expert on swords. the sword was correct. presentation sword to washington that the artist was aloud to borrow. the expert on swords said he made a mistake. it is buckled on backwards. the man behind him its another future president of the united states, james monroe. lieutenant of infantry and was in fact in this event. he is struggling to hold up an american flag that hadn't been invented yet. it would be coming in 1777. there are, many people in the boat, who have, inspired some debung id debunking. the interesting figure, bending over an oar in a long red shirt in the foreground behind the flag. and i got a letter from a radical feminist debunker. i had speculated in my, book as to whether that was a woman.

and it might well have been a woman. there were many women in these armies. general howell kept records. 10% of -- of his armies were, army were women on the ration. it was probably something like that number in the, at least in the later stages of the war for the american -- the american army. but, the feminist said, about that person -- yes it is a woman. look again. she is the only person in the boat who is actually rowing that's -- and -- there are some interesting things that are going on here. just a word about george washington. this was a man who came from a very special part of america. called the northern deck of virginia. it was the land between the -- potomac river. it extended, a very great

distance. and yet was largely owned by one -- aristocratic british family who took up residence there, the fairfax family. and its size was of such a magnitude in the early years it was measured in degrees of longitude. it covered 3 degrees of longitude. and this was the world unwhiin george washington grew up. very top down. the men of the fairfax family were his mentors after the death of his father. they raised him in the tradition of a hierarchical society. he was a slave owner, and not only a slave owner, a slave driver. we have accounts of washington actually whipping his own slaves with his hand. and before the war, he showed no sign of discomfort with his role in, with respect to slavery. he was also a man who aspired to

a military career and he modeled his idea of military leadership on british officers with whom he served in the french and indian war. so in all those three ways, this was very hierarchical in this world that he grew up in. and then, the continental congress appointed him to be commander in chief of the american, not forces. and he turned to patrick henry at the back of the room and he said, depend upon it, mr. henry. for the moment i take command, you may take the ruin of my reputation. he was sure it would be bug trouble. and it was when he went to -- new england. and he met an army that was mostly unfortunate massachusetts and connecticut, rhode island, new hampshire men. and they -- and he took it instant dislike to each other. he wrote home about new england as itf he was visiting a foreig

country. he said they are a nasty, dirty people, quote, unquote. he said they are a leveling people. and he thought they had no discipline, no order. they did not approve of washington and his heirs. they wrote many verses of yankee doo doodle not sung by children a bout washington, captain washington they called him. and his slapping stallion. there was a great distance at the very start between washington and these, these men. and it grew more difficult as more men joined that army. it became a national army through ten of the former colonies. and the back country riflemen arrived in cambridge, massachusetts. and you can see them, one at the stern of the boat. and another wearing i think more

of a 19th century fashion, coonskin caps behind washington himself. and then, in the, in the -- just, in the bow of the boat, you'll see a man who its -- a former slave. himself. who was in the marblehead mariners. he had become a seaman. see hip wearing his tarpaulin jacket. a good many of the back country riflemen, came from virginia had been slave holders themselves. when the two groups met each other in came bridge. there were words of abuse, and insults, and blows, and then suddenly there was a riot that was larger than the battle at lexington. when the revolution began. washington rode on to the scene with the man who accompanied him through the war. it was his slave, billy lee. who was always riding with him. both brilliant horsemen. and they rode into the, middle of his -- ride.

we have eyewitness accounts. and the eyewitness tells us that -- washington leaped off his horse, threw his reins to william lee, grabbed the riflemen in one hand, and new englander in the other and in the word of the source, he "spoke with them." suddenly there was silence on that field. and then the rifleman and the new englanders ran off in all directions. and washington had survived one of the first tests. but then other tests followed. there were gentgentlemen in virginia, joined gentmen rancors. we can see one from maryland. in the -- bending over, the boat, and just, just, under the sword, is a man who is of some affluence. he is wearing an oiled hat, and something like a -- a raincoat.

and we can just barely make out at the facings of his uniform under that jacket. and he belonged to a small woods maryland regiment. which was recruited from young gent gentlemen of maryland. when they joined they insisted on signing a contract. the contract said they were enlisting not as privates but as gentlemen. and then if anything that was done to them was a reflection on their honor in any way, they reserved the right to go home. and then behind them, are some men from pennsylvania. in the very plain blanket coats as they were all. they were pennsylvania farmers. they were pennsylvania associators. they believed very much in equality. they organized committees of prift privates and sergeants to tell their officers what to do. all the men came together to

form, form, an army. they also all believe, believe una cause. they called it the cause. but they had very different ideas of what the cause was about. all ways, two words were used. liberty and freedom. but those words had very different meanings. the back country riflemen, not in this version, would actually, in the, in the hunting shirts that they wore, actually -- had, in, in large letters across their chests, don't tread on me. give me liberty. their model was -- was -- was patrick henry. it was one of the strongest expree expree expre expression of liberty. people thought of the liberty of their towns.

the right belonging to free people. they had a much more communal sense, social sense of liberty. very different from these back countrymen. people who came from virginia chose for their symbol of liberty, of the goddess of lber tlber -- liberty, roman goddess. liberty was a rank with them. some had watched liberty. others not so much. and more than a few had none at all. and in other parts of this, of this, these back country, people from pennsylvania, already had a symbol of liberty which was that great bell, it was called the quaker bell some times. 1751. and it wasn't called the liberty bell until the 19th century. liberty at its heart. and around the crown of the bell, in 1751, a verse in which it was proclaimed liberty three out thela land to all inhabitan.

an idea of universal liberty. reciprocal rights. expending to other people the rights one claimed for themselves. here were four versions of the cause. and all of them were in that boat. and all of them were grounded in different senses of, kind of social order. and it was washington's job to lead them. and he had some success in the first campaign which was -- in boston, drove general gauge out of the city of -- of boston. town of boston. then he moved his army to new york. and they knew that this would be the great test. coming -- in the summer of 1776. this was the moment when britain, one of great powers in the world, greater than ever before, after its victories in the decided they would make their maximum effort to break the american rebellion as they called it. and they sent counting both,

sailors and soldiers, something lu like 60,000 men to new york harbor. their purpose was to capture new york and begin to recover the colonies. one by one. and they were commanded by two brothers -- william howell in the army, and robert howell. commanded the, william howell commanded the, the navy. it was the largest projection of sea born power over the longest, longer distance than any other i think in the early modern period. and it was also the largest force that britain put into the field during the entire span of the revolutionary war which lasted longer than the civil war and participation in world war ii combined. agts yea eight years. washington's job under orders from the continental congress was to defend new york city. which he felt to be indefensible.

particularly as the the british had command of the sea. what followed was a total disaster or american arms. absolutely everything went wrong. one thing that went wrong was the health of the army. there was no camp discipline. in the civil war for every soldier killed in battle. one was, died of disease. in world war i it was one to one. in the american revolution, the ratio was 8-1. eight deaths from disease to one in combat. and that was for the british armies and americans were much worse. washington's army begin to waste away. in the summer of 1776. then the next failure was a failure of intelligence. british were skilled. they built a network from american loyalists. they knew of -- much more about what was going on -- in new york than washington did. and he was taken by surprise,

again and again in his, his army, was defeated with a few small victories to claim. worst of it. it continued until november, 1776. and the worst of it happened when washington, large part of washington's army, surrounded, at fort washington, which was at the northern tip of manhattan. washington was across the -- the -- the hudson river in new jersey. watching. as that army was defeated. and forced to surrender. and then worse than that -- after the men surrendered, par tu -- particularly, the riflemen of the haitian and british forces, a good many of those, of those riflemen were beaten up and then some were put to the sword as washington watched, helplessly, from the palisades.

other part of the hudson. washington irving who wrote one of the first and best biographies of george washington interviewed the people who were there. and they told him that washington burst into tears. of helplessness and frustration. it was the lowest upon the of what had happened. he had been responsible for that. it was his decision to defend that indefensible force. and he began and others around him, to wonder -- itch thf this was up to his job. and there were grave thoughts that maybe he was -- would have to be replaced. he led his men in retreat across new jersey, west towards pennsylvania. and he asked lieutenant monroe, to stand by the edge of the road in newark, new jersey, and count the troops as they went by. and there were 3 tou,000 of the left. he started with 30,000 men. he lost nearly 90% of the army

under his command. and he was beginning to despair. he wrote home to his family. he said, prepare to move everything into the mountains. he toad thld them the game might be about up. as they marched across new jersey, following the distance by the british army, cornwallace in the field. something happened amongst these men. somehow washington dug into the reserves of his character. and found the strength to try again. he had with him another extraordinary figure. who was the journalist as we would say embedded in the continental army. and it was, thomas payne. the soldiers liked him. he soldiered beside him in the campaign. they call him the common sense man. and as they were -- in their camps, running, retreating in

new jersey, he decided it was time to write another, another pamphlet called american crisis. this one was about the time has try men's souls. it was truly so. this was one of the first literate armies in history. they read these -- these writings of thomas payne. and it helped to remind them of that cause. and of its importance. even if they weren't all of one mind of what it meant. washington led his forces across the delaware. gathering all the boats as he crossed. and then he begin to try to -- reorganize the army. to try to undertake -- to invent a new way of leadership. he wrote back home. he said he discovered something with these new england men. he said he discovered, quoting from, from him. he said, people, unaccustomed to restraint, cannot be drove they

must be led. quote, unquote. so he undertook a way to invent a leading. first thing he did was work with counsels of war they had been very difficult body before. this was normal in 18th send schur rearmies. in the british army, counsel of war was a place where the commander told his subordinates what he intended to do. they did it. in american its was a little more complicated than that. washington had often, fluctuated between that authoritarian style he had grown up with. and continental congress ordered him to consult with other officers. which he undertook to do. it was not very successful at first. but then they worked out a way of doing it. nathaniel green, his chief lieutenant was sent to the continental congress and in december they worked out an understanding, first of all that the continent congress would be

the supreme body. representing the sovereignty of the people in america. and the generals would obey. but the generals would be allowed to get on with the war. and that was a very unstable compco compro is co compro is co compromise. and many others were, civilians were invited. and washington cultivated two gifts that i think were critical to his leadership. first he had the gift of listening. he was beginning to learn to listen to these people in his army. and the other was that he had the gift of silence. he could keep quiet about his own opinions. and reserve -- his, his views, until after the discussion had pretty well run its course. and then he went, he would intervene. nobody was in doubt as to who was running the army.

but, he chose -- to run it by that open way. and then he went about the, the business of reordering intelligence. and he did it by -- creating an open system of in tee jetellige. he ordered the officers to run their own agents. to build their own networks. but to stay in touch and to tell him, what they were finding. and sounlike other systems in which intelligence was head as an instrument of power. washington distributed the process of in ttelligence throu his army. he built a system of logistics in november and december. he did as not a chan in of logistics. now most of the states of the union were involved. it was deliberately designed in that web like form because it meant that if one piece of it broke the other pieces could still function and that's what

what happened. and this was a hugely difficult job. that washington himself had to run. there is his, his, published papers will run to more than 100 vol volumes. 75% of the papers are military papers. most of them are logistics about the logistics of the army. and washington was corresponding with all of the governors of the state. simultaneously. with many other people as well. and he was leading what was, first american -- national institution. after the continental congress. the continental army became a school for the design of institutions. and also for an idea of leadership. he also had to find a way of fighting the war, the american people -- had, made very difficult requirements of their leaders. they wanted to, them to be bold.

to take the initiative. but they wanted them to be prudent at the same time. and prudent meant to be very careful with the lives of their men. and washington had to find a way to do both of those things as well. he had to find a way to fight two very skilled armies. the haitians were not the clowns that they appear in much of the literature. but were very professional soldiers. they had officers who want to universities. and studied military science. i think well ahead of the british in that regard. and, these, washington was up against the first team here. and the question was how could his forces stand against -- such a formidable adversary. it was partly a matter of the long experience that these other leaders had had, compared with what american leaders have had. he worked out a system of changing the tactics in the continental army. he begin to use artillery.

a lot avail but. could be taken from ships in philadelphia, and in boston. the continental army developed a ratio of are tillery to infant rethan the case with the british and the haitian forces. and all of this was used, artillery was used up front. it was used in the way that the german army used some of their artillery in, in the second world war. and what it was meant to do was stabilize and support the inexperienced american infantry and the man at the center was, boston book seller, henry knox who taught himself about artillery from the books in his own bookstore. and all of this was put to work. and then washington's counsel begin to get news from those intelligence networks. that there was an opportunity in new jersey. the opportunity was that the british and haitians were having big problems saw plea s of supp

themselves. end of a 3,000-mile chain. they were distributed widely across new jersey to forage on the countryside. and the forage left, led to theft, and the theft to -- to, violence. and violence to murder. murder to rape. and suddenly the people of new jersey begin to understand what this occupation might mean to them. they spontaneously organized risings. without any command. washington's network told him what was going on. and he was able to, to very quickly, act. he also knew he had to act -- in such a way that he could begin to rebuild confidence in the cause. and to do that, he decided in december, of 1776, to throw into

the, into the test of battle, all of his strength, in a single effort, and it was an extraordinary act of decision. that he made with his counsel of war. and they decided they would cross the delaware at four places. and organized all of that. it was very complex. they set it in motion on christmas night. in 1776. just as a horrific storm that anybody here from the northeast will know very well, called a nor'easter. which came sweeping in. heavy -- heavy -- rains, slow, snow, sleet. and the -- the conditions were just almost in possible. so, nearly so. that of those four crossings, three of them failed. only one got across the river. just north of new jersey. just north of trenton, new jersey. and washington led that force --

into the, into the storm. attacking the, the haitians. the haitians had expected them to come. they had spies of their own. but then a small american force attacked them during the day without orders. they thought that was the attack. and they let down their guard for a moment. and that's when the americans arrived. it was very carefully managed. the americans stopped halfway on. and synchronized their watches. that's the first instance i can find, of an army synchronizing its, the big, the pocket watches that the officers carried. then they attacked trenton from both sides within two minutes of each other. won a great victory. now the question was what to do with the victory? and he had a couple problems there. the haitians were not drunk. they have -- eyewitness accounts of their sobriety. but the american army, discovered quite a lot of -- of

liquor in the -- in the, inns of trenton. the american army got drunk. and washington had great difficulty getting his troops back, again, over the delaware river. more so than he did getting them across the first time. he was carrying back with him, 900 haitian prisoners. the question what to do about them? these were, prisoners expected the worst. and, to many people remembered what those haitians had done, after fort washington, after other engagements around long island. and washington could have gone with an eye for an eye. but what he did with strong urging from members of the continental congress was to declare what he called the policy of humanity. that the captives would be entitled to some of their rights that the american revolution was all about.

they would be entitled to the right to life. that was very different from the law of quarter in 18th century warfare. and they were treated decently. to their surprise. and this news spread rapidly around the world. we had a man now in paris, as the news reached europe. it was benjamin franklin. he published essays on all of this. this idea of humanity, began, to spread. it wasn't universally observed in other parts of the american revolution. the continental army tried to do that all the way into the campaigns of the 1780s. after the battle, when daniel morgan fought the group that was most hated, in the revolution, tarlton's raiders. captured ape few.

he wrote a letter up the command, we treated them with humanity. we weren't rude to them. he said. and americans made a upon the of tha -- made a upon the of that. what they were doing was linking the content of the war to the values of the revolution. washington became a symbol of the leakage. and the linkage begin to haunt the opponents of this war. one of the interesting things, the way it haunted george iii, after george went mad. one of his -- delusions he himself had become george washington. we can see how this example of a human highly successful leader spread with the idea of the cause. then after that it was decided in the counsels of war, one victory was not enough. so they went back. it was those committees of sergeants, the associators who were the prime movers of that.

and the american army went across the -- the delaware -- fought a series of battles. all of them very different. one from another. one was a delaying action, very difficult retreat. from the road of the -- down through, lawrenceville, new jersey. they did that with great success. the purpose of that was to, for the american army to occupy a hill, above trenton, on south side of the town. and there to draw the british troops into an attack, which -- happened. in a second battle of trenton. and the brit uish were defeatedn that battle. washington in a tight spot. and he and his counsel decided that they would try, yet another, attack, and washington led his troops around the british armies. to attack -- the