Swords in Their Hands: George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy

Swords in Their Hands: George Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy

Fearful that they will never see the back pay they are owed and the postwar pensions they have been promised, George Washington's officers gather on March 15, 1783, in the Temple of Virtue in the Hudson Highlands. They are "ready to revolt." They have read an incendiary address written by a fellow officer that has made them recall the great neglect and suffering they have endured and that proposes they send only one more petition to Congress, one containing an ultimatum: Pay the Continental Army what it is owed and provide the officers with pensions or else face the alternative of seeing them refuse to disband if peace arrives or of watching them turn their backs on America and leaving it defenseless against the British if the Revolutionary War continues. Congress, though, cannot pay the Continental Army or provide the officers with pensions; it is broke and does not have the authority to tax the American people directly to obtain the funds needed to do those things. If  it wants to do those things, it has to go to the states to get funding. However, when it does request funds from the states, it almost always is ignored. That is something a faction of nationalists in Philadelphia who insist that the states must grant real taxation authority to Congress cannot tolerate. So they have set in motion a desperate plot to hang the angry army over the heads of state legislators and delegates in Philadelphia who support the idea of state sovereignty to terrify them into giving them what they want. "Well-researched, clearly written, and carefully argued ... a gripping story ..." - Dr. David Shi, President Emeritus and Professor of History, Furman University "A superbly detailed and documented history of an obscure chapter of American history ... a simply fascinating study .... A seminal work of impressive scope ...." - Midwest Book Review "The detailed story of the new United States of America on the brink of a military coup during the American Revolution ... a must-read for anyone who wants to know the full story of the crisis." - John Nagy, Author, Rebellion in the Ranks: Mutinies of the American Revolution "One of the least known but most important events in the founding of the United States, the Newburgh Conspiracy involved many of the most famous leaders of the age. ... We are indebted to Dave Richards; his book should be widely read." - Dr. Richard H. Kohn, Professor Emeritus of History and Peace, War, and Defense, University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) My book has been recognized as an "Award-Winning Finalist in the 'History: General' category of the 2014 USA Best Book Awards." Dave Richards served over seven years in the United States Army, primarily in military intelligence as a Russian linguist. After he completed his service commitment, he attended George Washington University and Ohio State and earned a BA in Russian language and literature and an MA in Slavic and East European languages and literatures, respectively. Soon thereafter, he joined the faculty of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, where he taught Russian to members of our armed forces. Later, when the Cold War came to an end, he taught English overseas. Dave has been a contributor to The Historical News , a series of quarterly newspapers that are published by Southern Historical News and distributed throughout the South, and is a member of the Writers' Guild of Western North Carolina. He also has frequently spoken on historical subjects for local organizations and at author events and has appeared as a guest on such TV and radio talk shows as MSNBC's "Weekends with Alex Witt," Bloomberg Radio Network's "Taking Stock with Pimm Fox," and "The Armstrong Williams Show."