by many standards, it is the encounter that ends the war -- ensnaring cornwallis in yorktown withouteat, or options. >> you've done it, marion. our friend cornwallis has decamped to yorktown, in virginia... which i believe he will find less hospitable than he expects. >> this last great battle at eutaw springs will mark a point in which the british, more or less, begin to accept defeat in the south. they see that their plan has failed them, and, within a year, they'll be pulling out. >> to fight the enemy bravely with the prospect of victory is nothing, but to fight with intrepidity under the constant impression of defeat is a talent peculiar to marion. >> eutaw springs is a return to the traditional tactics marion deplored during his days in the french and indian war. they are the reason he develops the guerilla style of fighting still used today by united states army rangers. their charter is what marion embodies -- intelligence, mental toughness, personal courage, discipline, and motivation -- all reasons the rangers refer to francis marion as their founding father. >> we can't be

fast-forward the following year in 1781 in the battle of yorktown. the battle of yorktown stretches between september and october of 1781. the first part of the battle is september 5 1781. a great british fleet and a great flash -- great french fleet meet off the mouth of the chesapeake bay. the french fleet is led by admiral degrasse who has come up from the caribbean with a big fleet. the american fleet should have been led by admiral rodney who is england's premier admiral. he is in fact much superior to the french admiral. the french admiral is charming but not the fighter that rodney is. even though the french fleet is quite a bit bigger than the is leadingf rodney the british fleet, it looks like he's going to win. but it was somebody else names grace, who isn't in run easily. ney'so isn't even in rod league. and he loses that naval battle on september 5. which means that the british army in yorktown under lord cornwallis is now in very bad straits. where is rodney? what happened to rodney was she knew all of this was going to happen. heater th

moving to the other side of herginia, at yorktown, t culmination of the american revolution. in addition to visiting yorktown and understanding the importance not only of the victory over great britain in october 1781, but the alliance with france that made it possible. many americans forget totally about the fact that without the french help -- i see dan nodding in approval -- without the french assistance, we would not have onwon our revolution. the french remind us about that frequently. we helped than as well over the years. essay aboute jamestown, colonial williamsburg, fort munro and the amazing array of historic resources in the virginia peninsula. gettysburg, i have visited gettysburg many times and every time i go there, the northern end of the journey through hollow ground, every time i visit it is a new experience. i'm interested in the memorial landscape. more than 1300 monuments and memorials that have replaced, mostly by the veterans. what i'm showing you is the peace memorial that was dedicated by franklin roosevelt on the 75th anniversary of the battle of gett

his response to falling shells at yorktown. someone said he's cool like a bishop at prayer. demonstrate a man seemingly immune from normal fear in the presence of death. i think his response to his baptism by fire is telling. how many would respond the same way. i heard the bullets whistle. believe me, there's something charming in the sound. not many men are wired that way. washington was long enamored with what we would call heroic death. if you go to mt. vernon, there are a number of portraits around mt. vernon. this one is of general montgomery. but heroic death is a worthy death. as he put it to sally carrick fairfax during the war when a british officer died, this was his view. there's a fairly young officer dead. who is there who does not envy rather than regret a death that gives birth to honor and to glorious memory. let me explain briefly why i chose tonight's talk. it it's -- let me explain briefly why i chose the title i did for tonight's talk which some of you may be a little puzzled, not gently into the good night. it's drawn, as many of you may know, from dyla

defeat british tyranny and we think of the battles of stepping stones to the inevitable victory at yorktown. the fact of the matter is the revolution went on for eight long years. instead of this seemingly relentless course to victory if stagnateitstagnated after the fm into it if things wound down. congress was highly suspicious of the military because in every previous revolution in which the republic was the end result they co-opted the government and the dictator or the empero emperor d take over and they were rightly concerned about the militaries of the continental congress was controlled over washington and i think that we think of him as being the one who is controlling this but in fact he had to return to congress and i hate to say that the dysfunctional congress is nothing new and washington had to deal with this. so, one of the things that happened was instead of fighting the british, we began to fight among ourselves. in the hudson river valley to the north of the british occupied new york, the long island sound and coastal new jersey, it evolved into this fight. the former neig

founded years ago they focus on the period of the revolutionary war from the battle of valley forge to yorktown. >> i am dressed like a militia man. >> reporter: dave plays a foot soldier. >> hours and hours of boredom and a few moments of sheer panic. >> there's a major rush. >> reporter: i love history and i love american history and there's so much to know aside from what you see in the books. >> reporter: judy was was known as a camp follower. while americans celebrate the nation for the battle of independence this weekend, these folks relive that history all yearlong. the sacrifices that our people went through to establish this nation are just fascinating. it is the birth place of our nation, it really draws out what america is all about. tamala edwards channel 6 "action news." if you want to soar along the highest, longest and fastest zipline in north america, there's only one place to do it. and that's not the only thing you can only find in new york state. ♪ it's all in the catskills. only in new york. new york. it's all here. it's only here. plan your summer vacation at iloveny.com sk

when that battle of yorktown ended that day the blackened latino cast wearing costume selected by african-american designers to climb on top of box is in shares to spend the 60 months trying to capture how exhilarate being succeedement felt. [applause]ew questions a but. >> that it was wonderful. i will ask a few questions please start getting into the microphones in think of your own. this in isfahan important cultural movements the play revolutionize the -- revolution raising peter and the book that is beautiful but jeremy how did that revolutionize you? >> good question. i guess good question. aicher said tore the and it does make me think with more concern in to more ability with the united states oftoo america by the inca chapter that i really wanted to read but it was way too long was that makes the point you can look at the founders and how you needed them in exactly the right positions for the dreaded states to form the way that was just like the guys who made the show had to be exactly at the rightth place at the right time. be looking at how contingent these beings are it makes you treas

she dies at the siege of yorktown. i can balance that against the washington collection and see. then i had the inventory done in 1799, that was also a good one. to get further at this i had the auction catalog from when the washington library went up or sale around the time of the civil war. when that both went for auction, everything to do with washington was worth money. anything with his signature are handwriting was worth that much more. people were good at picking out the fakes. it was in everybody's interest to make sure this was right. it shows what specific volume has signatures on them and what had marginal note that. if the book was given to him, some of the religious books that came from his mother was given to him. they had notes like that. that was my handbook going through this process. it was able to help me find where his books were. i had a framework and i had to go about figuring out, let's put the books with the context of what he was doing. in that i learned something about the practicality of what he was doing. if you want to find his books now besides what

if you think of our victory at yorktown, sort of our biggest victory of the war, we're probably not goingthat victory without the french navy. eventually the war slowly, and it is slowly, turns in our favor. 1783, back in paris, john adams and benjamin franklin sign a peace treaty. it's really back in 1783 that the continental congress can finally breathe that sigh of relief and know that we have achieved this american independence which would be nice if that's the end of our story, but of course, there's more to do. again, go back to 1776. each colony, each state, writes its own constitution. each one is different. each one has its own sets of government and laws. i'll use pennsylvania. this room was pennsylvania's legislature. pennsylvania decides to write a constitution that's so radical for its day, they basically get rid of the position of governor. they're not going to have really a chief executive for pennsylvania anymore. they'll have a fairly democratically run one-house legislature as opposed to the standard two houses that most of the states are going to use, that the united st

when the battle of yorktown sequence ended that the largely black and latino cast, singing a son withinby a puerto rican process pourer costumes by an african-american designer, and celebrating doing the impossible. they would spend the next 16 months trying to recapture how exhilarating it felt. it took him until opening night on broadway to make him feel he succeeded. [applause] >> that was wonderful. thanks so much. i'll ask a few questions and then please start getting up at the microphones and think of your own. we're talking about the -- this is an important cultural moment. the play, refer luigsizeed theater. the book, which is just extraordinarily beautiful, sort of revolutionized bookmaking, but, jeremy, how did it revolutionize you? >> that's a big question. i guess -- good question. like i said at the end, towards the end there, it does make me think with more concern and more loyalty about the united states of america. i think a chapter i'd eventually wanted to read about this, some of these -- it was just way too long is the one that makes the point that you can look at the

and we think of the battles as steppingstones to our inevitable victory at yorktown. but the fact of the matter is the revolution went on for eight long years. and instead of this seemingly relentless course to victory, it stagnated terribly even after the french came into it, after the victory at saratoga. things just wound down. there wasn't the money to pay for the army. congress was highly suspicious of the military because in every previous revolution in which a republic was the hoped-for end result, the military had ultimately co-opted the civil government and either a dictator or an emperor would take over x. so they were rightly concerned about the military. so the continental congress was, had real control over washington. i think we think of him as, you know, operating, you know, being the one who's controlling this revolution. but, in fact, he had to report to the congress. and i hate to say it, but a dysfunctional congress is nothing new. [laughter] and washington had to deal with. and so, and one of the things that happened during this eight-year slog was

yorktown -- your town to my. 13 million americans voted for progressive dies and millions more made ang that movement $27 at a time. [cheering] together, together we call for justice. we call for racial justice. we call for wage justice. [cheering] and you know what, we made our voices heard. and together, democrats, we will make our voices heard in november when we defeat donald trump. [cheering] hillary rodham clinton to the next president of the united states of america. [cheering] tonight, let us raise our voices and gratitude to the man who has helped make this great party greater than ever. ladies and gentlemen, i give you bernie sanders! [cheering] ♪ >> please welcome senator bernie sanders from vermont. [cheering] >> thank you. [cheering] thank you. [cheering] thank you. [cheering] thank you. thank you all very much. [cheering] thank you. thank you. [cheering] thank you very much. [cheering] thank you. [cheering] -- thank you. [cheering] thank you very much. [cheering] it is an honor to be here tonight. [cheering] thank you. thank you very much. [cheering] it is an honor to be

there is no way a tsunami hit yorktown and you all have family members like this, he got indignant with me and he said boy, it's a long time ago before theinternet read you can't look it up but it happened . [laughter] my father tells me this one story. that really showed me that he had a good sense of humor and i'm not sure if it's true but i want to share it with you. he says he was sitting in the back of the classroom and the teacher comes in and stands before the classroom and says class, first day at school i want to teach you all about self see. anyone in this classroom thinks they're stupid, think they're dumb, stand up. my father said nobody moved, everybody sat there and a woman sat there impatiently and she was like come on, you think you're dumb, you think you're stupid and up and my father said after looking around nobody was standing up and he pushed his chair and stood up proud. and the teacher looked at my father and said boy, what's wrong with you question mark you think you're dumb, you think you're stupid? my father scratches his head and says ma'am, i don't think i'm