Getting Hammered®

On Feb. 18, 1776, John Adams writes to Abigail and confides in her about a delicate diplomatic mission to Canada. He throws a little shade at the Catholic leadership in Canada and Southerners and admires his wife's mastery of the French language.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0229

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In this episode, Mary Katharine Hamm and Vic Matus discuss sexual harassment training and AOC, and somewhat surprisingly, the two are not related. They delve into the recent Munich Security Conference, highlighting key speeches and the responses from various political figures. The conversation also touches on the ongoing redistricting controversy in Virginia and the implications of new laws on representation. Finally, they explore the Olympics and then the rising costs of cocktails.

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Written in John Adams' hand, these notes from the Continental Congress catalogue the debate over whether to do trade with foreign entities. The colonies needs supplies, but engaging with foreign countries while at war with Great Britain creeps pretty close to acting like a country, not a colony. Hence, the debate.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0006-0002-0001

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At a meeting of his war councilF eb, 16, 1776,, George Washingon suggests a complex, amphibious assault on Boston on frozen waterways, but the council says "nope." What they decide instead will change the course of the war and the fight for America's freedom.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0229

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On Feb. 12, 1776, the journals of the Continental Congress reveal that Major Gen. Lee is very worried about New York and that troops should be sent form Pennsylvania and New Jersey to aid him. The Congress also works on distribution of salt peter for the purposes of making gunpowder and blankets for a batallion. John Hancock urges Pennsylvania Delegate John Dickinson to get to Congress on time to vote the next day.

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n February of 1776, John Adams has taken one of many hard trips from Braintree, Mass. to Philadelphia to rejoin the Continental Congress. In this short letter to his wife, he tells of his travels, his worries, and his hopes for the colonies and their future.

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While George Washington was doing military work, a small group of leaders including Ben Franklin and John Jay were on the Committee of Secret Correspondence, which did diplomatic and foreign intelligence work in the service of the American cause. In this missive, Ben Franklin recaps the failed Canada campaign Washington referenced to John Hancock and offers an account of a Canadian visitor to Congress, who sounds like an intelligence asset, and his report on political reasons the campaign isn't working in Canada and how it could be helped. Turns out, it never did catch on north of the border.

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On Feb. 9. 1776, George Washington sounds like he's had it up to here with the short deployments of Continental Army soldiers. Americans had philosophical reasons for keeping citizen soldiers on short time, viewing a standing army with suspicion. But in this correspondence, Washington politely but insistently lays out the many problems he's had with them. The Continental Army would later move to 1-3 year stints as the war went on.

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A weekend read of Washington's General Orders from Cambridge on Feb. 7, 1776. He is establishing pay for the Army's chaplains at $33.50 per month and advising officers how to create and distribute ammo. Washington also mentions Connecticut chaplain Abiel Leonard, who volunteered in 1775 to serve as one of a handful of chaplains before the army was even established as the Continental Army. Leonard was one of the first-ever chaplains to serve in the Army Corps of Chaplains, whcih was established in July 1775 and still exists today, boasting some 3,000 chaplains. Washington thought chaplains important to the morale and moral character of the troops, as well as in bolstering them for courage in the fight instead of desertion. Washington appreciated Leonard so much he once wrote to his home church asking if they could spare him for the Army some time longer and Gen. Israel Putnam (of Bunker Hill fame) petitioned Congress for backpay for his service in 1775.

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