The Fourth of July has come and gone again. Not so many fireworks this year because of the drought, but tons of patriot bunting, parades, and other celebrations. I’m sure the two words I’m going to put into this story were never mentioned anywhere in the speeches and talks of this year’s Fourth of July festivities.
The two words are “arrogance” and “sugar.” Without the British arrogance and the dollar value of sugar, this little strip of colonies along what is now America’s East Coast would never had gained their fight for independence. The Continental Army and its militia forces only won two major battles. They were Saratoga and Yorktown.
The arrogance came to play throughout the war when British forces were led by officers of the aristocratic leadership of Great Britain. They set themselves way above their enemy. The enemy being those rough and tumble militia volunteers and the Continental Army (which as the war wore on got better and better and, finally, best). The Brits thought we were a bunch of stumble-bum frontiersmen who didn’t know how to use a fork properly and didn’t know how to be disciplined soldiers. They were to learn their lessons about us and the war the hard way.
In the critical battle of Saratoga, the British army was led by Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne. Gen. John Burgoyne, a lesser son of a titled family, wrote plays, gambled with intensity, and spent his wife’s money with reckless abandon. He struck out from Canada with less than the promised amount of men and supplies but he knew his British and German troops would be superior to any of those he faced — especially the American militia. He was arrogant and he did not understand or know his enemy. (At Bennington, in what is now Vermont, a 900-man force of British and German infantry and cavalry were surrounded by militia men from Vermont and New Hampshire and were decimated. The force that came to their rescue suffered the same fate. They lost approximately half of their troops and fled the battle scene.) Gen. Burgoyne thought Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut were full of loyalists and would flock to the cause. He was wrong.
After the battle of Saratoga, the French joined the war against England and that’s where sugar came to our rescue. The English Treasury got a million pounds a year from their vast holdings in India. In the Caribbean, their sugar islands were giving the English Treasury two million pounds a year. With France in the war, England had to move warships, soldiers and resources to the Caribbean to save their sugar money. We would win because the English did not understand us and they couldn’t let a farthing of the sugar money be lost to France.
So here’s to British arrogance and the sweetness of sugar, and happy birthday to the good old USA!
Ronn Mott, a longtime radio personality in Terre Haute, writes commentaries for the Tribune-Star. His pieces are published online Tuesday and Thursday on Tribstar.com, and in the print and online editions on Saturday.
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RONN MOTT: Arrogance and sugar
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