All language subtitles for independence.dawn.s01e01.1080p.web.h264-cbfm_track3_[eng]

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] 1776,

America was a land
divided against itself,

torn between dreams
of independence

and loyalty to a distant king.

Is this a patriotic uprising
against tyranny, or treason?

- The stakes are high

for every member of the
Continental Congress,

for every soldier and
militiaman who picks up arms.

If the Revolutionary War
does not work out for them,

they could be hanged.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] 250 years

after the Declaration
of Independence,

the stories of
revolutionary veterans,

some recently transcribed

from pension applications
in the National Archives,

reveal what the war was like

for the common soldier
and their families.

- When William French enlisted,

he could not possibly have known

this is the beginning of a war.

- Susanna Chandler learns
the British Army is coming.

She hides her children

and then she watches
what happens.

- [Michael Graham]
Our men running in
almost every direction

made it truly a day of
distress to the Americans.

- [Narrator] Is this resistance
against tyranny, or treason?

What exactly are
they fighting for?

(dramatic music)

(dramatic rhythmic music)

Spring, 1775,
Massachusetts simmers

with resentment against
British Royal authority.

In the eyes of the crown,

the colony is a
hotbed of sedition,

teetering on the brink
of open insurrection.

Rebellion is in the air.

But are they
traitors or patriots?

Britain, ruler of the largest
maritime empire in history,

has long governed the 13
colonies with a light touch.

The British parliament
keeps taxes low

and allows the colonists

to control many of
their own affairs

so long as they remain
loyal to the mother country,

but the costs of fighting wars

to build and
maintain this empire

start to spiral.

- And then all of a sudden

parliament says, "No,
we're changing the rules.

We need money, we're
gonna tax you."

- The taxes were on
every product imaginable,

day-to-day products

like glass, and paper,
and playing cards,

even on their favorite
beverage, tea.

- It's not that
they're necessarily
unwilling to pay taxes,

but as most people know,

they don't have representation
in parliament in England.

Of course, everybody
knows the famous phrase,

"No taxation without
representation."

- The anger over the taxes
motivates the colonists

to start to organize.

- [Narrator] As British troops
patrol colonial streets,

whispers of rebellion echo
from Boston to Charleston.

(dramatic rhythmic music)

In Massachusetts,

John Hancock and Samuel Adams
form a shadow government.

Rebellious colonists

start stockpiling
weapons and ammunition.

They call themselves
patriots. Others disagree.

In a pension application

submitted nearly 50
years after the war,

Jonathan Brigham of
Marlborough, Massachusetts,

describes the tension.

- [Jonathan] In the year 1774,

the British troops
were in Boston

and their fleets lying off
and blocking the harbor.

Excitement was high,

and the moments of
actual hostilities

constantly anticipated
by the inhabitants.

(lively rhythmic music)

- [Narrator] In the
sleepy farming town

of Dunstable, Massachusetts,

William French is about to
be drawn into a conflict

that will change his life
and the world forever.

- William French is a
young man in his early 20s.

His family has been in this
country since the 1500s.

His father died when
he was a little boy,

he was raised by his mother,
who was just a teenager,

and he signs up for his
town militia in 1775,

on the eve of the revolution.

- [Narrator] The colonies
have no standing army.

They rely on militia
for local defense,

often fighting alongside
the British troops,

who could now
become their enemy.

The youngest and strongest
form rapid response units

called minutemen.

- On his pension application,

William French lists
himself as a minuteman.

These are farmers,
blacksmiths, carpenters,

who, when the enemy's at hand,

simply grabs a musket,
grabs some powder,

a few musket balls,

and is on the field
of battle in a minute.

(men shouting)

- [Narrator] In April, 1775,

tension between the
colonists and the crown rises

from a simmer to a boil.

- General Thomas Gage,

the British commander in
charge of the colonies,

is under pressure
to do something,

so in the evening
of April 18th, 1775,

a British force of 1,500 men
marches under cover of darkness

to Lexington and Concord.

In Lexington, they want
to arrest the leaders

of the Sons of Liberty and
the revolutionary fervor,

Sam Adams, John Hancock.

- [Narrator] Concord
has an armory

with muskets and powder that
the colonists would need

if they're going to fight
back against the British.

If Gage's plan works, rebellion
can be nipped in the bud

before before it ever
has a chance to bloom.

- The Americans in Boston

have got an extensive
intelligence network.

Gage has a very tough time
keeping his plans secret.

- [Narrator] The colonists
use a predetermined signal

to warn which route
the British are taking.

- They'll hang one lantern

in the steeple of
the Old North Church.

If the British decide
to march out of Boston

down the Shama Peninsula,

two lanterns if they
decide to cross by boat

and land on the north
shore of the Charles River.

"One if by land, two if by sea."

- [Narrator] At the
sight of two lanterns,

a group of riders, including
Paul Revere, set out

to alert the militias,

and on the morning
of April 19th, 1775,

an exhausted messenger
arrives in Dunstable

with news

that the British army
is marching towards
the munition store

at nearby Concord.

(bells chiming)

Church bells summon
the minutemen,

including William French.

Without delay, they
set off for Concord.

- William French ventures off,

into what, he doesn't know.

He's never been
in combat before.

Probably, like most
other young folks,

he's never been very
far away from his home.

- When William
French says goodbye

to his mother, that morning,

he expects to be gone
for a couple of days,

to have an adventure with
his friends from the town,

and to walk back to
his hometown very soon.

- He's not thinking this
is the beginning of a war.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] When French and
his unit arrive at Concord

in the mid-afternoon,

they find the grim signs of a
battle that is already over.

- Burning military
supplies, panicked people,

perhaps he sees some of the
dead lying on the ground,

he's being introduced to war

in one of the most
dramatic ways possible.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] French
and his company learn

that the local militia not
only prevented British forces

from seizing the
armory, they force them

into a fighting retreat.

This is incredible news.

(dramatic rhythmic music)

French's unit hurries
on to Lexington.

There, the scale of the
route becomes clear.

More than 270 British soldiers
have been killed or wounded,

and the militias have chased
British regular forces

all the way back to Boston.

- For the colonists,

this conflict is off to a
surprisingly good start,

but this decisive
victory doesn't mean

that French and his
comrades get to go home.

Instead, they're sent to Boston.

They're joined by hundreds,
and then thousands

of volunteers from
neighboring colonies

like New Hampshire,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

French doesn't know it yet,

but the American
Revolution has just begun.

- [Narrator] The militiamen

place the British forces
in Boston under siege.

As they do, political
delegates from the 13 colonies

race to Philadelphia.

- The Second Continental
Congress arrives
in Philadelphia.

You've got Benjamin Franklin,
John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,

blood has been shed,

and they've kind
of got two options:

to declare independence
or to back down.

Instead of choosing either,

the Second Continental
Congress kind of hedges.

- [Narrator] Congress signs
two contradictory documents.

The first is a justification

for the violence at
Concord and Lexington.

The second offers an olive
branch to Great Britain

by affirming the colonies'
loyalty to the king.

- It says let's negotiate,
let's do something,

let's compromise so that
this doesn't go any further.

- Neither of these
documents mentions

the important
word, independence,

and King George

is not interested in the olive
branch petition whatsoever.

In fact, he refuses
to even read it.

- He says, "You're
in rebellion."

He's the one who declared
the war, not the Americans.

The Americans are still saying

let's see if we can avoid war.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] For many on
both sides of the Atlantic,

the king's reasoning is sound.

A monarch has ruled Britain
for hundreds of years.

Challenging their authority

has always been a dangerously
radical, even immoral act.

Only about half of the
colonists support the uprising.

- It's important to remember

that not only for every member
of the Continental Congress,

but for every soldier and
militiaman who picks up arms,

in the eyes of the British,
they're committing treason.

This is punishable by death.

They could be hanged.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] The king's
response leaves Congress

with two stark choices,

submit completely to the
crown or be in open rebellion.

Still, they resist
declaring independence.

But on June 14th, 1775,
representatives vote

to establish the first
American Continental Army,

which will incorporate the New
England forces outside Boston

along with units to be
raised in the other colonies.

(dramatic rhythmic music)

The unanimous choice
to lead the new army

is a 43-year-old
Virginia plantation owner

named George Washington.

- Washington has a
remarkable reputation.

He's stoic, he's honorable,
he's calm under fire.

Washington is one of the few men

who's actually served in combat,

he's led men in combat.

On the other hand, it's
been over a decade,

and he's never led
an army larger than
about a thousand men.

Now he's gonna lead
thousands and thousands

against the world's
most powerful military?

(dramatic rhythmic music)

- [Narrator] While Washington
prepares to assume command

of the Continental Army,

the British reinforce
Boston by sea.

In mid-June, General
Gage makes plans

to seize the strategically
important heights

surrounding the city.

Any American artillery there

could fire down on
his troops in Boston.

The colonists learn
of Gage's plan,

and at midnight on June 16th,

they rush a detachment
of 2,000 soldiers

to defend the Charlestown
Peninsula at Breed's hill.

For William French, the battle
will be a family affair.

- French's family is
well represented at
the coming battle.

His 18-year-old brother,
Jonas, and cousins

are there with him.

- [Narrator] The
British assault begins

with a naval bombardment.

For two hours, heavy guns
pummel the American positions.

It is French's first
terrifying taste of battle.

(drums beating)

Once the bombardment ceases,

Gage prepares an
infantry attack.

2,000 men, who were
farmers a month ago,

are about to face 3,000
professional British soldiers.

For French, this
moment is the true test

of his courage and conviction.

- As the Americans are
holding their positions

on Breed's Hill, better
known as Bunker Hill,

the command goes out,

"Don't fire until you see
the whites of their eyes."

That's meant to tell the
soldiers to hold their fire

until the British
are close enough

that you won't
miss when you fire.

(soldier shouting)
(guns blasting)

- [Narrator] French's
captain, Ebenezer Bancroft,

describes the devastating
effect of the patriot volley

in an account given
to his grandson.

(dramatic music)

- [Ebenezer] Our first
fire was shockingly fatal.

The enemy were thrown
into confusion,

their lines were broken,

and it was some minutes

before they had conveyed
their dead and wounded

into the rear.

(dramatic rhythmic music)

- [Narrator] But the
battle has only just begun.

After successfully
driving back two assaults

by the British infantry,

the Americans are
tired, frightened,

and running low on ammunition.

On the third attack,

the British punch
through their defenses.

French and his comrades have
no choice but to fall back.

- Dunstable's town
history records

that William French was
a hero at Breed's Hill.

He was one of the last soldiers

to flee the scene
of the fighting,

and he even helped a
wounded officer escape

from the British army,

but it was not without cost.

Cousin Samuel was shot through
the ear in the fighting.

While Cousin Eleazar
loses an arm.

It's blown off by a cannon
ball at Breed's Hill.

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] As the smoke clears

on what will be called
the Battle of Bunker Hill,

the Americans count 115 killed,

and over 300 wounded,
missing, or captured,

but British casualties
number more than 1,000.

- This is shocking the British.

They are expecting to
run the Americans off.

Instead, the British are finding

the Americans are
willing to fight.

The Americans find,

hey, we can stand up
against the British.

- [Narrator] British
losses are so severe

that despite the victory,

they abandon further plans
to break out of Boston.

Both sides settle
into a state of siege.

The Battle of Bunker Hill
claims one more casualty.

General Gage is replaced
by General William Howe

as commander-in-chief
of the British forces.

- William Howe comes from
an aristocratic family.

His elder brother, Richard,

is an admiral in the Royal Navy.

Howe has extensive experience
fighting in North America.

As a tactician,

William Howe is one of the
best the British Army has.

- [Narrator] Howe understands

the dilemma the
colonists are facing,

but he has no doubt
about whose side he's on.

- A great irony of General Howe
is he's kind of Pro-American

he's supportive
of the colonists.

However, he is the British
officer in command,

who took an oath to the crown,

so despite his personal views,

he's gonna support
the British cause

and put down the revolution.

- [Narrator] While the British
shuffle their leadership,

Washington arrives at Boston
to take stock of his new army.

- By Washington's standards,

these militiamen from
New England are slovenly,

they are undisciplined.

He's not terribly
impressed by them.

He's also got to face the fact

that there's no
logistical system,

and so Washington
is now desperately
looking for supplies,

ammunition,
gunpowder, artillery.

He needs shoes, he needs
uniforms for his soldiers,

he needs everything.

- [Narrator] But Washington
faces a challenge

even greater than logistics.

- French, like most
American soldiers

enlisted from outside Boston,

expected to be going
home January 1st, 1776,

but the siege of
Boston hasn't ended,

and the American army
still needs soldiers.

- Congress has not
yet figured out a way

to adequately fund the war,

so those soldiers
outside of Boston,

in the winter, they're
freezing, they're hungry,

many have not been paid,

and when they are paid, it's
a little over $6 a month.

Who would reenlist?

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Some are
also starting to question

why they are fighting.

They are still British subjects

fighting against their own king.

What does that make them,

and where will it leave them
when the fighting stops?

(ominous music)

The answer, for many,

comes in the form of
a 47-page pamphlet

entitled "Common Sense."

Written by 39-year-old
magazine editor, Thomas Paine,

and published in January, 1776,

the essay lays out
a forceful case

for American independence
from Britain.

- "Common sense will tell us

that the power which hath
endeavored to subdue us

is the most improper
to defend us.

We have every opportunity
and every encouragement

before us

to form the noblest,
purest constitution

on the face of the earth.

We have it in our power to
begin the world over again."

- [Narrator] "Common Sense"
draws on radical new ideas

from the European Enlightenment,

an intellectual movement

that espouses reason, science,
and individual freedom.

- So Paine, here, is building

on European Enlightenment ideas,

ideas that have
then come to America

and been filtered
through American lenses.

Paine's pamphlet aims
to break Americans away

from their attachment to Britain
and to kingly government.

Paine wants Americans

to look to the
universal rights of man,

relying on reason and
relying on experience

to devise their own government.

- [Narrator] "Common
Sense" argues

rebellion against the crown
isn't an act of treason,

but a legitimate
struggle against tyranny.

It electrifies Americans
from all walks of life.

- People buy it, people read it,

people take it to
taverns and town squares

and read it out loud

to people who can't
read for themselves.

- Washington himself actually
has it read to his soldiers

to remind them why
they're fighting,

why they've left their homes,

why they're risking death.

- They're fighting
for a new country,

maybe a country that is
run by men like them.

- [Narrator] "Common Sense"

convinces men like William
French to reenlist,

but it doesn't help pry
the British out of Boston.

The stalemate continues
throughout the winter.

Colonial forces are too strong

for the British to
confront directly,

but they're too weak
to capture the city.

- Washington has the men,

he has the high ground,
he has the advantage,

but he's missing one thing to
complete the siege: artillery.

- [Narrator] In March, 1776,

cannons captured from the
British Fort at Ticonderoga

finally arrived in the
continental camp outside Boston.

Washington positions the
cannons on Dorchester Heights

and aims them at Boston.

- Imagine the British waking up,

and they see, ringing the
hills around the city,

the artillery, now, that
Washington needs to do the job.

- [Narrator] The Continentals
can now shell them

into submission.

Howe has no choice.

On March 17th, 11,000 soldiers
sail out of Boston Harbor,

headed for the British port

of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
(men cheering)

- One can only imagine
what French is thinking.

In a year, he and his comrades
have done the unthinkable:

they've defeated the
British, at least for now.

- [Narrator] But
Washington knows

the British are not done
with the American rebels.

He predicts that
after they regroup,

they will turn their attention

to another critical
port city, New York.

Control of New York City
will allow the British

to isolate rebellious northern
colonies, like Massachusetts,

from the more loyalist-leaning
middle and southern colonies

To stop them, Washington
has to reach New York first.

Less than three weeks after
the capture of Boston,

French and 19,000 soldiers
begin the 200-mile march south.

- William French joins
this war as a militiaman.

He participates in
the siege of Boston,

protecting the
capital of his colony,

but now he's being asked, as
part of the Continental Army,

to go to a different colony.

There's no idea yet of
being fellow Americans.

- [Narrator] The high-minded
ideals of "Common Sense"

are one thing;

asking the soldiers to abandon
their homes and families

is another.

- It's very common for
bad writers to say,

"and the women kept the
home fires burning,"

but in fact, what women did

was take over the jobs
of their husbands.

- When the men of
military age leave,

women have to run the farms,

and women in colonial America
worked very hard on the farms,

they were an essential
part of farming,

but on top of their
own substantial work

and the extra work
they had to do,

there was also new work
required because of the war.

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] When colonial
troops march through their town,

they're expected to
feed and shelter them,

and if the British
arrive on their doorstep,

they have no protection.

- The British Army has
traveled across the ocean

and don't have a supply
line that's reliable.

They take any crops that have
been stored or preserved,

they take the crops
from the fields.

It's like locusts
have come through.

(boots thudding)

- This was a war and for
some women, for some towns,

the war came to them.

- [Narrator] In her application
for a war widow's pension,

Deborah Brownell writes
about the hardships

she and many women faced.

- [Deborah] I do well
remember my husband's service

during said war.

We had small children to
provide for and protect,

and how we got along with
the small means we then had,

I am unable how to tell.

Our sufferings were
many and great.

- [Narrator] Throughout
the coming war,

Americans on the
home front will face

disease, starvation,
and displacement

on a scale they have
never faced before.

- Deborah's experience
is so similar

to countless women all
across the colonies,

just trying to get
through every day,

making sure she and her
kids made it through

to try surviving
again the next day.

(dramatic rhythmic music)

- Meanwhile, French arrives
with the Continental Army

outside New York City,
on April 14th, 1776,

but the political situation
here is a stark contrast

to the revolutionary
hotbed of Massachusetts.

New York City is a business hub

with strong commercial
ties to Britain,

and the large
Anglican congregation

feels a keen sense of loyalty

to England and to
King George III.

- The king is not only the king,

he's also the head of
the Church of England,

so he is your king, but
also the high priest,

so you're not just rebelling
against your political leader,

you're rebelling against
God's representative on earth.

- [Narrator] The
American Continental Army

has to tread lightly and
carefully in New York.

On June 29th, 1776,

45 British warships arrive
in lower New York Bay.

- There's panic in New York
City, not surprisingly,

amongst civilians and soldiers,

at the sight of the
Armada headed their way.

The British start disembarking
soldiers in Staten Island.

The numbers are so overwhelming

that several patriot
militias on the island

quickly switch sides.

- There will eventually
be 32,000 to 35,000

British and German auxiliaries.

- French is from Dunstable,

he's a shoemaker,

he's never seen
this many people.

35,000 soldiers.

That is now the largest city
in British North America.

(dramatic music)
(boots thudding)

- [Narrator] The British troops,

still under the command
of General William Howe,

make camp on Staten Island.

Although Britain has the
largest navy on earth,

it still supplements
its regular forces

with tens of thousands
of German soldiers.

- German princes
of varying ranks

would hire out their
armies to another power.

- They are arguably,
at the time,

the most feared
soldiers on earth,

and that's what's coming
for the Continental Army.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] While
Washington tries to rally

his men to defend New York City,

the Second Continental
Congress meets 100 miles away

in Philadelphia,

to discuss the future of
the revolution itself.

- By 1776, things
are much different

than they had been
a year earlier.

Blood has been spilt,
American lives have been lost,

and ideas now begin to coalesce

around notions of independence,

something that looked
unlikely only a year earlier.

- [Narrator] Independence isn't
just a philosophical goal,

it has practical and
political implications.

- The Americans understand

that to have any chance,
they need allies,

and France is really
the only game in town

in terms of the next ally

that could potentially take
on the British, at this point.

- [Narrator] But to France,

the Americans are
a problematic ally.

Technically, the colonies
are British subjects

in rebellion against their king,

not a policy King Louis
XVI wants to endorse,

and the French are reluctant

to risk a war with
their greatest enemy

over what is still
a domestic revolt.

- How is France going to
support and fund a country

that hasn't even declared
its independence?

(solemn rhythmic music)

- [Narrator] On June 17th, 1776,

congressional delegate
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia

introduces a resolution.

- He says that the colonies are,

and of right, ought to be,

free and independent colonies,

and that's what
starts the process.

- [Narrator] Congress forms
a committee of five men

to draft a declaration

explaining the reasons
behind Lee's resolution.

- They need to put
forth a clear argument

on why they're
challenging Britain,

why they want
their independence.

- [Narrator] Benjamin
Franklin and John Adams,

the committee's
unofficial co-chairs,

turn to a third member
to draft the declaration,

33-year-old Thomas Jefferson.

(dramatic music)

Jefferson writes his
first draft in two weeks,

drawing on Thomas
Paine's "Common Sense,"

along with Enlightenment ideals,

to argue that Americans have

both the right
and the moral duty

to declare independence
from a tyrannical king.

(solemn music)

After declaring that all men

the right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness,

Jefferson says that when
abuses and usurpations

reduce these rights
under absolute despotism,

it is their right,
it is their duty

to throw off such government.

- Thomas Jefferson references
self-evident truths

He references the notion

of self-governance
for a population.

All of that very much comes out
of an Enlightenment setting.

Without the American
Enlightenment,

there couldn't be an
American Revolution.

The two are intermingled

in a way that one's not
possible without the other.

- [Narrator] The committee
edits Jefferson's draft

to simplify the language
and soften the tone,

even deleting a clause
condemning slavery

to appease the
Southern colonies,

before presenting it to
Congress on June 28th.

Then, on July 4th, 1776,

Congress ratifies the
Declaration of Independence.

- I'm sure most of the people

who signed the Declaration
of Independence

had very shaky hands when they
did it, you know (chuckles),

just not confident that
this was gonna work.

- The stakes are high.

In signing the Declaration,

the founders are signing
their own death warrants.

The British see this as treason.

- [Narrator] On
Washington's orders,

the Declaration of
Independence is read out loud

to the troops.

After more than a year
of service and hardship,

French and his
comrades finally know

what they're being asked to
fight and possibly die for.

(dramatic music)

There's no turning back now.

For Washington, for Congress,
and for soldiers like French,

there are only two ways
forward: liberty or death.

Following the signing
of the Declaration,

an attack on New York
City is inevitable,

and in late August, Howe
makes the opening move

by landing 20,000
men on Long Island.

- Long Island matters,

because from the
heights at Brooklyn,

that will enable the
British to fire down

upon New York, the
southern tip of Manhattan.

(dramatic rhythmic music)

- [Narrator] French
and 9,000 other men

prepare to defend Long Island.

They are outnumbered
more than two to one.

Early in the morning
of August 27th,

Howe attacks the American
position on the Gowanus Heights,

but the attack is a ruse.

While the Americans
are distracted,

Howe personally leads 10,000 men

through an unguarded
pass to the east,

outflanking them.

In his pension application
56 years later,

18-year-old Michael Graham

of Paxton Township,
Pennsylvania,

vividly recalls the fear and
chaos of the ensuing battle.

- [Michael] It is impossible
for me to describe

the confusion and horror
of the scene that ensued.

Our men running in
almost every direction,

and the enemy huzzahing
when they took prisoners,

made it truly a day of
distress to the Americans.

Every man was intent
on his own safety,

and no assistance was rendered.

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] After a bloody
and exhausting day of fighting,

nearly 2,300 Americans

have been killed,
wounded, or captured,

seven times the number
of British casualties.

The Declaration's idealism
now looks like folly,

and the cause lost
just as it has begun.

- As it happens,
Washington is lucky.

A storm brews up,
deep fog settles in,

and Washington uses
the opportunity

to extricate his
army from Brooklyn.

- [Narrator] French and the
others retreat to Manhattan,

but on September 15th,

Howe forces the Americans to
move north to White Plains,

where Washington prepares to
face the British Army again.

On October 28th,

7,500 British soldiers
attack 3,100 Americans.

- Once again, his
army is outflanked.

Now, normally, this is
where armies are destroyed

if men run in an
unorderly fashion,

but Washington, by experience,

has become a master of
organizing retreats.

- [Narrator] Howe expects
Washington to move further north

to protect the important
supply and communication routes

along the Hudson River.

- George Washington is
crafty, and what he does is,

instead of continuing
to flee north,

he turns and cuts south,

and races the whole
way across New Jersey,

thus throwing the
British off the scent.

- [Narrator]
Instead of pursuing,

Howe returns to Manhattan Island

to mop up the resistance,

capturing nearly 3,000
American soldiers left behind.

New York is in British hands.

- Now, Howe and
the British believe

that the revolution is going
to last just a few weeks more,

so why build prisons?

So they come up with an idea,

they're going to hulk warships.

You take the masts,
rudder, steerhouse off,

leaving just the
coffin, if you will,

and you fill them
with prisoners,

so floating prison ships.

- [Narrator]
Thousands of prisoners

are crammed into the dark,
disease-ridden hulks.

- To the British, these soldiers
are not prisoners of war.

They are criminals,
they're rebels,

and would be treated as such.

- [Narrator] By the war's end,

more than 8,500 soldiers
will die in captivity,

as many as perish
on the battlefield.

(solemn music)

With all of the colonies
now united in revolt

by the Declaration,

the contempt of the
British Army extends

towards civilians as well.

As British forces move

through American-controlled
territory,

they gain a fearsome reputation
for looting and violence.

- They really do
operate on the idea

that to the victor
belong all the spoils,

and these young boys,

who were far away from home,

and far away from
any moral compass

that might have been applied,

went wild.

- [Narrator] Years
after the war,

Susanna Chandler of Virginia

details a harrowing encounter
with British soldiers

in an application for
her husband's pension.

- She describes how she hears

that the British army is coming,

she seizes her children,

she runs to neighboring
farmhouses and
warns other women,

she puts her babies
into tobacco barrels,

she packs them with straw
to muffle the cries,

and then she heads
into the swamp,

and from the swamp, she
watches what happens.

The British not only steal

what she had planned to
use to feed her family,

they also start
to burn the house.

This is the kind of story
that happened over and over

during this war.

We can't really understand
the American Revolution

without knowing stories like
that of Susanna Chandler, too.

- [Narrator] The mistreatment
of prisoners and civilians

outrages Americans.

Rather than crush their morale,

it has the opposite effect.

- Part of what converts
a lot of Americans

to support the Revolution
and to support Washington

is the behavior of
the British Army.

- [Narrator] But after
the defeat in New York,

there may be no army
left to support.

In December, Washington
withdraws his forces,

including William French,

across the Delaware
River into Pennsylvania.

- Unfortunately for him,

the Germans set up camp
just across the river

in Trenton, on the
New Jersey side.

The Continental Army is not
gonna get a good night's sleep,

knowing that just across the
river is this powerful army.

- [Narrator] Of the original
American Continental Army

of 19,000,

that arrived in New York
eight months earlier,

only 6,000 soldiers remain.

The rest have been
killed, captured,

deserted, or died of disease.

From both the British
and American perspective,

the war looks close to ending,

but Washington knows

an even greater setback
is fast approaching.

Just like one year before,

army enlistments end
on January 1st, 1777.

- Unless Washington can do
something bold and decisive

to turn the war around,

his army's gonna simply resign.

- [Narrator] For French,
who has been away from home

for nearly two years,

a stark choice lies ahead.

- French's enlistment is
up at the end of the year,

and he and his comrades are
going to have to decide,

do they reenlist and
stick with this cause,

or do they go back
home to their families,

to their businesses,

to their farms that need them?

- They're getting
letters from home.

A wife says, "Winter is coming.

We have no wood,
and we will freeze.

We have no food,
and we will starve.

Pray, come home."

And men got these
letters and they left.

They felt their first
obligation was to their family.

- [Narrator] Even Washington
falls into a dark depression.

- So in the heart of this
conflict, at the end of 1776,

Thomas Paine makes
another contribution

to the American
revolutionary experience.

"These are the times
that try men's souls.

The summer soldier and
the sunshine patriot

will, in this crisis, shrink

from the service
of their country."

- [Narrator] With these words,

Paine calls out those whose
commitment is wavering.

Then he reminds them their
fight has a higher purpose.

- "But he that stands by it now

deserves the love and
thanks of man and woman.

Tyranny, like hell, is
not easily conquered,

yet we have this
consolation with us,

that the harder the conflict,

the more glorious the triumph."

And these are words
that soldiers listen to

and it inspires them
to fight through.

- [Narrator] But the
words will ring hollow

without results on
the battlefield.

Defying all conventional wisdom,

Washington decides to
go on the offensive.

He selects a bold
and risky target,

the German garrison on the far
side of the Delaware River.

Washington plans an ambitious
three-pronged assault

across the ice-choked Delaware,

under cover of darkness,

on December 25th,
Christmas night.

- A lot of these
soldiers, like French,

are a week away from
mustering out of the army.

Do they really wanna
go on a suicide mission

at the last moment?

- [Narrator] French's
pension records

don't record his doubts,

but in the past 18 months,

he's gone from being
a part-time militiaman

to a full-time soldier.

He follows orders and forms up.

- As the Continental
Army sets out

to cross the Delaware River,

the weather takes effect.

It's miserable,

cold, snow, sleet,

huge cakes of ice floating
down the Delaware River.

- They need to bring cannons,

they need to bring horses and
small boats across the river,

and everything goes wrong.

Two of the three prongs that
are supposed to cross the river

can't do it.

Washington crosses, not knowing

that the other two prongs are
out of the field of combat.

- As Washington sets out south,

leading his troops on
the march to Trenton,

he's got a much smaller
force than he anticipated.

The approach march
that French is on,

along with his fellow soldiers,

is a miserable affair.

Many of the soldiers have
rawhide around their feet

rather than proper shoes,

a couple of soldiers die
from the effects of the cold,

yet they continue on.

- The commander in
Trenton is Colonel Rall.

Now, he doesn't believe
Washington's going to attack.

The weather is horrific,

it's in the middle of winter.

Moreover, it's Christmas.

They're not
expecting the attack.

- [Narrator] Under
cover of the storm,

the American troops
attack the garrison

and begin pushing the German
troops back through the town.

In his pension application,

William Hutchinson
of Pennsylvania

describes the slaughter
of the Germans.

- "Their dead bodies

lay thicker and closer together

than I ever beheld
sheaves of wheat

lying in a field over which
the reapers had just passed."

Now, that's a
colorful description.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] 1,000 Germans are
killed, wounded, or captured.

The only recorded
American casualties

are the two who froze
during the march to Trenton.

(energetic music)

In the days following
the victory,

Washington wins a
series of small battles,

including at
Princeton, New Jersey.

- It cannot be understated

just how important it
is on American morale.

It helps give Americans
who are independence-minded

the boost that they need.

- It basically saves the war.

The soldiers reenlist,

and Washington's
reputation is revived.

- [Narrator] Victories
at Trenton and Princeton

renew American commitment to
the cause of independence.

New soldiers enlist,

or, like William French,
extend their service,

while Washington rebuilds
the Continental Army.

- "I was urged to stay longer,

and did continue to do
duty in said company

a month or six weeks longer,

and came home in the months
of February or March, 1777."

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] After
nearly two years,

French goes home a changed man.

He's seen hardship,
death, and defeat.

He's fought in some
of the toughest and
most crucial battles

of the first years
of the Revolution,

when many questioned

the wisdom and the
morality of the cause.

He lived the rest of his life
in Dunstable, Massachusetts,

known as Deacon William for
his sobriety and upright ways.

He never married,
and died at age 77.

Without everyday
Americans like French,

there would've been
no Continental Army,

no victory in Boston,

no victory at Trenton,

no Revolution.

French's war is finished,

but others are now
ready to join the cause.

Independence will mean different
things to each of them,

but they have all
chosen to fight for it.

(lively music)

(lively music continues)