and your second trimester, you may get some coupons for cribs and diapers. along with a discount on a riding lawnmower and free bowling socks with purchase of any pair of bowling shoes. to you, it just seems fortuitous that pregnancy related coupons came in the mail along with the other junk. .. >> and then i have a new one on roosevelt, teddy roosevelt.

i'm a big fan of theodore roosevelt ask the reform movement and just his energy and his style. and also i've got one that deals, i think, mainly with his time down in south america. so it should be, should be interesting. >> let us know what you're reading this summer. tweet us @booktv, post it on our facebook page or send us an e-mail at booktv@ c-span.org. >> you're watching booktv on c-span2. here's our prime time lineup for tonight. beginning at 7 p.m. eastern, justice sonia sotomayor gives the arthur miller freedom to write lecture. then at 8:30, booktv sits down with thomas sowell. at 9 on "after words," olympia snowe talks about her book, "fighting for common ground," with guest host ab stoddard of

the hill. at 10 p.m. eastern, nathaniel philbrick on "bunker hill," and we continue at 11 with james zogbi. that all happens tonight on c-span2's book f. booktv. >> booktv continues with nancy rubin stuart. ms. stuart recounts the lives of revolutionary era women. peggy shipman and lucy flucker, wife of george washington's chief of around tillty, general -- artillery, general henry knox. this is a little under an hour. >> it's a pleasure to be here in this historic place, and, well, i guess the ghosts of history are here visiting us tonight. people often ask -- now can you hear me now? louder? okay. still not projecting. try again.

people often ask me how it is that i wrote an 80,000-word book, and i'm going to the give you two words why. one of them is curiosity, and the other one is coincidence. curiosity because i knew from the earlier book that there were two and a half million people who were alive during the american revolution. now, i'm sure that you can name at least five, maybe ten people, men, who were involved in -- significant figures in the revolution. can we try? >> george washington. >> josh adams -- john ad also. >> hamilton, hancock. both adams, john and sam. >> daniel morgan. >> daniel morgan. i'm sorry? >> [inaudible] >> robert morris.

we can -- >> nathaniel green. >> william dunlap. >> right, patrick henry. we could go on and on. now, how many women can you name who were important -- >> abigail adams. [laughter] >> two. >> [inaudible] >> betsy ross. >> wait, wait, wait, okay? abigail adams, martha washington, margaret corbin, mercy otis warren, betty raz. >> martha washington, six, we're not going to get up to ten, are we? >> [inaudible] [laughter] >> that's another issue. she was part of a very interesting memoir. the point is that there were at least a million women who were witnesses or involved in the

american revolution. but we don't know that much about them. and the accounts that we have from those who are left, and mrs. loring is a perfect example, among others, are very scant. there's only a few hints. we know, for instance, there were women spies, and we get a few sentences about that here and there. we know women during the lexington and con cold when the british were marching up the coast, american patriot women threw hot oil down on them. but we only have scraps. aside from the women you've mentioned, and this was a frustration to me, a real frustration. so i was curious. i said there has to be more accounts, and there has to be correspondence, and that is how i began writing the book. and the other one which, of course, always -- this intrigues a writer, is coincidence. and coincidental in my research, there were two women five years apart who both were if not be torrey, certainly neutral in

their leanings, and both of them defied their parents and married these radical patriots. so that, when i discovered these two women, i was off and running, and i said i really have to follow this book. so without further ado, this became "defiant brides: the untold story of two revolutionary-era women and the radical men they married." and i'm, since you're all very knowledgeable, i'm not going to dwell on this. but anyways, the first one was the boston brunette lucy flucker who was well educated, and in 1774 she married henry knox. the second one was philadelphia belle peggy shipman, and she married the then-military hero benedict arnold. their lives were forever changed as a result of those marriages. one bride became a patriot, the other bride became a spy. and since you're all

knowledgeable, obviously, about the american revolution, i'm not going to bore you by going through this, but just briefly you know that in the 1760s there were rumblings of revolution. not necessarily that that we were looking for independence, but rather that we wanted things to get better between the americans and the british. and these, of course, are some of the famous acts, among hem the stamp act being -- them the stamp act being very important and, certainly, the townsend act was -- well, they all were -- inflammatory. and then, of course, the boston massacre in 1770 was another flashpoint that at that point the sons of liberty who'd been collecting and gathering and then disappearing and the idea of protests had sort of died down when this happened, then there was a resurgence of energy and people, and we started talking about independence. and, again, i'm not going to go through the list here, but as you know, the various acts and

paragraphly the boston tea party and then some of the other intolerable acts that followed, we were definitely talking about revolution at that point. boston at the time was the wealthiest and most, well, the busiest port in the colonies, and it's probably no coincidence that's where the cradle of revolution began. and, of course, we have the boston tea party here, and here's an engraving of the patriots in that era dumping the tea into the boston hard por, and over -- harbor, and over here one of the many political cartoons. we didn't have video then, but this one illustrates the savage, who's the american, being force fed or, i guess, he's being poured, the tea is being poured down his throat by the british. now, we don't have psychologists then, but we did -- and we didn't have photographs, but we did have some really terrific

portrait artists who were great psychologists x. this is lucy's father, lucy flucker's father. he was the provincial secretary of massachusetts and, obviously, crown-appointed, very affluent position. what do you think about him from this portrait? >> very stern. >> stern, yes. and rather -- and to say the least, he was certainly not tolerant of anything that had to do with radical patriots x. her mother. we don't know -- we know more about her father than her mother, but her mother was heiress to a vast tract of land in the district of maine. some of you who have been there, you may know of waldo county, and that's certainly part of that huge tract that lucy's mother had, and she was to be one of the heiresses to that eventually. now, lucy met this gentleman, henry knox. this is an early picture, and henry was very tall and handsome, unusually tall for that time, i think over 6-3,

they say. he was a man from a little class, his father was a shipmaster but died and left henry an orphan be at the age of 12. he dropped out of boston latin school. he was apprentice to a printer, and he becomes, of course, a printer on his own. and he opens up what's called the new london bookstore which became a very fashionable salon, imported books, of course, from great britain. well, from britain at that time. and where all the young men and women would congregate including john adams and nathaniel green. now, lucy was 16, and she happened to see henry on a horse parading with the militia near boston common not too far from her parents' townhouse, and she fell madly in love with him. this did not go over well with her parents, obviously. they being tories. and henry not only being poor

and middle class, but a radical patriot. so they told her if you marry him, you will always be poor. and lucy didn't care. now, think about lucy. lucy's a bit of a combination of rosie o'donnell, oprah and marching relate thatcher all -- margaret thatcher all kind of rolled into one with. [laughter] she's brainy, she's bookish, she's extremely strong-minded. but she fell madly in love with henry and he with her and the wonderful letters between them, and so they married on june 16, 1774, in king's chapel. and this is an early picture of beacon hill -- sorry, 1764. sorry, i'm still wrong, it's 1774. you've been to boston, you've seen king's chapel is still there. of course, a few months later lexington and concord broke out, and at that point the

relationship between the fluckers and lucy and henry disintegrated completely. to make matters worse -- well, the skirmishes continued all spring. but to make matters worse, general thomas gauge was a good friend of lucy's father, and he thought that henry being brain and young and energetic and quite intelligence, clever, that he would make a terrific british soldier. and so he forbid henry and -- to leaf boston which, of course, was at that time occupied. and henry and lucy didn't like that. so they, one moonless night, so goes the story, lucy had quilted his sword into her cape, and they got on a horse and escaped from boston to the army camp, washington's camp in cambridge. lucy ended up in a safehouse in watertown and then eventually further out in worcester,

massachusetts, in the western part of the state. and henry, of course, had joined the army. now, henry was, as i say, had all these wonderful books in his bookstore on armaments, fortifications, but he didn't have them with him. but he being ap ingenious fellow with almost a photographic memory created new armaments. now, washington payment quite impress -- became quite impressed with this, and he wrote a lovely letter from henry bragging about how washington and the other generals were really impressed. and at age 26 he appoints henry a colonel in the army. henry eventually dose on to become major general, washington's chief of artillery and also a close friend. and, of course, he's invited for dinner in cambridge at the vassal house and, eventually, lucy -- who was quite pregnant by now -- is also invited to

meet the newly-arrived martha washington, and they become lifelong friends. here's a much later picture of henry, and i think it's rather flattering. this is 1803. this is rather flattering, i think. okay. this is probably a little -- [laughter] a little diminished. we have the cannon here, of course, because being chief of artillery, he was really in charge of all the gunnery and armaments and strategic use of those. quite clever when you read that. some of you may be familiar with that military history. but, you know, henry eventually gets to weigh 290 pounds. so -- and lucy is not far behind. [laughter] but they have this wonderful relationship, this love affair that goes on and on. there are 8,500, this is approximate but close, digitized letters of henry involving military affairs, but also many that are related to lucy. they're beautiful love letters

between them. and she writes to him too. they're an absolutely passionate couple with each other all throughout their lives. well, washington had a little chore in mind for henry. he said i think you need to go to ticonderoga and lake champlain, and you need to pick up some guns and cannons, 43 can gones, 16 heavy guns. this audience will know the story, but certainly everybody had to learn about this about how henry went up there, and how he through the snow -- well, first, it wasn't snow, it was mud, and ten they broke through some of the thin ice and got more snow, and they were eventually able to get these oxen teams and bring down these 43 cannons and heavy guns to cambridge. so this is probably a more modern rendition. obviously, these are more modern pictures of ticonderoga. lucy was not happy. lucy is a drama queen. [laughter]

but her parents did abandon her when, soon after this she is not happy. she feels abandoned. her parents are not writing to her in her safehouses even though she's writing to them, so she's all alone. she's pregnant, she doesn't know whether henry's going to survive going to the northern reaches of new york state, she doesn't know whether he's going to be attacked by indians or a british soldier or disease or what. she writes to him, she's quite hysterical, and all along the road he writes her letters, and those three weeks he thought it would take takes 58 days. she is quite pregnant, okay? she's not happy. but these are just examples of some of the letters. i think they're just beautiful. she writes that he's always in her thoughts, whose image is deeply imprinted on my heart. but this is the one moment of lucidity that she has. i think she says he's a man whom i love too much for my own

peace. henry on his side, of course, continues -- he's a voracious letter writer, and he writes that he wishes -- his signature conflict, though, is he wants to render his devoted country every service in his power. his only objection is that these duties separate me from thee, the dear object of all my earthly happiness. and he calls her the charmer of his soul and the dear idol of my heart. i mean, they're just beautiful letters. anyway, as you know, he does return and becomes a hero, and those guns help in dorchester for the evacuation of the british. lucy has her baby, she's ecstatic. henry's a hero. the only problem is all the tories are leaving boston. many of them are fleeing on ship either to britain or to canada. and among them, her parents. they never write to her good-bye. they just leave. she never sees them again.

now, while henry's in just a slight deviation, but it does relate dramatically to the story, while henry's in ticonderoga, well, near ticonderoga, of course, the conditions up there are pretty rough, he is lodged in a little cottage with a captured british prisoner. this man is john andre. he is brilliant. he's handsome. he is a ferocious warrior. he's also an artist and -- he's highly cultured. and even though they're on opposite sides of the political conflict, the two of them, henry and andre, john andre, spend the night talking, they're up all night x this comes back later on. anyway, i think you know about this man. benedict arnold was a new haven apothecary. he traded in west indees. he made a -- west indies. he made a lot of money.

he was handsome, debonair, charming and an incredibly brave warrior. he was involved in montreal and quebec during that battle which i don't have up here. his left leg was severely injured. and then afterwards, of course, you probably know if you know any military history, it's brilliant what he did to save not only his soldiers, but also keep the british from coming down and taking over new york. later on he also was involved in the battle of ridgefield and most especially in saratoga, and he was really the hero of saratoga even though horatio gates took credit for it. but during that battle in saratoga, that same leg so severely injured that this had shattered, it's so severely injured, the doctors want to amputate it. and arnold says, no. he spends five months in an

upstate military hospital. his leg is in this boxy contraption and in traction, and then his health is kind of ruined. it takes him a long time, actually, a couple of years, to fully regain his stamina. by the time he leaves there, he's hobbling around. one leg is shorter than the other permanently, and he's hobbling around on a cane. so this is men consistent arnold and, well, it's a punny thing, he happens to know lucy knox. when he comes to boston a couple of years, two years in a row he comes to visit boston, and he falls in love with another boston gal. and lucy, being the social elitist, becomes the matchmaker, the go between. the romance fizzles, but they know each other. now, let's fast forward here and talk about the end of valley forge. lucy has been pining to be with henry. she keeps writing him letters why won't you let me come to the army camps, and he refuses.

she'd already been with him in new york when the british invaded, and that was a fiasco for her. henry will not let her come. finally, finally, at the end of that awful winter in valley forge when there are, is food, when the roads have cleared, when the reinforcements are there, when the british are -- well, they're still in philadelphia, but the american army is now ready for conflict, and he said, all right, you can come. if we can find a way. now, as it happens, benedict arnold can't ride a horse, but washington wants to see him. he is still, benedict arkansas fold is still washington's favorite fighting general. don't forget, benedict arnold is known as the hero of freeman farm which if you've been to the saratoga battlefield, you know that's a section of it, and also known as the eagle of share toe da. he is revered by his men. he is incredibly brave. he's had them do things other sections of the army can't. he also has supported, fed, paid

for ammunition, clothed his men on all of these ballots that i've just mentioned. and congress, guess what in they haven't paid him back. so he's lost a lot of money, a lot of his fortune. his health is kind of ruined. and he doesn't think washington has stood up for him, because when he's finally made a major general, it's long after younger men with not as much distinguished service. and it is not publicly announce ld. so he thinks, he's pretty upset with washington, he's upset with congress. he is not sure that things are so good with this revolutionary idea. by the time he gets to valley forge. he brings lucy this a stagecoach -- in a stagecoach, and there's a wonderful comment from nat green who looks at the sort of reunion of lucy and henry and says this is a perfectly wonderful married coup. couple. well, in philadelphia,

meanwhile, the british have occupied, and andre has been long since set free, and he is very involved in social events. you know, philadelphia is now a winter camp, playground for the british. they occupy it for nine months. and they -- he organizes and helps the others organize balls and galas and hunts and gaming things and, of course, there are also other, well, less shall we say proper things like brothels and so on. but it's become a playground for the british. there are loads and loads of imported goods in philadelphia, and it's become a miniature london. the quakers of philadelphia, those patriots who didn't flee, are horrified at the licentious behavior of these men who were sort of on winter recreation break. and just absolutely horrified. but so it goes. now, the last of the big events there before the british leave in that same year while lucy and

benedict arnold have arrived at valley forge is the -- [inaudible] and this is a grand event to celebrate, well, to celebrate the departure of general howell. now, here's andre. oops, let's go back. let's go back here. here's andre dressed in his regalia, and here is one of his friends, peggy shipman. you will notice this is a slightly caricatured view of peggy with that hair but not perhaps that much because if you read some of the literature, they had -- fashionable women had 8-foot sometimes hairdos. other things in there besides hair. now, peggy is the daughter of a very well known judge, judgeshippen, edward shippen. if you come from that area or know the area around

pennsylvania, you may foe of shippen. >> -- know of shippen jr. burg college. they'd long been prominent in law and business in philadelphia. peggy is daddy's girl. she is not only very beautiful, the soldiers, the british soldiers made much of her. she's 16, 17, and they have taken her to balls, they have talled called her the handsomest woman in america, and she's kind of dazzled by all this. she's 16 or 17, and she's just loving it. but then the british leave, and she's not looking forward to the dull, dour, poor patriot guys who are going to come in. was she a sweetheart of andre in historians have sort of asked that a lot. it turns out that, yes, she has a lock of his hair, she preserved it in a gold pen adapt. but his real girlfriend was a friend of hers. but he did escort her to balls

and galas, and they were good friends in that whole social circle and attended many, many events together. now, as i say, the british do leave, evacuate philadelphia and, of course, the patriots come back in. we've been talking about portraits. now, here is peggy's father, judge edward shippen. i wonder what you get from this portrait about the man. some people think he's cagey. history shows that's what he was. he played both sides. when the patriots were there first, he wanted to protect his position as a judge. when the british came in, he entertained them in his drawing room and became friendly with them. well, you never know which side was going to win, and he kind of had to look out for himself. so when the patriots came back in afterwards, he now embraced them. he's what the historians call a

neutralist. he's not alone. many, many people, 20-30% at least of america were not sure this revolution was a good idea. but he was pretty cagey. and peggy's mother was margaret francis. i don't know a lot about her. it was a love affair. she was the daughter of an attorney. i don't know a lot, and there's not a lot from peggy about her mother, although i know she loved her mother. now, peggy was daddy's little girl. she was pretty, brainy, sensible, loved clothes like any, i guess, well-born young woman would in a social whirl. but she also was another willful person. i don't know, i think she's a combination of hillary clinton and maybe grace kelly or lindsay lohan or -- [inaudible] [laughter] i see her as kind of somebody wrapped up. when she didn't get her way as a child, she had a great technique. she would scream and yell and

have tantrums, she would take to her bed, she would stop eating, her health would decline, and the family would give in. and that is what she did, and she was very good at it. now, enter arnold who becomes the commandant of the city. commandant because he can't ride a osar, he can't -- a horse, he can't go battle, and we needed peace in philadelphia. poor philadelphians, first there were the patriots, then the british for nine month, then there were the patriots. the city was in turmoil be, there were many buildings that were ruined, food was not in great supply, some of the roads had been destroyed. things were pretty chaotic, and they needed a strong peacekeeper, and arnold thought this was just great for him. he couldn't be in the field. he would collect still his small salary in the army, retain his position, get his health back, and by the way, skim off a little bit of the goods that were left, the english goods and

use some of the federal property and reclaim some of the money that congress never quite paid him back for. now, peggy and he, of course, meet socially. he loves to live high. he lives in the master penn mansion. he rides around in a stage coaj. he is hobbling around on a jeweled white cane. he is dress inside full regalia, and e entertains the young ladies at these balls and galas and dippers with tales of his military exploits, and they all swoon over him. he's a great military hero. however, however, there are rumblings that perhaps everything he's doing is not exactly honest. nevertheless are, peggy wants to marry him, he has proposed to her, and judgeshippen has a few qualms. he -- not so much about the sort of undercurrent of nefarious dealings now, but rather some rumors about what he did back in new haven.

this was not, perhaps, the person of the highest character. despite his brilliance as a military commander. so peggy, however, insists that once again -- and there are stories that if she didn't marry him, a relative writes this later, that she would have fallen into a, quote, dancing fury. [laughter] so she does marry him in 779 -- in 1779 in april, but there's a cloud hanging over the marriage and that is now the patriots have gotten wind of the fact that he has not been dealing exactly fairly with the american, new american government and the goods and, basically, he's corrupt. so arnold is very charming and very debonair and brilliant and slick, and he says, well, if you don't believe that i'm honest, let me have a trial. court-martial of my own peers. he know he's adored. so this trial is hanging over

them as they get married. but the family cannot believe that this wonderful military hero has done anything wrong. basically, the shippens close rank around him at that time, and i love this quote because i think it's really telling. her cousin, peggy's cousin elizabeth writes: what demon has possessed the people with regard to general arnold? he is certainly much abused, ungrateful monoer ises to attack -- monsters to attack a character that has been looked up to. well, let's think about spy craft, because spy craft was alive and well at that time. there were over 500 spies that we know about and about 150 at least have been documented in name. and spy craft on both sides. both sides had many active spies. as i say, some were women, probably most of them were men, but spy craft was pretty advanced by then. there are a number of techniques

for it. one of them, of course, was a cipher. so you were given, perhaps, a -- [inaudible] that had a lot of numbers in it, and all you did was look in blackstone's law book, and you would track down as we sort of try to indicate here, second line, so many letters over, and you'll get the word, and you'll eventually it together and get -- eventually paste it together and get a message. another one that is, of course, a symbol for different things. and finally, there was invisible ink which i can't illustrate here. [laughter] sorry. but if you with held a flame over these letters, the invisible ink message would come over. or, and there'd be an f somewhere on the letter to let you know, or you could dip it in acid, and the unvisible ink would come up. there was another method, too, which was -- well, you might say the old lady is waiting for you meaning some sort of another signal. there was that also.

and there were spies and double agents. now, there are several views of peggy in history that have come down to it. some are novel, some are nonfiction books. the most common was was that she was in this gorgeous sexual siren. she married him when she was 18. he was madly in love with her. he was corrupted by her neutralist or possibly torrey views, and it was he who six months -- sorry, one month after they're married is communicating through a spy with the british in new york. that's one view, and you can find novels, and you can find be even some films on it, some videos on it. the other view is that she's this poor, innocent thing. she's 18. she doesn't know any better. this man is 20 years older than she is, and she is basically totally innocent of this betrayal that he has done to not only america, but to her. well, the truth is somewhere beyond that, and we'll get to that in a minute.

meanwhile, timeline because i'm looking in the book at one woman who marries -- they both marry radical patriots. why does one woman remain patriotic and the other one become withs a traitor? so at the exact same time, we have lucy following henry through the army camps of the revolution. and one of the camps was near middlebrook. and henry had a dream of a military college, he being so brilliant about artillery and so on. he felt the soldiers weren't well trained, and he created a military college. let me go back to that. and this is in somerset county in new jersey. of course, it's the forerunner by 24 years of what happens later in west point. and this is a rendition of what that looked like. there were barracks and a training ground there. and i was just here which is where lucy and henry lived.

it looks bigger than it is. it's really a very small cottage. it's the vanned veer house. they rented it from, or, i guess, maybe he donated it. he was only a patriot, to lucy and henry. lucy is pregnant again with a child. lucy, indeed, becomes pregnant just about every year as she follows henry through the army camps. and it is here she has her second child, julia. and she does pretty well. well, within a month or two so, really three weeks she's off to nearby middlebrook army camp, and she is watching, well, a major military display in honor of the french minister. she comes back to this house, and within a week she has hepatitis. and the baby soon gets hepatitis, and the baby dies. and lucy goes on to have --

altogether she has 13 children. ultimately, only three survive to adulthood. some die from accidents, some die from disease, some die as little children, babies, a number die as babies, some die in early adolescence. but it's -- this is a woman who is abandoned by her original biological family. she only has henry x she really wants to replace that family with a large family of their children. and it's pretty tragic. now, 1780 arnold is recovered, his leg is recovered, and washington wants him in the field. and he wants him to take over the left flank of the army. and arnold has been in touch with the british. in fact, he'd already given some hints, more than hints, some tips to the british because before 1780, just before that, the tips that he gave resulted in the conquest by the british

of charleston. and, but he's got a problem which is they don't want to give him the money he wants. he wants 20,000 pounds minimum. 20,000 pounds is well more than a million dollars in today's money. and the british wonder if he's a double agent. clinton is not sure, and his general, andre, is not sure. so there is all kinds of letters that go back and forth. the argument goes back and forth about the money. now, one of the people who passes the papers is none other than peggy. and this is proved much later in history, finally proved in the early 20th century. but peggy is, helps with passing those letters and perhaps more. we may not know all of what she did. anyway, what their plan is, is that if he will be appointed -- and he argues with washington about this. washington cannot understand why he would want to be commander of

west point. west point is a strategic, obviously today, but west point was a strategic ford on the hudson, and the fort's around it not in great shape, but it is strategic at a 90-degree angle on the hudson on that turn, and if the british capture that, they can separate the patriots of new england and the patriots in the south. and, of course, most or many of the munitions factories are in new england as well as the supply routes and many of the recruits as well. so it's important that it be protected. washington later calls, he later calls west point the key to the country. but anyway, arnold complains that he does not want to go in the field, and every time it's mentioned, he starts hobbling a little more. [laughter] we read about this a lot. so washington finally gives in and appoints him. now, arnold is delighted, and his plan with peggy is that she will live in a house with him for a month or two after she

arrives. actually, it's just a few weeks. and then he will meet with andre secretly on the hudson, fill him in on all the important papers and maps and provide all the information so the british can conquer america quickly, end the war -- this is arnold's rationale, and there won't be any more people dying, and we'll go back to a sane existence with this great power of britain. and peggy and he will gracefully exit with the british to the british on the hudson on a ship and go to new york and collect their 20,000 pounds and be made, he will be made a general of the british army, and all will be well. but things don't quite go that way. and you may know the story, and i want to leave time for questions here. let me just say that there are a series of coincidences and lucky -- unlucky breaks, or

lucky breaks in some cases, in the which, yes, andre and arnold meet. but it gets to be towards dawn on the shores of the hudson, and some other things happen, and andre has no choice but to go with arnold. now, before he went clinton said to him there are three things you have to avoid. one is you will not get in disguise. number two, you will not go into enemy territory. and number three, you will not collect any incriminating papers. but it doesn't work out that way. [laughter] arnold -- andre finds himself in arnold's hands, i won't say clutches, finds himself captive, essentially, because it's almost dawn. he has to go into this enemy territory where he's hidden for a while. he has to change out of his british uniform into disguise, clothes, and ultimately, arnold

gives him to his, an assistant and says deliver him back to the british. but not before i give you crucial papers that show the map of west point, give you all the details about the army, about armaments and so on. so just before the assistant takes him towards the border where it's now safe britisher story in westchester county near tarrytown, the assistant say, you're okay? and andre thinks he's fine, and they say good pi to each other. andre is in disguise. andre has treasonous paperings in his boots -- papers in his boots. and just as he crosses into tarrytown by himself on his horse, he is captured by three men. he is ultimately brought, of course, to some of the military

headquarters. arnold is, of course, back at the home in west point waiting for to arrive. he has come to inspect west point. and all he thinks is, well, but nobody could even dream that arnold would have been a traitor. so one of the military officers who has andre in captivity sends arnold a relater saying, guess what -- a letter saying, guess what? we have a spy here. that's all arnold needs. andre is, of course, cap curred -- captured as a common spy. andre, and this is a picture of him the night before his death, his own rendition. this is a poor, but it's the best i could do from the engraving of him. he is hung. and i'm going to come back to that in a moment. arnold, meanwhile, receives this letter about an hour before washington and an hour or two before washington is to arrive

at his home. the people who are already this are hamilton and knox and lafayette. and washington had sent them ahead and said, well, you might as well go ahead, because i know you're all in love with peggy shippen arnold, and you want to have breakfast with her. she's upstairs in that house, and arnold dashes upstairs when he receives this letter about andre, and he says we've been found out, and i have to leave. and he escapes having his men at gun point row him to this man of war in the hudson called the vulture. and one historian wag, of course, said it was one vulture meeting another. [laughter] andre, as i say, is ultimately hung on october 2, 1780. peggy is in the house. she is upstairs.

she is what we would call today, i guess, a person of interest. she has to think fast. and what can she do? she's 20 years of age, she has an infant son with her. she can only do one thing, and that is to pretend that she is, of course, completely innocent, and she must go insane from the shock of this betrayal. and it is the performance of her life. for three -- for two days she yells and screams, and she rips her hair, and she takes off some of her clothes, and she pretends she can't see anything, any people nearby, and she has, essentially, an insanity attack. and arnold, of course, is gone. she thinks, what has he done? washington is completely convinced she's gone insane from the shock of this betrayal. hamilton even writes to his fiancee about poor peggy. knox is completely taken in, and

so is lafayette. and you can read the documentation on it. it's really quite fascinating. it is the performance of a lifetime. and so peggy is allowed to go back via stagecoach to her parents in philadelphia. with the baby. arnold, of course, by now has escaped to new york city. but peggy gets there, her parents, of course, and they spend the next 100 years defending her innocence. i mean, this goes on. pennsylvania magazine of history and biography for a hundred years, you can read them. they start in 1890, 1900 and so on about her innocence. and so they proclaim this. but the patriots do not agree. the patriots find at least one letter that she has written to andre which is a social letter but probably sort of in code. and they discover this, and they

tell her father that she is to be exiled. .. they will never want to work for him and so on drays hung. these are just a few of the

political cartoons. you'll see this as arnold pent up of honey pot of gold because it's known he loves money and he's greedy. this is an engraving of one of the many floats that went by. this one from philadelphia. again, arnold here to face. part of moneybag and the devil and his apogee. but mrs. bird novitiate. there were riots all over the country. who know what else he had dirty told the british and would there be an attack? but that gravestones in arnold's hometown are thrown over and desecrated from the father and his brother and other things. if you go back to the library of congress is military history,

you will not find his name and event fairytale that there is nothing. i think of the late 19th century there was an apologist into the statue of the last bit of a soldier soldier who would help saratoga. strick on forever from the wreckage he actually ever existed. these are two pictures. targeted anyways on the front of ibook and this is peggy is a delay during my thinking claimed . we do not have tonight is made a lot of images of lucy. in fact, this is the only one we have. it's a subtle but of course. there was a lot of talk about lucy wearing her hair like a tri-corner hat during the

revolution. later her husband become secretary out or antiwar. lucy loves fashion later and this is one satellite of her. she didn't like it or it didn't come out well. one of them i love is that she was concentric configure an eccentric and carried her. [laughter] just around the south in american history, these women are almost forgotten, lucy and peggy. they are footnotes to history that they were witnesses. when you read correspondents come you have a flavor of what life during the revolution was like on the other side of the battlefield. some people have asked me where i did my research and these are the major places.

it's so grateful to the new york historical society because they had digitized 500 plus letters. i didn't have to read them on microfilm in 18th century handwriting. it would've taken me many lifetimes. and many of the places of interest at one of them of course was also the general knox museum, which was the later called a knox said thomaston. so i wanted to see what would have been traced the evolution of these women. not just what happened during the revolution, but how they retort from the sleep base passionately devoted wife, to deter by minimize and what they learned and tolerated. i just want to leave you with one comment. and that is i love the comment

from peggy shippen and arnold at the end of her life when she raced three sister marriage is but a lottery. thank you very much. [applause] now, if you have any questions, i watched try to answer them. i can't promise. [inaudible] >> s., both women outlived their husbands. lucy outlived her husband -- he died in 1806. lucy lived to 1824. but she was so devoted to him her whole life and everything or encapsulated. kind of sad what happens to her. passionately intertwined. picky also outlived her husband. he dies in 1800. peggy has determined to preserve

his name. she is determined to restore his character. the british don't like people without character. he never did make out too well in britain some of those other escapades. he was a good general. a great general much like knox. they were lousy businessman. so she valiantly spends the next four years of her life payback instead, auctioning material, living in a small house in so on and so forth to restore his name and she dies unfortunately of uterine cancer. any other questions? yes, sir. [inaudible] >> how did he died? we don't know exactly. there's a lot of things we don't know. we think he coddle together monday. we know he was asking the french minister for a low. he sold a lot of things to buy

mount pleasant. mount pleasant was a dowry case to picky because judgeship in didn't think he was wealthy enough. in is kind of a security. and from fairmont park now is a part of fairmont park in philadelphia. it is the rental property. so that's the best i can give you i'm not. any other questions? [inaudible] >> john jay datacenter into it. there are comments from john jay. he's very upset about payee. he feels sorry for her, especially when the patriots say she has to leave philadelphia. i didn't go into more on that because i have a lot of issues to squeeze into 80,000 words. thank you.

[inaudible] >> i don't know. we do know in the early 20th century it was then that one of clinton's nose was published and brought to this country in which it was learned that the queen charlotte gave peggy 500 pounds a year for her quote meritorious service to the crown. i'm not sort of settled the question of how innocent peggy really was. washington is amazed that the letter that said nair. i won't bore you with that, but what letters that arnold like saying to the americans come join the british and come with us. he just can't believe the arrogance of him. it's a wonderful quote about that. yes, sir.

[inaudible] >> now, and that is so intriguing about her. it is very concerned about her reputation. the family burned all her correspondents at 21783 from childhood on. so we don't get her voice until after that. we'll make it the little dribs and drabs until later around 1788, 1790. and then this voice emerges. one of the people you can compare it to is hillary clinton. she's brilliant. she's astute. she knows arnold is not so practical. she is the brains. she is the caretaker. cannot they be like best. [inaudible] >> for a while.

[inaudible] >> well, he's made brigadier general and fights and this can show you can see some countrymen revolution. he never gets along too well in england, even though she does. one quote about her from a society. previous attorney woman but if her husband were dead. [laughter] date to go to new brunswick for ohio. you have to read the book. [laughter] i think we are almost out of time. [applause] visit the website at dnc nancy rubin stuart.com.

>> at the end of the working day come essay about 2:00 a.m., the prime minister churchill would say sooth out loud. that was a signal that the working day was so very. the secretaries could leave to begin taping of today's memos then he would have his cold jelly consommé, which he always ate before going to bed. churchill loved all games, especially. any raced canoes. i no one denies has to do something in front of them at the table, he said quote, you cart. this goose was a friend of mine. in all of my research i never found a mention of a vegetable and he made fun of vegetarian to be called night eaters. at a meeting he quit to lord

sure well, well, gentlemen if you'd finish toying with your beetroot, we would get on with more important matters. another night eaters and food status i've ever known that early after a long period of senile decay. another churchill favorite food was irish stew with plenty of onions and surprisingly sometimes pineapple. this is a meal that churchill served to general eisenhower when they planned the invasion of europe. and of course caviar. churchill loved caviar. he was thrilled when harry hopkins brought caviar back as a gift from the soviet union. churchill a small portions when traveling had his meal on his tummy time, not on the clocks.

churchill loved picnics. whatever the place of the weather, even in wartime, there's a wonderful photo showing churchill in a three-piece suit and join a pic at t., sitting on iraq by the side of the road. he picnicked with roosevelt that hide park. he picnicked on the banks with his generals and in the north african desert with friends. he established his own picnic rituals, enthusiastically seek an old indian army toast and calling for verses that could only be recited as picnics. much has been said and written about churchill and alcohol. some of the true, most not, some exaggerated. i go into detail about churchill's drinking habits. churchill had been told -- roosevelt had been told that churchill was a drunk. they charge one or his critics repeated. churchilld