Chapter One
Independence Needed an Ally
Before the victory at Yorktown, there were bread ovens outside New York. They were part of a deception. George Washington wanted the British commander to believe that the allied army meant to remain nearby, preparing an attack. Instead, American and French troops were turning south toward Virginia. The ovens helped give an absence the appearance of a stay. Bread, or the convincing prospect of bread, had become a strategic instrument.
The episode, recorded in the National Park Service's account of the siege, offers a useful entrance to the Revolution. It brings an unglamorous object into a campaign usually remembered through commanders and surrender. It also places French troops beside American ones. The new republic's independence would depend on making another power's interests work alongside its own.
A declaration could announce a political purpose. It could not supply the ships, credit, clothing or coordination needed to turn that purpose into a settlement. The war posed a practical question beneath its language of rights: how could the Americans remain capable of fighting long enough to make Britain accept their independence?
Benjamin Franklin went to France seeking support for a rebellion against British rule. The fit between the partners was hardly simple. Louis XVI governed a monarchy; the Americans had challenged one. French hostility toward British power created an opening, but the king initially hesitated to make a formal commitment. A useful rebellion could also become an unsuccessful investment, or an uncomfortable example.
