![]() In the battle for Philadelphia, Washington chose the wrong town to defend and allowed the British to cut his army off from the capital of the rebellion. In New York, he failed ''to reconnoiter battlefields adequately." He committed thousands of troops to hold an indefensible Fort Washington. And Lengel is merciless.Īs commander in chief of the Continental Army, Washington piled up a record of tactical mistakes. Lengel's sometimes awkwardly written ''General George Washington" doesn't break new ground but does give the first full account in decades of the general's military career. Lengel, a Revolutionary War specialist at the University of Virginia, describes a Washington who was a little vain, rash, occasionally careless, and perhaps one of the luckiest generals ever to escape repeated opportunities for destruction. ![]() ![]() When I was in school in Detroit at Von Steuben Junior High - named after a Prussian officer who helped turn ragtag American revolutionary militiamen into saluting soldiers - we saw the life of George Washington as a straight, heroic march from downed cherry tree to military glory at Yorktown.Įdward G. ![]()
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