Skyrockets swam lazily through the spring air and lighted up the sky over British-occupied Philadelphia. Royal Marines, dressed as Nubian slaves, waited on Tory girls in Oriental pavilions, and medieval jousts were held between the so-called Knights of the Blended Rose and the Knights of the Burning Mountain.
It was May 18, 1778, and 'Billy Howe was going home. The pomp and gaiety concealed, if only for one splendid evening, the failure of his mission.
Efforts to quell the rebellion in America were not going well. Sir William Howe had occupied Philadelphia the previous fall, but another British army, under the command of Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne, had been forced to surrender to the rebels at Saratoga, N.Y. The Old Fox, General George Washington, had survived his dread winter at Valley Forge, Pa., and had grown stronger through adversity. His command, which had once dwindled to a mere 5,000 troops, was now thought to be in the neighborhood of 13,000, perhaps larger than Howe's own force in Philadelphia. Worst of all, an alliance had been concluded between King Louis XVI and the Continental Congress. France, inveterate enemy of Great Britain, would soon be entering the contest on the side of the rebels.
Read Full Article »