Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Thats good. Thank you all for being here. My name is kirk brandt, were delighted to have you here for the four evening book talks and i begin by thanking the Ford Motor Company for their partnership, and theyve done a lot for us including endowing this book talk series. Im personally able to welcome back nathaniel philbrick. And i asked to introduce him because whenever i do that, im struck by his bona fides as a true renaissance man. A ba from brown university, and he was a james duke fellow and a worked as an editor at sailing World Magazine and wrote and edited several sailing books, the yachting wind, and the parody. And hes the author of mayflower, as well as a book heart of the sea, National Book award for nonfiction. In 2010 he published a book called the last stand, it was New York Times best seller. It was a New York Times notable book and ala notable book and attempted into a 10 part tv series and adapted as we speak into a 10part series and a consultant on the pbs film custers last stand, the good news for everyone here this evening at the moment he turns these talents to the American Revolution and he published in 2013 bunker hill, a city, a teenager, a revolution and he came to speak about a couple of years ago and it, too, is a New York Times best seller and the 2013 book award for nonfiction, the 2014 distinguished book award for the society of colonial wars. And the rights to book by warner brothers, a film adaptation that ben affleck may direct. Not saying he will, but stay tuned on that one. He has written for vanity fair, the New York Times books review, the wall street journal, the l. A. Times and the boston globe. And hes appeared on the today show, on dateline, on pbss american experience, on cspan, npr and leads me to say were delighted to have cspan this evening to film nats lecture. Like another great historian, he credits his history teacher by recognizing his nascent talent and encouraging him to right and we welcome Nat Philbrick on his new book, and copies are here for signing. George washington, Benedict Arnold and the fate of the American Revolution. Please help me welcome Nat Philbrick. Thank you, curt and its great to be here at mt. Vernon. This is such a special place if youve been researching and writing george washington. Yachting with parody and yachting with spelled with two as and no c, explains why its a parody. But to be here in mt. Vernon after writing this book, it begins with washington at in new york after a as a huge armada of british war ships and transports arrives in new york harbor. More than 400 ships, more than 40,000 sailors and soldiers. Thats more people than in philadelphia, than the largest urban center in america. Its like the war of the worlds in which this amazing force arrives at your doorstep. Washington had been there at the siege of boston, which i write about in my earlier book, bunker hill. But this is dinner. King george had responded with a real will and washington was had never led a big army in a big battle before. This was new for him and it would test his talent and it was after finishing bunker hill i realized i have to follow this guy into where hell lead me in the revolution because i was so fascinated with washington and hes not a statue. He was in his 40s with red hair and you know, we think of him as the careful pragmatist, the person that we see on the dollar bill, but early on in his military career he was wired to be aggressive in boston, time and time again, he wanted to attack the british that were then in boston, and his counsel of war repeatedly would say, no, its just too risky, but he wanted that bold stroke to try to finish this war because he realized this was america was hardly a country at all, especially in 1775, even with the declaration of independence in july of 1776. It was now supposedly independent, but it was barely held together and washington was well aware how tentative his army was, it was didnt have enough armaments or gun powder, all of these things and now in new york, its completely different. Hes up against it. It would not go well for him in new york. The battle of long island, he would be out generaled by william howe, forced retreat from the high grounds in brook len heights. Across the east river to new york. Eventually forced to retreat from new york, into the harlem heights, and this gave the british a toehold on the base of the hudson river. And much of my book is about is set on water believe it or not, because as the hudson river, it was part of what i would call water a corridor of water. If you took the hudson river to the south and the riverlike, spans of Lake Champlain, you had water all the way to canada. We drive around in our multilane highway and you see a fort position by a river or a lake, and you wonder why . Whats the strategic importance . The fact of the matter was, in the 18th century you couldnt transport people or provisions with speed or regularity unless it was by water. The road system was not there and so, whoever possessed this corridor of water would be in a position to cut off new england from the rest of the states. And so, it was absolutely critical that america maintained some control of this or the war would be over. And with the loss of new york, the british now had the toehold on this corridor of water. And by september 15, with the america americans evacuating from new york, there was one group of soldiers that stood between the british and taking Lake Champlain to the north and that was Benedict Arnold. But my interest in Benedict Arnold goes way back. It began with my mother. When i was growing up in the 60s. My mother was a renegade. For one thing, she smoked a pipe. [laughter] as a teenager it was tough to take in a restaurant when mom would light up after dinner and she had no problem telling someone what she believed, even if she knew they didnt want to hear it. And one of her heroes was Benedict Arnold. Mom being many mo mom being mom, i kind of dismissed that in my teenage years. After i finished bunker hill, i realized, i wanted to get to a part of the war of independence that i knew relatively little about. I write these books not because im an expert in the field, but because im curious about the subject. I wanted to know i knew there was a story there that i hadnt really learned in High School Even though miss wilk, my ap u. S. History teacher was a wonderful wo womben woman and ignited my interest. We thought of them as banding together to defeat british tyranny and we think of the inevitable victory at yorktown. The fact is the revolution went on for eight long years and instead of this seemingly relentless course to victory, it stagnated terribly even after the french came into it, even after the victory at saratoga, things wound down. There wasnt the money to pay for the army. Congress was highly suspicious of the military because in every previous revolution in which the republic was the hoped for end result, the military had ultimately cooperated the civil government and either a dictator or an emporer would take over, so they were rightly concerned about the military. So the Continental Congress was had real control over washington. I think we think of him as, you know, operating being the one whos controlling this revolution, but in fact, he had to report to the congress. And i hate to say it, but a Dysfunctional Congress is nothing new. [laughter] and washington had to deal with this. And so and one of the things that happened during this eight year slog was instead of fighting the british, we americans began to fight among ourselves. It was under the it was patriot versus loyalist to a certain extent, but in large swaths the Hudson River Valley to the north of british occupied new york, the Long Island Sound and the coastal new jersey, it devolved into this ugly cat and dog fight. Former neighbor going after neighbor. And it just was it was just something that was horrible to live through and afterwards people really didnt want to remember it in those terms. And so i wanted to get at this, but how to how to find a way to dramatize it. How to find personality to get at what i felt was the dark side of the revolution, that i hadnt appreciated. Enter mom with Benedict Arnold because i grew up thinking, to be called a Benedict Arnold, oh, my gosh, that was the worst possible thing you could be. And hes like many historical figures, hes become a caricature. And how hes just the worst thing on earth as far as americans can think of, but the fact of the matter is, in the beginning of our revolution, he was our best general. And washington really respected him for that and its interesting, washington was wired, had an aggressive temperament by nature and he would learn to tame it for the good of his country, but in Benedict Arnold, i think he saw a Kindred Spirit to a certain extent, that if washington had been ten years younger and not saddled with the crushing responsibilities of command, he could have been on the battle field and winning the kinds of victories that was Benedict Arnold was wracking up. Because it was amazing. At lexington and concord, and hes been an apothecary and seagoing merchantman. Hes got a small fleet of ships that go down to the caribbean, up the coast to the st. Lawrence river, to quebec and montreal and he knows all about this corridor of water and he says, you know what . We need to take ticonderoga and its a key to this vital portion of our country. And it turns out ethan alan and some of the others have the same ideas, Benedict Arnold and ethan alan that stormed fort ticonderoga. Washington is mired in what will be a ninemonth siege in boston. He send Benedict Arnold on a over a crazy overland expedition to try to get to quebec because the british have been caught kind of unaware by the outbreak of the revolution. They have very small force the in montreal and quebec. We can take those two cities early before reinforcements arrive, well have canada and be in a much better position. So montgomery is sent up Lake Champlain and takes montreal. Its up to Benedict Arnold to lead this ragtag band up the penobscot river, up the penobscot river, not down, in the fall. Its getting very cold and the river is a virtual torrent and ive followed Benedict Arnolds trail into the interior maine to quebec, up north theres still nothing up there. [laughter] if theres a street name, it says arnold and he led his men up there. Its just an incredible story on its own, and hes there with daniel morgan, the great virion rifleman. Aaron burr. Its an amazing cast and they make it, they get to quebec, after that amazing feat he would be known as the american hannibal, he was a hero. They finally would storm quebec, at the end of the year in a snowstorm. Montgomery, who had teamed up with him by that point, would be killed in the early going. Benedict arnold would be badly injured when a bullet ricochet got his left leg and it would not succeed, but it was still an amazing, amazing feat. He would eventually be reassigned in montreal and be a vital element in leading the retreat from canada back down Lake Champlain and chapter two of valiant ambition takes us 360 miles north of new york to the Lake Champlain near the Canadian Border where its Benedict Arnold with a fleet of about 15 vessels, many of them hacked from the trees surrounding the southern end of Lake Champlain, galleys and gondolas, basically floating platforms for canons and hes put this fleet together in record time and Horatio Gates is his boss in this and he has sent arnold up there with his fleet and the british now have new york and now, there is a general the british general is leading this vast armada down Lake Champlain. Now, they have actual three masted ships with you know, they have scooners, they have shouse of soldiers, they have 20 gun boats and theyre all headed in arnolds direction. Its october. Its so cold, they can see snow in the Adirondack Mountains on one side and its the Green Mountains on the other. Theyre up there all alone, its only an schooner that goes back and forth, 100 miles at Lake Champlain. Its the 0 nl connection to tie conned ticonde ticonderoga. And i didnt know that Benedict Arnold was a mariner. It was a wonderful surprise and what made it more special, guess where i learned how to sail . Lake champlain and little did i know, that i was sailing on the other side of the lake and on the east side. On the west side, a few miles below whats now platsburg, new york is the island. It contained a little bay inside. And arnold knew that if he would take his little fleet and hide it inside the bay, and wait for the british to sail past, and then reveal himself, basically wave and say, here we are, the british would then have to sail against the wind to attack his small fleet now, a threemasted british ship with 18 cannons is an awesome for force. But it cant sail against the wind and it would work beautifully, the british with this huge armada would sail down and arnold would wave to them and theyd turn around saying, aha, weve got him. Were between him and his escape route and well destroy what the americans called the mosquito fleet, appropriately enou enough. And so what would unfold is a tremendous sea battle on Lake Champlain. Arnold lined up 15 vessels to what was called valcor bay. I was up there with my wife in a pontoon boat and circling it and working it out. In the museum they had the philadelphia, it was sunk in this battle and go down and see it, its amazing. The suite was all piled up. His vessels were all lined up. Arnold was in the center of his line and they waited for them. Sure enough the schooners had a hard time getting up. So the boats would line up and start whaling on one another, fires canons back and forth. Arnold was at the bow firing him and he even took a pot shot at general charltons flag ship and nearly took him out on the quarter deck. It was hours going at it. The philadelphia would get sunk. Eventually night would come and arnold had fought them to a draw. I mean, he had his his fleet was a mess. Many men had died, but it was a miracle, he had done it, but the british were confident once they had them trapped in this small bay. So what they did was create their own line below arnold so there was no way for him to escape and they were going to get him in the morning. Well, arnold has a, has a counsel with his officers and one of his officers says, look, the only way were going to get out of this is if we sail to the north, go around the top of the bay and the island. Its the safest thing to do. Now, arnold had a swashbuckling charisma to him that i think was both inspiring and could be infuriating if you were an officer. And he said no, were going to go through their fleet. Were going to sneak through them, theres enough of a gap on the short side of their line if we go one vessel after another, were going to get through. Okay, lets go for it. And so vessel after vessel would go by with a light in the stern that could be see and row with minimal sail up, one after another they went out. Every vessel got out and charlton awoke the next morning, there was fog on the lake and took a while to figure out there was no american fleet. He was apoplectic. According to one account, he ordered them, lets go after them without telling everyone else that he was leaving and then had to come back, okay, yeah, were all going after arnold. [laughter] by this time, the americans were many miles down the lake and the wind had switched to the south so they were sail against the wind. It was a, you know, became a battle for the british were chasing, chasing them. A day passes, arnold is desperately trying to get his fleet back to fort ticonderoga. Having sailed on Lake Champlain, the wind is not reliable. Arnolds fleet was becalmed as a wind line comes down the lake and the british are coming after them. So that great big british ship and two schooners were leading the way. Arnold basically says to his fleet, keep on going, although he tried to make one more stand at a place known as split rock, but his fleet sort of evaporated around him. And so, he decided to make a kind of stand and so that the rest of the vessels could escape to fort ticonderogs. So theres arnold surrounded by three british vessels fighting for hours. Eventually theyre beginning to sink and arnold realizes once again, this is it. He notices that the wind has changed to the east. He can row, they cant really do that so well, so they go for shore, make it to shore. They pull their vessels hes surrounding by a few gondolas and they pull their vessels up and orders his men up in the high ground around and he refuses to lower his flag, you know, so the flag is still up, but he orders them to blow up their ships because theres gun powder in there, and hes done the order and the british are approaching, theyve lit the fuse and he notices that one of his injured officer is has been left inadvertently on the deck of his vessel. Even though he had insisted that everybody get off. It blows up. And for arnold, it was crushing. Theres and its interesting. The only account we had of this episode was from a british surgeon who saw a body fly in the air and he claimed he used this to say how insensitive arnold was, this was years later, an account would be found written by a vermonter, who as a young boy lived in the house right on that cove. And late in life. When he was looking for a pension, he gave an account of what he saw and he described how arnold had done everything he could to get his men off and when he found out that one of his men had been killed, he had threatened to run through the officer who had been responsible to get them all. They didnt leave until they buried the soldier and then they escaped, downtown the like to fort ticonderoga. And they would write to general schyller, the head theoretical head of the army. No one has had more hairbreadth escape than arnold. My book begins with washington at his lowest ebb, lowest stage. Here is washington, the man who is destined to be the one person who can hold this country together and hes got his lowest. Here is arnold, destined to many about the man who attempts to tear that country apart ands hes a true hero, you can argue through this action. By the way the british, its like they were hit by a tornado. What happened here in they make their way down to fort ticonderoga, they look at the calendar and realize its getting late. No, were not going to do it this year, well do it next year and what would set up the next year to be battle of saratoga. Thats where the book begins and i follow them through this. And the next we see washington at princeton which is washingtons great comeback of all time. Its just an amazing feat. But theres another side to it and thats the side of, you know, this book is about loyalty and betrayal and patriotism and selfinterest. Because these are the issues that people were wrestling with. I mean, what is what is to be loyal how much does your country owe you . And how much do you owe your country . And washington going into crossing the delaware, that would be the magnificent turn around. It wasnt looking good. He lost three quarters of his army. You know, this was a desperate gamble and it wasnt amazing to me is how many of his officers he could not depend on. Horatio gate, for example, comes down from fort ticonderoga. Washington expects gates to help him out. He has helped him by five seasoned soldiers, but gates claims hes too ill and cant help. He needs to go to philadelphia. By this time with the british knocking on pennsylvanias door, the Continental Congress has fled to baltimore. Somehow gates decides, well, hes ill, but hes not that that does not preclude riding all the way to baltimore where congress is. Its clear to washington that if this expedition into new jersey does not go well, Horatio Gates will be perfectly poisoned to be the next one in line. And then before this, in november, his agitant general, joseph reed, who has been at his side, the siege of boston, hes begun to lose confidence in him and washington learns this when he inadvertently opens a letter addressed to reed from charles lee, basically the second highest command, ranking officer in the american army. In english, a brit who is now on the american side. By the correspondents washington can see that row self reed is agitant general and has reached out to charles lee, that you know, if this doesnt go up, what you should do is go south and reform a new army. Hes talking, you know, at this lowest moment. Hes talking to someone else and they are talking about washington not being able to make up his mind. Washington reads this letter and for me, its the first indication of his incredible political skills. Because he was okay on the battle field, but it was as a politician and his this could come to the fore. Because reed was not at headquarters. He resealed the letter and sent it to reed and saying this was addressed to you and when youre not here, i open all correspondence to you, assuming its for all of us, but i realize this is of different nature and thats all he says. [laughte [laughter] he leaves him twisting in the icy emptiness of his withheld rath. And reed knows the man is angered. And thats the thing about washington. He, you know, he could control his passions, but that does not mean he was not passionate. As a young man, his anger was a real problem. He famously copied more than 100 rules of civility as an attempt to sort of contain himself. And as Thomas Jefferson would write, for the most part he maintained an ascentdentcy. They were still there, and thats why washington was able to hang in so long was because of that. So washington doesnt confront him directly and instead of being a team player, while washington is coming up with a plan, there are several accounts of reed, hes not even at headquarters, hes talking to people about how the cause is pretty much lost. And even according to one account, he was poised to go to the other side if he should hear that trenton didnt go well. So, all of this is happening around washington. By the way, charles lee, the second highest ranking officer would be captured about this time by the british. Not a bad thing from washingtons point of view. And so there we are. Washington pulls it off. And you know, youd think this would congress would be ecstatic. Look what we have. Hes turned is around. Instead what you see is people like john adams, particularly the congressman from new england, who are the ones that are the real radicals that push for the revolution and are very fearful of the military essentially coopting this ref lewis. He talked in congress about the dangers of one man becoming taking on monarchal status and so, theyre concerned about washington. And so one of the things that they decide to do is, you know, youd think that washington a military, commander, would be able to choose his Major Generals, the officers which he depends on the most. Remember, this is a republic, so the civil government and washington understood this and would respect this throughout the revolution, even though it was driving him crazy. And you know, this is an incredibled warrants that he had. Just incredible pace sis and stamin stamina. And each state should have two page generals. Connecticut where Benedict Arnold is from already has two Major Generals. That means five officers ranking below arnold are elevated past him to Major General while ar not, the highest ranking bringing adeer gesture to receive a christm christmas people would say that arnold was thin skin, but this was outrageous and horrifying washington. The letter i would walk about this, initially he said ive heard this is the situation. I cant believe its true, but believe me. If it is, ill do everything that i can for you, if i can. He would try, but this beg began. Arnolds real problem with the couldnt new england congress, you know, he had a point, john stark from New Hampshire, you know what he did . He quit, he quit and went to New Hampshire and would raise his own states army. And you know, arnold could have done that, but, no, he hung in there. And in typical arnold fashion hes in new haven kind of upset about all of this. Hes now a widower. He met a 16yearold girl that he had fallen in love with. Hes written her the most purple letter youve ever read and she turned him down flat. Hes in new haven not looking good and he hears that a royal government William Tyrone at british occupied new york, is leading a raid on danbury, connecticut where the americans have a lot of military stores. Its very much like the raid on concord that would start the revolution. So, he sales up long yiet where west mortgage is good. They would off load march inland, furn danbury, they burned it to the ground and stored about them. And they hear about this. The time that the british are leaving danbury, he and 500 militiamen are in richfield, connecticut, they know the british have to go through. Hes created sort of like a clip on one side, a farmhouse on the other, a cliff on one side. Theyve created this pair cade. Theres not tomorrow of them. Theres 2,000 british. The british come at them and arnold is yelling at his men, if were going to do this, well do it in a rideable sfags and up and down the line the british are approaching, have no op tied for attacking head on. Theyve been flanking from the side and behind them. The militiamen flee and his horse is hit by nine musket balls. And arnold is pinned to the ground. As a noted loyalist and with his bayonet extended, says arnold, you are a prisoner. Arnold takes the pistols out of the holders of his salt. Shots the real, says not yet shoots the loyalist, is able to extricate from the syrups and vanishes into a nearby smout. A horse was there. And maybe we should have named arnold the general, but he would not rescore. And they did, however, give him a new horse, which shows you that, you know, politicians can somehow sometimes miss the park. But arnold fought brieftly. It would come to a kresh shen da, for who are rayion, n ioraye rifle and the battle of saratoga is a misnomar. After the first its arnolds men who fright the fight. And arnold end up getting dismissed from the army. He hes, i sticks out the next battle even though he has no official standing in the army, hes out there and according to some accounts, you know, he was hellion and leaves a very dangerous charge sorts of the end of the battle, through, the enemies are down and yells at them, and one fires, and hit him on the second life as the henry dearborn, who had been with him at quebec. Ive been shot, i wish. Thats the turning point. I am not going thoo more detour. That thats this is a horrible injury and for arnold, he was an athlete and this just robbed him and end up as military governor and get into all sorts of taubl with none other than joseph reed who would now be ahead basically of the state legislature who would is your suit him in a political win hunt. Arnold, would marry, peggy shape hahn, the first occupied philadelphia. Sheet gotten to know some british anniversary. Who became of the british spy network and the rest would be history when arnold decided it was time for him to turn over west point to the british. It would not be successful, but it would be word of arnold would escape to new york, eventually joined by peggy, and you know, the british accepted him. He was a traitor and traitors on either side are tainted. And the irony of the story, and id like to finish by reading a few a paragraph or two from my epilog. The easterny of this, arnold in the first years of the war short of washington had done more for the american cause, but it would be as a traitor. Where he you could argue that he serves his former country the most, in the most important fashion. This is galvanizing to americans. Americans were forced to realize in 1780. At this Time Congress marredly held a post. The French Alliance which arnold oranged, they werent ring the war and the trizen of arnold was a true wakeup call to the American People that this war was theirs to lose. Ill finish with this, the United States had been created through an act of disloyalty. No matter how eloquently the declaration of independence had attempted to justify the american republic, residual circumstances, arnold changed that by threatening to destroy the newly created republic by ironically his ownby trail. Arnold gave this nation of trader, the national of gifts, the myth of creation. Arnold, the American People had come to rechoring in shlth. A hero alone would bring more time became together. They knew butt what were not and there was a break from the mother country and focus on the process wii as they demonstrated, the real enemy was not great britain, but those who sought the fellows commitment to one another. Whether it was joseph reeds willingness to promote his states interest as the country an a hold and arnold sells his to the highest bitter. Masquerading by patriotism. At this fragile stage, a way had to be existing, the frame work. It wasnt not before, but underone day. Arnold urged them, and already the name Benedict Arnold was becoming a bie word for the hateful of crimes, treason against the people of the United States. Thank you very much. [applause]. Well, thank you, theres time for some questions that ill try to answer. Do you have any out there . You probably havent had time to read the book yet. [laughte [laughter]. Yes, yes. Please wait for the microphone. In doing your research at what extent did you rely on manuals and records and where did you find most of these . Yes, when it comes to these stories, there are documents everywhere, but really to me, the cornerstone was the Henry Clinton papers. Renry clin was in time of arnolds first tweeting. The comments, at the michigan university, it came into their possession in the 1930s. Its fascinating. It has the correspondent between arnold and major john andre. Up until those papers coming to light, the received which is come was that pegly shippen was an unwitting victim of her husbands treason. That she was as actually Alexander Hamilton thought, because he was at her bedside an after arnold had left and she went into this hysterical swooned it was her husbands benefit. He was as innocent as the lame. Thats with a hardly the case. She was actually involved and when arnold had to travel to philadelphia months prior to the condensation. Yes, those papers were important. Its just amazing when i can hold in your hand a coded letter from Benedict Arnold, to the michigan. And then theres also its in my book, the british have then translated it and so, you know, these kind of things are absolutely important. Then, you know, another source that was hugely important, its now been published several times, but you know, this, in many days, my story is a shakespearean tragedy, but though he focus on washingtons and arnold, this book has a greek chorus, if you will, to sort of mix the metaphors. And thats a wonderful character named joseph martin, he was 16 when he joined the war of independents from connecticut and late in light, by that time he had moved to maine. It must be wasted on notebooks, it was vast with bright guy and con correspond know respect to them and a revelation what a continental soldier had to deal with. Theyve never had enough food. Their clothing was minimal. You know, its all there and so, and whats great about joseph martin, he an a lot like for rest grump. When something was happening of historic proportions, he was there. You know, there he is. He had known arnold before the revolution, you know . Connecticut, back then, there was a lot smaller population, claimed he had never liked him you, but there he is. Hes on the banks of the hudson. And joseph is. And he says arnold on a horse sizing up versus roads and things. So these kinds of sources were very important. Yes. Im curious about well, first thank you so much, i cant wait to read back the book, but as a sailor, i wonder if you can talk about the deficits that this person the lack of both so the resources and times ability to build anything. Im curious about that. You know, i sneak in maritime stuff into all of my books, even the last stand about the battle of little big ho horn. Hoy, it begins on a river boat far west. And this, this book kick ll lly particularly for me, the had you had zoran river, here it is, arnold working up and down from the rir, when it comes to philadelphia, its on the done wear river and water is absolutely important there Joseph Paul Martin said that long suffering continent soldier. He they cant get their ships there. Well, i can hard you by a number of of points, appropriately named mud island. Its just a pile of dup at the con few end of, yoof they go the end, the schuylkill, thank you. And to delaware. Its almost like world war i, trench warfare, theyre there getting pounded, pounded, pound the. If they can hang out for another week, the british will be forced to evacuate philadelphia, because they dont have the pro and water was nevering everythings, and the british navy, they crawled controlled the coast and thats why the internat water may was in troublement he they talked about krashth universal fa bet. The initial had control of the water and ultimately on the u ultimate trips. Theres nothing you can do, fighting a force which had control of the waterways. To are me, it was just part of my process process was to go to the places and one and i Love Research trips, i mean, its nothing i enjoy life more. And one of the things i was able to get someone who would take me on a sir couple and a ha half circumferential of staten island. Ive lived in manhattan for three years and my two grownup children are in brookline. It wasntening i was going to the water and the knocks and croonies. No one knows. And the raver is approaching its husband, its wild. There are trees and things like that. [laughter] theres a city just to the boston. Watt, best, and that these to a lot of the folks in fovrt avalanche dags. He was a mrab and why is it called mt. Vernon . Because his brother who served in the british navy so revered admiral vernon who he he was with earlier in the century and he named mt. Vernon after the admiral. So go put that in your pipe and smoke it. Being a sailor, i seem to see maritime everywhere, but the fact of the matter is in the 18th century and much of the 19th century, water would determine the strategic what was strategically important in this country. Yes, right here. Thank you very much. Youd mentioned that washington saw a certain part of himself in arnold as a younger soldier and all of that. I wonder if you would comment on washingtons attitude after the trader incident and in particular, i believe he issued orders, subsequently, that if arnold was captured as part of the Virginia Campaign that hed been sum summerly executed. Washington is such a rock and yet, there is that personal fire. And you know, no wonder he had dentures. He was breaking hickory nuts with his teeth. What he was under and crazying control, and when arnolds treason, he couldnt help. This is a man in his career, he protected and fostered and he and the audience had no clue this was coming and washington is at the headquarter, about a mile delow below x point. He turns to lafayette who has become his surrogate son, who do we turn to now . Imagine what he was dealing. In the wake of this, everyone around him is going crazy. You know, i guess as knocks would write nathaniel green, i cant get arnold out of my head. This really messed with their whole sense of, you know, who they were, if this could happen. This is really fundamentally sca scary stuff. And washington would be able to by this time bowe, the french general arrived and prior to washingtons learning of this, he had met with the french in hartford and, you know, their first meeting and it was absolutely fundamentally porp, how the fresh were here in course for the first time. He had to put the best station on it and he writes this incredible letter to his counterpart. He said it was amazing weve dwan on such a hair, what happened in a revolution. And that said, he never turned his tension to getting Benedict Arnold. He got his cavalry officer harry lee, to find an officer that could infiltrate the british, pose as a deserter and get arnold and they had to take arnold alive. They were going to see that he received justice. So this womans job in december within months of all of this was to en ingratiate himself with arnold. Arnold would walk around the property and basically go to the out house and come back and he was waiting for him and even pushed a piece of the gait open and he was going to grab him and bodily take him to both waiting on the snow and row across the rubson where he would get justice. It was on that very day that colonel orders arnold to head south and to go after to virginia and it didnt happen. And there, i wont go into detail, but arnold once again would fight briefly. And washington send none other than lafayette to get him. Im not going to be going into that, because im going to put that in my next book. And surprise is the haitians and there is an incredible turnaround. They take the army back to pennsylvania and the decision is to turn back to new jersey. Washington is now occupying the british. And you could argue they were americas greatest asset. He had the chance at the battle of long island to destroy washingtons army. They had positive feelings about the colonies. Their older brother had been killed and died in the arms of israel some and the legislature voted in the Westminster Abbey and they never forgot that. These were two brothers. One was an admiral and their hope was to destroy the army, but to reach the point that americans would be forced to negotiate and they felt that would ultimately be better for a reconciliation but trenton messed with that whole scheme so he sends him back to Benedict Arnold and its interesting on either side of the river that flows through trenton then into delaware the british send wave after wave of soldiers across this narrow bridge but they are in a tight spot because theres nowhere to hide. What does washington do, and this is where joseph reid coming even though he had the trade in a personal way just a month earlier helped him out at this stage because he had taken some philadelphians on horseback up to princeton earlier and had figured out the lay of the land and with some other input they decided to seek out that night and do an end run and attack of princeton and that would become their greates great victory of n that would add to washington and have the added effect of clearing the british out of the person in new jersey in the expensive at least for the winter. Can you go over how Benedict Arnold was exposed and were they captured . It is a wonderful cloak and dagger. They had this correspondence but never met each other personally. The british are not even confident is that arnold that we are corresponding with and if they need to have a facetoface before they go through with this obligation. They have an influx of transports and worships and soldiers all fit to go after west point. So they have a midnight meeting on the western bank of the hudson overlooking the bay. The escape vessel they were to take back the appropriate name and bolter, you cant just make this up, its fired on by an officer who won his own initiative much to arnolds sugar in so it is forced down the river and through these things now andre has to find a way back. Ultimately he would go with a young lawyer who would accompany him across the river on the ferry over to the Eastern Shore of long island and make their way down through westchester. The americans were called scanners, the british gangs were called cowboys and they were going back and forth attacking one another and most people had left. It was a wasteland he must make his way to new york. Hes almost fair when three soldiers stepped out of their early in the morning shadows one has a haitian code and he assumes they are british. Hes happy to see them. One escaped from new york using the jacket as a disguise. It was that close to happening. It would take several days for all of this ticket to washington and arnold through a variety of reasons. Arnold would escape and a ban on trade would ultimately as a spy. Thank you very much. [applause]
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