you know, in some ways it is easier to write about the guys like sir henry clanton or folks like that because they kept voluminous papers, george washington, of course, but these folks that we don't often see or write about or people you're tracking across large spaces through time, where did you find some of these individuals? >> through a lot of digging. a lot of it was kind of going to historical societies and just kind of digging through people's papers for these years and seeing what they had. and part of the reason for that is again kind of going back to the beginning of our conversation, some of these people kind of went efforts to hide the extent of their activities during the occupation. one of the stories i found most fascinating was that of an owner of a boarding house in newport, rhode island. she was kind of a die-hard loyalist even though her husband served in the continental artillery. she wrote a series of letters to him during the battle of rhode island, where he was actually commanding a unit that was attacking newport, and she writes these kind of furious letters sa

he negotiated with the british through intermediaries, and those intermediaries report to sir henry clantonr a long time clanton didn't know who it was that the intermediaries were talking to. he assumed it was an important american who might be willing to commit treason. it is not until august of 1780 that arnold makes the decision to turncoat, and what happens in august of 1780, in august of 1780, cornwallace scored a huge victory over an american army at camden in south carolina, an army commanded by horatio gates. it was the fourth american army in 20 months that had been destroyed in the southern theater, and more than 8,000 american troops had been killed, wounded or captured in those four engagements. that's the same month that washington writes that letter saying i've almost ceased to hope, and it is the same month that arthur lee in boston is saying that many of the leaders in massachusetts now believe the war's going to end in a negotiated settlement, short of independence, so i think you can argue that when arnold finally makes his final decision to turncoat in august of 1780, he