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3. Before dawn
on May 10th, 1775—
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4. less than a month after
Lexington and Concord—
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5. some 85 New Englanders
rowed across
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6. the southern end of
Lake Champlain,
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7. keeping silent,
muskets primed.
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8. Their objective
was a dilapidated,
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9. star-shaped fortress
called Ticonderoga,
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10. built by the French
20 years earlier
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11. and now occupied by
50 British soldiers
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12. and 24 women and children.
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13. If they could capture it,
they might be able to stop
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14. British troops from attacking
from the north;
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15. to provide American forces
with a staging area
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16. should they ever choose
to invade Canada;
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17. and to take possession
of dozens of artillery pieces
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18. that the rebel forces ringing
Boston desperately needed.
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19. The men slipped
silently onto the shore.
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20. The British surrendered
without a shot.
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21. So did the 9 redcoats
stationed at Crown Point,
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22. a smaller outpost nearby.
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23. The Americans had
two commanders.
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24. One was Colonel Ethan Allen,
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25. the hard-drinking leader
of the "Green Mountain Boys,"
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26. a band of vigilantes who had
spent years defending
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27. their settlements
in the Vermont region
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28. of northwestern New England
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29. against New Yorkers who also
claimed the land.
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30. The other was a newly promoted
34-year-old
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31. Connecticut militia colonel.
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32. He was descended
from a distinguished
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33. New England family that
had fallen on hard times.
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34. Able but arrogant,
sensitive to slights,
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35. he would become one of
the most important commanders
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36. of the American Revolution.
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37. His name was Benedict Arnold.
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38. William Hogeland:
Once it's a shooting war,
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39. as with Lexington
and Concord, it's a war.
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40. There's no doubt about that.
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41. But independence was not,
in any way, officially
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42. on the table as a goal
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43. of the Americans at that point.
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44. The idea of independence
was still controversial.
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45. The official position
was that the fight was
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46. essentially for redress, for
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47. "Let's get back to the way
things used to be.
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48. Back when things were good,
when you left us alone."
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49. The blood shed
at Lexington and Concord
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50. had deepened the divisions
among Americans
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51. from Georgia to New Hampshire.
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52. "Loyalists," those who
remained faithful to the Crown
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53. and hoped His Majesty's
troops would soon restore
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54. law and order, dismissed those
whose sympathies
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55. lay with the militiamen
surrounding Boston as "rebels."
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56. The "rebels"
called themselves "Patriots"--
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57. or "Whigs" after
British champions
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58. of constitutionally guaranteed
rights—
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59. and vilified their Loyalist
neighbors as "Tories."
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60. Alan Taylor: The term
"Patriot" is a very old one
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61. that pre-exists
the Revolution.
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62. It applies to people
who believe that they are
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63. the defenders of liberty
against power.
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64. Now, "rebel" is a term that
the British will use,
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65. and the Loyalists will use,
to apply to the people
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66. who call themselves
the "Patriots."
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67. So, to be a rebel means
that you are rejecting
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68. the legitimate authority
of your sovereign,
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69. King George III
of the British Empire.
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70. That we are
divorced is to me very clear.
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71. The only question is
concerning the proper time
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72. for making an explicit
declaration in words.
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73. Some people must have time
to look around them,
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74. before, behind, on the
right hand, and on the left,
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75. then to think, and after
all this, to resolve.
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76. Others see at one
intuitive glance
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77. into the past and the future,
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78. and judge with precision
at once.
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79. But remember you can't make
13 clocks
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80. strike precisely alike
at the same second.
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81. John Adams.
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82. I think
the greatest misconception
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83. about the American Revolution
is that it was
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84. something that
unified Americans
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85. and that it was just a war of
Americans against the British.
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86. It leaves out the reality
that it was
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87. a civil war among Americans.
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88. I tremble
at the thoughts of war;
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89. but of all wars, a civil war!
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90. Our all is at stake.
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91. Sarah Mifflin.
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92. In the spring of 1775,
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93. a Philadelphia woman
named Sarah Mifflin
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94. wrote to a British officer
who had been her friend
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95. before the shooting began.
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96. He had suggested
that the whole thing
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97. was just a minor disagreement.
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98. It is not
a quibble in politics.
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99. It is this plain truth, which
the most ignorant peasant knows,
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100. that no man has a right
to take their money
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101. without their consent.
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102. I know this, that as free
I can die but once,
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103. but as a slave I shall not
be worthy of life.
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104. Sarah Mifflin.
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105. Some
20,000 militiamen from towns
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106. all over Massachusetts—and from
Connecticut, New Hampshire,
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107. and Rhode Island as well—
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108. had poured into the series
of impromptu camps
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109. that kept the British
caged in Boston.
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110. They were united in their
anger at the redcoats
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111. but very little else.
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112. They were militiamen,
not professional soldiers,
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113. expected to meet
immediate crises,
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114. not take part
in prolonged campaigns.
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115. Few had uniforms.
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116. Many had never been more than
50 miles from home.
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117. Their first loyalty was to
the towns from which they came
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118. and the neighbors whom they
had elected as their officers.
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119. Once the shooting stopped
and it became clear
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120. that the British were not
going to attack them,
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121. they began drifting home
to plant their crops.
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122. In overall charge of this
dwindling, disorganized force
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123. was General Artemas Ward,
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124. the commander of
the Massachusetts militia.
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125. From his headquarters in
Cambridge, he understood
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126. that if there were to be any
hope of holding their own
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127. against the British, he needed
a paid, recruited army—
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128. and he needed it fast.
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129. Wherever you go,
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130. we will be by your sides.
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131. Our bones shall lie with yours.
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132. We are determined never to
be at peace with the redcoats
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133. while they are
at variance with you.
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134. If we are conquered,
our lands go with yours.
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135. But if we are victorious,
we hope you will help us
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136. to recover our just rights.
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137. Captain Solomon Uhhaunauwaunmut.
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138. Among the troops
who arrived in Cambridge
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139. was a company of
Native Americans
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140. from Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
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141. Philip Deloria:
Stockbridge is a community of
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142. multiple tribes,
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143. which has a long history of
surviving colonization,
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144. in part through
adopting Christianity
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145. and adopting certain kinds
of strategic ways of being
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146. in relation with colonists.
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147. They come over
from Western Massachusetts
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148. and they're part of
the Siege of Boston.
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149. Ned Blackhawk: Most Indigenous
powers stay relatively
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150. on the sidelines
of the conflict
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151. during the early years.
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152. But many Native communities,
particularly those
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153. who have lived with settlers
for generations,
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154. come to share loyalties
and sensibilities.
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155. And so, many decide
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156. that it's in their best interest
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157. to join the Revolutionary forces
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158. and take up arms against
the British Empire.
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159. The presence of
the Stockbridge men
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160. among the rebels,
General Thomas Gage,
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161. the commander-in-chief
of the British Army
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162. in North America, said,
freed him to call upon
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163. other Native Americans
to join his forces
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164. and fight for the Crown.
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165. Enslaved New Englanders were
not recruited by either side.
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166. The Massachusetts
Provincial Congress insisted
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167. it was engaged
in a struggle for freedom
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168. from British "slavery."
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169. Enlisting them, it said,
would be "inconsistent."
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170. But free African-Americans
were welcome—
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171. and at least 35 and perhaps
as many as 50 men of color
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172. had fought at
Lexington and Concord
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173. and more would soon be engaged
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174. in the next, far bigger battle
with the British.
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175. Black, White,
and Native American soldiers
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176. would serve in regiments
more integrated
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177. than American forces would be
again for almost two centuries.
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178. What?
10,000 peasants keep
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179. 5,000 King's troops shut up!
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180. Well, let us get in,
and we'll soon find elbow room.
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181. General John Burgoyne.
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182. On May 25th, 1775,
a Royal Navy frigate
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183. threaded its way
into Boston harbor.
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184. Aboard were
British reinforcements
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185. and 3 major generals.
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186. John Burgoyne was the showiest
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187. and the most self-assured
of the three.
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188. A playwright as well as
a soldier,
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189. eager always for advancement,
he was dismissive of the rebels
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190. besieging Boston,
whom he called
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191. a "rabble in arms,
flushed with insolence."
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192. Henry Clinton had spent
6 boyhood years in New York,
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193. where his father had been
the Royal Governor.
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194. He was soft-spoken,
retiring, insecure.
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195. William Howe had once
expressed sympathy
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196. with the American cause,
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197. but he now saw an opportunity
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198. to burnish his reputation
as a soldier.
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199. They had been sent to bolster
General Gage,
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200. whom the King's Ministers
now saw as overly timid.
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201. The commanders all agreed
that if they could seize
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202. the heights at
Dorchester and Charlestown,
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203. they could break
the rebel siege.
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204. Rick Atkinson: There are
two pieces of high ground
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205. that the British
have to worry about.
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206. One is Dorchester Heights.
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207. And the other
is the high ground
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208. on the Charlestown Peninsula,
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209. including Bunker Hill
and Breed's Hill.
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210. If you put cannon on either
the Charlestown Peninsula
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211. or on Dorchester Heights,
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212. you would be able to bombard
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213. British forces in Boston.
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214. The British decide
that they are going to
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215. seize Charlestown first.
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216. The Patriots
got wind of the plan,
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217. and Colonel William Prescott was
ordered to seize and fortify
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218. Bunker's Hill,
the highest prominence
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219. on the Charlestown peninsula.
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220. As Prescott and his men
got there, however,
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221. it was somehow decided
that they should instead
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222. build their fort on the crest
of another, lower hill
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223. that came to be called
Breed's Hill.
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224. But it was within range
of both the warships
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225. in the harbor and a British
battery in Boston's North End.
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226. Prescott's men went to work
with picks and shovels
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227. trying to make as little noise
as possible
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228. so as not to alert the British.
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229. But when dawn broke
on June 17th, 1775,
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230. the redoubt was only
half-finished.
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231. A 20-gun British Navy ship
opened fire on the hilltop.
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232. A cannonball tore the head
off a private named Asa Pollard.
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233. To steady his men,
Prescott leaped onto
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234. the unfinished parapet
and bellowed at the warships,
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235. "Hit me if you can!"
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236. British General Howe was certain
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237. that the hill would
"easily be carried."
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238. As soon as the mid-afternoon
tide came in,
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239. Howe would personally
accompany a large force
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240. to the eastern tip
of the Charlestown Peninsula.
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241. The British stepped up
their cannonade,
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242. the roar so loud it rattled
windows in Braintree,
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243. 10 miles away, where
Abigail Adams wondered
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244. whether "the day—perhaps
the decisive day—is come,"
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245. she wrote, "on which the fate
of America depends."
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246. Prescott rushed to strengthen
his left flank,
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247. ordering some of his men
to dig a ditch
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248. and form a 165-foot breastwork
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249. and assigning others
to strengthen
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250. a rail-and-stone fence that ran
all the way down to the bluff
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251. overlooking
the Mystic River beach.
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252. Looking up at
the American positions,
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253. General Howe believed the hill
could be taken
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254. by what was called
a "turning" movement.
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255. While one column assaulted
the redoubt from the left
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256. and another, led by
Howe himself,
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257. attacked the rail fence head-on,
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258. a third would slip along the
undefended Mystic River beach,
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259. get behind the rebels, turn
their line, and destroy them.
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260. Such attacks had worked well
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261. against disciplined armies
in Europe.
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262. Stacy Schiff: No one expects
that a bunch of
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263. country farmers with muskets
are going to hold off
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264. a trained army who have orders
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265. from an actual general
in Boston.
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266. There is a real disbelief that
a bunch of ragtag colonists
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267. are going to manage
to hold their own
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268. against trained soldiers.
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269. When the column on
the left neared Charlestown
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270. and came under fire
from Americans
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271. hidden in abandoned buildings,
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272. British ships
set the town ablaze
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273. with incendiary shells.
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274. Then, at around half past 3,
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275. Howe's redcoats started up
the right side of the hill.
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276. Tall, fearsome grenadiers
formed the first rank;
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277. behind them came
the Foot Infantry.
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278. But the men had to dismantle
wooden fences and stone walls
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279. that blocked their climb.
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280. Their uniforms were woolen.
The sun was hot.
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281. And, like the anxious
New Englanders waiting for them
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282. on the hilltop, some had
never been in battle.
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283. The notion
that the British Army
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284. is this battle-tested,
experienced force, they're good.
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285. There's no doubt about it.
Their officers are good.
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286. They're very disciplined,
for the most part.
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287. But they are as scared
and as new to this
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288. as the Americans are.
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289. As Howe's force
continued their ascent,
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290. British light infantry
on the far right
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291. started their flanking maneuver
along the narrow beach,
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292. bent on getting behind
the American defenses,
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293. sure they could
get there unopposed.
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294. But Colonel John Stark
of New Hampshire
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295. and 60 of his militiamen
were waiting for them.
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296. He had seen that the beach
was open to a flanking attack
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297. and directed his men
to build a barricade.
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298. When the British
got within range,
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299. the Patriots opened fire.
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300. The light infantry
disintegrated.
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301. The New Hampshire men
kept firing
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302. until the stunned survivors
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303. began to retreat
toward their boats.
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304. Behind them lay nearly
100 dead and wounded,
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305. lying, Stark recalled,
"as thick as sheep in a fold."
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306. Meanwhile, at the top of
Breed's Hill,
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307. Prescott and his officers
reassured their men:
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308. the redcoats could never
reach them
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309. if they held their fire
till they came close.
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310. 90 yards out, a stone wall
stopped the Grenadiers.
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311. As they laid down their arms
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312. and worked to tear apart
the wall,
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313. the Patriots fired
their muskets.
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314. British officers urged
their men to keep advancing.
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315. Instead, the soldiers
stayed where they were
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316. and tried to shoot back.
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317. The Americans had cover.
The British had none.
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318. The redcoats broke
and retreated down the slope.
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319. General Howe
let his lines regroup,
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320. then ordered them
back up the hill,
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321. in hopes of driving through
the gap between
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322. the breastwork
and the rail fence.
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323. He would go with them.
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324. This time, the Patriots
behind the fence
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325. waited till the Grenadiers
got within 50 yards
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326. before opening fire.
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327. It was hard to miss.
Scores of British soldiers fell,
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328. dead, dying, screaming in pain.
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329. They deliberately target
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330. the British officers
and they can recognize them
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331. in part because they're all
wearing red coats, right,
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332. but the officers are wearing
coats that are almost
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333. vermillion in hue
because they can afford
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334. the more expensive dyes
that make those coats pop.
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335. The British, frankly,
think this is unfair.
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336. Trying to target officers,
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337. there's something unseemly
about it.
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338. But the Americans are not
going to stop
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339. throughout the whole war.
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340. The Americans cheered,
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341. hoping General Howe
had had enough.
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342. Every one of
his staff officers
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343. is killed or wounded.
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344. Howe will come back down
the hill, unharmed, remarkably.
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345. But he's got blood
all over his stockings
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346. from the men who've been shot
on either side of him.
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347. The teenage fifer
John Greenwood
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348. had been away that day.
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349. When he heard the guns,
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350. he hurried back to rejoin
his regiment.
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351. Everything seemed to be
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352. in the greatest
terror and confusion.
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353. I felt very much frightened
and would have given the world
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354. if I had not enlisted
for a soldier.
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355. Then, I saw a Negro man,
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356. wounded in the back of his neck.
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357. I saw the wound very plain
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358. and the blood
running down his back.
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359. I asked him if it hurt him much
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360. as he did not seem to mind it.
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361. He said no, and that he was
only a-going to get
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362. a plaster put on it
and meant to return.
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363. Immediately, you cannot conceive
what encouragement it gave me.
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364. I began to feel from that moment
brave and like a soldier.
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365. John Greenwood.
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366. From the Boston
waterfront, townspeople,
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367. including John Greenwood's
brother Isaac,
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368. watched as British soldiers
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369. rowed wounded regulars
from Charlestown.
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370. They were "obliged," he said,
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371. "to bail the blood out
like water."
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372. And when they started back
toward Charlestown again
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373. with fresh troops,
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374. "the soldiers,"
Isaac remembered,
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375. "looked as pale as death
when they got into the boats,
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376. "for they could plainly see
their brother redcoats
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377. mowed down like grass."
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378. At the bottom of Breed's Hill,
General Howe was determined
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379. to come at the Americans
one more time.
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380. Up above, Colonel Prescott
knew his men had
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381. little powder left and that
many of their muskets
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382. were fouled from so much firing.
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383. This time, in order to make
each shot count,
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384. he insisted his men wait until
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385. their targets were
within 30 yards.
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386. "As fast as the front man
was shot down,
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387. the next stepped forward
into his place,"
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388. one militiaman recalled.
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389. "It was surprising how
they would step over
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390. their dead as though
they had been logs of wood."
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391. "We fired till our ammunition
began to fail,"
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392. another militiaman remembered,
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393. "then our firing
began to slacken—
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394. and at last it went out
like an old candle."
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395. British marines with bayonets
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396. began climbing
over the parapets.
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397. Some Americans hurled rocks
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398. or swung their muskets
like clubs.
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399. Others clawed their way out
of the redoubt and ran.
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400. It was all over
in a matter of minutes.
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401. The Patriots had been
driven from Breed's Hill.
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402. 115 Americans had been killed
and another 305 wounded.
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403. The British succeed
in that they drive
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404. the Americans off of
the Charlestown Peninsula.
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405. They take Breed's Hill.
They take Bunker Hill.
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406. But it has been a, a pyrrhic
victory of the first order.
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407. It's 4 of the most awful
hours of combat
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408. in American military history.
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409. There are 1,000 British
casualties that day.
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410. There are 220-some British dead.
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411. Stephen Conway: 40% of
the attacking force
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412. was killed or injured.
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413. 40%.
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414. That's horrendously
high casualty rate.
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415. It is the highest casualty
rate for the British Army
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416. until the first day of
the Somme in 1916.
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417. It is unbelievably bloody.
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418. And that has a really
profound impact.
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419. "The loss
we have sustained,"
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420. General Gage admitted,
"is greater than we can bear."
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421. During the final struggle,
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422. two prominent men
had been killed.
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423. As Major John Pitcairn
encouraged his British Marines
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424. to climb over the walls,
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425. he'd been shot through the chest
Copy !req
426. and fell, dying,
into the arms of his son.
Copy !req
427. He was so hated
by New Englanders
Copy !req
428. because he had led the British
troops at Lexington Green
Copy !req
429. that at least 4 different men
would subsequently claim
Copy !req
430. to have fired the fatal shot.
Copy !req
431. Dr. Joseph Warren,
the president
Copy !req
432. of the Massachusetts
Provincial Congress,
Copy !req
433. whom the British considered
the most "incendiary"
Copy !req
434. of all the rebel leaders,
Copy !req
435. had insisted on joining
the men defending Breed's Hill
Copy !req
436. and was shot in the head.
Copy !req
437. The British officer in charge
of the burial detail
Copy !req
438. boasted that they had
"stuffed the scoundrel
Copy !req
439. "with another Rebel
into one hole
Copy !req
440. and there he and his seditious
principles may remain."
Copy !req
441. Saturday
gave us a dreadful specimen
Copy !req
442. of the horrors of civil war.
Copy !req
443. You may easily judge
what distress we were in
Copy !req
444. to see and hear Englishmen
destroying one another.
Copy !req
445. God grant the blood
already spilt may suffice.
Copy !req
446. But this we cannot
reasonably expect.
Copy !req
447. Reverend Andrew Eliot.
Copy !req
448. When the news of
the battle—remembered as
Copy !req
449. the Battle of Bunker Hill—
Copy !req
450. eventually made its way
to London, the King proclaimed
Copy !req
451. "The deluded People" of
America were in a state
Copy !req
452. of "open and avowed rebellion."
Copy !req
453. Anyone who now aided
their cause was a traitor.
Copy !req
454. General Gage had been right—
the rebellion would never be
Copy !req
455. crushed without
overwhelming force.
Copy !req
456. But Gage was soon called home,
replaced as commander-in-chief
Copy !req
457. by General William Howe.
Copy !req
458. For almost 3 years,
Howe would lead the struggle
Copy !req
459. to try to put down
the rebellion—
Copy !req
460. and carefully avoid ordering
any more frontal assaults
Copy !req
461. against entrenched Americans.
Copy !req
462. Britain, at the expense of
Copy !req
463. 3 millions, has killed
150 Americans this campaign,
Copy !req
464. which is 20,000 pounds a head.
Copy !req
465. And at Bunker's Hill,
she gained a mile of ground.
Copy !req
466. During the same time,
60,000 children
Copy !req
467. have been born in America.
Copy !req
468. From these data, calculate
the time and expense
Copy !req
469. necessary to kill us all,
Copy !req
470. and conquer our whole territory.
Copy !req
471. Benjamin Franklin.
Copy !req
472. Unhappy it is to reflect
Copy !req
473. that a brother's sword
has been sheathed
Copy !req
474. in a brother's breast,
Copy !req
475. and that the once happy
and peaceful plains of America
Copy !req
476. are either to be drenched with
blood or inhabited by slaves.
Copy !req
477. Sad alternative!
Copy !req
478. But can a virtuous man
hesitate in his choice?
Copy !req
479. George Washington.
Copy !req
480. On July 2nd, 1775,
Private Phineas Ingalls
Copy !req
481. of Andover, Massachusetts,
noted in his diary
Copy !req
482. that it "rained" and that
Copy !req
483. "a new general
from Philadelphia"
Copy !req
484. had arrived in Cambridge.
Copy !req
485. That new general was
George Washington of Virginia,
Copy !req
486. the commander of
the Continental Army
Copy !req
487. the Congress in Philadelphia
had just created.
Copy !req
488. His arrival meant that
the New England war in which
Copy !req
489. Phineas Ingalls and his
fellow militiamen had joined
Copy !req
490. was about to become
an American war.
Copy !req
491. Jane Kamensky: Washington is
a figure toward whom
Copy !req
492. people naturally turn
for leadership.
Copy !req
493. It is clear, by the time
the Continental Army
Copy !req
494. is signed into being
in the late spring of 1775,
Copy !req
495. that its commander-in-chief
can be nobody else.
Copy !req
496. There's something about
his presence
Copy !req
497. that makes him
the inescapable choice.
Copy !req
498. The Second
Continental Congress
Copy !req
499. had been meeting since May,
Copy !req
500. and it was obvious
from the first
Copy !req
501. that 43-year-old
George Washington
Copy !req
502. would command its new army.
Copy !req
503. He had led troops during
the French and Indian War,
Copy !req
504. and he was from Virginia,
Copy !req
505. the wealthiest and most
populated colony.
Copy !req
506. New England delegates,
eager to ensure
Copy !req
507. that colony's support
for the war,
Copy !req
508. favored naming a Virginian.
Copy !req
509. Washington was also
one of America's richest men,
Copy !req
510. the beneficiary of the work of
scores of indentured servants
Copy !req
511. and more than 100 enslaved
people at his plantation
Copy !req
512. on the Potomac River—
Mount Vernon.
Copy !req
513. They grew tobacco and wheat,
corn and flax and hemp,
Copy !req
514. milled flour, distilled whiskey,
Copy !req
515. caught, salted, and sold fish.
Copy !req
516. And to the West, he had amassed
Copy !req
517. tens of thousands of acres
of Indian lands.
Copy !req
518. Washington has
this vision of the future
Copy !req
519. in which... America's
future is not to the East,
Copy !req
520. not towards Europe.
Copy !req
521. It's to the West.
Copy !req
522. He does see the future
and the next century
Copy !req
523. as something in which
we should focus on
Copy !req
524. the consolidation
of the continent.
Copy !req
525. What defines
his early career
Copy !req
526. is an amazing focus,
a ruthless and intense focus,
Copy !req
527. on his own interests,
which makes him exactly like
Copy !req
528. every other member of his class.
Copy !req
529. It's just that
he became George Washington.
Copy !req
530. Washington
considered outward evidence
Copy !req
531. of ambition unseemly,
Copy !req
532. but his appearance alone made
him stand out in Philadelphia.
Copy !req
533. He was about 6'3"
when the average height
Copy !req
534. of the men he would lead into
battle was around 5'7",
Copy !req
535. and he alone among the delegates
Copy !req
536. appeared each day
dressed as a soldier.
Copy !req
537. Washington will remain,
I think, endlessly fascinating.
Copy !req
538. Partly because he was
so mysterious,
Copy !req
539. so reserved in his manner,
frequently,
Copy !req
540. and didn't give up a lot of
what was going on in his gut.
Copy !req
541. He was naturally a person
Copy !req
542. who created space
around himself,
Copy !req
543. and pity anybody that enters
that space that's not invited.
Copy !req
544. Martha gets into that space.
Copy !req
545. Lafayette gets into that space.
Copy !req
546. Maybe Hamilton
gets into that space.
Copy !req
547. He has
so much martial dignity
Copy !req
548. in his deportment that
you would distinguish him
Copy !req
549. to be a general and a soldier
from among 10,000 people.
Copy !req
550. There is not a king in Europe
that would not look like
Copy !req
551. a "valet de chambre"
by his side.
Copy !req
552. Benjamin Rush.
Copy !req
553. He's got a brain built
for executive action.
Copy !req
554. He's willing to
take responsibility.
Copy !req
555. He's got an adhesive memory.
Copy !req
556. He is,
according to Thomas Jefferson,
Copy !req
557. the greatest horseman
of his age.
Copy !req
558. He's built to lead other men
in the dark of night,
Copy !req
559. which is a rare and valuable
trait in any commander.
Copy !req
560. I am now embarked
Copy !req
561. on a tempestuous ocean,
from whence, perhaps,
Copy !req
562. no friendly harbor
is to be found.
Copy !req
563. Washington accepted
that he and his army
Copy !req
564. would be subordinate to the
civilian control of Congress,
Copy !req
565. but he did not yet see himself
as a revolutionary.
Copy !req
566. He still hoped to lead what
he called "a loyal protest,"
Copy !req
567. as if George III might
somehow overrule Parliament
Copy !req
568. and restore the rights
of British colonists.
Copy !req
569. On his way to Cambridge,
he met a dispatch rider
Copy !req
570. who carried a letter that told
of the terrible bloodletting
Copy !req
571. that had taken place
on Breed's Hill.
Copy !req
572. He shows up
in Cambridge
Copy !req
573. in early July, 1775,
Copy !req
574. as a Virginian commanding,
Copy !req
575. almost exclusively,
New England militiamen.
Copy !req
576. He doesn't
know what to make of them;
Copy !req
577. they don't know quite
what to make of him.
Copy !req
578. He has nothing good to say about
New Englanders, privately.
Copy !req
579. They're almost from
different countries.
Copy !req
580. But his job is to take
this gaggle,
Copy !req
581. this cluster of militia forces,
Copy !req
582. and to form them into
a national army.
Copy !req
583. Washington thought
he'd be commanding
Copy !req
584. a 20,000-man force;
Copy !req
585. in fact, he had fewer than
14,000 men fit for service.
Copy !req
586. He was assured he would have
15 tons of precious gunpowder;
Copy !req
587. there were just 5.
Copy !req
588. On August 6th, a company of
96 riflemen from Virginia
Copy !req
589. arrived, concrete evidence
that Americans
Copy !req
590. beyond New England
would volunteer to fight.
Copy !req
591. They had marched nearly
500 miles in 3 weeks.
Copy !req
592. Their leader was
Captain Daniel Morgan,
Copy !req
593. a big, brawling one-time wagoner
whose back bore the scars
Copy !req
594. of a lashing he'd received
during the French and Indian War
Copy !req
595. after he'd knocked unconscious
Copy !req
596. a British officer
who had insulted him.
Copy !req
597. More riflemen soon followed,
from Pennsylvania and Maryland
Copy !req
598. as well as more Virginians.
Copy !req
599. Their rifles were far more
accurate than the smooth-bore
Copy !req
600. muskets most Patriots used;
Copy !req
601. their grooved barrels
spun a ball,
Copy !req
602. making it fly
straighter and truer.
Copy !req
603. A British soldier would
call them "the most fatal
Copy !req
604. widow-and-orphan makers
in the world."
Copy !req
605. But the riflemen were
also frontiersmen.
Copy !req
606. They sounded different
from New Englanders,
Copy !req
607. dressed differently, disliked
discipline of any kind.
Copy !req
608. So what's going
to come out of this Revolution
Copy !req
609. is attempts to create
an American national identity.
Copy !req
610. And somebody like
George Washington becomes
Copy !req
611. quite eloquent in trying
to persuade people,
Copy !req
612. "You're not Carolinians,"
"You're not New Yorkers,"
Copy !req
613. "You're not New Englanders."
"We're all Americans."
Copy !req
614. Always at
Washington's side,
Copy !req
615. throughout the Revolution,
was William Lee,
Copy !req
616. the enslaved servant he had
Copy !req
617. brought with him
from Mount Vernon.
Copy !req
618. I think we have
to understand Washington
Copy !req
619. as both the figurehead
without whom
Copy !req
620. American liberty would not
have survived.
Copy !req
621. At the same time,
he's an enslaver of
Copy !req
622. 317 men, women, and children.
Copy !req
623. He acted as an enslaver
in the ways that enslavers did.
Copy !req
624. He bought and sold people.
Copy !req
625. He broke up families.
Copy !req
626. Do not look for gilded
statues of marble men.
Copy !req
627. They were not that
and neither are we
Copy !req
628. and neither is anybody at all.
Copy !req
629. Washington was impatient,
Copy !req
630. eager to get at the enemy.
Copy !req
631. In September,
he proposed mounting
Copy !req
632. a water-borne attack on Boston.
Copy !req
633. His officers
talked him out of it.
Copy !req
634. Washington
has got a lot to learn.
Copy !req
635. Because he's been out of
uniform for 16 years,
Copy !req
636. there's a lot he does not know.
Copy !req
637. He knows very little
about artillery.
Copy !req
638. He knows very little about
fortification.
Copy !req
639. He knows nothing about
continental logistics.
Copy !req
640. So, he brings a stack
of books with him.
Copy !req
641. Nathaniel Philbrick:
Typically, Washington,
Copy !req
642. before he would
make a big decision,
Copy !req
643. would canvass his major generals
as to what to do.
Copy !req
644. And inevitably, he would do
Copy !req
645. whatever Nathanael Greene
suggested.
Copy !req
646. General Nathanael
Greene of Rhode Island,
Copy !req
647. a Quaker who came to see
pacifism as impractical
Copy !req
648. in the face of what he called
"this business of necessity,"
Copy !req
649. hoped the British might make
a move so that the Americans,
Copy !req
650. he said, could "sell them
another hill
Copy !req
651. at the same price" as they had
paid taking Breed's Hill.
Copy !req
652. But the British didn't
dare mount an attack
Copy !req
653. on Washington's forces, either.
Copy !req
654. The memory of the last battle
was too fresh.
Copy !req
655. The standoff would continue
for another 6 months.
Copy !req
656. In Boston, soldiers
and civilians alike suffered.
Copy !req
657. There was too little firewood:
Copy !req
658. regulars ripped pews
from churches
Copy !req
659. and demolished whole houses
trying to keep warm.
Copy !req
660. Of 40 transport vessels
dispatched from
Copy !req
661. England and Ireland
to provision the town,
Copy !req
662. 32 never made it—blown
off-course by unfavorable winds
Copy !req
663. all the way to the West Indies
Copy !req
664. or seized by Patriots.
Copy !req
665. What, in God's name,
Copy !req
666. are ye all about in England?
Copy !req
667. Have you forgot us?
Copy !req
668. For we have not had a vessel
for 3 months
Copy !req
669. with any sort of supplies.
Copy !req
670. And, therefore, our
miseries are become manifold.
Copy !req
671. British Officer.
Copy !req
672. In 1770,
I built a house, dam,
Copy !req
673. saw, and grist mills on the west
side of the Connecticut River.
Copy !req
674. Here I was
in easy circumstances,
Copy !req
675. and as independent
as my mind ever wished.
Copy !req
676. John Peters.
Copy !req
677. Before the war,
Yale-educated John Peters
Copy !req
678. had been the most respected
man in the small settlement
Copy !req
679. of Moretown in Vermont,
where he lived
Copy !req
680. with his wife Ann
and their children.
Copy !req
681. In 1774, his neighbors had
picked him to represent them
Copy !req
682. in the First
Continental Congress.
Copy !req
683. But when Peters
got to Philadelphia
Copy !req
684. and sensed the other delegates
Copy !req
685. "meant to have
a serious rebellion,"
Copy !req
686. he refused to take part
and left for home.
Copy !req
687. On the way back, suspicious
Patriots detained him 4 times—
Copy !req
688. in Wethersfield,
Hartford, Springfield,
Copy !req
689. and finally in Moretown itself,
Copy !req
690. where "another mob
threatened to execute him,"
Copy !req
691. he remembered,
"as an enemy to Congress."
Copy !req
692. His own father, a colonel in
Connecticut's rebel militia,
Copy !req
693. urged his fellow Patriots
to use "severity" on his son
Copy !req
694. to make him
"a friend to America."
Copy !req
695. The mob
again and again visited me.
Copy !req
696. They confined me
to the limits of the town
Copy !req
697. and threatened me with death
Copy !req
698. if I transgressed their orders.
Copy !req
699. Even then,
Peters refused to betray
Copy !req
700. his "King and Conscience."
Copy !req
701. Instead, he put his head down
Copy !req
702. and hoped to stay
out of the fight.
Copy !req
703. I little
thought the troubles would be
Copy !req
704. so great, or if they did,
Copy !req
705. would last so long.
Copy !req
706. I endeavored to be quiet,
but it would not do.
Copy !req
707. The madness of the people
was daily growing.
Copy !req
708. Lake Champlain
is this 90-mile-long teardrop
Copy !req
709. that extends from
the Canadian border
Copy !req
710. down almost to the Hudson River.
Copy !req
711. If you controlled
Lake Champlain, you controlled
Copy !req
712. the most obvious entry point
into New York from the north,
Copy !req
713. and into Canada from the south.
Copy !req
714. Everything else is wilderness.
Copy !req
715. The Americans
saw an opportunity.
Copy !req
716. If they could take Montreal,
if they could take Quebec,
Copy !req
717. and have command of
the St. Lawrence,
Copy !req
718. they would have the British
right where they wanted them.
Copy !req
719. In the late summer
of 1775,
Copy !req
720. some 1,200 New York
and New England troops
Copy !req
721. assembled on the lie aux Noix,
Copy !req
722. just inside
the Province of Quebec.
Copy !req
723. Their commander
Richard Montgomery had orders
Copy !req
724. from the Continental Congress
to "take immediate possession"
Copy !req
725. of the British garrison
at Montreal
Copy !req
726. and then keep moving north.
Copy !req
727. The ultimate goal was to
eliminate the province
Copy !req
728. as a military threat
and perhaps adopt it
Copy !req
729. as the 14th American Colony.
Copy !req
730. They did not expect
much opposition:
Copy !req
731. there were just 700 British
regulars in the whole province.
Copy !req
732. Now George Washington called
for a complementary expedition
Copy !req
733. through the forests of the Maine
province of Massachusetts
Copy !req
734. to surprise and capture
Quebec City
Copy !req
735. on the St. Lawrence River.
Copy !req
736. To lead it, Washington chose
Benedict Arnold.
Copy !req
737. Benedict Arnold
is the finest
Copy !req
738. tactical commander
on either side
Copy !req
739. in the first couple of years
of the war.
Copy !req
740. He's conspicuously gifted
in being able to motivate men,
Copy !req
741. tactically, under
difficult circumstances,
Copy !req
742. to do what he wants them to do.
Copy !req
743. Arnold had emerged
from the capture of
Copy !req
744. Fort Ticonderoga
with a mixed reputation:
Copy !req
745. he had quarreled with
rival officers
Copy !req
746. and become so incensed at having
his expenses questioned
Copy !req
747. that he simply left the militia
and went home.
Copy !req
748. But after his wife died,
he left his 3 sons
Copy !req
749. with his sister and joined
Washington's Continental Army.
Copy !req
750. "An idle life under my
present circumstances,"
Copy !req
751. he told a friend, "would be
but a lingering death."
Copy !req
752. Quebec, Washington believed,
was certain to be
Copy !req
753. "very easy prey."
Copy !req
754. But "not a moment's time
is to be lost," he added.
Copy !req
755. The Americans
were not hostile
Copy !req
756. to the concept of empire.
Copy !req
757. On the contrary, they were
great enthusiasts for it.
Copy !req
758. They called it
the "Continental Army"
Copy !req
759. and the "Continental Congress"
for a good reason.
Copy !req
760. They had ambitions to
incorporate Canada, Florida,
Copy !req
761. and the whole of
the continent of North America.
Copy !req
762. On September 25th,
from a boatyard
Copy !req
763. on the Kennebec River in Maine,
Copy !req
764. Benedict Arnold and his
1,100-man force
Copy !req
765. set out for Canada.
Copy !req
766. Failure to punish the people
Copy !req
767. of the 4 New England governments
Copy !req
768. for their many rebellious
and piratical acts,
Copy !req
769. only encouraged them to go
to greater lengths.
Copy !req
770. I determined to destroy some
of their towns and shipping.
Copy !req
771. Vice Admiral Samuel Graves.
Copy !req
772. In October,
Vice Admiral Samuel Graves,
Copy !req
773. commander-in-chief of
His Majesty's
Copy !req
774. North American Station,
Copy !req
775. announced he planned
to lay waste to the ports
Copy !req
776. of Marblehead, Salem,
Cape Ann, Ipswich,
Copy !req
777. Newburyport, Portsmouth,
Saco, Falmouth, Machias.
Copy !req
778. All of them were bases
from which privateers—
Copy !req
779. Patriot raiders—menaced
British shipping.
Copy !req
780. Graves dispatched Lieutenant
Henry Mowat and 4 warships
Copy !req
781. to carry out his orders.
Copy !req
782. Mowat began with Falmouth—
now Portland, Maine.
Copy !req
783. Mowat gave the nearly
2,000 townspeople
Copy !req
784. two hours, he said, to "remove
without delay the Human Species"
Copy !req
785. before the bombardment began,
Copy !req
786. then agreed to reconsider
provided the townspeople
Copy !req
787. turned over all their
arms and gunpowder
Copy !req
788. by the following morning.
Copy !req
789. When they didn't,
British ships opened fire.
Copy !req
790. The cannonade went on
for more than 7 hours,
Copy !req
791. firing more than
3,000 rounds of shot
Copy !req
792. and hollow balls filled with
combustible material.
Copy !req
793. In mid-afternoon,
landing parties rowed ashore.
Copy !req
794. They hurled torches
into the doors and windows
Copy !req
795. of homes and shops.
Copy !req
796. News of Falmouth's
destruction spread fast.
Copy !req
797. Ports up and down the coast
braced for the next attack.
Copy !req
798. Washington and Congress
had both already begun
Copy !req
799. arming ships to seize enemy
cargoes to supply the army.
Copy !req
800. Now Congress voted
to commission 13 frigates
Copy !req
801. for a new Continental Navy.
Copy !req
802. To have a navy
in the late 18th century
Copy !req
803. was to have a fleet of ships
that were the most
Copy !req
804. sophisticated machines
in the world at that time.
Copy !req
805. They were very expensive.
And they required all sorts of
Copy !req
806. economic power and technology
to create.
Copy !req
807. Great Britain had that.
The colonies really didn't.
Copy !req
808. And, so, to go against
this huge naval power
Copy !req
809. was kind of an insane task
to even contemplate.
Copy !req
810. The most successful
Patriot commander
Copy !req
811. was John Manley, a sea captain
from Marblehead.
Copy !req
812. He managed to seize
7 British vessels
Copy !req
813. before the end of the year,
Copy !req
814. including an ordnance ship,
its hold filled
Copy !req
815. with 100,000 flints,
2,000 muskets,
Copy !req
816. and 30,000 cannonballs—
Copy !req
817. all of it badly needed
by the Continental Army.
Copy !req
818. British Admiral Graves
ultimately decided against
Copy !req
819. attacking any more ports.
Copy !req
820. But the damage was done.
Copy !req
821. The savage and brutal
barbarity of our enemies
Copy !req
822. is a full demonstration
that there is not
Copy !req
823. the least remains of virtue,
Copy !req
824. wisdom, or humanity
in the British.
Copy !req
825. Therefore, we expect soon
to break off
Copy !req
826. all kind of connection
with Britain,
Copy !req
827. and form into a Grand Republic
of the American United colonies.
Copy !req
828. "The New England Chronicle."
Copy !req
829. In every human breast,
Copy !req
830. God has implanted a principle,
which we call love of freedom.
Copy !req
831. It is impatient of oppression,
and pants for deliverance.
Copy !req
832. I will assert, that the
same principle lives in us.
Copy !req
833. Phillis Wheatley.
Copy !req
834. George Washington made his
Copy !req
835. Cambridge headquarters
in the handsome home
Copy !req
836. of a Loyalist who had
fled to England.
Copy !req
837. One morning, not long
after he had moved in,
Copy !req
838. he noticed a 6-year-old
African-American
Copy !req
839. named Darby Vassall
swinging on the gate.
Copy !req
840. Vassall remembered saying he had
been born in the house
Copy !req
841. and his parents
had worked there.
Copy !req
842. Washington urged him
to come inside
Copy !req
843. and get something to eat;
Copy !req
844. he had plenty of chores
for him to do.
Copy !req
845. When Darby asked what sort
of wages he could expect,
Copy !req
846. Washington thought
the question impertinent
Copy !req
847. and "unreasonable."
Copy !req
848. Darby Vassall lived to be
a very old man
Copy !req
849. and, when asked, he liked to say
that in his experience,
Copy !req
850. George Washington
"was no gentleman,"
Copy !req
851. since he'd expected a boy
to work for free.
Copy !req
852. Washington was also shocked
to see Black soldiers
Copy !req
853. encamped alongside
their White neighbors.
Copy !req
854. Unconvinced they could ever
make good soldiers,
Copy !req
855. Washington persuaded
the Massachusetts
Provincial Congress
Copy !req
856. to enlist no more of them,
Copy !req
857. though dozens had fought
on Breed's Hill.
Copy !req
858. Christopher Brown: I think
that Washington was concerned
Copy !req
859. about what it might mean
Copy !req
860. for slavery and slaveholding.
Copy !req
861. I think he was alert to the ways
Copy !req
862. that it could end up
eroding the institution.
Copy !req
863. Enslaved
African-Americans constituted
Copy !req
864. just 2% percent of
the population of New England,
Copy !req
865. but 40% of Virginians
were held as slaves,
Copy !req
866. and planters like Washington
lived in constant fear
Copy !req
867. that they would rise up
against them—
Copy !req
868. as enslaved people had risen up
Copy !req
869. on the British island of Jamaica
Copy !req
870. 3 times in the last 15 years.
Copy !req
871. When you make men slaves
Copy !req
872. you deprive them of
half their virtue,
Copy !req
873. and compel them to live with you
in a state of war.
Copy !req
874. Are there no dangers attending
this mode of treatment?
Copy !req
875. Are you not hourly in dread
of an insurrection?
Copy !req
876. Olaudah Equiano.
Copy !req
877. The growing talk
of "liberty"
Copy !req
878. had appealed to those
who had the least of it
Copy !req
879. and craved it most.
Copy !req
880. From New England to
South Carolina, enslaved people
Copy !req
881. offered to help the British
if they were granted freedom.
Copy !req
882. In November of 1775,
Virginia's Royal Governor
Copy !req
883. Lord Dunmore, who had been
forced to flee
Copy !req
884. with some 300 soldiers,
sailors, and Loyalists
Copy !req
885. to ships anchored
in the Chesapeake Bay,
Copy !req
886. issued a Proclamation
that seemed to confirm
Copy !req
887. the slaveholders'
worst nightmares.
Copy !req
888. It promised freedom to any
enslaved man owned by a rebel
Copy !req
889. who was willing
to take up arms
Copy !req
890. and help suppress the uprising.
Copy !req
891. Britain is the biggest
Copy !req
892. slave-trading nation on earth.
Copy !req
893. Nevertheless, the British
believe that if they can
Copy !req
894. convince enough slaves
to abandon their masters
Copy !req
895. in the South,
to take up arms against
Copy !req
896. the American rebels,
that this is a manpower pool
Copy !req
897. that can also
derange the economies
Copy !req
898. of the Southern states.
Copy !req
899. It's not that the British
are anti-slavery,
Copy !req
900. by any means,
in the 1770s, right?
Copy !req
901. Their colonies in the Caribbean
Copy !req
902. are their most profitable
colonies in the Americas.
Copy !req
903. They are firmly
committed to slavery.
Copy !req
904. But, opportunistically,
when they think that they can
Copy !req
905. encourage slaves to rise up
against rebelling colonists,
Copy !req
906. they'll do so.
Copy !req
907. Annette Gordon-Reed:
For enslaved people,
Copy !req
908. this was a way of getting
out of a situation
Copy !req
909. that seemed intractable.
Copy !req
910. And it gave them an impetus
to get involved in all of this.
Copy !req
911. In the sort of chaos of war,
they found an opportunity,
Copy !req
912. a way to escape their situation.
Copy !req
913. "The Virginia Gazette."
Copy !req
914. Be not then, ye Negroes,
Copy !req
915. tempted by this proclamation
to ruin yourselves.
Copy !req
916. Whether you will profit
by my advice, I cannot tell.
Copy !req
917. But this I know, that whether
we suffer or not,
Copy !req
918. if you desert us,
you most certainly will.
Copy !req
919. Dunmore's
Proclamation helped drive
Copy !req
920. Southern slaveholders to
the side of the revolutionaries.
Copy !req
921. Edward Rutledge of
South Carolina spoke for many:
Copy !req
922. Lord Dunmore's proclamation
tends "in my judgment,
Copy !req
923. "more effectually to work
an eternal separation
Copy !req
924. "between Great Britain
and the Colonies
Copy !req
925. than any other expedient."
Copy !req
926. Dunmore says that he only wants
Copy !req
927. the slaves of rebels
to join him.
Copy !req
928. Not clear exactly how
you can tell them apart,
Copy !req
929. or whether there's
any kind of census going on
Copy !req
930. of who do you belong to.
Copy !req
931. Dunmore was not
an abolitionist;
Copy !req
932. he did not free any of
the 57 human beings
Copy !req
933. he held in slavery himself;
Copy !req
934. the Patriots would
capture them all
Copy !req
935. and sell them to fund
their cause.
Copy !req
936. Wednesday.
Copy !req
937. Last night after going to bed,
Moses, my son's man,
Copy !req
938. Joe, Billy, Postillion, John,
Copy !req
939. Mulatto Peter, Tom, Panticore,
Copy !req
940. Manuel, and Lancaster Sam
Copy !req
941. all ran away to Lord Dunmore.
Copy !req
942. Landon Carter.
Copy !req
943. Now runaways streamed
to the governor's ships,
Copy !req
944. silently slipping along
the rivers and tidal creeks
Copy !req
945. that opened into
the Chesapeake Bay.
Copy !req
946. 87 men, women, and children
Copy !req
947. from a single Virginia
plantation fled to Dunmore.
Copy !req
948. Ran off last night
from the subscriber:
Copy !req
949. a Negro man named Charles,
Copy !req
950. who is a very shrewd,
sensible fellow,
Copy !req
951. and can both read and write.
Copy !req
952. There is reason to believe
he intends an attempt
Copy !req
953. to get to Lord Dunmore.
Copy !req
954. His elopement was from
no cause of complaint,
Copy !req
955. or dread of whipping
Copy !req
956. but from a determined resolution
to get liberty, as he conceived.
Copy !req
957. "The Virginia Gazette."
Copy !req
958. "There is not
a man among them,"
Copy !req
959. George Washington's
farm manager warned him,
Copy !req
960. "but would leave us
if they believed
Copy !req
961. "they could make their escape.
Copy !req
962. Liberty is sweet."
Copy !req
963. He was right.
Copy !req
964. The first enslaved person
Copy !req
965. to escape Mount Vernon
Copy !req
966. was named Harry Washington.
Copy !req
967. Born somewhere near
the Gambia River in West Africa,
Copy !req
968. he was captured,
carried across the ocean,
Copy !req
969. and, in 1763, purchased by
George Washington.
Copy !req
970. Freedom was
never far from his mind.
Copy !req
971. In 1771, he had tried to escape
Copy !req
972. but was caught and brought back.
Copy !req
973. 4 years later,
he saw his chance.
Copy !req
974. Erica Dunbar: Following
Lord Dunmore's proclamation,
Copy !req
975. Harry Washington knew that
this would be an opportunity,
Copy !req
976. and he joined the British
Copy !req
977. against the people
who had once owned him.
Copy !req
978. George Washington
called Lord Dunmore
Copy !req
979. a "Monster,"
and an "arch-traitor
Copy !req
980. to the rights of humanity."
Copy !req
981. If that man is not crushed
Copy !req
982. before spring, he will become
Copy !req
983. the most formidable enemy
America has.
Copy !req
984. His strength will increase,
as a snowball,
Copy !req
985. by rolling, and faster.
Copy !req
986. Nothing less than depriving
him of life or liberty
Copy !req
987. will secure peace to Virginia.
Copy !req
988. George Washington.
Copy !req
989. Scores of runaways
were caught
Copy !req
990. and brutally punished;
Copy !req
991. some were killed,
others sold off
Copy !req
992. to compensate their enslavers.
Copy !req
993. But some 800 men would make it
to Dunmore's growing fleet,
Copy !req
994. along with roughly the same
number of women and children.
Copy !req
995. Men found fit for duty were
enlisted in a special unit
Copy !req
996. called "Dunmore's
Ethiopian Regiment."
Copy !req
997. They were commanded by
White officers but paid a wage
Copy !req
998. for the first time
in their lives.
Copy !req
999. The proclamation has had
a wonderful effect.
Copy !req
1000. The Negroes are flocking in
from all quarters.
Copy !req
1001. And had I but
a few more men here,
Copy !req
1002. I would march immediately
to Williamsburg,
Copy !req
1003. by which I should soon compel
the whole colony to submit.
Copy !req
1004. Lord Dunmore.
Copy !req
1005. Bolstered by
reinforcements,
Copy !req
1006. Dunmore occupied Norfolk
and ordered a stockade built
Copy !req
1007. at the Great Bridge
over the Elizabeth River
Copy !req
1008. to block the only road to town
from the South.
Copy !req
1009. Some 700 Patriots
dug in across the river,
Copy !req
1010. and on December 9, 1775,
Copy !req
1011. when Dunmore's troops
charged across the bridge
Copy !req
1012. to dislodge them,
Copy !req
1013. more than 100 of his men,
Black and White, were killed.
Copy !req
1014. "They fought, bled,
and died like Englishmen,"
Copy !req
1015. one man remembered.
Copy !req
1016. Dunmore's makeshift army—
including what was left
Copy !req
1017. of the Ethiopian regiment—
Copy !req
1018. fled back to sea.
Copy !req
1019. With them went scores of
Loyalist families
Copy !req
1020. from in and around Norfolk,
Copy !req
1021. most of them
Dunmore's fellow Scots.
Copy !req
1022. He now commanded a floating
city—including rafts
Copy !req
1023. on which the poorest
struggled to survive.
Copy !req
1024. Dunmore's Proclamation
Copy !req
1025. turns the conflict, in Virginia,
into a genuine crisis.
Copy !req
1026. But it does help
clarify differences, right?
Copy !req
1027. It establishes that there is
one side of this conflict
Copy !req
1028. that is unevenly
committed to slavery.
Copy !req
1029. And then there's
another side, our side,
Copy !req
1030. which is fully committed to it.
Copy !req
1031. And for some Patriots,
that's all they need to know.
Copy !req
1032. It creates a sense that this
is an existential conflict
Copy !req
1033. in a way that it had not before.
Copy !req
1034. These lords of themselves,
Copy !req
1035. these kings of me, these
demigods of independence.
Copy !req
1036. It has been proposed that
the slaves should be set free,
Copy !req
1037. an act which, surely,
the lovers of liberty
Copy !req
1038. cannot but commend.
Copy !req
1039. How is it that we hear
the loudest yelps for liberty
Copy !req
1040. among the drivers of Negroes?
Copy !req
1041. Dr. Samuel Johnson.
Copy !req
1042. Connecticut wants no
Massachusetts man in her corps;
Copy !req
1043. Massachusetts thinks there is no
necessity for a Rhode Islander
Copy !req
1044. to be introduced into hers.
Copy !req
1045. Could I have foreseen
what I have,
Copy !req
1046. and am like to experience,
Copy !req
1047. no consideration upon earth
Copy !req
1048. should have induced me
to accept this command.
Copy !req
1049. Now
George Washington faced
Copy !req
1050. for the first time the problem
Copy !req
1051. that would haunt him
again and again:
Copy !req
1052. when enlistments expired
at the end of the year,
Copy !req
1053. most of his army was simply
going to melt away.
Copy !req
1054. To fill out his ranks,
Washington persuaded
Copy !req
1055. the governors of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire
Copy !req
1056. to send him a total
of 5,000 militiamen.
Copy !req
1057. The newcomers were so sullen,
veteran soldiers called them
Copy !req
1058. the "Long-Faced People."
Copy !req
1059. Washington asked Congress
if Indian units
Copy !req
1060. could serve in his army.
Copy !req
1061. While they debated the issue,
Copy !req
1062. many Native people
did join the ranks.
Copy !req
1063. 5 sons of a Mohegan woman
named Rebecca Tanner
Copy !req
1064. would die fighting
for the Patriots
Copy !req
1065. over the course of the war.
Copy !req
1066. In December,
Washington changed his mind
Copy !req
1067. about enlisting
African-Americans.
Copy !req
1068. His desperate need
for men was part of it.
Copy !req
1069. But there were also appeals
from Black veterans themselves
Copy !req
1070. or from their officers.
Copy !req
1071. "It has been represented
to me," Washington wrote
Copy !req
1072. to the Continental Congress,
"that the free Negroes who have
Copy !req
1073. "served in this Army
are very much dissatisfied
Copy !req
1074. at being discarded."
Copy !req
1075. They could now re-enlist.
Copy !req
1076. Washington brings to Cambridge
Copy !req
1077. the "hard no"
of a Virginia planter.
Copy !req
1078. But he is also willing
to revise himself.
Copy !req
1079. To think about the whole of
the potential fighting force
Copy !req
1080. and whether Black men
can play a role within it.
Copy !req
1081. I think many people,
most people from his station,
Copy !req
1082. would have started
where he started
Copy !req
1083. and have gone no further.
Copy !req
1084. So, I think he does have
a sort of flexibility
Copy !req
1085. as a commander,
which is the only thing
Copy !req
1086. that the commander of an
insurrectionary force can have.
Copy !req
1087. Though the decision
remained unpopular,
Copy !req
1088. by the end of the war,
some 5,000 African-Americans
Copy !req
1089. had served in
the Continental Army.
Copy !req
1090. A lot of these decisions
about who to fight for,
Copy !req
1091. who to align with,
are deeply, deeply local.
Copy !req
1092. They're not necessarily about
high ideals at all, right?
Copy !req
1093. So, when people think
there's an opportunity
Copy !req
1094. with the British,
they may align with
Copy !req
1095. and run off to British lines.
Copy !req
1096. But when the Patriot Army
kind of opens its ranks
Copy !req
1097. to Black people, there are
lots of Black people
Copy !req
1098. who think they can gain
advantage, concession,
Copy !req
1099. and even, one day, some status
from fighting for the Patriots.
Copy !req
1100. It's not a question of
who the good guys are
Copy !req
1101. and who the bad guys are.
Copy !req
1102. It's what can I get from
making this decision,
Copy !req
1103. right now, in this place, at
this time, among these people.
Copy !req
1104. Washington's
new army—an ill-assorted
Copy !req
1105. mix of soldiers who'd decided
to stay on, raw recruits,
Copy !req
1106. and short-term militiamen—
now numbered around 8,000 men.
Copy !req
1107. But only 2/3 were fit for duty.
Copy !req
1108. Those men were still cold,
still poorly armed,
Copy !req
1109. still poorly paid—
but also still able
Copy !req
1110. to keep the British
trapped in Boston.
Copy !req
1111. It
is not in the pages of history
Copy !req
1112. perhaps to furnish
a case like ours.
Copy !req
1113. To maintain a post within
musket shot of the enemy
Copy !req
1114. for 6 months together,
without powder,
Copy !req
1115. and at the same time to disband
one Army and recruit another,
Copy !req
1116. within that distance of
20-odd British regiments,
Copy !req
1117. is more than probably
ever was attempted.
Copy !req
1118. At the most
moderate computation,
Copy !req
1119. this rebellion will cost
Great Britain
Copy !req
1120. 10 millions of treasure
and 20,000 lives.
Copy !req
1121. What then,
in the name of wonder,
Copy !req
1122. is the object of the war?
Copy !req
1123. Are we to throw away so much
treasure and so many lives
Copy !req
1124. to gain a point
which, when gained,
Copy !req
1125. is not worth 1% on our money?
Copy !req
1126. The "Public Advertiser."
Copy !req
1127. Maya Jasanoff: In the British
Parliament, there are
Copy !req
1128. debates taking place.
Copy !req
1129. There are people
lining up on one side
Copy !req
1130. who say, "You know,
we ought to actually
Copy !req
1131. "grant the colonies
more autonomy.
Copy !req
1132. "We ought to loosen
the strictures
Copy !req
1133. "that we've placed on them.
Copy !req
1134. "We ought to think about ways
Copy !req
1135. that they might be represented."
Copy !req
1136. The war
in North America
Copy !req
1137. was not universally popular
in England.
Copy !req
1138. The colonies were
3,000 miles away.
Copy !req
1139. The theater of war
would be far larger
Copy !req
1140. than any the British Army
had ever encountered before.
Copy !req
1141. It was sure to be
costly and bloody
Copy !req
1142. and likely to be prolonged.
Copy !req
1143. The Army chief and England's
Copy !req
1144. most distinguished
naval commander
Copy !req
1145. would both refuse
to take part in the war.
Copy !req
1146. The Lord Mayor and aldermen
of the City of London
Copy !req
1147. appealed to the King
to reconsider.
Copy !req
1148. It was far better to give
the Americans
Copy !req
1149. their "rights and liberties,"
they said,
Copy !req
1150. than impose "the dreadful
operations of your armaments."
Copy !req
1151. But the new
Secretary of State for America,
Copy !req
1152. Lord George Germain,
Copy !req
1153. remained determined
to crush the rebellion—
Copy !req
1154. and to do it with
a single, all-out campaign.
Copy !req
1155. If the war dragged on,
King George himself feared
Copy !req
1156. that Britain's old Catholic
enemies, France and Spain,
Copy !req
1157. might be persuaded
to support the rebel cause.
Copy !req
1158. The rebellious war now levied
Copy !req
1159. is become more general,
and is manifestly
Copy !req
1160. carried on for the purpose
of establishing
Copy !req
1161. an independent empire.
Copy !req
1162. The object is too important,
Copy !req
1163. the spirit of the British nation
too high,
Copy !req
1164. the resources with which God
hath blessed her too numerous,
Copy !req
1165. to give up so many colonies
Copy !req
1166. which she has planted
with great industry,
Copy !req
1167. nursed with great tenderness,
and protected and defended
Copy !req
1168. at much expense of
blood and treasure.
Copy !req
1169. King George
was not an ogre.
Copy !req
1170. He was not a tyrant.
Copy !req
1171. Contrary to the stereotype
that most Americans have of him,
Copy !req
1172. he's actually a pretty
extraordinary man.
Copy !req
1173. He was a very great
constitutional monarch.
Copy !req
1174. In fact, in 1775, he declares,
Copy !req
1175. "I'm fighting the war
of the legislature."
Copy !req
1176. In other words, he's fighting
for Parliament's rights
Copy !req
1177. over the American colonies.
Copy !req
1178. Not his own rights,
Parliament's rights.
Copy !req
1179. But once the war starts,
he sees himself
Copy !req
1180. as the commander-in-chief with
a responsibility to make sure
Copy !req
1181. the war is run efficiently
and effectively.
Copy !req
1182. The British Navy
was the largest on earth,
Copy !req
1183. but the all-volunteer British
Army numbered fewer than
Copy !req
1184. 50,000 officers and men
on paper.
Copy !req
1185. And it was still smaller
in reality,
Copy !req
1186. just 1/3 of the size
of the French Army,
Copy !req
1187. and scattered across the world
from Ireland to India,
Copy !req
1188. the Mediterranean
to the Caribbean.
Copy !req
1189. "Unless it rains men in
red coats," one official warned,
Copy !req
1190. "I know not where we are
to get all we shall want."
Copy !req
1191. The British
should have recognized that
Copy !req
1192. this was going to be
extremely difficult
Copy !req
1193. and perhaps unwinnable conflict.
Copy !req
1194. They were confident
of two things.
Copy !req
1195. They had invincible
military power.
Copy !req
1196. And, therefore, there was no
need for them to compromise.
Copy !req
1197. And secondly, that any
compromise of Sovereignty,
Copy !req
1198. of Parliament's Sovereignty,
was going to encourage
Copy !req
1199. independence on
the part of the Americans.
Copy !req
1200. They had a kind of
"Domino" theory:
Copy !req
1201. if we lose American colonies,
then we lose Canada,
Copy !req
1202. then we lose the Caribbean.
Copy !req
1203. So that George III and his
Ministers really believe
Copy !req
1204. that nothing less than
the future of the British Empire
Copy !req
1205. is at stake.
Copy !req
1206. Our commander, Arnold,
Copy !req
1207. was of a remarkable character.
Copy !req
1208. Brave and beloved
by the soldiery,
Copy !req
1209. he possessed great
powers of persuasion.
Copy !req
1210. Private John Joseph Henry.
Copy !req
1211. Benedict Arnold
and his men had made
Copy !req
1212. slow progress on their way
up the Kennebec River
Copy !req
1213. as part of the American invasion
of Canada.
Copy !req
1214. Their provisions had been
packed into 220 flat-bottomed
Copy !req
1215. "bateaux," built for them
at George Washington's orders.
Copy !req
1216. All Arnold knew
about the forests
Copy !req
1217. his men were about to penetrate
Copy !req
1218. came from a crude
15-year-old British map
Copy !req
1219. that seemed to suggest
Quebec City was 180 miles away
Copy !req
1220. and could be reached
in just 20 days.
Copy !req
1221. The real distance
turned out to be 270 miles.
Copy !req
1222. Nothing could have prepared
Arnold for the ordeal
Copy !req
1223. he and his men
were about to endure.
Copy !req
1224. The Kennebec turned out
to be punctuated
Copy !req
1225. by waterfalls and rapids.
Copy !req
1226. Submerged rocks tore
the bottoms of their boats.
Copy !req
1227. Within 72 hours,
1/4 of their provisions
Copy !req
1228. were lost or ruined.
Copy !req
1229. In the mornings, wet clothes
were glazed with ice,
Copy !req
1230. one man wrote,
thick as a pane of glass.
Copy !req
1231. On the 10th day, Arnold began
rationing the remaining food—
Copy !req
1232. just salt pork and flour.
Copy !req
1233. It snowed on the 19th day
Copy !req
1234. and rained relentlessly
for days afterwards.
Copy !req
1235. Then, it snowed again.
Copy !req
1236. America is
this huge continent.
Copy !req
1237. There's tornadoes,
there's hurricanes,
Copy !req
1238. there's winter storms.
Copy !req
1239. Turns of weather that we know
are coming for weeks on end
Copy !req
1240. hit the people of
the 18th century
Copy !req
1241. completely by surprise.
Copy !req
1242. They're not just
fighting each other.
Copy !req
1243. In a profound way,
they are fighting
Copy !req
1244. the American climate
and geography and topography.
Copy !req
1245. This is a difficult place
to conduct a war.
Copy !req
1246. After a month
of hardship,
Copy !req
1247. the officer leading
the battalion that had been
Copy !req
1248. bringing up the rear
declared the mission suicidal,
Copy !req
1249. turned his 300 men around,
Copy !req
1250. and started for home with many
of the remaining provisions.
Copy !req
1251. Arnold's men were now forced
to subsist on candles,
Copy !req
1252. tree bark, and soup
made by boiling rawhide.
Copy !req
1253. One company killed and ate
Copy !req
1254. their captain's
Newfoundland dog.
Copy !req
1255. Of the 1,100 men
who set out from Cambridge,
Copy !req
1256. more than 1/3 had turned back,
been escorted home as invalids,
Copy !req
1257. or died along the way.
Copy !req
1258. Finally, 45 days after
setting off—not 20—
Copy !req
1259. Arnold's men saw the spires
and walls of Quebec City
Copy !req
1260. looming across
the St. Lawrence River.
Copy !req
1261. No one,
particularly the British,
Copy !req
1262. can believe that suddenly
they are there.
Copy !req
1263. Arnold, because of this,
would have a reputation now.
Copy !req
1264. He would be known as
the "American Hannibal"
Copy !req
1265. for his ability to move men
over mountains,
Copy !req
1266. to achieve seemingly
impossible things.
Copy !req
1267. Meanwhile,
American forces led by
Copy !req
1268. General Montgomery
had easily taken Montreal.
Copy !req
1269. Then, with 300 of his men,
Copy !req
1270. Montgomery set out
along the St. Lawrence
Copy !req
1271. to meet up with Arnold.
Copy !req
1272. Together, they planned their
assault on Quebec City.
Copy !req
1273. They realize that they've got
a hard decision to make.
Copy !req
1274. We either attack now, or many
of our men are going to leave.
Copy !req
1275. Their enlistments are up.
They're cold.
Copy !req
1276. It's mid-winter in Canada.
Copy !req
1277. There were only
some 300 British regulars
Copy !req
1278. stationed in the fortified city.
Copy !req
1279. So, General Guy Carleton,
the royal governor of Canada,
Copy !req
1280. ordered every able-bodied man
within its walls
Copy !req
1281. to prepare for battle.
Copy !req
1282. Anyone who refused had to leave
or be prosecuted as a spy.
Copy !req
1283. The city's ramparts were soon
guarded by some 1,800 men.
Copy !req
1284. The American plan called for
two small, noisy
Copy !req
1285. diversionary feints
to draw defenders away
Copy !req
1286. from the attack's real targets.
Copy !req
1287. Meanwhile, Arnold and his men
would circle around
Copy !req
1288. Quebec City from the north,
Copy !req
1289. while General Montgomery
would approach from the south.
Copy !req
1290. Together, they would storm
the citadel's steep walls.
Copy !req
1291. Dear Father, if you receive
Copy !req
1292. this letter,
it will be the last
Copy !req
1293. this hand will ever write you.
Copy !req
1294. Heaven only knows
what will be my fate.
Copy !req
1295. But whatever it may be,
I cannot resist
Copy !req
1296. the inclination I feel to
assure you that in this cause
Copy !req
1297. I feel no reluctance
to venture a life,
Copy !req
1298. which I consider
as only lent to be used
Copy !req
1299. when my country demands it.
Copy !req
1300. Your very affectionate son,
John Macpherson.
Copy !req
1301. The storm was outrageous.
Copy !req
1302. Covering the locks of our guns
with the lapels of our coats
Copy !req
1303. and holding down our heads...
Copy !req
1304. we ran in single file.
Copy !req
1305. John Joseph Henry.
Copy !req
1306. The Americans
launched their attack
Copy !req
1307. at 4 in the morning
on December 31st, 1775,
Copy !req
1308. under the cover
of a howling blizzard.
Copy !req
1309. Many men had pinned
to their hats slips of paper
Copy !req
1310. with the words,
"Liberty or Death."
Copy !req
1311. Everything went wrong.
Copy !req
1312. The diversionary attacks
fooled no one.
Copy !req
1313. Arnold's men came under
merciless fire
Copy !req
1314. from the ramparts above—
and the enemy had placed
Copy !req
1315. formidable barricades
in their way.
Copy !req
1316. When a ricocheting
bullet fragment tore through
Copy !req
1317. Arnold's left leg, he had to be
carried back to camp.
Copy !req
1318. Captain Daniel Morgan
of Virginia took over.
Copy !req
1319. He managed to lead his men
past one barricade
Copy !req
1320. only to be blocked by another.
Copy !req
1321. He tried 4 times to scale it,
then decided to wait
Copy !req
1322. for Montgomery and his men
to break through.
Copy !req
1323. But Montgomery never made it.
Copy !req
1324. Within moments of making
his way into the city,
Copy !req
1325. he, John Macpherson,
and 11 others were killed.
Copy !req
1326. The enemy, having the advantage
Copy !req
1327. of the ground in front,
a vast superiority of numbers,
Copy !req
1328. and dry and better arms,
Copy !req
1329. gave them an irresistible power.
Copy !req
1330. About 9:00 a.m., it was
apparent to all of us
Copy !req
1331. that we must surrender.
Copy !req
1332. John Joseph Henry.
Copy !req
1333. 30 Americans lay dead.
Copy !req
1334. 389 were taken prisoner,
including Daniel Morgan.
Copy !req
1335. Arnold, though badly wounded,
was not captured
Copy !req
1336. and vowed to try to take
the city again
Copy !req
1337. before it could be reinforced.
Copy !req
1338. I have no thoughts of leaving
Copy !req
1339. this proud town, until I first
Copy !req
1340. enter it in triumph.
Copy !req
1341. Providence which has carried
me through so many dangers,
Copy !req
1342. is still my protection.
Copy !req
1343. Benedict Arnold.
Copy !req
1344. I am more and more convinced
Copy !req
1345. that man is
a dangerous creature,
Copy !req
1346. and that power, whether vested
in many or a few,
Copy !req
1347. is ever grasping, and like
the grave cries give, give.
Copy !req
1348. You tell me of degrees of
perfection to which
Copy !req
1349. humane nature is capable of
arriving, and I believe it,
Copy !req
1350. but at the same time lament that
our admiration should arise
Copy !req
1351. from the scarcity
of the instances.
Copy !req
1352. When I consider these things,
I feel anxious for the fate
Copy !req
1353. of our monarchy, or democracy,
or whatever is to take place.
Copy !req
1354. Abigail Adams.
Copy !req
1355. On New Year's Day,
1776, George Washington
Copy !req
1356. ordered a new
"Continental Union" flag
Copy !req
1357. raised atop Prospect Hill
overlooking occupied Boston.
Copy !req
1358. The British Union Jack
still filled
Copy !req
1359. its upper left-hand corner.
Copy !req
1360. But its 13 red and white
stripes, he said,
Copy !req
1361. were intended as a "compliment
to the United Colonies."
Copy !req
1362. With the exception of
the city of Boston,
Copy !req
1363. Patriots now controlled
each of the 13 colonies.
Copy !req
1364. Several other royal governors
had, like Dunmore,
Copy !req
1365. fled to ships offshore.
Copy !req
1366. But people within the colonies
remained deeply divided.
Copy !req
1367. Some of the free population
favored independence.
Copy !req
1368. Others were appalled
at the thought of
Copy !req
1369. breaking with the King.
Copy !req
1370. Abandoning Britain,
one Virginian wrote,
Copy !req
1371. would "dissolve the bands of
religion, of oaths, of laws,
Copy !req
1372. "of language, of blood,
which hold us united
Copy !req
1373. under the influence of
the common parent."
Copy !req
1374. Still others remained
"disaffected,"
Copy !req
1375. favoring neither side,
hoping somehow to carry on
Copy !req
1376. with their lives while
their fellow-Americans—
Copy !req
1377. suspicious of their neutrality—
fought things out.
Copy !req
1378. But events were changing minds.
Copy !req
1379. Gordon-Reed:
What happened in the run-up
Copy !req
1380. to all of this
gave people a sense
Copy !req
1381. that they might be able
to make it on their own.
Copy !req
1382. They were different from
the people in Great Britain.
Copy !req
1383. They realized that
they were moving apart.
Copy !req
1384. If we must erect
an independent
Copy !req
1385. government in America,
Copy !req
1386. a republic will produce
strength, hardiness, activity,
Copy !req
1387. courage, fortitude,
and enterprise.
Copy !req
1388. But there is so much
rascality, so much
Copy !req
1389. venality and corruption,
so much avarice and ambition,
Copy !req
1390. such a rage for
profit and commerce
Copy !req
1391. among all ranks and degrees of
men, even in America,
Copy !req
1392. that I sometimes doubt whether
there is public virtue enough
Copy !req
1393. to support a republic.
Copy !req
1394. John Adams.
Copy !req
1395. The leaders of
the American Revolution
Copy !req
1396. need popular support.
Copy !req
1397. The leaders of
the American Revolution
Copy !req
1398. are going to have to
make promises
Copy !req
1399. that there's going to be
greater social mobility;
Copy !req
1400. there's going to be greater
respect for common people;
Copy !req
1401. there is going to be broader
political participation
Copy !req
1402. in the future than there has
been in the colonial past
Copy !req
1403. by loosening up
structures of authority,
Copy !req
1404. including structures of
religious authority.
Copy !req
1405. If you're making this
Revolution and you need
Copy !req
1406. the support of thousands of
common people, men and women,
Copy !req
1407. what's in it for them?
Copy !req
1408. Gordon Wood: Up to the 18th
century, people assumed that
Copy !req
1409. everything will
always remain the same.
Copy !req
1410. But the idea that
you could take charge
Copy !req
1411. and change your culture,
Copy !req
1412. that's what—that's
the fundamental basis
Copy !req
1413. of the Enlightenment,
that man can be changed.
Copy !req
1414. The sun never shined
on a cause of greater worth.
Copy !req
1415. 'Tis not the affair of
a city, a country,
Copy !req
1416. a province, or a kingdom,
but of a continent.
Copy !req
1417. Everything that is right or
natural pleads for separation.
Copy !req
1418. Every spot of the old world
is overrun with oppression.
Copy !req
1419. Freedom hath been
hunted round the globe.
Copy !req
1420. O! receive the fugitive,
and prepare in time
Copy !req
1421. an asylum for mankind.
Copy !req
1422. We have it in our power to
begin the world over again.
Copy !req
1423. A situation similar to
the present hath not happened
Copy !req
1424. since the days of Noah
until now.
Copy !req
1425. The birthday of
a new world is at hand.
Copy !req
1426. Thomas Paine.
Copy !req
1427. On January 9th,
1776, a slender pamphlet titled
Copy !req
1428. "Common Sense" was published
in Philadelphia—
Copy !req
1429. the most important pamphlet
in American history.
Copy !req
1430. It was signed simply
"an Englishman."
Copy !req
1431. Its author, a recent newcomer
to America,
Copy !req
1432. was 38-year-old Thomas Paine.
Copy !req
1433. The son of a Quaker corset-maker
and his Anglican wife,
Copy !req
1434. Paine had failed at his
father's profession,
Copy !req
1435. lost his first wife and their
child in childbirth,
Copy !req
1436. been fired from his post
as tax collector,
Copy !req
1437. endured the collapse of
a second childless marriage,
Copy !req
1438. and had seen his possessions
auctioned off to pay his debts.
Copy !req
1439. During his 8-week voyage
from Britain,
Copy !req
1440. he'd contracted typhus, and when
his ship reached Philadelphia,
Copy !req
1441. he had to be carried off,
half-dead.
Copy !req
1442. But Paine was
a master with words,
Copy !req
1443. skillfully weaving the latest
Enlightenment philosophy
Copy !req
1444. with biblical references
that everyone knew.
Copy !req
1445. And he was a violent foe of
aristocracy and monarchy.
Copy !req
1446. It's a much more
radical document
Copy !req
1447. than anything
that had preceded it.
Copy !req
1448. "Common Sense" takes off
Copy !req
1449. like an accelerant
through the colonies.
Copy !req
1450. Everyone reads it.
Copy !req
1451. Excerpts from
"Common Sense" appeared
Copy !req
1452. in newspapers throughout
the colonies.
Copy !req
1453. The pamphlet would sell
tens of thousands of copies.
Copy !req
1454. It is
an unprecedented bestseller.
Copy !req
1455. With the exception of
the Bible in the colonies,
Copy !req
1456. no book has been read
as widely as "Common Sense" is.
Copy !req
1457. Bernard Bailyn:
It was a wholesale attack
Copy !req
1458. on the entire world of Britain,
political, cultural.
Copy !req
1459. And it's in slam-bang prose.
Copy !req
1460. No American pamphleteer
wrote that kind of
Copy !req
1461. really tough extreme language.
Copy !req
1462. It just
made people listen
Copy !req
1463. and made people think
at a time when the Congress
Copy !req
1464. would never have thought of
attacking the King, personally,
Copy !req
1465. King George III,
the "Crown of England."
Copy !req
1466. They were always like, "Oh,
he's not really getting it.
Copy !req
1467. "It's Parliament
that's our problem.
Copy !req
1468. The King needs to help us."
Copy !req
1469. He just called the King
a "beast," in print.
Copy !req
1470. He was
the working-class intellectual.
Copy !req
1471. His politics were radically
democratic, in many ways.
Copy !req
1472. And that made him different
from the other famous Founders.
Copy !req
1473. Hereditary succession
Copy !req
1474. is an insult
and an imposition on posterity.
Copy !req
1475. For all men being originally
equals, no one by birth
Copy !req
1476. could have a right
to set up his own family
Copy !req
1477. in perpetual preference
to all others forever.
Copy !req
1478. One of the strongest
natural proofs
Copy !req
1479. of the folly of
hereditary right in kings
Copy !req
1480. is that nature disapproves it,
Copy !req
1481. otherwise she would not so
frequently turn it into ridicule
Copy !req
1482. by giving mankind an ass
for a lion.
Copy !req
1483. Thomas Paine.
Copy !req
1484. That pamphlet
did stir people's minds
Copy !req
1485. about the possibility of
a different kind of world.
Copy !req
1486. "Common Sense" struck a string
Copy !req
1487. which required a touch
to make it vibrate.
Copy !req
1488. The country was ripe for
independence, and only needed
Copy !req
1489. somebody to tell the people so.
Copy !req
1490. Private Ashbel Green.
Copy !req
1491. Some of
the Founders, and others,
Copy !req
1492. thought this is the moment
we can start over again.
Copy !req
1493. We can actually
begin the world anew.
Copy !req
1494. And it must have been, you know,
wildly exciting at the time.
Copy !req
1495. And I think it still
excites us, that we are
Copy !req
1496. the product
of a revolutionary moment
Copy !req
1497. where the world
turned upside down.
Copy !req
1498. My countrymen will come
Copy !req
1499. reluctantly into the idea
of independency.
Copy !req
1500. I find "Common Sense" is
working a wonderful change
Copy !req
1501. in the minds of many men.
Copy !req
1502. George Washington.
Copy !req
1503. Not all minds were changed.
Copy !req
1504. Hannah Griffitts,
the Philadelphia poet
Copy !req
1505. who in 1768
had urged American women
Copy !req
1506. to boycott British goods,
was horrified.
Copy !req
1507. The idea
that to reform the Empire
Copy !req
1508. by not buying tea
or imported cloth
Copy !req
1509. would lead to this crazy
question of independence
Copy !req
1510. was an impossible thing
for her to countenance.
Copy !req
1511. Paine is where a lot of people
get on the revolutionary road.
Copy !req
1512. It's where she gets off.
Copy !req
1513. For some Americans,
"Common Sense" confirmed
Copy !req
1514. their worst fears.
Copy !req
1515. Vermont Loyalist John Peters,
who continued to receive
Copy !req
1516. death threats from
his Patriot neighbors,
Copy !req
1517. had reached a breaking point.
Copy !req
1518. Often mobbed
and once imprisoned
Copy !req
1519. by the malcontents, I quitted
Copy !req
1520. my family, property,
and offices,
Copy !req
1521. and fled to Canada,
to avoid personal danger
Copy !req
1522. and to support the British cause
against its enemies.
Copy !req
1523. The want of guns is so great
Copy !req
1524. that no trouble or expense
must be spared to obtain them.
Copy !req
1525. Washington
has got Boston surrounded.
Copy !req
1526. The problem is, he doesn't
have the big guns necessary
Copy !req
1527. to make the British in Boston
really feel threatened.
Copy !req
1528. He's got some artillery,
but not enough.
Copy !req
1529. They tend to be
smaller field guns.
Copy !req
1530. He knows that at Ticonderoga,
Copy !req
1531. which is several hundred
miles away,
Copy !req
1532. there are more than 80 British
guns that have been captured by
Copy !req
1533. Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.
Copy !req
1534. And he tells Henry Knox,
"Go to Ticonderoga,
Copy !req
1535. bring back whatever you can."
Copy !req
1536. Henry Knox was
a big, amiable, 25-year-old
Copy !req
1537. Boston bookseller
who had learned all he knew
Copy !req
1538. about artillery
and military engineering
Copy !req
1539. from volumes he'd stocked
in his shop
Copy !req
1540. and from his service
in the Boston militia.
Copy !req
1541. He'd earned Washington's
admiration for overseeing
Copy !req
1542. the construction of
fortifications at Roxbury.
Copy !req
1543. Washington,
who's got a very good eye
Copy !req
1544. for subordinate talent,
recognizes that this guy,
Copy !req
1545. he doesn't even have
a uniform at the time,
Copy !req
1546. has something about him that
Washington finds appealing,
Copy !req
1547. and the potential that
Henry Knox evinces
Copy !req
1548. is something that Washington
recognizes immediately.
Copy !req
1549. Before setting out,
Knox wrote a letter
Copy !req
1550. to his pregnant wife Lucy,
who had fled Boston,
Copy !req
1551. leaving her Loyalist parents
and siblings behind.
Copy !req
1552. Keep up
your spirits, my dear girl,
Copy !req
1553. and don't be alarmed when I
tell you that the General
Copy !req
1554. has ordered me to go
to the westward
Copy !req
1555. as far as Ticonderoga.
Copy !req
1556. Don't be afraid, there is
no fighting in the case.
Copy !req
1557. I am going upon business only.
Copy !req
1558. Henry Knox.
Copy !req
1559. Knox made his way
to the captured forts
Copy !req
1560. and found 55 guns
worth transporting—
Copy !req
1561. 39 field pieces, 14 mortars,
and two howitzers—
Copy !req
1562. all weighing more than 64 tons.
Copy !req
1563. Knox's task was
somehow to move them
Copy !req
1564. 300 miles down into
the Hudson Valley,
Copy !req
1565. across the Berkshires,
and all the way to Boston.
Copy !req
1566. He had horses and ox teams
haul the guns overland
Copy !req
1567. to the northern end
of Lake George.
Copy !req
1568. From there, a small fleet of
barges and boats
Copy !req
1569. ferried them more than 30 miles
against howling winds
Copy !req
1570. to Fort George
at the southern end.
Copy !req
1571. I have
made 42 exceeding strong sleds
Copy !req
1572. and have provided
80 yoke of oxen
Copy !req
1573. to drag them
as far as Springfield,
Copy !req
1574. where I shall get fresh cattle
to carry them to camp.
Copy !req
1575. We shall have a fine fall
of snow,
Copy !req
1576. which will make
the carriage easy.
Copy !req
1577. Henry Knox.
Copy !req
1578. The snow
for which Knox hoped
Copy !req
1579. proved unpredictable,
sometimes too light
Copy !req
1580. for his sleds to glide over,
Copy !req
1581. sometimes too heavy
for them to move at all.
Copy !req
1582. Crossing the Berkshires,
oxen hauled the cannon
Copy !req
1583. up and over mountains so tall
that from their summits,
Copy !req
1584. Knox remembered,
"We might almost have seen
Copy !req
1585. all the kingdoms of the earth."
Copy !req
1586. Wherever they went,
farmers and townspeople
Copy !req
1587. turned out to see them.
Copy !req
1588. We reached
Westfield, Massachusetts,
Copy !req
1589. and found that very few, even
among the oldest inhabitants,
Copy !req
1590. had ever seen a cannon.
Copy !req
1591. We were great gainers
by this curiosity.
Copy !req
1592. For while they were employed
in remarking upon our guns,
Copy !req
1593. we were with equal pleasure
discussing the qualities
Copy !req
1594. of their cider and whiskey.
Copy !req
1595. John P. Becker.
Copy !req
1596. As the ox train
lumbered on,
Copy !req
1597. Knox hurried ahead alone
to Cambridge.
Copy !req
1598. He reported to Washington
that over the next few weeks,
Copy !req
1599. all the artillery
he'd been promised
Copy !req
1600. would be at his disposal.
Copy !req
1601. When the last of Knox's cannon
reached Washington's army,
Copy !req
1602. England's hold
on Boston was doomed.
Copy !req
1603. It's one of the
most extraordinary expeditions
Copy !req
1604. in American military history.
Copy !req
1605. He appears back in Cambridge,
says, "Boss, I'm here.
Copy !req
1606. "I've brought back 50 guns.
Copy !req
1607. "They're parked
right outside of town.
Copy !req
1608. They're available
whenever you need them."
Copy !req
1609. Washington says,
"You're my man."
Copy !req
1610. And he puts Knox in charge
of Continental Artillery.
Copy !req
1611. On the night of
March 4th, 1776,
Copy !req
1612. some 3,000 men and 300 teams
Copy !req
1613. worked to put
20 or more heavy guns
Copy !req
1614. in place on Dorchester Heights.
Copy !req
1615. March 5th.
Copy !req
1616. This morning at daybreak,
we discovered two redoubts
Copy !req
1617. on the hills
on Dorchester Point,
Copy !req
1618. and two smaller works
on their flanks.
Copy !req
1619. They were all raised
during the night,
Copy !req
1620. with an expedition equal to
that of the genie
Copy !req
1621. belonging to Aladdin's
wonderful lamp.
Copy !req
1622. From these hills they
commanded the whole town,
Copy !req
1623. so that we must drive them
from their post,
Copy !req
1624. or desert the place.
Copy !req
1625. Unwilling to
sacrifice any more men,
Copy !req
1626. General Howe decided
to leave Boston
Copy !req
1627. for Halifax in Nova Scotia,
where he hoped to regroup.
Copy !req
1628. With him went 10,000 soldiers
and their dependents
Copy !req
1629. as well as 1,100 Loyalist
men, women, and children
Copy !req
1630. who would have to build
new lives in a new place.
Copy !req
1631. Among them were
Henry Knox's in-laws.
Copy !req
1632. "I have lost,"
his wife Lucy wrote,
Copy !req
1633. "my father, mother,
brother, and sisters."
Copy !req
1634. How horrid is this war?
Copy !req
1635. Brother against brother and
the parent against the child.
Copy !req
1636. Who were the first
promoters of it, I know not.
Copy !req
1637. But God knows.
Copy !req
1638. And I fear they will feel
the weight of His vengeance.
Copy !req
1639. Tis pity, the little time we
have to spend in this world,
Copy !req
1640. we cannot enjoy ourselves
and our friends,
Copy !req
1641. but must be devising means
to destroy each other.
Copy !req
1642. Lucy Knox.
Copy !req
1643. With the evacuation
of Boston, no British garrison
Copy !req
1644. now remained anywhere
in the rebellious colonies.
Copy !req
1645. Serena Zabin: I think
it surprises everybody
Copy !req
1646. that the Patriots are
having some successes.
Copy !req
1647. So much so that everyone's
convinced that it's either
Copy !req
1648. the support of God
or the virtue of the cause
Copy !req
1649. that is helping them win.
Copy !req
1650. One of their favorite metaphors
is the Battle of Jericho.
Copy !req
1651. They're sure that all it takes
Copy !req
1652. is for this army that has
right on its side
Copy !req
1653. to show up and blow a trumpet,
Copy !req
1654. and the walls are just
going to fall down.
Copy !req
1655. Some Americans
believed the war was over.
Copy !req
1656. The Massachusetts legislature
thanked George Washington
Copy !req
1657. for his service
and wished him
Copy !req
1658. "Peace and Satisfaction of Mind"
in his retirement.
Copy !req
1659. But Washington knew better.
Copy !req
1660. He informed Congress
that he would
Copy !req
1661. "immediately repair to New York,
with the remainder of the Army."
Copy !req
1662. He was sure that Howe's
next move would be to attack
Copy !req
1663. that strategically
important port.
Copy !req
1664. By mid-April, 1776,
he and his wife Martha,
Copy !req
1665. and several members
of their household,
Copy !req
1666. were in residence there.
Copy !req
1667. Meanwhile, Congress sent
a Connecticut businessman
Copy !req
1668. named Silas Deane to Paris
Copy !req
1669. to secretly buy
munitions and supplies—
Copy !req
1670. and to look into the possibility
Copy !req
1671. of forging an alliance
with France.
Copy !req
1672. Two questions, really,
conjoin at this point.
Copy !req
1673. One question is,
if we're going to
Copy !req
1674. make ourselves independent,
Copy !req
1675. if we're going to
somehow create a nation,
Copy !req
1676. which is a truly novel
and destabilizing concept,
Copy !req
1677. how are we going to do that?
We have absolutely
Copy !req
1678. no means with which to do so.
Copy !req
1679. So, we will have to enlist
the aid of a foreign power.
Copy !req
1680. And then comes the question
of a Declaration.
Copy !req
1681. And the question is,
which needs to happen first.
Copy !req
1682. Independence is the only bond
Copy !req
1683. that can
tie and keep us together.
Copy !req
1684. Every day convinces us
of its necessity.
Copy !req
1685. Instead of gazing at each other
Copy !req
1686. with suspicious or
doubtful curiosity,
Copy !req
1687. let each of us hold out
to his neighbor
Copy !req
1688. the hearty hand of friendship.
Copy !req
1689. And let no other name be
heard among us, than those of
Copy !req
1690. a good citizen;
an open and resolute friend;
Copy !req
1691. and a virtuous supporter
of the Rights of Mankind,
Copy !req
1692. and of the Free and
Independent States of America.
Copy !req
1693. Thomas Paine.
Copy !req
1694. Language cannot describe,
Copy !req
1695. nor imagination paint,
the scenes of misery
Copy !req
1696. the soldiery endure,
Copy !req
1697. continually groaning and calling
for relief, but in vain.
Copy !req
1698. The most shocking
of all spectacles
Copy !req
1699. was to see a large barn crowded
full of men with this disorder,
Copy !req
1700. many of which could not
see, speak, or walk.
Copy !req
1701. Dr. Lewis Beebe.
Copy !req
1702. That spring,
colonists on both sides
Copy !req
1703. of the fighting were ravaged
by a common enemy:
Copy !req
1704. "Variola major"--smallpox.
Copy !req
1705. Highly infectious,
the virus had scarred,
Copy !req
1706. blinded, or killed hundreds of
thousands in North America
Copy !req
1707. over the past 21/2 centuries.
Copy !req
1708. The American Revolution
coincided
Copy !req
1709. with a continent-wide epidemic
that would last for 7 years
Copy !req
1710. and take some 100,000
more lives—Black, White,
Copy !req
1711. as well as Native American.
Copy !req
1712. Colin Calloway: When armies
are marching back and forth,
Copy !req
1713. this is prime environment
for the spread of diseases.
Copy !req
1714. And one of the largest,
Copy !req
1715. or at least best documented,
smallpox epidemics,
Copy !req
1716. and it may be epidemics, plural,
Copy !req
1717. happens at the time
of the American Revolution.
Copy !req
1718. Smallpox was the dread
disease of humanity.
Copy !req
1719. There were just
two weapons against smallpox:
Copy !req
1720. isolating its victims to keep
them from infecting others
Copy !req
1721. or inoculating the still
unaffected by deliberately
Copy !req
1722. implanting live virus
into an incision
Copy !req
1723. in hopes that the infection
they contracted
Copy !req
1724. would neither prove fatal
nor infect anyone else
Copy !req
1725. before it conferred immunity.
Copy !req
1726. George Washington knew
the disease firsthand;
Copy !req
1727. he'd been permanently scarred
by it as a young man.
Copy !req
1728. But he initially rejected
inoculation for his soldiers:
Copy !req
1729. if he imposed it universally,
his whole army
Copy !req
1730. would have been
incapacitated for weeks;
Copy !req
1731. if he employed it piecemeal
Copy !req
1732. and just one still-infectious
inoculated soldier
Copy !req
1733. was released too early,
Copy !req
1734. he might infect
his whole company.
Copy !req
1735. Instead, anyone showing
smallpox symptoms
Copy !req
1736. was isolated
in a special hospital
Copy !req
1737. with guards posted
to keep visitors out.
Copy !req
1738. Meanwhile, aboard Lord Dunmore's
Copy !req
1739. floating city
in the Chesapeake Bay,
Copy !req
1740. the men of his Ethiopian
Regiment and their families,
Copy !req
1741. packed together on
small, segregated vessels,
Copy !req
1742. were without immunity
and not inoculated
Copy !req
1743. until the disease was already
raging among them.
Copy !req
1744. So was typhus.
Copy !req
1745. The fever
has proved a very malignant one
Copy !req
1746. and has carried off
an incredible number
Copy !req
1747. of our people,
especially the Blacks.
Copy !req
1748. Had it not been for
this horrid disorder,
Copy !req
1749. I am satisfied
I should have had 2,000 Blacks
Copy !req
1750. with whom I should have
had no doubt
Copy !req
1751. of penetrating into the heart
of this colony.
Copy !req
1752. Lord Dunmore.
Copy !req
1753. In late May, Dunmore
moved his ramshackle fleet
Copy !req
1754. north to Gwynn's Island,
lured there by the presence
Copy !req
1755. of some 400 cows
with which he hoped
Copy !req
1756. to help feed his followers.
Copy !req
1757. But smallpox and typhus
came with him.
Copy !req
1758. Runaways continued to find
their way to Dunmore,
Copy !req
1759. 6 or 8 a day—and died
almost as fast.
Copy !req
1760. Eventually, under fire from
Copy !req
1761. Virginia militiamen onshore,
Copy !req
1762. Dunmore and his fleet
would be forced
Copy !req
1763. to sail away from the island.
Copy !req
1764. They left behind hundreds
Copy !req
1765. of sick African-American
men, women, and children.
Copy !req
1766. A Virginian who reached
the island a day or two later
Copy !req
1767. never forgot what he saw.
Copy !req
1768. On our arrival,
Copy !req
1769. we were struck with horror
Copy !req
1770. at the number of dead bodies,
Copy !req
1771. in a state of putrefaction,
Copy !req
1772. without a shovelful of earth
upon them;
Copy !req
1773. others gasping for life;
Copy !req
1774. and some had crawled
to the water's edge,
Copy !req
1775. who could only make known their
distress by beckoning to us.
Copy !req
1776. Such a scene of cruelty
my eyes never beheld;
Copy !req
1777. for which the authors never can
make atonement in this world.
Copy !req
1778. Dunmore's experiment
in emancipation
Copy !req
1779. had ended in disaster.
Copy !req
1780. But over the 7 years of
fighting that followed,
Copy !req
1781. tens of thousands
of enslaved people
Copy !req
1782. would flee to the British,
Copy !req
1783. believing that
the King's representatives
Copy !req
1784. were more likely than
the Revolutionaries
Copy !req
1785. to fulfill their hopes
for liberty.
Copy !req
1786. Gordon-Reed: Opting
for freedom is a gamble.
Copy !req
1787. And it makes people
take all kinds of risks.
Copy !req
1788. The notion that you would
be in a situation
Copy !req
1789. where your children,
and your children's children,
Copy !req
1790. and your children's children's
children would be enslaved,
Copy !req
1791. I can understand wanting
to risk death to prevent that.
Copy !req
1792. That same spring,
smallpox would end
Copy !req
1793. the American dream of
capturing Canada, as well.
Copy !req
1794. For more than 4 months,
Copy !req
1795. Benedict Arnold,
now promoted to general,
Copy !req
1796. had continued to blockade
Quebec City,
Copy !req
1797. hoping he could mount
a successful second assault
Copy !req
1798. before spring temperatures
thawed the ice
Copy !req
1799. blocking the St. Lawrence,
Copy !req
1800. and the British
could land reinforcements.
Copy !req
1801. But by May, nearly
half of those Americans
Copy !req
1802. who remained were sick.
Copy !req
1803. Then, Royal Navy warships
and transports arrived,
Copy !req
1804. filled with
thousands of fresh troops—
Copy !req
1805. and thousands more
were on the way.
Copy !req
1806. The Americans took flight.
Copy !req
1807. British forces, led by
General Guy Carleton
Copy !req
1808. and General John Burgoyne,
pursued them—
Copy !req
1809. soon supported by
Native American allies.
Copy !req
1810. Darren Bonaparte:
For us, my people
Copy !req
1811. living on the St. Lawrence,
Copy !req
1812. the British rallied us and said,
Copy !req
1813. "We've got Americans invading.
Copy !req
1814. They're going to
kill all of you."
Copy !req
1815. We sent 100 of our warriors
to help the British
Copy !req
1816. drive the Americans out of
the Montreal area.
Copy !req
1817. One by one,
the Americans
Copy !req
1818. abandoned their outposts.
Copy !req
1819. Reinforcements added to
their numbers,
Copy !req
1820. but 3/4 of the newcomers
had no immunity to smallpox.
Copy !req
1821. The road ran alongside
Copy !req
1822. of the river opposite
the city of Montreal,
Copy !req
1823. and we could plainly see
the red-coated
Copy !req
1824. British soldiers
on the other shore.
Copy !req
1825. So close were they upon us
that if we had not retreated
Copy !req
1826. as we did, all would have
been prisoners,
Copy !req
1827. for they were in numbers
as 6-to-our-one,
Copy !req
1828. and we, moreover,
nearly half-dead
Copy !req
1829. with sickness and fatigue
and lack of clothing.
Copy !req
1830. John Greenwood.
Copy !req
1831. The young fifer
John Greenwood
Copy !req
1832. was among those reinforcements
Copy !req
1833. when Arnold ordered his men
to abandon Montreal.
Copy !req
1834. Nearly 2,000 fell ill.
Copy !req
1835. Eventually they crowded onto
lie aux Noix,
Copy !req
1836. waiting their turn to be ferried
south on Lake Champlain
Copy !req
1837. to Crown Point and Ticonderoga.
Copy !req
1838. 20 to 60 men fell ill
every day, and 15 to 20 died.
Copy !req
1839. Two great pits were dug
Copy !req
1840. in which the dead were heaped
each evening,
Copy !req
1841. one man recalled,
Copy !req
1842. "with no other covering but
the rags in which they died."
Copy !req
1843. By the end of June, 10 months
Copy !req
1844. after the American invasion
of Canada began,
Copy !req
1845. it was over.
Copy !req
1846. 12,000 Americans had taken part.
Copy !req
1847. Some 5,000 of them
had been killed,
Copy !req
1848. wounded, taken prisoner,
Copy !req
1849. died of disease, or deserted.
Copy !req
1850. The survivors were now encamped
Copy !req
1851. back on the shores
of Lake Champlain
Copy !req
1852. where the campaign had started.
Copy !req
1853. Our army at Crown Point
Copy !req
1854. is an object of wretchedness
Copy !req
1855. to fill a human mind
with horror.
Copy !req
1856. Our misfortunes in Canada
are enough
Copy !req
1857. to melt a heart of stone.
Copy !req
1858. The smallpox is 10 times
more terrible
Copy !req
1859. than Britons, Canadians,
and Indians together.
Copy !req
1860. John Adams.
Copy !req
1861. "Our affairs
are hastening to a crisis,"
Copy !req
1862. John Hancock, the president
of the Continental Congress
Copy !req
1863. warned, "and the
approaching campaign
Copy !req
1864. "will in all probability
Copy !req
1865. determine forever
the fate of America."
Copy !req
1866. France had by now
quietly pledged
Copy !req
1867. to provide some arms and money—
Copy !req
1868. but open support
would require the Congress
Copy !req
1869. to cut all ties to Britain.
Copy !req
1870. "Every day," John Adams
wrote to a friend,
Copy !req
1871. independence "rolls in
upon us like a torrent."
Copy !req
1872. On May 15th, Congress
called upon all 13 colonies
Copy !req
1873. to form their own governments.
Copy !req
1874. By adopting new constitutions,
the colonies would
Copy !req
1875. turn themselves into
sovereign States.
Copy !req
1876. The next day, delegates
learned that the British,
Copy !req
1877. desperate and without
European allies,
Copy !req
1878. had hired thousands of
foreign troops
Copy !req
1879. to help crush the rebellion.
Copy !req
1880. Some German princes had agreed
to provide them—for a price.
Copy !req
1881. Most came from Hessen-Kassel
and Hessen-Hanau,
Copy !req
1882. so the Americans would
call them all "Hessians."
Copy !req
1883. "O Britons," one
Rhode Islander lamented,
Copy !req
1884. "how art you fallen
that you hire foreigners
Copy !req
1885. to cut your children's throats."
Copy !req
1886. The British nation
have proceeded
Copy !req
1887. to the last extremity.
Copy !req
1888. And we should expect
a severe trial this summer,
Copy !req
1889. with Britons, Hessians,
Indians, Negroes,
Copy !req
1890. and every other butcher
the gracious King of Britain
Copy !req
1891. can hire against us.
Copy !req
1892. Josiah Bartlett, New Hampshire.
Copy !req
1893. Friederike Baer:
The Americans are using
Copy !req
1894. the British Government's
decision
Copy !req
1895. to hire foreign soldiers
Copy !req
1896. in the war
against British subjects,
Copy !req
1897. if they look at this as
a civil war to some extent.
Copy !req
1898. They're using this as a tool
Copy !req
1899. to rile up
resistance against Britain,
Copy !req
1900. to mobilize men to, basically,
Copy !req
1901. take up arms
against these invaders,
Copy !req
1902. and ultimately
to support independence.
Copy !req
1903. On June 7th,
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia
Copy !req
1904. introduced resolutions
in Congress declaring that
Copy !req
1905. "these United Colonies
are & of right
Copy !req
1906. "ought to be
free & independent States
Copy !req
1907. absolved from all allegiance
to the British Crown."
Copy !req
1908. Meanwhile, a letter to
a Pennsylvania newspaper
Copy !req
1909. signed only "Republicus"
Copy !req
1910. declared that it was time
for independent Americans
Copy !req
1911. "to call themselves
by some name"--
Copy !req
1912. and proposed
the "United States of America."
Copy !req
1913. A 5-man committee was named
to produce a document
Copy !req
1914. setting forth
the reasons for making
Copy !req
1915. such a momentous decision.
Copy !req
1916. 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson
of Virginia
Copy !req
1917. was assigned to write
the first draft.
Copy !req
1918. He would draw from Aristotle,
Cicero, John Locke,
Copy !req
1919. and the Virginia
Declaration of Rights,
Copy !req
1920. written by his friend
George Mason.
Copy !req
1921. But his goal, he said, was
to distill what he called
Copy !req
1922. "an expression
of the American mind."
Copy !req
1923. He worked in a rented room
on Market Street,
Copy !req
1924. fueled by cups of tea
brought to him
Copy !req
1925. by his 14-year-old valet,
Robert Hemings—
Copy !req
1926. the son of an enslaved servant,
Elizabeth Hemings,
Copy !req
1927. and Jefferson's father-in-law.
Copy !req
1928. When in the course
of human events,
Copy !req
1929. it becomes necessary
for one people
Copy !req
1930. to dissolve the political bands
Copy !req
1931. which have connected them
with another,
Copy !req
1932. and to assume among
the powers of the earth
Copy !req
1933. the separate and equal station
Copy !req
1934. to which the laws of nature
Copy !req
1935. and of nature's God
entitle them,
Copy !req
1936. a decent respect to
the opinions of mankind
Copy !req
1937. requires that they should
declare the causes
Copy !req
1938. which impel them
to the separation.
Copy !req
1939. We hold these truths
to be self-evident:
Copy !req
1940. that all men are created equal;
Copy !req
1941. that they are endowed
by their Creator
Copy !req
1942. with certain inalienable rights;
Copy !req
1943. that among these
are life, liberty,
Copy !req
1944. and the pursuit of happiness.
Copy !req
1945. Everything
that we believe in
Copy !req
1946. comes out of the Revolution.
Copy !req
1947. Our ideas of liberty, equality,
Copy !req
1948. it's the defining event
of our history.
Copy !req
1949. "All men are created equal."
Copy !req
1950. That is the most famous
and important phrase
Copy !req
1951. in our history.
Copy !req
1952. If we don't celebrate it,
we have
Copy !req
1953. no reason to be a people.
Copy !req
1954. And Lincoln knew that.
Copy !req
1955. And that's why he says,
Copy !req
1956. "All honor to Jefferson."
Copy !req
1957. Thomas Jefferson
was proposing something
Copy !req
1958. altogether new and radical
in the world.
Copy !req
1959. It was the American people's
"right," he argued,
Copy !req
1960. it was "their duty"--
to "throw off" tyranny
Copy !req
1961. and learn to govern themselves.
Copy !req
1962. That to secure these rights,
Copy !req
1963. governments are instituted
among men,
Copy !req
1964. deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed,
Copy !req
1965. that whenever
any form of government
Copy !req
1966. becomes destructive
of these ends,
Copy !req
1967. it is the right of the people
to alter or to abolish it,
Copy !req
1968. and to institute new government,
Copy !req
1969. laying its foundation
on such principles
Copy !req
1970. and organizing its powers
in such form,
Copy !req
1971. as to them shall seem
most likely
Copy !req
1972. to effect their safety
and happiness.
Copy !req
1973. Since no one had
authority over anyone else
Copy !req
1974. by birthright,
Jefferson was affirming
Copy !req
1975. that all legitimate power came
from the people themselves—
Copy !req
1976. even if he, the owner of
hundreds of human beings,
Copy !req
1977. could never make that truth
a reality in his own life.
Copy !req
1978. Gordon-Reed:
His relationship to slavery
Copy !req
1979. is foundational.
Copy !req
1980. From the beginning to the end,
this institution
Copy !req
1981. bounded his life, even though
he knew it was wrong.
Copy !req
1982. How could you know something
is wrong and still do it?
Copy !req
1983. Well, that is the human
question for all of us.
Copy !req
1984. The Declaration
of Independence,
Copy !req
1985. we remember it, primarily,
Copy !req
1986. from its opening preamble,
Copy !req
1987. the most famous sentences
in our history,
Copy !req
1988. quoted ever since as a mandate
Copy !req
1989. for expanding liberty
for other people.
Copy !req
1990. But most of the document
is something else.
Copy !req
1991. It is a list of crimes
Copy !req
1992. allegedly committed by the King.
Copy !req
1993. That means that
when the Patriot leaders
Copy !req
1994. decide that they
want independence,
Copy !req
1995. then they must persuade
their people in the colonies,
Copy !req
1996. now states, that the King has
forfeited his just authority.
Copy !req
1997. The purpose of the
Declaration of Independence
Copy !req
1998. is to declare the King is
no longer sovereign.
Copy !req
1999. Throughout history,
most people
Copy !req
2000. had been subjects,
Copy !req
2001. living under authoritarian rule.
Copy !req
2002. "All experience hath shewn,"
Jefferson wrote,
Copy !req
2003. "that mankind are
more disposed to suffer,
Copy !req
2004. while evils are sufferable."
Copy !req
2005. George III himself, not the
Parliament, was now the enemy.
Copy !req
2006. The Declaration denounced him
Copy !req
2007. as "unfit to be the ruler
of a free people,"
Copy !req
2008. guilty of 18
"injuries and usurpations,"
Copy !req
2009. all meant to establish,
it read, "absolute tyranny."
Copy !req
2010. It charged that he had invaded
"the rights of the people,"
Copy !req
2011. sent "swarms of officers
to harass" them,
Copy !req
2012. imposed a standing army
in peacetime,
Copy !req
2013. levied taxes without
the colonists' consent,
Copy !req
2014. and was now
waging war against them.
Copy !req
2015. Dunmore's Proclamation
had deepened fears
Copy !req
2016. of slave uprisings,
Copy !req
2017. and reports that
the governor of Canada
Copy !req
2018. had enlisted Native people
to resist the invasion there
Copy !req
2019. further inflamed Congress.
Copy !req
2020. In the 18th and final charge
against the King,
Copy !req
2021. Jefferson did all he could
to exploit their fury.
Copy !req
2022. He has excited
Copy !req
2023. domestic insurrections
amongst us
Copy !req
2024. and has endeavored to bring on
Copy !req
2025. the inhabitants
of our frontiers,
Copy !req
2026. the merciless Indian Savages,
Copy !req
2027. whose known rule of warfare
Copy !req
2028. is an undistinguished
destruction
Copy !req
2029. of all ages, sexes,
and conditions.
Copy !req
2030. Proclaiming
the equality of "all men"
Copy !req
2031. was a genuinely
revolutionary idea,
Copy !req
2032. but that equality was not yet
extended to Native Americans,
Copy !req
2033. enslaved or free Blacks,
the poor, or any woman.
Copy !req
2034. Jefferson's original list of
"injuries" had also included
Copy !req
2035. the charge that George III
was somehow responsible
Copy !req
2036. for the Atlantic slave trade.
Copy !req
2037. He called it "cruel war
against human nature itself."
Copy !req
2038. The other delegates refused
to adopt that charge.
Copy !req
2039. The Declaration of
Independence was formally
Copy !req
2040. ratified on July 4th, 1776—
Copy !req
2041. just 1,337 words
that ended with the phrase,
Copy !req
2042. "We mutually pledge
to each other
Copy !req
2043. our lives, our fortunes,
and our sacred honor."
Copy !req
2044. When Rhode Island delegate
Stephen Hopkins,
Copy !req
2045. who had palsy,
signed the document,
Copy !req
2046. he is said to have remarked,
Copy !req
2047. "My hand trembles,
but my heart does not."
Copy !req
2048. It was first read aloud
to a cheering crowd
Copy !req
2049. in the State House yard
at Philadelphia on July 8th.
Copy !req
2050. It was soon published
in 29 newspapers,
Copy !req
2051. and greeted by parades and
celebratory volleys of gunfire
Copy !req
2052. throughout the newly
United States.
Copy !req
2053. Boston, Massachusetts—
Copy !req
2054. when Colonel Crafts
read the proclamation,
Copy !req
2055. great attention was given
to every word,
Copy !req
2056. and every face appeared joyful.
Copy !req
2057. The King's arms were taken
down from the State House
Copy !req
2058. and every vestige of him
from every place
Copy !req
2059. in which it appeared
and burned in King Street.
Copy !req
2060. Thus ends royal authority
in this state,
Copy !req
2061. and all the people
shall say, "Amen."
Copy !req
2062. Abigail Adams.
Copy !req
2063. On July 9th,
in New York,
Copy !req
2064. General Washington ordered the
Declaration read to his troops.
Copy !req
2065. Hearing the list of
George III's alleged crimes
Copy !req
2066. so angered the men
that a number of them
Copy !req
2067. raced down Broadway
to Bowling Green,
Copy !req
2068. tied ropes to the statue
of the King,
Copy !req
2069. and pulled it to the ground.
Copy !req
2070. Pieces of the shattered statue
were dispatched by wagon
Copy !req
2071. to Litchfield, Connecticut,
where Patriots melted
Copy !req
2072. the gilded lead into bullets—
42,088 of them.
Copy !req
2073. Far to the north
at Fort Ticonderoga,
Copy !req
2074. the battered survivors of
the failed invasion of Canada
Copy !req
2075. were assembled
so that the Declaration
Copy !req
2076. could be read to them.
Copy !req
2077. When it was over,
an eyewitness said,
Copy !req
2078. "The language of every man's
countenance was,
Copy !req
2079. "Now we are a people;
Copy !req
2080. we have a name among
the states of the world."
Copy !req
2081. Among those who heard
the Declaration
Copy !req
2082. read at Ticonderoga was
private Lemuel Haynes,
Copy !req
2083. a free African-American from
Granville, Massachusetts.
Copy !req
2084. He understood right away
what it might mean
Copy !req
2085. for people like him—and wrote
an essay entitled:
Copy !req
2086. "Liberty Further Extended."
Copy !req
2087. Liberty is a jewel
Copy !req
2088. which was handed down to man
Copy !req
2089. from the cabinet of heaven.
Copy !req
2090. It hath pleased God to make
"of one blood all nations
Copy !req
2091. of men for to dwell upon
the face of the earth."
Copy !req
2092. And as all are of one species,
therefore, we may
Copy !req
2093. reasonably conclude that liberty
is equally as precious
Copy !req
2094. to a Black man as it is
to a White one,
Copy !req
2095. and bondage
equally as intolerable
Copy !req
2096. to the one as it is
to the other.
Copy !req
2097. Maggie Blackhawk: The
Declaration of Independence
Copy !req
2098. was deeply significant
to people at the margins.
Copy !req
2099. It gave them a space
of moral argument.
Copy !req
2100. It gave them
a space of legal argument
Copy !req
2101. that could be leveraged to
reshape United States democracy
Copy !req
2102. and become a part of it.
Copy !req
2103. And we are going to push
every lever we had
Copy !req
2104. to be able to make
this democracy real,
Copy !req
2105. and to make these visions,
these values,
Copy !req
2106. real rather than hypocritical.
Copy !req
2107. London,
"The Gentleman's Magazine."
Copy !req
2108. The American Declaration
reflects no honor
Copy !req
2109. upon either the erudition
or honesty of its authors.
Copy !req
2110. "We hold," they say, "these
truths to be self-evident.
Copy !req
2111. That all men are created equal"?
Copy !req
2112. Every plowman knows that
they are not created equal.
Copy !req
2113. It certainly is no reason
why the Americans
Copy !req
2114. should turn rebels.
Copy !req
2115. King George was
determined that the Americans
Copy !req
2116. not be permitted to break away.
Copy !req
2117. He believes, and his
senior ministers believe,
Copy !req
2118. that this slippery slope
of an American insurrection
Copy !req
2119. will only lead to
Copy !req
2120. the dissolution of
the British Empire.
Copy !req
2121. The sun never sets on
the British Empire.
Copy !req
2122. That phrase was coined in 1773.
Copy !req
2123. And George is determined
it's never going to set
Copy !req
2124. as long as he is the monarch.
Copy !req
2125. And the King
had sent a great fleet
Copy !req
2126. to New York—with
thousands of troops—
Copy !req
2127. to prevent that
from ever happening.
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