Episodes

The Dominguez-Escalante Expedtion was an effort to find an over-land route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Monterey, California. Their journey took them north across the Colorado Plateau to Utah Lake Valley, which was a peculiar route at first, until you realize that they started with a route taken by Juan Rivera in 1765. Atanasi Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante were born in Mexico City and Spain, respectively. They left Santa Fe along with about a dozen others (one of whom had been on ...

For a long time the debate about what Nathan Hale said before he was hanged was whether he said “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country” or “I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” In more recent years, it’s emerged that what he said is probably lost to history, since contemporary accounts aren’t especially clear about it. More accurately, the most reliable-ish contemporary account is second-hand at best, so it’s a History version of the game Telephone. You ...

One of the events that took place the same day of Nathan Hale’s capture is that there was a huge fire in New York that burned about a quarter of the city. Now, the British thought that it was started by American saboteurs to prevent the city from falling into British hands. However, while that idea had come up, George Washington was under orders not to do so, and they therefore denied any responsibility. For their part, the Americans suggested that British soldiers were responsible for the fire...

The Pennsylvania Constitution turned out to have many unique qualities, but they were so good that before long they weren’t unique anymore, because so many people copied them. That’s not to say that everything about the Pennsylvania Constitution was unique, or even original. For instance, the document begins with a Declaration of Rights that was lifted directly from Virginia. Regardless, there were some radical ideas in there (for that time), which clearly demonstrated that some of the authors...

The Battle of the Black Hole, also known as the Battle of Coweecho River, lasted about two hours and had surprisingly few casualties, considering its location and just how fierce the fighting was. Colonel Andrew Williamson essentially marched into an ambush in a deep gorge, and had to fight their way out. They began by using a circular formation because they found themselves surrounded. But because they were in such a tight spot geographically, they realized that the only way out is through, as...

Washington’s report to Congress regarding the events at Harlem Heights a couple of days earlier didn’t pull any punches with regard to how badly his army was beaten, or what mistakes he and his men might have made. It didn’t always make for cheerful reading in Congress, but at least they knew what they were up against. They knew they weren’t getting whitewashed “Everything Is Just Peachy” reports from someone afraid of dealing with Congressional fallout. And fortunately, Washington’s report in...

Langdon Cheves had a bit of a rough start in life, but he managed to pull himself up and become quite the influential man in the early 1800s. Despite the fact that few people have heard of him, Cheves was an active member of the House of Representatives, and managed to make the best of bad situations. When the 1810 embargo on European goods had the effect of collapsing rice and cotton prices, Cheves was able to channel the voters’ dissatisfaction into returning him to Congress. He was considere...

While it didn’t change the result in New York, the Battle of Harlem Heights was a tactical win for the Continental Army, and a boost to morale as well. It was the Continental Army’s first true victory since Lexington and Concord, and after the demoralizing loss at Kip’s Bay only a day earlier, demonstrating that these soldiers (who were still little more than ordinary citizens) could, in fact, stand up successfully to the mightiest fighting force in the world. Harlem Heights is a neighborhood ...

Calling it “The Battle of Kip’s Bay” may actually be overstating it a little bit; there were 500 militamen from Connecticut in the area when the British landed, and their defenses were blown away almost immediately, after which they panicked and ran. But I tell you all about that in the episode. This is my chance to tell you a related story, and nobody knows whether it’s true. If you look at today’s artwork, you’ll see a piece of a map and an estate called Inclenberg, about where modern-day Mu...

Washington was on the brink of retreating from New York City, but he was getting pushback from some of his generals regarding how it should be done. Fortunately for him, this Gordian Knot was cut by a letter arriving from John Hancock on behalf of the Continental Congress. Nathanael Green and William Heath weren’t necessarily in agreement with Hancock’s recommendations, but orders are orders and everyone prepared to move out based on those. But about a week later, something happened to render...

When Patriot forces saw four ships moving into Bushwick Creek, it was ominous but probably not a huge surprise, given that the British already held Brooklyn. They put up largely token fire from their own strongholds and that was pretty much that. Washington knew that Manhattan was next, but it wasn’t clear how the attack would come, or from where specifically, but he’d already begun the work of getting people and materials out of town, so it probably wasn’t much more than a distraction for him....

George Washington’s Council of War finally got to meet on this day in 1776, to figure out what happens next. The Battle of Long Island was a rout for several reasons. In addition to the Continental Army being outnumbered by roughly two-to-one, there was poor communication and a couple of tactical errors. And the only reason more soldiers weren’t captured or killed was because poor weather prevented the British from figuring out that they were escaping across the East River until it was far too ...

The Staten Island Peace Conference was a bust almost from the beginning. Not because the sides were so opposed, but because one side didn’t have the authority to do any real negotiation. John Adams, Edward Rutledge and Benjamin Franklin had to row over from Perth Amboy, New Jersey to get to the Totten House, which is near the southernmost tip of New York State, on Staten Island. At the narrowest point I could find from the vicinity of the house, that’s nearly a half-mile across the mouth of the...

General William Heath was around for the battle at Lexington and Concord, but you may remember him from our episode from just a few days ago. He was already a Brigadier General in Massachusetts before Lexington & Concord, and as the siege in Boston started, he worked at training the troops. When the Continental Army officially formed, he retained his title and was promoted to Major General in August 1776. Unfortunately (as Mike notes), George Washington didn’t think much of him and kept him la...

First off, my apologies to you, and to Mike (because it was his episode), for not double-checking that yesterday’s episode was actually loaded into the feed. I’ve been fighting off a ridiculous sinus infection and I think my medication had me woozy. On the bright side, I’m probably sounding extra sexy in today’s episode because my head still feels like a brick. Yesterday’s show should be in your podcast feed now, though, along with this one. Today we have a trio of delegates headed to New Yor...

There are lots of images of Nathan Hale that have him looking like a middle-aged fellow, and then there are others that have him looking like some kind of idealized young man, with a prominent jaw and youthful good looks. The fact is, nobody today is 100% sure what he looked like, because no contemporaneous images of him have been found. The best we have is a description written by a fellow soldier of his, Lieutenant Elisha Bostwick. Bostwick wrote: I can now in imagination see his person & he...

…but the situation was not excellent, for the American side, anyway. George Washington got a wake-up call in the form of a letter from Congress. In that letter he was told that it was not a good idea to burn down New York City; what’s more, they weren’t quite so invested in his holding the City as he thought they were. This was a good news/bad news situation for him, since he knew that strategically, the British occupying New York had the potential to be a huge problem, especially if they were ...

I’ve brought this up in the past, but Maryland appears to have an extraordinary grasp of its own history, even when it comes to naming Maryland counties. As Mike notes today, Maryland has the first two counties established by local representatives, and the first counties named after popular Americans. But even in Maryland, when the names come from old-world aristocracy, it’s not always easy to draw the lines from A to B. For instance, the colony of Maryland was established by Catholic settlers ...

The American Army has evacuated Brooklyn. Reports are coming in from all over that the Loyalists are being rather sore winners over the event. Refugees are coming into Connecticut from across the Long Island Sound. George Washington, literally the last man out of Brooklyn, is trying to figure out his next move, and that of the British. Nathanael Greene, who missed the Battle of Long Island because he’d been seriously ill, finally returns to duty. At last, some good news for General Washington! ...

When Nicholas Emery was born, the state in which he did most of his important work didn’t yet exist. At the time of his birth, Maine was still considered part of Massachusetts, which is a vast oversimplification, since New Hampshire also had claim to a lot of this land (and that partially explains why New Hampshire has about 15 miles of coastline between Maine and Massachusetts). What’s more, Maine might not have become a state had it not been for the Missouri Compromise, part of which provide...

The HMS Rose was a British ship that we first discussed a little over a year ago. Her job was largely to patrol the waters off southern New England to prevent smuggling activity on the part of the Americans. In July 1776 the Rose was dispatched—like many, many other British ships—to New York Harbor for the invasion of Long Island and, later, New York City. And today we look at some of her activity in the East River. For those of you who know the area at all, the Kip’s Bay neighborhood is where...

General John Sullivan had been captured only a few days before by the British, during the Battle of Long Island. Now, Mike tells us in this episode that the Howes talked him into approaching the Continental Congress with their peace offering, but equally likely is that Sullivan simply agreed to deliver the message because it would get him out of captivity, at least for a while. (He was paroled specifically to deliver the message. Once he had his answer, it was “Back to jail with you, Johnny.”) ...

If nothing else, Ezekiel Bacon was a fairly reliable Representatvie in Congress, given how often he voted with his party, and the fact that he had a good attendance record as well. Bacon became a representative in Massachusetts when his predecessor, Barnabas Bidwell, resigned from the state legislature over irregularities in the Berkshire County books turned up. These irregularities were exaggerated in the press, but Bidwell fled the country anyway, landing in Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario) ...

Washington wrote two letters today: one to General William Heath, and the other to Congress. To Heath, he basically gave a little bit of an “attaboy” in agreeing with Heath’s assessment regarding the British Army’s next move. So he recommended that chevaux de frise be sunk in the waters nearby the next likely target (Huntspoint), to thwart the British ships moving in. Other than that, some reinforcements are on their way, so until the British arrive, just hurry up and wait. Now, a cheval de fr...