The Project Gutenberg eBook, Conduct of Sir William Howe, by Israel Mauduit

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Title: Conduct of Sir William Howe
Observations upon the Conduct of S-r W-----m H--e at the White Plains; As Related in The Gazette of December 30, 1776

Author: Israel Mauduit

Release Date: August 16, 2010 [eBook #33449]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONDUCT OF SIR WILLIAM HOWE***

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Note: This e-book was prepared from a Reprint Edition, 1971,
by Arno Press Inc.
LC# 71-140874
ISBN 0-405-01219-5
Eyewitness Accounts of the American Revolution, Series III
ISBN for complete set: 0-405-01187-3
Manufactured in the United States of America

CONDUCT OF SIR WILLIAM HOWE

OBSERVATIONS
UPON THE
CONDUCT
OF
S-r W-----M H--E
AT THE
WHITE PLAINS;

AS RELATED IN THE GAZETTE
OF DECEMBER 30, 1776.

(By Israel Mauduit)

London:
Printed for J. Bew, Pater-Noster Row.
M,DCC,LXXIX.

Tarrytown, N.Y.
Reprinted
William Abbatt
1927

EDITOR'S PREFACE

Of the four British commanders here during the Revolution, Howe was
certainly the chief, so far as dullness amounting to apathy and slowness
almost equal to immobility, went. His first experience of American
determination was at Bunker's Hill; and he ever afterwards showed a
wholesome respect for his opponents. On the particular event we are
considering, his expedition northward from New York to White Plains in
1776, his ineptitude was so conspicuous that Israel Mauduit wrote this
stinging pamphlet (now very rare) about it, in which Howe's various
forms of inefficiency are so tersely and forcibly shown up. It was
indeed fortunate for the patriots that a really active, energetic
officer was not in command; for such a one as Simcoe or Maitland would
have easily defeated them. Howe afterwards explained to Parliament his
reasons for not following up his advantage at White Plains, by saying
his inaction was "due to political reasons, w