American History Tellers - Revolution | The Virginia Planter | 1

Episode Date: June 27, 2018

It’s 1754, and the British had developed thirteen colonies along the eastern seaboard of the American continent. You may be familiar with them. But what you may not know is that a skirmish between the British and French settlers, who colonized a strip of land lining the Mississippi River, is where a young George Washington made a serious war blunder that ultimately led to Revolution.Written by New York Times bestselling author, Russell Shorto, this is Revolution by American History Tellers. Over the next six episodes, we’ll dive into the Revolutionary War period from the perspectives of a slave, a woman, a native American, a common shoemaker and a British aristocrat.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's May of 1754. It's the middle of the night. You're walking along a wooded hillside somewhere in western Pennsylvania. It's pitch black, but you can hear the group of men you've been marching with for the last few days. It's so dark that some of them have walked into trees. Up ahead, you can just make out your group's leader, a tall, young man. You've been ordered to keep as quiet as possible, so you whisper to the man on your right.

Do you think he knows what he's doing? I don't know. He seems so young. Awfully young to be leading an expedition. I hear he's hankering after a commission in the Royal Army. Well, he's smart, I'll say that. A little too full of beans if you ask me. What brings you here? They promised me a parcel of land if I joined up.

You end the conversation there, hoping you didn't make too much noise. You're a blacksmith from Fredericksburg, but the thought of having somewhere for you and your family to build a new home, maybe start a farm, was enough to get you to put down your tools and pick up your old hunting musket. Exactly what you and more than a hundred other men from the local militia are going to do hasn't really been clearly explained to you, except that you're going to deliver a warning to the French.

Alongside the militia, you march with a dozen mingos, Iroquois Indians who have migrated from their traditional territory in New York through Ohio country to the west. They are dressed only in leather leggings and breech cloths and have streaked their bodies and faces with stripes of paint. Their leader is a man named Tannik Harrison. Your British commanders call him the Half King, but after hours of marching in the dark, you realize the Iroquois are gone. The sky is just starting to lighten, and you finally come to the top of a ridge. Get into firing positions! Down in the gorge below, you can see about three dozen French and Canadian soldiers sleeping.

Suddenly, a movement on the other side of the valley catches your eye. It's the Mingos. You have the French surrounded. A shot rings out, and someone hollers, Fire! You aim your musket. Your first shot misses. It takes a full minute for you to reload. You fire again and shoot one of the French soldiers right in the chest,

a man you've never met. You watch as he falls to the ground. It only takes a few minutes, then it's all over. You scramble down the steep bank into the ravine, their heart pounding. At least ten of the French soldiers are dead. Your tall young leader is excited, acting like he has won some great victory. But you feel sick. It seems to you more like a massacre.

You see the half-king walk up to one of the wounded Frenchmen, their leader, a man named Jumville. The half-king barks at him in French. Tu n'es pas encore mort, mon Pierre. You aren't dead yet, father. Then he raises his tomahawk and brings it down on the man's head, splitting it open. He plunges his hands into the man's brains and scrubs his hands with them. You go white with shock. So does the young man leading your expedition. This was not part of his orders. You can't know it now, but the 15 minutes of violence you just participated in will have major unintended consequences for you, for the world, and for the young man leading your militia. His name is George Washington. Listen to the best idea yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? Paul can do it. I'm your host, Brandon Jinks Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. On our show, we'll take you to the events, the times, and the people that shaped America

and Americans, our values, our struggles, and our dreams. We'll put you in the shoes of everyday citizens as history was being made, and we'll show you how these events affected them, their families, and affects you today. By 1754, the British had developed 13 colonies along the eastern seaboard of the American continent. Meanwhile, the French had quietly colonized a strip down the center, with a line of settlements along the Mississippi River, from Les Détroits, or Detroit, all the way down to Baton Rouge and the Gulf of Mexico. Things were relatively calm as long as the two European empires kept to their respective regions. But in the mid-1750s, the French pushed eastward, into a place called the Forks of the Ohio,

which was clearly within the English colony of Pennsylvania. The British leaders in London were outraged when they learned of this. Robert Dinwiddie, the Scottish-born lieutenant governor of Virginia, took the lead in dealing with the threat. That was when Washington, a tall young man from Virginia, with a gleam in his eye like he had something to prove, volunteered to lead an expedition. Exactly what happened in that Pennsylvania gorge is subject to some debate.

Some accounts say that it was George Washington's men who opened fire, others that the French started the fight. What is certain is that what should have been a peaceful mission left nearly a dozen men dead, but its consequences went far beyond that. Washington's blunder set the stage for a much larger conflict, and ultimately, a revolution. Over the next six episodes, we'll dive into the Revolutionary War period from the perspectives of a slave, a woman, a Native American, a common shoemaker, and a British aristocrat. Each will give a new angle

on the period of America's founding, what it meant then and what it means now. This series was written by best-selling author Russell Shorto and follows the six lives he focused on in his award-winning book, Revolution Song. In this episode, we'll start with a familiar life. George Washington was surely the most famous American of the era, maybe of any era, but he wasn't always an icon.

If you strip away the glorifying imagery and the myth-making, we find he was a man, bristling with ambition, but beset with doubts, and capable of making colossal blunders. This is Episode 1, The Virginia Planter. There's a famous painting of the American Revolution that shows George Washington standing majestically at the front of a boat as others paddle it furiously through ice-choked waters. It's called Washington Crossing the Delaware, and it depicts one of the most iconic moments of the Revolutionary War. But, as often seems to be the case with iconic images, there are some problems with the painting. First, one of the soldiers is holding up an American flag, and that couldn't have happened, because the flag didn't yet exist. Also, the light is wrong. If it were to be historically accurate, the painting

would probably have to be so dark you couldn't make out the figures. Another inaccuracy is in the painting, the boat is filled with not just soldiers, as would have been the case, but with an unusually diverse group of people. There's at least one woman, and there are people who seem to represent a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including a man of African origin. While this diversity may not fit with the reality of Washington's crossing, it does make an accurate, important, and often overlooked point about the period of the Revolution. Traditional accounts of the war tend to focus on the men in the powdered wigs who wielded officers' swords and quill pens, the white, relatively privileged men who wrote our founding documents. But America in the 1750s was more than that. In fact, America was quite a diverse place from the very beginning, rich and poor, slave and free. People spoke different languages and practiced a variety

of faiths. That diversity mattered. And it gets to how we think about America today and its founding. We all know the Revolution was about freedom. But whose freedom? And where did that idea even come from? The year is 1749, five years before George Washington's disastrous first military encounter on that ridge in Pennsylvania. Imagine you're a young woman who lives on a farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. You and your husband are excited because today you don't have to plow soil or churn butter. Today is the local fair.

It's a fresh morning in May, alive with birdsong and the sounds of the riverboat you're boarding. Even before you arrive at the fair, you can hear people singing one of your favorite songs, the Fair Lass of Islington. There was a lass of Islington, as I have heard many tell, and she would to Fair London go find apples and pears to sell. As people start drinking, a more boisterous song starts up. We'll toss off our ale till we cannot stand, and hey for the honor of Old England, Old England, Old England, and hey for the honor of To an outsider, something about these songs might seem a bit strange. Although you and your husband were both born and raised here in the Tidewater region of Virginia, you don't especially think of yourselves as Americans. You're Virginian, sure, but more than that. You see yourselves as British subjects.

The calendar is a never-ending cycle of festivals and market days, and all of them are alive with English songs, English poems, and English dances. And the dances aren't just popular, they're important. Jigs, for Virginian British subjects, are a competitive sport, an arena where young men vie for ladies' attention. That's how you and your husband met. As a new jig strikes up, you and your husband join the crowd to watch. You notice a 17-year-old boy intently taking it all in on the other side of the dance floor. Your husband nudges you. Look who it is.

Who? You don't recognize him. That's George Washington. Gus's boy? It was a fever that took Gus, wasn't it? He was a fine man. Upright. Ambitious. Too bad for the boy. His mother's backwoods shrew. Is she? He was supposed to go to England for schooling, but then I guess with his father passing. I wonder what she'll do now

with him. She's sure to keep him near her. You watch him dance the next song and are surprised to see the young man launch into an energetic jig. He's a good dancer. Where did he learn to dance like that? Later, you see him win the horse race, too. And later still, you catch sight of him strutting about in a fine suit, holding himself erect and dressing young ladies with a certain look in his eye. If you were ten years younger, even your head might have been turned by young George Washington. Gus Washington had been a member of Virginia's minor gentry. He had had

big plans, most of all to succeed as a tobacco planter. But by his time, the European market was glutted, and prices for the crop were on the decline. His untimely death had a powerful effect on young George Washington. The boy was unable to get a proper education overseas in England, and became determined to adopt the skills and outward manners of a Virginia gentleman. He became an expert horseman and fencer. He studied the latest innovations in tobacco farming, intent on succeeding where his father had struggled. Above all, he became obsessed with honor,

and the clearest way to achieve honor was through military service. Even more than most other American subjects of the British Empire, young Mr. Washington was a determined Anglophile. He dreamed of becoming an officer in the British army. At 22, he thought he saw his chance. The American colonies became caught up in a global power struggle between England and France. As tensions mounted, the French made a move on British territory at the forks of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania. Washington volunteered to lead a militia to warn them off. His orders weren't entirely clear on how he should do this, but he was instructed in no uncertain terms to act on the defensive.

Instead, he led a high-strung, bloody attack on a party of sleeping French soldiers who were on a peaceful mission to deliver a message to the English. And that skirmish was all it took. It gave the French the excuse they were looking for to start a war against their bitter rival, the British. George Washington began his career with a massive blunder, igniting a global conflict called the Seven Years' War. The American theater would become known as the French and Indian War. Despite this false start, Washington kept trying for an officer's commission. A year later, in a major British offensive, he served as guide to General Edward Braddock.

Washington took him back along the same trail he had helped blaze years earlier with the Mingoes, through the wilds of western Maryland and Pennsylvania, to the future site of Pittsburgh, where by now the French had built a fort. This time the British had an army of 2,000 men. But Washington had learned that classic European military tactics were not effective in America. You couldn't array your army in neat rows on the field of battle and expect the enemy to do the same. He had tried to impress this fact on General Braddock, but the older commander would refuse to listen to Washington's concerns. He would follow the principles he'd always followed,

and it would be a fateful decision. Dracula, the ancient vampire who terrorizes Victorian London. Blood and garlic, bats and crucifixes, even if you haven't read the book, you think you know the story. One of the incredible things about Dracula is that not only is it this wonderful snapshot of the 19th century, but it also has so much resonance today. The vampire doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror. So when we look in the mirror, the only thing we see is our own monstrous abilities.

From the host and producer of American History Tellers and History Daily comes the new podcast, The Real History of Dracula. We'll reveal how author Bram Stoker raided ancient folklore, exploited Victorian fears around sex, science, and religion, and how even today we remain enthralled to his strange creatures of the night. You can binge all episodes of The Real History of Dracula exclusively with Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus and The Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. In November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the

surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt, and multimillion-dollar fraud. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers.

We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that defined their journey, and the ideas that transformed the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe.

But ambition eventually curdles into desperation, and Robert's determination to succeed turns into a willingness to do anything to get ahead. Follow Business Movers wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Imagine it's July 1755. You are one of 1,200 soldiers under the command of British General Edward Braddock, gathered along the Monongahela River in western Pennsylvania. You've been sent to attack the fort that the French are building in English territory.

You're a part of the largest military assembly ever in North America. You know the French and Indians in the fort are a smaller force, and General Braddock is confident. You're feeling very good about your chances. You turn to the soldier next to you. What are we waiting for? Didn't Washington say we should find cover? General Braddock thinks he knows better. He's going straight at the fort. And as if on cue, the order is given, and you begin to march in one long, slow column.

Just then, you hear a great boom of guns from the fort. You can see General Braddock. He's giving new orders. 800 men to the front? Washington says that's no way to fight on this land. These aren't the open plains of Europe. We might as well have targets on our backs out here. Suddenly, you're engulfed in confusion.

As British soldiers from the front line come running into you as they retreat. Bullets are whizzing. Cannons blast. Men are being torn to pieces in front of your running into you as they retreat. Bullets are whizzing. Cannons blast. Men are being torn to pieces in front of your eyes. It's a rout. Then Washington appears, riding hard into the battle. From across the field, you see him approach Braddock. You can't hear their voices over the fighting, but Washington looks fierce.

He gestures to your fighting force, then points in the direction of the British forces. He seems to be asking for permission to undertake some kind of flanking maneuver, but Braddock is having none of it. He shakes his head and turns his horse back towards the battle. Just then you see Braddock hit by a bullet. His body drops to the ground. Washington reins in his horse, shouting at the men to keep their positions. Then Washington's horse is shot and stumbles. Washington finds another horse, grabbing it by the bridle. Throwing his leg over the saddle, he continues trying to keep the army from collapsing. Bullets hiss past him.

One goes right through his flapping coat. You grab your musket and move grimly across the field towards Washington. With Braddock gone, you don't know what lies ahead for your unit. But you know this. You'd follow Washington anywhere. At the end, the much smaller French force surprised and devastated Braddock's army. Braddock was mortally wounded. After the loss, Washington took charge, leading the survivors back along the trail they had blazed. He hauled the wounded general along in a cart, but about

70 miles on, Braddock finally succumbed to his wounds and died. Washington buried him along the trail. But as luck would have it, the military disaster led by General Braddock worked in Washington's favor. There wasn't much hopeful news in the colonies in the early days of the French and Indian War, and people were eager for something to cheer. Reports of Washington's bravery in the face of defeat swept through British North America. One newspaper reported, Mr. Washington had two horses shot under him and his clothes shot through in several places,

behaving the whole time with the greatest courage and resolution. Seemingly overnight, George Washington became the most famous man in America. In many ways, the war between England and France, which took place between 1755 and 1763, set up the conditions for the American Revolution. One major link between the two wars was money. Though England eventually won the Seven Years' War, the victory came at an enormous cost. The conflict was fought on five continents, as well as at sea, and it bankrupted Britain.

After it was over, leaders in England came up with an idea to recoup their losses. They would tax the Americans, reasoning that they ought to pay for their own protection and security. But the British had no idea what taxation without representation would mean to their loyal American subjects. Taxation was about money, but it was also about freedom. In England, you paid your taxes, but you also had a say in where that money went. Not so in America. And if the colonists didn't have a say, it suggested that they weren't thought of

as true free British men and women. And that was about to test the loyalty to England that had been bred into Americans since birth. Despite his gallantry in Braddock's campaign, Washington was yet again turned down when he tried to get a military commission. British officials believed American militiamen were hopelessly unprofessional and unable to learn the finer points of military science. That attitude was even captured in a song. A doodle was a simpleton, so Yankee Doodle summed up the feeling of British officers towards Americans. They smirked at colonial militiamen, who, lacking proper uniforms, stuck feathers in their caps to distinguish themselves as a regiment.

Eventually, American patriots would turn the song into a source of pride. George Washington was a unique figure, but in at least one way, he was just like most of the other two and a half million Americans of his day. He was trying to maintain his loyalty to the crown, but found himself increasingly outraged by British policies. And like others, Washington was becoming fixated on a new concept from the Enlightenment, the idea of liberty. The philosophers held that individual liberty was a universal value, but people reckoned that to maintain it, they also needed economic liberty. Many people, Washington included, began using the word slavery them. He owned 300 slaves. He had inherited them through his marriage to the wealthy widow Martha Custis. The contradiction between the growing clamor for individual freedom and the bare facts of human slavery would only grow as the years passed.

Washington was also struggling to succeed as a tobacco farmer at his estate of Mount Vernon in Virginia. Like thousands of other farmers and merchants up and down the coast, he found himself squeezed by British taxes and other economic decrees. Like other Americans, Washington was forced to import goods, everything from linen and silk to wine and even an entire coach from English merchants. And the prices for those goods were going up and up as the economic crisis in England continued. Americans had no choice but to borrow money, but they were only permitted to borrow from British banks, and the rates at those institutions kept going up too.

Then came the Stamp Act of 1765. It required Americans to pay a tax on many kinds of printed material. This, for Washington and many others, was a bridge too far. Writing to his wife's uncle on the matter, he expressed the same furious indignation that others were feeling. The Stamp Act imposed on the colonies by the Parliament of Great Britain engrosses the conversation

of the speculative part of the colonists, who look upon this unconstitutional method of taxation as a direful attack upon their liberties, and loudly exclaim against the violation, what may be the result of this and some other, I think I may add, ill-judged measures, I will not undertake to determine, but this I may venture to affirm, that the advantage accruing to the mother country will fall greatly short of the expectations of the ministry, for certain it is, our whole substance does

already in a manner flow to Great Britain. For Washington and others up and down the American colonies, the situation was becoming intolerable. Imagine it's January 1776. You're a farm boy, 16 years old. You live with your grandparents in Massachusetts. Yours is a stout, conservative farming household. Yet things have been changing. The townspeople and farmer politicians are talking. Soldiers bound for New York and Boston, farm boys just a few years older than you, are billeted on your grandfather's property.

You sit rapt, listening to the new recruits boast of their sure-to-come victories. Their company excites you to go soldiering, to fight, and be a defender of your country. Your grandfather interrupts your reverie and chides the soldiers, swatting one on the head with a pamphlet he has rolled up in his hand. Now, men, don't fill up the boy's head with foolish notions. He's not a soldier now and won't be one later either unless his parents can consent. But, Grandpa, they're miles and miles away. I'll never be able to reach them and come back before the conflict is over. You don't know much

about conflict. There's always conflict. But I fear our supply of patriots might not last the entire war. What do you know about this war or the patriot cause? Your grandfather pales at your insolence, but he does not grow angry. He tosses his crumpled pamphlet at your feet. I know about common sense. I know that this war is a conflict much bigger than our farm, our state. The cause of America is in great measure the cause of all mankind. As he turns away to leave, you pick up the pamphlet. It's titled Common Sense.

And right there on the first page, your grandfather has underlined the very words he just spoke to you. The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many others feel the same. One by one, men of the town march down to the justice of the peace and enlist. You're dying to do the same, but your grandfather is a man of peace and you are only a boy. But finally, you can't stand it anymore. Without telling your grandparents, you enter the low-ceilinged room where in normal times people of your town register wills and marriages. But now you sit before enlistment papers and sign your name. You have joined in the cause of America, the cause of freedom. The news of your enlistment, though, beats you home.

Your grandparents are waiting for you. Well, you are a-going soldiering then, are you? You're silent. It's clear you've hurt them, frightened them deeply. Well, I suppose you must be fitted out for the expedition, since it is so. Your grandfather hands you a musket and a bag of shot. He stuffs cheese in your rucksack, along with your clothes. And don't forget this. He looks at your grandmother, and she hands you your pocket Bible. The next morning, you march to your rendezvous

at the riverside. A fine sloop is waiting there. You board her, along with dozens of other men and boys. The ship weighs anchor, the sails fill, and you're off. But the voyage is longer and more tedious than you expected. By the time the sloop glides into New York Harbor and drops anchor, you're thoroughly sick of life at sea. Then the next adventure opens up in front of you, New York City. But you're not here to explore. You're joining a mass movement. This story is from a real soldier's life. His name was Joseph Plum Martin. Similar stories played out in the thousands as men answered the call.

The pamphlet that stirred Martin's grandfather, Common Sense, would become the first American bestseller, and Thomas Paine, its writer, and a man who had just arrived on the continent from England, would become an American patriot. By early summer of 1776, thousands of men like Martin would have been living in barracks by the water in Lower Manhattan. Each morning at daybreak, reveille would sound. Militia regiments would assemble for training, day after day. The food given to them would have been dry and tasteless, only adding to the monotony of their days.

Just across the harbor, though, on Staten Island, the British Army, the largest and most fearsome fighting force in the world, was assembling, preparing to launch its ferocity upon the American militiamen. But for now, they laid in wait. That's until everything changed in early July, with a fateful step taken by a group of men in Philadelphia. They called themselves the Continental Congress, and they had written up a decree.

Washington, now a general, took their message to his troops in New York and ordered an aide to read it aloud. In Congress, July 4, 1776, a declaration by the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of Independence read aloud to his troops. He wanted them to hear what they would be fighting for. That all men are created equal. Freedom. Freedom for all. But it would come at a price. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand,

lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still avert it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight

for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Richard Bandler revolutionized the world of self-help all thanks to an approach he developed called neurolinguistic programming. Even though NLP worked for some, its methods have been criticized for being dangerous in the wrong hands. Throw in Richard's dark past as a cocaine addict and murder suspect, and you can't help but wonder what his true intentions were. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the hosts

of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of the most infamous scams of all time, the impact on victims, and what's left once the facade falls away. We recently dove into the story of the godfather of modern mental manipulation, Richard Bandler, whose methods inspired some of the most toxic and criminal self-help movements of the last two decades. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Scamfluencers and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid and Kill List early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening.

Most, like Washington, have been pushed to declare independence from Britain largely out of financial concerns, fears that they were being crushed by taxes and other economic burdens. But these Americans were also part of another movement, one that history has termed the Enlightenment. For more than a century, people in Europe and then in America had been pushing back against the notion that kings had a divine right to rule, and against the notion that the church was the final judge on all questions of morality. They believed in scientific inquiry, which indicated that the source of knowledge was somehow inside of every individual mind. This meant that every single person was born with certain rights. Every single person. Did the regular soldiers who cheered the words of the Declaration of

Independence believe that they would fight for freedom for everyone? Washington, a slave owner, didn't have time to ponder such things. He had a war to run, and his problems were enormous. There was no standing army, only groups of men who had signed up for short periods of service. The Continental Army, as the American troops were called, had no vast armory of supplies, and there was very little money. The leaders of the various colonies, or states as they are now calling themselves, were not terribly well coordinated in their actions. The Continental Congress hadn't even given General Washington full command. Out of fear of a military takeover, the Congress reserved the right to make final military decisions itself. And on top of all of these problems, there was Washington's lack of

experience. He had been given command largely because he was the most famous military man in the colonies, but his experience had mostly been 20 years earlier, in the French and Indian War. That experience had been spotty at best, and he had never been fully involved in military strategy. He had never been a general. Imagine it's August 27, 1776. You were 18 years old, the son of a fisherman from Maryland. Until a year ago, you'd never seen battle. But in a short time, you've been drilled and marched and trained until you're part of an elite corps. All around you are raw American recruits, but your regiment is different. In fact, common soldiers call you macaronis, just like in Yankee Doodle, because of your fine dress and expert training.

You're in Brooklyn, under the command of General Sterling. This morning was a disaster. The British troops routed the Americans in a surprise attack through the Jamaica Pass. You saw men die, and some just run for their lives. General Sterling has drawn you and your 400 comrades apart from the rest of George Washington's army. You're to make a stand against the 2,000 British soldiers who are holed up near a stone farmhouse. You have your orders. Hold back the British. Don't let them invade Manhattan. If you succeed, you'll buy Washington enough time to lead a retreat across

the East River. You notice an old soldier at your side observing you. Whatever you do, wait for the order, then follow it. Of course, it seems common sense, but we're about to go into a cauldron such as you've never known. And common sense often fails you in such times. As your unit prepares to hurl itself against the British forces, you grip your musket. When the signal comes, you raise it and fire. You fire round after round. The soldier you spoke with advances steadily, firing shots at the British

battalions. All around you, men and boys fall to the ground. Just in front of you, the old soldier who advised you whips around and drops to his knees. He clutches his chest. You take a step towards him, and then you're on your back. You feel a hot pressure in your left shoulder. You bring your hand up, and it's red with blood. Your head rolls back. You look up at the sky, and then the pain hits. When the British attacked New York, Washington did everything wrong. 20,000 British soldiers sailed across the harbor.

They hit the beach at Gravesend in Brooklyn and marshaled themselves with crack discipline. Washington, meanwhile, divided his forces. He spread his men out too thinly. He set on one tactic, then changed his mind, then changed again. When the British began marching across Brooklyn, heading for Manhattan, Washington was at first able to fend them off by placing men on several hilltops. But the British found one pass through the hills was undefended, and the red-coated soldiers swarmed through.

Washington watched atop Cobble Hill as hundreds of his men were killed as they were pushed back. He mounted his horse and made for the East River shore, desperate to find a way to protect New York City across the water. Both he and the British believed that if New York fell, the revolution would likely end. Then, as the columns of redcoats approached, desperation lit the spark of imagination. Under the cover of darkness and amid the confusion of a furious summer storm, he led his men in a dazzling retreat across the river to Manhattan, saving the Continental Army from destruction. His scrambling reminded him of the lesson he

had learned in the French and Indian War. Better than meeting the enemy head-on, an inferior force should bob and weave. He would have to be creative and employ what later would be termed asymmetric warfare techniques. But as soon as he had this insight, he forgot it. Instead, he planned for a full-on encounter. Then, having misjudged where the British would come ashore,

he was forced to abandon that plan. Finally, he pulled his men out of New York City itself and left it to the British. He gathered his men further north on the island, and at the Harlem Heights they fought tooth and nail, holding off the waves of Redcoats who kept scrambling up the hillside. But the advantage was fleeting. He had lost New York. As winter came on, fear and dread filled the hearts of American patriots.

These are the times that try men's souls, Thomas Paine wrote in his pamphlet, The American Crisis. About one-third of colonists had remained loyal to Britain, and it was beginning to look like they had made the right call. Units of the Continental Army reported some of their men switching to the other side. The loyalists of New York were heartened. They had gone into hiding as the Continental Army advanced, its fife and drum battalions playing cheery tunes. Now they flooded back into the streets of the city. All over the colonies, Loyalists began to openly mock the sentiments of the Declaration. The only form of government anyone had ever known was a monarchy.

Who ever heard of a government deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed? These lofty sentiments, penned by the patriot leader Thomas Jefferson, sounded ridiculous now, like the fairytale imaginings of a child who just didn't understand the real world. Ordinary people cannot dictate the course of a nation. What did they know about governing?

The foolishness of that notion seemed to be mirrored in what was happening in the war. Ordinary men with no military training were proving that they were no match for a disciplined army. And the American General Washington had demonstrated himself to be the most damnably deficient, as one sardonic observer noted. The fact that that observer was himself a general in the Patriot Army serving under Washington said it all.

Even Washington didn't have much faith in the outcome, and he secretly devised a plan in case the British won. He would flee into the wilderness of the Ohio country, which he knew well. After all, that was where, in his early 20s, he had blazed a trail and had his first military experience. There, he would hide out from the British army, which would surely be sent to capture him as a traitor for taking up arms against his country. The Virginia farmer, who had longed for honor all his life, now felt desperate. And the American fight for freedom seemed doomed. On the next episode of American History Tellers, who won the war?

America, of course. And that's what we always hear, the American side. But what about the British? What were they fighting for? If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. I hope you enjoyed this episode of American History Tellers. If you like this show, one of the best ways you can show your appreciation

is to give us a five-star rating and leave a review. I'd love to know your thoughts. Read every review, and detailed reviews are one of the best ways for others to find the show. American History Tellers is hosted, sound designed, and edited by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. Additional production assistance by Derek Behrens. This episode was written by Russell Shorto. Editing assistance by Katie Long. Edited and produced by Jenny Lauer. Produced by George Lavender. Executive producers Marsha Louis and Hernan Lopez for Wondery. This is the emergency broadcast system. A ballistic missile threat has been detected inbound to your area.

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