1776 is a book by the Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough about the American Revoltuion. It chronicles Washington’s military campaigns through 1776. So why am I writing about it in Analytical Faith? As I read it, it appeared to me that faced with insurmountable odds following your faith maybe the most rationale thing to do (analytical). But first let me give you the story to set the context.
Washington had taken command in Cambridge on July 3, 1775. The Continental “army” had 16,000-20,000 volunteers. There were very few who had been soldiers or had any kind of military training. Discipline was low and skill levels even lower. The Congress sitting in Philadelphia made many of the most important decisions which was hard in the time when messages took days to reach on express horse riders. This army “rabble of arms” was to face off the super power of the time, the British Crown.
Their first campaign was a big success. They were able to drive Brits from Boston without much bloodshed as they captured Dorchester Heights. But after that in a few months the army suffered a series of debilitating and humiliating defeats in Brooklyn, Kips Bay, Harlem and Fort Washington. They did not even put up a fight in Fort Lee, Hackensack, Newark, Princeton or Trenton. Constantly on the run, the army now reduced to a couple of thousand, with no warm clothing, shelter or even shoes, Washington was waiting on the other side of Delaware river from Trenton. There were over 20,000 British and Hessian soldiers waiting to cross the river and they would have had a clear run to Philadelphia where the Congress had proclaimed Independence just 5 months back. His two closest subordinates had lost faith in Washington and his second in command had been just captured by the Brits. In face of such a situation the “analytical” approach would have been for Washington to consider taking the amnesty offered by the British. However his faith that this was the “worthiest of the cause” carried him through the darkest hour.
The British general decided to call an end to the campaign and retreated to New York for the winter on December 13, 1776. Washington seized a “do or die” moment and attacked the diminished enemy troops on the Christmas night through a treacherous storm. Again, not analytical, but an action spurred by immense faith. That victory at Trenton was the turning point.
So while an analytical mind will work with probabilities and take risks in a calculated ways, a mind possessed with faith in the righteousness of its path will push through the slimmest of the cracks that destiny opens for it.
Overall, I would recommend the book for everyone who needs encouragement when faced with insurmountable odds.