VIOLENT BIRTHRIGHT: 1/8 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
4.6 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 25 August 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
1912
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.
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| 1:05.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World. |
| 1:08.5 | Here's John Batchel. |
| 1:10.7 | And I welcome the author Patrick O'Donnell, his new book, The Inters, eye on the world. Here's John Batchel. |
| 1:13.3 | And I welcome the author, Patrick O'Donnell. |
| 1:15.9 | His new book, The Indispensibles, |
| 1:18.4 | The Diverse Soldier Mariners, |
| 1:20.6 | who shaped the country, formed the Navy, |
| 1:23.3 | and rode Washington across the Delaware. |
| 1:26.5 | It is April 1775, |
| 1:32.9 | April 18th to 19th, the night of the Black Horse Tavern in Monotomy, Massachusetts. |
| 1:38.7 | Monotomy is a word meaning swift water, mystic river. It is now part of Arlington. |
| 1:47.3 | In that inn, the Black Horse Tavern, are three prominent members of the Marblehead leadership, the Marbleheaders. |
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