young man to be his secretary which he accepted and he served washington until one day, at headquarters, washington was going up the stairs, colonel hamilton was coming down the stairs, the commander in chief said to the colonel, colonel, i wish to see you immediately, the colonel responded, i'll be with you in a few minutes, sir. not the right answer to the commander in chief. washington turned on hamilton, berated him in front of his fellow officers, hamilton then resigned as secretary, returned to the army and later distinguished himself at the battle of yorktown, which brought him back to some degree in washington's good graces. hamilton then left the army and was a congressman from new york. so hamilton then is given the assignment of addressing washington. i doubt that anyone really expected that general washington would join in any plot, but at

the same time, they needed to test him out. how did he feel? hamilton warned washington that the army was on the brink of mutiny. he suggested to washington that the general might wish to control, direct the turret was his expression. he also went on to write something to washington which the general found insulting, if not hurtful. hamilton told washington there were rumors in congress, as well as in the army, his soldiers were disappointed with him. they accused the commander in chief of not doing enough for them in articulating their demands and their grievances. washington found that particularly hurtful.

hamilton then suggested that washington talk with general knox. a very, very dangerous game now was under way. both knox and washington had an inkling of what was going on in philadelphia, and now they were being drawn in. it seems to me entirely likely, probable, that general knox and general washington did in fact talk. their headquarters were about 12 miles apart. washington was in newburgh, knox was at west point. i'm sure they did. they probably shared letters, the one from knox, the one from morris to knox, the one from hamilton to washington. these two men then replied to the men from philadelphia. knox replied first. to governor morris, he told governor morris, i consider the

reputation of the american army as one of the most immaculate things on earth. we should even suffer wrongs and injuries to the utmost verge of toleration rather than sully it in the least degree. i hope to god that the army will never be directed than against the enemies of the liberties of america. a few days later washington replied to hamilton. the fatal tendency to involve the army in political matters would be productive of civil commotions and end in blood. i stand as citizen and soldier. citizen and soldier. well, the nationalists clearly

had been rebuffed by knox and washington. and so they quite naturally turned to a man with whom they knew they could deal, general gates. general gates had his headquarters at a place called ellison house, very near the encampment. was surrounded there by a young staff, majors, lieutenant colonels. here's an interesting side light that i'll share with you. in talking about the events here at newburgh, it's often been suggested that general gates was unaware of what was going on and that the machinations i'm about to describe were purely the work of junior officers. i invite you to visit ellison house, headquarters, it's a lovely house, but it's small, eight rooms, four up, four down. and in ellison house at this particular moment, general gates, three of his senior staff, several guards, cooks, et cetera, it was a crowded place, and by the way, the ellison family was there, too. they didn't want to leave.

it's hard to imagine that he wasn't aware. and the study of history, when all else fails, when all of your analysis and looking at documents fails, i invite you to apply common sense. when you visit ellison house and look at this place and someone says to you that the general could not have known what was going on it's ludicrous. of course he did. what are those people over in the corner doing? what are they talking about. what are they writing? he knew well. he knew well. so now at ellison house it begins the plot, the plot. on saturday, march 8th, 1783, there arrives a messenger from philadelphia to general gates, colonel walter stewart. walter stewart, by the way, known as the handsomest man in the american army. colonel stewart held a high rank, inspector general of the northern army.

washington was very unhappy with colonel stewart he spent to much time in philadelphia he didn't seem to be attracted to newburgh, new york. when he arrived he went to the commander in chief to pay respects and then immediately to general gates. general gates later wrote that colonel stewart has arrived with information from some of our friends in philadelphia. those friends could only have been, of course, morris and morris, hamilton and madison and some others. perhaps making overtures to general gates. that was saturday. the next day, sunday, was a very busy time at ellison house because the staff was busy writing, in particular, colonel john armstrong. armstrong was writing an address to the army at newburgh. we know armstrong was writing it because the original's in armstrong's handwriting. the original document. the document was copied that night and on monday morning it was taken to the temple of virtue where every morning the

adjutants from the regiments arrived to get their daily orders and on this morning among the daily orders was this address. it began, it is anonymous, he did not sign it, the address began, gentlemen, a fellow soldier whose interests and affections bind him strongly to you, whose past sufferings have been as great and whose future fortunes may be as desperate as yours, would beg leave to address you. will congress address our wrongs or will they trample on our rights? if peace comes and we put down our swords, what then? the address went on to rally the officers. and then declared at the end, we will meet tomorrow, tuesday, the 11th at the temple of virtue. as soon as this address arrived

at washington's headquarters, he immediately issued a general order canceling the meeting. washington knew that by simply canceling the meeting he was running a grave risk. so he canceled the meeting, called for from this anonymous address, but then called his own meeting. a meeting, but he would be in control. there would be a meeting on saturday at noon, the 15th of march at the temple of virtue. and in this general order summoning this meeting he indicated i, commander in chief will not attend, the matter is not of sufficient importance. washington had never in the whole course of the war ever addressed his officers as a group. never. he met with his staff certainly but he never called his office. it would be, again, not protocol, again, inappropriate of the commander in chief to behave like that. washington said i leave to to the senior officer in command to preside, the senior officer in

command of course was general gates. and then they swung into work, having issued this now on monday, they know washington and his staff, that they had best prepare for this meeting on saturday. as soon as washington's general's order comes out another anonymous address comes saying, look, the general is with us. he, too, has called the meeting. wrong to be sure, but trying to draw washington in now. washington was cautious. the fact of the matter is, at this particular moment, he could not trust his army. could not trust his army. but there was one thing that washington did know, that general's made plan but the line officers, lieutenant, captains, majors, men in actual command who control the troops.

so he in conjunction with his staff, colonel brooks, who later by the way becomes governor of our commonwealth, so he, colonel brooks' secretary, jonathan trumbull begin to play out a plan and the plan that is they will call all of these officers together, that is the lieutenants, the captains and the majors, and speak to them directly. they must also prepare an address, a speech. several days now spent in writing what is probably the most important speech ever given in american history. all in secret because, of course, washington's already announced that he's not coming to the meeting. noon, saturday, 15th of march, about 300 officers crowd into the temple of virtue.

building, by the way, reconstruction building, is there today on that historic site. general gates entered the room. everyone snapped to attention. he convenes the meeting. the officers take their seats. and then from outside comes the noise of thundering hoofs, rattle of sabers, it is general washington's bodyguard, and in a moment there standing, literally standing in the doorway, 6'2", beautifully attired, is general washington. to the utter shock of everyone. washington entered the room, officers, of course, stood again. he went to the front of the room and general gates stepped aside. washington then reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheaf of papers. here i must explain to you why this sheaf of papers was so important. as bob mentioned for sometime, i was the director of the massachusetts historical

society. and on occasion i would wander through the shelves and the stacks, i had the keys to everything, and just browsed in this incredible archive. and in that incredible archive, carefully preserved in a very lovely red leather binder, is the speech that washington took from his pocket on the 15th of march, 1783, in his own hand, in his own hand was the speech. that, of course, was the event that prompted me to want to write about this event. and so washington lays out his papers now and says to the officers, gentlemen, you must excuse me, this meeting is so important that i have committed my thoughts to paper. he then began to address them.

it was a short speech. not more than eight to ten minutes. gentlemen, by an anonymous summons an attempt has been made to convene you together. how inconsistent with the rules of propriety, how unmilitary and how subversive of all order and discipline let the good sense of the army decide, and then he made a few more remarks. thus, much gentlemen i have thought it incumbent on me to observe to you to show you upon what principles i oppose the irregular are hasty meeting which was proposed to have been held on tuesday last. and not because i wanted a disposition to give you every opportunity consistent with your own honor and the dignity of the army to make known your grievances.

if my conduct heretofore has not evinced to you that i have been a faithful friend to the army, my declaration of it at this time will be equally unavailing and improper. but as i was among the first to embark on the cause of our common country, as i have never left your side one moment but when called from you on public duty, as i have been the constant companion and witness of your distresses and not among the last to feel and acknowledge your merits, i have ever considered it my own military reputation as inseparably connected with that of the army, as my heart has ever expanded with joy when i have heard its praises and my indignation has arisen when the mouth of detraction has been opened against it. it can scarcely be supposed at this late stage of the war that i am indifferent to its interests.

he then concluded, and let me conjure you in the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred honor, as you respect the rights of humanity, as you regard the military and national character of america to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man who wishes, under any species pretenses to overturn the liberties of our country and who wickedly attempts to open the floodgates of civil discord and deluge our rising empire in blood. by thus determining and thus acting, you will pursue the plain and direct road to the attainment of your wishes.

you will defeat the insidious designs of our enemies who are compelled to reason to open force to secret artifice. you will give me one more distinguished proof of on example patriotism and patient virtue rising superior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings. and you will, by the dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, had this day been wanting, the world has never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining. shakespeare, henry v, washington finished his speech. there was silence. silence. dead silence. he thought that he had lost them. he thought that he had lost them.

for that one terrible moment he stood there not with his army but in opposition to it. fearing this, he reached into his pocket once more, and took out a letter. it was a letter from joseph jones, congressman from virginia, and here the document becomes all important. i mentioned the document at massachusetts historical society is written in washington's own hands, large letters. the official copy of the speech, the one written by his seconds in the papers of washington in the library of congress is written in the hand of his secretary, jonathan trumble, it's a fine hand, a normal size hand.

friday night i think washington did an all-nighter. after the speech had been written by him and by his secretaries i'm sure there was collaboration, he sat down and recopied that speech in large letters, in his own hands so he could read it. kind of an early version of a teleprompter. but now, as he read joseph jones' letter he began to stumble over the words. he reached into his pocket, and brought out his glasses, and the officers were stunned. they had never seen the commander in chief with glasses. two weeks before, two weeks before washington had received these glasses from david rittenhouse in philadelphia. and as soon as he received the glasses he had written back something that may be familiar to some of of you. he thanked him for the glasses,

and to tell him that he was having a little trouble adjusting to them. wasn't quite comfortable with them. but now, for the first time in public, in order to read jones' letter, he took his glasses out and as he did, he looked out at the officers and he said to them, gentlemen, you must forgive me, my eyes have grown dim and my hair has grown gray, in the service of my country. not a dry eye in the house. not a dry eye in the house. he then went on to read mr. jones' letter which was really rather perfunctory, finished the letter, put everything back in including his glasses and walked out. as soon as he reached the door, the general offered resolutions in support of the commander in chief, spontaneous of course. it all had been so carefully

planned. the resolutions were offered and voted on unanimously. i do wonder what must have been going through colonel armstrong's head, general gates' general gates' head as they had to vote for these resolutions. but they did not not vote for the resolutions. the resolutions were carried to congress to ensure that the army while distressed was loyal. at almost the same moment that the resolutions arrived from newburgh, news arrived from paris. peace. peace. not the final treaty, that will take a little bit longer. but that stubborn king, george iii had finally exceeded to the independents of the colonies of the states. the war was essentially over. news was sent back to newburgh

to general washington. and general washington issued an announcement of a secession of hostilities. not the end of the war, the secession of hostilities. that announcement was made at the temple of virtue on april 19th, 1783. eight years to the day of lexington and concorde. as soon as the army heard the news, the cry was universal. discharge. discharge. they hadn't been paid and they won't be paid for quite a while, but they want to go home. the army peacefully and carefully dismantled and returned to their homes. washington had one more mission, one more errand to do. december 23rd, 1783, he journeyed to annapolis, maryland. the continental congress was

meeting at the state house of maryland and annapolis. he entered the chamber to return to the congress what they had given him in june of 1775. in june of 1775, they had literally given him his commission as commander in chief of the army. on december 23rd, 1783, general washington returned and in a very solemn, but brief ceremony he literally returned to the congress his commission. and then left if chamber no longer general or commander in chief but simply as mr. and to finish this hollywood set, he then rode home to mt. vernon and arrives home at mt. vernon christmas eve 1783. a few days later, from mt.

vernon, he writes to a friend how good it is -- how good it is to be in retirement and to be a private citizen and to never again have to be called to public duty. on that he was wrong. i'm not suggesting that in march of 1783 there would be a grand coup, a strike of government, there wasn't much government to strike at in march of 1783. imagine for a moment if the army had taken up arms or marched or issued some kind of strong protest, that bright line that stands in our republic between civilian and military would have been crossed. and it could never have been redrawn again. revolutions are not uncommon, but the ones that succeed are very uncommon. and i can't explain why some

revolutions work and others don't, but i know why ours did. ours worked because we had george washington. thank you, all. [ applause ] should i take easy questions? >> okay. i'm a little confused because i always thought our revolution was against the british and you just indicated it was against the french. >> no, no -- the french were our allies. >> paris and -- >> oh, the peace negotiations were going on. the place for peace negotiations british, french, and americans and spanish too were involved. took place in paris. >> oh, okay. >> peace negotiations took place in paris. where else? you know.

thank you very much, everyone. you're very kind. thank you. this year marks the 75th anniversary of the hindenburg disaster on may 1st, 1937 caught fire in new jersey. 35 people on the air ship were killed as well as one member of the grounds crew. the hydindenburg was the first fly passengers from europe to the united states. up next is the special newsreel about the accident. >> the german zeppelin hindenburg queen of the skies seen here from a newsreel camera plane as it flew over new york

now lies at the naval air station a twisted mass of metal. shortly after these pictures were taken showing the great skyliner saluting the millions watching it from below on the first trip of the season, the huge craft exploded while docking and blazed to a fiery end taking the lives of almost half of the 99 passengers and crew. hours late on the trip because of head winds, the zeppelin had to ride out a thunderstorm before heading to the air station and nosing its way i to the morning mass. the wind is bad and the docking is a ticklish one, but it's all a thrill for the crowd of happy passengers eager to land after their transoceanic trip. slowly the big ship comes in. in another ten minutes or so, the aircraft would have been snugly docked. but as the passengers touted the windows to watch, a roar and burst of flames near the tail fins turned the ship into a flaming inferno.

passengers and crew, the fortunate among them fell jumped. heroic work by navy and army men risking their lives around the white hot skeleton snatched more than one dazed and half burned passenger from the blazing wreckage. but for the most of those trapped in the incandescent tangle, there was no hope. it's the greatest of miracles that anyone came out of the disaster alive. 7 million cubic feet of inflammable hydrogen gas blazed

up in less than a minute. the hundreds of tons of fuel oil burns for an hour or more with its dense black smoke over the tragic scene. in all the history of air disasters, this is the worst, the most terrible, hailed as the luxury liner of the air, the hindenburg's horrible end has shocked the entire world. the pride of the skies reaches the journey's end. >> a twisted, tangled mass of bits of blackened fabric are all that remains of the hindenburg that lies at the lake hearst naval station. the death list is now 35 with

ten including captain crews still on the critical list. with the next morning's first light, a naval inspection board headed by captain haines inspects the wreckage as others search the still smoking ruins for a possible clue that might yield a key to the mysterious disaster. the remains of the hindenburg will not be removed until the ail rival of germany's expert who heads a commission that will conduct an investigation simultaneously with the department of commerce. german ambassador was the first observer to arrive, visiting the injured at the hospital in nearby lakewood, but refusing to comment on anything connected with the disaster. as soon as possible, the injured who can be moved are transferred to new york 60 miles away so as to receive everything that medical science can offer.