Gambles & Glory： Washington and the Revolutionary War ｜ The American Story ｜ Ep 7
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Misogyny
1
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Hate speech
13
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Summary
The winter of 1776 is the worst of George Washington s presidency, and the snow is falling in droves across the U.S. but the Continental Army is undeterred. They ll cross the frozen Delaware River under the cover of darkness, and launch a surprise attack on the British garrison at Trenton just before the sun comes up.
Transcript
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Two days only, Tuesday, May 26th, and Wednesday, May 27th.
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It's an obstacle course, chunks of ice drifting like slowed daggers through the current.
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Snow pelts the men's faces and numbs their fingers as they row.
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When striving for silence, every splash of an oar feels louder than a gunshot.
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General George Washington, tall, solemn, wrapped in a heavy cloak, stands near the bow of his boat.
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A ragtag bunch of farmers, merchants, and dreamers shivering in the threadbare coats,
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their morale as thin as the ice coating the ground on the opposite bank.
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The Continental Army has been thrashed repeatedly and chased across New Jersey.
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Its numbers have shrunk from 19,000 to less than 6,000. Most enlistments expire in just days.
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If this night fails, the revolution could very well die before the new year begins.
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The British, they think the war is over for the winter, and they've hired German Hessian mercenaries,
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and they are all in cozy quarters having just enjoyed Christmas celebrations with plenty of wine.
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it's straight out of a heist movie. They're going to cross the icy Delaware River under the cover
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of darkness, march nine miles, and launch a surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton
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just before the sun comes up. It's a gamble against time, a gamble against weather and
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exhaustion, but Washington is convinced this gamble is a must. He splits his force to approach
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Trenton from different angles. Many of his men are barefoot and without coats, trudging through
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the snow and gutting it out for the commander they still believe in despite the massive setbacks.
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The river fights them, waves crashing, ice grinding against the flat-bottomed freight
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boats that are built for hauling iron. Hours tick by. They're late. Dawn now threatens to expose them.
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It's after 8 a.m. when Washington's troops finally swarm into Trenton.
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The Hessian troops stumble from their barracks into heavy musket and cannon fire.
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In the frenzied charge, an 18-year-old Virginian takes a musket ball through the shoulder that severs an artery.
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A civilian doctor named John Riker, as in Riker's Island, rushes into the fray.
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He'd just shown up to offer his assistance when he heard the battle erupt.
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Spotting the fallen officer, he tears open the man's uniform and clamps the artery with his bare fingers.
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A young man named James Monroe, who is going to go on to serve as the nation's fifth president.
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22 Hessians killed, 900 captured, along with a trove of much-needed weapons and supplies.
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Trenton isn't just another battle for the Americans.
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For the very first time, Washington's army has beaten some of the world's best soldiers
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Word spreads like wildfire across the colonies.
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Hope that was so nearly extinguished begins to burn again.
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Because across the Atlantic, the British are already planning their next move.
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as bleak as the winter of 1776 has been for Washington and his men, an even darker winter
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This is The American Story, The Beginnings, adapted from the book of the same title by
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Episode 7, Gambles and Glory, Washington and the Revolutionary War.
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By late summer 1777, George Washington knew what British General William Howe was thinking.
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Philadelphia, the rebel capital, was in his sights.
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The British commander had 18,000 disciplined troops and a navy to move them wherever he wished.
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If he took Philadelphia, it would strike at the revolution's nerve center.
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So he moved his Continental Army to defend it, positioning his troops strategically around the city.
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He had maybe 11,000 men who were hungry, underpaid, and half-trained.
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Yet he decided a bold show of force might impress the locals and lift everyone's spirit.
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A grand parade through Philadelphia's streets, letting citizens cheer for their defenders.
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it would help prove to Americans, and perhaps to himself, that the cause was still alive.
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But as his men marched, it was clear they were no polished European force.
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John Adams watched from a window and wrote with bold admiration and pity.
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Our soldiers have not yet quite the air of soldiers.
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They don't hold up their heads quite erect, nor turn out their toes exactly as they ought.
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The ragtag vibe was undeniable, but it was all they had.
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It was the portrait of an army learning on the job.
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General Howe landed his forces south of Philadelphia and marched inland.
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Washington chose to meet him along Brandywine Creek.
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Before the main clash, though, a chilling what-if moment unfolded.
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Washington rode forward with a few officers to scout the ground.
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What he didn't know was that in the nearby woods lurked one of Britain's finest marksmen,
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He was armed with a cutting-edge breech-loading rifle.
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Ferguson spotted a tall, distinguished-looking officer on horseback and had him dead to rights.
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But then this officer turned his horse and his back to the sniper.
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took his finger off the trigger. He couldn't shoot this man in the back. Washington rode on,
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oblivious to the potential disaster, and Ferguson only found out later that he had spared the one
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and only George Washington. That brief moment of hesitation might have changed world history.
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The Battle of Brandywine erupted on September 11, 1777
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His army splintered into another humiliating defeat
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A week later, British infantry crept through the Midnight Woods
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towards the American General Anthony Wayne's camp.
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To maintain silence, they unloaded their muskets, fixed bayonets, and then descended on the
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They pounced on the sleeping troops with savage surprise, stabbing and slashing in the dark.
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A horrifying massacre that echoed through the colonies as proof of the British brutality.
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Within days, British troops marched triumphantly into Philadelphia, and the Continental Congress fled west to York, Pennsylvania.
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Another British army, under John Burgoyne, marched south from Canada, expecting to meet up with General Howe in New York.
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The British Prime Minister planned for Howe and Burgoyne to combine armies to create a 40,000 troop force
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that would smash General Horatio Gates' 9,000 Americans.
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This would isolate New England and choke the rebellion for good.
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But Howe was preoccupied with taking Philadelphia, so he never showed up in New York.
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The first Battle of Saratoga in New York was a brutal slugfest across fields and thick woods.
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General Burgoyne pushed forward, but early on, Colonel Daniel Morgan's concealed sharpshooters
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picked off British officers with deadly precision, creating all kinds of confusion.
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The British held their ground, but at staggering cost.
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440 killed, 700 wounded, versus 90 killed, and 240 wounded on the American side.
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Three weeks later, in October, came the second major battle of Saratoga.
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With Burgoyne again on the offensive, Major General Benedict Arnold impulsively grabbed a horse and led a charge straight into the fray.
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His daring assault broke the British center, but a musket ball smashed through his leg, leaving him lame for life.
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Burgoyne had to surrender, and 5,000 men were taken prisoner.
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It was the first large-scale British surrender of the war.
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The victory electrified the colonies and stunned Europe.
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The Continental Congress declared a national day for solemn thanksgiving and praise.
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It was a milestone to celebrate, yet it also sparked intrigue.
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A group of military officers and some members of Congress grumbled that Washington was unfit to lead.
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They thought the hero of Saratoga, General Horatio Gates, should replace him.
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This group was known as the Conway Cabal, named after Brigadier General Thomas Conway,
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who wrote a letter mocking Washington's competence.
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The scheme was unraveled when a copy of that letter reached Washington's desk.
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He confronted Conway, who denied calling him a, quote, weak general.
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Later, Conway refused to hand over his correspondence with the cabal to Congress.
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Then, other generals sent Congress letters of support for Washington,
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and the movement to remove him from command faded away.
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Washington survived that political trial, but a different trial replaced it soon after.
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This was the pattern in this brutal war for survival. On December 19, 1777, 12,000 soldiers
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and 400 women and children trudged into Valley Forge northwest of Philadelphia.
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Washington chose it for its defensible hills and the proximity to the enemy.
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What awaited them, however, was misery. 4,000 of the men had no blankets. 2,000 log huts would
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have to be built before the snow deepened. The officers divided the army into construction
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squads, each tasked with building 14 by 16 foot cabins. Thomas Paine saw the work firsthand and
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wrote, I was there when the army first began to build huts. They appeared to me like a family of
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beavers, everyone busy, some carrying logs, others mud, and the rest fastening them together.
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Soon, the encampment stretched two miles, complete with fortifications.
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For six months that Washington's army camped there,
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Valley Forge had become the fourth largest city in America at the time.
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but the deprivation intensified in the miserable cold at Valley Forge.
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A Connecticut doctor in camp painted a haunting picture.
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His bare feet are seen through his worn-out shoes, his legs nearly naked from the tattered
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remains of an only pair of stockings, his breeches not sufficient to cover his nakedness,
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his shirt hanging in strings, his hair disheveled, his face meager.
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His whole appearance pictures a person forsaken and discouraged.
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Disease, including influenza, typhoid, and dysentery, devastated the ranks, killing 2,500.
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Surgeons amputated legs and feet that were blackened by frostbite, and yet, somehow, the Army's overall spirit survived.
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Colonel John Brooks of Massachusetts wrote to a friend,
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Under all those disadvantages, no men ever showed more spirit or prudence than ours.
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In my opinion, nothing but virtue has kept our army together through this campaign.
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There has been that great principle, the love of our country,
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which first called us into the field, and that only to influence us.
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That love of country was a genuine sustaining factor.
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But the main glue that held everything together was George Washington.
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To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lay on, without
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shoes by which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet, is a mark of
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patience and obedience which, in my opinion, can scarce be paralleled.
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Yet, it was still an army, and Washington rigidly enforced discipline, going through
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with the required floggings for men caught stealing food.
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The culprit, being securely lashed to a tree or post,
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receives on his naked back the number of lashes assigned to him by a whip,
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which sometimes cut through his skin at every stroke.
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Thatcher described how men survived the flogging by biting on lead bullets,
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which is where we get the phrase, biting the bullet.
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Washington spent that entire winter badgering Congress for money and supplies.
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To be fair, Congress had their hands tied. They couldn't tax, so they were at the mercy of the
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states for money. Plus, the continental currency was basically worthless. Washington was especially
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angered by local farmers selling their goods to General Howe's army in nearby Philadelphia,
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who paid in British pounds instead of paper IOUs. Throughout the Valley Forge ordeal,
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Washington inspired the soldiers with his resilience and sense of duty. He persevered
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with Congress, to reform the supply system and end the crippling shortages.
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And in February 1778, he welcomed a blue-coated Prussian, who was an officer that came to
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Washington assigned him the task of training the troops.
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He spoke very little English, only German and French, and cursed in both.
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Alexander Hamilton and the other aides translated while he whipped the army into shape.
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Von Steuben's drills, the precise turning of lines, coordinated volleys, hygiene routines,
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standardized camp layouts, became the DNA of the future U.S. Army.
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His methods eventually worked, but he didn't find it easy.
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American soldiers were cut from a different cloth than Von Steuben was used to.
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The genius of this nation is not in the least to be compared with that of the Prussians, Austrians, or French.
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You say to your soldier in Europe, do this, and he doeth it.
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But at Valley Forge, I am obliged to say, this is the reason why you ought to do that.
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And when that thaw came, they marched out of Valley Forge, not simply as survivors, but now as professionals.
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and they would need every ounce of this newfound discipline
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From the beginning, the Continental Congress angled for French support, knowing the old
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rivalry between the French and the British could be their golden ticket. But was France's hatred
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of Britain enough to overcome the skepticism of an unproven army of colonial farmers?
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Way back in the summer of 1775, Congress approved an expedition into Quebec.
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The goal? Lure the French-speaking province into an alliance against the crown.
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In September 1775, as Benedict Arnold led troops north through the main wilderness toward Quebec,
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There, in a bizarre sort of superstitious act, Arnold and several officers broke open the grave of the famous Great Awakening preacher, George Whitefield.
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They cut pieces from his clerical robe to carry with them and pin to their own uniforms as good luck charms for their campaign.
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It was creepy, almost like a scene from a gothic thriller, and it hinted at the gaping holes in Benedict Arnold's character.
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Starvation, disease, and British firepower drove them back south.
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Benedict Arnold would prove to be a smart and daring officer in the field,
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but he had craved recognition and grew resentful when he didn't get it.
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That first attempt at a French-related alliance went nowhere,
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but two years later came those pivotal battles in Saratoga, New York.
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When word of British General Burgoyne's surrender reached Europe, it stunned the French royal court.
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The Americans, against all odds, had defeated a professional army.
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Before Saratoga, France had already been secretly helping.
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Through a front company, the French government funneled military supplies to the Americans.
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In fact, nearly all of the gunpowder used in the revolution's first year came through that channel.
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The American success at Saratoga was a plot twist that nobody saw coming. It convinced France that
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maybe there was something to these revolutionary amateurs after all. France was still nursing a
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grudge against Britain from the French and Indian War and now it saw an opportunity. Maybe the
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Americans could actually win this war with just a little help. Saratoga was the nudge that finally
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made France commit. On February 6, 1778, in a lavish Paris ceremony, the French government
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sealed the deal with Benjamin Franklin and his fellow American envoys. The treaty recognized
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America's Declaration of Independence and pledged military and financial aid.
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Troops, ships, loans, France went all in. It was Benjamin Franklin's masterstroke in diplomacy
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and one of the most consequential signatures in world history.
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Soon, France's allies, Spain and Holland, joined the conflict.
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Almost overnight, Britain found itself at war on multiple fronts.
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Back at Valley Forge, where Washington's men were still hunkered in their beaver-like huts,
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battling frost and famine, the news landed like a warm blanket.
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Washington, always the master of morale, issued a proclamation to his troops.
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It having pleased the almighty ruler of the universe to defend the cause of the United American States
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and finally to raise up a powerful friend among the princes of the earth
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to establish our liberty and independence upon a lasting foundation,
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it becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the divine goodness
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and celebrating the important event which we owe to his divine interposition.
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And for the first time since the war began, almost three years earlier,
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there was real hope that the colonies might just be able to pull this off.
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General Washington's intelligence network soon reported
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that the British were packing up and ditching Philadelphia.
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They were headed back to New York to consolidate their forces.
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At dawn on June 28th, outside a small New Jersey town of Monmouth Courthouse, the Continental Army intercepted them.
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Temperatures soared above 90 degrees. Powder cartridges grew slick with sweat.
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Washington ordered Mater General Charles Lee to aggressively attack the British rear.
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Instead, Lee hesitated, then panicked as the British counterpunched.
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counterpunched. His lines dissolved into a messy retreat, men bolting in confusion, officers shouting
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over the din. When Washington arrived and saw his army retreating, the famously composed Virginian
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exploded at Lee. He almost never used profanities, but General Charles Scott, who witnessed the
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confrontation, said later that Washington cursed at Lee, till the leaves shook on the tree.
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charming, delightful. Never have I enjoyed such swearing before or since.
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General Lee was eventually court-martialed. But once Washington took command on the field,
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the momentum shifted. Von Steuben's training at Valley Forge paid off. Lines reformed,
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volleys fired in rhythm, bayonets drove forward. The fighting stretched into the longest single-day
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marathon of the war, although the Americans were outnumbered two to one. By sunset, it was the
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British who withdrew. Washington planned to renew the attack at dawn, even having his men sleep with
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their weapons in the open field. But when morning came, the British were gone. They used his own
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trick from when he escaped Brooklyn almost two years before. They left campfires burning while
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their army just slipped away in darkness. While it wasn't a total knockout, it bloodied the British
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nose short term and supercharged the American confidence long term. The Continental Army again
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had stood toe-to-toe with Britain's best and had not broken. Philadelphia was free and the war
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dragged on, playing into Washington's attrition strategy. Washington wrote after,
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The hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this
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that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith
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and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.
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But it will be time enough for me to turn preacher when my present appointment ceases,
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and therefore I shall add no more on the doctrine of providence.
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philadelphia was back in patriot hands the british army limped north to regroup
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the tide at last seemed to turn britain was not however just going to roll over and give up
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by 1779 its war planners adopted a new strategy focus on the south where loyalist sympathy
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supposedly ran deep. The results were brutal for the colonies. Savannah, Georgia fell in 1779.
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Charleston, South Carolina followed in 1780. Charleston was one of the worst defeats in the
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war. Almost 5,000 American troops were captured. For this southern campaign, Washington turned to
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one of his most trusted generals, Nathaniel Green. Green understood something the British didn't.
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you could lose battles and yet still win the war. He forced General Cornwallis to chase him
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through the Carolinas. Combined with guerrilla troops, the Americans kept the British off
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balance, slowly draining their supplies, their energy, and their morale. The losses for Green
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continued to pile up, but what mattered was the continuing of the fight. Writing to a friend
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after yet another narrow escape, Green joked, Don't you think that we bear beating very well,
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and that the more we are beat, the better we grow?
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the war's underbelly of division started to show.
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The Revolutionary War was not just a fight between Britain and America.
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It was also a civil war, neighbor against neighbor, family against family.
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In the typical way that we learn about the Revolutionary War,
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America was never fully united in fighting Great Britain.
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I mean, historians estimate that one-fifth of the colonists were loyal to the crown,
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Another fifth openly rebelled, and the rest lived somewhere in the fog between.
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Alliance shifted with the wind, or with whoever's army happened to march through town.
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For example, at one roadside inn along the busy route in New Jersey,
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every morning the innkeeper sent out a servant to look down the road.
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Depending on which army he spotted, he would raise the corresponding flag to avoid harassment.
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For many, the goal was just survival over loyalty.
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When the British invaded upstate New York, a small Baptist church was split
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and ended up fighting against fellow church members on the battlefield.
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Even within many families, loyalties were split.
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Benjamin Franklin saw his own son, William Franklin,
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become the royal governor of New Jersey and was in prison for siding with Britain.
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The father and son, Benjamin Franklin and his son, never reconciled.
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This was a war that was full of splits and betrayals, but none would betray more spectacularly than one of Washington's favorite officers.
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Before he was a traitor, Benedict Arnold was a hero.
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He was the co-leader of the mission that captured Fort Ticonderoga.
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Arnold felt overlooked, especially after Saratoga,
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when General Horatio Gates received much of the credit for the win.
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and by 1779, his bitterness curdled into treason.
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That year, Washington gave him a command at West Point, a fortress guarding the Hudson
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If West Point fell, the colonies would be split in two, which is exactly what Britain
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Arnold secretly opened communication with the enemy.
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In exchange for money and a British military commission, Arnold offered to deliver West
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Point and George Washington himself into British hands.
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British contact was Major John Andre. In the fall of 1780, the two men met near the Hudson River at
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night to finalize the plot. Arnold handed Andre plans for West Point's defenses and arranged his
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escape route south. Disguised in civilian clothes and carrying a pass signed by Benedict Arnold,
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Andre rode towards the British lines. But on his way, three American militiamen stopped him.
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He seemed to be in a hurry which aroused their suspicion.
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They searched him and they found papers hiding inside of a boot,
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maps, fort plans, and letters bearing Arnold's unmistakable handwriting.
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Andre tried to bribe the men. It didn't work. They arrested him as a spy.
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Incredibly, George Washington was at Benedict Arnold's house near West Point
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when Alexander Hamilton brought him the papers that had been found in John Andre's boot.
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Washington was there to inspect the West Point defenses and meet with Arnold,
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but Arnold had been inexplicably absent all day. Washington just couldn't believe what he was
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reading. He exclaimed, Arnold has betrayed us. Whom can we trust now? It turned out that at that
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At last moment, just before Washington's party arrived at his house, Arnold received
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word that John Andre had been arrested, so he bolted.
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He fled down the Hudson River in a barge and defected to the British.
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Arnold's young wife, Peggy, stayed in their upstairs bedroom all day, babbling nonsense
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Washington, Hamilton, and the rest of the party thought she was just distraught by the
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news of her husband's betrayal and sudden departure but it was all a masterful performance
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because she was in on Arnold's plan the whole time. When George Washington found out about
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Arnold's betrayal he was devastated but composed as usual. He was typically great at judging
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character but he had missed all the warning signs with Benedict Arnold. The next morning
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Treason of the blackest dye was yesterday discovered.
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Such an event must have given the American cause
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Happily, the treason has been timely discovered to prevent the fatal misfortune.
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The providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most convincing proof
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that the liberties of America are the object of divine protection.
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Congress declared another day of public thanksgiving for the discovery of Arnold's treason.
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Benedict Arnold, meanwhile, was safe behind British lines, newly commissioned as a Brigadier
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General in the King's Army. At first, Arnold seemed to be gaining the upper hand. In January
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1781, he led 1,600 British and Loyalist troops up the James River in Virginia to the new state
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capital of Richmond. Arnold ordered the city burned, warehouses, homes, and stores went up in
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flames, among the witnesses of the vicious attack on Richmond was a young enslaved man
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named James Armistead, who decided he was going to do something about it.
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After the Richmond raid, James Armistead asked his owner for permission to serve with the
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He was loaned to the Marquis de Lafayette, the 23-year-old Frenchman who was a major
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Armistead then infiltrated Benedict Arnold's British camp,
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James carried messages, observed the troop movements,
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all while gaining the trust of the most infamous traitor in American history.
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When Arnold was reassigned, Armistead followed the British forces under General Charles Cornwallis.
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That is when he became a double agent. Posing as a loyal servant, he carried
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false information to the British about American troop strength, information that was crafted by
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Lafayette. Cornwallis swallowed it whole, believing he faced far fewer enemy soldiers
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than he actually did. Armistead's intelligence, meanwhile, revealed Cornwallis' true numbers
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and his planned entrenchment at the small coastal town called Yorktown. He reported to Lafayette
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that the British planned to reinforce Cornwallis with 10,000 troops. By late 1781, Washington
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had a plan. He would first feint toward New York to mislead the British command,
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then swing south with French forces to trap Cornwallis at Yorktown.
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The French Navy would then block the escape by sea.
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And none of it would have worked without Armistead's reports.
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for more of the history that inspired this podcast series be sure to read the american story
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The Beginnings, by David Barton and Tim Barton. Available now at wallbuilders.com.
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In the waning months of 1781, the stage was set for what would become the grand finale in this
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epic struggle of underdogs versus empire. British General Cornwallis, the aristocratic commander
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who had been calling the shots for Britain forces across the colonies, had positioned himself and
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his army at Yorktown, Virginia. It was a quaint tobacco port jutting out on the peninsula
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where the York River meets the Chesapeake Bay. It was a spot he deemed strategically
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sound with its natural defenses and proximity to the sea.
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Cornwallis was just biding his time, confident that a British fleet would soon sail in to
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reinforce his roughly 9,000 troops. But Washington had orchestrated a masterful redeployment.
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He marched his Continental Army south from New York, a grueling 400-mile trek that kept
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the British guessing with feints and deceptions.
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Along the way, he linked up with French allies, swelling their combined force to over 17,000
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It was a high-stakes gamble, pulling resources from the North, but Washington sensed the
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After years of retreats and hardships, could this be the knockout blow?
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a French naval force sailing north from the Caribbean arrived late in August and sealed off
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the Chesapeake. By September 5th, this French fleet defeated the British Navy at the Battle
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of the Chesapeake, cutting Cornwallis off completely. He was trapped. His supplies were
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dwindling. And three weeks later, Washington's combined American-French army encircled Yorktown.
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They dug trenches, they dragged cannons in position, and they bombed the British lines
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day and night. Cornwallis' men huddled in the shallow shelters, half-starved and deafened.
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On the night of October 14th, Washington ordered a bold assault to seize two critical redoubts.
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Alexander Hamilton led 400 light infantry with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets to storm the
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first one. Under a starry sky, they surged forward, axes chopping through obstacles,
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ladder scaling walls amid the grape shot and volleys. Hamilton himself vaulted the parapet
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first, sword in hand, his men pouring over a frenzy of hand-to-hand combat. The second was
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captured by the French troops in similar fashion. Both readouts were captured in under half an hour.
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The Americans weren't used to things going this well. Cornwallis was running out of options.
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He attempted an escape, and on the night of October 16th, he ordered a covert evacuation
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across the York River using whatever boats they could find.
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But then, a violent squall erupted without warning.
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Howling wind, rain lashing in sheets, waves churning the river into a frothy nightmare.
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The next day, with his lines in tatter and no relief in sight,
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marched between silent lines of American and French troops.
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Cornwallis, claiming a sudden bout of illness, stayed in his tent, sending his second in
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News of the shocking victory at Yorktown reached London in late November.
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The following February, Parliament voted against continuing the war and one week later authorized
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negotiations began in Paris that summer. It was a complicated diplomatic dance full of intrigue
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and hard bargaining. But America had an all-star team of envoys. Benjamin Franklin with his fur
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cap and wit, John Adams with his focus and tenacity, and John Jay with his legal sharpness.
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The Americans proved to be shrewd negotiator over borders and debts and loyalist properties,
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even fishing rights. After months of proposals and counters, they signed a preliminary treaty
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recognizing the independence of these United States. The final treaty of Paris followed in
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September 1783, and it made the United States a free nation, at least on paper. In reality,
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the country was a fragile experiment. Thirteen states loosely bound together,
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staggering under war debt and arguing over boundaries and taxation. Native tribes saw
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their land parceled away in treaties they never signed. Thousands of loyalists fled to Canada and
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Britain. Enslaved people who had fought the British were abandoned in exile or resold into
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the Caribbean. The new country surely had a lot of work to do. Back in Virginia, victory brought
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another kind of reckoning. James Armistead, the enslaved double agent whose intelligence helped
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make Yorktown possible, returned home, still legally bound to his master. State law emancipated
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only those slaves who had fought as soldiers, not as spies. Armistead petitioned the legislature
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for his freedom, but it was denied. General Lafayette wrote to the Virginia Assembly testifying,
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This is to certify that the bearer, by the name of James, has done essential services to me
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while I had the honor to command in this state. His intelligence from the enemy's camp were
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industriously collected and most faithfully delivered. He perfectly acquitted himself with
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some important commissions I gave him, and appears to me entitled to every reward his situation can
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admit of. In 1787, Virginia finally granted James emancipation and a military pension.
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He then changed his name to James Lafayette in honor of his general and his friend,
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and he lived out his days as a farmer near New Kent County, a free man whose courage
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December 4th, 1783, Francis Tavern, New York City.
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In an upstairs room, General Washington gathered his officers,
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men who had weathered blood and sacrificed for eight long years.
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Eyewitnesses later write that even the stoic Washington
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From there he rides south to Annapolis, Maryland
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and then finally home to his beloved Mount Vernon, a private citizen once again.
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He refuses power, he refuses a crown, he refuses the temptation of dictatorship
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and in doing so, he invents a new kind of victory.
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Glorious if we consider the prize for which we have contended
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Coming up on The American Story, The Beginnings.
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Whispers in the barracks turn to shouts and suddenly 400 Continental Army troops erupt into action.
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The soldiers bar the door of Independence Hall.
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The delegates are now trapped inside, held hostage by their own troops.
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The crowds outside grow more and more restless, fueled by the rum and their sense of betrayal.
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It's a full-blown mutiny, a powder keg ready to explode,
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Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast
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and pass this on to a friend so it can be discovered by other people.