The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [131]
“Sir, the loss of Ticonderoga could be a minor affair. Burgoyne is still a long distance from here. Even if Howe combines forces with him they cannot secure the entire length of the river. We can surely find the means to sever their hold.”
Washington said nothing for a long moment, stared at the harbor, then looked around, again careful of those who might hear.
“Mr. Greene, there are many people in this country who believe that by the size of this land alone, we cannot be defeated. It is natural to assume that no army on earth can subdue a nation as large as this one. But our victory will not be won because we control the most land. It is won by the defeat of the enemy’s army. We suffer the inefficiency of congress, but congress reflects the will of the people, and the people are our only means of maintaining this army. The loss of Ticonderoga is not so important to this army as it is to the people. If they lose faith in us, they will not support us. What we accomplished at Trenton transformed their mood, and you witnessed the result. New recruits, ample rations. But when faith is justified, it becomes expectation. I have endured a flood of letters from congress, questioning why we were so idle at Morristown. I am scolded, advised in the strongest terms to strike out again, produce more victories, as though it is simply a matter of will. The congress is aware that the optimism of the people can change easily into hopelessness, that the support for this army is as fragile as a flicker of candlelight. It may only take one great defeat, one powerful blow by the British to extinguish it.”
“Sir, clearly then, General Howe does not grasp that. He has had opportunity to deliver such a blow, and has failed to do so.”
“Yes, Mr. Greene, there is the mystery. I have heard rumors of grumbling in the British high command, that the Howe brothers may be our friends after all, that all their enthusiasm for peace is reflected by their poor strategy.”
“That would be . . . treason, of the highest sort.”
“Quite so, Mr. Greene, which is why I don’t believe it. General Howe is experienced in the European ways, that defeating your opponent is best accomplished, not by defeating his army, but by capturing his capital.”
Washington looked again at the harbor, slowly raised his hand in front of his chest, made a fist, his voice now loud, excited.
“That’s the answer, Mr. Greene! That is why those ships are still at anchor. No matter how sound the strategy, how important it may be to Burgoyne, Howe doesn’t want to go north. He wants to go south. He has his eye on Philadelphia, after all.”
THE SHIPS IN THE HARBOR HAD CONTINUED THEIR STRANGE GAME, and Greene continued to observe them, the obvious trickery, sails going north, then south, as though Howe expected Washington to uproot his army to follow every feint. Then a letter had come to headquarters, captured in the hand of a spy. The man claimed to be traveling to Burgoyne, overland, when everyone in camp knew that the British dispatches were moving far quicker by water. The spy had stumbled down a road clearly controlled by Washington’s guards, claimed to have been lost, and the letter he carried in his pocket was written in a code so simple, the sergeant who carried him to headquarters had already broken it. Washington read the letter with disguised amusement, made a loud pronouncement to the spy that the captured dispatch was an invaluable piece of intelligence. The supposed spy had been released, and the guard posts were discreetly ordered to allow the man to make his way to whatever boat would carry him back to General Howe. He would certainly report his mission a success, that Washington had captured the details of Howe’s explicit plan. The document was a detailed letter to Burgoyne, stating that Howe’s army would board their ships and sail north, supporting Burgoyne’s march by first invading Boston, the very harbor that Howe himself had once abandoned. With the spy long gone, Washington had called his commanders together, and there had been no debate. When Greene returned