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00:01Previously on The Revolution
00:04Attempts to tax the American colonies
00:06Set off violent uprisings
00:09The spirit is
00:11There's a strategy at work here
00:13To gradually erode American liberties
00:15If you let them do this
00:17What will they try to do next?
00:203,000 miles away
00:21Benjamin Franklin was the toast of London
00:24He's absolutely in his element
00:26He raised his own as the happiest years of his life
00:28That is, until he was brought before the king's council
00:32To answer for his country's sins
00:34Franklin stands
00:36Stock still in this humiliating moment
00:38Many people have dated that
00:40As the moment at which Franklin becomes a revolutionary
01:00Spring 1775
01:03Bloodshed at Lexington and Concord
01:05Has inflamed the colonies
01:10The Continental Congress
01:12Rushes back to Philadelphia
01:13To take up the growing conflict
01:15As militia units
01:16From all over New England
01:18Pour into Massachusetts
01:19To back up their neighbors
01:24And the militias are certain
01:26That they can defeat the British Army
01:28Because they have this revolutionary fire and spirit
01:30And they argue that
01:32One man with that sort of spirit
01:34Is worth a hundred British regulars
01:36One such man who comes to Massachusetts
01:39Is a fearless officer from Connecticut
01:42His name?
01:43Benedict Arnold
01:45A man intent on doing great things
01:47In the coming war
01:49Arnold has a bold military plan
01:52For the Patriot cause
01:53When Benedict Arnold marched into
01:55The New England camp
01:57Outside Boston
01:58Right after Lexington and Concord
01:59He was spit and polish
02:02And he made such a physical impression
02:04When he sat on a fine horse
02:06He was literally a commanding figure
02:08Men looked up to him
02:10Arnold has come by his regal bearing
02:13The hard way
02:14Born into a life of privilege
02:16His alcoholic father squandered
02:18The family's fortune
02:19A traumatic turnabout
02:21That forced Benedict at 13
02:23To apprentice with an apothecary
02:27At 15 he ran away
02:29To fight with the Connecticut militia
02:30In the French and Indian War
02:33After the war
02:34He overcame his lowly circumstances
02:36To achieve wealth and success in business
02:40But the angry resentful youth
02:42Has grown into a bitter and arrogant man
02:44Whose contempt for British rule
02:46Has made him a militant patriot
02:50Arnold convinces the Massachusetts
02:52Provincial Congress
02:53To send him on a mission
02:54That will grab personal glory
02:56For himself
02:57And desperately needed ammunition
02:59For the rebels
03:00To capture the guns
03:01At Fort Ticonderoga
03:03The massive but loosely guarded
03:05British garrison
03:06In the upper reaches of New York
03:11Fort Ticonderoga
03:12People referred to it
03:13As the Gibraltar of North America
03:15It was by all standards
03:18The most spectacular fortress
03:20In North America
03:26As Arnold sets out on his quest
03:28To capture the fort
03:29He hears that another
03:31Soon to be famous name
03:32Is driven by the same idea
03:38Ethan Allen
03:39A hard drinking
03:40Hard living frontiersman
03:42From Connecticut
03:43Couldn't be more different
03:44From Benedict Arnold
03:47Allen has been engaged
03:49By Connecticut's Congress
03:50To rally his personal militia
03:52For its own mission
03:53To Fort Ticonderoga
03:54These are the notorious
03:56Green Mountain Boys
03:57Who have been fighting
03:59Their own war of independence
04:00Against New York settlers
04:03Ethan Allen
04:05Their colonel commandant
04:07Organized about 2,000
04:09Armed frontiersmen
04:12In what is now Vermont
04:14Who for five years
04:16Had been fighting New Yorkers
04:19To keep them out of their farms
04:22Out of their new territory
04:23And they were willing to fight
04:25For their land
04:26And they could move very quickly
04:30The Green Mountain Boys
04:31Jump at the opportunity
04:33To take on the British
04:34Taking separate paths
04:36Allen and Arnold
04:37Each with his own orders
04:38Head towards Fort Ticonderoga
04:40Arnold is alone
04:42Expecting to recruit men
04:44Along the way
04:46Allen and his men
04:48Are already preparing the attack
04:49Their paths cross
04:5130 miles from their target
05:00Arnold presents Allen
05:02With his Massachusetts orders
05:03And assumes he will
05:04Command the operation
05:07Allen, full of swagger
05:09As always
05:10All but laughs
05:11In Arnold's face
05:13These really are
05:15Very vain
05:16Egotistical men
05:18Two strong personalities
05:20Very much interested
05:22In the accumulation
05:23Of individual glory
05:24The Green Mountain Boys
05:26Were personally loyal
05:27To Allen
05:27Which Benedict Arnold
05:29Found out to his chagrin
05:31When he arrived
05:32And tried to take over
05:33The attack on Ticonderoga
05:34And they put down
05:36Their guns
05:36And they said
05:37They were going to march home
05:38That they would only fight
05:39For Ethan Allen
05:44Arnold grudgingly agrees
05:45To conduct the raid
05:46With these men
05:47But finds himself
05:48Relegated to second in command
05:50It is a humiliating confrontation
05:56In the pre-dawn hours
05:58Of May 10th
05:5883 Green Mountain boys
06:00And 50 Massachusetts militiamen
06:02Sneak up on the British stronghold
06:06The 50 sleeping redcoats inside
06:09Have gone undisturbed
06:11In the wilderness
06:11For so long
06:12They are totally unprepared
06:15For what's about to hit them
06:22It's over in minutes
06:24The British soldiers
06:25Surrender without a fight
06:26The fort's valuable artillery stores
06:29Now belong to the rebels
06:33They essentially stole the fort
06:35From the British
06:36They were able to essentially
06:37Walk in
06:38In a manner of speaking
06:40The British really left the keys
06:42In the door
06:42To Fort Ticonderoga
06:46What happens next
06:47Turns Arnold's stomach
06:50Allen's men find 90 gallons of rum
06:52Go on a three day binge
06:54And tear the place apart
06:55Leaving Arnold to mop up after them
06:59But the worst insult
07:00Comes when Allen writes
07:01To Arnold's superiors
07:03In the Massachusetts Congress
07:05Allen brazenly takes
07:06Complete credit for the operation
07:08He keeps all the glory
07:10For himself
07:11And purposely makes no mention
07:12Of his rival
07:13Benedict Arnold
07:16For Arnold
07:17It's a wound
07:18More devastating
07:19Than being shot
07:21For an officer's honor
07:23Public recognition
07:24Was key
07:25If you'd played
07:26An important role
07:27And you weren't mentioned
07:29That was very disrespectful
07:31So Arnold was
07:34Justifiably offended
07:36The affront to his honor
07:38Is the first of many slights
07:40That will dog
07:40Benedict Arnold
07:41Throughout the war
07:42And ultimately
07:43Drive him to infamy
07:48In Philadelphia
07:49The men of Continental Congress
07:51Reconvene in the
07:52Pennsylvania State House
07:53Which will later be named
07:55Independence Hall
07:57They greet the capture
07:58Of Fort Ticonderoga
07:59With decidedly mixed feelings
08:03Still hoping for peace
08:04They have refrained
08:06Up till now
08:06From authorizing
08:07Offensive actions
08:08Against the British
08:10The capture of
08:12Fort Ticonderoga
08:12Catches the Continental Congress
08:14Largely off guard
08:15They had not
08:16Anticipated this
08:17They did not
08:18Desire this
08:19And it now
08:19Has forced their hand
08:21They know
08:21That a military response
08:23Is inevitable
08:23And they now
08:24Must scramble
08:25To take action
08:27The time has come
08:29For the 13 colonies
08:30To become a united military
08:32As well as political force
08:34It issues currency
08:36Against future tax collections
08:38From the colonies
08:39To raise and supply
08:40An army
08:42Their mission now
08:43Is to conduct a war
08:44Even while searching
08:46For a way to avoid it
08:47We ought immediately
08:49To adopt the army
08:50As a Continental army
08:51Take upon ourselves
08:53The pay
08:53Subsistence
08:55Clothing
08:55Armor
08:56And munitions
08:57Of the troops
08:58John Adams
09:00Adams urges
09:01The immediate appointment
09:02Of a commander
09:03To head up
09:04This new army
09:04His Massachusetts colleague
09:06John Hancock
09:07A vain, ambitious man
09:09Who has just been
09:10Elected President of Congress
09:12Assumes he will be offered
09:13This even more important role
09:15His friend Adams
09:17Is about to nominate him
09:18Or so he thinks
09:19And that is a gentleman
09:21Among us
09:22And very well known
09:24To all of us
09:24A gentleman
09:26Whose skill and experience
09:27As an officer
09:28Whose independent fortune
09:30Great talents
09:31And excellent universal character
09:33Would command the approbation
09:35Of all the colonies
09:36Better than any other person
09:38In the Union
09:39That
09:40Is the gentleman from
09:41Virginia
09:44Hancock is stunned
09:45Adams passes him over
09:48For a gentleman planter
09:49From Virginia
09:50George Washington
09:53The Continental Congress
09:54Wanted a national army
09:56Not just a Massachusetts army
09:58Or a New England army
09:59They thought that by getting
10:01A commander in chief
10:02From a different colony
10:03Would balance that
10:06So they cast a welcome eye
10:07On Washington from Virginia
10:11At 6 feet 2 inches
10:13And 215 pounds
10:15George Washington
10:15Cuts an imposing figure
10:17Prior to his nomination
10:19He spoke very little
10:20In session
10:21Yet spoke volumes
10:23About his intentions
10:24By showing up every day
10:26Dressed in a military uniform
10:29Here's a very impressive guy
10:31He wears this military uniform
10:33With great dignity
10:34And of course he shows up
10:36Making the point
10:37I have military experience
10:41I am a person
10:42Who you can count on
10:44As your military commander
10:47So he has the image to do it
10:49He's got the experience
10:50He's from Virginia
10:52They make him the commander in chief
10:53And he modestly says
10:55I'm really not equal to the task
10:57And I'll just do my best
10:58But lest some unlucky event
11:00Should happen
11:01Unfavorable to my reputation
11:03I beg it may be remembered
11:05By every gentleman in the room
11:07That I this day declare
11:09With the utmost sincerity
11:11I do not think myself equal
11:13To the command I am honored with
11:15George Washington
11:17His behavior seemed somewhat disingenuous
11:21Clearly he wanted it
11:23He was very ambitious
11:26He was particularly ambitious
11:28In military matters
11:29Early on he realizes that
11:31The best way to be ambitious
11:33Is to convince everyone else
11:35That you're not ambitious
11:37And he follows this
11:39Through his entire life
11:42Ambitious
11:44Disingenuous
11:45Modest
11:46Who is this man
11:48George Washington
11:49The man appointed to construct
11:51A new continental army
11:52In 1775
11:54In 1775
11:54He is hardly a household name
11:57He's one of the wealthiest men
11:59In the country
11:59He's in his mid-40s
12:01And really should be in retirement
12:02At that time
12:03Washington is someone
12:04Who has nothing to gain
12:06From participation in the revolution
12:07And everything to lose
12:11He wasn't born to wealth
12:13Washington's father
12:14Was a Virginia farmer
12:15Who died in 1743
12:17When George was only 11
12:18Young George's circumstances
12:20Were modest
12:21But his dreams
12:23Were big
12:28But he envisioned himself
12:30Dancing at the grand balls
12:31In the huge homes
12:33Of the rich
12:33He envisioned himself
12:35Being a great land owner
12:37And these were dreams
12:38That he pursued constantly
12:39All of his young adult life
12:43As a teenager
12:44He immerses himself
12:45In the teachings
12:45Of a book called
12:46The Rules of Civility
12:48And Decent Behavior
12:49Which instructs readers
12:50On proper manners
12:52Social behavior
12:53And temperament
12:54He commits them to memory
12:58In the presence of others
13:00Sing not to yourself
13:01With a humming noise
13:02Nor drum with your fingers
13:04Of feet
13:04Lift not one eyebrow
13:06Higher than the other
13:07And bed you no man's face
13:09With your spittle
13:10By approaching too near him
13:11When you speak
13:12George washington himself
13:14Was very anxious
13:16To have all the right moves
13:18He's as anxious
13:19As anyone
13:20As a teenager
13:21To get them right
13:23At 16
13:24With only an elementary
13:26School education
13:26He becomes a surveyor
13:28Where he learns
13:29How to navigate
13:30The wilderness
13:30Something that serves him
13:32Well when he is appointed
13:33To the rank of major
13:34In the virginia militia
13:37In 1754
13:38He leads a company of men
13:40Into a territorial skirmish
13:42With French soldiers
13:43Where someone in his regiment
13:44Perhaps Washington himself
13:46Kills a French diplomat
13:50Many believe
13:51His poor judgment
13:51Starts a chain of events
13:53That leads to the French
13:55And Indian War
13:58Despite his inauspicious start
14:01Washington persists
14:02And eventually proves himself
14:04To be an exemplary officer
14:08After the war
14:09Good fortune
14:10Boosts Washington's ambitions
14:15He marries a wealthy widow
14:16Named Martha Custis
14:18And inherits his half-brother's estate
14:20Mount Vernon
14:21Which he goes on
14:22To build into a plantation
14:24With more than a hundred slaves
14:27As part of the land of gentry
14:29He goes into Virginia politics
14:30Though he may feign unworthiness
14:33There is no one in 1775
14:36Better equipped
14:37To take on the job
14:38Of commander-in-chief
14:41Very importantly
14:42He had been a political figure
14:43For 16 years
14:44He'd been a state legislator
14:45So he was somebody
14:47Who knew how to work
14:47With politicians
14:48Could work with Congress
14:50And would not be a threat
14:52To Congress
14:54My dearest
14:56It has been determined
14:57In Congress
14:58That the whole army
15:00Raised for the defense
15:01Of the American cause
15:02Shall be put under my care
15:05Curiously
15:06Even when writing to Martha
15:07Of his appointment
15:08Washington is still pretending
15:10He doesn't want the job
15:12You may believe me
15:13When I assure you
15:14In the most solemn manner
15:16That so far from seeking
15:17This appointment
15:18I have used every endeavor
15:20In my power
15:20To avoid it
15:25What he can't avoid
15:27Is destiny
15:29He takes the job
15:31For no pay
15:31And prepares to leave
15:33For Boston
15:34To take on
15:34The strongest army
15:35In the world
15:36Not yet knowing
15:38That all hell
15:38Has already broken loose
15:40Up there
15:41In a place called
15:43Bunker Hill
15:57May 1775
15:58The rebels' capture
16:00Of Fort Ticonderoga
16:01Turns up the pressure
16:02On the already beleaguered
16:04British commander
16:04Thomas Gage
16:08Back in the French
16:09And Indian War
16:102,000 British soldiers
16:11Lost their lives
16:13Seizing Fort Ticonderoga
16:14And now
16:15Gage has lost it
16:17To the Americans
16:19In London
16:20King George
16:21Is furious
16:22That Gage's superior forces
16:23Have failed to control
16:25The colonists
16:25I am of the opinion
16:27That when once
16:28These rebels
16:29Have felt a smart blow
16:30They will submit
16:31And no situation
16:33Can change my fixed resolution
16:35Either to bring the colonies
16:36To a due obedience
16:37Or to cast them off
16:39King George III
16:42No more reasoning
16:43No more legislating
16:45No more legislating
16:45The colonies will come
16:46To their senses
16:47Or face a show of force
16:49Unlike any
16:50They have ever seen
16:51Gage is dismissed
16:53He is too weak
16:54Too tolerant
16:58To replace him
17:00The British command
17:01Sends its three best generals
17:03To bring the colonies to heel
17:05These are England's best and brightest military men
17:08Who become known as
17:10The Triumvirate of Reputation
17:15General Henry Clinton
17:17General Henry Clinton
17:17American born
17:18A competent soldier
17:20But socially inept
17:21A man referred to
17:23Even by himself as
17:24A shy bitch
17:28General John Burgoyne
17:30Vain and ambitious
17:31One popular English writer
17:34Gives him the nickname
17:34Julius Caesar Burgonius
17:39And General William Howe
17:42An experienced military man
17:44Who came to appreciate
17:45America's British colonials
17:47While fighting alongside them
17:49In the French and Indian War
17:50These three supporting generals
17:53Were brought in
17:54Essentially to supplant Gage
17:56And it became a kind of
17:58Personal contest
17:59Between these three men
18:01As to who would take Gage's position
18:03As commander in chief
18:04In America
18:06Howe is the odds-on favorite
18:08But an odd choice
18:10To take over the command
18:11In America
18:11A political liberal
18:13He opposes the king's policies
18:15In the colonies
18:15And had once vowed
18:17Not to fight against
18:18His English countrymen there
18:23General William Howe
18:24Was opposed to the war
18:26All they wanted
18:27Was the Americans
18:28To submit to British laws
18:29And British taxes
18:30They didn't want to go fight them
18:38Boston, June 16th
18:41In the months since
18:42Lexington and Concord
18:43Rebel militia
18:44In the hills around Boston
18:45Have laid siege to the city
18:48Trapping the British
18:48And their loyalists inside
18:52Now the British command
18:53Is planning to break
18:54The rebel stranglehold
18:55With an overwhelming offensive
18:57Up Bunker Hill
18:58To take the high ground
19:00Around Boston
19:03But the colonials
19:04Are a step ahead
19:05Of the British
19:06Spies have slipped
19:07The British plans
19:08To the rebels
19:09Up in the hills
19:10Regimental commanders
19:11From Connecticut
19:12And Massachusetts
19:13Lead their men
19:14To fortify Bunker Hill
19:16Then decide to move
19:18One hill closer to Boston
19:19On Breed's Hill
19:21There they dig in
19:22For a British attack
19:36Midnight, June 17th
19:38Twelve hundred militiamen
19:40Race the clock
19:40To beat the sunrise
19:41Before it reveals
19:43Their position
19:44To the British below
19:45They must control
19:47The high ground
19:47Before the enemy
19:48Makes its own move
19:53At daybreak
19:54The sleeping British ships
19:56In Boston Harbor
19:57Spot the militia positions
19:58And sound the alarm
20:02All of Boston
20:03Awakens with a start
20:04The Patriots
20:06Have beaten the British
20:06To the punch
20:08The first full battle
20:10Of the revolution
20:10Is joined
20:15As the redcoats
20:16As the redcoats
20:16As the redcoats
20:16As the redcoats
20:17Ships in the harbor
20:18Try to pin down
20:19The militia
20:20With cannon fire
20:33Under the command of General William Howe, lines of British soldiers, their bayonets at the ready, climb the hill without
20:39any cover.
20:42Easy targets for a man and musket that can shoot straight.
20:47The British are convinced that they can form up in line.
20:51And despite taking casualties, instill in the Patriots fear of a professional, disciplined force of regulars, and demonstrate to the
21:00Americans that this is madness, trying to oppose this army.
21:07Twice Howe's men charge up Breed's Hill. Twice they are repelled by the militia.
21:19From roofs and hilltops, civilians come out to witness the bloodshed.
21:23It is war as spectators form, but many fear for their loved ones in the fight.
21:31The rebel barrage goes on for three hours, until they run out of ammunition.
21:37Despite their advantage, the rebels have no choice but to retreat.
21:41The British finally capture the hill on their third charge.
21:53But the ground is strewn with red-coated bodies.
21:59The new commander now realizes what no one in faraway England could possibly understand.
22:05This is not a rebellion.
22:07This is war.
22:23The British pay a horrendous price for their victory at Breed's Hill, which erroneously but permanently becomes known as the
22:30Battle of Bunker Hill, after the original target.
22:341,000 of the 2,300 British soldiers, nearly half, are dead or wounded.
22:40The Americans lose 271 men out of 1,600.
22:44In defeat, the colonists have won.
22:47A paradox that over the next six years will come to characterize the Americans' bloody war for independence.
22:56Bunker Hill is a defeat, of course, for these colonists.
23:00But they inflicted such heavy losses on the British that it makes them a little cocky.
23:06That was the best-trained, most professional army on earth.
23:10Look at the damage we did to them.
23:12It really gives them way too much confidence.
23:16In the days following the Battle of Bunker Hill, even as Congress begins to provide for a Continental Army,
23:22the delegates make one last attempt at reconciliation with Britain.
23:27They send the king what they call the Olive Branch Petition,
23:32respectfully requesting that he grant the North American colonies autonomy within the British Empire.
23:40Like all communication that crosses the Atlantic, it will take months for an answer,
23:45and General George Washington can't afford to wait to build his army.
23:49He alone holds the keys to liberty or to death.
24:01June, 1775.
24:03As word of the valiant defense of Boston's Bunker Hill reaches Philadelphia,
24:08General George Washington writes a new will and heads off to meet his destiny.
24:14Whatever mortal fears Washington harbors,
24:16the people he meets on his way to Boston have no such misgivings about the man charged to defend them.
24:24The appointment gives universal satisfaction.
24:27I was struck with General Washington.
24:30Dignity, with ease and complacency,
24:32the gentleman and soldier look agreeably blended in him.
24:36Abigail Adams.
24:42Cambridge, Massachusetts.
24:44Washington is in for a terrible surprise.
24:47Despite their brave defense of Breeds Hill,
24:49the men he is coming to command fail even his worst expectations.
24:55He really has a task that is absolutely mind-boggling.
25:00We say that there was an army around Boston.
25:03There wasn't an army around Boston.
25:04There was a gaggle.
25:05These men are ragged, disheveled, getting drunk on duty.
25:10No knowledge of how to handle a musket efficiently.
25:14There was no discipline.
25:15There was certainly no hygiene.
25:17Very little structure.
25:19It was a mess.
25:27These are Washington's revolutionaries.
25:30This is the army he has to defend against the British Empire.
25:37Whatever Washington may think of his soldiers as men and as citizens,
25:43as soldiers, they're not much use to him.
25:47A dirty, mercenary spirit pervades the whole.
25:51Could I have foreseen what I have?
25:53No consideration upon earth should have induced me to accept this command.
25:59George Washington.
26:03The general must start from scratch and personally attend to even the lowliest, most rudimentary functions.
26:14His first tasks are fundamentally administrative tasks.
26:18His junior officers have to be taught how to fill out a report, how to count men,
26:24how to purchase supplies, how to buy tools, where to dig latrine, where to butcher meat, where to bury offal.
26:33These are all things that, amazingly enough, Washington has to concern himself with.
26:38So the task before him is immense, and it's going to require a tremendous amount of energy to literally whip
26:47this army into shape.
26:51And the whip will come down hard.
26:53Every man will learn discipline by Washington's very strict code.
26:58For disobedience of orders and damning his officer.
27:02To receive 30 lashes on his bare back.
27:05For expressing himself disrespectfully.
27:07To be stripped of his arms.
27:09Put in a horse cart with rope round his neck.
27:12And drummed out of the army.
27:15General George Washington.
27:18The new army is stitched together with widely different militias from very different colonies.
27:24Each is accustomed to its own command and its own way of doing things.
27:29Establishing a common culture is yet another overwhelming challenge.
27:33There were so many different brands of fighting traditions, cultures, and people.
27:41Washington was very concerned that there were so many rivalries.
27:45There was so much friction between members of his army.
27:50One of the army's most serious problems is the utter lack of ammunition and gunpowder.
27:56When Washington is told that they have only nine rounds of gunpowder per man, he is inconsolable.
28:04Advertisements in colonial newspapers plead for local gunmakers to step up their production.
28:10But to little avail.
28:12Perhaps no commander in history has ever faced so many obstacles to putting together a fighting force.
28:19And even if Washington succeeds, the effort may still be doomed.
28:24Most men have signed up for just one-year enlistments.
28:28These men are serving for very short terms.
28:31Most of them, their contracts expire either in November or December.
28:34They are only going to be around for a few months.
28:37So, as soon as they become even remotely competent, they are going to go home and he is going to
28:41have a new group to train again.
28:46Against these odds, Washington has precious little time to turn this woefully undisciplined, underprepared, and undersupplied army into a force
28:55that will have to stand up against the strongest army in the world.
29:15Against these odds, Washington, Concord, Bunker Hill, all the skill and experience in the world can't help British forces tame
29:26the chaos in the colonies.
29:28Thomas Gage now has only 7,000 soldiers, surrounded by Washington's 16,000.
29:35The loss we have sustained is greater than we can bear.
29:39Small armies can't afford such losses.
29:42The rebels' number is great.
29:44So many hands have been employed.
29:47I wish this cursed place was burned.
29:52Thomas Gage.
29:54October 11th, 1775.
29:56Without fanfare and without honors, General Thomas Gage is relieved of his command.
30:03Once Britain's most powerful man in America, he returns home alone and disgraced.
30:14General William Howe steps into Gage's boots and is already knee-deep in the American quagmire.
30:26In London, King George roundly rejects the Olive Branch petition, Continental Congress's last grasp for peace.
30:35On October 26th, in his annual speech to Parliament, the King throws down the gauntlet.
30:41It has now become the part of wisdom to put a speedy end to these disorders by the most decisive
30:48exertions.
30:50King George III.
30:52What the King wants is a military solution to a political problem.
30:56But his call for war is anything but unanimous among Britain's people and politicians.
31:05But when Parliament votes, war carries the day.
31:08The military is ordered to send thousands more troops and a full armada to quell America's escalating revolution.
31:21Reinforcements can't come too soon for General William Howe.
31:24Hemmed in by the rebel siege, he and his army are virtual prisoners on the Boston Peninsula.
31:31Along with a thousand loyalists they're protecting.
31:36With no access to the countryside, they are unable to forage for food or wood.
31:42Supply ships from England have yet to arrive.
31:45The people in Boston are running out of provisions and fuel.
31:52Across the river in Cambridge, Washington is battling his own war of attrition.
31:57With the year about to come to an end, so will many enlistments.
32:01And short timers will soon be leaving in droves.
32:04And now, Congress is pushing him to let go of some of his most loyal soldiers.
32:11African-Americans.
32:14From the very beginning, free northern blacks have been serving well the Patriot cause,
32:19with the same concerns as their white compatriots.
32:23There was no militia unit that didn't have black men.
32:25They were at Bunker Hill, they were at Concord and Lexington and everywhere else.
32:30But recruiting black soldiers, that he had trouble with,
32:35because the Continental Congress had trouble with it.
32:38Now that the army is a Continental army, not just a local northern one,
32:43armed blacks have created a loaded issue in Congress.
32:48Southern states are adamantly opposed to making soldiers out of them.
32:53Washington is no different from any other southern planter regarding blacks.
32:57He sounds like the southern slaveholder he is when he issues his order banning black recruits.
33:04The rights of mankind and the freedom of America will have numbers sufficient to support them,
33:09without resorting to such wretched assistance.
33:13George Washington
33:22The great irony is that the one man closest to the general is a black man, his slave, Billy Lee.
33:31For the seven years since Washington acquired him, Lee has been his master's valet and constant companion.
33:38Washington calls him, my family.
33:42Billy Lee was more than just a slave to George Washington.
33:47He was his personal slave.
33:48Billy Lee went with him every place.
33:51George Washington was the best horseman in Virginia.
33:54Billy Lee was the second best.
33:55And he and Washington would horseback ride just about every day.
33:59And so the two of them presented quite a picture, a picture that was noticed over and over by people
34:04at the time,
34:05who wrote about Washington and his male servant, Billy Lee.
34:09You could say that Billy Lee, in fact, was a close friend of George Washington, even though he was a
34:15slave.
34:19George Washington and Congress's decision to reject black soldiers plays perfectly into the enemies' hands.
34:27The Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issues a proclamation that welcomes blacks to the British side.
34:33i do hereby declare all indentured servants negroes or others that are able and willing
34:40to bear arms free they joining his majesty's troops as soon as may be lord dunmore the
34:49dunmore proclamation wreaks havoc throughout virginia thousands of slaves flee their masters
34:55for this chance at freedom if you have the opportunity to throw in your lot with people
35:03who are promising you a much better situation than you have had you'd be silly not to take
35:09that promise seriously it was the best opportunity for freedom they had ever seen and they never
35:16knew whether such an opportunity would ever present itself again you know thomas jefferson
35:23estimates that in virginia alone 30 000 african americans walked off the plantation and many
35:30of them became british soldiers so for the british this is wonderful they're not only sapping
35:36the colonial economy by depriving it of slave labor but they've added to their fighting force
35:46free blacks travel secretly from plantation to plantation to embolden slaves to escape
35:52if they are caught they risk death or torture
35:59while the fight for liberty in the south threatens to blow the slave culture apart
36:03the approaching new year threatens to dissolve washington's northern army
36:15we are now without any money in our treasury powder in our magazines arms in our stores
36:21without a brigadier engineers expresses by and by when we shall be called upon to take the field
36:28we shall not have a tent to lie in i have often thought how much happier i should have been
36:34if
36:34instead of accepting a command under such circumstances i had taken my musket upon my shoulders
36:40and entered the ranks or had retired to the back country and lived in a wigwam
36:46george washington
36:59all seems lost even before it's begun until a former bookseller has an idea that will change everything
37:16january 1st 1776 it's a new year for a new army and general washington raises a new flag to commemorate
37:25it the grand union with 13 stripes representing both the differences and common cause of the 13 colonies
37:33and with the british union jack in the upper left to acknowledge those colonial leaders hoping to
37:39salvage a relationship with england
37:44that same day the colonies get the news of the king's october proclamation to crush the rebellion by
37:50any means necessary it's a stunning declaration by the king that rouses rebel ire more than ever
38:00but an army needs more than anger to fight a war
38:05with the onset of winter neither side has the supplies necessary to brave the cold and snow
38:12the british hole up in boston waiting for reinforcements and supplies from england
38:18while washington uses the time to piece together an army short on everything from manpower to gunpowder
38:26but help is on the way
38:31henry knox a 25 year old colonel and former boston bookseller is leading a trek from cambridge to fort
38:38ticonderoga on a quest for arms
38:42knox has taken it upon himself to recover the artillery captured from the british fort ticonderoga
38:48for two months in the cold and wet he his men and teams of oxen haul 120 000 pounds of
38:56artillery across 300 miles
38:57of muddy woods frozen rivers and steep icy slopes back to headquarters in cambridge
39:12on january 25th colonel knox delivers all of the weaponry to his commander in chief miraculously intact
39:23it is the best gift washington could ever receive finally he has the firepower he so badly needs
39:32washington washington also has in knox a valued new commander in charge of artillery
39:37knox becomes part of washington's inner circle of junior officers whose counsel he values enormously
39:48george washington always had the ability to listen to many people particularly younger men
39:56he thinks everybody's view is important that it's a part of the puzzle that people know things that
40:02he doesn't know and if he can listen to enough opinions he'll know as much as they do a hallmark
40:09of good leadership
40:12right away washington's brain trust keeps him from making a fatal mistake
40:17as the spring thaw approaches washington wants to send waves of foot soldiers down into boston in a full frontal
40:26attack
40:27but his officers overrule him the british are too well fortified and the continentals are still short of
40:33gunpowder they do however have knox's artillery they decide to take the highest ground dorchester heights
40:41and bombard the city
40:46march 2nd after months of waiting washington and his men are more than eager to move
40:57the general is about to launch the first offensive of his command
41:01he sends a stern warning to his troops
41:06our posterity depends upon the vigor of our exertions
41:10if any man in action shall presume to skulk hide himself or retreat from the enemy without the orders
41:15of his commanding officer he will be instantly shot down as an example of cowardice
41:20general washington
41:26the night of march 4th surprise will be the key
41:31from three points outside the city cobble hill leechmere and roxbury
41:36the army rains light cannon fire down on boston a decoy to misdirect the british while the rest of the
41:44army
41:44hauls knox's artillery over to dorchester heights
41:48through the night washington's men build fortifications and drag cannon up the steep frozen slope
41:55by morning everything is in place
42:00daybreak march 5th on the sixth anniversary of the boston massacre the british awake to the
42:07sight of 20 cannon pointed down on their ships in the harbor
42:11my god a shocked how exclaims these fellows have done more work in one night than i could make my
42:17army
42:18do in three months it's not until after they see ticonderoga's guns on dorchester heights that they
42:25realize they got to get the heck out of there the continentals don't even need to fire a shot
42:30how issues a futile order for his ship's cannon to fire on the continental position
42:36but washington's guns sit just out of range luckily for howe his ships are also out of washington's
42:44range howe and his army prepare to abandon the city and take thousands of loyalist citizens with
42:50them one loyalist would later write the necessary care of the women sick and wounded required every
42:57assistance that could be given it was not like the breaking up of a camp where every man knows his
43:03duty it was like departing your country with your wives your servants your household furniture and
43:09all your encumbrances over the next two weeks the continentals watch from above as all of boston
43:17scrambles to evacuate taking everything with them that isn't nailed down it is a bitter exile for the
43:23loyalists many of whose families had lived in boston for generations by march 17th they are all gone
43:35one hundred and twenty ships carry nine thousand redcoats two thousand loyalists and as many of
43:42the city's usable goods as possible out to an unknown fate the patriots return to the city the beloved
43:51birthplace of the rebellion and washington enjoys the first victory of his command
43:57but it will be his last for the rest of a grueling and humiliating year 1776 will see 33 000
44:06british troops
44:07the largest contingent ever sent overseas head for america to grind the revolution into dust
44:21next time on the revolution a tiny pamphlet provides the recruiting propaganda washington's army
44:28desperately needs common sense conjured up a vision of a very democratic america still to be and
44:36continental congress drafts a stunning declaration jefferson wasn't writing anything that was
44:41revolutionary in the eyes of his own people only in the rest of the world all of our founding fathers
44:47they think they're going to hang they are outlaws
44:51so
45:17uh
45:17but
45:17so
45:19you
45:20you
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