Thread by @pptsapper

Damn, Phillip Schuyler was the MASTER at politely but completely undercutting people

Namely, Ira Allen, Ethan's brother, who was trying to set Vermont up as its own thing

Philip Schuyler, who you might know as the father of these ladies

A complicated figure because of his slave ownership, Philip Schuyler also bears responsibility with Benedict Arnold for saving the American cause for independence in the Northern Department from 1775-1777. His logistics talents were unrivalled.

He was a quartermaster in the French and Indian War in the Lake Champlain region, which basically means he knew how to do the impossible with very little. By the time of the Rev War, the dude had political and family connections out the wazoo, and the money to finance a war

which is supeeeerrrrrrr important when you've got a government whose idea of pay for troops and supplies is basically thoughts and prayers and maybe a flowery letter from Jonny Hancock

Schuyler being able to pay for shit financed the Army's ops in NY/VT/Canada '75-'77

Now, Schuyler often draws criticism - and in fact was eventually court martialed - for not being the field commander for the Northern Department. The dude was ALWAYS sick and admitted he knew squat about tactics, so he let field officers do the fighting stuff

He EXCELLED at recruiting, coordinating, building logistics networks, and getting the various assholes in the Northern Dept to work with each other. The dude was a PROLIFIC letter writer. Like, if I wrote as many emails in a day with this much detail, I'd be exhausted

It was on his watch that Fort Ti fell in July, '77, which he'd predicted from the outset, basically being like, "our troops are sick, they have hardly any ammo, we're stretched too thin." But unlike Arthur St Clair, who just whined about it, he actually planned for the retreat

Arthur St Clair is also just one of the most whiny people in US Army history, which is why he got his ass handed to him at the Wabash in 1791. His best legacy is probably the St Clairsville Mall in Ohio, which isn't saying a lot

Even before the army retreats from Fort Ti, Schuyler is out there pulling in militia drafts from NY, MA, and CT and extra Continentals and having them all converge to the south, as well as coordinating new supply dumps and lines of support

At the same time, he's negotiating with the Six Nations to convince them not to get too involved - which helps deny Burgoyne a big piece of his intelligence gathering force

Knowing that John Stark from NH is a BAMF but also kinda reckless, he basically tells the NH militia to do whatever they want, which is probably one of the best things you can tell John Stark, who's eventually going to go to Bennington to decimate the German mercs

Even with Burgoyne threatening Albany, Schuyler realizes that he can put the Vermonters, the NH militia, and MG Benjamin Lincoln on Burgoyne's flank and cut off his retreat. Which is pretty much what eventually happened

Oh, and he also puts down a tory insurgency in NY while he's doing all this. But to everyone else, all they see is an army retreating and some key forts taken. The country is maaaaad. And who is there to be the big damn hero? None other than Horatio "Colossal Idiot" Gates

Gates gets Congress to relieve Schuyler in August, who gracefully bows out and goes back to continuing to manage the war from behind the curtains, while Gates sits down at Bemis Heights and reaps the fruits of Schuyler's work as reinforcements & suplies pour in

Heavy emphasis on sits, because Gates just Does. Not. Move. He's content to dig in between Burgoyne and Albany and wait. That's his plan. All offensive action - everything that actually forces a battle - is done by Arnold, Morgan, Learned, and Poor

And it's mostly all done against Gates' wishes. So, at the end of the day, you've got a massive Continental victory, the first surrender of a British field army, and Gates is a big damn hero.

You can see why Schuyler demanded a court martial. Congress looks idiotic in it.

Schuyler would go on to be a US Senator, eventually losing his seat to Aaron Burr, who would go on to kill Schuyler's son-in-law and then do some mid-range to heavy treasoning. Like ya do.

Anyways, that unplanned thread about Philip Schuyler is brought to you by my reading his court martial papers, which you can read here: quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N12773…

Also, Schuyler has this really memorable line in a July 28, 1777 letter, presaging A. Lincoln's 1838 Lyceum Address of a similar nature:

"America cannot be subdued by a foreign force, but her own corruption may bring on the fatal catastrophe."