Until now Hutchinson’s life is about to take a dramatic and ugly turn an angry mob is surging through Boston Hutchinson is about to find out that he’s the man thereafter he’s the man in charge of the Intolerable new policies imposed on the colonies by their British rulers tax policies that have incited an
Increasingly violent Rebellion among the people A rebellion against attacks imposed not by their own local Representatives but by Parliament three thousand miles away in England lieutenant governor Hutchinson is Duty bound to enforce this controversial new tax though he personally opposes it he is being denounced as a traitor Massachusetts has never seen a mob as violent as this
They’re not just angry about the money they’re angry at the assault on their autonomy by English rulers who neither know them nor represent them the Revolt spreads like an epidemic through all 13 colonies it’s hard to imagine that the Fallout from this tax will ignite a social
Revolution unlike any the world has ever seen across the Atlantic England’s King George III is losing his patience his colonies are acting like petulant children these are his subjects Englishmen born in America but Englishmen just the same he is their ruler and it’s because of them that his Empire is going broke
A decade ago he sent British troops across the ocean to defend the colonies against French settlers and their Indian allies the war went on for seven years and it cost England 60 million pounds money it now desperately needs there’s a sense that after the Seven Years War
That America ought to pay its way a little bit that expenses to protect North America should in part be raised in North America parliament’s solution is unprecedented the Stamp Act of 1765 directly taxes colonies by having them pay for stamps that must be affixed to virtually every piece of paper they touch
From official documents playing cards it goes badly from the start the colonists resent not only paying the tax but also having it imposed by a far away Parliament where no one represents them though the crown appoints Colonial Governors and high officials each colony is long accustomed to ruling itself and
Levying its own taxes The Americans believe that over 150 years of being colonists they had in a sense created a nation within the British Empire they had free assemblies democratically elected they had free and independent and very good newspapers they had their own tax system it wasn’t just paying a little bit of
Money the notion was that other people were making them pay money so this emotional issue who’s in control here we want to control our own lives which includes of course our own pocketbooks in 1765 a new generation of colonists is rushing headlong down an Uncharted path to an unknown end
And the Stamp Act is what starts it thank you much of the spirit if not the exact words is don’t you see what they’re up to don’t you see what’s going on there’s a strategy at work here to gradually erode American liberties if you let them do this what will they
Try to do next for the British the tax isn’t about eroding Liberties it’s about money stoking the colonial reaction is a powerful underground movement known as the Sons of Liberty they meet secretly in taverns across the colonies come up with every tactic they can to keep government officials from collecting England’s tax
People really started forming alliances between kind of Street Theater street gangs and Merchants and Artisans and figuring out ways to all work towards the common cause which is to repeal the Stamp Act soon enough things begin to get ugly intimidation is a favorite weapon those who remain loyal to the king known
As loyalists or Tories often find themselves terrorized by these self-anointed Patriots they often use very dramatic techniques tar and Feathering for instance this is a great way to humiliate people first you’re stripped naked the bucket of tar is heated and you’re coated with tar and then they put these feathers these Goose
Feathers all over you and you’re all hot and you’re branching about like a silly goose after a display like this how is this person going to publicly oppose the Patriot position a loyalist printer in New York City publishes a loyalist newspaper and they come in in Smash
His printing press while they are also proclaiming Free Speech as a principle to fight for that’s the nature of War and the nature of revolution while the angry rabble takes to the streets men of property and education use printing presses and politics to denounce the Stamp Act tax
One of the most outspoken is 29 year old John Adams bright ambitious attorney who brings logic and intellect to this very emotional argument he drafts anti-tax resolutions for some 40 Massachusetts assemblies we have always understood it to be a grand and fundamental principle of the English Constitution that no free man should be
Subject to any tax to which he has not given his own consent John Adams Adams has always envisioned great things for himself and the cause of Liberty presents the opportunity of a lifetime his wife Abigail is his trusted confidante and partner in all things Great and Small hard to overestimate the importance of
Abigail Adams I mean not only is she more than an equal partner to her husband but she comes to this contest with really perfectly formed ideas about which she feels passionately she’s an enormous influence on her husband one day these two will be counted among the founders of a new nation
For now John Adams is one of many voices of protest in a Stamp Act Rebellion that engulfs all 13 colonies down in Virginia a fire young legislator named Patrick Henry UPS the ante resolved that the inhabitants of this Colony are not bound to yield obedience to any law or ordinance designed to
Impose any taxation whatsoever other than the laws of their own General Assembly Patrick Henry in other words no taxation without representation Henry’s Virginia resolves become a radical Touchstone for all the colonies three thousand miles away in London another important player in the colonial drama America’s Benjamin Franklin is
Doing what he does best playing chess flirting with a pretty young thing and keeping an eye on developments for his countrymen Franklin becomes the point man he is the man in England who is there essentially trying to hammer out some kind of compromise on issues of Taxation with the crown
At 59 Franklin is the most famous American in the world he has spent the better part of two decades in England as a trade representative and the colony’s unofficial Ambassador wooing and wowing a London Society with his wit and wisdom this is the Philadelphia printer and writer who created Poor Richard’s
Almanac the colony’s best-selling annual rich with homespun advice he is the scientist who famously flew a kite to experiment with electricity who invented the lightning rod and the bifocal a self-made man who went from lowly Apprentice to wealthy entrepreneur Franklin is the embodiment of what it
Means to be an American yet he adores England the mother country and especially London he’s absolutely in his element this is where the great Center of science is at this point it’s a it’s like being in the city as opposed to having been in the country he’s really
Hit the right group of people and he’s very much he raises down as the happiest years of his life now the uprising at home has put Franklin at Center Stage a place he generally enjoys London’s baffled politicians come pounding on his door desperate for a solution to the problem
Hoping he can use his considerable influence to bring the colonists to their senses but it’s business not politics that settles the matter the decisive blow is the blow to the British pocketbook North American Merchants said well okay while the Stamp Act is in place we’re just not going to trade with you
It’s a way of getting merchants in England to say if this is going to ruin business then the Stamp Acts Got It Go now England’s merchants and bankers are feeling the pinch from the loss of business created by Colonial boycotts and they too start railing against the Stamp Act
The tax crisis has become just too big a headache and in March 1766 a beleaguered Parliament finally repeals the Stamp Act unbelievably the people of the colonies have forced the world’s greatest power to back down the rebel colonists can celebrate their first Sweet Taste of victory and of power
But the battles are far from over England still needs the money and still needs to show whose boss over the next four years Parliament devises new taxes which trigger renewed upheaval and end up being repealed as this seemingly endless cycle continues England dispatches two military regiments to Massachusetts from
New York to keep ordering adding fuel to the fire in 1768 four more regiments sailed from England on a collision course with America Boston 1770. one thousand British troops occupy this city of fifteen thousand it is a volatile Brew Boston is an accident waiting to happen literally conditions are right we’ve got an
Indigenous population that is very very sensitive to having British soldiers quartered amongst them you have all of these British regiments in Boston this is something that the bostonians simply chafe under resentment grows against the soldiers in Boston streets on the night of March 5th a band of local Patriots heckles of British
Centuries standing guard at the customs house at first they merely hurl insults but soon they’re hurling snowballs and eight more soldiers come to the aid of their comrade you have a group of men who are egging on British soldiers looking for ways to kind of stir up a fight
And now they’ve created the antagonism that they’ve been trying to Gin up hundreds more colonists pour into the street they launch a barrage of ice oyster shells and rocks at the soldiers the guards Panic their guns go off when it’s over five civilians lay dead on the Frozen Street
It was a tragically predictable sort of event it’s one of those situations in which the soldiers that are there to impose order are actually that seed of discontent that’s going to produce disorder within hours of the deadly shootings the Patriots spin machine Roars into high gear a tragic accident is recast as a
Murderous crime against the colonial people in what becomes known as the Boston Massacre This was not remotely a massacre this was a case in which a mob assailed a small Detachment of British soldiers which may have panicked but had very legitimate cause to fear for their well-being but that’s not how it’s portrayed to the outside world a local silversmith and Artisan named
Paul Revere renders an exaggerated version of the event that makes it look like an unprovoked Slaughter by the British soldiers Boston papers are quick to print and distribute Revere’s version and this becomes the Patriot image of the Boston Massacre which shows the British lined up in a row firing their
Muskets all at once as if they got the command to fire which didn’t happen that way the first to die in the gunfire is a black man a sailor and runaway slave named Crispus attics he is widely viewed as the first martyr of the American Revolution in this explosive atmosphere the public
Outcry pressures the British to pull their troops out of Boston the soldiers responsible for the so-called Massacre are put on trial for murder and they are hard-pressed to find an attorney to take their case surprisingly one of Boston’s Most vocal Patriots steps forward John Adams Adams is willing to risk everything his
And his family’s safety and his reputation as an Ardent advocate of colonial rights but he believes passionately in the right to a fair trial without human rights the Patriot cause isn’t worth fighting it was one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered Judgment of death
Against these soldiers would have been a foul stain upon this country John Adams Adams wins an acquittal for seven of the soldiers and light sentences for the other two only his unquestioned Devotion to the Patriot cause keeps him from being branded a traitor the crisis is resolved for now Back in England the colonial Rebellion becomes a national preoccupation over the next three years Parliament keeps trying to impose its Authority with new laws and new taxes as each new law inflames the Rebellion it ends up getting repealed except for what attacks on T the principle involved is
That Parliament is Sovereign it can pass laws on whatever it wants so we’re going to just keep this one in place just because to assert the fact that we can do this the Tea Act puts only a three Penny tax per pound on the drink of choice for most Americans
It’s hardly a burden but in the current climate a three Penny tax still equals oppression it’s all that militant Patriots need to strike another blow against the empire feathers and coal dust are their weapons on December 16 1773 the Sons of Liberty and list 50 men to darken their faces
Stick feathers in their hair and arm themselves with hatchets in a bad impersonation of Mohawk Indians five thousand people follow them down to Boston Harbor and watch as they climb aboard a merchant ship loaded with tea from England with British soldiers absent since the Boston Massacre there is no one to stop them
342 crates of tea worth ten thousand British pounds are cast overboard this wanton Act of sabotage which becomes known as the Boston Tea Party will soon push the two sides to the brink of War the British reaction was discussed and outraged from a British point of view you had an entire colony
Running amok and the British government after the Tea Act frankly said we’ve had enough had enough with Massachusetts we’re going to clamp down on them and we’re going to make Massachusetts an example of what happens if you defy the authority of Parliament at that very same time the British
Discover yet another outrage committed by an American someone they thought they could trust Benjamin Franklin over a year ago Franklin was passed a stolen packet of confidential letters written to a British official by Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson ever since Stamp Act rioters tore down Hutchinson’s house nine years earlier
He had tried to juggle serving his King with serving his angry fellow citizens the letters given to Franklin exposed Hutchinson’s true loyalist sympathies be an abridgement of what are called English Liberties I wish for the good of the colony to see some further Restraint of Liberty rather than the connection
With the parents State should be broken Thomas Hutchinson Franklin sent the incriminating letters to Colonial assemblymen in Massachusetts who had recently made them public as irrefutable proof of Hutchinson’s treachery against the Patriot cause the reaction in the colonies was torrential mobs burned Hutchinson’s Effigy the Press vilified it
By December when the Patriot Raiders throw the Boston Tea Party they have destroyed Hutchinson’s long career as a public servant within six months Thomas Hutchinson will pack up his family and sail to England the Relentless Strife that has set American against American will force this man long devoted to Colonial causes into exile
Heartbroken he will never again set foot in his beloved Homeland Now in London in January 1774 Benjamin Franklin is summoned to appear before the king’s Council on the heels of the recent Looting of the tea in Boston Harbor Franklin’s recently revealed role in the Hutchinson Fiasco is more than British officials can tolerate he must answer for his sins
And the sins of his countrymen Franklin is dressed down by the solicitor general of England for a full hour in the strongest possible language and it’s really abusive language in front of a crowd is going wild at this venomous attack the Franklin stands stalks still in this humiliating moment you know head erect
And doesn’t say a word for an hour many people have dated that as the moment at which Franklin becomes a revolutionary Franklin the Revolutionary is done with England and England is done with him Parliament punishes Massachusetts with a Vengeance it revokes the colony’s 80-year-old Charter dissolves its local
Assemblies and after a four-year absence sends three thousand troops to reoccupy Boston the crown now runs Massachusetts these people had been meeting in town meetings for 150 years when they can no longer decide their own faith they said this is the end people throughout Massachusetts Rose up as one
And said no way there is no turning back for either side the tension between the people of Massachusetts and the British troops becomes unbearable it’s only a matter of time before someone fires the shot that will Echo around the world Thank you Boston August 10 1774. John Adams is donning a new suit and if he’s not careful the British will bury him in it the Patriot leader is heading for a secret meeting in Philadelphia the will change the course of history and could cost him his liar
Adams is one of four men representing Massachusetts at the First Continental Congress and unprecedented and as far as the king is concerned illegal meeting of delegates from up and down the colonies 55 delegates of America’s best and brightest who gather to come up with a unified strategy to oppose Britain’s
Increasing encroachment on their Liberties if the king had his way they would all hang for treason that illustrates how strongly they felt that they must take steps to remove themselves from the what they saw as the arbitrary power of the British crown Britain has already suspended Massachusetts Constitution and imposed martial law there
The other colonies fear that it’s only a matter of time before they all meet the same fate even though these colonies have different economic interests they have different political histories they have different populations they recognize that in our relationship with Britain we have much in common not all
Of these people have met each other most have heard about each other now they’re eager to meet each other see what’s going to happen people know that there’s going to be moderates and not so moderates and there’s already kind of little factions forming joining John Adams from Massachusetts is
Another radical 37 year old John Hancock a wealthy Boston Merchant who has been using his considerable Fortune to fuel the cause Pennsylvania has sent a moderate lawyer John Dickinson 42 whose widely read essays back in the 60s helped launch the anti-tax movement from Virginia comes Patrick Henry the volatile young orator whose Virginia
Resolves helped Stamp Out the Stamp Act and also from Virginia a wealthy 42 year old planter and Veteran of the Seven Years War George Washington one of the problems is they all thought of themselves as pennsylvanians Rhode Islanders South Carolinians much more than they thought of themselves as Americans
Patrick Henry really just electrifies everyone when he says I am no longer a Virginian I am now an American John Adams says the trick is to get 13 Clocks to strike all at the same time 13 ships to sail on the same formation it’s not easy 13 conspirators against the crown
Finally after two months of arguing and pontificating the congress adjourns with a unified message for England until Colonial rights are restored all 13 colonies will halt all trade with Great Britain local militias are to arm and stand in readiness As one might expect Kings don’t do well with ultimatums no one tells the king of England what to do the dye is Now cast the colonies must either submit or Triumph I do not wish to come to severe measures but we must not Retreat I trust they will come to submit
He makes the assumption that a simple show of force of military might will be enough to scare the rebels back to their senses not likely certainly not in Boston the city is a Tinderbox waiting to explode the British have turned it into a virtual police state they have sealed off Boston Harbor
Disbanded the colonial assemblies and forced locals to house British troops The Man In Charge is Commanding General Thomas Gage his orders are to quash the Rebellion while he has the guns the rebels have the numbers he repeatedly asks the crown for a larger Army Thomas Gage only has three thousand soldiers in Boston
He’s looking at five thousand in Worcester County four thousand in Plymouth all over like this he’s looking at this he says what am I going to do with my three thousand people against Force like this he’s playing a losing hand he can’t do anything for which he is called an old woman
He’s very much a man in between he’s a military officer who is charged with a political task for which he’s not really equipped to handle with Hutchinson’s departure Gage is now Massachusetts governor and Commander of an occupying Army that no longer faces a small Rebellion it is a population in uprising
They start smuggling cannons out of Boston and they start purchasing arms and the militiamen start training and they form the Minutemen they’ve actually signed associations I will mobilize on a minute’s notice this is no longer a skirmish Over Texas the Patriots believe their way of life their Liberty and their property are at
Stake nothing short of War will settle it in April 1775 Gage gets orders from England to break the uneasy stalemate he will send a full force out to the countryside to seize a huge store of Rebel ammunition unknown to gauge Parliament King George or anyone else the fate of the British Empire
Hangs on this decision April 18 1775. British troops are on the March Colonial militia are army and stockpiling ammunition for what many fear is an inevitable Showdown British commander General Thomas Gage has ordered his soldiers to capture a huge hidden store of gunpowder in Concord a Massachusetts Village 20 miles west of Boston
The British Detachment that marches out of Boston roughly 800 soldiers March out knowing that the countryside is on the verge of armed action once Gage sends that mission out he really has set into motion a chain of events that is beyond his ability to control the British r d coming
The news starts leaking out and people start mobilizing they’re ready out into the countryside just spread the word goes Paul Revere whose engraving of the Boston Massacre fanned the Flames of outrage five years earlier poems and school books will one day mythologize Revere’s midnight ride as if
He were the lone heroic messenger but in fact he is just one part of a whole system of communication Paul Revere is one of dozens then scorers and literally hundreds of Messengers going every which way Bells Are Ringing the shots are being fired so Before Dawn hours before Dawn
The whole Countryside is mobilized and knows what’s happening they arrange a signal one Lantern light in Boston’s Old North Church if the British are coming by land and two if by boat British troops row to the Cambridge Side of the Charles River and Wade through Reeds and thick Marshland to begin their overnight march to Concord at around one in the morning at Lexington Massachusetts Farmers blacksmiths and shopkeepers gather to intercept the British at Lexington Green 130 civilians some too old some too
Young most with no formal military experience stand ready to risk it all against the world’s most feared Army these were men who literally felt under attack and in fact they were under attack the British army were walking out to seize Colonial property and they felt compelled to defend it 2 A.M
After an hour of waiting no sign of the British the night’s chill sends many home others choose nearby Buckman’s Tavern to await another alarm most hoping it will never come 4 30 a.m drums announced that the British are on their way Film Lexington Green was extremely tense the best trained most professional army in the world that is bearing done on them so even though they were fired up with a great sense of Injustice they were probably nervous and if they weren’t they should have been right nice both sides eye each other suspiciously
Both sides not wanting to take a misstep all of a sudden a single shot is fired nobody knows who fired the shot after the war and investigations nobody ever found out as soon as that shot was fired both sides commenced firing at will and the American Revolution was on Wow in less than two minutes eight militiamen lay Dead ten wounded it really lit up the newspapers everywhere blood had been shed and there was really no looking back after that it will take six weeks for the news to reach London by then the course is set I think there’s a
Recognition in London after Lexington the battle has been joined that the chances for preventing this conflict from degenerating into war has just about passed the conflict calls Benjamin Franklin home from London after nearly 20 years in England he is leaving for good no longer loyal and no longer welcome
Branded a revolutionary traitor by the British Franklin will set sail for his Philadelphia home to take a seat in the Continental Congress a man of Peace he will now have to counsel War as he helps his fellow delegates navigate the new and bloody conflict that threatens to blow America apart thank you
April 19 1775 Lexington Massachusetts for the first time ever British soldiers and Colonial citizens have stood face to face and fired upon each other eight colonists lay dead but it’s not over British continue their advance to get what they came for the colonial ammunition stored in nearby Concord
Along the way detachments of Redcoats storm into local homes and ransack for weapons foreign the word spreads and militia from all over the area rushed toward Concord to head off the British this time it’s the Americans who are coming they find not just the Concord militia men but all sorts of other militiamen
Coming and still coming and still coming and still coming the British are certain they can SWAT these militia away like pesky flies and finally they cannot that they have encountered hard fighting men the British are badly outnumbered they are forced to retreat 16 miles separate them from the safety
Of Boston 16 miles on foot they are sitting ducks for armed and angry Colonials it is a trauma they won’t soon forget all the hills on either side of us were covered with Rebels so that they kept the road always line in a very hot fire on us without intermission Henry de
Bernier British soldier 20 hours of constant barrage bring heavy losses to the beleaguered British 73 dead 174 wounded and 26 missing the Americans suffer 49 killed with 40 wounded and five missing by the time British soldiers get back to Boston the Colonials have the city surrounded with militia from neighboring
Colonies on their way Gage and his troops are trapped with their backs to the Sea the rebels have added insult to outrage they have possessed the roads and other Communications by which the town of Boston was supplied with provisions and with a Preposterous parade of military Arrangement they have affected to hold
The army besieged Thomas Gage three weeks later on May 10 1775 Benjamin Franklin is back home in Philadelphia just as the Continental Congress is called back into emergency session the Bloodshed in Massachusetts Demands a new Colonial strategy assembling a Continental Army and complete independence from England are subjects now on the table
The delegates eagerly await the thoughts of their venerated Elder Statesman Benjamin Franklin only to find him unusually quiet and withdrawn the long Voyage from England has made him ill but it is the short trip he will soon make that troubles Franklin most Franklin is headed to a confrontation with his only son 43 year old William the rift in the colonies has brought a terrible split between Father and Son William Franklin has been New Jersey’s Royal Governor for over a decade a post granted him by the king owing in no small part to being
Benjamin’s son William is vehemently opposed to the rebellion and unalterably devoted to the king now his father will make one last attempt to win him over to the Patriot side once they were as close as a father and son could be it was William who held the kite during
His father’s famous experiment with lightning it was William who was his father’s constant companion in the early days in England but now neither The Strife in the colonies nor the humiliation heaped upon his father by the British turns William away from the King now Father and Son must choose between country and family
But neither will bend like the growing civil war between Patriots and Loyalists reconciliation between Father and Son is no longer possible there were two sized to this issue most people could have seen both sides everyone had reasons to see those sides Franklin isn’t buying it and he gives
His son he’s absolutely unyielding with his son nothing has ever hurt me so much and affected me with such Keen sensation is to find myself deserted in my old age by my only son and not only deserted but to find him taking up arms against me in a calls
Were in my good fame fortune and life were all at stake When I think about Benjamin Franklin the great revolutionary and his son the leader of those conservative loyalists it seems very strange to me that the old man should be the radical and the young man should be the conservative once they were inseparable now the wound between Father and Son will never heal
William Franklin doesn’t get very good press in the American textbooks but to know there were many others just like William Franklin which side are you on that became the question the political argument that tears the Franklin’s apart will also be replayed in thousands of colonial families politics have become intensely personal
Every American had to choose do I support the Patriots do I support the Loyalists is there any neutral ground between them a bitter time is coming when everyone must choose sides when fathers may have to fight Sons when brother may fight brother there are twice as many Patriots in the
Colonies as loyalists but more than half the population just wants to be left alone in the coming months and years no one can remain on the sidelines the ship has sailed the revolution is on an irreversible course it will take sturdy leadership from men as different in temperament as the people they represent
Whether they know it or not these are the men of Destiny who will guide the American people into their uncertain future and these are the men who will shed their blood and give their lives to make it happen Spring 1775. Bloodshed at Lexington and Concord has inflamed the colonies the Continental Congress rushes back to Philadelphia to take up the growing conflict as militia units from all over New England pour into Massachusetts to back up their neighbors and the militias are certain that they can defeat the British army because they
Have this revolutionary fire and spirit and they argue that one man with that sort of spirit is worth a hundred British regulars one such man who comes to Massachusetts is a Fearless officer from Connecticut his name Benedict Arnold a man intent on doing great things in the coming War
Nold has a bold military plan for the Patriot cause when Benedict Arnold marched into the New England Camp outside Boston right after Lexington and Concord he was spit and polish and he made such a physical impression when he sat on a fine horse he was literally a commanding figure men
Looked up to him Arnold has come by his Regal bearing the hard way born into a life of privilege his alcoholic father squandered the family’s Fortune a traumatic turnabout that forced Benedict at 13 to Apprentice with an apothecary at 15 he ran away to fight with the Connecticut militia in the French and
Indian War after the war he overcame his lowly circumstances to achieve wealth and success in business but the angry resentful youth has grown into a bitter and arrogant man whose contempt for British rule has made him a militant Patriot Arnold convinces the Massachusetts provincial Congress to send him on a
Mission that will grab personal glory for himself and desperately needed ammunition for the rebels to capture the guns at Fort Ticonderoga the massive but Loosely guarded British Garrison in the upper reaches of New York Fort Ticonderoga people referred to it as the Gibraltar of North America it was
By all standards the most spectacular Fortress in North America foreign as Arnold sets out on his quest to capture the fort he hears that another soon to be famous name is driven by the same idea Ethan Allen a hard drinking hard-living Frontiersman from Connecticut couldn’t be more different from Benedict Arnold Allen has been engaged by Connecticut’s Congress to Rally his personal militia for its own mission to Fort Ticonderoga these are the notorious Green Mountain Boys who have been fighting their own War of Independence against New York settlers
Ethan Allen their Colonel commandon organized about 2 000 armed frontiersmen in what is now Vermont who for five years had been fighting New Yorkers to keep them out of their Farms out of their new territory and they were willing to fight for their land and they could move very quickly
The Green Mountain Boys jump at the opportunity to take on the British taking separate paths Allen and Arnold each with his own orders head towards Fort Ticonderoga Arnold is alone expecting to recruit men along the way Allen and his men are already preparing the attack their paths cross 30 miles from their target
Arnold presents Allen with his Massachusetts orders and assumes he will command the operation Allen full of swagger as always all but laughs in Arnold’s face these really are very vain egotistical men two strong personalities very much interested in the accumulation of individual Glory the Green Mountain Boys were personally
Loyal to Alan which Benedict Arnold found out to his Chagrin when he arrived and tried to take over the attack on Ticonderoga and they put down their guns and they said they were going to March home that they would only fight for Ethan Allen Arnold grudgingly agrees to conduct The Raid with these men but finds himself relegated to second in command it is a humiliating confrontation in the pre-dawn hours of May 10 83 Green Mountain Boys and 50 Massachusetts militiamen sneak up on the British stronghold the 50 sleeping Redcoats inside have
Gone undisturbed in the wilderness for so long they are totally unprepared for what’s about to hit them it’s over in minutes the British soldiers surrender without a fight the fort’s valuable artillery stores now belong to the rebels they essentially stole the fort from the British they were able to essentially
Walk in in a manner of speaking the the British really left the keys in the door to Fort Ticonderoga what happens next turns Arnold’s stomach Allen’s men find 90 gallons of rum go on a three-day binge and tear the place apart leaving Arnold to mop up after them
But the worst insult comes when Alan writes to Arnold superiors in the Massachusetts Congress Alan brazenly takes complete credit for the operation he keeps all the glory for himself and purposely makes no mention of his rival Benedict Arnold for Arnold it’s a wound more devastating than being shot for an office
Honor public recognition was key if played an import and you weren’t mentioned that was very disrespectful so Arnold was justifiably offended the affront to his honor is the first of many slights that will dog Benedict Arnold throughout the war and ultimately drive him to infamy in Philadelphia the men of Continental
Congress reconvene in the Pennsylvania state house which will later be named Independence Hall they greet the capture of Fort Ticonderoga with decidedly mixed feelings still hoping for peace they have refrained up till now from authorizing offensive actions against the British the capture of Fort Ticonderoga catches the Continental Congress largely off
Guard they had not anticipated this they did not desire this and it now has forced their hand they know that a military response is inevitable and they now must scramble to take action the time has come for the 13 colonies to become a United military as well as political force
IT issues currency against future tax collections from the colonies to raise and Supply an army their mission now is to conduct a war even while searching for a way to avoid it we ought immediately to adopt the Army as a continental army take upon ourselves the pay subsistence clothing
Armor and Munitions of the troops John Adams Adams urges the immediate appointment of a commander to head up this new Army his Massachusetts colleague John Hancock a vain ambitious man who has just been elected president of Congress assumes he will be offered this even more important role
His friend Adams is about to nominate him or so he thinks and that is a gentleman Among Us and very well known to all of us a gentleman whose skill and experience as an officer whose independent Fortune great talents and excellent Universal Character would command the approbation of all the
Colonies better than any other person in the union that is the gentleman from Virginia Hancock is stunned Adams passes him over for a gentleman planter from Virginia George Washington the Continental Congress wanted a national Army not just a Massachusetts army or a New England Army they thought that by getting a
Commander-in-chief from a different Colony would balance that so they cast a welcome eye on Washington from Virginia At six feet two inches and 215 pounds George Washington Cuts an imposing figure prior to his nomination he spoke very little in session yet spoke volumes about his intentions by showing up every day dressed in a military uniform very impressive guy I mean he wears this military uniform with great dignity and
Of course he shows up making the point I have military experience I am a person who you can count on as your military commander so he has the image to do it he’s got the experience he’s from Virginia they make him the commander-in-chief and he modestly says I’m I’m really not equal
To the task and I’ll just do my best but unless some unlucky events should happen unfavorable to my reputation I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with
George Washington his behavior seems somewhat disingenuous clearly he wanted it he he was very ambitious he was particularly ambitious in military matters early on he realizes that the best way to be ambitious is to convince everyone else that you’re not ambitious and he follows this through his entire life ambitious disingenuous modest
Who is this man George Washington the man appointed to construct a new Continental Army in 1775 he is hardly a household name he’s one of the wealthiest men in the country he’s in his mid-40s and really should be in retirement at that time Washington is someone who has nothing to
Gain from participation in the revolution and everything to lose He wasn’t born to wealth Washington’s father was a Virginia farmer who died in 1743 when George was only 11. young Georgia circumstances were modest but his dreams were big But he envisioned himself dancing at the Grand balls in huge homes of the rich he envisioned himself being a great landowner and these were dreams that he pursued constantly all of his young adult life as a teenager he immerses himself in the teachings of a book called The Rules of
Civility and Decent Behavior which instructs readers on proper manners social behavior and temperament he commits them to Memory in the presence of others sing not to yourself with a humming noise nor drum with your fingers or feet lift not one eyebrow higher than the other and but
You know man’s face with your spittle by approaching too near him when you speak George Washington himself was very anxious to Have All the Right Moves he’s as anxious as anyone as a teenager to get them right at 16 with only an elementary school education he becomes a surveyor where he
Learns how to navigate the Wilderness something that serves him well when he is appointed to the rank of major in the Virginia militia in 1754 he leads a company of men into a territorial Skirmish with French soldiers where someone in his regiment perhaps Washington himself kills a French diplomat
Many believe his poor judgment starts a chain of events that leads to the French and Indian War despite his inauspicious start Washington persists and eventually proves himself to be an exemplary officer after the war Good Fortune boosts Washington’s ambitions He marries a wealthy Widow named Martha custis and inherits his half-brothers estate Mount Vernon which he goes on to build into a plantation with more than a hundred slaves as part of the land of gentry he goes into Virginia politics though he may feign on worthiness
There is no one in 1775 better equipped to take on the job off commander-in-chief very importantly he had been a political figure for 16 years he’d been a state legislator so he was somebody who knew how to work with politicians who could work with Congress and would not be a threat to Congress
Foreign it has been determined in Congress that the whole Army raised for the defense of the American cause shall be put under my care lessly even when writing to Martha of his appointment Washington is still pretending he doesn’t want the job you may believe me when I assure you in
The most solemn manner that so far from seeking this appointment I have used every Endeavor in my power to avoid it what he can’t avoid is Destiny he takes the job for no pay and prepares to leave for Boston to take on the strongest army in the world
Not yet knowing that all hell has already broken loose up there in a place called Bunker Hill May 1775. the rebels capture Fort Ticonderoga turns up the pressure on the already beleaguered British commander Thomas Gage back in the French and Indian War Two thousand British soldiers lost their lives seizing Fort Ticonderoga and now Gage has lost it to the Americans in London King George is furious that
Gage’s Superior forces have failed to control the colonists I am of the opinion that when once these Rebels have felt a smart blow they will submit and no situation can change my fixed resolution either to bring the colonies to a due obedience or to cast them off King George III
No more reasoning no more legislating the colonies will come to their senses or face a show of force unlike any they have ever seen Gage is dismissed he is too weak too tolerant to replace him the British command sends its three best generals to bring the colonies to heal
These are England’s best and brightest military men who become known as the triumvirate of reputation General Henry Clinton American bore a competent Soldier but socially inept a man referred to even by himself as a shy General John Burgoyne Vain and ambitious one popular English writer gives him the nickname Julius Caesar begonius And General William Howe an experienced military man who came to appreciate America’s British Colonials while fighting alongside them in the French and Indian War these three supporting generals were brought in essentially to supplant Gage and it became a kind of personal contest between these three men as to who would
Take Gage’s position as commander-in-chief in America how is the odds on favorite but an odd choice to take over the command in America a political liberal he opposes the king’s policies in the colonies and had once vowed not to fight against his English countrymen there General William Howe was opposed to the
War all they wanted was the Americans to submit to British laws and British taxes they didn’t want to go fight them foreign Boston June 16th in the months since Lexington and Concord Rebel militia in the hills around Boston have laid Siege to the city trapping the British and their loyalists inside
Now the British command is planning to break the rebel Stranglehold with an overwhelming offensive up Bunker Hill to take The High Ground around Boston but the Colonials are a step ahead of the British spies have slipped the British plans to the rebels up in the hills regimental commanders from Connecticut and
Massachusetts lead their men to fortify Bunker Hill then decide to move one Hill closer to Boston on breeds Hill there they dig in for a British attack midnight June 17th 1200 militiamen raced the clock to beat the sunrise before it reveals their position to the British below
They must control The High Ground before the enemy makes its own move at Daybreak the sleeping British ships in Boston Harbor spot the militia positions and sound the alarm all of Boston awakens with a start Patriots have beaten the British to the punch the First full battle of the revolution is joined
As the Redcoats assembled for battle ships in the harbor try to pin down the militia with cannon fire oh under the command of General William Howe lines of British soldiers their bayonets at the ready climbed the hill without any cover easy targets for a man and musket that can shoot straight
The British are convinced that they can form up in line and despite taking casualties instill in the Patriots fear of a professional disciplined force of regulars and demonstrate to the Americans that this is madness trying to oppose this Army twice house men charge up breed’s hill twice they are repelled by the militia
From roofs and hilltops civilians come out to witness the bloodshed it is War as spectator sport but many fear for their loved ones in the fight the rebel barrage goes on for three hours until they run out of ammunition despite their advantage the rebels have no choice but to retreat
The British finally capture the hill on their third charge the ground is strewn with red-coated bodies the new Commander now realizes what no one in Far Away England could possibly understand this is not a rebellion This Is War When I Look to the consequences of it in
The loss of so many Brave officers I do it with horror the success is too dearly bought British General William Howe the British pay a horrendous price for their victory at breeds Hill which erroneously but permanently becomes known as the Battle of Bunker Hill after the original Target
One thousand of the 2300 British soldiers nearly half are dead or wounded the Americans lose 271 men out of 1600. in defeat the colonists have won a paradox that over the next six years will come to characterize the Americans bloody war for independence Bunker Hill was a defeat of course for these colonists but they inflicted such heavy losses on the British that it makes them a little cocky that was the best trained most professional Army on earth look at the damage we did to them it really gives them way too much confidence In the days following the Battle of Bunker Hill even as Congress begins to provide for a continental army the delegates make one last attempted reconciliation with Britain they send the king what they call the Olive Branch Petition respectfully requesting that he Grant the North American colonies autonomy within the British Empire
Like oil communication that crosses the Atlantic it will take months for an answer and General George Washington can’t afford to wait to build his army he alone holds the keys to Liberty or to death June 1775. as word of the Valiant defense of Boston’s Bunker Hill reaches Philadelphia General George Washington
Writes a new will and heads off to meet his destiny whatever mortal fears Washington Harbors the people he meets on his way to Boston have no such misgivings about the man charged to defend them the appointment gives Universal satisfaction I was struck with General Washington dignity with ease and complacency the
Gentleman and Soldier look agreeably Blended in him Abigail Adams Cambridge Massachusetts Washington is in for a terrible surprise despite their Brave defense of breeds Hill the men he is coming to command fail even his worst expectations boggling we say that there was an Army around Boston there wasn’t an army around Boston there was a gaggle these men are ragged disheveled getting drunk
On duty no knowledge of how to handle a musket efficiently there was no discipline there was certainly no hygiene very little structure it was a mess These are Washington’s revolutionaries this is the Army he has to defend against the British Empire whatever Washington may think of his soldiers as men and as Citizens as soldiers they’re not much used to him dirty mercenary Spirit pervades the whole could I have foreseen what I have no consideration upon Earth should have
Induced me to accept this command George Washington the general must start from scratch and personally attend to even the lowliest most rudimentary functions his first tasks are fundamentally administrative to us his Junior officers have to be taught how to fill out a report how to count men
How to purchase supplies how to buy tools where to diggle a train where to butcher meat where to bury awful these are all things that amazingly enough Washington has to concern himself with so the task before him is immense and it’s going to require a tremendous amount of energy to
Literally whip this Army into shade and the whip will come down hard every man will learn discipline by Washington’s very strict code for Disobedience of orders and damning his officer to receive 30 lashes on his bareback for expressing himself disrespectfully to be stripped of his arms put in a
Horse cart with rope around his neck and drummed out of the army General George Washington the new Army is stitched together with widely different militias from very different colonies each is accustomed to its own command and its own way of doing things establishing a common culture is yet another overwhelming challenge
There were so many different brands of fighting Traditions cultures and people Washington was very concerned that there were so many rivalries so much friction between members of his army one of the Army’s most serious problems is the utter lack of ammunition and gunpowder When Washington is told that they have only nine rounds of gunpowder per man he is inconsolable advertisements in colonial newspapers plead for local gun makers to step up their production but to little avail perhaps no commander in history has ever faced so many obstacles to putting together a fighting force
And even if Washington succeeds the effort may still be doomed most men have signed up for just one year enlistments these men are serving for very short terms most of them their contracts expired either in November or December they’re only going to be around for a
Few months so as soon as they become even remotely competent they’re going to go home and he’s going to have a new group to train again against these odds Washington has precious little time to turn this woefully undisciplined underprepared and undersupplied army into a force that will have to stand up against the
Strongest army in the world Lexington Concord Bunker Hill all the skill and experience in the world can’t help British forces tame the chaos in the colonies Thomas Gage now has only 7 000 soldiers surrounded by Washington’s sixteen thousand the loss we have sustained is greater than we can bear small armies can’t afford such losses
The rebels number is great so many hands have been employed I wish this cursed place was burned Thomas Gage October 11 1775 without Fanfare and without honors General Thomas Gage is relieved of his command once Britain’s most powerful man in America he returns home alone and disgraced General William Howe steps into Gage’s boots and is already knee-deep in the American Quagmire in London King George roundly rejects
The Olive Branch Petition Continental congress’s last grasp for peace on October 26th in his annual speech to Parliament the king throws down the gauntlet it has now become the part of wisdom to put a speedy end to these disorders by the most decisive exertions King George III
What the king wants is a military solution to a political problem but his call for war is anything but unanimous among Britain’s people and politicians but when Parliament votes War carries the day the military is ordered to send thousands more troops and a full Armada to quell America’s escalating Revolution
Reinforcements can’t come too soon for General William Howe hemmed in by the rebel Siege he and his army are virtual prisoners on the Boston peninsula along with a thousand loyalists they’re protecting with no access to the countryside they are unable to forage for food or wood Supply ships from England have yet to
Arrive the people in Boston are running out of provisions and fuel across the river in Cambridge Washington is battling his own war of attrition with the year about to come to an end so will many enlistments and short timers will soon be leaving in droves and now Congress is pushing him to let
Go of some of his most loyal soldiers African-Americans From the very beginning free Northern blacks have been serving well the Patriot cause with the same concerns as their white compatriots there’s no militia unit that didn’t have black men they were at Bunker Hill they were conquered in Lexington and everywhere else but recruiting black soldiers that he had trouble with because the
Continental Congress had trouble with it now that the Army is a continental army not just a local Northern one armed blacks have created a loaded issue in Congress southern states are adamantly opposed to making soldiers out of them Washington is no different from any other Southern planter regarding blacks
He sounds like the southern slaveholder he is when he issues his order Banning black recruits the rights of mankind and the freedom of America will have numbers sufficient to support them without resorting to such wretched assistance George Washington The great irony is that the one man closest to the general is a black man his slave Billy Lee for the seven years since Washington acquired him Lee has been his master’s valid and constant companion Washington calls him my family Billy Lee was more than just a slave to
George Washington he was his personal slave Billy Lee went with him every place if George Washington was the best horseman in Virginia Billy Lee was the second best and he and Washington would horseback ride just about every day and so the two of them presented quite a
Picture a picture that was noticed over and over by people at the time who wrote about Washington and his male servant Billy Lee you could say that Billy Lee in fact was a close friend of George Washington even though he was a slave Washington and congress’s decision to reject black soldiers placed perfectly
Into the enemy’s hands the royal governor of Virginia Lord Dunmore issues a proclamation that welcomes blacks to the British side I do hereby declare all indentured servants Negroes or others that are able and willing to bear arms free they joining his Majesty’s troops as soon as may be Lord Dunmore
The Dunmore Proclamation wreaks Havoc throughout Virginia thousands of slaves flee their masters for this chance of freedom if you have the opportunity to throw in your lot with people who are promising you a much better situation than you have had you’d be silly not to take that promise seriously
It was the best opportunity for Freedom they had ever seen and they never knew whether such an opportunity would ever present itself again you know Thomas Jefferson estimates that in Virginia alone 30 000 African Americans walked off to Plantation and many of them became British soldiers so for the British this is wonderful
They’re not only sapping the Colonial economy by depriving it of slave labor but they’ve added to their fighting force free blacks travel secretly from Plantation to Plantation to embolden slaves to escape if they are caught they risk death or torture while the fight for liberty in the South
Threatens to blow the slave culture apart the approaching New Year threatens to dissolve Washington’s Northern Army We are now without any money in our treasury powder in our magazines arms in our stores without a brigadier Engineers expresses by and by when we shall be called upon to take the field we shall not have a tent to lie in I’ve often thought how much happier I
Should have been If instead of accepting a command under such circumstances I had taken my musket upon my shoulders and entered the ranks or had retired to the back country and lived in a wigwam George Washington All seems lost even before it’s begun until a former Bookseller has an idea that will change everything January 1st 1776. it’s a new year for a new Army and General Washington raises a new flag to commemorate it the Grand Union with 13 stripes representing both the differences and common cause of the 13
Colonies and with the British Union Jack in the upper left to acknowledge those colonial leaders hoping to salvage a relationship with England that same day the colonies get the news of the king’s October proclamation to crush the Rebellion by any means necessary it’s a stunning declaration by the king
That Rouses Rebel ire more than ever but an army needs more than anger to fight a war With the onset of winter neither side has the supplies necessary to Brave the cold and snow the British hole up in Boston waiting for reinforcements and supplies from England while Washington uses the time to piece together an army short on everything from manpower to gunpowder but help is on the way
Henry Knox a 25 year old Colonel and former Boston Bookseller is leading a trek from Cambridge to Fort Ticonderoga on a quest for arms Knox has taken it upon himself to recover the artillery captured from the British for Ticonderoga for two months in the cold and wet he his men and teams
Of oxen haul 120 000 pounds of artillery across 300 miles of Muddy Woods frozen rivers and steep icy slopes back to headquarters in Cambridge on January 25th Colonel Knox delivers all of the Weaponry to his commander-in-chief miraculously intact it is the best gift Washington could ever receive
Finally he has the Firepower he so badly needs Washington also has a knocks a valued new commander in charge of artillery Knox becomes part of Washington’s Inner Circle of Junior officers whose counsel he values enormously George Washington always had the ability to listen to many people particularly younger men
He thinks everybody’s view is important that it’s a part of the puzzle the people know things that he doesn’t know and if he can listen to enough opinions he’ll know as much as they do a Hallmark of good leadership right away Washington’s Brain Trust keeps him from making a fatal mistake
As the spring thaw approaches Washington wants to send waves of foot soldiers down into Boston in a full frontal attack but his officers overrule him the British are too well fortified and the Continentals are still short of gunpowder they do however have nox’s artillery they decide to take the highest ground
Dorchester Heights and bombard the city March 2nd after months of waiting Washington and his men are more than eager to move the general is about to launch the first offensive of his command he sends a Stern warning to his troops our posterity depends upon the Vigor of our exertions
If any man in action shall presume the scope hide himself or Retreat from the enemy without the orders of his commanding officer he will be instantly shot down as an example of cowardice General Washington the night of March 4th prize will be the key from three points
Outside the city Cabo Hill leachmere and Roxbury the Army Reigns light cannon fire down on Boston a decoy to misdirect the British while the rest of the army hauls nox’s artillery over to Dorchester Heights through the night Washington’s men build fortifications and drag Cannon up the Steep Frozen slope
By morning everything is in place Daybreak March 5th on the sixth anniversary of the Boston Massacre the British awake to the site of 20 Cannon pointed down on their ships in the harbor my God shocked how exclaims these fellows have done more work in one night
Than I could make my Army do in three months it’s not until after they seek ticonderoga’s guns on Dorchester Heights that they realize they got to get the heck out of there the Continentals don’t even need to fire a shot how issues a futile order for his ship’s
Cannon to fire on the Continental position but Washington’s guns sit just out of range luckily for how his ships are also out of Washington’s range Howe and his army prepare to abandon the city and take thousands of loyalist citizens with them one loyalist would later write the necessary care of the
Women sick and wounded required every assistance that could be given it was not like the breaking up of a camp where every man knows his duty it was like departing your country with your wives your servants your household furniture and all your encumbrances over the next two weeks the Continentals
Watch from above as all of Boston’s scrambles to evacuate taking everything with them that isn’t nailed down it is a bitter exile for the Loyalists many of whose families had lived in Boston for Generations by March 17th they are all gone 120 ships carry 9 000 Redcoats two thousand Loyalists and as many of the city’s usable Goods as possible out to an unknown fate Patriots return to the city the Beloved birthplace of the rebellion and Washington enjoys the first victory of his command but it will be his last for the rest of
A grueling and humiliating year 1776 will see 33 000 British troops the largest contingent ever sent overseas head for America to grind the revolution into dust Thank you April 1776 fresh from their victories in Boston the Continental Army marches Overland toward New York having sent the British running they are America’s surprise Heroes now ten thousand strong a new notion gathers around them an idea that will drive the warring British and American armies on a collision course
America wants Independence It will take George Washington and his citizen Army everything they’ve got to Win It the heroes of Massachusetts now Riding High on confidence have not even begun to taste the full power of the king’s vengeance the British are coming back this time to deliver a more decisive blow
As they move toward New York by sea they assemble an armada the size of which the world has never seen the British commander General William Howe fully understands his orders what had begun in Massachusetts as an annoying Insurgency is quickly becoming an expensive and embarrassing War it is time to stop it
Flushed with the idea of superiority after the evacuation of Boston the Americans desired decisive action nothing is more sought for by us General William Howe New York is the perfect place to end this Rebellion one way or another the importance of New York City is not lost to either William Howe or George
Washington whomever controls New York City will control the Hudson River and by extension have the ability to sever the lines of communication between New England and the remaining colonies this was the Grand strategy that was going to subdue the Rebellion that would break the colonies in half along this
River that would separate the cockpit of the revolution in Boston from the cockpit in Virginia in New York New Jersey and by that means bring about the collapse of the Rebellion the conflict that has been fought militarily in Boston and politically in Philadelphia now comes to New York
A city already bitterly divided between Loyalists and Patriots Pride loyalist and Patriot is waiting for the great Clash that will decide their fate a British Victory would likely end the war and return the colonies to the king a continental win could set the colonies free at stake Liberty
The word that has been in colonial years since the outset of the year when a slim pamphlet set America Ablaze the Sun never shined on a cause of Greater worth everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation the blood of the slain the Weeping voice of nature cries tis time to part
Ly someone has given the colonists a vocabulary of revolution but who is the author the words come anonymously from the most unlikely source not a leading American but a young immigrant starting his life over in the New World he comes from England with little money scant education and few prospects
But he carries powerful ideas from the European enlightenment ideas that when planted in American soil will grow into a revolution that will change the world the author of this incendiary Manifesto Thomas Payne we don’t have a statue of pain he’s got to be the only founding father
Who has not been commemorated in marble and bronze um because he was too radical young Tom Payne had never amounted to much in England though he had tried his hand at everything he had been a house servant a Merchant Marine and even a corset maker in each of these Pursuits he would
Universally fail Payne would discover himself in Philadelphia like many immigrants it becomes his Blank Slate his chance to start over It is this Same Spirit pain sees in America Restless searching ambitious the raw makings of a new world without the burden of Kings or powerful churches it is a vision pain turns into 46 simple pages plain enough for every farmer fishmonger or founding father to understand he calls it simply common sense
We have it within our power to begin the world over again it is not the concern of a day a year or an age now is the seed time of Continental Union Common Sense conjured up a vision of a very democratic America still to be an America in the making
The pamphlet quickly becomes a sensation a best-selling how-to book on making Revolution some say a hundred thousand copies of this were published translate that into population rates today that would be like selling 20 million books through Amazon Barnes Noble that’s an awful lot of communicating colonists now contemplate the once unthinkable
Breaking with the King of England Thomas Payne has finally told them what to do begin a new world begin America the cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind oh ye that love mankind ye that dare oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant stand forth
The Army now swells with citizen soldiers ready to fight for Payne’s ideals of a new world soldiers like Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins my dearest Sarah I hope Providence will provide for us and Carry Me Through All the Troubles we have to meet in the way of our duty and
While we are absent from each other a New England cobbler 32 year old Hodgkins had joined the army to protest colonial rule in his town of Ipswich Massachusetts Now he is pushing farther from his home his tiny shoe shop and his wife Sarah I would not have you be uneasy about me as I’m engaged in this glorious cause I’m willing to go where I am called yet these citizen soldiers like Hodgkins present their own problem to General George Washington
Full of ideals they lack training and experience New York will be a battle on a scale none yet no against the full force of the greatest army in the world Washington Harbors doubts he had very rational fears any man of military experience would look at the
Past before them and realize this is not a foregone conclusion that we can achieve victory Victory or defeat will soon mean the future of America the Rebellion begun in Massachusetts over taxes is about to become a revolution for Independence June 1776 the debate over America’s political future has been pushed to the Forefront what once was considered an act of mutiny and treason now becomes a real possibility even a destiny America is talking about Liberty suddenly in every Tavern in every Meeting House Everywhere people congregate they’re talking seriously
About this idea should we go for Independence or not and they’re talking about the ideas that the pain expresses we have a grand robust National dialogue such as we’ve never had before or since around a central theme that meant everything to everybody the British are intent on stopping it
Having gathered their strength they arrive in New York Harbor in dramatic fashion with 130 warships and nearly 25 000 men they put on a show designed to scare even the most Avid Remo when the British come in the summer of 1776 It’s like Star Wars It’s The Empire
Strikes Back it’s the Death Star these multiple acres and Acres of white sail coming into the harbor must really have been a sight to behold this is the most powerful military Nation on earth that is bringing that power to bear on you at his headquarters in lower New York
Washington has a front row seat the enemy will endeavor to intimidate by show and appearance but remember that we’re so just a cause Victory is most assuredly ours General George Washington outwardly Washington shows a calm face yet inside he knows that defending New York will be the greatest test he has known
The Virginia farmer turned Rebel leader is out of his League Washington was faced with a tremendous task he had no Navy to speak of and he was trying to protect a group of islands with hundreds of miles of Shoreline against the world’s most powerful Naval Force miles away in Philadelphia the reality
Of this situation is harder to take in the great leaders of the Revolution Ben Franklin John Adams John Hancock see what they want to see an army that has already stood up to the British it pushes them to take the next step the ultimate step toward Independence a Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee
Throws down the gauntlet why do we longer delay why still deliberate let this happy day give birth to an American Republic if we are not this day wanting in our duty the names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed in posterity Richard Henry Lee
The time is now to make a declaration and committed to paper Congress turns to a young Virginia lawyer a rising star on American politics at 33 years old Thomas Jefferson is the ideal American bright ambitious and a gentleman Jefferson was a tall slender gentle engaging
Man who wanted to be a scholar and never got a chance because he was such a good politician of all the revolutionaries if I could sit with one at dinner he’d be the one but Jefferson embodies America’s deepest conflicts and contradictions having grown up on a wealthy Virginia Plantation he inherited aristocratic credentials
And the 200 slaves to prove it yet Jefferson holds to an ideal America a place of opportunity for everyone a place where every American is in charge of his own fate the child nation is growing up and longs to move beyond the shadow of its parent
They had grown up and they wanted an independent say about how their laws were made and who governed them and Jefferson knew all of the net you know that he wasn’t writing anything that was revolutionary in the eyes of his own people only in the rest of the world mid-june 1776.
Armed with these Notions and a deadline of two weeks Jefferson locks himself into a Philadelphia boarding house he sat in one room in the July sweltering heat of Philadelphia with the Flies buzzing all about him and he forgot all of that and he just sat down
And he wrote and he wrote and he wrote out of his head when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained the opinions of mankind impelled him to the change Thomas Jefferson
It is a heady task for a fairly young mind every word must contain a reason to die for every sentence and Urgent cause to justify rising up against a king think about you know the Declaration of Independence a terribly radical document that document says that if the government isn’t treating you the way
You think it should and if you suffer this mistreatment over a period of time you’ve got the right to rise up and destroy that government to change it that’s a radical thing to say but Jefferson soon stumbles over the central question of the revolution it hangs in the hot air
Who will become a free American in Britain the elite legislated now Jefferson’s pen could reinvent all that would the new America mean rights for every man woman child and even slave who’s in and who’s out who’s included does this mean everybody just mean only the rich does this mean property holders
How far do we go who’s included in this new nation we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness Jefferson reaches for the highest ideals
But the contradictions of his words come back to haunt him All the talk about freedom and liberty all of this reaches the ears of nearly five hundred thousand colonists who are black that’s one-fifth of the population slavery already divides the colonies now with the talk of Independence it takes front row some colonists draw the line at giving Liberty to slaves
Others bristle at the hypocrisy of fighting for Independence while sanctioning slavery Jefferson himself remains divided his own slaves watch their Fates debated before them when Thomas Jefferson incidentally the holder of over a hundred slaves at this moment wrote we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created
Equal endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness you don’t think his slave said right on you right you know right on Thomas that that this is precisely what we want many slaves choose not to wait from cities and plantations Across
America blacks begin in Exodus they flee on Washington’s Plantation we know that 17 slaves ran Stephen 20 years old a Cooper by trade Deborah a 16 year old woman Peter an old man 23 fled from Jefferson these people had made decisions what’s best for them Patriot or loyalist didn’t really matter
What’s my best bet what does a band like Jefferson make of this when the slaves fleeted well it throws in his face the notion of the enlightened slave master and it comes upon him with great force I think if it hadn’t before this is a fundamental contradiction in this whole Revolution project
Between fighting for unalienable rights and holding slaves he knew that Jefferson takes aim at slavery with scathing indictments of its wrongfulness he puts them in his draft yet falls short of calling for the end of slaveholding Major battles are looming compromises must be made in Philadelphia his draft will soon be thrown to the varied interests in Congress they will tear it apart while in New York the Continental Army prepares to put its life on the line for the dream of Independence late June 1776
While Congress works on Independence in Philadelphia a hundred miles north on the Bluffs of Brooklyn Heights the Continental Army faces more urgent realities they dig in for the fight to come every day they expect an attack every day it fails to arrive Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins oversees the building of fortifications
He grows tired of waiting my dear Sarah I long to see you and my children when I shall is uncertain General Washington is calling in the militia and I hope we shall be in Readiness to meet our enemy Joseph Hodgkins while the Americans build fortifications the British continued to pour into their
Camp on Staten Island throughout the summer their Force swells as the king sends more ships with more troops Washington watches and waits the impeccably cool gentleman from Virginia remains perplexed by the British who gather strength but show no sign of attacking day after day week after week he can only sit and wonder
Very unexpectedly to me another revolving Monday is arrived before an attack upon this city or a movement of the enemy the reason of this is incomprehensible to me General George Washington the flotilla of British ships barbs just off the tip of Manhattan waiting for even more reinforcements biding their time
Wearing down Rebel nerves what Washington needs is a Navy to stand up for the Goliath of the British Empire what he gets is a slingshot tiny concept he hopes will have a huge impact its code name the turtle it’s the world’s first combat submarine designed to harass the world’s Mightiest Navy
Made of oak covered in tar the tiny craft fits just one person with a bicycle-like method the engineer propels The Vessel underwater the drill he will fasten kegs of gunpowder and a fuse to his victim’s Hull but the simple weapon is not simple enough the turtle will be used only once during
The Battle of New York at night she sneaks up on the British Flagship the eagle but fastening the explosives to the hull proves too difficult the turtle is forced to make a hasty Retreat spotted and pursued by British longboats the keg of gunpowder the erstwild torpedo floats down the Hudson River
Where it goes off by itself harmlessly a giant column of water shot up as the bomb went off and people on the shores were looking on an astonishment but that was the end of the experiment it will be words not bombs that deliver Britain the strongest blows July 1st 1776
Draft of the Declaration is delivered to Congress the delegates immediately tear into it excruciating part took place after the document was written and that was three days of debate in Congress in which Congress took out 89 different things including any language criticizing the practice of slavery and Jefferson just
Sat there writhing through the whole thing the issue of slavery is left for another time there are flickers of doubt they’re bothered by it they can’t fix it they kick it down the road they basically postpone the problem to be reckoned with on another day that day became the Civil
War it was a pretty bad day but it’s not that they’re not bothered by it they know what’s wrong they just don’t know how to deal with it the pressure of time once again intervenes on July 2nd the matter of Independence must be put to a vote it passes Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable in the history of America solemnized with pump and parade with shows Games sports guns Bells bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forevermore John Adams Congressional delegate Adams is a little
Off on the date but close two more days are necessary to hammer out the final declaration on July 4th Independence becomes written fact within days copies travel by horseback throughout the colonies No one had set out to create a war of independence yet they had delivered one in the town squares all over the country Church bills are ringing and people were hazai uh crowd was applauding people really did believe the birthday of the new world is at hand
These United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states absolved from all allegiance to the British crown all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved for those who had only imagined such a document its realization is inspiring and sobering
The delegates who signed their names know they have just committed treason a crime punishable by Death all of our founding fathers they think they’re going to hang we either hang together or hang separately that was literal they are outlaws and if they fall into the hands of of the British
Army they think they’re going to swing from a tree it is the Reckoning at the hands of King George that is on the minds of the signers and for everyone across the colonies who supports Independence July 1776. across the colonies the reaction to the Declaration of Independence is deafening
For it or against it it’s clear that there is no turning back it is a war that will make or unmake America the Declaration of Independence does change what the war is about up until that moment the war had just been about uh forcing the British into a point
Where they’d be prepared to renegotiate the terms of membership in the Empire but after that moment it’s about getting the British to acknowledge Independence In New York Patriots pulled down a statue of King George is a symbolic deed but a useful one too the lead is immediately sent off and melted down to make musket balls 42 thousand bullets will come out of Fallen King George and every one of them will be necessary
The battle they have been waiting for has arrived July 12 3 pm the British Unleashed their guns only eight days after the Declaration of Independence the British answer with a barrage only the world’s most powerful Empire could muster foreign soldiers and citizens alike freeze with fear
A lot of these soldiers were 16 17 years old Fresh Off The Farm some of these American soldiers were drunk in their cups as the expression was and so it was really kind of a disaster and a really inauspicious beginning to the battle for New York for the Americans George Washington is furious
The British have made clear their power now inexplicably they stopped the attack as quickly as the barrage comes it ends it is merely a show of force a scare tactic by the British commander General William Howe in fact Howe’s goal was not to win it was to Force the Americans to a conference
Table it wasn’t about inflicting crushing military defeat it wasn’t about humiliating the colonists it was about showing them that British Liberty was something worth having the British having amply displayed their might Now counter with an invitation to talk peace but how makes us small yet costly miscalculation
The message he sends is addressed simply to George Washington a breach of protocol that is instantly recognizable the British earn a very difficult position if they address the latter as his Excellency George Washington commander-in-chief they’re effectively recognizing the legitimacy of the Continental Army for Washington this is
A critical thing he he needs to be recognized they are equals after all how commands an army Washington commands an army the messenger and his various letters is rebuked several times finally the letter is accepted but by then Washington wants no part of it he sets aside the letter without opening it
The Americans will not consider negotiating so high is the vanity and the insolence of these men their leaders seem to risk everything so that blows and War seem inevitable Ambrose British secretary August 12 1776. there will be no peace instead the Continental soldiers will have to deliver America by War
The British might will soon return but when and where remain a mystery Joseph Hodgkins redoubles his efforts my dear Sarah the posts are not going as quickly as I expected it is thought this Fleet will get all the strength they can before they make an attack on us
But we are awaiting and expecting them every day Joseph Hodgkins this will be a different scale of warfare than these soldiers have ever known on the eve of battle some sit down to prepare their Wills aware that their first real battle with the British may also be their last At their camp on Staten Island the British are not nearly so nervous sure that Victory is near they bide their time enjoying the fruits of the American continent Nymphs of this aisle are in wonderful tribulation as the fresh meat our men have got here has made them as writers as saters a girl cannot step into the bushes to pluck a rose without running the most imminent risk of being ravished British officer their leader also takes full advantage of his time
Foreign having taken one of his officers wives for a lover General William Howe lets the days slip by in his private conquests George Washington can afford no such pleasures back in Manhattan the general is losing his famous cool as he waits he guesses and second guesses every plan and every defense he
Too is about to face the biggest battle of his life and it will not be on his terms it is the British who are running this show late August Long Island D-Day on a warm August morning Howe moves his army more than fifteen thousand British soldiers now marched toward the American positions
For the first time in the brand new war of independence the British will test the strength of the American Army head on The British attacked first with two columns taking the Continentals in a frontal assault foreign the two sides face each other in massive lines often the mere hundred yards apart they gave everybody a couple of tots of rum just to get them liquored up enough to do this the Americans didn’t have that
Discipline they didn’t know it this is European style Warfare where nearly all the Continentals it is their first taste of it person in the 20th or 21st century looks at those linear battle formations of the 18th century as they’re seeing they seem to be struck by the the stupidity of
These things but that really these tactics and these formations are predicated upon the state of Technology at the time in open field battles and in smaller Forest skirmishes the Americans struggle to hold their own foreign what they don’t know is that they are fighting a decoy
The bulk of Howe’s Army is actually a third flank marching out and around the American forces Washington has not prepared for this by 10 AM the British break through the rear ranks and devastate the lines of the Continental Army the worst possible thing that can happen in those situations is to have a
Complete rupturing of your line a complete break in which men panic and everybody flees basically for themselves it is without a doubt the most demoralizing disheartening sort of experience these soldiers could have possibly felt the rebel Army in a state of panic flees among them the young Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins
He watches his soldiers break a sight he will never forget loving life in the woods and in the night the enemy marched out two different ways we were obliged to go through fire and water it seems the day has come that in all probability depends the salvation of this country Joseph Hodgkins
The Army struggles back minus the 300 dead and one thousand captured George Washington watches in shock his army had not withstood the battle he had failed and the danger is far from over at Brooklyn Heights the Army is trapped on all sides the British Navy commands the waterways to the West
From the east and south Howe’s Army closes in on the shattered Continental defenses all looks lost but the end would not come just yet in a last effort to save his army Washington orders an immediate Retreat to start at nightfall under the cover of Darkness the Army begins to move
Stealthily using every fairy and fishing boat available to them All through the night soldiers are ferried across a narrow slip between Brooklyn and Manhattan they soon run out of time but they get one final Providence As morning breaks a strange and Eerie fog sets in over New York Harbor engulfing the area in a near blackout it is their salvation the British see and hear nothing I could scarcely discern a man at six yard distance in the history of warfare I do not recollect a more fortunate retreat
Benjamin Talmage Continental officer when the fog lifts the British are met with an empty camp the Continental Army just hours before on the verge of defeat has vanished overnight the failure to capture them and to really put a stop to the war by rounding up the rebel forces really was perhaps
The one of the greatest blunders of the war because it was in New York with the greatest Armada the greatest number of men that they had at any time during those eight years the British lost their best opportunity to win the war at a stroke The remains of the Rebel Army recuperate dispirited and defeated they can only wonder what will happen next having made it off of long island with the others Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins now has a moment to communicate with his wife Sarah her words are those of many back home across the colonies a mixture of
Immediate fears and distant hopes my dear husband I desire to be thankful that you have got off of Long Island I think things look very dark on our side but it has been observed that man’s extremity was God’s opportunity Sarah Hodgkins George Washington is wrecked he has come within inches of losing his entire Army and along with it the cause of Independence now he knows he must abandon New York City the Continental Army is in no shape to fight again they leave the city and go north along Manhattan Island
A few months ago they were being treated as Heroes now they are in full retreat Washington’s reputation has plummeted too his inexperience and mistakes had been costly his ability to lead an army is now severely in question soon he will receive challenges from within his own ranks
Back in 1776 you would have suspected that this guy would be out of a job pretty soon things were not going well the dream of a new world Thomas Payne’s vision seems more remote with each step Across America Spirits are depleted many soldiers up and leave the army others like Joseph Hodgkin’s face the choice stay and fight or return to their homes perhaps as British subjects Evermore my dear Joseph I hope if we live to see this campaign out we shall have the happiness of living together
It will trouble me very much if you should engage again your most affectionate companion until death Sarah Hodgkin’s will stay and retreat with the remains of the army toward an uncertain future for himself for the Army for the cause of Independence the Revolution Will Go On
But it is about to enter its Darkest Days Foreign September 1776 New York the rebel Army is in Retreat pursued by the British up the Isle of Manhattan in battle after battle the colonial army is sent running overwhelmed by the British forces and their Superior power Two sides engage at Kips Bay then up Manhattan at Harlem Heights and again North in White Plains only one lone American Outpost prevents the total loss of New York and control of the Hudson River Fort Washington a Garrison named after his Excellency George Washington himself and now it is under a massive attack
George Washington watches the terrifying scene from just across the Hudson River his last hold on New York is fading fast nearly all of his officers had recommended abandoning it Fort Washington was not built to defend itself against such a sizable British onslaught the Continental soldiers prepared themselves for a Last Stand
But they are in no shape for heroics a month of steady defeats have left them exhausted now again they are outnumbered three thousand of them against eight thousand Royals it was Washington’s most trusted General Nathaniel Green who had convinced the commander to defend the fort Greene a young and talented Rhode Island
Officer had over time become Washington’s most trusted confidante but this time following his advice is a disastrous error in judgment for the rebel leader Nathaniel Green opines that he can hold that fort with the men he has available to him and he recommends that course of action to Washington Washington
Trusts this very capable and energetic subordinate and green was wrong the British army is Unstoppable not only do they have the numbers they put their big guns out in front the unleash a fierce Battalion of German Fighters called the Hessians the Hessians are unmistakable from their armored helmets to their expertise with
The bayonet they are a near mythical vision from the old world England has used Foreigners for centuries to help fight their Wars but in America the Hessians create a new specter at once feared and hated they are seen as Outsiders in a conflict between Brothers they quickly gain a reputation as detested Mercenaries
The Hessians did not regard themselves as engaged in the Civil War and wherever the German mercenaries went often times there were allegations of all sorts of brutality ranging from sexual violence to uh stealing of supplies these European Fighters have been trained under a different set of Ethics than the colonial army and almost
Medieval sense of warfare plucked from society’s cast offs and often pressed into service against their will the Hessian soldiers are ruthlessly drilled into Fighting Machines their rewards when they received them come in the form of Pride and a fair share of whatever plunder they can get their hands on
In America they sang songs about their chance for treasure go with us to America there will be enough for all there will be silver gold and money everything that a man seeks in the world all that a man seeks there is in America essentially the Hessians operated
According to a code that made sense in Germany but was very different from anything that Americans had been familiar with on this day the Hessians earned their worth they lead the British in overwhelming Fort Washington in mere hours By afternoon the rebels lay down their weapons Fort Washington is surrendered and along with it New York the two sides now face each other up close the king’s Army and their hired Warriors get their first chance to gaze upon the faces of the exhausted Rebel army they have pursued for months
It is a site that leaves them shocked a great many of them were Lads under 15 and old men and few of them have the appearance of soldiers their odd figures frequently excited the laughter of our soldiers Captain Frederick McKenzie British officer the King’s Men had been fighting a
Wretched Army a band of citizens with little training as the Smoke Clears over the dead and wounded an amazing sight takes both sides by surprise a young woman sits by her dead husband’s side but she had not been an idol bystander when John Corbin fell from wounds Molly
Corbin stepped up to the Cannons firing on the British with the rest of the Patriots the British quickly send Molly Corbin home there after the war she will die in obscurity but on this day the rebels will not forget the woman who evoked their cause if this war is to persist every citizen
Man woman and child will be called upon I feel mad fixed sick and sorry this is a most terrible event its consequences are justly to be dreaded General Nathaniel Greene half the Army is captured at Fort Washington New York and control of the mighty Hudson Falls squarely into British hands
Some begin to wonder whether the rebels can actually deliver an independent America I was never in such an unhappy divided State since I was born I am wearied to death General George Washington the Americans in 1776 have encountered nothing but reverses its defeat followed by defeat withdrawal followed by withdrawal this really negatively
Affects the moral of this force and perhaps more importantly affects the morale of some of his subordinate commanders who really now question whether or not Washington is the right man for this job great man is most damnably deficient he has thrown me into a situation where I had my choice of difficulties
General Charles Lee some of Washington’s own generals now take their aim at his reputation Washington and the Army at their weakest and most vulnerable will soon have to face another battle a power struggle at the very top the revolution is about to stumble November 1776. George Washington’s continental army is
In full Retreat across New Jersey he has just lost New York and with it half his army Washington cannot afford another confrontation hundreds had died many thousands more had been taken as prisoners of War enemy captives are not something the British had planned for in this Rebellion
Now they are forced to confront the problem some they know what to do with and so they’re going to use the Sugar Hut on a number of other large structures that can quickly be made secure they’re also going to use prison ships of all the places of internment the
Ships quickly become the most notorious thousands are thrown into the holds of decommissioned warships there with inadequate Food hygiene and air disease runs rampant starvation is common being here is almost worse than a quick death on the battlefield some of these ships would have a thousand men a
Thousand prisoners and perhaps a dozen a day would be taken out dead and buried in the shallow Graves on the Sandy Shores of Brooklyn I now found myself among a collection of the most wretched and disgusting looking objects that I ever beheld in human form now shriveled and
Surrounded with the horrors of sickness and death hear thought I must I linger till death should terminate my sufferings Ebenezer Fox prisoner to the British these men are not just prisoners of War they are traitors yet their punishment will not be Swift instead of an Executioner’s hand these
Rebels will be left to rot along Washington’s Retreat there is no time for sympathy no one knows what lies ahead for them it is a minor consolation that they have become experts in at least one aspect of the military I can only say that no Lads ever showed
Greater activity in retreating than we have our soldiers are the best fellas in the world at this business Colonel Samuel Webb Continental officer With Retreat comes more recrimination this time from within Washington’s own ranks General Charles Lee is among those who Revel in Washington’s failures secretly seem against him in late November of 1776 Lee steps up his campaign for the Commander’s job like Washington Lee is ambitious for Glory but their similarities end there
Where George Washington has a famous Grace Charles Lee has an infamous coarseness it’s a slob he didn’t wash he always had a pack of dogs going everywhere with him um he consorted with low women it was not a gentleman a corporal’s wife would be his preference yet as a general his prowess is
Undeniable even intimidating he had after all learned his skills in the best army in the world the British Lee is arguably the most qualified General officer in the American Army in a strictly military sense he fought in the French and Indian War he fought in Continental Europe during the Seven
Years War he fought from Russia to Poland he’s exceptionally experienced but this experience breeds some hubris he thinks that he knows better passed over for promotion in England Lee jumped ship for America only to find himself subordinate to George Washington now Lee’s sense of self-worth pushes him toward betrayal once again
This time he wants what he deserves command of the Continental Army I foresaw all that has happened had I the powers I could do much good confidence in General George Washington is at an all-time low Lee’s Chance is at hand Late November 1776 the two generals now lead regiments in separate retreats Washington through the center of New Jersey with the main Army Lee North with a regiment of four thousand As they move Lee corresponds with all those who might be sympathetic to his personal cause these include a once faithful adjutant to Washington a certain Colonel Joseph Reed dear General Lee I do not mean to flatter or praise you at the expense of any other but I do confess it is
Entirely owing to you that this Army is not totally cut off Reed 2 encourages a change in leadership we are in an awful and alarming situation I think yourself and some others should go to Congress to form the plan of the new Army Joseph Reed Charles Lee has just such Ambitions and
Lets many in Congress and the Army know it only George Washington himself remains unaware of the plot at hand that is about to change Washington by accident opened a letter from Charles Lee to Joseph Reed and it was clear that the two men had been discussing Washington’s fatal indecision of mind
My dear Reed I lament with you that fatal indecision of mind which in war is a much greater disqualification than stupidity or even want of personal courage Eternal defeat must attend the men of the best parts if cursed with indecision General Charles Lee Washington’s response was to
Write to read and say I opened this by accident I thought it was official business and to just try to smooth it over I think all of these moments really just highlight the extraordinary kind of equilibrium that he maintained Washington lets it pass but he can have no doubt that his own
Power is weakening his errors in New York are becoming widely known and those who once threw their support behind him the Army and the cause of Independence are now compelled toward doubt a sense of Doom gathers across America Washington is devastated by his defeats this public relations disaster means
That the people don’t support the army they’re back to maybe we should maybe we shouldn’t try a revolution it is the opportunity the British have been waiting for into this vacuum of power and the flagging spirit for Rebellion they issue a proclamation they offer leniency to those who pledge allegiance to the king
Those who will not shall be considered traitors every American had to choose do I support the Patriots do I support the loyalists is there any neutral ground between them how do you make this choice people are not only making this Choice according to their political beliefs or
Whether they you know really respect the king or not they’re often making this Choice according to what’s best for them the soul of the revolution is now up for grabs who will come out ahead General Charles Lee George Washington or the British army What each does next will determine the outcome America’s Revolution hangs in the balance December 1776. British are gaining control of New Jersey yet they find a populist unwilling to support them with their massive Army Food and supplies are critical to their efforts out of need and a hint of Vengeance the British turn to more forceful methods they take what they need by whatever means necessary
Bitter taste of what America might look forward to Under full British military occupation they have taken Hawks sheep horses and cows everywhere even children have been stripped of their clothes in short the abuse of the inhabitants is beyond description Charles Wilson peel American Soldier soon the Hessian mercenaries joined the
Fury cutting their own path of plunder Across The Colony along with them stories of brutality spread far and wide allegations of torture rape and murder Such acts become a rallying point around which to sway colonists against the British Patriot newsprint quickly takes full advantage they strip them of their cash in clothes poor creatures many of them died the devil’s not more cruel it was a huge propaganda coup for the colonists who were able to isolate a few
Incidents of Hessian brutality and atrocities and project that as par for the course it helped muster more support for the Revolution and demonstrated to the Americans the extreme links to which the British were willing to go to put down this insurrection The British had aimed to bolster loyalty in New Jersey instead their actions stir up an infuriated population Patriots and Loyalists now take up arms against one another as the war of independence descends into Anarchy and civil strife Washington can sense the mounting chaos both sides loyalist and Patriot seem to have given up on the cause of the revolution as Washington flees across New Jersey
And people are unwilling to help him he fully realizes that this revolution might be over he’s a commander-in-chief of an army that has shrunk drastically he’s on the Run With the Enemy on his heels Congressman right there wives and their friends letters saying that the game is just about up they’re fearful
That this war is shortly going to be over Washington turns his Focus toward Philadelphia around which he will try to build a defense but General Charles Lee’s troops are still 50 miles north without them Washington’s numbers are inadequate like it or not he needs Lee Lee has other plans
And they don’t include helping Washington he ignores the commanders almost daily pleas to rejoin the main Army December 1 dear sir the enemy are advancing and from information not to be doubted mean to push to Philadelphia I must entreat you to hasten your March as much as possible or your arrival may
Be too late to answer any valuable purpose General George Washington quickly Washington could order could have ordered Charles Lee to do what he wanted Dear Sir having wrote you fully both yesterday and today of my situation you will readily agree that I have sufficient cause for my anxiety and a
Wish for your arrival as early as possible perhaps Washington thought that with Loose Cannon likely perhaps the best way was not force but to congole him into seeing things the same way Friday the 13th 1776. General Charles Lee has no intention of coming to Washington’s Aid instead he stops his Retreat and takes
Residents in a comfortable Tavern there Lee makes his final move it won’t be a good one Lee works over his correspondences denigrating George Washington yet he remains unaware of the scene just outside his window British Scouts have tracked Lee to the tavern and will take him by surprise
The scene was almost comical if it hadn’t been so tragic Lee was surrounded by a British Cavalry in his dressing gown slippers basically Lee puts up no fight in one Brazen and sloppy moment campaign for leadership of the Continental Army comes to an abrupt halt London celebrates the capture the traitor Lee some say is the only Rebel General they had cause to fear even the stock market goes up on the belief that this is the coup that will end the war but Washington is not so easily phased a political rival out of the way and his
Absent troops now marching toward him Washington regains his sense of mission his own officers like General Nathaniel Green take notice his Excellency George Washington never appeared so much Advantage as in the hour of distress again it falls to Washington to turn the fortunes of the war if it isn’t too late
New Jersey is now a battlefield not only for the two armies but for the colonists themselves amidst the tension citizens weigh their loyalties should they side with the fleeing Continentals or with the British occupiers whose very presence has created fresh hostility in The Colony and this is what happens right when you
Put military men in the charge of what is also a delicate political operation and in this respect I think one has to be a little sympathetic to the British government putting down a anti-imperial anti-colonial Uprising is not something anyone had much experience with in the 18th century As winter sets in both sides retrench the British occupy more of New Jersey by spreading smaller units throughout the territory Washington meanwhile escapes into Pennsylvania where he hopes to prevent an attack on Philadelphia the seat of Congress mid-December 1776. the mood of Despair has crept into his own soldiers as well
Many simply decide it is time to go home faith in the revolution is falling as fast as the temperature it’s been a wretched year for them conditions have been harsh smallpox has broken out in the Army that’s in addition to the other Camp diseases that ravage the Army irregular
Intervals militarily things have been disastrous there’s not a lot of incentive for them to stay one man watches in horror Thomas Payne had joined Washington’s Army as one of the revolution’s first war correspondence now the Young author of Common Sense who helped spark Independence only a year
Earlier knows he must once again take up his pen this time he will not aim his words at the enemy but directly at the hearts of American Patriots these are the times that try men’s Souls the summer Soldier and the Sunshine Patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of his country
Thomas Paine With a sense that the war rides as much on his words as on the musket ball pain rushes to Philadelphia to print his new Manifesto Payne finds his hometown in chaos fear and rumor are spreading like a virus citizens are convinced that Washington’s forces won’t be able to defend Philadelphia in response people flee a steady stream of philadelphians take their belongings and head elsewhere leaving their empty homes and closed up
Shops to the British if they should come the citizens are not alone Continental Congress and all its members have evacuated to heading further south to Baltimore against this backdrop Thomas Payne gets to work in a span of 10 days the Young author and printer the man who arrived in
America only a few years ago full of hopes to begin a new world in these raw colonies sets his thoughts to print he titles it American crisis as quickly and widely as common sense had spread so too does this book it begins to work its magic instantly
What we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly and it would be strange indeed if so Celestial an article is freedom should not be highly rated Thomas Paine this was really the the low point for the Americans Washington’s reputation was really at stake and with that reputation the ability to round up
Fresh recruits for the Army so it was a a really do or die moment in New Jersey Payne’s words only go so far Washington must alter his entire approach to the war he must make some bold move that will restore faith in him and in the durability of the revolution
He makes up his mind I’ve got to shift tactics he thinks that it isn’t necessary to win the war on the battlefield he just can’t lose it the most important thing is to keep the Army together at the same time back home convincing the the mothers and wives and
Children are British soldiers that the cost of this war is too high in death’s casualties and for Parliament too in money for the British commander William Howe things are not going as planned the occupation of New Jersey has spread his forces thin in London people are asking why the war
Is not yet won he needs time to think how has his army dig in for the winter to guard against Rebel attacks he places Hessian forces at Key Junctions along the Delaware River places like Burlington and Trenton as the cold sets in the British expect to catch their breath before the next
Season of fighting begins house command along the Delaware River Falls to Hessian Colonel Johann Rawl Rawl has been on constant alert but now hold up in Trenton he is finally beginning to relax an attack is unlikely as the weather turns grim and a blizzard blows outside his window raw lets his guard down
And waits for reinforcements do any moment Christmas Eve New Jersey rawl’s Hessian reinforcements have made an unscheduled stop Their Commander Colonel fondonop has decided to spend the night with a fair Widow in Mount Holly just 20 miles from Trenton the colonel who was exceedingly devoted to his affair sex had found the beautiful young Widow of a doctor he wanted to set up rest Fortress in
Mount Holly which to The Misfortune of Conor he was permitted to do Captain Johann evalt Hessian officer rest will have consequences he cannot imagine and history will soon record the contribution to the revolution made by the mysterious Widow of Mount Holly whose identity will never be known
Some believe she may have been Betsy Ross the future creator of the American flag Scouts soon report to Washington that the Hessian Army has left its defenses down Washington hatches his plan he will attack it may well be his last shot a final effort to revive his reputation the spirit of his soldiers and the survival of the revolution in the last cold days of 1776 Washington
Prepares his army for what may be the final Gambit in the war of independence Few believe he can still be victorious his own soldiers regularly leave the Army as their commissions come up and urgency creeps into everything and everyone we are all of the opinion my dear General the delay is now equal to a total defeat some Enterprise must be undertaken in our present circumstances
Or we must give up the cause Joseph Reed Continental officer by the time Christmas of 1776 approaches everything has bottomed out his army has shrunk to only about five thousand men he’s lost the support of a lot of the people it all appears to be lost
It truly is a Do or Die situation Washington makes a bold decision he will strike the enemy at Trenton on Christmas Day Washington tells his army to prepare after months of defeat and loss they understand his purpose the Army will now take the offensive they will be crossing the Delaware back
To New Jersey shortly before departing Washington has American crisis read aloud let it be told to the Future world that in the depth of winter where nothing but hope and virtue could survive that the city and the country alarmed at one common danger came forth to meet and to
Repulse it time hath found us Thomas Paine it will be a Monumental task Washington’s men must afford a near Frozen River in a blizzard and get across fast enough to take the enemy Before Dawn by surprise Yet Washington’s leadership his Army and the revolution all ride on the success of this singular mission himself will lead the soldiers into battle for the first time in the war the general knows that if they fail there will be no more chances at 11 PM the boats begin to cross
It will be harder than they had even imagined every school child in America is familiar with the painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware when he’s boldly in the front of the boat standing up looking heroically towards the Eastern shore of the river it would have been nice but it didn’t happen like
That nobody stood up that night wisely so it was a severe a night as I ever saw Frost was sharp the current difficult to stern the ice increasing the wind high and at 11 it began to snow it was only with the greatest care and labor that the horses and artillery could be
Ferried over the river Captain Thomas Rodney Continental officer it takes most of the night to get the Army over it costs them severely in time laughs as Dawn approaches this surprise attack on the Hessian forces at Trenton grows nearly impossible for a moment Washington considers turning back
It made me despair of surprising the town as I well knew we could not reach it before the day was fairly broke are determined to push on at all events General George Washington 5 am the weather worsens and the temperatures drop even further the soldiers some with only Rags on
Their feet begin to succumb to the elements I was so be numbed with cold that I wanted to go to sleep had I been passed unnoticed I should have frozen to death without knowing it but as good luck attended me Sergeant Madden came and made me walk about John Greenwood Continental Pfeiffer
Not all are so lucky Two Soldiers lay down in the snow never to get up again the others Press On everything now depends on speed and stealth it is Washington’s new way of Waging War if he’s Victorious fine if he’s defeated Escape as fast as you can and keep your army together
Move fast sneak attacks surprises midnight escapes any trick a magician could pull out of his hat that’s how he’s got to fight Washington had learned his lessons the hard way now he will change the rules in a swift move he catches the Hessians off guard sets off a fierce battle
Hessian soldiers scrambled to grab their muskets and meet the enemy Colonel Rawl wakes up to a battle already underway he had been expecting something from the rebels but nothing of this scale Nor is this the same Army the Hessians once met in New York now the Continentals fight with Fierce spirit bloody chaotic engagements they hold their own Trenton is a small battle in numbers but it is a vicious and closely fought one Battle of Trenton is a brutal encounter
The Americans surprised the Hessians who tumble out of their Barracks grab their muskets and attempt to defend themselves the battle lasts less than an hour though the Hessians don’t have a chance because they’re surprised here conceived a scene of War of which I had often conceived but never saw before
The hurry the fright and confusion of the enemy was not unlike that which will be when the last Trump shall sound Colonel Henry Knox Continental officer in the midst of the fighting the Hessian Colonel Rawl is shot twice as he dies in bed the leaderless Hessians lose their will to go on
The path that had taken them from victory in New York ends with defeat at Trenton a thousand Hessians are captured or killed out of only 1500 present it is Washington’s day Trenton sends a resounding message the Continental Army is back and Washington is their Undisputed leader
In a year of hardships and loss he has now learned how to fight this war Trenton illustrates The Genius of George Washington here is an opportunity to strike the enemy where he’s weak when he’s weak this is going to establish the pattern for the rest of the war in which
The Continental Army will always live to fight another day pick low-hanging fruit frustrate the British and continue to provide Authority in the sign of the different British Commanders yet Washington faces one more challenge before 1776 is over December 31st marks the last day of many soldiers commissions
Many if not all are eager to return to their citizen lives at the end of December a lot of enlistment terms run out those men want to go home he goes back onto the field and he tells him as heartfelt as he can that you’ve done everything that America
Could ask of you you’ve risked your lives you’ve been in Fierce encounters and now I’m asking you to do it just one more time and he waits and nobody moves the men have given all they can now it is Washington’s turn to anyone who will re-enlist Washington
Makes an offer of an additional ten dollars pay more than a month’s salary my Brave fellows you have done all I have asked you to do and more than could be reasonably expected but your country is at stake we know not how to spare you General George Washington
And in one soldier grumbles well I might as well keep fighting he steps forward then others follow him and eventually a little bit more than half the men in the Army stay for the ten dollars but he doesn’t have the ten dollars Washington writes to Congress to request the emergency funds
For this trifling sum the Army holds together and grows as news of Trenton brings new recruits at the very end of this dark year Washington has revived the revolution through most of the Fall there have been a number of officers who thought they could do his job better than he could
And a number of members of Congress who thought the same that changes after Trenton that that criticism evaporates at least for a while it seems that the tide has turned at least the Army is going to continue to exist and the Army is the revolution 1776 the year America is born and a grueling test for the new nation Liberty is embraced and then very nearly lost Washington has saved the revolution but the biggest battles still lie ahead with cautious optimism a friend of George Washington writes him a New Year’s card
The year 1776 is over I am heartily glad of it and hope neither you nor America will be plagued with such another thank you
