Really a grans sed sense of his biology. Last time we were looking at his youth. A youth that we say is often times wrapped in romance, in myth, it is hard to get at. It is a period where it is least documented and it is an interesting period. But of course he is most known to americans and perhaps to folks around the world as a great military commander. The general that led the americans through the american war for indense and eight long years of war. And his identity as a warrior is a crucial one. Thinking about who is George Washington, how did he think of himself, as, and why does it matter today. He is still studied regularly in the great military disciplines well as the war college. Washington is a fundamental figure in the establishment of american tradition of leadership in arms. He was the first officer of the American Army. The United States army dates its on birth to his service. And the Continental Congress of him taking over the army that we will talk about a little bit. So that story is important for thinking about the cultures and the traditions part of American Military power and military leadership today. George washington also was a man of the 18th century. He lived in a very different war. And some of that, i hope, will come out as well. What was different about the way an 18th century officer might organize troops. So lets get into it. I want to start with the french and indian war. The military education was through the process of fighting in the french and indian war. He had no experience leading men into battle. He had no experience creating a camp, building a supply train, or any of that. So he learned a lot of basics through the french and indian war and by many mistakes. He had a skirmish that turned into a nasty assassination as the french considering it. He lost one of his early commands. The british, and no native american allies, and had to surrender his post in that moment. And he survived to go on to great things in the french and indian war. He went on to be known as a very respected officer and respected colonial officer. In part this had to do with his exploits at the battle. What is called the braddicks defeat. He was inexperienced but a long serving british commander sent to attack ft. Dequesne. And George Washington served as a volunteer on his staff. At this Point Washington resigned his commission but braddick in asking around of informed locals, a number of royal governors, john carlyle was related to George Washington. Through marriages. John carlyle was also married to a daughter of william fairfax. So George Washington was on the radar of people when they were looking for people with expertise. And they served the army. George washington was able to lead the retreat after the army was caught by an ambush of well prepared native americans. Mostly native american victories, and one of the worst defeats in british history. His whole army is decimated. They are guiding it through chaos only a few miles away. And so it is a position where it is completely undefended. One of the things they did carve out a road. The assault of the settlers, so they will come back into service to become the head of them again. And he reluctantly did come in to be the colonel with a new strategic plan. And they had a series of forts and washington found himself in an incredibly challenging position for the next few years. It was a defensive one where he only had about 1,000 men, upwards of about 2,000 men, but there was never really that many across multiple forts in the valley intended to cover 400 miles, essentially, of frontier. And of course native americans are not stupid, they will not just attack the forts, they would attack the set elementlem carry away captives, and make life miserable. Washington was in a difficult position of having to defend the frontier, but he did work on how to train men, fight in what was called the indian style in the woods using light infantry tactics. Learning a lot about supply and motivation. We see them developing in the period. So there is an even society. Washington has to go through the process of court marshalling. He has to exercise punishment. He has to rank an address and he basically says it takes more than the title to make the officer. And that it will make it his duty to serve to the compartment and training. And he respects that of the others as well. And that he says he will punish with severity and he looks forward to awarding the merit of the best. It makes more than that title, and that he was going to reward merit and reward poor behavior. He puts an emphasis on training and reading. Well see it throughout his own experience as a military lead. The important of training and reading. The other thing i want to bring up before we get into the American Revolutionary war more generally is that George Washington becomes alienated from the british world for the first time. That made it into a very highly regarded professional regimen. At the colony wide level, but they are not the regular british establishment. Theyre not part of the british army. So what that mean Social Security George Washingtons commission as a colonel is not effective when he is around. He has a kings commission. He h it is seen as a huge insult to his rank and his honor. So this there is constant concern that the provincials are going to serve alongside regular troops and all of their officers will be graded. So washington was trying to get his own commission and his whole regimen put on a british establishment that equalizes his own status more generally but also would do the same for his fellow officers. He had 60 or 70 officers in the virginia regimen. This comes to a head a couple tim times. It comes quite close. It is an appointment of a new british commander and chief. John campbell the earl of loudon. John campbell is a scottsman. And he is appointed the commander and chief. The roil governor represents the throne, the crown, in the virginia colony. That Lieutenant Governor goes and runs the colony. He says in scotland and england. He is also the commander and chief of all of the forces. We were serving in that war and we have that connection to the commander and chief and we have all of the experience of fighting in the war. He has a strategic idea that he wants to bring to his superiors. He cant defend the frontier. Where the french have built ft. Dequesne, that is the launching point of native american raids. From the forks of ohio, it is a place where they are coming from canada and further west and from all over. Coming down to forth dt. Deques into the frontier of pennsylvania and further south. All i really know is to take over that fort. He wants to go on a mission and making the assault on ohio. He writes a flattering letter. He names his new fort ft. Loudon. Were so delighted that youre now in charge. He goes to give where he is. And loudon of course is the commander and chief of the british army. This is an idea about what they should be doing. That is typically not the way that these sorts of decisions are made. So washington is put on ice. Here he is cooling his jets for two weeks in philadelphia trying to get the attention of lord loudon. He is finally allowed to see him and what does he did. He says i have no interest in hearing your ideas, young man. Washington is only 24 at the time. He has very little experience, and he is a provincial to begin with, so he doesnt know about warfare. So not only do they go on the offensive, but the virginia blues, the regimen, that he trained in, he will have to lose some of his men and those will have to be sent to south carolina. Washington emerges from a meeting completely humiliated and angry. And writes what i called the smoking gun letter that he writes to the yLieutenant Governor, and he says i cannot con soouf that americconceive t americans, because theyre not british, will be denied the rights of british subjects. How come we are not treated equally with the british. He goes on to point out there is no other regimen that served three bloody campaigns without recognition. And that idea that americans are lesser than the british comes through very powerfully in an angy way. I think that this is the crucial moment if anyone was to ask why does George Washington ultimately become a rebel against the king . Who he served in the french and indian war. This experience is one of those moments you can point to sea say there is poor George Washington being treated like a dog, and he is never going to forget it. Washington participates in something about loudon. Giving you a sense of john campbell, Benjamin Franklin on the set said that he is like st. George on the tavern side. You get the sense of the man really do much, and ultimately he did get to participate in a successful march on ft. Dequesne. He goes a forbes campaign. In that campaign, he believes he has a major impact on helping to lay out the lan of march. He also even though he doesnt get what he wanted, he wanted the virginia wrote. A longer flatter route, and ultimately had the same success they left the fort before the british arrived. Before they were able to secure it and that ended the french and indian war. They had no way to project power. So when that was over, George Washington resigned his commission. It was clear that his ambition was not going to be in the british army and he marries martha washington, and embarks on his next career as a virginia planter. It is really interesting to see that has connected. That he is turning his back on a military career that has been denied him. So through the idiocy of the british, and he is a virginia planter that he had never been. And to do that he brings martha to mt. Vernon and the next faze of his life begins. Okay, lets go fast forward then to the American Revolutionary war and why dont i take a question as a way to get into it. As a way to think about George Washington as a soldier. Sure, so washington was one of historys greate eest genera who were his mentors. The question is about washington considering that he is one of the greatest generals, and i will submit that he is and we can argue that and why we have to think ant hbout him tha way. A couple interesting things, he learned by doing here. One of the incredible things you see about him is that he will fail or blunder and make mistakes. And also in the American Revolution as we will talk about as well. But he was also a great read herb of, you know, of all of the military books of the age. People like thomas gage that he will later face off against. But also you know you ran all of the latest, he started to focus particularly on what was sort of tracks, light infantry, a war that we might call it today but in the 18th century, the european mind of war far was fairly stuck in a tendency that had basically existed for almost 100 years. The technology had not changed that much. The british were using a musket. They were using it in the wars around the 1710s. And these were, you would mask fire power, and the goal was to out maneuver, out number the other teams infantry on the other side. It was very static in the way they were thinking about tactics and the approach to war fighting at the time. So washington is learning from this european tradition through their manuals that emphasize drill, lines of men with muskets that would march close together and shoot at pointblank range. Then they would charge by the bayonet. This is how european battles had been fought for hundreds of years. And calvary was used in minimal ways as well in these major 18th century european battles. So washington could learn about this tendency of warfare. He also learned from the anci t ancients as well. And caesar, the commentaries on gall that washington was reading while he was defending the british frontier. Caesar is talking about the challenges of defeating an enemy, in this case the german tribes, that fought in a different way than the romans had been fighting. In a sense washington is learning from these tracks. You know the great military figures in the 18th century were you know you have the ancients like phabias. You have the 30 years war. You have maurice of thatnassau. You have william of orange. You have prince eugene. In washingtons time frederick the great is the greatest general. It is the highest level of what tactics and approach by the middle of the 18th century. Heavy infantry, well trained, bringing fire power to bear. Emphasis on highly trained expensive permanent armies that you would not use very often and hopefully you would not not many of them would die because they were so expensive to train and maintain over the period into it tended to focus on seei craft. When you think about battles and fighting in europe, youre thinking about seizing rivers and fortresses. Their supply lines can only be a couple days away at most. They require fodder and food. One story was like they were shackled by their supply line. So imagine a giant man walking with shackles on. Most battles that we think about are great seenieges. But the American Revolution is fought at a time of these older sensibilities about what warfair looked like in the 18s century. So he is schooled up there reading, through the fwgenerals and also as you see he evolves in his own thinking and understands how to command at a high level, the real thing that he will faces is that he never commanded anything more than 2,000 men. That is signee. Even though he often doesnt have that many men directly under him, well see like in the new york theater you know the fight over new york at the very beginning of the war when washington commands about 25,000 men, he makes fun mental mistakes about the army. So how about another question. Sure, mj wants to know what kind of reputation did washington have among the soldiers versus at ohm. The question is the reputation of washington amongst the soldiers. There is also an implicit question there. What was his reputation like to the enemy and to the other side . And this is important to recognize. He was putly beloved. A lod of his political power had to do with the fact there there was a huge core of soldiers. He was, as as leader, a great listener. Welcoming other points of view. He was there, he stayed with the army in a way that other generals did not do. So he is at valley forge in the winter. He is there with the trips and never takes a furlough. Washingt washington, d. C. Showed up. He was not the omar bradly been he is doing what is expected of him. He is not trying to go into peoples tents and be one of the guys in the middle of their adversity. He is doing what he is trying he is trying to find them food, clothing, writing letters, getting local authorities mobilized. He is actively seen as trying to make life better for the army. He is not the one they blame when they dont have shoes, clothes, gun powder. The politicians are corrupt, inki incompetent. So swaug very popular among the soldiers. It spreads for the American People as well. There is a reason he is the most interesting man. These soldiers dont serve for most of the war. They claimed to have served, and the brother, uncle, or cousin had served, seen him, or talked about him, it is really a remarkable thing. I want to talk about his reputation. The british made some critical mistakes at the very beginning by under estimates the americans. I mean all of the may try yacht army. The idea that colonials could fight. So they will basically say of new englanders they will be bold in council, but they wont show any stomach in battle. They dont have the guts to do it there they like to talk a lot but they dont know how to fight or stick this out. They extend that for too long thinking about the americans in that way and they have no respect at all for their ability as soldiers. The European Army has to train infantry for two to five years before they can be expected to stand in line. The colonials have never been able to do that and they dont have bayonets, they might snipe at officers from trees, but that is no way to win a battle so the british have so they might have thought they had an advantage, but what they didnt bargain for is the americans had tremendous leadership in George Washington, and was flexible that it was able to train up troops to have other resources to draw on that the british would struggle with. Ultimately George Washington is seen in europe as one of the greatest captains of the age, one of the great generals in world history. So particularly after he turns the tide of battle at the end of 1776 by crossing the delaware, those ten days in which he not only crosses the delaware and defeats the haitians, he wins the battle of princeton and forces, because of the way he sets up his troops afterward, he forces the british to lose all of new jersey. Its considered by frederick the great, the greatest military figure in europe, as some of the finest ten days of generalship that he has ever seen in history. And so in all the courts in europe, the name of George Washington all of a sudden becomes this reputation of great generalship to be studied and to be admired. You know, probably in fairly romantic terms, but that attitude spreads also amongst the british generalship over time. Washington is not just some american bungler, that hes actually a very challenging foe to bring to fight and to defeat certainly in a definitive way. Its a great question. Gideon would like to know how often did washington get home to his wife during the war years . Washington didnt get home to mt. Vernon really at all during the war years, as i mentioned. In fact, home often came to him. George washington had a very close enslaved man, william lee, his enslaved valet who served with him throughout the war. Some in washington knew he had been his personal man servant. They had been on hunts together in virginia and now they were together in war. So that familiarity was certainly part of washingtons daytoday life in the camp. But also martha washington, obviously. She came to him every year during the war. She came through great hardship across terrible roads, through danger, put herself in danger to come to the winter camps and bring supplies. She also mobilized womens support for the war, making cartridges, making clothing, raising money, and really was a crucial part of washingtons experience of the war during the wintertime when all he had was cares and stress. Could he make this army survive another winter . Could he make sure theyre training so they could be alert and active when the winter ended and the british, who they often had to react to, were going to go on their campaign . And martha was there to calm his mood and make him into really a better man and a better leader. In fact, the officers in washingtons experience would often celebrate when martha arrived in camp, because it would make him a little easier to deal with, a little less angry, a little less wound up, because he tended to be a control freak in trying to have his hand in everything, and i think martha leavened his personality quite a bit. Thats a good question. What do we got . Norman would like to know, i heard it was hugh mercers idea to cross the delaware to surprise the haitians. What do you think of that . Whether it was his idea to cross the delaware, there are a lot of different people who can claim it to be their idea, including George Washington himself. Lets set the stage a little bit. Whats happening here is George Washington, in probably his major strategic blunder of the whole war, is in the new york theater. The british are sending an Expeditionary Force to destroy this rebellion. George washington is set up under the guidance of charles lee, one of the commanders he puts in the defense of new york. George washington is in command of about 25,000 troops, in manhattan and along long island. What he does, and its incredibly strategically important for a lot of reasons. The hudson river is crucial because you cant let the british control the hudson. New york is a very important port. It is dominated by a lot of loyalists so its important to sort of keep control of that area. The Continental Congress wants George Washington to defend new york. So washington is there. Now, its also untenable, as we know from hindsight, new york is an island and its surrounded by n navigable waterways for hundreds of miles, and George Washington has no navy. So an amphibious person can attack new york at any time, particularly given the ability of the American Army at that time to move rapidly and effective effectively. So George Washington stations all his troops on either manhattan or long island. Its a huge strategic blunder, because general howe, who commands the invasion, could simply have landed on Manhattan Island and outflanked George Washington and destroyed the whole army. Its hard to see how washington could have escaped, if at all. Fortunately, howe was not that enterprising of a commander, so he fought him first in long island and then fought him on Manhattan Island and allowed washington to ultimately escape destruction. In fact, its a series of losses, obviously, in long island. Washington loses, but he does have a successful retreat and they dont ultimately lose the core of their army. He loses a flurry of battles and skirmishes, and washington is going to lose a lot in these losses. Hes going to learn the value of maneuver. He sets up in manhattan numerous strong positions and howe outflanks every time, so the value of maneuver. He also understands the value of training. His troops cannot move effectively on the battlefield. He needs to train them to function as a proper infantry unit that can move without becoming chaotic, that can move and fight, that can not only hold ground and entrench but can fight effectively on a battlefield without losing sense of order and panicking. He also learns the value of naval power in the battle of manhattan. So these are three crucial things that hes going to need to ultimately triumph in the revolutionary war that hes allowed to learn in the series of losses in this blunder. So lets get to the main point, though. So his army ultimately, you know, does escape from manhattan, although he loses 3,000 men at fort washington. That loss is really the big loss, because now howe actually has something to claim victory about. Seizing new york, which is a town of 20,000 people, we think of new york city as this incredible metropolis. New york city is a port in north america. Its not in charge of anything outside its immediate interland. Its an important place and a valuable place. But for europeans to say i fought many battles and won the port of new york, its not actually a great victory without capturing a chunk of George Washingtons army, which he was able to do in fort washington. Its a huge blow to morale, to the cause, and a great celebration for british arms in that campaign. So washington is escaping from howe through new jersey, tracing back to philadelphia and escaping the british in new jersey, and his army is disappearing. Men are leaving. Their enlistments are coming up at the end of the year, anyway. Theyve been beaten, theyre tired, they dont have any food. The army ultimately dwindles down to 3,000. Think about that, from 24,000 to 3,000, this army just sort of melts away like the snow. And washington, as early as november, late november of 1775, is trying to im sorry, late november 1776 dates matter in 1775, he was still in boston. In 1776, he starts thinking about the need to counteract the news of the loss of fort washington. That fell at the end of november, so with that loss, washington knew he needed something to change the narrative of this fight in a counterattack of some kind. He starts looking for opportunities. And thats ultimately what is presented to him with trenton. The british have chased him across the Delaware River, to new jersey almost. Theyre going into Winter Quarters with extensive posts throughout the state. Their behavior was terrible in new jersey, there was plunder, grapevine, destruction of property. You have one of the signers of the declaration of independence is a signature and declared loyalty to the crown. Its a huge propaganda challenge, but the militia starts rising in new jersey. Washington is being fed intelligence about the possibility of an attack, and that leads to the incredible decision to cross the delaware and turn the tide of the war, which washington did. In ten days he turns the tide of the war and transforms the narrative. Of course, general mercer dies at the battle of princeton. And mercer is bayoneted to death by troops we might believe, and there is good sense to believe that he is general washington at the time. Mercer is well dressed in a colonial uniform. He is fighting. He refuses to surrender, and hes bayoneted. Of course, most of the other american troops are fairly poorly dressed, pretty bedraggled, ragtag army, so mercer would have stood out in a really grand way, and that made people think this was possibly washington that they had. So thats a good question about whether mercer could get credit. I dont think you could say it was mercers idea alone. There were others, general cad wallinger in pennsylvania, general washington and his staff. There were a lot of opportunities. Mike would like to know what type of watercraft did washington and others use to cross the delaware . The crossing of the delaware, we think of it oftentimes with this beautiful painting by emanuel ludza from the 1850s. It was a german immigrant who painted this extraordinary painting at the metropolitan museum of art. You can see it online at our web page, you can see it at the mets web page. Its Washington Crossing the delaware where hes standing i dont remember where hes standing exactly, but hes standing looking forward at this massive river clogged with ice, which is much larger than the actual delaware. Then hes in this boat which is being rode by lots of different people, some of whom seem to represent real people like james monroe who was in the crossing and got wounded, actually. But also others who are meant to be indicative of the diversity of america. There is a woman in there, there is an africanamerican member of the marblehead regimen. There is a scotsman by his dress, you can tell. So he paints an interesting story about americas greatness in the 1850s, emphasizing diversity and washingtons leadership and really creating a great historical memory and interpretation, but its not really what actually happened. So the questions about how did washington actually cross the delaware, it would have been in very different style boats. Flat boats and what are called durham boats are shallow draft boats that were used for carting things along the river, but it actually was a mishmash of a lot of different crafts. The mexicans had been collecting all the different crafts on the Delaware River and making sure the british couldnt get them. Mostly these flat cargo boats, essentially, that were used. Washington likely would have been seated in a different fashion. There is a good painting by a cusslers painting is it cussler, matt . Anyway, you can see the cussler painting of Washington Crossing the delaware. In our winter patriots movie, you can see a representation of that in the snow. But it was a remarkable crossing nonetheless. It took many hours longer than washington had hoped, it almost led to disaster, but he had his luck with him that night. Question . There is a question, was there ever a time during the war that washingtons life was in great danger or that he faced maybe being captured . Was there ever a time during the war where washingtons life was in great danger . The answer is yes. There are at least three really documented moments in which people were afraid that washington was taking risks with his body in the face of enemy gunfire that was not considered to be smart, given that he was the indispensable man. One was in the battles in manhattan where he was so upset at the retreat of the americans that he started basically wanting to assault the lines himself, throw himself into bodily danger there and was held back and cried, are these the men with which i am going to defend america . Thats the line thats quoted in the hamilton musical and the great song in fact, its one of the great artistic renderings of the chaos and the intensity of those series of losses, you know, where theyre moving rapidly and theyre fighting and theyre dying and theyre actively engaged. The other one is the battle of princeton, famously, where washington gets within 30 yards. British line where colonel mahoud, who is a very experienced british officer, goes into battle on horseback with his spaniels leaping around him, very much in the spirit of gentlemanlike showing their agents of fire. And theyre much more disciplined and theyre defeating this pennsylvania militia and they come and rally the troops. We will have them pleasantly, Something Like that, and there is a story told how one officer closes his eyes because he cant bear to see washington being shot dead, which he seems has to happen because washington is basically right out there in the lines, firing back and forth. U another time in the revolutionary war that i think about, there is one in monmouth but i dont think he is in danger of battle at close arms at that point, but in yorktown, he is also known for getting up on the trenches surrounding yorktown with his spyglass observing the battle while there are shells rattling around him and bullets whizzing through the air, and often officers are saying, general, come away, and hell say, you can retire to the back if you like, i feel perfectly fine. So washington led from the front when it was necessary and put himself out there. The terrible defeat of braddock in the frenchindian war, you had multiple blows through his coat and his hat and interestingly unscratched. So washington was never wounded throughout his many wars and conflict. We have a multipart question from william. He would like to know what happened to general lee. Was he captured or did he i have in to the british. All right, so these are three questions. I dont know if i can do them all justice, but lets start with the first one which is a question about charles lee, was he captured, did he desert is to the british . Charles lee is a really interesting figure in American History and not well known today, certainly outside of people who study the American Revolution in europe. He was british but also an adopted virginian. He was not related to the virginia lee family that we think of. Hes an englishborn man. He serves in the french and indian war. He also serves in europe at the court of european princes as a military expert. He probably has a lot more military experience than George Washington and he has a huge grudge towards the british. He thought he was treated poorly by them, he thought he wasnt promoted properly, and he also is a very eccentric guy. Hes known to also not have any friends except for his dogs. He has like 20 dogs. His personality was like boiling water, quick to rage. But also quite a genius when it came to military affairs, and washington depends on him and the Congress Love him. John adams in particular think that hes very important to the americans, and they really want him to help washington because he knows a lot about siege warfare, he knows the european style of fighting and hes given a high command very early on. He is essential in the defense of charleston in the early times of the war when they defeat them, however, later, they would be conquered. He puts himself in charge of new york and does what everybody considers to be a pretty capable job with very little resources in short order. But charles lee also has a very different, and i would say, revolutionary notion of what the american strategy should be in the war. He thinks its a waste of time to try and fight the british in a traditional european manner. Washington always argues that the americans need to have a proper army thats trained and able to fight in the european way. Partly he sees this as a clear way to contain the british and to fight the british properly, but also its political. If they have a real army, they can be considered a real country. You know, like the europeans will give them that kind of respect. Whereas charles lee very early on is emphasizing the importance of what we would call today guerrilla warfare or bringing the war into the countryside of the army meting inmelting away mountains and letting the british sort of alone and the americans fighting it out in this way. Also kind of a revolutionary idea about how this should be the republican way of fighting in a republic. So charles lee is an interesting character. There is a great essay by john shy, one of the great military historians and a historian in the war which strategizes them for warfare. Charles lee does things that are highly questionable. Its clear he is writing that washington is not capable of managing this war. Washington has lost new york. Lee is not responding to George Washingtons inquiries very aggressively, and ultimately, when lee finally does start to bring his troops and meet up with washingtons troops in new jersey, hes very careless. He ends up getting himself captured at a crossroads by the british. He tries to sneak out of the house and ultimately ends up, you know, as a prisoner of war. There are many miss tohistorian this and confusion. Lee is said to have been captured, what we might consider traitorous behavior. This is something that comes to light much later, but lee is ultimately exchanged, and hes exchanged and comes back into the American Office in an Important Role in 1778 when George Washington is trying to figure out a way to take advantage of the british abandonment of philadelphia. The british, remember, they took philadelphia in 1777 and they abandoned on the side of the french, and now the theater of war is changed. It isnt just these 1 colonies. The british have to think about them, they have to think about the world because the french are going to fight on a much bigger scale, so it was seen as foolish to hold onto the town of philadelphia which really doesnt do much for them, so that army is going to march from philadelphia to new york in 1778. George washington wants to take advantage of this by, at the very least, has rassing that ar, at best finding the perfect location to attack with this better trained army. Now he has an army thats been training at valley forge with general steuben, et cetera, so what happens . The british are marching back to new york. Charles lee is put in charge of a big section of the army. Washington wanted to put lafayette in charge of that wing, but he had pressure to put lee in that position, and lee, you know, claimed he could not serve if he was put in a position where he wasnt in command of this. After he had opposed the idea of attacking the british the whole time, so lee never agreed with that, but then he begs to be in charge of the actual army, and, of course, lee bungles it. When the battle of monmouth courthouse begins to happen, lee is in charge, and washington interprets lees behavior as being, shall we say, timid and not aggressive enough, that lee is not pressing an advantage and lee is retiring in the face of enemy when washington believes he should be holding his ground and assaulting. So washington dismisses him on the battlefield and there is later a very public court martial. In that court martial, lees reputation is destroyed, although hes not ultimately convicted. And thats end of charles lee as a significant figure in the American Revolutionary story. So i dont think there is any evidence to say that he goes over to the british. He is captured. But while hes in british hands, i think it is highly questionable what his behavior is. I think he thinks at that moment, which most people did, that the american cause was lost. Its the same moment that Washingtons Army had dwindled to 300 people. Lee is likely looking for an escape hatch at that point and probably later regrets it. It was a threeparter, this question. The second one was about who was it about, gates . It says why did washington allow arnold to live . Why did washington allow Benedict Arnold to live . First off, he didnt capture Benedict Arnold. He would have executed Benedict Arnold if he could have gotten his hands on him. That is probably something that kept him up at night and enraged, because arnold had not only been a trusted commander and one of the great operational battlefield generals in the revolution and a hero to boot. A hero in the canada campaign, the loss at velkor island, essential at the battle of saratoga and trusted by George Washington. Somebody, in fact, George Washington wrote to him one of his famous quotes from cado after one of arnolds successes where he says, it is not to mortals to command success, but you have done it, arnold. You deserve it. Arnold was one of the great generals. Arnold was impatient and arnold just really disliked the french, and army betrays in a hideous way the american cause. Its one thing to go over to the british, but he did it in such a way as to try to get George Washington captured. It was a very important force controlling the hudson. Then not only does he go over to the british but he becomes a british general and attacks virginia, attacks it in a devastating manner with these raids. So arnold is notorious and washington would have liked Nothing Better than to string him up by the neck as a traitor to america if he could have gotten his hands on him. Thats why he let arnold live, because he never got him. Of course, arnold ultimately goes on to live a very despised life in britain as well. The last question of that is why was general gates even allowed a command . Why was general gates allowed a command. Granny gates, as he was known by the troops, had his support. He had a lot of support. He was an eminent figure and had support of many in congress, ultimately has the Great Success at the battle of saratoga, and there were many who thought that gates would be a better commander in chief. It was a small number who made these sort of rumblings because people were upset that washington couldnt win the battle of germantown, but troops thought it was a success because they actually scared the british into staying in philadelphia. This was after the battle of saratoga, so washingtons achievements by the untrained eye looked diminished in the face of gates. And gates you know, washington was in pressure to put gates in command and he ultimately puts him in charge of the Southern Army and gates makes complete hash of it. I think there was some statement about gates after the loss of the battle of calkens. Calkens . Anyway, gates loses and basically doesnt stop for 100 miles in his retreat. So someone mentioned that the only thing gates has won in the south is a horse race, or Something Like that. Nathaniel green is put in place. We know how that goes. We get lost and regroup and we fight again. He understood that the british army was disintegrating and they couldnt replace their army, so any costly victory was as good as a defeat to wallace in that campaign. He put gates in charge because there was political pressure for gates to be in charge, but once he showed he was competent, he wouldnt again have an important command. So joi would li joy would know were hamilton and washington close . I love hamilton, its a beautiful piece of art, but its shakespeare history, right . Its like shakespeares plays. Henry the v. It takes all kinds of liberties with the actual truth. Now, George Washington and Alexander Hamilton was the subject of biographies, as well as forest mcdonalds. There is a lot of romance placed upon hamilton in the revolutionary war. He was an aide to George Washington and George Washington had 25 aides through the course of the war. He was a very important aide, and washington recognized his mind and his genius, and hamilton, of course, had his close group of friends. But he wasnt indispensable to George Washington by any stretch of the imagination, and he isnt responsible for winning the american whether or not and it was tested as well. Washingt washington basically resigned. Hamilton tried to apologize, washington refused the apology, went back in a huff to the army. Hamilton basically had to beg washington to let him back as part of the campaign there. Wasn wasn its sad, and hamilton clearly would have to be recognized as a man of great valor and as a hero of the war and the fact that he did lead that assault in the yorktown campaign. He was given that command by lafayette, not by George Washington. Yorktown controlled that army. Some people forget. The french army was led by rowe chambeau. Von steuben was an American Officer, then theres the french army which is over here. So lafayette is in charge of the american wing in the battle of yorktown, and then theres a whole french wing at the battle of yorktown as well. He gives the attack in the battle of yorktown. But clearly, washingtons relationship with hamilton becomes increasing the inseparable in the way theyre working together to escalate the improvement. The American Revolutionary war is obviously rchlt. Lucas would like to know, how old was general washington when he resigned his position to start his new phase . How old was George Washington when he resigned his position . George washington, at the end of the American Revolutionary war, resigned his commission and went back into civilian life. Throughout the war, he had deferred to civilian authority, although he was given more and more power by the congress, and there were some who wanted him to become the king or lord prote prote protector of the United States. George washington promised to give back his commission at the beginning of the war, and he followed through. The british, after a successful treaty in 1773, finally leave new york in november of 1773, and by december 23rd, 22nd, George Washington has resigned his commission into the hands of the Continental Congress from which all his authority flowed, completing this incredible act to ensure that america would be a government of laws and not a government of men. A republic, not a monarchy. A place that believed in liberty, not a place that would be dictated by a benevolent dictator or tyranny. Washington was critical and he maintained his reputation. Its 1773. Hes born in 1732, so who can do the math . Hes 51 years old when he does that, so hes a little over 50. He became the commander in chief of the Continental Army when hes 42 years old. Hes a 42yearold man, he ends up resigning when hes 51. Theres a lot to know about George Washington, the military leader. Its a crucial part of the story of his evolution as a great leader. Its a crucial part of the story of our American Military history as well. And washington is not infallible, but hes an incredible military general. Hes a great strategic general. Hes not as much of a tactician that many like to say. People would say hes not a tactician and could be identified. But what he had with his troops at moment, hes as good as any out there in that mode of fighting, and he beats anyone who comes at him. He ultimately wins the war and thats how you measure good leadership. Who wins the last battle, not necessarily the first battle . There is a lot of luck and a lot of things people cant control once they start pulling guns out and shoot at each other. George washington understood fundamentally the different phases of that war that they went through. There were Different Things america was striving to do before they declared independence. There were Different Things they were doing before the french came in. Before the french came in, he had a different way to think about whats going to happen with the war. After yorktown is a whole different way of thinking about what is his Important Role . Washington showed a tremendous flexibility in Strategic Thinking and the way that it was executed, and that needs to be emphasized. Flexibility in leadership is as important as any other quality, and washington had it in spades. There was probably no other American General that was as good a political general as him. Eisenhower is probably the closest match, given the theater of war that he had to manage on a much grander scale, but also the political challenges, different nations and alliances, Different Levels of government from the local to the state to the ad hoc to the national, to the international. We share that grandstand challenge that washington used effectively and would go on to become the president of the United States, certainly a model for president s for years and years to come. Thank you so much for the time we spent together today. I look forward to answering your questions off line. Keep sending them in. Remember, there are many resources on washington. Org. You can go to maps, to interactive maps, to movies, the actual primary documents, and also interviews with some of the great historians in this period much better than i am who has actually written indepth about it. I think of the great general warrior and i think of the great now deceased general palmer and you can find some of his work on our web page as well. I would also recommend, if you liked this video, subscribe to our news feeds. Let everyone else know. Together we can be inspired by our past and think about the country we want to be as we get through a Current Crisis we are in today. We can do great things when we Work Together as americans and certainly as americans being good in the world. I think this is a crisis which we will ultimately tell Great Stories about, the way americans came together, when valiant heroes came in and fought this disease and the front lines are incredible, doctors and nurses and medical people, and the folks who are in the Grocery Stores out there working, thank you all so much for your work. I look forward to welcoming you back to mt. Vernon on the better side of this. Thank you very much. Bye bye. Coming up on American History tv, we visit Congress Hall at the Independence National historic park in philadelphia. Congress hall was home to congress in 1790 to 1800 when philadelphia served as the temporary capital of the United States. You are watching American History tv. Every weekend on cspan3, explore our nations past. Cspan3, created by the American Television company as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Each week American History tvs american artifacts visits museums and historic places. Up next we travel to philadelphias Independence National historic park to learn about Congress Hall, the Meeting Place of the u. S. House and senate between 1790 and 1800. Our guide is park Ranger Matthew eiffel. We are standing in the old house of representatives in a building we call Congress Hall, though it was originally built for a cou
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