Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill,
2013 (Viking Press) history of the
City, Siege and Revolution
Journal entry: Dr. James Thatcher -- I have been
much gratified this day with a view of General
Washington -- his personal appearance is truly
noble and majestic. . . (page 240)
Chapter 11, Part III
(pages 241 - 5) - the Fiercest Man
Washington had been led to believe by
the Continental Congress that he would find
20,000 battle-tested soldiers. What he found
instead was a northern version of the undisciplined
militiamen who had made his first command in
the Western wilderness a nightmare. . . among the
New Englanders were 17 actual Indians from Stockbridge,
and a significant number of African Americans in the ranks.
He began to look to the possibility of sending out a fleet
of armed schooners that might prey on the British supply ships
that continued to stream into Boston Harbor. . .With the
creation of an American Navy provided Washington with
a diversion from the tedium of this unrelenting siege.
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