Yankee Doodle Boy

 This is the first book that I have finished this year, I think. 

Yankee Doodle Boy is an autobiography of Joseph Plumb Martin, who at age fifteen joined the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He wrote this years after his return to civilian life, and seemingly had told the story to anyone who would listen before he ever wrote it down. This version was edited for young readers. In it, Mr. Martin specifies that he only tells his point of view, not the entire war story.

Young Joseph was raised by his grandparents before he joined the army. He debated for months before finally signing up, and even as his hand hovered over the papers, he hesitated. Someone bumped his shoulder and he made a mark on the paper, so he figured he should go ahead and sign properly. He only signed up for six months to see how he liked "soldiering." After his first stint, he was paid by a group of people to go in their stead. Then he signed up for three years or until the end of the war.

As he narrates his "adventures" he also explains the conditions and how they dealt with them. At the first battle, they were told to put their baggage further back from the line of engagement, but in doing so, he lost his extra food and clothing. After that, hunger and fatigue were his near constant companions. He tells about laying on the hard ground without a blanket or even a coat, putting his gun between his thighs to keep the flint area dry. Another winter, he had to flip from left to right every few hours to let each side alternately warm and freeze. At the proclaimed thanksgiving feast, after not eating for several days, the soldiers were issued less than 1/4 a cup of rice and a tablespoon of vinegar to feast on.

The entire book was told with a dry and ironic wit. When he describes this episode, he writes:

After we made sure of this extraordinary superabundant donation, we were ordered out to attend a meeting and hear a sermon delivered upon the happy occasion... The preacher ought to have added the remainder of the sentence to have made it complete, "And be content with your wages." But that would not do, it would be to apropos.

He does not shy away from talking about the suffering and deprivation, but does it without whining. Instead it is "just the way it was" and there's not much that can be done about it now. One striking episode he recounts happens in 1780, when Connecticut regiments refuse to leave the parade grounds because they haven't been given anything to eat.

For several days after we rejoined the army, we go a little musty bread and a little beef about every other day, but this lasted only a short time and then we got nothing at all. The men were now exasperated beyond endurance. They could stand it no longer. They saw no alternative but to starve to death, or break up the army, give up all and go home. This was a hard matter for the soldiers to think upon. They were truly patriotic, they loved their country, and they had already suffered everything short of death in its cause. Ad now, after such extreme hardships to give up all was too much, but to start to death was too much also. what was to be done? Here was the army starved and naked, and there their country sitting still and expecting the army to do notable things while fainting from sheer starvation.

Eventually, a colonel from Pennsylvania mediated, explaining that they were all starving. There was no food to be had, so there was nothing anyone could do until food arrived. Fortunately, food did arrive shortly thereafter and they did not starve.

His stories about not getting sleep hit even closer to home. At one place where he was stationed for two weeks, he says he hardly slept more than a catnap. The barracks were a focal point for enemy cannon fire, so those who slept in the barracks did not come out alive. The ground was muddy and marshy so curling up on the dirt was out of the question. Besides all that, they were randomly bombarded with cannon fire, so settling down for a rest was impossible. Eventually, they gave up the fort (burning it behind them) and moved to better ground. He slept almost a full twenty four hours as soon as he was shown where he could bunk.

Eventually Martin was transferred to a Sappers and Miners regiment - the ones that dug the lines and built fortifications - so he was at the siege of Yorktown, and its eventual surrender. Here as he was digging, one night George Washington arrived in their trench. They did not recognize him, but answered his question and pointed which way he should go to find who he was looking for. Later they were told who it was they had assisted.

Interspersed in these stories were little reflections, sometimes about the character of a specific person, sometimes about his own thoughts in retrospection. It made me wonder what type of a person he really was. He says that he tended to talk too much, but because of that he made friends easily. Yet, he must have been dependable because he was regularly given responsibility, both officially (he became a sergeant) and less formally (guarding baggage or invalids). He obviously had dry wit, and was usually motivated by a sense of honor and loyalty. When starvation or frustration led him to do things he later thought was unwise or wrong, he didn't excuse it as "not that bad" but rather with the same, "it was what it was" attitude. 

Reading this book reminded me that each human is unique, with his or her own story to tell. But throughout time, although situations vary, humankind doesn't. People experiencing the same situation will respond differently, and it is impossible to truly put a person into a neat and tidy box, as much as we like doing it. Perhaps Joseph Plumb Martin was a hardworking New Englander, but if that is a stereotype, it doesn't do him justice. However, although Yankee Doodle Boy provides glimpses of what it was like to be a foot soldier in the Colonial Army, more than that, it shows one persons response to the highs and lows of life - situationally different from ours, but internally similar enough to understand his flaws and nobility.