1776 and the Wrath and Power of God

I just finished reading 1776, by David McCullough. 1776 chronicles the battles during the year 1776 and the impact that year had on the fight for American independence from England.

I originally bought this book for my wife several months ago for her birthday. She loves to read and I had heard many good things about it. The reason I decided to read this particular book, is because of a talk that my wife gave on July 13 in church. As she was preparing the talk and asking me about my opinion, she related to me a couple of things she had learned from reading 1776 and a correlation in The Book of Mormon. My thoughts and beliefs go hand in hand with hers, so I relate what are originally her ideas and I give her the credit for these findings, although there may be a few things that we each picked out that the other didn’t.

In the Book of Mormon, we read of a vision that the Prophet Nephi had in 1 Nephi 13:16-19.

16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.
18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.
19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.

I think it is universally believed that this particular vision is of the colonization of America, and the subsequent Revolutionary War. The key statements in these verses are that the “wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle” and how the Americans (“Gentiles”) were “delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.”

In 1776 we read countless accounts of George Washington lamenting about his army, how few there were, how untrained they were to fight against what was then considered one of the best, if not the greatest army in the world. His army was referred to as “rabble in arms”, constantly sick, undisciplined, and for the most part largely uncommitted to the cause of the revolution. Washington repeatedly had to motivate them to the cause, plead for those whose military terms were expired to renew and continue the war, and fight dissension and low morale due to sickness (physical & home), lack of pay and the extremities of weather (either too hot or too cold).

Amid all of this, there are a few examples which make it plainly clear to me that the wrath of God was indeed upon those fighting the Americans, and how there were numerous times that the Americans were delivered by the power of God.

The Siege of Boston & Dorchester Heights
In November of 1775, Henry Knox requested to retrieve the artillery that was seized during the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, “an undertaking so enormous, so fraught with certain difficulties, that many thought it impossible.” (1776, p. 59) Knox was going to retrieve 120,000 pounds of artillery and transport them 300 miles during the dead of winter. Knox had counted on using sleds to transport the artillery, but an unseasonable thaw delayed his convoy. Finally after waiting out a blizzard and another thaw, the temperature dropped enough to freeze the ground and allow the sleds to proceed. As they reached the Berkshire Mountains, “… the mountains, steep and tumbled and dissected by deep, narrow valleys, posed a challenge as formidable as any.” (1776, p.84) Knox wrote in his journal “It appeared to me almost a miracle that people with heavy loads should be able to get up and down such hills.” (1776, p.84) This is actually reminiscent of the trek of the Pioneers to Utah. There were many instances that the pioneers traversed mountains and hills that seemed impossible.

Taking Boston, both armies knew, lay in establishing a fortification at Dorchester Heights. George Washington planned on occupying the Heights on a single night, but it would be difficult as “the frozen ground on top was ‘impenetrable as a rock’…which meant that digging trenches and throwing up breastworks in the usual fashion would be impossible, at least in one night and with no noise.”(1776, p. 88)

On the night of March 4th and into the 5th, the anniversary of the Boston Massacre, the Americans moved to occupy the Heights. Under a full moon, many thought the night had been especially prepared by the Almighty. Reverend William Gordon wrote “A finer [night] for working could not have been taken out of the whole 365. It was hazy below [the Heights] so that our people could not be seen, though it was a bright moonlight night above the hills.” (1776, p.92) The task had been accomplished and at daybreak the British commanders looked up on the hill to see the American fortifications, including the arsenal of Fort Ticonderoga. General Howe, the commander-in-chief of the British army was said to have exclaimed “My God, these follows have done more work in one night than I could make my army do in three months.” (1776, p.93) Another British officer thought that work would have taken 15,000-20,000 men to accomplish, when in reality it was done by approximately 1,200 men.

Surely the hand of God was involved in the artillery trek from Ticonderoga and establishing Dorchester Heights, a move that would cause the British retreat from Boston and prove a valuable victory in the fight for American Independence.


The Battle (& Retreat) of Brooklyn
After the British had retreated from Boston, the next battlefield would be in New York. By this time the British had brought in reinforcements from the Hessians (German soldiers hired to help the British fight the Revolutionary War) and in late June, 1776, the British and Hessian fleets began to arrive at the various bays around New York. McCullough states that five of the British warships alone far exceeded the all the American guns on the shore. Over the next month and a half more than 400 ships would arrive at New York. McCullough writes “…British officers happily reminded one another, it was the largest fleet ever seen in American waters. In fact, it was the largest expeditionary force of the eighteenth century, the largest, most powerful force ever sent forth from Britain or any nation.” (1776, p. 148)

On the 21st of August, 1776, in what I think was a warning from God, a “terrifying” storm broke over New York. Of the storm, people said it was “a storm like a hurricane”, “a most terrible storm”, “the most vehement I ever saw”, “an uncommon…awful scene.” (1776, p. 155) The storm as described by Major Abner Benedict was “surcharged with electricity, for the lightning was constantly searching it from limit to limit. Then followed a crash louder than a thousand cannon. … In a few minutes the entire heavens became black as ink, and from horizon to horizon the whole empyrean was ablaze with lightning” and the thunder as one “continuous crash.” (1776, p. 155) In Doctrine & Covenants 43:25, the Lord reveals that He speaks by the “the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms…”, so it is clear to me that God was in this storm, and like McCullough states, there were many who felt “a night so violent seemed filled with portent.” (1776, p. 155)

As severe a storm this was, the British army pressed on and eventually claimed a victory at Brooklyn. However, in a move that would win him praise from both the Americans and British, Washington’s retreat from Brooklyn appeared to be aided by the Hand of God.

The retreat was to take place during the night of Thursday, into Friday the 30th of August, 1776. Major Benjamin Tallmadge would write of Washington’s decision “To move so large a body of troops…across a river full a mile wide, with a rapid current, in face of a victorious well-disciplined army nearly three times as numerous as his own, and a fleet capable of stopping the navigation…seemed to present most formidable obstacles.” (1776, p. 187) During the crossing of the East River, “as if by design”, the winds shifted to aid the crossing. The event was taking longer than expected, and as daybreak was approaching, ready to reveal the American’s efforts and bring a potential annihilation as the army would be caught between the British Army and the East River, “a heavy fog settled in over the whole of Brooklyn, concealing everything no less than had the night.” (1776, p. 191) One soldier remembered that the fog was so thick that one “could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance.” (1776, p. 191) Across the river, on the New York side, there was no fog at all. In all, 9,000 American troops had evacuated Long Island in the cloak of darkness, without losing a single soul. The British awoke to the same shock as they had the morning the American’s took Dorchester Heights.

The Battle of Trenton
The most famous aspect of the Battle of Trenton, is Washington’s decision to cross the Delaware River and engage in battle with the Hessians, who had been stationed to fortify Trenton.

At this point the American Army morale was at the lowest point, having suffered a tremendous defeat at Brooklyn. As Washington and his troops were getting ready to cross, a fierce “northeasterner” storm blew in, both aiding the crossing by muffling the noise, yet hindering the crossing of the river that was already nearly frozen over. Just making the crossing seemed a miraculous effort, but the battle of the Hessians proved even more aided by the hand of God. During the battle, the American army, “having been on their feet all night, wet, cold, their weapons soaked, went into the fight as if everything depended on them.” (1776, p. 280) The Americans defeated the superior Hessian army, without losing a single life, and only four were wounded. Of the Hessians however, between 21 and 25 had been killed, and 90 wounded. This battle is reminiscent of the Sons of Helaman in the Book of Mormon, an account of the battle at Cumeni, in Alma 57:25-26:

25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

Had it not been for the numerous miracles that took place during the later part of 1775 and 1776, it is altogether possible that the revolution would have failed, and without Divine Intervention, most likely would have, because “on paper” the Americans had no realistic chance of defeating the British. It is plainly manifest to me that indeed, as Nephi had seen in a vision almost 2,400 years earlier, “the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle,” and the “Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.”