"I Would Rather Be Lucky Than Good" The Lucky Events of 1776

Lefty Gomez, an all star pitcher for the New York Yankess in the 1930s is credited with the phrase, " I would rather be lucky than good."  Luck can never replace preparation. Luck can never replace hard work, but luck can and does sometimes override both.  George Washington had his heart set on beating back the British from New York. King George III sent over the largest armada of ships and men to ever sail the Atlantic (up until World War l) to quash the American rebellion. The man leading the army was William Howe. The man leading the navy, was his brother Richard Howe.  Lord Germain's strategy was to strike hard and fast. The idea was to crush the American army with one fell swoop, thereby ending the war.  What no one could have foreseen was the great luck that fell on the side of the Americans despite their enormous disadvantages.

                               General William Howe                 Admiral Richard Howe

The first bit of luck for America, was motive based.  King George was angry. He was not in a mood to compromise. His minister, Lord Germain understood this and sent the ships and manpower over  capable of crushing the insurrection.  Meanwhile, the brothers in charge, Admiral Richard and General William Howe, secretly desired to negotiate a peace.  Both brothers held sentimental appreciation for the people of Massachusetts after they raised funds to erect a statue of their brother George Howe in Westminster Abbey, London, to honor him for his contributions in the French and Indian War.  General Henry Clinton, in his memoirs, outlines specifically how the British forces should have crushed the American army after the Battle of Long Island. George Washington's troops were trapped and could have been bottlenecked by both General William Howe's men and Admiral Richard Howe's ships. Instead of seizing on the obvious opportunity to entrap the Continental Army, the Howe brothers intentionally decided not move forward. After the Battle of Long Island, Admiral Richard Howe invited two captured American officers, Lord Sterling and General John Sullivan to his ship to persuade them that a peace could be brokered. Meanwhile, General Washington was desperately moving his Continental Army off the island. Fortuitously, the task of transporting the whole army was possible due to a lucky change in wind conditions,  while Admiral Howe was distracted.  When dawn broke and the escape plan was about to be exposed and stopped, a thick, heavy fog settled, sealing everything out of sight.  The fog was so thick, vision was limited to six feet. 

Thankfully and with a lot of luck, the Continental army was able to escape to survive another day.  It is debatable as to whether the revolution would have carried on had the British destroyed the Americans in New York. What is not debatable is the fact that the struggling army made it possible for the American Revolution to carry on.  Luck, fate, good fortune?  However you describe it, sometimes it is definitely better to be lucky than good,  no matter how you look at it.