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00:00Previously on The Revolution, confidence in Washington reached a new low as America's revolution descended into anarchy.
00:08The Americans in 1776 have encountered nothing but defeat followed by defeat.
00:14This really negatively affects the morale of his force, who really now question whether or not Washington is the right
00:21man for this job.
00:22Washington made a last-ditch effort for redemption at Trenton.
00:26Trenton illustrates the genius of George Washington.
00:30Here is an opportunity to strike the enemy when he's weak.
00:34This is going to establish the pattern for the rest of the war in which the Continental Army will live
00:40to fight another day.
00:57December, 1776, at a secret location along the French coast, a shipment is being prepared.
01:04Rifles, uniforms, gunpowder and ammunition are crated and boarded, bound for America.
01:10It is a gesture of solidarity from France against their common enemy, Great Britain.
01:17The weapons will aid Washington's notoriously undersupplied army, which has just unleashed a Christmas surprise on the British.
01:27The battle of Trenton has bolstered the rebels, but America needs more than supplies to turn the tide of war.
01:33What General George Washington really needs is money and a navy.
01:39In pursuit of this goal, the Americans have sent their own secret weapon to France.
01:47He arrives on a crisp December morning along the French coast.
01:52He is old and frail, with a variety of ailments.
01:56But Benjamin Franklin is also the most famous revolutionary leader in Europe.
02:02Franklin is the man who tamed lightning, a renowned scientist, inventor and writer, who brought the simple wisdom of poor
02:10Richard to the world.
02:12When Franklin gets to France, there is an enormous sense of consternation.
02:15What is this figurehead? What is this great celebrity doing here?
02:18And remember, given the way the media worked in those days, he washes up on the shores of Brittany with
02:22no announcement.
02:23And there are all sorts of wonderful rumors afoot as to what he's doing in France.
02:28He's come to buy himself a chateau with his immense fortune.
02:30He's come to educate his grandsons in Europe because the schools are better.
02:33Every possible idea is put forth.
02:36The idea that he's actually there to enlist the French in this cause is not the obvious conclusion.
02:41And he doesn't feel he has to illuminate anyone.
02:47Franklin arrives into a deeply divided nation, no place more so than Paris itself.
02:53The wealthy live in opulence, while the poor walk on city streets ankle-deep in waste and excrement.
03:02This dichotomy has produced new thinking about Europe's age-old system of class.
03:08The French read Thomas Paine and cheer America's revolution.
03:13As one Frenchman noted, there is a hundred times more enthusiasm for this revolution in the Paris cafés than in
03:20the colonies.
03:27Franklin plays on this enthusiasm.
03:30Now, in one of the most opulent courts in Europe, the home of Marie Antoinette,
03:36Franklin presents a simple yet carefully crafted portrait of America and all things American.
03:43Picture me very plainly dressed, wearing my thin gray straight hair that peeps out from under my only coiffure,
03:50a fine fur cap which comes down to my forehead, almost to my spectacles.
03:55Think how this must appear among the powdered heads of Paris.
03:59Benjamin Franklin.
04:01Franklin plays on this romance.
04:04He wears, he dresses very plainly.
04:06He wears a beaver cap.
04:08And he becomes kind of a fad.
04:11They're, uh, the women love to be around Franklin.
04:14Uh, they think there's something kind of very romantic about this backwoodsman who's here in their midst.
04:21Before long, all the fashionable women are wearing their hair in a style that mimics Franklin's fur cap.
04:28They call the style, a la Franklin.
04:32But not all quarters are equally charmed.
04:36December 28th, 1776.
04:40Ben Franklin arrives at Versailles, home to King Louis XVI.
04:44It seems like a fool's errand when you think about it.
04:47Franklin is sent to an absolute monarchy to ask them to fund a revolution against a king.
04:52But the truth is that the animus on the French part against the English is so great,
04:57um, that this is a very easy argument to make.
05:01Franklin is greeted by France's foreign minister, the crafty Comte de Vergennes.
05:08Vergennes is the one behind France's covert arms shipments.
05:13Anyone in his right mind would have assumed that the best thing to do
05:15would have been to let the colonies and England destroy each other mutually and not to intervene.
05:20But he is dead set on revenge.
05:22It's the one thing that he needs to accomplish.
05:24And he could not be more eager.
05:27He is intrigued by the revolution.
05:29But France needs to know they are backing a winner.
05:33Franklin's attuned sense of gamesmanship tells him the time is not right.
05:38That, and the fact King Louis XVI refuses to meet with him.
05:43But without France, the threadbare American revolution is in peril.
05:49For now, Franklin will have to wait.
05:51And pin his hopes on events 3,000 miles away.
05:56Where only a great American victory could budge the French.
06:07Back in New Jersey, the Continental Army is in bad shape.
06:13The Americans have not yet figured out how to feed and supply the army.
06:19John Adams, the always outspoken member of Congress, complains.
06:24Our army is an object of wretchedness enough to fill a human mind with horror.
06:30Disgraced, defeated, discontented, dispirited, diseased.
06:35Naked, undisciplined, eaten up with vermin.
06:39No clothes, beds, or blankets.
06:41No medicines, no vittles but salt, pork, and flour.
06:46And as winter turns to spring, the problems only worsen.
06:53No one is joining the army.
06:56And officers sent on recruiting missions must dig deeper to fill the quotas for new recruits.
07:04The colonists, like every generation before or after,
07:08seem convinced that the war is going to be over by Christmas.
07:12When the war isn't over by Christmas,
07:14Washington has a hard time recruiting soldiers.
07:19And it's in 1777 that we see many states beginning to offer significantly increased bounties.
07:27That's a cash payment for enlistment.
07:29Service in the Continental Army is now offered as an alternative to corporal punishment when you're brought into court.
07:36Service in the Continental Army is encouraged for vagrants.
07:42The shortages of trained soldiers hits the army hard.
07:48No place more than the northern American outpost of Fort Ticonderoga,
07:53where America's inexperienced recruits are about to become the target of a major British attack.
08:04America's envoy in Paris, Benjamin Franklin, has made his first overtures to the French,
08:10an attempt to get the European power to join in the fight against their age-old enemy, England.
08:16But for now, the elder statesman has come away empty-handed.
08:20Swaying the French will take a major American victory back in the colonies,
08:25where the British are getting ready to mount a new round of assaults.
08:33June 1777, just south of Montreal, Canada, a new British general has arrived in America.
08:42General John Burgoyne surrounds himself with all the trappings that wealth and status afford.
08:48He has recently returned to the colonies, where he witnessed the British loss of Boston just two years earlier.
08:55Burgoyne's goal, to take revenge and end the war, whatever the cost.
09:01It is an endgame he has staked his career on.
09:06John Burgoyne has always led the good life.
09:09A gambler, a military man by career, a playwright by hobby, a social climber by marriage,
09:16Gentleman Johnny, as his soldiers call him, leans towards the dramatic.
09:22Before his return to America in June, the cocky Burgoyne wagers that he will have the war won by Christmas.
09:29Charles Fox, a member of Parliament who stood in opposition to the war, takes the bet, with a warning.
09:36Be not over-sanguine.
09:38I believe when you return to England, you will be a prisoner on parole.
09:43Charles Fox
09:48As commander of Britain's northern forces, Burgoyne aims to take the Hudson River,
09:53the vital waterway that separates the northern colonies from the southern colonies.
09:58It's important to realize that in the 18th century, there are no bridges across this river.
10:03There are only a limited number of crossing points.
10:06If you control those points, you control key terrain, and you are able to sever the lines of communication
10:12that the colonists are able to use to coordinate their actions between Boston and Philadelphia,
10:17and certainly prohibit the transfer of troops from one side of the river to the other.
10:27The British plan requires precise coordination across great distances.
10:33Burgoyne's force will move south, down the Hudson, to meet up with the man in charge for the British,
10:38General William Howe, whose forces will march north from New York City.
10:45Burgoyne's first target is a remote northern outpost, the mighty Fort Ticonderoga.
10:53People refer to it as the Gibraltar of the North or the Gibraltar of North America.
10:57It was, by all standards, the most spectacular fortress in North America.
11:03Angled bastions, very defensible, and it sits astride this very, very strategic water corridor.
11:15July 2nd, 1777.
11:20General Burgoyne's force of 8,000 descends upon Fort Ticonderoga.
11:26The undermanned Americans are at a mighty disadvantage.
11:30Just 2,500 Continentals guard the fort.
11:50Skirmishes break out around the stronghold as British soldiers snipe at the Americans.
12:06But taking the fort will require a strategic advantage.
12:12Fort Ticonderoga sits on a peninsula, surrounded by three mountains.
12:16But the lean American forces can only defend two of them.
12:21The steepest and most formidable, the aptly named Mount Defiance, is left unprotected.
12:28But from its ridge, artillery has an easy shot into the fort.
12:34It is the weak spot that Burgoyne will exploit.
12:39July 5th.
12:41Burgoyne dispatches a unit to the west side of Mount Defiance.
12:45Their mission?
12:46To drag their cannon to the top.
12:49It is a treacherous climb, but out of sight of the Americans.
12:55By noon, they crest the ridge, and position themselves for a clear shot into the fort.
13:00With one move, Burgoyne puts the Americans in an indefensible position.
13:05And without firing their cannon once, leave the outmaneuvered Americans no choice but to retreat.
13:13It is an easy win for Burgoyne, and bolsters his belief that the campaign to take the Hudson River will
13:20be a simple one.
13:26News of the fall of Fort Ticonderoga reaches Paris, where Benjamin Franklin has been closely monitoring the war.
13:34He is constantly waiting for his bail.
13:36I mean, none of our impatience for our mail could possibly equal what Franklin must have felt at that point.
13:41The ignorance is crippling.
13:43But sometimes, ignorance is bliss.
13:46That the undermanned American army has been forced to retreat in the face of an attack is the last thing
13:51Franklin wants to hear.
13:54On top of that, he has made little progress with King Louis XVI.
13:58Franklin is, after all, the representative of rebels.
14:03He is fraught with frustration.
14:05There is nothing better to do here than drink.
14:08How can we fool ourselves that France might understand America better than Britain?
14:12How can we fool ourselves that a monarchy will help Republicans revolt against their monarch?
14:18Benjamin Franklin.
14:21The fall of Fort Ticonderoga hits General Washington's desk with a thud.
14:26His soldiers lost it without so much as a fight.
14:30And now the British army is on the move.
14:337,000 soldiers are heading down the Hudson.
14:36The rest are stationed in New York City.
14:39Washington flounders and begins moving his troops up and down the river,
14:44hedging his bet against where the Redcoats might attack next.
14:48General Washington may be conflicted.
14:54But so too are the British.
14:59Their commander, William Howe, has gathered up his 13,000 troops and set sail from New York City.
15:06Destination unknown.
15:11Howe is torn.
15:12He is expected to move up the Hudson to aid Burgoyne.
15:16But he can't escape his own designs.
15:19A fixation on conquering Philadelphia, the rebel capital.
15:24His decision, when it comes, will change the course of the war.
15:33The mighty Fort Ticonderoga, the gateway to the Hudson River Valley,
15:38has fallen to the British without so much as a shot fired.
15:42It is another defeat for the undermanned Continental Army,
15:44and is an ominous start to the summer of 1777.
15:51Across the ocean in France, Benjamin Franklin's waiting game continues.
15:57Franklin is biding his time, looking for news from America.
16:02Some victory that would open the gates to Versailles,
16:05would convince the French to join the war.
16:08But he keeps his intentions to himself.
16:11It is a secrecy that breeds intrigue.
16:15For the first year that he's there, there's a real question.
16:18Is he here, because he's running away from the American Revolution,
16:20is he here to undermine it, or is he here to underwrite it?
16:24Desperate to find out more, both France and England surround Franklin with spies.
16:29It turns out, in retrospect, that his own secretary was a spy,
16:32and that anything that crossed Franklin's desk was sent back within the week,
16:37via a little bottle sunk beneath a tree in the Tuileries to the British government,
16:40and those dispatches arrived regularly, 72 hours later.
16:45Because of the espionage, Franklin realized the only way he could keep a secret
16:48was to keep it to himself.
16:50And he's very, very closed-mouthed, and plays his cards very close to the chess.
16:55Franklin's silence is a calculated diplomatic strategy, akin to his favorite game, chess.
17:03Life is a kind of chess in which we have points to gain and competitors to contend with.
17:09By playing a chess, we learn not to make our moves too hastily, Benjamin Franklin.
17:15Franklin follows his own advice too well for some.
17:20But he knows the time will come when he finally gets to play his next move.
17:27Back across the ocean in America, British General Howe remains adrift off the coast of New York City.
17:3613,000 soldiers on 260 ships still don't know where they are headed.
17:43John Burgoyne's plan calls for General Howe to head up the Hudson.
17:48Yet Howe is intent on Philadelphia.
17:51Revenge for his embarrassing losses at Trenton and Princeton.
17:55Howe is obsessed with holding Philadelphia, sustaining Philadelphia,
17:59situated almost exactly in the center of the 13 colonies geographically.
18:04Because it's the political capital.
18:07It's where the Continental Congress resides.
18:11It's an important strategic center too, both commercially as well as politically.
18:17Howe makes his decision.
18:19He will abandon Burgoyne, his northern army, and the Hudson campaign.
18:26He will invade Philadelphia.
18:31In one move, he changes the course of the war.
18:43August 22nd, 1777.
18:46Hartsville, Pennsylvania.
18:49American scouts bring word to Washington that Howe's fleet has entered the Chesapeake Bay.
18:54Their target is now clear.
18:56They are headed for the rebel capital.
19:01Washington immediately sets his army in motion, marching south through Philadelphia.
19:08Three days later, the British land at Elk Point, Maryland, and begin their northward march.
19:14The two armies are now on a collision course.
19:19September 11th, 1777.
19:22Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.
19:24Washington positions his forces along the banks of a tributary called Brandywine Creek.
19:30It is here that he will make his stand against the advancing British.
19:36Brandywine Creek is the perfect place for a defense.
19:39There are only a few crossings along this stretch where troops can be transported from bank to bank.
19:44And Washington has them covered.
19:48By 7 a.m., the British reach the banks directly across the river from the main force of the Americans.
19:54Musket and artillery fire erupt between the two armies.
19:5825,000 soldiers will clash on this day.
20:01The battle, intense and bloody.
20:06In the thick of the fighting, the Continental Army makes an alarming discovery.
20:11Fire!
20:11The weapons sent secretly by France months earlier have only now arrived, and many of them aren't working.
20:20Some of the muskets are fitted with the wrong cartridges.
20:23Others have shot of the wrong size.
20:25It renders them unusable.
20:31On the opposing side, the British are trying out a new and improved rifle.
20:36Captain Patrick Ferguson, a skilled marksman, is the inventor.
20:40The new weapon is lighter, has a longer range, and in Ferguson's expert hands, is deadly accurate.
20:48During the fighting, the captain gets a high-ranking officer in his sights.
20:52But killing involves more than aim.
20:54On the 18th century field of battle, there is also the matter of honor.
20:59The American Revolution occurs during what some of historians term the age of limited warfare.
21:04These professional military officers, who deem themselves professionals,
21:08did not think that it was gentlemanly nor honorable to intentionally lay low an enemy officer.
21:16It's an easy shot.
21:19But Ferguson passes it up.
21:22His decision possibly changes history.
21:25The man at the end of his barrel was, evidence suggests, George Washington himself.
21:35Four o'clock strikes on the field at Brandywine.
21:38The Continental Army has successfully held off the British advances for eight hours.
21:43But all of that is about to change.
21:46What Washington doesn't know is that his main force has only been engaging half of Howe's army.
21:53The other half has been sent on a day-long march to the west,
21:57around the American defenses,
21:59and is now headed for a surprise attack from behind.
22:04It is the same tactic the British used at the Battle of Long Island.
22:08And once again, Washington is surprised by the maneuver.
22:13Having outflanked the Americans, the battle quickly becomes a rout.
22:22One thousand American soldiers are wounded or killed.
22:26Washington is forced to retreat north,
22:29giving up the fight,
22:30and giving up Philadelphia.
22:38Six weeks later, the news reaches America's emissary to France,
22:42Benjamin Franklin.
22:44His hometown, the rebel capital, Philadelphia,
22:47has fallen to the British.
22:50In response, the sage statesman makes an unlikely quip.
22:56Instead of Howe taking Philadelphia,
22:58Philadelphia has taken Howe.
23:02This is not only spin of the finest kind,
23:05from a man who, remember, made his name writing hoaxes
23:08and dispensing misinformation in his own papers.
23:11He knows his job, and his job is essentially
23:14to make it appear to the Europeans,
23:16and particularly to the French,
23:18that the American cause is a viable one,
23:20and, moreover, that the Americans can win this contest.
23:23Those are all of them, at that point, fictions.
23:27Franklin, as shrewd in his diplomacy as he is in his chess,
23:30will have to wait yet again.
23:33The unanswered question is whether the French
23:36will support America in its next move.
23:40Mr. Franklin, in France, we do not take King's soul.
23:46Madame de Bourbon, French Duchess.
23:48Ah, madame, we do in America.
23:57Back in the colonies, America's northern army
24:00is getting ready for a battle that will turn the tide of the war.
24:09September 11th, 1777.
24:12Washington's army takes on the British at Brandywine Creek.
24:1625,000 soldiers clash,
24:19but the Americans are outflanked by their enemy.
24:22It is another rout for the British,
24:24as the rebel capital, Philadelphia, falls into enemy hands.
24:28But British General Howe's decision to take Philadelphia
24:31has meant abandoning his northern army.
24:41With no knowledge of Howe's choice,
24:44General John Burgoyne, leader of Britain's northern army,
24:47continues his campaign to take the Hudson.
24:50And the gentleman general makes sure he travels in style.
24:55Thirty carts of food, clothing, and liquor
24:58take the edge off a campaign
25:00through the rugged terrain of upstate New York.
25:03Tonight, he is confident and in good cheer.
25:08Burgoyne has enlisted help in his campaign,
25:10a secret weapon that he believes will give him the upper hand.
25:15Five hundred Native Americans from the League of the Iroquois
25:19have joined Burgoyne's army.
25:20They will serve as guides to the British,
25:23helping them navigate the northern frontier.
25:26The Indians were not really interested
25:28in theories of monarchy versus democracy.
25:33The Indians were playing it according to
25:35how is this going to play for us?
25:38Which side is going to be most likely
25:41to grant us our sovereignty?
25:45Who is our greatest friend?
25:47And conversely, who is our biggest threat?
25:51Each Indian nation has to make a choice.
25:56Virtually none are able to remain neutral.
26:00Most, overwhelmingly, they side with the British.
26:06For the Native Americans, it is a marriage of convenience.
26:10A British victory is their best hope
26:12for protecting their lands
26:13against the westward-pushing American colonists.
26:17Burgoyne partakes in the ancient practice
26:19of sharing a peace pipe,
26:20but he wants the Indians to attack the Americans
26:23without mercy
26:25and wastes no time broadcasting his objective,
26:29issuing a proclamation to the inhabitants of New England,
26:32a warning to all who stand in his way.
26:37I have but give stretch to the Indian forces
26:40under my direction,
26:41and they amount to thousands
26:43to overtake the hardened enemies of Great Britain
26:46wherever they may lurk.
26:48The messengers of justice and of wrath await them.
26:53General John Burgoyne.
26:55Burgoyne's proclamation is a fateful decision.
27:00July 27th, 1777, western Vermont.
27:05Two Braves capture a woman by the name of Jane McRae.
27:09There is a struggle, a fight, a shot is fired.
27:13Jane McRae dies, but it is unclear who killed her.
27:17There are varying versions of this story,
27:19and some contend that, in fact,
27:21she was killed by militiamen firing on the Indians
27:25in an attempt to rescue her.
27:26However she actually met her fate,
27:28this is one of those sort of events
27:30that's prone to being manipulated for propaganda purposes.
27:34The story spreads through the colonies
27:36with lightning speed
27:37and becomes fodder for brutal anti-Indian propaganda
27:40of the highest order.
27:43It is written that bloodthirsty Indians
27:45have killed a white woman,
27:46and Burgoyne is held accountable.
27:51Back in the British camp,
27:52the scalp of Jane McRae
27:54is presented to Burgoyne,
27:55who receives it with disgust,
27:57even though he is the one who ordered the raids.
28:01The savages,
28:02having scalped a young lady,
28:04their prisoner,
28:06fills me with horror.
28:07I would rather put my commission in the fire
28:10than serve a day
28:10if I could suppose government would blame me
28:13for such strong acts,
28:14such unheard barbarities.
28:18But Burgoyne's reaction is too little,
28:21too late.
28:22The killing of McRae
28:23becomes a call to arms.
28:28Militia grab their muskets
28:30and head to the Hudson Valley
28:32and begin to pour into continental camps.
28:36For General Horatio Gates,
28:38who arrived on Washington's orders in August
28:40to take over as leader of America's Northern Army,
28:43it is the boost he has been waiting for.
28:46Gates is a proud,
28:48albeit disheveled, man
28:49who comes from a clouded past.
28:51Born in Britain to a servant mother,
28:53he is rumored to be a bastard son.
28:56America has given him an escape
28:58from the rigid class structure of Europe.
29:00War, a chance to gain glory
29:02against his former home.
29:04But he harbors even greater ambitions.
29:08Horatio Gates wanted to be
29:10commander-in-chief of the American army.
29:11And it goes much beyond that.
29:15Whoever was the victorious leader
29:17of the revolutionaries
29:19would emerge as the leader of a new nation.
29:22There had to be a new ruler.
29:25Some new kind of ruler.
29:27No one had decided what yet.
29:30I think he might have been that ambitious
29:31and that foolish.
29:33Gates adds fuel to the furor
29:35over the killing of Jane McRae,
29:37writing an open letter
29:38directly to his adversary.
29:40That the famous Lieutenant General Burgoyne
29:43should hire the savages of America
29:45to scalp Europeans
29:46and the descendants of Europeans
29:48is more than will be believed in Europe.
29:51They are harsh words to an old friend.
29:55Gates knows his rival, John Burgoyne, well.
29:58In the Seven Years' War,
29:59they were comrades in arms,
30:01registered one after the other
30:02in the British military ledger
30:04as gentlemen to be lieutenant.
30:07Now Gates sees his chance for glory.
30:10In beating his old country
30:12and Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne,
30:13he will prove himself to Congress,
30:15which, to him,
30:16still doesn't recognize his worth.
30:20Gates orders his army
30:21to a position where he knows
30:23the British will have to pass,
30:25just south of a region of New York
30:27called Saratoga.
30:31Gentleman Johnny Burgoyne
30:32continues his southward march,
30:33but there is no sign of reinforcements.
30:38Burgoyne has made a fateful decision
30:40to press forward
30:41rather than wait for news from Howe.
30:44Clues as to what lies ahead
30:46are all around him.
30:54A royal patrol scouting close to Saratoga
30:57comes across a note pinned to a tree.
31:01Burgoyne had posted his proclamation.
31:03Now the rebels have issued one of their own.
31:07Thus far shalt thou go,
31:10and no further.
31:12September 19th, 1777.
31:15With numbers swelled by anti-Burgoyne sentiment,
31:19the rebel army is ready for a fight.
31:21Horatio Gates sees an opportunity
31:23to test the British
31:24just south of Saratoga
31:25on a piece of land
31:26called Freeman's Farm.
31:29Gates has a surprise for his enemy,
31:31an elite force sent by Washington himself,
31:35Daniel Morgan's rifleman.
31:37Morgan, a Virginia officer,
31:39fought in the Seven Years' War,
31:41witnessing firsthand
31:42the fighting style of the Native Americans.
31:45Inspired by what he saw,
31:47he has created guerrilla tactics
31:48that are new to the battlefields
31:50of the 18th century.
31:51Rather than attack in columns head-on,
31:54Morgan's men fire from cover.
31:58Noon.
32:00After a tough morning march
32:02through heavily thicketed woods,
32:03a forward picket of Burgoyne's army
32:05finally reaches a clearing.
32:08A moment to rest, they think.
32:14But Morgan's men are waiting.
32:17Fire rains down with deadly accuracy.
32:21All but one British officer
32:22is killed or wounded
32:23in the first assault.
32:26The ambush is followed
32:27by bloody skirmishes,
32:29the battle swinging back and forth
32:30through the afternoon.
32:33Until finally, at four o'clock,
32:35having inflicted their damage,
32:37the Americans fall back.
32:39The British suffer 600 casualties
32:41to the American marksmen
32:43and come to understand
32:44that these rebels
32:45may not give up so easily.
32:50In the American camp,
32:52militia keep pouring in.
32:54The army swells
32:56to more than 10,000.
32:57Victory against the 5,000 British soldiers
33:00now seems possible.
33:02Horatio Gates can feel it.
33:05So, too, can another general
33:07who wants to capture
33:08some glory for himself,
33:10Benedict Arnold.
33:12But before the two generals
33:13take on Burgoyne,
33:15they will find themselves
33:16in a battle against each other,
33:18each vying for credit
33:19in a campaign
33:20that will change
33:21the course of the war.
33:25The battle at Freeman's Farm,
33:27just outside of Saratoga, New York,
33:29has stopped British General
33:30John Burgoyne's southward march
33:32in its tracks
33:34and given confidence
33:35to Horatio Gates' troops,
33:37whose numbers continue to swell.
33:40That confidence is shared
33:42by another bold American general
33:44who sees his chance for glory.
33:47Benedict Arnold.
33:50Arnold comes from
33:51a prominent Connecticut family,
33:53that fell on hard times.
33:55His alcoholic father
33:56squandered away
33:57the family's fortune.
33:59But Arnold would not yield
34:01to his lowly circumstances,
34:03achieving great wealth
34:04and success in business
34:05through sheer will.
34:09He has been in the war
34:10since the outset
34:11and has always made an impression.
34:14He was spit and polish
34:17when he sat on a fine horse.
34:19He was literally
34:21a commanding figure,
34:22men looked up to him.
34:24It was Arnold
34:25who helped snatch
34:26Fort Ticonderoga
34:27from the British
34:28two years earlier.
34:29But the credit for the victory
34:31went to the hard-drinking
34:32frontiersman,
34:33Ethan Allen.
34:34It is a slight
34:35that Arnold
34:36has not forgotten.
34:39but this campaign
34:40offers him a chance
34:41at redemption
34:42to get the credit
34:43he feels he deserves.
34:52Meanwhile,
34:53around Saratoga, New York,
34:54the two armies wait
34:55just miles away
34:57from each other.
35:02They wait,
35:03as soldiers do,
35:04for their next order.
35:24In the American camp,
35:26Gates and Arnold
35:27talk strategy
35:28over a meal of ox heart.
35:32their army
35:33has swelled
35:34to twice the size
35:35of Burgoyne's.
35:37The question is
35:38what to do next.
35:41And the two generals
35:42have two different ideas.
35:46Arnold,
35:47ever on the offensive,
35:48proposes an aggressive act,
35:49an attack on Burgoyne.
35:52Gates, however,
35:53is characteristically circumspect.
35:56Let Burgoyne come to them.
36:00The conversation
36:01turns heated,
36:02tempers flare.
36:04Horatio Gates
36:05couldn't stand
36:06Benedict Arnold,
36:07considered him
36:07an upstart,
36:08an arrogant upstart.
36:10And Benedict Arnold,
36:12like many of the
36:13revolutionary soldiers,
36:15called Gates
36:16Granny Gates,
36:17a fussy old woman.
36:21But the headstrong Arnold
36:22takes his argument
36:23one step too far.
36:27Gates in no uncertain terms
36:29reminds Arnold
36:30that it is he
36:30who is the ranking officer.
36:35And Gates
36:37banished
36:37his best general
36:38from the dinner table.
36:41Insulted him.
36:42Wouldn't let him
36:42come to meetings.
36:43Told him to basically
36:44stay in your quarters,
36:46which were a little hot
36:47on the edge
36:48of the battlefield.
36:52And
36:53Benedict Arnold
36:54fumed
36:55as a result
36:56of that dinner
36:57and decided
36:58that he would have
36:59to defy
37:00the orders
37:00of his commanding officer
37:02because he believed
37:03the Americans
37:03were going to be beaten
37:04if it were up
37:05to Granny Gates.
37:18In the British camp,
37:20General John Burgoyne
37:21is filled with frustration.
37:24News has finally arrived
37:25from Howe.
37:26There will be no reinforcements
37:28coming from the south.
37:30But gentleman
37:31Johnny Burgoyne
37:32refuses to retreat.
37:35Burgoyne is exceptionally ambitious.
37:37He is definitely
37:38a glory hunter.
37:39But his greatest failing
37:40was that,
37:41like many officers
37:42of his time,
37:44he placed a premium
37:45on individual
37:46martial glory.
37:48He wanted to gain fame
37:49for himself.
37:50Saratoga should have
37:50never happened.
37:51Johnny Burgoyne's pride,
37:53his hubris,
37:54is what precipitated
37:56the disaster
37:57at Saratoga.
37:59With his supplies dwindling,
38:01Burgoyne decides
38:02to make one last push.
38:05An assault on the Americans
38:07just to the south
38:08of Saratoga
38:08on a rise of land
38:09called Bemis Heights.
38:13October 7, 1777.
38:17Burgoyne sends
38:18a reconnaissance force
38:19of 1,500
38:20towards the American lines.
38:23Gates sets 2,400
38:25of his men
38:26out to meet the British.
38:31It is the final engagement
38:33of the Battle of Saratoga.
38:36On the field,
38:38Benedict Arnold,
38:39in defiance
38:39of Gates' orders,
38:40leads the charge
38:42against the Royals.
38:43Arnold employed snipers.
38:46He got riflemen,
38:47highly accurate,
38:48put them up in trees
38:49like snipers,
38:50not down in red uniforms
38:52with white stripes
38:53that you could sight.
38:56Arnold fought
38:57like an Indian
38:58from cover
38:59with camouflage,
39:02surprise attacks.
39:03It was a new kind
39:05of warfare
39:05and the British
39:05didn't adapt to it.
39:10Through the smoke
39:11of battle,
39:12Arnold spots
39:13an opportunity
39:13he can't ignore.
39:18British General
39:19Simon Fraser seems
39:20to be single-handedly
39:21rallying the troops.
39:24Arnold makes
39:25a snap decision
39:26that changes
39:27the course of the fight.
39:28He orders his men
39:29to target
39:30the British officer.
39:33One month earlier,
39:35George Washington
39:35may have been spared
39:37assassination
39:37at the Battle of Brandywine,
39:39but at Saratoga,
39:40British officers
39:41are offered
39:42no such favor.
39:45It takes three shots,
39:47three shots
39:48that take down
39:49his adversary.
39:52With Fraser removed
39:54from the battle,
39:54the life seems
39:55to disappear
39:56from the British soldiers
39:57who begin to retreat
39:58under the pressure
39:59of Arnold's advance,
40:01but not before
40:02taking a well-placed
40:03shot of their own.
40:05Benedict Arnold
40:06takes a bullet
40:07to the leg
40:08and barely survives
40:09being crushed
40:10by his horse.
40:11When the battle
40:12was over,
40:14his second-in-command
40:16said,
40:16Sir,
40:17where are you hit?
40:19And Arnold said,
40:20It's my leg.
40:21I wish it had been
40:22my heart.
40:23And I do, too.
40:24I wish it had been
40:25his heart,
40:26because if he had died
40:27at that moment,
40:27he would have been
40:28the great hero
40:28of the Revolution.
40:31With Arnold's leadership,
40:32the British attack
40:33is repelled
40:34and the campaign
40:35to take the Hudson
40:35comes to an end.
40:37Yet it is Horatio Gates
40:40who will take the credit
40:41for the victory.
40:42Gates doesn't mention
40:44Arnold in his dispatches
40:45and garners
40:46all the glory
40:47for himself.
40:48The people
40:49and the press
40:50hail Gates
40:51as the new
40:52American hero.
40:54In fact,
40:55the hero of the battle
40:56was Benedict Arnold.
41:02October 17, 1777,
41:06noon.
41:09Two generals meet each other
41:11on a field of surrender.
41:14After a seven-month campaign
41:15down the Hudson,
41:17General John Burgoyne
41:18comes face-to-face
41:19with his old colleague,
41:20Continental General,
41:22Horatio Gates.
41:25Burgoyne's ill-fated journey
41:26ends here
41:27with the surrender
41:28of 6,000
41:29of his soldiers,
41:31the largest capture
41:32of British forces
41:33in the entire war.
41:37Burgoyne will return home
41:38a prisoner of war,
41:41losing not only
41:42his year-old wager,
41:43but his military career.
41:50General William Howe,
41:52who delivered Philadelphia
41:53to the British
41:54with the best of intentions,
41:55has had enough.
41:57No one in Britain
41:58is celebrating
41:59the capture of Philadelphia.
42:01Instead,
42:02they blame Howe
42:03for not coming
42:03to Burgoyne's aid.
42:06Just five days
42:07after the surrender
42:08at Saratoga,
42:09Howe prepares
42:10his resignation
42:11to return home,
42:13leaving behind
42:14the rebels
42:15and the war
42:16that should have
42:17ended long ago.
42:22Across the Atlantic,
42:24America's envoy
42:25to France,
42:25Benjamin Franklin,
42:26receives the news.
42:28The victory
42:29at Saratoga
42:30has changed the war
42:31and changed
42:33the world.
42:35I don't think
42:35anyone was surprised
42:37by the news
42:37of Saratoga
42:38as Franklin.
42:39There had been
42:39nothing but bad news
42:40from the colonies.
42:41It's fair to say,
42:42certainly,
42:43that he is waiting
42:44for something
42:45like this.
42:46Saratoga is certainly
42:47the thing
42:47which finally
42:49puts him in a position
42:50to be able to sign
42:50the deal
42:51with the French.
42:52Benjamin Franklin
42:53has played
42:54his game perfectly.
42:55Now,
42:56the next move
42:57is his.
42:58He dons his old
43:00blue velvet suit,
43:01the same one
43:02he wore three years ago
43:03on the fateful day
43:04the British Ministry
43:05all but accused him
43:06of treason.
43:08He wears it again,
43:09at last,
43:10to Versailles,
43:11and a meeting
43:12with the French
43:13leadership.
43:17The news of victory
43:19at Saratoga
43:19is exactly
43:20what France's
43:21King Louis XVI
43:22wants to hear.
43:24He pledges his army
43:26and, more importantly,
43:27his navy
43:28to the American cause.
43:29It amounts
43:30to a declaration
43:31of war
43:32between France
43:33and England.
43:35The American Revolution,
43:37which started
43:38as a far-off
43:38colonial uprising,
43:40is now
43:41a world war.
43:47They might be
43:48celebrating in Paris,
43:50but as the winter
43:51of 1777
43:53takes hold,
43:54General Washington
43:55has less
43:55to be joyous about.
43:58Horatio Gates'
43:59anointment
43:59as the hero
44:00of Saratoga
44:01again raises questions
44:02over who should be
44:03in charge
44:04of this army.
44:05Philadelphia,
44:06New York,
44:07and large parts
44:07of the colonies
44:08remain in British hands.
44:12Washington must turn
44:13his army
44:13and his leadership
44:14around,
44:16for the biggest battles
44:18still lie ahead.
44:20Next time
44:21on The Revolution,
44:23a mysterious Prussian
44:24will arrive
44:25at Valley Forge
44:26to train
44:26the only army
44:27that will have him,
44:28Washington's
44:29battered continentals.
44:30Baron von Steuben's
44:31genius
44:32was the ability
44:33to distill
44:34state-of-the-art
44:35European drill tactics
44:36to this raw material
44:38that was
44:38the American soldier.
44:39That army
44:40and its commander
44:41are now convinced
44:42that they can beat
44:43any army
44:44on the face of the earth,
44:45and they are eager
44:46for the fight.
44:46And that fight
44:47comes on
44:48one of the hottest
44:48days of the war.
44:49And that fight
45:18is not very
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