← Titanic: Ship of Dreams
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- [00:00]
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Clark Peters
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- [00:21]
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- [00:33]
Clark Peters
It's September 19, 1775, in eastern Massachusetts. The First Presbyterian Church towers over the town of Newburyport. Its gleaming white steeple points upwards to the clouds. Inside is a picture of serenity. A few dozen people are scattered throughout the gallery. Suddenly, the peace is broken. The doors fly open. In March. Hundreds of soldiers, guns slung over their shoulders, regimental flags waving high above their heads. They filtered down the aisle in two columns. The sound of drums echo around the church. Between the two columns walks a chaplain in the Continental Army, a new colonial force standing up to the British Empire. At the pulpit, he turns to address his audience.
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Narrator
Several hundred men stare back at him.
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Clark Peters
There is standing room only and hardly any of that.
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Narrator
The drums stop. The soldiers pile their guns wherever they can. Silence fills the room. The chaplain begins his sermon. He preaches from the book of Exodus, the story of Moses turning his back on the promised land in favor of remaining with God in the wilderness. If thy spirit go not with us, carry us not uphence. The lesson is well chosen. In a few hours from now, these men will begin a journey north.
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Clark Peters
Their mission is to invade the British province of Quebec. For the last several months, the American colonies have been at war with the motherland, Great Britain. Since fighting began, these men have seen things beyond their comprehension. What lays ahead will be no different. At the end of the service, the soldiers file out, except a few officers. For them, a special honor has been reserved. With the chaplain leading the way, they descend a flight of stone steps. At the bottom is the church crypt. Using candles to light their path, they move towards a coffin nestled within the walls.
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Narrator
They prize it open. As the lid lifts, the officers peer into the dark space beneath.
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Clark Peters
In the flickering orange light, human remains.
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Narrator
It's the skeleton of George Whitfield, the charismatic preacher from England who has had a huge impact on all their lives. 35 years ago, Whitfield caused a sensation in America. Traveling the colonies, he called for a spiritual awakening. It triggered a revival of evangelical passion
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Clark Peters
that has helped to bring us here. With loyal subjects of the British Empire waging war against the Crown, One of the officers reaches into the coffin. With a knife, he cuts fragments of Whitefield's clothing. He passes them around his Colleagues. Everyone wants a piece. This isn't grave robbing, at least not for profit. The officers want talismans, good luck charms, anything to boost their chances in what awaits them over the coming weeks. Lord knows they'll need all the help they can get. I'm clark peters from the noiser podcast network. This is part three of founding an american dream. Let's take a step back a year earlier. In the fall of 1774, representatives from 12American colonies are meeting in Philadelphia. Following the Boston Tea Party a few months earlier, the British government has imposed strict measures on the colonies. Massachusetts is hit particularly hard. Traditional rights and liberties are suspended. The colonies come together to plan a joint response. The First Continental Congress is a pivotal moment as delegates launch a widespread embargo on British goods. They insist their political and legal rights be restored and they petition the king, asking him directly to address their grievances. Among the delegates is George Washington, an old school Virginian, a slave owning man with property and wealth.
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Narrator
He's also a military veteran. In the 1750s, he fought with distinction alongside the British during the French and Indian War. In his rented rooms in a Philadelphia boarding house, Washington opens a letter.
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Clark Peters
It's from the Fairfax Independent Company, a voluntary militia that has just been established near his home in Virginia. They're writing for Washington's help in purchasing a variety of weapons and musical instruments. It might sound like an odd request, but brand new militias are springing up across Virginia. Traditionally, most militias have been based on compulsory service for adult males, a first line of defense for communities throughout America. But the new militias are breaking the mold. All of them are voluntary. All of them exist outside the control of the British government. Militias have long been central to colonial life. Although historically they're established by colonial governments, militias are not permanent, well organized military units. Instead, they're made up of men from the local community who occasionally meet and run through drills.
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Narrator
In the past, they've been most active on the western fringes of white settlements in numerous conflicts with Native Americans. But in New England, most militiamen have never used a weapon in combat. That includes 17 year old David Howe. At this very moment, he's serving in
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Clark Peters
his local militia in in Massachusetts,
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Narrator
Jim Philbrick is one of David Howe's direct descendants.
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David Howe's Descendant
All men from the age of 16 to 60 were required to sign up and drill with the town's militia. All the towns had one, and it was a way to have military defense at all times. Most of the militias were self equipped. The townships would provide some things if possible, but usually it was ammunition for the guns, which would just be lead and black powder, and you would make your own rounds for your gun because all the different muskets were different sizes. The militias weren't showing up with standardized kit in any way. They were bringing the gun they had from home, so that could be 150-year-old fowling piece, but that's what they had, so they brought it. As far as their uniforms, they didn't really have uniforms when they were in militia, so they would show up in how they dressed, hopefully with a coat to stay warm. It was very much a ragtag band. This platoon of men lined up, and they're all dressed in a different outfit, and they have a different weapon, and they're all different heights and ages, and it probably didn't look like much militarily.
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Clark Peters
But as tensions in the colonies escalate, even these traditional militias are changing. Many are now gearing up for potential conflict with the British authorities.
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Narrator
Down in Virginia, the volunteers in the Fairfax Independent Company sweat their way through a training drill.
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Clark Peters
In the near distance stands George Washington. He's recently back from Philadelphia. Now he's helping to whip the Fairfax militia into shape. Washington stands in a long blue coat over a light beige waistcoat and breeches. His boots are gleaming black and spotlessly clean. It's the uniform of the Fairfax militia, based on the colors of the Whig party in Britain. Impassive, he watches the Fairfax men go through their paces. They, too, are dressed a little sharper than the average militiaman, a world away from David Howe's rag tag unit in Massachusetts. These are all Virginian gentlemen, respectable types, with elaborate manners and plenty of money. Washington looks upon them as potential officers. America has no shortage of men willing to defend their homes, but few have any experience of war. By the start of 1775, Washington is deeply involved with volunteer militias across Virginia.
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Narrator
The colonies are bracing for escalation, and that's exactly what London gives them. The tone is set by King George iii. There can be no buckling to American subjects. Spare the rod and you'll spoil the child. Yet he's keen to stress that his word is not law. Government actions in America are dictated not by the crown, but by Parliament. It's a delicate balance. Professor Andrew o', Shaughnessy, the patriots in
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Professor Andrew O'Shaughnessy
America, they called him a tyrant, but he was not a tyrant in the conventional sense. None of the policies that were imposed on America were his policies. In fact, he was very much an idealist who wanted to be a good king, to work with Parliament, to obey the laws of the country. But there are a number of occasions when he crossed the line. In the words of many people, he became his own prime minister, not because he was exercising illegal authority, but he was able to dominate and bully the then prime minister, lord North.
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Clark Peters
In February 1775, Parliament declares Massachusetts to
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Narrator
be in a state of rebellion.
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Clark Peters
A few weeks later, there's a meeting of Virginia leaders.
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Narrator
The stoical Washington is joined by Patrick Henry, the firebrand from the First Continental Congress. Henry does not do nuance and subtlety.
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Clark Peters
He insists the situation is clear cut,
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Narrator
a battle of good versus evil.
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Clark Peters
The British government, he says, intends to
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Narrator
make slaves of every free colonist. Virginia needs to prepare for all out war.
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Clark Peters
He ends his speech with words still
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Narrator
famous more than 250 years. Give me liberty or give me death or that's how the story goes. Nobody knows for sure the exact words Henry uses that day, but Liberty or death certainly sounds like him.
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Professor Peter Castor
Professor Peter Castor Every political movement needs successful communication. Franklin knew how to do that in print and Henry knew how to do that in person. And he makes this speech in 1775 as an effort to mobilize Virginians in opposition to the British government. It was uncertain at this time whether Virginia would join the cause for reform because there was a lot at stake and there were some members of the Virginia gentry who thought, I got it pretty good. Why would I risk that by challenging the mother country?
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Commercial Voice
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Narrator
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Clark Peters
I feel liberated. We're gonna take this city back over
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Historian/Commentator
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Clark Peters
Knowing the colonists are arming themselves, the British look to stop them. In various locations, weapons and gunpowder are seized. But in many places, including Massachusetts, the militia are well armed and ready to fight. Dr. Kristen Blackstone is lecturer in international and military history and at the University of Salford.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
The British army, because of the violence
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Historian/Commentator
that is going on in and around
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
Boston, because of the protests and the riots, they had been going through Massachusetts and taking things that were stored in
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Historian/Commentator
armories and bringing them to Boston.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
And there had been a number of
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Historian/Commentator
smaller incidences of British soldiers attempting to do this and coming up against the militia.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
These instances don't result in a firefight. People don't die. But there are flashpoints of tensions. In addition to this, militiamen are in a state of preparedness, if you will. They are practicing, they are drilling. They are perpetually ready for something to happen. And I don't think anyone expected that
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Historian/Commentator
something to be the start of a major war.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
But everyone knows there will be at
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Historian/Commentator
some point a conflict between the soldiers and militiament.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
And both sides are getting ready for
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Historian/Commentator
what this could look like.
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Clark Peters
It's midnight on April 19, 1775. While Massachusetts sleeps, British soldiers are on the move. Late yesterday evening, the colony's military commander authorized a secret mission. Local intelligence suggests that colonists have amassed a huge stash of weapons in the town of Concord. Now several hundred redcoats are on their way to seize and destroy whatever they find. What they don't know is that the alarm has already been raised. A warning ripples through Massachusetts. On horseback, a rider gallops from Boston deep into the countryside. The rider is a familiar face. It's Paul Revere, the silversmith whose depiction of the Boston Massacre of 1770 created an iconography of American martyrs. Many years from now, other artists will make a myth of Revere himself.
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Narrator
In the tale of this evening, he'll
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Clark Peters
become the lone hero, a brave messenger rousing backwoods patriots from their sleep.
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Narrator
In reality, Revere is not working alone. He's one of numerous patriots spreading the word. As so often in the story of America's founding, this morning is about the many, not the few. Rumors are flying about what precisely the British have in mind. Whatever it is, Revere is on his way to warn a couple of key rebels, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
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Clark Peters
Those two rabble rousers are staying overnight in a parsonage in the town of Lexington. Just after midnight, Revere, splattered with mud, reaches Lexington. He bangs on the parsonage door. The startled Reverend lets him in. Revere delivers his message. The redcoats are coming. Lexington is now braced, though for what, they still can't be entirely sure. Around 5am The British arrive. The sun has yet to come up, but Lexington is awake.
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Narrator
On the town green stands the local
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Clark Peters
militia, br breathing heavily, ready for action. The two forces face each other.
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Narrator
What comes next is still a mystery.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
For something that is now known as the shot heard around the world, there is actually quite a lot of uncertainty as to what precisely happened.
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Historian/Commentator
Sources are muddled and sources also blame the opposite side. So the, the British sources very clearly say the militia fired first. The sources from the militiamen very clearly say the British fired first. And some sources say, I actually have no idea who fired.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
But whatever happened, a shot is fired. That shot is then answered by other shots. And when the dust is cleared, the militia had fled. They're hiding behind walls. There are eight militiamen dead and there are a few wounded British soldiers. And this is the first battle, if you will, of the American Revolution.
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Clark Peters
The British march onwards to Concord. Along the way, they are constantly attacked. The local militia is out in force in Concord. The British find and destroy what weapons they can. But now they have to head back to Boston. They don't get a moment's rest. There are shootouts the whole way.
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Narrator
The teenager David Howe's militia is one of those that set out in pursuit. As they give chase, the roads they travel along are strewn with the grim evidence of war. Just as the day draws to a close, Howe and his buddies reach Menetomi. This little town is the scene of carnage. A battle there has claimed the lives of 25 Patriots and 40 Redcoats.
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David Howe's Descendant
I know that his group made it to Manitomi before dark. By the time David got there, there's blood, there's bullet holes and walls, there's homes that have been burned. And he was 18 years old. He wouldn't have known anything like that before that day. All of the things up until that point had been talk about what Parliament had said across the ocean and this thing that had been put in the newspaper and people talking in taverns and pubs about what should be done. But on this day, it finally started to happen.
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Narrator
By nightfall, more than 100 men have been killed. 49 militiamen, six dozen British soldiers.
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Clark Peters
Within the space of a few hours, a full scale war has broken out. David Howe's force soon makes its way to the area immediately around Boston. David watches as groups of other militiamen arrive, all in support of Massachusetts.
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Narrator
They traipse in from right across New England. 5000 arrive from Connecticut, 1500 from Rhode Island. They range from boys barely in their teens to men well past their physical peak. Most are white, but there are native and free black men too. The scene is unprecedented. Militiamen mobilize as organized military units, irrespective
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Clark Peters
of age or color. All are committed to resisting what they see as tyranny.
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Narrator
But how they intend to do that, well, nobody really knows. This isn't an army. It's a movement with guns. They have scant resources and practically no experience of waging war against anyone, let
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Clark Peters
alone the British Empire. Eventually, 15,000 militiamen surround Boston.
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Narrator
They set up camp in the open air.
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Clark Peters
With the British ensconced in the city, a siege begins. As these dramatic scenes unfold, George Washington is back at his plantation in Virginia.
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Narrator
In a private chamber inside his mansion, he studies his reflection in the mirror. He is dressed in his blue and buff military uniform. Behind him, his valet ties a black ribbon around Washington's hair. The valet's name is William Lee. Washington always calls him Billy.
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Clark Peters
Lee has been enslaved at Mount Vernon for the past seven years, ever since Washington bought him for 61 pounds and
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Narrator
15 shillings from another wealthy white Virginian. Though deprived of a voice in the historical record, Lee is impossible to ignore. In the story of the founding of the United States, he is always by Washington's side, and will be for the next eight tumultuous years. Lee is Washington's right and left hand. He carries messages, organizes his papers, rides
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Clark Peters
alongside him in fox hunts, and he
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Narrator
cares for Washington's clothes.
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Clark Peters
Right now, he's laid out the uniform for a trip to Philadelphia. The Continental Congress is due to convene for a second time.
- [26:10]
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- [26:47]
Historian/Commentator
Wow.
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David Howe's Descendant
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- [26:52]
Historian Ray Raphael
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Narrator
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- [26:58]
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Clark Peters
When Washington reaches Philadelphia on May 9, 1770, 5. He does so resplendent in his old uniform. He wants to remind Congress that he
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Narrator
is, in fact, Colonel George Washington, a war veteran and the obvious choice to handle the crisis in Massachusetts. The other delegates get the message by unanimous vote. He is appointed commander in chief of a brand new entity, the Continental Army, a united force to fight for colonial rights.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
He has a few really important qualities. The first is that he does have some military experience in an era where
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Historian/Commentator
not a lot of men in the colonies have military experience.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
He is also from Virginia, which is incredibly important. Up until 1775 and even actually for the duration of 1775, the Revolution is focused largely in and around Boston. And it was very clear to politicians at the time that if there was
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Historian/Commentator
to be some sort of revolution, if
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
there was to be certainly a sustained protest or rebellion against the British, if
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Historian/Commentator
they wanted to effect real and lasting change, it needed to be an effort that all of the colonies were behind.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
And so George Washington, being from Virginia, added that southern element to the conflict that it desperately needed.
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Clark Peters
Maybe it's his huge physical presence.
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Narrator
Maybe it's his cultivated Southern manners and fastidious attention to appearance, or maybe it's his stillness, his refusal to speak unless he's got something to say. Whatever it is, Washington has an X factor. His charisma works its magic even on other exalted public figures.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
Civilians at the time write about being
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Historian/Commentator
very impressed by George Washington.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
Abigail Adams in particular, writes in 1775, 1776 to her husband, John Adams, just how impressed she was. And I don't think Abigail Adams was
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Historian/Commentator
a woman who was particularly easily impressed.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
So at the time, there are certainly a huge number of people who are
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Historian/Commentator
kind of in awe of his presence.
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Clark Peters
Yet Washington himself realizes at least some of his shortcomings. One of those he tries to remedy immediately.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
The first thing he does in 1775
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Historian/Commentator
is order A horde of military textbooks
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
after he becomes commander in chief, because he understands he lacks knowledge, and I think it's something he does frequently throughout
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Historian/Commentator
the war, is he learns from what goes right and what goes wrong and adjusts his strategy throughout.
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Clark Peters
By choosing Washington as military commander, the second Continental Congress give a name and face to their common cause. A cause now of 13 colonies stretching from Massachusetts in the north to Georgia in the south. While Congress talks the Continental army into being, David Howe is in the thick of war. A few weeks into the siege of Boston, the militia stealthily take possession of two hills. When the British discover that the hills have been poached from under their noses, they hit back A bloody battle ensues. The so called Battle of Bunker Hill. David Howe is immersed in the fighting.
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David Howe's Descendant
David was at Bunker Hill in the Redoubt. By some accounts, that was some of the bloodiest, most horrific fighting of the entire war. Out of all the things that happened in those years following. That day at Bunker Hill was like watching people being thrown into a meat grinder that scarred him forever.
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Clark Peters
With field guns firing overhead, waves of redcoats surge up the first hill. The colonists stand firm. They scatter. Yankee peas. Bullets fired simultaneously with buckshot. Those who aren't hit by the spray are instead splashed with the the blood and flesh of others. As the battle rages, rebel snipers hide among buildings in nearby Charlestown. The British move to eliminate the threat. Red hot cannonballs rain down. Charles Town's wooden buildings are engulfed in flames. A British general describes the burning church steeples as looking like great pyramids of fire.
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Narrator
All the while, British soldiers continue to charge up the hill. But American defenses prove astonishingly strong.
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Clark Peters
Not all the militiamen even have guns. Much of the fighting is done up close, practically hand to hand.
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Narrator
Some do their best with pitchforks or wooden clubs. Eventually, the American forces are overwhelmed. The British claim both hills. But victory is expensive. The redcoats suffer more than a thousand casualties. Months later, the British will relinquish their control of the hills. At this moment, David Howe will return to the scene of the carnage, something he notes in his journal. Exactly why he returns is unclear, but it's not impossible to guess.
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David Howe's Descendant
I know that David was affected by the atrocities at Bunker Hill because the very first thing he did was try to go back over to Bunker Hill. Whether he wanted to find his lost stuff or. Or the friends that had been missing since that day. Not sure. He wasn't allowed to go. There was a sentry posted. They needed to check the whole place for booby traps. So he couldn't go down that first day. But then the next day he was allowed. And several times immediately after that, he goes with family members or friends and takes them there to view it. He doesn't describe what they do or see, just the fact that they go there. But that tells me that he was processing stuff in his mind that had a great effect on him that day. At Bunker Hill,
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Clark Peters
Some historians believe that the savagery of the war that's unfolding is still widely underappreciated.
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Historian/Commentator
We severely underestimate the brutality of the American Revolution.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
One of the reasons is because 18th century warfare looks very different to warfare
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Historian/Commentator
that we are accustomed to today.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
Right so it is often compared to things like the US Civil War, which has much newer technology that is much more deadly. Where battles look slightly different, they're not quite the straight line marching armies towards one another. They are much more chaotic. And so when you compare the American Revolution to something like that, 18th century battles seem significantly less violent.
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Clark Peters
Political factors might also explain why the violent reality of the American Revolution is underplayed.
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Dr. Kristen Blackstone
Historians after the war, the new government after the war, are telling the story about the Revolution. They don't want to tell a story that is rooted in extreme violence, particularly violence that they perpetrated. And so what happens is in these new national histories, the violence of British soldiers, the violence of Native Americans, of Loyalists are emphasized. Stories about Patriot violence, about violence perpetrated by the Continental army or by the Patriot militia are left to one side. They're not things that you emphasize for the story of a new nation. It's not something they want to emphasize. The war happened and that's now behind us. We're going to move into our new chapter as the United States as a
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Historian/Commentator
non radical, nonviolent nation.
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Clark Peters
George Washington is in New York when he receives the news about Bunker Hill. He stopped over on his way to take command of the troops in Massachusetts. At the same time, he receives updates on the latest from his home Virginia. Recently, the royal governor, the king's representative in the colony, has fled. Hounded out of his official residence by rebellious militiamen, the governor is now aboard a British warship just off the coast of Virginia. Hundreds of other people opposed to the colonists uprising join him, including some enslaved people who have escaped their masters. Everywhere, cracks in colonial society are beginning to show, and people are beginning to pick sides. It's July 3, 1775, above a muddy field in Massachusetts. The gray clouds
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Narrator
in a sudden burst of sunshine, the silver spurs on George Washington's polished black boots sparkle. On horseback, a sword strapped to his side, and dressed in his immaculate uniform, he projects magnificence. You might even call it regal. Today is the general's first full day
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Clark Peters
in Massachusetts as leader of the Continental Army.
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Narrator
On the parade ground, he inspects the thousands of militiamen now under his command. A full military ban accompanies his tour. The message is inescapable. With Washington's arrival, a new day has dawned.
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Clark Peters
The men stand stiff and straight. They do their best impression of soldiers, but they're fooling nobody. The difference between General Washington and his rank and file couldn't be more extreme.
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Narrator
Washington intends to make a dazzling impression on everyone. All the time. His soldiers look like they've just wandered in from a long day on the farm or a heavy night at the tavern.
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Clark Peters
There are few recognizable uniforms. The conflict at Bunker Hill has left some men literally in rags. Their weaponry is basic, too. There are muskets, though many soldiers are armed with only knives and sticks. Despite being engaged in a siege of Boston, the Continental army possesses very little artillery, alarmingly little gunpowder, and not a single engineer experience in siege warfare.
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Narrator
Washington passes line after line of men. It is estimated there are as many as 18,000 of them by now, a remarkable number, perhaps 50% more than the redcoats. But Washington is no fool. He knows the raw numbers are misleading. Riding out across the sprawling encampments, he surveys the conditions.
- [39:23]
Clark Peters
The men are living in a jumble of makeshift tents and insanitary conditions. Dysentery, typhus, and typhoid fever are rife.
- [39:37]
Narrator
Illness, injury, and exhaustion have rendered hundreds, if not thousands, unfit to serve. Those that are frequently disappoint their new general. In letters to fellow Virginians, Washington calls his New England soldiers exceedingly dirty and nasty and unforgivably stupid. Perhaps the thing that most infuriates him is their indiscipline. Turning them into soldiers is like trying to make obedient dogs out of feral cats.
- [40:13]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
It doesn't look anything like an army. They are drinking, they are gambling, they're firing their guns off as they please at target practice. And so George Washington tries incredibly hard to turn this gaggle of people into a functioning army. It doesn't go well. He's met with a lot of resistance. There's quite a lot of mass desertion.
- [40:34]
Clark Peters
Of the men that stick around, Washington only has command of them for a few months. Under their terms of engagement, most are free to leave. At the start of 1776. He wants a more professional force, something akin to the British. But Congress is wary of anything that looks like a standing army. Frustrated though he is, Washington follows Congress's lead.
- [41:04]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
During the war, he routinely deferred to
- [41:07]
Historian/Commentator
civilian authority in the Continental Congress because
- [41:10]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
this is a real concern of people
- [41:11]
Historian/Commentator
in the American colonies. The British army they view as this body of tyranny.
- [41:16]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
And he was very clear that the
- [41:17]
Historian/Commentator
Continental army couldn't become that.
- [41:22]
Clark Peters
Outside Boston, there is benign chaos. Inside, things are different.
- [41:31]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
The city of Boston essentially goes on lockdown, right? Martial law is enacted. The British are now occupying the city
- [41:38]
Historian/Commentator
as opposed to living in the city.
- [41:40]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
And there were limited provisions for the people living in the cities. There is a constant physical threat of violence, but also a psychological threat of Violence from the British soldiers. In addition to this, the soldiers treat the city as their playground, if you will. They let themselves into houses, they use barns. They take the things that they need,
- [42:02]
Historian/Commentator
because that is what you do in an occupied city.
- [42:06]
Dr. Kristen Blackstone
One civilian in his diary describes it
- [42:08]
Historian/Commentator
as a melancholy and darkness that I have never known.
- [42:17]
Clark Peters
In July, Congress makes a further bid to end the war. A petition is sent to the King. It asks His Majesty to find a peaceful resolution. A few weeks later, Congress receives its reply. George III announces that all 13 colonies
- [42:38]
Narrator
are in a state of open and avowed rebellion.
- [42:47]
Clark Peters
So as fall arrives, Washington endorses two bold military plans. The first is to seize an array of British armaments recently abandoned in New York. The second is a two pronged invasion of Quebec, a British stronghold. From there, they'll have a base to attack the British from the north, as well as a chance to strengthen the colony's ambitions in the American West. But for many young men in New England, attacking Quebec is about striking a blow not only against the British Empire, but also against the Vatican.
- [43:30]
Narrator
Anti Catholicism is rife among the Protestant
- [43:33]
Clark Peters
majority in New England. A recent law introduced by Parliament only feeds the prejudice. The British grant more land to the province of Quebec and guarantee religious freedoms to its Catholic majority. Many American Protestants see this as evidence of Britain's terminal corruption to King George's government. That idea appears to be just the latest insane conspiracy theory to sweep America.
- [44:04]
Narrator
Perhaps in part, the British have a point.
- [44:08]
Professor Andrew O'Shaughnessy
British policy would have eroded many traditional American liberties. Most importantly, in taxing America. That was entirely new. It was unprecedented. On the other hand, a lot of the beliefs about the British government and British policies were simply conspiratorial. For example, the Quebec act of 1774. They thought the British government was trying to create a French Catholic army in Canada and to use it to destroy American liberties and to use them as troops against America. In fact, the Quebec act was all about trying to absorb this large French Catholic population and to allow them to practice their religion and to retain the French legal system. It was surprisingly enlightened for its time.
- [45:06]
Clark Peters
Conspiracy theory or not, the issue of Quebec underscores the numerous different schisms in this conflict.
- [45:14]
Narrator
The American Revolution is about much more than just tax and tea.
- [45:21]
Professor Peter Castor
Disagreements that predated the Revolution became politicized. So Anglo Americans of English ancestry could feel a stronger connection to England proper, and especially if they're members of the Church of England. The Church of England is saying, you need to remain loyal to your king. When you have Scots Irish settlers, you know they come from a different historic tradition. There had been similar uprisings in Scotland very recently. Meanwhile, if they're members of evangelical denominations which challenged authority in a variety of ways, that religious language could reinforce the political language. When people hear about the American Revolution, they often think, wait a minute, I didn't know religion mattered in this. I didn't know ethnicity mattered in this, but it did.
- [46:10]
Narrator
One of the soldiers who signs up for the Quebec campaign is Jeremiah Greenman, a 17 year old from Rhode Island. Sensing he's embarking on something extraordinary, he keeps a detailed account of the expedition. Historian and author Ray Raphael officers all
- [46:31]
Historian Ray Raphael
kept journals, but not too many common people kept a journal that actually survived. So Jeremiah Greenman's narrative is almost unique that way. He's young, he's unattached, he's hungry for adventure. I mean, he's 17. How am I going to launch myself into this world? And so he, and then a lot of other people very similar to Jeremiah Greenman with the highest expectations, they gather and they get all revved up. We're going to go and attack the British and we'll make history. Yeah, yeah. Well, it's easier said than done.
- [47:08]
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- [47:34]
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- [48:07]
Narrator
In early September, Greenman and a thousand of his fellow soldiers arrive in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the scene that began this episode. In the evening, they listen to the
- [48:19]
Clark Peters
chaplain preach at the town's church. Some of them get the chance to gather good luck charms from George Whitfield,
- [48:27]
Narrator
strangely close to a Catholic practice for such staunch Protestants. In the morning, they begin a journey into the unknown.
- [48:39]
Historian Ray Raphael
You want to attack a walled city several hundred miles away, first you have to get there. Well, there is one river in Maine which actually kind of takes you a large way up there, the Kennebec River. So they say, okay, we'll get these boats. They call them bateau, flat bottom boats, and we'll load all our supplies on these boats and kind of tug them along the river. That's a lot of stuff. You have to load all the provisions, the gunpowder, everything. How are you going to keep the gunpowder dry? How do you really supply an army of several hundred or thousand people with food going through a wilderness? Now, winter is coming on, so you're going to have to get there through cold weather and lizards and so on. And they're tugging them upstream, and it's not so fun in games anymore, this great adventure that they're all going on.
- [49:42]
Clark Peters
It's October 31, 1775. Deep in the forest, Jeremiah Greenman is cold and hungry. Sitting by a campfire, arms outstretched, he warms his hands. He casts his eyes around a scattering of his fellow soldiers. Exhaustion is sunk deep into their dull, expressionless faces. For five weeks now, they've been trudging through the New England wilderness. The rain has soaked them. The exertion of dragging their boats has drained them. The dwindling supplies of food have left them ravenous. But the men sat around this fire are the lucky ones. Illness has stricken many of their comrades. Just this morning, they had to leave behind five who were too sick to continue. Right now is the highlight of the month for Private Greenman. A little way off, a soldier is skinning an animal, a rare bounty of fresh meat for today's supper.
- [51:01]
Narrator
On the fire is a pot bubbling with hot broth. When the creature is butchered, the soldier drops in the chunks of meat. Back home, Bremen's mother might have served
- [51:15]
Clark Peters
up a little pork or beef.
- [51:18]
Narrator
In the woodlands of northern Massachusetts, the best they can do is canine. This evening, they're having dog for dinner. When Grieman gets his small share, it hits the spot. He writes in his journal that after eating, the men hunker down beneath their blankets and have a good night's sleep, or what passes for that. Out here in the middle of a sodden, frozen nowhere, They push ahead further and further north.
- [51:55]
Clark Peters
Soon, just 700 of the 1100 men remain.
- [52:00]
Narrator
Death, sickness and desertion have claimed the others. Eventually, they reach their destination.
- [52:11]
Clark Peters
On New Year's Eve, they charge into the city of Quebec. The attack is a disaster. About half the American forces are killed.
- [52:27]
Narrator
The others, including Jeremiah Greenman, are captured by the British.
- [52:33]
Clark Peters
Some of the rank and file survivors might envy the dead.
- [52:37]
Historian Ray Raphael
You have to understand the complexities of social class and rank. The Officers and the people who are actually doing most of the fighting. And it's an altogether different experience between those two. There's two levels of being captured. The soldiers are birded into these cells. They got often no beds, you have to lie on the floor, you're crowded together. No sanitation or very poor sanitation. Basically they throw some food in every once in a while. Really, they're treated as animals. Jeremiah Griemens is the best journal for this situation. But there are other journals of officers who were captured and it was quite a civil affair. They get housed rather properly and actually treated rather civilly. And basically when they were released, they were just released. Okay, well it's been nice knowing you. Just please don't fight again.
- [53:33]
Clark Peters
On January 1, 1776, thousands of Washington's soldiers leave. Their enlistments have come to an end. Within the space of a single morning, the Continental army is reduced by approximately half.
- [53:53]
Narrator
Just weeks ago, Washington doubled down on his decision to ban new black recruits. Like many slave owning southerners, he's troubled by the idea of free men of color standing shoulder to shoulder with their white counterparts. But now, out of biting necessity, he's reversed the decision.
- [54:17]
Clark Peters
At some points in the coming years,
- [54:19]
Narrator
black men will account for as much as 12% of the continental army among the white soldiers. Not all leave service when given the chance.
- [54:32]
Clark Peters
David Howe is one of the original New England militiamen who sign up for a further 12 months. At the start of the new year, he begins a journal.
- [54:43]
Narrator
In his direct, perfunctory way, he captures 1776, a year of enormous significance from the perspective of an ordinary young man at the center of extraordinary events.
- [54:57]
Clark Peters
His motivations for re enlisting are tantalizingly unclear.
- [55:04]
David Howe's Descendant
There's not a lot of flowery emotion involved in the diary. The things he wrote down were matter of fact. He was very resourceful. I think one of the things that probably encouraged him was he was the third son, so he most likely wasn't going to inherit the farm. He's going to have to make his own life. There was talk of politics amongst all these other people around, but really when it came down to it, it was to defend home. I think that was his main motivation.
- [55:44]
Clark Peters
It's late at night on January 17th when a messenger on horseback arrives at George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. Unlike most of his men, the General enjoys luxurious accommodation. A mansion originally built for the owner of a sugar plantation. The news is crushing. The Quebec campaign has collapsed. Washington despairs. But there's a ray of hope at almost this very moment, news filters in that the attempt to retrieve British weapons from New York has been successful. Over the last few weeks, hundreds of men have hauled dozens of cannons and mortars across 200 miles of ice, snow, rivers and hills. 60 tons of lethal armaments now belong to Washington's misfit band of rebels from nowhere.
- [56:53]
Narrator
An audacious feat has brought the Continental army back, back from the dead. It's the shape of things to come.
- [57:13]
Clark Peters
In the next episode, as the siege of Boston continues, the conflict deepens and expands. A leader of the Mohawk people journeys to London, pledging his support to King George. As Congress votes on the resolution for independence, we reach one of the most significant dates in human history. July 4, 1776. But what does independence truly mean for the new nation? Who really benefits from this proclamation of liberty? And as the British send in reinforcements, it seems the dream could be over before it's even begun. That's next time on Founding an American Dream. You can listen to the next two
- [58:09]
Narrator
episodes of Founding Fathers right now, without waiting and without ads, by joining NOIZR Plus. Click the banner at the top of the feed or head to noizr.com subscriptions to find out more.