Brother Jonathan: The Governor Who Kept the Army Alive

Washington called him 'Brother Jonathan.' The nickname stuck and eventually became slang for Connecticut itself — and then for America. Jonathan Trumbull Sr. was the only royal governor to side with the Patriots, and he did it at considerable personal cost. His mercantile business collapsed under the weight of wartime requisitions. He gave more than he charged. He requisitioned cattle, blankets, shoes, and powder from Connecticut farmers and merchants, promising payment that came slowly if at all. His ledgers from the Lebanon War Office record thousands of transactions — a monument to the unglamorous arithmetic of keeping an army in the field.