Been brewing for 12, 13 years has started. So today were going to talk whats called [ speaking Foreign Language ] anybody take french . This is april 1775, right after lexington and concord, through the declaration of independence. This is sometimes called the Popular Uprising phase. And this is the year of the revolution that probably more people supported the war than any other one. Why do you suppose theres so much support for the war this year . Any ideas . They havent really started fighting yet. They havent started fighting yet. They dont know what war is going to mean. Anybody else, any ideas . Some of it, this is like fury. And i have some images to show you. Theres a historian named charles roister and he coined this phrase, rage militaire. And it says, the rage militaire has taken hold on the entire continent. The americans are fighting mad. Its a wild passion. What is rage . Go ahead. Anger. Intense anger. The americans are really furious. All this stuff has been building up and it comes boiling out. Whats sort of interesting during this rampage militaire phase is the americans are on the offensive. The americans are actively taking the war to the british and what were going to look at is rage militaire in the north, the south and specifically in boston. What were going to see is whats actually going on here is partly about the war, its partly about what is the american warrings. And different people have different ideas of what those war aims are. And the final thing i would say here is, okay, it starts april 17th, 1775. Whats july 76 . Whats in july 76 . The declaration of independence ends rampage militaire. Plrl popularity and support of the war begins to decline. Its hard to maintain a really high emotional peak for extended periods. Maybe a bad analogy. When you meet somebody and fall in love, youre in love and you cant stop thinking about them. And at the 20th wedding anniversary, i love you, me too, could you pass the salt. Its not the same thing. The intensity of this first year fades away. Also not all americans support independence. Were going to look at somebody today who kind of fits that model. Okay . So were going to start with the north. Fighting breaks out at lexington, concord in april. We talked about that. All right . What is significant is fighting spreads to upstate new york. If you look at this map, we can see this is lake chamlain. And a group of american militia led by ethan alan sees fort tikonderoga. Its authorized by the Massachusetts Committee of safety and a bunch of angry guys in vermont. Theyre taking the war to the english. Theres no reason this should happen, but it does. Over the next couple of days and well see a map in a minute that extends on this, the american sees a second fort called crown point which we dont need to worry about. And Benedict Arnold raids canada, okay . The americans are taking the war to the champlain valley. Whats going on in boston . These 20,000 americans descend on the city of boston and the city is under siege. This is the governor of massachusetts. Hes also british commander in north america. His name is thomas gage. Hes married to an american. His wife is a maybe a spy. Gage has been in america since the french and indian war. He believes in liberty but not in the american sense of what liberty is. And throughout the fall of 74 and the spring of 1775, gage keeps asking for reinforcements. The situation is pretty bad. We should send more reinforcements. Instead of sending gage reinforcements, the british send three more generals. William howe, were going to talk about howe later today. A guy by the name of Henry Clinton and a guy by the name of john burgoyne. What do you suppose the significance is that gage asks for reinforcements and the british sends three generals. Whats the ramifications on that . A lot of conflicting views a lot of conflicting views. Anybody else . Emily . The british dont think the manpower is necessary at this point . They might not think manpower is necessary. They might think gage is incompetent. When you ask for reinforcements and they send three generals, thats not a huge vote of support. The british ship that brings the generals, its the threeheaded dog that guards hell. This is boston. You can see boston is on this peninsula sticking out here. You can see this very narrow its called the boston neck and the americans are here at roxbury and cambridge and they have the british bottled up in boston. Here you can see Boston Harbor. Here you can see castle william. Remember we read that document about the boston riots and the governor was rioting from castle william. Thats where Castle Williams is. Whats interesting here and this shows the american anger after luxi lexington and concord. The americans dont try to storm the city. But what the americans do is they fortify this peninsula here, this is called the charlestown peninsula. And the theory here is if the americans control this high ground, they could put artillery up here and potentially shell the city and make Boston Harbor intenable. And the americans occupy this land on the night of june 16th. Theyre supposed to go to this hill called bunker hill. Bunker hill is the back hill. Theres two hills. Bunker hill is about 40 feet taller than breeds hill. But in the darkness, the men get confused. They actually go to this forward hill called breeds hill. Its closer to boston. In some ways its good and some ways its bad. Over the course of the night, they dig a fortification. And when the british wake up on the morning of june 17th, they could hear some shoveling. They dont know whats going on. When they hear the shoveling, they find somewhere in the neighborhood of two to 3,000 americans have dug fortifications on breeds hill and are overlooking the city of boston. And thomas gage decides that this is a threat. You cant let those troops stay over looking the city and you have to drive them back. And the man who gage puts in Tactical Command is sir william howe. Gage is in overall command, william howe is Tactical Command. Hes the commander on the ground. If youre the british and you see these americans are up here on this hill, what would you guys do . How would you attack them . Would you leave them there . What would you do . Any ideas. Go ahead. I would swing around to the left and go to bunker hill because its 40 feet higher and look down upon them. Okay. You control the water, thats very doable. You could also cut off their retreat route. Okay. Anybody else . Use the british navy to encircle that peninsula. Shell the heck out of those guys. That would be a pretty good strategy. Anybody else . Those are all pretty good. Thats not what britain decides to do. Thats not what sir william howe decides to do. Instead he lines up 2,200 british shoulders and he sends them straight up the hill. Its kind of interesting. British soldiers you can see this here. This is a relatively accurate painting. This is probably the second assault. We can see dead guys here and ill explain why we know its not the third. They wear lots of belts and the belts crisscross. Natural target points. British officers wear a shiny metal disk around their throats. Its a symbol of authority. They run it so it would shine in the sun. Any bad things about having a shiny metal thing around your throat. People with guns know where to shoot. Same with the crisscrossing belts. And the famous quote from bunker hill is dont fire until you see the whites of their eyes. It was probably actually said. The british march up bunker hill and the americans fire their first volley at under 150 feet. And the british go down in waves. Theyre literally blasted down the hill. And then they reform. William howe sends them back up a hill a second time. Does this have a hacksaw ridgesque effect. Every time they crawl up the ridge they get wiped out . Yeah, and theyre crawling over their own guys who went down in the first wave. Why do you suppose he adopted this tactic . Why line up guys and go straight up the hill . Yeah. Because its always how theyve been fighting. Its always who are they fighting . Militia. The americans. Theyre not going to stand up against british regulars. Theyre way underestimating american ability. Theyre way overestimating british ability and is the british march up the hill the second time and they get blasted down the hill a second time. The way we know this is this third assault is the third assault, howe calls for reinforcements and the third assault, he lets them take off their backpacks. British soldiers carry about 60 to 80 pounds of commitment. The third time, howe says, maybe we dont need to carry the equipment up the hill. And the third time up the hill, the americans have run out of gun powder. And the british overrun bunker hill. The british capture bunker hill. So bunker hill is a british victory. They seize the charlestown peninsula. Are they going up breeds hill. Thats a good point. Its technically the battle of breeds hill. But its remembered of bunker hill, because bunker hill is the hill that the americans meant to be on and in the darkness they picked the wrong hill. The british have occupied the charlestown peninsula. But bunker hill is tremendously important because it has lots of ramifications. It feeds in this with this idea of rage militaire. One of the legacies of bunker hill is the casualties. British soldiers take horrible losses at bunker hill. 828 are wounded out of about 2,200, 2,400. Causality rate of 45 to 50 . William howe is on the field. Almost all of his staff is killed. Howe is miraculously unhurt. Two british regiments are wrecked and the british in boston are horrified by this. You have to think about how small boston is. And boston is now filled with wounded guys, dying men. Its sauummertime and hot. Theyre horrified by whats happened here. What is striking and well pick this up a little bit later today, the british army in boston is largely american losses at bunker hill are 115 dead and 305 wounded. A second result of bunker hill is even though the americans have lost this hill, the americans are greatly encouraged by this. It Shows Americans will fight. Americans will fight like crazy. As the british ultimately seize the hill and enter this american earthworks, american soldiers stay and fight them. And british officers comment that theyve never seen soldiers stand up like that. They wouldnt normal european troops would run. These angry americans dont do that. Another legacy of bunker hill is tremendously heavy officer casualties. Very hard to put precise numbers on anything in any war, especially the American Revolution. Its estimated that somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 , 13 of officers who were killed were killed at bunker hill. Whats interesting is William Howes response. He says not william howe, thomas gages response. He says the americans are spirited up by a rage and enthusiasm, this anger, a rage and enthusiasm as great as ever people were possessed of. And you must proceed in earnest or give the business up. Lets look at that quote. The americans are now spirited up by a rage and an enthusiasm as great as ever people were possessed of. What does that mean . Whats howe or gage literally saying here . He says, ive never in my entire career seen anybody so angry. The americans are like unbelievably angry. And this next quote is interesting. You must proceed in earnest or give the business up. Whats that mean . Go ahead, gabe. [ inaudible ]. You need to send the whole army. This is fullblown war. This is not a little rebellion. If youre not going to commit the entire empire, dont bother. This is wildly out of control. And then you go back to that quote, the rampage militaire has swept the continent. Theres another guy Richard Montgomery. Hes in new york city. Weve got philadelphia, weve got boston, weve got new york city. And this is what Richard Montgomery says about bunker hill. He says, see what the enthusiasm of liberty is capable of doing. Enthusiasm, tremendous anger, okay . He says, every friend of old england wishes this contest speedily concluded. If it lasts many months, shes done with us forever. Whats that last part of the line mean . Every friend of old england wishes this contest ended. If it lasts many months shes done with us forever. Whats that mean . What is he saying here . Go ahead. That everyone who is a supporter of england wants this to be over fast. If its not, theyre going to give up. Okay. This war is wildly violent and if this lasts very long, theres never going to be reconciliation. Theres going to be too much blood spilled and it shows you some people are still hoping for reconciliation. Richard montgomery is one of them. This is rampa this is rage militaire. Parliament relieves thomas gage. They see hes failed. One of the things were going to see, we talked about how the coming of the revolution, britain kept going through prime ministers. Once the war breaks out, britain keeps going through commanders in america. When you keep changing commanders, thats a bad sign because you cant pick somebody to stay. And thomas gage is relieved of demand. The new commander is william howe, the guy who fought at bunker hill. Whats interesting, hes going to show up very predominantly in your Washingtons Crossing book. Some historians have argued and i dont want to give away too much of that book. One of the problems with william howe is william howe is sympathetic to the americans. Hes a member of parliament and told his constituents he wouldnt fight against the americans. He changes the mind when they offer him the command. But the other effect is some historians have argued that william howe is traumatized by bunker hill. Some say hes probably today you would say he has ptsd. Hes horribly scarred isnt he the one who sends waves of people to die at breeds hill . He is. The guy in charge is a guy who is messing up. And of those three generals who arrived, howe was senior. Howe was now the commander in north america. Makes no sense, but thats what happens. Okay . Thats rage militaire. Okay . Well weve got another manifestation of rage militaire in the north and this is the invasion of canada. We talked a little bit about canada. Canada is new to the british empire, treaty of paris. We said theres 70,000 French Canadians there. And we said parliament has just passed quebec act to try to appease the French Canadians. It extended the providence of quebec to the ohio river. It allowed catholicism. It allowed for an appointed assembly and the use of french law in the providence of quebec. Whats interesting is the americans think the French Canadians might want to join them. And maybe the americans would be welcomed in canada. Why do you suppose they might think that . Any ideas . Yeah. Sour from the french indian war. Maybe they havent been assimilated into the empire and maybe they would join this rebellion. Is there any downside to that thinking . Yeah . It might be more interested in france taking back that area. Okay. They might want the french back. Do you suppose the French Canadians have great love for americans . Shaking your head no. Why . I assume they helped the french in the war . They certainly did. And the americans helped the british. The americans who pretty much started the war in the ohio river value. Thats part of it. They call the quebec act part of the intolerable acts. Congress thinks they might be welcome. One of the things that congress is thinking about and this is where the whole situation of canada gets really, really complicated. Theres 70,000 French Canadians here and these people are called the new subjects because theyre new to england. But after the british conquer canada, about 3,000 american and english merchants settle in canada. They were traditionically english. The old subjects dont like quebec act because they dont like that theres no elected assembly and they dont like french law. They want common law and an elected assembly. Throughout the spring before lexington and concord, americans are sending spies into canada and canada is sending spies out saying that the new subjects are indifferent, but the old subjects would welcome an American Invasion. Congress believes theres going to be support for an invasion of canada. They also want canada, if they would take canada, they would get the british off their back door. This route down Lake Champlain is an invasion route. This is kind of an interesting idea. If they could take canada, it would Show Parliament they were serious and there was some talk that you could use canada as a bargaining chip. Well give you canada back, if you repeal Something Like that. Once again, the americans capture tie cticondaroga. They consider moving the cannons to a safe place so they can give them back to england when the war is over. Congress Still Believes re reconciliation is going to happen. Throughout the summer of 75, congress believes that maybe reconciliation wont happen and Congress Authorizes an invasion of canada, but they dont do this until the end of june. Thats late. Its going to take a couple of months for the armies to get ready which mean americans armies arent going to enter until september or october. Why is that problematic . Logically. Canada in late fall. Why is that bad . Its cold. Congress doesnt know whats going on. They cant make up their mind what to do. So they adopt an invasion of canada. The order says if the canadian inhabitants dont mind. How are you going to know . Are you going to ask them . Theres going to be two prongs to this invasion. Its actually very smart. One prong led by Benedict Arnold is going to lead an army through the main wilderness. And the theory was, they would attack quebec city directly. They would emerge out of the wilderness and attack quebec city. This is Benedict Arnold. If you look at this painting, this is quebec city in the background. And arnolds march to quebec turns out to be a nightmare. Winter sets in earlier than they plan. He has about 1,100 men. The final 400 have most of the supplies. They turn back. They take all of the supplies with them so the other 700 are trapped in the wilderness with no food. Part of the problem for arnold is the americans h