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library and i am coming to you from that library for an evening booktalk with faulconer. i think the ford motor company for sponsoring this talk and many talks over the years was a great series where authors talk about their works and it is does not get new written this. one upcoming program, we have our third in the electrical richard bernstein and his new book the education of john adams. they are still available and an exciting event, please join us. tonight's exciting program comes live from the reading room in mount vernon, the official -- the new book maya millette. officially released by atlantic monthly press.

we have a number of autographed copies coming out as gifts to people who submitted questions, etc. exciting questions lined up and the tonight talk, big questions. let us know what you want to know. this is a great book. couldn't put it down over the last week. they called it a novel like account of the fascinating tour you are about to hear about. it moves very quickly. you learn more about gunpowder than you think you might. an exciting story from this great account. faulconer is a military historian. this is the second book on the revolutionary war period.

washington's immortal who changed the course of the revolution. to work on this book, received an award for his book like beyond fowler. exciting worked on the cross generations. he provided historical consulting work for dozens of documentaries with american military history. as a fellow here, so excited to welcome you to this talk and introduce you to faulconer. >> thank you for that introduction. to come home, so much of my

research for maya millette was here at this library. i literally rebuilt the regiment from the ground up. re-create the regimented story which is extraordinary. every book has been a journey. each of them in one way or another. this is no exception. there is a basic question, who cares? why does it matter? this library, would not be here had it not been for these individuals, men and women in maya millette, they saved our country multiple times, they formed the navy and saves

washington's army on numerous occasions. the book is also a window into current events in many ways. it divides americans politically with misinformation about disarmament, it will resonate with people. let me take you back into one of the most crucial periods in history, the battle of brooklyn had just been waged and america had lost, washington's army was defeated. the marylanders in a book called washington's immortal, and a desperate rearguard action, was able to retreat for fortifications, the british army surrounded the american

army, up the east river with huge lines creeping forward, a time when all could be lost. washington wisely decided to retreat. this is a time all could be lost. the entire army could be surrounded and destroyed. everything rested upon the shoulders of the men in the book i had written about. washington decided to retreat and crossed a mile-long river, the east river, let me take you back in time to august 2, '09, a massive nor'easter who halted both armies for the battle of brooklyn. they have been creeping forward into the american position at

brooklyn heights, closer to annihilating the american army. washington decides to escape. john glover in the marvel head men they gather all the boats in manhattan and man those boats and fairy the army across the east river. this is not an easy task. the east river is swirling, the wind isn't cooperating and on top of that a loyalist sees what is happening, and enslaved individual in her household to the british line to inform that the americans are escaping. this individual wanders up on some haitian soldiers who speak german, understanding what he is going to say. he doesn't know what until a couple hours before the

evacuation to pull off the greatest retreat in american history and world history and a man the boats and as they man the boats the wind doesn't cooperate. there is something special about these men. they worked together in the grand banks. the most treacherous waters, also arguably the first diverse regiment in the united states army. african-americans, native americans, white americans, hispanic americans working together. the weather could kill people and have to rely upon one another and relying upon one another that night.

the wind isn't working and the entire evacuation about to be called off but the person couldn't find washington. they still went and grover's men pushed them across and against all odds they conducted the retreat. then it changed in favor of america. grover's men were able to transport the army across the east river and doesn't times against all odds. as don was coming a miraculous fog screens, continued to screen the movement.

john glover and marvel head men from massachusetts delivered the army, 10,000 men were delivered to safety. this is one reason which makes them indispensable. one of many situations. literally two weeks later the british land again, the marvel headers make a stand that washington is even catatonic as the british are attacking. he and his horse are frozen, they have to bring him out of the battle as the british are advancing towards him 100 yards away. they make the stand as the army melts away. the army melts away, the marvel headers make a desperate stand and are able to reform at the battle of harlem heights and there is a small victory.

the marvel headers are interesting operations during this time, they are a precursor to special operations unit we know today. they are doing things that are special-interest ordinary. they launch fighter ships against the british prior to the battle of brooklyn where they nearly take out the equivalent of the british battleship, they launch -- they also form what is known as the guard. the commander-in-chief's garden the lifeguard. the secret service, washington's hand-picked men guard him, not a small group of men. it mushrooms up to 200 men in these men are involved in

operations and battles but also guard his excellency's papers, act as his aide-de-camp in many ways. of marvel header leads the unit and shapes it and it is quite an extraordinary story but not only do they save and protect the unit but there's a little bit of mystery involved. several members of the guard have meanings toward british royalties if you will and they are lord into a -- to assassinate washington. the unknown story in the insensible, protects washington. the first american to be executed is a member of the

guard. a quite fascinating story as the book moves forward, the indispensables, in new york, the british once again land in northern part of manhattan in a place called strong's point and it is here the marvel headers, the assessment of other units, basically rappel an amphibious invasion from the greatest navy of the world, the royal navy which is an extraordinary feat, they land further up the coast, and it is here that glover's

army or -- which includes the marvel head regiment and saved the army, they fight close to the landing point but it is a collapsible defense. it is an emerging part of the american way of war which is unique and ever-changing to this day. we are not using conventional tactics of european armies but crawling back from a fixed position. in this case they were falling back behind stonewalls and allowing the british to advancement taking down many numbers and it is here the indispensables save washington's army once again. from this point on you enter

port washington where many americans are captured. nearly 3000 americans including some marvel headers captured early on, basically wounded but are recovering in fort washington and captured by british. so much of this book consists of pension application files that are in many ways the unknown histories of the american revolution. if you were lucky enough to survive the american revolution, you can apply for a pension application in 1820 and go to a local courthouse and swear under oath what you saw and did and here are some of the great oral history accounts that are untapped.

maya millette is -- it is a band of brothers, very much a cinematic telling of the war. it also has 1000 end notes. all the words in the book are true statements from their accounts. not something i made up. within the story is what happened and what they saw and did. as we enter november and december this is the darkest days of america. things are politically

collapsing, the british army has obtained from port washington, the other victory has caused a swing in the united states where people are abandoning the cause. they are signing off of allegiance for the crown. they are jumping sides. the enlistments in the regiment set to expire and they are expiring, washington's army melting away, a desperate situation and decides to attack the haitian outposts. the marvel headers have their finest hour.

it is a situation where everything changes. everything is about to collapse on the shoulders of the marvel headers again. washington has an elaborate plan. four prongs will attack the trend, they are taking to the delaware river on the main prong. all of them fail and the marvel headers have the skill to cross the delaware river which is filled with ice which is fast-growing. nothing is going according to plan. all of the other prongs to washington's offense have failed but the marvel headers

get the army across intact at least one portion of it. the other 3 failed. that night they are behind schedule, 12 miles above trenton and have to march through sleet and snow into trenton. much of the army at this time is barefoot. there tracks are filled with blood and snow that they push forward. the marvel headers are leading part of the elements, they push down toward the southern portion of trenton and this is a very very important point. without orders they attack a key bridge known as the absentee bridge, they capture the bridge along with the guard and set up a series on the high

ground while the rest of washington's army is attacking. during most 18th-century engagements both sides battle it out and one side is not doing well, they retreat. johan rall had no avenue of retreat thanks and "the indispensables: the diverse soldier-mariners who shaped the country, formed the navy, and rowed washington across the delaware". they seal the retreat and seal the fate of johan rall's entire regiment which changed the course of history. from their the army crossed the delaware thanks to the marvel head men and it is unfortunately a little bit worse than the trip over because the men captured the rum supply and it was a drunken cruise back over and several

men fell over but they captured most of rall's regiment, a large stand of arms and it sets up a week later roughly a week later the second battle of trenton where washington doesn't necessarily want to fight but his hand is forced by a militia group, philadelphia associate is the go without orders and washington decides to reinforce them and they a key bridge against all odds. half of marvel head regiment stays washington. together group is exhausted and go back to marvel head but that group fight at the battle of trenton and change the course of history. the 10 crucial days the changed

the course of history or three battles and it is the marvel headers that make a difference but the story doesn't end there. what i mean by that is it is a marvel header that saves the army. i will get to that story in a moment. i want to go through several characters in the book so that you get a feel for what this book is about. the first character if you will or individual that i like to highlight is john glover. he is "the indispensables: the diverse soldier-mariners who shaped the country, formed the navy, and rowed washington across the delaware". john glover is a self-made man. during the french and indian war he is a cobbler and the bartender and with the money he makes from bartending and

cobbling shoes, he's able to buy a ship and he is able to buy more ships and builds a fleet of ships and becomes a wealthy man within marvel head itself through trading and marvel head fortunes are made on fish. caught is the commodity in marblehead and it is a third of the economy in massachusetts in 1774. they fish the ground brinks -- the grand banks, the most precious waters in the world. it is icy and thousands of miles from boston. they sale and fish and gather fish and it is life-and-death situation against giant waves and storms but working together, marblehead is a diverse community, native

americans, hispanic americans, these individuals are ahead of their time in many ways, progressive talent for its time. many indispensables: the diverse soldier-mariners who shaped the country, formed the navy, and rowed washington across the delaware" are abolitionists at the forefront of american civil rights before there was civil rights and ardently pushing for the abolition of slavery including john glover and fees crews are diverse and working together and a situation where the crown is interfering with their lives and interfering with lives constantly, they are impressing, impressed by the british navy, come along side of the ship and say you will be

a member of all royal navy, slaves for life and that individual is taken aboard a royal navy ship and made a member of the royal navy for life and no freeing that individual unless they escape and some did but this is a factor that causes a break from great britain. regulation, excessive regulation regulated by the crown 3000 miles away. in 1775 something called the fisheries act would be established where the crown would literally not allow the marbleheaders to fish the ground banks putting out of work the entire town, which causes a great deal of resentment. their judges were taken away from them and installed with royal officials. the government was changed.

all these issues from into the political change within the colonies. marblehead would become the spearhead of the revolution and an idea of the mainspring of the revolution. it is a critical role in this. ships from marblehead brought home with a virus that changed america and changed the town. the virus of smallpox and people being infected but the patriots within the town to create an inoculation hospital to try to publicly deal with the virus itself, causing massive deaths and if you are familiar with smallpox across

the face and back and would kill you in many cases and type of virus. it is set up by john glover, in this book. loyalists aren't on board and as it starts to produce results it also produced and revised infection. to incite the mob. dozens of men road on boats from where they burned it to the ground. the loss of the hospital cost john glover and the other

patriots in the town 2000 pounds in damages. they put out a writ for the sheriff, they see those individuals and brought to jail for travel. the loyals in the town, to incite the mob and attack the jail with hundreds of individuals, with axes and crowbars and freed the two men. at that point the main characters of the book, their houses are surrounded by the angry mob which are hell-bent on potentially killing them all. john glover came up with a novel solution to deal with the problem. his version was to wield a cannon inside the foyer of his house and i recall finding the

original papers from his family, i will fix them was his quote. as the mob circled his house hundreds of men ready to kill him, he ordered the doors left open and the cannon was there in the foyer facing the mob and he had a torch in his hand and sold them to disperse and they did. he made a stand and it was emblematic of how john glover would conduct himself through the rest of the war. is here, john glover and robert kerry bringing in the main supplies of gunpowder through their contact with spain prior to the revolutionary war and as the war moves forward john glover is involved in lexington and concorde and many other battles and he also has the job

of guarding general washington prior to the battle of bunker hill and it is here that john glover forges a special relationship with the commander-in-chief, a level of trust and his trust, general washington looks upon john glover to solve the problem for him. gunpowder is crucial. the colonists had no gunpowder. the british knew it and they tried to disarm us through gunpowder but it would be the context the marbleheaders with spain that brought in the crucial gunpowder but also a novel way washington would try to capture more gunpowder by attacking british stores in hell a fax but he needed a ship

or ships to do that operation so he turned to john glover to create a navy in the navy which is really preposterous is to take basically a fishing boat the john glover has, the hannah, which is 74 tons and somehow take on the royal navy, that is exactly what they did and they attacked british ships and the story of the navy is extraordinary. some of the most colorful captains in american history. captain co.it who has a giant red float that has an incredible sense of humor. scion martindale who decides to outfit his ship with 6 guns spending a lavish amount of money but as soon as his ship gets out of port it is immediately captured by the british. he sells out his crew to the british at trial.

martindale, an amazing story. they put his crew in irons, but many of them in royal navy vessels, and he is freed with some of his officers, he makes his way to maine where he is imprisoned by the british navy but somehow escaped on foot and makes his way down the east coast to washington spinning tales of his heroics in the process. i will let that go on to fight again but is lost at sea. there are so many amazing stories within the navy itself. they attack canada without authorization. there is a mutiny, one of the first in united states history but they also capture critical powder ship at the right time in the right place. another individual i would like

to talk about is doctor nathaniel bond, harvard trained resurrectionist, a body snatcher. doctor bond, there was a critical shortage of cadavers at the time. doctors would rape graveyards to snatch bodies to work on them to find out their anatomy. but doctor bond is an extraordinary hero. he is on cat island working on the in occupation and it is here he saves many marbleheaders. he is at the forefront of smallpox. it is his expertise. doctor bond is a member of the marblehead regiment and trains with them, drills with them. he participates in the battle of lexington and concorde but according to his hippocratic

oath which he follows very seriously, he trains the british soldiers that i wounded at lexington and concorde and for it he is canceled. the patriots in a town believe he is now a loyalist. his house is surrounded and he writes an extraordinary letter which i have in my hand, original parchment where he begs for his life saying there are thousands of people that will kill him at any moment. please send a detail of men to bring me to a court-martial so i can reveal the truth acts of what happened. he confides in his true friend joseph warren and albert sherry and they have a court-martial and the facts are revealed. doctor bond is exonerated from fake crimes.

he didn't do anything wrong. he didn't help people which he is supposed to do. instead of melting away, not being happy with the situation he decided to fight. he joined the marblehead regiment as a resurgence. doctor bond then goes on to be a company commander and fight through all the major battles of the american revolution which is extraordinary in and of itself and at the battle of trenton when half the regiment goes back to marblehead they have a reason for going back. marblehead at the time is economically devastated. they are starving. they go back to protect their wives and loved ones and families. doctor bond stays on with many other men. they continue to stay on.

washington himself asks doctor bond to inoculate the army. at this time the virus was killing nearly 20% of the army. it was being devastated by it. doctor bond sets up all the in occupation facilities and supervises the process. ..one historian claims that washington's greatest strategic decision to inoculate the army. then there able to fight and continue the battle. before his the man that was initially was the man that was initially labeled a loyalist dies. he perishes from his own, from basically inoculating the army. those are some of the characters in the book. along with eldridge gary, forgotten founder. my favorite word for favorite word is, an ornery

guy, he was the intellectual mainspring in many ways of the early revolution. he believes in republicanism with a small r. it's service to country over itself. and he takes abstract concepts and really makes them reality. but he also takes one of the largest trading fleets in the colonies which he andnd his famy owned and convert them into supply line. as i mentioned earlier, what was necessary was gunpowder. all of the major operations that the british were conducting at the early part of the war were to take an disarm americans, and take our vital supply gunpowder. without gunpowder, no revolution could be fought.

but he comes up with a concept and he's one of the first in writing to talk about foreign alliances, they forged the alliance with spain. it's through his contacts that have gone on for 20 or 30 years that he forges his vital relationship and they bring in the powder to a the colonies. he's also future vice president. he's the future congressman. gerrymandering is named after him. bill of rights, the electoral college come all of these things are part of him. the last thing i'm going to talk about very quickly is the diverse members of this unit. iner many cases we only know thm by their first name. some cases it'sn a roman name r a greek name, cato. these are extraordinary individuals.

they are unsung and forgotten. the importance of the marblehead regiment is not necessarily one strength -- their strength is the diversity, but their greatest strength was there unity and these men working together as a team. h as beazer glover, manwell soto. cottonwood, cato prince that i looked up their pension files and these men died penniless. but they fought through the entire war in the most epic and great operation of the war. bringing the marblehead regiment, bringing army to safety multiple times. these are the forgotten members of the revolution and they are all extraordinary in what they did and it's, it's a diverse city and model that we wouldn't see tragically

for over 170 years. american armed forces. but these are the men were in , men and women, we will cover some incredible women in this book as well. that did extraordinarythings. they were at the right place at the right time . and in many cases there's the sacrifice that they made is epic. marblehead alone had over 600 widows at the end of the american revolution. and it's that story, if that sacrifice is the reason why i wrote the indispensable's. it's for what death that most americans don't appreciate. our founding story is our greatest majority. and it's the marbleheaders

that changed the course of history. thank you very much. i'm happy to take questions this has been a great introduction to this book. i'm so excited people have a chance to read it. i also have questions coming in and it's a question i like michelle about the cohesiveness of this unit. she asked how does a diverse group become a cohesive unit and it's something you studied in other contexts as well. modern soldiers acting as one, did that happen here and how did they make that happen? >> a lot of it has to do with what happened prior to the revolution. in many cases many of these men were on fishing boats . where life and death decisions had to bemade within seconds . and the color of your skin or your race was irrelevant. it was about trust. at this trust and teamwork

was forged over years of time. many of them had forged those bonds. they forged bonds of friendship. there were bonds of family to where they literally many of the men in this unit were interconnected through familial ties as best friends . i researched this unit extensively. there was no desertion. i found a couple examples which is unheard of for the 18th century where desertion was often but it was those close connections with family and community that tied them together. >> another question is from elizabeth, i like this one as well. after the campaign did colonel glover and the marbleheaders return home? you mentioned eldridge gerry

but can you tell us about the aftermath? >> it's a complicated story. half the unit, less than half the unit stays with washington. this is an extraordinary moment. after or right before the battle of chesapeake creek, washington uses his great oratory abilities to say, pleads for the army to stay and then he steps forth. and many of them are marbleheaders and many of them die as a result of that service including doctor bond . john glover along with other members of the marblehead regiment return home to marblehead. and they form a new -- glover is made a general.

he commands a new brigade, they form a new regiment. but many of the men take to the sea and they take to the sea in many cases, many of the captains, the great captains, the marblehead captains had become part of the continental navy such as john manley and tucker and their some of the greatest fighting captains of the revolutionary war and the book is filled with incredible scenes of ship to ship fighting. but also ships that are in some cases rotting tops and these men have to make repairs on the fly or they have to make their way to a small cove. there's hardly anybody there. have to drag logs out of there to make masks and everything else . it's quite extraordinary story of american ingenuity. any of them become privateers . unlike washington's navy where they were members of the army that were literally

at sea area these are individuals that are private that are also earning a commission. slightly different but they are working in the employ of the massachusetts government in many cases. many of them die. glover's son had died and many of them are neverseen again . >> another question that's come in that's a little specific but i think there's a great story here . dustin jerry at the washington library talks about the average age of the members of the marblehead regiment, can you tell us about that and are the young, are the old and is there a wide range? >> i was able to take the muster rules that existed and it's fragmentary. the average age was around 24. for many of the men. but it very. there were some obviously older men and younger men. some, the book also captures

the story of boy soldiers. and in many cases they were drummer boys. music was a very important part of being able to communicate on 18 century battle. you needed a drum to fight and really orders and many of the younger members were musicians, drums or papers and they went to war with their fathers. and we have some really extraordinary stories of father and son teams at work. >> another question coming in, she asks a good question about the recognition of obviously your book is a great example of how centuries later will we still discover and recognize service. what kindof recognition did these people received during their lifetime ? >> most of these men and women received zero

recognition. in fact most of them were bankrupt after the war . and what you see in the pension file applications after the war, if they were lucky enough to even make it that long their penniless. this is especially true for the soldier mariners of color . they are extremely impoverished. and glover himself is wracked with ptsd. we can define that through his letters to washington where he's not able to sleep. most of the time and he's, marblehead was a source of great wealth in massachusetts prior to the war. it was the second largest eddie and it's really reduced to michelle after the war. and individual families are greatly impoverished. in the book itself, in 1777, late 76 they bring out the

women of the town. the town of beverly and of marblehead. beverly is an important part of this book as well. what is led by captain brown is from beverly and they literally buy it and the women of the town take up muskets. and they read the food stores of the town because they are starting . but this is a gritty, gritty war where americans are pitted against americans. there impoverished. it's a different war than most people have read in their grade school history books . >> another question coming up from the audience and i'm excited to hear your thoughts on this one about how did glover manage to bring together so many different people for his regiment? can you talk about the efforts and are there thoughtful and deliberate things that people like

glover need to do to make this happen or do they come out of a community ? >> i think it comes out of the community. there was no effort to coerce people to serve and i think that's an important elementof this book . they willingly served . and in many cases it's the poorest members of the community as well as the elite members. they're all serving together side-by-side. and i mean, you've got literally glover and eldridge gary and jeremiah lee for instance. these are exceptionally, jeremiah lee in particular was one of the wealthiest men in the colony. he is initially there colonel. serving with the other members of the community which are not well off at all. they're not doing it under coercion. they're doing it because they feelit's their duty .

what i find extraordinary is the amount of sacrifice as the war progresses. and the community itself is bankrupt. there's a tremendous amount of pressure to return home. to give up the war but most of these men or many of these men continue their service. against all odds area which i find just extraordinary. >> one obviously we're here at mount vernon and it's a great opportunity to ask the george washington question, what was the connection like glover and washington. they share an intimacy? did they have a candid and frank relationship with one another dustin mark. >> they did. >> did you want to acknowledge someone mount vernon insiders know well. >> that relationship is an important one and it's why the marblehead are the indispensable's.

that relationship is forged in early 1775 at the vassal house in cambridge so giant mention that washington takes over as his headquarters and he, it's the marble headers that are in some ways the first guard and he requests them. as time goes on because he forms a very intimate relationship of trust with john glover and with the adjutants of that unit. at the time, caleb did later becomes in charge of the lifeguard or the commander-in-chief's guard. and this relationship is incredibly important. washington can trust these men at the most crucial inflection points of the war. and so it's the american dunkirk that he places his

entire trust on the shoulders of the marblehead men. with pelham bay, it's later a trend where john glover or washington asks glover can you bring us across the river? this story about that. they had. he knew, he had the confidence in his, glover had the confidence in his men and washington had confidence in the marbleheaders. if washington was the indispensable man of the revolution it's the marble headers which were the indispensable men of the revolution . >> margo asked a great question which i'd like to hear your thoughts on about the training. when it comes into shaping the ability of this wonderful regiment . was it life experience, was it the experience they had coming in long before the war

broke out? how were they taught if there was more to it to effectively see be the regiment make it became. >> the men were had undergone training as a militia unit. prior to the war where they would train in the ground and around marblehead. not necessarily taken very seriously because they go right to the tavern afterwards and drank punch and grog after the training. but it was really what forged these men as what and l'engle said is arguably the greatest fighting unit ever to take arms for the united states is there experience prior to the war fishing in the grant they as merchants where they had to battle not only the royal navy but also mother nature, some of the greatest scenes

at the time, the grand banks were unforgiving. work literally and i mean, every year hundreds of men would die at sea. so this bread hard men that were very very tough americans. and also harddrinkers to but that's another story. but they were very tough individuals . >> there's another question i like coming in from frank. you asked about the marbleheaders involved elsewhere. i see the cover of your book, were any marbleheaders involved in other campaigns including in the southern campaigns of the war? >> not directly. after the trenton campaign glover would operate in the north primarily rid there's a handful of individuals that

may have effectively served in the south in other units because they had traveled that way in one way oranother but for the most part they had not . they did not operate in the south but the story of the marblehead men is unique in terms of the special operations unit, the operations that they had conducted where for instance they conducted raids against the british. and they had even launched a series of fire ships against the british in a couple of weeks before the battle of brooklyn where several men had died or perished and they drove their ships, flaming ships directly into what effectively were british battleships . and one of the marbleheaders perished in the process but that's anextraordinary story of heroism . >> another question and this

might be my last opportunity because we're running out of time but justin posted a question earlier on that i'm excited to hear your thoughts about about leadership and he asked about leadership qualities that washington had. let me ask you, not just about washington but other key figures including glover. is there a leadership trait that you see as key to the success of this regiment? >> absolutely. this book is filled with leadership examples of individuals that were willing to sacrifice their very lives and fortunes for their cause, for their country. which i can't even, it's mind-boggling in manyways. to try to describe this . where at the end of the war, they would be done, many of these individuals were penniless they were broken men. physically, as well as

emotionally area it would continue with, but one of the leadership traits that they had was they were willing to, they would never ask somebody else to do something they wouldn't be willing to do. in many cases they lead from the very front. and were willing to sacrifice their lives. and that leadership is really essential. it's something that is a lesson that we can understand and learn from today. >> this is a remarkable opportunity patrick. let me talk to you from here, thank you so much. let me ask you, any closing words you want to say about your research project butalso what comes next . >> i do want to say thank you to everybody that has stayed

this evening and sacrificed their time for my presentation. i really want to thank the ladies of mount vernon for sponsoring me and allowing me to really conduct research area and i think one of the finest facilities in america and is one of the greatest. i've never found a better place to write . here at the house. it's a special place. and i'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to be here and to conduct the research and to have conducted the research and to write this book. >> the book is "the indispensables: the diverse soldier-mariners who shaped the country, formed the navy, and rowed washington across the delaware." this is the officialrsro book release. so thrilled to have patrick you to talk about this book. pick it up now, by now. we have it available at the mount vernon shop, and thank you so much for being here with us tonight, patrick and everyone.

>> it was an honor. >> c-span shao.org is c-span's online store. there's a glitch in c-span products. browse to see what's new. your purchase will support our nonprofit operations and your time to order congressional directory with contact information for members of congress and the biden administration. go to c-spanshop.org. >> i commit one. i am the ceo of six a letter on behalf of our entire team thank you for being here with us tonight. i want to thank our promotional partner and give a warm welcome to any of our viewers from the bay area. this evening we are so honored to welcome malcolm gladwell back to sixth and in celebration of this new release obama mafia. we have the pleasure of hosting malcolm back in 2013 for his "new york times" best-selling book david and goliath. so this is a much anticipated return to now our virtual stage.