The American Revolution: the Stuff You Should Know: Part Three

    Inoculating for smallpox in 1777 is very different from how we vaccinate people from it in this day and age. First, you must thread a metal needle and cotton thread through the puss in the pox of someone with smallpox. Smallpox cells in the puss are not as strong as the cells in the blood, and cotton can easily absorb the cells. After the thread has been contaminated with the diseased cells, it must be threaded through the skin and blood of a person without smallpox. Doing this would put the cells in the bloodstream of the person and give them a slight case of smallpox. That person with the weak smallpox cells would be safe from smallpox. When the smallpox cells were put into the blood of the sterilized person, they developed antibodies that could defend against smallpox, and since the cells were infirm, the person would not succumb to the aftermath of the dreadful disease. Because of this technique, we can now vaccinate young people from life-threatening illnesses.

Why is Howe’s capture of Philadelphia a “hollow victory”? What did he expect? What did this new behavior on the part of Congress signal to the British?
    Although General Howe successfully captured Philadelphia, which was the capitol of the Colonies, he was not able to complete the coup d’etat. Howe’s desire was to take over Philadelphia and incarcerate Congress, but he was only able to complete half of his goal. He was able to capture Philadelphia, but by the time he got there, Congress fled to other places in the Colonies. He expected to be able to put Philadelphia under his complete control and also hold Congress as his hostages. Since Congress fled from Philadelphia when they heard that Howe was on the Delaware Bay headed towards Philadelphia, there was no point in Howe taking over Philadelphia. The behavior of Congress signaled to Great Britain two things: the Colonists were not as dense as the British thought they were, and England was engaging themselves into a world war where multiple countries would target them. Congress showed immense intelligence when they hid from Howe. After the marvelous displays shown by the Colonists, France decided to join American in the fight for freedom against Britain. The ingenious movements of Congress not only led to the fail of Howe’s plot, but they also started a world war against England.

Why did Burgoyne at Saratoga liken the rebels to a hydra?
    General Burgoyne, during the Battle at Saratoga, compared the American soldiers to a hydra, a mythical creature that grows seven heads each time one of its three heads is slashed off. During the battle, the British forces are outnumbered two to one by the American soldiers. Heracles was outnumbered by several heads when he fought the hydra, and Burgoyne felt as if he was in the same situation when he was leading the British soldiers against the Americans. The Americans had reinforcements arriving at the battlefield from several different colonies. The hydra had dozens of heads emerging from different parts of its neck, which was similar to the movement of the reinforcements of the American army. The only way to kill the hydra was to burn all of its heads and its body, just as the only way to defeat the Americans was to destroy their inner government. Howe tried to do this by capturing Philadelphia, but he did not succeed because Congress escaped. The persistence and perseverance of the Americans resembled that of the hydra, and they eventually became the victors of the Battle at Saratoga.