01x01 - Loyal Subject

[bunniefuu]

Turn and run, you cowards!

Washington is, without question,

the greatest hero and leader
in American history,

but he's a stranger.

I, George Washington,
do solemnly swear...

People see him more
as a monument than a person.

But you can't understand him

unless you acknowledge
that he was human.

That I will faithfully
execute the office

of President
of the United States.

And when we understand
the man behind the myth,

it actually becomes empowering
and inspiring for us,

because he's not as distant.

Long live George Washington,
President of the United States.

When I look at Washington,
I see a leader.

He could have been king,
but that was not him.

He wasn't interested in power.
He had power.

The world has never seen
the last stage of perfection

to which human nature
is capable of attaining.

Hear, hear!

I see a man who gave himself
to service.

We must give them something to
fight for, something inspiring.

Something happened to Washington

that made him think...
"I have to do this."

I see a husband.
It is exquisite.

And I see a slaveholder.

American history
is not a fairy tale,

so I think it's a mistake
to think of him

as entirely virtuous.

If we truly want to know
that man,

then we have to look
at everything, warts and all.

Washington's not a frozen image.

He changes from moment to moment
in his life.

He evolves.

Despite all his flaws,
Washington was the one man

that made this country possible.

What makes this a nation?

Two thingsthe Constitution
and George Washington.

Washington was not born great.

He took a journey
toward greatness.

Keep moving.

We march through the night
if necessary.

In 1754, the man who will
one day become

the father of his country
is an American colonist

wearing British red.

He's in command
for the first time

on a mission to serve his king,
George II.

Lieutenant Colonel Washington,
sir. Over the ridge,

the Half King and his men, sir.
Good work. Fall in line.

Washington is the colonel
of Virginia Regiment by age 22.

He hasn't led men in battle
at all.

He has no experience.

Washington's here to help
the British Empire

defend its claim
on a strategic piece

of the frontier.

The forks
where three rivers meet

will one day be called
Pittsburgh,

but now the Ohio country
is land claimed

by both Britain and France,

and the native nations
who live there.

There are many different
tribes in this area.

There's a very complicated
political alignment

between various tribes
and between the French

and theand the British.

They wanted traders to come in
because traders brought

lots of things that Indian
people wanted and needed.

But what Indian people
in the Ohio country wanted

was to preserve
their own independence,

and they wanted to preserve
their own land.

And to assure

their own control of the region,
it's always better

to be able to play off
the different European nations

against each other.

Washington's goal is to reach
the forks before the French do

and convince them to leave
the Ohio country peacefully.

But in this land
of shifting alliances,

his only chance to succeed
is to secure the help

of the Half King, an ambassador
of the six Iroquois nations,

who at this point
is a friend to Britain.

The Half King is
an accomplished warrior,

and he's now a statesman
and a diplomat.

This was his world,

and Washington was coming
into it.

You English are welcome here.

We have pushed on
for many miles.

My men need rest.

Get them water.

We have meat.

Thank you.

We received word on our way here

the French have beaten us
to the forks.

They're already underway.

They are much closer. Closer?

A few miles. I will show you.

How well armed are they?

Have they made clear
their intentions?

These French,
they have bad hearts.

They are here to fight.
What makes you say.

You wait,
and the French may come first.

Then...

my people will not help you.

We have endured
a grueling march.

My men need rest.

If it is as you say, I will
choose a course of action.

Only a handful of nonlndian guys

knew enough to negotiate
the treacherous waters

of Indian politics
and international politics

in the Ohio country,

and George Washington
was not one of them.

You will lead us to them.

We know the place.

Washington is trying to make
a career for himself

in the military,

and he feels like if he fails
on this mission

that his career is over.

As a young man, 21, 22,
he really wanted

to earn a name for himself.

To understand where

George Washington's
intense ambition comes from,

it's really helpful to look
at his family history.

Our Father, which art in
Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,

on Earth as it is in Heaven.

The adversity for him begins
with the death of his father.

He was 11 years old.

He's now the head
of his household,

and so George is supposed to be
educated in London

like his two older halfbrothers.

That's not happening anymore.

Washington as a young man
is sort of secondtier gentry.

He's not one of the great,
wealthy families of Virginia.

He was very sensitive
about the fact

that he didn't have
advanced schooling.

The education
of George Washington

was experience
rather than schooling.

John Adams went to Harvard.

Thomas Jefferson
went to William & Mary.

George Washington went to w*r.

There must be 20.



We do outnumber them.

They do not know we're here.

Surprise is ours.

My order
This is no time for waiting.

You must see it.

I see the opportunity.

This is his first major command.

He doesn't really know
what he's doing,

but he does not want to go
back to Virginia emptyhanded.

No w*r has yet been declared

between France
and Great Britain,

but all it's going to take
is one spark

to set the tinderbox alight.

I will give the command.

Fire!

Charge!

Washington almost immediately
loses control.

He's become a spectator.

Stop! Do not sh**t!

Aah!

This is the moment that causes
the French and Indian w*r.

This is the w*r that led
to the American Revolution.

When the Half King
kills Jumonville,

the French commander,
in front of his eyes,

what had looked like a victory

now looks like a tragic fiasco.

Jumonville's mission
was the same as Washington's

send a message
to the competition

to clear out
of the Ohio country.

The letter that the French
are trying to deliver claimed

that they were actually
a diplomatic party

delivering a message

to the British governor
of Virginia.

So Washington essentially
attacked a diplomatic party.

Take the survivors as prisoners.

Treat them fairly.

For it's time we departed.

This is an era
that's very strict

about following the rules
of warfare.

George Washington's just
breached those rules.

It's one of the most shocking
moments of his life

a moment where he could get
in very big trouble indeed.

"Honorable sir.

"I shall begin with assuring you
that nothing was farther

from my intention..."

Washington wastes no time
scrambling

to protect his reputation.

On the day after the battle,

he writes three separate letters
to his superior,

Virginia Lieutenant Governor,
Robert Dinwiddie.

"These officers pretended
they were coming on an embassy,

"but the absurdity
of this pretext is too glaring.

They were sent as spies."

His first instinct
is to justify what he did,

to suggest that it was
the Frenchman's fault

not being clear that he was
on a diplomatic mission.

"The sense of the Half King
is they designed to come to us

in a hostile manner."

"If the French prisoners
tell you any differently,

don't believe them.
We had to do this."

Then he follows up
almost immediately

with another letter
to this effect.

"Since writing the other letter,

"I have
still stronger presumption,

indeed, almost confirmation,
that they were sent as spies."

The notion is
this is a man who can't lie

you know, Washington never lies.
Of course he lies.

He's an ambitious young guy
who overreaches on occasion,

and, um, he's lucky.

Some of these things
could have derailed him.

He's lucky that he didn't
get k*lled.

When he's young,
he's undisciplined,

and he doesn't quite understand
the ways of the world,

and so he writes letters
to Dinwiddie

that he later very much regrets.

Taking care of your reputation

for Washington,
that was exceedingly important.

Washington wants to live up
to the values instilled in him

as a young boy growing up
on a Virginia tobacco farm.

George Washington,
like Barack Obama,

like Gerald Ford,
was raised by a single mother,

and that's often overlooked
in how that impacted him.

Come on, George.

Yes, Mother, coming.

Mary Ball Washington
was a strong woman

who was very focused,
very businesslike.

She was ambitious.
She was savvy.

She managed her estate
very carefully.

Heaven knows how she handled
all of that, but she did.

And she played such
an important role in his life

to give him that structure
of character, of competence,

and believing in yourself.

She passed to Washington

a very kind
of a hardheaded realism,

teaching him
strict selfdiscipline

and being very tough on himself.

She doesn't give him time
to putter around

and waste the years dreaming.

He learned pretty early

he was gonna have
to depend upon himself.

I think he wanted to separate
himself from his childhood,

and he had the strength
of will to do it,

partly because he saw what
it took his mother to survive.

Washington's pinned his hopes
on advancing

up the ranks in the military,

even though colonists can only
serve in the provincial forces

and aren't eligible
for commissions.

He's determined to become
a British officer.

Washington's trying to impress
his higherups

within the British Empire.

He hopes it's gonna go on
up the chain

and will reach powerful people
in London

who will be impressed
with what he's doing.

But George Washington recognizes

that the showdown with
the French has only just begun.

They're certainly not going
to take this defeat lying down.

Fort Duquesne is not
that far away.

He knows that there are hundreds
more French troops there,

and they're going
to come after him.

As Washington prepares
for the counterattack,

he's reinforced
by 100 British regulars,

giving him a total of 400 men
to face the French revenge.

He builds a fort
that he names Fort Necessity

to suit the desperation,
as he sees it, of the moment.

It's about 50 feet in diameter.

I mean, that's like the size
of your lawn.

He's put it
in the worst possible position.

He has not cleared the field
of fire.

The French
and their Native American allies

will be able to fire down
into the fort with impunity.

This is not really a fort.

It looks much more like
a death trap.

But he's still kind of c*ck,

despite everything
that he's gone through.

And he's very confident
that he's going to succeed.

"I shall expect every hour
to be attacked

"and by unequal numbers,
which I must withstand.

Let them come what hour
they will."

Fire!

And reload!

Keep your positions!

When the exFrench and
their Native allies strike...

Aah!

They hit
with overwhelming firepower.

Hold your line!

Aah!

Washington and his men
are essentially trapped.

Uhh!

The French have total control
over the situation.

And fire!

Reload!

They're determined
to punish Washington...

To embarrass him...

and possibly to k*ll him.

Hold your line!

Fire!

And reload!

Hours into an as*ault
by the French

and their Native American
allies,



Keep your positions!

Is confronting the cost
of his inexperience in command.

Aah!

Hold your line!

Turn back and fight!

The men themselves,

they have
no reputations to defend.

So when it gets to a point
of crisis...

They're not going to
listen to him.

Hold your ground.

Keep your position, soldier!

Uhh!

The powder is wet.
Their g*ns are failing.

Another few minutes,

and George Washington
would have been dead.

And then all of a sudden,
there's an extraordinary

fortuitous opportunity
to end that fight.

Hold your fire!

The chance for a parlay
to end this battle

is a saving grace.

Well, the French don't want
the fullfledged w*r.

Allowing Washington
and his soldiers

to live and to go back
to Virginia,

having been embarrassed
by defeat,

is the best possible result
of this confrontation.

While Washington
and his men survive,

the price is signing
an official surrender.

Washington doesn't speak French.

Read it to me.

"As our intention had never
been to trouble, uh...

"uh, the peace,
uh, between, uh",

the peace and the good harmony
between the two princes..."

His translator is a Dutchman

who speaks some French
and English,

but not enough
to alert his commander

to exactly what he's signing.

"But only to revenge
the k*lling,

which has been done
on one of our officers."

The documents of surrender
demand

that Washington confess

that he has assassinated
Ensign Jumonville,

to being a w*r criminal.

"We grant
the English commander to, uh,

return with his garrisons
peaceably into his own country."

He's in over his head.

He never expected
that he would have to surrender,

and so he's illprepared
for that particular moment.

Take it.

Washington's name
at this point will be

associated with ignominy
and embarrassment,

not with grit, feats of
military accomplishment.

It will take months for
Washington to learn the truth

about what he signed.

In the meantime, he's determined

to make sure this defeat
doesn't threaten his dreams

of becoming a British officer.

Washington writes an account

that appears
in the colonial newspapers,

and in that whole account,

there's not one word
of surrender.

"The French called to parlay.

"We agreed that each side
should retire,

that we should march away
with all the honors of w*r."

Of course, it didn't happen
that way at all.

And, yet, he becomes a folk hero

in the eyes of many Virginians.

He had a sort of cunning

and a kind of understanding
about how things operated,

how society operated,
how the world operated

that I think served him well.

Washington is a tremendously
savvy political figure.

He's great at protecting
his reputation,

and he has friends
who know how to do it.

Governor Dinwiddie and the men
of the House of Burgesses

pass a resolution
thanking Washington

for his good conduct.

They wipe out

much of the embarrassment
and humiliation

that Washington
had gotten himself into.

But the farther you go
from Williamsburg, Virginia,

the less of a hero he is.

Eventually,
the French will publish

these articles of surrender.

They will announce to the world

this young American officer
has confessed

to assassinating
a French officer.

If you think about it,
"assassin" in English and French

are pretty much the same,
but he was desperate.

I think he was afraid.

And yet Washington denied

that interpretation
of the capitulation

for the rest of his life.

"That we were willfully
or ignorantly deceived

"by our interpreter in regard
to the word 'assassination',

I do aver and will
to my dying moment."

In London, the Lords in charge
are saying,

"If we let this behavior stand,
we'll lose all North America.

"We need professional
British soldiers.

"We need professional officers.

We can't rely on people
like this guy Washington."

As a result, British command

reorganizes
the Virginia Regiment

and makes its American officers,
regardless of rank,

subordinate to even
the lowest of British officers.

The changes not only dash.

Washington's hopes
of advancement,

they effectively demote him

from lieutenant colonel
to captain.

Washington resigns in protest.

Washington resigned,
and he writes this great letter,

in which he says,
"How could a man allow himself

"to be demoted
for no good reason?

"It was from the advice
of my friends and my own honor

"that I declined,
not because I didn't wish

to be in the military anymore."

"I shall have the consolation
of knowing

"that I have hitherto stood
the heat and brunt of the day

"and that I have the thanks
of my country

for the services
I have rendered it."

He's got to be wondering
if he has a future.

He's convinced that he's never
going to command troops

in action again.

Seven months after quitting
the Virginia Regiment,

George Washington
is back in uniform,

this time as a volunteer.

The American frontier
is engulfed

in a w*r for control
of the continent,

and the Ohio country
is ground zero.

It means we're not alone.

Be on your guard.

Despite his missteps,

Washington is now
one of Virginia's

most experienced
frontier fighters,

and he's been tapped
to serve as an aide

to British General
Edward Braddock.

Braddock's a veteran commander,

but a veteran of European wars.

And so he doesn't know
what he's doing

once he gets into North America,

which is
a different environment.

The British,
they didn't know how to fight

in the forest conditions.

Washington is willing to go
as an aidedecamp

because it carries some respect,

and Braddock apparently gave him
some indication

that he could expect
a military commission.

Braddock
and 2,400 British regulars

are cutting a road through
more than 100 miles

of dense wilderness
to move scores

of cannon, horses, and men
into place

for an attack on Fort Duquesne,

the stronghold the French
completed at the forks

after Washington's defeat
at Fort Necessity.

The forks of the Ohio

were seen as almost the key
to the continent.

Whichever imperial power
controlled that

controlled access to
the interior of the continent.

I do not have time for this.

Break down another wagon.
Yes, sir.

General Braddock, another delay?

Cannot be helped.

Perhaps if we did not stop
to level every molehill

or erect a bridge
over every brook.

It is this terrain of yours.
Sir...

But we shall level it out yet.

Sir, with respect,
I have fought the Indians.

Our line is too extended.

They could cut our forces
in two before we could even

martial our defense.

These savages may be
a formidable enemy

for your raw American militia,
but upon the King's regular

and disciplined troops,
it is impossible

that they will make
an impression.

Of course, sir.
We have nothing to fear.

Head out and inspect
the rear guard.

Report back to me
within the hour.

Sir.

Over the next five weeks,
the army pushes slowly

toward Fort Duquesne,
traveling in a long column

with Washington and Braddock
just a quarter mile

behind the advance guard.

Once they crossed
the Monongahela River,

he thinks,
"Okay, that's job done.

We'll just
sweep the fort apart."

Suddenly, chaos erupts.

French Canadian troops
have hit the front

of the British column.

The advance guard.
We are under attack.

Forward! Make ready!

Washington warned the Redcoats
were vulnerable to an ambush.

Forward!

Now he has to face the hellfire.



and the British force
he's advising

are caught in an ambush.

Stay in line!

The British are trapped,
surrounded by enemy fire

the French from the front
and their Native American allies

from the tree line
on both flanks.

Hold fire!

Aah! Uhh!

Get back in line!

As an aidedecamp,
he's not in charge of anything.

Look to your officers!

He can deliver messages.
He is responding

to the orders
of General Braddock.

But he doesn't have any troops
under his command.

Hold the line!

Uhh!

Washington has two horses
shot out from under him,

three b*llet holes
through his coat,

but he's not scratched.

Where's General Braddock?
Where is General Braddock?!

General Braddock?

Within a very short period
of time

every single British officer

has been either k*lled
or wounded.

General Braddock, sir.

We need to get you to safety.

Leave me. But, sir...

Save those men that can
be saved. Order a withdrawal.

We can get you clear.
Order a withdrawal.

But to whom am I to relay
the command, sir?

The command... is yours.

This is the opportunity

that Washington's
been waiting for

to prove himself in command.

In this moment
of almost complete breakdown,

he is able to compose himself
and to give the orders

that would enable this army
to start its retreat.

Fall back! Fall back!

Fall back! Fall back!

Washington organizes
a rear guard

to provide cover while he mounts
a general retreat,

narrowly saving Braddock's
force from annihilation.

But the British battle losses
are severe.

In just three hours of fighting,

nearly 1,000
of some 1,500 troops

are k*lled or wounded,
including 63 officers.

"The dead, the dying,

"the groans, lamentations,
and cries along the road

of the wounded for help..."

"Were enough to pierce
a heart of adamant."

Washington's never seen
anything like this.

I mean, this is destruction
of human life

on a colossal scale.

Nobody who is ever going
into battle

comes out of the battle
the same way.

When you see blood
in front of you,

when you see body parts
laying all over,

you realize this is no longer
a game. This is the worst.

This is the worst.

When he's young,
he wants to be in battle.

It's romantic. It's where
he can prove his valor.

And those things
sort of fall away

after the Battle of Monongahela.

He will never be again
that naive young man

who sees w*r as an adventure.

In the aftermath of the battle,

Washington's family receives
a report of his death.

Days later,
he writes his brother.

"As I have heard
a circumstantial account

"of my death and dying speech.

"But by the allpowerful
dispensations of providence,

"I have been protected beyond

all human probability
and expectation."

Washington developed the notion

that somebody was looking
over him,

that he should have died,
and he attributes this

not to God but to providence.

He believes that because
those forces have saved him,

that history's on his side.

We should all be grateful

that he was the one
who had the luck.

What would have happened to us
if he had been k*lled

by one of those b*ll*ts?

With Braddock's death,
Washington's most promising path

to a British officer's
commission is thwarted.

But he emerges from the battle
a w*r hero.

Newspapers and broadsides
and tavern talk

throughout America become filled
with discussions of Washington.

"Do you know that it was
an American

who led those troops
off the field?"

Washington had joined
the Braddock campaign

with a view to reclaiming,
rebuilding his reputation.

Ironically, that happens.

Because one of the things
the colonists can take from this

is the unmistakable courage
of George Washington.

At that stage,
the Virginians need a hero,

and he's
the available candidate.

Would you humble me
with a dance?

It would be my pleasure.

Watching Washington
in public settings,

everybody is rapt because
they have not seen anybody

with his size, his strength.

Washington is tall
for his time. He's around 6'2",

the look of an natural athlete,
someone you would see

on the basketball court today
or the football field.

First impression is,
"Oh, my God.

This guy is impressive."

Historians are always talking
about how great he was

on the dance floor,
in the ballroom,

and all the women
write about it all the time.

Later on, Abigail Adams,
when she writes

about seeing George Washington
for the first time,

I mean, it could be
in a romance novel.

"The gentleman and soldier
look agreeably blended in him.

"He's a temple, sacred by birth

and built by hands divine."

The thing about
George Washington

was his selfcontrol.

It wasn't as if
he didn't have emotion.

Underneath him were seething
real passions that gave

a crackle, an intensity
to his physical presence.

It added to his charisma.

Thank you.

It doesn't take a lot to see
that this is a human being

who is a compressed spring
that's about ready

to release itself
onto the American scene.

As the French and Indian w*r
intensifies on the frontier...

he'll get his chance.

The Colonies need a leader
to stem the carnage.

And the name
on everyone's lips...

is George Washington.

By the spring of 1756,

the American frontier
is a w*r zone,

as the French deploy
their Native American allies

to ramp up attacks
on British settlers.

The destruction
of Braddock's army is

such a powerful blow that
there's a real skittishness

amongst the British.

So what's happening
is that the British frontier

is being rolled back.

There's a huge highway
into the heart of settlement.

That road that's built
to attack Fort Duquesne

now is unprotected.

There's no troops there,
and so they're unable,

really, to stop
Native American incursions.

Hundreds of people are dying.

Hundreds of people
are being taken c*ptive.

This is just sheer terror.

And that's what Washington
has to deal with.

There is no order,

no way to predict
where they will strike next.

I could have
a thousand more men,

and it would make no difference.

Washington's been lured
back to the frontier

by Governor Dinwiddie

and is now a colonel
in the Virginia Regiment.

He's tasked with protecting
more than 300 miles

of rugged terrain,

and he has fewer than 1,200
untrained and illequipped men

that he now has to make
into soldiers.

Look at them.

No discipline at all.

And we've had
two more desertions last week.

This must change.

After
the Battle of the Monongahela,

Washington begins to think
about the fundamentals

of running a military force.

And the lesson
that we as Americans

need to learn is that we need
to be more professional.

And so he knew what it was
to have discipline

in an organization,

and he was not a softie.
He was a disciplinarian.

He would have people punished.

He's always watching to see
whether you're on time

and whether you're working hard.

If you're in the military unit
and you're a deserter,

even if he knows you
and likes you,

he has no compunction
about stringing you up,

no second thoughts.

"I luckily caught two deserters.

"James Thomas, one of them,
always behaved himself

"with great sobriety,
honesty, and diligence.

"The other criminal,
Henry Campbell,

"is a most atrocious villain
and richly merits

an ignominious death."

He can't tolerate desertion.

For the rest of the soldiers
in the unit,

it's a betrayal
of your colleagues

on your left and your right,

'cause then they can't
count on you.

Halt.

Thomas.

There will be no more offenses.

Washington tempered those
severe punishments with mercy.

He would often do it
at the last minute

when all the soldiers
of that unit

would be there to witness
the punishment.

Proceed.

You're sending the signal
to the soldiers

who didn't desert
that our commander

is a merciful commander.

Just don't do
this sort of thing.

He's a tough taskmaster,

and he tells you
what he wants you to do,

and if you don't do it

just the way
he wants you to do it,

he's not happy.

He's not, um,
hailfellow wellmet.

He is a man of high standards

and expects you to meet
those standards,

and if you don't,
it will reflect on him.

Aim.

Fire!

Second row, aim!

Now fire!

Washington is learning
how to lead,

and he's learned
on the b*ttlefield,

and he's applying those lessons
now with the Virginia Regiment.

This musket is everything
to you.

Lift up, pull back,
and you are ready.

Now let's see you again.

Faster!

Come on, you rabble, faster!

Aim.

And fire!

Better, but we need
to be quicker!

This is life and death!

The bayonet.

Detach and fix.

Right. Let's see it.

His command
of the Virginia Regiment

is the shaping experience
for his role

as a military commander.

It becomes an elite unit

that is like the Rangers
or the Special Forces.

The British have to acknowledge

and they do, openly

that Washington has created
for the first time

in the history of America

a provincial force
that is worthy of respect,

that's every bit as good

as what the British
put into the field.

And yet he can't seem
to get them recognized

as a proper regiment.

He can't get them
officers' commissions

in the British established
regiments in North America.

He thinks they've earned this.

That Americans should be treated
as second class subjects

is anathema to him.

Washington wants to prove
to the British

that his regiment is ready
for a bigger mission,

what he sees as the only way
to get control of the frontier

an attack
on the French stronghold,

Fort Duquesne.

But when his commander
Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie

refuses to give him the goahead,

Washington's willing
to risk anything,

even insubordination.

In his early 20s
as a young officer,

he was not at all

the George Washington
we think of.

He was stubborn.

He was hasty.

He's the kind of guy

you wouldn't want
to go up against

in terms of willpower.

Once he sets his mind
to something,

it's going to happen.

Pardon me. Can you tell me
where I might find Lord Loudoun?

Colonel George Washington's
come to Philadelphia uninvited

to meet the most powerful
military man on the continent.

John Campbell, Lord Loudoun,
the Scotsman

he has been appointed
commanderinchief

of British forces
in North America,

and he comes to Philadelphia,
and George Washington thinks,

"Aha! This is my moment.

"I'm the colonel
of the Virginia Regiment.

"I need to convince him

"of all the extraordinary work
we've done

and convince him that we need
to go on the offensive."

Washington is looking
for an acknowledgment

from the British

that Americans are equal members
of the empire,

equally worthy of respect.

It's incredibly audacious
for Washington,

this junior officer,
to come in there

and try to speak
to the commanderinchief

about what their strategy
should be.

It would be like
a junior officer

going to speak to the head
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

My Lord.

Your persistence,
Colonel Washington,

affords you a few moments.

Be brief.

I have come to discuss affairs
in the Ohio country.

With which I am well acquainted.

Of course, my Lord,

but I do feel we are missing
an opportunity.

And I fear confusion.
From the surface,

it would seem you're about
to question

my military strategy.

I would never dare question
your abilities, my Lord.

But I know these lands.

I have traveled them,
fought upon them.

If we were to launch
a direct attack.

Is it a provincial trait to say

that you do not question
something

and then proceed to question it?

No, my Lord.

Then let me ask you.

As a selfproclaimed expert
on this land,

what is your opinion
of our present strategy

my strategy?

Sound, my Lord.

Then you would do well
to mind your orders.

Dismissed.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, my Lord.

Washington is
an idealistic young man.

He sees things as they
should be.

And he doesn't understand
why other people

don't see things the same way.

"To Lieutenant Governor
Dinwiddie,

"Honorable sir, we can't
conceive that being American

"should deprive us

"of the benefits
of British subjects.

"We are defending
the King's dominion,

"and there can be
no sufficient reason given

"why we, who spend our blood
and treasure

"in defense of the country,

are not entitled
to equal preferment."

And this isn't the
overambitious George Washington.

This is a long frustration
that had been developing

over a long period of time.

He tries to work his way

through the British political
and military bureaucracy

in order to get
what he believes is right,

and instead, he finds himself
falling into a quicksand pit

as the British stop him
from accomplishing

what he wants to accomplish.

More than a year later,
the British plot an attack

on Fort Duquesne,
using the exact strategy

Washington suggested to Loudoun.

The campaign pushes France
to finally abandon its claim

to the Ohio country,
ending the fighting

between France and Britain
in the region.

But Washington gets neither
the credit

nor the officer's commission
he was seeking.

His response to that
was not to feel

that he had been rejected,
but that they were stupid.

They were allegedly
his superiors.

He felt superior to them.

Washington resigns.

Never again
to wear British colors.

Never to become
a British officer.

That dream is dead.

If the British government

had simply said
to George Washington,

"You want a commission
in the British Army?

"We'll give you a commission

in the British Army."

That might very well
have done it,

because then
his professional loyalties

would have been with this
institution of British Arms.

For him,
it was a matter of honor.

And we can date
from that moment, I think,

the birth of the rebel
George Washington.

His military ambitions
behind him,

Washington forges
a new path forward.

It begins with a political win

a seat in the Virginia
House of Burgesses.

And it continues at the altar.

I will.

And you, Martha,
wilt thou obey him?

The marriage to Martha is
the single most important event

in his early life, and it makes
everything else possible.

Love, honor, and keep him
in sickness and in health.

I will.

Now I pronounce you
husband and wife.

You may kiss the bride.

So not many love stories
start with dysentery,

but this one does.

He needed to go to the capital
to see a doctor

to get certain medicines,
and through that,

he was somehow connected
with Martha Custis.

They met a few times.
It was a few weeks,

a few months,
and then all of a sudden,

she's ordering a dress.

At 27 years old,

Martha was in a unique position
in early America.

Her first husband had died,
and his male relations had died.

So she had control
of a huge estate,

and she didn't have
to report to anyone.

She was a catch because
of the fortune she brought.

He was a catch
because he was a stud.

The union
of George the folk hero

and Martha, the wealthy widow,

transforms Washington's fortunes
overnight.

He becomes a loving stepfather
to Martha's two children


and 2yearold Patsy.

And he expands the estate
he inherited from his family

a place called Mount Vernon.

When he first acquires
Mount Vernon,

it's about 2,000 acres.

When he dies,
it's 8,000 acres, contiguous

along the Potomac River.

Martha brings to the marriage
several thousand acres of land

along with 84 enslaved people
who make it all run.

In Virginia,
the key was to get land,

but land is worthless
without labor,

and sl*very was
the dominant form of labor

in the Atlantic world
at that time.

Washington inherited
his first sl*ves as a child.

And over the course
of his lifetime,

he's buying and selling
enslaved people.

He's growing his wealth

growing as a farmer,
growing as a slaveholder.

George Washington in the 1760s
was not necessarily thinking

about posterity
or about the future.

That would happen
much later in his life.

I believe that he,
along with many others,

knew that sl*very was wrong.

Yet it was also crucial
to financial success.

The Washingtons are now
among the Virginia elite.

It's an exclusive club,
and they're expected to keep up.

Washington and Martha
dress very well.

They dress their servants
very well.

They are doing their very best
to appear to belong

to Virginia's governing elite,
their top 1%.

Hello, dearest. Hello, husband.

I have something for you.

Oh, George.

It is exquisite.

Not as lovely as the woman
who will wear it.

Thank you.

Now... there are letters
on your desk.

Always. Hmm.

With a new family,
a growing estate,

and a position
of high social standing,

Washington's dreams are
beginning to be realized.

What is it?

But the life he's building...

is in jeopardy.

"It might possibly answer
very little purpose

"were I to enter
into a minute detail

"of the reason that have
caused me to fall so much

"in arrears to you.

"Missed chances
rather than misconduct

have been the causes of it."

After five years of marriage,

the Washingtons are deeply
in debt.

They owe upwards
of a quarter million

in today's dollars.

"I shall now beg leave
to inform you

"in terms equally sincere
and direct

"that it is not in my power
to make remittances

"faster than my crops will
furnish me with the means.

"It is but an irksome thing
to a free mind

to be any ways hampered
in debt."

In Virginia society,
the vast majority of planters

were relatively cash poor.

They owned their wealth in land.

They owned their wealth
in enslaved people,

and then Washington gets paid
basically maybe once a year,

as an agriculturalist,
maybe twice a year.

The worst fear he has
is ruining Martha

and the hopes
of Martha's children.

That is good, George.

Calm, measured.

Thank you.

Perhaps next year's crop
will fare better.

I cannot continue
to balance our fortunes

on a thing as fickle as tobacco.

He grows tobacco
and sends tobacco

to his consignor in London,

then that person uses that money

to purchase the items
that Washington has requested.

And they charge whatever
they want for it,

the same way that they pay you

whatever they want
for the tobacco,

and so he's stuck in this...
vicious cycle.

No matter how hard he works,

no matter how much tobacco
he grows,

it always turns out
that he's further in debt.

Even very wealthy planters
like Washington

chronically were in debt,
and this is critical.

They weren't in debt

to Pennsylvania merchants
or New York merchants.

They were in debt
to English merchants.

Washington's view is that

the entire planter class
of Virginia, him included,

has been caught
in this economic trap

that these capitalists
over there

are sucking the blood
of all of us.

We rotate in a 7year cycle.

Number one and two will move
from tobacco to wheat.

Under pressure
from British creditors,

Washington responds
by revolutionizing

how Mount Vernon does business.

He's a man of his era.
He's an Enlightenment figure.

He thinks that human beings
could make the world

a better place
than they've inherited,

that we don't have to do things

the same way
they've always been done.

Green manures in number 3.

Number 4 and 5
will be gourd seed and corn.

That should produce
two or three ears per stalk.

We tend to always think
about George Washington

as a president, as a general,
but I think that if you

asked him who he was,
especially prior to all of that,

he would tell us

he was a Virginian,
and he was a farmer.

He becomes a great innovator
in agriculture.

He develops
the rotation of crops.

He's drawing on a lot
of English methods

that are cutting edge
at the time,

and he tries to incorporate
this into Mount Vernon.

I want all this implemented
by the end of the season.

Good.

Now let us check on the progress
of the treading barn.

Washington also sells grain
and milled flour locally,

pioneering one of America's
first homegrown industries.

By the 1770s,
his G. Washington brand

is considered one
of the finest in the Colonies.

He's transitioning
to wheat farming

and ultimately flour production
as a way to get out

of the British system,
which essentially is stealing

his profits
from his point of view.

You know, he imagines
a different future,

and that's really
the whole experiment

that we end up being a part of
in the whole Revolutionary era.

But by far, Washington's
greatest opportunity

to build wealth is to redouble
his lifelong pursuit

of America's
most valuable resourceland.

His ambitions were not
particularly political

for a very long time
in his life.

But he always had
a strong sense of himself.

He wanted to become
a land owner.

He didn't want to be poor.

Owning land
and if you were Southerner,

sadly, owning people

were basically
the indicators of success.

In Great Britain,
the Washingtons

could not have owned property.
It went to noblemen.

And when they came over
in the 1600s,

they came for land.
They didn't mess around.

And this is in his blood.
The Washingtons are landhungry.

Further back.

A little more.

George Washington, at age 14,

picks up surveying instruments

and teaches himself to survey.

And surveying was
a hugely important job

in early America.

George Washington is earning
his own money

and purchasing his own land
by age 17.

The whole point of the West was

to acquire title to land

but hold onto it,
and in 10 or 20 years,

as the American population grew,

that land would become
more valuable.

To your right! Come on, guys!

And this was the basis

for more fortunes
in American history

than any way of making money.

If you had land, even if you
are an ordinary person,

if you have plots of land,
you can grow your own food.

You had what would be called
independence.

So for Washington, having
lots of land was important.

But his goals are
about to be derailed.

In 1763,
a new royal proclamation

poses a direct threat
to Washtington's investments.

To avoid another expensive w*r
on the frontier,

King George III bans colonists
from buying or settling land

in the West.

What it does, essentially,
is to run a boundary

down the crest of
the Appalachian Mountains.

Everything west
of the Appalachians

is Indian country, and that land

is offlimits
to British subjects.

This just upset the plans
of Washington

and every other American
who was thinking of the West

as, by this time,
almost an American entitlement.

He owns about 60,000 acres
of land that he's acquired

through a service
for the British

in the French and Indian w*r,
but in principle, it's saying,

that all the land you have
out there is worthless.

So having had his ambition

to be a great military man
frustrated

by British prejudice
against the provincials,

the rules seemed to indicate
that the British

looked on Americans
as secondclass subjects.

So if the British Empire
isn't good for you militarily,

and it's not good
for you economically,

what else is there?

This proclamation kicks off
a decade of crackdowns

on colonists' ambitions.

It's followed by a slew
of new taxes

taxes that will help Britain
pay off its debt

from the French and Indian w*r.

Boston was at the cutting edge
of opposition

to British law,
starting with the Stamp Act.

Everything that's paper
currency, newspapers,

all being taxed.

This was a new kind of tax on
goods that were in the Colonies

as opposed to things
that were being imported.

That shift,
it alarmed Americans.

No more taxes! No more taxes!

The colonists adopted boycotts

in which they would not
consume British goods.

The colonists
are sending petitions.

There's troops sent up
to Boston.

Will the Americans come
to blows over this?

The Boston m*ssacre.

American colonists k*lled
by British fire.

We then have events
like the Boston Tea Party,

which is a protest
against a tax on tea.

And then the Intolerable Acts...

Punishment
for the Boston Tea Party...

strike America like
the blow of a hammer.

The British have revoked
the charter of Massachusetts.

They've closed
the Port of Boston.

People in other colonies
are very much watching

what's going on there,
and they're thinking,

"That could happen here."

The cause of Boston now

becomes the cause
of all America.

And that's when we see
George Washington

become
a reluctant revolutionary.

Washington considered himself
to be British.

He wanted to be a part
of that Imperial world.

But when that fell apart,
it's the kind of thing

where you could only
hate something

that you had loved a lot.

You could argue
that the British Empire

slowly built the man
who would destroy them

from the inside out.

Thank you for coming.

It is so great everybody's here.

Thank you. We need all
the support we can get.

More than 50 delegates
from 12 of the 13 colonies

are gathering for the first time

to plan resistance
to the British crackdown

on their rights.

The Colonies had never been,
before this period,

very good at doing things
together.

I mean, they really are
independent units.

They only manage to act
in concert

when they're threatened.

And the idea is if we
coordinate our response,

it will be more effective.

The British won't be able
to pick us off one by one.

Billed as
the First Continental Congress,

it's a who's who of
future revolutionaries,

including Sam Adams,
John Jay, Patrick Henry,

and Massachusetts' own
John Adams.

Mr. Washington.

We're all glad
you made the journey.

John Adams.

Mr. Adams, your fine work
and reputation precede you.

It is a pleasure to make
your acquaintance.

I'm sure you're well aware,

but your presence here
does carry a great weight.

I'm honored
to represent Virginia.

We in Massachusetts
are gratified

to have the Colonies
assembled for our cause.

Now we shall see if all are
ready to speak with one voice.

I'm well acquainted
with the British disregard

for their own laws.

These unjust policies
cannot stand.

We are agreed upon that,
Mr. Washington.

I look forward to discussing
these matters.

And I look forward
to taking action.

Order.

Washington is a believer
that the British Empire

intends to enslave
the American population.

He sees an orchestrated plot
in the sense that

we no longer have control
over our own domestic policy.

The delegates are divided
on how to proceed.

While some want to keep
petitioning Parliament,

others are pushing
for more radical action.

The colonists are demanding
their rights,

and actually initially,
trying to use the system

that's in place
to get their rights...

sending petitions,
traditional protests,

doing the things
you do as a colonist

to express your needs
and your demands.

Finally, the Congress agrees
to an allcolony boycott

of British goodsa move
designed to pressure Britain

to repeal their taxes
and remove troops from Boston.

Though "revolution" is still
not a word uttered publicly,

Washington is not convinced
it can be avoided.

"More blood will be spilt
on this occasion

"if the Ministry are determined
to push matters to extremity.

"No such thing is desired
by any thinking man

in all North America."

It became pretty clear early on

that Great Britain was not
going to back down,

and that they were not
going to meet the demands

that the colonists put forth,
and although that was

always a frightful prospect,
to go to w*r,

it's pretty clear that that was
likely to be the answer.

The following spring,
Washington's fears are realized

at Lexington and Concord.

Lexington and Concord
shocked Americans.

That really stunned them.
What does that mean

if your own government
now is firing upon you?

Until this point, most colonists

were willing to say, "If you
could just wind back the clock",

then all will be well."

All these people,
including Washington,

reached some point
when they thought,

"You know,
we just cannot remain part

"of the British Empire.

We can't do it."

By the time
the Second Continental Congress

convenes three weeks later,

the time has come
to put down the quill

and pick up the sword.

The question is,
who will lead the charge?

We need a military figure
to go up to corral events

and really become a commander
of some kind of an army,

whatever that army is gonna be.

And they need somebody

who will both be reliable
politically,

somebody who won't be at risk
of trying to make himself

a military dictator,

but somebody who has
the basic skills and knowledge

to lead an army.

It's a pretty short list
of men in North America

who meet both
of those requirements.

The most eager of the candidates

is John Hancock,

a prominent Boston businessman
turned politician.

In many ways,
he's the antiWashington.

John Hancock is a very vain man.

He's somebody
who is pretty shallow,

somebody who is a showboat,

somebody who does not
understand his limitations.

One of the most experienced
is Horatio Gates,

a Britishborn veteran
who'd served on the frontier,

married an American
and decided to stay.

He has held
the king's commission.

He has been
a commissioned officer.

He's seen fighting,

perhaps even more
than Washington has.

But Gates was not a Virginian,

and a lot of people,
including John Adams,

understood that Virginia,
which was the largest colony

at the time, needed to be
invested in the w*r cause,

and the best way to get
Virginia invested

was to put a Virginian
at the very top.

It's important to Washington
to be able to tell himself

that he's not ambitious.

It's important for him
to be able to say,

"I'm not campaigning
for this job."

That complicated c*ck
of public projection,

of balancing private ambition
with the greater good,

was something that Washington
did as brilliantly

as any American ever did.

I mean, there wasn't
a large number of folks

with the kind of stature
that he had.

If not him, who?

Washington,
one of Virginia's delegates

to the Second
Continental Congress,

shows up wearing
a military uniform.

It reminds people
he has military experience.

If you need a commander,
look no farther.

He is going to have to
build this army

in effect from himself down

by appearing to be
a man of confidence

even when almost nobody else
has confidence in the cause.

Washington fell in love
with the country

that was being created,

and he was prepared
to fight for it and die for it.

That is all for now.

"My dearest, I am now sat down
to write you on a subject

"which fills me
with inexpressible concern

"when I reflect upon
the uneasiness

I know it will give you."

"It has been determined
in Congress

"that the whole army raised
for the defense

"of the American cause
shall be put under my care

"and that is necessary for me
to proceed immediately

to Boston
to take command of it."

Some two decades
after he was denied

a British officer's rank,

George Washington
becomes commanderinchief

of an army in revolt against
the empire he once served.

He passionately believes
in the cause.

He believes
that as a virtuous man,

he must set all of his skills,
all of his abilities,

all of his resources

at the service
of his countrymen,

but he recognizes
whoever leads this army

is more likely than not
to lose his life,

to lose his fortune,
and to lose his reputation.

This is not a position of glory.

Washington always
defined greatness

as a willingness to do things
not for yourself

but for others, and so every
fiber of his being

said he must do this.

"I shall rely confidently
on that providence

"which has heretofore preserved
and been bountiful to me,

"not doubting but that I shall
return safe to you in the fall.

"I shall feel no pain
from the toil

or the danger of the campaign."

He knows his whole life
is gonna change,

and the letters he writes home
shows his own emotion.

This is a moment
when the normal screen

or the curtain
around Washington opens

and you get to see
who he really is.

"My unhappiness will flow
from the uneasiness I know

"you will feel at being
left alone.

"I beg of you to summon
your whole fortitude

"and resolution
and pass your time

"as agreeably as possible.

"I shall add nothing more
at the present

"but to assure you that I am
with the most unfeigned regard,

your affectionate George."

When Washington arrives
in Boston in July 1775,

there's little fanfare.

With him is the man who will
serve alongside him

for the duration of the w*r.

His name is William Lee,

though Washington
calls him Billy.

Lee doesn't have
an official military rank.

He's Washington's
enslaved valet.

Washington purchased
William Lee in 1768.

He's probably someone
that knew Washington

better than almost anybody.

Billy and Washington
had an intimate relationship

in that Billy would comb
his hair in the morning

and put out his clothes
and all this other stuff.

He's known for organizing

George Washington's life,
his papers.

William Lee, unlike the majority

of other 18th century
enslaved people,

has been in some ways given

a little more than a footnote
in history.

Billy Lee, as we've come
to think about him,

is one of the heroes
of the American Revolution.

My belongings arrive
from Mount Vernon, Billy?

Yes, sir.

They promised me an army.

Does this look like an army
to you?

No, sir.

It does not.

It's been a long journey, sir.
Perhaps you should rest.

No, Billy, this is no time
for a rest.

See to the horse. Yes, sir.

Washington's orders
from the Continental Congress

are to force the occupying
British troops out of Boston.

When he gets up
to Massachusetts, it confirms

it confirms all of his most
desperate thoughts

about the militias
they come and go as they please,

they don't want to be
under the discipline

of a regular army.

I mean, they're guys with g*ns.

It was not a trained army.
It was a militia.

We have this vision
of the American Revolution

as we had an army
and they had an army.

We didn't have an army.
We had a lot of state militias.

Washington's major problem
is to recognize

that he's inherited a mob,

and that he wants to do for it
what he had done for the

the Virginia Regiment during
the French and Indian w*r

make them into a real corps
of professional soldiers.

He has to figure out how
to join these people together

in some kind of a way
in which they can fight

this great empire.

Washington was expecting


and 10 tons of gunpowder.

There is a fraction of both.

Trying to put together an army
overnight is impossible.

It took the British Army
a century.

I mean, like, where do you dig
the latrines?

Where do the hospitals go?

These are all, like, things
that are routinized

inside a British manual.
We have none of that.

And we just got a bunch of guys
who basically showed up to fight

for a few days and figure
they're gonna go home.

Where is
your commanding officer?

Get me
your commanding officer now!

Once a headstrong
and untested young soldier,

Washington now takes command
of his army


after his crushing defeat

at Fort Necessity.

Hold your lines!

He's taken on a task
that he knows is going to be

perhaps impossible to defeat
the British Army and Navy,

and he's there to do it,
and he's committed.

And if you command the army
that declares w*r on the Empire,

you better win.

Because if you don't,

there's no telling
what's gonna become of you.

Next time on "Washington"...

If they captured him
in New York,

they would have put his head
on a spit,

and that's all
you would remember

about George Washington.

We have therefore to resolve
to conquer or die.

Are these the men with whom
I'm to defend America?

"We hold these truths
to be selfevident."

The Declaration
is a rallying cry,

but it was an act of treason.

Life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.

Bloody fools.

Washington really needed to
convince the American people

that they could fight
the British.

We must go on the offense.

There are a great many risks.

This night will become one
of our great national myths.

Charge!

This is our land,
and we will defend it.

This was found hidden
in his boot.

Arnold has betrayed
not only Washington

but his country.

Go.

Get him.

Now.