George Washington Was a So-So Military Man

choi

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Andrew Roberts, O Captain, Our Captain; George Washington was a genius and a titan, but it was politics, not war, at which he excelled. Wall Street Journal, Oct. 2, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520061512222160.html

Note:
(1) feline (adj):
"2: resembling a cat: as
a : sleekly graceful
b : SLY, TREACHEROUOS
c : STEALTHY

All definitions are from www.m-w.com, except where noted.

(2) It is unclear (to me) what the first sentence means. But see
Otto von Bismarck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck
(his mother, Wilhelmine Luise Mencken (Potsdam, 24 February 1789 – Berlin), the well-educated daughter of a senior government official in Berlin. A. J. P. Taylor later remarked on the importance of this dual heritage: although Bismarck physically resembled his father, and appeared as a Prussian Junker to the outside world—an image which he often encouraged by wearing military uniform, even though he was not a regular officer—he was also more cosmopolitan and highly educated than was normal for men of such background.)

* portentous (adj): "self-consciously solemn or important"

(3) acute (adj; Latin acutus, past participle of acuere to sharpen, from acus needle): "marked by keen discernment or intellectual perception especially of subtle distinctions : penetrating <an acute thinker>"
(4) bluff (adj): "good-naturedly frank and outspoken"
(5) wrench (vi, vt): "to move with a violent twist"
(6) The author wrote, "In this (English, anti-Revolutionary) reviewer's estimation, Washington emerges a far greater man."

The first clause refers to Mr. Roberts as Englishman who has dim view about American Revolution.
(7) ride to hounds: "to take part in a fox hunt with hounds"
Collins English Dictionary (10th ed, 2009)
(8) For "ravening," see
raven (vi, vt): "to feed greedily"
(9) Mount Vernon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Vernon
(section 1 Name)
(10) phlegmatic (adj):
"1: resembling, consisting of, or producing the humor phlegm
2: having or showing a slow and stolid temperament"

(11) Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Forge,_Pennsylvania

Valley Forge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Forge
(the site of the camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War)

(12) dodgy (adj): "chiefly British  QUESTIONAL, SUSPICIOUS"
(13) French and Indian War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War
(The French and Indian War is the common U.S. name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756 the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war)

(14) ethereal (adj):
"1a: of or relating to the regions beyond the earth
b: CELESTIAL, HEAVENLY
c: UNWORLDLY, SPIRITUAL"

(15) The article says, "The rookie commander in chief took six months to make Gen. William Howe evacuate Boston."

That alludes to Siege of Boston.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Boston

(16) Battle of Long Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Long_Island
(also known as the Battle of Brooklyn;  fought on August 27, 1776; the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict; outcome: Washington and the Continental Army were driven out of New York entirely after several more defeats and forced to retreat through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania)



I will complete tomorrow.



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