Monica Drahonovsky
The First Salute
by
Barbara Tuchman
Monica Reads
By Monica Drahonovsky
Good day to you all.
We have celebrated and mourned our dead on Memorial Day, and Independence Day is fast approaching. I thought this would be a time to remember the fallen of the Revolutionary War and give thanks for the freedom and raucous capitalistic democracy that is ours today because of them.
If you are unhappy about today’s events and happenings, you should know how it all began.
The author of this book gives us a different view of the Revolutionary War. On Nov. 16, 1776, the Andrew Doria sailed into the small Dutch port of St. Eustatius and fired a canon shot that let the port know of their arrival.
The small Fort Orange, commanded by Governor Johannes de Graaff, ordered a return canon shot that recognized their official arrival. This was the first official salute to acknowledge the arrival for the first time of a ship flying the red and white striped flag of the Continental Congress.
The Andrew Doria was one of our four merchant frigates that comprised the first Navy. On Oct. 13, 1775, the Continental Congress passed an act to establish the first Navy. On Oct. 23, 1775, the Congress ordered her to go to St. Eustatius to take on military supplies, gun powder and to take along a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
The Dutch were brilliant when it came to making profits and the war between the States and Great Britain was an excellent chance to reap massive monetary rewards. The colonists sent to St. Eustatius rich cargoes of tobacco, indigo, timber and horses for the most valuable commodity they needed and had no way of getting on their own, gun powder.
The main goal of the Dutch was hard currency. All countries at the time needed this and the Dutch traded hard and wide for it.
They needed hard currency to take care of a continuous rise in government spending and for naval and military purposes for the many conflicts going on around them. The British acts of taxes had Holland furious as well as the colonists.
The above sets the time and place and you need to get hold of this book and read it front to back. It is amazing in detail.
We have often read about the battles and the fact that Washington was almost out of bullets when it was first suggested that a Navy get the trade going with the Dutch for gun powder.
In 1777, a report of the Boston customs office stated that every day there were arrivals of gun powder from St. Eustatius. The Dutch believed that a free flow of trade was more profitable than operating under restrictions. We know how important the French were to the war effort, but this is the first time I have read with such detail about the Dutch.
I hope I have made you curious and interested. Read the book for the rest of the story. You will be happy you did.
Monica Reads is written by Monica Drahonovsky who is known for her lifelong love of history and reading. She has a bachelor’s degree in History, with a minor in English, along with teaching credentials. “My years of reading for leisure and pleasure have given me the insight to read a book and analyze the author’s baggage, cargo and ability to write the language of his/her mind and utilize the gift of prose to educate and entertain the reader. Go get a book, read it and enjoy the adventure.” Contact Monica at mawest@tds.net