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00:00Previously on The Revolution, Continental Congress took the ultimate step toward independence
00:06with a stunning declaration.
00:08Jefferson wasn't writing anything that was revolutionary in the eyes of his own people,
00:12only in the rest of the world.
00:14All of our founding fathers, they think they're going to hang.
00:17They are outlaws.
00:18The British battled the Continentals in New York Harbor.
00:22When the British come in the summer of 1776, it's like Star Wars.
00:27It's the Empire Strikes Back, it's the Death Star.
00:31These soldiers were fresh off the farm, and so it was really a disaster for the Americans.
00:36But a heavy fog allows the rebels to escape.
00:39The failure to capture the Americans really was one of the greatest blunders of the war.
01:01September 1776, New York.
01:05The rebel army is in retreat, pursued by the British up the Isle of Manhattan.
01:11In battle after battle, the colonial army is sent running, overwhelmed by the British forces
01:16and their superior power.
01:24The two sides engage at Kipps Bay, then up Manhattan at Harlem Heights, and again north in White Plains.
01:32Only one lone American outpost prevents the total loss of New York and control of the Hudson River.
01:40Fort Washington, a garrison named after His Excellency George Washington himself.
01:45And now it is under a massive attack.
01:52George Washington watches the terrifying scene from just across the Hudson River.
01:58His last hold on New York is fading fast.
02:04Nearly all of his officers had recommended abandoning it.
02:08Fort Washington was not built to defend itself against such a sizable British onslaught.
02:16The Continental soldiers prepare themselves for a last stand, but they are in no shape for heroics.
02:23A month of steady defeats have left them exhausted.
02:27And now, again, they are outnumbered.
02:29Three thousand of them against eight thousand royals.
02:34It was Washington's most trusted general, Nathaniel Green, who had convinced the commander to defend the fort.
02:42Green, a young and talented Rhode Island officer, had, over time, become Washington's most trusted confidant.
02:51But this time, following his advice is a disastrous error in judgment for the rebel leader.
02:59Nathaniel Green opines that he can hold that fort with the men he has available to him,
03:05and he recommends that course of action to Washington.
03:08Washington trusts this very capable and energetic subordinate, and Green was wrong.
03:17The British army is unstoppable.
03:20Not only do they have the numbers, they put their big guns out in front.
03:26They unleash a fierce battalion of German fighters called the Hessians.
03:32The Hessians are unmistakable.
03:35From their armoured helmets to their expertise with a bayonet,
03:38they are a near-mythical vision from the old world.
03:44England has used foreigners for centuries to help fight their wars.
03:48But in America, the Hessians create a new specter.
03:52At once feared and hated, they are seen as outsiders in a conflict between brothers.
03:57They quickly gain a reputation as detested mercenaries.
04:03The Hessians did not regard themselves as engaged in a civil war.
04:08And wherever the German mercenaries went, oftentimes there were allegations of all sorts of brutality,
04:15ranging from sexual violence to stealing of supplies.
04:22These European fighters have been trained under a different set of ethics than the colonial army,
04:28an almost medieval sense of warfare.
04:32Plucked from society's cast-offs, and often pressed into service against their will,
04:37the Hessian soldiers are ruthlessly drilled into fighting machines.
04:43Their rewards, when they receive them, come in the form of pride,
04:47and a fair share of whatever plunder they can get their hands on.
04:52In America, they sang songs about their chance for treasure.
04:56Go with us to America. There will be enough for all.
05:00There will be silver, gold, and money.
05:02Everything that a man seeks in the world, all that a man seeks there, is in America.
05:08Essentially, the Hessians operated according to a code that made sense in Germany,
05:14but was very different from anything that Americans had been familiar with.
05:19On this day, the Hessians earn their worth.
05:22They lead the British in overwhelming Fort Washington in mere hours.
05:31By afternoon, the rebels lay down their weapons.
05:34Fort Washington is surrendered, and along with it, New York.
05:40The two sides now face each other up close.
05:43The King's army and their hired warriors get their first chance to gaze upon the faces
05:49of the exhausted rebel army they have pursued for months.
05:53It is a sight that leaves them shocked.
05:57A great many of them were lads under 15, and old men,
06:00and few of them have the appearance of soldiers.
06:03Their odd figures frequently excited the laughter of our soldiers.
06:07Captain Frederick Mackenzie, British officer.
06:11The King's men had been fighting a wretched army, a band of citizens with little training.
06:18As the smoke clears over the dead and wounded, an amazing sight takes both sides by surprise.
06:26A young woman sits by her dead husband's side, but she had not been an idle bystander.
06:34When John Corbyn fell from wounds, Molly Corbyn stepped up to the cannons, firing on the British with the rest
06:41of the Patriots.
06:43The British quickly sent Molly Corbyn home.
06:47There, after the war, she will die in obscurity.
06:52But on this day, the rebels will not forget the woman who evoked their cause.
06:57If this war is to persist, every citizen, man, woman, and child will be called upon.
07:04I feel mad, vexed, sick, and sorry.
07:09This is a most terrible event.
07:11Its consequences are justly to be dreaded.
07:15General Nathaniel Green
07:17Half the army is captured at Fort Washington.
07:21New York and control of the mighty Hudson fall squarely into British hands.
07:27Some begin to wonder whether the rebels can actually deliver an independent America.
07:34I was never in such an unhappy, divided state since I was born.
07:39I am wearied to death.
07:41General George Washington
07:43The Americans in 1776 have encountered nothing but reverses.
07:48It's defeat followed by defeat, withdrawal followed by withdrawal.
07:52This really negatively affects the morale of his force, and perhaps more importantly,
07:56affects the morale of some of his subordinate commanders,
07:59who really now question whether or not Washington is the right man for this job.
08:06Between us, a certain great man is most damnably deficient.
08:11He has thrown me into a situation where I have my choice of difficulties.
08:16General Charles Lee
08:18Some of Washington's own generals now take their aim at his reputation.
08:26Washington and the army, at their weakest and most vulnerable,
08:30will soon have to face another battle.
08:32A power struggle at the very top.
08:35The revolution is about to stumble.
08:45November 1776
08:47George Washington's Continental Army is in full retreat across New Jersey.
08:53He has just lost New York, and with it, half his army.
08:58Washington cannot afford another confrontation.
09:03Hundreds had died.
09:04Many thousands more have been taken as prisoners of war.
09:13Enemy captives are not something the British had planned for in this rebellion.
09:19Now they are forced to confront the problem.
09:24After the defeat in New York, the British find themselves holding more American prisoners
09:29than they know what to do with, and so they're going to use the sugar hut
09:32on a number of other large structures that can quickly be made secure.
09:38They're also going to use prison ships.
09:42Of all the places of internment, the ships quickly become the most notorious.
09:51Thousands are thrown into the holds of decommissioned warships.
09:56There, with inadequate food, hygiene, and air, disease runs rampant.
10:03Starvation is common.
10:06Being here is almost worse than a quick death on the battlefield.
10:10Some of these ships would have a thousand men, a thousand prisoners, and perhaps a dozen a day
10:16would be taken out dead and buried in the shallow graves on the sandy shores of Brooklyn.
10:23I now found myself among a collection of the most wretched and disgusting-looking objects
10:27that I ever beheld in human form, now shriveled and surrounded with the horrors of sickness and death.
10:34Here, thought I, must I linger till death should terminate my sufferings.
10:40Ebenezer Fox, prisoner.
10:43To the British, these men are not just prisoners of war, they are traitors.
10:49Yet their punishment will not be swift.
10:52Instead of an executioner's hand, these rebels will be left to rot.
11:03Along Washington's retreat, there is no time for sympathy.
11:08No one knows what lies ahead for them.
11:11It is a minor consolation that they have become experts in at least one aspect of the military.
11:18I can only say that no lads ever showed greater activity in retreating than we have.
11:24Our soldiers are the best fellows in the world at this business.
11:28Colonel Samuel Webb, Continental Officer
11:34With retreat comes more recrimination, this time from within Washington's own ranks.
11:42General Charles Lee is among those who revel in Washington's failures and secretly scheme against him.
11:50In late November of 1776, Lee steps up his campaign for the commander's job.
11:58Like Washington, Lee is ambitious for glory.
12:02But their similarities end there.
12:05Where George Washington has a famous grace, Charles Lee has an infamous coarseness.
12:12He was a slob.
12:14He didn't wash.
12:16He always had a pack of dogs going everywhere with him.
12:22He consorted with low women.
12:25He was not a gentleman.
12:27A corporal's wife would be his preference.
12:31Yet, as a general, his prowess is undeniable, even intimidating.
12:36He had, after all, learned his skills in the best army in the world, the British.
12:43Lee is arguably the most qualified general officer in the American army in a strictly military sense.
12:53He fought in the French and Indian War.
12:54He fought in continental Europe during the Seven Years War.
12:57He fought from Russia to Poland.
12:59He's exceptionally experienced.
13:01But this experience breeds some hubris.
13:04He thinks that he knows better.
13:08Passed over for promotion in England, Lee jumped ship for America.
13:14Only to find himself subordinate to George Washington.
13:18Now, Lee's sense of self-worth pushes him toward betrayal once again.
13:24This time, he wants what he deserves.
13:28Command of the Continental Army.
13:30I foresaw all that has happened.
13:34Had I the powers, I could do much good.
13:39Confidence in General George Washington is at an all-time low.
13:44Lee's chance is at hand.
13:52The two generals now lead regiments in separate retreats.
13:56Washington, through the center of New Jersey, with the main army.
14:01Lee, north, with a regiment of 4,000.
14:08As they move, Lee corresponds with all those who might be sympathetic to his personal cause.
14:16These include a once faithful adjutant to Washington, a certain Colonel Joseph Reed.
14:23Dear General Lee, I do not mean to flatter or praise you at the expense of any other,
14:28but I do confess it is entirely owing to you that this army is not totally cut off.
14:35Reed, too, encourages a change in leadership.
14:38We are in an awful and alarming situation.
14:41I think yourself and some others should go to Congress to form the plan of the new army.
14:47Joseph Reed
14:49Charles Lee has just such ambitions and lets many in Congress and the army know it.
14:54Only George Washington himself remains unaware of the plot at hand.
15:00That is about to change.
15:03Washington, by accident, opened a letter from Charles Lee to Joseph Reed.
15:10And it was clear that the two men had been discussing Washington's fatal indecision of mind.
15:19My dear Reed, I lament with you that fatal indecision of mind, which in war is a much
15:25greater disqualification than stupidity or even want of personal courage.
15:31Eternal defeat must attend the men of the best parts if cursed with indecision.
15:37General Charles Lee.
15:41Washington's response was to write to Reed and say,
15:46I opened this by accident.
15:47I thought it was official business and to just try to smooth it over.
15:52I think all of these moments really just highlight the extraordinary
15:58kind of equilibrium that he maintained.
16:03Washington lets it pass.
16:05But he can have no doubt that his own power is weakening.
16:09His errors in New York are becoming widely known.
16:12And those who once threw their support behind him, the army, and the cause of independence,
16:17are now compelled toward doubt.
16:20A sense of doom gathers across America.
16:25Washington is devastated by his defeats.
16:28This public relations disaster means that the people don't support the army.
16:33They're back to maybe we should, maybe we shouldn't try a revolution.
16:39It is the opportunity the British have been waiting for.
16:43Into this vacuum of power and the flagging spirit for rebellion, they issue a proclamation.
16:50They offer leniency to those who pledge allegiance to the king.
16:55Those who will not shall be considered traitors.
17:00Every American had to choose.
17:02Do I support the patriots? Do I support the loyalists?
17:07Is there any neutral ground between them?
17:09How do you make this choice?
17:11People are not only making this choice according to their political beliefs or whether they,
17:16you know, really respect the king or not.
17:20They're often making this choice according to what's best for them.
17:24The soul of the revolution is now up for grabs.
17:28Who will come out ahead?
17:32General Charles Lee?
17:34George Washington?
17:38Or the British Army?
17:42What each does next will determine the outcome.
17:46America's revolution hangs in the balance.
17:57December 1776.
18:00British are gaining control of New Jersey.
18:02Yet they find a populace unwilling to support them.
18:06With their massive army, food and supplies are critical to their efforts.
18:11Out of need and a hint of vengeance, the British turn to more forceful methods.
18:22They take what they need, by whatever means necessary.
18:31It is a bitter taste of what America might look forward to under full British military occupation.
18:42They have taken hogs, sheep, horses and cows everywhere.
18:46Even children have been stripped of their clothes.
18:49In short, the abuse of the inhabitants is beyond description.
18:54Charles Wilson Peale, American soldier.
18:59Soon, the Hessian mercenaries join the fury, cutting their own path of plunder across the colony.
19:05Along with them, stories of brutality spread far and wide.
19:10Allegations of torture, rape and murder.
19:14Such acts become a rallying point around which to sway colonists against the British.
19:22Patriot Newsprint quickly takes full advantage.
19:30It was a huge propaganda coup for the colonists who were able to isolate a few incidents of Hessian brutality
19:41and atrocities and project that as par for the course.
19:46It helped muster more support for the revolution and demonstrated to the Americans the extreme lengths to which the British
19:54were willing to go to put down this insurrection.
19:59The British had aimed to bolster loyalty in New Jersey.
20:03Instead, their actions stir up an infuriated population.
20:11Patriots and Loyalists now take up arms against one another, as the War of Independence descends into anarchy and civil
20:19strife.
20:27Washington can sense the mounting chaos.
20:31Both sides, Loyalist and Patriot, seem to have given up on the cause of the revolution.
20:38As Washington flees across New Jersey and people are unwilling to help him, he fully realizes that this revolution might
20:46be over.
20:46He's a commander in chief of an army that has shrunk drastically.
20:50He's on the run with the enemy on his heels.
20:54Congressmen write their wives and their friends letters saying that the game is just about up.
20:58They're fearful that this war is shortly going to be over.
21:04Washington turns his focus toward Philadelphia, around which he will try to build a defense.
21:10But General Charles Lee's troops are still 50 miles north.
21:15Without them, Washington's numbers are inadequate.
21:18Like it or not, he needs Lee.
21:24Lee has other plans, and they don't include helping Washington.
21:30He ignores the commander's almost daily pleas to rejoin the main army.
21:37December 1.
21:38Dear sir, the enemy are advancing, and from information not to be doubted, mean to push to Philadelphia.
21:47I must entreat you to hasten your march as much as possible, or your arrival may be too late to
21:54answer any valuable purpose.
21:55General George Washington.
21:59Technically, Washington could have ordered Charles Lee to do what he wanted.
22:06Dear sir, having wrote you fully both yesterday and today of my situation,
22:11you will readily agree that I have sufficient cause for my anxiety, and to wish for your arrival as early
22:17as possible.
22:17Perhaps Washington thought that with a loose cannon, likely, perhaps the best way was not force,
22:26but to conjole him into seeing things the same way.
22:34Friday the 13th, 1776
22:41General Charles Lee has no intention of coming to Washington's aid.
22:46Instead, he stops his retreat, and takes residence in a comfortable tavern.
22:51There, Lee makes his final move.
22:54It won't be a good one.
22:56Lee works over his correspondences denigrating George Washington.
23:00Yet, he remains unaware of the scene just outside his window.
23:05British scouts have tracked Lee to the tavern, and will take him by surprise.
23:11The scene was almost comical, if it hadn't been so tragic.
23:16Lee was surrounded by a British cavalry in his dressing gown and slippers, basically.
23:25Lee puts up no fight.
23:29In one brazen and sloppy moment, his campaign for leadership of the Continental Army comes to an abrupt halt.
23:43London celebrates the capture.
23:46The traitor Lee, some say, is the only rebel general they had cause to fear.
23:52Even the stock market goes up on the belief that this is the coup that will end the war.
24:00But Washington is not so easily phased.
24:04A political rival out of the way, and his absent troops now marching toward him,
24:10Washington regains his sense of mission.
24:14His own officers, like General Nathaniel Green, take notice.
24:19His Excellency, George Washington, never appeared so much advantage as in the hour of distress.
24:27Again, it falls to Washington to turn the fortunes of the war, if it isn't too late.
24:37New Jersey is now a battlefield, not only for the two armies, but for the colonists themselves.
24:45Amidst the tension, citizens weigh their loyalties.
24:49Should they side with the fleeing Continentals, or with the British occupiers,
24:54whose very presence has created fresh hostility in the colony?
24:59And this is what happens, right, when you put military men in the charge of what is also a delicate
25:07political operation.
25:08And in this respect, I think one has to be a little sympathetic to the British government.
25:14Putting down an anti-imperial, anti-colonial uprising is not something anyone had much experience with in the 18th century.
25:26As winter sets in, both sides retrench.
25:30The British occupy more of New Jersey by spreading smaller units throughout the territory.
25:37Washington, meanwhile, escapes into Pennsylvania, where he hopes to prevent an attack on Philadelphia, the seat of Congress.
25:47Mid-December, 1776.
25:51The mood of despair has crept into his own soldiers as well.
25:56Many simply decide it is time to go home.
26:00Faith in the revolution is falling as fast as the temperature.
26:05It's been a wretched year for them.
26:09Conditions have been harsh.
26:11Smallpox has broken out in the Army.
26:13That's in addition to the other camp diseases that ravaged the Army at regular intervals.
26:19Militarily, things have been disastrous.
26:21There's not a lot of incentive for them to stay.
26:26One man watches in horror.
26:28Thomas Paine had joined Washington's army as one of the revolution's first war correspondents.
26:35Now, the young author of Common Sense, who helped spark independence only a year earlier,
26:41knows he must once again take up his pen.
26:46This time he will not aim his words at the enemy, but directly at the hearts of American patriots.
26:55These are the times that try men's souls.
26:59The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country.
27:07Thomas Paine
27:16With a sense that the war rides as much on his words as on the musket ball,
27:22Paine rushes to Philadelphia to print his new manifesto.
27:30There, Paine finds his hometown in chaos.
27:34Fear and rumor are spreading like a virus.
27:37Citizens are convinced that Washington's forces won't be able to defend Philadelphia.
27:44In response, people flee.
27:47A steady stream of Philadelphians take their belongings and head elsewhere,
27:52leaving their empty homes and closed up shops to the British, if they should come.
27:59The citizens are not alone.
28:02Continental Congress and all its members have evacuated too, heading further south to Baltimore.
28:11Against this backdrop, Thomas Paine gets to work.
28:18In a span of ten days, the young author and printer, the man who arrived in America only a few
28:23years ago,
28:24full of hopes to begin a new world in these raw colonies, sets his thoughts to print.
28:31He titles it, American Crisis.
28:35As quickly and widely as common sense had spread, so too does this book.
28:40It begins to work its magic instantly.
28:45What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.
28:49And it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
28:56Thomas Paine.
28:57This was really the low point for the Americans.
29:02Washington's reputation was really at stake.
29:05And with that reputation, the ability to round up fresh recruits for the army.
29:13So it was a really do or die moment in New Jersey.
29:19Paine's words only go so far.
29:22Washington must alter his entire approach to the war.
29:25He must make some bold move that will restore faith in him and in the durability of the revolution.
29:33He makes up his mind, I've got to shift tactics.
29:36He thinks that it isn't necessary to win the war on the battlefield.
29:41He just can't lose it.
29:43The most important thing is to keep the army together.
29:47At the same time back home, convincing the mothers and wives and children of British soldiers
29:53that the cost of this war is too high in deaths, casualties, and for parliament too, in money.
30:03For the British commander, William Howe, things are not going as planned.
30:09The occupation of New Jersey has spread his forces thin.
30:13In London, people are asking why the war is not yet won.
30:17He needs time to think.
30:21Howe has his army dig in for the winter.
30:24To guard against rebel attacks, he places Hessian forces at key junctions along the Delaware River.
30:30Places like Burlington and Trenton.
30:33As the cold sets in, the British expect to catch their breath before the next season of fighting begins.
30:43Howe's command along the Delaware River falls to Hessian Colonel Johann Rall.
30:49Rall has been on constant alert.
30:52But now, holed up in Trenton, he is finally beginning to relax.
30:56An attack is unlikely as the weather turns grim and a blizzard blows outside his window.
31:06Rall lets his guard down and waits for reinforcements due any moment.
31:17Christmas Eve, New Jersey.
31:21Rall's Hessian reinforcements have made an unscheduled stop.
31:27Their commander, Colonel von Donop, has decided to spend the night with a fair widow in Mount Holly,
31:34just 20 miles from Trenton.
31:37The Colonel, who was exceedingly devoted to the fair sex, had found the beautiful young widow of a doctor.
31:43He wanted to set up rest quarters in Mount Holly, which, to the misfortune of Colonel Rall,
31:48he was permitted to do.
31:51Captain Johann Ewald, Hessian officer.
31:55Von Donop's rest will have consequences he cannot imagine.
32:00And history will soon record the contribution to the revolution
32:04made by the mysterious widow of Mount Holly, whose identity will never be known.
32:10Some believe she may have been Betsy Ross, the future creator of the American flag.
32:21Scouts soon report to Washington that the Hessian army has left its defenses down.
32:27Washington hatches his plan.
32:30He will attack.
32:32It may well be his last shot, a final effort to revive his reputation,
32:37the spirit of his soldiers, and the survival of the revolution.
32:52In the last cold days of 1776, Washington prepares his army for what may be the final gambit in the
32:59War of Independence.
33:03Few believe he can still be victorious.
33:07His own soldiers regularly leave the army as their commissions come up.
33:12An urgency creeps into everything and everyone.
33:16We are all of the opinion, my dear general, that delay is now equal to a total defeat.
33:22Some enterprise must be undertaken in our present circumstances, or we must give up the cause.
33:28Joseph Reed, Continental officer.
33:31By the time Christmas of 1776 approaches, everything has bottomed out.
33:36His army has shrunk to only about 5,000 men.
33:40He's lost the support of a lot of the people, and all appears to be lost.
33:45It truly is a do-or-die situation.
33:49Washington makes a bold decision.
33:52He will strike the enemy at Trenton.
33:58On Christmas Day, Washington tells his army to prepare.
34:02After months of defeat and loss, they understand his purpose.
34:07The army will now take the offensive.
34:11They will be crossing the Delaware back to New Jersey.
34:15Shortly before departing, Washington has American crisis read aloud.
34:21Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue
34:27could survive,
34:29that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.
34:36Time hath found us.
34:38Thomas Paine
34:40It will be a monumental task.
34:44Washington's men must ford a near-frozen river in a blizzard,
34:47and get across fast enough to take the enemy before dawn by surprise.
35:01Yet Washington's leadership, his army, and the revolution all ride on the success of this singular mission.
35:09Washington himself will lead the soldiers into battle for the first time in the war.
35:15The general knows that if they fail, there will be no more chances.
35:23At 11 p.m., the boats begin to cross.
35:26It will be harder than they had even imagined.
35:30Every school child in America is familiar with the painting of Washington crossing the Delaware,
35:36when he's boldly in the front of the boat, standing up, looking heroically towards the eastern shore of the river.
35:43It would have been nice, but it didn't happen like that.
35:46Nobody stood up that night, wisely so.
35:49It was as severe a night as I ever saw.
35:52The frost was sharp, the current difficult to stern, the ice increasing, the wind high,
35:57and at 11, it began to snow.
36:00It was only with the greatest care and labor that the horses and artillery could be ferried over the river.
36:07Captain Thomas Rodney, Continental Officer.
36:10It takes most of the night to get the army over.
36:13It costs them severely in time.
36:20As dawn approaches, this surprise attack on the Hessian forces at Trenton grows nearly impossible.
36:27For a moment, Washington considers turning back.
36:32It made me despair of surprising the town, as I well knew we could not reach it before the day
36:37was fairly broke.
36:38I determined to push on at all events.
36:41General George Washington.
36:55I was so benumbed with cold that I wanted to go to sleep.
37:02Had I been passed unnoticed, I should have frozen to death without knowing it.
37:06But as good luck attended me, Sergeant Madden came and made me walk about.
37:11John Greenwood, Continental Pfeiffer.
37:15Not all are so lucky.
37:19Two soldiers lay down in the snow, never to get up again.
37:27The others press on.
37:35Everything now depends on speed and stealth.
37:40It is Washington's new way of waging war.
37:44If he's victorious, fine.
37:46If he's defeated, escape as fast as you can and keep your army together.
37:51Move fast.
37:53Sneak attacks, surprises, midnight escapes.
37:57Any trick a magician could pull out of his hat.
38:00That's how he's got to fight.
38:02Washington had learned his lessons the hard way.
38:04Now he will change the rules.
38:13In a swift move, he catches the Hessians off guard.
38:16It sets off a fierce battle.
38:22Hessian soldiers scramble to grab their muskets and meet the enemy.
38:39Colonel Rall wakes up to a battle already underway.
38:42He had been expecting something from the rebels, but nothing of this scale.
38:51Nor is this the same army the Hessians once met in New York.
38:59Now the Continentals fight with fierce spirit.
39:03In bloody, chaotic engagements, they hold their own.
39:10Trenton is a small battle in numbers, but it is a vicious and closely fought one.
39:17The Battle of Trenton is a brutal encounter.
39:20The Americans surprise the Hessians who tumble out of their barracks, grab their muskets, and attempt to defend themselves.
39:26The battle lasts less than an hour, though.
39:29The Hessians don't have a chance because they're surprised.
39:34Here conceived a scene of war, of which I had often conceived, but never saw before.
39:40The hurry, the fright, and confusion of the enemy was not unlike that which will be when the last trump
39:45shall sound.
39:47Colonel Henry Knox, Continental Officer.
39:52In the midst of the fighting, the Hessian Colonel Rall is shot twice.
39:59As he dies in bed, the leaderless Hessians lose their will to go on.
40:05The path that had taken them from victory in New York ends with defeat at Trenton.
40:11A thousand Hessians are captured or killed out of only 1,500 present.
40:21It is Washington's day.
40:24Trenton sends a resounding message.
40:27The Continental Army is back, and Washington is their undisputed leader.
40:33In a year of hardships and loss, he has now learned how to fight this war.
40:39Trenton illustrates the genius of George Washington.
40:43Here is an opportunity to strike the enemy where he's weak, when he's weak.
40:49This is going to establish the pattern for the rest of the war,
40:53in which the Continental Army will always live to fight another day,
40:57pick low-hanging fruit, frustrate the British,
41:00and continue to provide a thwart in the side of the different British commanders.
41:07Yet Washington faces one more challenge before 1776 is over.
41:20December 31st marks the last day of many soldiers' commissions.
41:26Many, if not all, are eager to return to their citizen lives.
41:34At the end of December, a lot of enlistment terms run out.
41:39Those men want to go home.
41:41He goes back onto the field, and he tells them as heartfelt as he can
41:45that you've done everything that America could ask of you.
41:49You've risked your lives, you've been in fierce encounters,
41:52and now I'm asking you to do it just one more time.
41:55And he waits, and nobody moves.
42:00The men have given all they can.
42:03Now, it is Washington's turn.
42:06To anyone who will re-enlist,
42:08Washington makes an offer of an additional $10 pay,
42:11more than a month's salary.
42:15My brave fellows, you have done all I have asked you to do,
42:19and more than could be reasonably expected.
42:22But your country is at stake.
42:25We know not how to spare you, General George Washington.
42:32And then one soldier grumbles,
42:34well, I might as well keep fighting.
42:36He steps forward.
42:38Then others follow him.
42:40And eventually, a little bit more than half the men in the army
42:44stay for the $10.
42:46But he doesn't have the $10.
42:49Washington writes to Congress to request the emergency funds.
42:54For this trifling sum, the army holds together
42:58and grows as news of Trenton brings new recruits.
43:02At the very end of this dark year,
43:04Washington has revived the revolution.
43:09Through most of the fall,
43:11there have been a number of officers
43:13who thought they could do his job better than he could,
43:16and a number of members of Congress who thought the same.
43:21That changes after Trenton,
43:24that that criticism evaporates, at least for a while.
43:30And it seems that the tide has turned.
43:33At least the army is going to continue to exist.
43:37And the army is the revolution.
43:431776, the year America is born,
43:46and a grueling test for the new nation.
43:49Liberty is embraced, and then very nearly lost.
43:52Washington has saved the revolution, but the biggest battles still lie ahead.
43:59With cautious optimism, a friend of George Washington writes him a New Year's card.
44:05The year 1776 is over.
44:07I am heartily glad of it, and hope neither you nor America will be plagued with such another.
44:18Next time on The Revolution.
44:22After losing Philadelphia to the British,
44:24Benjamin Franklin needs a decisive victory at Saratoga to convince France to back the rebels.
44:30His job is essentially to make it appear to the French that the American cause is a viable one,
44:36and that the Americans can win this contest.
44:38Those are all of them, at that point, fictions.
44:41A declaration of war between France and England would change what was once a colonial uprising
44:46into a world war.
44:51by Emily
44:52Mansoul
44:52anyone
44:52the
44:52girl
44:55who
44:55are
44:55and
45:01who
45:17are
45:17all
45:18You
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