Americanism Redux

December 26, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1774

Maybe we should be grateful we don’t know.

Knowing the future could be much more of a burden than a blessing.

Two years from now, right now, for you and me and we.

Don’t tell me.

(But how about a quick peek?)

* * * * * * *

(the seat you’re in)

Today, 250 years ago, you’re walking along the frozen bank of a cold river. See those things tied up along the docks? Scores and scores of them. See those same things out on the water, with people in them, pulling on oars? Dozens of them.

Come over here with me and we’ll look at one of them up close.

Roughly fifty feet long. Eight feet across at the widest point. From the middle to the front, it tapers to a sharp angle. From the middle to the back, it tapers to a sharp angle. Upshot: there’s really no front or back, it goes in either direction.

It can hold twenty tons of weight and, fully loaded, only goes down about twenty inches in the water. And to repeat so you remember, it has no front or back and can go either direction if seven or eight muscular men work the oars and the poles. Twenty tons, twenty inches down, either direction. Remarkable.

The man who in 1730 first designed them did so after talking with people who speak Finnish or Swedish. His name was Robert Durham.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, Durham boats will be crisscrossing the Delaware River carrying American soldiers for a secret raid and surprise attack on German-held Trenton in the colony of New Jersey. Slivers of moonlight will bounce off massive ice chunks in the black waters of the Delaware River. A tall man wrapped in a deep-blue officers coat will worry about the first streaks of dawn faintly visible in the cold night after Christmas 1776.

* * * * * * *

(from the only war he’d fought in by 1774)

George Washington is home today, 250 years ago. It’s quiet, the third consecutive day at his beloved Mount Vernon. He’s enjoying unusually warm temperatures. The ground outside the house is soft, the air fresh. A guest or two stops by every so often.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, Washington is wearing a deep-blue officer’s coat, has the title of General in the Continental Army, and fears his worst nightmares are coming true as he stares in the sky above him. It will be dawn soon, too soon for a plan that depends on surprise. His grand plan to seize German units at Trenton, allied to the British Redcoats, will risk losing the advantage of surprise and with it, the American cause will wither to nothing and the thirteen colonies will suffer from British retribution. Not least, if the Trenton plan fails and he’s caught, George Washington will be hanged and his body cut apart after Christmas 1776.

* * * * * * *

(John Stark)

John Stark is at home with his wife and family. They live in a community that will be known as Manchester, colony of New Hampshire. Stark warms himself by the blazing fire in the hearth of the family cabin. He’s been struggling to get himself going in business. He blames the British and their new laws called the Coercive Acts. Stark belongs to the local “Committee of Safety” that is responsible for enforcing the town’s compliance with the Association, the economic boycott of British goods in reaction to the Coercive Acts. Outside, several inches of snow lay on the ground.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, Stark will be leading a military unit of men crossing the Delaware River in a Durham boat. He and his unit will be part of Washington’s desperate plan. Indeed, Stark will have helped conceptualize the plan, a broader example of the kind of ambush, hit-and-run, and guerrilla-style warfare at which he’d excelled in the French and Indian War. Stark will be grim, preparing for battle and, if necessary, his own death after Christmas 1776.

* * * * * * *

(John Glover)

John Glover lives today, 250 years ago, in the town of Marblehead, near Salem, colony of Massachusetts. The last several months have been a nightmare—sunken neck-deep in a local controversy about whether or not to build a hospital for treating smallpox, a disease feared by everyone; struggling to earn a seafaring living while the Coercive Acts are in place; and straining to keep Marblehead’s pro-colonial rights cause together and coherent as a counter to British imperial policy.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, Glover’s volunteer unit will be largely responsible for handling the Durham boats plowing across the frigid Delaware River. Glover’s unit will consist of white, black, Native, and a hodgepodge of various European regions and nations. On the river, though, they will use oars and poles as Americans after Christmas 1776.

* * * * * * *

(Johann Rall)

Johann Rall, today 250 years ago, is wrapping up his latest job as a mercenary military officer. He has been fighting in the nation now known as Bulgaria, where he still resides. Rall has served in the army paid for by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Rall’s service has been on the Russian side in the Fourth Russo-Turkish War. The 48-year old Rall is a professional militarist, offering his skills and knowledge to anyone willing to cough up his fee.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, Rall will be surrounded by enemy fire in a surprise attack after sunrise. He’ll be wondering where his own commanding officer is and why he’s not here at Trenton to provide crucial support that could save the lives of Rall and his German soldiers after Christmas 1776.

* * * * * * *

(Carl Von Donop)

Carl Von Donop, today, 250 years ago, is in Hesse-Kassel, a region of future Germany. He’s been enjoying a local “Christmas” celebration that combines Christianity, folk myths, and paganism in this region so well-known to his family. The Von Donops belong to the aristocracy in Hesse-Kassel, a connection vital to Carl’s military service as an officer in the Seven Years War and an area linked to the ruling Hanoverian king in England, George III. Von Donop keeps a sharp eye on the unfolding conflict in America between British policymakers and their thirteen colonies.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, Von Donop will be indulging in his obsession with sex. He’ll be isolated with a woman for three days, several miles from the units he commands that are stationed in Trenton, in the colony of New Jersey. The absence of his leadership will deprive British-allied German unit officers of direction as events unfold on the day after Christmas 1776.

* * * * * * *

(her)

A woman looks at her husband, today, 250 years ago. She is beautiful, of striking features. He is a doctor. They are in love. Their home is at Mount Holly, nineteen miles from Trenton, colony of New Jersey.

From today in 1774, two years into the future, the beautiful woman of unknown name will be a widow, her husband the doctor having died months ago. She will be then what she was in 1774, a fervent support of colonial rights and the American cause. Into her house she’ll invite Colonel Carl Von Donop for a three-day immersion of sex and intimacy around Christmas 1776. She will know the German officer’s presence in her house means he’s not present elsewhere, such as at Trenton.

Also

(some of you can eat this)

This week, 250 years ago, Louis XVI, monarch of Catholic-dominated France, announces that poor families “with infirmities” who need to eat meat during Lent will be allowed to do so. They will not be punished.

For You Now

(not just a straight line)

Think of it this way—

Take our six people. Washington, Stark, Glover, Rall, Von Donop, and the unnamed woman.

Tell three of them that two years from now they’ll be in boats crossing a river while dodging massive ice boulders. Tell the other three of them that they will be in bedrooms—one alone and two together—as the sun rises for a cold dawn.

Then tell all six of them they will have a part in dramatically changing the world they know, both for themselves and for many, many other people.

I wonder how they’d react today, 250 years ago, two years ahead of the unknowable. Scoff at my assertion. Laugh me out of the room. Shake their heads in disbelief. Roll their eyes in belittlement.

Maybe I should preface it with a warning: do not take where you are, who you are, and why you are today and simply project forward two years in a straight line.

Not a good way to do it.

How about you?

Two years from now and you may have a part in dramatically changing the world you know.

Can you imagine it? What would make it possible? Are you ready?

Suggestion

Take a moment to consider: do you want to know what’s true for you two years from now?

(Your River)