Washington Leads the Revolution | America: The Story of Us (S1, E2) | Full Episode | History

a rag-tag bunch of rebels faces the  greatest military superpower of the day it's a war they never should have won this is  the secret history of how they did it daring leadership new ways of  fighting and true american grit we are pioneers and trailblazers  we fight for freedom   we transform our dreams into the truth  our struggles will become a nation new york city gateway to north america today the financial capital of the  world population eight million people in 1776 this is a city of just 20 000. it will soon become the battleground for  the biggest land invasion in american history three miles from wall street where 23rd  street crosses lexington avenue today   the rebels dig in to defend new york at kipp's bay commander of the rebel army  is general george washington he has already driven the british out of boston  a surprise victory against superior forces   but they'll be back the hour is fast approaching on which  the honor and success of this army   and the safety of our bleeding country depends joseph plum martin enlisted  in the rebel forces at 15 inspired to fight under washington's command   a farm boy he joins thousands  of untrained volunteers our revolutionary army was was quite something  it was in a nation that wasn't really a nation   yet just starting out and we took on  the greatest superpower of the time washington's ragtag troops are about to face the  best equipped and most powerful fighting force   in the world june 29th 45 british warships  mass off staten island bearing down on new york city the ultimate war  machine of its day the british ship of the line each ship is made from over  two thousand century-old trees each carries hundreds more soldiers  to the fight against the colonies and each is armed with up to 64 heavy cannons   capable of hurling a 24-pound cannonball   at the speed of sound delivering  it to targets over a mile away one ship of the line cost the  equivalent of a modern aircraft carrier another 350 british ships are racing  across the atlantic to join them   the british want to terrify  the rebels into submission instead they inspire them to resist on july  2nd there's a crisis meeting in philadelphia   50 delegates elected to the continental congress  from the 13 colonies hold an emergency session they include radicals like ben franklin   thomas jefferson and john adams what they're  debating is nothing less than high treason   total independence from britain the penalty  is death they're in the midst of a revolution   the most complete in the history of the  world it's the birth of american democracy   we have to expect a great expanse of  blood to obtain it some don't believe   the rebels stand a chance we are about to  brave the storm this gift made of paper but the doubters are  outnumbered nearly five to one on july 4th 1776 the delegates ratify a  document that will change the world the   declaration of independence we hold these truths  to be self-evident that all men are created equal   and they are endowed by their creator with  certain inalienable rights think about that   they're saying that your rights come not  from the king not from the government   your rights come from god and furthermore they  can't be taken away from you they are inalienable every group blacks women gays everybody  looks to the declaration as a way of saying   we are americans too so the declaration is  the american creed and among these are lights   liberty and the pursuit of you happiness help but be  stirred when you read those words   and you feel the excitement of being on the  cusp of something so profound we can be free now soldiers like plum martin  have something worth fighting for   july 12th two british warships  opened fire on new york city it must have been quite a shock  because new york up to that point was   a pretty quiet city it was a business city  so you had significant support for the rebels   but also significant support for the people  who are still loyal to the king a month later   joseph reed secretary to george washington  tracks the british fleet massing off new york over 400 ships the largest  british naval task force until d-day 32 000 british troops prepare to storm manhattan  island they outnumber patriot forces two to one just five of the biggest british ships carry more  firepower than all the patriot guns in the city reed is awed by the sight when i look down and see  the prodigious fleet they have collected i cannot   help being astonished that a people should come 3  000 miles at such risk trouble and expense to rob   plunder and destroy another people because they  will not lay their lives and fortune at their feet it's the biggest attack on new  york city until september 11 2001.   but the rebels will stand and fight the difference for me was that the  british army was fighting for a king   the americans were fighting for their lives plum martin is one of 500 men standing  guard at kipp's bay have a look   the first thing that saluted her eyes was all  four ships at anchor within musket shot of us   the phoenix i could read her name as distinctly  as though i was directly underneath her stern the assault begins september 1776 new york is under fire in one hour two and a half thousand british  cannonballs smash the rebel defenses at kipp's bay   four thousand british troops storm manhattan tough and battle-hardened a  british redcoat has six times   more combat experience than a patriot army recruit get back in your lines washington watches his army collapse they retreat along an ancient native american  path that will later be known as broadway september 20th new york now in british hands burns no one knows who starts the fire but over  two days it destroys a quarter of the city   it gives you a sense of the people who wanted  to be free how much they were willing to endure   the city being burned city being occupied gives  you a sense of how much they wanted freedom   more than 3 000 patriot pows are thrown  into prison ships in new york harbor the most notorious is the  hms jersey nicknamed hell   one prisoner robert sheffield  escaped to tell the tale the air was so foul that at times  a lamp could not be kept burning   by reason of which the bodies were not  missed until they had been dead ten days nine in ten prisoners die there is a memorial over in brooklyn to those that  died on british prison ships in new york harbor   thousands of americans over the course  of the war twelve thousand patriot pows   will die in the prison ships three  times more than are killed in battle the loss of new york is washington's  first defeat as commander-in-chief the overwhelming british  force crushes the rebel army washington's only hope now rests hundreds of miles  inland with men the british know nothing about a new type of soldier with new  weapons and new rules of war let's go kill us some red coat by june a new british army of 8 000  men heads south from loyalist canada its objective kill off the american  revolution once and for all they're led by general john burgoyne an aristocrat  politician and art lover he's also one of the   best cavalry officers in the british military  burgoyne pushes south following the hudson river his army is like a mobile city the redcoats are  accompanied by 2 000 servants wives and mistresses   200 supply wagons carry 84 tons of powder and shop   as well as silver and porcelain  tableware for the officers meals   burgoyne's plan is simple it's traveling from st john's in  canada 170 miles south to saratoga   deep in the interior of the new  york colony then he'll link up with   the victorious british army in new york  city cutting the colonies into two parts but the american frontier becomes the british  army's worst enemy the problem is they're in uh   what we might call a counter-insurgency  kind of campaign where uh their passage   through the land and the offense that they  give to farmers creates enemies wherever   they go now washington unleashes revolutionary  new tactics and a totally new type of soldier   men who learned their skills on the frontier so this army came together  an army of militia an army of   woodsman an army of sharpshooters  and we didn't play by the rules british redcoats are trained for open battlefields now they face rebel sharpshooters  hidden in dense cover   leading them daniel morgan  hard drinker gambler brawler and now the colonel of an elite corps of 500  riflemen he was a self-made man and he was a   although not educated at a great school was  a smart guy was a tough guy and was ready and   willing to step up when the time called he was  the perfect guy to show up at the perfect time burgoyne's route takes him through dense forest  over five times larger than all of england trees once intended to build british  ships now become rebel roadblocks the british are sitting ducks their  advance slows to just a mile a day   the march south becomes a six-week nightmare   the sharpshooters know the land and have technology on their side morgan's men are armed with american long rifles they're lightweight with a slender  barrel at least 40 inches long   and fire a 50 caliber shot a half inch wide based on a german hunting weapon the  guns have a unique american innovation grooves inside the barrel that spin the shot  stabilizing it giving it deadly accuracy   armed with this rifle patriot marksman can hit a  target 250 yards away more than three times the   average distance of a modern fbi sniper shot  and twice the range of the british muskets the tide of the war is about to change morgan's plan first take out  burgoyne's native american scouts 400 have allied themselves with the  british to preserve their ancestral lands but morgan and his men now use traditional  native american tactics against them they attack using speed stealth and surprise after months of guerrilla warfare all the  scouts are dead or desert behind enemy lines any knowledge the redcoats had  of the terrain goes with them   the rebels are rewriting the rules of  war and they're about to do it again 1777 the american war of  independence is in its second year   new york and many parts of the  colonies are in british hands the rebels have been driven into the wilderness but the fight back has begun patriot sharpshooters  target a british army under general john bergoyne   they've already picked off  burgoyne's native american guides   now the two armies meet near saratoga here the  rebels break the rules of 18th century warfare   and start targeting british officers the  plan leave the foot soldiers leaderless   your officers tended to be your most educated  guy they understood the communication line they   understood exactly what the orders were they  were the source of trying to get something done   on a battle space in britain's 53rd regiment all  but one of its 11 officers are killed or wounded the tactic of assassinating  officers appalls the british on the defensive the british  regroup under general simon frazier   he brings fresh spirit to  the beleaguered british army   daniel morgan commander of the sharpshooters  acts fast she rolling up that tree and take out   the redcoat on his horse his best shooter is an  illiterate frontiersman from ireland tim murphy   this shot will turn the tide of the  war the first shot misses this left the second skims his horse too  high reload come on take him out the third it's home you could argue that whoever fired  the bullet that took out simon frazier   did as much as any founding father  to establish american independence without leadership the british lose a thousand men twice as many as the patriots on october 17 1777 general bogoyne  surrenders it's a turning point   the victory persuades britain's greatest  rival france to join the war on america's side   now the french navy will force the british  to fight a war on two fronts land and sea but first washington must face  his greatest challenge as leader   he makes his winter camp in  pennsylvania a place called valley forge in freezing temperatures the rebels build 900  huts in just 40 days each houses a dozen men   he has an army of 14 000 men and no houses   and the continental congress has failed to provide  him with resources and by willpower by courage by   leadership by cajoling he has to hold the army  together in the middle of a terrible winter joseph plum martin veteran of the battle of new  york is at valley forge it's a desolate place   for now on a truly forlorn condition no  clothing no provisions as this hardness can be a prospect is indeed dreary right soldier  this is gonna hurt a bit all right surgeon albigens waldow watches  washington's army head toward crisis   the army which has been surprisingly healthy now  begins to grow sickly from the fatigues he has   suffered from this campaign we don't keep  this clean we're going to be right back in   a fifth of the soldiers have no shoes with little clean water dysentery  spreads through the camp   within weeks two thousand men  are sick and they run out of meat   down to their last 25 barrels of flour the men  survive on fire cake a mixture of flour and water the rebel army is a melting pot   as many as 60 percent of recruits are  convicts freed slaves and immigrants but washington's leadership inspires unruly men to  stay in line what he had was a confidence that if   you want freedom this is what it's going to take  it's going to take sacrifice it's going to take   blood it's going to take cold winters at valley  forge it's going to take losses general washington   he was a great general to be able to uplift his  army during valley forge during that winter and   still be able to fight i wish i would have been  there i wish i could have fought for him because   i damn sure would but washington's army soon  faces an enemy far more lethal than the british smallpox the revolution breaks out during the  worst smallpox epidemic in u.s history   the deadly airborne virus spreads  through the british prison ships   isolated from the disease for generations the  american colonists have little resistance to it   and there's no cure victims  break out in blisters and sores   the virus spreads through the blood  invading healthy cells which it kills   producing more of the virus in the  process four in ten victims die once smallpox arrives at valley forge it  spreads through the cramped huts like wildfire washington survived smallpox as a  child now he decides to take a gamble with one of the most daring  experiments in u.s military history surgeons have learned about  inoculation from african slaves they harvest pus from a smallpox victim and smear the live virus into cuts  on the skin of a healthy patient   the inoculation spreads the  infection but at a slower rate a week after exposure the victim's white blood  cells create antibodies these attack and kill   the virus that causes smallpox before the disease  can spread but it's a dangerous race against time   to survive the patient's immune system has to  work faster than the virus or run out of control   one in 50 of those inoculated will die but washington's gamble pays  off new cases of smallpox   fall from several thousand to just a few dozen but to win the war against the british  washington turns to an unlikely hero   to transform his ragtag militia  into a formidable fighting machine 1778. george washington's patriot army survives a hard  winter and an outbreak of smallpox at valley forge   now washington introduces a new recruit  will change the course of the war baron von steuben is an ex-prussian army officer   an elite soldier whose career is said  to have been ruined by his homosexuality but washington makes him one of the  most powerful men in his command   washington was a genius in taking people in who  didn't seem like they could achieve great things   but under him they rose to the  challenge they rose to the occasion   that's what great leaders do i grew up with  bonjour ben's task reinvent the demoralized   patriot army so they can take on the british in  a close fight our arms are in horrible condition   covered with rust our men are literally  naked some to the fullest extent of the world   von steuben starts by drilling discipline  into washington's ragtag recruits the men are unlike any he has ever trained before   the genius of this nation is not in  the least to be compared with that   of the prussians or austrians of french you  say to your soldier do this and he doesn't   but here i'm obliged to say this is the reason  why you ought to do that and then he does it von steuben brings order discipline  and hygiene to valley forge   he moves latrines away from living  quarters rebuilds the kitchens   on the opposite side of the camp and organizes  housing according to regiments and companies his biggest contribution he writes  a manual on military training   with methods that are still in use today von steuben drills european battle  tactics into an elite corps of 100 men he also teaches them a new and deadly weapon the bayonet bayonet fighting will prove  pivotal in the battles ahead bayonets allow rifles to double as spears  making close hand-to-hand combat possible   without reloading but it's not just new weapons  and skills von steuben gives the patriots   it's a new attitude you know we can talk about  weapons and how certain weapons change the   face of warfare which is absolutely true but  the greatest weapon that you could ever have   is right up here men like plum martin  leave valley forge highly skilled killers while they retrain another secret war  has been raging in british occupied new york a network of spies has been busy  passing information to the rebels their leader is george washington himself   a man who's come down to us in history as  someone who is incapable of telling a lie   succeeds as a commander in no small measure  because of his capacity for deception a british general will later claim that washington  did not out fight his enemies but out spy them now his french allies come under deadly threat   and only his secret army of  spies can save them from disaster in new york an estimated 20 percent of the  population is still loyal to the british   food costs are up 800 percent one  young woman in five is a prostitute to the british new york merchant  robert townsend is a loyalist   a member of the loyalist militia  he writes for the loyalist press   but to washington's spy network his code name is  kulper jr a fact that was only discovered in 1939.   kulper's gang will change the course of the war by july 1781 new york is buzzing with rumor a  french fleet has been sighted off rhode island news leaks out that the british plan to send  warships from new york for a surprise attack kulper must get word to washington  to somehow stop the british fleet   the spies use invisible ink an advanced  formula unknown to the british the ink is   made from gallic acid it can only be revealed  by brushing the paper in liquid iron sulfate the next link in the chain is austin  road a tavern owner from long island his contact abraham woodhole picks up the  message and buries it at a secret drop another agent ann smith strong then  uses her laundry as a secret code it signals a sailor who picks up the  message and takes it to washington washington moves troops towards  new york threatening the city   forcing the british fleet to stay put in new  york harbor the french fleet sails out of danger   it will play a critical role in the next  stage of the war now with a spy network and   a modern army backed by french naval power  washington is ready for a final showdown october 1781 six years into a war the  british thought would last six months   the american revolution comes  to a head at yorktown virginia in trenches around the fortified city   plum martin now a sergeant waits with  eight thousand other patriot soldiers   for the signal to attack washington's army  has reinvented itself with sharpshooters with training discipline and new weapons   and with a spy network that has saved the  french fleet giving the rebels dominance at sea what remains of the british  army is under siege in yorktown trapped in the city the  redcoats wait for reinforcements   but back in britain the war is  unpopular and costing far too much money   this was a case of hanging on in the face  of the the british actions long enough to   where the british literally would grow weary  of this and realize that it was endless this   is washington's chance to end the war with one  decisive blow he committed to this idea of being   able to stand on your own see america is a dream  and the only way to go get that dream is to show   up and bring your very best to that moment and  not stop until you bring that dream into existence plum martin will be one of the  first over the top godspeed go check it out behind yorktown's defenses nine thousand  battle-hardened british troops are waiting they're protected by a series of outlying  cannon forts called redoubts by october 14th   just two remain if they're captured  and their guns turned on yorktown   the british will be forced to surrender listen look up there it's time all the batteries in her line lay silent  we lay anxiously waiting for the signal patriots race 100 yards for the  british lines under fire and a hail of handwritings a force of 400 break through  and storm the british fort fighting in close combat with  bayonets they beat the redcoats back in the world immediately  after the fighting it ceased   i went out to see what had  become of my wounded friend he was dead 34 of martin's comrades lied dead or wounded  but they breached yorktown's defenses two days later the british surrender  and begin negotiations for peace for the past six years leadership training  weapons and intelligence have been vital the rebels have achieved the impossible   the united states is the only country to  win independence from the british in war on april 30 1789 washington   is inaugurated first president of the united  states of america under the new constitution but liberty comes at a price   over 25 000 men have lost their lives in the  battle for independence but a new nation is born we hold these truths to be self-evident  that all men are created equal   and they are endowed by their creators  with certain inalienable rights   that among these are likes liberty  and the pursuit of happiness you

Channel: HISTORY

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Id: enCE9JbVKcU

Length: 44min 22sec (2662 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 19 2021