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Sunday morning. Well, this week was a special week. You know,
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it's 250th year anniversary of our country. And today, this week,
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was the Battle of Brooklyn. With us today is Patrick O'Donnell.
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He's a historian, a public speaker, a best-selling author, and
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he's on with us this Sunday morning to talk about
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the Battle of Brooklyn and how crucial it was. Well,
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tell us, Patrick, give us your analysis of how crucial
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the Battle of Brooklyn was.
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John, this is one of the most important battles in
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American history that nobody has ever heard of. And why
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is it important? It's because the British could have conducted
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a crushing victory by destroying Washington's army, potentially capturing Washington
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and ending the Revolutionary War that week, 250 years ago.
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And it's a series of engagements, small unit actions, as
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well as an American Dunkirk that takes place that will
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save the revolution and allow the United States to continue
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to grow and foster and live on. And it was
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that week, though, 250 years ago, that it almost all ended.
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Understood. And what happened? I want people to understand, because
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a lot of our listeners, maybe 10% of them, 20%
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of them, or overall country, are New Yorkers. So they're
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interested about what happened. Absolutely, John.
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This is a situation that's over a year after the
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battles of Lexington and Concord and the siege of Boston
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where the British evacuate. They then come back. The empire
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strikes back with the largest force ever assembled to conquer
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North America and to crush the rebellion. They bring about
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most of the Royal Navy, which is the most powerful
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navy of the world at the time, as well as
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most of their, two-thirds of their army. They never have enough,
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so they bring in Hessian regulars from Germany that are
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brought in as allies, and they're there to crush Germany.
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the nascent United States in Washington. And Washington has the
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unenviable job of somehow defending New York City, which is
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mission impossible because it's surrounded by water, and the Royal
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Navy can land anywhere that they want. So he divides
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his army up into two parts. He defends Manhattan and
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then also Long Island. And it's on August 22nd that
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the British land at Long Island. Tens of thousands of troops,
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over 20,000 strong troops, And Washington has roughly 10,000 men
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on Long Island. And the largest battle up until that
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point of the Revolutionary War begins, interestingly enough, in a
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watermelon patch on August 26th, where British scouts are trying
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to find, they're basically probing American lines, and they come
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across the watermelon patch, which would be today, it was
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known as the Red Lion Inn, but it was the
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gates of Greenwood Cemetery in today's in the current-day geography,
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and it's there that they are repelled by the men
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in my next book, which is called Revolutionary Cypress, which
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is on the Revolutionary Riflemen, and they repel those scouts.
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But it's the next day that the crown comes on strong,
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and most of the American forces are arrayed on the
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heights of Gowanus, which is today's Greenwood Cemetery. And the
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British have this incredibly novel flanking maneuver where they go
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through the Jamaica Pass, which is only guarded that night
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by five men on horseback, which are quickly captured. And 10,000
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men go through Jamaica Pass, and they are conducting a
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massive flanking maneuver and surround effectively the men on the
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heights of Gowanus.
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And it's here.
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that one of the greatest small unit actions in American
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history take place were 400 Marylanders. The Washingtons, known as
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Washington's Immorals, I wrote a best-selling book on it, five
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companies of men would make a suicidal bayonet charge against
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a position occupied by Cornwallis. They were some of the
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only men in the Continental Army at the time that
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had bayonets, and they risked their
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lives. Their motto was
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men of honor, family, and fortune. They were some of
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the richest families from Baltimore and Maryland, and they conducted
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a series of rearguard actions, these bayonet charges, that allowed
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the bulk of the American Army to escape across the
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Mill Pond and Gowanus Creek and into the heights of
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Brooklyn at the time.
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And it.
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Was an hour more precious in our history than any
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other as a contemporary historian would say. Their sacrifice... prevented
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the major wings of the British and Hessian armies from
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coming together, converging, and smashing Washington's entire force, which would
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have thereby ended the entire Revolutionary War.
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Understood. And that made the difference.
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It makes all the difference. It's a situation where individuals
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and their agency could change the course of time. It's
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a small unit action situation. And it's not the end
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of the– Washington is not out of the woods yet, though.
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And he has to basically endure two days of a
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siege against the combined British and Hessian armies. And there's
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the Royal Navy, which is parked in New York Harbor
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and about to go up the East River. And here
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he conducts the greatest evacuation in military history. It's the
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American Dunkirk and the men from Marblehead. I wrote a
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book called The Indispensables. They put together all the small boats,
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and they ferry across the East River, which is a
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raging torrent, because there's a massive storm that takes place
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for two days. And somehow, miraculously, they get across, and
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there's a fog that comes in in the morning that
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screens their movement at exactly the right time at dawn,
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and they're able to get the army off. without losing
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most of their men. It's an incredible story.
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Patrick O'Donnell, thank you for coming on this Sunday morning
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to tell us about the Battle of Brooklyn, something that
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was very important for our 250th year anniversary, and let's
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catch up again real soon.
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Absolutely, John. It was an honor and a privilege to
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be back on your show.