Bannon's War Room - Episode 5395： 250 Years Remembering The Ultimate Sacrifice Cont.

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.000 It is Saturday the 23rd of May

00:00:59.280 We're here with the finest combat historian of his generation, Patrick K. O'Donnell, as we do every year.

00:01:08.220 In fact, we did it over at Breitbart Radio for many, many, many years.

00:01:11.600 Patrick, I want to thank you.

00:01:12.820 Patrick, thoughts on, we were going to do, as you and I discussed, we were going to do live coverage on Monday,

00:01:17.380 but we were going to try to focus this on America 250 because of the Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July.

00:01:24.400 And then you and I will be doing a lot of coverage of the British expeditionary force that was there to crush the independence of the nation in the crib in the first 30 to 60 days.

00:01:35.660 And we want to give the run up to that and focus on and in your books and other things have been written about these tremendous patriots.

00:01:43.480 Many lost a history that gave all in the beginning of the formation of this country.

00:01:50.220 But I had to start because of the situation that's going on in Peleliu and Terawa.

00:01:54.400 In other places, your thoughts. It is, you know, you the country owes its warriors, obviously, if you're wounded, a full recovery.

00:02:08.520 But to the warriors and the parents and the wives and the children or the husbands, there's an implicit contract that their remains will be treated with dignity and that their remains will be brought back or buried with appropriate ceremony at one of our many magnificent cemeteries.

00:02:38.520 throughout the world. I mean, no other nation on earth has, as Colin Powell said, that little

00:02:45.800 patch of earth in these different countries fighting for the freedom of those people

00:02:50.600 and giving all. Your thoughts about all that, sir?

00:02:56.160 I'm just going to sort of bring in a connection. One thing that is striking to me

00:03:01.960 is the statute for bringing back the remains of our fallen extends to World War I and beyond.

00:03:11.600 Wars prior to that, it doesn't extend to.

00:03:15.320 And I found this firsthand when I was dealing with Washington's immortals

00:03:20.460 and the potential mass grave that's in Brooklyn of the Maryland 400 or Washington's immortals,

00:03:27.480 It was the men that gave everything in a desperate charge that allowed the Continental Army to escape.

00:03:33.820 This is one that bugs me no end.

00:03:36.540 I'm so glad you brought this.

00:03:37.700 I made this connection.

00:03:38.680 There's that.

00:03:40.260 I found out about this.

00:03:42.840 I thought I knew everything because people know I'm going to know it all.

00:03:45.600 I thought I knew everything.

00:03:46.640 I didn't know this.

00:03:47.580 The American thermopoly took place.

00:03:51.240 One of the most important moments of combat in the history of this country took place essentially in downtown Brooklyn, right, in the very opening days of the Revolutionary War.

00:04:03.500 And Patrick, you told me, it says, hey, the only thing to remember this is a little plaque on, I think, a tavern wall that says the battle essentially took place here.

00:04:15.360 But we're not sure that's the right thing. They said, hey, there is a mass grave somewhere around here that has the remains of the individuals you wrote the book back, a book about the Washington's Immortals.

00:04:25.600 Tell us that story, because people understand it's not just terror in the Pacific.

00:04:29.740 It's here in the greatest city in the country in in hipster Brooklyn.

00:04:35.540 Sir? It's men of family fortune and honor from Maryland's finest families that formed the 1st

00:04:46.800 Maryland Regiment that had the American Thermopylae, arguably one of the most important

00:04:53.360 small unit actions in history, in the American Revolution in particular, where they fought

00:05:00.080 against Cornwallis, they made a series of charges, three or four bayonet charges. They were one of

00:05:08.560 the only units that were armed in the Revolutionary Army at the time, the Continental Army, with

00:05:14.560 bayonets. And they charged Cornwallis' position, which was bunkered in a stone house. This charge

00:05:22.160 allowed the Continental Army, it created a gap in the lines to escape to the fortifications in

00:05:28.740 Brooklyn Heights. As I'm told in my book, Washington's Immortals, as well as the

00:05:35.100 indispensables in my newest book, Revolutionary Snipers, because the riflemen will play a key

00:05:39.960 role in this battle as well. But kind of in a more contemporary sense, just today and yesterday,

00:05:48.340 Steve, 44 teen soldiers, including a woman, we don't know her exact, she might have been a camp

00:05:56.080 follower from lake george new york their remains were found in 2019 when they were excavating an

00:06:02.840 apartment uh were reburied today with full military honors up in lake george um this is

00:06:10.720 an example tell me tell me tell me tell me that story where were the these were the boys

00:06:16.760 they were found in lake george new york uh there were 44 remains uh and this is they were part of

00:06:23.820 The Expedition to Attack Canada in 1775 and 1776, which relates directly to the book that I just wrote, Revolutionary Snipers, where the riflemen are part of the main prong that goes after Quebec City.

00:06:40.080 And it's very possible that within the 44 remains that some of these men were in the unit that I discussed because they found a button from the 1st Pennsylvania Battalion.

00:06:51.080 Italian, not exactly, not directly the Pennsylvania unit that I write about, but very close.

00:06:58.140 But it's these men that fall back from Canada after the aborted attack at Quebec, and they

00:07:04.820 are there in Lake George.

00:07:07.100 We've had an unhealthy obsession.

00:07:10.360 I shouldn't say unhealthy.

00:07:12.800 Isn't it true, sir?

00:07:13.900 We were obsessed with taking Canada in the Revolutionary War and all the way up to the 1.00

00:07:19.980 war of 1812 which is half of that war was fought on the canadian border i mean and rightfully so 0.66

00:07:25.320 it's it's the 14th count go ahead and we don't look at it that way but in any of these guys

00:07:30.720 100 they were french first and and very much looking forward to potentially getting rid of

00:07:37.380 british rule it's an incredible story that i tell in revolutionary snipers of i mean of basically

00:07:48.040 two rifle companies that are in pennsylvania as well as virginians under daniel morgan along with

00:07:55.520 other units that make this amazing trek through the main wilderness and that story is epic i mean

00:08:03.800 they're they're using um rafts that are made out of green wood this is the hang on this is the

00:08:10.020 this is the expedition to canada one of the junior officers in command was this is benedict arnold

00:08:16.120 right this is that that is one of the greatest they left in frozen they left in frozen you want

00:08:21.980 to talk about hell on earth is that expedition expeditionary no it was unbelievable they were

00:08:27.660 first they were snakebed right they're a little unlucky but you make your own luck i mean it was

00:08:31.900 i i one i read about it and i said i couldn't have done the first three miles they're leaving

00:08:38.020 maine they're going to march up to canada through the main woods i go what a wonderful idea this is

00:08:43.420 Who thought this? And Benedict Arnold, who had a until he betrayed the country, he was on a roll.

00:08:50.300 He's probably one of our finest field commanders. He really showed his mettle in this Canadian operation.

00:08:55.420 One of our finest field commanders and a brilliant general, a man that led from the front, a tactical genius.

00:09:03.420 Just an incredible amount of courage leads the men on this expedition through the forbidding main wilderness.

00:09:11.300 they're short on supplies they're starving many of the men um they have to resort to eating their

00:09:19.600 their um you know pouches that are made out of leather in their shoes they're so hungry

00:09:25.460 and within this story emerges an incredible cast of heroes including i i really highlight one of

00:09:34.120 the first female combatants who's a camp follower. Her name is Jemima Warner, and she is marching 0.87

00:09:43.460 with the men because her husband is a rifleman. She is a strong woman. This is a woman that is

00:09:52.020 only 17 or 18 years old, and her husband is in his early 20s, and he decides to just quit.

00:09:58.540 it is that hard and he just falls down and she tries everything for a day to convince him to

00:10:05.200 move forward because she knows with snow falling everywhere that he will die of starvation in the

00:10:11.420 elements and nothing can convince him to move forward and he dies on in the main wilderness

00:10:16.920 um you know a forgotten member of the continental army a forgotten hero she storms forward with his

00:10:25.160 rifle in hand and will play a role in even, potentially even, they try to get Quebec City

00:10:33.740 to surrender and they send her in. And she will become the first female combatant in the United

00:10:40.620 States to lose her life at the Battle of Quebec. And I've forgotten an untold story

00:10:47.140 that I tell in Revolutionary Cypress. Why did they send her in?

00:10:53.080 Because the first party that they sent in under a white flag was shelved with artillery routes by the garrison commander. 1.00

00:11:06.060 And they thought that if they sent in a woman with a white flag that they might have a chance. 0.88

00:11:11.380 And it did work. 0.99

00:11:12.660 They let her in.

00:11:14.100 She delivered the message.

00:11:15.500 And then she was released.

00:11:16.760 But in the midst of the siege of Quebec City, it was a it was an artillery duel for a short period of time.

00:11:26.040 And she would lose her life in that. Remember, in the siege, Quebec City was it was a Moncombe in General Wolf and General Wolf. 0.84

00:11:36.900 This is back in the French and Indian Wars. For people that, just to get everybody up to date, you don't see more savage fighting by the United States or America, really in that period, before the French and Indian Wars and then when it started, all the way through the War of 1812. 0.96

00:11:56.740 because I my premise is that the revolution really didn't stop at Yorktown it really the

00:12:03.400 military that the British and the British aristocracy's obsession with controlling the

00:12:10.560 United States in this vast wilderness of which you know drove uh King George George III even

00:12:17.540 more insane than he was understanding what he had lost it was only when Andrew Jackson

00:12:22.920 And that in that group of, you know, it was a ragtag force of, you know, freed slaves and buccaneers and Cajuns and good old country boys from Alabama crushed the British Army at New Orleans on the first or the second or third of January of 1815.

00:12:43.600 That's when the war really stopped.

00:12:45.220 But if you want to see just brutal daily combat and real heroism, you go from the French and Indian War, because that's where Washington won his spurs as a junior, as a junior officer, all the way through the War of 1812.

00:13:00.700 You look up in those northern, you know, you look up in Vermont and Maine, upstate New York, all the way to Michigan and Lake Michigan.

00:13:07.700 Man, it is brutal.

00:13:09.440 And they're not given any quarter.

00:13:12.440 It's a path of invasion.

00:13:13.600 Talk about the path of invasion because that's always been our – I think the path of invasion is actually up through New York State more.

00:13:22.060 But go ahead and tell us about it.

00:13:23.640 This area, not Maine per se, we're talking about up the Hudson River Valley through Albany and Ticonderoga.

00:13:32.820 This is the path of invasion to Canada and also their path of invasion to the United States later on.

00:13:39.920 It's just a brutal – as well as in 1777 when General Burgoyne launches a massive army out of Canada towards what would now be Saratoga, which is another aspect of the book that I really get into in great detail.

00:14:00.640 This is the riflemen, the first snipers that will have a huge role in that.

00:14:04.980 Who's the hero there? Wait for it. Oh, Benedict Arnold.

00:14:09.920 Once again, Benedict Arnold shows up in all his glory on the battlefield, really turning the battle around and saving it for the Americans.

00:14:19.220 But we'll get into all that.

00:14:20.220 Patrick K. O'Donnell has stirred volumes out.

00:14:23.120 Just amazing.

00:14:24.180 The trilogy on the American Revolution.

00:14:25.940 Patrick, I'm so glad you took, was it six years of your life and turned it on the American Revolution and just extraordinary, extraordinary works about people I think that had been lost in the midst of time.

00:14:37.780 When you read these books, you are so proud that you're an American.

00:14:43.340 You're so proud you came from a country that would produce giants like in these books.

00:14:49.260 And these giants, guess what?

00:14:51.660 They're ordinary people.

00:14:53.560 Ordinary Americans doing extraordinary acts of heroism.

00:14:58.240 Short quote.

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00:16:24.620 Okay, welcome back.

00:16:36.440 Patrick, just to do a reset for the audience on a Memorial Day special.

00:16:44.120 This is the third in a trilogy of books you've done on the American Revolution.

00:16:47.860 And you're going back to the archives and going back to the original sources and the memoirs.

00:16:53.860 It puts you there. It's like a novel, but you're in the middle of it.

00:16:58.260 And every one of them is filled with action.

00:17:01.500 You're filled with Americans stepping up at the very beginning of the country's history.

00:17:07.760 This is the very beginning of the country's history, what we were.

00:17:12.040 This is the DNA of this nation.

00:17:15.540 Just walk me through so people have a level set here, the three books, who they're about,

00:17:19.880 because all of them are about ordinary people that do extraordinary things.

00:17:24.860 And you're filled with this true patriotism as you read these books, sir.

00:17:31.440 Yeah, I'm very proud of all three of the books that I've written.

00:17:36.740 The first book is really a miracle book in many ways.

00:17:41.180 It's called Washington's Immortals.

00:17:43.540 It was a book that my original editors didn't want me to write.

00:17:48.300 They they wanted me to write only about World War Two. And it's like all the books that have found me in one way or another.

00:17:57.020 And this is the case with Washington's Immortals. I was I was with Colonel Willie Buell in New York City and he wanted to know if I wanted to go to the Met.

00:18:05.640 I said, no, hey, let's do a battlefield tour of the Battle of Brooklyn. So we started out at Greenwood Cemetery where the, you know, the most infamous and famous New Yorkers are buried.

00:18:17.680 But it's also the site of the opening rounds of the Battle of Brooklyn. We started there, walked through Battlefield Hill where the Marylanders and other Americans kind of faced off against the British.

00:18:31.180 um and it's we then walked down towards the michael raleigh uh american legion post and found

00:18:39.820 a rusted old sign that said here lie 254 americans maryland heroes and it was there

00:18:48.360 i wanted to know where this is a mass grave of who are these men and you know i found out that

00:18:56.540 Mordecai Gist, who's one of the main characters in the book, survived along with others.

00:19:02.460 And I wrote what was the first band of brothers.

00:19:05.940 It was a breakthrough book of the American Revolution.

00:19:10.180 And every word of it is true.

00:19:12.160 It's based on pension applications and files.

00:19:16.020 This is nonfiction.

00:19:17.180 It's not fiction, but it reads like fiction in the sense that much of it is in the words

00:19:22.200 of these individuals.

00:19:24.120 And it's about the Maryland line.

00:19:26.540 These are an elite unit, one of America's first elite units that, as we mentioned earlier,

00:19:32.340 they fight the American Thermopylae, which buys Washington's army in Brooklyn, which

00:19:38.360 is about 10,000 strong, an hour more precious in our history than any other, allows the

00:19:43.320 army to escape to Brooklyn Heights and fight on.

00:19:46.720 And it's the Marylanders that then are this elite unit that will fight in the North and

00:19:52.700 the South.

00:19:53.240 And they will play a huge role, places like Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse and even Yorktown, where Mordecai Gist will face off against his old nemesis, Cornwallis, who he faced near the Stone House in Brooklyn.

00:20:09.660 And he will see Cornwallis, you know, surrender at Yorktown.

00:20:17.260 And that was my first book, which was a tremendous success.

00:20:21.300 All the books that I've written on the American Revolution and also actually the last five, four or five books have been bestselling books.

00:20:30.020 And the next book in line is The Indispensables, and this is about the Marblehead Regiment.

00:20:36.400 These are the men that rode Washington across the Hudson River, or I mean the Delaware River, I should say.

00:20:46.440 And then the East River in Brooklyn, it's where after the American thermopoly, Washington has to decide to stay or fight. And two days later, he decides to evacuate Brooklyn and the greatest evacuation in military history takes place.

00:21:03.600 And it's on the backs of the Marblehead Mariners, which assemble small boats and row Washington's army, the remains of it, all of it across the East River.

00:21:15.280 And, you know, it's here that the miraculous fog sets in that this is a condition that's not it doesn't happen all the time, ever hardly happens at exactly the right time in right place, which screens the movement of Glover's men and they bring the rest of the army back to Manhattan.

00:21:35.540 And this book is also about the origins of the First Navy, which happens to be John Glover's fishing boat, which is repurposed into an armed schooner, and they asymmetrically attack the British.

00:21:50.600 Um, you know, there's a little bit of, uh, shades of, uh, straight support moves here

00:21:57.300 if you want, well, because it, it causes the insurance rates to skyrocket with the, um,

00:22:04.220 the British, the British had been using civilian transports for their logistics to bring over

00:22:09.800 supplies, ammunition, and men to, from London to North America.

00:22:14.820 And these were these schooners were interdicting them and seizing boats, causing the insurance to go to skyrocket.

00:22:23.020 It also is the origins of the United States Navy.

00:22:26.300 Some of these captains within the Marblehead ranks are true giants.

00:22:31.660 They they really they bring in crucial power gunpowder at exactly the right time when the the Continental Army has done and they save the war.

00:22:43.920 And Glover's men, you know, just play a huge role throughout the 14th Continental of saving the army multiple times during the American Revolution.

00:22:53.440 Hang on. I want to go to this and see how the third book ties in. But if you read the first two books, you realize people that are prepared to fight and give all for their country, although at the time the actual formation of the country was new.

00:23:07.460 We had been a colony, they had been colonies, but we didn't have really have a national sense or a national purpose.

00:23:14.120 It is how close things were so many times.

00:23:18.880 There's so many situations like at the American Thermopylae in Brooklyn, that if Washington's immorals had not continued to charge the Stone House.

00:23:30.140 The British very easily could have swept Washington's army from the field.

00:23:34.100 and the revolution's over in 60 days done it by september you're finished it's over

00:23:40.780 this is the this is the the thing that you sit there and you're in awe and you talk about divine

00:23:46.220 providence and and uh and and we being a uh this nation being a city on the hill and in a chosen

00:23:55.600 land you see it in these books and the books are from first person memoirs or accounts at the time

00:24:03.440 It's not people after the fact putting together a pattern recognition narrative.

00:24:09.100 You're seeing it through the eyes of the participants.

00:24:11.920 And many of these participants died.

00:24:13.860 I mean, what's so amazing is how many people willingly gave their life on things that were hanging by a thread.

00:24:19.980 And in the first two books, I don't know about the third because I haven't really had a chance to jump into it.

00:24:24.340 But the first two books, you are outmanned and outgunned.

00:24:28.220 And I mean like 10 to 1 every time.

00:24:29.880 These aren't close fights.

00:24:30.820 These are where you're overwhelmingly the underdog. 0.95

00:24:34.760 Yet, in the cussedness, stick-to-itiveness, and grit of Americans, they just won't quit.

00:24:42.880 Why do I say all the time, if you don't quit, you win?

00:24:45.000 The revolution shows you that.

00:24:46.340 If you don't quit, you'll eventually win.

00:24:48.520 That's what the revolution is about.

00:24:49.940 I don't think we've won too many of these strategic battles. 0.99

00:24:52.860 There weren't a lot of Saratogas. 0.71

00:24:54.680 Let's say that.

00:24:55.320 There were not a lot of Saratogas. 1.00

00:24:57.240 But there was this cussedness. 0.99

00:24:59.340 they weren't going to stop and you see that because until the events happen these are just 0.91

00:25:04.760 normal people going through their lives all of a sudden they stand up like you you look back at

00:25:10.140 roman history and greek history of these armies that stood up at the time and just wow you remember

00:25:16.160 their names down through thousands of years that's what happens here we just haven't had

00:25:21.080 the patrick k o'donnell's that go back and do the archival research o'donnell how many years

00:25:27.180 and i realize you wrote a civil war book in between but if you take all three

00:25:31.160 of your trilogy on the revolution how many years of both research and writing

00:25:36.820 collectively that all three take

00:25:38.900 16 years

00:25:43.020 starting in about two but 2010 you got masterpieces 2010 yeah every one of them has been a journey i've

00:25:54.000 written multiple books at once. Uh, but they, these have been, um, you know, truly a

00:26:00.960 pleasure in an honor to, to just, to go to places like Bunker Hill, which are the most storied

00:26:11.860 ground, legendary ground or battle road where my own ancestors fought the mills. Uh, that's just,

00:26:21.120 it's just it's so powerful you know and I'm also taken by I've interviewed I think about 4,000

00:26:29.880 World War II vets and I'll never forget I interviewed a member of Darby's Rangers and I

00:26:36.260 said are you the greatest generation and he said to me Patrick what about the boys of 75 and 76

00:26:45.260 who fought for the cause that's the greatest generation and i will i totally agree with what

00:26:54.080 he said he may i think he may be right and that's coming from the greatest generation i think and

00:26:59.240 it's because darby's ranger i think darby's rangers nailed it this is this guy was great because

00:27:05.820 he well let me i believe it's true because we fought against our fellow americans in our first

00:27:12.520 civil war because there were many loyal americans i mean this is not a clean fight at all it's an

00:27:17.500 insurgency as well as a civil war and a conventional war against the greatest power

00:27:24.320 land and naval power at the time the british empire and it's somehow we spawn ideas of freedom

00:27:36.340 and liberty that are more powerful than anything else that will change the world

00:27:42.580 from this generation and continues to change the world and it's really you know as we look today

00:27:50.180 at the change it's our it's that revolutionary generation that will save us from so much of

00:27:56.500 what's going on as we fall back to the foundations and pillars that this generation founded uh hang

00:28:06.260 Hang on for a second. Patrick K. O'Donnell's with us. It's Saturday, and we are doing our special

00:28:12.380 Memorial Day weekend. Live coverage from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Monday, Patrick K. O'Donnell's also

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00:30:21.780 Okay, welcome back.

00:30:39.600 Patrick K. O'Donnell, one of the reasons you've become a bestseller author is your books are first-hand accounts through archival research or interviews you started with the oral histories of the greatest generation.

00:30:51.780 So you have done thousands of individual interviews, I mean thousands, and tens of thousands of hours, and done archival research for years to get the first person count through the eyes.

00:31:05.660 And since your books don't deal with big strategy, I mean, you lay all that kind of out, but they're really, this is really all different from every different war, really focused on Americans in combat.

00:31:17.300 And I might say, although there are no average Americans, the average American in combat, the ordinary person doing extraordinary things.

00:31:26.800 What does Memorial Day, do you think, and you made the comment, hey, when we did the battlefield, you know, the recovery of the remains, we didn't go past World War I.

00:31:40.000 What do you think, for the heroes and patriots that gave their lives for this country, what Memorial Day would mean to them if you had the opportunity to talk to them about it?

00:31:57.520 I think it would be giving us our tomorrow and our today.

00:32:04.940 They are responsible for securing our freedom through their sacrifice.

00:32:14.060 And therefore, it's absolutely critical that we honor and remember them.

00:32:23.440 I think that that's a time of shortcoming, that we do not remember our heroes as we should.

00:32:34.940 uh memorial day today in the 250th given that you've just written the third book

00:32:41.560 of your trilogy on the revolution and on the fighting men of the rubble fighting men and

00:32:46.500 women i might add to the revolution um the 250th what is it what does it mean to you as we go

00:32:53.500 through this and now the lead up to july 4th and folks that's not ending our coverage i would

00:32:59.680 actually say from i would maybe not realize america's voice they're going to be part of

00:33:03.900 all of it as we will. But particularly for the war room, we've always made a big emphasis that

00:33:09.100 4th of July is obviously very important. It is the document, it's the declaration of not just

00:33:14.160 independence, it's a declaration of war against an empire. Because I think that you had the

00:33:22.840 American Revolution, then you had the War of Independence, then you had building the nation.

00:33:28.440 They were kind of in three big blocks. The signing of the declaration brings to the end, I believe, the curtain comes down on the first part, which is the American Revolution.

00:33:37.440 They actually get these loyal sons of England to essentially write a document that declared independence and therefore going to war against their mother country.

00:33:49.740 then you had the the revolutionary war itself that went on for what seven or eight years like I said

00:33:55.980 don't if you don't quit you're going to win now on the 250th our coverage I think we're actually

00:34:02.560 getting more intense after July 4th because we're going to go through with Patrick the importance

00:34:07.860 of that first six months because the British were quite smart they created a empire with a bunch of

00:34:16.920 pirates, essentially, Francis Drake and company, you know, being pirates down in the Caribbean

00:34:23.300 and being pirates, stealing the gold from the Spanish and defeating the Spanish empire.

00:34:27.800 They built an empire with really nothing. And the Americans, which could have been the 0.67

00:34:33.920 foundational element, along with India, said, we're out. We're going to opt out of this. We 0.98

00:34:37.140 want our independence. We want our freedom. We want to be able to call our own shots.

00:34:41.280 It's in that 250th. And the British realized immediately, we must put this down. And the

00:34:45.420 only way to put it we've talked enough we're through talking there's no diplomacy there's no

00:34:49.860 talk this has to be crushed in a vast military expedition and they sent the largest expeditionary

00:34:57.040 force in the history of the world at the time 300 i think combat ship 300 warships in in new

00:35:02.880 york harbor the british army expeditionary force in staten island and then and then landing on

00:35:08.640 long island and as patrick so brilliantly uh discusses it time and again the battle of new

00:35:14.940 York retreat retreat retreat just at the very last second like almost a movie that's written

00:35:19.360 that you know they they save themselves they save the army till they they retreat all the way through 0.97

00:35:24.320 manhattan and then in new jersey they get their ass kicked all the way down till they cross the 0.91

00:35:28.020 delaware and they get back to pennsylvania and say hey man we got to regroup until that time 0.91

00:35:33.120 even a signer of the declaration from new jersey had asked for a pardon from the british because

00:35:38.520 it was over. We had nothing but a string of defeats. Now, it was heroism and bravery,

00:35:44.680 American thermopetally, the American Dunkirk, as Patrick says, you know, these ordinary people

00:35:50.220 doing extraordinary things to save this country, this republic in the cradle. But the British

00:35:54.940 understood we're going to crush it militarily in the cradle. So given that, as we, and people

00:36:01.200 barely, the general population barely understands the Declaration of Independence.

00:36:08.520 Your thoughts on this 250, Patrick, since you've for 16 years, you've lived with the spirit of 76, that Darby's Rangers greatest generation member ain't wrong.

00:36:23.520 He says, hey, the greatest generation, Patrick, don't forget the boys of 75 and 76.

00:36:28.200 What would they say about our 250th, sir?

00:36:30.360 they would say that i think that we've lost much of what they fought for and i think there's a

00:36:40.400 a need in some ways to retrench to look back at the ideals of freedom and liberty

00:36:48.580 that they forged through their blood sweat and tears to to go back in many ways to

00:36:56.920 to what you know those sacrifices were all about and that was about was about freedom i mean

00:37:04.000 revolutionary snipers opens up in a in a forgotten in a forgotten battle and that battle is

00:37:13.600 on october 10th 1774 months before the revolutionary war at a place called point

00:37:22.380 pleasant in the ohio territory and these men i mean the opening scene of this is like something

00:37:29.280 out of indiana jones where two men are sent out to several men are sent out to go hunting

00:37:34.100 to find forage of a thousand for a thousand man army they're there to go out hunting and as they're

00:37:41.520 it's in the you know the early twilight of the morning and they stumble upon an indian camp

00:37:47.560 hundreds, if not over a thousand men, warriors that are about to pounce on them.

00:37:54.940 And these men are then running for their lives as they're avoiding, you know, musket rounds from

00:38:01.940 the Indians. And they make their way into the camp. One of them is killed. And they then

00:38:08.040 blurt out that they're about to be attacked. And it's the, you know, an epic battle that nobody's

00:38:15.760 even heard about hardly. For, you know, over 14 hours, these men are nearly overrun by a Native 1.00

00:38:23.420 army, a massive army of warriors. And it's the technology that they are wielding, 0.97

00:38:30.900 the Pennsylvania long rifle, that saves them in many cases. But what comes out of that, Steve,

00:38:37.860 is an even more forgotten aspect of the American Revolution. It's really one of the first

00:38:43.500 declarations of our independence at a place called Fort Gower, which is on the Ohio River,

00:38:49.200 where these men assemble after this war takes place. And they assert their rights of liberty

00:38:56.400 and freedom, and that they will defend those rights as Americans. And that's the opening of

00:39:03.580 revolutionary snipers. It's amazing. It's amazing you chose the Ohio Valley. Correct me if I'm

00:39:09.620 wrong sir your book starts in ohio valley in the if memory serves me in the treaty of paris

00:39:15.340 the one thing the british demanded is that all um movement of the colonists would stop at the

00:39:23.400 appalachian mountains and in fact the ohio river valley was specifically what they said they were

00:39:30.120 not going to allow to be touched correct i mean this of of course being americans not only did

00:39:35.700 we bitch and moan about being taxed for our country at the time, Britain, to fight the

00:39:42.400 French and Indian War on our territory, which led to the revolution. But the prohibition against 0.53

00:39:50.280 going into Ohio Valley, the American colonists or American citizens then said, hey, how about

00:39:57.780 this? Screw you. We're going to go where we want to go and flooded the zone. So it's quite 0.99

00:40:02.300 interesting that you started in the Ohio Valley because that was considered, I think, by many

00:40:08.220 people to be the jewel of the crown, right? That expansion into that vast wilderness with all the

00:40:13.780 natural resources and beauty and farmland, all of it. I mean, it was even beyond the Indians. It was

00:40:19.360 obviously, although they were nomadic, their territory, but the Brits, you know, the French

00:40:24.940 knew what they lost, but the Brits were not prepared to lose that. Correct, sir?

00:40:28.120 that's that's part of it but what i what i really get into here is that that army was almost

00:40:36.060 sacrificed that's a it's a long story to the native americans uh and what i wanted to focus on

00:40:45.840 was what came after it and it's a declaration they they do a two-way thing they kind of declare

00:40:54.500 their allegiance to the crown but they also leave a veiled threat that they are armed and ready to

00:41:01.260 fight for their liberty um if need be as americans and it's a very much a forgotten chapter

00:41:09.320 of the american revolution um but also just the the the full arc of of uh of the revolutionary

00:41:18.840 war and revolution.

00:41:20.880 When you say revolution, when you say revolution,

00:41:23.120 the revolution begins, what was that?

00:41:27.320 When you say revolutionary snipers,

00:41:29.000 was this because the Americans with the long rifle were such good marksmen?

00:41:33.560 And we had proven, particularly on the retreat,

00:41:41.060 that we killed so many British regulars on the retreat back to Cambridge 0.64

00:41:48.840 bridge and to uh boston that this is going to have to be dealt with that the americans were

00:41:53.860 actually not just good shots but because of the frontier nature in lexington and concord you saw

00:41:59.220 on the march back it was brutal did you get inspired for the book given the fact of how

00:42:03.800 good we were that we had a strategic advantage as far as snipers and ability to shoot

00:42:09.100 it's a very complicated story but the first 10 companies of of the continental army are

00:42:18.340 riflemen, and they are armed with path-breaking technology, the Pennsylvania Long Rifle,

00:42:25.940 which spawns in early 1700, 1709, roughly, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's imported

00:42:40.300 from gunsmiths in Switzerland and Germany, which take German weapons and make them

00:42:48.160 better they're it's a product of the environment it's expanded it's longer it's lighter and it's

00:42:55.960 more deadly and the book is about the technology of the long rifle but also the tactics and

00:43:02.480 doctrine that go along with it but it's really a band of brothers on these men who are the best

00:43:07.120 best shots in washington's army it's an untold story until this this book it's also a book about

00:43:14.600 early special operations and these men are really precursor to special operations forces

00:43:21.820 they're doing long-range reconnaissance several of these men are they're before the war they're

00:43:29.860 known as long hunters they will go into the wilderness against you know all odds native

00:43:35.920 americans whatever and hunt and come back they will make you know hundreds of miles

00:43:42.700 in the Alleghenies alone or with a small group of men to hunt and come back.

00:43:48.000 They're just fearless men that also happen to be expert shots

00:43:52.100 that will form the foundation of the Continental Army, the first ten.

00:43:59.960 Hang on one second. We're going to take a short commercial break.

00:44:03.640 Our kickoff to Memorial Day weekend here in the world will continue this morning.

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00:44:31.060 top of us american farmers are sounding the alarm with some saying they can't afford to plant their

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00:45:39.060 hey welcome back patrick o'donnell we finished the trilogy the book's gonna be coming out

00:45:49.720 give me your thoughts as we roll in you're gonna be here with live coverage we always do

00:45:55.000 every memorial day as we wrap up our saturday kind of kickoff coverage

00:45:59.580 we started in the um pacific with the bloody battles of pelelu and terawa

00:46:06.420 and the remains of our heroes that have not been brought home

00:46:10.280 or given proper burial at one of these magnificent cemeteries

00:46:15.640 we have throughout the world, and particularly in the Pacific.

00:46:18.080 Your thoughts, Patrick K. O'Donnell?

00:46:24.000 My thoughts are that this is, you know,

00:46:27.260 the books I've written are about ordinary Americans

00:46:30.860 that do extraordinary things.

00:46:33.140 They're about untold stories, in many cases, smaller stories that tell a larger story of a larger conflict.

00:46:41.600 It's about individuals that are on the inflection points of history, be it Saratoga or on Battle Road or at Bunker Hill or at Terawa or at D-Day,

00:46:56.360 where it's members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, two men, really one man that disables the big

00:47:04.820 guns at going to Hawk. It's about individual agency, individuals that are able to bend and

00:47:12.360 shape history. They're not supposed to do it. But against all odds, they somehow do it. And I think

00:47:21.260 that that's the lesson, the great lesson of history. It's the great lesson of American history

00:47:26.740 that it's something that's in our blood. Revolutionary snipers brings back 0.98

00:47:36.620 rugged individuals that changed the odds, that did things that were just absolutely extraordinary,

00:47:45.300 that shouldn't have been done but somehow they do it and it's it's a theme that runs through

00:47:51.720 all of the books that are written and also within those books are americans that have

00:47:58.000 given every last bit of their devotion their last fall measure that have fallen for our country

00:48:04.120 and it's what amer it's what memorial day is all about it's about honoring

00:48:08.200 those individuals in their sacrifices

00:48:11.420 um your books and i want to close on this your books have done an amazing job

00:48:22.340 of showing people that are normal americans going about their lives and then the call to action

00:48:28.220 is about in defense of this republic in many different places throughout because you've

00:48:32.740 covered every major war um and they're up until the time of their call they're ordinary people

00:48:39.160 They're just going about their lives. And once they come into these conflicts, what they do, you sit there and you read and say, this is like a novel.

00:48:49.920 I can't believe these folks against all these odds and all this hardship and all these deprivations.

00:48:55.820 They pull together and they're able to achieve extraordinary things that put us on the path to the success that we've had to get here today.

00:49:06.440 Give me a minute or two about that before we wrap up,

00:49:09.220 and I'll see you back on Monday.

00:49:10.360 Is that the theme of your, if you read all of your books,

00:49:13.920 the theme is ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

00:49:17.920 Your thoughts, sir?

00:49:21.300 Extraordinary things that are on, in many cases,

00:49:23.860 the inflection points of history.

00:49:25.260 And it's history that is alive,

00:49:29.480 that it provides us with perspective.

00:49:33.220 Once, you know, there are times when we feel like,

00:49:35.500 This could have never happened in the past, or things are so bad that we'll never be able to get through them.

00:49:42.760 And then we look at what, you know, our great ancestors accomplished, and we realize it just provides an incredible perspective of what they accomplished and what they achieved.

00:49:59.040 And, you know, I'll say this too.

00:50:01.440 the books are the good the bad and the ugly i don't i just let them tell their story

00:50:08.420 and i tell it from all perspectives there's no agenda other than to let them tell their story

00:50:15.620 and what let history unfold and in many cases that's very gritty and and dirty and bloody and

00:50:23.880 and um it but it's it's the reality of of of uh of conflict and also the reality of history

00:50:33.280 the books are extraordinary where do they go get your writings we're going to wrap up and i'll see

00:50:41.100 you on monday where do uh where did we get all your writings and where do people go on social

00:50:46.020 media to keep up with your comments you've always got great stuff up on breitbart all the time where

00:50:50.720 people go you can pre-order uh american snipers on barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com all the books

00:50:58.240 are best-selling books uh you know for which revolutionary snipers is coming out in a few months

00:51:05.600 um but the others you can get at any bookstore um i'm at combat historian on x for twitter

00:51:12.720 as well as getter and um my website is patrickkodonnell.com all my books are up there as

00:51:21.140 well and you can see there's just you know hundreds of reviews from everything from the

00:51:26.640 wall street journal to the associated press um you know on the books as well as you know like

00:51:33.040 for instance indispensables we have nearly 2 000 five-star reviews from readers you know many of

00:51:40.200 them are war room readers which i appreciate oh yeah i love your books okay patrick fabulous job

00:51:47.140 i'll see you on monday monday at 10 a.m we're gonna 10 a.m to 2 10 a.m to 2 we're gonna do

00:51:53.000 live coverage of the commemoration on memorial day with the president of the united states want

00:51:57.520 to thank you um and we'll leave you with the magnificent rendition of benstrom boys from

00:52:03.180 blackhawk down want to thank everybody that pitched in real america's voice everybody helps

00:52:06.840 with this special every year.

00:52:11.780 And don't forget history flights.

00:52:15.200 Extraordinary work on the remains of our fallen heroes.

00:52:20.100 Keep in mind, 80,000 from World War II still not recovered.

00:52:24.320 Have a great weekend.

00:52:25.640 We'll see you back here at 10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Monday

00:52:29.020 for live coverage for four hours of the commemoration of Memorial Day.

00:52:33.200 in the 250th anniversary of the founding of this republic

00:52:37.220 in the year of our Lord, 2026.

00:52:38.900 See you then.

00:53:03.200 We'll be right back.

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Bannon's War Room - May 23, 2026

Episode 5395： 250 Years Remembering The Ultimate Sacrifice Cont.

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