The Patriots by Winston Groom

Author:Winston Groom [Groom, Winston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

IN EARLY 1781 the news regarding the future of the American Revolution was consistently bad. One of Washington’s best generals, Benedict Arnold, had turned traitor and gone over to the British; he was presently fighting his fellow Americans in Virginia. Meanwhile, Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, as well as several smaller nations, were offering to mediate the war—but the Russian scheme horrified Adams, for it contained a recommendation of a cease-fire or truce while the negotiations were taking place. Adams knew that would likely be fatal to the American cause. He insisted that no mediation or negotiations would take place unless the British recognized the independence of America.

Then came news from Franklin that Adams was cut off from all further funding. Not only that, but word came from Philadelphia that Congress had appointed five peace commissioners, of which Adams was merely one. The others were Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, Laurens if he was ever released from the Tower, and Franklin.

Thoroughly deflated, Adams went into what can only be described as a rage. He began seeing enemies where none existed. It was during this time, in the late summer of 1781, that he collapsed completely. Doctors said it was malaria and Adams spoke of it as a “fever,” but some modern scholars have concluded that it was a nervous breakdown.

Adams was nearly insensate for weeks. But during those weeks, Washington at last joined with Rochambeau’s French army and the combined force began a stealthy march to Virginia to take on Cornwallis. The victory that Adams had been waiting for was starting to unfold. Then on October 19, as the American fife-and-drum corps played “Yankee Doodle” and the redcoats “The World Turned Upside Down,” the British surrendered.

When word arrived in Amsterdam of the Yorktown victory, Adams felt thoroughly vindicated. His remonstrations to Foreign Minister Vergennes insisting that the French navy play a larger role in the war had been justified. Now all of the pieces began to fall into place. Dutch officials began work on a commercial treaty with the United States and on official recognition of the new nation. Adams also began negotiations with Amsterdam bankers for a loan to America. Adams was treated almost as royalty, writing that there were “Sups and Visits at Court among Princesses and Princes, Lords and Ladies of Various Nations.” John Adams was suddenly the toast of Holland.

Adams moved from Amsterdam to The Hague, where he acquired an elegant house that became the first American embassy. Whatever ailed him soon went away, and he was again able to enjoy his morning horseback rides. He was, he said, no longer the “Grumbletonian Patriot” but a man “complaisant, good humored [and] contented.”148

While the Yorktown defeat was a huge shock to the British, they still held New York City and would probably continue to do so, using it as a bargaining chip in their negotiations. Then, in March 1782, the government of British prime minister Lord North, who had prosecuted the war vigorously, fell and was replaced by a government under Lord Rockingham, a friend of America.

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