Our next meeting is to be a hybrid meeting on Tuesday, September 17. We will be meeting in person at the Mount Vernon Inn at 6 p.m. (social hour) and 6:40 p.m. (dinner). For those who want to attend remotely, the Zoom meeting will start at 7 p.m. or a little later.
If you would like to attend (which we greatly prefer), please fill out the attached reservation form and mail it to Richard Rankin. You can also let Richard or me know if you would like to attend and pay at the door (cash or check to ARRT). Please indicate if you want meat or salmon for dinner.
If you can only attend by Zoom, I will email you a Zoom link to the meeting the day of the meeting. Feel free to share this email with a friend who or family member whom you think may be interested.
NOTICE! I also attach our ARRT Membership Form. If you have not done so yet, please submit the annual fee and membership form to Richard Rankin, our Treasurer. If you have done so—thank you. It is a great benefit to our organization.
Our next speaker will be our own Gary Ecelbarger, who will be speaking on his recent book, “George Washington’s Momentous Year: Twelve Months that Transformed the Revolution, Vol. 1: The Philadelphia Campaign, July to December 1777.”
The American army suffered a crippling, demoralizing loss at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, directly resulting in the Crown force capture of Philadelphia two weeks and a day later. George Washington's indecisive leadership this day influenced his loss. Incredibly, he allowed Sir William Howe to gain his flank undetected until it was too late. His failure at intelligence gathering -- particularly in the use of his dragoons -- as well as his sloth-like and anemic response to that information spelled defeat for The Cause. Brandywine was also Washington's closest scrape of the War. In the sights of Major Patrick Ferguson near Brandywine Creek, the British officer spared His Excellency's life by deciding against pulling the trigger. Washington would endure to come out victorious at the end of the war, despite losing most of his battles as a field commander."
Except for the word "loss," the dates of the battle and capture of Philadelphia, and the victor of the war, every statement in those traditionally presented sentences above is factually incorrect. On the 248th anniversary of the eve of the largest and longest battle of the Revolutionary War, Gary Ecelbarger will counter these long-accepted misapprehensions of George Washington at Brandywine with a fresh and revised analysis, derived from a chapter of his newly published work: George Washington's Momentous Year.
Gary Ecelbarger is a four-year member of this round table. He has authored ten books and more than three dozen monographs, essays, and articles relating to 18th and 19th Century personalities and events, including ten contributions to the Journal of the American Revolution since 2020. His most recent book is about the Philadelphia Campaign and is told uniquely from the perspective of army headquarters; it is the first of two volumes of George Washington's Momentous Year: Twelve Months that Transformed the Revolution, published by Westholme in June. He is currently writing the second volume of the series, slated for a mid-2025 release.
To purchase this book prior to our meeting, here is a link to the online Fort Plains Museum Bookstore: https://fortplainmuseum.square.site/product/george-washington-s-momentous-year-twelve-months-that-transformed-the-revolution-vol-i-the-philadelphia-campaign-july-to-december-1777-volume-1-/1261?cs=true&cst=custom
The price is a sale price of $27.95—two dollars less than on amazon.com!
Note from Christian McBurney: I have read the book and it is excellent. It is a very fresh treatment of Washington—it is as if you, the reader, are one of Washington’s aides-de-camp.
Wednesday, August 28, 6:30 p.m.: The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati: Lecture by Iris de Rode—The Marquis de Lafayette and the American Revolution
Having learned of the American war in the summer of 1775, the marquis de Lafayette responded to the rebels’ calls for republican principles inspired by ancient Rome, the opportunity to avenge France’s defeat by the British in the Seven Years’ War and the chance to further his military career. In December 1776, the young marquis formally pledged to join the American cause. After landing in South Carolina in June 1777, he made his way to Philadelphia to present himself to Congress and became a member of George Washington’s military family. During the war, Lafayette was wounded the first time he saw action, at Brandywine, and went on to command American troops at Barren Hill, Monmouth, Newport and Yorktown. He also helped solidify French support for the revolution, returning home in 1779 to lobby King Louis XVI and his ministers to send an army to aid the Americans—a successful effort that resulted in a large expeditionary force setting sail for America the following year. For this lecture, historian Iris de Rode highlights Lafayette’s monumental career during the American Revolution and discusses the impact of his service on the later years of his life. This program accompanies the Society’s current exhibition, Fete Lafayette: A French Hero’s Tour of the American Republic, on view through December 31, 2024.
Registration is requested. To attend the lecture in-person at Anderson House or to watch it virtually, registration is requested. To register, click here: https://www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org/event/the-marquis-de-lafayette-in-the-american-revolution/
Thank you!
Christian McBurney
President, George Washington American Revolution Round Table of the District of Columbia
