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Charlie Kirk Today | Patrick O'Donnell: May 25, 2026 | Charlie Kirk Today | May 25, 2026
- All right.
- 00:00:08.965 --> 00:00:09.799
- Happy memorial day to all of you.
- 00:00:09.799 --> 00:00:12.068
- Across this beautiful country.
- 00:00:12.068 --> 00:00:13.670
- From sea to shining sea.
- 00:00:13.670 --> 00:00:15.105
- Blake, i am with you.
- 00:00:15.105 --> 00:00:16.873
- I think that this as far as, like, civic holidays
- 00:00:16.873 --> 00:00:20.276
- That we celebrate as a country,
- 00:00:20.276 --> 00:00:22.078
- There is no more important holiday than memorial day.
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- Absolutely.
- 00:00:24.914 --> 00:00:25.915
- Yeah, i think, i think 4th of july,
- 00:00:25.915 --> 00:00:27.817
- You get more fireworks out of this one.
- 00:00:27.817 --> 00:00:29.452
- But i think this is the one that really reminds us
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- What it took to create america,
- 00:00:33.356 --> 00:00:35.992
- Build america, defend america, preserve it.
- 00:00:35.992 --> 00:00:39.295
- And it's a solemn day.
- 00:00:39.295 --> 00:00:41.364
- And we celebrated with parades and things like that.
- 00:00:41.364 --> 00:00:44.367
- But there's also earlier today, you probably saw the wreath
- 00:00:44.367 --> 00:00:47.370
- Laying at arlington national cemetery.
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- It's a it's a somber day.
- 00:00:49.806 --> 00:00:51.441
- It's a it's a day
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- To reflect on those who paid the ultimate price
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- For our nation.
- 00:00:55.445 --> 00:00:56.546
- And, you know, we're grateful and we're grateful
- 00:00:56.546 --> 00:01:00.450
- To be with you guys.
- 00:01:00.450 --> 00:01:01.484
- And, you know, we thought we'd mix it up.
- 00:01:01.484 --> 00:01:03.219
- We wanted to have longer form conversations today, not focus
- 00:01:03.219 --> 00:01:06.890
- As much on the breaking news, but focus on our country.
- 00:01:06.890 --> 00:01:10.193
- I think today is really the kickoff of america 250.
- 00:01:10.193 --> 00:01:13.163
- Of course, we had the rededicate,
- 00:01:13.163 --> 00:01:14.864
- Event in d.c.,
- 00:01:14.864 --> 00:01:16.399
- Where we're rededicating the nation to our our faith
- 00:01:16.399 --> 00:01:20.136
- And providence and all of those things,
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- And to that
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- That we would pray that jesus would continue guiding
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- This country into the future.
- 00:01:25.675 --> 00:01:27.343
- And that's important. here we go.
- 00:01:27.343 --> 00:01:29.045
- Blake, why don't you, welcome our guest here?
- 00:01:29.045 --> 00:01:31.214
- All righty.
- 00:01:31.214 --> 00:01:32.081
- Well, we want to remember. of course.
- 00:01:32.081 --> 00:01:34.083
- I think this is especially important 250 years.
- 00:01:34.083 --> 00:01:37.487
- We look back on.
- 00:01:37.487 --> 00:01:39.455
- How do we get here? 250 years ago.
- 00:01:39.455 --> 00:01:41.224
- And, of course, we had to win our independence.
- 00:01:41.224 --> 00:01:43.626
- We had to battle against the most powerful country
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- In the world at the time to win that independence.
- 00:01:46.763 --> 00:01:49.465
- So we thought we should speak to a historian
- 00:01:49.465 --> 00:01:52.502
- Of that conflict, the american revolutionary war.
- 00:01:52.502 --> 00:01:55.138
- And so and it's also a person
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- Who's a who's a friend of mine. we played in the same.
- 00:01:56.873 --> 00:01:59.209
- Yeah, you guys are war game club in washington, dc.
- 00:01:59.209 --> 00:02:02.378
- So we are joined by patrick o'donnell.
- 00:02:02.378 --> 00:02:05.248
- He is a revolutionary war historian,
- 00:02:05.248 --> 00:02:07.984
- Author of revolutionary snipers of washington's immortals,
- 00:02:07.984 --> 00:02:12.522
- Numerous other books in civil war, and stuff on the war.
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- Patrick, welcome to the show.
- 00:02:15.925 --> 00:02:17.560
- It's great to be here again.
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- Yeah, yeah.
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- Go on.
- 00:02:22.999 --> 00:02:24.467
- It was with charlie kirk, in 2024
- 00:02:24.467 --> 00:02:27.103
- That we discussed the end vanquished.
- 00:02:27.103 --> 00:02:28.571
- It was one of my favorite interviews.
- 00:02:28.571 --> 00:02:30.773
- Yeah, i remember that, actually.
- 00:02:30.773 --> 00:02:32.709
- And it was a fascinating conversation,
- 00:02:32.709 --> 00:02:35.812
- And people should go check it out, because guess what?
- 00:02:35.812 --> 00:02:38.114
- We have all of the old catalog with charlie available
- 00:02:38.114 --> 00:02:42.218
- On podcast. so, yeah, it's 2000.
- 00:02:42.218 --> 00:02:44.988
- When did you release that book so they can approximate?
- 00:02:44.988 --> 00:02:47.323
- It was in may 2024. may 2024.
- 00:02:47.323 --> 00:02:50.260
- So please do. yeah.
- 00:02:50.260 --> 00:02:51.594
- Bestselling book.
- 00:02:51.594 --> 00:02:52.996
- Yeah. awesome.
- 00:02:52.996 --> 00:02:54.197
- Well, let's let's go back.
- 00:02:54.197 --> 00:02:55.465
- So we say two 50th. yes.
- 00:02:55.465 --> 00:02:57.533
- But in we talked about this recently.
- 00:02:57.533 --> 00:03:00.236
- It's really almost like 200.
- 00:03:00.236 --> 00:03:01.638
- You have to go back almost 230, 230 years
- 00:03:01.638 --> 00:03:04.540
- When you're understanding the revolution
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- And really farther than back than that,
- 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:08.411
- Because the colonies governed themselves
- 00:03:08.411 --> 00:03:10.647
- For 150 years before that, you know,
- 00:03:10.647 --> 00:03:13.449
- And they created a whole culture,
- 00:03:13.449 --> 00:03:14.851
- I think, 158 that's a long time to develop a culture
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- And develop,
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- You know, rules and norms and ways of governing oneself
- 00:03:19.856 --> 00:03:22.592
- As the colonies.
- 00:03:22.592 --> 00:03:23.660
- But take us back, maybe, patrick, in the lead up,
- 00:03:23.660 --> 00:03:27.563
- Here's a here's a trivia question.
- 00:03:27.563 --> 00:03:28.865
- Who was the first american colonialist to die
- 00:03:28.865 --> 00:03:32.802
- In what would become the revolution?
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- The, if you.
- 00:03:36.973 --> 00:03:38.875
- It depends on where you want to go with that,
- 00:03:38.875 --> 00:03:41.110
- Because the revolution begins
- 00:03:41.110 --> 00:03:44.113
- In the 18, in the mid 1860s,
- 00:03:44.113 --> 00:03:47.183
- And it begins
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- 1760s.
- 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:51.321
- It begins with the stamp act.
- 00:03:51.321 --> 00:03:52.889
- And it's, it's it's here that the colonies go into
- 00:03:52.889 --> 00:03:56.125
- Economic rebellion against the greatest empire
- 00:03:56.125 --> 00:03:59.662
- Of the time, you know, in existence,
- 00:04:00.430 --> 00:04:03.733
- Which is the british, the crown.
- 00:04:03.733 --> 00:04:05.635
- And they wield enormous
- 00:04:05.635 --> 00:04:07.737
- Economic power by boycotting british goods.
- 00:04:07.737 --> 00:04:11.541
- I mean, the real the real takeaway.
- 00:04:11.541 --> 00:04:13.710
- And why this is important today
- 00:04:13.710 --> 00:04:16.045
- Is the founders understood dependance.
- 00:04:16.045 --> 00:04:19.916
- And if you were dependent on another nation
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- For your livelihood
- 00:04:22.985 --> 00:04:24.554
- Or for the goods that you have in your supply chain,
- 00:04:24.554 --> 00:04:27.323
- You don't really have any freedom at all.
- 00:04:27.323 --> 00:04:28.891
- And that applies to today with with china
- 00:04:28.891 --> 00:04:30.727
- And other and other places. but the great,
- 00:04:30.727 --> 00:04:33.896
- One of the great,
- 00:04:34.330 --> 00:04:35.131
- Aspects of the american revolution
- 00:04:35.131 --> 00:04:37.767
- Is the non importation exportation agreement,
- 00:04:37.767 --> 00:04:40.870
- Which was an extension
- 00:04:40.870 --> 00:04:41.938
- Of what they initially did during the stamp act.
- 00:04:41.938 --> 00:04:44.674
- But it begins in 1774.
- 00:04:44.674 --> 00:04:47.210
- But the revolutionary war is first about economics,
- 00:04:47.210 --> 00:04:51.247
- But it's then it's about really ideas.
- 00:04:51.247 --> 00:04:53.983
- And the most important
- 00:04:53.983 --> 00:04:55.718
- Ideas in world history are really founded
- 00:04:55.718 --> 00:04:59.088
- From the american revolutionary,
- 00:04:59.088 --> 00:05:01.391
- The ideas of liberty and freedom, which will shake
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- Empires to the core and break them down.
- 00:05:05.128 --> 00:05:08.164
- And it's it begins in the 1770s
- 00:05:08.164 --> 00:05:11.801
- And really 1773 and 74.
- 00:05:11.801 --> 00:05:14.537
- There is a massive
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- It's here that the, the political,
- 00:05:16.739 --> 00:05:19.542
- Revolution is really kind
- 00:05:20.109 --> 00:05:22.945
- Of comes to, comes to being.
- 00:05:22.945 --> 00:05:25.681
- And it's in 1774,
- 00:05:25.681 --> 00:05:28.718
- Though, it's september, on september 1st,
- 00:05:28.718 --> 00:05:32.555
- If you're familiar with somerville, massachusetts,
- 00:05:32.555 --> 00:05:35.425
- Right in cambridge, right outside of boston,
- 00:05:35.425 --> 00:05:38.928
- There's what looks like to be an old windmill there.
- 00:05:38.928 --> 00:05:41.931
- And that is the the old powder magazine,
- 00:05:41.931 --> 00:05:45.201
- That the colonists had in 1774.
- 00:05:45.201 --> 00:05:48.471
- And this is where the kinetic
- 00:05:49.105 --> 00:05:52.041
- Revolutionary war really begins.
- 00:05:52.041 --> 00:05:54.410
- It's general gage conducts a covert operation to take 200
- 00:05:54.410 --> 00:05:59.015
- Half casks of black powder away from that magazine.
- 00:05:59.015 --> 00:06:03.352
- It's the rate of successful.
- 00:06:03.953 --> 00:06:05.855
- What happens next is 10,000 people from the colonies,
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- Armed to the teeth in most cases, descend
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- On boston common in protest.
- 00:06:12.929 --> 00:06:16.032
- And why did they do that?
- 00:06:16.032 --> 00:06:17.767
- Because they're about to be disarmed.
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- It doesn't matter how, you know. great.
- 00:06:19.368 --> 00:06:21.804
- Your revolutionary ideas are.
- 00:06:21.804 --> 00:06:23.873
- If you have no weapons, it doesn't matter.
- 00:06:23.873 --> 00:06:26.542
- I mean, it's something
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- It's the lesson that's being learned in iran right now.
- 00:06:27.710 --> 00:06:30.146
- And that's exactly what the british plan to do.
- 00:06:30.146 --> 00:06:33.216
- They plan to disarm the colonies.
- 00:06:33.216 --> 00:06:35.952
- And they did it
- 00:06:35.952 --> 00:06:37.019
- Because they knew that black powder was scarce.
- 00:06:37.019 --> 00:06:40.323
- There were weapons laying around
- 00:06:40.323 --> 00:06:41.791
- From the french and indian war,
- 00:06:41.791 --> 00:06:43.659
- But there was hardly any black powder.
- 00:06:43.659 --> 00:06:45.294
- And it was because production
- 00:06:45.294 --> 00:06:47.129
- Within the colonies had been outsourced
- 00:06:47.129 --> 00:06:49.532
- To india at the time, because it was cheaper.
- 00:06:49.532 --> 00:06:51.868
- But there were also royal, you know, bans on black powder
- 00:06:51.868 --> 00:06:55.505
- To keep the colonies in check.
- 00:06:55.505 --> 00:06:58.207
- But it's the beginning of these raids
- 00:06:58.207 --> 00:07:01.210
- That will culminate in lexington and concord,
- 00:07:01.210 --> 00:07:05.448
- That will begin the actual revolutionary war.
- 00:07:05.448 --> 00:07:09.218
- And you got the boston massacre.
- 00:07:09.919 --> 00:07:11.988
- That was, that was a little before that.
- 00:07:11.988 --> 00:07:13.489
- But i guess we have a minute to break here.
- 00:07:13.489 --> 00:07:15.691
- But if you were to ask one of those men
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- Who descended on boston common or who fought at
- 00:07:18.394 --> 00:07:21.197
- The battle of bunker
- 00:07:21.197 --> 00:07:22.398
- Hill, the guys who first joined general washington's army,
- 00:07:22.398 --> 00:07:25.134
- And you ask them
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- Even before the declaration of independence,
- 00:07:26.536 --> 00:07:28.237
- What do you think they would have said?
- 00:07:28.237 --> 00:07:30.106
- Why are they joined this army?
- 00:07:30.106 --> 00:07:31.574
- What were they fighting for?
- 00:07:31.574 --> 00:07:32.608
- 30s who they were fighting for
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- Their they were fighting for america.
- 00:07:36.646 --> 00:07:38.614
- They were fighting for the liberty and freedom
- 00:07:38.614 --> 00:07:42.084
- And revolutionary snipers, which i just finished
- 00:07:42.084 --> 00:07:45.121
- A trilogy of three books on the american revolutionary war.
- 00:07:45.121 --> 00:07:48.624
- I spent 16 years of my life writing 14 books,
- 00:07:48.624 --> 00:07:53.329
- And three of these books are in the american revolution.
- 00:07:53.329 --> 00:07:56.399
- They're specifically
- 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:57.500
- On elite units in the american revolution,
- 00:07:57.500 --> 00:08:00.703
- The marylanders,
- 00:08:01.103 --> 00:08:02.672
- The marble headers, which were part of the original,
- 00:08:02.672 --> 00:08:05.541
- At lexington and concord.
- 00:08:05.541 --> 00:08:07.176
- But for the navy and also wrote washington.
- 00:08:07.176 --> 00:08:09.378
- Of course, there were and revolutionary star wars.
- 00:08:09.378 --> 00:08:12.248
- It's here in 1774.
- 00:08:12.682 --> 00:08:16.118
- That's really kind of the precursor
- 00:08:16.118 --> 00:08:19.021
- Of of the declaration of independence for something
- 00:08:19.021 --> 00:08:21.290
- Called the fort gower resolves, where these men had
- 00:08:21.290 --> 00:08:24.026
- Just fought against a massive native american army and won.
- 00:08:24.026 --> 00:08:29.632
- And it's here that they declare
- 00:08:29.632 --> 00:08:32.101
- Their allegiance to the crown, but with a big but
- 00:08:32.101 --> 00:08:35.605
- It's about american liberty
- 00:08:35.605 --> 00:08:37.306
- And freedom, and they were willing to fight for it.
- 00:08:37.306 --> 00:08:40.076
- Incredible thing.
- 00:08:40.076 --> 00:08:41.377
- Hang right there.
- 00:08:41.377 --> 00:08:42.545
- I love this.
- 00:08:42.545 --> 00:08:43.779
- I love i could do this all day.
- 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:48.001
- I love i could do this all day.
- 00:08:48.001 --> 00:08:55.887
- We're
- 00:08:56.121 --> 00:08:57.189
- Here with patrick o'donnell, author of 14 books,
- 00:08:57.189 --> 00:08:59.191
- Including three on the american revolution,
- 00:08:59.191 --> 00:09:01.660
- Which we were just talking about.
- 00:09:01.660 --> 00:09:03.228
- So again,
- 00:09:03.228 --> 00:09:04.162
- We're talking about
- 00:09:04.162 --> 00:09:05.397
- 250 years back is, of course, the year of the declaration
- 00:09:05.397 --> 00:09:08.300
- Of independence.
- 00:09:08.300 --> 00:09:09.001
- But it's also,
- 00:09:09.001 --> 00:09:10.202
- I think a lot of people are aware
- 00:09:10.202 --> 00:09:11.269
- It's the year of the great kind of the greatest crisis
- 00:09:11.269 --> 00:09:14.940
- Of the american revolution, that i think 76 is the year
- 00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:19.411
- When we come closest to losing the whole thing.
- 00:09:19.411 --> 00:09:22.814
- Can you paint that picture for us?
- 00:09:22.814 --> 00:09:24.916
- What was the military situation like 250 years ago?
- 00:09:24.916 --> 00:09:28.286
- I know this is a big part of, washington's immortals.
- 00:09:28.286 --> 00:09:31.123
- For example, is that's,
- 00:09:31.123 --> 00:09:32.991
- The maryland line regiment that basically saves america,
- 00:09:32.991 --> 00:09:36.795
- The american cause, from being annihilated to
- 00:09:36.795 --> 00:09:38.664
- Paint that picture for us.
- 00:09:38.664 --> 00:09:40.699
- You're absolutely right.
- 00:09:41.233 --> 00:09:42.501
- 1776 is a is a great turning point.
- 00:09:42.501 --> 00:09:46.371
- But it was also the the origins of one of the great crisis
- 00:09:46.371 --> 00:09:50.809
- Periods in american history where everything
- 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:53.211
- Could have been lost.
- 00:09:53.211 --> 00:09:54.179
- And there were several key inflection points
- 00:09:54.179 --> 00:09:57.349
- Where this occurs.
- 00:09:57.783 --> 00:09:59.685
- The three books that i've written
- 00:09:59.685 --> 00:10:01.019
- Are on elite units that are that touch upon
- 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:04.556
- These inflection points, and it's their individual agency
- 00:10:04.556 --> 00:10:08.293
- That saves the war in washington's army.
- 00:10:08.293 --> 00:10:11.630
- But the first great inflection
- 00:10:11.630 --> 00:10:13.765
- Point is at the battle of brooklyn.
- 00:10:13.765 --> 00:10:15.767
- And this is this begins,
- 00:10:15.767 --> 00:10:18.103
- On the night of,
- 00:10:18.103 --> 00:10:20.872
- Of august 2627,
- 00:10:20.872 --> 00:10:24.443
- 1776, where the greatest land battle
- 00:10:24.443 --> 00:10:28.547
- Up until that point begins, where the british land
- 00:10:28.547 --> 00:10:31.316
- In brooklyn, long island,
- 00:10:31.883 --> 00:10:35.120
- And they outflank washington's army.
- 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:38.256
- And it's here that,
- 00:10:38.724 --> 00:10:40.892
- You know, everything could be lost
- 00:10:40.892 --> 00:10:43.061
- If 10,000 troops of the continental army
- 00:10:43.061 --> 00:10:46.565
- Are surrounded and annihilated and washington is captured.
- 00:10:46.565 --> 00:10:49.835
- The war is likely over, but it's the
- 00:10:49.835 --> 00:10:53.138
- The efforts of the men in the three books i've written,
- 00:10:53.138 --> 00:10:56.508
- Especially beginning with the maryland line
- 00:10:56.508 --> 00:10:59.211
- In washington's immortals, where there's an epic rearguard
- 00:10:59.211 --> 00:11:02.848
- Action near a stone house where they charge
- 00:11:02.848 --> 00:11:06.118
- Three times
- 00:11:06.451 --> 00:11:07.486
- With fixed bayonets, they sacrifice themselves
- 00:11:07.486 --> 00:11:10.822
- To open a hole in the british lines
- 00:11:10.822 --> 00:11:13.325
- That allows the remainder of washington's army to escape
- 00:11:13.325 --> 00:11:16.795
- To the fortifications in brooklyn heights.
- 00:11:16.795 --> 00:11:19.297
- And it's here that washington has a great decision to make.
- 00:11:19.297 --> 00:11:22.067
- Does he stay and fight, or does he retreat?
- 00:11:22.067 --> 00:11:25.370
- And a massive hail storm comes in a nor'easter
- 00:11:25.370 --> 00:11:28.974
- And it's in, you know, a mansion in brooklyn heights
- 00:11:28.974 --> 00:11:31.810
- And the three chimneys
- 00:11:31.810 --> 00:11:32.978
- Where he decides whether he has a council of war,
- 00:11:32.978 --> 00:11:35.814
- And he decides to evacuate brooklyn.
- 00:11:35.814 --> 00:11:39.151
- And it's on the shoulders
- 00:11:39.151 --> 00:11:40.852
- Of the, the indispensable
- 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:43.455
- Men from marblehead that they escape.
- 00:11:43.455 --> 00:11:47.459
- And this is the american dunkirk.
- 00:11:47.459 --> 00:11:49.761
- This is an incredible story that they put together
- 00:11:49.761 --> 00:11:53.064
- All the small boats that they can.
- 00:11:53.064 --> 00:11:55.433
- They only have literally hours
- 00:11:55.433 --> 00:11:58.069
- To gather these boats and gather 90, 500 americans,
- 00:11:58.069 --> 00:12:03.208
- Put them in the boats and then cross the east river
- 00:12:03.208 --> 00:12:06.745
- Over to manhattan.
- 00:12:06.745 --> 00:12:08.146
- But, oh, they got to do it in the middle of
- 00:12:08.146 --> 00:12:10.615
- A, you know, a giant to 20,000 man action.
- 00:12:10.615 --> 00:12:14.653
- And british army in their front
- 00:12:14.653 --> 00:12:16.555
- And the royal navy in the east river behind them.
- 00:12:16.555 --> 00:12:19.825
- And they somehow have to do it.
- 00:12:19.825 --> 00:12:21.593
- And initially none of it goes well at all.
- 00:12:21.593 --> 00:12:24.329
- The, the winds are not favoring them.
- 00:12:24.329 --> 00:12:27.732
- And and suddenly the winds change,
- 00:12:27.732 --> 00:12:30.969
- But it's on the, the backs
- 00:12:30.969 --> 00:12:33.405
- Of the greatest sailors in the continental, army,
- 00:12:33.405 --> 00:12:36.641
- The marblehead men of the 14th regiment and john glover,
- 00:12:36.641 --> 00:12:40.245
- That they are somehow able to get across it.
- 00:12:40.245 --> 00:12:42.647
- It's this is a race against time.
- 00:12:42.647 --> 00:12:44.616
- Blake and andrew, they have to ferry the army
- 00:12:44.616 --> 00:12:47.686
- Across nearly a dozen times back and forth.
- 00:12:47.686 --> 00:12:52.524
- And it's a race against time because dawn
- 00:12:52.524 --> 00:12:54.826
- Is coming in with it, you know, visibility
- 00:12:54.826 --> 00:12:57.863
- And the the entire the small fleet of small boats
- 00:12:57.863 --> 00:13:01.900
- Conducting this american dunkirk
- 00:13:01.900 --> 00:13:03.902
- Are about to be blown to smithereens by the royal navy.
- 00:13:03.902 --> 00:13:07.172
- But it's here that god's hand,
- 00:13:07.172 --> 00:13:09.875
- You know, shows itself in a fog.
- 00:13:09.875 --> 00:13:13.211
- Miraculous at the right time,
- 00:13:13.211 --> 00:13:15.714
- At around 5:30 a.m., comes in and screams
- 00:13:15.714 --> 00:13:19.150
- The movement of the rest of john glover's boats.
- 00:13:19.150 --> 00:13:22.721
- General washington and the
- 00:13:23.288 --> 00:13:25.023
- The riflemen from american snipers are in that rearguard.
- 00:13:25.023 --> 00:13:28.894
- They're the last men on the boats,
- 00:13:28.894 --> 00:13:30.762
- But they make it across in one of the greatest evacuations
- 00:13:30.762 --> 00:13:34.432
- In military history. it's really incredible.
- 00:13:34.432 --> 00:13:36.534
- You think of everything
- 00:13:36.534 --> 00:13:37.669
- That's ever happened to in american history.
- 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:39.638
- That emancipation proclamation,
- 00:13:39.638 --> 00:13:42.574
- Winning world war two, landing on the moon and everything.
- 00:13:42.574 --> 00:13:45.610
- We've invented the wright flier.
- 00:13:45.610 --> 00:13:47.445
- And it's all resting on these men who maybe
- 00:13:47.445 --> 00:13:51.149
- I don't even know if they've heard the texts
- 00:13:51.149 --> 00:13:53.118
- Of the declaration of independence yet.
- 00:13:53.118 --> 00:13:54.686
- It's only about a month old.
- 00:13:54.686 --> 00:13:56.554
- They're surrounded.
- 00:13:56.554 --> 00:13:57.489
- It's an incredible thing.
- 00:13:57.489 --> 00:13:58.623
- I looked up while you're describing it.
- 00:13:58.623 --> 00:14:00.025
- Since it's in brooklyn,
- 00:14:00.025 --> 00:14:01.359
- If you want to go, if you're in that area.
- 00:14:01.359 --> 00:14:03.495
- The scene where this all happened,
- 00:14:03.495 --> 00:14:04.763
- It's in prospect park of brooklyn.
- 00:14:04.763 --> 00:14:06.564
- That's where the monument to the battle itself is.
- 00:14:06.564 --> 00:14:09.167
- And of course,
- 00:14:09.167 --> 00:14:09.935
- It's the waterways nearby
- 00:14:09.935 --> 00:14:11.303
- That they would have been fleeing across.
- 00:14:11.303 --> 00:14:12.637
- I love the way you describe that, patrick.
- 00:14:12.637 --> 00:14:15.006
- The the american dunkirk.
- 00:14:15.006 --> 00:14:16.841
- I think that's like
- 00:14:16.841 --> 00:14:18.109
- For our modern context that really brings it home.
- 00:14:18.109 --> 00:14:21.346
- It's the american thermopylae where the the marylanders
- 00:14:21.346 --> 00:14:24.683
- Make this epic stand.
- 00:14:24.683 --> 00:14:25.750
- And i will add that the men of the maryland 400,
- 00:14:25.750 --> 00:14:30.188
- Most of them have never 256 men
- 00:14:30.188 --> 00:14:34.426
- Have vanished to history.
- 00:14:34.993 --> 00:14:37.195
- It is very likely that there is a mass grave
- 00:14:37.195 --> 00:14:39.965
- In brooklyn of their bodies and their sacrifice
- 00:14:39.965 --> 00:14:43.435
- To this day, many of them that were also captured.
- 00:14:43.435 --> 00:14:46.871
- And they depend on,
- 00:14:46.871 --> 00:14:48.673
- You know, floating concentration camps in new york
- 00:14:48.673 --> 00:14:51.710
- Harbor and just
- 00:14:51.710 --> 00:14:53.011
- Just tossed overboard like bags of trash, their bones.
- 00:14:53.011 --> 00:14:56.614
- So this is, you know, a story of epic sacrifice.
- 00:14:56.614 --> 00:15:00.418
- It's a fitting story for memorial day,
- 00:15:00.418 --> 00:15:02.721
- Because if it hadn't been there, sacker faced it
- 00:15:02.721 --> 00:15:05.223
- An hour is one historian at the time said, an hour
- 00:15:05.223 --> 00:15:07.993
- More precious in our history than any other.
- 00:15:07.993 --> 00:15:10.295
- We would not be here today.
- 00:15:10.295 --> 00:15:11.930
- But that, i will add, is only one
- 00:15:11.930 --> 00:15:15.000
- Disastrous defeat in 1776.
- 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:18.503
- It was one after the other.
- 00:15:18.503 --> 00:15:20.071
- Yeah, hold, hold that thought.
- 00:15:20.071 --> 00:15:21.806
- But i totally agree.
- 00:15:21.806 --> 00:15:22.774
- What a what a beautiful testament.
- 00:15:22.774 --> 00:15:24.876
- Especially for memorial day.
- 00:15:24.876 --> 00:15:26.644
- The sacrifice of those early americans,
- 00:15:26.644 --> 00:15:28.880
- That gave us so much. we'll be right back.
- 00:15:28.880 --> 00:15:33.001
- That gave us so much. we'll be right back.
- 00:15:33.001 --> 00:15:37.330
- All right, blake, continue on here.
- 00:15:38.097 --> 00:15:41.067
- While we were discussing the great crisis period
- 00:15:41.067 --> 00:15:43.936
- Of the american revolution, 77 1776.
- 00:15:43.936 --> 00:15:48.074
- We've just covered
- 00:15:48.074 --> 00:15:49.275
- The battle of brooklyn heights and the escape.
- 00:15:49.275 --> 00:15:51.210
- The american dunkirk.
- 00:15:51.210 --> 00:15:52.645
- Yeah.
- 00:15:52.645 --> 00:15:53.046
- I don't know
- 00:15:53.046 --> 00:15:54.147
- If there's another crisis that happens between us,
- 00:15:54.147 --> 00:15:55.615
- But why don't you take us to the story,
- 00:15:55.615 --> 00:15:57.283
- And we know how the year ends.
- 00:15:57.283 --> 00:15:58.885
- And i know this is also.
- 00:15:58.885 --> 00:16:00.086
- It's the cover of the indispensables.
- 00:16:00.086 --> 00:16:02.188
- Another great crisis.
- 00:16:02.188 --> 00:16:03.423
- The washington's crossing of the delaware to end
- 00:16:03.423 --> 00:16:06.259
- The the year of our independence.
- 00:16:06.259 --> 00:16:09.128
- Absolutely. blake.
- 00:16:09.562 --> 00:16:10.563
- I mean,
- 00:16:10.563 --> 00:16:11.798
- After the battle of brooklyn, the british land in manhattan.
- 00:16:11.798 --> 00:16:15.201
- And it's there's a, it's punctuated by a few victories.
- 00:16:15.201 --> 00:16:19.705
- For instance, at harlem heights, there's a victory
- 00:16:19.705 --> 00:16:22.075
- Over, british regulars, soldiers,
- 00:16:22.075 --> 00:16:24.777
- Some of the elite units.
- 00:16:24.777 --> 00:16:25.978
- And it's the men of, the riflemen that actually deal
- 00:16:25.978 --> 00:16:29.382
- That that, defeat on the british as well as they stop
- 00:16:29.382 --> 00:16:32.952
- A landing where 25 riflemen armed with the pennsylvania
- 00:16:32.952 --> 00:16:36.889
- Long rifle, which is the sniper rifle of its day.
- 00:16:36.889 --> 00:16:39.892
- It was pathbreaking technology.
- 00:16:39.892 --> 00:16:42.095
- They stop an entire british invasion at frogs neck.
- 00:16:42.095 --> 00:16:45.598
- But really, after that, it's one disaster after another.
- 00:16:45.598 --> 00:16:48.734
- In washington's army of 20,000 is in full retreat
- 00:16:48.734 --> 00:16:52.738
- Across manhattan, up through white plains.
- 00:16:52.738 --> 00:16:55.675
- They then cross the hudson river,
- 00:16:55.675 --> 00:16:57.810
- And they're they're going into new jersey,
- 00:16:57.810 --> 00:16:59.679
- And they're trying as quickly as they can
- 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.915
- To get to the delaware river and across it to the the the
- 00:17:02.915 --> 00:17:06.219
- Friendly farms of pennsylvania, and hopefully safety.
- 00:17:06.219 --> 00:17:09.655
- But it's at this time there's massive hyperinflation.
- 00:17:09.655 --> 00:17:12.692
- The army of 20,000 is crumbling because the enlistments
- 00:17:12.692 --> 00:17:16.696
- Are expiring at the end of the at the end of the year.
- 00:17:16.696 --> 00:17:20.032
- You know, washington, his army is reduced
- 00:17:20.032 --> 00:17:22.401
- To, you know, 5000 or so.
- 00:17:22.401 --> 00:17:25.238
- And it's here that, you know, it's the great crisis point.
- 00:17:25.238 --> 00:17:29.075
- Washington knows if he doesn't conduct
- 00:17:29.075 --> 00:17:31.811
- A counter-offensive that changes
- 00:17:31.811 --> 00:17:33.579
- The course of things, all will be lost.
- 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:37.016
- And it's, it's at trenton that the plans
- 00:17:37.016 --> 00:17:40.119
- Really one of the greatest,
- 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.021
- Counter offensives, one of the great battles
- 00:17:42.021 --> 00:17:44.624
- In american history that will change the tide,
- 00:17:44.624 --> 00:17:47.593
- Of the revolutionary war.
- 00:17:47.593 --> 00:17:49.462
- And it's a dangerous and hazardous thing because the,
- 00:17:49.462 --> 00:17:53.566
- The the british in their their, their, their, their allies,
- 00:17:53.566 --> 00:17:56.702
- The hessians are outpost it across new jersey.
- 00:17:56.702 --> 00:17:59.805
- And he chooses trenton,
- 00:17:59.805 --> 00:18:02.008
- Which is one of the more
- 00:18:02.008 --> 00:18:03.242
- Vulnerable outposts, but it's manned by the hessian lion.
- 00:18:03.242 --> 00:18:07.346
- Colonel rall, who's one of their best commanders.
- 00:18:07.346 --> 00:18:12.051
- But like the battle of brooklyn, they have to cross
- 00:18:12.051 --> 00:18:15.655
- A river, and, you know, they have to do it secretly.
- 00:18:15.655 --> 00:18:19.292
- Because if the plan is known, the entire thing can be blown
- 00:18:19.292 --> 00:18:24.130
- When indeed the british intelligence did pick up
- 00:18:24.130 --> 00:18:26.966
- That the washington was coming.
- 00:18:26.966 --> 00:18:29.769
- But it's a nor'easter that once again comes into play.
- 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:33.339
- And it's once again that washington asks
- 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:36.275
- John glover if he can take the army across.
- 00:18:36.275 --> 00:18:39.378
- And he said, don't worry about it.
- 00:18:39.378 --> 00:18:40.713
- My boys can handle it.
- 00:18:40.713 --> 00:18:42.648
- There were three prongs of the attack on trenton,
- 00:18:42.648 --> 00:18:45.818
- Two of them failed.
- 00:18:45.818 --> 00:18:47.186
- It was only the the the men of the marblehead regiment
- 00:18:47.186 --> 00:18:51.557
- That got the army across because the, the the,
- 00:18:51.557 --> 00:18:55.494
- The tides in the, in the, in the delaware river were such
- 00:18:55.494 --> 00:18:58.431
- That there were floating chunks of ice.
- 00:18:58.431 --> 00:19:00.399
- It was a massive nor'easter.
- 00:19:00.399 --> 00:19:02.201
- Snow was coming down.
- 00:19:02.201 --> 00:19:03.669
- It was impassable to anybody.
- 00:19:03.669 --> 00:19:05.738
- But the most experienced seafarers
- 00:19:05.738 --> 00:19:08.407
- Of a marblehead regiment.
- 00:19:08.407 --> 00:19:10.042
- And they make it across and they attack, trenton at dawn.
- 00:19:10.042 --> 00:19:15.181
- They're behind schedule, but they,
- 00:19:15.181 --> 00:19:18.084
- They surprise the garrison.
- 00:19:18.084 --> 00:19:21.020
- They were not.
- 00:19:21.020 --> 00:19:22.088
- It's like, you know, all the story books out there.
- 00:19:22.088 --> 00:19:24.390
- These guys were not drunk and idle.
- 00:19:24.390 --> 00:19:26.792
- They were actually sleeping
- 00:19:26.792 --> 00:19:27.960
- In their uniforms with their muskets in hand
- 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:30.496
- And ready for the american attack.
- 00:19:30.496 --> 00:19:32.098
- In fact, british intelligence actually tipped them off.
- 00:19:32.098 --> 00:19:34.967
- And i get
- 00:19:35.268 --> 00:19:35.901
- Into the indispensables as
- 00:19:35.901 --> 00:19:37.770
- Well as revolutionary snipers, which comes out in november,
- 00:19:37.770 --> 00:19:40.740
- And in washington's immortals.
- 00:19:41.340 --> 00:19:43.109
- And how that intelligence was relayed.
- 00:19:43.109 --> 00:19:46.512
- But a earlier raid, as well as the nor'easter sort
- 00:19:46.512 --> 00:19:50.549
- Of convinced for all that it it probably already occurred.
- 00:19:50.549 --> 00:19:53.819
- And, he wasn't as alert as he should have been.
- 00:19:53.819 --> 00:19:57.290
- And they attack and it's a snipers
- 00:19:57.290 --> 00:20:00.459
- Rifle that will take down and mortally wound
- 00:20:00.459 --> 00:20:03.763
- Johan rall and will will swing the course of the battle.
- 00:20:03.763 --> 00:20:08.100
- But this is just ten days
- 00:20:08.100 --> 00:20:10.736
- In crucial american history and three battles
- 00:20:10.736 --> 00:20:13.806
- Which will change the course of world history.
- 00:20:13.806 --> 00:20:16.142
- And it's all part of
- 00:20:16.142 --> 00:20:17.677
- Washington's counteroffensive at trenton.
- 00:20:17.677 --> 00:20:20.379
- And then there's the second battle of trenton,
- 00:20:20.379 --> 00:20:22.315
- Which hardly anybody has ever heard about it.
- 00:20:22.315 --> 00:20:24.050
- But it's a great inflection point as well.
- 00:20:24.050 --> 00:20:26.786
- And a steep ridge
- 00:20:26.786 --> 00:20:28.587
- Had to be held in the continentals were across
- 00:20:28.587 --> 00:20:30.923
- Something called s&p creek on the other side of trenton,
- 00:20:30.923 --> 00:20:33.926
- And it had the bridge fallen,
- 00:20:33.926 --> 00:20:35.561
- The army would have been ripped apart and destroyed,
- 00:20:35.561 --> 00:20:37.963
- Just like the battle of brooklyn.
- 00:20:37.963 --> 00:20:39.965
- But, washington escapes.
- 00:20:39.965 --> 00:20:42.201
- They hold the bridge,
- 00:20:42.201 --> 00:20:44.203
- You know, against all odds, that the riflemen literally
- 00:20:44.203 --> 00:20:47.139
- Delay them for about, 6 or 7 hours,
- 00:20:47.139 --> 00:20:51.510
- Chewing up precious daylight
- 00:20:51.510 --> 00:20:53.746
- As they're on their way to the bridge.
- 00:20:53.746 --> 00:20:55.247
- And and they hold the bridge against all odds.
- 00:20:55.247 --> 00:20:57.416
- Washington himself is at the rail of the bridge,
- 00:20:57.416 --> 00:21:00.519
- You know, leading his men.
- 00:21:01.087 --> 00:21:02.121
- And that's how just the the leadership
- 00:21:02.121 --> 00:21:05.291
- Is, is striking, across the board,
- 00:21:05.291 --> 00:21:09.729
- From enlisted men to general washington himself.
- 00:21:09.729 --> 00:21:13.099
- I think this is good
- 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:14.100
- For modern americans to look back on because,
- 00:21:14.100 --> 00:21:17.303
- You know, we're not raised the same as they were there.
- 00:21:17.303 --> 00:21:19.171
- We're we're not all working the farms.
- 00:21:19.171 --> 00:21:20.706
- But, you know, what was it about them that set them apart
- 00:21:20.706 --> 00:21:24.443
- In the whole sea of humanity and all of history?
- 00:21:24.443 --> 00:21:28.347
- What made them special, what was imbued
- 00:21:28.347 --> 00:21:31.250
- In their character that made them able to achieve so much?
- 00:21:31.250 --> 00:21:35.388
- Revolutionary snipers in particular,
- 00:21:36.155 --> 00:21:38.357
- Kind of is a throwback to rugged individualism.
- 00:21:38.357 --> 00:21:42.361
- And what i mean by that is individual
- 00:21:42.361 --> 00:21:45.865
- That lived on a frontier, and the frontier
- 00:21:45.865 --> 00:21:48.768
- Is the appalachian mountains and beyond.
- 00:21:48.768 --> 00:21:50.569
- Some of them, they lived illegally,
- 00:21:50.569 --> 00:21:52.371
- And they had to not only contend
- 00:21:52.371 --> 00:21:54.707
- With hostile native americans,
- 00:21:54.707 --> 00:21:57.610
- Which were there to to burn out their houses.
- 00:21:57.610 --> 00:21:59.412
- And many of these men, their families were executed
- 00:21:59.412 --> 00:22:02.648
- By native americans and in some cases,
- 00:22:02.648 --> 00:22:05.351
- They were native americans that were allied to the crown.
- 00:22:05.351 --> 00:22:07.953
- I mean, the but the the story has nuance
- 00:22:07.953 --> 00:22:10.189
- Where native americans also fought with us,
- 00:22:10.189 --> 00:22:12.992
- But it's that rugged individual dealing with the elements,
- 00:22:12.992 --> 00:22:15.961
- Dealing with massive uncertainty in their lives.
- 00:22:15.961 --> 00:22:18.798
- But somehow they have to forge not only a life
- 00:22:18.798 --> 00:22:23.669
- Survival, but they forge a nation.
- 00:22:24.437 --> 00:22:27.072
- And it's this, you know, collective effort,
- 00:22:27.072 --> 00:22:29.809
- This rugged individualism, this resilience, this belief
- 00:22:29.809 --> 00:22:33.679
- In, in, freedom
- 00:22:34.046 --> 00:22:36.348
- And liberty, which is these are a,
- 00:22:36.348 --> 00:22:39.051
- This is a time of, you know, the great kings and empires.
- 00:22:39.051 --> 00:22:43.155
- Were you were swearing allegiance to the crown.
- 00:22:43.155 --> 00:22:45.658
- This is where subjects become citizens.
- 00:22:45.658 --> 00:22:49.628
- It's a very, very important time.
- 00:22:49.628 --> 00:22:51.931
- Give, patrick's books a look at a wealth of knowledge,
- 00:22:51.931 --> 00:22:55.968
- A great way to celebrate our, our country on memorial day.
- 00:22:55.968 --> 00:22:59.638
- These are the guys who made it possible.
- 00:22:59.638 --> 00:23:01.674
- They're the ones
- 00:23:01.674 --> 00:23:02.208
- Who got through
- 00:23:02.208 --> 00:23:03.342
- The times that try men's souls, as thomas paine put it.
- 00:23:03.342 --> 00:23:06.045
- So, patrick,
- 00:23:06.045 --> 00:23:07.646
- Thank you
- 00:23:07.646 --> 00:23:08.848
- For coming on the show today and happy memorial day to you.
- 00:23:08.848 --> 00:23:11.584
- It was an honor.
- 00:23:11.584 --> 00:23:12.551
- Thank you so much for having me on, patrick.
- 00:23:12.551 --> 00:23:14.587
- Until next time, when we need a history lesson
- 00:23:14.587 --> 00:23:16.856
- On, on things we should be thankful for.
- 00:23:16.856 --> 00:23:19.625
- I hope you have a lot of
- 00:23:19.625 --> 00:23:20.693
- Gratitude in your heart for the boys of 76 and 77.
- 00:23:20.693 --> 00:23:20.693
