The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

346 THE FREEMAN Juneain, for Britain's successes in theSeven Year's War had been at theexpense of other major powers.The American Patriots had acause, too, which much outrankedthat of their enemy. They werefighting for liberty and independence;the best that the Britishcould do was appeal to monarchy,empire, and tradition, and theircase for tradition was flawed bythe innovations which had provokedcolonial resistance.Even the method of assemblingand maintaining armies was moreappropriate than is often appreciated.It is true, of course, that thearmy should have been better fed,clothed, shod, munitioned, andhoused. A strong case can bemade, too, that if Patriot commandershad had larger numbersof seasoned and disciplined troopsthey might well have won decisivevictories long before they did. Butit is quite possible that an armycomposed of men with long-termenlistments in resplendent uniforms,who were extensions of thewills of their officers and who hadgarnered a series of brilliant victories,would have endangeredAmerican liberty. Many thoughtfulAmericans feared just the sortof army wanted by any man confrontedwith the military tasksbefore him. Congress was loatheto encourage long enlistments.They feared a standing army, asmight be expected of men of Britishdescent. Americans were consciousnot only of British historybut of Roman history, and of thethreat posed by successful generals.America did avoid the shoalof military dictatorship followingthe revolution, and a plausible reasonwhy is that there was no armywith which anyone inclined to suchexploits could be confident of accomplishingthem.Outstanding LeadershipThe Americans had another advantage,too; they had GeorgeWashington as commander-inchief.Whether he was a greattactician or not is a question thatcan be left to military historians.But there should be no doubt thathe had that peculiar combinationof qualities of a man to whomothers turn in difficult situations.He was dignified, tenacious, farsighted,disciplined, correct, and agentleman. His personal braverywas of the sort that is called fearlessamong soldiers and sometimesfoolhardy for a general. Morethan once he rallied his troops byexposing himself to enemy bullets.A lesser man than he would havecommitted and lost several armies,if he could have assembled thatmany. Washington was sorelytempted to risk his army to rescueand redeem his reputation. Yet heresisted this temptation time and