On the stormy night of August 29, 1776, the Continental Army faced
capture or annihilation after losing the Battle of Brooklyn. The British
had trapped George Washington’s forces against the East River, and the
fate of the Revolution rested upon the shoulders of the soldier-mariners
from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Serving side by side in one of the
country’s first diverse units, they pulled off an “American Dunkirk” and
saved the army by transporting it across the treacherous waters of the
river to Manhattan.
In the annals of the American Revolution, no group
played a more consequential role than the Marbleheaders. At the right
time in the right place, they repeatedly altered the course of events,
and their story shines new light on our understanding of the Revolution.
As acclaimed historian Patrick K. O’Donnell dramatically recounts,
beginning nearly a decade before the war started, and in the midst of a
raging virus that divided the town politically, Marbleheaders such as
Elbridge Gerry and Azor Orne spearheaded the break with Britain and
shaped the nascent United States by playing a crucial role governing,
building alliances, seizing British ships, forging critical supply
lines, and establishing the origins of the US Navy.
The Marblehead
Regiment, led by John Glover, became truly indispensable. Marbleheaders
battled at Lexington and on Bunker Hill and formed the elite Guard that
protected George Washington. Then, at the most crucial time in the war,
the special operations–like regiment, against all odds, conveyed 2,400
of Washington’s men across the ice-filled Delaware River on Christmas
night 1776, delivering a momentum-shifting surprise attack on Trenton.
Later, Marblehead doctor Nathaniel Bond inoculated the Continental Army
against a deadly virus, which changed the course of history.
White,
Black, Hispanic, and Native American, this uniquely diverse group of
soldiers set an inclusive standard of unity the US Army would not reach
again for more than 170 years. The Marbleheaders’ chronicle, never fully
told before now, makes The Indispensables a vital addition to the literature of the American Revolution.