Americanism Redux
July 17, your today, on the journey to the American Founding, 250 years ago, in 1775
“Keep it together, man.”
Classic line from Monsters Inc.
Sometimes it’s a heckuva lot easier said than done.
Today, July 17.
250 years ago.
* * * * * * *
In a letter to his wife, a dad-husband is agonizing about their young kids. He’s hoping she can help the family keep it together, a task she’s doing, essentially, on her own.
“I never observe in the world, an Example, of any Person brought to Poverty from Affluence, from Health to Distemper, from Fame to Disgrace, by the Vices and Follies of the Age but it throws me into a deep rumination on Education. My poor Children, I fear, will lose some Advantages in Point of Education from my continual Absence from them. Truth, Sobriety, Industry should be perpetually inculcated upon them. Pray, my dear, let them be taught the art of Copying as well as drawing plans of Cities, Provinces, Kingdoms, and Countries—especially of America. I have found great inconvenience for want of this Art, since I have had to contemplate America so much, and since I had to study the Processes and Operations of War.”
In Philadelphia, within a stone’s throw of the Pennsylvania State House, John Adams signs and seals the letter for his wife, Abigail.
* * * * * * *
(Lem is far left)
Keep it together, man.
That’s precisely what Lem Tucker of Roxbury, Massachusetts is trying to do today, 250 years ago. His problem is that he’s suddenly having a lot of unexpected, unrequested, and somewhat unappreciated help in that direction. He joined a unit of armed colonial men in responding to Lexington and Concord, came here to the outskirts of Boston, and is now in the brand-new Continental Army, a thing that didn’t exist when he first signed up. So, do you want to know about keeping it together in a way you never anticipated?
Starting now, Lem has to sweep the “camp street” every day where he and his buddies have their tent pitched. He has to dig latrines and more importantly, USE the latrines. He can no longer decide to talk to anyone suspected of helping British soldiers. He can’t cut down any more trees. He has to say whether or not he knows how to use whaleboats and he has to be sure he’s counted as “fit for duty” whenever the roll is called. He has to know which brigade his regiment belongs to and which regiment his company belongs to. He has to memorize a color-code of special ribbons worn by officers—blue for General Washington, pink for brigadier generals, and green for…well, he’ll have to ask about that one. And speaking of asking, he has to realize that no longer—repeat, no longer—can he explain the breaking of rules with the lame-ass response of “I didn’t know about that.” He’ll get punished regardless.
Keep it together, Lem.
* * * * * * *
(where the Bee-Line starts)
They’re more than keeping it together in the Allegheny Mountains. That’s where 200 men wearing tan leather hunting shirts—their normal attire—are loping through the woods, barely breaking a sweat. They’re hiking fast, more than 30 miles each day, on what they call the “bee-line march”, the straightest path from Mecklenburg on the upper Potomac River (modern Shepherdstown, West Virginia) to Cambridge, Massachusetts. They’ve joined Daniel Morgan in a new “Continental Army Rifle Unit” and together the group is heading east at a blistering pace.
In a later era, they would be called “drone operators capable of firing missiles at hand-picked targets.”
They don’t know yet about the rules that have shaken up Lem Tucker’s world.
* * * * * * *
(toward the top–the e where the a should be)
William Aylett has to “keep it together man” after learning of a ridiculous mistake that should never have been made.
35 years old and a prominent merchant in Williamsburg, Virginia, Aylett sees that the L350,000 worth of new paper currency printed today in Williamsburg has, of all things, a misspelled word on the front. It was supposed to read as “Pistareen”, which means two Spanish reales, about 15 pence in British colonial value. Instead, the damn thing has been printed as “Pistereen” by mistake. Is it a big deal? Well, Aylett won’t know until about three months from now when he and a handful of influential Williamsburg merchants meet to assess the current value of the paper in the actual marketplace. They’ll determine what the gap is, if any, between the worth of similar British currency in England versus whatever the wrongly spelled “pistereen” is buying then, in early autumn.
For all he knows some dark phrasing will have emerged—”not worth a pister”—or some such thing, in describing the devalued paper.
Keep it together, Bill.
* * * * * * *
(names and numbers)
In Boston, a fancy new sketch or artistic rendering has been produced today, 250 years ago. British General Thomas Gage has commissioned an “Order of Battle” that is a high-level depiction of an “org-chart” of British forces currently stationed in Boston, ready to respond to an enemy attack.
Interesting thing about the Order of Battle is that the generals are shown by personal names, while every other aspect of the military designates numerically, the 5th Infantry, the 23rd Infantry, and so on.
Commanders are people. Regular soldiers are numbers.
That’s one way to keep it together.
* * * * * * *
(a Redcoat infantry officer)
British Redcoat Captain John Gunning doesn’t show up on the Order of Battle, though he’s flesh-and-blood in Boston as a skilled military professional. He’s thinking today about what he’s seeing, hearing, smelling, absorbing. You want to see direct-reports of the Big Names? Go to the Org Chart. You want to know what’s really going on? Go to Gunning and people like him.
Gunning concludes that the spirit of independence is on fire across the British colonies. From northern pine forests to southern rice fields, he thinks the desire for independence is a unifying force. Separately, though, Gunning identifies three particular areas as the heart of independence: Philadelphia, New York, and New England. If you’re a strategist, that suggests prioritization above the Chesapeake Bay. Finally, Gunning concludes that the spirit of independence in the colonies and in these areas really isn’t new—they’ve been wanting it for a long time.
* * * * * * *
(uprising)
It’s not a joke, this call for keeping it together.
Merrick knows the awful truth of keeping it together in the most hideous circumstances possible.
A black man, Merrick is from Bath, in North Carolina. He is an experienced ship pilot, highly valued in assisting masters, captains, and owners in getting their vessels through the tricky coastal waters of Pamlico Sound. He’s got knowledge, experience, confidence, and connections. He knows what’s going on.
And he’s slumped over in a jail cell in New Bern, North Carolina.
He tried to organize an uprising of enslaved people along the coast of Pamlico Sound. Target date of July 8. The plan, stretching for many miles, was for enslaved people to kill their enslavers and head inland toward a rendezvous point. Once there, representatives of the British Empire would aid them in establishing a free settlement, perhaps to include ownership and occupation of their former enslavement sites.
The plan was uncovered, Merrick revealed as the prime driver, 250 people arrested, 40 now in jail, and dozens upon dozens upon dozens “scourged”, to use the Biblical term. Last year, the North Carolina Assembly enacted a law making it illegal to kill an enslaved person. We’ll see how long that holds up.
As for Merrick, staring in pain at the stone walls around him, the only thing keeping him together is the thought in his mind.
Also
(where it happened)
“Alien”. “Stranger”. “Unknown”.
The words for these terms are heard often and in emotional tones in the long, rectangular structures along the Quinault River off the Pacific Coast. The Native people of the Quinault tribes watched a few days ago as a large wooden ship appeared in the distance on the ocean’s surface.
The situation became an emergency when a smaller craft left that vessel and rowed onto shore. Seven people got out of the craft, wearing garb no one had seen before, began speaking words that no one had heard before. They splashed ashore. Overhead, gulls screamed.
Native Quinault warriors, hidden off the rocky coast, exchanged quick looks. Seconds later, they raced from the treeline toward the seven unknowns, strangers, aliens. They killed all seven, dead in the water rushing in and out. The waves washed the bleeding bodies.
The Natives then carried massive canoes into the saltwater and headed toward the larger vessel, spears and stone axes in their hands. Bursts of gray smoke and popping sounds came from the vessel as it slowly moved toward the deeper ocean water.
Juan Francisco de lay Bodega y Quadra, commander of the Spanish expedition and witness to the scene ashore, will begin to call this place, Puenta de los Matires.
Place of the Martyrs, in a future American state named after the man who made the rules of Lem Tucker’s army.
For You Now
“I could have died!,” the big monster shouts at the little monster. He’s referring to a young girl who, if she had touched him, he believes would have brought great harm to him.
“She’s six years old, man!,” replies the little monster.
Get perspective and get a grip.
It’s that first “get” that may be the hardest.
Finding perspective has a value richer than the rarest-earth metals. The trick is to know where to find perspective, and once there, how to discern perspective that meets the moment, and linking the two together, knowing the way in which perspective takes you next to the best and proper place. This three-part pathway enriches you as a leader.
Everyone in our story today is after the first “get”.
Me, too.
Suggestion
Take a moment to consider: as a leader, have you grown, expanded, and widened your sources of perspective?
(Your River and perspective)
