Joseph Plumb Martin Essay - 824 Words

Joseph Plumb Martin was born â€Å"upon the twenty-first of November, in the year of 1760† (Martin 6). His grandparents raised him on their Connecticut farm. Inspired by the Battles of Lexington and Concord he decided to enlist into the army. He was eager to help for the patriotic cause. In June of 1776, at the age of 15, Martin was able to enlist but didn’t want to sign up for a long enlistment. Soldiers at the time were enlisting for a year’s service but he did not like that and thought it was too long a time for him for the first trial, â€Å"I wished only to take a priming before I took upon me the whole coat of paint for a soldier† (Martin 16). Orders soon came allowing men to enlist for six months so Martin enrolled in the Connecticut†¦show more content†¦He goes on to explain the living conditions he had to endure and his lack of sleep. â€Å"It was utterly impossible to lie down and to get any rest or sleep on account of the mudâ €  Martin recalls, â€Å"and can say in sincerity that I never lay down to sleep a minute in all that time† (Martin 77). The fighting at Fort Mifflin allowed Washington and his troops to withdraw to winter quarters at Valley Forge. It was too late in the season for the British to follow them. After arriving at Valley Forge Martin and his fellow soldiers were about to go through the famously long cold winter that awaited them. Martin wrote, â€Å"Our prospect was indeed dreary. In our miserable condition, to go into the wild woods and build us habitations to stay (not to live) in, in such a weak, starved and naked condition, was appalling in the highest degree† (Martin 89). He talks about lying there â€Å"two nights and one day, and had not a morsel of any thing to eat all the time† (Martin 90). Martin describes the travel and the toll it took on men. â€Å"I had now to travel the rest of the day, after marching all the day and night before and fighting all the morning. I had eaten nothing since the noon of the preceding day, nor did I eat a morsel til the forenoon of the next day, and I needed rest as much as victuals. After the army had collected again and recovered from their panic, we were kept marching and countermarching, starving and freezing† (MartinShow MoreRelatedJoseph Plumb Martin, Biography808 Words   |  4 Pages1760, Joseph Plumb Martin was the son of a pastor; at the age of seven, he began living with his affluent grandfather. Almost as soon as the Revolutionary War broke out in the spring of 1775, young Joseph was eager to lend his efforts to the patriotic cause. In June 1776, at the tender age of 15, Martin enlisted for a six-month stint in the Connecticut state militia. By the end of the year, Martin had served at the Battles of Brooklyn, Kipâ €™s Bay and White Plains in New York. Though Martin declinedRead MoreJoseph Plumb Martin : A Soldier Of The American Revolution2665 Words   |  11 PagesJoseph Plumb Martin was a man of honor, an amazing, passionate, powerful man who had the worldview of a normal soldier along with the courage to step out into the open and fight in this glorious war that advanced the cause of our glorious American Nation. Not only that, but he had the ability to make his cause known and powerful by swarming in a great multitude of people, all together in an alliance, with one voice and one breath. In that manner, his argument is the perfect example of the idea ofRead MoreOrdinary Courage Essay790 Words   |  4 PagesOrdinary Courage: The Revolutionary War Adventures of Joseph Plumb Martin Reviewed by: Michael Axe 10-5-10 Ordinary courage is a book that tells the story of an ordinary man who is inlisted in the continental army in the revolutionary war. Joseph Plumb Martin is the young man fighting in this war, at the time he entered he was just a mere 16 year old kid but by the time his time in the continental army was up he became a man. This is a first person memoir of what it wasRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Private Yankee Doodle 1006 Words   |  5 Pages6. Reviews: The book was first published by Martin in 1830 with the title A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier, Interspersed with Anecdotes of Incidents That Occurred Within His Own Observation. In 1962, it was republished under the title Private Yankee Doodle, Being a Narrative of some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. In 2001 it was republished again under the title A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier.Read MoreEssay about A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier895 Words   |  4 PagesJoseph Plumb Martin was born on November 1760 in western Massachusetts. He wrote a book in which he described the life of an ordinary soldier during the American Revolution.†A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier† not only informed about the poor conditions in which the troops lived but also is one of the few soldiers accounts of the Revolution in general. Martin grow up in his Connecticut grandparents house. He noted since 1774 that a war with Great Britain was coming,so he promise himself toRead MoreAmerican Revolution and William Byrd Essay650 Words   |  3 PagesWashington’s principal accomplishments and weaknesses as a military leader in 1775–1776? 4. 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He addresses this in context stating, â€Å"The truth was, none cared for them; the country was served, andRead MoreRevisiting, Revising, and Reviving Americas Founding Era6252 Words   |  26 Pagesand Alexander Hamilton: in the popular mind this band of worthies, more marble monuments than mere mortals, guides America towards its grand destiny with a sure and steady hand. [F]or the vast majority of contemporary Americans, writes historian Joseph Ellis, the birth of this nation is shrouded by a gol den haze or halo.(1) So easy, so tame, so much a land of foregone conclusions does Americas Revolution appear that we tend to honor and ignore it rather than study it. In 1976, the 200th birthdayRead MoreBlack Lesbian And Gay Families7002 Words   |  29 Pagesstrengths of non-heterosexual families it is useful to note some research suggests that lesbian mothers and gay fathers parenting skills may be superior to those of matched heterosexual couples. For instance, Flaks, Fischer, Masterpasqua, and Joseph (1995) reported that lesbian couples parenting awareness skills were stronger than those of heterosexual couples. This was attributed to greater parenting awareness among lesbian non-biological mothers than among heterosexual fathers. In one study