At the ferry landing all this time troops and supplies and artillery were being loaded aboard one boat after another as quickly as humanly possible and sent on their way. Everyone worked furiously. A Connecticut soldier manning one of the boasts would remember making eleven crossings in the course of the night.

It was also a matter of record that Washington had been retired from military life for fifteen years, during which he had not even drilled a militia company. His only prior experience had been in backwoods warfare – a very different kind of warfare – and most notably in the Braddock campaign of 1755, which had been a disaster. He was by no means as experienced commander. He had never led an army in battle, never before commanded anything larger than a regiment. And never had

Washington’s wealth and way of life, like his physique and horsemanship, were of great importance to large numbers of the men he led and among many in Congress. The feeling was that if he, George Washington, who had so much, was willing to risk “his all,” however daunting the odds, then who were they to equivocate. That he was also serving without pay was widely taken as further evidence of the genuineness of his commitment.

But of all the theatrical productions he had seen it was Cato, by the English author Joseph Addison, the most popular play of the time, that Washington loved best. One line in particular he was to think of or quote frequently in his role now as commander-in-chief: “Tis not in mortals to command success, but we’ll do more, Sempronius, we’ll deserve it.”

Joseph Reed, a young man with a long jaw and a somewhat quizzical look in his eyes, was a charming, London-trained Philadelphia lawyer who had been chosen as part of an honorary escort when Washington departed Philadelphia for his new command. Reed had intended to ride only as far as New York, but found himself so in awe of the general that he continued on to Cambridge to become Washington’s secretary, despite the fact that he had made no provisions for his wife and three you

But then there was never any mistaking the impeccably uniformed, commanding figure of Washington, who looked always as if on parade.

It was in the first week of August, at the end of his first month as commander, when Washington learned how much worse things were than he knew. A report on the supply of gunpowder at hand revealed a total of less than 10,000 pounds, and the situation was not expected to improve soon. Very little gunpowder was produced in the colonies. What supplies there were came mainly by clandestine shipments from Europe to New York and Philadelphia by way of the Dutch island St. Eustatiu

No one thought that Nathanael Greene would become one of the greatest leaders in American history:

Pope Julius 11 was not a man one wished to offend. No pope before or since has enjoyed such a fearsome reputation. A sturdily built sixty-three-old with snow-white hair and a ruddy face, he was known as il papa terribile, the “dreadful” or “terrifying” pope. People had good reason to dread Julius. His violent rages, in which he punched underlings or thrashed them with his stick, were legendary. To stunned onlookers he possessed an almost superhuman power to bend the world to

On August 25, the division conducted a reconnaissance downriver from the Falmouth. Between Port Conway and King George Court House the cavalry collided with Confederate infantry. The Michigan Brigade led the division, and Custer dismounted the first and Sixth Michigan, sending them forward against the Rebels posted in woods. He and his staff remained on horseback on the road between the two regiments. In James Christiancy’s words, they were in the “most exposed” position on t

“First be sure you’re right, then go ahead!’ I ask myself, ‘Is it right?’ Satisfied that it is so, I let nothing swerve me from my purpose.” If a general “adopts public opinion as guide,” he concluded, he “cannot entertain one purpose long, for what pleases one will displeasure another.”

“No matter how bad things got, no matter how anxious the staff became, the commander had to preserve optimism in himself and in his command. Without confidence, enthusiasm and optimism in the command, victory is scarcely obtainable.”

I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind if he first forms a good plan and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention, makes the execution of that same plan his sole study and business.

“It is the lot of a king, O Cyrus, to do well, but to be ill spoken of.”

Is it possible, then, to derive advantage from these things? – Yes, from everything. – Even from the man who reviles me? – And what good does his wrestling-companion do the athlete? The very greatest. So also my reviler becomes one who prepares me for my contest; he exercises my patience, my dispassionateness, my gentleness.

No, that’s not our way, but we wish to live like wise men from the very start, and to help mankind. Help indeed! What are you about? Why, have you helped yourself? But you wish to help them progress. Why have you made progress yourself? Do you wish to help them? Then show them, by your own example, the kind of men philosophy produces, and stop talking nonsense. As you eat, help those who are eating with you; as you drink, those who are drinking with you; by yielding to everyb

Scipio,

“… those who are cast down are cheered by promises …”

“And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their superior, and are moderate toward their inferiors, on the whole succeed best.”

Do not underestimate the importance of political leaders. Solon observed:

To Pittacus belongs the apothegm, “Know thine opportunity.”

Winston Churchill,

Churchill made a speech in which he said positive things about the German General Rommel. He later made this observation:

The following is an interaction between Wavell and Churchill. Churchill shows wise leadership and good judgment: