back -- derek .eck discusses his book in this hour-long talk in new details ther. back strategies on both sides of the conflict that took place in and around of boston, massachusetts prior to the convention. >> tonight, we are delighted to derek beck. derek has always had a passion for military history which inspired him to start his career in the u.s. air force. he has served as an officer. in 2005, he earned a masters of science degree at m.i.t. where he also fell in love with boston's revolutionary past.

to further pursue writing, he transferred to the air force reserve. "ignitingrst book, the american revolution, review75" earned a great -- was released in april. his second book was released in may. derek: thank you all for coming. it is an honor to be here. a very historic site so it is pretty cool to give a historic lecture at an historic site. i have two books and they together tell the entire boston campaign. the first covers from the start of the war which i describe the start of the action at the boston tea party in 1773. then the first shots are fired

and it ends with the siege of boston just beginning. it is kind of how book two starts. both books are standalone, they can be read independently, but together they tell the entire boston campaign. little bit more of who i am and the reason behind this book. i already kind of describe the details. when i joined the air force, i was stationed at los angeles air force base and i started working on some short films on the weekend, took some courses at the new york film academy both in l.a. and here. to focus more on storytelling. m.i.t., became interested specifically in revolutionary history, and i thought it would make a great movie. aboutted a film script the start of the war and that was the outline that became these books.

i was going to the source material, the original letters, some of which had never been published. there was a lot of underrepresentation on the british side. i was trying to tell the story from both sides so i decided i had to turn it into a book, which then became two books. so, why history? that is a question i hear a lot. history is boring. i think that is wrong. if you think it is boring, you are not reading the right books because history is exciting. get at mel gibson and "the the fact is, there were people shooting at each other. if you are in these events, if you could see them, your heart would be racing for sure. it is an action of that. past,it happened in the but it should be a very exciting thing. i approach it from a cinematic way.

i wanted to capture that excitement. the academic answer for why people study history is that we understand culture, where we came from. the other reason, of course, is hopefully we learned from the past. a lot of times we don't learn from the past. but hopefully we can take something from the past and learn from it. i think the reason is exciting and i have different approaches to make that happen. ,ne of the key things, i think is focusing on real people and making them real. george washington was the hero of the revolution but he is not a superhero. he was doubting himself quite a bit. that makes him more relatable in my mind. seeing it from both sides, the american and the british side,

gives you a real value and relatable understanding to the british. the british are not just enemies, they have logic behind their decision-making. i am in the air force. i work with british officers today. i thought, why is it that i would sort of learn that they are the bad guys and americans are the good guys? i actually avoid the word patriot. patriot means a lover of one's country. the british were fighting for their empire and their country. they were patriots in their eyes. the goodis, sometimes guys look like the bad guys and sometimes the bad guys look like the good guys. as though portray it you're a journalist following the action along and you make the decision. finally, this is something that is a little different.

lots of history books are bogged down by the details. we have this event, this event, and then this gap in information. most history books explain the different perspectives and it just bogs down the story. i go with my prevailing theory based on the evidence and i explain and defend it in the back. all of the things that you need as an historian, the endnotes, mine are beefed up. as a result, there is this historic information in the back that historians love, but the body of the book reads like a narrative. i don't want to bog down the story. i want you to enjoy the action and the events and all of the sort of stuff that slows down history books doesn't need to be in the body. so, i am just going to recap the first book to catch you up to where the second book is.

the ultimate result of the tea party is that the british tried to force boston to pay back the tea. they tried to pass a series of acts or laws that essentially crippled boston. the port act closes down the port of boston, putting many people out of work and creating a local economic depression. second is the massachusetts government act. it restricts freedom of assembly and things like this event right now, getting together and talking about the things the government hasn't sanctioned was not allowed. the big takeaways that the royal governor that was a civilian and american board is now replaced gates, thel thomas first royal governor who is also a military governor. he is also the commander in

chief british forces in north america. is to the end of 1773. the british call them the colors of acts, the americans called in the intolerable acts. previously, there were no troops 1770 and thece boston massacre. the result was that they kick to the troops out of boston. now they have come back and it turns out that at the end of 1774, one out of five souls in boston is a soldier or officer. imagine, you have a lot of people out of work, kind of kicked off, and they have nothing to do. it is hard to tell what boston looked like back then. the 1800s, they lowered a lot the mud and filled in flats and basically created boston as it is today.

you have soldiers reminding you every day because you see them thiswhere that you are in predicament because of overbearing parliamentary decisions. so, they are going to have a lot of fighting in the streets. there are a lot of brawls that happen. escalation occurs both in and outside of boston. finally, the new royal governor, the british general, decides that he has to take action. learned evidence that americans are collecting weapons outside of boston in concorde. preventativeake action to seize those weapons to prevent the americans from an uprising in boston. the leader of the revolution at this point is dr. joseph warren. he is basically unknown today. character for the first part of this book and into the second book.

he is, in my mind, the guy that should be remembered. john hancock, samuel adams, john adams. as they are5 right about to seize the weapons in concorde, these men that you know from boston are actually outside of boston. dr. joseph ward is the guy kind ,f controlling the protests reacting to british oppression in boston. after the first shot, hancock amses leaves and ward is the one left in charge. he becomes the de facto governor. ward is the guy who sends these two men -- when he sees the out to preparing to go concorde to seize these weapons,

at first he sees indications throughout the town that this so we had theng man on the left right out to warn hancock and adams. later, ward actually sees the troops and so he sends the man on the right in an urgent ride to lexington, and that man is very famous, i am sure we all know who he is. he is the famous actor, jack b lack. i think they look the same. but, paul revere. and thenre rides out they ride together to concorde going house to house yelling -- and i think we all know what he says. the americans are coming. if i came to your house in the middle of the night, knocked on your door, and yelled that the

americans are coming, you would give me the same look. call revere did not go to those houses and say the british are coming because they are all british. the big reason why there is this issue between american colonies in britain is because the american colonies want to be treated more like british. they feel like they are second-class citizens. focus on the representation part. they are second-class citizens and they don't have any representation in parliament. they see how they are treated in , just therent ways way that george washington complained that he couldn't have any kind of position in the government of virginia because he was american-born. there are lots of indications that people were filled -- people are fed up with being second-class citizens.

they wanted to be treated like britons in britain. they were proud to be british, , and theyot be french wanted to be recognized as british. if you were to come up to any house at that time and say, the british are coming, they would have looked at you very confused. it makes no sense. he leaves three versions of a deposition of his ride that night. said -- probably said something like "the regulars are coming" referring to the regular army's. theas it is depicted in reenactment, "the regulars are turning out." the british to come -- i have to use those terms because it is a modern audience.

on the way to concorde, which is over here, they meet up with the lexington militia on a green that is kind of like a park. the road passes through the south. the british at have stayed on the road and passed them. they were standing in protest, not really intending for any skirmish. a shot rings out, the first shot. we don't know who shot first, but there are indications that it came from an american spectator on the sidelines. at the end of the day, it didn't matter. first shot rang out. shot first is important dislike in star wars. it is kind of hard to see here. han solo in 1977 shoots a bounty hunter that is after him for money on behalf of jabba the hutt. he shoots in cold blood this bounty hunter. 1990's, george lucas

remakes the star wars movies and he changes it, digitally altered the scene so that the bounty hunter shoots and han solo fires second. that is a big deal because george lucas felt that han solo needed moral authority. it is the same case for the americans. they felt like whoever shot first was vitally important that the british were seen as the ones who started the war. ones whocans were the had to be the victims to win the hearts and minds as it would be with the french later on in the war. after the first shot in lexington, the british to make their way on harassed to concorde. then there are the militia thanks to paul revere and other writers, many other riders.

they come to concorde and there is ambush upon ambush all the way to lexington. ammunitiont out of until they get to lexington and are relieved to see a reinforcement of british soldiers there. it basically takes them back toward boston. the worst fighting his house to house in a town now called arlington. the result of this daylong battle is that the british find themselves penned up in boston, besieged. way, they didn't find any of these weapons in concorde because they were all hidden ahead of the british arriving. for the next two months, the british are stuck in boston.

they get new officers and soldiers arriving almost daily in may. howe is going to lead in an attempt to bust the sea job and that is what leads to a plan where the british are going to go south. this is the peninsula boston, these are the americans surrounding them. there is a peninsula to the south. now it is part of boston. it is a no man's land. there are no houses. the british are going to send troops by boat. there is a real town there but because the troops are on one side and americans are on the other, they abandon the town. 1775, it is also a no

man's land. however, the american intelligence network is also good. instead of waiting for the 16tish, they decide on june that they are going to do a preemptive maneuver and create a readout out of earth on a hill in charlestown, very near the british in boston. they hope it can rain down on boston and put the british at risk. the british will decide that morning, june 17, when they discover this new fortification that they are going to meet the americans in the first real pitched battle of the war. meanwhile, it takes the british a little while to cross the river by boat. there is basically a four foot or five foothill of dirt they

created here and they extended out into one long line. here, there is a fence. the fence is basically reinforced with another fence ahead. the americans think that they are ready. is on the field and he is dismayed to see that this fence, which was his intended path -- he is going to try to circle around and surround the americans on the hill -- he is dismayed to see that this was put up as he was transitioning across the river, but he is happy to see a secret way yet undiscovered by the americans. eigbeach is actually about ht to ten feet below the battlefield, about four or five feet wide, rocky, and there are no americans.

the british plan is going to be heir lightest troops, which they call the light infantry, up that beach. the plan is that they are going to get around americans and everyone will surround them basically. hopefully the americans will disburse -- will disburse. that is the plan. new hampshire send some troops over there. one of their kernels determines that the beach is actually open. dozenides to put a couple theycans down there and put together a little kabul .ence with a couple of rocks the british have bayonets, the americans have no bayonet.

here's what happens next. i will read from the book briefly. his defendersand held their fire at the elegant column of light infantry moved up the beach toward them. slowly, they approached the stake in the ground faced earlier by stark, perhaps a fusilier noticed it as he marched by. the british column was determined to plow through starks man with bayonets alone. they held the barrels steadied to a level when some new england er game in order. fired first,alf the others fired next as the first reloaded. their musket balls formed a wall of red that flung toward the helpless british which ripped into them, their bodies tumbling

off the beach and into the river. they struggled to maneuver over the carnage. the new hampshire man kept an almost incessant fire on them, mowing them down for any time, ranked by rank. -- officers hiram and privates fell. the officers shouted and tried somesh their men on, but british blindly fired the muskets and had to replace the kabul fence defenders, a fatal mistake. the redcoats lingered within the lethal range of american muskets. causing british bodies to pile -- causing british spies to pile up. the men in the back continued forward. the british officers somehow

managed to drive the following companies forward in a feeble charge. both momentum and initiative were lost. the musketry continue to wipe out the lead british soldiers before the column at last gave way and began to fall back. meanwhile, as they are doing this, the other forces are moving forward but kind of stalling outside a musketry range. and, the british royal navy bombards charlestown because american snipers are there. the light infantry doesn't do what is expected. the fight on the beach doesn't go as the british expect and they retreat. now, general howe has a decision to make. this attack is not meant to be an attack. they are just stalling and waiting for the beach attack to do its job. -- has to makeo a decision. he decides he is going to charges troops on the

battlefield toward the americans. it is not a smart decision, probably one he did because of honor. are behind a four or five foot pile of dirt. they have muskets. muskets are kind of like tubes with balls in them. if you could take a two, put it on a tripod, and aim it at a target 50 feet away, they are so inaccurate. the ball just bounces down the tube and it flies out. the risk of actually getting shot by a musket is very low. the reason why they march in lines is that if you get a bunch of guys together and they all should together that some of those shots will hit the target. , now youyou do fire have about 30 seconds it will take you to reload.

probably a little slower because you are nervous because you have guys running at you with blades on their guns. by the way, you don't have any bayonets. basically, the americans have come to a knife fight without a knife. the british have blades, every .ne of them the muskets are long in the bayonets are long. the americans basically don't have any of that. british simply continue forward once the musket balls and certainly out you can fire beyond 50 feet and hit something, but they are wildly inaccurate past 50 feet. if they keep their lines and get within lethal range and charged toward the americans, the americans will have no choice but to retreat. but that is not what happened.

so, they move forward, the american start shooting, and the british make a fatal mistake and they stop and shoot back. the americans are behind four or five foot tall piles of dirt or rail fences stuffed with a. the british are standing out in the open. it doesn't go well for the british. they suffer extreme casualties and they finally retreat. howe has to figure out what he will do differently. he repositions the troops into column formation. becausel make sense it's the first couple of troops in a column which is about four guys wide and hundreds deep, even if they do get shot down, there are so many more behind that you can't stop the momentum. the americans won't be able to

stop the momentum. right, theysh position just like before. they hope the americans are going to fall for it. cooley march of forward and then they prepared to do a charge. as the british through near, the americans held their fire, waiting until the redcoats were closer, uncomfortably closer. suddenly, all at once, the british left-wing broke their stride and rushed forward. on the british right, the frontline comprised of grenadier's and light infantry , firing from a safe distance. the second line suddenly

maneuvered into a column in search left. ,hey instantly charged left passing the british field artillery. in an instant, almost the entire british assault had become a swarm of columns. redoubtprised the defenders, but they help their fire. theecame clear that position was no longer affected so they began firing. what happens next is that the light infantry stays over here and fires from a distance to keep the defenders in check. just storms into and over these earthen works into the americans. again, the americans do not have bayonets, but the british do. on the very far british left,

one is a marine lieutenant and he realizes that his troops are kind of mixed with some of the other companies and have gotten disorganized. he talks to the officers next to him and they agreed to charge in and over the redoubt. ward had come to the feel that he is in the redoubt as well as a volunteer, working with colonel prescott, the american in charge. the marine asks his officers to a line and charge with the bayonets. together, the three files storm passed the hedges, through the ditch, and up the ramparts. refocuses hisly gang he defenders in that direction, meeting the valiant british charge with stiff resistance. includingalties british captain campbell.

but, there were to be redcoats for the rebel defenders. as the british began mounting the western parapet, they began mowing them down. the next wave of soldiers took their place, firing into the redoubt. of shot hit the thigh colonel greeley. the british pour into the readout. they moment later, the british port in from all sides -- poured in from all sides. a vicious and bloody melee. the british swarmed in. lieutenant waller wrote, "i can't begin to describe the horror of the scene within the redoubt. soldiers stabbing some and bashing out the brains of others. a site to dreadful for me to dwell any longer on."

grotesque, intense fighting. by the way, there is a reinforcement of british ready to come over. the result is that the americans are forced to retreat. they don't have bayonets, they can't fight at close range. during the retreat, there are stories about dr. joseph ward -- dr. joseph warren. one story is that he is shot in the back of the head while he is rushing out. another is that he gave a dying speech before he was shot. a third is that he is shot in the face as he is rallying some of the retreating americans to shoot one more volley into the oncoming british. the reinforcement does come over and they pursue the americans also. this is dr. joseph warren. was reinterreden

four times at his photograph would -- and his skull was photographed by his nephew. nobody put a ruler in here to size, but through the warrencs of dr. joseph that some have done, they were try to get some measurement year. here is the blast out of the back of the skull. the entry shot is determined at about a half an inch in diameter. the musket of the british soldiers carried was three quarters of an inch. the shot is smaller which means it is probably a pistol shot. a pistol is carried by either an officer or an officer's servant. they have servants, either civilians from home, or they hand-picked a soldier.

whoever it was, the most important thing to take away from this picture is that the muzzle velocity of guns at that time was very low. that means he was shot at very and the story was probably true. he definitely saw his assailant and that was probably the last thing he saw. that is probably why he was forgotten, because he died early in the war. he was the first martyr of the revolution. he was very well loved in massachusetts. he may have been a future u.s. president. unfortunately, we will never know. what was the point of the battle of bunker hill? now, the british have charlestown peninsula. they are still surrounded and dorchester remains open. they meanwhile put 2600 officers

and soldiers into the fight, not counting the reinforcement that comes over later, of which 41% are killed or wounded. almost half of the fighting arce is killed or wounded for peninsula that no one really needed or cared for. the british now have to extend peninsulass to two to protect morland. -- georgemeanwhile washington tried to figure out later how many americans find the battle. because there was no real organization, no one really knows for sure. george washington estimated that perhaps 3000 participated overall. they would come and go throughout the day. it is believed that no more than 2000 were there at once of which 22% killed or wounded or captured by the british when they took the field.

they have a little garrison on this island. they gained nothing. do they have a little elbow room, maybe. but they are still stock and that is the issue. george washington is already been selected by the continental congress take over the militia because it is a mess organizationally, and turn them into a new continental army. and yet he is on his way to boston before the battle of bunker hill. i believe he is around new york during the battle of bunker hill. he never meets dr. joseph warren. data of bunker hill kind of the turning point in leadership. kind of turnsren over the revolution with washington coming over. e takes over as the

new commander and it will be howe vs. washington for most of the rest of the war. washington gets to massachusetts. thedes trying to assemble content alarming, he has almost no guns to drive the british from boston. he also has a major british force in canada which he has very strong concerns that they will come down and break the siege of boston, which is in fact there a. they authorize a new campaign into canada. personally, i never learned any of this in elementary school. i had no idea that canada was involved. to the condoited congress as the 14th colony. there were others invited other than the 13 that came. benedict arnold is one of the two key men in this campaign.

he goes up through maine and goes up through quebec city. there are some stages along lake champlain and up through montreal where he ultimately meets benedict arnold at quebec city. i will not give everything away in the book, but the battle of quebec city is a fight during a blizzard on new year's eve 1775. up to this point, the walled city of quebec has never been breached. in the french and indian war, the way that the british wanted from the french was they finally go to the french commander to come out of his fortress onto the field in front of it and that is where the english beat the french and took the city. the french would have stayed in the city, it would have still been french.

the ultimate result of the campaign into canada is that it is successful. it is long enough by general washington to forced the evacuation of boston. the key thing here is that the guns they needed were in for ticonderoga. that was upstate new york near saratoga and albany. they were taken in may of 1775 but nobody had brought the guns to the boston area. ofis sent there in december 1775 and ds to bring these back. the stories are that he carried , pulling guns by oxen these guns over the berkshires and frozen rivers into the boston area where washington could use them.

.f course, he had no oxen this is not true at all. he had mostly horses. the reason that this myth is interesting is that a lot of people go to george washington's letters, they see this letter from knox saying, i am bringing the guns, 134 heads of austin, artillery. then, after that letter is sent, negotiates with the local guy who has a monopoly on oxen. the local guys like i am the only guy in town who has got them. you are getting funded by places like virginia that is wealthy. i'm going to charge you triple. when a couple of days back and forth with this guy and finally said, i am done. it is not entirely accurate to .ay that he didn't use any oxen

in a few key places, he would find a farm where they would let him an ox for one day or just for that spot. for the most part, it was for the most part it was horses that carried all the guns to massachusetts. inh those guns massachusetts, dorchester, the south of boston, on the eve of the boston massacre march 4 is which is the eve, march 5 is the putsersary, washington these guns in a new ford, just did for bunker hill. he puts them on hills in dorchester and he knows the new englanders will fight more fiercely march 5, the anniversary of the boston massacre. the british wake up on march 5, see another fort, this time with guns and they decide, general howe decides he's going in boats and attack the americans fortified in

dorchester. it's basically bunker hill again. general howe didn't learn anything. he just lost 41% of his guys and maybe he's going to wipe out the rest of them. here's the issue with this. i glossed over it because canada out not to be a big deal at the battle of bunker hill on the american side because they didn't know how to use them yet have a they do and they lot more guns and on heights overlooking boston. the reason howe has to do these gunss because can hit anywhere in boston and they're too high for him to shoot back at. his guns cannot get a ball that high. they're on the hill, they can down on boston. meanwhile, john hancock, the richest man in boston, has given washington approval to destroy the town if need be, whatever done to get the british out of boston. general howe has no choice. haveoyal navy doesn't better luck shooting balls up towards the heights.

somethinglly do called on the uproll, so when a of water goes by, and the boat rocks up, you can fire the but it'sttle higher still not high enough. they have no way to put the americans on dorchester heights at risk except by landing troops on justng the americans like at the battle of bunker hill. theould be fatal for americans. i'm sorry, fatal for the british. meanwhile, the weather is really poor. some people call it a hurricane. some people call it a nor'easter. a gale.ple call it whatever it is, once the british are beached, they on castle island. they decide to postpone the to that night. meanwhile, the americans basically refortify and positions allir throughout the weather to the point that general howe calls off the attack. so weather prevents what would have been the battle of

dorchester heights. they agree to terms. this is march 5. march 17, st. patrick's british finally, every last one of them, are out of boston. regroup in nova scotia with plans to come here in new york. york, it makes sense for them. the royal navy can support them surround thecan island and there are a lot of loyalists in new york so the plan is to move the campaign to and that's where all the fighting will be from 1776 onward. happens before independence. the declaration of independence war.t the start of the one of the things i thought interesting when i was trying to get this book published, some of the people i was talking to early on said, well, we're very interested in things that wepened before the war but want to know about things july 4, 1776,

onward. i explained one does not simply and revolt against your home government unless a lot of things happen and of course the begins in april 17 75.l 17 i wanted to leave you with a final thought. if you think america's divided today, i try to find the most serious looking pictures of both of these two. i was trying to position them so other.re staring at each [laughter] derek: i would argue that we've been divided. it goes back to the beginning. civilample, we have the war. captain america versus ironman, i don't know if you saw it. i'm on team captain random. have the real civil war. clearly a divide.

we fought over that one. a major controversy waging throughout the country, especially in georgia. i don't know if you know about it here in new york. that's coke versus pepsi. there andf you go have a pepsi, that's not going to happen. goes backint is, it to the beginning. we've always had some kind of thesion, even in revolution. it's easy to think in retrospect, yes, i would be a patriot but would you be? your you be willing to put finances, house, livelihood at risk to support a revolt against lawful government? and the question probably the on wheno it depends specifically you're thinking about it so if you're asking this question before any shots are fired, you're probably more likely to be a loyalist, or a pacifist maybe but not really committed to armed revolt george iii. as things happen like battle of

bunker hill, you're probably fight because the now violent. it depends also on which colony you are. in new york, there are a lot more loyalists which is partly moved theitish campaign to new york. however, in massachusetts, only 20% were loyalists. pacifists, there were a lot of them that were truly pacifists in pennsylvania. in other colonies were didn't wanteclared, to pick sides. that was the case with canada which is why they didn't send the continental congress. it's an interesting, rhetorical question and if you think about in modern times, there's also revolutionary forces of sorts even today. i suspect being in the american i would be a loyalist. i want to say i'm a patriot. with that, there are any

questions? [applause] audience: dr. warren's body and in front ofa grave earth works and chop him up and it wasn't until a year latter to identify him by examining his teeth. buried at the battle by the earth works and he was thrown in with no ceremony americanher unknown soldier. he was not chopped up. but, yes, he was identified by paul revere's handy work. knownonsidered the first forensic dentistry. paul revere, as a silver smith, no true dentistry. he just dabbled in dentistry and he put a silver wire to connect an ivory tooth in warren's mouth

to identify his handiwork and determine that yes, that is dr. joseph warren's skull. that's true, yeah. audience: i'd like to know what dr. warren?ctor was derek: you mean specifically? audience: physician? derek: there were no specialties at that time. there are two categories, you're physician or surgeon. and surgeons, while they're respectable today, they were considered the low form of being a physician back then. and it's a strange thing. physicians were generalists but they didn't do any cutting. they would send you to a surgeon and the guy that gets his hands bloody is the lower quality guy. yes, sir. audience: did americans actually cannons they had at dorchester hill? derek: they did fire some shots. i glossed over dorchester but

days prior to, firing all around boston, just to get the british kind of confused and unprepared assault that's coming so they're firing all around and sort of the british are kind of defenses on all sides of boston because they don't know what's going to happen but yes, there are some shots. but there's really no attack, per se, on boston, it's mostly shots.rmless yes, sir. audience: what episode is the book, then?f your what period does it end? what date? it ends on 1776,imately march 17, which is the british evacuation of boston, and it's leading up, a cliffhanger setup for the new york campaign. these two books are potentially part of a series and there may be more books. no one has ever written a series of books covering the entire

revolution, probably because and it's hard and the war doesn't end until 1781. is 17 83 but the fighting, 1781. started the project, it but it's now apt miniseries, which is part of the why i live in los angeles. if you're familiar with "band of brothers," think "band of brothers" set in the revolution. you read it, it's visual and cinematic because i see the scenes when writing them. questions? audience: knowing warren's revolution,o the why did he not stay off the battlefield, especially with the other leaders gone? and why didn't he go to the congress anyway? was actually offered -- well, they considered offering him a position as surgeon general for the new army

but they knew he wouldn't take it. was just a guy that had to be in the middle of it all. the fight --ly in i glossed over that, too, but monosomee, where the fighting was when the andish went out to concord back, he was there on that fight, as well, and a shot passed through his hair and the pin holding his hair up so he almost died there. but he's just the type of person had to be in the fight. but he went as a volunteer so prescott as well as general putnam, a connecticut guy, were both at the battle and they offered their command to warren because of and warrenct for him was just approved to be a major the new -- well, in the massachusetts army, the quiteental army wasn't assembled yet, but the paper work, like bureaucracy today, work wasn't done yet so he wasn't a major general yet

but he came to the battlefield volunteer and in both cases, putnam and prescott offered their command and he said i don't know what i'm doing, i'm just here as a volunteer and i want to learn from you guys because you've been setting up these fortifications and i want to learn and be in the fight. that was his -- attitude. ofwanted to be the true form leadership, literally being in the fight at the front, not at back. audience: i have a question. two questions, actually. as your editor and as a native of concord, massachusetts, who do you think actually started revolution, concord or lexington? that's not my real question. the things you do so well, derek, is you bring to light these characters and these who kind of were lost in history, and everything that happened

throughout the american revolution and certainly leading up to it. i'm curious to know, besides dr. warren, is there anyone else feel like really hasn't been given their due, who really be as a historical figure and member who was a big influence in the early days of revolution? derek: i think richard oftgomery, maybe not as big an influence as dr. joseph warren, but he's the guy that i of those two one prongs up to quebec city. giventainly hasn't been his due. he's buried here in new york, though. away what not to give happens in the battle of quebec for those who don't know the he's certainly an incredible leader and he's -- ignored, he's is often ignored but he is one of the good generals at the early start of the revolution. audience: to what do you

attribute the failure of canada to join the american revolutionary cause? ofek: there's a couple answers to that. for the first continental invited, they were not the canadians. part of the complaints the continental congress sent to england that was they were appalled that britain was treating massachusetts with such oppression while being liberal to the catholics in canada. how thetalked about continental congress wrote about the -- how england had fought many wars with france to catholicism out of the british isles and now, thanks to andfrench and indian war canada and quebec -- canada and interchangeable terms in this time -- becoming part of catholicism was part of the empire, as well,

officially part of british america. congresscontinental complained of this to britain, the people, the government in canada, learned about this. so nevertheless, in the battle the campaign into canada, there are canadians that fight on both sides and those are fighting on the american side, there are some are also a lotre of just people like probably england up that way as it became officially part couldtish america so they now freely move from colony to colony, while on the british side, a lot of those that were fighting were actually the retirees from the british army in had been given land exchange for going and settling and putting that british and quebec. canada so there's a lot of interesting of canada. audience: do you know about when

actually casualty happened? i've heard all kinds -- i've 1770, it wasy as the first casualty, on "lives bill o'reilly"h and he said the first casualty an 11-year-old boy, in the boys of the revolution. this is something i've heard. derek: so i -- first of all, i of thatatch any "legends and lives" but i'm told for midnightt episode. but the answer is, it depends on start of thet the american revolution so it's academic, really. american revolution is a political movement. the revolutionary war is the fighting within that larger umbrella term, the american revolution. and i think no one would argue that the revolutionary war began and concord in

april 19, 1775. when the american revolution begins is a harder thing to answer. itot of people would say began with the end of the french and indian war because the whole problem came because because britain needed money all their depleted treasury to pay for this war, really fought to defend the the 13 boundary of colonies against the french and indians and established this new boundary so the french the seven was also years' war in europe so became a of sorts and was hugely expensive for the british so they needed to raise revenue and a lot of people would argue that's the start of the american thatution because needing revenue needs new taxes, taxation without representation, protests in america. it depends on how you define the americanthe revolution, i guess.

audience: is there a book you joseph warren, bio? derek: biography? by dr. samuel foreman. most recent biographer. it's the most up to date. old was dr. warren at the time of the revolution and who would you like to play the miniseries? derek: i forget his exact age. 34 or 35. i don't remember exactly. a young -- yeah, he's guy and he's very accomplished and he's a well respected doctor boston. i have no idea who. know.t [indiscernible] derek: harvard, as he might say. so harvard was interestingly

enough, there's no medical school at harvard yet. he's also kind of a proponent of a harvard medical school and was he the training would actually -- this was illegal -- but they would a cluby -- they had where they stole bodies from a cemetery to do, like, autopsies stuff to learn anatomy because you had to learn it from books. was considered unacceptable formerlyly use any live specimens to learn. proponent of a harvard medical school. i believe his brother was kind that actually made that happen later on. but the other part is that really, you had two degree options. founded as a clergy kind of school where you could learn to be a preacher. sore you could just get a liberal arts, latin, learn the classics. so that's what most of them did and that's what he did.

he learned the classics and got a liberal arts degree and then apprenticeo as an under an established doctor and that's how you learned to be a doctor. audience: was there any noticeable tension when the outsider from virginia, came up to new england to assume the command of a bunch of new england militias? derek: there was a lot of tension. book. part of the second one of the issues is -- this is crazy to me -- but, so, each militia would vote their officers in for a term depending colony.ounty or the it might be a year or two years. the officers had to curry favor with their men because they didn't want to get vetoed out or re-elected. get so the command was just abysmal. and george washington complained about this in his letters and in his diary. and the other problem was while

the southern colonies were starting to assemble troops to send up to the new continental army, some of the officers were that way and had no men to lead and washington wanted to break this, what we call localism, where, for example, the people of this county will only serve under an officer from ieir county and in no way am going to serve under some guy from, like, north carolina, like that's ridiculous. and so george washington basically broke up all these turned them into mixing people and he was constantly fought. that refused to join the continental army because you had to choose to join the continental army so he was having to re-enlist all these people to the new contract just a mess. and that's part of what he's dealing with while he's lacking powder, while the british are doing other things in and just aboston and it's big mess for him throughout

toember -- well, all the way december 1775. and that's definitely in the book. kind of hard to encapsulate in a presentation. any other questions? audience: i never heard any catholicism ever brought up before in this era. a constantind of undercurrent between france and religious level? it -- aer heard of religious war, proxy war? derek: this wasn't a religious war but later on, the french with the americans against the british in part because they just had this hatred of each other and so after the americans king thatthe french they can win some battles and

the turning point is the battle saratoga, the french decided they're going to support the it's justand part of like so, wait, i get to fight again, and this time i have a good reason to do it because i'm supporting a new nation? yeah, sure, we, the french, will absolutely do this. so they just took the once they were sure the americans could win. but, yeah, there was a lot of fighting. i think it goes back to joan of arc. [indiscernible] derek: not really, no. not at this point. this is more just long, just hatred between the two countries. yes, sir? audience: as a catholic,you owed allegiance to the pope, even the of france owed allegiance to the pope and the english were

anti-catholic because the buck stopped with the king who was the head of the church in england. and so that was the main -- going back to henry, when he broke with the church and created his own church. so -- i mean, created the church of england. oft's why they were kind anti-threak. catholic. in the americas, the only that really had a lot of catholics was maryland. open toania was almost any church but most places were just what ic and was really going to say was that the image of paul revere is label the basis for the on the sam adams beer because sam adams was not an attractive paul revere ased a the model. if you've had enough, sam would look good. derek: was it paul revere or jack black? sir? audience: what was the best

invitereing operations boston at that time? were they nascent or something already up and running? was.: it reallyst sort of navy is these whale boats that they very small cannon but they're fast and surprising a lot of transports coming from england. start to organization. the continental army takes charge ultimately but they're under congress initially and they actually sanctioned and boats to ships be built later on in the fall of the whaleyeah, boaters are really the first seas and they're hindering the resupply of the boston. penned up in it's a big issue for the british. and actually that's one of the -- the charming nancy is one major transport the americans privateerse of the

and the charming nancy has a ton of gun powder and muskets and stuff. everything the americans needed with one transport ship they got it all. they didn't get it all but they got a lot of it. any other questions? it.or audience: i heardhere were a of people warning the americans, not just paul revere. is that true or not? revere wasn't really famous until longfellow wrote reasonm and the longfellow wrote the poem is because he was trying to arouse patriotism ahead of the civil war and he did a good job know who paul revere is. but paul revere, actually, he far beforee very he's captured by the british. longfellow failed to mention that, i guess. israel bissile -- i forget how far. paul revere and william dawes

from concord,der they meet up on the road and this rider goes to concord, brother and then the network just spreads. and it's -- there's hundreds of riders by the end. it's just like gossip or it just spreads. and it even reaches a little camp in central kentucky, and they decide to after the first shot at lexington and that is lexington, kentucky. to get there but it only takes days to get down to and i don't remember the exact time it. might be within a day or two. to georgia,way down within a couple of weeks, much knows about the first shot. so paul revere, he helped get started but william dawes kind of goes home after the british but thepaul revere network continues from concord on.

so it's really the people of concord -- [indiscernible] actually a poem about william dawes that makes longfellowfact that only wrote about revere and dawes.cares about [indiscernible] derek: i can't remember the poem out a way to do it. [indiscernible] derek: he's a courier and he's rides.y the famous midnight ride is just one of them. several false alarm rides he did before april 18 why warren sent dawes as a precaution and waited until he saw firsthand that the british were mustering the before sending revere because he didn't want to

send another false alarm and it was because of the previous false alarm that revere set up the plan that if he got trapped town of boston, that the byterns, one by land, two if sea, because he was concerned that after that there might be roaming and hes wouldn't be able to get around them. questions? all right. [applause] derek: thank you for coming out. [captions performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] >> thank you for coming tonight. sale in thee on back and derek will be signing copies. next month forou the evening lecture. >> you are watching american history tv on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook.

now the contenders, our series on political figures who ran for president and lost and changed political history. tonight we feature al smith, the in 1928.c candidate this program was recorded at the new york state assembly chamber in albany, new york. this is american history tv on c-span3. sen. mccain: i come here tonight knowing i am the underdog in these final weeks. if you know where to look, there are signs of hope. even in the most unexpected places. even in this room full of proud manhattan democrats. i can't shake that feeling that some people here are pulling for me. [applause] link that some people here are pulling for me. [applause] [applause]