The American Spectator

grant1863| 3.12.10 @ 8:12AM

What a delight to see G A Henty's name this morning. His books are great stuff though the local library considers them racist and imperialist since they usually show how the Brits won their Empire. One of my favorites is about Hannibal and Rome.

basur| 10.27.10 @ 6:39AM

"To Try Men's Souls is the first attempt by the Gingrich-Forstchen brand at straight fiction"

Gingrich's opportunistic fraud on record dissuades me from interest in anything his, even fiction. Newt will say anything for profit.

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 11:57AM

Onlty thing I am an 'expert' (heave, retch) on is futurism-- which is saying virtually nothing. I've read all the alternative reality stuff.
Forget about alternative history, Newt's greatest brainf*rt is taking Toffler too seriously. I'll quote the great Brookhiser (HE should be in Newt's place) below, it is sophisticated, but easy and informative (Brookhiser's that is, not Newt's):

Alan Brooks| 3.12.10 @ 12:13PM

"Gingrich's philosophy is schizophrenic. Half of it consists of devotion to the Founders and Tocqueville... [the other half devotion to the Tofflers' wishful thinking]"

As Brookhiser correctly wrote, Newt has absorbed the "Marxism for computer geeks" techno-mysticism of today. It is thought that since the material world is being changed rather quickly (relative to the timeframe of a human lifespan) that human nature is being substantially altered. This is the ultimate delusion.
You can change what people think to some extent, but you cannot change who and what people are as of yet-- and not for a long time; again relative to the timeframe of a human lifespan.

Ralph Novy| 3.12.10 @ 1:45PM

Alan:

Don't think you put it too well -- or at least not clearly and succinctly enough -- but know how you feel.

"Shit's going too fast!"?

maverick muse| 3.15.10 @ 9:37AM

"You can change what people think to some extent, but you cannot change who and what people are as of yet-- and not for a long time; again relative to the timeframe of a human lifespan. "

Revisionism is simply the latest fashionable qualification of socialists. And they rampantly publish matter that they hope will successfully replace the record.

Revisionists plan to alter what you are ALLOWED to be.

Alan Brooks| 3.15.10 @ 9:15PM

It was only to say, Ralph, that everything Newt writes or says is suspect to me. Or as Brookhiser writes: "everything the Tofflers say is trivialized by [their view of history, current events, and their chirpy take on tomorrow]."
I'm nostalgic, too. For Boy's Life, all the rest of it. If only it were an era when there was a bit more dignity. But dignity is gone forever.

Democracy equals bad taste times the speed of life squared.

Alan Brooks| 3.23.10 @ 12:54AM

"Revisionists plan to alter what you are ALLOWED to be."

Now there is a good point; maverick, and that is what is good about AS:
now that NR is turning into the condescending Readers Digest of conservatism, a political skeptic has to come to an AS blog to learn something 'new'. Rich Lowry's editorials are becoming pablum, are becoming Gingrichism for computer geeks. Aint progress grand, guys? you live longer, but there is no one to trust anymore. And your worst enemies are the 'friends' who give you bad advice. So progress can only be called material with any certainty.

Perhaps the Bible was correct after all-- we do in fact gain the world and lose the soul?

Ralph Novy| 3.12.10 @ 1:42PM

James:

Loved the piece. Informed and entertained. Like your turn of phrase -- with the possible exception of "straight fiction." Hit me like "square circle."

Boys' Life. Ahhhhh. Waxing nostalgic.

Alan Brooks| 3.23.10 @ 1:23AM

Fiction? who needs fiction anymore? Today's reality will suffice for fiction.
But as the platitude goes, it depend who you are, or shall we say what you WANT.
If you want pleasure you are in luck.
If you want dignity, then tough you-know-what.
That's why alternative history-fiction is appealing to some; while we read it we are transported to the pre-postmodern world, where you could, if nothing else (and let's not over-romanticize the 18th & 19th centuries, when you needed surgery back then it was a PAIN) know some sort of dignity. Now, dude, like dignity is gay--
dignity is like Squaresville as they used to say back in the day. Well, actually dignity is for those you care about-- everyone else can drop dead, Dude.
Like, whatever, DUDE. Um guys, I'd like to read more at AS, but I have to go renew my medical marijewanna card-- I'm feeling a bit peaked and I need mah medicine, Dude. Like, who needs Revolushunary War fiction when you gets high as a kite and you can watch Avatar in HD? Now THERE is fiction, Dudes!
That's the real deal, Dude, so up yours and have a "nice" day, Dudes.
Like, whatever. Paul Revere was on a high...horse... um. I mean, like? Paul Revere was high...uh.
Like...

Paul Revere got high on Ben Franklin's weed?

William R. Forstchen| 3.12.10 @ 3:10PM

James. . .did you read the book, I mean really read the book and then check the historical facts before attempting this review something I expect my students to do in 100 level classes?

1. The story is not set at Valley Forge. . .Valley Forge is never mentioned!
2. The date of the attack, as repeatedly mentioned in the book (in each chapter section which sets the time is DECEMBER 25-26, 1776. . .not 1777 as you claim.
3. You state the fictional character of Jonathan should have been left behind at Valley Forge. Again it is never mentioned.

4. Rall staying at the Potts mansion IN TRENTON and playing checkers. Check David Hackett Fischer "Washington's Crossing" (trade edition, 2004), p. 170. There was more than one Potts kicking around in Revolutionary America, Stacy Potts hosted Rall and they were playing checkers that evening.
5. What you call "a howler." Your zinger is you state "by all accounts" that the Hessian general Rall was drunk! Wow, have you been reading too much Henty or Washington Irving? Rall was not drunk, he had forbidden his men to drink because he suspected a surprise attack that night. Rall was caught off guard when a raid earlier that evening caused him to "scramble" his troops and then when the big attack did not materialize he then ordered his men to "stand down," just before Washington and his gallant force hit them.

To quote you "Henty would not have made such a mistake." But you sure did.

In general you continue to trash the book because it did not include "the nine days" the miracle of what happened after December 26, 1776 (not 1777) through the campaign to Princeton. Ok, let's hit every book that does not tell us the "rest of the story," I always felt the "Longest Day" should have taken us to June 14th and not just stop at June 6, 1944. Come on. . . it is obvious the intent here is to tell the story of Trenton (and by the way Thomas Paine and the writing of "The American Crisis" which you neglect to mention at all.)

Please James, if you are going to mock a work make sure you get your own facts straight first. I thought better of American Spectator. If you were my student you'd definitely be told to write this review over and hope for a grade of C at best.

Sincerely,

William R. Forstchen Ph.D.
Professor of History

(oh yes, guess I should mention co-author with Newt of "To Try Men's Souls."

PS. We write about Valley Forge in the next book. Try not to confuse it with Yorktown.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 3.12.10 @ 5:07PM

I thought it was a good review. I don't read reviews for their accuracy, historical or otherwise. In the meantime ponder this sentiment:

I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise. (Noel Coward)

Stuart Koehl| 3.14.10 @ 9:55AM

Then for what do you read a review?

Dai Alanye| 3.12.10 @ 5:25PM

Zing!

But it *is* disappointing the whole campaign wasn't covered, if only because it demonstrates just how wrong those fools (I include my freshman history instructor) are who claim Washington was a poor general. Inexperienced, yes, but the native genius is evident.

maverick muse| 3.15.10 @ 9:58AM

"Rall was not drunk, he had forbidden his men to drink because he suspected a surprise attack that night. Rall was caught off guard when a raid earlier that evening caused him to "scramble" his troops and then when the big attack did not materialize he then ordered his men to "stand down," just before Washington and his gallant force hit them."

Kindly provide your source on Colonel Rall.
QUOTE p.165, The Road To Valley Forge, How Washington Built the Army that Won the Revolution, by John Buchanan, copyright 2004, 2007 Barnes & Noble, Inc. edition.
"How had it happened? The official Hessian court-martial verdict laid the blame on Colonel Rall.... Captain von Munchhausen put it bluntly: 'To his good fortune, Colonel Rall died . . . from his wounds. I say this because he would have lost his head had he lived.' His contempt for his foe, his refusal to take proper defensive measures, not taking advantage of intelligence, drinking so much on the holiday that when he was awakened he was either still drunk or too badly hung over to react effectively: all of these target Rall as the man directly responsible for the debacle." (Success of an Enterprize)

maverick muse| 3.15.10 @ 10:20AM

Perhaps William R. Forstchen confused Colonel Rall with Lieutenant Wiederhold regarding who fought with some effect against Washington @ Trenton. Still, Forstchen's time-line is askew.

p.162

"Daylight came with no hint at Trenton of an attack.

p.163
"The American coordination on this storm-driven night was superb.

"Tench Tilghman, who was with Washington as a volunteer aide-de-camp, wrote to his father the day after the battle 'that we did not reach Trenton till eight O'Clock, when the division which the general headed in person attacked the enemy's out post. The other Division that marched the lower Road, attacked . . . within a few minutes after we began ours."

"We drove them furiously," reported Sergeant McMichael of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, and Lieutenant Wiederhold soon found that instead of what he had first thought to be a line of skirmishers, 'I was almost surrounded by several battalions. I accordingly retreated under constant firing until I reached the Altenbockum company, which had rallied during my engagement and had taken up a position straight across the street in front of the Captain's quarters. "

p.164 Washington himself reported that "Lieutenant Wiederhold and his comrades earned high marks for their performance."

[All in all, Rall and company were so drunk, they didn't even respond to the sound of battle combat.]

maverick muse| 3.15.10 @ 10:31AM

From his book's jacket cover:

John Buchanan, former archivist at Cornell University and former chief registrar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the author of The Road to Guilford Courthouse, and of Jackson's Way.

Citing communications from Washington and other national leaders, as well as from rank-and-file soldiers, Buchanan debunks many of the myths about how the early stages of the war were fought. He also provides vivid portraits....

hg| 3.13.10 @ 12:24AM

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Stuart Koehl| 3.14.10 @ 9:32AM

If you had actually read Fischer's "Washington's Crossing", you would know that Rall was not dead drunk on the eve of the Battle of Trenton. Nor had the Hessians been reveling all night and thus unable to fight back.

Rather, Rall and his men were exhausted from constantly standing guard against an attack they had expected before Christmas, as well as against the myriad pin-prick raids of the New Jersey militia, which confined the British and Hessians to their garrisons and forced them to forage only in company-sized detachments.

The Christmas eve blizzard seemed so severe to the Hessian commander that he ordered his men to stand down. In his extensive experience, no prudent commander would undertake operations in such weather--and he was correct. But Washington understood both the need for prudence and for daring, and his genius in this case was knowing both the mind of his commander, and the exertions of which his own troops were capable. The result saved American independence.

maverick muse| 3.15.10 @ 11:06AM

Since Rall's drunken failure at Trenton is on the official records, why would this author revise the record for his story? Rall had canceled the daily dawn patrol because of the weather. Rall had not performed his night patrol.

I quote above, and further below, from John Buchanan's book, The Road to Valley Forge: How Washington Built the Army that Won the Revolution, Chapter 9, "Success of an Enterprize".

p.160-164

"The British and Hessians were not lacking for good intelligence from local Tories. It arrived steadily and was largely accurate. There were daily warnings of an approaching attack. But Rall's contempt for the Americans was shared by many British and Hessian officers and soldiers, especially by Major General James Grant, who commanded all of Jersey outposts. On 17 December he wrote to von Donop, "I can hardly believe that Washington would venture at this season of the year to pass the Delaware." And on 21 December, "I will undertake to keep the peace in Jersey with a corporal's guard."

While Rall and his fellow Hessians celebrated Christmas, on the other side of the river Washington's 2,400-man strike force was formed on the afternoon of Christmas Day....They were shielded from prying eyes along the Jersey side of the river by low hills. ... The countersign, wrote Benjamin Rush, was "Victory of Death."

The weather was foul and getting worse. (The storm blew at the Americans back, but in the face of the enemy.)

Washington wrote "...that it was three OClock before the artillery could all be got over, and near four, before the Troops took up their line of march."

Daylight came with no hint at Trenton of an attack. Because of the weather, the daily dawn patrol had been cancelled. In command of an advanced post, Lietenant Wiederhold had detailed seven pickets during the night and 'had patrols after patrols walk about, thus to protect myself from any surprises.' About an hour after daybreak his 'day's patrol had already returned and reported that all was quiet, and the Jaegers, who stood below me had already withdrawn their night-posts.' As it was daylight, 'my sentinels did not keep a very sharp lookout . . . and the advance-guard did not expect the enemy' from the direction in which they appeared. 'I was suddenly attacked from the side of the woods on the road to John's Ferry and had I not just stepped out of my little guard-house and seen the enemy, they might have been upon me before I had time to reach for my rifle." Wiederhold formed his 17 men to give battle, believing that he was facing only skirmishers.

But it was for naught, as a disgusted Wiederhold testified. "Nobody came to see what was going on, no one came to our assistance with reinforcements, and yet Rall's regiment had that night its turn to be on watch" Colonel Rall, when he finally appeared, "seemed to be quite dazed," wrote Wiederhold, and this squares with the tradition that accuses Rall of drinking too much on Christmas Day and Night.

Rall "shouted to his regiment: 'Forward, March, Advance, Advance!" and he tottered back and forth without knowing what he was doing. Thus we lost the few favourable moments we might still have had in our hands to break through the enemy in one place or another with honour and without losses;" Wiederhold reported.

Stuart Koehl| 3.14.10 @ 9:34AM

By the way, on the subject of "purple prose", if you also bothered to read contemporary diaries or accounts of actual conversations, you would have realized that people actually did talk like that.

The "howlers" come from authors who make historical characters speak like contemporary Californians, New Yorkers or Washingtonians.

Stuart Koehl| 3.14.10 @ 9:42AM

I am glad to see that Dr. Forstschen beat me to the punch. He could have mentioned that Washington did not winter at Valley Forge until late 1777.

After beating the British and their allies at Trenton and Princeton, he marched north across New Jersey to Morristown in the Jersey Highlands, from which he could threaten British lines of supply while remaining largely immune from attack.

It was a brilliant campaign waged by an inferior force using mobility to beat a dispersed enemy in detail.

Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 3.14.10 @ 3:13PM

It's fitting actually that Moot Spingrinch is writing works of fiction. His conservatism is pure fiction, so his writing may as well be too.

maverick muse| 3.15.10 @ 11:19AM

"To Try Men's Souls is the first attempt by the Gingrich-Forstchen brand at straight fiction"

Gingrich's opportunistic fraud on record dissuades me from interest in anything his, even fiction. Newt will say anything for profit.

I await Dr. Forstchen's response to provide his sources that counter the accurate historical research by John Buchanan whose reputation precedes Forstchen's.

Given Forstchen's critique implying that James Srodes' reviewed an unread book, The American Spectator should follow through with a response.

William R. Forstchen| 3.15.10 @ 3:05PM

REGARDING WAS RALL DRUNK

It is most convenient, if a battle is lost, and you are a middle ranking officer, for your superior to have been killed. At court of inquiries his vioce will never be heard and in turn all can point the finger of blame at him.

Thus with Rall.

I will not fill pages here with Fischer's exceptional historiography for "Washington's Crossing." Simply goggle "Was Rall Drunk," go to the google book page (426) provided and read the analysis. An American veteran of the fight, testified afterwards that not a single Hessian was drunk. Fischer and other reputable historians agree that from the British side Rall had to be denigrated in order to explain the disaster and remove responsibility from themselves. Defeat handed to a well trained force. . .impossible. . . to one led by a drunk.. . a different story. It therefore was not our fault. . .it was his.

At such a moment the dead can not reply while others write their self justifying reports and memoirs.

As to time lines. Frustratingly for any military historian, standardized time and except in rare cases accurate time pieces simply did not exist in 1776. Even as late as Gettysburg one can read accounts of actions with time stamps varying as much as an hour or more. If you've ever been out in a blizzard at seven in the morning you can figure out dawn has come. . .but exactly when?

This issue of Rall is a good topic of debate and I appreciate the response of other sources. Newt and I read them as well, but ultimately decided that Fischer, others, and the primary sources of those NOT trying to explain the defeat away by pointing at Rall were closest to the mark and historically fit an oft repeated pattern of blame shifting and denial. It is frustrating in that to accept the legend of a drunken Rall diminishes the miracle of that Christmas night gained against a well trained and disciplined foe.

Sincerely

William R. Forstchen
co author with Newt of "To Try Men's Souls"

แรน| 4.22.11 @ 12:56AM

It's fitting actually that Moot Spingrinch is writing works of fiction. His conservatism is pure fiction, so his writing may as well be too.

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