The American Revolution

[Buffalo Bill]

I've read a few books about the war, even a memoir of Washington's retreat from Brooklyn all the way up the Hudson.
This series is the first I heard they were also suffering a smallpox epidemic. omg…
A friend of mine when I lived in NYC 77-79, talked about how they drained the pond In Prospect Park and found cannon balls from the Battle of Long Island. Washington got outflanked.

 

[dpep]

I have my DVR saving it so I can watch during some upcoming vacation time.

No spoilers, please, I want the ending to be a surprise. :stupid:

Join your local PBS affiliate and you will get a streaming service called Passport. You can stream any of Burns' productions including this one.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Join your local PBS affiliate and you will get a streaming service called Passport. You can stream any of Burns' productions including this one.

Thanks Don. Good to know. I actually have YouTube TV and have the AR series saved to watch in the next few weeks. I’ll look into the PBS service for more.

 

[dpep]

Another great episode. So far the thing of which I have the most increased awareness is how much this was a civil war--in many ways more of a civil war at the human level than was the civil war.that kicked off fourscore and four years later.

The latter was predominantly one region of the country against another region, each with a minority of sympathizers and agents among the other side. In the American Revolution loyalists and patriots lived side by side, shopped with the same merchants, went to the same churches and, yes, were more likely to be members of the same family.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Loyalists and rebels did live side by side at the beginning of hostilities. Less and less as exposure to war impacted their local lives.

 

[dpep]

Join your local PBS affiliate and you will get a streaming service called Passport. You can stream any of Burns' productions including this one.

​

Thanks Don. Good to know. I actually have YouTube TV and have the AR series saved to watch in the next few weeks. I’ll look into the PBS service for more.

The above exchange is to me a great illustration of how things have changed since the airing of The Civil War 35 years ago. The rise of streaming has served the decline of shared experience in our country and, well, everywhere.

Back in 1990 almost everyone watched each episode all at the same time and the next day talked about it with their friends, neighbors, and coworkers who just had virtually the same experience. I can remember going to a client's office the day after an episode and everyone chiming in on the presentation. Today it would for many just go on the stack of programs to later be binged if there were time.

Technology has given us so many choices of what to see and when to see it that for large numbers of us to experience the same event in the same way is uncommon. I am not a Luddite. I avail myself of those technologies as much or more than most. Still I can't help but feel they have in some ways reduced our sense of community and contributed to our divisiveness.

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We will now return you to our regularly scheduled thread subject.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

“Get off my lawn!!” Just kidding, Don. I appreciate your comment and do somewhat concur. Streaming has definitely changed the way we consume media and the way in which we enjoy sharing it with others. I no longer know, nor care, what day, or time, or on what channel anything “airs”. I find the things I want to watch and watch whenever I feel like it.

 

[rphillips]

I've never thought of it that way, but after reading your post, totally agree....We've probably had conversations about texting instead of talking. Many times a text doesn't give a tone of voice, sometimes needed to get the correct context of the typed words.

 

[Burque73]

Ken Burns is certainly diving deeper than our history books did. I'm learning and re-learning a lot. The names of these places in New York are bringing back vivid memories of my 5th and 6th grade years. I lived on Griffis Air Force Base, just outside of Rome, NY. We swam and fished in the Mowhawk River. Our 6th grade class went to Fort Stanwix on a field trip in 1985. They had folks in period correct positions and attire. Oh, this is neat, decades later here in Albuquerque I was chatting with a friend at church about work. He was an archeologist and oversaw the reconstruction of Fort Stanwix. He gave me a book that he wrote about it called Casemates And Cannonballs.

On the Air Force base there were untouched wooded areas that were used for combat training. The forest was, as mentioned in the PBS show, so dense it was hard to see more than three feet in front of you. To hide from one another we simply knelt down in the thick foliage and disappeared. We hid so well the soldiers would be firing their M-16's with blanks at each other within a few feet of where we were. To be in actual combat, especially against indigenous people that knew the area, would be insane. Not to mention trying to manuver through the thick woods with a six foot long (without the bayonet) musket.

It's been challenging to watch as the episodes air so I've used the app.

Hope that didn't spoil anything for you Rich. I've tried not to comment on things and spoil your experience.

 

[Rich82GS750TZ]

No worries Roger.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

I was very appalled learning about Washington's order to destroy all native peoples and their villages across New York.
Genocide as we call it today. And he Washington invested in reselling land cleared of native peoples to enrich himself.

 

[Burque73]

My recollection was that Washington was destroying those who were allied with the British.

Our country has had, and continues to have, many appalling moments. I wish it weren't so.

 

[Rob S.]

I was very appalled learning about Washington's order to destroy all native peoples and their villages across New York.
Genocide as we call it today. And he Washington invested in reselling land cleared of native peoples to enrich himself.

I was very nonplussed. That's the way things were back then. Interesting, but not a game changer.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

I was very nonplussed. That's the way things were back then. Interesting, but not a game changer.

Not a game changer? Rob, you are thick.

 

[Rob S.]

As a brick?

Not a game changer in how I look at or feel about Washington. I still like him.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

As a brick?

Not a game changer in how I look at or feel about Washington. I still like him.

Tull reference FTW.

As for the point, sure, and he remains admirable, but it absolutely should color how one looks at the man. He completely disregarded the Proclamation of 1763, which, while it was not exactly generated only for the well-being of indigenous peoples, nevertheless serves as a strong piece of evidence that Washington certainly wasn't thinking of Native Americans (nor slaves, nor women) when he helped draft the Constitution.

 

[LAB3]

A lot of folks would do well to take things in the context of "the times" instead of attempting to draw parallels to how they see the world today. In the same vein, they'd do well to consider that not everyone has the same same life experiences and moral outlook that they do. The founders where doing something considered radical, unlike today they KNEW it would take generations to play their vision out. You can't have a perfect world no matter how you try, and you certainly can't have it TODAY. It's like president Obama said about bigotry and racism "Sometimes it takes two-three hundred years for these types of things to work themselves out"

 

[Rob S.]

Washington certainly wasn't thinking of Native Americans (nor slaves, nor women) when he helped draft the Constitution.

Which made him a man of his time. What white men were particularly concerned with women or natives in the 18th century?

Slaves they were concerned with because they had monetary value.

 

[GS1150Pilot]

Which made him a man of his time. What white men were particularly concerned with women or natives in the 18th century?

Slaves they were concerned with because they had monetary value.

The French had been respectful of the native tribes they encountered. As for women's rights, have you heard of James Mott perhaps? A little into the 19th century, but definitely concerned about equal rights.

 

[dpep]

Nova, the PBS science series, aired a great show last night on the weaponry of the Revolutionary War--muskets, long rifles, cannon, tomahawk. There was even a submarine. Interesting comparison of the musket to a modern rifle--velocity, accuracy, damage.

You can view it at this link but here is the catch. You need to have Passport which is the streaming service you get when you become a member of your local public broadcasting station. If you are not already a member I urge you to do good for yourself and everyone else and join. It is the best streaming deal ever. Nova, Nature, Frontline, Sesame Street, every Ken Burns documentary (there are 44 of them), This Old House, Masterpiece (Theater and Mystery), Austin City Limits (including the pilot show with Willie Nelson back in 1974), America's Test Kitchen, .......well, you get the idea. And those are only a fraction of the total library.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/watch/

If my pitch hasn't convinced you it looks like Nova is available on Amazon Prime Video as well.