In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick (2018)
In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick is an account of the last year of the American Revolutionary War with detailed focus on the navies involved in the conflict. The author is a naval historian and a great writer whose talents are on full display in this outstanding work.
The Americans on the ground, Continentals and militia, needed help from a navy to put the final claps on the British southern army, led by Lord Cornwallis. With nothing but small, mostly privately owned merchant vessels, America needed the French and their ships of the line to compete against the British, the strongest navy in the world.
Often overlooked by history is the movements of the French and Spanish navies in the Caribbean during this time and how those movements directly influenced the French Navy’s presence in the Chesapeake. It has been said that an army marches on its stomach, or maybe then a navy sails on its purse. Without money to pay for the trip from the Caribbean to the American coast, French Admiral de Grasse wouldn’t have made it to the Chesapeake, or at least, would not have made it at the right time. The author writes, “It cannot be denied that the Spanish residents of Cuba provided what one commentator has called ‘the bottom dollars upon which the edifice of American independence was raised.’” Several other factors, including a hurricane or two, came as essential components. The author gives the Caribbean episode of the Revolutionary War well-deserved attention.
America’s Founding Father, Virginia’s most revered historical figure, George Washington is front and center as leading the final operation (Washington fired the first cannon at the Siege of Yorktown). Leading the cast behind him are French officers Comte de Grasse and Comte de Rochambeau. Their roles could not have been more impactful.
Virginia serves as the setting for the last part of the book. Cornwallis and his army had had their full of chasing General Nathanael Greene around the Carolinas. Cornwallis needed a place to rest his exhausted troops, but why would he pick Yorktown? That little peninsula offers little on way to escape.
To make matters even more puzzling, the traitorous Benedict Arnold, who was by then with Cornwallis in Yorktown, knew full well how poor a position Yorktown is for a camp having been in a similar scenario. The author writes, “On an isolated peninsula, with the American militia on one side of [Benedict Arnold] and the French navy on the other, he would have nowhere to go. Nine months before Yorktown, Arnold found himself in almost exactly the same situation that would lead to the downfall of Cornwallis.”
Once the allied ground forces approached Yorktown, there was little the British could do. The Siege of Yorktown would undoubtingly deliver a crushing defeat for the British. The author writes, “With the beach at their backs and a steep bluff between them and the front of their fortifications, there were few places to hide as the allied cannonballs and bombshells rained down on them.”
On October 17 hostilities were paused when the British waved a white flag, and on October 19 the British army surrendered their arms. Cornwallis failed to show Washington and his army the respect the victors deserved when he had his second present his sword, at first to one of the French officers, then to Washington, who then signaled to present to his second. One for three on the sword presentation is embarrassing, especially considering the whole situation would not have happened if Cornwallis had enough character to be there himself.
This reviewer is a big fan of the author. Philbrick writes with masterful control of nautical jargon throughout the book, yet always presented in an understandable way. I highly recommend In the Hurricane’s Eye by Nathaniel Philbrick, it’s a must-read.
