Tyranny and Treason： The Dawn of Independence ｜ The American Story ｜ Ep 6
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Hate speech
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Summary
On April 18th, 1775, the dawn of liberty finally arrived in the United States of America. But it wasn t without its own set of problems. First, the British invaded the city of Boston, and then the rest of the country.
Transcript
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It's after midnight, April 1775, and the streets of Boston pulse with secret urgency.
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Paul Revere, the Boston silversmith, veteran of the Boston Tea Party, is on the move again.
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He clamors onto his horse, heart racing as he spurs it into a frantic gallop.
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The wind whips his face as he tears out of Boston through the countryside, dodging moonlit
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shadows and the ever-present threat that the British patrols are lurking in the darkness.
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Every sleepy farmhouse he passes, he voices an urgent warning.
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Regulars being the colonial term for British troops.
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the British are coming because in the colonies, all of the Americans consider themselves British
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at this point. Revere charges straight for the Parsonage in Lexington, where Reverend Jonas
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Clark harbors two of the revolution's most wanted men, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. These guys
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are the brains behind the brewing storm, and the British aim to clap them in irons,
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snuffing out the rebellion before it ever catches fire.
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who converge on Revere before they even realize who he is.
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delivering the intel that might save Adams and Hancock from the gallows.
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and they're going to snatch you and seize the colonists' hidden weapons.
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It's hard to fathom why they didn't arrest Revere,
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because he's the most well-connected Patriot operative in Boston.
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They seize his horse, and then they gallop away.
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Bruised but unbroken, Revere stumbles back to the parsonage on foot.
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When he gets there, he can't believe that Adams and Hancock are still there.
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Adams, meanwhile, only has the clothes on his back, which he escaped Boston a few days earlier.
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They've dealt with the British government threats and harassment for years now.
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But it reveres urging the men finally bolt to Hancock's fancy carriage.
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When a farmer rushes towards them across a field, breathless, saying,
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Adams and Hancock then ditch the carriage, scrambling into the woods on foot,
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hearts pounding as they vanish into the underbrush.
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They have no idea that in Lexington, the town they just escaped,
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a war against the most powerful empire on earth has just begun.
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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 6, Tyranny and Treason, The Dawn of Independence.
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The sun had barely risen over Lexington Green on April 19, 1775, when 77 colonial
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minute men, left their farms and their shops. They stood there tense and uncertain in ragged lines
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on the triangular patch of grass in the center of town. They faced the unknown, gripping their
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muskets knuckles white. Many had never been in combat. All of them had heard the midnight alarm.
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Among them stood Captain John Parker, a weathered veteran of earlier wars, who is said to have told
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his men, quote, stand your ground, don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war,
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let it begin here. Down the road marched 700 British regulars, their redcoats flashing beneath
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a pale sky. They had been dispatched by General Thomas Gage from Boston to seize control of all
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the colonial weapons in Concord and to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock if possible.
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intimidating to the homemade militia with their patchwork of weapons and abilities.
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But the British just formed ranks opposite the colonists.
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There was a moment of stillness and unbearable quiet.
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And then came a sound that ignited a revolution that would reshape the world.
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General Gage later claimed it was one of the rebels, but Reverend Jonas Clark, the pastor who
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was sheltering Hancock and Adams in his home, fiercely rejected this version. In sworn testimony,
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Clark insisted, nothing can be more certain than the contrary and nothing more false, weak,
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or wicked than such a representation. A cloud of witnesses whose veracity cannot be justly
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disputed upon oath have declared in the most express
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and positive terms that the British troops fired first.
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The British volleyed into the disorganized militia.
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Men on both sides fell amid the yelling and confusion.
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eight Americans were killed and 10 were wounded.
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As the British advanced to Concord, colonial militia numbers swelled.
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By the time the Redcoats reached the town, word had spread like wildfire, and hundreds
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of armed colonists shadowed the enemy movements.
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At the North Bridge, around 400 American militiamen confronted the British force.
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The tense standoff escalated when the British fired warning shots, then came a deadly response.
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The Americans fired back in volleys and the British line broke.
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They retreated in disorder, falling back towards Boston through the fields and in the woods
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where the militiamen fired from behind trees, stone walls and buildings.
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Letters from the time described the British retreat as chaotic and panicked and very bloody.
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Houses and farms along the route were burned, many by British troops retaliating against
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perceived sniper fire. The retreat became a desperate scramble with 273 British casualties.
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One of the most astonishing stories from that day came from an unlikely warrior,
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an 80-year-old Captain Samuel Whitmore. When a squad of British soldiers passed near his home,
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Whitmore ambushed him. He shot and killed one with his own muscle and two others with his
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his two pistols. One of the troops shot Whitmore in the face, and when he fell to the ground,
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they struck him on the head with the butt of a musket. The remaining British soldiers swarmed
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him with bayonets, stabbing him 13 times, and then left him for dead. Whitmore embodied the
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patriot grit and the will to survive that would be required of the colonies. Four hours after he
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was shot and bayoneted, Samuel Whitmore was found lying in a pool of his own blood, trying to reload
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his musket. He was carried to a doctor, his case pronounced hopeless, but the doctor bandaged him
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up anyway and sent him home to die. Whitmore somehow or another survived. He lived another
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18 years with horrible scars and finally dying at the age of 98. Almost one month before the
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battles of Lexington and Concord, Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull had declared April
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19th a day of public fasting and prayer, quote, for repentance and for the securing of the liberties
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of the American colonies. So, when the first bloodshed of the Revolutionary War erupted on
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that exact day, an entire state was praying. Many colonists interpreted it as no coincidence,
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Samuel Adams and John Hancock avoided arrest by the British
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and made it to Philadelphia for the start of the Second Continental Congress in June.
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He rose and nominated George Washington to be the commander of a brand new Continental Army.
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John Hancock, who had presumed John Adams would nominate him,
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was said to be visibly angered. Washington, however, was a strategic pick by the Adams
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cousins. The idea was to help bind the southern colonies to the northern cause.
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Washington left the room for the vote. Congress unanimously approved him.
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He then accepted the responsibility but gave a solemn response.
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I am truly sensible of the high honor done me in this appointment, yet I feel great distress
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from a consciousness that my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the
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extensive and important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the
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momentous duty and exert every power I possess in their service and for the support of the
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glorious cause. But lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation,
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I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the
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utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.
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In a private letter to his wife, Martha, Washington confessed,
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Far from seeking this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it,
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not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the family,
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but from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity.
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It has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service.
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the day after washington's appointment british forces under general william howe launched an
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assault on colonial fortifications near bunker hill just north of boston the colonial defenders
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low on ammunition were said to have been ordered not to fire until they saw the whites of their
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eyes the result was brutal vicious up close combat dr joseph warren a rising political leader and
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Samuel Adams' closest friend, was among the Boston Volunteers defending Bunker Hill.
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In the final British push, he was shot in the face, his body brutally mutilated by bayonets.
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And the British finally took the hill, at the cost of over 1,000 casualties, including 92 officers.
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Though technically a British victory, the cost shook their confidence.
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many colonists sought as proof they could stand toe-to-toe with the greatest army in the world.
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But Washington had not yet taken command. The Continental Army was appallingly disorganized,
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supplies were scarce, rebellion was now tangible but costly, victory was nowhere on the horizon,
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and a great storm was gathering, one that would test Washington's resolve,
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his army's endurance, and the very idea of American independence.
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july 3rd 1775 cambridge massachusetts on the edge of the common thousands of militiamen sunburned
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unshaven many of them shoeless crowded to glimpse a tall virginian in a blue uniform
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approach on horseback. George Washington had arrived to assume official command of the
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Continental Army encircling Boston. The scene was one of organized chaos, tents sprawled across
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fields, men drilling awkwardly with whatever weapons they had, and Washington had arrived
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under the impression that New England had 20,000 battle-ready troops. That was a force to reckon
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with but reality looked a little bit different a thorough count revealed the harsh truth there
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were only about 16 000 and after accounting for the sick the absent and those without basic equipment
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barely 14 000 stood ready for duty it was a gut punch revolutionary zeal and actual readiness
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were far apart washington dove into assessments riding among the lines noting deficiencies and
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discipline in supplies. The second reality check came with the gunpowder inventory.
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They had less than 10,000 pounds in total. It was scarcely enough for nine rounds per soldier
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in a sustained fight. This revelation stunned Washington. Accounts say he sat speechless for
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about 30 minutes, his mind reeling from the vulnerability. The shortage could doom them
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before they even really got started. Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia,
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the Second Continental Congress grappled with division. Hawks, like the Adams cousins, pushed
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for a full break with England, but many of the delegates were still loyal to the Crown at heart
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and yearned for reconciliation. This faction successfully pushed for one last try at patching
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things up with King George III. The Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition, a humble
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appeal to the King for peace, affirming allegiance while begging Britain to fix colonial grievances.
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considering the blood-stained ground in Lexington, Concord, and now Boston.
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But in September, the emissary from Congress sailed to London
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King George, incensed by continual reports of rebellion,
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He branded Congress an illegal assembly of traitors.
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The same month that King George waved off the olive branch from Congress,
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George Washington faced another blow to his struggling camp in Boston.
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Dr. Benjamin Church, a respected Boston physician and Surgeon General of the Army,
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Dr. Church had been a member of the Sons of Liberty.
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he was trusted by Samuel and John Adams and Paul Revere and John Hancock. Suspicion arose when a
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coded letter written by Dr. Church was intercepted on its way to the British lines. Once deciphered,
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the letter revealed detailed intelligence on American troops' strength, plans, and weaknesses.
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Church claimed the letter was just a ruse to mislead the enemy, but the evidence piled up.
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He had been on the British General Gage's payroll for months.
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Church was tried by a military court, convicted, and thrown in prison.
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The episode rocked the young army and Congress and put everybody on edge,
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as if they weren't facing enough massive obstacles without also having to worry about traitors in their midst.
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As autumn chilled into winter, a 25-year-old Boston bookseller named Henry Knox
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came to Washington with an innovative idea. A colonel in the Continental Army, Knox was a
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self-taught artillery expert. His idea was to undertake a mission to Fort Ticonderoga in
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upstate New York. The British fort had been seized six months earlier by Ethan Allen and
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Benedict Arnold with a small militia force. The fort contained dozens of British cannons that
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were just sitting there. Knox thought they could be hauled back to Boston, where they would be
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desperately needed. Washington sent Knox on the mission right away. It was the first of many
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gambles the war would require of this ragtag military. Meanwhile, Washington tried to keep
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his amateur army together outside of Boston. There was still far too little gunpowder,
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Congress dragging its feet on funding, leaving soldiers in tattered uniforms, unpaid and grumbling.
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As New Year's Day 1776 dawned, disaster struck.
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Thousands of one-year enlistments expired, and men streamed towards home, weary of the hardships.
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Some new recruits replaced them, but the army didn't have enough weapons to supply the new men.
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Washington now had under 10,000 troops, only half the number, fit for duty because of rampant illness.
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In private, sleepless moments in the middle of the night, Washington confessed his anguish.
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The reflection upon my situation and that of this army produces many an uneasy hour when all around me are wrapped in sleep.
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To his trusted military secretary Joseph Reed, he wrote candidly,
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Could I have foreseen what I have and am like to experience?
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No consideration upon earth should have induced me to accept this command.
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command. Yet amid the gloom and against the odds, Henry Knox showed up in Boston with his captured
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cannons, which provided a lift to the shivering army. Knox and his team built 42 massive sleds
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from felled trees, harnessing teams of oxen and horses to drag 59 guns, totaling 120,000 pounds
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across 300 miles of wilderness. For two months, they endured blizzards, crossed frozen rivers,
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climbed mountains without losing a single cannon. It was a logistical miracle.
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The turning point came on the night of March 4th, 1776. Under the night sky, 2,000 American troops
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moved like ghosts towards Dorchester Heights. It was a strategic overlook of Boston Harbor,
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and to muffle the noise they wrapped wagon wheels in hay and straw, hauling Knox's cannons uphill
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in silence. The earthworks rose from the frozen soil, fortified with barrels of dirt and felled
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trees. And at dawn, British lookouts blinked in disbelief at the full fortress that had not
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existed the night before, with artillery threatening their ships below. One British
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officer gasped in awe. My God, these fellows have done more work in one night than I could make my
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army do in three months. British General Howe ordered an assault, massing troops for a Bunker
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hill-type assault. But that night, the weather intervened. A ferocious nor'easter unleashed
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howling winds, driving rain, and waves that swamped the British landing boats. The attack
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had to be called off. General Howe found his position untenable with the Colonials controlling
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the high position with so much firepower. He decided best to evacuate the city.
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Almost two weeks after Washington's daring overnight move to take Dorchester Heights
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11,000 British troops and loyalists boarded ships
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And they sailed away as Bostonians cheered from the shores
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Abigail Adams, watching from her home near Boston, wrote her husband in wonder
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The more I think of it, the more amazed I am that they should leave such a harbor
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and that we should be in peaceable possession of a town which we expected would cost us a river of
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blood. Surely it is the Lord's doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes. As celebrations echoed
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across Boston Harbor, a small pamphlet rippled through the colonies. The incendiary words it
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contained quickly changed American hearts and minds toward the previously unthinkable.
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Thomas Paine. New character. He arrived in America in 1774 as a down-on-his-luck Englishman,
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fresh from failures as a corset maker, teacher, and tax collector. Armed with a letter of
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introduction from Benjamin Franklin, he landed in Philadelphia, a city buzzing with discontent.
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Paine, with his razor-sharp mind and gift for plain speech, soon joined the Patriot Press.
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In January 1776, as Henry Knox slid into Boston with his trove of cannons,
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Thomas Paine published something he called Common Sense.
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It was a 47-page pamphlet that exploded like a bombshell in the minds of colonists,
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A royal brute like King George deserved no loyalty.
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framing it as common sense for an enlightened people.
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At the time, it sold 120,000 copies in three months. It was the best-selling printed work
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by a single author in American history up to that time. It was read aloud in taverns and homes. It
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dramatically shifted public opinion. Its influence was unrivaled in turning colonial minds towards
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independence. As John Adams rode through New York on his way from Boston to Congress in late January,
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he bought two copies of Common Sense. He sent one to his wife Abigail with a note on its power.
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Payne's words democratized the debate, making independence feel inevitable and urgent. By June
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1776, the idea of separation from Britain simmered in Philadelphia's statehouse. Virginia's Richard
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Henry Lee proposed a resolution for independence, sparking weeks of fierce debate in Congress.
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A vote was postponed until July 1st to allow the colony's time to consider.
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And in the meantime, a committee was appointed to write a Declaration of Independence.
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Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.
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The committee decided Jefferson was the best suited to tackle the first draft.
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So the 33-year-old Jefferson sequestered himself in an upstairs parlor of a rented brick house on the outskirts of Philadelphia,
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where he would, quote, have the benefit of circulating air.
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In that summer heat, he wrote page after passionate page.
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With input from the committee, he crafted an eloquent, powerful rationale for breaking up with Britain.
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Liberty was not granted by kings, but endowed by God.
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When Jefferson finished, Adams read the draft aloud to the committee.
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And by June 28, the document was ready for debate.
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On July 1, Congress reconvened for final arguments.
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Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, a cautious lawyer, rose passionately against it,
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warning that declaring independence now was, quote,
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His eloquence swayed some, but John Adams countered with what witnesses called the greatest speech of his life,
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a two-hour masterpiece defending liberty, dismantling Dickinson's fears with logic and
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fire. The debate stretched on for nine grueling hours. Finally, the next day, July 2nd, the vote
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came. Twelve colonies approved Lee's resolution. Only one, New York, abstained, waiting for
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instructions for home. Independence was decided. John Adams wrote Abigail that night with a vision
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on how Independence Day should be celebrated. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
00:27:37.460
by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day
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of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and
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parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this
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continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore. The rest of July 2nd and 3rd were
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spent by Congress editing Jefferson's draft of the Declaration. Nearly a quarter of it was altered
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or deleted. Jefferson sat fuming as words were struck out line by line. He was especially upset
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when his searing condemnation of the slave trade was cut at the insistence of delegates from South
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Carolina and Georgia. Still, the final version rang with clarity and conviction. On July 4th,
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Congress officially approved and adopted the Declaration of Independence.
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When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political
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bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth
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the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle
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them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
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by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
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and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men,
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deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government
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becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it,
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and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form
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as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.
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That night, a handwritten copy was rushed to the local print shop of John Dunlap,
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who labored through the early morning of July 5th to typeset and print about 200 broadsides.
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Couriers on horseback fanned out, delivering copies to every colony.
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No one knows what happened to that very first handwritten copy that was rushed to Dunlap's shop.
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Of those first Dunlap broadsides, only 26 are known to survive today,
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scattered among libraries and private collections.
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The official copy, known as the engrossed copy,
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was then prepared on a single giant sheet of parchment.
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On August 2nd, one by one, the delegates stepped up and signed their name.
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By doing so, they were committing high treason, punishable by death.
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Years later, Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote to John Adams, recalling that solemn morning.
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Do you recollect the pensive and awful silence which pervaded the house when we were called up,
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one after another, to the table of the President of Congress,
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to subscribe what was believed by many at that time to be our own death warrants?
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the silence and the gloom of the morning was interrupted i well recollect only for a moment
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by colonel harrison of virginia who said to mr jerry at the table i shall have a great advantage
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over you mr jerry when we are all hung for what we are now doing from the size and weight of my body
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I shall die in a few minutes, but from the lightness of your body,
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you will dance in the air an hour or two before you are dead.
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but it was soon succeeded by the solemnity with which the whole business was conducted.
00:31:48.240
Historian T.R. Fehrenbach later described their sacrifice in doing so.
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Nine signers died of wounds or hardships during the Revolutionary War.
00:31:58.860
Five were captured or imprisoned, in some cases with brutal treatment.
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The wives, sons, and daughters of others were killed, jailed, mistreated, persecuted,
00:32:11.020
or left penniless. One was driven from his wife's deathbed and lost all his children.
00:32:18.080
The houses of twelve signers were burned to the ground.
00:32:32.420
Most were at one time or another barred from their families or homes.
00:32:36.580
Most were offered immunity, freedom, rewards, their property,
00:32:42.840
or the lives and release of loved ones to break their pledged word or to take the king's protection.
00:32:50.220
Their fortunes were forfeited, but their honor was not.
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No signer defected or changed his stand throughout the darkest hours.
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You will never know how much it costs the present generation to preserve your freedom.
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If you do not, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.
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On July 9, 1776, in New York City, General George Washington assembled his troops on the commons.
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A freshly printed broadside of the Declaration was read out loud, and cheers erupted.
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That night, soldiers and civilians marched to the equestrian statue of King George III
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The lead was then melted to make more than 42,000 musket balls for the coming fight.
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Off of Staten Island, 400 British naval ships filled the harbor.
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It was the largest force ever assembled to that point in world history.
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Under British General William Howe, 32,000 troops had landed on Staten Island,
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more soldiers than the entire population of Philadelphia, which was America's largest city at the time.
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From his post, Washington's military secretary, Joseph Reed, wrote to his wife,
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When I look down and see the prodigious fleet they have collected, the preparations they have made,
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I cannot help being astonished that a people should come 3,000 miles at such risk, trouble and expense to rob, plunder and destroy another people because they will not lay their lives and fortunes at their feet.
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The storm, the true test of independence, had just arrived.
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We all get a little older every day, whether we like it or not. And one of the things that tends
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to come with getting older is aches and pains. Joints start to wear down. Old injuries jump back
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into life. And the normal exercise of everyday living begins to catch up with you. See, I told
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you exercise is bad for you. All of the years of walking and lifting and bending and climbing
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stairs getting out of chairs carrying groceries doing you know what we all do now the body is
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sending you a bill that's the bad news but the good news is you don't have to just accept it
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I'm one of them. This year, as we celebrate 250 years of freedom, ask yourself, are you living
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Barton. Available now at wallbuilders.com. Late August 1776. From the bluffs of Brooklynites,
00:36:49.600
George Washington watched the British armada glide into position. The British invasion force
00:36:55.220
in New York Harbor had swelled into a spectacle of power. 400 ships, 32,000 troops, including
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thousands of hired German Hessian mercenaries. For the first time, Washington truly saw what
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his aspiring nation was up against. On August 27th, the British struck. It became the largest
00:37:16.440
battle ever fought in North America to that point. Over 40,000 soldiers clashing across the fields
00:37:22.780
and woods of Long Island. British General Howe pulled off a key flanking maneuver,
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Slipping troops through an unguarded road at night.
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American scouts missed it, and by morning, redcoats poured into the rear of Washington's forces.
00:37:36.400
When the British trap snapped shut, chaos erupted.
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Muskets roared, cannons thundered, men fell in heaps.
00:37:45.860
American troops from Maryland and Delaware fought desperately, repeatedly charging with bayonets to hold the line,
00:37:57.060
The Americans suffered 300 killed and over 1,000 captured, many bayoneted in surrender.
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If a good bleeding can bring those Bible-faced Yankees to their senses,
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the fever of independency should soon abate.
1.00
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Washington was forced to retreat to the fortified lines of Brooklyn Heights.
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Morale plummeted among the 9,000 or so remaining troops,
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the war and America's quest for independence
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Perhaps he remembered the slaughter he had endured at Bunker Hill.
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Whatever the reason, Washington could not stay put,
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They would evacuate the entire army across the East River to Manhattan.
00:38:52.080
9,000 men, their horses, cannons, supplies, right under the enemy's nose.
00:38:58.700
On August 29th, the Americans once again pulled off a secret overnight mission.
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Under strict orders of silence, regiments marched to the Brooklyn ferry dock.
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Skilled fishermen manned flatboats and sloops rowing back and forth across the East River in total darkness.
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The soldiers closest to enemy lines had to maintain campfires and make noise throughout
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the long night to keep up the appearance of an entrenched army. All night long, Washington's
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troops were ferried to Manhattan. But as dawn grayed the sky, hundreds of troops still had
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not made it across. Exposure meant certain death or capture. Then, a miracle. A thick fog blanketed
00:39:47.920
both the river and the troops remaining on the Brooklyn side.
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The British couldn't see them as they made their escape.
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i recollect this peculiar providential occurrence perfectly well and so very
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dense was the atmosphere that i could scarcely discern a man at six yards distance
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in one night and part of a foggy morning 9 000 american troops slipped across the river
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out from under the british guns without a single loss of life washington's escape was incredible
00:40:49.500
They simply couldn't compete with the overwhelming British force, and so the setbacks piled on.
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In November, Hessian forces stormed Fort Washington on Manhattan's north end.
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The Americans again defended valiantly, but were quickly overwhelmed.
00:41:04.100
Over 2,800 surrendered, nearly a third of Washington's army in New York.
00:41:08.680
The only patriotic bright spot in the humiliating defeat was the effort of Molly Corbin.
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the Pennsylvania woman who had followed her husband to war working as a cook and a nurse
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when he was killed banning a cannon at the fort. Molly grabbed the rammer, swabbing and loading
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under fire. Grapeshot almost tore her arm off, but she kept firing until captured. She was
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eventually paroled by the British and returned home disabled. She became the first woman to
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earn a military pension from Congress. It was a spark of inspiration amidst the gloom.
00:41:43.040
Across the Hudson, British General Cornwallis eyed Fort Lee as their next target.
00:41:49.020
Washington, scarred by the previous loss, ordered immediate evacuation.
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Troops fled at dawn, abandoning tents, guns, and supplies.
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The Continental Army was now a shadow of what it was when it first arrived in New York,
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and Washington's army retreated into New Jersey's countryside, pursued relentlessly, rebels fleeing
00:42:14.240
like hunted game. Thomas Paine could not stand idly by with the Revolutionary War raging.
00:42:21.500
He volunteered as an aide-de-camp to Major General Nathaniel Green and witnessed the army's despair
00:42:27.940
firsthand. Around the campfire, he wrote The Crisis with its now famous opening lines.
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The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.
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But he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
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British troops and the German Hessian mercenaries rampaged through New Jersey, plundering houses and farms.
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General Green described the horrors in a letter to his wife.
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The loyalists lead the relentless foreigners to the houses of their neighbors and strip poor women and children of everything they have to eat or wear.
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And after plundering them in this sort, the brutes often ravish the mothers and daughters and compel the fathers and sons to behold their brutality.
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In case there's any doubt, in the 1700s, ravish meant rape.
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December 1776, it brought another harsh winter and deeper despair.
00:43:30.580
Washington had expected the British would try to take Philadelphia next.
00:43:34.620
congress fled to a safer location in baltimore the only respite was that in mid-december british
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general howe decided to suspend military operations until the spring finally maybe
00:43:45.740
some breathing room for washington and his men the continental army teetered as it stumbled into
00:43:51.580
pennsylvania once again enlistments were ending supplies non-existence brutal cold claiming
00:43:57.340
fingers and toes one american general observed his troops quote so destitute of shoes that the
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The blood left on the frozen ground in many places marked the route they had taken.
00:44:10.100
Washington now had maybe 6,000 troops fit for duty.
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General Howe could afford to wait until spring to finish them off because it seemed inevitable.
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His Excellency, George Washington, never appeared to so much advantage as in the hours of distress.
00:44:40.140
Washington knew there were Hessian troops garrisoned in Trenton, New Jersey.
00:44:44.900
And that is when he conceived a plan, audacious in its risk.
00:44:50.200
In his army's tattered state, it was madness, or maybe genius, that just might work.
00:45:00.200
Coming up on The American Story, The Beginnings.
00:45:06.300
It's after 8 a.m. when Washington's troops finally swarm into Trenton.
00:45:13.380
The Hessian troops stumble from their barracks into heavy musket and cannon fire.
00:45:18.760
In the frenzied charge, an 18-year-old Virginian takes a musket ball through the shoulder that
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A civilian doctor named John Riker, as in Riker's Island, rushes into the fray.
00:45:38.620
He'd just shown up to offer his assistance when he heard the battle erupt.
00:45:44.160
Spotting the fallen officer, he tears open the man's uniform and clamps the artery
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