The History Chicks: “Betsy Ambler — and an Interview with Sarah Botstein from the PBS documentary The American Revolution”

October 24, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of The History Chicks centers around the remarkable but largely overlooked life of Elizabeth "Betsy" Ambler—later Betsy Brent Carrington—a Virginian woman whose experiences, letters, and resilience provide a vivid window into the domestic realities of the American Revolution. The hosts detail her upbringing in a privileged, slave-owning family, her survival through war and personal tragedy, and her lasting impact as a founder of one of America’s earliest women-led social service organizations. The latter portion features an in-depth interview with Sarah Botstein, co-director of the anticipated Ken Burns PBS documentary, The American Revolution, where Ambler’s story, read by Maya Hawke, plays a key narrative role.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Betsy Ambler's Family Background and Society

• The Virginia Aristocracy: Betsy was born in 1765 into the wealthy Ambler and Burwell families of Yorktown, VA, both deeply rooted in colonial power politics, landholding, and slave ownership.
  • “...everyone we're going to talk about, from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson, etcetera, belonged to, if not the first families of Virginia, definitely to the Virginia aristocracy.” (06:49)
• Enslaved Labor and Wealth: Both sides of Betsy’s family held hundreds of enslaved people, and their fortunes were tied to colonial cash crops and British connections.
  • “Grandpapa bought the other half of the island... Ultimately, he owned 2,000 acres and over a hundred enslaved people.” (04:45)
• Education and Gender Norms: Betsy and her sisters’ education, overseen by their father, was notable for its breadth and encouragement, unusual for girls of their class at that time.
  • “Our education went on without rule or form... such attentions as we experienced were without parallel.” (19:16, 20:40)

The Reality of Revolutionary War for Women

• Constant Upheaval: As war closed in on Yorktown, the Ambler family became refugees, moving multiple times for safety and often separating for practicality.
  • “Basically, for the next four years, the family is going to be kind of refugees from Yorktown at this point.” (30:24)
• Women’s Roles in Crisis: The absence of men forced elite women like Betsy into new roles—managing households, making difficult decisions, and assuming traditionally male responsibilities.
  • “Necessity taught us to use exertions which girls of the present day know nothing of.” (39:27)
  • “Instead of morning lessons, we were knitting stockings. Instead of embroidering, we made homespun garments...” (40:02)
• Girlhood in Wartime: Correspondence and later writings show Betsy’s journey from pampered child to capable, self-aware woman, gutted by trauma but strengthened by necessity.
  • “I'm not afraid, not truly, but I am changed. The war has made women of us before our time. And I wonder what girlhood will I remember when this is done?” (62:11, 62:47)

Everyday Life and Social Dynamics

• Letters to Mildred: The lively and sometimes gossipy letters between Betsy and her best friend Mildred Smith have survived, providing historians with invaluable front-row seats to the civilian experience of the war.
  • “As it turns out, the fact that Elizabeth and Mildred were separated was quite a gift to posterity because we've learned quite a bit about the civilian experience of this part of the war from letters they wrote to each other.” (43:37)
• Scandal and Empathy: A powerful thread is the story of Rachel Warrington, a family acquaintance whose pregnancy by a French officer during the war became both town scandal and inspiration for Betsy’s later, unfinished novel, focusing on women’s vulnerability and societal double standards.
  • “Her experience was fundamental to Betsy's development.” (45:47)
  • “The main theme seemed to be the necessity for women to be educated and prepared to see the danger coming when it was coming toward them...” (83:10)

Loss, Resilience, and Community Building

• Marriage, Widowhood, and Remarriage: Betsy’s life was marked by dramatic reversals—her true love died just months after marriage; she remarried a family friend and found herself widowed again years later.
  • “...widowed, wretched, forlorn...now, oh, my friend William died three months into their marriage.” (72:03)
• Women’s Social Agency: Channeling her experiences and empathy, Betsy became an early advocate for social welfare, co-founding the Female Humane Association of Richmond—one of the first women-run organizations for girls’ welfare.
  • “This organization was historic in that all of the officers...were women. And women who didn't have legal rights in other areas now had them as part of this organization.” (85:41)

Legacy and Lasting Impact

• Lasting Social Services: The Female Humane Association evolved over the years, eventually known as the Memorial Foundation for Children, still functioning today to support vulnerable youth in Richmond.
  • “...the institution she helped to start endures to this day.” (96:52)
• Preserving Women's History: Betsy’s extensive family histories, records, and letters offer modern historians a rare civilian perspective on the Revolution—and highlight the essential but under-acknowledged contributions of women.
  • “...it's because of this collection...that we know anything about Betsy at all or about the community that she lived in, outside of the roles of the men who were soldiers and officers and running and building the country.” (90:01)

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

On the contradictions of the Revolution

“There's a genuine irony to this fight for freedom in a place where so many were held enslaved.” — Host B (06:49)

How war matured children, especially girls

“Girls at the age of 12 or 13 require a mother's care. A girl of 13 left without an advisor and fancying herself a woman stands on the precipice that trembles beneath her.” — (32:28)

Betsy recalls rapid loss

“Widowed, wretched, forlorn, a month since I was the happiest of wives. And now, oh, my friend William died three months into their marriage on their very first visit to his family.” — Betsy’s letter, read by Host A (72:03)

On surviving, rebuilding, and moving forward

“Certainly it is that another Revolutionary war can never happen to affect and ruin a family so completely as ours have been. The only possible good from the entire changing in our circumstances was that we were made acquainted with the manner and situation of our country, which we otherwise should not have known.” — Betsy’s letter, read by Host B (65:56)

Reflecting on liberty after war

“It is over. Our individual sufferings are nothing. Now we can reflect that the great end is accomplished, peace again is restored, and we can look forward to happy days. What sacrifice would not an American and a Virginian at the earliest age have made for so desirable an end?” — Betsy Ambler (66:51)

On married women’s (lack of) legal rights

“Once a woman was married, the identity legally of the married couple was in fact the husband. The wife was a legal nonentity...as a group, these women had rights that individually they would never have been granted.” — Host B (86:16)

Empathy for women's experience in history

“The book was a window to her real feelings about the necessity of female education and the need to protect the vulnerable women in society.” — Host B on Betsy's novel (84:26)

Important Timestamps

• [02:10 – 03:15]: Introduction to colonial context and Betsy’s birth
• [17:51 – 19:24]: Betsy’s (progressive) education and family life
• [23:32 – 28:41]: The family’s response to war’s arrival, Jack's loyalties, and decision to leave Yorktown
• [30:24 – 33:46]: Betsy becomes a refugee; the perils and social risks for young girls
• [39:27 – 41:14]: “Necessity taught us to use exertions which girls of the present day know nothing of...”
• [51:15 – 54:13]: Exile from Richmond before Benedict Arnold’s raid; Betsy’s mature reflections on trauma and war
• [62:11 – 64:52]: “When or where shall we find rest?...I am changed. The war has made women of us before our time.”
• [85:41 – 87:25]: Founding of the Female Humane Association—historic shift in women’s legal rights and social work
• [101:02 –121:02]: Interview with Sarah Botstein about the PBS Ken Burns documentary

Interview with Sarah Botstein (PBS Documentary Co-director)

Themes:

• The American Revolution was messy, surprising, and “more like a civil war” than popularly remembered. Stories of everyday people, especially women and children, are integral to understanding the era.
  • “I think anytime you do a story of a war, you should make a secondary film about the women, but instead, we just sew the women into the narrative where they're often left out.” (106:48, Botstein)
• The documentary features Maya Hawke as the voice of Betsy Ambler, with Ethan Hawke as her father.
• The film weaves “big names” and “the ones you’ve never heard of” throughout, breaking away from a single heroic narrative.
• Lessons for today: Empathy, critical thinking, and recognizing progress as ongoing (“We are still getting our sea legs...”)

Memorable Quotes:

"[The Revolution] was a global war. We would not have won without the help of the French and a great revolution over how a country could govern." — Botstein (104:32)

“Empathy is a good tool.” — Botstein, on understanding Loyalist perspectives (107:11)

“America is a great experiment. We are still getting our sea legs. Our country changes all the time in small and big ways.” — Botstein (120:21)

Tone and Style

Much like all History Chicks episodes, the content is fresh, witty, digressive, and accessible, marked by a balance of humor (plenty of asides—e.g., [15:03] “Jack and Rebecca, just like on the TV show This Is Us!”), pop culture references (frequent comparisons to Pride & Prejudice and Bridgerton), and well-sourced historical detail, with a strong emphasis on female agency and critique of traditional narratives. The interview segment maintains a collegial, conversational tone—serious about history but always personal and inviting.

Final Thoughts

This episode powerfully argues for rescuing women like Betsy Ambler from archival obscurity, showing that even as war raged and history was written by the victors, women's lived experience, emotional insight, and organizational leadership left marks just as lasting as any battlefield victory. The episode closes with a call for deeper scholarly work on Betsy (“great opportunity out there... for someone to do a deep dive, a biographer... a lot of questions we couldn’t find answers to”) and the warm hope that her story—now animated for a national audience by Ken Burns’s film—will find its rightful place at the center of America’s Revolutionary story.

For detailed show notes and resources, visit thehistorychicks.com. The Ken Burns PBS documentary "The American Revolution" featuring Betsy Ambler premieres November 16, 2025.