The Military Career of Benjamin Lincoln: from Hingham to Yorktown

In the place of Professor Cornelia Dayton who could not join us today, Professor Robert Allison presents a lecture on the military career of Benjamin Lincoln, who, with General George Washington and General Nathanael Greene were to only General officers to serve from the Siege of Boston to Yorktown.  Lincoln came from a distinguished family in Hingham, Massachusetts where the family held various town offices since the 17th century.  While Lincoln never anticipated a military career, his quiet and steady capability soon recommended him to Washington for a number of posts.  Wounded at Saratoga, Lincoln would also be forced to surrender Charleston, SC to the British, but also accepted (at Washington's urging) the surrender of the British at Yorktown.

Transcript

WEBVTT
 
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 Good morning, everyone.
 
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 Welcome to the Revolution
 
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 Two-Fifty podcast.
 
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 I am Bob Allison.
 
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 I chair the Revolution
 
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 Two-Fifty advisory group.
 
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 I also teach history at
 
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 Suffolk University and
 
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 Revolution Two-Fifty is a
 
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 consortium of seventy-five
 
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 or so organizations in
 
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 Massachusetts planning
 
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 commemorations of the
 
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 beginnings of American independence.
 
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 And our guest today was
 
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 supposed to be Cornelia
 
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 Dayton from the University
 
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 of Connecticut to tell us about
 
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 to the Revolutionary War in
 
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 the town of Middleborough.
 
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 Unfortunately,
 
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 she's not able to be with us.
 
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 So instead,
 
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 I will be telling you about one
 
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 of Massachusetts' most
 
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 important Revolutionary War figures,
 
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 General Benjamin Lincoln.
 
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 And General Lincoln,
 
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 didn't anticipate becoming a general.
 
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 He wasn't aspiring to be a military hero.
 
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 General Lincoln, from the town of Hingham,
 
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 in fact he was the fifth or
 
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 sixth generation of his family in Hingham,
 
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 and he was about forty
 
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 years old when the war began.
 
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 He anticipated
 
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 living his life as he had
 
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 been very well respected
 
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 member of the community
 
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 after the war he told a
 
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 visitor from the
 
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 netherlands that I lived
 
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 here for twenty years that
 
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 is in this very house after
 
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 my marriage he married mary
 
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 cushing from another very
 
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 prominent family and never
 
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 dreamed of war here is my
 
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 place he's pointing to the
 
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 fireside and here is that
 
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 of mrs lincoln and it's
 
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 here we pass our evenings
 
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 in talking together
 
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 So Benjamin Lincoln was
 
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 about early forties at the
 
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 time the war began.
 
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 He was, as again,
 
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 his father was the colonel
 
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 of the militia regiment.
 
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 Benjamin Lincoln's military
 
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 experience was as his father's adjutant,
 
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 that is the one who organized this thing.
 
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 had never been in battle
 
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 unlike a lot of other men
 
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 his age who had served in
 
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 the seven years war but he
 
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 was very good at organizing
 
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 something the town folk of
 
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 hingham recognized they
 
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 sent him as their
 
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 representative to the
 
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 general court more
 
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 importantly he was the town
 
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 clerk the guy responsible
 
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 for taking minutes and
 
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 recording things for the
 
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 town not a position you get
 
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 if you're aspiring for
 
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 military glory for fame
 
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 town clerks provide
 
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 form a very important service.
 
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 So we don't see in Lincoln
 
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 necessarily the capacity
 
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 for military leadership
 
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 that comes to the fore during the crisis.
 
 00:02:40.515 --> 00:02:44.277
 Now George Washington had a
 
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 number of admirable characters,
 
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 and probably the most important,
 
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 and one we sometimes overlook,
 
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 is his capacity to recognize talent.
 
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 And during the war,
 
 00:02:54.585 --> 00:02:57.907
 we see Washington really cultivating
 
 00:02:58.307 --> 00:02:59.769
 Younger men like Henry Knox.
 
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 Henry Knox,
 
 00:03:00.810 --> 00:03:02.671
 Washington meets in Roxbury in
 
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 seventeen seventy five.
 
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 Knox, a twenty four year old guy here,
 
 00:03:06.695 --> 00:03:08.116
 owns a bookshop in Boston,
 
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 the London Bookshop.
 
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 And he knew something from
 
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 the studies he had done in
 
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 the military strategy books
 
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 he had carried in the
 
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 bookshop about how to build a fort.
 
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 And Knox is very good at
 
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 that kind of thing,
 
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 the kind of engineering
 
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 required in doing that.
 
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 And Washington, as you know,
 
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 makes Knox the commander of
 
 00:03:28.318 --> 00:03:29.381
 Continental Artillery.
 
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 And then Nathaniel Green of Rhode Island.
 
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 Green had been actually read
 
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 out of the Quaker meeting
 
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 in Rhode Island because he
 
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 forms a militia unit.
 
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 Now,
 
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 he had worked for much of his short
 
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 life in his father's iron foundry,
 
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 and doing this heavy work,
 
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 he developed a limp.
 
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 Other guys in the unit that
 
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 Green dealt start thought
 
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 it was a little
 
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 embarrassing to be marching
 
 00:03:50.968 --> 00:03:51.808
 in a parade and their
 
 00:03:51.848 --> 00:03:52.870
 commander is limping.
 
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 And Green, hearing their snarling, decided,
 
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 okay, I'll leave this unit.
 
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 But then he's in command of
 
 00:03:58.913 --> 00:04:00.014
 the Rhode Island Regiment
 
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 that goes to the siege of Boston.
 
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 And Washington, Knox, and Green
 
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 are the only generals at the
 
 00:04:06.331 --> 00:04:08.073
 very end of the war who
 
 00:04:08.112 --> 00:04:09.995
 have been in service since
 
 00:04:10.014 --> 00:04:11.335
 the siege of Boston.
 
 00:04:11.975 --> 00:04:13.176
 And then there are others.
 
 00:04:13.896 --> 00:04:15.698
 Alexander Hamilton's a notable one,
 
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 and so is the Marquis de Lafayette,
 
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 and so is John Lawrence of
 
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 South Carolina.
 
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 That is these young men who
 
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 see Washington in many ways
 
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 as the father they never had,
 
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 and he sees in them the
 
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 sons that he never had.
 
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 Young men aspiring for military glory,
 
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 able to do their work,
 
 00:04:35.684 --> 00:04:38.125
 and attracted to Washington,
 
 00:04:38.144 --> 00:04:40.446
 the leader of the Continental Army.
 
 00:04:40.985 --> 00:04:42.226
 But Lincoln is different.
 
 00:04:42.247 --> 00:04:43.708
 He's a generation older than they are.
 
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 In fact,
 
 00:04:44.048 --> 00:04:46.728
 he is the same generation as Washington.
 
 00:04:47.555 --> 00:04:49.476
 Washington I think sees in
 
 00:04:49.576 --> 00:04:51.879
 Lincoln similarities to his
 
 00:04:52.098 --> 00:04:54.341
 own story respected member
 
 00:04:54.401 --> 00:04:55.843
 of his community a deacon
 
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 in the church a town clerk
 
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 someone who's called upon
 
 00:04:58.846 --> 00:05:00.026
 for various kinds of
 
 00:05:00.166 --> 00:05:02.488
 service by his community
 
 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:04.230
 and takes you know there's
 
 00:05:04.250 --> 00:05:06.413
 an ethic at this time men
 
 00:05:06.452 --> 00:05:08.053
 like Washington men like
 
 00:05:08.113 --> 00:05:09.314
 Lincoln men like Benjamin
 
 00:05:09.334 --> 00:05:11.016
 Franklin would say that
 
 00:05:11.057 --> 00:05:12.978
 they never sought an office
 
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 but they never
 
 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.220
 never declined an office.
 
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 And they see these various
 
 00:05:17.141 --> 00:05:20.283
 town offices as responsibilities,
 
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 not as stepping stones to something else.
 
 00:05:23.244 --> 00:05:25.324
 So Lincoln had spent twenty
 
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 years as a militia officer,
 
 00:05:27.966 --> 00:05:30.528
 as his father's adjutant, and in addition,
 
 00:05:30.848 --> 00:05:32.728
 deacon of the Congregational Church,
 
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 on the board of selectmen,
 
 00:05:34.689 --> 00:05:37.132
 sometimes chair of the board of selectmen,
 
 00:05:37.451 --> 00:05:39.273
 as well as a representative
 
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 to the general court.
 
 00:05:41.553 --> 00:05:43.836
 The assembly elected men
 
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 elected from each town of
 
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 Massachusetts to represent
 
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 their interests.
 
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 Now,
 
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 General Gage calls the assembly into
 
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 session in September of
 
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 seventeen seventy four.
 
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 They're going to meet in Salem.
 
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 Gage wants to move the
 
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 assembly out of Boston.
 
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 And then he has second thoughts.
 
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 Should the assembly meet at all?
 
 00:06:05.329 --> 00:06:07.130
 And Gage thinks better of it.
 
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 He cancels the meeting of
 
 00:06:08.771 --> 00:06:09.872
 the provincial assembly.
 
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 The members say they didn't
 
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 get Gage's message that the
 
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 meeting was canceled.
 
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 They show up in Salem,
 
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 and since Gage had canceled the meeting,
 
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 he does not show up.
 
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 By custom,
 
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 the governor appears at the
 
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 opening of the assembly and discusses
 
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 with the assembly,
 
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 what tasks are before them.
 
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 He doesn't show up.
 
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 So they say, we're here.
 
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 The governor isn't.
 
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 He's abdicated his office.
 
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 They declare the office of governor vacant,
 
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 and they continue meeting
 
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 as a provincial congress.
 
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 Lincoln is part of this.
 
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 And this shift from the
 
 00:06:45.187 --> 00:06:46.408
 provincial assembly
 
 00:06:46.668 --> 00:06:47.970
 operating under the
 
 00:06:48.009 --> 00:06:49.110
 Massachusetts charter with
 
 00:06:49.129 --> 00:06:50.670
 the governor to a
 
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 provincial congress without
 
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 a governor is the revolutionary step.
 
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 And Lincoln is part of it.
 
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 In fact,
 
 00:06:58.536 --> 00:07:01.216
 he becomes the secretary to the
 
 00:07:01.257 --> 00:07:02.937
 provincial Congress.
 
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 And it moves out to Concord.
 
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 And when James Warren,
 
 00:07:06.598 --> 00:07:07.658
 who is elected to be
 
 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:09.718
 president of the provincial Congress,
 
 00:07:10.019 --> 00:07:11.199
 cannot attend to it,
 
 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:13.321
 Lincoln becomes the acting
 
 00:07:13.401 --> 00:07:14.800
 president of the provincial
 
 00:07:14.841 --> 00:07:16.521
 Congress on a couple of occasions.
 
 00:07:16.762 --> 00:07:19.523
 So he is a central figure in
 
 00:07:19.562 --> 00:07:20.663
 the political life of
 
 00:07:20.723 --> 00:07:23.903
 Massachusetts because he is so capable.
 
 00:07:24.244 --> 00:07:25.324
 He's also on the Committee
 
 00:07:25.363 --> 00:07:26.725
 on Military Affairs.
 
 00:07:27.045 --> 00:07:27.925
 And on this committee,
 
 00:07:27.944 --> 00:07:30.105
 he calls for some really essential steps,
 
 00:07:30.146 --> 00:07:31.685
 like we should actually get
 
 00:07:31.706 --> 00:07:33.507
 some supplies of cannon and gunpowder.
 
 00:07:34.007 --> 00:07:34.887
 I think someone should have
 
 00:07:34.927 --> 00:07:35.547
 thought of this.
 
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 And he sees a war is coming,
 
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 and these are things we need.
 
 00:07:38.668 --> 00:07:40.348
 He also suggests that rather
 
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 than simply relying on the town militias,
 
 00:07:43.230 --> 00:07:44.910
 again, he's a militia officer.
 
 00:07:44.970 --> 00:07:46.470
 He knows the Hingham militia.
 
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 Every man between the age of
 
 00:07:48.190 --> 00:07:49.771
 sixteen and sixty has to be
 
 00:07:49.810 --> 00:07:51.432
 a member of the militia.
 
 00:07:51.932 --> 00:07:53.533
 And Lincoln recognizes that
 
 00:07:53.754 --> 00:07:55.634
 maybe we actually need some
 
 00:07:55.714 --> 00:07:57.475
 better prepared guys
 
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 instead of just calling out
 
 00:07:59.358 --> 00:08:01.579
 everyone between sixteen and sixty.
 
 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.940
 So Lincoln is the one who
 
 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:05.942
 suggests that each militia
 
 00:08:06.002 --> 00:08:09.505
 company should form a minute company,
 
 00:08:09.925 --> 00:08:12.827
 a smaller group of more agile,
 
 00:08:12.947 --> 00:08:16.451
 often younger men to serve
 
 00:08:16.471 --> 00:08:17.252
 who will be ready at a
 
 00:08:17.331 --> 00:08:18.713
 minute's notice to go and serve.
 
 00:08:19.012 --> 00:08:20.634
 So Lincoln is in some ways
 
 00:08:20.673 --> 00:08:21.615
 responsible for them
 
 00:08:21.954 --> 00:08:23.100
 creation of the groups we
 
 00:08:23.141 --> 00:08:24.668
 call the Minutemen.
 
 00:08:25.435 --> 00:08:27.057
 And then he's also elected
 
 00:08:27.117 --> 00:08:28.937
 to the twenty eight member
 
 00:08:29.119 --> 00:08:31.240
 executive council.
 
 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:34.322
 And even after Lexington and
 
 00:08:34.361 --> 00:08:35.462
 Concord in April of
 
 00:08:35.523 --> 00:08:36.903
 seventeen seventy five,
 
 00:08:37.244 --> 00:08:38.184
 the when the provincial
 
 00:08:38.225 --> 00:08:39.745
 Congress reconvenes,
 
 00:08:40.025 --> 00:08:41.267
 Lincoln is chosen to be the
 
 00:08:41.346 --> 00:08:43.128
 muster master of the militia,
 
 00:08:43.447 --> 00:08:44.528
 as well as a member of the
 
 00:08:44.568 --> 00:08:46.090
 Committee of Safety and
 
 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:47.350
 elected to the twenty eight
 
 00:08:47.390 --> 00:08:49.152
 member executive committee,
 
 00:08:49.491 --> 00:08:51.754
 the executive council that will,
 
 00:08:51.833 --> 00:08:53.674
 in effect, be the executive
 
 00:08:58.525 --> 00:08:58.985
 vacant.
 
 00:08:59.866 --> 00:09:03.847
 So he is not in the military
 
 00:09:04.008 --> 00:09:06.288
 in the early months of the war.
 
 00:09:06.308 --> 00:09:06.609
 In fact,
 
 00:09:06.629 --> 00:09:08.750
 for the first year or so of the war.
 
 00:09:09.171 --> 00:09:10.091
 He is, however,
 
 00:09:10.130 --> 00:09:13.052
 very important to the military campaign.
 
 00:09:13.892 --> 00:09:15.273
 And then in January of
 
 00:09:21.311 --> 00:09:22.511
 He becomes a brigadier
 
 00:09:22.532 --> 00:09:24.153
 general for Suffolk County.
 
 00:09:24.712 --> 00:09:26.634
 And the Massachusetts
 
 00:09:26.673 --> 00:09:28.254
 Executive Council appoints
 
 00:09:28.455 --> 00:09:30.316
 three other officers to be
 
 00:09:30.635 --> 00:09:31.697
 the major generals.
 
 00:09:31.797 --> 00:09:34.357
 And these are Azar Orn of Marblehead,
 
 00:09:34.778 --> 00:09:36.879
 John Hancock of Boston,
 
 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:39.201
 and James Warren of Plymouth.
 
 00:09:39.520 --> 00:09:41.802
 So these are the senior
 
 00:09:41.942 --> 00:09:43.722
 officers in the spectrum.
 
 00:09:44.078 --> 00:09:44.479
 Warren,
 
 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:46.320
 very important figure in Marblehead.
 
 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:47.740
 Hancock, of course,
 
 00:09:47.880 --> 00:09:49.542
 is the commander of the
 
 00:09:49.562 --> 00:09:50.602
 First Corps of Cadets,
 
 00:09:50.962 --> 00:09:52.384
 as well as the president of
 
 00:09:52.423 --> 00:09:53.945
 the Continental Congress.
 
 00:09:54.264 --> 00:09:55.265
 And again, James Warren,
 
 00:09:55.605 --> 00:09:57.667
 who is the presiding
 
 00:09:57.726 --> 00:10:00.469
 officer of the Provincial Congress.
 
 00:10:00.729 --> 00:10:02.809
 But then Warren can't serve.
 
 00:10:03.207 --> 00:10:04.389
 He declines to do this
 
 00:10:04.429 --> 00:10:06.212
 because being a militia
 
 00:10:06.293 --> 00:10:07.794
 officer might require him
 
 00:10:07.815 --> 00:10:09.417
 to lead the troops out of state.
 
 00:10:09.717 --> 00:10:10.639
 And James Warren,
 
 00:10:10.698 --> 00:10:12.160
 husband of Mercy Otis Warren,
 
 00:10:12.361 --> 00:10:14.104
 does not want to leave Massachusetts.
 
 00:10:14.404 --> 00:10:15.886
 So when Warren declines,
 
 00:10:16.291 --> 00:10:18.011
 Benjamin Lincoln becomes one
 
 00:10:18.052 --> 00:10:19.952
 of these major generals in
 
 00:10:19.972 --> 00:10:22.014
 February of seventeen seventy six,
 
 00:10:22.354 --> 00:10:24.716
 recognizing this is a big responsibility.
 
 00:10:25.015 --> 00:10:26.596
 He resigns his position as
 
 00:10:26.657 --> 00:10:27.976
 town clerk for him.
 
 00:10:27.996 --> 00:10:28.638
 Remember,
 
 00:10:28.658 --> 00:10:30.639
 he's been connected with him and
 
 00:10:30.678 --> 00:10:32.019
 now he recognizes he has a
 
 00:10:32.058 --> 00:10:33.399
 different responsibility,
 
 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:35.061
 which will take him out of town.
 
 00:10:35.201 --> 00:10:36.601
 And unlike James Warren,
 
 00:10:36.902 --> 00:10:38.682
 he is willing to go out of town.
 
 00:10:39.758 --> 00:10:42.659
 Now Lincoln works with Artemus Ward,
 
 00:10:42.980 --> 00:10:44.740
 who is the senior commander
 
 00:10:44.780 --> 00:10:46.422
 of Massachusetts military force.
 
 00:10:46.942 --> 00:10:48.163
 John Hancock isn't spending
 
 00:10:48.182 --> 00:10:48.942
 a whole lot of time
 
 00:10:49.043 --> 00:10:51.565
 organizing the militia in Massachusetts.
 
 00:10:52.525 --> 00:10:53.245
 Lincoln is.
 
 00:10:53.525 --> 00:10:55.427
 Lincoln and Artemis Ward
 
 00:10:55.746 --> 00:10:57.668
 work on fortifying Nautilus
 
 00:10:57.788 --> 00:10:59.008
 Island in Dorchester
 
 00:10:59.067 --> 00:11:00.268
 Heights after the British
 
 00:11:00.307 --> 00:11:01.629
 evacuation in March of
 
 00:11:01.708 --> 00:11:02.889
 seventeen seventy six.
 
 00:11:03.208 --> 00:11:05.090
 The British leave Boston in
 
 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:06.730
 March of seventeen seventy six.
 
 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:09.431
 But their ships drop down the harbor.
 
 00:11:09.770 --> 00:11:11.572
 They don't completely leave
 
 00:11:11.591 --> 00:11:13.131
 the environs of Boston.
 
 00:11:13.572 --> 00:11:14.852
 And Hingham, of course,
 
 00:11:14.893 --> 00:11:18.094
 is on the southern part of Boston Harbor.
 
 00:11:18.433 --> 00:11:20.754
 It's enclosed by Nantasket
 
 00:11:20.835 --> 00:11:22.095
 and the town of Hull.
 
 00:11:22.673 --> 00:11:24.195
 from the open ocean,
 
 00:11:24.615 --> 00:11:25.775
 but it is very much
 
 00:11:25.797 --> 00:11:27.817
 susceptible to any attack
 
 00:11:27.857 --> 00:11:29.139
 from a British fleet that
 
 00:11:29.178 --> 00:11:31.701
 happens to be hanging off of Nantaster.
 
 00:11:32.020 --> 00:11:34.243
 So Ward and Lincoln fortify
 
 00:11:34.283 --> 00:11:35.484
 Nottles Island and
 
 00:11:35.764 --> 00:11:37.846
 Dorchester Heights around
 
 00:11:37.885 --> 00:11:39.027
 the town of Boston,
 
 00:11:39.346 --> 00:11:41.089
 but then Lincoln also
 
 00:11:41.149 --> 00:11:43.090
 starts a campaign in June
 
 00:11:43.129 --> 00:11:44.871
 of seventeen seventy-six to
 
 00:11:44.912 --> 00:11:46.092
 drive these British
 
 00:11:46.192 --> 00:11:47.614
 warships from the southern
 
 00:11:49.188 --> 00:11:50.832
 fortifies Long Island as
 
 00:11:50.873 --> 00:11:52.477
 well as Peddocks Island and
 
 00:11:52.498 --> 00:11:55.124
 to Nantasket to prevent the
 
 00:11:55.163 --> 00:11:57.630
 British from coming back into the harbor.
 
 00:11:58.325 --> 00:11:58.424
 Now,
 
 00:11:58.445 --> 00:12:00.365
 he takes time off from these essential
 
 00:12:00.405 --> 00:12:02.248
 duties to preside at
 
 00:12:02.327 --> 00:12:03.589
 Hingham's town meeting.
 
 00:12:03.629 --> 00:12:05.830
 That is, he is the guy running,
 
 00:12:06.210 --> 00:12:07.691
 actually presiding at the
 
 00:12:07.730 --> 00:12:09.451
 town meeting in Hingham in
 
 00:12:09.552 --> 00:12:11.394
 May of seventeen seventy six.
 
 00:12:11.734 --> 00:12:12.715
 And the big order of
 
 00:12:12.754 --> 00:12:14.155
 business for town meetings
 
 00:12:14.196 --> 00:12:15.817
 in Massachusetts in May was
 
 00:12:16.456 --> 00:12:18.158
 what should we do about independence?
 
 00:12:18.437 --> 00:12:19.979
 The provincial Congress had
 
 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:21.600
 asked the towns to tell
 
 00:12:21.640 --> 00:12:23.682
 them their advice on independence.
 
 00:12:23.922 --> 00:12:24.863
 How should we vote?
 
 00:12:25.182 --> 00:12:26.203
 And the town of Hingham
 
 00:12:26.464 --> 00:12:28.284
 votes yes for independence.
 
 00:12:28.826 --> 00:12:29.426
 At this time,
 
 00:12:29.667 --> 00:12:31.448
 Lincoln and other Hinghamites
 
 00:12:31.589 --> 00:12:33.230
 see the writing on the wall here,
 
 00:12:33.431 --> 00:12:34.532
 that it's not just
 
 00:12:34.631 --> 00:12:36.955
 resisting ministerial policies
 
 00:12:38.148 --> 00:12:39.128
 and getting a better
 
 00:12:39.168 --> 00:12:40.769
 governor than General Gage,
 
 00:12:41.068 --> 00:12:42.129
 but it is actually
 
 00:12:42.330 --> 00:12:44.350
 independence from the British crown.
 
 00:12:44.610 --> 00:12:45.990
 This is a major step.
 
 00:12:46.451 --> 00:12:50.312
 And after Hingham agrees to
 
 00:12:50.352 --> 00:12:51.913
 a declaration of independence,
 
 00:12:52.173 --> 00:12:53.854
 Hingham goes off to New
 
 00:12:53.894 --> 00:12:55.595
 York with the troops he has
 
 00:12:55.654 --> 00:12:57.115
 raised in Massachusetts,
 
 00:12:57.375 --> 00:12:59.537
 because that's where the war has gone.
 
 00:13:05.755 --> 00:13:07.296
 So he sends most of the
 
 00:13:07.336 --> 00:13:09.517
 troops down to New York to
 
 00:13:09.537 --> 00:13:11.818
 begin fortifying the town,
 
 00:13:11.859 --> 00:13:13.599
 Manhattan and Brooklyn.
 
 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.360
 And Washington recognized
 
 00:13:15.379 --> 00:13:16.561
 that this was a hopeless
 
 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.121
 task to fortify New York
 
 00:13:18.381 --> 00:13:19.621
 when he did not really have
 
 00:13:19.701 --> 00:13:20.623
 any sea power.
 
 00:13:21.062 --> 00:13:22.004
 And in July of
 
 00:13:24.878 --> 00:13:26.039
 Massive sea power.
 
 00:13:26.059 --> 00:13:26.360
 In fact,
 
 00:13:26.640 --> 00:13:28.043
 the largest fleet they had ever
 
 00:13:28.124 --> 00:13:29.947
 sent across the ocean is
 
 00:13:30.006 --> 00:13:31.470
 arriving in New York,
 
 00:13:31.750 --> 00:13:33.232
 just as Washington is
 
 00:13:33.293 --> 00:13:34.936
 having his troops here at
 
 00:13:34.956 --> 00:13:35.756
 the Declaration of
 
 00:13:35.797 --> 00:13:37.821
 Independence read on Manhattan Island.
 
 00:13:38.270 --> 00:13:39.150
 They could have seen the
 
 00:13:39.191 --> 00:13:40.051
 British warships
 
 00:13:40.091 --> 00:13:41.272
 approaching off Staten
 
 00:13:41.351 --> 00:13:42.971
 Island as they are hearing
 
 00:13:43.272 --> 00:13:44.932
 the Declaration of
 
 00:13:44.972 --> 00:13:46.092
 Independence being written,
 
 00:13:46.113 --> 00:13:46.932
 and they tear down the
 
 00:13:46.972 --> 00:13:48.293
 statue of King George III
 
 00:13:48.333 --> 00:13:49.254
 to make bullets.
 
 00:13:49.293 --> 00:13:51.854
 Now, Lincoln is not in Manhattan.
 
 00:13:52.215 --> 00:13:55.014
 He is in Connecticut with George Clinton.
 
 00:13:55.294 --> 00:13:56.096
 George Clinton,
 
 00:13:56.456 --> 00:13:57.676
 very important political
 
 00:13:57.716 --> 00:13:58.975
 figure in New York,
 
 00:13:59.355 --> 00:14:01.397
 as well as a general in the
 
 00:14:01.437 --> 00:14:02.456
 New York's militia.
 
 00:14:02.876 --> 00:14:04.557
 And Clinton and Lincoln are
 
 00:14:04.597 --> 00:14:05.837
 planning a campaign
 
 00:14:06.208 --> 00:14:07.929
 to go across Long Island
 
 00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:09.791
 Sound and attack Long Island.
 
 00:14:10.110 --> 00:14:11.692
 This is a diversionary tactic.
 
 00:14:12.072 --> 00:14:13.873
 Washington's hope was that
 
 00:14:14.094 --> 00:14:15.894
 we attack on the coast of
 
 00:14:15.995 --> 00:14:17.836
 Long Island and then the
 
 00:14:17.855 --> 00:14:18.836
 British will have to send
 
 00:14:18.875 --> 00:14:20.136
 some of their forces there
 
 00:14:20.177 --> 00:14:21.898
 to repel this force and
 
 00:14:21.957 --> 00:14:23.818
 that will help relieve some
 
 00:14:23.839 --> 00:14:24.599
 of the pressure on
 
 00:14:24.700 --> 00:14:26.441
 Washington who is getting
 
 00:14:26.500 --> 00:14:28.861
 battered in Brooklyn and Manhattan
 
 00:14:29.591 --> 00:14:31.033
 tremendous campaign.
 
 00:14:31.373 --> 00:14:33.393
 No one comes out of the New York campaign.
 
 00:14:33.432 --> 00:14:35.014
 No one on the American side
 
 00:14:35.073 --> 00:14:35.953
 comes out of the New York
 
 00:14:35.994 --> 00:14:38.735
 campaign looking very good or competent.
 
 00:14:39.195 --> 00:14:41.096
 Washington then realizes, okay,
 
 00:14:41.355 --> 00:14:42.277
 that's really a waste of
 
 00:14:42.336 --> 00:14:43.777
 time to have Clinton and
 
 00:14:43.856 --> 00:14:45.378
 Lincoln attacking Long
 
 00:14:45.518 --> 00:14:46.498
 Island because he needs all
 
 00:14:46.557 --> 00:14:47.719
 of the available men here
 
 00:14:47.739 --> 00:14:49.619
 as he is being pushed out of Manhattan.
 
 00:14:49.979 --> 00:14:51.679
 And now his army is centered
 
 00:14:51.720 --> 00:14:54.000
 around White Plains, north of the city,
 
 00:14:54.301 --> 00:14:55.421
 and he's looking to protect
 
 00:14:55.441 --> 00:14:57.261
 the crossing over the Hudson River.
 
 00:14:58.922 --> 00:14:59.062
 Now,
 
 00:14:59.282 --> 00:15:01.823
 General William Heath is the
 
 00:15:01.864 --> 00:15:03.164
 commanding officer in a
 
 00:15:03.225 --> 00:15:05.206
 campaign around White Plains.
 
 00:15:05.265 --> 00:15:06.086
 Lincoln, by the way,
 
 00:15:06.466 --> 00:15:07.927
 is at the Battle of White
 
 00:15:07.966 --> 00:15:09.969
 Plains in the fall of
 
 00:15:10.009 --> 00:15:11.229
 seventeen seventy six.
 
 00:15:11.690 --> 00:15:13.831
 And this begins to shift his
 
 00:15:13.910 --> 00:15:15.871
 thinking about the nature of this war.
 
 00:15:16.371 --> 00:15:18.673
 Seeing an actual battle,
 
 00:15:18.754 --> 00:15:20.134
 a big battle like this,
 
 00:15:20.514 --> 00:15:22.155
 Lincoln had thought, you know,
 
 00:15:22.176 --> 00:15:22.875
 the British are going to
 
 00:15:22.916 --> 00:15:23.836
 give up this struggle
 
 00:15:23.876 --> 00:15:24.897
 pretty easily because of
 
 00:15:24.917 --> 00:15:26.138
 the mobilized strength of
 
 00:15:26.158 --> 00:15:27.359
 the New England militia.
 
 00:15:28.054 --> 00:15:29.416
 Now he's thinking the New
 
 00:15:29.456 --> 00:15:30.397
 England militia really
 
 00:15:30.417 --> 00:15:31.557
 aren't up to winning a war
 
 00:15:31.596 --> 00:15:32.618
 against the most powerful
 
 00:15:32.697 --> 00:15:33.999
 empire in the world.
 
 00:15:34.438 --> 00:15:36.160
 And the war isn't going to
 
 00:15:36.181 --> 00:15:37.642
 be isolated here.
 
 00:15:37.861 --> 00:15:39.462
 We're not going to have a big battle here.
 
 00:15:39.523 --> 00:15:41.984
 Get the British to give up and go home.
 
 00:15:42.565 --> 00:15:43.666
 Lincoln recognizes,
 
 00:15:43.725 --> 00:15:46.086
 just as Washington is coming to recognize,
 
 00:15:46.346 --> 00:15:48.028
 that this war is going to
 
 00:15:48.089 --> 00:15:49.830
 take place over the entire
 
 00:15:49.929 --> 00:15:50.230
 Eastern Pacific.
 
 00:15:51.706 --> 00:15:52.528
 And you're actually going to
 
 00:15:52.587 --> 00:15:54.448
 need a better prepared
 
 00:15:54.509 --> 00:15:56.049
 professional force.
 
 00:15:56.490 --> 00:15:56.769
 So,
 
 00:15:57.169 --> 00:15:58.951
 and Washington is also coming to
 
 00:15:59.010 --> 00:15:59.871
 realize something.
 
 00:15:59.971 --> 00:16:01.613
 Lincoln is also beginning to
 
 00:16:01.673 --> 00:16:03.693
 see the critical thing here
 
 00:16:03.774 --> 00:16:05.794
 is not holding onto New York.
 
 00:16:06.255 --> 00:16:07.775
 Let the British hold New York.
 
 00:16:08.116 --> 00:16:09.697
 What we need to do are two things.
 
 00:16:10.238 --> 00:16:10.378
 One,
 
 00:16:11.129 --> 00:16:13.610
 Maintain an army that can
 
 00:16:13.669 --> 00:16:14.711
 fight the British.
 
 00:16:14.951 --> 00:16:16.572
 Keep the army intact.
 
 00:16:16.812 --> 00:16:19.153
 Don't let them capture the army.
 
 00:16:19.533 --> 00:16:21.494
 Let them capture New York instead.
 
 00:16:21.815 --> 00:16:22.995
 Now, Washington, in fact,
 
 00:16:23.075 --> 00:16:24.395
 suggested maybe burning New
 
 00:16:24.416 --> 00:16:25.897
 York so the British couldn't hold it.
 
 00:16:25.956 --> 00:16:27.017
 Congress says, no, no, no,
 
 00:16:27.037 --> 00:16:27.878
 don't burn New York.
 
 00:16:28.097 --> 00:16:29.018
 Particularly the members
 
 00:16:29.057 --> 00:16:30.219
 from New York didn't want
 
 00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:31.339
 them to do this.
 
 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:33.299
 But Washington also sees
 
 00:16:33.379 --> 00:16:34.681
 it's essential to hold on
 
 00:16:34.721 --> 00:16:35.802
 to the loyalty of the
 
 00:16:35.822 --> 00:16:36.402
 people we're serving.
 
 00:16:37.301 --> 00:16:38.201
 You can keep an army
 
 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:39.481
 together all kinds of ways,
 
 00:16:39.522 --> 00:16:40.743
 and one is by brutalizing
 
 00:16:40.783 --> 00:16:42.123
 the civilian population.
 
 00:16:42.403 --> 00:16:44.083
 But this isn't going to be
 
 00:16:44.144 --> 00:16:45.705
 what the Continental Army does.
 
 00:16:46.024 --> 00:16:47.566
 So Lincoln is coming to
 
 00:16:47.706 --> 00:16:50.106
 understand the nature of the war, too,
 
 00:16:50.346 --> 00:16:52.087
 particularly in the debacle
 
 00:16:52.447 --> 00:16:53.548
 at White Plains.
 
 00:16:54.089 --> 00:16:55.970
 And he goes home to Hingham
 
 00:16:56.210 --> 00:16:58.890
 after White Plains to settle his affairs.
 
 00:16:59.211 --> 00:17:00.491
 He resigns as a deacon of
 
 00:17:00.532 --> 00:17:01.832
 the Congregational Church.
 
 00:17:02.293 --> 00:17:03.673
 And then he comes back to
 
 00:17:03.714 --> 00:17:05.213
 the Hudson River Valley to
 
 00:17:05.294 --> 00:17:06.614
 serve under General Heath,
 
 00:17:06.875 --> 00:17:08.055
 brings with him his son,
 
 00:17:08.095 --> 00:17:09.335
 Benjamin Lincoln Jr.,
 
 00:17:09.694 --> 00:17:11.016
 as well as Timothy Pickering,
 
 00:17:11.036 --> 00:17:11.715
 an officer from
 
 00:17:11.756 --> 00:17:13.016
 Massachusetts about whom
 
 00:17:13.036 --> 00:17:15.596
 we'll be saying more in
 
 00:17:15.656 --> 00:17:17.478
 subsequent podcasts, I believe.
 
 00:17:18.077 --> 00:17:18.258
 Now,
 
 00:17:18.357 --> 00:17:20.098
 William Heath is the commanding
 
 00:17:20.179 --> 00:17:21.619
 officer for Massachusetts,
 
 00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:23.461
 and he is in charge of the
 
 00:17:23.520 --> 00:17:25.981
 American forces on the Hudson River.
 
 00:17:26.021 --> 00:17:26.882
 Now, by this time,
 
 00:17:27.241 --> 00:17:28.502
 Washington's force had been
 
 00:17:28.542 --> 00:17:30.084
 chased across New Jersey.
 
 00:17:30.403 --> 00:17:31.423
 They were on the other side
 
 00:17:31.463 --> 00:17:32.964
 of the Delaware, as you know,
 
 00:17:33.384 --> 00:17:34.286
 on Christmas night of
 
 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:38.000
 Trenton,
 
 00:17:38.421 --> 00:17:40.021
 and then had gone back across the
 
 00:17:40.061 --> 00:17:40.541
 Delaware.
 
 00:17:40.823 --> 00:17:42.584
 And this moves much of the
 
 00:17:42.624 --> 00:17:43.865
 British force into New
 
 00:17:43.904 --> 00:17:45.066
 Jersey to try to catch
 
 00:17:45.125 --> 00:17:47.288
 Washington over the winter
 
 00:17:47.347 --> 00:17:49.750
 months of early-seventeen-seventy-seven.
 
 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:51.911
 Now, in January of seventeen-seventy-seven,
 
 00:17:52.270 --> 00:17:54.393
 Heath decides that what they can do,
 
 00:17:54.432 --> 00:17:55.953
 these troops in the Hudson Valley,
 
 00:17:57.075 --> 00:17:59.557
 is go take King's Bridge.
 
 00:17:59.576 --> 00:18:00.758
 This is a bridge between
 
 00:18:00.857 --> 00:18:02.318
 Harlem and the Bronx.
 
 00:18:03.628 --> 00:18:05.109
 Vital crossing point for
 
 00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:06.751
 anyone interested in the area.
 
 00:18:07.031 --> 00:18:07.511
 And of course,
 
 00:18:07.792 --> 00:18:10.035
 after the British had taken
 
 00:18:10.075 --> 00:18:11.556
 Manhattan and driven
 
 00:18:11.615 --> 00:18:13.718
 Washington's forces out of White Plains,
 
 00:18:13.978 --> 00:18:15.159
 they're holding Kingsbury.
 
 00:18:15.673 --> 00:18:16.013
 By the way,
 
 00:18:16.054 --> 00:18:17.834
 Westchester County to the north
 
 00:18:17.854 --> 00:18:18.714
 of New York becomes a
 
 00:18:18.775 --> 00:18:20.615
 battleground throughout the war.
 
 00:18:21.055 --> 00:18:22.694
 And this is one of these
 
 00:18:22.795 --> 00:18:24.096
 episodes in this long
 
 00:18:24.135 --> 00:18:25.796
 campaign along the Hudson.
 
 00:18:26.675 --> 00:18:28.516
 And Heath gets the idea of
 
 00:18:28.576 --> 00:18:30.217
 taking King's Bridge,
 
 00:18:30.557 --> 00:18:31.997
 which is now fortified by
 
 00:18:32.057 --> 00:18:33.037
 Fort Independence.
 
 00:18:33.096 --> 00:18:33.836
 I believe the British
 
 00:18:33.876 --> 00:18:35.077
 maintain the name of Fort
 
 00:18:35.178 --> 00:18:36.258
 Independence as a way of
 
 00:18:36.337 --> 00:18:38.218
 mocking the Americans who
 
 00:18:38.518 --> 00:18:39.838
 proclaim their independence
 
 00:18:39.858 --> 00:18:41.719
 and then can't possibly hold on to it.
 
 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:43.682
 and Heath and the
 
 00:18:43.742 --> 00:18:45.247
 Massachusetts forces go
 
 00:18:45.287 --> 00:18:46.790
 down to take Fort
 
 00:18:46.871 --> 00:18:48.776
 Independence and Kingsbridge.
 
 00:18:49.223 --> 00:18:50.404
 don't have any artillery
 
 00:18:50.424 --> 00:18:51.026
 they don't really have the
 
 00:18:51.066 --> 00:18:52.247
 wherewithal to do this but
 
 00:18:52.287 --> 00:18:53.788
 that doesn't stop a general
 
 00:18:53.827 --> 00:18:55.730
 like heath who goes with
 
 00:18:55.769 --> 00:18:57.592
 his small militia force and
 
 00:18:57.632 --> 00:18:58.551
 demands that the british
 
 00:18:58.592 --> 00:18:59.653
 surrender remember you're
 
 00:18:59.692 --> 00:19:01.335
 also attacking in january
 
 00:19:01.694 --> 00:19:03.237
 your men are out in tents
 
 00:19:03.416 --> 00:19:05.218
 if they have tents and of
 
 00:19:05.238 --> 00:19:06.259
 course the british forces
 
 00:19:06.338 --> 00:19:07.641
 are inside fort
 
 00:19:07.681 --> 00:19:09.021
 independence it's not
 
 00:19:09.102 --> 00:19:10.522
 luxurious but it's not
 
 00:19:10.563 --> 00:19:13.546
 tense in january in new york
 
 00:19:13.945 --> 00:19:15.946
 So he goes and demands the
 
 00:19:15.987 --> 00:19:17.748
 surrender of the British, who, of course,
 
 00:19:17.807 --> 00:19:19.710
 ignore the demand for their surrender.
 
 00:19:20.250 --> 00:19:21.391
 And he doesn't have any way
 
 00:19:21.431 --> 00:19:22.510
 of getting them out,
 
 00:19:22.530 --> 00:19:24.873
 having made this outlandish demand.
 
 00:19:25.353 --> 00:19:28.234
 And this really disastrous
 
 00:19:28.335 --> 00:19:29.915
 attempt to attack Fort
 
 00:19:29.935 --> 00:19:30.655
 Independence and
 
 00:19:30.695 --> 00:19:32.477
 Kingsbridge ruins the
 
 00:19:32.517 --> 00:19:35.519
 reputation of General William Heap.
 
 00:19:35.538 --> 00:19:37.319
 The British didn't take him seriously.
 
 00:19:37.460 --> 00:19:38.000
 And after this,
 
 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:39.101
 neither will the Americans.
 
 00:19:40.127 --> 00:19:40.508
 However,
 
 00:19:40.548 --> 00:19:42.548
 Benjamin Lincoln has a capacity
 
 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:45.189
 for not being ruined by the
 
 00:19:45.229 --> 00:19:47.329
 disastrous decisions of the
 
 00:19:47.369 --> 00:19:48.529
 people above him.
 
 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:51.170
 Washington has come to see
 
 00:19:51.450 --> 00:19:54.730
 that Lincoln is active, spirited,
 
 00:19:55.030 --> 00:19:55.931
 and sensible.
 
 00:19:56.510 --> 00:19:58.251
 Three things that you really
 
 00:19:58.352 --> 00:20:00.112
 need in an officer.
 
 00:20:00.612 --> 00:20:04.192
 And so rather than being ruined by this,
 
 00:20:04.573 --> 00:20:06.473
 Washington now urges that
 
 00:20:06.554 --> 00:20:08.794
 Lincoln be appointed a brigadier general.
 
 00:20:09.280 --> 00:20:09.520
 That is,
 
 00:20:09.721 --> 00:20:12.343
 he wants him to rise in the command.
 
 00:20:13.123 --> 00:20:14.223
 And this is a propitious
 
 00:20:14.304 --> 00:20:17.365
 time for someone like Lincoln because,
 
 00:20:17.405 --> 00:20:17.726
 of course,
 
 00:20:17.766 --> 00:20:18.826
 now the British are planning
 
 00:20:18.965 --> 00:20:20.467
 another big campaign.
 
 00:20:20.727 --> 00:20:22.307
 General Burgoyne has this
 
 00:20:22.448 --> 00:20:24.429
 idea of bringing a British
 
 00:20:24.469 --> 00:20:25.630
 force up the St.
 
 00:20:25.690 --> 00:20:27.691
 Lawrence River and then go
 
 00:20:27.730 --> 00:20:29.271
 down Lake Champlain or up
 
 00:20:29.311 --> 00:20:30.653
 Lake Champlain to the
 
 00:20:30.673 --> 00:20:32.473
 Hudson River Valley and
 
 00:20:32.901 --> 00:20:33.740
 Burgoyne's idea, too,
 
 00:20:33.780 --> 00:20:35.662
 is now General Howe holds New York.
 
 00:20:35.721 --> 00:20:37.122
 Howe will send his forces up
 
 00:20:37.162 --> 00:20:38.262
 the Hudson River to join up
 
 00:20:38.303 --> 00:20:39.462
 with Burgoyne's forces.
 
 00:20:39.762 --> 00:20:41.284
 This will cut off New England.
 
 00:20:41.763 --> 00:20:43.805
 Another expedition further
 
 00:20:43.984 --> 00:20:45.505
 up to Lake Ontario will
 
 00:20:45.605 --> 00:20:49.125
 then circle back along the Mohawk River,
 
 00:20:49.425 --> 00:20:52.267
 join up with the Haudenosaunee League,
 
 00:20:52.307 --> 00:20:54.327
 the Iroquois Confederation,
 
 00:20:54.748 --> 00:20:57.269
 and repel the Yankees from New York,
 
 00:20:57.729 --> 00:20:59.029
 separate New England from
 
 00:20:59.069 --> 00:21:00.230
 the rest of the colonies,
 
 00:21:00.645 --> 00:21:01.987
 It's a grand campaign.
 
 00:21:02.087 --> 00:21:03.528
 Guy Carlton had suggested
 
 00:21:03.568 --> 00:21:05.471
 something like this a year or two earlier,
 
 00:21:05.912 --> 00:21:07.512
 and the British had been ignored.
 
 00:21:07.854 --> 00:21:09.695
 Now, Burgoyne goes off to England and says,
 
 00:21:09.776 --> 00:21:10.817
 oh, yeah, we should do this.
 
 00:21:11.257 --> 00:21:11.637
 Of course,
 
 00:21:11.698 --> 00:21:14.461
 looking at this whole area on a map,
 
 00:21:16.021 --> 00:21:17.483
 someone says that Burgoyne
 
 00:21:17.564 --> 00:21:19.066
 imagines he can cross the
 
 00:21:19.125 --> 00:21:21.228
 continent in a hop, skip and a jump.
 
 00:21:21.621 --> 00:21:22.602
 Looking at it on a map is
 
 00:21:22.642 --> 00:21:23.261
 much different from
 
 00:21:23.342 --> 00:21:24.963
 actually being there and
 
 00:21:25.084 --> 00:21:27.685
 seeing the riverways, the mountains,
 
 00:21:27.746 --> 00:21:29.346
 the forests you have to go
 
 00:21:29.406 --> 00:21:30.548
 through in order to carry
 
 00:21:30.607 --> 00:21:31.709
 out this expedition.
 
 00:21:32.971 --> 00:21:34.512
 And not the least of the problems,
 
 00:21:34.593 --> 00:21:36.113
 aside from geography,
 
 00:21:36.273 --> 00:21:37.314
 is the fact that no one
 
 00:21:37.334 --> 00:21:38.674
 told General Howe that he
 
 00:21:38.694 --> 00:21:40.355
 was supposed to go up the
 
 00:21:40.394 --> 00:21:41.675
 Hudson River because as
 
 00:21:41.736 --> 00:21:43.616
 Burgoyne is coming up the St.
 
 00:21:43.676 --> 00:21:46.178
 Lawrence River and then up Lake Champlain,
 
 00:21:46.538 --> 00:21:48.499
 Howe has taken the British forces,
 
 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:49.640
 this is in the summer of
 
 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:50.920
 seventeen seventy seven,
 
 00:21:51.540 --> 00:21:53.402
 off to sea and no one quite
 
 00:21:53.422 --> 00:21:54.221
 knows where they are.
 
 00:21:54.642 --> 00:21:55.882
 They're going to wind up on
 
 00:21:55.902 --> 00:21:57.182
 the Chesapeake Bay and then
 
 00:21:57.222 --> 00:21:58.303
 take Philadelphia.
 
 00:21:58.583 --> 00:21:59.624
 But no one knows that.
 
 00:21:59.884 --> 00:22:00.943
 And certainly they're not
 
 00:22:01.044 --> 00:22:02.564
 around to help General
 
 00:22:02.584 --> 00:22:04.105
 Burgoyne separate New
 
 00:22:04.164 --> 00:22:06.045
 England from the rest of the colonies.
 
 00:22:06.385 --> 00:22:08.385
 So Burgoyne's campaign is a
 
 00:22:08.445 --> 00:22:09.626
 grand campaign.
 
 00:22:09.707 --> 00:22:10.967
 And at first it goes pretty well.
 
 00:22:11.993 --> 00:22:13.595
 Philip Schuyler is the
 
 00:22:13.694 --> 00:22:16.476
 officer in charge of the New York forces.
 
 00:22:16.556 --> 00:22:18.155
 He's in charge of the Northern Army,
 
 00:22:18.757 --> 00:22:21.317
 important political figure in New York,
 
 00:22:21.657 --> 00:22:22.998
 as well as the general in
 
 00:22:23.038 --> 00:22:24.138
 charge of these Northern
 
 00:22:24.338 --> 00:22:28.059
 armies and in command at Fort Ticonderoga,
 
 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:29.520
 which the Americans had
 
 00:22:29.540 --> 00:22:30.560
 taken back in May of
 
 00:22:30.621 --> 00:22:32.422
 seventeen seventy five is
 
 00:22:32.481 --> 00:22:33.862
 General Arthur Sinclair.
 
 00:22:33.902 --> 00:22:35.663
 Sinclair is a Scottish
 
 00:22:35.762 --> 00:22:37.262
 officer and now he's in
 
 00:22:37.324 --> 00:22:39.104
 charge of Fort Ticonderoga,
 
 00:22:39.364 --> 00:22:40.984
 which the Americans thought was
 
 00:22:41.704 --> 00:22:43.707
 And it would have been.
 
 00:22:44.347 --> 00:22:44.667
 Now,
 
 00:22:44.867 --> 00:22:48.490
 looming behind Fort Ticonderoga is a
 
 00:22:48.632 --> 00:22:49.712
 big mountain.
 
 00:22:50.212 --> 00:22:52.734
 And according to most strategists,
 
 00:22:52.755 --> 00:22:53.796
 it would be impossible for
 
 00:22:53.915 --> 00:22:55.218
 anyone to get cannon to the
 
 00:22:55.258 --> 00:22:59.121
 top of that mountain, Mount Independence,
 
 00:22:59.181 --> 00:23:01.163
 looming behind Ticonderoga.
 
 00:23:01.686 --> 00:23:02.027
 However,
 
 00:23:02.067 --> 00:23:03.969
 Burgoyne's men do get cannon up there,
 
 00:23:04.209 --> 00:23:05.750
 which makes Ticonderoga
 
 00:23:05.910 --> 00:23:07.570
 indefensible and General
 
 00:23:07.590 --> 00:23:09.872
 Sinclair has to get out of there.
 
 00:23:10.173 --> 00:23:11.713
 So Fort Ticonderoga has
 
 00:23:11.794 --> 00:23:13.394
 fallen to Burgoyne's forces
 
 00:23:13.414 --> 00:23:15.455
 who are now able to move to
 
 00:23:15.536 --> 00:23:17.037
 Lake George and then to the
 
 00:23:17.076 --> 00:23:18.397
 Hudson River Valley.
 
 00:23:18.817 --> 00:23:21.180
 And with the fall of Ticonderoga,
 
 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.901
 both Schuyler and Sinclair
 
 00:23:24.142 --> 00:23:27.144
 are sacked and replaced now
 
 00:23:27.163 --> 00:23:29.224
 by General Horatio Gates.
 
 00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:31.402
 And Gates has a number of
 
 00:23:31.682 --> 00:23:33.303
 really good officers with him,
 
 00:23:33.363 --> 00:23:34.962
 including Benedict Arnold.
 
 00:23:35.443 --> 00:23:36.683
 Arnold is one of the real
 
 00:23:36.743 --> 00:23:38.924
 heroes of the Saratoga campaign.
 
 00:23:39.724 --> 00:23:42.386
 Gates ignores him in his various reports,
 
 00:23:42.426 --> 00:23:43.267
 which is something that
 
 00:23:43.527 --> 00:23:45.008
 really rankles Arnold.
 
 00:23:45.048 --> 00:23:46.867
 And another thing that happens to Arnold,
 
 00:23:46.949 --> 00:23:48.749
 of course, is badly wounded.
 
 00:23:48.888 --> 00:23:50.230
 He's shot in the leg.
 
 00:23:50.705 --> 00:23:51.086
 And in fact,
 
 00:23:51.105 --> 00:23:52.928
 there's a monument at the
 
 00:23:53.228 --> 00:23:54.909
 Saratoga battlefield to
 
 00:23:55.250 --> 00:23:56.711
 Arnold's wounded leg.
 
 00:23:56.911 --> 00:23:58.551
 They say this part of him was heroic.
 
 00:23:58.751 --> 00:23:59.413
 The rest of him,
 
 00:23:59.772 --> 00:24:00.874
 not so much because of what
 
 00:24:00.913 --> 00:24:01.574
 happens later.
 
 00:24:01.734 --> 00:24:03.435
 Arnold really is rankled by
 
 00:24:03.455 --> 00:24:04.757
 the fact that Gates does
 
 00:24:04.817 --> 00:24:06.377
 not acknowledge his role at
 
 00:24:06.397 --> 00:24:09.461
 the during the Saratoga campaign.
 
 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:12.143
 And even though he had saved
 
 00:24:12.323 --> 00:24:13.663
 the day several times.
 
 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:17.740
 Now, Lincoln is also at Saratoga,
 
 00:24:17.800 --> 00:24:20.001
 and Lincoln's role in this, again,
 
 00:24:20.301 --> 00:24:22.262
 he is not an officer like
 
 00:24:22.482 --> 00:24:24.104
 Arnold that men are going
 
 00:24:24.144 --> 00:24:26.065
 to follow into battle and
 
 00:24:26.164 --> 00:24:28.546
 risk their lives in support
 
 00:24:28.605 --> 00:24:29.786
 of whatever he is doing.
 
 00:24:30.226 --> 00:24:33.107
 Lincoln, again, steady, sensible,
 
 00:24:33.448 --> 00:24:34.208
 thoughtful,
 
 00:24:34.567 --> 00:24:36.429
 as well as very well organized.
 
 00:24:36.648 --> 00:24:38.150
 He's also wounded, by the way.
 
 00:24:39.309 --> 00:24:40.411
 His job is to
 
 00:24:41.314 --> 00:24:42.854
 keep the British from
 
 00:24:43.095 --> 00:24:44.615
 retreating so that their
 
 00:24:44.755 --> 00:24:45.775
 army will escape.
 
 00:24:46.194 --> 00:24:47.715
 They're going to be encircled.
 
 00:24:47.955 --> 00:24:48.096
 Now,
 
 00:24:48.115 --> 00:24:50.777
 Burgoyne has come all this way down
 
 00:24:51.057 --> 00:24:52.757
 into the Hudson River Valley.
 
 00:24:53.376 --> 00:24:55.317
 And now what we want to do
 
 00:24:55.397 --> 00:24:56.458
 is keep him here.
 
 00:24:56.678 --> 00:24:58.239
 He's coming to realize
 
 00:24:58.679 --> 00:25:00.159
 General Howe isn't coming.
 
 00:25:01.019 --> 00:25:03.660
 And he has a very long
 
 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:06.681
 supply line back to Canada.
 
 00:25:07.441 --> 00:25:09.422
 And it's now October.
 
 00:25:10.147 --> 00:25:11.769
 Things are getting cold here.
 
 00:25:12.269 --> 00:25:13.790
 After the end of October,
 
 00:25:13.851 --> 00:25:14.551
 it's really going to be
 
 00:25:14.592 --> 00:25:16.472
 impossible for his army to
 
 00:25:16.512 --> 00:25:18.034
 get back up Lake Champlain.
 
 00:25:18.714 --> 00:25:20.236
 So Burgoyne is coming to
 
 00:25:20.296 --> 00:25:21.757
 realize that he is stuck.
 
 00:25:22.057 --> 00:25:24.900
 Gates is also realizing he is stuck.
 
 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:25.980
 In August,
 
 00:25:26.040 --> 00:25:28.082
 American forces led by John
 
 00:25:28.122 --> 00:25:28.762
 Stark and others
 
 00:25:28.903 --> 00:25:30.884
 had defeated a German column
 
 00:25:30.923 --> 00:25:31.644
 that had gone to get
 
 00:25:31.703 --> 00:25:34.484
 supplies in Bennington near
 
 00:25:34.525 --> 00:25:35.865
 the Vermont New York border.
 
 00:25:35.965 --> 00:25:36.986
 The whole story of Vermont
 
 00:25:37.066 --> 00:25:38.007
 is something we don't need
 
 00:25:38.047 --> 00:25:39.247
 to get into right now.
 
 00:25:39.707 --> 00:25:39.988
 Anyway,
 
 00:25:40.028 --> 00:25:42.387
 Lincoln is at Fort Edward trying to
 
 00:25:42.449 --> 00:25:43.769
 keep the British from
 
 00:25:43.909 --> 00:25:45.710
 escaping back up Lake Chevrolet.
 
 00:25:46.190 --> 00:25:48.411
 And he sees a party of soldiers.
 
 00:25:48.550 --> 00:25:48.871
 That is,
 
 00:25:48.931 --> 00:25:51.132
 he encounters a party of soldiers.
 
 00:25:51.876 --> 00:25:54.241
 And it's unclear which side they're on.
 
 00:25:54.501 --> 00:25:54.762
 Remember,
 
 00:25:54.782 --> 00:25:57.688
 the Americans don't all have uniforms.
 
 00:25:58.108 --> 00:26:00.834
 So if you have access to, say,
 
 00:26:01.736 --> 00:26:02.497
 a British uniform,
 
 00:26:06.688 --> 00:26:07.709
 left their coat behind,
 
 00:26:07.729 --> 00:26:09.510
 the Americans often would put these on.
 
 00:26:09.530 --> 00:26:10.832
 It makes it difficult to
 
 00:26:10.852 --> 00:26:12.333
 distinguish who is who on
 
 00:26:12.353 --> 00:26:14.115
 these various encounters in
 
 00:26:14.154 --> 00:26:16.056
 the forests of upstate New York.
 
 00:26:16.636 --> 00:26:18.438
 And so Lincoln and his party
 
 00:26:18.478 --> 00:26:20.339
 come across this other party.
 
 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:21.881
 Are they Americans?
 
 00:26:22.020 --> 00:26:23.462
 Some of them are wearing red coats,
 
 00:26:23.522 --> 00:26:24.703
 but many are not.
 
 00:26:25.144 --> 00:26:26.384
 And on the idea that they
 
 00:26:26.424 --> 00:26:28.467
 might actually be on our side,
 
 00:26:28.787 --> 00:26:30.107
 Lincoln and his horse
 
 00:26:30.208 --> 00:26:32.109
 approach too closely when
 
 00:26:32.130 --> 00:26:33.852
 they find out these are actually British.
 
 00:26:34.551 --> 00:26:35.853
 And the British realized
 
 00:26:35.893 --> 00:26:37.233
 these were actually Americans.
 
 00:26:37.574 --> 00:26:38.855
 And so there's a skirmish.
 
 00:26:39.075 --> 00:26:40.234
 And in this skirmish,
 
 00:26:40.496 --> 00:26:43.636
 General Lincoln is shot in the right leg,
 
 00:26:44.038 --> 00:26:45.018
 shatters his ankle.
 
 00:26:45.438 --> 00:26:46.519
 He's able to get away.
 
 00:26:46.598 --> 00:26:48.660
 He and his men able to get away.
 
 00:26:48.980 --> 00:26:50.861
 He then is evacuated to
 
 00:26:51.060 --> 00:26:52.362
 Albany where he can be put
 
 00:26:52.521 --> 00:26:53.903
 under a doctor's care.
 
 00:26:54.222 --> 00:26:55.263
 And the doctors don't think
 
 00:26:55.284 --> 00:26:56.284
 they can save his life.
 
 00:26:56.625 --> 00:26:57.625
 Shattered ankle.
 
 00:26:57.865 --> 00:26:58.905
 The best thing we can do is
 
 00:26:58.945 --> 00:26:59.806
 cut off the leg.
 
 00:27:00.666 --> 00:27:02.548
 He doesn't really want his leg cut off.
 
 00:27:03.121 --> 00:27:05.803
 And ultimately, they decide not to do it.
 
 00:27:06.363 --> 00:27:08.044
 But his right leg is going
 
 00:27:08.064 --> 00:27:09.105
 to be about two inches
 
 00:27:09.144 --> 00:27:10.645
 shorter than his left leg.
 
 00:27:11.145 --> 00:27:11.747
 He will.
 
 00:27:11.807 --> 00:27:13.367
 He writes home to his wife
 
 00:27:13.407 --> 00:27:14.888
 and to his son that not
 
 00:27:14.929 --> 00:27:16.130
 only do the doctors think
 
 00:27:16.190 --> 00:27:17.210
 they can save my leg,
 
 00:27:17.230 --> 00:27:18.310
 they think I may actually
 
 00:27:18.351 --> 00:27:19.231
 be able to use it.
 
 00:27:19.571 --> 00:27:20.332
 So at this point,
 
 00:27:20.571 --> 00:27:22.413
 Lincoln goes back home to Hingham.
 
 00:27:22.433 --> 00:27:24.015
 This is now the winter of
 
 00:27:24.095 --> 00:27:25.455
 seventeen seventy seven,
 
 00:27:25.496 --> 00:27:26.615
 seventeen seventy eight.
 
 00:27:26.977 --> 00:27:29.518
 Back home in Hingham, recuperating,
 
 00:27:29.577 --> 00:27:30.719
 learning to walk again.
 
 00:27:31.222 --> 00:27:32.625
 In fact, at the Lincoln House,
 
 00:27:32.644 --> 00:27:33.326
 I should mention,
 
 00:27:33.685 --> 00:27:35.788
 this house in Hingham was
 
 00:27:36.048 --> 00:27:37.810
 owned by the Lincoln family
 
 00:27:38.092 --> 00:27:39.733
 from the sixteen hundreds
 
 00:27:40.094 --> 00:27:42.076
 until about five years ago.
 
 00:27:42.096 --> 00:27:42.738
 In fact,
 
 00:27:42.798 --> 00:27:44.400
 the same family lived there and
 
 00:27:44.440 --> 00:27:46.542
 they have General Lincoln's crutch.
 
 00:27:47.085 --> 00:27:48.425
 as well as his cane,
 
 00:27:48.526 --> 00:27:49.365
 which he would use for the
 
 00:27:49.405 --> 00:27:50.226
 rest of his life.
 
 00:27:50.727 --> 00:27:51.826
 I'm told that when they used
 
 00:27:51.866 --> 00:27:52.587
 to have events here,
 
 00:27:52.607 --> 00:27:53.748
 before the house became an
 
 00:27:53.788 --> 00:27:55.709
 historical site, still a family home,
 
 00:27:56.148 --> 00:27:57.109
 they would have events.
 
 00:27:57.130 --> 00:27:58.549
 They would have a relay race,
 
 00:27:58.589 --> 00:27:59.550
 and kids would get to use
 
 00:27:59.590 --> 00:28:01.571
 General Lincoln's crutch in a relay race.
 
 00:28:01.912 --> 00:28:02.251
 Sadly,
 
 00:28:02.271 --> 00:28:04.073
 I think the crutch is now behind glass,
 
 00:28:04.113 --> 00:28:05.492
 so the children won't be
 
 00:28:05.613 --> 00:28:07.034
 using it to recreate things.
 
 00:28:07.433 --> 00:28:07.693
 Anyway,
 
 00:28:07.733 --> 00:28:10.275
 Lincoln goes back home to recuperate.
 
 00:28:10.395 --> 00:28:11.596
 Now, you can think about Arnold.
 
 00:28:11.776 --> 00:28:13.636
 He's rankled when he's wounded.
 
 00:28:14.315 --> 00:28:16.576
 and that he's passed over
 
 00:28:16.675 --> 00:28:17.717
 and unacknowledged,
 
 00:28:18.237 --> 00:28:19.196
 Lincoln is now home
 
 00:28:19.237 --> 00:28:20.498
 learning to walk again.
 
 00:28:20.877 --> 00:28:22.919
 But when Washington needs him,
 
 00:28:23.179 --> 00:28:26.119
 he's ready to go back into the war.
 
 00:28:26.641 --> 00:28:27.161
 And in fact,
 
 00:28:27.221 --> 00:28:28.961
 when Arnold and other generals
 
 00:28:29.001 --> 00:28:30.442
 are also upset about their
 
 00:28:30.501 --> 00:28:32.482
 promotions not coming quickly enough,
 
 00:28:32.542 --> 00:28:34.403
 Lincoln asks Washington if
 
 00:28:34.443 --> 00:28:35.625
 it would be beneficial for
 
 00:28:35.684 --> 00:28:37.065
 me to take a demotion so
 
 00:28:37.085 --> 00:28:38.445
 you can promote someone else.
 
 00:28:39.260 --> 00:28:40.862
 That is thinking the cause
 
 00:28:41.001 --> 00:28:42.823
 is more important than my
 
 00:28:42.962 --> 00:28:46.403
 own pursuit of advancement, glory,
 
 00:28:46.805 --> 00:28:47.525
 other things.
 
 00:28:47.984 --> 00:28:52.106
 So by the fall of seventeen seventy eight,
 
 00:28:52.606 --> 00:28:54.407
 Washington sees another
 
 00:28:54.448 --> 00:28:55.888
 place where he needs a
 
 00:28:55.929 --> 00:28:57.750
 capable general like Lincoln,
 
 00:28:58.250 --> 00:28:59.651
 and that's in the South.
 
 00:29:00.290 --> 00:29:01.892
 As the British and the
 
 00:29:01.932 --> 00:29:03.271
 Americans now kind of
 
 00:29:03.372 --> 00:29:05.053
 stalemate in the north,
 
 00:29:05.353 --> 00:29:07.834
 the British hold New York as well.
 
 00:29:07.894 --> 00:29:09.634
 And they've also held Philadelphia.
 
 00:29:10.015 --> 00:29:11.915
 The Washington has his army
 
 00:29:11.955 --> 00:29:12.896
 that keeps them from
 
 00:29:12.936 --> 00:29:13.936
 getting anywhere else.
 
 00:29:14.176 --> 00:29:15.978
 They can't really repel the other.
 
 00:29:16.690 --> 00:29:18.491
 and british attention as
 
 00:29:18.551 --> 00:29:19.512
 well as washington's
 
 00:29:19.553 --> 00:29:21.836
 attention shift southward
 
 00:29:22.236 --> 00:29:23.637
 and so lincoln is sent
 
 00:29:23.758 --> 00:29:26.381
 south in late november of
 
 00:29:26.701 --> 00:29:29.565
 to take you know set up
 
 00:29:29.585 --> 00:29:30.826
 shop in charleston south
 
 00:29:30.865 --> 00:29:33.269
 carolina charleston
 
 00:29:33.489 --> 00:29:35.852
 savannah the two urban areas
 
 00:29:36.601 --> 00:29:38.662
 hold on to them, and if possible,
 
 00:29:38.902 --> 00:29:39.702
 move into Florida.
 
 00:29:39.903 --> 00:29:41.384
 Remember, the British hold Florida.
 
 00:29:41.844 --> 00:29:42.364
 And so St.
 
 00:29:42.423 --> 00:29:43.765
 Augustine is actually closer
 
 00:29:43.785 --> 00:29:44.645
 to Charleston than
 
 00:29:44.665 --> 00:29:46.906
 Charleston is to Williamsburg.
 
 00:29:47.426 --> 00:29:49.608
 And this could be a campaign
 
 00:29:49.648 --> 00:29:50.868
 if it's possible to move
 
 00:29:50.888 --> 00:29:53.211
 your forces into Florida.
 
 00:29:53.510 --> 00:29:56.132
 Now, unfortunately for General Lincoln,
 
 00:29:56.172 --> 00:29:58.394
 he arrives in early December,
 
 00:29:58.653 --> 00:30:00.214
 just at about the same time
 
 00:30:00.234 --> 00:30:01.555
 that General Augustine
 
 00:30:01.575 --> 00:30:03.016
 Prevost and Lieutenant
 
 00:30:03.076 --> 00:30:05.837
 Archibald Campbell move up from Florida
 
 00:30:06.278 --> 00:30:07.159
 and take Savannah.
 
 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:09.500
 Lincoln's there in
 
 00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:10.701
 Charleston about ten days
 
 00:30:10.741 --> 00:30:12.702
 before the British are moving in,
 
 00:30:12.963 --> 00:30:14.984
 capturing Savannah.
 
 00:30:15.546 --> 00:30:16.886
 And this is in December of
 
 00:30:16.946 --> 00:30:18.248
 seventeen seventy eight.
 
 00:30:18.528 --> 00:30:20.890
 So things don't start off auspiciously.
 
 00:30:20.930 --> 00:30:21.250
 Again,
 
 00:30:21.470 --> 00:30:23.192
 there wasn't much that Lincoln could
 
 00:30:23.231 --> 00:30:24.313
 have done about this,
 
 00:30:24.353 --> 00:30:25.953
 about the British taking Savannah.
 
 00:30:25.973 --> 00:30:26.134
 Well,
 
 00:30:26.153 --> 00:30:27.454
 perhaps if he had been there a month
 
 00:30:27.535 --> 00:30:28.655
 earlier and known they were
 
 00:30:28.695 --> 00:30:30.137
 coming rather than thinking,
 
 00:30:30.157 --> 00:30:30.978
 go down there and lead
 
 00:30:31.018 --> 00:30:33.039
 American forces into Florida.
 
 00:30:33.924 --> 00:30:35.507
 Now, Sir Henry Clinton,
 
 00:30:35.606 --> 00:30:36.929
 who is now taking command
 
 00:30:36.969 --> 00:30:38.009
 of the British forces,
 
 00:30:38.029 --> 00:30:39.451
 this is an early seventeen
 
 00:30:39.511 --> 00:30:41.634
 seventy nine thing.
 
 00:30:42.035 --> 00:30:45.078
 We really should make the South our focus.
 
 00:30:45.779 --> 00:30:46.861
 And it's actually in
 
 00:30:46.881 --> 00:30:48.482
 September of seventeen seventy nine.
 
 00:30:48.502 --> 00:30:51.426
 The Americans do try to retake Savannah.
 
 00:30:51.846 --> 00:30:52.705
 and fail, literally.
 
 00:30:52.726 --> 00:30:54.487
 The Americans, along with the French.
 
 00:30:54.547 --> 00:30:55.787
 The French are now in the
 
 00:30:55.807 --> 00:30:57.386
 war on the side of the Americans,
 
 00:30:57.767 --> 00:30:59.048
 and they now have a fleet
 
 00:30:59.268 --> 00:31:00.847
 that can assist the Americans.
 
 00:31:01.167 --> 00:31:04.209
 They try to retake Savannah, don't do so,
 
 00:31:04.628 --> 00:31:06.449
 in the end, in September of,
 
 00:31:06.509 --> 00:31:07.730
 seventeen seventy-nine.
 
 00:31:07.990 --> 00:31:08.130
 Now,
 
 00:31:08.170 --> 00:31:11.009
 Clinton wants to not only hold on to
 
 00:31:11.029 --> 00:31:12.990
 Savannah, he wants to take Charleston.
 
 00:31:13.631 --> 00:31:16.034
 And Clinton wants he has an
 
 00:31:16.134 --> 00:31:17.455
 army he can bring down here.
 
 00:31:17.496 --> 00:31:18.497
 Remember Clinton back in
 
 00:31:18.557 --> 00:31:20.358
 seventeen seventy six at
 
 00:31:20.398 --> 00:31:21.339
 the same time as the
 
 00:31:21.380 --> 00:31:23.162
 British are being forced out of Boston.
 
 00:31:23.522 --> 00:31:24.743
 He has an ill-fated
 
 00:31:24.923 --> 00:31:28.067
 expedition down to Charleston.
 
 00:31:28.479 --> 00:31:29.940
 goes very badly for him.
 
 00:31:29.980 --> 00:31:31.140
 He's humiliated there.
 
 00:31:31.200 --> 00:31:32.260
 Now he really wants to get
 
 00:31:32.320 --> 00:31:34.402
 Charleston for a variety of
 
 00:31:34.662 --> 00:31:35.781
 very good reasons.
 
 00:31:36.402 --> 00:31:37.682
 He wants naval support.
 
 00:31:38.103 --> 00:31:41.684
 He asks the British admiralty,
 
 00:31:41.704 --> 00:31:43.644
 can you send me an admiral
 
 00:31:43.664 --> 00:31:44.506
 with some ships?
 
 00:31:45.086 --> 00:31:47.047
 And the British admiralty
 
 00:31:47.506 --> 00:31:48.527
 maybe as a way of showing
 
 00:31:48.547 --> 00:31:49.488
 what they really think of
 
 00:31:49.528 --> 00:31:50.407
 Sir Henry Clinton,
 
 00:31:50.768 --> 00:31:53.369
 send an Admiral Marriott Arbuthnot.
 
 00:31:53.790 --> 00:31:55.751
 And Admiral Arbuthnot was a
 
 00:31:55.791 --> 00:31:57.413
 British naval officer who
 
 00:31:57.452 --> 00:31:58.753
 had risen the way naval
 
 00:31:58.834 --> 00:32:00.395
 officers often do because
 
 00:32:00.415 --> 00:32:01.215
 they're in line for
 
 00:32:01.296 --> 00:32:02.777
 promotion and the Navy
 
 00:32:02.876 --> 00:32:04.419
 operates through seniority.
 
 00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:06.599
 His last posting was as a
 
 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.942
 naval commissioner in Halifax.
 
 00:32:09.382 --> 00:32:11.384
 And so for the British, he's available.
 
 00:32:12.023 --> 00:32:13.684
 He's not, well,
 
 00:32:13.806 --> 00:32:15.006
 saying he's not a very good
 
 00:32:15.086 --> 00:32:17.067
 admiral suggests there's an element
 
 00:32:17.534 --> 00:32:18.574
 goodness in him.
 
 00:32:18.913 --> 00:32:21.815
 He's incompetent, overbearing, a bully.
 
 00:32:22.154 --> 00:32:23.315
 No one really likes him,
 
 00:32:23.535 --> 00:32:25.596
 but he is the one who sent
 
 00:32:25.655 --> 00:32:27.615
 to aid General Clinton.
 
 00:32:28.175 --> 00:32:29.895
 And also Charles Cornwallis.
 
 00:32:29.976 --> 00:32:31.557
 Lord Cornwallis is going to
 
 00:32:31.576 --> 00:32:32.596
 be Clinton's second in
 
 00:32:32.636 --> 00:32:35.136
 command of the forces on land.
 
 00:32:35.718 --> 00:32:36.657
 So the British,
 
 00:32:37.298 --> 00:32:38.498
 I shouldn't have gone on so
 
 00:32:38.538 --> 00:32:39.817
 long about the incompetence
 
 00:32:39.837 --> 00:32:40.939
 of Admiral Arbuthnot.
 
 00:32:41.078 --> 00:32:42.098
 He actually has more ships
 
 00:32:42.118 --> 00:32:43.179
 than the Americans do.
 
 00:32:44.053 --> 00:32:45.474
 And incompetence is not
 
 00:32:45.535 --> 00:32:47.196
 something limited to the
 
 00:32:47.297 --> 00:32:49.078
 British naval officers.
 
 00:32:49.740 --> 00:32:52.423
 And Lincoln now has his army
 
 00:32:52.903 --> 00:32:54.424
 composed of continental
 
 00:32:54.444 --> 00:32:56.227
 troops as well as some
 
 00:32:56.287 --> 00:32:57.989
 South Carolina militia.
 
 00:32:58.489 --> 00:33:00.731
 And they are in Charleston.
 
 00:33:00.751 --> 00:33:02.534
 They've been unable to get Savannah.
 
 00:33:03.047 --> 00:33:04.867
 And in the Carolinas,
 
 00:33:05.169 --> 00:33:07.190
 the war is devolving into a
 
 00:33:07.329 --> 00:33:08.931
 civil war among these
 
 00:33:08.971 --> 00:33:09.951
 various people at
 
 00:33:10.031 --> 00:33:11.272
 longstanding grievances
 
 00:33:11.333 --> 00:33:12.433
 before the war started.
 
 00:33:12.854 --> 00:33:14.015
 And now things get even
 
 00:33:14.075 --> 00:33:16.757
 worse once the war is in earnest.
 
 00:33:17.196 --> 00:33:19.679
 And although South Carolina
 
 00:33:19.719 --> 00:33:22.080
 keeps promising to raise the militia,
 
 00:33:22.560 --> 00:33:23.261
 they never do.
 
 00:33:23.826 --> 00:33:24.787
 John Lawrence,
 
 00:33:24.807 --> 00:33:26.249
 the young man whom I mentioned,
 
 00:33:26.288 --> 00:33:27.750
 whose father, Henry Lawrence,
 
 00:33:27.770 --> 00:33:28.893
 had been the president of
 
 00:33:28.913 --> 00:33:30.194
 the Continental Congress,
 
 00:33:31.036 --> 00:33:32.577
 he suggests that maybe what
 
 00:33:32.597 --> 00:33:34.500
 we should do is arm the
 
 00:33:34.559 --> 00:33:35.781
 enslaved population.
 
 00:33:36.214 --> 00:33:37.895
 Offer freedom to
 
 00:33:38.056 --> 00:33:39.115
 African-Americans who were
 
 00:33:39.155 --> 00:33:40.896
 enslaved who will join us.
 
 00:33:41.376 --> 00:33:42.577
 And Washington thinks, yeah,
 
 00:33:42.597 --> 00:33:43.958
 this is a possible idea.
 
 00:33:44.318 --> 00:33:46.579
 And so Lawrence is South Carolinian.
 
 00:33:46.619 --> 00:33:47.519
 His father is a very
 
 00:33:47.579 --> 00:33:48.820
 prominent political figure
 
 00:33:48.861 --> 00:33:49.820
 in South Carolina.
 
 00:33:50.161 --> 00:33:52.721
 He is sent south to with
 
 00:33:52.781 --> 00:33:54.103
 Washington's blessing to
 
 00:33:54.163 --> 00:33:55.363
 encourage the South
 
 00:33:55.403 --> 00:33:56.824
 Carolina government to
 
 00:33:56.884 --> 00:33:58.744
 agree to the arming of black troops.
 
 00:33:59.184 --> 00:34:00.826
 They want nothing to do with this.
 
 00:34:01.086 --> 00:34:02.346
 So that idea goes nowhere.
 
 00:34:02.365 --> 00:34:04.567
 So you cannot get militia
 
 00:34:04.586 --> 00:34:06.067
 forces from South Carolina.
 
 00:34:06.126 --> 00:34:07.847
 South Carolina won't do anything else.
 
 00:34:08.327 --> 00:34:09.628
 And Lincoln sees his
 
 00:34:09.688 --> 00:34:11.708
 position is really becoming worse.
 
 00:34:12.268 --> 00:34:13.949
 The British are encircling
 
 00:34:13.969 --> 00:34:15.469
 Charleston with a much
 
 00:34:15.550 --> 00:34:17.391
 bigger force than he has.
 
 00:34:17.610 --> 00:34:18.550
 He keeps hearing about the
 
 00:34:18.570 --> 00:34:19.670
 forces he's going to get
 
 00:34:19.690 --> 00:34:20.751
 from South Carolina.
 
 00:34:21.211 --> 00:34:22.231
 They're nowhere to be seen.
 
 00:34:23.302 --> 00:34:25.782
 And then when British naval vessels,
 
 00:34:25.862 --> 00:34:27.163
 Admiral Arbuthnot's fleet
 
 00:34:27.362 --> 00:34:29.284
 moves into Charlestown Harbor,
 
 00:34:29.923 --> 00:34:31.864
 there are three American
 
 00:34:31.925 --> 00:34:34.065
 vessels there that don't fire on them.
 
 00:34:34.085 --> 00:34:35.166
 They see we're outnumbered.
 
 00:34:35.186 --> 00:34:36.987
 Why would we fire on them?
 
 00:34:37.047 --> 00:34:39.248
 So Lincoln thinks the best
 
 00:34:39.288 --> 00:34:40.887
 thing we can do is do what
 
 00:34:40.927 --> 00:34:42.909
 Washington did in New York,
 
 00:34:43.329 --> 00:34:45.809
 simply evacuate, evacuate the army.
 
 00:34:46.532 --> 00:34:47.134
 At this point,
 
 00:34:47.173 --> 00:34:48.934
 the South Carolina government says, oh,
 
 00:34:48.974 --> 00:34:49.695
 absolutely not.
 
 00:34:49.755 --> 00:34:51.416
 You cannot evacuate Charleston.
 
 00:34:51.956 --> 00:34:54.259
 And the Pinckneys, John Rutledge,
 
 00:34:54.478 --> 00:34:56.300
 the Pinckneys are generals,
 
 00:34:56.340 --> 00:34:57.382
 but they're also involved
 
 00:34:57.422 --> 00:34:58.762
 in the political structure
 
 00:34:58.802 --> 00:34:59.782
 of South Carolina.
 
 00:35:00.143 --> 00:35:02.065
 Rutledge is the governor,
 
 00:35:02.105 --> 00:35:03.005
 and South Carolina's
 
 00:35:03.045 --> 00:35:04.126
 constitution actually
 
 00:35:04.146 --> 00:35:05.047
 allows the governor to
 
 00:35:05.068 --> 00:35:06.128
 become a dictator during
 
 00:35:06.168 --> 00:35:07.248
 times of emergency.
 
 00:35:07.670 --> 00:35:09.471
 And one piece that John
 
 00:35:09.510 --> 00:35:10.692
 Rutledge will dictate is
 
 00:35:10.931 --> 00:35:13.193
 the army cannot evacuate Charleston.
 
 00:35:13.648 --> 00:35:15.490
 Charleston, as the Americans call it.
 
 00:35:16.130 --> 00:35:17.893
 And so with this superior
 
 00:35:17.913 --> 00:35:20.576
 British force encircling Charleston,
 
 00:35:21.596 --> 00:35:22.137
 Lincoln,
 
 00:35:22.657 --> 00:35:26.221
 after some attempts to defend the city,
 
 00:35:26.541 --> 00:35:28.782
 seeing its untenable, surrenders.
 
 00:35:29.023 --> 00:35:30.744
 He has to surrender his army
 
 00:35:30.905 --> 00:35:31.606
 to the British.
 
 00:35:32.440 --> 00:35:33.481
 William Moultrie,
 
 00:35:33.702 --> 00:35:37.445
 who is another South Carolina officer,
 
 00:35:37.485 --> 00:35:39.085
 thinking about this real
 
 00:35:39.126 --> 00:35:40.567
 debacle in Charleston,
 
 00:35:40.907 --> 00:35:42.568
 how the South Carolina
 
 00:35:42.628 --> 00:35:43.809
 government has allowed this
 
 00:35:43.949 --> 00:35:45.231
 army to get encircled
 
 00:35:45.271 --> 00:35:46.190
 because they wouldn't do
 
 00:35:46.271 --> 00:35:47.932
 anything for their own defense.
 
 00:35:48.393 --> 00:35:49.873
 He said that three times as
 
 00:35:49.934 --> 00:35:51.835
 many militiamen presented
 
 00:35:51.876 --> 00:35:53.637
 themselves at the surrender
 
 00:35:54.177 --> 00:35:54.797
 where they could get a
 
 00:35:54.858 --> 00:35:57.099
 statement of parole, letting them go home,
 
 00:35:57.460 --> 00:35:58.380
 as ever presented
 
 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.001
 themselves to defend Charleston.
 
 00:36:00.521 --> 00:36:02.402
 So after the British have
 
 00:36:02.503 --> 00:36:04.222
 forced the Americans to capitulate,
 
 00:36:04.262 --> 00:36:05.322
 now the militia turns out
 
 00:36:05.342 --> 00:36:07.384
 so they can surrender and go home.
 
 00:36:08.324 --> 00:36:10.844
 And so after the surrender, again,
 
 00:36:11.164 --> 00:36:12.744
 Lincoln and the officers
 
 00:36:12.885 --> 00:36:15.065
 are able to go home on parole.
 
 00:36:15.346 --> 00:36:16.706
 The Continental troops are
 
 00:36:16.726 --> 00:36:18.106
 taken to British prison ships.
 
 00:36:18.146 --> 00:36:19.847
 He goes home to Hingham once again.
 
 00:36:20.288 --> 00:36:22.467
 This is in May of seventeen eighty.
 
 00:36:22.668 --> 00:36:24.548
 He returns home on parole.
 
 00:36:24.869 --> 00:36:25.628
 And you would think at this
 
 00:36:25.688 --> 00:36:27.849
 point his military career
 
 00:36:27.929 --> 00:36:28.909
 is pretty much over.
 
 00:36:29.541 --> 00:36:30.742
 And he might not be too
 
 00:36:30.782 --> 00:36:32.965
 disappointed in that turn of events,
 
 00:36:33.204 --> 00:36:34.646
 that now he can stay home
 
 00:36:34.666 --> 00:36:36.907
 by his fireside with his wife, Mary,
 
 00:36:37.427 --> 00:36:38.568
 and several of their
 
 00:36:38.608 --> 00:36:39.809
 children are still living
 
 00:36:39.989 --> 00:36:42.811
 at home and kind of recover his life.
 
 00:36:43.192 --> 00:36:44.512
 This is a working farm.
 
 00:36:44.572 --> 00:36:45.893
 Mary has been doing the work
 
 00:36:45.934 --> 00:36:47.034
 of raising the children,
 
 00:36:47.074 --> 00:36:48.175
 tending to the farm.
 
 00:36:48.516 --> 00:36:49.677
 Now he is back and he
 
 00:36:49.717 --> 00:36:51.077
 recognizes she is really
 
 00:36:51.117 --> 00:36:54.000
 running the farm now, but recover,
 
 00:36:54.019 --> 00:36:55.201
 try to recoup what has
 
 00:36:55.320 --> 00:36:57.222
 happened during this long war.
 
 00:36:57.829 --> 00:37:00.311
 But at the end of October of
 
 00:37:00.351 --> 00:37:02.972
 seventeen eighty, he is exchanged,
 
 00:37:03.074 --> 00:37:05.175
 exchanged for Baron Riedesel,
 
 00:37:05.195 --> 00:37:06.516
 a German officer who had
 
 00:37:06.536 --> 00:37:08.157
 been captured in Saratoga.
 
 00:37:08.617 --> 00:37:10.739
 And these captured officers
 
 00:37:10.898 --> 00:37:12.300
 also are on parole,
 
 00:37:12.659 --> 00:37:14.920
 as well as a General William Phillips,
 
 00:37:15.001 --> 00:37:16.643
 a British general who, by all accounts,
 
 00:37:16.682 --> 00:37:17.842
 was kind of an annoyance
 
 00:37:17.882 --> 00:37:18.704
 and the Americans were
 
 00:37:18.724 --> 00:37:19.985
 happy to get rid of him.
 
 00:37:20.005 --> 00:37:21.425
 So Lincoln's parole are
 
 00:37:21.445 --> 00:37:23.186
 exchanged for two other officers.
 
 00:37:23.726 --> 00:37:24.947
 And now he sets about
 
 00:37:25.288 --> 00:37:27.329
 raising troops from Massachusetts.
 
 00:37:27.969 --> 00:37:29.210
 Over the course of the war,
 
 00:37:29.650 --> 00:37:31.052
 Massachusetts sends more
 
 00:37:31.092 --> 00:37:32.532
 men to the Continental Army
 
 00:37:32.791 --> 00:37:34.193
 than any other state.
 
 00:37:34.733 --> 00:37:36.114
 And so Lincoln is in charge
 
 00:37:36.134 --> 00:37:37.255
 of raising forces in
 
 00:37:37.295 --> 00:37:39.596
 Massachusetts now to join with,
 
 00:37:39.775 --> 00:37:41.277
 to keep the posts in the
 
 00:37:41.317 --> 00:37:43.737
 Hudson River stocked so the
 
 00:37:43.757 --> 00:37:45.619
 British can't have access
 
 00:37:45.739 --> 00:37:48.139
 up the Hudson River or into New England.
 
 00:37:48.507 --> 00:37:50.909
 You're holding the British in New York,
 
 00:37:50.949 --> 00:37:52.329
 and Washington's army was
 
 00:37:52.389 --> 00:37:53.449
 around New York.
 
 00:37:53.869 --> 00:37:56.092
 William McDougal is the
 
 00:37:56.592 --> 00:37:58.233
 senior officer in New York.
 
 00:37:58.612 --> 00:38:01.175
 And at this point, this is September,
 
 00:38:01.235 --> 00:38:02.016
 October of, you have
 
 00:38:05.268 --> 00:38:07.849
 Washington and Admiral de
 
 00:38:07.869 --> 00:38:09.030
 Grasse and General
 
 00:38:09.090 --> 00:38:11.331
 Rochambeau realizing we
 
 00:38:11.371 --> 00:38:14.273
 have an opportunity if we go south.
 
 00:38:14.313 --> 00:38:16.434
 Because now Cornwallis' forces,
 
 00:38:17.155 --> 00:38:19.076
 which had been based in Charleston,
 
 00:38:19.436 --> 00:38:20.617
 had been moving against
 
 00:38:20.697 --> 00:38:23.478
 Nathaniel Greene's forces in New York.
 
 00:38:23.798 --> 00:38:25.318
 I'm sorry, in North Carolina.
 
 00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:27.460
 And Greene has been drawing
 
 00:38:27.501 --> 00:38:29.262
 the British forces into
 
 00:38:29.322 --> 00:38:31.483
 North Carolina after him.
 
 00:38:32.302 --> 00:38:34.682
 And then in the late summer,
 
 00:38:34.822 --> 00:38:37.483
 early fall of seventeen eighty one,
 
 00:38:37.884 --> 00:38:40.585
 Cornwallis realizes if we
 
 00:38:40.666 --> 00:38:41.806
 strike at the British
 
 00:38:41.885 --> 00:38:44.467
 supply lines in Virginia,
 
 00:38:44.586 --> 00:38:45.967
 this is their base of supply.
 
 00:38:46.268 --> 00:38:48.668
 We actually can corner them there.
 
 00:38:48.688 --> 00:38:50.048
 So Cornwallis has gone into
 
 00:38:50.088 --> 00:38:52.349
 Virginia and he is on a
 
 00:38:52.429 --> 00:38:53.931
 peninsula between the James
 
 00:38:54.010 --> 00:38:55.672
 River and the York River.
 
 00:38:55.992 --> 00:38:58.132
 Yorktown becomes his headquarters.
 
 00:38:59.021 --> 00:39:00.324
 And this is very similar to
 
 00:39:00.344 --> 00:39:02.065
 the situation that Lincoln
 
 00:39:02.085 --> 00:39:03.827
 had been in in South Carolina.
 
 00:39:04.188 --> 00:39:07.190
 You're on this peninsula and
 
 00:39:07.291 --> 00:39:10.434
 you have possibly control of the interior,
 
 00:39:10.914 --> 00:39:13.137
 but an army could cut you off.
 
 00:39:13.547 --> 00:39:14.728
 particularly if you can't
 
 00:39:14.827 --> 00:39:16.728
 get naval support.
 
 00:39:17.309 --> 00:39:19.650
 And in early September of
 
 00:39:19.710 --> 00:39:21.130
 seventeen eighty one,
 
 00:39:21.590 --> 00:39:23.492
 a British fleet coming to
 
 00:39:23.552 --> 00:39:25.333
 resupply Cornwallis is
 
 00:39:25.393 --> 00:39:27.054
 defeated off the capes of
 
 00:39:27.094 --> 00:39:28.273
 Virginia at the mouth of
 
 00:39:28.313 --> 00:39:30.375
 Chesapeake Bay by a French fleet.
 
 00:39:30.414 --> 00:39:31.436
 The French fleet then goes
 
 00:39:31.476 --> 00:39:33.317
 off to the West Indies.
 
 00:39:33.336 --> 00:39:34.557
 This prevents Cornwallis
 
 00:39:34.577 --> 00:39:35.398
 from being resupplied.
 
 00:39:38.192 --> 00:39:40.054
 and DeGrasse see this opportunity,
 
 00:39:40.494 --> 00:39:41.916
 Washington begins sending
 
 00:39:42.155 --> 00:39:43.938
 his forces from New York, in fact,
 
 00:39:43.998 --> 00:39:45.280
 leading his forces from New
 
 00:39:45.300 --> 00:39:47.603
 York south to Virginia,
 
 00:39:48.143 --> 00:39:49.103
 all the while keeping a
 
 00:39:49.143 --> 00:39:50.706
 force around New York
 
 00:39:50.746 --> 00:39:51.806
 because part of his plan
 
 00:39:51.847 --> 00:39:52.929
 had been actually to attack
 
 00:39:52.969 --> 00:39:53.989
 the British in New York.
 
 00:39:54.724 --> 00:39:57.226
 Now he and Rochambeau see a
 
 00:39:57.286 --> 00:39:58.346
 different opportunity.
 
 00:39:58.666 --> 00:40:01.106
 We can capture this army
 
 00:40:01.266 --> 00:40:02.146
 that the British have on
 
 00:40:02.166 --> 00:40:03.827
 this peninsula in Virginia.
 
 00:40:04.367 --> 00:40:06.907
 And so Washington is having
 
 00:40:06.947 --> 00:40:08.487
 troops come down from New
 
 00:40:08.547 --> 00:40:09.887
 York while still having
 
 00:40:09.947 --> 00:40:10.949
 troops around New York
 
 00:40:10.989 --> 00:40:11.869
 making noise as though
 
 00:40:11.889 --> 00:40:13.789
 we're about to attack there.
 
 00:40:13.869 --> 00:40:15.530
 And William McDougal is the
 
 00:40:15.650 --> 00:40:17.150
 officer in charge, the next
 
 00:40:24.965 --> 00:40:27.007
 And so now Lincoln leads
 
 00:40:27.148 --> 00:40:28.748
 these forces down to
 
 00:40:28.789 --> 00:40:30.269
 Virginia to be part of the
 
 00:40:30.309 --> 00:40:31.690
 siege at Yorktown.
 
 00:40:32.311 --> 00:40:33.791
 And there he is in October of,
 
 00:40:33.992 --> 00:40:38.896
 when in fact the British army surrenders.
 
 00:40:39.416 --> 00:40:40.797
 And the day of the surrender
 
 00:40:40.876 --> 00:40:41.878
 is quite traumatic.
 
 00:40:44.519 --> 00:40:45.701
 Cornwallis wasn't feeling
 
 00:40:45.740 --> 00:40:47.722
 well on the day agreed to
 
 00:40:47.762 --> 00:40:48.802
 for the British to march
 
 00:40:48.983 --> 00:40:50.643
 out of Yorktown and
 
 00:40:50.724 --> 00:40:52.085
 surrender to the combined
 
 00:40:52.224 --> 00:40:54.467
 American and French forces.
 
 00:40:55.492 --> 00:40:57.655
 and all along this route the
 
 00:40:57.695 --> 00:40:58.976
 american army is on one
 
 00:40:59.036 --> 00:41:00.637
 side the french army is on
 
 00:41:00.657 --> 00:41:02.398
 the other and the british
 
 00:41:02.619 --> 00:41:04.340
 soldiers looked resolutely
 
 00:41:04.420 --> 00:41:05.661
 at the french side they did
 
 00:41:05.701 --> 00:41:06.762
 not want to acknowledge the
 
 00:41:06.782 --> 00:41:08.443
 americans had been part of
 
 00:41:08.483 --> 00:41:10.425
 this and cornwallis as I
 
 00:41:10.445 --> 00:41:11.806
 said was not feeling well
 
 00:41:12.065 --> 00:41:13.887
 so he is not part of this
 
 00:41:14.148 --> 00:41:15.048
 the british soldiers
 
 00:41:15.108 --> 00:41:16.230
 marching along them there
 
 00:41:16.269 --> 00:41:17.311
 to place their weapons
 
 00:41:17.331 --> 00:41:18.952
 they're going to surrender their weapons
 
 00:41:19.998 --> 00:41:22.840
 And so he sends his second in command,
 
 00:41:23.561 --> 00:41:24.440
 Charles O'Hara.
 
 00:41:24.780 --> 00:41:26.983
 O'Hara is a capable officer.
 
 00:41:27.282 --> 00:41:27.724
 However,
 
 00:41:27.804 --> 00:41:29.824
 he is the one who has to surrender
 
 00:41:29.864 --> 00:41:30.585
 the British army.
 
 00:41:30.965 --> 00:41:33.146
 In the early seventeen nineties, O'Hara,
 
 00:41:33.226 --> 00:41:34.648
 again, a British officer,
 
 00:41:34.929 --> 00:41:36.329
 will also have to surrender
 
 00:41:36.369 --> 00:41:37.570
 an army to Napoleon.
 
 00:41:38.170 --> 00:41:39.271
 Only officer ever to
 
 00:41:39.331 --> 00:41:40.492
 surrender both to George
 
 00:41:40.532 --> 00:41:42.614
 Washington and to Napoleon.
 
 00:41:43.222 --> 00:41:44.164
 So O'Hara,
 
 00:41:44.503 --> 00:41:46.626
 leading his men along this route,
 
 00:41:47.126 --> 00:41:48.806
 first tries to offer his
 
 00:41:48.847 --> 00:41:51.108
 sword to General Rochambeau,
 
 00:41:53.530 --> 00:41:54.612
 much better to surrender to
 
 00:41:54.652 --> 00:41:56.012
 a French officer than to an
 
 00:41:56.052 --> 00:41:56.492
 American officer.
 
 00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:04.242
 Washington recognizes that
 
 00:42:04.262 --> 00:42:06.463
 Charles O'Hara is not the
 
 00:42:06.503 --> 00:42:07.543
 Lord Cornwallis.
 
 00:42:08.023 --> 00:42:09.885
 So he will not accept the
 
 00:42:09.945 --> 00:42:13.146
 sword from Cornwallis' second-in-command.
 
 00:42:13.467 --> 00:42:14.306
 So instead,
 
 00:42:14.608 --> 00:42:16.728
 he gestures O'Hara to his
 
 00:42:16.989 --> 00:42:19.230
 second-in-command, Benjamin Lincoln.
 
 00:42:19.829 --> 00:42:21.490
 And so it is that Benjamin Lincoln,
 
 00:42:22.092 --> 00:42:23.813
 about sixteen months after
 
 00:42:23.893 --> 00:42:26.293
 he had surrendered his army at Charleston,
 
 00:42:26.333 --> 00:42:27.293
 South Carolina,
 
 00:42:27.614 --> 00:42:29.175
 now accepts the surrender
 
 00:42:29.536 --> 00:42:31.856
 of the British army at Yorktown.
 
 00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:33.661
 And according to the story,
 
 00:42:33.782 --> 00:42:36.742
 O'Hara presents Lincoln with the sword,
 
 00:42:37.123 --> 00:42:39.864
 Lincoln holds it and then returns it.
 
 00:42:39.885 --> 00:42:41.746
 Because one of the standards
 
 00:42:41.865 --> 00:42:43.086
 among these officers,
 
 00:42:43.146 --> 00:42:45.248
 if someone has served
 
 00:42:45.307 --> 00:42:47.289
 valiantly in defending his position,
 
 00:42:47.588 --> 00:42:48.969
 you allow them to keep his sword.
 
 00:42:49.309 --> 00:42:50.190
 But the men of course are
 
 00:42:50.230 --> 00:42:51.490
 surrendering their weapons,
 
 00:42:52.331 --> 00:42:53.652
 folding up their flags.
 
 00:42:58.543 --> 00:42:59.945
 as essentially prisoners of
 
 00:42:59.965 --> 00:43:00.865
 war or sent home.
 
 00:43:01.327 --> 00:43:04.550
 So Lincoln is, at the end of the war,
 
 00:43:04.650 --> 00:43:05.753
 the one who accepts
 
 00:43:05.813 --> 00:43:08.476
 Cornwallis' sword by way of
 
 00:43:08.757 --> 00:43:09.657
 General O'Hara.
 
 00:43:10.922 --> 00:43:11.061
 Now,
 
 00:43:11.101 --> 00:43:12.384
 this time he doesn't immediately
 
 00:43:12.443 --> 00:43:13.744
 return home either.
 
 00:43:14.244 --> 00:43:14.786
 Instead,
 
 00:43:15.266 --> 00:43:17.128
 Congress has appointed him to be
 
 00:43:17.168 --> 00:43:18.909
 the first minister at war,
 
 00:43:19.210 --> 00:43:20.811
 responsible now for holding
 
 00:43:20.851 --> 00:43:22.494
 the army together.
 
 00:43:22.873 --> 00:43:25.177
 Capable officer who would be
 
 00:43:25.277 --> 00:43:26.978
 able to do this if only
 
 00:43:27.039 --> 00:43:27.679
 Congress had the
 
 00:43:27.699 --> 00:43:29.340
 wherewithal to pay the soldiers,
 
 00:43:29.380 --> 00:43:31.463
 to arm the soldiers, equip the soldiers.
 
 00:43:31.702 --> 00:43:34.045
 You have to keep an army in place because
 
 00:43:35.110 --> 00:43:36.851
 Warren Wallace's army has surrendered.
 
 00:43:37.213 --> 00:43:38.733
 That doesn't mean the war has ended.
 
 00:43:38.893 --> 00:43:41.036
 What it means is now the
 
 00:43:41.076 --> 00:43:42.456
 British government has to
 
 00:43:42.516 --> 00:43:43.818
 face this reality.
 
 00:43:43.898 --> 00:43:44.137
 Yes,
 
 00:43:44.177 --> 00:43:46.800
 they do have Clinton and a force in
 
 00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:47.340
 New York.
 
 00:43:47.380 --> 00:43:49.282
 They hold Savannah and Charleston.
 
 00:43:49.782 --> 00:43:51.103
 But the British public is
 
 00:43:51.164 --> 00:43:52.144
 not going to send another
 
 00:43:52.344 --> 00:43:53.786
 army to keep fighting this
 
 00:43:53.826 --> 00:43:55.527
 war that's now going on for eight years.
 
 00:43:55.547 --> 00:43:57.489
 And we keep hearing that, you know,
 
 00:43:57.509 --> 00:43:58.851
 there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
 
 00:43:58.891 --> 00:44:00.012
 We're about to win this.
 
 00:44:04.855 --> 00:44:05.795
 really matters in this,
 
 00:44:05.815 --> 00:44:08.896
 King George III realizes the war is lost,
 
 00:44:09.237 --> 00:44:10.958
 and they will agree to peace terms.
 
 00:44:11.159 --> 00:44:11.798
 Meanwhile,
 
 00:44:12.099 --> 00:44:13.500
 the Americans need to keep an
 
 00:44:13.579 --> 00:44:14.400
 army together,
 
 00:44:14.701 --> 00:44:16.041
 and Benjamin Lincoln is the
 
 00:44:16.202 --> 00:44:18.503
 one tasked with that responsibility,
 
 00:44:18.842 --> 00:44:25.746
 which he conducts through, in,
 
 00:44:26.288 --> 00:44:28.489
 and only when the peace
 
 00:44:28.568 --> 00:44:31.931
 treaty arrives does he return home.
 
 00:44:32.297 --> 00:44:34.882
 Home to his fireside, where, as he said,
 
 00:44:34.902 --> 00:44:36.465
 he and his wife had sat together,
 
 00:44:36.505 --> 00:44:37.827
 never dreaming of war.
 
 00:44:38.208 --> 00:44:39.811
 And now after the war, they,
 
 00:44:39.851 --> 00:44:40.994
 like other Americans,
 
 00:44:41.054 --> 00:44:42.556
 are able to dream of the
 
 00:44:42.637 --> 00:44:44.800
 world they have created.
 
 00:44:45.748 --> 00:44:46.668
 So that's the story of
 
 00:44:46.688 --> 00:44:47.688
 Benjamin Lincoln and the
 
 00:44:47.728 --> 00:44:49.951
 American War for Independence.
 
 00:44:50.610 --> 00:44:53.452
 And it's a story well worth remembering.
 
 00:44:53.472 --> 00:44:54.534
 So I want to thank you all
 
 00:44:54.554 --> 00:44:56.335
 for joining us in thinking
 
 00:44:56.355 --> 00:44:57.456
 about Benjamin Lincoln.
 
 00:44:57.596 --> 00:44:59.177
 I want to thank Jonathan Lane,
 
 00:44:59.277 --> 00:45:00.038
 our producer,
 
 00:45:00.538 --> 00:45:02.278
 as well as our listeners all
 
 00:45:02.298 --> 00:45:03.059
 around the world.
 
 00:45:03.119 --> 00:45:04.159
 We're really deeply
 
 00:45:04.199 --> 00:45:05.922
 appreciative of having you join us.
 
 00:45:06.442 --> 00:45:07.101
 And this week,
 
 00:45:07.202 --> 00:45:08.483
 I'll thank folks in a
 
 00:45:08.543 --> 00:45:09.483
 certain number of places.
 
 00:45:09.543 --> 00:45:10.143
 If you're one of them,
 
 00:45:10.385 --> 00:45:11.784
 send Jonathan Lane an email,
 
 00:45:11.804 --> 00:45:14.067
 jlane at revolution two fifty dot org.
 
 00:45:14.815 --> 00:45:15.876
 Or if you have an idea for a
 
 00:45:15.916 --> 00:45:17.757
 podcast and he'll be happy
 
 00:45:17.777 --> 00:45:18.719
 to send you some of our
 
 00:45:18.739 --> 00:45:20.400
 Revolution to fifty swag.
 
 00:45:20.820 --> 00:45:21.420
 So this week,
 
 00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:23.163
 let me thank folks in Los Angeles,
 
 00:45:23.864 --> 00:45:26.405
 Philadelphia, Manchester, New Hampshire,
 
 00:45:27.527 --> 00:45:30.230
 Alpharetta, Georgia, Longmont, Colorado,
 
 00:45:30.329 --> 00:45:31.371
 Lincoln, Nebraska,
 
 00:45:31.670 --> 00:45:34.074
 Florence and Goose Creek, South Carolina,
 
 00:45:34.193 --> 00:45:36.376
 Waukesha, Mooresville, North Carolina.
 
 00:45:36.960 --> 00:45:38.664
 and here in the commonwealth
 
 00:45:38.704 --> 00:45:40.608
 of massachusetts friends in
 
 00:45:40.668 --> 00:45:42.371
 hingham and in boston and
 
 00:45:42.472 --> 00:45:43.693
 all places between and
 
 00:45:43.713 --> 00:45:44.876
 beyond now we will be