and the boston bookseller henry knox was in charge of the artillery.rtillery really were decisive. >> these guys that george washington chose early in 1975 served him at trenton. >> they served him through the entire war. they were the only general officers to stay the distance, to go the whole way with washington. only two of them. ene areton, knox, and gre the only general officers. >> hamilton came in, didn't he? and he serve as an aide to washington. -- washington? >> he is a young artillery officer. he fought at trenton and new york. >> what did he think of washington? >> he idolized him. later, they would have their differences. of course, he would become washington's secretary of the treasury. >> after he is one of the great they are buty, poor george washington, there is no america. >> that is my view. the greatest president we ever had. i think he is the greatest american of all. if it were not for him, as you said, there would not be a united states of america. and he did it all right, particularly when he became president. heset the example,

henry knox was an amazing man. he was the son of scots irish immigrants. onlys the key player not commanding artillery but also in orchestrating the crossing along with john glover. what made getting the 18 guns across so important was that annonse of the weather, c are virtually weather resistant compared to flintlock muskets. the powder easily becomes damp, and quite a few were unable to fire. you always had a reliable source of firepower. for his pincher movement, after crossing the delaware, washington relied on two divisions. he divided his army in half. he stayed with the second division, with henry knox and john sullivan who commanded the first division. sullivan was an interesting character. he was the son of poor scots irish immigrants. with the two divisions, the goal was for them to strike simultaneously with a pincher movement to catch the entire hessian brigade in between the two arms of the pincher movement for a conecuh-like victory. get a very simplistic view of the battle of trenton from a lot of historians that presented it in a very basi

young henry knox, one of the most admiral people -- >> charlie: an aide to george washington? >> yes, commander of artillery, a former book seller who knew nothing about the military other than what he read in the books, 25 years old. he writes the very day the text of the declaration of independence arrives in new york from philadelphia, he writes, "as we play our parts, history will judge us, ill or favorably," so they know that they are part of history. i think that's an extremely important thing to understand. great that you pointed it out. that give them a kind of sense of responsibility, a duty. they didn't have much cause to have hope, when you consider the odds against them. no real army, no navy, no money, no gunpowder. washington never commanded an army in battle in his life before he was given the role of commander-in-chief. >> charlie: knowing his role in history, i mean, george washington, whom we get to know here, was carried forward because he understood what he had to do, even though he didn't have a great strategy, even though he was, as you say, not a great g

knox. i didn't get her middle name. >> flucker. >> is that the one and same henry who brought the cannons? >> yes, it is. and lucy wasn't too happy because he told her -- her parents never talked to her again after she married henry. he told her he was going on a short journey for three weeks. and she threw quite a tantrum, so the poor guy, here he is going to new york and he's writing to her, it's okay, i'll be back soon. 58 days later -- >> he was instrumental in bringing that american revolution. that was huge. >> thank you. >> hi. my question is this. most of what we know about these women and their husbands are from the paper records they left behind. and most people say, male and female, unfortunately, myself included, aren't really leaving paper records behind for their descendants to follow. what does this mean about the recording of history for the future, going from the 21st century and beyond? >> i'll begin, for years with voluntary groups i belong to, everything is e-mail and where are we going to get our history? some people today are doing videos. family reminiscence, family memoirs. maybe