1
00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:10,880
Turn and run, you cowards!

2
00:00:17,017 --> 00:00:19,204
Washington is, without question,

3
00:00:19,228 --> 00:00:21,335
the greatest hero and leader
in American history,

4
00:00:21,359 --> 00:00:23,833
but he's a stranger.

5
00:00:23,857 --> 00:00:28,087
I, George Washington,
do solemnly swear...

6
00:00:28,111 --> 00:00:30,676
People see him more
as a monument than a person.

7
00:00:30,700 --> 00:00:32,467
But you can't understand him

8
00:00:32,491 --> 00:00:34,058
unless you acknowledge
that he was human.

9
00:00:34,082 --> 00:00:36,846
That I will faithfully
execute the office

10
00:00:36,870 --> 00:00:39,349
of President
of the United States.

11
00:00:39,373 --> 00:00:41,606
And when we understand
the man behind the myth,

12
00:00:41,630 --> 00:00:44,270
it actually becomes empowering
and inspiring for us,

13
00:00:44,294 --> 00:00:46,189
because he's not as distant.

14
00:00:46,213 --> 00:00:50,280
Long live George Washington,
President of the United States.

15
00:00:50,304 --> 00:00:54,239
When I look at Washington,
I see a leader.

16
00:00:54,263 --> 00:00:56,870
He could have been king,
but that was not him.

17
00:00:56,894 --> 00:01:00,870
<i>He wasn't interested in power.
He had power.</i>

18
00:01:00,894 --> 00:01:04,874
The world has never seen
the last stage of perfection

19
00:01:04,898 --> 00:01:08,378
to which human nature
is capable of attaining.

20
00:01:08,402 --> 00:01:10,463
Hear, hear!

21
00:01:10,487 --> 00:01:13,299
I see a man who gave himself
to service.

22
00:01:13,323 --> 00:01:17,060
We must give them something to
fight for, something inspiring.

23
00:01:17,084 --> 00:01:19,764
Something happened to Washington

24
00:01:19,788 --> 00:01:23,726
<i>that made him think...
"I have to do this."</i>

25
00:01:23,750 --> 00:01:26,920
<i>I see a husband.
It is exquisite.</i>

26
00:01:28,505 --> 00:01:30,567
And I see a slaveholder.

27
00:01:30,591 --> 00:01:33,278
American history
is not a fairy tale,

28
00:01:33,302 --> 00:01:35,617
so I think it's a mistake
to think of him

29
00:01:35,641 --> 00:01:36,990
as entirely virtuous.

30
00:01:37,014 --> 00:01:39,450
If we truly want to know
that man,

31
00:01:39,474 --> 00:01:41,921
then we have to look
at everything, warts and all.

32
00:01:44,438 --> 00:01:46,916
Washington's not a frozen image.

33
00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:49,919
He changes from moment to moment
in his life.

34
00:01:49,943 --> 00:01:50,943
He evolves.

35
00:01:53,613 --> 00:01:57,760
Despite all his flaws,
Washington was the one man

36
00:01:57,784 --> 00:01:59,311
that made this country possible.

37
00:02:01,621 --> 00:02:03,018
What makes this a nation?

38
00:02:03,042 --> 00:02:06,436
Two thingsthe Constitution
and George Washington.

39
00:02:08,795 --> 00:02:13,026
Washington was not born great.

40
00:02:13,050 --> 00:02:15,486
He took a journey
toward greatness.

41
00:02:36,573 --> 00:02:38,301
Keep moving.

42
00:02:38,325 --> 00:02:40,970
We march through the night
if necessary.

43
00:02:46,249 --> 00:02:49,646
In 1754, the man who will
one day become

44
00:02:49,670 --> 00:02:52,649
the father of his country
is an American colonist

45
00:02:52,673 --> 00:02:54,984
wearing British red.

46
00:02:55,008 --> 00:02:57,445
He's in command
for the first time

47
00:02:57,469 --> 00:03:00,907
on a mission to serve his king,
George II.

48
00:03:00,931 --> 00:03:04,661
Lieutenant Colonel Washington,
sir. Over the ridge,

49
00:03:04,685 --> 00:03:08,206
<i>the Half King and his men, sir.
Good work. Fall in line.</i>

50
00:03:10,315 --> 00:03:13,169
Washington is the colonel
of Virginia Regiment by age 22.

51
00:03:13,193 --> 00:03:15,004
He hasn't led men in battle
at all.

52
00:03:15,028 --> 00:03:16,028
He has no experience.

53
00:03:21,535 --> 00:03:24,097
Washington's here to help
the British Empire

54
00:03:24,121 --> 00:03:25,890
defend its claim
on a strategic piece

55
00:03:25,914 --> 00:03:27,350
of the frontier.

56
00:03:27,374 --> 00:03:30,853
The forks
where three rivers meet

57
00:03:30,877 --> 00:03:33,189
will one day be called
Pittsburgh,

58
00:03:33,213 --> 00:03:36,526
but now the Ohio country
is land claimed

59
00:03:36,550 --> 00:03:38,403
by both Britain and France,

60
00:03:38,427 --> 00:03:40,863
and the native nations
who live there.

61
00:03:43,390 --> 00:03:47,537
There are many different
tribes in this area.

62
00:03:47,561 --> 00:03:50,540
There's a very complicated
political alignment

63
00:03:50,564 --> 00:03:53,257
between various tribes
and between the French

64
00:03:53,281 --> 00:03:54,877
and theand the British.

65
00:03:54,901 --> 00:03:58,258
They wanted traders to come in
because traders brought

66
00:03:58,282 --> 00:04:01,386
lots of things that Indian
people wanted and needed.

67
00:04:01,410 --> 00:04:03,428
But what Indian people
in the Ohio country wanted

68
00:04:03,452 --> 00:04:06,639
was to preserve
their own independence,

69
00:04:06,663 --> 00:04:09,060
and they wanted to preserve
their own land.

70
00:04:09,084 --> 00:04:10,606
And to assure

71
00:04:10,630 --> 00:04:12,979
their own control of the region,
it's always better

72
00:04:13,003 --> 00:04:14,570
to be able to play off
the different European nations

73
00:04:14,594 --> 00:04:16,482
against each other.

74
00:04:16,506 --> 00:04:20,987
Washington's goal is to reach
the forks before the French do

75
00:04:21,011 --> 00:04:24,578
and convince them to leave
the Ohio country peacefully.

76
00:04:24,602 --> 00:04:28,286
But in this land
of shifting alliances,

77
00:04:28,310 --> 00:04:31,706
his only chance to succeed
is to secure the help

78
00:04:31,730 --> 00:04:35,960
of the Half King, an ambassador
of the six Iroquois nations,

79
00:04:35,984 --> 00:04:39,088
who at this point
is a friend to Britain.

80
00:04:39,112 --> 00:04:42,300
The Half King is
an accomplished warrior,

81
00:04:42,324 --> 00:04:46,095
and he's now a statesman
and a diplomat.

82
00:04:46,119 --> 00:04:47,430
This was his world,

83
00:04:47,454 --> 00:04:49,481
and Washington was coming
into it.

84
00:04:49,505 --> 00:04:54,270
You English are welcome here.

85
00:04:54,294 --> 00:04:55,941
We have pushed on
for many miles.

86
00:04:55,965 --> 00:04:57,607
My men need rest.

87
00:04:57,631 --> 00:05:00,318
Get them water.

88
00:05:00,342 --> 00:05:02,153
We have meat.

89
00:05:02,177 --> 00:05:03,279
Thank you.

90
00:05:03,303 --> 00:05:05,118
We received word on our way here

91
00:05:05,142 --> 00:05:06,995
the French have beaten us
to the forks.

92
00:05:07,019 --> 00:05:08,975
They're already underway.

93
00:05:11,061 --> 00:05:14,457
They are much closer. Closer?

94
00:05:14,481 --> 00:05:22,006
A few miles. I will show you.

95
00:05:22,030 --> 00:05:23,636
How well armed are they?

96
00:05:23,660 --> 00:05:25,304
Have they made clear
their intentions?

97
00:05:25,328 --> 00:05:27,970
These French,
they have bad hearts.

98
00:05:27,994 --> 00:05:30,309
<i>They are here to fight.
What makes you say.</i>

99
00:05:30,333 --> 00:05:32,977
You wait,
and the French may come first.

100
00:05:33,001 --> 00:05:34,709
Then...

101
00:05:37,337 --> 00:05:40,650
my people will not help you.

102
00:05:40,674 --> 00:05:43,152
We have endured
a grueling march.

103
00:05:43,176 --> 00:05:44,676
My men need rest.

104
00:05:46,847 --> 00:05:50,017
If it is as you say, I will
choose a course of action.

105
00:05:54,521 --> 00:05:58,167
Only a handful of nonlndian guys

106
00:05:58,191 --> 00:06:01,170
knew enough to negotiate
the treacherous waters

107
00:06:01,194 --> 00:06:03,391
of Indian politics
and international politics

108
00:06:03,415 --> 00:06:05,508
in the Ohio country,

109
00:06:05,532 --> 00:06:07,679
and George Washington
was not one of them.

110
00:06:07,703 --> 00:06:10,555
You will lead us to them.

111
00:06:10,579 --> 00:06:13,558
We know the place.

112
00:06:17,544 --> 00:06:19,361
Washington is trying to make
a career for himself

113
00:06:19,385 --> 00:06:21,023
in the military,

114
00:06:21,047 --> 00:06:22,900
and he feels like if he fails
on this mission

115
00:06:22,924 --> 00:06:24,569
that his career is over.

116
00:06:24,593 --> 00:06:28,030
As a young man, 21, 22,
he really wanted

117
00:06:28,054 --> 00:06:29,701
to earn a name for himself.

118
00:06:29,725 --> 00:06:31,242
To understand where

119
00:06:31,266 --> 00:06:34,787
George Washington's
intense ambition comes from,

120
00:06:34,811 --> 00:06:39,250
it's really helpful to look
at his family history.

121
00:06:39,274 --> 00:06:42,511
Our Father, which art in
Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

122
00:06:42,535 --> 00:06:45,047
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,

123
00:06:45,071 --> 00:06:46,549
on Earth as it is in Heaven.

124
00:06:48,366 --> 00:06:52,388
The adversity for him begins
with the death of his father.

125
00:06:55,957 --> 00:06:58,019
He was 11 years old.

126
00:06:58,043 --> 00:06:59,770
He's now the head
of his household,

127
00:06:59,794 --> 00:07:02,690
and so George is supposed to be
educated in London

128
00:07:02,714 --> 00:07:04,900
like his two older halfbrothers.

129
00:07:04,924 --> 00:07:06,571
That's not happening anymore.

130
00:07:10,305 --> 00:07:15,745
Washington as a young man
is sort of secondtier gentry.

131
00:07:15,769 --> 00:07:19,939
He's not one of the great,
wealthy families of Virginia.

132
00:07:22,651 --> 00:07:23,966
He was very sensitive
about the fact

133
00:07:23,990 --> 00:07:25,510
that he didn't have
advanced schooling.

134
00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:28,927
The education
of George Washington

135
00:07:28,951 --> 00:07:33,346
was experience
rather than schooling.

136
00:07:33,370 --> 00:07:35,931
John Adams went to Harvard.

137
00:07:35,955 --> 00:07:37,808
Thomas Jefferson
went to William and Mary.

138
00:07:37,832 --> 00:07:39,632
George Washington went to war.

139
00:08:10,990 --> 00:08:12,635
There must be 20.

140
00:08:12,659 --> 00:08:14,239
32.

141
00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,308
We do outnumber them.

142
00:08:19,332 --> 00:08:21,560
They do not know we're here.

143
00:08:21,584 --> 00:08:25,064
Surprise is ours.

144
00:08:25,088 --> 00:08:27,918
My order
This is no time for waiting.

145
00:08:29,592 --> 00:08:31,862
You must see it.

146
00:08:31,886 --> 00:08:33,426
I see the opportunity.

147
00:08:42,814 --> 00:08:45,876
This is his first major command.

148
00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:48,838
He doesn't really know
what he's doing,

149
00:08:48,862 --> 00:08:51,846
but he does not want to go
back to Virginia emptyhanded.

150
00:08:51,870 --> 00:08:53,634
No war has yet been declared

151
00:08:53,658 --> 00:08:55,720
between France
and Great Britain,

152
00:08:55,744 --> 00:08:58,431
but all it's going to take
is one spark

153
00:08:58,455 --> 00:09:00,099
to set the tinderbox alight.

154
00:09:00,123 --> 00:09:01,230
I will give the command.

155
00:09:09,549 --> 00:09:11,027
Fire!

156
00:09:18,391 --> 00:09:19,391
Charge!

157
00:09:37,577 --> 00:09:40,224
Washington almost immediately
loses control.

158
00:09:40,248 --> 00:09:41,366
He's become a spectator.

159
00:09:49,297 --> 00:09:50,297
Stop! Do not shoot!

160
00:10:04,312 --> 00:10:05,998
Aah!

161
00:10:14,114 --> 00:10:18,803
This is the moment that causes
the French and Indian War.

162
00:10:18,827 --> 00:10:22,431
This is the war that led
to the American Revolution.

163
00:10:41,641 --> 00:10:44,912
When the Half King
kills Jumonville,

164
00:10:44,936 --> 00:10:47,998
the French commander,
in front of his eyes,

165
00:10:48,022 --> 00:10:49,959
what had looked like a victory

166
00:10:49,983 --> 00:10:53,712
now looks like a tragic fiasco.

167
00:10:53,736 --> 00:10:57,716
Jumonville's mission
was the same as Washington's

168
00:10:57,740 --> 00:11:01,053
send a message
to the competition

169
00:11:01,077 --> 00:11:04,390
to clear out
of the Ohio country.

170
00:11:04,414 --> 00:11:08,148
The letter that the French
are trying to deliver claimed

171
00:11:08,172 --> 00:11:10,229
that they were actually
a diplomatic party

172
00:11:10,253 --> 00:11:12,314
delivering a message

173
00:11:12,338 --> 00:11:14,650
to the British governor
of Virginia.

174
00:11:14,674 --> 00:11:18,320
So Washington essentially
attacked a diplomatic party.

175
00:11:18,344 --> 00:11:21,824
Take the survivors as prisoners.

176
00:11:21,848 --> 00:11:24,285
Treat them fairly.

177
00:11:24,309 --> 00:11:27,997
For it's time we departed.

178
00:11:31,024 --> 00:11:33,210
This is an era
that's very strict

179
00:11:33,234 --> 00:11:35,796
about following the rules
of warfare.

180
00:11:35,820 --> 00:11:38,966
George Washington's just
breached those rules.

181
00:11:38,990 --> 00:11:42,347
It's one of the most shocking
moments of his life

182
00:11:42,371 --> 00:11:49,977
a moment where he could get
in very big trouble indeed.

183
00:12:06,809 --> 00:12:08,537
"Honorable sir.

184
00:12:08,561 --> 00:12:11,628
"I shall begin with assuring you
that nothing was farther

185
00:12:11,652 --> 00:12:13,375
from my intention..."

186
00:12:13,399 --> 00:12:15,169
Washington wastes no time
scrambling

187
00:12:15,193 --> 00:12:17,421
to protect his reputation.

188
00:12:17,445 --> 00:12:18,714
On the day after the battle,

189
00:12:18,738 --> 00:12:22,259
he writes three separate letters
to his superior,

190
00:12:22,283 --> 00:12:26,555
Virginia Lieutenant Governor,
Robert Dinwiddie.

191
00:12:26,579 --> 00:12:29,850
"These officers pretended
they were coming on an embassy,

192
00:12:29,874 --> 00:12:33,020
"but the absurdity
of this pretext is too glaring.

193
00:12:33,044 --> 00:12:35,105
They were sent as spies."

194
00:12:35,129 --> 00:12:39,068
His first instinct
is to justify what he did,

195
00:12:39,092 --> 00:12:43,489
to suggest that it was
the Frenchman's fault

196
00:12:43,513 --> 00:12:46,747
not being clear that he was
on a diplomatic mission.

197
00:12:46,771 --> 00:12:49,995
"The sense of the Half King
is they designed to come to us

198
00:12:50,019 --> 00:12:51,830
in a hostile manner."

199
00:12:51,854 --> 00:12:53,841
"If the French prisoners
tell you any differently,

200
00:12:53,865 --> 00:12:56,418
<i>don't believe them.
We had to do this."</i>

201
00:12:56,442 --> 00:12:58,257
Then he follows up
almost immediately

202
00:12:58,281 --> 00:13:00,214
with another letter
to this effect.

203
00:13:00,238 --> 00:13:02,094
"Since writing the other letter,

204
00:13:02,118 --> 00:13:03,676
"I have
still stronger presumption,

205
00:13:03,700 --> 00:13:07,596
indeed, almost confirmation,
that they were sent as spies."

206
00:13:10,331 --> 00:13:11,688
The notion is
this is a man who can't lie

207
00:13:11,712 --> 00:13:14,315
<i>you know, Washington never lies.
Of course he lies.</i>

208
00:13:14,339 --> 00:13:18,983
He's an ambitious young guy
who overreaches on occasion,

209
00:13:19,007 --> 00:13:21,193
and, um, he's lucky.

210
00:13:21,217 --> 00:13:22,987
Some of these things
could have derailed him.

211
00:13:23,011 --> 00:13:25,614
He's lucky that he didn't
get killed.

212
00:13:25,638 --> 00:13:27,616
When he's young,
he's undisciplined,

213
00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:29,787
and he doesn't quite understand
the ways of the world,

214
00:13:29,811 --> 00:13:31,956
and so he writes letters
to Dinwiddie

215
00:13:31,980 --> 00:13:34,665
that he later very much regrets.

216
00:13:37,775 --> 00:13:39,837
Taking care of your reputation

217
00:13:39,861 --> 00:13:42,638
for Washington,
that was exceedingly important.

218
00:13:42,662 --> 00:13:46,802
Washington wants to live up
to the values instilled in him

219
00:13:46,826 --> 00:13:51,807
as a young boy growing up
on a Virginia tobacco farm.

220
00:13:51,831 --> 00:13:55,352
George Washington,
like Barack Obama,

221
00:13:55,376 --> 00:13:59,898
like Gerald Ford,
was raised by a single mother,

222
00:13:59,922 --> 00:14:02,682
and that's often overlooked
in how that impacted him.

223
00:14:05,470 --> 00:14:07,156
Come on, George.

224
00:14:07,180 --> 00:14:10,159
Yes, Mother, coming.

225
00:14:12,727 --> 00:14:15,497
Mary Ball Washington
was a strong woman

226
00:14:15,521 --> 00:14:18,521
who was very focused,
very businesslike.

227
00:14:19,984 --> 00:14:23,172
<i>She was ambitious.
She was savvy.</i>

228
00:14:23,196 --> 00:14:28,302
She managed her estate
very carefully.

229
00:14:28,326 --> 00:14:30,723
Heaven knows how she handled
all of that, but she did.

230
00:14:30,747 --> 00:14:34,475
And she played such
an important role in his life

231
00:14:34,499 --> 00:14:36,435
to give him that structure
of character, of competence,

232
00:14:36,459 --> 00:14:38,771
and believing in yourself.

233
00:14:38,795 --> 00:14:41,398
She passed to Washington

234
00:14:41,422 --> 00:14:44,151
a very kind
of a hardheaded realism,

235
00:14:44,175 --> 00:14:46,945
teaching him
strict selfdiscipline

236
00:14:46,969 --> 00:14:49,198
and being very tough on himself.

237
00:14:49,222 --> 00:14:52,743
She doesn't give him time
to putter around

238
00:14:52,767 --> 00:14:56,413
and waste the years dreaming.

239
00:14:56,437 --> 00:14:57,748
He learned pretty early

240
00:14:57,772 --> 00:14:59,958
he was gonna have
to depend upon himself.

241
00:14:59,982 --> 00:15:02,798
I think he wanted to separate
himself from his childhood,

242
00:15:02,822 --> 00:15:05,426
and he had the strength
of will to do it,

243
00:15:05,450 --> 00:15:09,593
partly because he saw what
it took his mother to survive.

244
00:15:24,423 --> 00:15:26,780
Washington's pinned his hopes
on advancing

245
00:15:26,804 --> 00:15:28,904
up the ranks in the military,

246
00:15:28,928 --> 00:15:32,785
even though colonists can only
serve in the provincial forces

247
00:15:32,809 --> 00:15:35,577
and aren't eligible
for commissions.

248
00:15:35,601 --> 00:15:40,207
He's determined to become
a British officer.

249
00:15:40,231 --> 00:15:43,005
Washington's trying to impress
his higherups

250
00:15:43,029 --> 00:15:44,670
within the British Empire.

251
00:15:44,694 --> 00:15:46,427
He hopes it's gonna go on
up the chain

252
00:15:46,451 --> 00:15:48,757
and will reach powerful people
in London

253
00:15:48,781 --> 00:15:50,558
who will be impressed
with what he's doing.

254
00:15:50,582 --> 00:15:53,554
But George Washington recognizes

255
00:15:53,578 --> 00:15:56,435
that the showdown with
the French has only just begun.

256
00:15:56,459 --> 00:16:01,103
They're certainly not going
to take this defeat lying down.

257
00:16:01,127 --> 00:16:03,063
Fort Duquesne is not
that far away.

258
00:16:03,087 --> 00:16:07,276
He knows that there are hundreds
more French troops there,

259
00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:08,819
and they're going
to come after him.

260
00:16:08,843 --> 00:16:13,198
As Washington prepares
for the counterattack,

261
00:16:13,222 --> 00:16:17,035
he's reinforced
by 100 British regulars,

262
00:16:17,059 --> 00:16:23,834
giving him a total of 400 men
to face the French revenge.

263
00:16:23,858 --> 00:16:27,254
He builds a fort
that he names Fort Necessity

264
00:16:27,278 --> 00:16:31,550
to suit the desperation,
as he sees it, of the moment.

265
00:16:38,497 --> 00:16:41,059
It's about 50 feet in diameter.

266
00:16:41,083 --> 00:16:43,020
I mean, that's like the size
of your lawn.

267
00:16:43,044 --> 00:16:47,941
He's put it
in the worst possible position.

268
00:16:47,965 --> 00:16:50,402
He has not cleared the field
of fire.

269
00:16:52,386 --> 00:16:55,115
The French
and their Native American allies

270
00:16:55,139 --> 00:16:59,995
will be able to fire down
into the fort with impunity.

271
00:17:03,022 --> 00:17:05,000
This is not really a fort.

272
00:17:05,024 --> 00:17:07,669
It looks much more like
a death trap.

273
00:17:10,112 --> 00:17:12,299
But he's still kind of cocky,

274
00:17:12,323 --> 00:17:16,094
despite everything
that he's gone through.

275
00:17:16,118 --> 00:17:19,185
And he's very confident
that he's going to succeed.

276
00:17:19,209 --> 00:17:23,393
"I shall expect every hour
to be attacked

277
00:17:23,417 --> 00:17:27,856
"and by unequal numbers,
which I must withstand.

278
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,237
Let them come what hour
they will."

279
00:17:41,894 --> 00:17:43,024
Fire!

280
00:17:44,814 --> 00:17:46,875
And reload!

281
00:17:46,899 --> 00:17:49,670
Keep your positions!

282
00:17:49,694 --> 00:17:52,471
When the exFrench and
their Native allies strike...

283
00:17:52,495 --> 00:17:53,966
Aah!

284
00:17:53,990 --> 00:17:56,807
They hit
with overwhelming firepower.

285
00:17:56,831 --> 00:17:58,387
Hold your line!

286
00:17:58,411 --> 00:17:59,471
Aah!

287
00:18:02,248 --> 00:18:04,476
Washington and his men
are essentially trapped.

288
00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:06,979
Uhh!

289
00:18:07,003 --> 00:18:10,983
The French have total control
over the situation.

290
00:18:11,007 --> 00:18:12,901
And fire!

291
00:18:12,925 --> 00:18:14,444
Reload!

292
00:18:14,468 --> 00:18:16,615
They're determined
to punish Washington...

293
00:18:19,307 --> 00:18:22,077
To embarrass him...

294
00:18:22,101 --> 00:18:23,787
and possibly to kill him.

295
00:18:35,740 --> 00:18:37,620
Hold your line!

296
00:18:53,007 --> 00:18:54,610
Fire!

297
00:18:56,177 --> 00:18:57,863
And reload!

298
00:18:57,887 --> 00:19:00,907
Hours into an assault
by the French

299
00:19:00,931 --> 00:19:02,828
and their Native American
allies,

300
00:19:02,852 --> 00:19:05,662
22yearold George Washington...

301
00:19:05,686 --> 00:19:07,414
Keep your positions!

302
00:19:07,438 --> 00:19:10,709
Is confronting the cost
of his inexperience in command.

303
00:19:10,733 --> 00:19:11,877
Aah!

304
00:19:11,901 --> 00:19:15,172
Hold your line!

305
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,330
Turn back and fight!

306
00:19:23,412 --> 00:19:24,931
The men themselves,

307
00:19:24,955 --> 00:19:27,517
they have
no reputations to defend.

308
00:19:27,541 --> 00:19:30,395
So when it gets to a point
of crisis...

309
00:19:32,546 --> 00:19:33,906
They're not going to
listen to him.

310
00:19:34,595 --> 00:19:35,817
Hold your ground.

311
00:19:35,841 --> 00:19:37,319
Keep your position, soldier!

312
00:19:39,428 --> 00:19:41,073
Uhh!

313
00:19:43,015 --> 00:19:45,285
<i>The powder is wet.
Their guns are failing.</i>

314
00:19:45,309 --> 00:19:48,497
Another few minutes,

315
00:19:48,521 --> 00:19:50,418
and George Washington
would have been dead.

316
00:19:53,734 --> 00:19:57,255
And then all of a sudden,
there's an extraordinary

317
00:19:57,279 --> 00:19:59,257
fortuitous opportunity
to end that fight.

318
00:20:02,451 --> 00:20:04,262
Hold your fire!

319
00:20:04,286 --> 00:20:07,724
The chance for a parlay
to end this battle

320
00:20:07,748 --> 00:20:10,727
is a saving grace.

321
00:20:30,229 --> 00:20:33,917
Well, the French don't want
the fullfledged war.

322
00:20:33,941 --> 00:20:37,337
Allowing Washington
and his soldiers

323
00:20:37,361 --> 00:20:39,678
to live and to go back
to Virginia,

324
00:20:39,702 --> 00:20:42,175
having been embarrassed
by defeat,

325
00:20:42,199 --> 00:20:45,489
is the best possible result
of this confrontation.

326
00:20:51,459 --> 00:20:55,230
While Washington
and his men survive,

327
00:20:55,254 --> 00:20:58,233
the price is signing
an official surrender.

328
00:21:00,926 --> 00:21:03,905
Washington doesn't speak French.

329
00:21:03,929 --> 00:21:06,599
Read it to me.

330
00:21:08,350 --> 00:21:12,581
"As our intention had never
been to trouble, uh...

331
00:21:12,605 --> 00:21:16,084
"uh, the peace,
uh, between, uh",

332
00:21:16,108 --> 00:21:18,754
the peace and the good harmony
between the two princes..."

333
00:21:18,778 --> 00:21:21,298
His translator is a Dutchman

334
00:21:21,322 --> 00:21:23,639
who speaks some French
and English,

335
00:21:23,663 --> 00:21:26,511
but not enough
to alert his commander

336
00:21:26,535 --> 00:21:28,889
to exactly what he's signing.

337
00:21:28,913 --> 00:21:31,187
"But only to revenge
the killing,

338
00:21:31,211 --> 00:21:33,077
which has been done
on one of our officers."

339
00:21:36,670 --> 00:21:38,940
The documents of surrender
demand

340
00:21:38,964 --> 00:21:40,984
that Washington confess

341
00:21:41,008 --> 00:21:45,322
that he has assassinated
Ensign Jumonville,

342
00:21:45,346 --> 00:21:47,115
to being a war criminal.

343
00:21:47,139 --> 00:21:51,411
"We grant
the English commander to, uh,

344
00:21:51,435 --> 00:21:55,707
return with his garrisons
peaceably into his own country."

345
00:21:59,902 --> 00:22:01,299
He's in over his head.

346
00:22:01,323 --> 00:22:05,217
He never expected
that he would have to surrender,

347
00:22:05,241 --> 00:22:08,388
and so he's illprepared
for that particular moment.

348
00:22:08,412 --> 00:22:10,388
Take it.

349
00:22:16,085 --> 00:22:19,189
Washington's name
at this point will be

350
00:22:19,213 --> 00:22:22,359
associated with ignominy
and embarrassment,

351
00:22:22,383 --> 00:22:27,197
not with grit, feats of
military accomplishment.

352
00:22:40,693 --> 00:22:43,550
It will take months for
Washington to learn the truth

353
00:22:43,574 --> 00:22:46,007
about what he signed.

354
00:22:46,031 --> 00:22:47,968
In the meantime, he's determined

355
00:22:47,992 --> 00:22:51,269
to make sure this defeat
doesn't threaten his dreams

356
00:22:51,293 --> 00:22:53,849
of becoming a British officer.

357
00:22:56,041 --> 00:22:57,358
Washington writes an account

358
00:22:57,382 --> 00:23:00,146
that appears
in the colonial newspapers,

359
00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:01,485
and in that whole account,

360
00:23:01,509 --> 00:23:03,441
there's not one word
of surrender.

361
00:23:03,465 --> 00:23:06,611
"The French called to parlay.

362
00:23:06,635 --> 00:23:08,780
"We agreed that each side
should retire,

363
00:23:08,804 --> 00:23:12,868
that we should march away
with all the honors of war."

364
00:23:12,892 --> 00:23:14,749
Of course, it didn't happen
that way at all.

365
00:23:14,773 --> 00:23:17,747
And, yet, he becomes a folk hero

366
00:23:17,771 --> 00:23:20,542
in the eyes of many Virginians.

367
00:23:20,566 --> 00:23:22,878
He had a sort of cunning

368
00:23:22,902 --> 00:23:25,009
and a kind of understanding
about how things operated,

369
00:23:25,033 --> 00:23:27,716
how society operated,
how the world operated

370
00:23:27,740 --> 00:23:29,718
that I think served him well.

371
00:23:29,742 --> 00:23:34,598
Washington is a tremendously
savvy political figure.

372
00:23:34,622 --> 00:23:36,308
He's great at protecting
his reputation,

373
00:23:36,332 --> 00:23:38,689
and he has friends
who know how to do it.

374
00:23:38,713 --> 00:23:43,607
Governor Dinwiddie and the men
of the House of Burgesses

375
00:23:43,631 --> 00:23:47,444
pass a resolution
thanking Washington

376
00:23:47,468 --> 00:23:49,321
for his good conduct.

377
00:23:49,345 --> 00:23:51,823
They wipe out

378
00:23:51,847 --> 00:23:54,409
much of the embarrassment
and humiliation

379
00:23:54,433 --> 00:23:59,039
that Washington
had gotten himself into.

380
00:23:59,063 --> 00:24:02,459
But the farther you go
from Williamsburg, Virginia,

381
00:24:02,483 --> 00:24:04,502
the less of a hero he is.

382
00:24:04,526 --> 00:24:08,715
Eventually,
the French will publish

383
00:24:08,739 --> 00:24:10,884
these articles of surrender.

384
00:24:10,908 --> 00:24:13,595
They will announce to the world

385
00:24:13,619 --> 00:24:16,556
this young American officer
has confessed

386
00:24:16,580 --> 00:24:18,934
to assassinating
a French officer.

387
00:24:18,958 --> 00:24:22,270
If you think about it,
"assassin" in English and French

388
00:24:22,294 --> 00:24:25,649
are pretty much the same,
but he was desperate.

389
00:24:25,673 --> 00:24:26,820
I think he was afraid.

390
00:24:26,844 --> 00:24:29,527
And yet Washington denied

391
00:24:29,551 --> 00:24:30,820
that interpretation
of the capitulation

392
00:24:30,844 --> 00:24:32,697
for the rest of his life.

393
00:24:32,721 --> 00:24:36,368
"That we were willfully
or ignorantly deceived

394
00:24:36,392 --> 00:24:39,499
"by our interpreter in regard
to the word 'assassination',

395
00:24:39,523 --> 00:24:43,291
I do aver and will
to my dying moment."

396
00:24:46,819 --> 00:24:51,299
In London, the Lords in charge
are saying,

397
00:24:51,323 --> 00:24:56,471
"If we let this behavior stand,
we'll lose all North America.

398
00:24:56,495 --> 00:24:57,639
"We need professional
British soldiers.

399
00:24:57,663 --> 00:24:59,933
"We need professional officers.

400
00:24:59,957 --> 00:25:03,853
We can't rely on people
like this guy Washington."

401
00:25:03,877 --> 00:25:07,190
As a result, British command

402
00:25:07,214 --> 00:25:09,859
reorganizes
the Virginia Regiment

403
00:25:09,883 --> 00:25:12,830
and makes its American officers,
regardless of rank,

404
00:25:12,854 --> 00:25:17,242
subordinate to even
the lowest of British officers.

405
00:25:17,266 --> 00:25:19,285
The changes not only dash.

406
00:25:19,309 --> 00:25:21,037
Washington's hopes
of advancement,

407
00:25:21,061 --> 00:25:23,039
they effectively demote him

408
00:25:23,063 --> 00:25:27,210
from lieutenant colonel
to captain.

409
00:25:27,234 --> 00:25:30,588
Washington resigns in protest.

410
00:25:30,612 --> 00:25:33,049
Washington resigned,
and he writes this great letter,

411
00:25:33,073 --> 00:25:36,180
in which he says,
"How could a man allow himself

412
00:25:36,204 --> 00:25:38,972
"to be demoted
for no good reason?

413
00:25:38,996 --> 00:25:41,725
"It was from the advice
of my friends and my own honor

414
00:25:41,749 --> 00:25:43,435
"that I declined,
not because I didn't wish

415
00:25:43,459 --> 00:25:45,770
to be in the military anymore."

416
00:25:45,794 --> 00:25:48,028
"I shall have the consolation
of knowing

417
00:25:48,052 --> 00:25:50,694
"that I have hitherto stood
the heat and brunt of the day

418
00:25:50,718 --> 00:25:54,696
"and that I have the thanks
of my country

419
00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,948
for the services
I have rendered it."

420
00:25:56,972 --> 00:25:58,908
He's got to be wondering
if he has a future.

421
00:25:58,932 --> 00:26:02,039
He's convinced that he's never
going to command troops

422
00:26:02,063 --> 00:26:03,913
in action again.

423
00:26:24,833 --> 00:26:28,229
Seven months after quitting
the Virginia Regiment,

424
00:26:28,253 --> 00:26:31,483
George Washington
is back in uniform,

425
00:26:31,507 --> 00:26:35,528
this time as a volunteer.

426
00:26:35,552 --> 00:26:37,699
The American frontier
is engulfed

427
00:26:37,723 --> 00:26:40,200
in a war for control
of the continent,

428
00:26:40,224 --> 00:26:43,411
and the Ohio country
is ground zero.

429
00:26:55,906 --> 00:26:58,051
It means we're not alone.

430
00:26:58,075 --> 00:27:00,485
Be on your guard.

431
00:27:06,041 --> 00:27:08,186
Despite his missteps,

432
00:27:08,210 --> 00:27:10,357
Washington is now
one of Virginia's

433
00:27:10,381 --> 00:27:13,608
most experienced
frontier fighters,

434
00:27:13,632 --> 00:27:16,156
and he's been tapped
to serve as an aide

435
00:27:16,180 --> 00:27:18,279
to British General
Edward Braddock.

436
00:27:18,303 --> 00:27:20,240
Braddock's a veteran commander,

437
00:27:20,264 --> 00:27:22,951
but a veteran of European wars.

438
00:27:22,975 --> 00:27:25,203
And so he doesn't know
what he's doing

439
00:27:25,227 --> 00:27:26,621
once he gets into North America,

440
00:27:26,645 --> 00:27:27,925
which is
a different environment.

441
00:27:30,107 --> 00:27:33,294
The British,
they didn't know how to fight

442
00:27:33,318 --> 00:27:35,198
in the forest conditions.

443
00:27:40,993 --> 00:27:43,310
Washington is willing to go
as an aidedecamp

444
00:27:43,334 --> 00:27:45,765
because it carries some respect,

445
00:27:45,789 --> 00:27:49,352
and Braddock apparently gave him
some indication

446
00:27:49,376 --> 00:27:52,105
that he could expect
a military commission.

447
00:27:52,129 --> 00:27:55,316
Braddock
and 2,400 British regulars

448
00:27:55,340 --> 00:27:58,197
are cutting a road through
more than 100 miles

449
00:27:58,221 --> 00:28:01,322
of dense wilderness
to move scores

450
00:28:01,346 --> 00:28:04,325
of cannon, horses, and men
into place

451
00:28:04,349 --> 00:28:06,494
for an attack on Fort Duquesne,

452
00:28:06,518 --> 00:28:09,956
the stronghold the French
completed at the forks

453
00:28:09,980 --> 00:28:14,168
after Washington's defeat
at Fort Necessity.

454
00:28:14,192 --> 00:28:16,880
The forks of the Ohio

455
00:28:16,904 --> 00:28:19,966
were seen as almost the key
to the continent.

456
00:28:19,990 --> 00:28:22,886
Whichever imperial power
controlled that

457
00:28:22,910 --> 00:28:24,910
controlled access to
the interior of the continent.

458
00:28:29,708 --> 00:28:31,686
I do not have time for this.

459
00:28:31,710 --> 00:28:34,564
<i>Break down another wagon.
Yes, sir.</i>

460
00:28:34,588 --> 00:28:37,483
General Braddock, another delay?

461
00:28:37,507 --> 00:28:40,153
Cannot be helped.

462
00:28:40,177 --> 00:28:45,408
Perhaps if we did not stop
to level every molehill

463
00:28:45,432 --> 00:28:48,369
or erect a bridge
over every brook.

464
00:28:48,393 --> 00:28:50,330
<i>It is this terrain of yours.
Sir...</i>

465
00:28:50,354 --> 00:28:53,041
But we shall level it out yet.

466
00:28:53,065 --> 00:28:57,045
Sir, with respect,
I have fought the Indians.

467
00:28:57,069 --> 00:28:59,088
Our line is too extended.

468
00:28:59,112 --> 00:29:01,389
They could cut our forces
in two before we could even

469
00:29:01,413 --> 00:29:02,800
martial our defense.

470
00:29:02,824 --> 00:29:06,846
These savages may be
a formidable enemy

471
00:29:06,870 --> 00:29:10,350
for your raw American militia,
but upon the King's regular

472
00:29:10,374 --> 00:29:13,728
and disciplined troops,
it is impossible

473
00:29:13,752 --> 00:29:15,980
that they will make
an impression.

474
00:29:16,004 --> 00:29:19,067
<i>Of course, sir.
We have nothing to fear.</i>

475
00:29:19,091 --> 00:29:20,278
Head out and inspect
the rear guard.

476
00:29:20,302 --> 00:29:22,070
Report back to me
within the hour.

477
00:29:22,094 --> 00:29:23,571
Sir.

478
00:29:35,649 --> 00:29:39,420
Over the next five weeks,
the army pushes slowly

479
00:29:39,444 --> 00:29:42,757
toward Fort Duquesne,
traveling in a long column

480
00:29:42,781 --> 00:29:45,927
with Washington and Braddock
just a quarter mile

481
00:29:45,951 --> 00:29:48,513
behind the advance guard.

482
00:29:48,537 --> 00:29:50,056
Once they crossed
the Monongahela River,

483
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,433
he thinks,
"Okay, that's job done.

484
00:29:52,457 --> 00:29:54,268
We'll just
sweep the fort apart."

485
00:30:21,403 --> 00:30:24,132
Suddenly, chaos erupts.

486
00:30:25,991 --> 00:30:29,095
French Canadian troops
have hit the front

487
00:30:29,119 --> 00:30:30,805
of the British column.

488
00:30:30,829 --> 00:30:33,558
<i>The advance guard.
We are under attack.</i>

489
00:30:33,582 --> 00:30:35,560
Forward! Make ready!

490
00:30:35,584 --> 00:30:38,980
Washington warned the Redcoats
were vulnerable to an ambush.

491
00:30:39,004 --> 00:30:40,815
Forward!

492
00:30:40,839 --> 00:30:43,379
Now he has to face the hellfire.

493
00:30:55,604 --> 00:30:58,041
23yearold George Washington

494
00:30:58,065 --> 00:30:59,083
and the British force
he's advising

495
00:30:59,107 --> 00:31:02,253
are caught in an ambush.

496
00:31:02,277 --> 00:31:04,589
Stay in line!

497
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:15,475
The British are trapped,
surrounded by enemy fire

498
00:31:15,499 --> 00:31:19,187
the French from the front
and their Native American allies

499
00:31:19,211 --> 00:31:22,231
from the tree line
on both flanks.

500
00:31:28,470 --> 00:31:30,073
Hold fire!

501
00:31:34,976 --> 00:31:35,976
Aah! Uhh!

502
00:31:40,649 --> 00:31:42,668
Get back in line!

503
00:31:42,692 --> 00:31:45,088
As an aidedecamp,
he's not in charge of anything.

504
00:31:45,112 --> 00:31:47,423
Look to your officers!

505
00:31:47,447 --> 00:31:49,344
<i>He can deliver messages.
He is responding</i>

506
00:31:49,368 --> 00:31:51,928
to the orders
of General Braddock.

507
00:31:51,952 --> 00:31:53,679
But he doesn't have any troops
under his command.

508
00:31:53,703 --> 00:31:54,806
Hold the line!

509
00:31:59,251 --> 00:32:01,646
Uhh!

510
00:32:01,670 --> 00:32:04,565
Washington has two horses
shot out from under him,

511
00:32:04,589 --> 00:32:05,986
three bullet holes
through his coat,

512
00:32:06,010 --> 00:32:07,154
but he's not scratched.

513
00:32:10,470 --> 00:32:15,576
<i>Where's General Braddock?
Where is General Braddock?!</i>

514
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:17,245
General Braddock?

515
00:32:17,269 --> 00:32:19,747
Within a very short period
of time

516
00:32:19,771 --> 00:32:21,417
every single British officer

517
00:32:21,441 --> 00:32:23,459
has been either killed
or wounded.

518
00:32:25,277 --> 00:32:27,277
General Braddock, sir.

519
00:32:29,030 --> 00:32:30,427
We need to get you to safety.

520
00:32:30,451 --> 00:32:32,927
Leave me. But, sir...

521
00:32:32,951 --> 00:32:37,473
Save those men that can
be saved. Order a withdrawal.

522
00:32:37,497 --> 00:32:42,436
<i>We can get you clear.
Order a withdrawal.</i>

523
00:32:42,460 --> 00:32:46,149
But to whom am I to relay
the command, sir?

524
00:32:46,173 --> 00:32:49,110
The command... is yours.

525
00:32:57,684 --> 00:32:59,787
This is the opportunity

526
00:32:59,811 --> 00:33:03,791
that Washington's
been waiting for

527
00:33:03,815 --> 00:33:07,145
to prove himself in command.

528
00:33:08,862 --> 00:33:12,884
In this moment
of almost complete breakdown,

529
00:33:12,908 --> 00:33:17,930
he is able to compose himself
and to give the orders

530
00:33:17,954 --> 00:33:21,767
that would enable this army
to start its retreat.

531
00:33:21,791 --> 00:33:25,354
Fall back! Fall back!

532
00:33:25,378 --> 00:33:27,190
Fall back! Fall back!

533
00:33:35,805 --> 00:33:38,534
Washington organizes
a rear guard

534
00:33:38,558 --> 00:33:42,246
to provide cover while he mounts
a general retreat,

535
00:33:42,270 --> 00:33:47,335
narrowly saving Braddock's
force from annihilation.

536
00:33:47,359 --> 00:33:50,463
But the British battle losses
are severe.

537
00:33:50,487 --> 00:33:53,007
In just three hours of fighting,

538
00:33:53,031 --> 00:33:56,010
nearly 1,000
of some 1,500 troops

539
00:33:56,034 --> 00:34:01,124
are killed or wounded,
including 63 officers.

540
00:34:04,459 --> 00:34:06,103
"The dead, the dying,

541
00:34:06,127 --> 00:34:09,023
"the groans, lamentations,
and cries along the road

542
00:34:09,047 --> 00:34:10,444
of the wounded for help..."

543
00:34:12,968 --> 00:34:15,947
"Were enough to pierce
a heart of adamant."

544
00:34:20,725 --> 00:34:23,204
Washington's never seen
anything like this.

545
00:34:23,228 --> 00:34:25,748
I mean, this is destruction
of human life

546
00:34:25,772 --> 00:34:27,291
on a colossal scale.

547
00:34:27,315 --> 00:34:29,877
Nobody who is ever going
into battle

548
00:34:29,901 --> 00:34:31,675
comes out of the battle
the same way.

549
00:34:31,699 --> 00:34:33,464
When you see blood
in front of you,

550
00:34:33,488 --> 00:34:36,425
when you see body parts
laying all over,

551
00:34:36,449 --> 00:34:39,887
you realize this is no longer
a game. This is the worst.

552
00:34:39,911 --> 00:34:41,222
This is the worst.

553
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,647
When he's young,
he wants to be in battle.

554
00:34:47,671 --> 00:34:49,730
<i>It's romantic. It's where
he can prove his valor.</i>

555
00:34:49,754 --> 00:34:52,066
And those things
sort of fall away

556
00:34:52,090 --> 00:34:53,567
after the Battle of Monongahela.

557
00:34:53,591 --> 00:34:57,446
He will never be again
that naive young man

558
00:34:57,470 --> 00:34:59,720
who sees war as an adventure.

559
00:35:04,769 --> 00:35:08,374
In the aftermath of the battle,

560
00:35:08,398 --> 00:35:11,438
Washington's family receives
a report of his death.

561
00:35:13,236 --> 00:35:18,968
Days later,
he writes his brother.

562
00:35:18,992 --> 00:35:21,679
"As I have heard
a circumstantial account

563
00:35:21,703 --> 00:35:23,889
"of my death and dying speech.

564
00:35:23,913 --> 00:35:28,019
"But by the allpowerful
dispensations of providence,

565
00:35:28,043 --> 00:35:30,313
"I have been protected beyond

566
00:35:30,337 --> 00:35:34,358
all human probability
and expectation."

567
00:35:34,382 --> 00:35:36,279
Washington developed the notion

568
00:35:36,303 --> 00:35:39,155
that somebody was looking
over him,

569
00:35:39,179 --> 00:35:40,990
that he should have died,
and he attributes this

570
00:35:41,014 --> 00:35:43,534
not to God but to providence.

571
00:35:43,558 --> 00:35:46,996
He believes that because
those forces have saved him,

572
00:35:47,020 --> 00:35:50,166
that history's on his side.

573
00:35:50,190 --> 00:35:51,836
We should all be grateful

574
00:35:51,860 --> 00:35:54,295
that he was the one
who had the luck.

575
00:35:54,319 --> 00:35:56,297
What would have happened to us
if he had been killed

576
00:35:56,321 --> 00:35:58,466
by one of those bullets?

577
00:35:58,490 --> 00:36:03,179
With Braddock's death,
Washington's most promising path

578
00:36:03,203 --> 00:36:05,940
to a British officer's
commission is thwarted.

579
00:36:05,964 --> 00:36:10,102
But he emerges from the battle
a war hero.

580
00:36:10,126 --> 00:36:14,482
Newspapers and broadsides
and tavern talk

581
00:36:14,506 --> 00:36:18,152
throughout America become filled
with discussions of Washington.

582
00:36:18,176 --> 00:36:19,987
"Do you know that it was
an American

583
00:36:20,011 --> 00:36:23,366
who led those troops
off the field?"

584
00:36:23,390 --> 00:36:26,786
Washington had joined
the Braddock campaign

585
00:36:26,810 --> 00:36:30,247
with a view to reclaiming,
rebuilding his reputation.

586
00:36:30,271 --> 00:36:32,792
Ironically, that happens.

587
00:36:32,816 --> 00:36:35,252
Because one of the things
the colonists can take from this

588
00:36:35,276 --> 00:36:38,589
is the unmistakable courage
of George Washington.

589
00:36:38,613 --> 00:36:43,427
At that stage,
the Virginians need a hero,

590
00:36:43,451 --> 00:36:45,721
and he's
the available candidate.

591
00:37:10,603 --> 00:37:12,500
Would you humble me
with a dance?

592
00:37:12,524 --> 00:37:14,291
It would be my pleasure.

593
00:37:17,736 --> 00:37:20,339
Watching Washington
in public settings,

594
00:37:20,363 --> 00:37:24,719
everybody is rapt because
they have not seen anybody

595
00:37:24,743 --> 00:37:27,763
with his size, his strength.

596
00:37:32,834 --> 00:37:35,730
Washington is tall
for his time. He's around 6'2",

597
00:37:35,754 --> 00:37:37,900
the look of an natural athlete,
someone you would see

598
00:37:37,924 --> 00:37:40,489
on the basketball court today
or the football field.

599
00:37:42,969 --> 00:37:45,286
First impression is,
"Oh, my God.

600
00:37:45,310 --> 00:37:47,199
This guy is impressive."

601
00:37:47,223 --> 00:37:50,038
Historians are always talking
about how great he was

602
00:37:50,062 --> 00:37:52,413
on the dance floor,
in the ballroom,

603
00:37:52,437 --> 00:37:54,237
and all the women
write about it all the time.

604
00:37:59,235 --> 00:38:02,381
Later on, Abigail Adams,
when she writes

605
00:38:02,405 --> 00:38:04,258
about seeing George Washington
for the first time,

606
00:38:04,282 --> 00:38:06,260
I mean, it could be
in a romance novel.

607
00:38:06,284 --> 00:38:10,141
"The gentleman and soldier
look agreeably blended in him.

608
00:38:10,165 --> 00:38:12,433
"He's a temple, sacred by birth

609
00:38:12,457 --> 00:38:15,102
and built by hands divine."

610
00:38:19,464 --> 00:38:21,361
The thing about
George Washington

611
00:38:21,385 --> 00:38:22,777
was his selfcontrol.

612
00:38:22,801 --> 00:38:24,616
It wasn't as if
he didn't have emotion.

613
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,823
Underneath him were seething
real passions that gave

614
00:38:27,847 --> 00:38:30,910
a crackle, an intensity
to his physical presence.

615
00:38:30,934 --> 00:38:32,828
It added to his charisma.

616
00:38:32,852 --> 00:38:33,852
Thank you.

617
00:38:35,855 --> 00:38:40,085
It doesn't take a lot to see
that this is a human being

618
00:38:40,109 --> 00:38:43,214
who is a compressed spring
that's about ready

619
00:38:43,238 --> 00:38:46,008
to release itself
onto the American scene.

620
00:38:49,327 --> 00:38:53,724
As the French and Indian War
intensifies on the frontier...

621
00:38:53,748 --> 00:38:55,145
he'll get his chance.

622
00:38:57,043 --> 00:39:00,189
The Colonies need a leader
to stem the carnage.

623
00:39:01,798 --> 00:39:03,445
And the name
on everyone's lips...

624
00:39:05,176 --> 00:39:08,176
is George Washington.

625
00:39:35,748 --> 00:39:39,395
By the spring of 1756,

626
00:39:39,419 --> 00:39:42,439
the American frontier
is a war zone,

627
00:39:42,463 --> 00:39:45,740
as the French deploy
their Native American allies

628
00:39:45,764 --> 00:39:49,113
to ramp up attacks
on British settlers.

629
00:39:51,306 --> 00:39:53,450
The destruction
of Braddock's army is

630
00:39:53,474 --> 00:39:56,461
such a powerful blow that
there's a real skittishness

631
00:39:56,485 --> 00:39:58,330
amongst the British.

632
00:39:58,354 --> 00:40:01,750
So what's happening
is that the British frontier

633
00:40:01,774 --> 00:40:04,378
is being rolled back.

634
00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:08,090
There's a huge highway
into the heart of settlement.

635
00:40:08,114 --> 00:40:10,761
That road that's built
to attack Fort Duquesne

636
00:40:10,785 --> 00:40:12,219
now is unprotected.

637
00:40:12,243 --> 00:40:16,098
There's no troops there,
and so they're unable,

638
00:40:16,122 --> 00:40:18,479
really, to stop
Native American incursions.

639
00:40:20,168 --> 00:40:21,937
Hundreds of people are dying.

640
00:40:21,961 --> 00:40:23,939
Hundreds of people
are being taken captive.

641
00:40:26,049 --> 00:40:29,259
This is just sheer terror.

642
00:40:31,930 --> 00:40:35,100
And that's what Washington
has to deal with.

643
00:40:37,185 --> 00:40:39,788
There is no order,

644
00:40:39,812 --> 00:40:43,751
no way to predict
where they will strike next.

645
00:40:43,775 --> 00:40:45,002
I could have
a thousand more men,

646
00:40:45,026 --> 00:40:46,606
and it would make no difference.

647
00:40:48,446 --> 00:40:51,258
Washington's been lured
back to the frontier

648
00:40:51,282 --> 00:40:53,427
by Governor Dinwiddie

649
00:40:53,451 --> 00:40:56,518
and is now a colonel
in the Virginia Regiment.

650
00:40:56,542 --> 00:40:59,808
He's tasked with protecting
more than 300 miles

651
00:40:59,832 --> 00:41:02,102
of rugged terrain,

652
00:41:02,126 --> 00:41:06,941
and he has fewer than 1,200
untrained and illequipped men

653
00:41:06,965 --> 00:41:09,777
that he now has to make
into soldiers.

654
00:41:09,801 --> 00:41:11,695
Look at them.

655
00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:14,281
No discipline at all.

656
00:41:14,305 --> 00:41:16,595
And we've had
two more desertions last week.

657
00:41:19,936 --> 00:41:23,958
This must change.

658
00:41:23,982 --> 00:41:27,336
After
the Battle of the Monongahela,

659
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,965
Washington begins to think
about the fundamentals

660
00:41:30,989 --> 00:41:33,092
of running a military force.

661
00:41:33,116 --> 00:41:37,137
And the lesson
that we as Americans

662
00:41:37,161 --> 00:41:41,183
need to learn is that we need
to be more professional.

663
00:41:41,207 --> 00:41:42,685
And so he knew what it was
to have discipline

664
00:41:42,709 --> 00:41:44,645
in an organization,

665
00:41:44,669 --> 00:41:47,234
<i>and he was not a softie.
He was a disciplinarian.</i>

666
00:41:47,258 --> 00:41:49,149
He would have people punished.

667
00:41:49,173 --> 00:41:51,860
He's always watching to see
whether you're on time

668
00:41:51,884 --> 00:41:54,488
and whether you're working hard.

669
00:41:54,512 --> 00:41:57,157
If you're in the military unit
and you're a deserter,

670
00:41:57,181 --> 00:41:58,538
even if he knows you
and likes you,

671
00:41:58,562 --> 00:42:00,828
he has no compunction
about stringing you up,

672
00:42:00,852 --> 00:42:01,870
no second thoughts.

673
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:13,465
"I luckily caught two deserters.

674
00:42:13,489 --> 00:42:16,260
"James Thomas, one of them,
always behaved himself

675
00:42:16,284 --> 00:42:19,680
"with great sobriety,
honesty, and diligence.

676
00:42:19,704 --> 00:42:23,517
"The other criminal,
Henry Campbell,

677
00:42:23,541 --> 00:42:27,187
"is a most atrocious villain
and richly merits

678
00:42:27,211 --> 00:42:28,731
an ignominious death."

679
00:42:31,049 --> 00:42:32,904
He can't tolerate desertion.

680
00:42:32,928 --> 00:42:34,987
For the rest of the soldiers
in the unit,

681
00:42:35,011 --> 00:42:35,828
it's a betrayal
of your colleagues

682
00:42:35,852 --> 00:42:37,072
on your left and your right,

683
00:42:37,096 --> 00:42:38,574
'cause then they can't
count on you.

684
00:42:41,559 --> 00:42:43,579
Halt.

685
00:42:46,230 --> 00:42:47,958
Thomas.

686
00:42:47,982 --> 00:42:50,862
There will be no more offenses.

687
00:43:04,248 --> 00:43:09,605
Washington tempered those
severe punishments with mercy.

688
00:43:09,629 --> 00:43:11,273
He would often do it
at the last minute

689
00:43:11,297 --> 00:43:12,649
when all the soldiers
of that unit

690
00:43:12,673 --> 00:43:14,109
would be there to witness
the punishment.

691
00:43:14,133 --> 00:43:17,905
Proceed.

692
00:43:17,929 --> 00:43:19,576
You're sending the signal
to the soldiers

693
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,326
who didn't desert
that our commander

694
00:43:22,350 --> 00:43:23,577
is a merciful commander.

695
00:43:23,601 --> 00:43:26,288
Just don't do
this sort of thing.

696
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:06,662
He's a tough taskmaster,

697
00:44:06,686 --> 00:44:08,038
and he tells you
what he wants you to do,

698
00:44:08,062 --> 00:44:09,581
and if you don't do it

699
00:44:09,605 --> 00:44:11,208
just the way
he wants you to do it,

700
00:44:11,232 --> 00:44:12,835
he's not happy.

701
00:44:12,859 --> 00:44:16,171
He's not, um,
hailfellow wellmet.

702
00:44:16,195 --> 00:44:18,132
He is a man of high standards

703
00:44:18,156 --> 00:44:19,800
and expects you to meet
those standards,

704
00:44:19,824 --> 00:44:22,636
and if you don't,
it will reflect on him.

705
00:44:24,328 --> 00:44:25,472
Aim.

706
00:44:27,748 --> 00:44:29,184
Fire!

707
00:44:29,208 --> 00:44:31,395
Second row, aim!

708
00:44:34,005 --> 00:44:36,525
Now fire!

709
00:44:36,549 --> 00:44:38,777
Washington is learning
how to lead,

710
00:44:38,801 --> 00:44:40,988
and he's learned
on the battlefield,

711
00:44:41,012 --> 00:44:44,039
and he's applying those lessons
now with the Virginia Regiment.

712
00:44:45,516 --> 00:44:47,828
This musket is everything
to you.

713
00:44:47,852 --> 00:44:52,374
Lift up, pull back,
and you are ready.

714
00:44:53,774 --> 00:44:57,004
Now let's see you again.

715
00:44:57,028 --> 00:44:59,131
Faster!

716
00:44:59,155 --> 00:45:02,009
Come on, you rabble, faster!

717
00:45:02,033 --> 00:45:04,136
Aim.

718
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,221
And fire!

719
00:45:06,245 --> 00:45:07,931
Better, but we need
to be quicker!

720
00:45:07,955 --> 00:45:09,224
This is life and death!

721
00:45:12,210 --> 00:45:13,937
The bayonet.

722
00:45:13,961 --> 00:45:17,900
Detach and fix.

723
00:45:25,765 --> 00:45:28,055
Right. Let's see it.

724
00:45:29,936 --> 00:45:33,040
His command
of the Virginia Regiment

725
00:45:33,064 --> 00:45:36,460
is the shaping experience
for his role

726
00:45:36,484 --> 00:45:37,971
as a military commander.

727
00:45:37,995 --> 00:45:40,547
It becomes an elite unit

728
00:45:40,571 --> 00:45:44,301
that is like the Rangers
or the Special Forces.

729
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,146
The British have to acknowledge

730
00:45:56,170 --> 00:45:57,606
and they do, openly

731
00:45:57,630 --> 00:46:01,235
that Washington has created
for the first time

732
00:46:01,259 --> 00:46:03,779
in the history of America

733
00:46:03,803 --> 00:46:07,616
a provincial force
that is worthy of respect,

734
00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:08,997
that's every bit as good

735
00:46:09,021 --> 00:46:12,287
as what the British
put into the field.

736
00:46:19,652 --> 00:46:21,009
And yet he can't seem
to get them recognized

737
00:46:21,033 --> 00:46:22,965
as a proper regiment.

738
00:46:22,989 --> 00:46:25,096
He can't get them
officers' commissions

739
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:29,304
in the British established
regiments in North America.

740
00:46:29,328 --> 00:46:30,847
He thinks they've earned this.

741
00:46:30,871 --> 00:46:34,688
That Americans should be treated
as second class subjects

742
00:46:34,712 --> 00:46:37,104
is anathema to him.

743
00:46:37,128 --> 00:46:40,148
Washington wants to prove
to the British

744
00:46:40,172 --> 00:46:43,694
that his regiment is ready
for a bigger mission,

745
00:46:43,718 --> 00:46:48,282
what he sees as the only way
to get control of the frontier

746
00:46:48,306 --> 00:46:50,575
an attack
on the French stronghold,

747
00:46:50,599 --> 00:46:53,620
Fort Duquesne.

748
00:46:53,644 --> 00:46:56,290
But when his commander
Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie

749
00:46:56,314 --> 00:46:58,875
refuses to give him the goahead,

750
00:46:58,899 --> 00:47:01,712
Washington's willing
to risk anything,

751
00:47:01,736 --> 00:47:05,007
even insubordination.

752
00:47:09,660 --> 00:47:12,806
In his early 20s
as a young officer,

753
00:47:12,830 --> 00:47:14,266
he was not at all

754
00:47:14,290 --> 00:47:16,727
the George Washington
we think of.

755
00:47:20,921 --> 00:47:24,067
He was stubborn.

756
00:47:24,091 --> 00:47:26,486
He was hasty.

757
00:47:26,510 --> 00:47:27,779
He's the kind of guy

758
00:47:27,803 --> 00:47:30,324
you wouldn't want
to go up against

759
00:47:30,348 --> 00:47:32,098
in terms of willpower.

760
00:47:33,726 --> 00:47:36,038
Once he sets his mind
to something,

761
00:47:36,062 --> 00:47:37,539
it's going to happen.

762
00:48:08,761 --> 00:48:12,368
<i>Pardon me. Can you tell me
where I might find Lord Loudoun?</i>

763
00:48:15,351 --> 00:48:20,207
Colonel George Washington's
come to Philadelphia uninvited

764
00:48:20,231 --> 00:48:24,044
to meet the most powerful
military man on the continent.

765
00:48:24,068 --> 00:48:27,839
John Campbell, Lord Loudoun,
the Scotsman

766
00:48:27,863 --> 00:48:29,846
he has been appointed
commanderinchief

767
00:48:29,870 --> 00:48:31,968
of British forces
in North America,

768
00:48:31,992 --> 00:48:34,888
and he comes to Philadelphia,
and George Washington thinks,

769
00:48:34,912 --> 00:48:36,431
"Aha! This is my moment.

770
00:48:36,455 --> 00:48:37,808
"I'm the colonel
of the Virginia Regiment.

771
00:48:37,832 --> 00:48:39,851
"I need to convince him

772
00:48:39,875 --> 00:48:41,770
"of all the extraordinary work
we've done

773
00:48:41,794 --> 00:48:44,241
and convince him that we need
to go on the offensive."

774
00:48:44,265 --> 00:48:48,276
Washington is looking
for an acknowledgment

775
00:48:48,300 --> 00:48:49,736
from the British

776
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,657
that Americans are equal members
of the empire,

777
00:48:53,681 --> 00:48:57,244
equally worthy of respect.

778
00:48:57,268 --> 00:49:00,247
It's incredibly audacious
for Washington,

779
00:49:00,271 --> 00:49:02,791
this junior officer,
to come in there

780
00:49:02,815 --> 00:49:04,501
and try to speak
to the commanderinchief

781
00:49:04,525 --> 00:49:06,461
about what their strategy
should be.

782
00:49:06,485 --> 00:49:08,755
It would be like
a junior officer

783
00:49:08,779 --> 00:49:10,979
going to speak to the head
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

784
00:49:14,285 --> 00:49:15,655
My Lord.

785
00:49:20,249 --> 00:49:23,228
Your persistence,
Colonel Washington,

786
00:49:23,252 --> 00:49:24,938
affords you a few moments.

787
00:49:24,962 --> 00:49:26,940
Be brief.

788
00:49:26,964 --> 00:49:30,777
I have come to discuss affairs
in the Ohio country.

789
00:49:30,801 --> 00:49:33,780
With which I am well acquainted.

790
00:49:33,804 --> 00:49:35,449
Of course, my Lord,

791
00:49:35,473 --> 00:49:37,409
but I do feel we are missing
an opportunity.

792
00:49:37,433 --> 00:49:41,788
<i>And I fear confusion.
From the surface,</i>

793
00:49:41,812 --> 00:49:42,998
it would seem you're about
to question

794
00:49:43,022 --> 00:49:44,791
my military strategy.

795
00:49:44,815 --> 00:49:48,837
I would never dare question
your abilities, my Lord.

796
00:49:48,861 --> 00:49:50,964
But I know these lands.

797
00:49:50,988 --> 00:49:53,133
I have traveled them,
fought upon them.

798
00:49:53,157 --> 00:49:54,509
If we were to launch
a direct attack.

799
00:49:54,533 --> 00:49:56,766
Is it a provincial trait to say

800
00:49:56,790 --> 00:49:58,763
that you do not question
something

801
00:49:58,787 --> 00:50:01,850
and then proceed to question it?

802
00:50:01,874 --> 00:50:03,351
No, my Lord.

803
00:50:03,375 --> 00:50:06,480
Then let me ask you.

804
00:50:06,504 --> 00:50:09,983
As a selfproclaimed expert
on this land,

805
00:50:10,007 --> 00:50:13,153
what is your opinion
of our present strategy

806
00:50:13,177 --> 00:50:14,738
my strategy?

807
00:50:14,762 --> 00:50:19,034
Sound, my Lord.

808
00:50:19,058 --> 00:50:21,665
Then you would do well
to mind your orders.

809
00:50:21,689 --> 00:50:23,038
Dismissed.

810
00:50:23,062 --> 00:50:24,372
Yes, sir.

811
00:50:27,525 --> 00:50:30,045
Thank you, my Lord.

812
00:50:34,031 --> 00:50:37,511
Washington is
an idealistic young man.

813
00:50:37,535 --> 00:50:41,389
He sees things as they
should be.

814
00:50:41,413 --> 00:50:43,519
And he doesn't understand
why other people

815
00:50:43,543 --> 00:50:45,018
don't see things the same way.

816
00:50:48,546 --> 00:50:50,690
"To Lieutenant Governor
Dinwiddie,

817
00:50:50,714 --> 00:50:54,861
"Honorable sir, we can't
conceive that being American

818
00:50:54,885 --> 00:50:56,112
"should deprive us

819
00:50:56,136 --> 00:50:58,865
"of the benefits
of British subjects.

820
00:50:58,889 --> 00:51:01,409
"We are defending
the King's dominion,

821
00:51:01,433 --> 00:51:02,920
"and there can be
no sufficient reason given

822
00:51:02,944 --> 00:51:05,872
"why we, who spend our blood
and treasure

823
00:51:05,896 --> 00:51:07,040
"in defense of the country,

824
00:51:07,064 --> 00:51:10,252
are not entitled
to equal preferment."

825
00:51:10,276 --> 00:51:15,215
And this isn't the
overambitious George Washington.

826
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:17,717
This is a long frustration
that had been developing

827
00:51:17,741 --> 00:51:20,929
over a long period of time.

828
00:51:20,953 --> 00:51:22,764
He tries to work his way

829
00:51:22,788 --> 00:51:25,934
through the British political
and military bureaucracy

830
00:51:25,958 --> 00:51:28,270
in order to get
what he believes is right,

831
00:51:28,294 --> 00:51:32,857
and instead, he finds himself
falling into a quicksand pit

832
00:51:32,881 --> 00:51:36,236
as the British stop him
from accomplishing

833
00:51:36,260 --> 00:51:37,907
what he wants to accomplish.

834
00:51:40,264 --> 00:51:43,291
More than a year later,
the British plot an attack

835
00:51:43,315 --> 00:51:46,413
on Fort Duquesne,
using the exact strategy

836
00:51:46,437 --> 00:51:50,166
Washington suggested to Loudoun.

837
00:51:50,190 --> 00:51:53,297
The campaign pushes France
to finally abandon its claim

838
00:51:53,321 --> 00:51:56,214
to the Ohio country,
ending the fighting

839
00:51:56,238 --> 00:51:59,759
between France and Britain
in the region.

840
00:51:59,783 --> 00:52:02,762
But Washington gets neither
the credit

841
00:52:02,786 --> 00:52:06,474
nor the officer's commission
he was seeking.

842
00:52:06,498 --> 00:52:08,310
His response to that
was not to feel

843
00:52:08,334 --> 00:52:11,861
that he had been rejected,
but that they were stupid.

844
00:52:11,885 --> 00:52:14,608
They were allegedly
his superiors.

845
00:52:14,632 --> 00:52:17,110
He felt superior to them.

846
00:52:31,148 --> 00:52:33,627
Washington resigns.

847
00:52:34,985 --> 00:52:39,466
Never again
to wear British colors.

848
00:52:39,490 --> 00:52:43,136
Never to become
a British officer.

849
00:52:46,997 --> 00:52:50,352
That dream is dead.

850
00:52:53,587 --> 00:52:55,649
If the British government

851
00:52:55,673 --> 00:52:57,901
had simply said
to George Washington,

852
00:52:57,925 --> 00:52:59,653
"You want a commission
in the British Army?

853
00:52:59,677 --> 00:53:01,029
"We'll give you a commission

854
00:53:01,053 --> 00:53:02,489
in the British Army."

855
00:53:02,513 --> 00:53:05,325
That might very well
have done it,

856
00:53:05,349 --> 00:53:09,037
because then
his professional loyalties

857
00:53:09,061 --> 00:53:12,668
would have been with this
institution of British Arms.

858
00:53:16,026 --> 00:53:18,254
For him,
it was a matter of honor.

859
00:53:18,278 --> 00:53:23,009
And we can date
from that moment, I think,

860
00:53:23,033 --> 00:53:25,020
the birth of the rebel
George Washington.

861
00:53:25,044 --> 00:53:29,516
His military ambitions
behind him,

862
00:53:29,540 --> 00:53:32,268
Washington forges
a new path forward.

863
00:53:32,292 --> 00:53:35,647
It begins with a political win

864
00:53:35,671 --> 00:53:38,108
a seat in the Virginia
House of Burgesses.

865
00:53:39,216 --> 00:53:41,861
And it continues at the altar.

866
00:53:41,885 --> 00:53:45,031
I will.

867
00:53:45,055 --> 00:53:49,327
And you, Martha,
wilt thou obey him?

868
00:53:49,351 --> 00:53:53,540
The marriage to Martha is
the single most important event

869
00:53:53,564 --> 00:53:57,877
in his early life, and it makes
everything else possible.

870
00:53:57,901 --> 00:54:00,380
Love, honor, and keep him
in sickness and in health.

871
00:54:00,404 --> 00:54:02,549
I will.

872
00:54:02,573 --> 00:54:05,140
Now I pronounce you
husband and wife.

873
00:54:05,164 --> 00:54:07,095
You may kiss the bride.

874
00:54:15,294 --> 00:54:17,480
So not many love stories
start with dysentery,

875
00:54:17,504 --> 00:54:18,815
but this one does.

876
00:54:22,593 --> 00:54:25,530
He needed to go to the capital
to see a doctor

877
00:54:25,554 --> 00:54:27,869
to get certain medicines,
and through that,

878
00:54:27,893 --> 00:54:30,160
he was somehow connected
with Martha Custis.

879
00:54:30,184 --> 00:54:32,078
<i>They met a few times.
It was a few weeks,</i>

880
00:54:32,102 --> 00:54:33,629
a few months,
and then all of a sudden,

881
00:54:33,653 --> 00:54:35,582
she's ordering a dress.

882
00:54:37,191 --> 00:54:39,461
At 27 years old,

883
00:54:39,485 --> 00:54:43,298
Martha was in a unique position
in early America.

884
00:54:43,322 --> 00:54:47,760
Her first husband had died,
and his male relations had died.

885
00:54:47,784 --> 00:54:50,638
So she had control
of a huge estate,

886
00:54:50,662 --> 00:54:52,439
and she didn't have
to report to anyone.

887
00:54:56,210 --> 00:55:00,273
She was a catch because
of the fortune she brought.

888
00:55:00,297 --> 00:55:03,610
He was a catch
because he was a stud.

889
00:55:07,137 --> 00:55:10,116
The union
of George the folk hero

890
00:55:10,140 --> 00:55:12,118
and Martha, the wealthy widow,

891
00:55:12,142 --> 00:55:16,289
transforms Washington's fortunes
overnight.

892
00:55:16,313 --> 00:55:20,168
He becomes a loving stepfather
to Martha's two children

893
00:55:20,192 --> 00:55:24,464
4yearold Jackie
and 2yearold Patsy.

894
00:55:24,488 --> 00:55:28,635
And he expands the estate
he inherited from his family

895
00:55:28,659 --> 00:55:32,138
a place called Mount Vernon.

896
00:55:32,162 --> 00:55:34,891
When he first acquires
Mount Vernon,

897
00:55:34,915 --> 00:55:36,684
it's about 2,000 acres.

898
00:55:36,708 --> 00:55:39,020
When he dies,
it's 8,000 acres, contiguous

899
00:55:39,044 --> 00:55:40,939
along the Potomac River.

900
00:55:40,963 --> 00:55:44,910
Martha brings to the marriage
several thousand acres of land

901
00:55:44,934 --> 00:55:50,532
along with 84 enslaved people
who make it all run.

902
00:55:50,556 --> 00:55:53,493
In Virginia,
the key was to get land,

903
00:55:53,517 --> 00:55:55,453
but land is worthless
without labor,

904
00:55:55,477 --> 00:56:00,333
and slavery was
the dominant form of labor

905
00:56:00,357 --> 00:56:01,754
in the Atlantic world
at that time.

906
00:56:01,778 --> 00:56:07,173
Washington inherited
his first slaves as a child.

907
00:56:07,197 --> 00:56:09,842
And over the course
of his lifetime,

908
00:56:09,866 --> 00:56:14,430
he's buying and selling
enslaved people.

909
00:56:14,454 --> 00:56:15,851
He's growing his wealth

910
00:56:15,875 --> 00:56:19,894
growing as a farmer,
growing as a slaveholder.

911
00:56:19,918 --> 00:56:24,857
George Washington in the 1760s
was not necessarily thinking

912
00:56:24,881 --> 00:56:28,194
about posterity
or about the future.

913
00:56:28,218 --> 00:56:30,655
That would happen
much later in his life.

914
00:56:30,679 --> 00:56:34,200
I believe that he,
along with many others,

915
00:56:34,224 --> 00:56:36,536
knew that slavery was wrong.

916
00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:40,540
Yet it was also crucial
to financial success.

917
00:56:45,611 --> 00:56:49,215
The Washingtons are now
among the Virginia elite.

918
00:56:49,239 --> 00:56:53,886
It's an exclusive club,
and they're expected to keep up.

919
00:56:53,910 --> 00:56:56,889
Washington and Martha
dress very well.

920
00:56:56,913 --> 00:56:58,810
They dress their servants
very well.

921
00:56:58,834 --> 00:57:02,729
They are doing their very best
to appear to belong

922
00:57:02,753 --> 00:57:05,803
to Virginia's governing elite,
their top 1%.

923
00:57:16,391 --> 00:57:19,162
Hello, dearest. Hello, husband.

924
00:57:19,186 --> 00:57:21,581
I have something for you.

925
00:57:21,605 --> 00:57:24,751
Oh, George.

926
00:57:37,412 --> 00:57:41,017
It is exquisite.

927
00:57:41,041 --> 00:57:47,461
Not as lovely as the woman
who will wear it.

928
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:52,445
Thank you.

929
00:57:59,309 --> 00:58:01,954
<i>Now... there are letters
on your desk.</i>

930
00:58:01,978 --> 00:58:04,123
Always. Hmm.

931
00:58:19,663 --> 00:58:24,477
With a new family,
a growing estate,

932
00:58:24,501 --> 00:58:27,855
and a position
of high social standing,

933
00:58:27,879 --> 00:58:31,234
Washington's dreams are
beginning to be realized.

934
00:58:31,258 --> 00:58:32,878
What is it?

935
00:58:34,886 --> 00:58:37,824
But the life he's building...

936
00:58:37,848 --> 00:58:42,348
is in jeopardy.

937
00:58:57,200 --> 00:59:00,471
"It might possibly answer
very little purpose

938
00:59:00,495 --> 00:59:03,182
"were I to enter
into a minute detail

939
00:59:03,206 --> 00:59:06,018
"of the reason that have
caused me to fall so much

940
00:59:06,042 --> 00:59:07,687
"in arrears to you.

941
00:59:07,711 --> 00:59:11,357
"Missed chances
rather than misconduct

942
00:59:11,381 --> 00:59:13,198
have been the causes of it."

943
00:59:13,222 --> 00:59:16,320
After five years of marriage,

944
00:59:16,344 --> 00:59:20,324
the Washingtons are deeply
in debt.

945
00:59:20,348 --> 00:59:22,535
They owe upwards
of a quarter million

946
00:59:22,559 --> 00:59:24,704
in today's dollars.

947
00:59:24,728 --> 00:59:26,748
"I shall now beg leave
to inform you

948
00:59:26,772 --> 00:59:30,877
"in terms equally sincere
and direct

949
00:59:30,901 --> 00:59:35,381
"that it is not in my power
to make remittances

950
00:59:35,405 --> 00:59:39,051
"faster than my crops will
furnish me with the means.

951
00:59:39,075 --> 00:59:43,973
"It is but an irksome thing
to a free mind

952
00:59:43,997 --> 00:59:48,311
to be any ways hampered
in debt."

953
00:59:48,335 --> 00:59:52,940
In Virginia society,
the vast majority of planters

954
00:59:52,964 --> 00:59:54,859
were relatively cash poor.

955
00:59:54,883 --> 00:59:56,529
They owned their wealth in land.

956
00:59:56,553 --> 00:59:58,698
They owned their wealth
in enslaved people,

957
00:59:58,722 --> 01:00:02,408
and then Washington gets paid
basically maybe once a year,

958
01:00:02,432 --> 01:00:05,079
as an agriculturalist,
maybe twice a year.

959
01:00:05,103 --> 01:00:07,538
The worst fear he has
is ruining Martha

960
01:00:07,562 --> 01:00:09,459
and the hopes
of Martha's children.

961
01:00:09,483 --> 01:00:12,043
That is good, George.

962
01:00:12,067 --> 01:00:15,588
Calm, measured.

963
01:00:15,612 --> 01:00:17,089
Thank you.

964
01:00:17,113 --> 01:00:19,260
Perhaps next year's crop
will fare better.

965
01:00:19,284 --> 01:00:23,471
I cannot continue
to balance our fortunes

966
01:00:23,495 --> 01:00:27,725
on a thing as fickle as tobacco.

967
01:00:27,749 --> 01:00:30,895
He grows tobacco
and sends tobacco

968
01:00:30,919 --> 01:00:33,940
to his consignor in London,

969
01:00:33,964 --> 01:00:35,697
then that person uses that money

970
01:00:35,721 --> 01:00:38,611
to purchase the items
that Washington has requested.

971
01:00:38,635 --> 01:00:40,905
And they charge whatever
they want for it,

972
01:00:40,929 --> 01:00:41,989
the same way that they pay you

973
01:00:42,013 --> 01:00:44,080
whatever they want
for the tobacco,

974
01:00:44,104 --> 01:00:48,120
<i>and so he's stuck in this...
vicious cycle.</i>

975
01:00:48,144 --> 01:00:49,291
No matter how hard he works,

976
01:00:49,315 --> 01:00:51,129
no matter how much tobacco
he grows,

977
01:00:51,153 --> 01:00:54,919
it always turns out
that he's further in debt.

978
01:00:54,943 --> 01:00:56,967
Even very wealthy planters
like Washington

979
01:00:56,991 --> 01:00:59,298
chronically were in debt,
and this is critical.

980
01:00:59,322 --> 01:01:00,800
They weren't in debt

981
01:01:00,824 --> 01:01:02,641
to Pennsylvania merchants
or New York merchants.

982
01:01:02,665 --> 01:01:04,306
They were in debt
to English merchants.

983
01:01:04,330 --> 01:01:06,472
Washington's view is that

984
01:01:06,496 --> 01:01:09,308
the entire planter class
of Virginia, him included,

985
01:01:09,332 --> 01:01:12,061
has been caught
in this economic trap

986
01:01:12,085 --> 01:01:14,438
that these capitalists
over there

987
01:01:14,462 --> 01:01:16,190
are sucking the blood
of all of us.

988
01:01:24,848 --> 01:01:27,493
We rotate in a 7year cycle.

989
01:01:27,517 --> 01:01:30,788
Number one and two will move
from tobacco to wheat.

990
01:01:30,812 --> 01:01:32,999
Under pressure
from British creditors,

991
01:01:33,023 --> 01:01:35,668
Washington responds
by revolutionizing

992
01:01:35,692 --> 01:01:38,296
how Mount Vernon does business.

993
01:01:38,320 --> 01:01:40,676
<i>He's a man of his era.
He's an Enlightenment figure.</i>

994
01:01:40,700 --> 01:01:42,967
He thinks that human beings
could make the world

995
01:01:42,991 --> 01:01:44,348
a better place
than they've inherited,

996
01:01:44,372 --> 01:01:45,678
that we don't have to do things

997
01:01:45,702 --> 01:01:47,349
the same way
they've always been done.

998
01:01:47,373 --> 01:01:49,348
Green manures in number 3.

999
01:01:49,372 --> 01:01:55,021
Number 4 and 5
will be gourd seed and corn.

1000
01:01:55,045 --> 01:01:57,857
That should produce
two or three ears per stalk.

1001
01:01:57,881 --> 01:02:01,652
We tend to always think
about George Washington

1002
01:02:01,676 --> 01:02:04,488
as a president, as a general,
but I think that if you

1003
01:02:04,512 --> 01:02:07,950
asked him who he was,
especially prior to all of that,

1004
01:02:07,974 --> 01:02:09,368
he would tell us

1005
01:02:09,392 --> 01:02:11,539
he was a Virginian,
and he was a farmer.

1006
01:02:11,563 --> 01:02:13,667
He becomes a great innovator
in agriculture.

1007
01:02:13,691 --> 01:02:15,541
He develops
the rotation of crops.

1008
01:02:15,565 --> 01:02:17,168
He's drawing on a lot
of English methods

1009
01:02:17,192 --> 01:02:19,795
that are cutting edge
at the time,

1010
01:02:19,819 --> 01:02:22,175
and he tries to incorporate
this into Mount Vernon.

1011
01:02:22,199 --> 01:02:25,384
I want all this implemented
by the end of the season.

1012
01:02:25,408 --> 01:02:27,011
Good.

1013
01:02:27,035 --> 01:02:29,513
Now let us check on the progress
of the treading barn.

1014
01:02:29,537 --> 01:02:34,226
Washington also sells grain
and milled flour locally,

1015
01:02:34,250 --> 01:02:38,856
pioneering one of America's
first homegrown industries.

1016
01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:42,360
By the 1770s,
his G. Washington brand

1017
01:02:42,384 --> 01:02:46,030
is considered one
of the finest in the Colonies.

1018
01:02:46,054 --> 01:02:48,451
He's transitioning
to wheat farming

1019
01:02:48,475 --> 01:02:51,247
and ultimately flour production
as a way to get out

1020
01:02:51,271 --> 01:02:53,537
of the British system,
which essentially is stealing

1021
01:02:53,561 --> 01:02:55,289
his profits
from his point of view.

1022
01:02:55,313 --> 01:02:57,249
You know, he imagines
a different future,

1023
01:02:57,273 --> 01:02:59,588
and that's really
the whole experiment

1024
01:02:59,612 --> 01:03:02,755
that we end up being a part of
in the whole Revolutionary era.

1025
01:03:02,779 --> 01:03:07,760
But by far, Washington's
greatest opportunity

1026
01:03:07,784 --> 01:03:11,180
to build wealth is to redouble
his lifelong pursuit

1027
01:03:11,204 --> 01:03:16,811
of America's
most valuable resourceland.

1028
01:03:16,835 --> 01:03:19,563
His ambitions were not
particularly political

1029
01:03:19,587 --> 01:03:21,941
for a very long time
in his life.

1030
01:03:21,965 --> 01:03:24,068
But he always had
a strong sense of himself.

1031
01:03:24,092 --> 01:03:25,319
He wanted to become
a land owner.

1032
01:03:25,343 --> 01:03:27,279
He didn't want to be poor.

1033
01:03:27,303 --> 01:03:29,450
Owning land
and if you were Southerner,

1034
01:03:29,474 --> 01:03:32,451
sadly, owning people

1035
01:03:32,475 --> 01:03:34,954
were basically
the indicators of success.

1036
01:03:34,978 --> 01:03:36,956
In Great Britain,
the Washingtons

1037
01:03:36,980 --> 01:03:39,587
<i>could not have owned property.
It went to noblemen.</i>

1038
01:03:39,611 --> 01:03:42,461
And when they came over
in the 1600s,

1039
01:03:42,485 --> 01:03:45,506
<i>they came for land.
They didn't mess around.</i>

1040
01:03:45,530 --> 01:03:49,260
<i>And this is in his blood.
The Washingtons are landhungry.</i>

1041
01:03:51,286 --> 01:03:52,805
Further back.

1042
01:03:52,829 --> 01:03:55,016
A little more.

1043
01:03:55,040 --> 01:03:57,309
George Washington, at age 14,

1044
01:03:57,333 --> 01:03:58,480
picks up surveying instruments

1045
01:03:58,504 --> 01:04:01,105
and teaches himself to survey.

1046
01:04:01,129 --> 01:04:05,151
And surveying was
a hugely important job

1047
01:04:05,175 --> 01:04:07,570
in early America.

1048
01:04:07,594 --> 01:04:09,991
George Washington is earning
his own money

1049
01:04:10,015 --> 01:04:13,409
and purchasing his own land
by age 17.

1050
01:04:13,433 --> 01:04:15,500
The whole point of the West was

1051
01:04:15,524 --> 01:04:17,788
to acquire title to land

1052
01:04:17,812 --> 01:04:20,583
but hold onto it,
and in 10 or 20 years,

1053
01:04:20,607 --> 01:04:22,503
as the American population grew,

1054
01:04:22,527 --> 01:04:24,170
that land would become
more valuable.

1055
01:04:24,194 --> 01:04:26,630
To your right! Come on, guys!

1056
01:04:26,654 --> 01:04:28,011
And this was the basis

1057
01:04:28,035 --> 01:04:31,177
for more fortunes
in American history

1058
01:04:31,201 --> 01:04:33,971
than any way of making money.

1059
01:04:33,995 --> 01:04:37,808
If you had land, even if you
are an ordinary person,

1060
01:04:37,832 --> 01:04:40,857
if you have plots of land,
you can grow your own food.

1061
01:04:40,881 --> 01:04:42,730
You had what would be called
independence.

1062
01:04:42,754 --> 01:04:46,934
So for Washington, having
lots of land was important.

1063
01:04:53,139 --> 01:04:57,036
But his goals are
about to be derailed.

1064
01:04:57,060 --> 01:05:00,748
In 1763,
a new royal proclamation

1065
01:05:00,772 --> 01:05:04,543
poses a direct threat
to Washtington's investments.

1066
01:05:04,567 --> 01:05:07,546
To avoid another expensive war
on the frontier,

1067
01:05:07,570 --> 01:05:12,384
King George III bans colonists
from buying or settling land

1068
01:05:12,408 --> 01:05:13,969
in the West.

1069
01:05:16,579 --> 01:05:20,309
What it does, essentially,
is to run a boundary

1070
01:05:20,333 --> 01:05:22,730
down the crest of
the Appalachian Mountains.

1071
01:05:22,754 --> 01:05:25,029
Everything west
of the Appalachians

1072
01:05:25,053 --> 01:05:28,067
is Indian country, and that land

1073
01:05:28,091 --> 01:05:31,070
is offlimits
to British subjects.

1074
01:05:31,094 --> 01:05:33,906
This just upset the plans
of Washington

1075
01:05:33,930 --> 01:05:36,747
and every other American
who was thinking of the West

1076
01:05:36,771 --> 01:05:41,288
as, by this time,
almost an American entitlement.

1077
01:05:41,312 --> 01:05:44,379
He owns about 60,000 acres
of land that he's acquired

1078
01:05:44,403 --> 01:05:47,628
through a service
for the British

1079
01:05:47,652 --> 01:05:50,758
in the French and Indian War,
but in principle, it's saying,

1080
01:05:50,782 --> 01:05:53,717
that all the land you have
out there is worthless.

1081
01:05:53,741 --> 01:05:56,220
So having had his ambition

1082
01:05:56,244 --> 01:05:59,849
to be a great military man
frustrated

1083
01:05:59,873 --> 01:06:02,610
by British prejudice
against the provincials,

1084
01:06:02,634 --> 01:06:05,813
the rules seemed to indicate
that the British

1085
01:06:05,837 --> 01:06:09,942
looked on Americans
as secondclass subjects.

1086
01:06:09,966 --> 01:06:12,403
So if the British Empire
isn't good for you militarily,

1087
01:06:12,427 --> 01:06:13,946
and it's not good
for you economically,

1088
01:06:13,970 --> 01:06:15,489
what else is there?

1089
01:06:15,513 --> 01:06:19,118
This proclamation kicks off
a decade of crackdowns

1090
01:06:19,142 --> 01:06:20,953
on colonists' ambitions.

1091
01:06:20,977 --> 01:06:23,622
It's followed by a slew
of new taxes

1092
01:06:23,646 --> 01:06:27,293
taxes that will help Britain
pay off its debt

1093
01:06:27,317 --> 01:06:29,920
from the French and Indian War.

1094
01:06:32,280 --> 01:06:36,135
Boston was at the cutting edge
of opposition

1095
01:06:36,159 --> 01:06:39,847
to British law,
starting with the Stamp Act.

1096
01:06:39,871 --> 01:06:42,728
Everything that's paper
currency, newspapers,

1097
01:06:42,752 --> 01:06:44,643
all being taxed.

1098
01:06:44,667 --> 01:06:48,606
This was a new kind of tax on
goods that were in the Colonies

1099
01:06:48,630 --> 01:06:51,317
as opposed to things
that were being imported.

1100
01:06:51,341 --> 01:06:53,944
That shift,
it alarmed Americans.

1101
01:06:53,968 --> 01:06:56,197
No more taxes! No more taxes!

1102
01:06:56,221 --> 01:06:57,990
The colonists adopted boycotts

1103
01:06:58,014 --> 01:06:59,814
in which they would not
consume British goods.

1104
01:07:01,017 --> 01:07:03,996
The colonists
are sending petitions.

1105
01:07:05,688 --> 01:07:08,000
There's troops sent up
to Boston.

1106
01:07:12,904 --> 01:07:15,301
Will the Americans come
to blows over this?

1107
01:07:19,369 --> 01:07:21,388
The Boston Massacre.

1108
01:07:25,667 --> 01:07:29,355
American colonists killed
by British fire.

1109
01:07:29,379 --> 01:07:31,525
We then have events
like the Boston Tea Party,

1110
01:07:31,549 --> 01:07:33,194
which is a protest
against a tax on tea.

1111
01:07:37,762 --> 01:07:39,039
And then the Intolerable Acts...

1112
01:07:39,063 --> 01:07:40,699
Punishment
for the Boston Tea Party...

1113
01:07:40,723 --> 01:07:43,869
strike America like
the blow of a hammer.

1114
01:07:50,070 --> 01:07:52,878
The British have revoked
the charter of Massachusetts.

1115
01:07:52,902 --> 01:07:56,215
They've closed
the Port of Boston.

1116
01:07:56,239 --> 01:07:58,884
People in other colonies
are very much watching

1117
01:07:58,908 --> 01:08:00,094
what's going on there,
and they're thinking,

1118
01:08:00,118 --> 01:08:01,578
"That could happen here."

1119
01:08:03,454 --> 01:08:04,850
The cause of Boston now

1120
01:08:04,874 --> 01:08:06,752
becomes the cause
of all America.

1121
01:08:09,252 --> 01:08:10,980
And that's when we see
George Washington

1122
01:08:11,004 --> 01:08:13,237
become
a reluctant revolutionary.

1123
01:08:13,261 --> 01:08:15,903
Washington considered himself
to be British.

1124
01:08:15,927 --> 01:08:19,029
He wanted to be a part
of that Imperial world.

1125
01:08:19,053 --> 01:08:21,699
But when that fell apart,
it's the kind of thing

1126
01:08:21,723 --> 01:08:23,160
where you could only
hate something

1127
01:08:23,184 --> 01:08:25,494
that you had loved a lot.

1128
01:08:25,518 --> 01:08:27,830
You could argue
that the British Empire

1129
01:08:27,854 --> 01:08:32,543
slowly built the man
who would destroy them

1130
01:08:32,567 --> 01:08:36,817
from the inside out.

1131
01:08:51,252 --> 01:08:52,648
Thank you for coming.

1132
01:08:52,672 --> 01:08:54,690
It is so great everybody's here.

1133
01:08:54,714 --> 01:08:58,360
<i>Thank you. We need all
the support we can get.</i>

1134
01:08:58,384 --> 01:09:02,364
More than 50 delegates
from 12 of the 13 colonies

1135
01:09:02,388 --> 01:09:04,450
are gathering for the first time

1136
01:09:04,474 --> 01:09:06,871
to plan resistance
to the British crackdown

1137
01:09:06,895 --> 01:09:08,563
on their rights.

1138
01:09:11,356 --> 01:09:14,460
The Colonies had never been,
before this period,

1139
01:09:14,484 --> 01:09:16,130
very good at doing things
together.

1140
01:09:16,154 --> 01:09:17,967
I mean, they really are
independent units.

1141
01:09:17,991 --> 01:09:19,965
They only manage to act
in concert

1142
01:09:19,989 --> 01:09:21,385
when they're threatened.

1143
01:09:21,409 --> 01:09:23,469
And the idea is if we
coordinate our response,

1144
01:09:23,493 --> 01:09:25,017
it will be more effective.

1145
01:09:25,041 --> 01:09:27,306
The British won't be able
to pick us off one by one.

1146
01:09:27,330 --> 01:09:30,934
Billed as
the First Continental Congress,

1147
01:09:30,958 --> 01:09:34,063
it's a who's who of
future revolutionaries,

1148
01:09:34,087 --> 01:09:39,318
including Sam Adams,
John Jay, Patrick Henry,

1149
01:09:39,342 --> 01:09:42,182
and Massachusetts' own
John Adams.

1150
01:09:47,975 --> 01:09:50,329
Mr. Washington.

1151
01:09:50,353 --> 01:09:52,670
We're all glad
you made the journey.

1152
01:09:52,694 --> 01:09:54,375
John Adams.

1153
01:09:54,399 --> 01:09:57,878
<i>Mr. Adams, your fine work
and reputation precede you.</i>

1154
01:09:57,902 --> 01:09:59,549
It is a pleasure to make
your acquaintance.

1155
01:09:59,573 --> 01:10:02,257
I'm sure you're well aware,

1156
01:10:02,281 --> 01:10:05,678
but your presence here
does carry a great weight.

1157
01:10:05,702 --> 01:10:07,848
I'm honored
to represent Virginia.

1158
01:10:07,872 --> 01:10:10,017
We in Massachusetts
are gratified

1159
01:10:10,041 --> 01:10:12,854
to have the Colonies
assembled for our cause.

1160
01:10:12,878 --> 01:10:16,063
Now we shall see if all are
ready to speak with one voice.

1161
01:10:16,087 --> 01:10:18,065
I'm well acquainted
with the British disregard

1162
01:10:18,089 --> 01:10:19,400
for their own laws.

1163
01:10:19,424 --> 01:10:22,528
These unjust policies
cannot stand.

1164
01:10:22,552 --> 01:10:25,948
We are agreed upon that,
Mr. Washington.

1165
01:10:25,972 --> 01:10:28,450
I look forward to discussing
these matters.

1166
01:10:28,474 --> 01:10:31,203
And I look forward
to taking action.

1167
01:10:31,227 --> 01:10:33,227
Order.

1168
01:10:35,940 --> 01:10:40,421
Washington is a believer
that the British Empire

1169
01:10:40,445 --> 01:10:44,508
intends to enslave
the American population.

1170
01:10:44,532 --> 01:10:47,428
He sees an orchestrated plot
in the sense that

1171
01:10:47,452 --> 01:10:52,266
we no longer have control
over our own domestic policy.

1172
01:10:52,290 --> 01:10:56,812
The delegates are divided
on how to proceed.

1173
01:10:56,836 --> 01:10:59,440
While some want to keep
petitioning Parliament,

1174
01:10:59,464 --> 01:11:04,194
others are pushing
for more radical action.

1175
01:11:04,218 --> 01:11:06,575
The colonists are demanding
their rights,

1176
01:11:06,599 --> 01:11:10,075
and actually initially,
trying to use the system

1177
01:11:10,099 --> 01:11:12,286
that's in place
to get their rights...

1178
01:11:12,310 --> 01:11:16,415
sending petitions,
traditional protests,

1179
01:11:16,439 --> 01:11:18,756
doing the things
you do as a colonist

1180
01:11:18,780 --> 01:11:22,171
to express your needs
and your demands.

1181
01:11:22,195 --> 01:11:27,176
Finally, the Congress agrees
to an allcolony boycott

1182
01:11:27,200 --> 01:11:31,180
of British goodsa move
designed to pressure Britain

1183
01:11:31,204 --> 01:11:35,017
to repeal their taxes
and remove troops from Boston.

1184
01:11:35,041 --> 01:11:39,146
Though "revolution" is still
not a word uttered publicly,

1185
01:11:39,170 --> 01:11:44,443
Washington is not convinced
it can be avoided.

1186
01:11:44,467 --> 01:11:46,695
"More blood will be spilt
on this occasion

1187
01:11:46,719 --> 01:11:50,616
"if the Ministry are determined
to push matters to extremity.

1188
01:11:50,640 --> 01:11:53,537
"No such thing is desired
by any thinking man

1189
01:11:53,561 --> 01:11:57,039
in all North America."

1190
01:11:57,063 --> 01:12:01,168
It became pretty clear early on

1191
01:12:01,192 --> 01:12:02,549
that Great Britain was not
going to back down,

1192
01:12:02,573 --> 01:12:05,881
and that they were not
going to meet the demands

1193
01:12:05,905 --> 01:12:09,092
that the colonists put forth,
and although that was

1194
01:12:09,116 --> 01:12:13,096
always a frightful prospect,
to go to war,

1195
01:12:13,120 --> 01:12:15,516
it's pretty clear that that was
likely to be the answer.

1196
01:12:25,675 --> 01:12:29,279
The following spring,
Washington's fears are realized

1197
01:12:29,303 --> 01:12:32,115
at Lexington and Concord.

1198
01:12:32,139 --> 01:12:35,160
Lexington and Concord
shocked Americans.

1199
01:12:35,184 --> 01:12:38,705
<i>That really stunned them.
What does that mean</i>

1200
01:12:38,729 --> 01:12:42,876
if your own government
now is firing upon you?

1201
01:12:42,900 --> 01:12:46,964
Until this point, most colonists

1202
01:12:46,988 --> 01:12:50,008
were willing to say, "If you
could just wind back the clock",

1203
01:12:50,032 --> 01:12:53,136
then all will be well."

1204
01:12:53,160 --> 01:12:55,889
All these people,
including Washington,

1205
01:12:55,913 --> 01:12:58,851
reached some point
when they thought,

1206
01:12:58,875 --> 01:13:02,813
"You know,
we just cannot remain part

1207
01:13:02,837 --> 01:13:04,314
"of the British Empire.

1208
01:13:04,338 --> 01:13:06,567
We can't do it."

1209
01:13:06,591 --> 01:13:09,653
By the time
the Second Continental Congress

1210
01:13:09,677 --> 01:13:12,406
convenes three weeks later,

1211
01:13:12,430 --> 01:13:15,200
the time has come
to put down the quill

1212
01:13:15,224 --> 01:13:17,536
and pick up the sword.

1213
01:13:17,560 --> 01:13:21,665
The question is,
who will lead the charge?

1214
01:13:21,689 --> 01:13:25,836
We need a military figure
to go up to corral events

1215
01:13:25,860 --> 01:13:27,967
and really become a commander
of some kind of an army,

1216
01:13:27,991 --> 01:13:30,132
whatever that army is gonna be.

1217
01:13:30,156 --> 01:13:31,800
And they need somebody

1218
01:13:31,824 --> 01:13:34,057
who will both be reliable
politically,

1219
01:13:34,081 --> 01:13:37,055
somebody who won't be at risk
of trying to make himself

1220
01:13:37,079 --> 01:13:39,182
a military dictator,

1221
01:13:39,206 --> 01:13:41,977
but somebody who has
the basic skills and knowledge

1222
01:13:42,001 --> 01:13:43,562
to lead an army.

1223
01:13:43,586 --> 01:13:46,607
It's a pretty short list
of men in North America

1224
01:13:46,631 --> 01:13:49,234
who meet both
of those requirements.

1225
01:13:49,258 --> 01:13:51,778
The most eager of the candidates

1226
01:13:51,802 --> 01:13:53,822
is John Hancock,

1227
01:13:53,846 --> 01:13:57,409
a prominent Boston businessman
turned politician.

1228
01:13:57,433 --> 01:14:00,245
In many ways,
he's the antiWashington.

1229
01:14:00,269 --> 01:14:03,081
John Hancock is a very vain man.

1230
01:14:03,105 --> 01:14:06,209
He's somebody
who is pretty shallow,

1231
01:14:06,233 --> 01:14:09,546
somebody who is a showboat,

1232
01:14:09,570 --> 01:14:13,091
somebody who does not
understand his limitations.

1233
01:14:13,115 --> 01:14:17,721
One of the most experienced
is Horatio Gates,

1234
01:14:17,745 --> 01:14:21,183
a Britishborn veteran
who'd served on the frontier,

1235
01:14:21,207 --> 01:14:25,270
married an American
and decided to stay.

1236
01:14:25,294 --> 01:14:28,315
He has held
the king's commission.

1237
01:14:28,339 --> 01:14:30,696
He has been
a commissioned officer.

1238
01:14:30,720 --> 01:14:32,361
He's seen fighting,

1239
01:14:32,385 --> 01:14:34,363
perhaps even more
than Washington has.

1240
01:14:34,387 --> 01:14:37,783
But Gates was not a Virginian,

1241
01:14:37,807 --> 01:14:40,744
and a lot of people,
including John Adams,

1242
01:14:40,768 --> 01:14:42,875
understood that Virginia,
which was the largest colony

1243
01:14:42,899 --> 01:14:47,793
at the time, needed to be
invested in the war cause,

1244
01:14:47,817 --> 01:14:49,878
and the best way to get
Virginia invested

1245
01:14:49,902 --> 01:14:51,422
was to put a Virginian
at the very top.

1246
01:14:53,823 --> 01:14:57,678
It's important to Washington
to be able to tell himself

1247
01:14:57,702 --> 01:14:59,680
that he's not ambitious.

1248
01:14:59,704 --> 01:15:04,101
It's important for him
to be able to say,

1249
01:15:04,125 --> 01:15:07,896
"I'm not campaigning
for this job."

1250
01:15:07,920 --> 01:15:12,317
That complicated cocktail
of public projection,

1251
01:15:12,341 --> 01:15:16,405
of balancing private ambition
with the greater good,

1252
01:15:16,429 --> 01:15:18,156
was something that Washington
did as brilliantly

1253
01:15:18,180 --> 01:15:21,034
as any American ever did.

1254
01:15:21,058 --> 01:15:23,996
I mean, there wasn't
a large number of folks

1255
01:15:24,020 --> 01:15:26,127
with the kind of stature
that he had.

1256
01:15:26,151 --> 01:15:27,874
If not him, who?

1257
01:15:35,823 --> 01:15:37,679
Washington,
one of Virginia's delegates

1258
01:15:37,703 --> 01:15:39,515
to the Second
Continental Congress,

1259
01:15:39,539 --> 01:15:41,471
shows up wearing
a military uniform.

1260
01:15:41,495 --> 01:15:45,684
It reminds people
he has military experience.

1261
01:15:45,708 --> 01:15:48,395
If you need a commander,
look no farther.

1262
01:15:48,419 --> 01:15:51,356
He is going to have to
build this army

1263
01:15:51,380 --> 01:15:54,901
in effect from himself down

1264
01:15:54,925 --> 01:15:59,072
by appearing to be
a man of confidence

1265
01:15:59,096 --> 01:16:02,951
even when almost nobody else
has confidence in the cause.

1266
01:16:05,269 --> 01:16:07,789
Washington fell in love
with the country

1267
01:16:07,813 --> 01:16:09,666
that was being created,

1268
01:16:09,690 --> 01:16:13,253
and he was prepared
to fight for it and die for it.

1269
01:16:30,127 --> 01:16:31,813
That is all for now.

1270
01:16:38,135 --> 01:16:42,324
"My dearest, I am now sat down
to write you on a subject

1271
01:16:42,348 --> 01:16:47,079
"which fills me
with inexpressible concern

1272
01:16:47,103 --> 01:16:49,498
"when I reflect upon
the uneasiness

1273
01:16:49,522 --> 01:16:50,942
I know it will give you."

1274
01:16:53,818 --> 01:16:56,546
"It has been determined
in Congress

1275
01:16:56,570 --> 01:16:58,507
"that the whole army raised
for the defense

1276
01:16:58,531 --> 01:17:03,220
"of the American cause
shall be put under my care

1277
01:17:03,244 --> 01:17:05,941
"and that is necessary for me
to proceed immediately

1278
01:17:05,965 --> 01:17:09,476
to Boston
to take command of it."

1279
01:17:09,500 --> 01:17:11,647
Some two decades
after he was denied

1280
01:17:11,671 --> 01:17:14,272
a British officer's rank,

1281
01:17:14,296 --> 01:17:17,609
George Washington
becomes commanderinchief

1282
01:17:17,633 --> 01:17:22,197
of an army in revolt against
the empire he once served.

1283
01:17:22,221 --> 01:17:26,618
He passionately believes
in the cause.

1284
01:17:26,642 --> 01:17:28,870
He believes
that as a virtuous man,

1285
01:17:28,894 --> 01:17:32,171
he must set all of his skills,
all of his abilities,

1286
01:17:32,195 --> 01:17:33,625
all of his resources

1287
01:17:33,649 --> 01:17:36,503
at the service
of his countrymen,

1288
01:17:36,527 --> 01:17:39,840
but he recognizes
whoever leads this army

1289
01:17:39,864 --> 01:17:43,385
is more likely than not
to lose his life,

1290
01:17:43,409 --> 01:17:46,972
to lose his fortune,
and to lose his reputation.

1291
01:17:46,996 --> 01:17:50,183
This is not a position of glory.

1292
01:17:50,207 --> 01:17:51,977
Washington always
defined greatness

1293
01:17:52,001 --> 01:17:54,688
as a willingness to do things
not for yourself

1294
01:17:54,712 --> 01:17:57,399
but for others, and so every
fiber of his being

1295
01:17:57,423 --> 01:18:00,026
said he must do this.

1296
01:18:00,050 --> 01:18:03,864
"I shall rely confidently
on that providence

1297
01:18:03,888 --> 01:18:08,160
"which has heretofore preserved
and been bountiful to me,

1298
01:18:08,184 --> 01:18:13,039
"not doubting but that I shall
return safe to you in the fall.

1299
01:18:13,063 --> 01:18:14,590
"I shall feel no pain
from the toil

1300
01:18:14,614 --> 01:18:17,377
or the danger of the campaign."

1301
01:18:17,401 --> 01:18:19,838
He knows his whole life
is gonna change,

1302
01:18:19,862 --> 01:18:23,099
and the letters he writes home
shows his own emotion.

1303
01:18:23,123 --> 01:18:27,095
This is a moment
when the normal screen

1304
01:18:27,119 --> 01:18:29,848
or the curtain
around Washington opens

1305
01:18:29,872 --> 01:18:31,689
and you get to see
who he really is.

1306
01:18:31,713 --> 01:18:36,229
"My unhappiness will flow
from the uneasiness I know

1307
01:18:36,253 --> 01:18:39,357
"you will feel at being
left alone.

1308
01:18:39,381 --> 01:18:42,158
"I beg of you to summon
your whole fortitude

1309
01:18:42,182 --> 01:18:45,197
"and resolution
and pass your time

1310
01:18:45,221 --> 01:18:47,949
"as agreeably as possible.

1311
01:18:47,973 --> 01:18:51,119
"I shall add nothing more
at the present

1312
01:18:51,143 --> 01:18:55,999
"but to assure you that I am
with the most unfeigned regard,

1313
01:18:56,023 --> 01:18:58,710
your affectionate George."

1314
01:19:16,961 --> 01:19:22,150
When Washington arrives
in Boston in July 1775,

1315
01:19:22,174 --> 01:19:24,444
there's little fanfare.

1316
01:19:24,468 --> 01:19:27,239
With him is the man who will
serve alongside him

1317
01:19:27,263 --> 01:19:28,830
for the duration of the war.

1318
01:19:28,854 --> 01:19:31,952
His name is William Lee,

1319
01:19:31,976 --> 01:19:34,621
though Washington
calls him Billy.

1320
01:19:34,645 --> 01:19:37,040
Lee doesn't have
an official military rank.

1321
01:19:37,064 --> 01:19:40,919
He's Washington's
enslaved valet.

1322
01:19:40,943 --> 01:19:45,048
Washington purchased
William Lee in 1768.

1323
01:19:45,072 --> 01:19:47,429
He's probably someone
that knew Washington

1324
01:19:47,453 --> 01:19:49,469
better than almost anybody.

1325
01:19:49,493 --> 01:19:52,599
Billy and Washington
had an intimate relationship

1326
01:19:52,623 --> 01:19:54,849
in that Billy would comb
his hair in the morning

1327
01:19:54,873 --> 01:19:56,440
and put out his clothes
and all this other stuff.

1328
01:19:56,464 --> 01:19:57,815
He's known for organizing

1329
01:19:57,839 --> 01:20:01,439
George Washington's life,
his papers.

1330
01:20:01,463 --> 01:20:04,317
William Lee, unlike the majority

1331
01:20:04,341 --> 01:20:06,778
of other 18th century
enslaved people,

1332
01:20:06,802 --> 01:20:10,115
has been in some ways given

1333
01:20:10,139 --> 01:20:13,159
a little more than a footnote
in history.

1334
01:20:13,183 --> 01:20:15,870
Billy Lee, as we've come
to think about him,

1335
01:20:15,894 --> 01:20:17,774
is one of the heroes
of the American Revolution.

1336
01:20:19,857 --> 01:20:22,335
My belongings arrive
from Mount Vernon, Billy?

1337
01:20:22,359 --> 01:20:24,279
Yes, sir.

1338
01:20:40,794 --> 01:20:43,523
They promised me an army.

1339
01:20:43,547 --> 01:20:45,525
Does this look like an army
to you?

1340
01:20:45,549 --> 01:20:46,818
No, sir.

1341
01:20:46,842 --> 01:20:48,194
It does not.

1342
01:20:51,972 --> 01:20:55,869
<i>It's been a long journey, sir.
Perhaps you should rest.</i>

1343
01:20:55,893 --> 01:20:58,580
No, Billy, this is no time
for a rest.

1344
01:20:58,604 --> 01:21:01,024
See to the horse. Yes, sir.

1345
01:21:03,025 --> 01:21:06,212
Washington's orders
from the Continental Congress

1346
01:21:06,236 --> 01:21:09,924
are to force the occupying
British troops out of Boston.

1347
01:21:09,948 --> 01:21:11,926
When he gets up
to Massachusetts, it confirms

1348
01:21:11,950 --> 01:21:15,930
it confirms all of his most
desperate thoughts

1349
01:21:15,954 --> 01:21:18,183
about the militias
they come and go as they please,

1350
01:21:18,207 --> 01:21:19,144
they don't want to be
under the discipline

1351
01:21:19,168 --> 01:21:20,852
of a regular army.

1352
01:21:20,876 --> 01:21:23,438
I mean, they're guys with guns.

1353
01:21:23,462 --> 01:21:25,777
<i>It was not a trained army.
It was a militia.</i>

1354
01:21:25,801 --> 01:21:28,735
We have this vision
of the American Revolution

1355
01:21:28,759 --> 01:21:30,365
as we had an army
and they had an army.

1356
01:21:30,389 --> 01:21:32,697
<i>We didn't have an army.
We had a lot of state militias.</i>

1357
01:21:32,721 --> 01:21:34,788
Washington's major problem
is to recognize

1358
01:21:34,812 --> 01:21:38,078
that he's inherited a mob,

1359
01:21:38,102 --> 01:21:41,289
and that he wants to do for it
what he had done for the

1360
01:21:41,313 --> 01:21:44,000
the Virginia Regiment during
the French and Indian War

1361
01:21:44,024 --> 01:21:46,717
make them into a real corps
of professional soldiers.

1362
01:21:46,741 --> 01:21:49,756
He has to figure out how
to join these people together

1363
01:21:49,780 --> 01:21:52,347
in some kind of a way
in which they can fight

1364
01:21:52,371 --> 01:21:54,219
this great empire.

1365
01:21:54,243 --> 01:21:57,806
Washington was expecting
20,000 men

1366
01:21:57,830 --> 01:22:01,059
and 10 tons of gunpowder.

1367
01:22:01,083 --> 01:22:03,311
There is a fraction of both.

1368
01:22:03,335 --> 01:22:06,231
Trying to put together an army
overnight is impossible.

1369
01:22:06,255 --> 01:22:08,400
It took the British Army
a century.

1370
01:22:08,424 --> 01:22:10,360
I mean, like, where do you dig
the latrines?

1371
01:22:10,384 --> 01:22:12,320
Where do the hospitals go?

1372
01:22:12,344 --> 01:22:14,121
These are all, like, things
that are routinized

1373
01:22:14,145 --> 01:22:17,244
<i>inside a British manual.
We have none of that.</i>

1374
01:22:17,268 --> 01:22:20,163
And we just got a bunch of guys
who basically showed up to fight

1375
01:22:20,187 --> 01:22:22,914
for a few days and figure
they're gonna go home.

1376
01:22:22,938 --> 01:22:24,938
Where is
your commanding officer?

1377
01:22:27,067 --> 01:22:29,337
Get me
your commanding officer now!

1378
01:22:29,361 --> 01:22:33,007
Once a headstrong
and untested young soldier,

1379
01:22:33,031 --> 01:22:36,136
Washington now takes command
of his army

1380
01:22:36,160 --> 01:22:40,223
21 years to the day
after his crushing defeat

1381
01:22:40,247 --> 01:22:41,394
at Fort Necessity.

1382
01:22:41,418 --> 01:22:43,017
Hold your lines!

1383
01:22:45,335 --> 01:22:49,107
He's taken on a task
that he knows is going to be

1384
01:22:49,131 --> 01:22:51,698
perhaps impossible to defeat
the British Army and Navy,

1385
01:22:51,722 --> 01:22:55,137
and he's there to do it,
and he's committed.

1386
01:22:58,098 --> 01:23:00,869
And if you command the army
that declares war on the Empire,

1387
01:23:00,893 --> 01:23:02,662
you better win.

1388
01:23:02,686 --> 01:23:04,831
Because if you don't,

1389
01:23:04,855 --> 01:23:06,655
there's no telling
what's gonna become of you.

1390
01:23:11,820 --> 01:23:15,758
Next time on "Washington"...

1391
01:23:15,782 --> 01:23:17,888
If they captured him
in New York,

1392
01:23:17,912 --> 01:23:19,637
they would have put his head
on a spit,

1393
01:23:19,661 --> 01:23:21,476
and that's all
you would remember

1394
01:23:21,500 --> 01:23:23,057
about George Washington.

1395
01:23:23,081 --> 01:23:26,769
We have therefore to resolve
to conquer or die.

1396
01:23:26,793 --> 01:23:28,833
Are these the men with whom
I'm to defend America?

1397
01:23:30,714 --> 01:23:33,661
"We hold these truths
to be selfevident."

1398
01:23:33,685 --> 01:23:36,196
The Declaration
is a rallying cry,

1399
01:23:36,220 --> 01:23:37,989
but it was an act of treason.

1400
01:23:38,013 --> 01:23:41,743
Life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.

1401
01:23:41,767 --> 01:23:42,911
Bloody fools.

1402
01:23:46,438 --> 01:23:49,044
Washington really needed to
convince the American people

1403
01:23:49,068 --> 01:23:51,169
that they could fight
the British.

1404
01:23:51,193 --> 01:23:52,340
We must go on the offense.

1405
01:23:52,364 --> 01:23:55,340
There are a great many risks.

1406
01:23:55,364 --> 01:23:59,886
This night will become one
of our great national myths.

1407
01:24:01,036 --> 01:24:03,348
Charge!

1408
01:24:03,372 --> 01:24:05,808
This is our land,
and we will defend it.

1409
01:24:07,084 --> 01:24:08,981
This was found hidden
in his boot.

1410
01:24:09,005 --> 01:24:12,565
Arnold has betrayed
not only Washington

1411
01:24:12,589 --> 01:24:13,358
but his country.

1412
01:24:13,382 --> 01:24:15,527
Go.

1413
01:24:15,551 --> 01:24:18,071
Get him.

1414
01:24:18,095 --> 01:24:19,135
Now.