- 2 days ago
Watch The American Revolution Season 1 Episode 3 (2025) full episode online in HD quality. Stream the latest episode of The American Revolution on Dailymotion now.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:30They are America's surprise heroes
00:37Now 10,000 strong, a new notion gathers around them
00:41An idea that will drive the warring British and American armies on a collision course
00:48America wants independence
00:53It will take George Washington and his citizen army everything they've got to win it
01:00The heroes of Massachusetts, now riding high on confidence
01:03Have not even begun to taste the full power of the king's vengeance
01:11The British are coming back
01:13This time to deliver a more decisive blow
01:18As they move toward New York by sea
01:20They assemble an armada
01:22The size of which the world has never seen
01:28The British commander, General William Howe, fully understands his orders
01:33What had begun in Massachusetts as an annoying insurgency
01:37Is quickly becoming an expensive and embarrassing war
01:43It is time to stop it
01:47Flushed with the idea of superiority after the evacuation of Boston
01:52The Americans desire decisive action
01:55Nothing is more sought for by us
01:59General William Howe
02:04New York is the perfect place to end this rebellion
02:09One way or another
02:12The importance of New York City
02:14Is not lost to either William Howe or George Washington
02:18Whomever controls New York City
02:20Will control the Hudson River
02:23And by extension
02:24Have the ability to sever the lines of communication
02:27Between New England and the remaining colonies
02:29This was the grand strategy
02:31That was going to subdue the rebellion
02:34That would break the colonies in half along this river
02:38That would separate the cockpit of the revolution in Boston
02:42From the cockpit in Virginia, in New York, in New Jersey
02:47And by that means bring about the collapse of the rebellion
02:53The conflict that has been fought militarily in Boston
02:56And politically in Philadelphia
02:57Now comes to New York
02:59A city already bitterly divided between loyalists and patriots
03:06Each side, loyalist and patriot
03:09Is waiting for the great clash that will decide their fate
03:14A British victory would likely end the war
03:17And return the colonies to the king
03:20A continental win could set the colonies free
03:23At stake, liberty
03:26The word that has been in colonial years since the outset of the year
03:31When a slim pamphlet set America ablaze
03:36The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth
03:39Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation
03:43The blood of the slain
03:44The weeping voice of nature cries
03:46Tis time to part
03:51Finally, someone has given the colonists a vocabulary of revolution
03:55But who is the author?
04:03The words come anonymously from the most unlikely source
04:10Not a leading American
04:12But a young immigrant starting his life over in the New World
04:16He comes from England
04:18With little money, scant education, and few prospects
04:22But he carries powerful ideas from the European Enlightenment
04:26Ideas that, when planted in American soil
04:29Will grow into a revolution that will change the world
04:33The author of this incendiary manifesto
04:37Thomas Paine
04:40We don't have a statue of Paine
04:43He's got to be the only founding father
04:46Who has not been commemorated in marble and bronze
04:52Because he was too radical
04:56Young Tom Paine had never amounted to much in England
04:59Though he had tried his hand at everything
05:03He had been a house servant
05:04A merchant marine
05:06And even a corset maker
05:07In each of these pursuits
05:09He would universally fail
05:14Paine would discover himself in Philadelphia
05:16Like many immigrants
05:18It becomes his blank slate
05:19His chance to start over
05:24It is this same spirit
05:26Paine sees in America
05:28Restless
05:29Searching
05:31Ambitious
05:32The raw makings of a new world
05:36It is a vision Paine turns into 46 simple pages
05:40Plain enough for every farmer, fishmonger, or founding father to understand
05:46He calls it simply
05:48Common sense
05:51We have it within our power to begin the world over again
05:55It is not the concern of a day, a year, or an age
05:58Now is the seed time of continental union
06:04Common sense conjured up a vision of a very democratic America
06:10Still to be
06:11An America in the making
06:16The pamphlet quickly becomes a sensation
06:20A best-selling how-to book on making revolution
06:24Some say 100,000 copies of this were published
06:28Translate that into population rates today
06:31That would be like selling 20 million books through Amazon
06:36Barnes & Noble
06:38That's an awful lot of communicating
06:45Colonists now contemplate the once unthinkable
06:48Breaking with the King of England
06:53Thomas Paine has finally told them what to do
06:58Begin a new world
07:00Begin America
07:11The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind
07:16O ye that love mankind
07:18Ye that dare oppose not only tyranny but the tyrant
07:21Stand forth
07:24The army now swells with citizen soldiers
07:27Ready to fight for Paine's ideals of a new world
07:31Soldiers like Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins
07:35My dearest Sarah
07:37I hope Providence will provide for us
07:39And carry me through all the troubles we have to meet
07:42In the way of our duty
07:43And while we are absent from each other
07:46A New England cobbler
07:4732-year-old Hodgkins had joined the army
07:50To protest colonial rule in his town of Ipswich, Massachusetts
07:56Now he is pushing farther from his home
07:59His tiny shoe shop
08:00And his wife, Sarah
08:05I would not have you be uneasy about me
08:08As I am engaged in this glorious cause
08:10I am willing to go where I am called
08:16Yet these citizen soldiers like Hodgkins
08:19Present their own problem to General George Washington
08:24Full of ideals, they lack training and experience
08:29New York will be a battle on a scale none yet know
08:33Against the full force of the greatest army in the world
08:41Washington harbors doubts
08:44He had very rational fears
08:45Any man of military experience would look at the task before them
08:49And realize this is not a foregone conclusion
08:52That we can achieve victory
08:54Victory or defeat
08:56Will soon mean the future of America
09:00The rebellion begun in Massachusetts over taxes
09:03Is about to become a revolution
09:05For independence
09:17June 1776
09:20The debate over America's political future has been pushed to the forefront
09:27What once was considered an act of mutiny and treason
09:30Now becomes a real possibility
09:32Even a destiny
09:34America is talking about liberty
09:40Suddenly in every tavern, in every meeting house
09:43Everywhere people congregate
09:45They are talking seriously about this idea
09:49Should we go for independence or not?
09:52And they're talking about the ideas that the pain expresses
09:56We have a grand, robust, national dialogue
10:00Such as we've never had before or since
10:04Around a central theme
10:06That meant everything to everybody
10:10The British are intent on stopping it
10:14Having gathered their strength
10:16They arrive in New York Harbor
10:18In dramatic fashion
10:22With 130 warships
10:24And nearly 25,000 men
10:27They put on a show designed to scare
10:29Even the most avid rebel
10:34When the British come in the summer of 1776
10:38It's like Star Wars
10:40It's the empire strikes back
10:42It's the Death Star
10:46These multiple acres and acres of white sail
10:50Coming into the harbor
10:51Must really have been a sight to behold
10:53This is the most powerful military nation
10:57On earth
10:58That is bringing that power to bear on you
11:03At his headquarters in lower New York
11:05Washington has a front row seat
11:08The enemy will endeavor to intimidate
11:10By show and appearance
11:12But remember
11:13That was so just a cause
11:15Victory is most assuredly ours
11:17General George Washington
11:21Outwardly
11:22Washington shows a calm face
11:24Yet inside
11:25He knows that defending New York
11:27Will be the greatest test he has known
11:30The Virginia farmer
11:32Turned rebel leader
11:33Is out of his league
11:36Washington was faced with a tremendous task
11:40He had no navy to speak of
11:42And he was trying to protect
11:45A group of islands
11:46With hundreds of miles of shoreline
11:49Against the world's most powerful naval force
11:55Miles away in Philadelphia
11:57The reality of the situation is harder to take in
12:01The great leaders of the revolution
12:03Ben Franklin
12:05John Adams
12:06John Hancock
12:07See what they want to see
12:10An army that has already stood up to the British
12:14It pushes them to take the next step
12:17The ultimate step
12:18Toward independence
12:23A Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee
12:25Throws down the gauntlet
12:27Why do we longer delay
12:28Why still deliberate
12:30Let this happy day give birth
12:32To an American republic
12:34If we are not this day wanting in our duty
12:36The names of the American legislators
12:38Of 1776
12:40Will be placed in posterity
12:42Richard Henry Lee
12:44The time is now
12:46To make a declaration
12:47And commit it to paper
12:50Congress turns to a young Virginia lawyer
12:52A rising star in American politics
12:56At 33 years old
12:58Thomas Jefferson is the ideal American
13:00Bright
13:01Ambitious
13:02And a gentleman
13:05Jefferson was a
13:06Tall
13:07Slender
13:08Gentle
13:10Engaging
13:11Man who wanted to be a scholar
13:13And never got a chance
13:14Because he was such a good politician
13:17Of all the revolutionaries
13:18If I could sit with one at dinner
13:21He'd be the one
13:22But Jefferson embodies America's deepest conflicts
13:26And contradictions
13:27Having grown up on a wealthy Virginia plantation
13:30He inherited aristocratic credentials
13:33And the 200 slaves to prove it
13:37Yet Jefferson holds to an ideal America
13:40A place of opportunity for everyone
13:43A place where every American
13:45Is in charge of his own fate
13:48The child nation is growing up
13:50And longs to move beyond
13:52The shadow of its parent
13:54But they had grown up
13:55And they wanted an independent say
13:57About how their laws were made
13:58And who governed them
13:59And Jefferson knew all of that
14:01He knew that he wasn't writing anything
14:03That was revolutionary
14:04In the eyes of his own people
14:06Only in the rest of the world
14:10Mid-June 1776
14:14Armed with these notions
14:15And a deadline of two weeks
14:17Jefferson locks himself
14:19Into a Philadelphia boarding house
14:21He sat in one room
14:23In the July
14:24Sweltering heat of Philadelphia
14:26With the flies buzzing all about him
14:29And he forgot all of that
14:30And he just sat down
14:31And he wrote
14:32And he wrote
14:33And he wrote
14:34Out of his head
14:36When in the course of human events
14:38It becomes necessary
14:40For a people to advance
14:41From that subordination
14:42In which they have hitherto remained
14:43The opinions of mankind
14:46Impelled him to the change
14:47Thomas Jefferson
14:50It is a heady task
14:52For a fairly young mind
14:53Every word must contain
14:55A reason to die for
14:57Every sentence
14:58An urgent cause
15:00To justify rising up
15:01Against a king
15:04Think about
15:04You know the Declaration of Independence
15:06Is a terribly radical document
15:07That document says
15:08That if the government
15:09Isn't treating you
15:10The way you think it should
15:11And if you suffer
15:13This mistreatment
15:14Over a period of time
15:15You've got the right
15:17To rise up
15:17And destroy that government
15:18To change it
15:19That's a radical thing to say
15:23But Jefferson soon stumbles
15:25Over the central question
15:26Of the revolution
15:27It hangs in the hot air
15:29Who will become
15:31A free American
15:32In Britain
15:34The elite legislated
15:35Now Jefferson's pen
15:38Could reinvent all that
15:40Would the new America
15:41Mean rights for every man
15:43Woman
15:43Child
15:44And even slave
15:46Who's in and who's out
15:47Who's included
15:48Does this mean everybody
15:49Does this mean only the rich
15:51Does this mean property holders
15:52How far do we go
15:54Who's included
15:55In this new nation
15:56We hold these truths
15:58To be self-evident
15:59That all men
16:00Are created equal
16:01That they are endowed
16:02By their creator
16:03With certain inalienable rights
16:05That among these
16:06Are life, liberty
16:07And the pursuit of happiness
16:10Jefferson reaches
16:11For the highest ideals
16:12But the contradictions
16:14Of his words
16:15Come back to haunt him
16:20All the talk about freedom
16:23And liberty
16:24All of this reaches the ears
16:26Of nearly 500,000 colonists
16:29Who are black
16:30That's one-fifth of the population
16:35Slavery already divides the colonies
16:37Now with the talk of independence
16:40It takes front row
16:42Some colonists draw the line
16:44At giving liberty to slaves
16:46Others bristle
16:47At the hypocrisy
16:48Of fighting for independence
16:49While sanctioning slavery
16:53Jefferson himself
16:54Remains divided
16:56His own slaves
16:57Watch their fates
16:58Debated before them
17:01When Thomas Jefferson
17:02Incidentally the holder
17:04Of over 100 slaves
17:05At this moment
17:06Wrote
17:07We hold these truths
17:08To be self-evident
17:09That all men
17:10Are created equal
17:10Endowed by themselves
17:11And they're created
17:12With certain unalienable rights
17:13And among these are life
17:14Liberty
17:15And the pursuit of happiness
17:17You don't think his slave
17:18Said right on, John
17:19Right on, Thomas
17:21That this is precisely
17:24What we want
17:27Many slaves choose not to wait
17:30From cities and plantations
17:32Across America
17:33Blacks begin an exodus
17:35They flee
17:38On Washington's plantation
17:40We know that 17 slaves
17:42Ran
17:42Steven, 20 years old
17:45A cooper by trade
17:46Deborah, a 16 year old woman
17:48Peter, an old man
17:5123 fled from Jefferson
17:54These people had made decisions
17:56What's best for them?
17:58Patriot or loyalist
17:59Didn't really matter
18:00What's my best bet?
18:02What does a man like Jefferson
18:04Make of this
18:06When the slaves flee
18:07Well
18:08It throws in his face
18:10The notion of
18:11The enlightened slave master
18:14And it
18:17Comes upon him
18:18With great force
18:19I think
18:20If it hadn't before
18:21That there's a fundamental
18:24Contradiction
18:25In this whole
18:26Revolution project
18:28Between fighting
18:30For unalienable rights
18:32And holding slaves
18:34He knew that
18:38Jefferson takes aim
18:40At slavery
18:40With scathing indictments
18:42Of its wrongfulness
18:44He puts them in his draft
18:46Yet falls short
18:47Of calling for the end
18:48Of slaveholding
18:52Major battles are looming
18:55Compromises must be made
18:59In Philadelphia
19:00His draft will soon be thrown
19:02To the varied interests
19:03In Congress
19:05They will tear it apart
19:10While in New York
19:11The Continental Army
19:12Prepares to put its life
19:14On the line
19:14For the dream
19:15Of independence
19:30Late June
19:321776
19:34While Congress works
19:35On independence
19:36In Philadelphia
19:38100 miles north
19:39On the bluffs
19:40Of Brooklyn Heights
19:41The Continental Army
19:43Faces more urgent realities
19:44I put your message
19:45To it then
19:47They dig in
19:48For the fight to come
19:53Every day
19:54They expect an attack
19:57Every day
19:57It fails to arrive
20:00Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins
20:02Oversees the building
20:03Of fortifications
20:07But he grows tired
20:09Of waiting
20:10My dear Sarah
20:12I long to see you
20:14And my children
20:14But when I shall
20:16Is uncertain
20:18General Washington
20:19Is calling in the militia
20:20And I hope
20:21We shall be in readiness
20:22To meet our enemy
20:24Joseph Hodgkins
20:25While the Americans
20:27Build fortifications
20:28The British
20:29Continue to pour
20:30Into their camp
20:31On Staten Island
20:32Throughout the summer
20:34Their force swells
20:35As the king
20:36Sends more ships
20:37With more troops
20:42Washington watches
20:43And waits
20:47The impeccably cool gentleman
20:49From Virginia
20:49Remains perplexed
20:50By the British
20:51Who gather strength
20:53But show no sign
20:54Of attacking
20:56Day after day
20:57Week after week
20:58He can only sit
20:59And wonder
21:03Very unexpectedly
21:04To me
21:05Another revolving
21:06Monday
21:07Is arrived
21:07Before an attack
21:08Upon this city
21:09Or a movement
21:10Of the enemy
21:12The reason of this
21:14Is incomprehensible
21:15To me
21:16General George Washington
21:22The flotilla
21:23Of British ships
21:24Bobs just off
21:25The tip of Manhattan
21:25Waiting for even
21:27More reinforcements
21:29Biding their time
21:30Wearing down
21:32Rebel nerves
21:35What Washington needs
21:36Is a navy
21:37To stand up
21:38For the goliath
21:39Of the British Empire
21:42What he gets
21:43Is a slingshot
21:44A tiny concept
21:46He hopes
21:47Will have a huge impact
21:51Its codename
21:52The Turtle
21:53It's the world's
21:55First combat submarine
21:57Designed to harass
21:58The world's mightiest navy
21:59Made of oak
22:01Covered in tar
22:02The tiny craft
22:04Fits just one person
22:08With a bicycle
22:09Like method
22:10The engineer
22:10Propels the vessel
22:12Underwater
22:13With a drill
22:14He will fasten
22:15Kegs of gunpowder
22:16And a fuse
22:17To his victim's hull
22:22But the simple weapon
22:23Is not simple enough
22:24The turtle
22:26Will be used
22:27Only once
22:27During the battle
22:28Of New York
22:29At night
22:30She sneaks up
22:31On the British flagship
22:32The Eagle
22:35But fastening the explosives
22:37To the hull
22:37Proves too difficult
22:41The turtle is forced
22:42To make a hasty retreat
22:43Spotted and pursued
22:45By British longboats
22:47The keg of gunpowder
22:49The erstwhile torpedo
22:52Floats down the Hudson River
22:55Where it goes off
22:57By itself
22:58Harmlessly
22:59A giant column
23:01Of water
23:01Shot up
23:02As the bomb
23:03Went off
23:04And people on the shores
23:05Were looking on
23:07In astonishment
23:07But that was
23:09The end
23:10Of the experiment
23:12It will be words
23:14Not bombs
23:15That deliver Britain
23:16The strongest blows
23:20July 1st
23:221776
23:25A draft of the declaration
23:27Is delivered to congress
23:31The delegates
23:32Immediately tear into it
23:37The excruciating part
23:39Took place
23:39After the document
23:41Was written
23:42And that was
23:43Three days of debate
23:44In congress
23:45In which congress
23:46Took out 89
23:47Different things
23:49Including any language
23:51Criticizing the practice
23:53Of slavery
23:54And Jefferson
23:55Just sat there
23:56Writhing
23:57Through the whole thing
24:00The issue of slavery
24:01Is left for another time
24:05There are flickers
24:06Of doubt
24:07They're bothered by it
24:08They can't fix it
24:09They kick it down the road
24:11They basically
24:12Postpone the problem
24:14To be reckoned with
24:14On another day
24:16That day became
24:16The civil war
24:17It was a pretty bad day
24:21But it's not
24:21That they're not
24:22Bothered by it
24:23They know what's wrong
24:24They just don't know
24:25How to deal with it
24:30The pressure of time
24:31Once again intervenes
24:34On July 2nd
24:35The matter of independence
24:36Must be put to a vote
24:39It passes
24:43The second day of July
24:451776
24:47Will be the most memorable
24:49In the history of America
24:51It ought to be solemnized
24:53With pomp and parade
24:54With shows
24:56Games
24:56Sports
24:57Guns
24:58Bells
24:59Bonfires
25:00And illuminations
25:02From one end of this continent
25:03To the other
25:04From this time forward
25:06Forevermore
25:07John Adams
25:08Congressional delegate
25:10Adams is a little off
25:11On the date
25:12But close
25:13Two more days
25:14Are necessary
25:15To hammer out
25:16The final declaration
25:18On July 4th
25:19Independence
25:20Becomes written fact
25:29Within days
25:30Copies travel by horseback
25:32Throughout the colonies
25:36No one had set out
25:38To create a war of independence
25:40Yet they had delivered one
25:44In the town squares
25:46All over the country
25:48Church bills are ringing
25:49People were huzzahing
25:52The crowd was applauding
25:55People really did believe
25:57The birthday of a new world
25:59Is at hand
26:01These united colonies are
26:03And of right
26:04Ought to be free
26:05And independent states
26:06Absolved from all allegiance
26:08To the British crown
26:09All political connection
26:12Between them
26:12And the state of Great Britain
26:14Is and ought to be
26:15Totally dissolved
26:25For those who had only imagined
26:27Such a document
26:28Its realization is inspiring
26:31And sobering
26:33The delegates who signed their names
26:36Know they have just committed treason
26:39A crime punishable by death
26:44All of our founding fathers
26:45They think they're going to hang
26:47We either hang together
26:48Or hang separately
26:49That was literal
26:51They are outlaws
26:52And if they fall into the hands
26:54Of the British army
26:56They think they're going to swing
26:57From a tree
27:00It is the reckoning
27:01At the hands of King George
27:02That is on the minds
27:04Of the signers
27:04And for everyone across the colonies
27:07Who supports independence
27:20July 1776
27:23Across the colonies
27:24The reaction to the declaration
27:26Of independence is deafening
27:27For it or against it
27:29It's clear that there is no turning back
27:32It is a war that will make
27:34Or unmake America
27:36The declaration of independence
27:38Does change what the war is about
27:40Up until that moment
27:41The war had just been about
27:45Forcing the British into a point
27:47Where they'd be prepared
27:48To renegotiate the terms
27:51Of membership in the empire
27:53But after that moment
27:55It's about getting the British
27:57To acknowledge independence
28:01In New York
28:02Patriots pull down
28:03A statue of King George
28:08It is a symbolic deed
28:09But a useful one too
28:14The lead is immediately sent off
28:16And melted down
28:16To make musket balls
28:2042,000 bullets
28:22Will come out of
28:23Fallen King George
28:24And every one of them
28:25Will be necessary
28:26The battle they have been waiting for
28:29Has arrived
28:31July 12th
28:333 p.m
28:36The British unleash their guns
28:40Only eight days
28:41After the declaration of independence
28:43The British answer
28:44With a barrage
28:45Only the world's most powerful empire
28:47Could muster
28:54Soldiers and citizens alike
28:56Freeze with fear
29:01A lot of these soldiers
29:03Were 16, 17 years old
29:06Fresh off the farm
29:08Some of these American soldiers
29:09Were drunk
29:10In their cups
29:11As the expression was
29:13And so it was really
29:14Kind of a disaster
29:16And a really inauspicious beginning
29:18To the battle for New York
29:19For the Americans
29:24George Washington is furious
29:34The British have made clear their power
29:36Now inexplicably
29:39They stop the attack
29:44As quickly as the barrage comes
29:46Because it ends
29:48It is merely a show of force
29:50A scare tactic
29:52By the British commander
29:53General William Howe
29:56In fact Howe's goal
29:58Was not to win
29:59It was to
30:00Force the Americans
30:02To a conference table
30:04It wasn't about inflicting
30:06Crushing military defeat
30:08It wasn't about humiliating
30:10The colonists
30:12It was about showing them
30:13That British liberty
30:14Was something worth having
30:19The British having amply displayed
30:21Their might
30:22Now counter with an invitation
30:24To talk peace
30:26But Howe makes a small
30:28Yet costly miscalculation
30:31The message he sends
30:33Is addressed simply
30:34To George Washington
30:35A breach of protocol
30:37That is instantly recognisable
30:41The British are in a very difficult position
30:43If they address the latter
30:45As His Excellency
30:46George Washington
30:47Commander-in-Chief
30:48They're effectively recognising
30:50The legitimacy
30:51Of the Continental Army
30:53For Washington
30:54This is a critical thing
30:55He needs to be recognised
30:58They are equals
30:59After all
31:00Howe commands an army
31:01Washington commands an army
31:04The messenger
31:06And his various letters
31:07Is rebuked several times
31:13Finally the letter is accepted
31:17But by then
31:18Washington wants no part of it
31:20He sets aside the letter
31:21Without opening it
31:24The Americans will not
31:26Consider negotiating
31:28So high is the vanity
31:30And the insolence
31:31Of these men
31:32Their leaders seem
31:33To risk everything
31:34So that blows and war
31:36Seem inevitable
31:38Ambrose Searle
31:39British Secretary
31:46August 12th
31:471776
31:51There will be no peace
31:56Instead the Continental soldiers
31:58Will have to deliver America
32:00By war
32:02The British might
32:04Will soon return
32:05But when
32:06And where
32:07Remain a mystery
32:10Joseph Hodgkins
32:11Redoubles his efforts
32:14My dear Sarah
32:15The posts are not going
32:16As quickly as I expected
32:17It is thought
32:18This fleet
32:19Will get all the strength
32:20They can
32:20Before they make
32:21An attack on us
32:22But we are awaiting
32:24And expecting them
32:25Every day
32:26Joseph Hodgkins
32:30This will be a different
32:32Scale of warfare
32:33Than these soldiers
32:34Have ever known
32:35On the eve of battle
32:37Some sit down
32:38To prepare their wills
32:40Aware that their first
32:41Real battle
32:41With the British
32:42May also be their last
32:50At their camp
32:51On Staten Island
32:52The British
32:53Are not nearly so nervous
33:01Sure that victory is near
33:04They bide their time
33:05Enjoying the fruits
33:06Of the American continent
33:09The fair nymphs
33:11Of this isle
33:11Are in wonderful
33:12Tribulation
33:13As the fresh meat
33:15Our men have got here
33:16Has made them as riders
33:17As satyrs
33:18A girl cannot step
33:19Into the bushes
33:20To pluck a rose
33:22Without running
33:23The most imminent risk
33:24Of being ravished
33:27Lord Rodham
33:28British officer
33:33Their leader
33:34Also takes full advantage
33:36Of his time
33:38Having taken
33:39One of his officers
33:39Wives for a lover
33:40General William Howe
33:42Lets the day
33:43Slip by
33:44In his
33:44Private conquests
33:49George Washington
33:50Can afford
33:51No such pleasures
33:53Back in Manhattan
33:54The general
33:55Is losing
33:55His famous cool
33:57As he waits
33:58He guesses
33:59And second guesses
34:01Every plan
34:02And every defense
34:03He too
34:04Is about to face
34:05The biggest battle
34:06Of his life
34:06And it will not be
34:08On his terms
34:09It is the British
34:11Who are running
34:11This show
34:20Late August
34:22Long Island
34:23D-Day
34:26On a warm
34:27August morning
34:28Howe moves
34:29His army
34:33More than
34:3415,000
34:35British soldiers
34:35Now march
34:36Toward the
34:37American positions
34:37For the first time
34:39In the brand new
34:40War of Independence
34:41The British
34:43Will test
34:43The strength
34:44Of the American
34:44Army
34:45Head on
34:57The British
34:58Attacked first
34:59With two columns
35:00Taking the
35:01Continentals
35:01In a frontal assault
35:10The two sides
35:11Face each other
35:12In massive lines
35:13Often a mere
35:15Hundred yards apart
35:19They gave everybody
35:20A couple of tots
35:21Of rum
35:22Just to get them
35:22Liquored up enough
35:23To do this
35:25The Americans
35:26Didn't have that
35:27Discipline
35:28They didn't know it
35:28This is European
35:30Style warfare
35:31For nearly all
35:33The Continentals
35:34It is their
35:34First taste of it
35:37A person
35:38In the 20th
35:39Or 21st century
35:40Looks at
35:41Those linear
35:42Battle formations
35:43Of the 18th century
35:44As they seem
35:45To be struck
35:46By the stupidity
35:47Of these things
35:47But that really
35:49These tactics
35:50And these formations
35:51Are predicated
35:53Upon the state
35:53Of technology
35:54At the time
36:00In open field battles
36:01And in smaller
36:02Forest skirmishes
36:04The Americans
36:05Struggle
36:05To hold their own
36:20What they don't know
36:21Is that they are
36:22Fighting a decoy
36:24The bulk
36:25Of Howe's army
36:26Is actually
36:26A third flank
36:27Marching out
36:28And around
36:29The American forces
36:32Washington has not
36:33Prepared for this
36:35By 10 a.m.
36:37The British
36:37Break through
36:38The rear ranks
36:39And devastate
36:41The lines
36:41Of the Continental army
36:43The worst possible
36:44Thing that can happen
36:45In those situations
36:46Is to have
36:47A complete rupturing
36:48Of your line
36:49A complete break
36:50In which men panic
36:51And everybody flees
36:53Basically for themselves
36:56It is without a doubt
36:58The most demoralizing
36:59Disheartening
37:01Sort of experience
37:01These soldiers
37:02Could have possibly felt
37:05The rebel army
37:06In a state of panic
37:08Flees
37:08Flees
37:09Among them
37:10The young lieutenant
37:12Joseph Hodgkins
37:14He watches his soldiers
37:15Break
37:16A sight he will
37:18Never forget
37:19Loving wife
37:20In the woods
37:21And in the night
37:22The enemy marched out
37:23Two different ways
37:24We were obliged
37:25To go through fire
37:26And water
37:26It seems the day
37:28Is come
37:28That in all probability
37:29Depends the salvation
37:30Of this country
37:31Joseph Hodgkins
37:48The army straggles back
37:50Minus the 300 dead
37:52And 1,000 captured
37:57George Washington
37:59Watches in shock
38:02His army
38:03Had not withstood
38:04The battle
38:07He had failed
38:08And the danger
38:09Is far from over
38:15At Brooklyn Heights
38:16The army is trapped
38:17On all sides
38:19The British navy
38:21Commands the waterways
38:22To the west
38:23From the east
38:24And south
38:25Howe's army
38:26Closes in
38:27On the shattered
38:28Continental defenses
38:30All looks lost
38:31But the end
38:33Would not come
38:34Just yet
38:37In a last effort
38:39To save his army
38:40Washington orders
38:41An immediate retreat
38:42To start at nightfall
38:49Under the cover of darkness
38:50The army begins to move
38:53Stealthily
38:53Using every ferry
38:55And fishing boat
38:55Available to them
38:59All through the night
39:00Soldiers are ferried
39:02Across a narrow slip
39:03Between Brooklyn
39:04And Manhattan
39:06They soon run out of time
39:08But they get
39:09One final providence
39:13As morning breaks
39:14A strange and eerie fog
39:16Sets in over New York harbor
39:18Engulfing the area
39:20In a near blackout
39:21It is their salvation
39:23The British see
39:25And hear
39:26Nothing
39:28I could scarcely discern
39:30A man at six yard distance
39:32In the history of warfare
39:34I do not recollect
39:35A more fortunate retreat
39:37Benjamin Talmadge
39:39Continental officer
39:47When the fog lifts
39:49The British are met
39:50With an empty camp
39:54The Continental Army
39:55Just hours before
39:57On the verge of defeat
39:58Has vanished overnight
40:02The failure to capture them
40:04And to really put a stop
40:06To the war
40:07By rounding up
40:08The rebel forces
40:09Really was
40:11Perhaps
40:12One of the greatest
40:13Blunders of the war
40:14Because it was in New York
40:16With the greatest armada
40:17The greatest number of men
40:18That they had at any time
40:20During those eight years
40:21The British
40:22Lost their best opportunity
40:24To win the war
40:25At a stroke
40:31The remains of the rebel army
40:33Recuperate
40:36Dispirited and defeated
40:37They can only wonder
40:38What will happen next
40:43Having made it off
40:44Of Long Island
40:45With the others
40:47Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins
40:48Now has a moment
40:49To communicate
40:50With his wife Sarah
40:53Her words are those
40:54Of many back home
40:55Across the colonies
40:56A mixture of immediate fears
40:58And distant hopes
41:02My dear husband
41:03I desire to be thankful
41:06That you have got off
41:07Of Long Island
41:07I think things look
41:09Very dark on our side
41:11But it has been observed
41:13That man's extremity
41:14Was God's opportunity
41:16Sarah Hodgkins
41:23George Washington
41:24Is wrecked
41:26He has come within inches
41:27Of losing his entire army
41:29And along with it
41:30The cause of independence
41:33Now he knows
41:34He must abandon
41:35New York City
41:40The Continental Army
41:41Is in no shape
41:42To fight again
41:44They leave the city
41:45And go north
41:46Along Manhattan Island
41:51A few months ago
41:52They were being treated
41:53As heroes
41:55Now they are
41:57In full retreat
42:03Washington's reputation
42:04Has plummeted too
42:06His inexperience
42:07And mistakes
42:08Have been costly
42:10His ability
42:11To lead an army
42:12Is now severely
42:13In question
42:15Soon
42:15He will receive
42:17Challenges from within
42:18His own ranks
42:20If you stopped
42:21The clock
42:21In 1776
42:22You would have
42:23Suspected that this guy
42:25Would be out of a job
42:25Pretty soon
42:26Things were not going well
42:32The dream of a new world
42:34Thomas Paine's vision
42:35Seems more remote
42:37With each step
42:43Across America
42:44Spirits are depleted
42:47Many soldiers
42:48Up and leave the army
42:51Others
42:52Others like Joseph Hodgkins
42:53Face the choice
42:56Stay and fight
42:57Or return to their homes
42:59Perhaps
43:00As British subjects
43:01Evermore
43:03My dear Joseph
43:05I hope if we live
43:07To see this campaign out
43:08We shall have the happiness
43:09Of living together
43:11It will trouble me
43:12Very much
43:13If you should engage again
43:14Your most affectionate
43:15Companion until death
43:17Sarah
43:20Hodgkins will stay
43:22And retreat
43:23With the remains
43:24Of the army
43:25Toward an uncertain future
43:26For himself
43:27For the army
43:29And for the cause
43:30Of independence
43:32The revolution
43:33Will go on
43:34But it is about
43:36To enter
43:36Its darkest days
43:42To enter
43:48To enter
Comments