It was a pretty wacky month in September 1776. Turtles, attempted peace deals, a treaty for allies only, and a preventable execution of a “spy.” who shouldn’t have been given permission to be one by General Washington.
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So, what does a turtle have to do with the American Revolution? Or, when is a TURTLE NOT A TURTLE?
Possibly, when it’s an experimental “submarine!”
Benjamin Franklin wasn’t the only inventor in the colonies. Okay, so a submarine is not a “flexible catheter”, or a “lightning rod,” but it could still save people’s lives.
David Bushnell
David Bushnell entered Yale College in 1771. At the time, he was the “old codger” on campus. He was 31 years old! (Guess who bought the beer for the freshmen on Friday night?)
The Turtle Submarine
Old man on campus, David gets the credit for inventing the first submarine. At least the first one ever used, or tried to be used in combat. It was 1775; he’s still at Yale, now at the decrepit old age of 35! But why a turtle? If you’ve ever seen one of those “Green Ceramic Grills” (can’t mention the name) that look sort of like an egg, that’s pretty much the shape of the “Turtle.”
But what was really cool was his ingenious idea of “water ballast” to go up and down in the water. Let the water out, you go up! Let the water in, you go down! Sound familiar? If not, watch a few Captain Nemo & the Nautilus movies.
But not only did he “invent” the use “water ballast” for up and down motion, he used a screw propeller to move the Turtle along in the water. If he wasn’t the first, he was certainly one of the first to use a version of an invention dating back to 704 BC, a water screw. This gave him the idea of using a brass, screw propeller to cause forward motion his submarine. Issac Doolittle (not the guy who talked to the animals … that was Dr. Doolittle) crafted the propeller in brass. Doolittle was an experienced clockmaker, engraver, and brass foundry worker.
Their work on a propeller system would not be perfected for larger vessels until the 1830s. Of course, the Nautilus of Captain Nemo and most large ships to this day use this method of propulsion.
But Bushnell didn’t invent his submarine for pleasure cruising. Yale gave him time to create and prove several things, such as gunpowder was a useful explosive … underwater! Underwater mines … floating torpedoes! What exactly were they teaching at Yale in 1775? Oh yeah, his friend, Isaac Doolittle, also helped to develop the first mechanically triggered … TIME BOMB!
Thanks guys!
It was a year later, September 7th, 1776, that the Turtle attacked a 64-gun British warship, the HMS Eagle, in New York Harbor. Although Bushnell wanted to pilot the submarine, that was a task given to an Army man, Sergeant Ezra Lee. Unfortunately, the attack failed. But the submarine was tried again at a later date and failed again.
Of course, that didn’t stop the expansion of submarine technology. We have gone from a one-man manually powered floating egg to today’s 100+ crew behemoths powered by nuclear reactors and carrying ballistic missiles with thermonuclear warheads.
So, thank you David Bushnell and his alma mater, Yale College, for giving us … well …
September 11, 1776
The Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania formally approves that from this day forward these former United Colonies will hereby be given the name
The United States of Ameria
September 11, 1776
Staten Island Peace Conference
Back on September 6th, a committee was appointed to find out if there was still a way out of this mess, they had gotten themselves into. Admiral Richard Howe had requested a meeting to see where things currently stood with the colonists. John Adams, Edward Rutledge (the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence) and, of course, Benjamin Franklin were the appointed committee members to meet with Howe.
Staten Island, New York —
There’s an old adage from thousands of years ago. Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, even the Vikings probably said, “if you’re going to send someone to negotiate … make sure they have some authority to at least make some type of decision!”
By all accounts, the Admiral was “British polite” to the newly named people from the, United States of America. But he had absolutely NO authority to make a treaty, or any other deals. All deal-making would revert to London and would have to be sent to the King and Parliament. (Considering it was a 45-day trip there, and another 45 days back, three months was a long time to wait for an answer).
Interestingly enough, he said that King George and Parliament were “open” to discussing the colonists’ grievances and the improvement of the administration of said “colonies”. (no mention of independence in that set of statements).
Franklin noticed that faux pas, insisting Great Britain and Parliament needed to recognize the independence of the now, United States. After three hours of Franklin’s diplomacy and the young Rutledge’s legal background, things weren’t going well. They probably had little help from Adams, a prominent Boston lawyer who was not considered a diplomat in most circles, as Franklin would later learn in Paris. The meeting concluded with its inevitable conclusion.
Howe was pretty blunt. He also now sounded as if he actually did have some authority. His admission that he couldn’t make any concessions UNLESS the colonists ceased their hostilities against Britain and gave up their arms sounded as though he had some inside knowledge of what to say!
So, let’s get this straight!
After three hours, the gracious Admiral Howe came off as some kind of used-car salesman!
“I can’t make any decisions – I’ll have to talk to my Sales Manager!”
“But, if you give me something to work with (Surrender!), something I can take to the back office (King & Parliament), we can end these “negotiations” right now!”
As we all know, that didn’t happen.
The Spy Who Should Not Have Been!
September 12th
As Washington was leaving Manhattan, giving it over to the British, a young Captain, Nathan Hale, decided he was the next “James Bond”. Volunteering to remain on Long Island, he could be a spy for the newly dubbed “United States of America.”
Washington probably knew better, or at least should have, that the young Connecticut teacher and now soldier had little to no experience in the field of espionage. Volunteering to carry out a spy mission, even for your boss, probably was not a wise career move.
When he was finally exposed, after a brief time, six days, he was taken prisoner. Rumour has it he was ratted out by a friend, or possibly a relative. No matter who did it, Captain Hale didn’t fare well in the “non-existent” British Military justice system that existed in the colonies. “Out of uniform spies receive execution.” No questions, no jury trial, just, well, execution!
The inexperienced 21-year-old spy was immediately hanged, legendarily saying the words that every middle school history student knows by heart. “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
The only problem was, he most certainly never said that line. It didn’t even appear until 23 years later. And it was surprisingly similar to a line from a popular 18th-century play from 1713, “Cato.”
Unfortunately, it’s one of the many quotes during the Revolution that were probably either made up, or severely paraphrased years after the event.
MODEL TREATY
September 17
How do you secure money for a war? How do you secure alliances with friendly foreign countries? The ones who wished Great Britain would sink into the sea? You need a template that focuses on trade agreements that don’t involve troops on the ground.
Congress approved a Model Treaty on September 17th
France was not about to send troops to the aid of the colonies in the early days. What if the colonies decided to take Admiral Howe up on his offer? Give it up! No matter how awful the terms were, or the eventual consequences that they might ensue. France would be exposed!
It would take several more weeks before a group of commissioners would be authorized by Congress to head to France with their Model Treaty. On September 26th, the authorization came through. Three commissioners were named. Thomas Jefferson from Virginia, the man who wrote the Declaration that the French secretly loved. Silas Deane, a Connecticut lawyer who would eventually get caught up in controversy and accusations of treason. And of course, Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, the one who would stay in France for many years.
Their job was simple. Secure arms, ammunition, and any military professionals they could squeeze out of the French government. They were especially seeking trained engineers with experience in bridges, forts, battlements, anything that could help them become safe and mobile.
It wasn’t until 1778 that the Model Treaty would lead to The Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France along with the Treaty of Alliance, which included military provisions. Not French military “boots on the ground,” but boots for American soldiers and other military supplies.
Ben Franklin was hoping that he would not be severely paraphrased as Nathan Hale had been. It seemed the tourists of 2025 Williamsburg, Virginia, were not very friendly toward him.
He was not a spy, but he certainly wasn’t liked by the locals who considered him a traitor according to their history books. “What was he even doing in Colonial Williamsburg dressed as a re-enactor?” This would be “noted to the Customer Service department!”
But paraphrased or not, he was lost! He would soon discover that this was not only the 21st century! It was also a parallel universe! Everyone spoke with a British accent! Because it was well known that …
