WEBVTT 1 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.320 Hello, and Welcome to Western Cive. Episode four hundred and 2 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:30.559 eighty five, The American Revolution, Part three. Now, France would 3 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:35.359 formally enter the American Revolution in February seventeen seventy eight, 4 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.840 as a consequence mostly of the colonial victory over the 5 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:43.799 British at the Battle of Saratoga. At that moment, the 6 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:48.240 struggle between Britain and her thirteen colonies was suddenly transformed 7 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:52.840 from a rebellion into a global war. What had begun 8 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:57.079 is a colonial uprising among the Atlantic seaboard, now threatened 9 00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:01.240 to draw in the great powers of Europe, changed the 10 00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:06.640 balance of Empire. The Alliance came, as I mentioned, at 11 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.959 the stunning American victory at Saratoga in October that previous 12 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:16.359 fall seventeen seventy seven, to the French court. This victory 13 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:19.680 proved that the Americans could stand against the British regulars. 14 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.760 In Paris, Benjamin Franklin, draped in a simple fur camp 15 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:28.879 and spectacles, presenting himself as a man of rustic Republican virtue, 16 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:33.599 pressed the American cause with skill. The Treaty of Alliance 17 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:38.400 was signed in February seventeen seventy eight. France recognized American 18 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:43.040 independence and promised to fight until it was secured. For Britain, 19 00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:46.319 this was nothing less than a calamity. It faced not 20 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:49.480 just a colonial revolt, but a European enemy with a 21 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.879 great navy and a thirst for revenge. After the Seven 22 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:59.319 Years' War, France's entry spread the conflict far beyond America's shores. 23 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.400 The Caribbean, with its sugar islands, became a major theater. 24 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:08.039 French and British fleets clashed in the West Indies, and 25 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:11.639 Britain was forced to divert ships and men away from 26 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:16.800 North America to protect its lucrative colonies. By seventeen seventy nine, 27 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:21.000 Spain had also joined France against Britain, though it did 28 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.599 not recognize American independence. Soon the Dutch Two would be 29 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:30.280 drawn in. By seventeen eighty, Britain was facing a hostile 30 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:36.599 coalition of nearly every single great maritime power in Europe. 31 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:42.360 The Global War gave the Americans their greatest advantage. Britain 32 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:47.280 could no longer concentrate its power on the rebellion alone. Yet, 33 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.039 for all that, the fighting within the colonies themselves was 34 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:56.840 still brutal and uncertain. The years immediately following France's entry 35 00:02:56.840 --> 00:03:00.560 into the war were frustrating for George Washington. The French 36 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:04.879 fleet under Admiral Destain sailed into American waters in seventeen 37 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:09.280 seventy eight, but cooperation with Washington proved clumsy at best. 38 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:14.520 An attempt to adjoint assault at Newport Rhode Island ended 39 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:20.280 in quarrels and withdrawal. Washington's army meanwhile endured years of privation. 40 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:25.960 Supplies were scarce, pay was irregular, and discipline strained. A 41 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:30.680 Pennsylvania soldier lamented in seventeen seventy nine, we are reduced 42 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:36.879 to the greatest extremities of want. Our nakedness is beyond description. Still, 43 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:41.240 Washington held the core of his army together, shadowing the 44 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:45.919 British while avoiding ruinous battles. In seventeen seventy eight, the 45 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:49.960 British evacuated Philadelphia and retreated to New York, and this 46 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.319 set the stage for Washington to strike at them in 47 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:58.439 New Jersey at the Battle of Monmouth in June. In 48 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.639 the spring of seventeen seventy eight, the war entered a 49 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:03.719 new phase. France had now signed its alliance with the 50 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:08.000 United States in February, and Britain, wary of French fleets, 51 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:12.439 threatening New York and Philadelphia, decided to consolidate him. At 52 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:16.160 the same time, General Sir Henry Clinton, who had now 53 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:19.959 replaced General William Howe as the commander in chief, ordered 54 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:25.079 the evacuation of Philadelphia. The British army, numbering around ten 55 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:28.920 thousand troops, began a grueling march across New Jersey toward 56 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:33.279 New York City. In June. George Washington, encamped with his 57 00:04:33.639 --> 00:04:38.800 rejuvenated army at Valley Forge, saw his opportunity. His continentals, 58 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.800 thrilled in European tactics by the Prussian officer Baron von Steuben, 59 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:46.639 were no longer the raw, ragged militia of earlier campaigns. 60 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:51.279 Washington decided to pursue Clinton's army, hoping to strike it 61 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:56.560 as it lumbered across New Jersey's scorching heat. Washington sent 62 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.759 a vanguard under Major General Charles Lee, a brilliant but 63 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:05.759 erratic officer recently released from British captivity, to harass the 64 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:10.199 British Rear Guard and slow their march. Lee, skeptical of 65 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:14.360 the plan, commanded about five thousand men, including light infantry, 66 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.639 under the fiery General Anthony Wayne. Washington followed with the 67 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:22.000 main army. The goal was to hit the British column hard, 68 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:26.319 weaken it, and then perhaps deliver the decisive blow before 69 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:30.560 it reached the safety of New York. The battle began 70 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.519 on June twenty eighth. Clinton's army was stretched thin as 71 00:05:34.519 --> 00:05:38.639 it crossed near Monmouth Courthouse modern day Freehold, New Jersey. 72 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:42.160 The day was brutally hot, as temperatures swored near one 73 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.360 hundred degrees fahrenheit, and heatstroke would claim as many lives 74 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:50.759 as musket fire. Lee's advance guard attacked the British rear 75 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:54.600 guard under Lord Cornwallace in the morning, but confusion quickly 76 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:58.800 set in, and accounts do differ here. But Lee's orders 77 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:04.279 were muddled, lines poorly coordinated, and when British reinforcements pressed forward, 78 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:08.439 he ordered a retreat. The withdrawal turned into a route 79 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:12.920 with American soldiers streaming backwards in disorder. But it was 80 00:06:12.959 --> 00:06:16.560 at this critical moment that Washington arrived with the main army. 81 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:20.480 Furious at what he saw, Washington confronted Lee in a 82 00:06:20.519 --> 00:06:25.680 famous exchange. According to the eyewitness accounts, Washington demanded, quote, 83 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:28.360 what is the meaning of this, sir? A desire to 84 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:33.399 know the meaning of this disorder and confusion. Lee Stammering 85 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:37.439 insisted it was a planned maneuver, but Washington took command. 86 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:42.040 He quickly rallied the retreating Continentals, placing them on a 87 00:06:42.120 --> 00:06:46.399 high ground. Artillery under General Henry Knox opened a steady 88 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:50.879 fire while von Steuben's training bore fruit. The soldiers wheeled 89 00:06:50.920 --> 00:06:54.120 into line with precision and met the British advance head on. 90 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:59.079 Throughout the afternoon, the two armies clashed in punishing heat. 91 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:03.879 General Wayne's troops fought a fierce holding action, while Continental 92 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:09.319 artillery pounded the British with devastating accuracy. The British launched 93 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:13.319 repeated assaults, but each was repelled. The fields near Monmouth 94 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:18.720 Courthouse became a furnace of smoke, thunderous cannon fire everywhere. 95 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.759 One of the most enduring legends of the day arose here. 96 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:27.040 Mary Ludwig Hayes, known as Molly Pitcher, wife of an 97 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:31.000 artilleryman who carried water back and forth the sweltering soldiers. 98 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:35.600 When her husband collapsed, she allegedly took his place at 99 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:40.720 the cannon, swabbing and loading under fire. Though embellished in 100 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:45.079 later retellings, her story symbolizes the grit of ordinary Americans 101 00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:49.480 and their commitment to the cause of independence. As the 102 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:54.240 day wore on, he'd exhaustion crippled both armies. Dozens collapsed 103 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:58.279 from sunstroke. The British eventually pulled back under cover of night, 104 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:03.279 resuming their march towards New York. Washington, though eager to press, 105 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:09.160 lacked cavalry to pursue effectively. The Battle of Monmouth ended 106 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:14.360 without a decisive victor, but the symbolism was profound. The 107 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:17.800 Continental Army, once dismissed as little more than a mob, 108 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:20.920 had stood its ground against Britain's best troops in a 109 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:25.920 set peace battle. Casualties were roughly even, around three hundred 110 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:28.480 and fifty for the Americans and three hundred and fifty 111 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:31.800 to four hundred for the British, with many dead from heatstroke. 112 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:36.360 Washington emerged with an enhanced stature. His ability to seize 113 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:39.240 control at a moment of near disaster and his steady 114 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:45.759 army proved his leadership beyond doubt. Lee, by contrast, faced 115 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:51.200 a course marshal for disobedience and misconduct, effectively ending his career. 116 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:55.399 The larger strategic consequence was that the war in the 117 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:59.360 North settled into a stalemate. The British soon shifted their 118 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:04.000 main effort southward, launching campaigns that would culminate in Charleston, Camden, 119 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:09.039 and ultimately Yorktown. But at Monmouth, Washington's army showed it 120 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:11.200 could fight the British in the open and that the 121 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:19.720 revolution would not be easily crushed. From seventeen seventy nine onward, 122 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.559 the British strategy shifted, Believing the southern colonies were home 123 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:27.159 to strong loyalists support, London ordered an invasion of the South. 124 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:32.080 Savannah fell in late seventeen seventy eight, and Charleston, the 125 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:36.440 South's greatest port, was besieged and captured in seventeen eighty. 126 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:39.279 It was one of the worst American defeats of the war. 127 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:45.559 Thousands of soldiers surrendered. British General Cornwallace then marched Inland, 128 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.759 seeking to rally loyalists, but the South proved a graveyard 129 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:54.960 of British hopes. Patriot partisans. Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox 130 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:00.000 and Thomas Sumter the Gamecock harassed enemy troops with ambush's 131 00:10:00.039 --> 00:10:05.679 and raids. In October seventeen eighty, a backcountry militia crushed 132 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:11.000 a Loyalist force at King's Mountain. Meanwhile, General Nathaniel Greene 133 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:16.000 took command of Southern Continental forces, with tactics that would 134 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:20.320 make the old Roman general Fabian proud. He led Cornwallace 135 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:24.759 on a weary chase throughout the Carolinas. In seventeen eighty one, 136 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.679 at Gulliford Courthouse, Green's army was forced to retreat, but 137 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:34.440 all along the British forces suffered devastating losses. Cornwallace's weary 138 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:40.240 troops staggered into Virginia seeking some relief, and that brings us, 139 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:43.360 of course, to the pivotal and really final conflict of 140 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:49.360 the American Revolution, Yorktown in seventeen eighty one. French assistance 141 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:55.519 was decisive. Ships laden with muskets, gunpowder, uniforms, and gold 142 00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:00.320 arrived in America. Most important was the French army under 143 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:03.720 the Comte de Rochambeau, which landed in Rhode Island in 144 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:09.080 seventeen eighty. At last, Washington had professional allies at his side. 145 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:15.480 In seventeen eighty one, an extraordinary opportunity presented itself. Cornwallis, 146 00:11:15.679 --> 00:11:19.279 entrenched at Yorktown on the Virginia coast, found himself vulnerable. 147 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.519 Washington and Rochambeau secretly marched their combined army south from 148 00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:27.639 New York, while a fleet under the Admiral de Gracy 149 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:31.960 sailed up from the Caribbean. In September, de Graci fought 150 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.200 off the British Navy at the Battle of Chesapeake, sealing 151 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:40.799 Cornwallis's escape by sea. Then, in October seventeen eighty one, 152 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:45.559 American and French forces, nearly seventeen thousand strong, laid siege 153 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:50.279 to Yorktown. Trenches crept closer each day. On the night 154 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.679 finally of October fourteenth, American and French troops stormed the 155 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:59.519 British redoubts with bayonets. Alexander Hamilton led one of the assaults. 156 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:03.000 He would later recall quote the works were carried in 157 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:08.639 an instant corton Wallace, his position hopeless surrendered on the 158 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:13.120 nineteenth of October. Yorktown was not the end of the war, 159 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:15.480 but it was the end of Britain's hopes of victory. 160 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.679 When news reached London, Lord North, then the Prime Minister 161 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:22.480 is said to have cried out, oh God, it is 162 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:27.519 all over. The war dragged on for nearly two more years. 163 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.639 Skirmishes continued in the South, and the global struggle raged 164 00:12:31.639 --> 00:12:35.720 in the Caribbean, in India, but in Britain, political will collapsed. 165 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:41.000 The costs were staggering and the public was weary. Negotiations 166 00:12:41.039 --> 00:12:46.360 opened in Paris seventeen eighty two. The American delegation Benjamin Franklin, 167 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:51.799 John Adams, John Jay and Henry Lawrence proved shrewd. Though 168 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:55.840 allied with France, they secretly negotiated with Britain to secure 169 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.360 the best terms. The result was the Treaty of Paris 170 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:04.120 on September the third, seventeen eighty three. The treaty recognized 171 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:07.320 the independence of the United States. Its borders stretched from 172 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.200 the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, from Canada to Spanish Florida. 173 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:16.039 Britain retained Canada, but otherwise it abandoned its claims to 174 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:20.120 the Thirteen Colonies, and the Americans also secured valuable fishing 175 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:25.679 rights off Newfoundland. Franklin exalted, writing to a friend, quote 176 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:29.240 the war being now happily concluded, I am returned to 177 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:32.840 my own country after an absence of nearly ten years. 178 00:13:34.799 --> 00:13:38.720 The Revolution had begun as a colonial quarrel, it ended 179 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:43.759 as a world war that reshaped empires. France had achieved 180 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:47.919 its vengeance, though at a terrible cost in finance, one 181 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.480 that would contribute to its own revolution. About a decade later, 182 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:57.399 Spain regained Florida. Britain lost its richest mainland colonies but 183 00:13:57.559 --> 00:14:02.720 preserved its empire. Elsewhere, the United States, fragile and poor, 184 00:14:03.080 --> 00:14:08.919 but independent, I merged onto the world stage. For Washington, 185 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:11.919 who resigned his command in December of seventeen eighty three, 186 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:18.360 the triumph was not just military but moral. He told Congress. 187 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:23.159 I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last 188 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:27.559 solemn act of my official life by commending my dearest 189 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:32.879 country to the protection of Almighty God. The war was over, 190 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.600 A new nation had begun, and next week we will 191 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:39.679 see how it is built.