Chapter 1 Sovereign Duty (Pages 3-19)
Chapter 2 Dorchester Heights (Pages 20-70)
Read: Chapter 1 and part of Chapter 2 up to page 40
The book starts on October 26th, 1776 when King George III is going to Parliment building to discuss the rioting in the Colonies. Then, the story gives us a background of King George III. He was nicknamed Farmer George because he was into gardening and farming crops. He was a really stubborn man, but he also had this more "human side" of him. The King was still popular in England even though most citizens were against the fighting in the colonies and he had the support of Parliment. King George sent troops to the colonies, mostly in Boston, to keep the peace. The troops stationed in the colonies fell victim to sadness, disease, death, no fresh provisions, and being stuck in Boston with no way out. According to King George III America at this point was in open rebellion against the troops that are supposed to keep the peace, not to provoke violence. King George III tried to show the colonists that being a subject of Great Britain allowed them to be the freest men/women in the world. The colonists thought otherwise. During the discussions with Parliment, one of the main groups, the House of Lords had their full support of King George and sending troops into the colonies. The other main group in Parliment, The House of Commons were mainly in favor of King George III sending troops into the colonies, except for some of its members, mainly Henry Fox and Edmond Burke who did not like King George's way of dealing with the rioting.
In the colonies, Nathaniel Greene of Rhode Island, the youngest General age 33, was bringing his soldiers, the Rhode Island Army of Observation to Boston to start fighting the English troops that were stationed there. General Green was in the army 6 months before assigned to the post of General. He was a Quaker that was born and raised in Rhode Island. His father had him working on the mills and field from an early age, so when he was older, he could run the family farm. He had very little time for a private education mainly because his father thought he did not need one. During his spare time though, Nathaniel Greene was always reading some type of book, which compensated for no formal schooling. He did have some tutors that helped him with hus schooling namely, Ezra Stiles who was the President of the Collegiate School, which was later named Yale University. Greene was a natural born leader with great military tactics. He was still nervous about criticism that he received that he did not have enough courage, intelligence or a good enough health. Greene walks with a limp, which at first prevented him from being an officer. He kept studying and later became a General and was put in charge of Rhode Island ranks.
The British had many names for the colonists, rebels, country people, "rabble in arms (25)." The American Army though still outnumbered the British army. The colonists had 16,000 soldiers total, but only 14,000 that were fit for duty while the British had 7,000 soldiers in the colonies. Still the British still had control of Charlestown and Bunker Hill which made them have an early advantage in terms of location. The main location of American troops was at Prospect Hill and other troops were in Cambridge along the Charles River, which is close to Roxbury. Leader of the Continental Army, George Washington, sent nineteen year old Lieutenant, John Trumbull, to draw maps of where the British were located. April 19th 1776, British started advancing towards Concord. The Continental Army watched the British's movements from Prospect Hill. Now, the fear of British attack continued to increase. By August Continental Army was showing strain because they got camp fever, which is better known as typhoid fever. Everyone was dirty from digging trenches, hauling rocks. At one point on Prospect Hill alone, there were 4,000 men on it. There was no luxury of bathes or a change of clothes which made the spreading of diseases and lice occur at a rapid pace. Most of the soldiers in the army included farmers, artisans, shoemakers, saddlers, carpenters, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, coopers, tailors, ship chandlers, sailers and fisherman. Most of these soldiers had little or no training for combat. There became such a desperate need for soldiers that the salary became up to $8 a month. Soon, the need for soldiers increased enough that African Americans were allowed to join the army even though George Washington did not allow them to join at first.
-Micah Sharon
