Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History The Continental Army 20240714

Today well focus on the Continental Army and this is were situating this very much in the broad history of war and the military, and the Continental Army in a lot of ways is different from other armies that have preceded it, largely because its one that is very much based on ideals and certainly the concept and beliefs rather than sort of your traditional army. So what is the kont minutal army . Where is it, first of all . America. America, okay. So the Continental Army is based in america and it will become the first United States army, but before it was the u. S. Army, it is the army of america, yes. Certainly part of the American Revolution specifically and the united colonies. So when the Continental Army begins its not necessarily the start of the revolution and well begin the story in the beginning of the war. A couple of classes ago we were talking about the french and indian war, and the french and indian war was a war thats fundamentally altered several different nations that have come early and france moved from the north american colony and Many Americans have fought alongside british soldiers and british officers during the war and does anyone recall what the two things that transpired when the group interacted . [ inaudible ] okay. In a lot of ways the british are looking down on the colonists for a number of reasons and that was having to do with tactics and a lack of formal military training and some of it had to do with how they dress and we know theres resistance and theres also a large aspect over who holds the higher rank, and was it a colonial officer outranked the traditional officer and as you recall the british officers of lower rank were saying they outranked any colonial officer which infuriated a young George Washington. So our story begins after the french and indian war so who wants to give me the standard answer. What was it . Taxes and give me the phrase. [ inaudible ] no taxation without representation all right. So from there, from tax e it is also more than that, its about being treated to a full subject, or the full british subject and openly evolved into violence and this starts after the tea party. Theres the boston, and the intolerable acts are going to shut down local government and its going to bring into marshall lmartial law over boston, massachusetts, and they started seizing power and seizing weapons and leading to increased tension and this is a potential chance to see the gun powder and maybe even have revolutionary figures with john hancock and what results . And the shot heard round the word and the shot heard round the world and it is one of the first shots of the American Revolution is fired weighing the British Regulars meet up with colonial militiamen. From massachusetts on lexington and shots are fired. Who fired the first shot . Nobody knows. Exactly, but who did the brit issue say fired . The colonists, rebels and who do the colonists say fired . The british. Good enough. The british and the war begins. This is generally militia unit. A mill earna unit is anyone from the age of 16 to 60. They would lead up roughly once a month and drill in traditional trapping kind of like the National Guard and most american colonists do have some experience with the gun and a musket, largely from hunting or fighting native americans and there was not a military training and the ranks and the shots are fired nomly and the colonists lose and the british win here, but this is a profound moment that is going to begin in the war and Thomas Jefferson is going to refer to this very specifically. He provoked murder, in defiance of the sacred obligations of treaty which even savage nations what is jefferson getting at . Hes saying at it was just straightup and he provoked it and it was too hard that even savages can comprehend okay. There is no ethics behind it. This is fundamentally immoral and he used the term honor as an ethical idea that what the british have done is something that is so barbaric to use the term, that this cannot be looked over. This is beyond life now. This is a justification for war, and we talked about briefly the idea that just the war principle and what makes a war just in almost every circumstance . And theyre presenting themselves as an egrieved party and largely based on everyones class and the philosopher who with the law of nations is very much going to cast the correctness with the morality and the honor of a war based on who starts it. The british start the war and it justifies americans. Meanwhile, we get another battle at concord bridge. Name that because it has a bridge. So the americans are successfully conquered bring even with more trained skills and why do you think this is. You may remember this from the scottish rebellion. [ inaudible ] okay. So you have to and this is where you get the quote, unquote traditional shot heard round the world and this is where americans under orders fire where at lexington both sides are under orders not to fire. So when you think of american cleani colonial militiamen firing we think of the notion of the minute man. So what is a minute man . [ inaudible ] okay. So theyre going to jump out of bed fully clothed and put their hat on with their musket and it takes a minute and a half so whats in a name . The militia men are fighting a similar style and very much coping the native american style and why have the americans developed this style as opposed to the british who have very much an open formation . They have had to defend themselves against the native people who are living with the americans so they had to adapt to their tactics and they learned from indians. They adapt over centuries. Also the british were equipped to fight and they would be marching in the ranks. If we think to the french, and the battle where the british army and theyre defeated by the french using the same tactics. And they had higher numbers to accommodate that. Okay. So they had to accommodate and adapt. Now, the popular perception on the march from concord is they attacked from the tree line and youll see them all down here from the hidden position on the exposed plank and the exposed side of the british army. Whats interesting, though, on this long march back. Now think about this, the british army is marching back after doing an immediate march at night from boston to the outskirts and then marching back with limited ammunition. So you can just be picked off. What you see on this map and youll see these little explosion marks and every time you see that, was there actually a moment where there was a pitch battle and despite the romanticized element of them hiding behind trees and there are battles along it and it will basically force the british to retreat to boston and defend themselves. Ultimately, the british tend to take four or five colonial positions at bunker hill which it owns at retail and the americans had heavy, heavy casua casualties and these are militia forces. There has been a pretty good win loss ratio with a retreat to boston and it was for victory and the idea that the british win and only due to the colonies running out of that emission and its this fight ing in massachusetts that would have a response and the question is is this americas war . Is it massachusetts war . And the Continental Army would be formed by [ inaudible ] under the Continental Congress were going to get George Washington as commander in chief and hes going to say hes serving based on my countrys honor and my own character which is very different from young washington in his early 20s where he actually resigns his commission and he says for his own honor and itss fundamental reversal and he says i am taking this up for the duty to the nation and it has the stability and the premise and i dont function as a sort of military dictator. Meanwhile, theres some opposition ands lot of it comes from this man. The name is charles lee. You may remember him from the twosecond reference and the musical. Hes a general. So charles lee, british trained and hes actually been all around europe and trying to change his ranks and he thought he was one of the people named commander in chief and there are others, as well and we have a lot of respect and he does not think the americans could win, fighting in the traditional european style and he thinks the europeans should be using this guerilla, hit and run militia style and he made the british chase them. Washington is fundamentally opposed to it and washington uses multiple styles and is very much trying to fight the war. More on the traditional european style and there are few reasons why and one of them is hes in trouble with the reputation and how this revolution will be viewed internationally if theres fighting as other europeans do in the civil risized way and they will be respected and if they are not gaining alliances and support and these two will sort of clash many times throughout the revolution ultimately washington would prove and washington will take command and they will now leave the Continental Army in boston, late spring and 1775 and theyre with bunker hill and at first the two sides dont get along and if you think back when we talked about the early colonial warfare, the massachusetts militia in particular elects their officers and in virginia, they were appointed. So whats the problem with elected officers verses appointed officers . And okay, many times it becomes a popularity contest rather than skill and people are often unwilling to go to their friends. When youre voting on who is going in, i feel like maybe more people dont want as much or, like, its kind of a oh, im going to do this because its cool. Oftentimes whoever wins and whatever happens, okay. So washington, though, is going to try to staff his army and hes going to urge a certain type of individual, and nowadays every man and the 18th century it meant Something Different and it was a man of honor and a man of reputation and a man of bravery, and washington said if you are a gentleman and a man of honor and civilian life we can translate that to the military because america does have a military academy and they dont have a professional army, so who are your officers . Who are your soldiers . Just regular people. No formalized trainee and some had dealt with certain needs and it was very limited overall. So here are the british trapped in boston and youll go to the map and heres the british forever retreated and any of these elevated positions, we have american colonial, and the Continental Army and forced the british out to certain areas and they will evacuate boston and the day of that was actually two days ago on march 17th and heres the big overarching mask of the campaign so it can go from 1775 to 1783 and technically the last 1781 and if you are the british, what are your tactics here . How will you beat the americans . Numbers . What is that . Numbers. Superior army, hands down. You get them to cut them off from the rest of the world. How do you cut them off from the rest of the world . [ inaudible ] and then the british will make another tactical decision and they believe that since the war has begun in massachusetts, if you cut off massachusetts, what can you stop . The war. How do you cut off massachusetts . You create a border, almost and cut them off from the ocean. Okay. And you blockade them and you blockade the hudson. Yes. You take new york and go off the hudson. Now this is one of the worstkept military secrets and washington knows you will attack there and the british know youll attack there. Do i attack there . And its the only thing that you can do. The british know that they have a good shot here. Washington, is not only marking the defendants. What is the basic obligation of government . There you go. If they dont do it then they are falling just as the british had and this is the concord. The declaration of independence is read just before the battle of brooklyn with long island, and these are the reasons theyre giving some of the cheap reasons for breaking away from britain and theyve advocated the government up out of this protection and waging war against them. So how do you split with the cake . Its its no longer the team. Hes done something wrong. At the same time the americans are taking issue and particularly the british will hire mercenaries commonly known as hetions and the popular belief is theyre mercenaries fighting purely for money. Theyre actually the army that is rented out by their critics and theyre fighting for their regular position and its actually cashing in on this. So the battle of new york does not go well. In fact, it is numerous retreats and heres washingtons retreat from long island to manhattan island, and extremely difficult moving across any body of water and washington has proved quite successful and the british are easily going to take new york and again, the Continental Army is forced to retreat and crossing the bluffs. Traditionally, a major defeat like this would be crushing to a like this would be crushing to a war, crushing to a commander, but its how washington interprets this and how washington uses this to fundamentally change the way we look at the military and warfare. How does he do that . Well, he studies. Washington is going to complain about his defective education for his whole life, he never went to formal schooling. So how do most american officers learn to become officers . You have a handful like charles lee or Horatio Gates who have been trained by the british. How do most learn . They get a booklet. They get a book. Two of your most successful general, henry knox and Benedict Arnold, American Hero up until a certain time anyway both sold books. So how do they making it a little simplistic, henry knox becomes the head of artillery because he read a book on it. So they are many ways selftaught so they are going to these military texts to learn how to be officers and soldier. Religion upon which true honor is founded, the idea that there is an ethical basis in the military, this concept of honor. Honor consists in the constant practice of virtue and the duty of a soldiers honoree and properly performed. The idea that if you act well in a battle or campaign that you are doing your duty, you can receive honor. Used to be that honor was only for the victor. James wolf who had been a british general that actually died during the french and indian war in quebec is going to say also the character of why you are army. He doesnt want a drunken, vicious, irregular army, a poor defense to the state, but the virtue, courage and obedience in the troops are a sure guard against all assaults to execute their part with honor and spirit. So why dont you want a drunken vicious army raping, pillaging and brutalizing . Because you cant organize them and they cant maintain order so whats the point. If they cant maintain order that fundamentally breaks down the military and the revolution is about ideas so who do you want on your side. Gentlemen. The gentlemen certainly but who else . Youre fighting this war in america. Americans. You dont want to upset the delicate balance between potential patriot, potential loyalist or the, quote unquote, neutrals. Frederick the great, we read about him. Frederick the great, prussian king, prussian general. In this point numbers are an essential point of war and a general who loves his honor, reputation will take extreme care to recruit and conserve his troops. The idea that theyre taking hes concerned with the well being of the average soldier. Whats so shocking about that if you think about war and the common soldier prior to this, whether its in the british army or any pretty much european army, they were the dregs of society. You joined the military because you had no other choice. They were viewed as expendable. What is frederick the great doing here thats fundamentally different. Hes talking about how like the numbers of your army is really important because each individual man could be the tipping point. Okay. Like a Single Person could make you win or lose. You are dependent on the conduct of your soldiers and at the same time for washington what happens if the army is defeated . If he loses too many men . The whole country yeah, thats the revolution. War is over. This is what he has. So theres an understanding of the soldiers are Something Different. Humphrey bland, another british general is going to publish a book that the Continental Army takes seriously. When the officer has the unfortunate of being beat, he has done his duty and acted like a soldier. Youre going to lose, at some point an officer will lose, and it shouldnt be that officers are chasing victory or chasing the potential of victory as long as they put in a valid effort when the odds make sense, they can be honorable. They are performing their duty and washington is literally going to relay this to the marquis lafayette, general and his pseudo son when he says no rational person will condemn you for not fighting against the odds against you but all will censure a rash step if not attended with success. What is washington getting here . Basically its okay if you decide not to make like if the odds are against you dont do it, but if you have a small chance that the odds are with you and you just rush it, then yeah, you have an obligation to preserve the army and some of it is about maintaining the army in the field because the revolution will stay alive, some of it is protecting the men. There is not the complete rank difference that you would see in the british army where you have aristocracy. There is less difference between your gentleman officer and your soldier. So washington is going to use again, going back to what are called fabian tactics. This is the rome general fabius and there are classic defensive tactics first deployed against carthage in the classical era. Fabian strategy which we talked about long ago involves a defensive war, also known as a war of posts. So a defensive war implies fighting when it makes sense for you, forcing the enemy to act. So washington is only going to fight when it makes sense for him, otherwise he is going to retreat. He is going to retreat from new york through new jersey and he is going to have the british chasing him, particularly general cornwall lass who you may recall from such films as the patriots. He actually refers to washington as the fox and he treats it that this is a fame, this is a hunt and he is literally hunting washington and washington is literally running and hiding. So hes using these fabian tactics out out of cowardice, hes using it because he wants to maintain the army. When the situation is in his favor, such as here, crossing the delaware, hes able to spring these very elaborate, deficiency lent night crossings of rivers, the delaware, and attacking herbing and winning successful battles, keeping and preserving the war, giving americans this big moral boost at a time when favor in the war a waning and commissions are running out. Its from fighting this war of posts, fighting in defensive ways rather than being ultra aggressive. So the idea of the older model, attack, attack, attack. Washington is going to view the army very differently. He is going to say i should hope every post would be deemed honorable which gave a man opportunity to serve his country. By this he doesnt he means soldiers, yes, he means officers, he means anyone can serve. He also expands it to anyone thats aiding the military and that could be civilians, providing food or clothing, it could be women taking up collections to feed the army, it could be even africanamericans who are joining the army to serve in a variety of capacities. And expands the definition of who is a gentleman. They said that gentleman was a really hierarchical term, but as early as 1775, so right at the start of the war, we have a new term created and its called the gentlemen soldiers. Its being done in sermons, its being used for the Continental Army, its being used for the militias which are fundamentally different, your still sort of National Guard units of local men in the 16 to 60 range. That gentlemen soldiers exhibit good conduct and noble character. Think of that word noble, as of birth. In the service of their country. So they become honorable, they become these gentlemen by serving their nation. Duty to the nation rather than to a king or to a lord as weve talked about in earlier sort of time periods. Every soldier should be a gentleman. How do they advance . Merit. And if you recall whack to the french and indian war the militia under washington had started to promote based on merit rather than based on sort of status. Soldiers have to regard their duty to be sort of become honorable. Doesnt say they have to be victorious. And this is carried on to other officers, general anthony wayne, again, another officer in maryland, john howard, the idea that honor is for soldiers, its for officers and its not just for the individual. So who you a person acts reflects their officers. So how you behave would reflect your colonel or general, and also the nation. Meanwhile, we do have africanamerican soldiers, both free and enslaved. Does anyone know the first battle that africanamericans fought in in the American Revolution . Trivia question. Bunker hill . There are africanamericans at bunker hill, but they are even earlier. Lexington. Lexington. So lexington, concord and bunker hill. In fact, the massachusetts ranks were not segregated and these are free africanamericans who had fought. Initially washington is really resistant, is the Continental Army, as are his sort of other council of generals. He initially forbids enlistment of either not just enslaved, but also free africanamericans. Hes ultimately going to move back, hes going to allow free africanamericans and then ultimately enslaved africanamericans. And the request he is, well, why the change . Now, two schools of thought, one is the pragmatic. The british under lord dunmore who is the royal governor of virginia is going to issue a proclamation providing freedom for any slave who fights against the colonists. Washington is shocked as are all other slave holders and washington is ultimately responding to the same offer. So is this about men . Is this just about combating this . The other possibility is maybe he has a change of heart when he starts getting reports like these. So talked about salem poor, a veteran of the campaigns in and around boston, a character of so brave a man who behaved like an experienced officer as well as an excellent soldier. So no the just any soldier, but is an experienced officer. So elevating an africanamerican soldier. General john thomas would say they are equally serviceable with other men, not other black men, but other men, all other men and then in pension records looking at sort of the conduct and sort of honorable nature. So it could be a little bit of both, but we do know theres roughly about 5,000 africanamericans or so are going to serve in some capacity with the Continental Army ultimately offering freedom for service in the war. Meanwhile, things dont go so well for washingtons army. In fact, in battles in and around philadelphia washington is going to lose. And the capital is going to be occupied by the british army. So this is one of the major low points of the war and it forces its going to force washington to go on the defensive and the retreat again. Meanwhile, further north the british have a plan. It involves this man, gentlemanly johnny bagoine. He gets the name gentlemanly johnny because of his love of finery, he loved champagne, fine clothes, is said to be a ladys man and he was a playwright. So the mission is for bagoine to march south from canada and another British Force to march north from Atlantic City and go along the had you had sovereign and cut off new england. Problems with this, its a long march through treacherous sort of terrain, mountains, forests and he has an exceptionally long baggage train, meaning hes lugging a lot of stuff. He has a cart just dedicated to his champagne. Now, that may sound ridiculous, so why are you dragging your champagne through the woods of upstate new york, you may ask. Its not as ridiculous in the period. Thats because british officers, particularly generals of high rank were expected to entertain their other officers but also the officers wives who would come on campaign, they would stop, requisition a house and they would have a party. If you cant throw these parties its really calling into question your sort of character. Hes moving along along with native allies and the native allies are getting terrified saying this is not good tactically. We have to be aware of ambush. Oh, nonsense and they march further along. Ultimately an american army, Continental Army, led by who are ratio gates, britishtrained officer, are going to manage to cut off bagoines army and gates will say he single handedly won the victory but there is another man who says he singlehandedly done it and that is Benedict Arnold, American Hero. Okay. So arnold despite defying orders Horatio Gates and arnold have had this ongoing feud about command and rank, largely arnold had been loyal to general phillip skylar, you probably remember his daughters from again another musical. Hes really resistant to gates. Arnold is actually going to be ordered by gates to leave the battlefield, but he defies orders and singlehandedly charges in and stops a potential retreat and he pushes it forward and ultimately there is a victory in saratoga and arnold is going to be wounded, hes going to be shot in the leg and hes going to fall back and his horse is going to fall on top of him and his men are going to rush to him and carry him off the field as if he was a spartan soldier and he is asked, general, how are you . He goes, youre wounded in the leg. And he says, i had rather it been my heart. So hes looking for this glorious end, this romantic sort of classical death. Had he died right there he is probably one of the greatest American Heroes of all time. So nowadays we go to saratoga battlefield they just had a statue of his leg where he got shot. Its a patriotic leg, the rest of him is a problem. So there is a surrender, bagoine surrenders this army and it is a major turning point, among other things, theres negotiations going on with france and it proves to the french that the americans could potentially win and the french are willing to get into this war, sometimes for no other than than they just dont like the british, other reasons are they hope to gain back some of the land they may have lost they lost during the french and indian war. So the french come in and there is an alliance formed, the treaty of 1778 and its an alliance between the americans and the french. So the french are going to send money, supplies, ultimately an army, its going to take a little bit, but more importantly what is frances most important contribution to the American Revolution . Is it the louisiana thats later. Thats later. Thats right. The navy. The navy. Because the American Navy cannot stand up to the british navy. The french navy is comparable in many respects and this is whats going to cut off a lot of the british advantage. So as news of saratoga spreads, washington is at the darkest period of the war, he is in valley forge, encamped, in snow, short of supplies, short on clothing, meanwhile Horatio Gates has won a grand victory and gates becomes the hero of the north and he starts potentially conspiring. Washington is just lost. Washington has just allowed the capital to fall. Maybe washington isnt right to lead the army, some say. This is going to be during this period of victory in the north and defeat in and around philadelphia its going to lead to an attempt to unseat washington. Before we come to this, the winter encampment at valley forge is crucial and one of the reasons its crucial is armies in the 18th century dont fight in the wintertime. You would have campaigning seasons, you fight in the spring or the fall or the summer, but not in the winter. So its during the winter that the army is able to actually train itself. They have had a hard fight since this war began and who helps train the Army Washington also has them performing plays in their off time. Why not . You have to do something extracurricular is this man, the barron free drink von steuben and he is going to be responsible for bringing in a european sort of drill masters concept. The problem is he doesnt speak any english and most americans dont speak any german. How he would do it, he would create one model unit and basically yell at them and berate them in german and scream at them and show them what to do and that one model unit would show the other units what they need to do. Its in this unit by unit basis that the Continental Army was trained to fight like a european army. Through him theres actually a creation of this regulation which is basically a code of conduct and drill for the Continental Army. They create a book, as many of them had learned, so theyre sort of creating the basis of forming this sort of europeanstyle army. So here is just some images of von steuben drilling. Meanwhile, back to conspiracy. Comes to be known as the conway cabal. So this man is general conway, he was irish. You had many foreigners congress would just sort of, oh, you have an accent, here is a commission. Many your means could embellish their military record and you could rise very quickly in the war. Here is gates, gates and conway, i mean, theres questions of what actually transpires, but there is a potential attempt to maybe put gates in command based on his record. It largely was nothing, but the thing is washington believed it to be true, but he still trusted the civilian supremacy. Ultimately, though, this is sort of found out and gates is sort of shamed and he has to sort of back away. Meanwhile, charles lee comes back. Where was charles lee . Well, he had been captured and he had been a prisoner of the british army where he may or may not have committed treason. In the late 19th century a document was found that lee had drawn up a plan to sort of tell the british how they could defeat the americans, the question is was this done for false information or is he literally trying to betray the americans . I leave it to you to judge, but no one knew it at the time. Lee returns and he has sort of just been out of touch, hes been a captive for two years, the war was sort of passed him by, but he has been this constant adversary of washington, he is british trained, he has fought throughout europe and this all comes to a head, again, at the battle of monmouth which is in new jersey. Lee is given command of the vanguard initially, which is a prestigious position. Leading the army at the front. With orders to attack. And he turns it down. I shall not dane to accept that. So washington appoints lafayette. Lafayette accepts. Lee is now upset that a junior officer has been placed in command rather than him. And then he demands the position. So he accepts it, he marches out and his force is facing british grenadiers and ultimately he is under orders, the question is is it direct or implied orders, but the sense is he is supposed to attack and he retreats instead. Washington catches wind of this, its actually a drummer who is running back and washington sort of grabs hold of him, what are you doing . I dont know, sir, were retreating. What do you mean . And washington charges forward and he gets runs into a retreating lee and he says to lee, what are you doing, sir . You know, paraphrasing a bit. And he says, your excellence, and he calls him you damn paltroon. Okay. What does that mean . It means you damn coward publicly. And theres all sorts of these mythical languages that the tree shook at the sound of washington swearing. Anyway, washington relieves him of command and personally charges in riding a potential retreat. This basically stops and he sort of challenges to washington, this sort of political side of him also. Lee is going to actually demand a courtmartial saying that his honor has been infringed on, he has been insulted by washington but the courtmartial finds in washingtons favor, finds against lee so lee starts publishing pamphlets of how he has been wrong, he actually challenges a woman to a dual in jest. He said that she got the color of his pants wrong in her account, so therefore what else does she get wrong. There is ultimately going to be a real dual fought to defend washington, though washington is fervently opposed to this. But its basically the end of charles lee and basically the end of any sort of push against washington. The french are ultimately going to arrive under the general robicheux and the admiral da gross and this is going to, again, aid the Continental Army immensely, not just men, but equipment, training. Mean while, philadelphia the british are going to evacuate philadelphia. It had been under occupation. Now, the question is who is going to be placed in command there . Perhaps a recovering battlefield hero known for his gallantry and his selling of books, Benedict Arnold. So Benedict Arnold is recovering and hes given this prestigious command. Arnold doesnt want it. He wants to fight, but he is not ready yet. So he is given this position, its prestigious, he accepts it. The problem is arnold is really full of himself and he talks a lot and he talks too much and he runs his mouth. Congress does not like him. He feels hes constantly passed over by other lesser officers, inferior officers that have been promoted over him. Hes been brought up on charges before, sort of using government property, pillaging, some other charges that no one knows about until after the war. Hes placed in charge here, but the Congress Demands he wear an oath of loyalty to them first and arnold is disgusted. How dare you. Look what ive given to this country. So he will only take it to his friend, another officer, henry knox. So arnold set up as military governor and what is his first act . He throws himself a party where he invites no members of the Continental Army and he ends up marrying who is right there in the corner Peggy Shippen who is from a loyalist family and its through her that he may or may not make the acquaintance of a british major named john andre, potentially start a correspondence that will ultimately lead to treason. Arnold obviously gives himself the code name of gustavos after who we read earlier, adolfus, named swedish king in general. Meanwhile, the british have a new plan, go south, young man. So the british are going to turn their attention to the south. They are constantly chasing loyalists, they feel that if they could link up with sort of loyalists in america it will help turn the tide of the war. They really have faulty intelligence, some even dating back to 1774 from Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson that its really only a few ravel rousers, its most of the colonies arent for this. So who is going to be sentenced, Charles Cornwall lass and from charleston hes going to push through in south carolina, the idea is to march north. Who is first in command during the early days, particularly at the battle of camden is going to be Horatio Gates, the Great Northern hero goes south and its at this crushing defeat at the battle of camden that gates is going to retreat. Some reports say 180 miles further than his army. How does he do that . He literally runs away. Runs from the british. Its actually about 70 miles, but this is basically the end of Horatio Gates because its viewed as cowardly, its viewed as ineffective. This is just proving everything that was sort of in some ways duplicitous that came out of the conway cabal. Alexander hamilton who is washingtons aid is going to famously joke that he is not shocked that gates actually did this, but that a man of gates age was physically capable of riding so far and so fast. So thats the end of Horatio Gates. Who is put in charge instead and this is cornwall lass is general nathaniel green. He is from rhode island and he is what we would call a fighting quaker, meaning he is a quaker, quakers are usually pacifists against war but he was very much in favor of sort of resistance, fighting this sort of defensive war. Hes going to be your chief general in the southern campaigns. And the south is particularly on the sort of frontier is going to be very much dictated by partisan fighting and by that i mean sort of loyalists versus patriot. So not necessarily traditional Continental Army or British Regular army, but different bands of loyalists. So this is where you get mel gibson in the patriot or if you go to the older disney movies like the swamp fox. Fighting in these guerrilla styles. It makes it very difficult oftentimes to know who is who and also leads to heightened degrees of atrocity in cases where you have brutal reprisals against loyalists and patriots and in one case you have one commander, Griffith Rutherford who is in this sort of frontier, this carolina frontier area. News reaches nathaniel green of potential violations of harm coming to loyalist women and children, their homes and their property, and he is denouncing this fervently saying this is not the war were fighting, were fighting a war based on principle, a war of ideology, a war that showed that we are behaving better, we are ethical, the british do not. Proper treatment of prisoners, proper treatment of civilians. This is something that washington invents. It comes to be known sort of highlighted by, again, this individual banister talton, he is a british officer, he is tavington in the patriot. He is also in harry potter. Jason isaacs, blond hair, cane, snake. Whoever that is. [ inaudible ]. Yeah, that guy. Who also gets his start just to show how widespread this fighting is as a young teenager go on to become president literally refuses as legend says to clean an officers book in taltons regimen and gets a saber to the side of his head and vows to fight the british for the rest of his life. Anyone . Jackson. Andrew jackson. So you have all sorts all different ages fighting and engaged in combat. Meanwhile, further north, whispers, plotting. After philadelphia arnold is ready to return to command and he had been brought up on courtmartial charges while in philadelphia and he had been found guilty and his reprimand was relatively light, a public censure from washington that basically boiled down to we had wished general arnolds conduct would not have included this and will change in the future. A little light tap. Arnold is furious, his last protector, washington, has betrayed him. America has offended his honor. He is lost to all. So hes going to plot to make a daring change, defect to the british. He is going to angle to be placed at west point. So west point, before its a military academy, with as a fort. Washington is sort of shocked by this because he knows arnold wants to fight in battle, why does he want an outpost . But he agrees. And west point is crucial for this right here. And its all on the hudson. And what that is is literally a chain. A big thick chain, about, like, this thick, that just stretches across the hudson river. What do you think its meant to do . Keep out ships. Keep out ships. Literally tear the hulls open. Would it work . What do you think . I would say no. Anyone say yes . So bottom line, no one knows. Batteries on either side of the cannon. But if west point falls and the chain and the garrisons and battle reserves are moved, what can the british do . Take the hudson and therefore divide the colonies, which theyve been trying to do. So andre, this is his selfportrait, again, hes a very fashionable gentleman, is going to arrange to meet with arnold and theyre going to do it under secret. The thing is, arnold wants to meet with him past american lines. If a british officer in his red coat was meeting with Benedict Arnold, the commander at west point, that would look a little suspicious, wouldnt it . So he tells andre to take off his uniform. Problems, what happens the moment he takes off that red coat . Hes a spy. So ultimately, correspondence and andre is caught by a roving band, by these sort of roving militiamen. A question of, are they loyal . Of questionable loyalty . Theres some who argue theyre sort of briggens. Andre identifies himself of major john andre of the kings forces. Sort of shocking display that, whoa, theyre not british. So arnold is discovered. Andre ultimately is going to be hanged as a spy but washington uses this great moment. There have been difficulty between the Continental Army and the civilian population at this point. Where the army had been complaining, well, the civilian population isnt supplying the army properly. Wheres the food . Wheres the clothing . Or if it was, it was being sent to exponentially high prices. Meanwhile, the civilians were saying, how come you havent won this war . You let the capital fall. You havent been winning. But its this moment that sort of shocks all of america together. Its a moment like 9 11 or pearl harbor. Sort of brings everyone back. And the question is, why . And its sort of this galvanizing moment. So george, the general, saying if we have not virtue enough to check mr. Arnold without losing sight of the grand object, we ought to suffer. Meaning that we need to rise above this. If we cannot, we will lose and we should lose. Washingtons going to spin it and say, this is a great thing. How is this a great thing . Because its never happened before. How dedicated are americans that this is the first instance of its kind more to be expected and this proves the value of the army . Proves the value of the devotion to the cause . It was in a year, we had a march on yorktown. The major final battle. Hes going to move himself further north into virginia on a peninsula. Weve talked about this before. Why do you not want to put yourself on a peninsula if youre an army . Only one way out. Only one way out. Why does cornwallis do it . He thinks the navy can aid him and retreat via the navy. But through a quick march, a late march of the french and americans jointly, they are going to surround cornwallis on the peninsula and come to the british navy. Literally going to have a siege of yorktown. Where youll have siege built and cornwallis doesnt have a way out. Hes going to be forced to surrender. The song the world turned upside down. This is the last major revolution, carried on for a couple of more years but this is it. And why do the british stop fighting . Why do you think . Why do they stop fighting . They could continue this war. Still a full army in new york. There was nobody left that was loyal to them in the country. You still have loyalists but you now have to not only defeat the army but win over the hearts and minds of americans and thats problematic. Yeah, this is costly. There were issues with so now, by this point, the french are in. The spanish are in. The dutch are financing the americans. This is becoming a world war, in many respects, or at least a standard european one. Its not in the best interest. So yorktown is going to be the last major battle. Small skirmishes here and there and nathaniel green in particular is worried about is a lone sort of figure, carrying on, going past the terms and duties like Griffith Rutherford or arnold exceeding what they should be doing and dragging sort of the conduct of the war downward, but as peace starts coming to an end, rumors start circulating of the peace, and washington has one last battle to fight, and its with his own officers. So this is new berg, new york. Its west point, along the hudson. British army still in new york city. And will remain there until after the war and the Continental Army is sort of checking them and watching over them. And the problem was the officers had not been paid. Why hadnt they been paid . Anybody . They dont have any money. Pretty much worthless continental dollars. They had also been promised half pay, so a pension. Problems . Same one as before. Its a lot of money. Yeah, and congress doesnt have it. So this rumblings. Especially if a peace comes, what do you think the officers are afraid of . No means of getting money. Theyre not needed. Or if they were injured in the war, they cant work anymore. Theyre not needed. The congressmen never pay them. And what comes to be known as the new berg conspiracy or the new berg affair, depending how you want to term it. Continental officers are going to secretly meet and two things theyre going to discuss. One, potentially a coup on congress. Take over congress until they get paid or two, retreat behind the mountains . What mountains . Those mountains and let the british march out of new york city and do what . Whatever. Until congress pays them. Fundamentally, both of these are problematic and ideologically go against it. So what washington will do is show hes in charge. Cancel their meeting and call his own meeting. You cant meet. Youre going to meet with me instead. He didnt sound like that. But he might have. Based on whats known as the newberg address and hes going to use these words and let me conjure you in the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred honor, to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man who wishes under any specious pretenses to overturn the liberties of our country. March 15. That was only four days ago. So what is washington saying here . If you do this, youre dishonored. Not just yourself, but the country. What have we fought for . What will this become . And he uses the term sacred honor. Aside from me babbling about honor, where have we seen these two words . Where i bet you all have. Trivia. Like american text . The declaration . The declaration of independence. Our lives, fortune, and sacred honor. Purposely used words from the declaration to link this back. Civilian supremacy. The ideas of the revolution over the individual. So the greater good of society. Saying that its about the country. Think of what weve accomplished. This has never been done before. And youre going to give it up . What usually happens after a civil war or rebellion or some sort of conflict like this . How do they usually end . You think about in the classical era or in english civil war. What usually happens . Like a contract or a cease arms. Who takes control . Maybe a king or where does this king come from . Think about Oliver Cromwell or julie or later on, napoleon. This military sort of figure seizing power. And washington, this will not happen. So ultimately, this is going to appeal to them in washington, who also does a personal thing. Hes got actually a letter hes going to read. And washington has been losing his eyesight. And most people dont know this, but he wore glasses. He doesnt want anyone to see them because theyre not cool. Also didnt want to show weakness. What he does is he pulls them out and he puts them on and he reminds what hes given, hes also given his sight and sort of the officers start crying and they embrace this as washington showing this sort of humility and this weakness, but basically, this appeal to their ideals and the revolution is preserved and the army comes out as champions of liberty. But the last act and probably the most important in American History, in my opinion, and certainly one of the last major acts of the Continental Army is this. Annapolis, in december 1783, peace has been announced. Washington is going to surrender his commission, his commander in chief to the Continental Congress. Now, what is so different . What is so shocking about this . Thought he would be in a position like the king, because thats kind of where we came from. Okay, so the sense that this is always resulted in some sort of, right, with a dictator, a king, an emperor, lord protector, whatever they want to call themselves. This never ends well. And washington is literally giving up power. This is a man who would not be king. And this is where we get the term george iii. Over in england, king george iii is expecting washington to name himself king. Why . Because thats what he understands. So hes ultimately told that washington is actually giving up power . Hes shocked. And he stops, and he says, well, if he does that, then he shall be the greatest man in the world. Dramatic pause. Writing that in my new book, among other things. But the idea, this is what seals washingtons immortality. Compared to the american sinsenatus. So he had briefly been granted dictatorial powers of rome. What did he do . Gave it back. Had a farm and became russell crowe. Gladiator, loosely. And he surrenders here and this preserves civilian supremacy and it maintains for all after that the army serves the civilian government. It wont be a dictatorship. It wont be a monarchy. It will be civilian control. Embrace the ideals of the revolution. And this moment in a lot of ways proves that the ideals that the Continental Army was based on actually held and thats whats so profound and so different in the history of sort of warfare when we look at the armies prior to the Continental Army and those after the Continental Army. We see sort of ideological focus. We see it again later in the french revolution as well but we still see in the french revolution the rise of napoleon. We still see these failings. We still see revolutions and civil wars that fall to these strong men and generals that seize power but its washington, the first to do it. And one of the few individuals to actually do it at all. Lets end there for today and thanks everyone for coming. All week, were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan3. Artifacts, real america, the civil war, oral histories, the presidency, and special event coverage about our nations history. 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On television and online, cspan is your unfiltered view of government. So you can make up your own mind. Brought to you as a Public Service by your cable or satellite provider. We continue our lectures in history series now with a discussion on the leadup to the American Revolution. We hear about actions taken by the British Government including the stamp act and quartering british troops in boston. This is just over an hour. All right, so today, were going to be talking about the imperial problem that faces britain after the end of the war in 1763 and, of course, the coming of the revolution. So if you have any questions, pipe up, if not, ill be asking you a few. Now, you remember last time or