Summary Of 1776 By David Mccullough

The book 1776 was written by David McCullough. 1776 describes the journey of General George Washington’s army during the time period of the Declaration of Independence. The book is divided into three sections and nine chapters.

The first section of the book, named The Siege, holds the first chapters. The title of the section relates to McCullough’s descriptions of the events that happened on the Atlantic and at the Siege of Boston. The beginning of the book takes places actually in October of 1775 with Royal Majesty George III and his ride to the Palace of Westminster. He was on a ride to speak to a joint session of Parliament. King George announces that the American colonies to be in a state of rebellion. The King asks that both the House of Lords and the House of Commons support this decision. The House of Lords were session debating until midnight and finally accepting the King’s assertion. On the other hand, the House of Commons were in session well after 4 o’clock in the morning before they agreed with the King. The conditions previous to and during the Siege of Boston is described in great detail. McCullough revealed that, “In the General Evening Post, one solider portrayed the scene in Boston as nothing but melancholy, disease, and death.” (8)

Despite the conditions in America, McCullough explains the standstill cause by the Siege of Boston. At age thirty-three, Nathanael Greene was the youngest general officer in the American army. McCullough describes Greene as

“… no ordinary man. He had a quick, inquiring mind and uncommon resolve. He was extremely hardworking, forthright, good-natured, and a born leader. His commitment to the Glorious Cause of America, as it was called, was total. And if his youth was obvious, the Gl...

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...ropriately name The Darkest Hour. This chapter follows up on the final two months of 1776. This was when the American Revolution looked to be almost lost. The American Army was in New Jersey severely undermanned and lacking supplies. McCullough is able to capture the struggles of the Americans retreat in New Jersey. As it progressively got worse, the British decided to go for a different look. General Clinton was order to go to New Port with six thousand troops. The American capital was beginning to feel the pressure of the British moving in on them. In New Jersey, Washington was losing troops; loyalist were more common in New Jersey than anywhere else. The winter of 1776 was miserable compared to the year before with the exclusion of one event. On Christmas Eve of 1776, Washington crossed his army through the Delaware River and attacked a camp of Hessian soldiers.