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2. Support your local PBS station.
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3. The plan
laid down for our education
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4. was entirely broken in upon
by the war.
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5. Instead of morning lessons,
we were to knit stockings;
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6. instead of embroidering,
to make homespun garments;
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7. and in place of the music
of the harpsichord,
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8. to listen to the loud,
clanging trumpet
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9. and never-ceasing drum,
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10. for in every direction
that we traveled—
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11. and heaven knows we left but
little of Virginia unexplored—
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12. we heard naught
but the din of war.
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13. Our late peaceful country
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14. now became a scene
of terror and confusion.
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15. Betsy Ambler.
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16. Maya Jasanoff: Our images
of the American Revolution
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17. tend to be images of men in wigs
in wood-paneled rooms,
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18. and that helps
to reinforce an image
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19. of the American Revolution
as just a war about ideals.
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20. I think that we really
do a disservice to... history
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21. and to the experiences of
the people who lived through it
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22. when we paper over the violence
of the American Revolution
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23. with this set
of very idealized images
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24. that we have
of the Founding Fathers
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25. signing documents
in Philadelphia.
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26. The United States
came out of violence.
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27. I peeped out at the bay
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28. and saw something resembling
a wood of pine trees trimmed.
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29. I declare at my noticing this
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30. that I could not
believe my eyes,
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31. but judge you of my surprise
when, in about 10 minutes,
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32. the whole bay
was full of shipping
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33. as ever it could be.
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34. I do declare that I thought
all London was afloat.
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35. Private Daniel McCurtin.
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36. On Saturday morning,
June 29, 1776,
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37. Colonel Henry Knox,
whose artillery had convinced
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38. the British to flee Boston,
was breakfasting
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39. with his wife Lucy
on the second floor
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40. of a commandeered mansion
at Number 1 Broadway
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41. when he, too, spotted
the British ships
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42. that Private McCurtin had seen
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43. as they approached
New York Harbor unopposed.
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44. My God,
you can scarcely conceive
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45. of the distress and anxiety—
the city in an uproar,
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46. the alarm guns firing,
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47. the troops repairing
to their posts.
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48. Martha Washington
and other officers' wives,
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49. including Lucy Knox
and her infant daughter,
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50. were sent away from the city
for their safety.
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51. The Royal Navy
anchored off Staten Island
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52. and began to disembark
some 10,000 British regulars.
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53. Crowds of local Loyalists
cheered them
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54. as they stepped ashore.
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55. Stephen Conway: The Royal Navy,
as one contemporary put it,
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56. was the "Canvas Wings
of the British State."
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57. It enabled the British
to appear off the coastline
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58. almost anywhere unhindered.
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59. We expect a very bloody summer
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60. at New York,
as it is here, I presume,
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61. the grand efforts of the enemy
will be aimed,
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62. and I am sorry to say
that we are not,
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63. either in men or arms,
prepared for it.
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64. George Washington.
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65. By the summer of 1776,
the Revolution,
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66. which began as a quarrel over
the rights of British subjects,
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67. had become a war
for American independence,
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68. and as that revolution spread
throughout the colonies,
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69. thousands of Americans,
patriots and Loyalists alike,
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70. would be driven
from their homes.
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71. 11-year-old Betsy Ambler
of Yorktown, Virginia,
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72. and her family had been
among the earliest refugees.
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73. Her mother suffered from what
Betsy called "a nervous malady."
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74. In 1775,
the constant talk of war
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75. and Yorktown's vulnerability
to an attack by water
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76. had so terrified her mother
that her father decided
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77. to move the family, Betsy said,
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78. "and seek a safe retreat
for her."
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79. The Amblers were more fortunate
than most displaced families.
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80. They and their relatives
owned farms and plantations
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81. worked by enslaved people
scattered across the state.
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82. They settled first
in a small house
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83. in the tiny village
of New Castle in Hanover County.
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84. It was there that Betsy's mother
gave birth
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85. to another daughter—Lucy.
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86. Since Lucy "made her appearance
just after the declaration,"
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87. Betsy recalled, their father
called her
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88. "his only independent child."
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89. Now a fully committed patriot,
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90. Betsy's father
had lost his paid position
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91. as Collector of Royal Customs,
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92. and a Royal Navy blockade would
soon choke off the shipping
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93. on which his profits
as a merchant had been made.
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94. The war,
though it was to involve
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95. my immediate family in poverty
and perplexity of every kind,
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96. was for the foundation
of independence
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97. and prosperity for my country,
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98. and what sacrifice would not
an American, a Virginian,
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99. at the earliest age, have made
for so desirable an end?
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100. Betsy Ambler.
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101. What to do
with this city puzzles me.
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102. It is so encircled
with deep, navigable water
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103. that whoever commands the sea
must command the town.
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104. General Charles Lee.
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105. George Washington
had assigned
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106. a former British officer,
General Charles Lee,
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107. to fortify New York City
and its surroundings.
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108. The Patriot commanders feared
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109. they could not hold the town
for long
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110. but hoped to make
the British pay
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111. the highest possible price
for its capture.
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112. Since no one could say where or
when British attacks would come,
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113. Washington had been forced
to scatter his army
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114. and its 121 cannon
all around the harbor.
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115. Rick Atkinson:
New York is an archipelago.
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116. It's a confluence of islands.
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117. It's a problem.
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118. If you don't control
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119. the naval approaches
in and around New York,
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120. you cannot properly
defend New York.
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121. New York was one
of the best natural harbors
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122. on the Atlantic seaboard,
and although the town
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123. still occupied
just a single square mile
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124. at Manhattan's southern tip,
it was the second-largest city
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125. in the newly created
United States
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126. and the gateway
to the Hudson River.
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127. If the British commander,
General William Howe,
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128. could capture it,
his forces would be free
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129. to ascend the river and
divide rebellious New England
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130. from the rest of the states.
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131. Nathaniel Philbrick:
This whole war, in many ways,
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132. is a water campaign.
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133. It's who controls the coast,
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134. but it's also who controls
the rivers and the lakes.
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135. This is where
the fighting would be,
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136. wherever water
provided you with a way
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137. to get into
the interior of the country.
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138. Both the British
and the Americans
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139. had considered New York
and the farming communities
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140. that bordered it
to be Loyalist strongholds.
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141. For weeks, Patriots
had prowled the streets,
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142. roughing up Loyalists.
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143. Thousands fled with what
belongings they could carry.
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144. Hundreds more were arrested.
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145. Several dozen were hauled away
to Simsbury, Connecticut,
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146. and imprisoned
in an abandoned copper mine
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147. 70 feet below the Earth
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148. that the Patriots called
the Catacomb of Loyalty.
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149. A Committee for Detecting
and Defeating Conspiracies,
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150. chaired by the attorney
John Jay,
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151. held daily inquisitions.
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152. 40 men, including
the Mayor of New York City,
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153. were jailed for plotting to
assassinate George Washington.
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154. A member of Washington's
own personal guard
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155. was found to be involved
and hanged
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156. while 4 brigades of troops
looked on.
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157. The city had been home to
25,000 people.
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158. By the summer of 1776,
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159. just 5,000 of them would remain,
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160. and those Loyalists
left behind
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161. had learned to keep
their opinions to themselves.
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162. To see the vast number
of houses shut up,
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163. one would think the city
almost evacuated.
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164. Troops are daily coming in.
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165. They break open the houses
they find shut up
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166. to quarter themselves.
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167. Necessity knows no law.
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168. Continental soldiers
and militiamen from 10 states
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169. continued to stream into town.
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170. Eventually, there would be
more than 20,000 of them
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171. in and around New York.
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172. They moved
into abandoned houses,
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173. tore up parquet floors
for firewood,
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174. and hurled refuse
from the windows.
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175. Despite a 10 P.M. curfew,
troops flocked to a warren
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176. of West Side brothels built
on land owned by Trinity Church.
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177. Customers called it
the Holy Ground.
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178. On the afternoon of July 12th,
2 British warships
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179. slipped their anchors
off Staten Island,
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180. moved into the harbor
past the tip of Manhattan,
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181. and began sailing
up the Hudson.
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182. The cannon from the city
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183. did but very little execution,
as not more than half the number
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184. of the men belonging to them
were present.
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185. The others were at their cups,
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186. and at their usual
place of abode
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187. on the Holy Ground.
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188. Lieutenant Isaac Banks.
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189. Later that same evening,
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190. a still-larger British fleet,
more than 100 vessels,
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191. began streaming
through the narrows
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192. and into New York Harbor.
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193. Its commander
was General William Howe's
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194. elder brother
Vice Admiral Richard Howe.
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195. Both had once expressed
sympathy for the colonists,
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196. and both had been empowered
to negotiate with rebel leaders
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197. and issue pardons in hopes
of avoiding further bloodshed,
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198. but while the Admiral
was crossing the Atlantic,
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199. Congress had declared
American independence.
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200. We learned
the deplorable situation
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201. of His Majesty's
faithful subjects,
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202. that they were hunted after
and shot at
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203. in the woods and swamps
to which they had fled
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204. to avoid the savage fury
of the rebels.
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205. We also heard that the Congress
had now announced the colonies
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206. to be independent states.
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207. That proclaims the villainy and
madness of these deluded people.
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208. To my dear Betsey, my wife—
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209. It is hard to be quite happy
when one full half, at least,
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210. of both body and soul
is left at home,
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211. but, believe it,
I am not more mortal here
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212. in the neighborhood
of the British cannon
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213. than I should be was I happy
in your peaceful, loving arms.
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214. Till my God calls me,
I am immortal.
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215. Philip Vickers Fithian.
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216. Philip Vickers Fithian
of Cohansey, New Jersey,
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217. was a newly married 28-year-old
Presbyterian clergyman,
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218. recently appointed chaplain
of a militia brigade.
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219. He was a graduate
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220. of the College of New Jersey
at Princeton,
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221. where his classmates
had included
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222. Aaron Burr and James Madison.
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223. After college,
he spent a year as a tutor
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224. on a Virginia plantation,
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225. where, seeing the inhuman
cruelty of slavery up close,
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226. he introduced the owner's
children to the work
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227. of the enslaved poet
Phillis Wheatley.
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228. In New York, Fithian found
himself sleeping on the floor
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229. of a Loyalist's abandoned home,
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230. conducting prayer meetings
twice a day
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231. and afterwards
visiting the hospitals
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232. filled with men
dying from dysentery.
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233. Amen.
Amen.
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234. Here I must daily visit
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235. among many
in a contagious disorder,
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236. but I am not discouraged
nor dispirited.
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237. I am willing to hazard
and suffer equally
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238. with my countrymen
since I have a firm conviction
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239. that I am in my duty.
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240. Friederike Baer:
When we really take a look
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241. at what these regiments
were like,
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242. we see a lot of individuals
who are not carrying arms—
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243. including women,
including children,
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244. including servants,
medical personnel, chaplains—
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245. and there are all kinds
of individuals there
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246. that are essential parts
of these armies
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247. that are doing
essential labor,
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248. without whom, I think,
the army couldn't operate.
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249. August 1st—
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250. There is a report
pretty well confirmed
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251. that near 40 sail of the enemy
came in this afternoon
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252. and are joining the fleet.
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253. We are all uncertain.
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254. The ships
that came in that day
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255. were straggling in
from a failed British expedition
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256. in South Carolina.
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257. The Royal governors
of the southern colonies,
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258. who had all been driven to ships
anchored off their coasts,
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259. continued to insist
that the rebellion
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260. had been stirred up by only
a tiny minority of radicals,
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261. that the overwhelmingly loyal
populace of their colonies
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262. would take up arms
in support of the Crown,
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263. provided help was sent.
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264. In June, British warships had
converged on Charleston Harbor,
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265. where their 262 guns
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266. opened fire on a rebel fort
on Sullivan's Island.
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267. More than 7,000 cannonballs
were fired.
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268. Most that hit their target
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269. were absorbed by the fort's
sturdy palmetto walls.
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270. Within the fort,
Patriot Colonel William Moultrie
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271. ordered his men
to "distress
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272. in every shape
to the utmost of your powers."
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273. They did.
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274. They had just 31 guns,
but they proved deadly accurate,
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275. toppling masts, riddling hulls,
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276. blowing sailors
and sea captains apart.
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277. The British flagship alone
was hit 70 times,
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278. and 111 crewmen
were killed or maimed.
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279. By evening,
the battered fleet pulled away.
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280. "We never had such a drubbing
in our lives,"
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281. one British sailor remembered.
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282. It took 3 weeks to repair
the damage to their ships
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283. before they made their way
back north
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284. to join the forces
threatening New York.
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285. The British would not
attempt to recapture
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286. a southern colony again
for 21/2 years.
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287. It seems to be the intention
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288. of the White people
to destroy us as a people,
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289. but I have a great many young
fellows that would support me,
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290. and we are determined
to have our land.
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291. Tsi'yu-gunsini.
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292. In the summer of 1776,
Cherokee warriors
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293. led by Tsi'yu-gunsini,
"Dragging Canoe" in English,
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294. began attacking
frontier settlements
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295. west of the Appalachians
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296. on land now claimed
by Virginia and the Carolinas.
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297. The Royal Proclamation of 1763
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298. had expressly barred colonists
from purchasing
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299. or moving onto Indian lands
west of the Appalachians,
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300. but British officials had been
powerless to enforce it
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301. or to keep
some Native Americans,
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302. including Dragging Canoe's
own father,
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303. from leasing or selling land
to settlers and speculators.
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304. Kathleen DuVal:
We think of the Revolution
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305. as a war against empire,
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306. but it very quickly becomes
a war for empire.
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307. One war aim
of the American Revolution
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308. is to take the Ohio Valley
and the South.
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309. That's what Americans wanted.
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310. The British government had kept
them from taking Native lands,
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311. so for the Shawnees
and the Delawares,
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312. Cherokees,
and many other people,
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313. the American Revolution
was a war
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314. to protect these places
against an enemy
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315. they already knew quite well.
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316. Our Shawnee nation,
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317. from being a great people,
are now reduced to a handful.
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318. The red people, who were once
masters of the whole country,
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319. hardly possess ground enough
to stand on.
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320. The lands where but lately
we hunted
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321. are now thickly inhabited
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322. and covered with forts
and armed men,
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323. and wherever a fort appears,
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324. there will soon be towns
and settlements.
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325. In May 1776,
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326. a delegation of Shawnees,
Delawares, Anishinaabe,
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327. and Haudenosaunee came
to the Cherokee town of Chote.
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328. They said, "Enough is enough.
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329. "We've had year after year
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330. "of illegal settlement
coming onto our lands.
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331. "Now a war has come
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332. "that has divided those settlers
from their government.
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333. This is the time to strike."
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334. It is better to die like men
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335. than to diminish away by inches.
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336. The Cherokees have a hatchet.
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337. Take it up and use it
immediately.
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338. British agents
still in Indian country,
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339. who had armed the Cherokees
to fight the rebels,
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340. now urged them to be patient
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341. and wait until British troops
could join them.
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342. Dragging Canoe would not listen
to the British
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343. or to the elders
of his father's generation,
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344. who had urged diplomacy.
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345. He rallied the young men
and went to war.
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346. They killed and scalped
settlers in the Carolina
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347. and Virginia backcountry,
burned their cabins and crops,
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348. and drove off their livestock.
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349. Colin Calloway:
The result is,
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350. as the older chiefs
feared it would be,
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351. that those American colonies
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352. immediately send armies
into Cherokee country.
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353. Some of the American leaders
actually say in as many words,
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354. "This is just what
we were waiting for.
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355. "Now we have justification
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356. "for launching a full-scale
assault on the Cherokees
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357. and to drive them out
and take their land."
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358. Nothing will reduce
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359. those wretches so soon
as pushing the war
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360. into the heart of their country,
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361. but I would not stop there.
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362. I would never cease
pursuing them
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363. while one of them remained
on this side of the Mississippi.
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364. Thomas Jefferson.
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365. There are thousands
of militiamen in South Carolina,
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366. North Carolina,
Virginia, Georgia
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367. ready to join the Revolution,
ready to fight Britain,
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368. but the British aren't there.
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369. There are no British
there to fight.
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370. Who's there to fight?
The Cherokees.
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371. Some 6,000 militiamen
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372. stormed through
Cherokee country.
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373. They destroyed 36 towns,
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374. including Dragging Canoe's
own village.
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375. Philip Deloria: This is meant to
be instructive to other tribes.
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376. "If you think you're gonna
keep a British alliance,
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377. "guess what we're gonna do?
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378. "We're gonna come
and burn everything.
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379. "We're gonna destroy
your fields.
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380. "We're gonna
destroy your corn.
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381. "We're gonna destroy
all your stored-up food.
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382. "We're gonna wage
total war on those people.
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383. Let's teach all Native people
a lesson about what's coming."
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384. In the end,
older Cherokee leaders
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385. would sue for peace
and be forced to cede
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386. another 5 million acres.
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387. Maggie Blackhawk: The colonists
wanted to possess that land
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388. exclusively, and it's a vision
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389. that is Western,
as contrasted to Native people,
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390. who had a more spiritual or more
engaged relationship to land.
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391. Unlike his elders,
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392. Dragging Canoe
would not surrender.
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393. With hundreds of men
and their families,
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394. he managed to escape westward
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395. to settle along
the Chickamauga Creek
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396. in what is now Tennessee,
where he remained defiant.
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397. "I could not hear their talks
of peace," Dragging Canoe said.
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398. "My thoughts and my heart
are for war."
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399. Imperial powers were advancing
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400. all across North America
in 1776—
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401. Russia along the Alaska coast,
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402. Spain in what became
San Francisco Bay,
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403. the Lakota in the Black Hills,
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404. and the Comanches
on the Southern Plains.
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405. On August 12th
off Staten Island in New York,
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406. Britain, the world's
greatest naval power,
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407. landed 107 more ships.
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408. Aboard them were 8,600
hired Hessian troops.
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409. Everything about
the German soldiers
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410. was intended to intimidate—
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411. their tightly fitted uniforms
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412. that made the wearers
seem bigger than they were,
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413. the whiskers many grew when
most men were clean-shaven,
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414. the helmets worn by
their grenadiers and fusiliers
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415. that added a foot
to their height,
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416. and the reputation for ferocity
so widespread
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417. that some Americans
believed them cannibals
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418. with a special taste for babies.
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419. I think it is
an effective propaganda tool.
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420. "They will plunder our homes.
They will burn our village.
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421. They will rape our women."
Copy !req
422. These kind of portrayals
really show up frequently,
Copy !req
423. especially in
the spring of '76
Copy !req
424. before the first Germans
even set foot on American soil.
Copy !req
425. Peace will not
be restored in America
Copy !req
426. until the rebel army
is defeated.
Copy !req
427. Should the enemy offer battle
in the open field,
Copy !req
428. we must not decline it.
Copy !req
429. General William Howe.
Copy !req
430. General William Howe
and his brother Richard
Copy !req
431. were in joint command
of the largest
Copy !req
432. seaborne assault force
Britain had ever assembled—
Copy !req
433. 24,000 soldiers,
including the 8,600 Hessians,
Copy !req
434. and 400 ships manned by some
10,000 sailors and marines.
Copy !req
435. At dawn on August 22nd,
4,000 British and Hessian troops
Copy !req
436. crossed the narrows
and came ashore at Gravesend
Copy !req
437. on the southeastern edge
of Long Island,
Copy !req
438. boatloads of assault troops.
Copy !req
439. The enemy
have now landed
Copy !req
440. on Long Island.
Copy !req
441. The hour is fast approaching
on which the honor and success
Copy !req
442. of this army and the safety
of our bleeding country depend.
Copy !req
443. George Washington.
Copy !req
444. More troops
continued to land.
Copy !req
445. Soon, more than 20,000 British,
Hessian, and Loyalist soldiers
Copy !req
446. occupied a tent city
that sprawled for 8 miles
Copy !req
447. just beyond the beach.
Copy !req
448. General Washington reminded
his men of the dismissive things
Copy !req
449. British officers
had said of them.
Copy !req
450. Now they would have a chance
to prove them wrong,
Copy !req
451. provided they remained cool
but determined.
Copy !req
452. Remember that you are free men
Copy !req
453. fighting for the blessings
of liberty,
Copy !req
454. that slavery
will be your portion
Copy !req
455. and that of your posterity
Copy !req
456. if you do not acquit yourselves
like men.
Copy !req
457. Washington knew
an attack was coming somewhere,
Copy !req
458. but he worried that the British
landing on Long Island
Copy !req
459. was merely a diversion,
and so he divided his army.
Copy !req
460. Most would stay in Manhattan,
while some 8,000 men,
Copy !req
461. many of them
ill-trained militia,
Copy !req
462. were posted on Long Island,
Copy !req
463. where Washington's
most trusted general,
Copy !req
464. Nathanael Greene
of Rhode Island,
Copy !req
465. had strengthened
the series of forts
Copy !req
466. and earthworks that ran
from Red Hook to Wallabout Bay.
Copy !req
467. Most of the defenses
were concentrated
Copy !req
468. near the lofty cliffs
closest to Manhattan
Copy !req
469. called Brooklyn Heights
after the tiny village
Copy !req
470. of Brooklyn that stood
just behind them.
Copy !req
471. Washington
and his generals believed
Copy !req
472. that if the British
were to seize that high ground,
Copy !req
473. their guns would
command the city,
Copy !req
474. much as rebel guns
had commanded Boston
Copy !req
475. and its harbor
earlier that year,
Copy !req
476. but Nathanael Greene had fallen
ill and was soon replaced
Copy !req
477. by Major General Israel Putnam
of Connecticut,
Copy !req
478. whose fighting spirit
was not matched
Copy !req
479. by strategic sense
or knowledge of the terrain.
Copy !req
480. Between the Brooklyn Heights
fortifications
Copy !req
481. and the British encampment
ran a rugged, forested ridge
Copy !req
482. called the Gowanus Heights.
Copy !req
483. 4 passes cut in or around it—
Copy !req
484. Gowanus, Flatbush,
Bedford, and Jamaica.
Copy !req
485. With Washington's approval,
Putnam ordered 3,000 of his men
Copy !req
486. to dig in and hold the ridge
and 3 of the passes.
Copy !req
487. Unaccountably, the Jamaica Pass
remained virtually unguarded.
Copy !req
488. Washington makes a number
of serious tactical mistakes
Copy !req
489. when he's commander
of the American military
Copy !req
490. and none more serious
than at Long Island.
Copy !req
491. He'd been a surveyor.
Copy !req
492. He should have known
the value
Copy !req
493. of completely understanding
Copy !req
494. the ground that you're
trying to defend.
Copy !req
495. He doesn't.
He doesn't go and explore
Copy !req
496. the ground toward Jamaica,
Copy !req
497. which is the far end
of this glacial feature,
Copy !req
498. and doesn't recognize
Copy !req
499. that he can be outflanked
by the British.
Copy !req
500. The Battle
of Long Island began
Copy !req
501. in the early-morning hours
of August 27, 1776,
Copy !req
502. and it started with a skirmish
over watermelons.
Copy !req
503. Around midnight, Pennsylvania
pickets at the Red Lion Inn
Copy !req
504. on the far right
of the American lines
Copy !req
505. had dimly glimpsed two shadowy
figures in a melon patch.
Copy !req
506. They were British foragers
Copy !req
507. out in front of a large force
of redcoats
Copy !req
508. and hoping for a treat
Copy !req
509. before they were sent
against the enemy.
Copy !req
510. The Pennsylvanians
opened fire.
Copy !req
511. A few minutes later, a British
musket volley from the woods
Copy !req
512. sent the Americans
running back to camp.
Copy !req
513. With the British
attack underway,
Copy !req
514. General William Alexander
was ordered to organize a force
Copy !req
515. to try and stop it.
Copy !req
516. Alexander and 1,600 men
Copy !req
517. took up positions
south of a salt marsh
Copy !req
518. and mill pond
next to Gowanus Creek
Copy !req
519. as 5,000 British troops
advanced toward them.
Copy !req
520. With no trees or stone walls
for cover,
Copy !req
521. American and British forces
stood in line, European style,
Copy !req
522. and fired musket volleys
and artillery at one another.
Copy !req
523. "Both the balls and shells
flew very fast,"
Copy !req
524. a Maryland soldier remembered,
Copy !req
525. "now and then taking off
a head."
Copy !req
526. Meanwhile, in the center
of the American lines,
Copy !req
527. British cannonfire
ripped through the trees
Copy !req
528. above the ridgeline,
where several hundred troops
Copy !req
529. under New Hampshire
General John Sullivan
Copy !req
530. guarded the Flatbush
and Bedford passes.
Copy !req
531. Hessian and Highland regiments
Copy !req
532. advanced toward them
with fixed bayonets,
Copy !req
533. retreating several times
under furious American fire.
Copy !req
534. Watching from a fort
on Cobble Hill,
Copy !req
535. Washington was pleased
with the way
Copy !req
536. the fighting was going so far.
Copy !req
537. Both fronts
seemed to be holding,
Copy !req
538. but he also sent for
reinforcements from Manhattan.
Copy !req
539. Our sergeant major informed us
Copy !req
540. that the regiment was ordered
to Long Island.
Copy !req
541. It gave me a rather
disagreeable feeling,
Copy !req
542. as I was pretty well-assured
Copy !req
543. I should have to sniff
a little gunpowder.
Copy !req
544. The horrors of battle then
presented themselves to my mind
Copy !req
545. in all their hideousness.
Copy !req
546. "I must come to it now,"
thought I.
Copy !req
547. Joseph Plumb Martin.
Copy !req
548. Private
Joseph Plumb Martin
Copy !req
549. of the Connecticut militia was
just 15 years old that summer,
Copy !req
550. 1 of 7 children
of a small-town minister
Copy !req
551. so quarrelsome, he could not
hold on to a congregation.
Copy !req
552. Martin had wanted to enlist
since Lexington and Concord.
Copy !req
553. On July 6, 1776, he remembered,
Copy !req
554. he'd taken "up the pen,
Copy !req
555. "loaded it
with the fatal charge,
Copy !req
556. " wrote my name.
Copy !req
557. ow I was a soldier in name
at least, if not in practice."
Copy !req
558. Before the boats carrying Martin
and his fellow soldiers
Copy !req
559. could cross the East River
to Brooklyn,
Copy !req
560. the tide of battle
had begun to turn.
Copy !req
561. The British attacks on
the American right and center,
Copy !req
562. which Washington's army seemed
to have thwarted,
Copy !req
563. had turned out to be
mere demonstrations
Copy !req
564. meant to occupy troops who
might otherwise have defended
Copy !req
565. against the main
British assault.
Copy !req
566. That would soon begin
on the American left.
Copy !req
567. The British had slipped through
the undefended Jamaica Pass.
Copy !req
568. 12 hours earlier,
leaving their campfires burning
Copy !req
569. to confuse the Patriots,
General Henry Clinton
Copy !req
570. had led some 10,000 British
and German soldiers north
Copy !req
571. along a dirt road grandly called
the King's Highway.
Copy !req
572. They moved in silence,
guided by 3 Loyalist volunteers.
Copy !req
573. This is Clinton's idea.
Copy !req
574. He's persuaded Howe that
this is the right way to do it.
Copy !req
575. "Don't attack frontally.
Copy !req
576. "You don't want
another Bunker Hill.
Copy !req
577. Go around them,"
Copy !req
578. so he leads—
it's a better part of 10,000 men
Copy !req
579. in the dark of night
very quietly,
Copy !req
580. as quiet as 10,000 men
Copy !req
581. pulling artillery guns
with horses can be.
Copy !req
582. The plan
worked perfectly.
Copy !req
583. The British column,
nearly 2 miles long,
Copy !req
584. made it through the pass
Copy !req
585. and reached the village
of Bedford,
Copy !req
586. well behind American lines
and just 2 miles
Copy !req
587. from the main fortifications
on and around Brooklyn Heights.
Copy !req
588. General Clinton ordered 2 guns
fired in quick succession,
Copy !req
589. the signal for British troops
Copy !req
590. besieging the American
right and center
Copy !req
591. to move forward simultaneously,
Copy !req
592. trapping John Sullivan's men
in between.
Copy !req
593. Sullivan ordered his gunners to
turn their field pieces around
Copy !req
594. to fire at the enemy,
now rushing at them from behind,
Copy !req
595. but as they struggled to do so,
Copy !req
596. Hessian grenadiers
and Highland Scots
Copy !req
597. swarmed up and over
the Gowanus Heights,
Copy !req
598. firing and bayoneting
as they came.
Copy !req
599. It was a rout.
Copy !req
600. Blood, carnage, fire.
Copy !req
601. Many, many, we fear, are lost.
Copy !req
602. Such a dreadful din
my ears never before heard.
Copy !req
603. Philip Fithian.
Copy !req
604. Muskets are mostly
inaccurate beyond 80 yards
Copy !req
605. and hopeless beyond 120 yards,
Copy !req
606. so a lot of the killing
is done with a bayonet,
Copy !req
607. and the bayonet
is a nasty way to kill.
Copy !req
608. It's a nasty way to die.
Copy !req
609. This is really
eyeball to eyeball,
Copy !req
610. nose to nose.
Copy !req
611. It's very intimate,
Copy !req
612. and that kind of intimacy
is horrifying.
Copy !req
613. Hundreds of Americans
surrendered,
Copy !req
614. including General Sullivan.
Copy !req
615. "Their fear of the Hessian
troops was indescribable,"
Copy !req
616. the German commander
General Heister remembered.
Copy !req
617. When they caught
Copy !req
618. only a glimpse of us,
they surrendered immediately
Copy !req
619. and begged on their knees
for their lives.
Copy !req
620. I am surprised
that the British troops
Copy !req
621. have achieved so little
against these people.
Copy !req
622. We soon landed at Brooklyn.
Copy !req
623. We now began to meet
the wounded men,
Copy !req
624. another sight
I was unacquainted with,
Copy !req
625. some with broken arms,
some with broken legs,
Copy !req
626. and some with broken heads.
Copy !req
627. The fighting
Joseph Plumb Martin
Copy !req
628. was about to witness would prove
Copy !req
629. the last and bloodiest
of the day.
Copy !req
630. 3 British columns were now
converging on General Alexander
Copy !req
631. and his men
on the American right.
Copy !req
632. He did his best to rally them,
Copy !req
633. but the number of attackers
steadily grew.
Copy !req
634. Alexander fell back,
Copy !req
635. and finally, rather than see
his command destroyed,
Copy !req
636. he urged his men to retreat
to the village of Brooklyn
Copy !req
637. across the tidal marshes
that flanked Gowanus Creek.
Copy !req
638. Such as could swim got across.
Copy !req
639. Those that could not swim sunk.
Copy !req
640. The British were pouring
the canister and grapeshot
Copy !req
641. upon the Americans
like a shower of hail.
Copy !req
642. Many of them were killed
in the pond
Copy !req
643. and more were drowned.
Copy !req
644. To provide cover
for his desperate men
Copy !req
645. and to occupy the British troops
firing at them
Copy !req
646. from inside and around
an old stone house,
Copy !req
647. Alexander led some 400 soldiers
from Maryland
Copy !req
648. into the enemy guns
again and again.
Copy !req
649. Fewer than a dozen of them
made it safely back
Copy !req
650. to the American lines.
Copy !req
651. Alexander himself
was forced to surrender.
Copy !req
652. "The slaughter was horrible,"
a Hessian chaplain wrote.
Copy !req
653. "I went over the battlefield
among the dead,
Copy !req
654. who mostly had been hacked
and shot all to pieces."
Copy !req
655. At least 200 Americans
had been killed,
Copy !req
656. and perhaps a thousand more
were captured.
Copy !req
657. Washington watched this final
carnage through his spyglass.
Copy !req
658. By noon, it was all over.
Copy !req
659. The British believed
they had won
Copy !req
660. what one general called
a "cheap and complete victory."
Copy !req
661. Washington's
heartbroken because
Copy !req
662. he recognizes instantly what
a catastrophe this has been.
Copy !req
663. The only saving grace is that
enough of them pull back
Copy !req
664. to form sort of an inner
defense around Brooklyn
Copy !req
665. that gives the British pause.
Copy !req
666. They pull back
within those defenses.
Copy !req
667. Now they've got their backs
to the East River.
Copy !req
668. Things are about as dire
as they could possibly be.
Copy !req
669. Washington and
the bulk of his battered army,
Copy !req
670. crowded now inside the defenses
on Brooklyn Heights,
Copy !req
671. expected that at any moment,
the British would mount
Copy !req
672. an all-out assault
aimed at destroying them.
Copy !req
673. General William Howe's officers
Copy !req
674. urged him to finish
what he had begun,
Copy !req
675. but instead of ordering
an assault, Howe stood down.
Copy !req
676. He knew his brother Richard's
fleet was about to enter
Copy !req
677. the East River and prevent the
rebels from escaping by water.
Copy !req
678. The Americans were astonished.
Copy !req
679. "General Howe is either
our friend or no general,"
Copy !req
680. Israel Putnam said.
Copy !req
681. "He had our whole army
in his power."
Copy !req
682. Meanwhile, a storm blew in
Copy !req
683. and continued off and on
for the next 2 days.
Copy !req
684. It kept Admiral Howe's fleet
from entering the East River.
Copy !req
685. By the middle of the second day,
Washington decided
Copy !req
686. to try to withdraw his army
to Manhattan.
Copy !req
687. Washington sends out orders
that every boat,
Copy !req
688. every fishing smack,
every canoe,
Copy !req
689. everything that floats
that can be found
Copy !req
690. be brought very secretly
and very quietly to the landing,
Copy !req
691. very close to where
Brooklyn Bridge now is
Copy !req
692. on the Brooklyn side.
Copy !req
693. To man
his mismatched flotilla,
Copy !req
694. he would call on 2 regiments
Copy !req
695. of seasoned mariners
and fishermen,
Copy !req
696. Black and White
and Native American,
Copy !req
697. from Massachusetts
coastal towns.
Copy !req
698. Colonel John Glover
of Marblehead
Copy !req
699. led one of the regiments.
Copy !req
700. As darkness fell,
Washington ordered his men
Copy !req
701. to begin moving silently
down from the Heights
Copy !req
702. to the ferry landing
regiment by regiment.
Copy !req
703. I seized my musket
Copy !req
704. and fell into the ranks.
Copy !req
705. We were strictly enjoined
not to speak or even cough.
Copy !req
706. All orders were communicated
in whispers.
Copy !req
707. Joseph Plumb Martin.
Copy !req
708. A providential breeze
comes up that allows them
Copy !req
709. to raise sails
and get across the East River,
Copy !req
710. and then an even more
providential fog rolls in,
Copy !req
711. and it obscures
what's happening.
Copy !req
712. All through the night,
Copy !req
713. John Glover and his men
from Marblehead
Copy !req
714. sailed or rowed or paddled
back and forth undetected,
Copy !req
715. ferrying more than 9,000 men
as well as horses, artillery,
Copy !req
716. and baggage wagons
to safety in Manhattan.
Copy !req
717. When dawn breaks,
Copy !req
718. the British realize
everyone's gone.
Copy !req
719. They see the last of the boats
Copy !req
720. disappearing across the river
in the traces of fog.
Copy !req
721. And they fire a few shots
pointlessly
Copy !req
722. at this retreating gaggle,
including Washington
Copy !req
723. in one of the last boats,
Copy !req
724. and the Americans escape
to Manhattan Island
Copy !req
725. and get away
to fight another day.
Copy !req
726. The Battle of Long Island
Copy !req
727. was the largest battle
of the American Revolution.
Copy !req
728. It had been a devastating defeat
for George Washington
Copy !req
729. and the Patriot cause,
Copy !req
730. but his army was still alive.
Copy !req
731. Braintree, Massachusetts—
Copy !req
732. The best accounts
we can collect from New York
Copy !req
733. assure us that our men
fought valiantly.
Copy !req
734. We are no ways dispirited here.
Copy !req
735. If our men are all drawn off
and we should be attacked,
Copy !req
736. you would find a race
of Amazons in America.
Copy !req
737. Abigail Adams.
Copy !req
738. Every army engaged
on either side in the Revolution
Copy !req
739. would be accompanied by
a moving village of civilians—
Copy !req
740. men, women, and children.
Copy !req
741. Most of the women
were soldiers' wives
Copy !req
742. who cared for the wounded
and washed and cooked
Copy !req
743. and mended for the troops.
Copy !req
744. Some sold provisions,
including rum.
Copy !req
745. George Washington
often resented
Copy !req
746. feeding all the women
and children,
Copy !req
747. but he also understood,
he said,
Copy !req
748. that he had somehow
to provide for them
Copy !req
749. "or lose by Desertion—
perhaps to the Enemy—
Copy !req
750. some of the oldest and best
Soldiers in the Service."
Copy !req
751. Women acted as spies,
Copy !req
752. and a handful
disguised themselves
Copy !req
753. and fought as men
until they were found out,
Copy !req
754. but most made their
contributions to the war effort
Copy !req
755. away from the battlefield.
Copy !req
756. Preston, Connecticut—
Copy !req
757. Dear husband, I hope that
I shall have the pleasure
Copy !req
758. of your company at home
this winter.
Copy !req
759. The anxieties of the mind
cannot be accounted for,
Copy !req
760. especially when ties
of flesh and blood bind them.
Copy !req
761. My only comfort now
is at present
Copy !req
762. in the dear, little pledges
of our love—our children.
Copy !req
763. When I see them,
I see my dear
Copy !req
764. when so glorious a cause
calls him from my arms.
Copy !req
765. My country, o my country.
Copy !req
766. Your affectionate wife
till death, Lois.
Copy !req
767. With sons and husbands
and fathers away,
Copy !req
768. some women turned their homes
into boarding houses
Copy !req
769. to pay the bills.
Copy !req
770. On farms, women already caring
for children and households
Copy !req
771. now slaughtered hogs,
cut and stacked firewood,
Copy !req
772. harvested wheat,
and brought it to market.
Copy !req
773. The men say
we have no business
Copy !req
774. with political matters,
it is not in our sphere,
Copy !req
775. but I won't have it thought
that we are capable
Copy !req
776. of nothing more
than minding the dairy,
Copy !req
777. visiting the poultry house,
and all such domestic concerns.
Copy !req
778. Our thoughts can soar aloft.
Copy !req
779. We can form conceptions
of things of higher nature.
Copy !req
780. Eliza Wilkinson.
Copy !req
781. Can you be surprised
that the Negroes
Copy !req
782. should endeavor
to recover their freedom
Copy !req
783. when they daily hear
at the tables of their masters
Copy !req
784. how much the Americans
are applauded
Copy !req
785. for the stand they are making
for theirs?
Copy !req
786. Jane Kamensky: The liberty talk
that proliferates
Copy !req
787. through British America
Copy !req
788. originates in coffee houses
and across dining tables.
Copy !req
789. It surfaces in letters
and in pamphlets.
Copy !req
790. Those pamphlets
are excerpted in newspapers
Copy !req
791. and travel
up and down the coast.
Copy !req
792. Even letters, like newspapers,
are read aloud,
Copy !req
793. so we know that
the language of liberty
Copy !req
794. is contagious and is leaky,
leaky in that
Copy !req
795. there are planter-class people
in Jamaica saying,
Copy !req
796. "You know, this stuff
is kind of hot,
Copy !req
797. "so watch it
when you're talking
Copy !req
798. "because you know all those
Black and Brown people
Copy !req
799. "who are standing, serving
around the edges of your room,
Copy !req
800. they have ears."
Copy !req
801. The signal
was to be given first
Copy !req
802. by discharging a gun
at Batchelors Hall Plantation.
Copy !req
803. They were then to rise
in general rebellion
Copy !req
804. and attack the several estates,
Copy !req
805. and put to death
all the White people they could.
Copy !req
806. Sam.
Copy !req
807. That same summer
of 1776 in Northwestern Jamaica,
Copy !req
808. enslaved men, women,
and children
Copy !req
809. living on 47 different
plantations
Copy !req
810. secretly conspired
to overthrow their enslavers,
Copy !req
811. hoping their rebellion would
spread across the whole island
Copy !req
812. and unite the people
of African descent living there,
Copy !req
813. including Igbos, Creoles,
and Coromantees.
Copy !req
814. The planned revolt
was an unintended consequence
Copy !req
815. of the American Revolution.
Copy !req
816. The American ban on trade
with the British
Copy !req
817. had denied enslaved Jamaicans
the food they needed to survive.
Copy !req
818. Then London ordered
almost half the soldiers
Copy !req
819. who policed the island
to sail northward
Copy !req
820. to strengthen General Howe's
forces in New York.
Copy !req
821. Their departure
was supposed to be the signal
Copy !req
822. for enslaved people to rise up,
Copy !req
823. but before the plot
could get underway,
Copy !req
824. a child was discovered
emptying his overseer's pistol
Copy !req
825. and was made to reveal
what he knew of the conspiracy.
Copy !req
826. The Royal governor
declared martial law.
Copy !req
827. The revolt was crushed.
Copy !req
828. 135 people were put on trial.
Copy !req
829. 17 were executed.
Copy !req
830. 11 were beaten, and 45
were torn from their families
Copy !req
831. and deported to other islands...
Copy !req
832. but that
summer and fall,
Copy !req
833. there were other
sporadic uprisings
Copy !req
834. or rumors of uprisings
among enslaved workers
Copy !req
835. on other British islands—
Copy !req
836. Saint Kitts, Montserrat,
Antigua, Barbados—
Copy !req
837. all of them striking fear
in American slaveholders.
Copy !req
838. Vincent Brown: Slave rebellions
were usually unsuccessful,
Copy !req
839. so you wonder,
why would you fight?
Copy !req
840. Slavery was
so incredibly horrifying.
Copy !req
841. It was a regime
of terror, right,
Copy !req
842. that was very, very
difficult to withstand.
Copy !req
843. People can abuse, rape, torture,
Copy !req
844. murder enslaved persons
without consequences,
Copy !req
845. so if you just imagine
that situation
Copy !req
846. and that kind of desperation,
it becomes clearer
Copy !req
847. why, when given an opportunity,
you would fight against that.
Copy !req
848. On September 11, 1776,
Copy !req
849. 3 delegates
of the Continental Congress—
Copy !req
850. John Adams of Massachusetts,
Copy !req
851. Edward Rutledge
of South Carolina,
Copy !req
852. and Benjamin Franklin
of Pennsylvania—
Copy !req
853. made their way to a Loyalist's
house on Staten Island
Copy !req
854. for a meeting with Admiral Howe,
Copy !req
855. who was hoping
to persuade the Congress
Copy !req
856. to negotiate a peace.
Copy !req
857. Howe did what he could
to reassure the delegates
Copy !req
858. that all could still be forgiven
if only the Americans
Copy !req
859. would abandon independence.
Copy !req
860. "If America should fall,"
he told the delegates,
Copy !req
861. " should feel and lament it
like the loss of a brother."
Copy !req
862. "e will do our utmost,"
Franklin answered,
Copy !req
863. "to save Your Lordship
that mortification."
Copy !req
864. "They met. They talked.
They parted,"
Copy !req
865. Admiral Howe's secretary said,
Copy !req
866. "and now nothing remains
but to fight it out."
Copy !req
867. There was no going back.
Copy !req
868. Howe apologized to his visitors
for wasting their time.
Copy !req
869. Christopher Brown:
The British government
Copy !req
870. throughout the first
few years of the war
Copy !req
871. really thought
that a show of force
Copy !req
872. would bring the majority
of Americans to their senses
Copy !req
873. and that the instigators,
the provocateurs,
Copy !req
874. the ones who were responsible
for the uprising
Copy !req
875. would be captured, killed,
Copy !req
876. or their neighbors
would just say, "Enough.
Copy !req
877. We don't actually want to go
to war with our own nation."
Copy !req
878. On our side,
Copy !req
879. the war should be defensive.
Copy !req
880. We should on all occasions
avoid a general action
Copy !req
881. or put anything to the risk
unless compelled
Copy !req
882. by a necessity into which
we ought never to be drawn.
Copy !req
883. George Washington.
Copy !req
884. Back in New York City,
Copy !req
885. Washington again expected
another British attack
Copy !req
886. and again didn't know where
or when it was likely to come,
Copy !req
887. so again he divided
what was left of his forces.
Copy !req
888. Leaving behind General Putnam
and some 3,500 men
Copy !req
889. to hold the city itself,
Copy !req
890. General Washington led
most of his troops north
Copy !req
891. toward the tiny village
of Harlem.
Copy !req
892. Militiamen were posted
along the East River
Copy !req
893. opposite Long Island.
Copy !req
894. Joseph Plumb Martin
found himself
Copy !req
895. with 500 Connecticut troops
at Kips Bay.
Copy !req
896. At the same time,
5 British frigates
Copy !req
897. sailed up the river and anchored
on the opposite shore.
Copy !req
898. At 11:00 in the morning
on September 15th,
Copy !req
899. they opened fire.
Copy !req
900. I thought my head would go
Copy !req
901. with the sound.
Copy !req
902. I made a frog's leap
for the ditch
Copy !req
903. and lay as still
as I possibly could
Copy !req
904. and began to consider which part
of my carcass was to go first.
Copy !req
905. We kept the lines till they
were almost leveled upon us,
Copy !req
906. when our officers gave
the order to leave.
Copy !req
907. As Martin
and his comrades ran,
Copy !req
908. 4,000 enemy troops began
coming ashore at Kips Bay,
Copy !req
909. among them Hessians
who bayoneted
Copy !req
910. several wounded Americans
and mutilated the dead.
Copy !req
911. Our people were all militia,
Copy !req
912. and the demons of fear
and disorder seemed to take
Copy !req
913. full possession of all and
everything that day.
Copy !req
914. Then General Washington
Copy !req
915. seemed to appear out of nowhere,
Copy !req
916. ordering his stampeding men
to form a defensive line.
Copy !req
917. "Take the walls," he bellowed.
"Take the cornfield."
Copy !req
918. They kept running.
Copy !req
919. "Are these the men with which
I am to defend America?"
Copy !req
920. Washington was known for being
aloof, terse, stoical,
Copy !req
921. but, "Those who have seen him
strongly moved,"
Copy !req
922. a friend remembered,
Copy !req
923. could "bear witness
that his wrath was terrible."
Copy !req
924. He seemed stunned
and urged his horse forward
Copy !req
925. toward the oncoming Hessians.
Copy !req
926. An aide snatched
his horse's bridle
Copy !req
927. and led his commander
out of harm's way.
Copy !req
928. Colonel John Glover
and his regiment
Copy !req
929. from Marblehead, Massachusetts,
which had just made
Copy !req
930. Washington's escape
from Long Island possible,
Copy !req
931. rushed up and were able
to slow the British advance...
Copy !req
932. but many Patriots
did not stop running
Copy !req
933. until they reached the safety
Copy !req
934. of strongly fortified
American positions
Copy !req
935. on the plateau
known as Harlem Heights.
Copy !req
936. The British were slow to follow
the fleeing rebels.
Copy !req
937. General Howe wanted to wait
until thousands more troops
Copy !req
938. were ashore on Manhattan Island.
Copy !req
939. The delay gave General Putnam
time to lead his men north
Copy !req
940. out of New York City
to join Washington in Harlem.
Copy !req
941. The British entered
the abandoned city in triumph.
Copy !req
942. The King's forces
Copy !req
943. took possession of the place,
incredible as it may seem,
Copy !req
944. without the loss of a man.
Copy !req
945. A woman pulled down the rebel
standard upon the fort
Copy !req
946. and, after trampling it
underfoot
Copy !req
947. with the most contemptuous
indignation,
Copy !req
948. hoisted up in its stead
His Majesty's flag.
Copy !req
949. Ambrose Searle,
Secretary to Admiral Howe.
Copy !req
950. New York City becomes
the great British stronghold
Copy !req
951. of the American Revolution.
Copy !req
952. Once the Continental Army
is driven out,
Copy !req
953. the Patriots
don't want to stick around,
Copy !req
954. and they tend to go, too.
Copy !req
955. Meanwhile, the Loyalists
come into the city.
Copy !req
956. People stream in from
the countryside to take shelter,
Copy !req
957. and the city becomes
this kind of garrison town.
Copy !req
958. Hundreds of Loyalists
would formally reaffirm
Copy !req
959. their allegiance to George III
by signing a document
Copy !req
960. they called their
Declaration of Dependence.
Copy !req
961. Over the coming weeks,
Copy !req
962. more Loyalists
poured into the city,
Copy !req
963. now eager to take up arms
in the King's cause.
Copy !req
964. It is
the cause of truth
Copy !req
965. against falsehood,
of loyalty against rebellion,
Copy !req
966. of legal government
against usurpation.
Copy !req
967. In short, it is the cause
of human happiness.
Copy !req
968. Charles Inglis.
Copy !req
969. Over the course of the war,
Copy !req
970. as many as 50,000 Americans
volunteered to serve
Copy !req
971. in Loyalist militia companies
Copy !req
972. or in provincial units
attached to the British Army—
Copy !req
973. the King's American Regiment,
the Queen's American Rangers,
Copy !req
974. the Prince of Wales'
American Volunteers,
Copy !req
975. the Royal Highland Emigrants,
and the British Legion.
Copy !req
976. Everyone knew someone
who fought for the other side.
Copy !req
977. Even Benjamin Franklin's
son William,
Copy !req
978. the deposed
Royal Governor of New Jersey,
Copy !req
979. remained faithful to his king
and was imprisoned for it.
Copy !req
980. Had I been left to the dictates
Copy !req
981. of my own judgment,
Copy !req
982. New York should have been
lain in ashes.
Copy !req
983. To this end,
I applied to Congress
Copy !req
984. but was absolutely forbid.
Copy !req
985. Providence—or some good,
honest fellow—
Copy !req
986. has done more for us
Copy !req
987. than we were disposed
to do for ourselves.
Copy !req
988. George Washington.
Copy !req
989. September 21, 1776.
Copy !req
990. We are a good deal alarmed
at a fire
Copy !req
991. that must have spread amazingly,
Copy !req
992. for though we are
61/2 miles from the town,
Copy !req
993. we could see a pin on the ground
by the light of the blaze.
Copy !req
994. Loftus Cliffe.
Copy !req
995. New York City
was on fire.
Copy !req
996. The next morning, Irish-born
Lieutenant Loftus Cliffe,
Copy !req
997. who had already
survived 3 battles,
Copy !req
998. went for a walk through
the still-smoldering streets.
Copy !req
999. I cannot
paint the misery
Copy !req
1000. of a very pretty town near
as large as Cork now reduced.
Copy !req
1001. Two churches,
the governor's house,
Copy !req
1002. and several other fine buildings
are in ruins,
Copy !req
1003. being set afire
in different places at once
Copy !req
1004. in the dead of last night.
Copy !req
1005. Their design
was to destroy the town.
Copy !req
1006. O Washington, what have you
to answer for?
Copy !req
1007. The origins
of the fire remained a mystery,
Copy !req
1008. but General Howe was convinced
it had been set by rebels,
Copy !req
1009. and the next day when soldiers
brought before him
Copy !req
1010. an American spy
captured behind British lines,
Copy !req
1011. he showed no mercy.
Copy !req
1012. Howe ordered
Captain Nathan Hale,
Copy !req
1013. a member of an elite
espionage unit
Copy !req
1014. organized by George Washington,
Copy !req
1015. to be hanged
the following morning.
Copy !req
1016. As he went to the gallows,
a British officer remembered,
Copy !req
1017. Hale "behaved with great
composure and resolution."
Copy !req
1018. Above his body,
British soldiers hung a sign
Copy !req
1019. labeled, "George Washington,"
the man they all blamed
Copy !req
1020. for setting fire
to New York City.
Copy !req
1021. Alan Taylor: A lot is riding on
George Washington's performance
Copy !req
1022. not only in the battlefield,
Copy !req
1023. but in his relationship
with Congress
Copy !req
1024. and his relationship
with the states,
Copy !req
1025. his relationship
with his soldiers.
Copy !req
1026. George Washington understands
Copy !req
1027. that his role
is not just military.
Copy !req
1028. It's also political.
Copy !req
1029. He has to project dignity.
Copy !req
1030. He has to project authority.
Copy !req
1031. He has to also do this
Copy !req
1032. while projecting
deference to Congress.
Copy !req
1033. He cannot become a dictator.
Copy !req
1034. We have been
sent into life at a time
Copy !req
1035. when the greatest lawgivers
of antiquity
Copy !req
1036. would have wished
to have lived,
Copy !req
1037. when, before the present epocha,
Copy !req
1038. had 3 millions of people
full power
Copy !req
1039. and a fair opportunity
to form and establish
Copy !req
1040. the wisest
and happiest government
Copy !req
1041. that human wisdom can contrive.
Copy !req
1042. John Adams.
Copy !req
1043. As Washington
and Howe faced off
Copy !req
1044. against one another
in New York,
Copy !req
1045. in Philadelphia,
the Continental Congress
Copy !req
1046. had been laboring to adopt
Articles of Confederation,
Copy !req
1047. meant to formally bind
all 13 states together
Copy !req
1048. while also guaranteeing
the independence of each,
Copy !req
1049. a first tentative step
Copy !req
1050. toward a permanent government
for the new United States.
Copy !req
1051. When we think
about our American Revolution,
Copy !req
1052. we, of course, think about
independence from Britain,
Copy !req
1053. and that's a big deal,
Copy !req
1054. but we also need to think about
Copy !req
1055. this is the formation
of republican government,
Copy !req
1056. and it's also the formation
of our union of our states,
Copy !req
1057. and all 3 of those
were enormous gambles.
Copy !req
1058. They were unprecedented.
Copy !req
1059. There had never been
the foundation of a republic
Copy !req
1060. out of a revolution...
Copy !req
1061. and these 13 colonies
Copy !req
1062. had had bitter rivalries
with one another,
Copy !req
1063. and so forming a union
out of these states
Copy !req
1064. was gonna be as difficult
Copy !req
1065. as achieving independence
from Britain.
Copy !req
1066. Congress debated
draft articles for weeks
Copy !req
1067. on the first floor
of the Pennsylvania State House,
Copy !req
1068. where they had just declared
independence in July.
Copy !req
1069. They were held up
over a host of issues,
Copy !req
1070. including apportionment,
boundary disputes,
Copy !req
1071. taxation, and autonomy
of the individual states.
Copy !req
1072. Congress was
a disputatious assembly
Copy !req
1073. and not necessarily
an efficient assembly
Copy !req
1074. through these years.
Copy !req
1075. Yes, they are running a war.
Copy !req
1076. Yes, they are founding
a nation,
Copy !req
1077. but there's also a tremendous
amount of infighting.
Copy !req
1078. There's a tremendous
amount of inertia.
Copy !req
1079. There are more committees
than anyone could count,
Copy !req
1080. and there were
secret committees.
Copy !req
1081. For example, the first person
sent to France
Copy !req
1082. to solicit aid from the French
for the Revolution
Copy !req
1083. is sent without the knowledge
of the rest of Congress.
Copy !req
1084. As John Jay will later say
to George Washington,
Copy !req
1085. "There is as much intrigue
in Congress
Copy !req
1086. "as there is at the Vatican,
Copy !req
1087. and as little secrecy as there
is in a boarding school."
Copy !req
1088. Meanwhile,
upstairs in the same building,
Copy !req
1089. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
held a convention of its own
Copy !req
1090. to establish its government.
Copy !req
1091. Similar meetings
were being held in other states.
Copy !req
1092. All of the new constitutions
would guarantee
Copy !req
1093. freedom of the press,
fair trials,
Copy !req
1094. and due process under law
and made sure power rested
Copy !req
1095. not with autocratic governors,
but with legislators
Copy !req
1096. elected by propertied men.
Copy !req
1097. Pennsylvania took things
a step further.
Copy !req
1098. They created the most
egalitarian constitution
Copy !req
1099. in the new United States
with a Bill of Rights
Copy !req
1100. and a one-house legislature
Copy !req
1101. elected by taxpaying workingmen
as well as property owners,
Copy !req
1102. all of which worried many
of the delegates downstairs.
Copy !req
1103. William Hogeland: Pennsylvania
had a radical constitution
Copy !req
1104. where almost any White, free man
could vote and stand for office,
Copy !req
1105. which had never happened before
pretty much anywhere.
Copy !req
1106. People were committed to using
the revolution to make it
Copy !req
1107. a real social revolution,
a real economic revolution,
Copy !req
1108. and get free, working people—
men, White men—
Copy !req
1109. a say in government, which was
a radical idea at the time.
Copy !req
1110. John Adams wasn't for that.
Samuel Adams wasn't for that.
Copy !req
1111. Richard Henry Lee
wasn't for that.
Copy !req
1112. When John Adams
read that constitution,
Copy !req
1113. his response was, quote,
"Good God!"
Copy !req
1114. In the new
code of laws,
Copy !req
1115. I desire you would
remember the ladies
Copy !req
1116. and be more generous
and favorable to them
Copy !req
1117. than your ancestors.
Copy !req
1118. Do not put such unlimited power
into the hands of the husbands.
Copy !req
1119. Remember, all men would be
tyrants if they could.
Copy !req
1120. If particular care and attention
is not paid to the ladies,
Copy !req
1121. we are determined
to foment a rebellion
Copy !req
1122. and will not hold ourselves
bound by any laws
Copy !req
1123. in which we have no voice
or representation.
Copy !req
1124. Abigail Adams.
Copy !req
1125. There will be no end of it.
Copy !req
1126. New claims will arise.
Copy !req
1127. Women will demand a vote.
Copy !req
1128. Lads from 12 to 21
Copy !req
1129. will think their rights
not enough attended to,
Copy !req
1130. and every man
who has not a farthing
Copy !req
1131. will demand an equal voice with
any other in all acts of state.
Copy !req
1132. It tends to confound
and destroy all distinctions
Copy !req
1133. and prostrate all ranks
to one common level.
Copy !req
1134. John Adams.
Copy !req
1135. It's a misconception
to think of the founders
Copy !req
1136. as being pro-democracy,
Copy !req
1137. but I think it's also
a misconception to think
Copy !req
1138. that their failure
to be democratic
Copy !req
1139. is some sort of flaw or error
Copy !req
1140. or something they
just kind of missed.
Copy !req
1141. They were very adamantly
opposed to democracy.
Copy !req
1142. Democracy came to America,
Copy !req
1143. with all of the problems
that came with it,
Copy !req
1144. not as a direct purpose of
the American Revolution, really,
Copy !req
1145. but as an unintended
consequence.
Copy !req
1146. By the time Pennsylvania
Copy !req
1147. had ratified its constitution,
Copy !req
1148. the debates over
the Articles of Confederation
Copy !req
1149. downstairs in Congress
had become so heated,
Copy !req
1150. the prospect of compromise
seemed so remote
Copy !req
1151. that the delegates agreed
to table the subject.
Copy !req
1152. Frustrated and worried
about his sick wife,
Copy !req
1153. Thomas Jefferson returned home
to Virginia,
Copy !req
1154. the place he still called
"my country."
Copy !req
1155. Camp near Kingsbridge—
Copy !req
1156. Amidst all the distress and
ruins of this dreadful war,
Copy !req
1157. I am yet alive and yours.
Copy !req
1158. Our enemies pursue us close
from place to place.
Copy !req
1159. I pray God daily that you,
my dear wife,
Copy !req
1160. forever may you be happy.
Copy !req
1161. Philip.
Copy !req
1162. Days after writing
to his wife, Chaplain Fithian
Copy !req
1163. fell victim to dysentery,
the disease that had killed
Copy !req
1164. so many of the men whose last
moments he'd filled with prayer.
Copy !req
1165. He was carried
to a hospital tent.
Copy !req
1166. There was nothing
anyone could do.
Copy !req
1167. October 8th—
Copy !req
1168. This morning about 10:00,
Copy !req
1169. Mr. Fithian closed his eyes
upon the things of time
Copy !req
1170. and is gone
to a spiritual world.
Copy !req
1171. Andrew Hunter.
Copy !req
1172. News of the American
defeat on Long Island
Copy !req
1173. at the end of August did not
reach London till October 10th.
Copy !req
1174. It was greeted with
what one courtier called
Copy !req
1175. "an extravagance of joy."
Copy !req
1176. The King promised
General Howe a knighthood.
Copy !req
1177. Now that the Americans had seen
how futile it was
Copy !req
1178. to defy British regulars,
Copy !req
1179. they would surely come to
their senses and sue for peace.
Copy !req
1180. Not all Englishmen
shared that view.
Copy !req
1181. London.
Copy !req
1182. To the printer
of the "Public Advertiser"--
Copy !req
1183. Sir, I find that the late
action at Long Island
Copy !req
1184. has made a considerable
impression upon the Public;
Copy !req
1185. the Friends of Ministry
thinking everything gained,
Copy !req
1186. the Friends of America
everything lost.
Copy !req
1187. Because the last action
was in our favor,
Copy !req
1188. we think we are to succeed
in the next,
Copy !req
1189. but liberty takes
a great deal of killing,
Copy !req
1190. and the courage of freemen
is the same thing
Copy !req
1191. on both sides of the Atlantic.
Copy !req
1192. The Americans are daily
improving in Arms and in Hatred.
Copy !req
1193. We see only
the Beginning of Sorrows;--
Copy !req
1194. Benefit to neither—
Copy !req
1195. Misery to both.
Copy !req
1196. Ticonderoga appears to be
Copy !req
1197. the last part of the world
that God made,
Copy !req
1198. and I have some ground
to believe
Copy !req
1199. it was finished in the dark,
Copy !req
1200. that it was never intended
Copy !req
1201. that man should live in it
is clear,
Copy !req
1202. for the people who have
attempted to make any stay
Copy !req
1203. have, for the most part,
perished
Copy !req
1204. by pestilence or the sword.
Copy !req
1205. General Anthony Wayne.
Copy !req
1206. By the fall of 1776,
Copy !req
1207. only half of the 11,000
Americans who manned Ticonderoga
Copy !req
1208. and Crown Point
on Lake Champlain
Copy !req
1209. were fit for duty.
Copy !req
1210. The smallpox threat was lifting,
Copy !req
1211. but thousands still suffered
from other diseases.
Copy !req
1212. Morale was further weakened
by antagonism
Copy !req
1213. among men from
the supposedly United States.
Copy !req
1214. New Englanders brawled
with Pennsylvanians so often
Copy !req
1215. that they had been sent
to the opposite shore
Copy !req
1216. to set up a separate
fortification
Copy !req
1217. on a hilltop
called Mount Independence.
Copy !req
1218. After the American retreat
from Quebec City in early 1776,
Copy !req
1219. a British drive down the Hudson
seemed inevitable.
Copy !req
1220. Before British General
Guy Carleton's army
Copy !req
1221. could even reach the Hudson,
he had to sail south
Copy !req
1222. and seize the two American forts
at Crown Point and Ticonderoga,
Copy !req
1223. and before he could do that,
he had to put together a fleet
Copy !req
1224. at the lake's northern end.
Copy !req
1225. That had taken months.
Copy !req
1226. This water route is a corridor.
Copy !req
1227. It's been called
the Warpath of Nations,
Copy !req
1228. where Indian warriors
from Canada had raided
Copy !req
1229. down the Champlain Valley,
down the Hudson River,
Copy !req
1230. and so this was—
this was like an open door.
Copy !req
1231. The Americans
had just 4 ships
Copy !req
1232. with which to oppose
the British fleet.
Copy !req
1233. Many more were needed.
Copy !req
1234. Ticonderoga's commander,
Copy !req
1235. a former British major
named Horatio Gates,
Copy !req
1236. appointed his most enterprising
officer to get the job done.
Copy !req
1237. Benedict Arnold
was still limping
Copy !req
1238. from the wound
he'd received at Quebec
Copy !req
1239. and was still angry
at having been accused
Copy !req
1240. of stealing supplies during
the retreat from Montreal.
Copy !req
1241. Gates had dismissed
Arnold's detractors.
Copy !req
1242. "Men of little merit
are ever jealous
Copy !req
1243. of those who have a great deal."
Copy !req
1244. The enemy
will soon have
Copy !req
1245. a considerable naval force.
Copy !req
1246. I make no doubt of their
soon paying us a visit.
Copy !req
1247. I beg that at least
100 good seamen
Copy !req
1248. may be sent to me
as soon as possible.
Copy !req
1249. Benedict Arnold.
Copy !req
1250. Arnold transformed
the tiny settlement
Copy !req
1251. of Skenesborough,
20 miles below Ticonderoga,
Copy !req
1252. into a bustling shipyard.
Copy !req
1253. He had hoped for a fleet
of at least 30 vessels
Copy !req
1254. but had to settle for just 15.
Copy !req
1255. I intend to come up as high
Copy !req
1256. as Isle Valcour,
where is a good harbor
Copy !req
1257. and where we shall
have the advantage
Copy !req
1258. of attacking the enemy
in the open lake.
Copy !req
1259. When the British
flotilla finally started south
Copy !req
1260. on Lake Champlain,
Carleton commanded
Copy !req
1261. nearly twice as many vessels
as Arnold did,
Copy !req
1262. armed with more than twice
as many guns,
Copy !req
1263. manned by 700 seasoned crewmen,
Copy !req
1264. and carrying 10,000 British
and German troops
Copy !req
1265. and 400 Native allies.
Copy !req
1266. Arnold and his fleet
were waiting for them
Copy !req
1267. in a cove hidden
behind Valcour Island.
Copy !req
1268. As Carleton's fleet slid past,
Copy !req
1269. 4 American ships moved out onto
the lake to engage the British,
Copy !req
1270. Arnold personally
directing the guns
Copy !req
1271. of his flagship—
the "Congress."
Copy !req
1272. By evening, the fleets
had fought to a standoff.
Copy !req
1273. The Americans
had lost 2 vessels
Copy !req
1274. but succeeded in blowing up
a British gunboat.
Copy !req
1275. As darkness fell,
Carleton ordered his fleet
Copy !req
1276. to keep the Americans trapped
Copy !req
1277. so that he could destroy them
the following day...
Copy !req
1278. but at 7:00,
while fog covered the lake
Copy !req
1279. and Carleton and his officers
were dining below deck,
Copy !req
1280. Arnold formed his battered ships
into a single line
Copy !req
1281. and then ordered them
with muffled oars
Copy !req
1282. and in complete silence
Copy !req
1283. to glide slowly past
the British squadron.
Copy !req
1284. When Carleton finally
caught up with them,
Copy !req
1285. they began a running battle
that went on for 2 days.
Copy !req
1286. British firepower
took a steady toll.
Copy !req
1287. Arnold eventually
ordered his flagship
Copy !req
1288. and 4 other vessels
run aground in Button Mould Bay
Copy !req
1289. and set on fire.
Copy !req
1290. He and his men escaped
into the forest.
Copy !req
1291. When they reached Crown Point,
Copy !req
1292. Arnold realized
the fortifications there
Copy !req
1293. could not withstand
a serious British attack
Copy !req
1294. and ordered them
burned to the ground.
Copy !req
1295. "At 4:00 morning,
I reached,"
Copy !req
1296. Arnold recalled, "exceedingly
fatigued and unwell,
Copy !req
1297. having been without sleep
or refreshment for near 3 days."
Copy !req
1298. It has pleased Providence
Copy !req
1299. to preserve General Arnold.
Copy !req
1300. Few men ever met with so many
hairbreadth escapes
Copy !req
1301. in so short a space of time.
Copy !req
1302. Horatio Gates.
Copy !req
1303. The battle was not
a victory for the Americans,
Copy !req
1304. but it is one of the great
slugfests of naval warfare,
Copy !req
1305. and it happens on a lake.
Copy !req
1306. It convinced the British
that it was gonna be
Copy !req
1307. much more difficult to take
Ticonderoga than they thought.
Copy !req
1308. The American force
at Ticonderoga
Copy !req
1309. had grown to 15,000,
Copy !req
1310. and its fortifications
had been strengthened.
Copy !req
1311. Carleton now believed
a long siege
Copy !req
1312. would be needed to take it.
Copy !req
1313. Then it began to snow.
Copy !req
1314. Once the lake froze,
Copy !req
1315. provisioning his forces
would be difficult,
Copy !req
1316. and a retreat
would be impossible.
Copy !req
1317. Carleton turned around
and withdrew,
Copy !req
1318. eventually going
into winter quarters
Copy !req
1319. at Quebec City
far to the north.
Copy !req
1320. The British began
to plan a second,
Copy !req
1321. more significant invasion
for the next spring.
Copy !req
1322. The rebels have taken positions
Copy !req
1323. upon amazing, strong hills
and works they have
Copy !req
1324. all the way to Kingsbridge.
Copy !req
1325. Their soldiers would rather
work than fight.
Copy !req
1326. Ours would rather
fight than work,
Copy !req
1327. but General Howe was determined
Copy !req
1328. to not run our heads
against their works.
Copy !req
1329. Loftus Cliffe.
Copy !req
1330. For the better part
of a month,
Copy !req
1331. Washington's and Howe's armies
Copy !req
1332. warily faced one another
at Harlem Heights,
Copy !req
1333. "as quiet," an American
lieutenant recalled,
Copy !req
1334. "as if they were
a thousand miles apart."
Copy !req
1335. With little to do,
soldiers on both sides
Copy !req
1336. went into
the surrounding countryside,
Copy !req
1337. where they plundered homes,
terrified civilians,
Copy !req
1338. and then burned their houses
to cover up their crimes.
Copy !req
1339. Plunder is more or less
an accepted part of warfare
Copy !req
1340. in the 18th century.
Copy !req
1341. The British, the Hessian,
Copy !req
1342. and the American generals
all worry about that.
Copy !req
1343. Washington worries about that.
Copy !req
1344. His men plunder,
and he's like,
Copy !req
1345. "Can you stop?
Please don't do this.
Copy !req
1346. You're alienating the people."
Copy !req
1347. "Militiamen,"
Washington complained
to Congress,
Copy !req
1348. "were undisciplined,
disobedient,
Copy !req
1349. "liable to run instead of fight,
Copy !req
1350. 'hurtful' to the cause."
Copy !req
1351. To make matters worse,
Copy !req
1352. the 12-month enlistments
in the Continental Army,
Copy !req
1353. begun in Boston
the previous winter,
Copy !req
1354. would soon be running out.
Copy !req
1355. At the end of the year,
Washington would again
Copy !req
1356. have to raise and train
a whole new army.
Copy !req
1357. He understood that appeals
to patriotism alone
Copy !req
1358. would no longer work.
Copy !req
1359. When men are irritated
Copy !req
1360. and the passions inflamed,
Copy !req
1361. they fly hastily
and cheerfully to arms,
Copy !req
1362. but after the first
emotions are over,
Copy !req
1363. to expect that
they are influenced
Copy !req
1364. by any other principle
than those of interest
Copy !req
1365. is to look for what never did
and, I fear, never will happen.
Copy !req
1366. Congress agreed
to authorize 88 new battalions.
Copy !req
1367. The number each state
was to provide
Copy !req
1368. depended on
their free populations.
Copy !req
1369. The states would never come
close to meeting those goals.
Copy !req
1370. The policy of Congress has been
Copy !req
1371. the most absurd and ridiculous
imaginable,
Copy !req
1372. pouring in militiamen
who come and go every month.
Copy !req
1373. People coming from home
with all the tender feelings
Copy !req
1374. of domestic life
are not sufficiently fortified
Copy !req
1375. with natural courage to stand
the shocking scenes of war,
Copy !req
1376. to march over dead men,
Copy !req
1377. to hear without concern
the groanings of the wounded.
Copy !req
1378. I say few men can stand
such scenes
Copy !req
1379. unless steeled by habit
or fortified by military pride.
Copy !req
1380. Nathanael Greene.
Copy !req
1381. On October 11th,
150 vessels threaded their way
Copy !req
1382. up the East River
and into Long Island Sound
Copy !req
1383. with 4,000 British
and Hessian troops.
Copy !req
1384. Their objective was to get
behind Washington's forces
Copy !req
1385. in Northern Manhattan.
Copy !req
1386. To avoid that, Washington
began a full-scale retreat,
Copy !req
1387. following the west bank
of the Bronx River
Copy !req
1388. for 18 miles north
toward the seat
Copy !req
1389. of Westchester County—
White Plains.
Copy !req
1390. By the time the British forces
got there on October 28th,
Copy !req
1391. the American line stretched
for 3 miles through the village,
Copy !req
1392. anchored on the right
Copy !req
1393. by the lightly defended
Chatterton Hill.
Copy !req
1394. General Howe
sent 2 columns up the slope.
Copy !req
1395. Patriot militiamen
predictably scattered,
Copy !req
1396. but the Continentals held.
Copy !req
1397. As the British approached,
a Connecticut colonel
Copy !req
1398. told his men,
"Fire at their legs.
Copy !req
1399. "One man wounded
is better than a dead one,
Copy !req
1400. "for it takes two more
to carry him off,
Copy !req
1401. and there is 3 gone,"
Copy !req
1402. but British artillery
took a fearful toll.
Copy !req
1403. A cannonball cut down
Copy !req
1404. Lieutenant Young's Platoon,
which was next to that of mine.
Copy !req
1405. The ball first took the head
of Smith—a stout, heavy man—
Copy !req
1406. and dashed it open.
Copy !req
1407. Then it took off Chilson's arm.
Copy !req
1408. It then took Taylor
across the bowels.
Copy !req
1409. What a sight that was to see.
Copy !req
1410. There was men
with their legs and arms
Copy !req
1411. and guns and packs
all in a heap.
Copy !req
1412. Private Elijah Bostwick.
Copy !req
1413. At day's end,
Copy !req
1414. Washington retreated
east of White Plains.
Copy !req
1415. Again General Howe made only
a halfhearted effort to follow.
Copy !req
1416. The British essentially
let Washington escape
Copy !req
1417. once again.
Copy !req
1418. Opportunities to just end this
war right now are being wasted.
Copy !req
1419. Is it
through incapacity or by design
Copy !req
1420. of our commander that
so many great opportunities
Copy !req
1421. are let slip?
Copy !req
1422. I am inclined
to adopt the latter.
Copy !req
1423. Captain William Bamford.
Copy !req
1424. There are moments
when General Howe in particular
Copy !req
1425. seems to hold back
from delivering
Copy !req
1426. the final knockout blow.
Copy !req
1427. There's that feeling,
Copy !req
1428. the very torn
and conflicted feeling,
Copy !req
1429. about whether the Americans
are truly enemies
Copy !req
1430. or misguided subjects
who need to be encouraged
Copy !req
1431. to come back into the fold.
Copy !req
1432. As Howe headed
back towards Manhattan,
Copy !req
1433. Washington crossed the Hudson
and headed south.
Copy !req
1434. He thought it most likely
that Howe planned
Copy !req
1435. to race across New Jersey
and capture Philadelphia
Copy !req
1436. before winter set in.
Copy !req
1437. He had again
misjudged his adversary.
Copy !req
1438. Howe actually wanted
to take 2 forts
Copy !req
1439. on opposite sides of the Hudson
Copy !req
1440. that blocked British ships
from going upriver—
Copy !req
1441. Fort Lee in New Jersey
Copy !req
1442. and Fort Washington
on Manhattan Island,
Copy !req
1443. a crude, star-shaped earthwork
265 feet above the river.
Copy !req
1444. Fort Washington
would come first.
Copy !req
1445. British guns pounded the fort
Copy !req
1446. and the long line of trenches
and redoubts that surrounded it.
Copy !req
1447. The British troops who attacked
from the south and east
Copy !req
1448. had comparatively little trouble
driving the defenders
Copy !req
1449. back behind the fort's walls,
Copy !req
1450. but Hessian troops
under the command
Copy !req
1451. of General
Wilhelm von Knyphausen
Copy !req
1452. coming at them from the north
had a much tougher task,
Copy !req
1453. climbing a rocky hillside
Copy !req
1454. covered by the tangled branches
of felled trees
Copy !req
1455. and so steep that they
had to grab at bushes
Copy !req
1456. to pull themselves up,
Copy !req
1457. all under steady fire
from above.
Copy !req
1458. Before us,
Copy !req
1459. beside, and upon one another,
Copy !req
1460. we saw our unfortunate
comrades shattered,
Copy !req
1461. dead on the Earth
in their own blood.
Copy !req
1462. Even the air
seemed filled with fear.
Copy !req
1463. Lieutenant
Johann Friedrich von Bardeleben.
Copy !req
1464. Margaret Corbin,
Copy !req
1465. a Pennsylvania
artilleryman's wife,
Copy !req
1466. was standing near her husband
when he was mortally wounded.
Copy !req
1467. She stepped in and kept up
such deadly fire
Copy !req
1468. that her position became
a target for Hessian guns.
Copy !req
1469. Grapeshot eventually
hit her jaw and breast
Copy !req
1470. and rendered her left arm
useless.
Copy !req
1471. 3 years later, she would
become the first woman
Copy !req
1472. to receive a lifetime
disability pension
Copy !req
1473. but at half the rate
wounded men received.
Copy !req
1474. American muskets eventually
clogged from overuse.
Copy !req
1475. The defenders fell back
and were forced to surrender,
Copy !req
1476. nearly 3,000 men.
Copy !req
1477. The British renamed
Fort Washington
Copy !req
1478. Fort Knyphausen after
the victorious German general.
Copy !req
1479. As the battered captives
made their 12-mile march south
Copy !req
1480. to New York City,
British soldiers and Loyalists
Copy !req
1481. lined the road,
jeering and cursing.
Copy !req
1482. Officers were often paroled
Copy !req
1483. after pledging
not to take up arms again,
Copy !req
1484. but enlisted men
were given no such option.
Copy !req
1485. Instead, they were prodded
into makeshift prisons
Copy !req
1486. already overcrowded
with hundreds of prisoners
Copy !req
1487. taken at Quebec, Long Island,
and Kips Bay.
Copy !req
1488. There were no blankets,
Copy !req
1489. little firewood,
and sometimes no food.
Copy !req
1490. Rats scuttled over the muddy
straw that covered the floors.
Copy !req
1491. The men's appearance in general
Copy !req
1492. resembled dead corpses
more than living men.
Copy !req
1493. Indeed, great numbers
had already arrived
Copy !req
1494. at their long home,
Copy !req
1495. and the remainder appeared far
advanced on the same journey.
Copy !req
1496. Captain Jabez Fitch.
Copy !req
1497. Thousands
of American prisoners would die
Copy !req
1498. by the end of 1776.
Copy !req
1499. By then, the British had begun
packing the prisoners
Copy !req
1500. into disused transport ships
anchored in the East River.
Copy !req
1501. Conditions there would prove
worse than those on land.
Copy !req
1502. They die of exposure.
They die of malnutrition.
Copy !req
1503. They die of disease—
Copy !req
1504. smallpox, typhus,
typhoid, dysentery.
Copy !req
1505. We have our own prison ships
near Albany,
Copy !req
1506. where British soldiers
and Loyalists
Copy !req
1507. are kept
in very awful conditions.
Copy !req
1508. It's a deplorable part
Copy !req
1509. of the story
of the American Revolution.
Copy !req
1510. Early on November 20, 1776,
Copy !req
1511. some 5,000 British
and Hessian troops
Copy !req
1512. crossed the Hudson
and began struggling
Copy !req
1513. up the slippery,
440-foot rock face
Copy !req
1514. of the New Jersey Palisades,
Copy !req
1515. so steep the Patriots had not
believed anyone could climb it.
Copy !req
1516. The British commander
was General Charles Cornwallis,
Copy !req
1517. who then ordered his men
to start marching south
Copy !req
1518. toward Fort Lee, 6 miles away.
Copy !req
1519. General Nathanael Greene
had already begun to evacuate it
Copy !req
1520. when the enemy
took Fort Washington.
Copy !req
1521. Now he ordered everyone
remaining to leave immediately.
Copy !req
1522. The rebels fled
like scared rabbits.
Copy !req
1523. Not a rascal of them
could be seen.
Copy !req
1524. They have left some poor pork,
Copy !req
1525. a few greasy proclamations,
Copy !req
1526. and some of that scoundrel
"Common Sense" man's letters,
Copy !req
1527. which we can read at our
leisure.
Copy !req
1528. By evening,
Greene and most of his 2,000 men
Copy !req
1529. managed to link up
with Washington's force
Copy !req
1530. at New Bridge
on the Hackensack River.
Copy !req
1531. They marched 2 abreast,
Copy !req
1532. looked ragged, some without
a shoe to their feet
Copy !req
1533. and most of them wrapped
in their blankets.
Copy !req
1534. The next evening,
the British encamped
Copy !req
1535. on the other side
of the Hackensack.
Copy !req
1536. We could see their fires
about 100 yards apart
Copy !req
1537. gleaming brilliantly
in the gloom of the night,
Copy !req
1538. extending for more than a mile
along the river.
Copy !req
1539. Reverend Theodore Roneyn.
Copy !req
1540. As his army retreated
across the state,
Copy !req
1541. followed by Cornwallis
with a far larger force,
Copy !req
1542. Washington hoped somehow,
somewhere to offer battle,
Copy !req
1543. but Cornwallis had orders
from General Howe
Copy !req
1544. to avoid confrontation.
Copy !req
1545. From Howe's vantage point,
Copy !req
1546. there was no need
for another major battle.
Copy !req
1547. The rebel army
was shrinking daily.
Copy !req
1548. What one officer called
"the devil of desertion"
Copy !req
1549. had infected Washington's ranks.
Copy !req
1550. Men were simply drifting away
into the countryside.
Copy !req
1551. When Washington
called upon the states
Copy !req
1552. for 5,000 more troops,
he was met mostly by silence.
Copy !req
1553. His aide-de-camp Joseph Reed
Copy !req
1554. expressed the General's
continued frustrations.
Copy !req
1555. When I look round
and see how few
Copy !req
1556. of the numbers who talked
so largely of death and honor
Copy !req
1557. are around me,
I am lost in wonder.
Copy !req
1558. Your noisy Sons of Liberty
are, I find,
Copy !req
1559. the quietest in the field.
Copy !req
1560. To compound things,
Washington's second in command—
Copy !req
1561. General Charles Lee,
who had been stationed
Copy !req
1562. in Westchester County
with a sizable force—
Copy !req
1563. responded to Washington's
repeated requests
Copy !req
1564. to hurry to his aid
with one excuse after another.
Copy !req
1565. Lee was scornful of Washington,
Copy !req
1566. hoped someday to replace him
as commander in chief,
Copy !req
1567. and saw himself as not subject
to Washington's orders.
Copy !req
1568. On November 30th, the British
issued a proclamation
Copy !req
1569. aimed at restoring their rule
in New Jersey.
Copy !req
1570. Anyone willing to swear
Copy !req
1571. "peaceable obedience
to His Majesty"
Copy !req
1572. within 60 days would receive
"a free and General Pardon."
Copy !req
1573. More than 3,000
New Jersey residents
Copy !req
1574. took them up on the offer,
Copy !req
1575. and hundreds answered the call
for Loyalists
Copy !req
1576. to fight alongside
the British regulars.
Copy !req
1577. New Jersey's Patriot
government fled,
Copy !req
1578. but while General Howe
was offering pardons,
Copy !req
1579. his soldiers were demanding
provisions from civilians.
Copy !req
1580. Edward Lengel: The people
who were really at the sharp end
Copy !req
1581. of the sword were the civilians,
Copy !req
1582. and if you think from
the point of view of somebody,
Copy !req
1583. say, a mother of a family—
who's on her farm,
Copy !req
1584. you know that the very little
that you have to survive
Copy !req
1585. can be destroyed in an instant.
Copy !req
1586. Tories lead
the relentless foreigners
Copy !req
1587. to the houses of their neighbors
and strip poor women
Copy !req
1588. and children of everything
they have to eat or wear,
Copy !req
1589. and after plundering them
in this sort,
Copy !req
1590. the brutes often ravish
the mothers and daughters
Copy !req
1591. and compel the fathers and sons
to behold their brutality.
Copy !req
1592. Nathanael Greene.
Copy !req
1593. As an army is advancing
and occupying new territories,
Copy !req
1594. dreadful things happen.
Copy !req
1595. We see lots of instances of rape
and sexual assault of women.
Copy !req
1596. Sadly, this is not unusual
in all wars.
Copy !req
1597. Mary Campbell
of Hunterdon County, New Jersey,
Copy !req
1598. told a judge what British troops
had done to her.
Copy !req
1599. Mary Campbell,
Copy !req
1600. wife of Daniel Campbell,
Copy !req
1601. sayeth that sometime in
December, a number of soldiers
Copy !req
1602. belonging to the King
of Great Britain's army
Copy !req
1603. came to the house of her father.
Copy !req
1604. Two of them seized hold
of her arms
Copy !req
1605. and dragged her out of the house
to an old shop
Copy !req
1606. near the dwelling house,
broke open the door,
Copy !req
1607. and pulled her in against
all her cries and entreaties
Copy !req
1608. and swore if she did not
hold her tongue,
Copy !req
1609. they would run her through
with a bayonet.
Copy !req
1610. 3 of said soldiers successively
had knowledge
Copy !req
1611. of the body of this deponent,
Copy !req
1612. she being 5 months
and upwards advanced
Copy !req
1613. in her pregnancy at that time.
Copy !req
1614. Her mark, Mary M. Campbell.
Copy !req
1615. At Pennington,
16 women fled into the woods
Copy !req
1616. to escape British soldiers,
Copy !req
1617. only to be dragged back
and repeatedly assaulted.
Copy !req
1618. Such behavior,
one British officer admitted,
Copy !req
1619. was "calculated
to lose you friends
Copy !req
1620. and gain you enemies."
Copy !req
1621. It did, and people soon began
taking revenge.
Copy !req
1622. New Jersey militiamen
took up arms again
Copy !req
1623. less out of devotion
to the revolutionary cause
Copy !req
1624. than out of anger
at what was being done
Copy !req
1625. to them and their families.
Copy !req
1626. It is now
Copy !req
1627. very unsafe for us to travel
in New Jersey.
Copy !req
1628. The peasants meet our men alone
or in small unarmed groups.
Copy !req
1629. They have their rifles
hidden in the bushes
Copy !req
1630. or ditches and the like.
Copy !req
1631. When they see one or several
men belonging to our army,
Copy !req
1632. they shoot them in the head,
Copy !req
1633. then quickly hide their rifles
and pretend they know nothing.
Copy !req
1634. Captain
Friedrich von Munchhausen.
Copy !req
1635. No lads
ever show greater activity
Copy !req
1636. in retreating than we have.
Copy !req
1637. Our soldiers are
the best fellows in the world
Copy !req
1638. at this business.
Copy !req
1639. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Webb.
Copy !req
1640. Hackensack, Acquackanonk,
Copy !req
1641. Newark, Spanktown,
Copy !req
1642. New Brunswick,
Princeton, Trenton.
Copy !req
1643. In 12 days, the Americans
fell back some 70 miles.
Copy !req
1644. On December 2nd, Washington
began to take his army
Copy !req
1645. across the Delaware River
into Pennsylvania.
Copy !req
1646. The news continued to be bad
for the Patriot cause.
Copy !req
1647. General Henry Clinton
landed 7,000 British
Copy !req
1648. and Hessian regulars
at Newport, Rhode Island,
Copy !req
1649. without firing a shot.
Copy !req
1650. Like New York City
and New Jersey,
Copy !req
1651. Rhode Island seemed likely lost.
Copy !req
1652. British forces were now
just 60 miles from Philadelphia,
Copy !req
1653. and the roads leading
out of the city
Copy !req
1654. were choked
with frightened refugees.
Copy !req
1655. Congress denied what it called
the "false and malicious" rumors
Copy !req
1656. that it was planning
to leave town
Copy !req
1657. and then fled to Baltimore.
Copy !req
1658. General Charles Lee
had finally given in
Copy !req
1659. to Washington's entreaties
Copy !req
1660. and had been slowly leading
his force across New Jersey.
Copy !req
1661. On the evening
of December 12th,
Copy !req
1662. he slipped away
from his encampment
Copy !req
1663. to an isolated tavern
in Basking Ridge.
Copy !req
1664. A Loyalist tipped off
the British.
Copy !req
1665. Dragoons surrounded the building
and seized
Copy !req
1666. the Continental Army's
second in command.
Copy !req
1667. One Hessian captain
was exultant—
Copy !req
1668. "We have captured...
the only rebel general
Copy !req
1669. whom we had cause to fear"--
Copy !req
1670. but then General Howe abruptly
called off his campaign.
Copy !req
1671. Winter was coming.
Copy !req
1672. The Continental Congress
was on the run.
Copy !req
1673. There would be plenty of time
the following year,
Copy !req
1674. he was certain, to destroy what
was left of Washington's army
Copy !req
1675. and permanently end
the rebellion.
Copy !req
1676. While Howe and most of his army
withdrew to New York,
Copy !req
1677. he left behind a chain
of 17 garrisons
Copy !req
1678. stretching
from the Hudson to the Delaware.
Copy !req
1679. Things can hardly
look darker than they look
Copy !req
1680. for Washington and his army
and the hopes of the cause
Copy !req
1681. in December of 1776.
Copy !req
1682. As he gets into Pennsylvania
Copy !req
1683. and he's looking back
across the Delaware River,
Copy !req
1684. his options are very,
very limited.
Copy !req
1685. He's been evicted
from New York.
Copy !req
1686. His army is down
to maybe 3,000 men.
Copy !req
1687. He writes his brother
at one point and says,
Copy !req
1688. "I think the game
is pretty near up."
Copy !req
1689. He doesn't let his men know that
he's feeling that despondent,
Copy !req
1690. but he's feeling pretty glum.
Copy !req
1691. But now his army
had begun to grow again.
Copy !req
1692. General William Alexander,
Copy !req
1693. who had been freed
from British captivity,
Copy !req
1694. arrived with a thousand
ragged reinforcements.
Copy !req
1695. A thousand Philadelphia
militia appeared.
Copy !req
1696. General John Sullivan,
also exchanged,
Copy !req
1697. brought in 2,000 more men
Copy !req
1698. who had served under
the captured General Lee.
Copy !req
1699. On December 22nd, the
16-year-old fifer John Greenwood
Copy !req
1700. and some 600 other
New Englanders
Copy !req
1701. also staggered into camp.
Copy !req
1702. Washington's appeals for help
Copy !req
1703. had reached all the way
to Ticonderoga,
Copy !req
1704. and these men had been
on their way for nearly a month.
Copy !req
1705. Washington now had
about 6,000 men fit for duty.
Copy !req
1706. The question was
what he might do with them
Copy !req
1707. in the 10 days remaining
before their enlistments ran out
Copy !req
1708. and most of his best-trained
soldiers went home.
Copy !req
1709. Our cause
is desperate and hopeless
Copy !req
1710. if we do not take the
opportunity of the collection
Copy !req
1711. of troops at present
to strike some stroke.
Copy !req
1712. Delay with us is now equal
to total defeat.
Copy !req
1713. Joseph Reed.
Copy !req
1714. Washington decided
to strike the garrison
Copy !req
1715. at Trenton, New Jersey,
manned by some 1,500 Hessians
Copy !req
1716. under the command
of Colonel Johann Rall.
Copy !req
1717. Most of the little town's
inhabitants had fled,
Copy !req
1718. and their homes had been
turned into barracks.
Copy !req
1719. Washington outlined a bold
and ambitious plan of attack
Copy !req
1720. that called for
3 simultaneous crossings
Copy !req
1721. of the ice-choked Delaware,
Copy !req
1722. all to be launched
on Christmas night.
Copy !req
1723. 1,800 Pennsylvanians
and Rhode Islanders
Copy !req
1724. were to cross downriver
near Bristol
Copy !req
1725. and march toward a second
Hessian outpost at Burlington.
Copy !req
1726. 800 Pennsylvania militia were
to cross and hold the bridge
Copy !req
1727. over Assunpink Creek and keep
the Hessians from escaping
Copy !req
1728. once the battle began.
Copy !req
1729. In the main attack,
Washington himself would lead
Copy !req
1730. 2,400 Continentals across
the river at McConkey's Ferry
Copy !req
1731. and then begin the 9-mile march
south toward their target.
Copy !req
1732. None knew
but the first officers
Copy !req
1733. where we were a-going.
Copy !req
1734. I never heard a soldier
say anything
Copy !req
1735. nor ever saw him trouble himself
Copy !req
1736. about where they led him
or where he was.
Copy !req
1737. It was enough to know
that he must go
Copy !req
1738. wherever the officer
commanded him.
Copy !req
1739. Through fire and water,
it was all the same,
Copy !req
1740. for it was impossible
to be in a worse condition
Copy !req
1741. than what they were in.
Copy !req
1742. John Greenwood.
Copy !req
1743. Thomas Paine, who had
been with Washington's army
Copy !req
1744. as it retreated
across New Jersey,
Copy !req
1745. had just published a new essay
meant to restore sagging morale
Copy !req
1746. called "The American Crisis."
Copy !req
1747. By the time Washington's army
got underway on Christmas,
Copy !req
1748. patriots up and down the river
Copy !req
1749. had read
and been inspired by it.
Copy !req
1750. These are the times
that try men's souls:
Copy !req
1751. The summer soldier
and the sunshine patriot
Copy !req
1752. will, in this crisis,
Copy !req
1753. shrink from the service
of their country;
Copy !req
1754. but he that stands by it NOW,
Copy !req
1755. deserves the love and thanks
of man and woman.
Copy !req
1756. Tyranny, like hell,
is not easily conquered;
Copy !req
1757. yet we have
this consolation with us,
Copy !req
1758. that the harder the conflict,
the more glorious the triumph.
Copy !req
1759. A freezing rain
began to fall at dusk
Copy !req
1760. as the Americans clambered
into the ferry boats
Copy !req
1761. and cargo vessels that made up
Copy !req
1762. Washington's
hastily assembled fleet.
Copy !req
1763. The river was fast-running
Copy !req
1764. and filled with swirling,
jagged pieces of floe ice.
Copy !req
1765. Somehow, Colonel John Glover
Copy !req
1766. and his Massachusetts sailors
from Marblehead,
Copy !req
1767. the same men who had rescued
Washington's army
Copy !req
1768. after the Battle of Long Island
and stopped the British advance
Copy !req
1769. following Kips Bay,
now managed to get
Copy !req
1770. all 2,400 men, some 50 horses,
Copy !req
1771. and 18 field pieces
across safely.
Copy !req
1772. John Greenwood was among
the first to step ashore.
Copy !req
1773. We had
to wait for the rest to cross,
Copy !req
1774. so we began to pull down
the fences
Copy !req
1775. and make fires
to warm ourselves,
Copy !req
1776. for the storm came on so fast
that it rained, hailed,
Copy !req
1777. and snowed and froze
and blew a hurricane,
Copy !req
1778. so much so, when I turned
my face toward the fire,
Copy !req
1779. my back was a-freezing.
Copy !req
1780. By turning round and round,
I kept myself from perishing.
Copy !req
1781. Washington
hoped that the landing
Copy !req
1782. would be completed by midnight
Copy !req
1783. so that his men
could reach Trenton before dawn,
Copy !req
1784. but the last boat
did not scrape ashore
Copy !req
1785. till 3:00 in the morning.
Copy !req
1786. And though Washington
did not know it yet,
Copy !req
1787. ice had prevented
the two other forces
Copy !req
1788. from getting across the river.
Copy !req
1789. If Trenton were to be taken,
Copy !req
1790. it would be up
to Washington's force alone.
Copy !req
1791. As he and his men
finally started toward the town,
Copy !req
1792. the driving snow, fierce cold,
and hardship of hauling 18 guns
Copy !req
1793. along a frozen, rutted road
slowed the advance.
Copy !req
1794. When we halted in the road,
Copy !req
1795. I sat down on a stump of a tree
Copy !req
1796. and was so benumbed with cold,
I wanted to go to sleep.
Copy !req
1797. And if I had, unnoticed,
Copy !req
1798. I should have been frozen
to death without knowing it,
Copy !req
1799. but, as good luck
always attended me,
Copy !req
1800. Sergeant Madden came to me
Copy !req
1801. and aroused me up and made me
walk about.
Copy !req
1802. Two other soldiers
did fall asleep
Copy !req
1803. and froze to death.
Copy !req
1804. At a crossroads,
the column split in two.
Copy !req
1805. Washington went
with Nathanael Greene
Copy !req
1806. and turned left
for the Pennington Road.
Copy !req
1807. John Sullivan and his men,
including John Greenwood,
Copy !req
1808. continued to the right
along the River Road.
Copy !req
1809. Each column reached
its assigned position
Copy !req
1810. outside the still-dozing town
just before 8:00.
Copy !req
1811. Nathanael Greene's men
began the attack,
Copy !req
1812. charging out
of the snow-filled woods.
Copy !req
1813. "The storm continued with great
violence," one officer recalled,
Copy !req
1814. "but was in our backs
Copy !req
1815. and consequently
in the faces of the enemy."
Copy !req
1816. Hessian pickets
spotted them through the snow,
Copy !req
1817. opened fire, then fell back
Copy !req
1818. as remaining townspeople
watched in terror.
Copy !req
1819. In the gray dawn came
Copy !req
1820. the beating of drums
and the sound of firing.
Copy !req
1821. The Hessian soldiers quartered
in our house hastily decamped.
Copy !req
1822. All was uproar and confusion.
Copy !req
1823. Martha Reed.
Copy !req
1824. The German soldiers
formed up as best they could,
Copy !req
1825. prepared to fight,
Copy !req
1826. but Henry Knox had positioned
cannon and howitzers
Copy !req
1827. at the upper end
of King and Queen Streets
Copy !req
1828. that ran through
the heart of the town,
Copy !req
1829. and when the German commander
Johann Rall mounted his horse
Copy !req
1830. and ordered his men to charge
into them, Knox remembered,
Copy !req
1831. "these,
in the twinkling of an eye,
Copy !req
1832. cleared the streets."
Copy !req
1833. Some Hessians scattered.
Copy !req
1834. Brief, fierce firefights
followed.
Copy !req
1835. My mother
and we children
Copy !req
1836. hid in the cellar to escape the
shots that fell about the house.
Copy !req
1837. Our next-door neighbor
was killed on his doorstep,
Copy !req
1838. and a bullet
struck the blacksmith
Copy !req
1839. as he was in the act of closing
himself in his cellar,
Copy !req
1840. and many other townspeople
were injured by chance shots.
Copy !req
1841. As Nathanael Greene's column
Copy !req
1842. drove through town
from the north,
Copy !req
1843. John Sullivan's column
moved in from the south.
Copy !req
1844. They made
a full fire right at us,
Copy !req
1845. but I did not see
that they killed anyone.
Copy !req
1846. Orders were given to charge
bayonets and rush on.
Copy !req
1847. As we came within pistol shot,
Copy !req
1848. they fired again
point blank at us.
Copy !req
1849. We dodged,
and they did not hit a man.
Copy !req
1850. Before they had time
to load again,
Copy !req
1851. we were within 3 feet of them.
Copy !req
1852. They broke in an instant
Copy !req
1853. and ran like so many
frightened devils.
Copy !req
1854. Colonel Rall
was shot from his horse,
Copy !req
1855. mortally wounded.
Copy !req
1856. Finally, they were driven
Copy !req
1857. through the town
into an orchard beyond.
Copy !req
1858. The poor fellows saw themselves
completely surrounded.
Copy !req
1859. Henry Knox.
Copy !req
1860. It was all over
in less than 45 minutes.
Copy !req
1861. 22 Hessians lay dead
or dying in the snow.
Copy !req
1862. 83 more were wounded.
Copy !req
1863. 900 were captured.
Copy !req
1864. Just 2 Americans had died—
Copy !req
1865. those frozen
before the battle began,
Copy !req
1866. and only 5 were wounded,
Copy !req
1867. including an artilleryman from
Virginia named James Monroe,
Copy !req
1868. whose life was saved
when a local doctor
Copy !req
1869. managed to stop the bleeding.
Copy !req
1870. As the Hessian prisoners
were marched to Philadelphia,
Copy !req
1871. Washington issued
a broadside declaring
Copy !req
1872. that since
they were not volunteers,
Copy !req
1873. but forced into this war,
Copy !req
1874. they should be seen
not as enemies,
Copy !req
1875. but as innocent people.
Copy !req
1876. The Americans
decided very early on
Copy !req
1877. to treat German prisoners well.
Copy !req
1878. That is a strategic decision,
Copy !req
1879. portraying these soldiers
as the innocent victims
Copy !req
1880. of the contract of two despots.
Copy !req
1881. They are being sent,
sold by their rulers for money
Copy !req
1882. to fight in the war
that does not concern them.
Copy !req
1883. In other words,
they are victims of tyranny,
Copy !req
1884. kind of like we are.
Copy !req
1885. Perhaps 1/4
of the 23,000 Hessian soldiers
Copy !req
1886. who survived the war would
choose to stay on afterwards
Copy !req
1887. and become citizens
of the new nation
Copy !req
1888. they'd fought against creating,
Copy !req
1889. and many of those
who returned home
Copy !req
1890. would come back again,
this time with their families.
Copy !req
1891. The small scale of our maps
Copy !req
1892. deceived us.
Copy !req
1893. As the word "America"
takes up no more room
Copy !req
1894. than the word "Yorkshire,"
we seem to think
Copy !req
1895. the territories they represent
are much of the same bigness,
Copy !req
1896. though Charleston
is as far from Boston
Copy !req
1897. as London from Venice.
Copy !req
1898. We have undertaken a war
against farmers and farmhouses
Copy !req
1899. scattered through
a wild waste of continent.
Copy !req
1900. Philadelphia—
Copy !req
1901. This affair has given new life
and spirits to the cause
Copy !req
1902. and has lowered the crests
of the Tories in this place,
Copy !req
1903. who looked upon the matter
as settled
Copy !req
1904. and were hourly expecting
the King's troops
Copy !req
1905. to arrive without molestation.
Copy !req
1906. Things begin to wear
a better aspect.
Copy !req
1907. General Washington's army
has now become respectable.
Copy !req
1908. Reverend David Griffith.
Copy !req
1909. Washington's army
may have become respectable,
Copy !req
1910. but it was still
about to disintegrate.
Copy !req
1911. The Continental regiments
from New England—
Copy !req
1912. his most disciplined,
most seasoned soldiers—
Copy !req
1913. were all planning to go home
in just 5 days,
Copy !req
1914. leaving him with 1,400 men
with which to face
Copy !req
1915. what he feared would be
a swift reprisal from the enemy.
Copy !req
1916. He now had to persuade
as many of them as he could
Copy !req
1917. to remain with him
at least a little longer.
Copy !req
1918. On New Year's Eve at Trenton,
Copy !req
1919. Washington asked that all
his depleted regiments assemble
Copy !req
1920. so that he could speak to them.
Copy !req
1921. He praised his men for their
courage, one sergeant recalled,
Copy !req
1922. and "in the most affectionate
manner entreated us to stay,"
Copy !req
1923. but when he finished,
Copy !req
1924. and the drums beat
for volunteers,
Copy !req
1925. not a single man
stepped forward.
Copy !req
1926. Washington spoke again.
Copy !req
1927. My brave fellows,
Copy !req
1928. you have done
all I asked you to do
Copy !req
1929. and more than can
reasonably be expected,
Copy !req
1930. but your country is at stake,
Copy !req
1931. your wives, your houses,
and all that you hold dear.
Copy !req
1932. You have worn yourselves out
with fatigue and hardships,
Copy !req
1933. but we know not
how to spare you.
Copy !req
1934. If you will consent to stay
only one month longer,
Copy !req
1935. you will render that service
to the cause of liberty
Copy !req
1936. and to your country,
which you probably never can do
Copy !req
1937. under any other circumstances.
Copy !req
1938. The present
is emphatically the crisis
Copy !req
1939. which is to decide our destiny.
Copy !req
1940. "This time,"
the sergeant remembered,
Copy !req
1941. "the soldiers felt
the force of the appeal.
Copy !req
1942. "One said to another,
'I will remain if you will.'
Copy !req
1943. "A few stepped forward,
Copy !req
1944. "and their example
was immediately followed
Copy !req
1945. by nearly all
who were fit for duty."
Copy !req
1946. In the end, more than half
the New England troops
Copy !req
1947. agreed to fight on for 6 weeks.
Copy !req
1948. On New Year's Day 1777,
Copy !req
1949. supplemented
by scattered militia
Copy !req
1950. and 4 fresh regiments of
Continentals from Pennsylvania,
Copy !req
1951. George Washington again
commanded some 6,500 men.
Copy !req
1952. John Greenwood
was not among them.
Copy !req
1953. I had the itch then so bad
Copy !req
1954. that my breeches
stuck to my thighs,
Copy !req
1955. and I had a hundred lice
on me.
Copy !req
1956. I told my lieutenant
I was going home.
Copy !req
1957. Says he, "My God, you are not,
I hope, going to leave us,
Copy !req
1958. "as you are the life
and soul of us.
Copy !req
1959. You are to be promoted."
Copy !req
1960. I told him I would not stay
to be a colonel.
Copy !req
1961. 20 months earlier,
14-year-old John Greenwood
Copy !req
1962. had walked all the way
from Maine to Massachusetts
Copy !req
1963. and joined the American cause,
hoping it would somehow help him
Copy !req
1964. get back to his parents
in British-occupied Boston.
Copy !req
1965. Now he would tramp
more than 300 miles back home,
Copy !req
1966. where his father saw to it
Copy !req
1967. that the boy's clothes
were baked in the oven,
Copy !req
1968. and he himself
was fumigated with sulfur
Copy !req
1969. before he could
re-enter the home
Copy !req
1970. he'd yearned for
for so long.
Copy !req
1971. For now, the Revolution would
have to go on without him,
Copy !req
1972. but it would go on,
Copy !req
1973. thanks to the sacrifices he
and his fellow soldiers had made
Copy !req
1974. and the victory they had won
Copy !req
1975. when no victory
had seemed possible.
Copy !req