army. we are still doing a hybrid hearing, which means some members, as you will see, participating virtually, and we have rules for that. so i will read those rules and then we'll get started. members who are joining remotely must be visible on screen for the purposes of identity verification, establishing, maintaining a quorum, participating and voting. those members must continue to use the software platform while in attendance unless they experience connectivity issues or other technical problems that render them unable to participate on camera. if a member experienced technical difficulties they should contact the staff for assistance. voof members participation will be broadcast in the room and via the television and internet feeds. members participating remotely must seek recognition verbally and they're asked to mute their microphones when not speaking. members participating remotely are reminded to keep the software platform function on the entire time they attend the proceeding. m

army. not an acting secretary. this is a momentous day for us, so appreciate to have you here and congratulations on your confirmation and appointment. and general james mcconville, chief of staff of the u.s. army. we are still doing a hybrid hearing which means some members, as you will see, are participating virtually, and we have rules for that, so i will read those rules, and then we'll get started. members must be visible on screen for the purposes of identification, establishing and maintaining a quorum, participating in the proceeding and voting. those members must continue to use the video function while in attendance unless they experience connect utah issues or problems that render them unable to participate on camera. if a member has issues, they should contact a member of the committee staff. members participating remotely must seek recognition verbally, and they are asked to mute their microphones when they are not speaking. members are reminded the keep the video function on t

army. we are still doing a hybrid here in, which means some members, as you will see, are participating virtually. and we have roles for that, so i will read those roles and then we'll get started. members who are joining remotely must be visible on screen for the purposes of identity verification. establishing and maintaining of quorum, -- and voting, those members must continue to use the software platform and video function while in attendance experience connectivity issues or other technical problems. further if there are nine able to participate on camera, of a member experiences technical difficulties patient contact the staff for systems. video members of participation will be broadcast to the room via television internet feet. those -- asked to meet new their microphones where they are not. speaking members who are participating remotely or amounted to keep the software platform video function on the entire function they attend the precip. members may join appreciating its members d

many were new to the army. keep in mind, one of the reasons mark was talking earlier today about the president campaign, why such a big deal, the army was disintegrating. the army had -- their enlistments were expired. expiring. the army was bleeding troops all through 76. when they win the battles, a bit of a miracle within themselves, and go into winter quarters at morristown in northern new jersey, there wasn't much of the army left. so they have to spend the entire winter spring, i would argue to the summer months of 1777, bringing in new recruits, forming regiments through greats. they're almost building the army all over again yes, some of the senior and ceos and officers do realist. a lot of the rank and file had not served in 76. so very little combat experience for many of the units going into the battle of brandy wine. who commands the two brigades? one of the brigades should've been commanded by general william small would. he detached earlier from the campaign to help raise the marilyn militia. he's

army. washington decides to escape, john carver and marble heckman gather all the folks in manhattan and they manned the boats. the army across the east river this is not in east easy task. the wind is not cooperating and on top of that, a loyalist sees what's happening sent and enslaved individual in her household trying to inform how the americans are escaping. this individual waters upon soldiers to speak german and they are notnd able to understad what he's trying to say but the americans are evacuating. they don't even know until a couple of hours before that he had to pull off the greatest retreat in american history and they manned the boat and as they did, the wind doesn't cooperate the ties are and think but there's something special about these men. they worked together for years, fishing the grant bank, the most treacherous in the world which makes them unique, there arguably the first diverse regiment in the u.s.. army. here it's african-americans, native americans, hispanic ame

armies. we are falling back and in this case they were falling back behind stone walls and allowing the british to advance still taking down many, many of their numbers. it is here they release a washington's army once again. and you know, from this point they are captured, nearly 3000 americans including some marble headers that were captured early on their basically wounded but recovering for washington are captured by the british. so much of this book consists n of application files that are in many ways the unknown oral histories of the american revolution. if you are lucky enough to survive the american revolution you can apply for pension application in 1820. you down to the local courthouse and swear under oathu that you saw and did. here are some of the great oral history accounts of what happened during the war. it is in their own words. the indispensable's is still with these unknown stories from unknown americans. it is a boots on the ground and of brothers. very much a cinematic t

the naval museum is much bigger than the army's and they basically haveau an army of conquest.y could take any american city and the southern british army was in ireland say nothing of -- the british that they had won the war how do you then maintain a force? >> right and then of course once the french command now you have to, now you have to worry about all of your worldly possessions not just north america. he of the west indies in the story about homeland defense, defending the homeland itself. all of those things start playing into it that they didn't have to worry about before. i agree with you completely. after saratoga and the war move south again i really think only of americans could read themselves but that and that's possible. they could have done that. they could have made some boneheaded errors but they are just right enough to win this thing. >> and the british are sending warships and personnel to the caribbean off of the saratoga and the clintons are expecting to win this but fewer troops. >> clinton is handed an impossible situation. that which goes to show tha

inoculate the army. one historian claims that washington's greatest strategic decision to inoculate the army. then there able to fight and continue the battle. before his the man that was initially was the man that was initially labeled a loyalist dies. he perishes from his own, from basically inoculating the army. those are some of the characters in the book. along with eldridge gary, forgotten founder. my favorite word for eldridge gary rumble terry. he's kind of an ornery guy that was birth. he was the and intellectual mainspring in many ways of the early revolution. eldridge gary that believed in republicanism for small arms. it's service to country over self. and he takes abstract concepts and really makes them reality. he also takes one of the largest trading fleets in the colony which he and his family own and converts them into supply line. as i mentioned earlier, the necessary and was gunpowder. all of the major operations at the british were conducting at the early part of the war were to take

once again saves the army.fight initially close to the landing point but they fall back and it's a collapsible defense. it's kind of an emerging part of the american way of war which is unique h and ever-changing and it's still ever-changing to this day. but we were not using conventional tactics of european armies. we are falling back from a fixed position. in this case they were calling back behind stonewall's and allowing the british to advance still taking down many of their numbers. and it's here that the indispensable's helped really save thewashington's army once again . from this point on, fort washington where many many americans are captured, nearly 3000 americans including some marbleheaders that were captured early on during the, they are basically wounded but are recovering in fort washington. there captured by the british and so much of this book consists of pension application files that are in many ways the unknown oral histories of the american revolution. it you were lucky enough to survive th

many were new to the army. keep in mind that one of the reasons mark was talking earlier today about the princeton campaign, why that's such a big deal, the army was disintegrating. the army had one-year enlistments in 1776 and the enlistments were expiring, and they were bleeding troops the whole tail end of '76. so when they go into winter quarters in morristown in northern new jersey, there wasn't much of the army left. so they have to spend the entire winter spring, and i would argue right through the summer months of 1777 bringing in new recruits, forming new regiments, new brigades, new divisions. they're almost building the army all over again. yes, some of the senior ncos and officers do reenlist, but a lot of the rank and file had not even served in '76. so very little combat experience for many of these units going into the battle of brandywine. two commands the two brigades. one should have been commanded by general william smallwood. he had been detached earlier in the campaign to help raise the mar

, and that army would be -- then i think that army could have been big enough to track down and destroyashington, in the philadelphia campaign. that doesn't happen obviously, but i think that was their best opportunity. it does go back to what mcafee was talking about with strategy. i think really their strategy failed them in that respect in 1777. i argue that in the book, as you know. >> that leads nicely to my next question which is that your book is one of the most comprehensive studies of saratoga. i wish i had it in hand, the timelines enormously useful, very well written and constructed, but you conclude with the generally-accepted view that the british lost because of poor planning and the failure of coordination between lord george germain the chief architect of the war in london, john burgoyne and william howe. i think you have some slides. >> i do. >> what you might like to do is show your slides and give our audience a little background as to what the plan was and where it went wrong, without getting into the actual battle. >> sure. i would ultimately like you to say which c

was able to retreat into fortification at brooklyn heights the british army which had surrounded the american armymy was about to coe up the east river and also the lines were creeping forward it was a peerless time in a time in our history where all can be lost washington had a decision to make was he going to retreat or fight washington decided to retreat this is a time when all can be lost the entire army could be surrounded and destroyed everything rested upon the shoulders of the marblehead men washington decided to retreat he handed across the mile-long river the east river and let me take you back in time to august 29 and august 30 there was a massive nor'easter that pelted both armies for two days straight after the battle of brooklyn this seems like heavene creeping forward into the american position at brooklyn heights in the army was closer and closer to annihilating the american army washingtone decis to escape john glover basically gather all of the boat to manhattan and they man those boats and they fairy the army across the east river. this is not an easy task the east

many were new to the army. keep in mind the reason it's such a big deal the army was disingenuous graded. one year left in 1776 were expiring and army was bleeding troops through the whole tail end of '76 so when they win the battles, can sd bit of a miracle, and go to morristown up in northern new jersey there wasn't much of the army left. and so they have to spend the entire winter spring, and i would argue right through the summer months of 17 it 37 bringing in recruit forming regimen super brigade new division they're almost army all over again. a lot of the rank and file hadn't served. so who commands the super brigades, one should have been commanded by general william smallwood but smallwood had been detached earlier in the campaign to help raise the maryland militia so he's not at brandywine. i think the senior colonel john stone in the picture here is likely commanding the brigade. i can't 100% prove that but this is my best guess. you're into these details these are the regimen of the brigade. the oth

so he was going to have an army -- he did have an army that was considerably smaller than the army that the british had had in america a year before, but despite that, he-- his orders were to bring washington to battle. hold onto new york, hold onto rhode island and implement this new southern strategy that we'll talk about a little bit later on. so he really faced an enormous task and he -- and from the very beginning, clinton knew that he was up against it. my fate is hard, as he put it. and in a letter that he wrote almost immediately after being named commander, he said that he thought it was inevitable that britain would lose the war and he feared that he would be scapegoated for the loss of the war. and it turned out that he was prescient because after yorktown many people in england did scopegate clinton and game him arguing that he was passive, that he wasn't a risk taker, that he wasn't dynamic enough, that he had not done enough, they argued to have won a war that britain could have won and i think that most of those arguments were picked up by historians down the road. so tha

has been very small in the naval museum is much bigger than the army museum.laughter]te . . . . once they come in now you have to worry about all your possessions, not just north america. you have to worry about homeland defense depending the home of itself. all those things play into it but they didn't have to worry about before. i agree with you completely, after saratoga and work moved south, i think only americans could have beaten themselves at that time. that's possible, they could have p that, really boneheaded errors but they are just right enough to win this thing. >> sending more personnel to the caribbean b to saratoga and they are expecting to win this with fewer troops. >> they probably are. >> saratoga is the turn of why people need to leave that. i really enjoyed this discussion. >> i have, too. it's wonderful and thank you to the thomas jefferson foundation and the whole team. thank you for participating. appreciate it. ♪♪ >> book tv on c-span2, top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. saturday 10:00 p.m. eastern on "afterwards", for xer

the american army. washington decides to escape and john glover they gather all of the votes in manhattan and a man those in fairy the army across the east river and enslaved individual to inform how the americans are escaping. this individual speaks german and they cannot understand what he is trying to say fortunately. but the americans are evacuating don't even know what a couple hours before he has to pull off the greatest retreat in american and world history and a man the doubts and then the wind doesn't cooperate but there is something very special about these men. they have worked together for years fishing the grand banks what makes them unique they are arguably the first regiment in unitedd states army here and is african-americans native americans all working together it is a situation where race did not matter where literally the weather could kill people. and they were relying upon one another that night to pull off one of thehe greatest retreats in history writing across the river. the tid

the navy is much bigger than the army they basically had an army conquest, they take any american cityupation and the british army was nothing but -- the british could not have dealt with them unless they won the war, how do you been maintained force? >> right and once the print come in, now you have to worry about all of your possessions, not just north america, west indies, you can worry about homemade defense, defending the home itself. all of those things start playing into it that they didn't have to worry about before so i agree with you completely. after saratoga the war moved south, i really think only the american could have been themselves up a time and that is possible, they could have done that, they could have made boneheaded errors they are just right enough to win this thing. >> the british sent more ships and personnel to the caribbean. ... saratoga is why >> . >> >> good evening everyone welcome to our book talk this evening. i am joined here from the historical society joining the program tonight so if you have questions at any point throughout the discussion

army. washington decides to escape john in the marblehead men, they basically gather all in manhattan and manned the votes boats and they fairy the army across the east river. this is not an easy task. the reverse are swelling, the wind is notot cooperating and on top of that, a loyalist sees what's happening sent andnd enslaved individual within her household to the british lines to inform how the americans are escaping.ic this individual wonders upon soldiers who speak german and they are not able to understand what he's trying to say, fortunately but the americans are evacuating, he doesn't even know it until a couple of hours before the evacuation he had to pull off one of the greatest retreat in american history ande they manned the boat and as they did, the wind doesn't cooperate and tides are horrendous but there is something very special about these men. they worked together for years, fishing the grand bank, the most treacherous waters in the world. what makes them unique is they a

he decides to move the rest of the army south. so yes, they move through that area but hopefully it plays no role. >> we are getting close to the end of our time. i just want to come back to my thoughts of the counterinsurgency and get your reaction. one is the extensive support of the rubber one - - rebellion a resolution and how often we get that wrong. of course we talk to america or britain to give the exaggerated account and then to tell people in london just before yorktown with the americans to support the british but he always insisted on that. when the situation is fluid people are changing sides and in those modern methods for the opinion poll but we still can't get the accurate representation but it seems to me and those to get a sanctuary to the american ships because the dutch were sending vital supplies. the british army has always been very small the real pride is the navy. the naval museum is much bigger. [laughter] so basically of an army of conquest. about one third of the british army if the british had won the

whether the army— say "bring in the army.he army wants to be brought in is another matter.— the army wants to be brought in is another matter. obviously an army that's a little _ another matter. obviously an army that's a little bit _ another matter. obviously an army that's a little bit smaller— another matter. obviously an army that's a little bit smaller than - another matter. obviously an army that's a little bit smaller than it - that's a little bit smaller than it was 20 years ago when it was brought and then to deal with all those animal corpses. let's deal if we can with another practical side of this, david. the york shire posted saying food workers are told that you can skip isolation. judging by the list, it's a little more obligated than that, companies have to apply. yes. there's that — that, companies have to apply. yes. there's that and _ that, companies have to apply. yes. there's that and it _ that, companies have to apply. yes. there's that and it is _ that, companies have to apply. yes. there's that and it

the british army has always been very small. their real pride is the navy. >> that's right. >> much bigger than the army. >> right. >> and, you know, they basically had an army of conquest they could take any american city, but [inaudible] occupation. about a third of the british army was in [inaudible]. >> right. >> the british couldn't have dealt with -- [inaudible]. if they won the war, how do you maintain by force -- >> right, right, and then of course once the french come in, now you have to, you know, now you have to worry about all of your overseas possessions, not just north america, you know, the west indies, you have to worry about home land defense, defending the homeland itself, all those things started playing into it that they didn't have to worry about before. i agree with you completely. i mean, once -- after saratoga and the war moves south, again, i really think that only the americans could have beaten themselves at that point. that's possible. they could have done that. they could have made some really bone-h

, he did have an army that was considerably smaller in the army that thero british pattern america ar before but despite that, his orders were to bring washington to battle, hold on to new york, hold onto rhode island they left this new southern strategy that we will talk about later on so he faced an enormous task and from the beginning, clinton knew he was up against it. my fate is hard, as he put it in a letter he wrote almost immediately after being named commander, he said he thought it was inevitable that britain would lose the war and he feared he would be scapegoated for the laws of the world and it turned out he was pressing get because after yorktown, many people in england did scapegoat went in and blamed clinton arguing that he'd been too passive, he wasn't a risk taker, he wasn't dynamic enough, he just had not done enough, they argued to have won a war that britain could have run. most of the arguments were picked up by historians down the road so clinton's reputation in the literature has suffered as well. i tried to argue in the book that many of those allegations are

he did have an army that was considerably smaller than the army the british had had in america one year before. despite that, his orders were to bring washington to battle, hold on to new york. hold on to rhode island to implement a new southern strategy we will implement later on. so he has an enormous task and from the very beginning, he knew he was up against it. my faith is hard as he put it. and then a letter he wrote almost immediately after being named commander, he said he thought it was inevitable to britain to win the war and he feared he would be scapegoated for the war and it turns out he was prescient because after yorktown many people in england did scapegoat clinton and they blamed him arguing he was too passive and not a risk taker. he was not dynamic enough. he on - - they had not just enough they argue to win the war that britain could have one. i think most of those arguments were picked up by historians down the road so that clinton's reputation in the literature has suffered as well. and i tried to argue in the book that many of those allegations are not true. other

now back to the continent army. life liberty and the pursuit of happiness when those words were made public in 1776. africans have been enslaved in british north america for almost 160 years in african-american have been deflating 14 months for the cause of american independence in the continental army navy and states militia. not from another 89 years with slavery slavery in the united states believed. that you answer the warfare independence approximately 500,000 african-american lived in the colonies of whom some 450,000 were enslaved. black spot and provincial regiments prior to the war and roughly 5,000 african-american soldiers and sailors free and slave served the revolutionary cause well accurate numbers are hard to come by the american population at the time was approximately some 2.1 million free blacks comprised 2.4% of the overall population and slaves formed 21.5% black soldiers motivation for joining the condor army and their treatment while serving are important to any discussion of the military exper

in early 1781, daniel morgan has left the army. he has returned home to winchester, to the winchester area. he's suffering from a lot of really, a lot of health issues. he has been passed over a few times for command. he feels like he has not gotten his due. but certainly his health at this point is beginning to fail him. but morgan agrees to raise a group of men to march over the mountains into the lost river valley into the south fork valley and put an end to claypool's rebellion before he -- before it can snowball out of control. so, he will assemble 400 men from the surrounding counties. they will march over the mountains. and, if you look at the map, you can see the winchester area. over the mountains and into the south branch valley. and they are going to first stop at john claypool's property as they are marching out and it is here that claypool and his rebels confront daniel morgan. there is a brief exchange of gunfire. john brake, claypool's second-in-command, is killed in the exchange. claypool himself and most of the oth

he became the commander of the british army and learned of his appointment in may of 1778. he was the third british commander during the war. gage had been there for many years before the revolution and was recalled after the disasters along concord road and bunker hill and general william howe succeeded and when he was commander in 76 and 77 and resigned after saratoga so then he was named the commander he was from an aristocratic family. his father was a career naval officer who became the royal governor of new york and spent some of his formative years and new york city. he fought in two wars before the revolutionary war and earned a reputation as a brave, courageous, risk-taking soldier who was seriously wounded in an engagement in germany in the seven year war in the early 1760s. he was an intellectually curious individual. he read especially deeply on military history and strategy and in the year before the war broke out out of his own pocket he paid to make the trip deep into eastern europe between the russians and the turks hoping to learn more about the military st

, he did have an army that was considerably smaller than the army at the british had had in america thefore. but despite that, his orders were to bring washington to battle and hold onto new york and holland to run on and implement this new southern strategy talked about a little bit later on. because he really face an enormous task and from the very beginning, clinton new that he was up against, he's in my face as hard as he put it. then a letter that he wrote almost immediately after being named commander. he said that he thought it was inevitable that britain would lose the war he feared that he would be scapegoated for the loss. the loss of the warden turned out that he was - because after yorktown, any people in england dead scapegoat clinton. the blamed clinton arguing that he has two passive and he wasn't a risk taker, he wasn't dynamic enough. he just had not done enough to argue to, nor the president could have one. and i think that most of those arguments were picked up by historians ten the road. so that clinton's reputation in the literature has offered as well. in a try to

whatever and the american army. but even the british army in many cases the men were ill provision, ill-equipped and whatever. it was really a tough go for these guys. we're coming through a pandemic now faced disease not from disease it's a risky difficult they face. while he might've been willing to serve under both generals i'm glad i did not deserve the wear on either side. >> she has h a question or she's dying to ask it hasn't one of the other characters. at the connecticut person has to do with being on both sides of the war. benedict arnold is he a true trader or just a guy who wanted to study? [laughter] 's convicted is kind of the million dollar question looked at that and cannot get entirely in arnold's mind to know what was going on in there. but let me try to answer it this way. he has some legitimate grievances for my promotion unfairly, unjustly. and then when he became the military commander that were regarded as tory families who was the daughter is actually prosecuted for financial speculation. had

some of these guys, especially the deserters from the army, go back into the army, say we were wrong, we'll go help the war effort. it really falls most heavily on the ringleaders. >> sure. one more question. we have a couple of other questions that we don't have a lot of time for. i will e-mail them to you and we'll get the answers. >> sure. >> i will get to blaine's question here. were these and other loyalist groups aware of other groups in the area, activities or activists in other parts of the colonies? did they ever create some kind of loyalist network, pockets of rebellions? did they ever try to get together in some fashion and work together? >> that's a great question. that is a really good question. in the minds of the congressional authorities, they absolutely believe this was part of a widespread conspiracy, that there was coordination between these groups. that's kind of the difference between what's happening in 1781 and what happened earlier in the war, this belief that this is part of something bigger. in reality, probably not as much. as i said, there's some fear that

to help keep the army in the field. at this time around 1781 a tax has been passed at 80% of your personal property. if you own 100 pounds of property are going to be taxed 80 pounds on it. to help keep the army in the field. this is an incredibly onerous tax on anyone living in virginia at this time. we're also talking about the requisitioning of men and supplies. on top of this tax that is being paid in money you are expected to supply the army with livestock, food and men. van meter, prior to this, is complaining that he sent 50 at the local militiamen down south to help with nato greens army. they're being taken into the army rather than serving their term and being returned to hampshire county. husbands, brothers, fathers are being taken from their farms and put into the army to serve. so this is going to be hugely important in 1780, 1781. another thing important to point out is that this is not the first loyalist disturbances occurred in the area. in 1777, three years prior, for years prior, a force of some of the

as this is happening, pleasanton wants to expand his army. he's gone -- he has two divisions but he wants this guy. he wants, this is not a soldier, he rides around in a wagon. he should not be commanding troops in battle. finally he gets the go-ahead to incorporate this division and is back to three divisions and who does he elevate? not a friend of mine. joe patrick who i consider very rash. he will promote three of his captains to generals who do very well later on. each of these is going to have a mission. buford is going on the west. they are looking for stuart, screening the army and moving but they are separated. you can see that here comes buford on the base of south mountain. greg is moving toward manchester and westminster and kilpatrick is right in the middle. it is kilpatrick who is past finding stuart. here is stuart. riding into hanover. it is june 30th. you see the yankee rearguard moving through hanover and you know you have to find lee. what do you do? let him go or attack? kilpatrick is with custer, further north. he will re

like why did you leave the army? you might have left it for several reasons you might have just served your full term and you're done. you might have been discharged for disability. you might have been captured or in 72 cases. you might have died during the civil war 72 of our 256 men 72 of our 250 soldiers to be precise all that all the deaths are are soldiers none of them are sailors during the war. that's a staggering figure about 28% 28% death rate, which is far above. the overall usep mortality rate actually, so these men really are our subset of the larger usbt story these men really suffered and really gave the last full measure on behalf of saving the union and ending slavery. moving quickly here. i told you about the contextual essays. it was really important for us to have essays that put those individual biographies into context, you know, sometimes we don't have as much details we want about an individual, but we do know something about the regimen we can place them in the context of their regimen's story

this is the chief of staff in the united states army. joe collins and collins turned to general bolty and said, you know what the problem is, he still sees us as captains because they were captaining when mcarthur was chief of staff of the army and he still saw himself as their boss when, in fact, that wasn't the case. collins was his boss. he just didn't get it. and so he pushed further and further north. by october they began to see the presence of chinese troops. and all of a sudden, they came in huge, huge numbers and by november, we were struck, we were isolated, they picked on various pockets of troops and we were routed and we began a steady retreat southward. the retreat wasn't mayhem, it was organized and systematic as they fell back and unfortunate accident occurred. walton walker was killed in jeep accident and replaced by an extraordinary soldier named matthew ridgeway. airborne division commander in world war ii. he had a great reputation as a soldier. everyone admired him and having ridgeway there was a real asset. you can

army senior leadership of the request. the approval for chief sudn's request would eventually come from the acting secretary of defense, and be relayed to me by army senior leaders at 5:08 p.m., about three hours and 19 minutes later. i already had guardsmen on buses at the armory ready to move to the capitol. consequently at 5:20 p.m., less than 20 minutes, the district of columbia national guard arrived at the capitol and were being sworn in by the united states capitol police. we helped to establish the security perimeter at the east side of the capitol to facilitate the resumption of the joint session of congress. in conclusion, i am grateful for the guardsmen from the 53 states and territories who supported the district of columbia national guard operation capitol response and helped to ensure a peaceful transition of power on january 20. in particular, i'm grateful for the timely assistance from our close neighbors from virginia, delaware, and maryland national guard, who augmented d.c. national guard forces in estab

the enemies army and again, they spread panic both among the enemies army and among civilians in the area may have been unionist or confederate now they had some other effects that became a little bit more problematic. for them they did manage to shield their own communities in some ways, but they also drew attention. to those communities if you were going to try and attack a gorilla leader you went to his supply base, which we will talk about in a second, which was usually his house. so there are a lot of burnings of suspected gorilla households during this period which is of course unwanted attention. they did not mean for that to happen. guerrilla warfare also undermined military discipline and cohesion in some places and this is why robert e lee objected to them and sort of supported the repeal of the partisan ranger act as he saw it is very disruptive to have these partisans on the loose. gorilla actions also did a pretty good job of interrupting the supply line for union troops but in doing so. they they interrupted their own supply line. hold on for just one second. so when yo

washington and his army are kind of stuck outside of new york. they are not powerful enough to take new york from the british, but the british there certainly can't be left unattended. the french alliance that so many people had put their hopes on really had not amounted to much in terms of battlefield success. the angulo -- franco american forces have been turned back in savannah and turned back in atlanta so the promise that had become prom then the has fizzled out to this point. here in virginia in early 1872 you have a large british force who handed under benedict arnold. cornwallis is going to join forces with this force and brick the war to virginians in a which not -- there's a tremendous amount of eternity and that's not the case and that's going to directly load way to the clay pools in virginia and the wider conspiracy in maryland that these both ole cure and we'll with, to set the scene, part of virginia we're going to focus on is an area known at hampshire county now in eastern west virginia, but at this point in 1781 it's about a gen