“Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.”
Chronicler and Storyteller
In his study of American warfare, Mr. Crocker breathes life into history. He has the ability to set the scene of each conflict, explaining the politics or other circumstances that brought on the conflict while sparing us unnecessary details. Readers wondering why American forces invaded Mexico in 1846, or what led to the fighting in the Philippines after our defeat of the Spanish there, will find clear explanations in “Don’t Tread on Me.”Mr. Crocker’s grasp of tactics and weaponry is equally solid, rendered with the same ease of comprehension. His thumbnail sketches of dozens of military and political figures are a great help for readers new to American military history. A slightly longer example of these mini-biographies is his description of Marine Corps legend Chesty Puller, who led his men against the Chinese Communists at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War.
Puller “was a tough, hard leatherneck, to be sure, but a thoughtful one too.” Hoping to see action, he had left the Virginia Military Institute and enlisted in the Marines during World War I. He never returned to academia, but he “completed his own education in the field, starting in the banana wars, but also in the library with books on military history.” Though his fate is left unmentioned in Mr. Crocker’s book, Puller ended his long career as the most highly decorated Marine in the history of the Corps.
Like all good writers of narrative history, Mr. Crocker enlivens his story with excerpts from letters and reminiscences, and with anecdotes and eyewitness accounts of events. It is this constant flow of brief but colorful descriptions that enhances the broader narrative.
Here, for instance, he describes the death of Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862:
Bringing Light to the Darkness
Besides the quality of the author’s narrative and his engrossing accounts of combat, “Don’t Tread on Me” offers other incentives for reading and exploration. Ignorance of our past among our schoolchildren is well documented. Young people’s scores on national history and civics tests continue to fall or hover at levels below proficiency. As this decline is part of a long-term trend, we can conclude that many adults are likewise weak in their knowledge of their nation’s history.Because it provides a general timeline of the American past, “Don’t Tread on Me” can help remedy this loss of historical consciousness. The New World settlements in pre-Revolutionary America, the movement west, slavery, the growth of American influence overseas (particularly in the Pacific), the effects of two world wars on international relations and the balance of power, and the multiple causes for our involvement in the Middle East—all are given at least a nod in this chronicle of arms and battle.
In addition, our universities and many of our history textbooks have for decades paid little or no attention to military history. Despite our past and present conflicts and the near certainty of future wars, the vast majority of Americans lack even cursory knowledge of the strategy, tactics, logistics, costs, and sacrifices that constitute warfare. Mr. Crocker’s book is a good place to begin correcting that deficiency.
Sounding an Alarm
In the “Epilogue,” Mr. Crocker briefly examines the problems currently besetting our culture and, in turn, the function and morale of our armed forces. He notes that when history is taught, it’s no longer framed as a story of heroism, hope, and freedom, “but as a tale of evil and oppression, of racism and the subjugation of anyone not a white male.” Cancel culture iconoclasm, the tearing down of statues and reputations of historical figures like Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and Teddy Roosevelt is further evidence of this radicalism and the repudiation of the past.“Over the last quarter century,” Mr. Crocker writes, “according to an annual poll, the percentage of Americans who said that patriotism was very important to them had fallen from 70 percent to 38 percent.” And as Mr. Crocker rightly observes, “woke” concepts of race and gender now hold sway not only in certain academic institutions but also in our society at large, including the military.
And so, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn, as Mr. Crocker tells us, that “the United States is now facing huge recruiting shortfalls,” and that trust in America’s military has dropped from 70 percent in 2018 to 45 percent today. Though he mentions it only in passing, other shortfalls also stem from the recruits themselves. Many lack the mental aptitude and education to enter the armed services. Obesity and ill health keep away many others, and drug problems also lock the door on enlistments.
In the book’s conclusion, Mr. Crocker offers one escape route from today’s political and cultural turmoil. “As a people,” he says, “we need inspiration. We are, unfortunately, unlikely to find it among our current leaders, institutions, or politicians. But we can find it in the storied history they have disparaged. We can find it in the heroism of the men who carved out this America, this empire of liberty, from the North American continent.”
That’s just one more reason to read “Don’t Tread on Me.”
