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America Story of Us | Episode 3: Revolution — Transcript

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0:06[Music]
0:09American Rebels face the greatest
0:11military superpower of the
0:14day a war against overwhelming
0:17[Music]
0:19odds to defeat the British they need
0:23secret
0:24[Music]
0:27intelligence to conquer disease
0:32and new ways of fighting as
0:34revolutionary as their cors
0:37[Applause]
0:51[Music]
0:58[Applause]
1:06[Applause]
1:10New York City gateway to North
1:15America today it's the financial capital
1:18of the
1:20world population 8 million people
1:24[Applause]
1:40[Applause]
1:42in June
1:431776 this is a city of just
1:5120,000 and it's preparing to defend
1:54against the largest land invasion in
1:56American history
2:075 kmet north of Wall Street where 23rd
2:10Street crosses lexton Avenue
2:14today the rebels dig in to defend New
2:17York at Kips
2:18[Music]
2:20Bay commanderin-chief of the Rebel Army
2:23is General George
2:25Washington he has already driven the
2:27British out of Boston
2:32a surprise Victory against Superior
2:35forces but no one doubts the British
2:39will be
2:42[Music]
2:49back the hour is fast approaching on
2:52which the honor and success of this Army
2:54and the safety of our bleeding country
2:56depend
3:03Joseph Plum Martin was inspired to fight
3:05under Washington's
3:08command he enlisted a just
3:1115 a farm boy he's joined thousands of
3:14untrained
3:18volunteers our revolutionary Army was
3:21was quite something it was in a nation
3:23that wasn't really a nation yet just
3:25starting out and we took on the the
3:28greatest superpower of of the
3:33time Washington's inexperienced recruits
3:37are about to face the best equipped and
3:39most powerful fighting force in the
3:47world on June 29th 45 British warships
3:51group a few kilometers of Manhattan
3:53Island
3:56[Applause]
4:02these ships are the greatest war
4:04machines of their
4:12day built from over 2,000 Century old
4:19trees each carries hundreds of
4:26soldiers they're armed with up to 64
4:29heavy Cannon
4:32canons capable of hurling a cannonball
4:34to a Target nearly 2 km
4:43[Music]
4:52[Music]
4:54away another 350 ships have already set
4:58off to join them
5:01the British plan is to terrify the
5:04rebels into
5:05[Music]
5:08submission instead it inspires them to
5:12resist on July 2nd they call a crisis
5:15meeting in
5:16Philadelphia 50 delegates from the 13
5:19colonies hold an emergency session of
5:22their newly formed assembly the
5:24Continental
5:26Congress delegates include radicals like
5:29Ben Franklin Thomas Jefferson and John
5:34Adams they debate nothing less than high
5:37treason total independence from Britain
5:41the penalty is death we're in the midst
5:45H A revolution the most
5:48complete in the history of the
5:50world it's the birth of American
5:54democracy we have to expect a great
5:57expanse of blood to obtain it
6:00some delegates don't believe the rebels
6:02stand a chance we are about to Brave the
6:06storm the skip made of
6:13paper but the doubters are outnumbered
6:16nearly 5 to one on July 4th
6:211776 the delegates ratify a document
6:24that will change the world the American
6:27Declaration of Independence
6:30we hold these truths to be
6:32self-evident that all men are created
6:38equal they are endowed by their creator
6:41with certain inalienable
6:43rights now think about that they're
6:46saying that your rights come not from
6:48the king not from the government your
6:50rights come from God and furthermore
6:53they can't be taken away from you they
6:54are
6:55[Applause]
6:56inalienable every group blacks women
7:00gays everybody looks to the Declaration
7:03as a way of saying we are Americans too
7:06so the Declaration is the American
7:09creed that among these are
7:14life
7:16liberty and the pursuit of
7:18[Music]
7:19[Applause]
7:22happiness you cannot help but be stirred
7:25when you read those
7:27words and you feel feel the excitement
7:30of being on the cusp of something so
7:37profound we can be
7:38[Applause]
7:43free now soldiers like Plum Martin are
7:47fighting for
7:50Independence on July 12th two British
7:53warships open fire on New York City
8:04must have been quite a shock because New
8:06York up to that point was pretty quiet
8:10City it was a business City so you had
8:13significant support for the rebels but
8:15also significant support for the people
8:17who are still loyal to the
8:19king a month later Joseph Reed secretary
8:23to George Washington watches the British
8:25Fleet massing off New York
8:35over 400 ships the largest British Naval
8:38task force until
8:44D-Day 32,000 British troops prepare to
8:47storm Manhattan
8:50Island they outnumber the rebels 2 to
8:53one
8:54[Music]
9:04[Applause]
9:06Reed is all
9:08[Music]
9:10struck when I look down and see the
9:13prodigious Fleet they have collected I
9:16cannot help being astonished that a
9:18people should come 3,000 miles at such
9:21risk trouble and expense to Rob plunder
9:24and Destroy another people because they
9:27will not lay their lives and Fortune at
9:29their
9:32feet New York City won't experience
9:35another attack like it until September
9:38the 11th
9:41[Music]
9:462001 but the rebels believe they have
9:49right on their
9:51side the difference for me was that uh
9:54the British army was fighting for a king
9:56the Americans were fighting for their
9:58lives
10:01Plum Martin is one of 500 men standing
10:04guard at Kips Bay have a
10:12look the first thing that saluted her
10:14eyes was all four ships at anchor within
10:18musket shot of
10:19us the
10:21Phoenix I could read her name as
10:23distinctly as though I was directly
10:25underneath her
10:27Stern run out you guys
10:36[Music]
10:39the assault
10:54begins September
10:571776 New York City is is under
11:14Fire in 1 hour 2 and a half thousand
11:17British cannonballs smash the rebel
11:19defenses
11:21[Music]
11:344,000 British troops storm
11:39Manhattan a British red coat has on
11:41average six times more combat experience
11:44than a rebel
11:52recruit get back in your
11:55lines Washington's Army collapses
12:00Hold the Line
12:04B they Retreat along an ancient Native
12:07American path that will become
12:12Broadway on September 20th British
12:15occupied New York
12:16[Music]
12:26Burns no one knows who starts the fire
12:29but over two days it destroys a quarter
12:32of the
12:33[Music]
12:40city it gives you a sense of the people
12:43who wanted to be free how much they were
12:45willing to
12:46endure the city being burned City being
12:50occupied gives you a sense of how much
12:53they wanted freedom
13:06thousands of Rebel prisoners of War are
13:08thrown into prison ships in New York
13:16Harbor the most notorious is the HMS
13:19Jersey nicknamed
13:27hell one escaped prisoner Robert
13:29Sheffield recorded his
13:33ordeal the air was so foul that at times
13:36the lamp could not be kept burning by
13:38reason of which the bodies were not
13:40missed until they had been dead 10
13:44days nine in 10 prisoners
13:49die there is a memorial over in Brooklyn
13:53to those that died on British uh prison
13:56ships in New York Harbor thousands of
13:58americ
13:59am 12,000 prisoners will die in these
14:03ships three times more than are killed
14:05in
14:11battle the loss of New York is
14:14Washington's first defeat as
14:16commanderin-chief
14:17[Music]
14:29facing overwhelming odds he takes the
14:31battle far
14:33[Music]
14:38inland in doing so he will revolutionize
14:4118th century Warfare with new weapons
14:44new rules of
14:46engagement and a new type of soldier
14:49let's go kill us some red
14:52coat by June a new British Army of 8,000
14:56men heads south from loyalist Canada
15:04[Applause]
15:07they're led by General John beroy one of
15:10the best Cavalry officers in the British
15:14[Music]
15:19military beroy pushes South following
15:22the Hudson
15:23[Applause]
15:27River his army is like a Mobile
15:32City the red coats are accompanied by
15:352,000 women including servants and
15:38[Music]
15:43wives 200 Supply wagons carry 84 tons of
15:47powder and
15:50shot as well as silver and Porcelain
15:52tableware for the officer's meals
15:55[Applause]
15:59Berg's plan is
16:02[Music]
16:03simple he's traveling from St John's in
16:06Canada 270 km South to Saratoga deep in
16:11the interior of the New York
16:14colony from here he link up with the
16:16Victorious British Army in New York City
16:19cutting the colonies into
16:23two but from the outset bergy's advance
16:27is fraught with difficulties the problem
16:30is they're in uh what we might call a
16:33counterinsurgency kind of campaign where
16:36uh they're Passage through the land and
16:38the offense that they give to Farmers
16:40creates enemies wherever they go
16:43Washington now turns to tactics almost
16:46unheard of in Europe Guerilla
16:56[Applause]
16:57Warfare and men whose skills were
17:00learned on the
17:03frontier so this Army came together an
17:05army of militia an army of woodsmen an
17:08army of
17:09Sharpshooters and we didn't play by the
17:13rules British red coats are trained for
17:16open
17:17battlefields now they face Rebel
17:20Sharpshooters hidden in dense cover
17:23leading them is Daniel Morgan
17:28[Music]
17:31appointed by Washington as the colonel
17:33of an elite core of 500
17:38Riflemen he was a self-made man and he
17:41was a although not educated at a great
17:44school was a smart guy was a tough guy
17:48and was ready and willing to step up
17:51when the time called he was the perfect
17:54guy to show up at the perfect
17:56time Bin's route takes him through dense
18:00[Applause]
18:06[Music]
18:13forest trees once intended to build
18:16British ships now become Rebel
18:18roadblocks
18:23[Music]
18:38[Music]
18:41the British become Sitting Ducks their
18:43Advance slows to just over a kilometer
18:45and a half a
18:49day the March South is a 6 we
18:55ordeal but the Sharpshooters have more
18:58than a Terrain on their
19:03side Morgan's men are armed with long
19:09rifles lightweight with a slender Barrel
19:12at least 40 in long they fire a 50
19:15caliber shot a/ in
19:18wide based on a German hunting weapon
19:21the guns have a unique
19:26Innovation grooves inside the the barrel
19:29that spin the shot stabilizing it giving
19:32it deadly
19:34accuracy armed with this rifle a patriot
19:37Marksman can hit a Target 250 yards away
19:41twice the range of the British muskets
19:47[Music]
19:55[Music]
20:02Morgan first takes out bergy's Native
20:04American
20:08Scouts 400 have Allied themselves with
20:11the British to preserve their ancestral
20:15lands but Morgan and his men now use
20:18traditional Native American tactics
20:20against
20:22them they attack by using speed stealth
20:26and surprise
20:29after 3 months all the scouts are either
20:31dead or have
20:37deserted with them goes their knowledge
20:39of the
20:41[Music]
20:42terrain the rebels Now train their SES
20:45on new targets adopting tactics that
20:49will rewrite the rules of War
21:011777 as the American war of independence
21:04Enders its second year New York and many
21:07parts of the 13 colonies are in British
21:11hands driven into the Wilderness the
21:14rebels now Target General John booy's
21:22Army his men are Under Fire from Rebel
21:25Sharpshooters using new and
21:27controversial tactics
21:38the two armies meet near
21:40Saratoga here the rebels break the rules
21:43of 18th century Warfare and start
21:46targeting British officers the plan
21:49leave the foot soldiers
21:51leaderless your officers tended to be
21:54your most educated guy they understood
21:56the communications line they understood
21:57exactly what the order were they were
21:59the source of trying to get something
22:01done on a battle
22:03space in Britain's 53rd regiment all but
22:07one of its 11 officers are killed or
22:23wounded the British are forced on the
22:26defensive they regroup under General
22:29Simon Fraser who leads the
22:32Counterattack Daniel Morgan commander of
22:35the Sharpshooters acts
22:37fast she up that tree and take out the
22:41red coat on his high horse his best
22:44Marksman is an illiterate Frontiersman
22:46from Ireland Tim Murphy
22:50[Music]
22:50[Applause]
22:56[Applause]
22:59[Music]
23:00his first shot
23:02misses this
23:03[Applause]
23:07left the second skims Fraser's horse too
23:10high reload come on take him
23:21out the third shot is fatal
23:30You could argue that whoever fired the
23:34bullet that took out Simon Frasier uh
23:38did as much as any founding father to
23:41establish American
23:44independence without leadership the
23:46British lose a thousand
23:50Men twice as many as the rebels
23:54[Music]
24:00on the 17th of October
24:031777 General booy
24:05surrenders it's a turning
24:09point the victory persuades Britain's
24:12greatest rival France to join the war on
24:15America's side the French navy will now
24:18force the British to fight a war on two
24:20fronts Land and Sea
24:30but as winter closes in Washington's
24:33Army must face its greatest challenge at
24:35a place called Valley Forge in
24:39[Music]
24:47Pennsylvania in freezing temperatures
24:49his men build 900 Huts in just 40 days
24:53but they are woefully underere
24:55equipped he has an army of 14,000 men
24:59and no houses and the Continental
25:01Congress has failed to provide him with
25:04resources and by willpower by Courage by
25:08leadership by cooling he has to hold the
25:11Army together in the middle of a
25:12terrible
25:14[Music]
25:16winter Joseph Plum Martin veteran of the
25:19Battle of New York makes it to Valley
25:22Forge it's a desolate place we're now in
25:26a truly forlorn condition
25:28no
25:29clothing no
25:31provisions and as disheartened as can
25:35be our Prospect is indeed
25:39dreary right Soldier this is going to
25:41hurt a bit all right you just F your
25:43teeth surgeon Alber jence Waldo watches
25:47Washington's Army head towards crisis
25:50the Army which has been surprisingly
25:52healthy now begins to grow sickly from
25:54the fatigues they have suffered from
25:56this campaign
25:58we don't keep this clean you're going to
26:00be right back in
26:02here a fifth of the soldiers have no
26:07shoes with little clean water dentry
26:10spreads through the
26:15camp within weeks 2,000 men are sick and
26:19they've run out of
26:20meat down to their last 25 barrels of
26:23flour the men survive on fire cake a
26:27mixture of flour and
26:35[Music]
26:41water as many as 60% of recruits are
26:44convicts freed slaves and
26:50immigrants keeping this unruly Army
26:53together becomes the defining test of
26:55Washington's
26:56leadership what do had was a confidence
27:00that if you want freedom this is what
27:02it's going to take it's going to take
27:04sacrifice it's going to take blood it's
27:06going to take cold winters at Valley
27:08Forge it's going to take losses General
27:11Washington he was a great General to be
27:14able to uplift his army during Valley
27:16Forge during that winter and still be
27:18able to fight I wish I would have been
27:20there I wish I could have fought for him
27:21cuz I damn sure would
27:26have but Washington Army faces an enemy
27:29more lethal than the freezing cold or
27:32the
27:33British small
27:36pox the American Revolution coincides
27:40with the worst small pox epidemic in US
27:43history The Deadly Airborne virus
27:46spreads through the British prison
27:48ships isolated from the disease for
27:51Generations the American colonists have
27:53little resistance to it and there's no
27:56cure Victor break out in blisters and
28:00swords the virus spreads through the
28:03blood invading healthy cells which it
28:05kills producing more of the virus in the
28:08process four in 10 victims
28:12[Music]
28:16die once small pox arrives at Valley
28:18Forge it rapidly spreads through the
28:21cramped
28:22[Music]
28:24Huts having survived small pox as a
28:27child what Washington has decided to
28:29take a
28:32gamble with one of the most daring
28:34experiments in US military
28:38history his surgeons have learned about
28:40inoculation from African
28:44slaves they harvest P from a small poox
28:48[Music]
28:54victim and smear the live virus into
28:57cuts of the skin of a healthy
29:00patient the inoculation spreads the
29:02infection but at a slower
29:06rate a week after exposure the victim's
29:09white blood cells create antibodies
29:12these attack and kill the virus before
29:14the disease can spread but it's a
29:17dangerous Race Against
29:19[Music]
29:21Time To Survive the patient's immune
29:24system must work faster than the virus
29:27or it will run out out of
29:29[Music]
29:32control one in 50 of those inoculated
29:35will
29:43die but for most Washington's gamble
29:46pays
29:47off new cases of small pox fall from
29:51several thousand to just a few
29:53[Music]
29:55dozen but to win the war against the
29:58British Washington's inexperienced
30:00troops must be transformed into a
30:03genuine fighting
30:06machine a task that calls on an unlikely
30:12[Music]
30:14hero
30:171778 after surviving an outbreak of
30:19small poox at Valley Forge the American
30:22rebel Army welcomes a new recruit
30:28Washington hopes he will change the
30:30course of the
30:34war Baron von stoan is an ex-russian
30:37army officer an elite soldier whose
30:40career is said to have been ruined by
30:42his
30:43[Music]
30:48homosexuality Washington makes him one
30:50of the most powerful men in his command
30:54Washington was a genius in taking people
30:56in who didn't seem like they could
30:57achieve great things but under him uh
31:00they Rose to the challenge they Rose to
31:02the occasion that's what great leaders
31:04do Bon Stan's task reinvent the
31:08demoralized rebel Army so they can take
31:10on the British in open battle our arms
31:14are in horrible condition covered with
31:17rust our men are literally naked some to
31:21the fullest extent of the
31:23word Von stoan starts by drilling
31:26discipline into Washington
31:29[Music]
31:31recruits he finds the men unlike any he
31:34has trained
31:36before the genius of this nation is not
31:39in the least to be compared with that of
31:41the prussians or austrians or
31:43French you say to your soldier do this
31:46and he does it but
31:48here I'm obliged to say this is the
31:51reason why you ought to do that and then
31:54he does it
31:59Fon stoven brings order discipline and
32:01hygiene to Valley
32:04Forge he moves latrines away from living
32:07quarters rebuilds the Kitchens on the
32:09opposite side of the camp and organizes
32:11housing according to regiments and
32:15companies he also writes a training
32:18manual parts of which are still used by
32:21the US military
32:23today
32:25Faster come on bonoan is's European
32:28Battle Tactics into an elite core of 100
32:32men
32:33[Music]
32:36I'm each will train a 100
32:39more he also instructs them in a new and
32:42deadly
32:45weapon the bayonet will revolutionize
32:48how the rebels
32:55fight simply adding a dagger to a rifle
32:58makes close hand-to-hand combat possible
33:01without
33:03reloading but perhaps most important of
33:06all Bon Stans inspires the
33:09rebels with a new
33:11spirit you know we can talk about
33:14weapons and how certain weapons change
33:16the face of warfare it which which is
33:18absolutely true but the greatest weapon
33:21that you could ever have is right up
33:23here men like Plum Martin will leave
33:26Valley Forge highly skilled
33:29[Music]
33:31Killers while they retrain another
33:34secret War has been raging in British
33:36occupied New
33:41York here a network of spies has been
33:44busy passing information to the
33:48rebels their leader is George Washington
33:52himself a man who's come down to us in
33:55history as someone who is incapable of
33:58telling a lie
34:01succeeds as a commander in no small
34:03measure because of his capacity for
34:06deception a British general will later
34:09claim that Washington did not outfight
34:11his enemies but outs spy
34:16them this secret War comes to a head
34:19when the rebels French allies sail
34:22toward
34:25disaster in New York GES estimated 20%
34:29of the population is still loyal to the
34:32British the price of goods are up
34:35800% one young woman in five is a
34:42prostitute to the British New York
34:44Merchant Robert townend is a
34:48loyalist a member of the Loyalist
34:50militia he writes the loyalist
34:54press but to Washington's spy Network
34:57his code name is Cula
35:00[Music]
35:15Jr by July 1781 New York is buzzing with
35:22rumor a French fleet has been sighted
35:25off Rhode Island
35:28news leaks out that the British plan to
35:30send warships from New York for a
35:32surprise
35:39attack Cula must get word to Washington
35:42to somehow stop the British
35:45Fleet the spies use invisible ink an
35:48advanced formula unknown to the British
35:51made from gallic Acid it only reveals
35:53its contents when the paper is brushed
35:55with iron sulfate
36:02[Music]
36:16the next Link in the chain is Austin row
36:19a Tavern owner from Long Island
36:37his contact Abraham Woodle picks up the
36:39message and buries it at a secret
36:46drop another agent Anne Smith strong
36:50then uses her laundry as a secret
36:55code it signals to a sailor who picks up
36:58the message and takes it to
37:01[Music]
37:06Washington Washington responds by moving
37:09troops towards New York threatening the
37:11city and forcing the British Fleet to
37:14stay put in New York
37:16Harbor the French Fleet sails out of
37:19danger to play a critical role in the
37:22next stage of the war now backed by
37:25French naval power Washington Army is
37:28finally ready to face the British on the
37:31open
37:37Battlefield October
37:401781 6 years into a War the British
37:42thought would last 6 months the American
37:45Revolution comes to a head at Yorktown
37:53[Music]
37:55Virginia entr trenches around the
37:57Fortified City Plum Martin now a
38:00sergeant Waits with 8,000 other rebel
38:03soldiers for the signal to
38:07attack Washington's Army has reinvented
38:11itself with
38:13[Music]
38:15Sharpshooters with training discipline
38:19and new
38:20[Music]
38:21[Applause]
38:24weapons and with a spine Network that
38:26has saved the fr Fleet giving the rebels
38:29dominance at
38:30[Music]
38:32Sea what remains of the British army is
38:35under siege in
38:39Yorktown Trapped In The City the Red
38:41Coats wait for
38:43reinforcements but back in Britain the
38:45war is unpopular and costing far too
38:48much
38:50money this was a case of hanging on uh
38:53in the face of the the British actions
38:56long enough to to where the British
38:58literally would grow weary of this and
39:00realize that it was
39:02endless this is Washington's chance to
39:04end the war with one decisive blow he
39:08committed to this idea of being able to
39:11stand on your own see America is a dream
39:15and the only way to go get that dream is
39:18to show up and bring your very best to
39:20that moment and not stop until you bring
39:23that dream into existence
39:29Plum Martin is to be one of the first
39:32over the top God's
39:44spe how you doing my friend good how are
39:55you got to check it out
39:58[Music]
40:09behind yorktown's defenses 9,000 battle
40:13Harden British troops are
40:15[Music]
40:20waiting they're protected by a series of
40:23outlying Cannon forts called
40:26routs by October 14th just two
40:30remain if they're captured and their
40:33guns turned on Yorktown the British will
40:35be forced to
40:38surrender do it look up
40:41there it's
40:46[Music]
40:50time all the batteries in are line lay
40:52silent We Lay anxiously waiting for the
40:55signal
41:01[Music]
41:16the rebels raced 100 yards to the
41:18British lines under Fire and a hail of
41:20hand grenades
41:27[Music]
41:40a force of 400 breaks through and storms
41:42the British
41:44[Music]
41:47Fort fighting in close combat with
41:50bayonets they beat the Red Coats back
41:58[Music]
42:00[Applause]
42:02[Music]
42:06[Applause]
42:09the
42:10[Music]
42:19W immediately after the fighting had
42:22ceased I went out to see what had become
42:24of my wounded friend
42:32he was
42:35dead 34 of Martin's comrades lied dead
42:40or
42:41wounded but they've breached yorktown's
42:46defenses 2 Days Later the British
42:49surrender and begin negotiations for
42:55peace after six long years of
42:59struggle the rebels have achieved The
43:02[Music]
43:09Impossible the United States is the only
43:12country to win independence from the
43:14British in
43:16[Music]
43:18war on April 30th
43:211789 Washington is inaugurated first
43:25president of the United States of
43:26America
43:27under the new
43:31constitution but Liberty comes at a
43:35price over 25,000 men have lost their
43:38lives in the battle for
43:43Independence but a new nation is
43:47born we hold these truths to be
43:50self-evident that all men are created
43:53equal and they are endowed by their
43:56creators with certain inalienable
43:59rights that among these are
44:02light
44:04liberty and the pursuit of happiness

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