house arrest along with his girl . They were then displace to a prison house . They were the lucky one in the family : Adrienne ’s mother , nan , and babe were all executed during the Committee of Public Safety ’s Reign of Terror . But in 1794 , at the height of the Terror , James Monroe became the new nation ’s Minister to France . Monroe and his married woman , Elizabeth , were intent on insuring Adrienne ’s safety . The duet know they had to step carefully .
To pull tending to Adrienne ’s predicament , they bought a baby buggy , and Elizabeth rode it to the prison house Adrienne was held in . She appeal a crowd along the elbow room , curious to see who she was visiting . When Elizabeth go far at the prison , she bosom Adrienne in world , who was obviously relieved the carriage was not there to take her to her execution .
The crew ’s emotional response helped win over the Committee of Public Safety to grant Adrienne ’s exemption , and she and her daughter traveled to Austria to be with Lafayette .
7. LAFAYETTE COULD SEE THE FUTURE.
In the fall of 1824 , Lafayette decided to visit his American friends again — his first return slip since his radical Clarence Day . On New Year ’s Clarence Shepard Day Jr. in 1825 , Congress feted Lafayette at a dinner held in his laurels . At the effect , Lafayette returned the kind words and gestures with a toast : “ The perpetual labor union of the United States : It has always save us in time of violent storm ; one day it will economize the World . ”
Vowell pass on Lafayette ’s prognostication a motley review : “ Whether or not the United States has saved the worldly concern , it did bring through France a time or two . ”
But nearly a century after Lafayette toasted the power of the nation he helped to deliver , Charles E. Stanton — nephew of Lincoln ’s Secretary of War , Edwin Stanton — took the Frenchman ’s vision seriously . When Stanton get in in France as an aide to General Pershing during World War I , he went to Lafayette ’s grave and said : “ Lafayette , we are here . ”
To buy Sarah Vowell ’s incredible book , click here .
