AND AMERICA WATCHES THEIR STATUES PULLED DOWN: 4/8 The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware by Patrick K. O'Donnell (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2024
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Indispensables-Marbleheads-Soldier-Mariners-Washington-Delaware/dp/0802156894
On the stormy night of August 29, 1776, the Continental Army faced capture or annihilation after losing the Battle of Brooklyn. The British had trapped George Washington’s forces against the East River, and the fate of the Revolution rested upon the shoulders of the soldier-mariners from Marblehead, Massachusetts. Serving side by side in one of the country’s first diverse units, they pulled off an “American Dunkirk” and saved the army by transporting it across the treacherous waters of the river to Manhattan.
In the annals of the American Revolution, no group played a more consequential role than the Marbleheaders. At the right time in the right place, they repeatedly altered the course of events, and their story shines new light on our understanding of the Revolution. As acclaimed historian Patrick K. O’Donnell dramatically recounts, beginning nearly a decade before the war started, and in the midst of a raging virus that divided the town politically, Marbleheaders such as Elbridge Gerry and Azor Orne spearheaded the break with Britain and shaped the nascent United States by playing a crucial role governing, building alliances, seizing British ships, forging critical supply lines, and establishing the origins of the US Navy.
1776 TRENTON
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS. I'm John Bapser with the author Patrick O'Donnell, his new book, The Indispensibles. |
| 0:11.5 | The diverse soldier mariners who shaped the country formed the Navy and rode Washington across the Delaware. |
| 0:17.7 | Arriving in July of 1775, straight from the Congress is George Washington to take command. |
| 0:25.8 | What was the Marblehead opinion of Washington when he first arrived? |
| 0:29.8 | Were they affectionate towards him as they became? |
| 0:33.4 | George Washington needed a headquarters, and that headquarters was at the Vassal House, and it was the Marbleheaders that were guarding the Vassal House. |
| 0:44.0 | That's where they encamped. |
| 0:45.8 | And Washington develops a very unique and important relationship with the Marble Heters. |
| 0:50.8 | He trusts them. |
| 0:52.4 | And that bond of trust is something that will extend through the |
| 0:56.4 | entire revolution. And they guard Washington, and it's here at the Vassal House that, you know, |
| 1:05.4 | Washington is also introduced to nautical things. It's John Glover, who's in charge of the regiment at this point. |
| 1:14.3 | And powder becomes, it remains the crucial supply. |
| 1:18.9 | They need it badly. |
| 1:20.4 | Washington takes an inventory of the army. |
| 1:24.9 | And the men that are camped around the Vassel House and around Boston are, you know, thousands |
| 1:30.6 | strong, but they have in their cartridge boxes seven or eight cartridges. |
| 1:36.4 | There's there's hardly any powder at all. |
| 1:38.4 | If the British charge out, they may not even be able to fend them off. |
| 1:42.6 | And Washington is is coming up with you know he realizes |
| 1:46.0 | that he is in dire straits and they start to figure you know they they come up with ideas and how to |
| 1:52.1 | get more powder one of them is to potentially raid Halifax which has in Canada you know large stores |
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