All language subtitles for Revolutionary War Weapons ¦ Full Documentary ¦ NOVA ¦ PBS (1080p_30fps_H264-128kbit_AAC-inglés).inglés

[Music]

In

1775, an irregular army made up of

American farmers and tradesmen took up

arms against the most powerful nation on

Earth, Great

Britain. We think of them as

inexperienced and outgunned, struggling

with inferior technology.

But was that

true? Can we ever know what it was like

to fight in the Revolutionary

War? You can read books. You can go to

the

battlefields. But doing experiments,

shooting these weapons really helps give

us a better understanding of the

soldiers from both sides who fought in

the American Revolution.

Certainly gives a whole different

appreciation and horror.

The Revolutionary War is on a real cusp

militarily. You see echoes of older

ways. This is aiming for the

head. And you see some of these kind of

glimmers of the future and new

technologies.

Indigenous ingenuity and European design

technology evolves because of this

collision of cultures. We have a ticking

bomb. Is it sticky? Woohoo.

How did ordinary Americans use this

technology to win their freedom?

You want to be hitting that same spot

again and again and again. I've never

experienced or seen anything like this.

Revolutionary War weapons right now on

Nova.

[Music]

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[Music]

April 19th,

1775,

Massachusetts. Tensions between the

British and the American colonists are

at a boiling point.

[Music]

A moment that's commemorated even 250

years later.

[Music]

A silver smith named Paul Rivere has

spread word that 700 British troops are

marching from Boston to conquered. Their

mission, seize an American stockpile of

weapons and supplies to stop a

revolution before it

begins. But as the British passed

through Lexington, they are stopped by

around 80 militia men.

One of them is 36-year-old farmer John

Robbins.

Sometime before sunrise, there suddenly

appeared a number of the king's troops,

about a thousand.

The militia and the British are under

orders not to

fire, but within minutes, shots ring

[Applause]

out. The skirmish sparks a war that

lasts eight brutal years and leads to

the establishment of the United States

of

America. It's said that in war, history

is written by the

victors. In the story of the American

Revolution, the colonial forces are

often portrayed as plucky heroes

standing alone, armed with inferior

technology against the most powerful

nation on Earth.

But the truth is far more

complex. Now with modern insight, we can

reach a better understanding of what it

was like to stand in the line of fire,

armed with the weapons of the

day. This image of the Battle of

Lexington, engraved months later, is

based on eyewitness accounts.

It reveals some of the true cost of the

colonist fight for freedom. Americans

lie dead and

wounded and the British are using the

most common weapon of the Revolutionary

War, the smooth boore

[Applause]

musket. Today, the musket is seen as

crude and inaccurate, especially when

compared to modern guns. But is that

true?

At Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York,

historic firearms researcher Joel Boy is

finding out how effective the musket was

on the

battlefield. So, what we've got here is

a British pattern 1756 Longland musket,

more commonly known as the Brown Bess.

The Brown Bass begins use in about 1730,

and this type of gun would have been the

workhorse of the British army through

the 18th century into the 19th century.

was an extremely important gun to

building the British Empire and used

through the American Revolution.

Manufactured in the British Isles, each

brown best is made up of around 50

individual

pieces. The 46-in barrel is forged from

a single piece of iron, heated to 2500°

F, then beaten and welded into shape.

The inside is reamed and polished to

remove rough edges resulting in a smooth

internal

bore. The stock fashioned from walnut

because it is less prone to

splitting. The final step, assemble the

metal components, including the flint

lock mechanism and trigger to make the

finished

musket. To load it, the soldier starts

with a paper cartridge, about a third of

an ounce of pre-measured gunpowder, and

a lead ball enclosed in the wrapper.

Take a

tail, bite it off, pour some powder into

the

pan. More gunpowder down the

barrel with a musk ball.

And we ran that cartridge

home and the guns are loaded and ready

to fire.

It's cumbersome. The process can take 15

to 20 seconds and must feel like an

eternity in

battle. The musket would seem primitive

to anyone familiar with the

sophistication of a modern rifle.

So here we have the Leanfield number one

commonly used in World War I and through

World War II and is a good

representation of a modern gun. Here the

loading process has been made easier

with a self-contained primed metallic

cartridge.

We've got a brass casing um a primer

which sets off the powder inside and it

fires a jacketed lead uh bullet uh which

is a lot different than the brown best.

This 303 caliber round or 303 of an inch

is also half the diameter of the 69

caliber musk

ball. With a magazine that holds 10

rounds, the Lee Enfield can fire

multiple shots in the time it takes to

load a single musk ball, which is a big

advantage in combat.

The bolt is pushed

forward. It's chambered for a round now.

It can fire.

But for Joel, the best way to assess the

musket is not by comparing it to modern

weapons, but by testing its

effectiveness in battle 250 years

ago. To gain a better understanding,

Joel's team will fire at a ballistic

gelatin block designed to replicate

human

tissue, providing valuable insight into

how different projectiles can affect a

person's body.

With the aid of a slow motion camera,

he'll also try to answer a

question. How damaging could a musket

shot

be? Finally, he will measure the speed

each round exits the barrel, known as

the muzzle velocity, using a

chronograph. Marksman Jay Waller will be

firing the guns.

First up, the musket with the 69 caliber

ball. Pulling the trigger instantly sets

off a chain reaction in the flint lock

mechanism. A stone flint strikes a steel

hammer. The impact creates sparks which

ignites the priming powder in the pan.

This ignition passes through a small

hole and sets off the gunpowder inside

the

barrel. The gas pressure produced here

propels the round out of the

gun. On inspection, it's a direct hit.

You can see where it traveled right

through the block and came out the other

side.

reviewing the footage, they can see the

horrific damage caused.

Wow. You see that ball zip right

through? Look at the cavitation in the

gel from that 69 caliber ball. When the

ball moves through the block, it

displaces the gel around it, creating a

cavity. This is known as cavitation,

similar to what would happen to living

human tissue.

devastating to bones and internal

organs.

The men on Lexington Green knew how

deadly these weapons were, but they

never had the opportunity to see the

damage in the way that we're seeing it

now.

[Music]

Wow. Wow.

It certainly gives a whole different

appreciation and horror for what

happened.

[Music]

On April 19th,

1775, one of the Lexington militia men

who feels the destructive power of the

smooth boore musket is farmer John

Robbins.

The foremost of the three officers

ordered their men saying, "Fire by God,

fire. Being wounded, I fell.

The shot enters his back, passes through

his body, and shatters his jaw. In

total, 10 militia men are wounded and

eight

killed. The musket is clearly deadly. So

why do we see it as a primitive

weapon? Likely because of what later

guns can do.

Joel demonstrates this with the modern

rifle.

Oh, wa.

Look at that.

And see the smoke from the bullet.

The modern rifle's power is far more

terrifying. But what does the data

reveal? Using the chronograph, Joel and

Jay compare muzzle velocities

on the Nfield. That is

2314 feet per second, whereas the musket

is 845 ft pers. So there's a big

difference between the two guns. You can

really see the velocity when you look at

the ballistics gelatin blocks.

The higher velocity of the modern

rifle's bullet means it carries

substantially more

energy. When it penetrates the block,

much of this is transferred to the gel,

causing it to lift into the

air. With a muzzle velocity nearly three

times the musketss, the data proves that

the musket is much less powerful. But

what makes the rifle bullet have such a

high projectile speed?

When the trigger is pulled on the modern

rifle, the charge is ignited within the

self-contained

cartridge. The vast majority of the

explosive force is transmitted to the

bullet, propelling

it. The bullet travels flush against the

barrel and with a more aerodynamic

shape, moves cleanly through the air,

retaining its power for longer.

But when it comes to the musket, 18th

century gunpowder is less efficient than

the modern

equivalent. Its smooth boore barrel is

also slightly larger than the ball it

fires. This means the ball bounces down

the barrel and allows gases to escape

around it when the gunpowder is ignited,

resulting in less energy being

transferred to the ball. Being larger,

rounder, and less aerodynamic than the

modern bullet, it is further slowed by

air

resistance. But perhaps the musket's

biggest weakness is its relative

inaccuracy. The best way to demonstrate

this is to see what a skilled marksman

can do with the modern gun.

So, here we're going to do a test with

the modern rifle and the brown bass or

the musket at 100 yards.

First the

Leenfield at this distance. It's a great

shot. Now Jay tests the accuracy of the

brown best.

The musket shot at 100 yards.

There's no new impact.

[Music]

no matter how many times they

try. Should we take a walk down and look

at

it? All right, so this shot missed the

target.

Why did it miss? One key reason is the

difficulty of holding the musket steady.

It's interesting because it's only a

matter of milliseconds between the time

that the the flash and the charge and

the pan is ignited and it ignites the

charge. But that fraction of a second is

enough to lose and go off sight. You can

move the move the gun a little bit from

the time you pull the trigger till the

time it actually goes off.

This plus all the factors that make it

less powerful means the smooth boore

musket is also less accurate.

Despite this, we know from written

accounts that facing musket fire was not

for the faint of

heart. To compensate for any inaccuracy,

armies during the Revolutionary War

relied on a lethal

tactic, mass volley

fire. By standing in rows and firing

multiple lead balls at their enemy, they

made up for the musket's lack of

precision, making it very dangerous when

used on

mass. After the April 19th clash at

Lexington, the British continue onto

Conquered, where they are attacked by

400 militia men and forced to retreat,

leaving hundreds dead and

wounded. Soon, what began as a skirmish

turns into allout war.

[Applause]

Following the American colony's

declaration of independence in July

1776, the war spreads from the land to

the

sea. Some 200 British warships with

32,000 musket wielding troops arrive in

New

York. From here they rapidly deploy into

battle.

The Americans are outnumbered and

outgunned. So they begin working on a

plan to blow up the British

[Music]

warships. In the United Kingdom,

military historian Mike Loads is

investigating one of the war's most

audacious

weapons. This is a model of the first

combat submarine. Now I say model

because the original doesn't exist. All

we have is a few hints and clues from

subsequent

writings. The writings come from

American inventor David

Bushnull. The external shape of the

submarine vessel bore some resemblance

to two upper tortoise shells of equal

size joined

together. It was later nicknamed the

turtle.

First, you've got the overall shape.

It's using the technology of a barrel.

It's thick oak staves bound together

with iron

hoops. It's not quite barrel-shaped,

though. And the reason for that is

because you need space inside for an

operator to sit. So, that's going to

broaden it in the middle. And you need

space at the top for a hatch for the

operator to get in.

At first glance, it immediately reminds

you of a space capsule. But what it is,

in fact, is a time capsule. A time

capsule of contemporary

technologies. You've got these pedals

here. So, the operator is pedalling

away. This is powered by pedal power and

they are driving a

propeller. The concept of the propeller

dates back to Greek mathematician

Archimedes. His Archimedes screw

famously moved water using a spiral

blade inside a

tube. Bushnull took this concept and

located a blade on the outside of his

turtle. This is thought to be one of the

first practical applications of a

propeller. Along with a rudder, the

turtle has all the components needed to

maneuver on the surface.

A particular feature of the outside of

the vessel is this hatch at the top

here. It's got these watertight windows.

So, he has got some natural light

inside. Then above there, these strange

looking things are really snorkel so

that when it's above water, it's fully

ventilated.

Using the windows, the operator could

maneuver on the surface to locate and

position the turtle next to a

ship. It is then ready to

descend by filling the area at the base

of the vessel known as the BGES. To do

that, the operator kicks a lever. This

will flood the BGES down there with

water. Under the surface, a second

propeller is used to lower or raise the

turtle. Once submerged in darkness, the

operator has only two instruments for

guidance. This is a barometer. It has a

little cork in it, and each of these

marks on the glass tube represents a

fathom. That's about 6 ft. So, as he

sees the cork bobbing down, he knows

he's going down another six feet. How

can he see that underwater? because it's

been covered with a fungus called

foxfire which is luminous. It glows in

the dark. And over here is a compass

which again the needle on the compass

has been coated with this luminous

fungus so he can read his heading. The

turtle is designed to move into position

armed with a bomb to blow up its target.

So assuming that we've now got to the

right depth, we now need to attach the

payload. And that's this crank here.

This crank operates that drill at the

top. And that bs its way up into the

hull of a ship. The drill is attached to

the bomb by a rope. Once connected, the

turtle detaches itself, leaving the

explosive secured to the ship.

And now you've got to get out of here.

So you you pedal away. When you want to

surface, you use these two hand pumps.

Yet more exertion to save your life,

pumping away to get that water out of

the BGES. But my goodness, that's a heck

of a lot of work to get to that stage.

employed to carry out this dangerous

mission. 27-year-old American Ezra Lee.

The plan, drive into New York Harbor and

blow up the British flagship HMS

Eagle. But how could Ezra Lee attach a

bomb big enough to sink the British ship

and get away safely?

Inventor David Bushnell's writings

provide some

clues, allowing pyrochnics expert John

Hargreaves to figure out how it was

supposed to happen.

I've rigged this as a demonstration.

This is pretty much the size of the bomb

that would have been on the turtle that

holds the gunpowder. Correct. £150.

How do we get a spark to it? Well, in

the references to Bushnull's machine,

they show a flint lock mechanism. So,

this little pocket pistol, correct?

Which has got this flint lock here. So,

that flint

strikes that which creates the spark.

The pistol's muzzle is screwed into the

barrel. When it's fired, it will ignite

the

gunpowder. But Ezra Lee would need time

to escape before it exploded.

Bushnull had a plan.

Within the magazine was an apparatus

constructed to run any proposed length

of time under 12 hours.

This is a specialist clock. It is a very

early 19th century version actually, but

it's the nearest thing I could find to

the right mechanism. The mechanism John

thinks Bushnell used comes from a period

pocket watch.

The pocket watch had been around at the

beginning of the 17th century. It was a

pretty rare thing and they were all

watches like

this. The clock is going to countd down

to zero. When it gets to zero, it pulls

a lever which I have attached to the

trigger mechanism of my pistol. So, it

pulls the trigger and fires the gun.

This is absolutely ingenious, John. I'm

going to set it to a minute two.

Can you hear it ticking? We have a

ticking bomb. Yeah, this is ticking.

Woohoo. Look at that.

Excellent. Proof of concept. Yes.

The timer for the bomb was set to 30

minutes and sealed in a watertight

casing. The countdown would begin when

the bomb detached from the turtle.

This apparatus could not possibly move

till by casting off the magazine from

the vessel, it was set in

motion. To test the gunpowder bomb

underwater, they use a modern firing

mechanism for

safety. When Bushnell first tested the

bomb, he did so with varying amounts of

gunpowder. For safety, Jon is only using

five

pounds. Ezra Lee was carrying

150. At 11 p.m. on September 6th,

1776, after being launched into the

water from a whaleboat, Lee starts his

mission.

Even though this is a scaledown test,

Jon is taking all the necessary

precautions. Ezra Lee is facing the real

risk that the bomb could fail to

detonate or worse, explode too early,

killing him

instantly. For over two exhausting

hours, with the constant risk of being

spotted, he navigates toward the British

ship.

Upon reaching it, he begins his descent,

dropping close to 30 ft below the

surface with the

bomb. There she blows.

That's just £5. Yes, £5 of gunpowder.

The bomb they're dealing with was 30

times that magnitude.

A detonation that large would have been

catastrophic. The wooden hull of a ship

offers less resistance to the bomb's

explosive force than the denser water

around

it. It would have just ripped through

the bottom of the boat. Instant

destruction. Yeah.

But HMS Eagle is not blown

up. After making his descent, Ezra Lee

is unable to attach the

bomb. He went under the ship and

attempted to fix the wood screw, but

struck, as he supposes, a bar of

iron. At this crucial moment, running

out of air, he abandons the mission.

In a later attempt, the boat carrying

the sub is sunk by British

gunfire. This is the end of the turtle.

I have absolutely no doubt that if it

had been successful and if it had been

repeatable to scale, if they built many

more turtles and they had destroyed the

British fleet, it would have shortened

the war by years. The war would have

been over in months.

Following the failure of the turtle, the

war grinds on with neither side securing

a strategic

advantage. But in

1777, the tide starts to turn. Now with

access to more weapons and 13,000

troops, the Americans achieve a decisive

victory at the Battle of Saratoga.

Both armies are using musketss, but

there's another weapon on the

battlefield bringing its own advantages

and

weaknesses. The long

rifle, developed in the early 1700s by

German and Swiss immigrants, the long

rifle was designed as a highly accurate

hunting

gun. After the outbreak of the

Revolutionary War, the Americans quickly

set up sharpshooting rifle units. At

Saratoga, it is claimed one of these

units, Morgan's riflemen, plays a

crucial role in securing the American

victory.

This isn't the first time Morgan's

sharpshooters have been celebrated.

One newspaper in 1775 wrote,

"Yesterday, the company were drawn out

to show the gentlemen of the town their

dexterity and

shooting. A clapboard with a mark the

size of a dollar was put up. Few shot

being made that were not close to or in

the

paper." The report also suggests the

long rifle is much more accurate than

the

muskin. But is that true?

This test is going to be for accuracy.

We're going to be shooting at that melon

60 yard down range with a long rifle.

Even before it's fired, there is a

visible difference that gives it an

advantage over the musket.

The benefit of the rifle is it has front

and rear sights. While the musket only

has a front sight, it's going to help

with the accuracy of the gun.

Having two sights allows for more

precise alignment, providing two points

of reference, enabling the shooter to

more effectively maintain focus on the

target. Says ready. Yep. He's going to

go now.

Having never fired the long rifle

before, Jay just misses the melon. But

now he has his mark and adjusts his

aim. Yes.

It's a direct

hit. But why is it so

accurate? The answer lies in the name,

the rifled

barrel. Forged by specialist gunsmiths,

the iron barrel is bored to include

spiral grooves known as rifling on the

inside surface.

This changes how the ball

behaves. When fired, the ball engages

with the grooves, causing it to spin

around its longitudinal

axis. This spinning motion gives the

projectile angular momentum, helping it

resist external forces like air

resistance and maintain a straighter

path.

The

result, the ball remains stable in

flight over longer distances,

significantly enhancing

accuracy. Combined with improved

sights and a smaller, tight fitting

ball, which travels at a higher

velocity, the long rifle is a formidable

sharpshooting

weapon. But there are also

disadvantages.

a slower loading time with the long

barrel being cumbersome and the small

ball needing firm positioning.

If you're in combat, you need to load

and fire as quickly as you possibly can.

With a rifle, it's going to be, you

know, one shot or two shots a minute

compared to the four you can get with a

musket.

Meaning this symbol of American

patriotism and success is particularly

vulnerable during

reloading, leaving a soldier defenseless

and open to attack from bladed

[Music]

weapons. Following the American success

at Saratoga in 1777, the Revolutionary

War enters a new

phase. A year later, the French

officially join the American cause,

bringing much neededed troops and

supplies. Some indigenous communities

are also playing a role in the

war. In the Declaration of Independence,

Thomas Jefferson refers to them as

merciless Indian

savages. But their relationships with

the colonists and the crown are complex.

Both sides are seeking to recruit them.

Historian of indigenous eastern

woodlands, Fallon Burner, specializes in

this often untold story of the war.

Native people were involved in the

American Revolution since the beginning

um since Lexington and

Concord. Native people fought on both

sides of this conflict. That might be

the American side, that might be the

British side, that might be remaining

sort of neutral. These decisions are

based on what is best for that native

nation and the trajectory that they are

on. In a conflict often characterized by

small skirmishes, whoever indigenous

people side with, their impact is felt,

often with the help of a deadly axe, the

tomahawk.

Fallon is meeting up with Eastern

Woodlands weapons expert Russell Reed to

discuss indigenous people's weaponry and

its role in the war.

I know that the word for tomahawk

actually comes from this area here in

Tidewater, Virginia. Um, can you tell us

a little bit about the kinds of

tomahawks that settlers would have been

seeing when they first arrived here? So

when uh the English first arrived,

you're going to see the tribes here in

Virginia and really throughout much of

the eastern woodlands using stonebladed

axes like this to clear brush uh and

fields to work on canoes, build houses,

and also certainly as a weapon when the

time required it. However, after the

English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and

other colonial powers arrive, rapidly

you're going to see this um replaced bit

by bit with iron and steel versions of

the tomahawk that we more think of

nowadays.

With Europeans came new technology,

including iron mongery and steel

work. Early on, colonial traders

realized they could exchange metal

goods, including ax heads, for items

needed in Europe.

The advantages to this are several.

Stone tomahawks work for thousands of

years. There's no issue in using them.

However, the iron and steel ones can be

brought to a little bit of a finer edge

for more effective cutting. And this can

be purchased or traded for at fairly

cheap cost. in some cases for a couple

of deer skins. It just makes a lot of

sense to trade for scores of these

rather than make stone versions that are

a little heavier and not quite as

sharp. Over time, metal tomahawks

transformed, taking on new shapes with

intricate

decoration. Some even contained pipes

that could be

smoked. But the tomahawk remained a

weapon for close combat.

You're going to see a sort of a system

of weapons. You're going to have your

long range weapon. So, it's going to be

your long bow, your rifle, or very

commonly this Indian trade gun musket.

Once in battle, the system is deployed

rapidly.

You're going to be leveling that at your

enemy,

firing, and then while your enemy is

hopefully

reloading, you're going to see this long

range weapon toss to the side

immediately drawing tomahawk and your

knife. And so you're going to see the

knife in one hand, tomahawk in the

other, and actually closing in on your

enemy.

Period sources routinely talk about the

fact that this is actually going to be

brought aiming for the head. It

certainly can be an effective weapon

against the body, but layers of thick

clothing and the fact that this is a

fairly light weapon. You're going to see

a lot more targeting of the head. Uh the

knife being something you can use to

follow up or possibly to block a

strike and quickly either brought to the

side or straight

down. You can see it's sort of cleaved

pretty much right through the center of

it like that and then can even be

brought back in the opposite direction.

That would be terrifying if that was my

head. Now you can imagine this on a

battlefield with hundreds of warriors,

musketss going off, arrows flying

everywhere, and then warriors closing

the distance with devastating effect on

their enemies against an enemy,

especially slow loading riflemen. The

tomahawk could be highly effective.

So, we definitely see a lot in movies or

other cultural depictions of native

warriors throwing and letting go of

their tomahawk to hit a target. How

viable and actionable do you think that

is? It's likely that actually throwing

your tomahawk in combat would be

incredibly uncommon. This weapon simply

doesn't weigh a lot and you would have

to match the rotations to hit your enemy

perfectly and you're incredibly limited

on range. It's certainly going to be

more effective use in the hand. You

throw it, you've gotten rid of it, then

you don't have it to use. Unless you

have now, unless you've been incredibly

lucky and successful, you have now

disarmed yourself, given your enemy your

main weapon. So, how much of a

difference do you think the tomahawk

made in the revolution? Um, it really is

such an effective hand-to-hand weapon

that you're going to see colonial

forces, militia, and the British all

carrying tomahawks as well. And so we do

get period accounts in the revolution

where the tomahawk comes into play in a

big way with lots of hand-to-hand

fighting which can turn the tide of the

battle one direction or the other

commonly leading to the victory of

whoever is employing it first and most

effectively. After six brutal years, the

war takes a sudden turn. In 1781, in a

surprise move, nearly 18,000 American

and French troops corner 8,000 British

in Yorktown,

[Music]

Virginia. Outnumbered and surrounded,

the British are forced to dig in. Pitch

battles and skirmishes are out. Now this

becomes a siege war.

In this painting, the siege of Yorktown,

the artist captures the defensive

earthworks built by both

sides and the powerful weapon intended

to defeat

them. The

cannon. The contest between these

earthworks and the cannon would become

one of the most iconic in

history. But which one would come out on

top? At Yorktown today, historian Marvin

Alonzo Greer is finding

out. So, what you're seeing here is a

reconstruction of the 18th century uh

earthworks that the British created.

This foliage here, this greenery would

not have been here at the time. It would

have all been dirt and earth and

palisades here, these wooden spikes

sticking out of the

ground. In just six weeks, the British

construct a system of fortified

earthworks.

These defenses would have been built by

a mixture of people, some by soldiers in

the British army, but the vast majority

of these defenses would have been built

by freedom

seekers. Before the Revolutionary War,

all 13 colonies practiced

slavery. During the conflict, many

enslaved people are brought to the

battlefield, often as laborers.

Some fight on the American side

voluntarily with the hope of

freedom. The British also offer them

liberty if they join their ranks.

Thousands take this opportunity at

Yorktown. They've become known as

freedom seekers.

Most of their names are lost to history,

but we do have names of at least two.

Eve from Williamsburg and her son

George. They were enslaved by Payton

Randolph and his wife Betty Randolph.

Betty Randolph writes since

1781. Some of her enslaved people,

including Eve and George, have gone to

the enemy right here to

Yorktown. In the painting of the siege,

there are clues about how the defenses

are

built. Piles of strange shaped objects

lie next to passing

troops. But what are

they? Revolutionary war expert Matthew

Kagel has built three examples.

So these are called gabons. Basically

big wicker baskets, but they don't have

a bottom or a top. So you can move where

you need to go. You can dump earth into

them and they're going to hold it

there. Gabons had been used in defensive

fortifications since the time of the

ancient Egyptians during the

Revolutionary War. And with so many

American towns lacking stone wall

defenses, gabons are common place. We're

just looking at this cross-section of

the works.

So imagine this continuing through us

and past us to make a whole wall 9 ft or

more deep.

With ditches dropping no less than 6 ft

and ramparts of equivalent height

covered in spiked palisades, the

earthworks at Yorktown present a

formidable

obstacle. But they had to face down the

cannon. Originating in China 800 years

ago, the first experimental cannon were

made of bamboo. By the 1770s, the most

expensive and lightweight are made of

bronze, but the more common ones are

heavier, larger, and made of iron. This

is the most powerful weapon system known

at this time. The works at Yorktown are

all designed around the capabilities of

these weapons, either to prevent

incoming fire from damaging people and

equipment or as platforms to fire

artillery from. At Yorktown, the

Americans and French bring 100 cannon to

the

battle. The British have 250 cannon, but

not nearly as much

ammunition. To defeat Earthworks,

artillery men use solid iron shot.

Right here we're working with a French 4

pounder. So that's not the weight of the

barrel, that's the weight of the shot

this is going to fire. So a solid iron

ball weighing 4 lb is going to come

hurtling out the muzzle of this cannon

down

range. For this cannon, there are five

crew members. Each has a specific role.

So what we see up here is on that front

right, he's got the sponge rammer.

The sponger ensures the cannon is safe

to fire by plunging the barrel with

water and pulling it out with the vent

closed. A vacuum extinguishes any embers

from the previous

shot. So when he pulls that out, we get

that sound, which is evidence of the

vacuum inside the tube because if you

put a round of cartridge in there

afterwards and there's even the smallest

ember that could set that off. Another

crew member passes the cartridge which

holds the gunpowder to the loader. After

inserting this, the loader then adds

wading which holds the cartridge against

the breach of the

cannon. Next, the iron ball followed by

more

wading. Then sponge rammer is actually

going to ram down this whole mass into

the brereech because for the gunpowder

to work correctly to get the most force

possible, it needs to be compacted into

as small a space as possible. Now, at

the rear, at the vent of the weapon,

they're going to take a small spike,

drive that through the vent hole through

the cartridge, opening up the gunpowder

inside there. With the cartridge open,

the gunner pours additional gunpowder

into the vent, and then inserts a

fuse. Finally, the commander who aims

the gun prepares to

fire. At Yorktown, the closest the

American and French guns get to the

British lines is just 200 yards away.

Fire.

[Music]

Within an instant of lighting the fuse,

the gunpowder inside the barrel ignites.

The gases produced rapidly build to

create pressure between the ball and the

base of the barrel. In milliseconds,

this pressure propels the ball out of

the cannon.

came around

here.

Oh, look at that. Did it just plunge

right through the

gabon? Yeah. So, see right there that

shattered sapling and then we've gone

right into here. That's our second hole,

isn't it? Yep.

It's dislodged a fair amount of

earth. But they're still holding.

The fact that it passed through the

earth, the saplings, and into a second

one and into the next one, that's some

power. That really is. Because this is

so loosely constructed, this isn't like

firing into a stone wall. So the nature

of this defense has helped it to kind of

almost heal

itself. Earthworks could effectively

withstand a single

strike. But at Yorktown, the Americans

and the French are firing up to 3500

rounds every day with some cannon shot

six times the weight of this 4 pounder.

We got the palisade.

Right on target. Bullseye.

The second shot is inches from the first

hit.

Your intention is you want to be hitting

that same spot again and again and again

and again, ultimately battering down

that wall.

After six tightly grouped shots, they

inspect the

damage. I've never experienced or seen

anything like this that that earth just

literally sucking up all of that

artillery fire. Um the accuracy is

amazing. But it's this kind of

consistency that is ultimately going to

win you something like the siege of

Yorktown.

Over 9 days of bombardment, the

Americans and French fire an incredible

15,000 cannon rounds. Finally, after 3

weeks of siege, mounting losses, and low

supplies, the British surrender, ending

the last major battle of the

Revolutionary War.

As for the freedom seekers who helped

build these defenses, like Eve and her

son George, when smallox breaks out in

the fort during the siege, the British

expel

them. Threatened once again with

enslavement, most take their chances

between the opposing armies in no man's

land. Eve escapes, but after a reward is

issued, she is captured.

We don't know what happens to George.

Her son probably died of smallpox or in

no man's land. But Eve is sold for quote

unquote her bad behavior, for going to

seeking her freedom. Harrowing is the

word that continues to come to mind

through all of this.

Exactly.

It would be another 84 years before

slavery is abolished throughout the

United

States. After the siege of Yorktown, the

British realized the war can no longer

be won. After 8 years and 57,000 killed

in action on both sides combined, they

recognized the independence of the

United States of America.

This freedom was only possible thanks to

the people who fought and the

extraordinary technology they used.

As an American, this is the foundation

of the United States. Uh we're a

relatively young country. We're one that

was born out of 8 years of struggle of a

vicious

war. Going out and shooting these

weapons can give you a much greater

understanding of the battles, how they

were fought, how they were won and lost.

And it enables me to have a much better

understanding of the war itself.

Back then this was cuttingedge

technology. This was experimentation.

This was original thought.

Indigenous people were involved in this

conflict since the very beginning. So

was their technology. The tomahawk is

really this unifying factor here that

ties indigenous history and American

history together.

Whether people are inventing technology

or using the technology, an instrument

of war can also be used as an instrument

of freedom. And I think we as humans can

learn a lot from this time period

because just like in our lives today,

there's good and bad happening on all

sides. And it's really up to we the

users of technology to determine how our

future will be

paved. Heat.

[Music]

Heat. Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Music]