
Cabal!
The Plot Against George Washington
Mark Edward Lender(Author)
Westholme Publishing, U.S.
Published on 3. September 2019
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-59416-326-5 (ISBN)
Description
This will be the definitive history of the Conway Cabal by a distinguished historian.
The Conway Cabal, named for the chief conspirator, Thomas Conway, was an attempt by a group of senior Continental officers to remove George Washington from command beginning in late 1777\. The primary evidence has been letters written by Conway criticizing Washington and suggesting there were other officers who would bring better results to the war effort. These letters were disclosed to the Second Continental Congress which then unraveled the plot. Among those implicated was Horatio Gates whose own adjutant, James Wilkinson a duplicitous character himself had alerted Washington to the plot providing incriminating correspondence by Gates. Gates was forced to publicly apologize and, ironically, the man who thought he could do a better job than Washington, soon lost his entire army to Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Camden, in addition to fleeing the battlefield!
The author provides the complete background to the plot as well as its aftermath (including the Newburgh Conspiracy), and presents the Conway Cabal as it is generally known by historians in order to set up his achievement, which has been to carefully scour existing correspondence to reveal that the plot was much larger and much closer to achieving success than has been recognized.
The Conway Cabal, named for the chief conspirator, Thomas Conway, was an attempt by a group of senior Continental officers to remove George Washington from command beginning in late 1777\. The primary evidence has been letters written by Conway criticizing Washington and suggesting there were other officers who would bring better results to the war effort. These letters were disclosed to the Second Continental Congress which then unraveled the plot. Among those implicated was Horatio Gates whose own adjutant, James Wilkinson a duplicitous character himself had alerted Washington to the plot providing incriminating correspondence by Gates. Gates was forced to publicly apologize and, ironically, the man who thought he could do a better job than Washington, soon lost his entire army to Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Camden, in addition to fleeing the battlefield!
The author provides the complete background to the plot as well as its aftermath (including the Newburgh Conspiracy), and presents the Conway Cabal as it is generally known by historians in order to set up his achievement, which has been to carefully scour existing correspondence to reveal that the plot was much larger and much closer to achieving success than has been recognized.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Yardley
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-59416-326-5 (9781594163265)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
06/2019
Westholme Publishing
€36.99
Available for download
Person
MARK EDWARD LENDER holds a Ph.D. in American History from Rutgers University. He has written extensively on early American social and military history and is a recognized authority on the War for Independence. Lender's scholarship has won awards from the Society for Military History and the US Army Historical Foundation and a fellowship from the Smith National Library at George Washington's Mount Vernon. In 2017 he was a finalist for the prestigious George Washington Literary Prize. Cabal! is his eleventh book.