Young Washington Review by a Historian | From Surveyor to Soldier to Historic Legend - Talk With History

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Imagine standing deep in the untamed wilderness of the Ohio frontier.

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The year is 1755.

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You're surrounded by a suffocating green canopy, trapped in a chaotic

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crossfire as French troops and Native warriors ambush your regiment.

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British regulars are panicking, officers are falling all around you, and the

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air is thick with smoke and screams.

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Through the haze, you see a towering 23-year-old colonial stride

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into the center of the madness.

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He has just risen from a sickbed, yet he rides directly into the gunfire.

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Bullets shred his coat, two horses are shot out from under him, but

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somehow he remains untouched.

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To the warriors watching through the trees, he appears to be

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protected by an unseen force.

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This isn't the stoic, gray-haired man on the dollar bill.

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This is a young, ambitious, and deeply flawed soldier learning how to survive.

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This is George Washington before he ever imagined a revolution.

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Welcome to Talk with History.

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One filmmaker, one historian, leading history-inspired world

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travels for the curious, the history lovers, and the explorer in us all.

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I'm your host, Scott, here with my wife and historian, Jenn.

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Hello.

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Today, we are swapping out our field gear for some movie popcorn because we just

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watched the new epic historical drama Young Washington, directed by Josh Irwin.

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This film focuses entirely on Washington's brutal early experience during the

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French and Indian War, from his humbling defeat at Fort Necessity to the bloody

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chaos of the Braddock Expedition.

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I'm Scott Bennie, and today we are reviewing the origin story of

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America's first commander-in-chief.

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All right, Jenn It's been a busy summer for us.

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Very busy summer, and we are getting it all in,

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right?

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We're get- we're, we're, we're making it happen.

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We're making it happen.

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We've got our Route 66 trip coming up.

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We may or may not be able to have content all the way through that.

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We're, we're giving it a shot.

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We'll let you guys know if, if there's gonna be a week or two

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where we may kinda throw some, some rewind, uh, episodes in there.

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But today we are talking about Young Washington.

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You guys have probably, if you're listening to this, you've probably

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s- either seen the movie or seen the ads, seen the trailer.

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Um, spoiler alert, I enjoyed it.

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Yeah.

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I was pleasantly surprised.

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I was happy.

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We saw it on July 3rd because-

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Like, the, the day, I think it was the day it came out.

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Yes, and I think 'cause that's the anniversary of Fort Necessity too, so I

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was happy to see it on that anniversary.

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Uh, I did not like your intro because you said Ohio wilderness.

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I was like, "Did I say something wrong?"

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It's Ohio Valley, because everything takes place in present-day Pennsylvania.

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Oh, really?

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Mm-hmm.

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Oh, interesting.

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So Ohio doesn't get to claim any of that.

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The Ohi- the Ohio Valley does.

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But that's, I mean, but they, don't they even in the movie,

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don't they even describe it as-

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The Ohio Valley

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the, like, they, they, they keep referring to it- Yes … as like

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the w- the wilderness is, like, the Ohio Valley, the Ohio wilderness.

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Yes.

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Like, the-

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Yes

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… who's the rich guy that owns the five million acres or something like that?

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Fairfax.

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Fairfax.

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Mm-hmm.

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So f- you know, for those listening, if you haven't seen it yet, obviously

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there's no real spoilers, right?

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This is history.

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This is George Washington.

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Surprise, he lives through everything, right?

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Um, but they focus on what people don't, I'd say the general person who doesn't

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really study history a lot, specifically Washington, probably doesn't know as well.

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Yeah.

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And that is his, his early start with the British, kinda working his way into

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be- becoming an officer in, with the Virginia militia, and his early failures

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that really kinda laid the foundation for who he was as a military man.

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So there's a couple things, like, exactly what you said.

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Like, there's some things that this is really gonna stress and drive home.

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First, it's gonna stress that Washington isn't a gentleman.

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So they're gonna stress that pretty early on when he loses his father,

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um, Augustine, in April of 1743.

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So is that kinda what happened?

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Like, he was… Uh, they made it sound like in the movie,

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he was getting this education.

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His father kinda had some status.

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They had land, his family, and, and they w- and then his father

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died- Mm-hmm … when he was 11.

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Mm-hmm.

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And he lost a lotta that status.

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So- That's what, that's what they, that's what it seemed like in the movie.

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Yeah, so that, th- that's exactly what happened.

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So Augustine is married first to Jane, and he has-

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Augustine was his father.

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Augustine was his father.

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And, um, he marries Jane when he's 21, Jane's 16, and

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they have, uh, four children.

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Um, and Lawrence Washington is their oldest, and then they

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have Augustine Jr., so two boys.

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Yeah, Law- it was Lawrence, the one that- was basically his, like, half-brother-

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His half-brother … because his father had two sons from a previous marriage.

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Yeah, Jane- Okay … who I'm talking about right now.

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Okay.

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Yeah, I, I mean, uh- So this is, so that's the thing, is like for the people who

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know Washington and this history well-

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Yeah

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it's, it's relatively rote knowledge.

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For me, this was new.

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I was trying to kinda put it together-

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Sure

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… with his… He kept referring to this, this man in the movie as his brother.

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Yes.

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And I kinda always, like, he seemed more like his uncle, but that's because

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he was a brother from a previous marriage, and he was much older.

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Yeah, brother from another mother.

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Yeah.

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Um, so he's, so Lawrence is 25 when his father dies, when Augustine dies, and

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George is only 11- Yeah … like you said.

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So it is kinda like a pseudo father figure.

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Yeah.

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But you have to understand, Augustine is, is a self-made man, and those

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boys have been educated in Europe, so they've had formal educations.

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So he

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was able to send them over there.

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And that's where you get this term gentleman comes from.

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I hope people understand, in the 1700s when they're referring to

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a man as a gentleman, think of it almost as saying educated.

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And, like, educated in England.

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Yes.

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And, and they actually drove that home.

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See, again, th- this was, this was new to me.

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Mm-hmm.

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A lot of this was new to me.

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They kinda really drove home when Washington's kind of like trying

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to s- get his way into these, these Fairfax rich man parties, they

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drive home that he is not educated.

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And he's like, "Well, I, I…" But he's making the point, like,

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"I read all this other stuff, probably more than anybody else."

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Like, "No, no, no. Not educated in England."

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Yeah, no formal education.

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Yeah.

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And so that's what this is trying to drive home, too, that Washington is- rallying

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against these things ag- that have kind of detrimented his career, and he's trying

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to build his … They, I, and I wouldn't say self s- self-made man, but he's

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overcoming these obstacles of the time.

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It was like the societal structure was so ingrained- Yes … that

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you had to do this to be this to be- Yeah … considered that.

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Yes.

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And they kinda kept referring to colonials as, like, this weird, dirty word.

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Yes.

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And it was almost derogatory, and it was almost like, okay, kinda,

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you know, just wild man, right?

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Farmer.

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Yeah.

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You know, it was, it was almost in that light even though they're out here with

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hundreds if not thousands, right, um, of acres, and they're, they're, they're,

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they're taming, you know, everything.

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So because he's born in Virginia- Yeah … he's born in the colony, he's not born

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in England, that is looked down their nose upon, and he's trying to hold it as

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something of value and working against the societal understanding that it's not.

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And it's just like you said, so he's 11 years old when his father dies,

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and Mary Ball Washington, who is his second wife, um, George is the

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oldest boy of the children they have.

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So in essence, George inherits all of the land that Mary Ball will … She'll never

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remarry, and she will manage that land.

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So Augustine will leave in his will that all of these properties, um, it's, it's

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Ferry Farm, three lots in Fredericksburg, and 10 enslaved, uh, all inherited

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by George Washington at 11 years old.

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Oh, okay.

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But Mary Ball, she's the manager until he comes of age.

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Yeah.

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So that's kinda what it's showing you there, that she will never remarry,

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and she really, you know- goes to work.

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Yeah.

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Right?

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She manages the property.

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And George Washington will always say, "The most influential

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person in my life was my mother."

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So even though you see this struggle where George is disgruntle that he doesn't get

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to go to school, that now he has to work the land, uh, and that his mother is

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not really supportive of his endeavors- Yeah … she does, she, she really

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realizes that it's not really up to her.

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And so she, she tells him what she thinks, and then she also

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supports him in what he wants to do.

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And they, I think they do a good job.

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I was reading up a little bit on, on his mother- Mm-hmm … right, Mary, and I

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think they did a good job in the movie of kind of showing, like, one, like you said,

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she s- as he got older, once he finally started getting older and of age to try to

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come into the military, um, and basically that's what he wanted to do, 'cause

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that's how he knew he could gain status.

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He was ambitious.

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He was capable.

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He was smart, all these things, right?

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And but she was very frank and said, "I, I don't want you doing that." Mm-hmm.

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He was like, "I don't care. I'm gonna go do it anyways." Right?

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And so there was kind of very much this push/pull, and I was reading

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up on Mary W- Mary Washington.

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There's some differing opinions on, on her and her relationship with Washington.

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So it's very complicated.

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Mm-hmm.

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From a, just the little bit of research that I was, that I was doing, whether it's

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through state parks that kinda manage her stuff, or I was reading an, an interesting

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article on her for Colonial Williamsburg.

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They kinda wrote this whole very interesting kinda how complicated

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she was and how interesting her relationship with George Washington was.

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So like you said, someone like that, 'cause the norm was to get

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remarried- Mm-hmm … was to have a man, and she did not do that.

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That was very outside the norm.

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So again, something else, and I always understood that George Washington was

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very sensitive about his mother and his relationship with his mother, right?

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But he was, he was this man who was principled and educated himself and

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put himself forth as a gentleman, which something else I read was the, the British

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who were there- That for them, that was a breath of fresh air for these colonials.

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Yes.

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And that's kinda partly how he was able to ingratiate himself

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into, into volunteering, which is what we see in the movie.

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Yes.

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So exactly like what you said, Mary Ball will never remarry.

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She has a big influence on Washington.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:00</time>
I think the great part of wa- his, his father dying when he's 11, is he's old

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:05</time>
enough to have seen his father work.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:08</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:08</time>
He's old enough to see how his father manages the plantations.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:11</time>
He's old enough to understand it's his property, not his mother's, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:16</time>
And

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:16</time>
he's frustrated by that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:18</time>
. Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:18</time>
So, yeah, so he's old enough to know his place- Yeah … that it, even

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:22</time>
though his mother can give him this advice, ultimately it's George's.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:27</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:27</time>
And so Lawrence also sees that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:31</time>
Lawre- Lawrence I think also, um, empathizes with his brother and knowing

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:35</time>
that he'll never have the education he got, so he helps him to start to read.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
A-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
and, and from everything I saw in the movie and what I'm reading-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:42</time>
Mm-hmm … what you're, what you're saying, it seems like the movie

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:44</time>
portrayed it p- relatively accurately.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:47</time>
I think so.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:47</time>
And so Lawrence is, like you said, Washington's foot into the Fairfax family.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:54</time>
' Cause he, he m- he marries-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:55</time>
Lawrence marries into- … a Fairfax

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:57</time>
yes, he marries a Fairfax.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:58</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:11:58</time>
So Lawrence, at 22 years old, he's gonna marry, um, Anne at 15, and that is the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:04</time>
oldest daughter of William Fairfax.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:06</time>
And what happens is Anne kinda gets engrossed in a little

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:09</time>
scandal where there's a clergyman who takes liberties with her.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:13</time>
Mm. And she tells her father that this clergyman has basically

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:17</time>
abused her, and her father's answer is, A, to take that clergyman to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:21</time>
court, but they, they don't win.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:23</time>
The, the, the case is, um, uh, what did they call it?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:28</time>
Like

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:28</time>
thrown out?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:28</time>
Yeah, like thrown out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:29</time>
Oh, okay- Like,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:30</time>
yeah … dismissed or whatever.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:30</time>
Dismissed, yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:31</time>
The case is dismissed, but he also wants to marry off his daughter so

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
she's not disgraced, and Lawrence happens to be staying with them

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:40</time>
as he's building Mount Vernon.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:42</time>
Oh, interesting.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:43</time>
So he's, there's this, this 22-year-old Royal British officer who h- coming

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:49</time>
into means, and he happens to be there when their oldest daughter,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:54</time>
who's 15, has just been disgraced.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:56</time>
So William Fairfax marries them off very quickly.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:12:59</time>
Okay, so that's kinda how- Mm-hmm … how George Washington's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:02</time>
older half-brother- Mm-hmm

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:03</time>
gets into the Fairfax, which is… And again, y- you know, h- living in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:07</time>
Virginia for a couple years for us, I, I never really knew, like anyway,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:11</time>
I think we lived in Fairfax County, or was Fairfax County was right-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:13</time>
Mm-hmm, oh yeah … right next to us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:14</time>
It's cute.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:15</time>
And, uh, I didn't realize that, like, that was, it made sense when I'm watching

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:19</time>
the movie, it's like, oh, Fairfax.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:21</time>
Oh, of course.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:22</time>
Mm. That's why, like, everything in Virginia is Fairfax

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:24</time>
Avenue or County or whatever.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:26</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:27</time>
So you have to see the Washingtons', that was really a chance of opportunity

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:31</time>
for Lawrence, and- Although they're not quite the class of the Fairfaxes, it

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:36</time>
does save his daughter's reputation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:40</time>
And so William Fairfax always looks at Lawrence very favorably, and actually

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:43</time>
looks at George Washington very favorably.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:45</time>
He becomes like a pseudo father to him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:47</time>
So this whole idea of him sneaking into the party I think was just to reinforce

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:52</time>
that he's not an educated gentleman, and that the w- that the Washingtons

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:13:57</time>
are below the Fairfaxes class-wise.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:00</time>
But that never would have been a thing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:02</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:02</time>
Washington, George Washington would have been accepted as the brother,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:06</time>
the brother of the Fairfax family.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:09</time>
So the, the patriarch of the Fairfax family actually did kind of know-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:15</time>
Yes … you know, George long before kinda, 'cause in the movie

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:18</time>
he sneaks into the, sneaks into the, to the richer party- Yes … right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:21</time>
Didn't have his invite, and that's also how they kinda spark up the love interest.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:25</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:25</time>
So that's, so was that pretty accurate as well?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:28</time>
No.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:29</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:29</time>
So and that's, that's why I'm curious, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:31</time>
And that's p- that's what we're talking about- Yeah … is like kind of what

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:33</time>
they got right and what they got wrong.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:34</time>
And typical movie they'll compress things- Yeah … and they'll, they'll add stuff

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:37</time>
here and there for, for movie magic.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:40</time>
But you'd, you're not introduced to Martha-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:42</time>
No

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:43</time>
because Martha is later.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:44</time>
Later.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:45</time>
She's 1758.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:46</time>
Right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:47</time>
So that's kinda after this movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:48</time>
This movie ends like 1755.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:50</time>
But you, you were telling me before we recorded that George Washington did

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:14:56</time>
kinda have a, I dunno, a fling or a- Mm-hmm … flirtatious relationship with-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:00</time>
Sally Carey

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:01</time>
… with someone.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:02</time>
And was she a Fairfax like they said in the movie?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:04</time>
So she marries William Fairfax's grandson-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:07</time>
Okay

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:07</time>
… George William Fairfax.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:09</time>
But the thing is George Washin- George Washington and George

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:12</time>
William Fairfax were good friends.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:14</time>
Hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:15</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:15</time>
They're about the same age.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:16</time>
So again, not like in the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:17</time>
Not like in the movie, and they hang out together at these parties.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:20</time>
Oh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:21</time>
And Sally is also kind of a part of their crew.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:24</time>
Circle.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
Their circle.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
And so she gets married to him in 1748, and George Washington, this, this famous

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:32</time>
scandalous love letter that George Washington writes to Sally happens in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:36</time>
1758 as he's about to marry Martha, and, um, as he's, he's engaged to Martha.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:43</time>
And yes, is it pretty loving, and do people believe that he really

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:48</time>
had a great flirtation with Sally?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:50</time>
Absolutely.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:52</time>
They believe just like people f- just like Hamilton flirted

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:56</time>
with Angelica- Yeah … right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:15:58</time>
They believe that she was the debutante of the area.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:01</time>
Everybody wanted her.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:02</time>
She loved the attention, and George gave her attention like all the other

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:06</time>
men were giving her the attention.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
So that was like the 1700s version of like liking someone's post.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:11</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:11</time>
Is writing them a letter.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:12</time>
Of heavy flirtation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:14</time>
They do not believe they crossed any moral boundaries.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:18</time>
Hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:18</time>
So the kiss in-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:20</time>
Yeah, so that never happened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:21</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:21</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:21</time>
They don't believe that ever happened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:22</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:23</time>
And honestly, um- George William and George Washington and Sally

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:29</time>
and Martha were great friends.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
Okay,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:32</time>
so- They visited Mount Vernon many times and hung out together as a foursome.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:37</time>
So yeah, it wasn't like this-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:40</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:40</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:40</time>
No, that's, that's… And, and again, I, I didn't know.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:42</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:42</time>
I just- But it's good for the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:43</time>
movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:43</time>
Yeah, it was, it was great for the movie, and it kind of, it helped

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:46</time>
drive s- some of the plot line- Mm-hmm

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:48</time>
um, because it showed that he did have some sort of relationship, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:52</time>
But it was pre-Martha, so the whole time you're kinda thinking like, "Oh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:55</time>
when's Martha come into this?" Because, like, I don't know the history, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:58</time>
Um-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:16:59</time>
I think it shows him as very romantic and ide- idealistic and- It, it,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:05</time>
it,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:05</time>
it- … a dreamer.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:06</time>
Yeah, and so that's what the, I think that's what it did, 'cause even at one

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:09</time>
point, right, she's reading the letters, and he comes back, and he, he's visiting

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:11</time>
her, and they're talking under the tree.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:13</time>
Typical kinda colonial era movie, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
They're talking under the tree, these two- With a swing … with, with a swing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:18</time>
And, and she, she kinda says to him, like, "Nobody, nobody speaks like this."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:22</time>
He's, and I think he says, "But they think like it" or something like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:25</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:25</time>
And so it kinda shows his frame of mind.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:28</time>
They're kind of, they're pushing this, this, uh, thought that George Washington

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:33</time>
is thinking larger than his station.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:35</time>
Yes, and that he dreams larger than his station, that he is a well-read man, that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:42</time>
he can quote lines from plays, impress people with his self-taught knowledge.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:48</time>
That's kind of what they're alluding to in these moments, which I think they do

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:52</time>
a good, very good job of these moments.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:54</time>
It's just now how these relationships actually looked, but you can't introduce

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:17:58</time>
a ton of characters in a movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:00</time>
You have to kinda compress.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:01</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:02</time>
We know, compress interaction, and they, they're gonna do this significantly when

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:06</time>
it comes to some of the battle stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:08</time>
Yeah, so let's talk some of the battles.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:09</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:09</time>
So is this, is that how he got involved, was he, he did go out and ser- volunteer

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:16</time>
to survey the Ohio Valley, the Ohio frontier, whatever we're gonna call it-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:21</time>
Yes

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:21</time>
um, for the-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:23</time>
William Fairfax

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:24</time>
… William Fairfax?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:25</time>
Yeah, so he's bec- he becomes his patron, basically.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:27</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:28</time>
So William Fairfax basically funds his

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:30</time>
career.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:30</time>
Yeah, he says, "Hey, go- Mm-hmm … go do this. I'll pay you- Mm-hmm … if

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:33</time>
you kind of map out all of my millions and millions of acres."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:37</time>
Yeah, so in 1748, he's gonna spend a month surveying Fairfax's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:41</time>
Shenandoah Valley property.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:43</time>
The following year, he's gonna get his surveyor license from William & Mary.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:47</time>
Um, even though he doesn't do an apprenticeship, uh, Thomas Fairfax,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:51</time>
his cousin, is gonna appoint him surveyor of, um, Culpeper County in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:18:56</time>
Washington, and then, um, that is when he's gonna become a surveyor and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:01</time>
go out and survey the area, um- Oh, wait, I think I'm reading the wrong-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:06</time>
That would've been, if, if I think back on it, that would've been a job

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:11</time>
I would've been, like, all about.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
Oh, yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
Because how cool is it to be, like, I'm gonna go out to this, this area of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:19</time>
the frontier that nobody's ever really mapped and I'm gonna map it and explore

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:24</time>
it and I'm gonna come back and show everybody that this is what it looks like.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:29</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:29</time>
That's, that's pretty cool just from a, a movie perspective.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:33</time>
And they do show that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:34</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:34</time>
And I was even thinking while we were watching it too, was I wonder

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:38</time>
where, if they just kinda picked less populated spots of Virginia to kinda

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:43</time>
film it, you know, get some drone sho- It was, it was, it was really neat.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:46</time>
They kinda did a good job of showing what that wild frontier would've felt like.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:49</time>
They did.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:50</time>
They did a great job, uh, of what Uniontown, Pittsburgh area,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:55</time>
Erie would've looked like 'cause this is all in Pennsylvania.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:19:58</time>
Uh, he's gonna seek a m- a military commission.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:03</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:04</time>
And this is gonna be, this is also alluding to this great-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:10</time>
thorn in the side of George Washington, which is also

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:13</time>
gonna push him into revolution.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:15</time>
The British Royal Military will never give him a commission, and he will ask

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:22</time>
for one over and over and over again, and they always say, "You can do the militia

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:27</time>
commission. You can do the Virginia Militia." And I think if they ever

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:32</time>
would've given him a British commission, you never would've had the man he became.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:36</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:37</time>
It was… And it was really… I was… It's funny you say that, 'cause

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:40</time>
that's what I was thinking, you know.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:41</time>
They… And they, they said it straight up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:43</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:43</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:44</time>
The first time he comes asked for a commission, you know, the, the guy

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:47</time>
he's talking to, the British officer, says, "Stop writing me letters." Right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:50</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:50</time>
'Cause he's just written him letter after letter after letter.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:52</time>
He

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:52</time>
can't afford the commission.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:53</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:53</time>
You have to buy a commission.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:55</time>
It's 700 pound.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:56</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:56</time>
It was a lot, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:57</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:57</time>
And I was thinking that, too.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:20:59</time>
I was like, gosh, if they had ever… They're basically just pushing him away,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:04</time>
and if they had ever given him this commission, he probably just would've

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:07</time>
stayed a British subject the entire time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:10</time>
We wouldn't have had our first pre- It's just wild to me.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:12</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:13</time>
That kinda sets up this whole stage.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:15</time>
Like, again, he's not formally educated, so they see him as a outsider.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:19</time>
He's born in Virginia.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:20</time>
They see him as an outsider.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:21</time>
He can't afford a commission in the British military.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:24</time>
He wants to be like his brother Lawrence.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:26</time>
He really looks up to him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
He wants to be like Lawrence.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:28</time>
Lawrence has a commission in the, in the British military.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:31</time>
They keep refusing him, refusing him, but they give him something else.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:34</time>
They give him the Virginia Militia.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:37</time>
So he's appointed, appointed with a task from Governor Dinwiddie, uh, in late 1753.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:43</time>
So you have to understand, the Ohio Valley and the French are up

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:48</time>
in Canada, and what is very much the economy of the time is fur.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:55</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:56</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:56</time>
And so the French are taking this river.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:21:59</time>
They, they want the river route.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:01</time>
They want the river route from Pittsburgh to trade.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:02</time>
So they're taking the river down from Canada.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:04</time>
So they start making forts along from Erie to P- Pittsburgh to have this, again, trap

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:10</time>
the beaver and to take these river routes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:14</time>
And so when they hear about a fort being built up by Erie, Pennsylvania,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:19</time>
Fort Le Boeuf, uh- And technically they have the land of that area,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:24</time>
and they have it in a- The,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:25</time>
the British

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:25</time>
… the British- Yeah … in a treaty, and they say, "This is our land.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:28</time>
This is the land on our map.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:30</time>
You need to go tell them to leave.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:32</time>
They're encroaching on our land." So-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:34</time>
So they, they tell Washington, "Hey…" So did, was it like in the movie

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:37</time>
where as he was surveying, the Native Americans came to him and basically

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:42</time>
said, "Hey, there's French up here.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:44</time>
I'm gonna show you where they are"?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:46</time>
And the In- and, and the Native Americans are kind of playing both sides.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:49</time>
They know that if they show the British that the French are here, because they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:53</time>
don't like the French, they're like, "Oh yeah, the British are gonna take

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:56</time>
this personally, and they're gonna, they're gonna kick the French out."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:22:58</time>
So the Seneca American Indians have already been, uh, massacred by some

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:03</time>
of the French, and you allude to that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:05</time>
Half, um, Half King's father is killed by the French.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:09</time>
And so again, because the French are coming down into these lands

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:13</time>
and, you know, but the American

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:15</time>
Indians- So he, he pits, he, he pits the British against the French.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:18</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:18</time>
So he sees the British coming, and he's like, "Oh, I can use them-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:21</time>
Yeah

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:22</time>
… to get back at these people that hurt my family."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:25</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:25</time>
And so that's why he's like, "I can show you where they're at," and like- And

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:27</time>
they're very straightforward showing that in the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:29</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:30</time>
They do a good job of that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:31</time>
But he makes it to Fort Le Boeuf in December of 1753.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:34</time>
I think it's so funny.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:35</time>
Like, this is December in Erie, Pennsylvania.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:39</time>
So cold.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:39</time>
And it's not quite Erie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:40</time>
It's Waterford, PA, and-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:42</time>
Think lake effect snow.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:43</time>
Oh my gosh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:44</time>
Buffalo.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:44</time>
It's so cold.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:45</time>
And we have videos from there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:46</time>
That's the only statue you will ever see of George Washington is there in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:51</time>
a British uniform because it is, like they said, they give him a commission

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:23:55</time>
in the Virginia Militia, and he makes his own kind of British uniform.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:00</time>
Yeah, the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:00</time>
red coat and everything.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:01</time>
To kind of allude to that, even though the British make, um, military make

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:05</time>
very clear that you're not one of us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:07</time>
But that statue there at where the location of Fort Le Boeuf was has George

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:12</time>
Washington depicted in that British uniform if you ever see that statue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:16</time>
It's the same city where Stong Vincent was born.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:19</time>
So we make a, the whole video from Waterford, PA, and if yous ever watch

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:22</time>
that video, right behind my shoulder is the statue of George Washington.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:26</time>
So that's where Fort Le Boeuf was.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:28</time>
So you can imagine the French are coming through, uh, the lake there and then the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:32</time>
building, a fort right there on the lake.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:35</time>
So George Washington shows up at 21 years old with a message to all these people

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:40</time>
in the fort that you have to leave.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:42</time>
And they, they make… I think that's a really great part they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:45</time>
do in this, where the commander kind of like, um, d- you know-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:51</time>
He, he basically tells George Washington, he's like, "I know they're

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:55</time>
not taking this seri- I know the British aren't taking this seriously

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:58</time>
because they're sending you."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:59</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:24:59</time>
And George kind of gives him the look of like, "What do you mean?"

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:02</time>
And so he goes on to explain.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:03</time>
He's like, "They're sending you so that if- You succeed and you ha- get us to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:11</time>
leave, they'll still take all the credit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:13</time>
If you fail, they've essentially have a patsy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:15</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:16</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:16</time>
So they- They have someone to blame it on

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:17</time>
… they humor him- Yeah … more or less.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:19</time>
They bring him to dinner.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:20</time>
Yeah, the French do.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:21</time>
The French, they have a good time party, and they, they send the response,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:25</time>
"Here's my response." And in, in reality, uh, he stays for five days.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:30</time>
He is allowed to dine with them in the fort, but he has to make his camp outside

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:35</time>
their fort in December, in the cold.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:39</time>
So it's a very clear message the French are giving him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:41</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:41</time>
It's like, "First of all, we have-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:43</time>
Yeah, we'll, we'll hu-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:44</time>
… four times the men of, as you."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:45</time>
Yeah, we'll humor you.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:46</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:46</time>
But, uh, g- g- go, go on and- Yes … and take your message back.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:50</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:50</time>
And here they also bring up something very interesting, that George

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:53</time>
Washington doesn't speak French.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:25:56</time>
And again, if you are an educated gentleman, it's one of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:00</time>
the languages you will learn.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:02</time>
So of all the studying George Washington has done, he's never,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:06</time>
uh, conquered the French language.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:08</time>
And so they can talk around him, they can kinda make fun of him, he

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:12</time>
has to have an interpreter with him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:14</time>
So again, it's also alluding to this idea that he's not quite the status

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:20</time>
that he wants to be, and he has to kind of work against that, that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:24</time>
handicap that he has, and it's gonna be a better, bigger problem later on.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:27</time>
Yeah, and I think they do a good job of, of showing that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:30</time>
So he brings the message back.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:31</time>
Dinwiddie?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:32</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:32</time>
Dinwiddie is not happy, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:34</time>
He thought, what can he do, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:36</time>
He sent this young man up, they're saying no.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:39</time>
So he gets him, uh- He makes him give them reconnaissance.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:45</time>
We wanna know how many people were at the fo- fort.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:47</time>
We wanna know how many canoes they have, and we want you to deliver

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:51</time>
this all tomorrow, basically.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:53</time>
And George Washington is like, "Well, I rode all night to get here to give

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:26:56</time>
you this response." This is close to Christmas, as you can imagine.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:00</time>
So, uh, he writes all of this, and he writes that there

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:04</time>
was over 100 men, 70 canoes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:06</time>
He saw the fort was accessible to the French Creek.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:09</time>
He noted the construction, the design of the fort.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:11</time>
He noticed they had eight six-pound cannons, and they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:15</time>
were basically building a fort.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:17</time>
And so the governor becomes alarmed, and he wants to get to the Three

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:23</time>
Rivers, kinda where Pittsburgh is today, uh, because that is such a

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:27</time>
very valuable choke point for trading, uh, before the French can get there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:33</time>
He wants him to go back and, uh, basically s- stop them from moving down the river.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:39</time>
Now, you have to realize they've al- the French have already

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:41</time>
gotten to, to Fort Duquesne.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:43</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:43</time>
And they've already built it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:44</time>
And I think they, they show that- Mm-hmm … when, when, when George is

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:49</time>
c- is coming back kinda the second time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:51</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:51</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:51</time>
When he's coming back the second time, they show, "Oh, they're even

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:55</time>
closer than, than we expected. They're only, like, five miles ahead or

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:58</time>
something." He says something like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:27:59</time>
Yeah, so he gets there, and he goes, "Oh my gosh, I was supposed to stop

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:02</time>
them. They're r- they're r- already gotten here and built an entire fort."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:07</time>
And so what happens then is in May of ei- 1754, um- He's supposed to go to that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:14</time>
fort and tell them to leave, but instead they come across a small group of 35

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:20</time>
soldiers in a little encampment, um, 35 French soldiers, and it's commanded by

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:25</time>
Ensign Joseph de Villiers de Jumonville.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:30</time>
Did I say that right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:31</time>
Doesn't matter, it's French.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:33</time>
And they're camped in a rocky ravine, and it's called the Great Meadows.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:36</time>
Same, it's in Fayette County.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:38</time>
It's very close to Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:40</time>
It, this is all very close together by car, by… It's by five, 10 miles

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:46</time>
by horse and, and, uh, uh, bu- not buggies, horse and wagons like they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:51</time>
would have had with their cannons.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:53</time>
So they come across these 35 French soldiers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:57</time>
They have the Senecas with them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:28:59</time>
They have that man, Half King, with them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:02</time>
What they do not find, what the movie depicts, is the same French officer

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:08</time>
that they found at Fort Le Boeuf is not now at this location at, at Jumonville.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:14</time>
Yeah, in the movie, they use the same kind of character who

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:17</time>
blew him off the first time-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:18</time>
Mm-hmm

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:19</time>
in the second encounter further down the river, closer to, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:24</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:24</time>
Cl- closer to, to- Pittsburgh … to Pittsburgh.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:27</time>
And Fort

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:27</time>
Duquesne.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:27</time>
Um, so that, so that part, like you said, isn't accurate.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:30</time>
But it sets it up in the movie because this is where things start going awry.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:35</time>
And this is where you really start to have to see the youth

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:37</time>
of George Washington, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:39</time>
Like, again, he's 21, 22 years old.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:42</time>
This happens May 28th, 1754.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:45</time>
Uh- The Seneca king has 12 natives with him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:49</time>
Washington has a party of about 40 militia.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:51</time>
They come across 35 French soldiers in a camp meant, they enc- en- encircle

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:29:58</time>
them, and George is going to ask them to leave, and shots ring out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:03</time>
And this is very much today, no one knows who fired first.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:07</time>
George will reiterate this a couple times, we don't know who fired first.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:10</time>
But what happens is, the French fire back, and he can't, George can't

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:14</time>
control the Senecas, and they go down and just massacre everybody.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:20</time>
And they scalp people, and they tomahawk people, and they make a very

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:24</time>
big showing of the types of deaths that they're giving these French men.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:29</time>
And one of them is the ensign, um, Jeanne Ma- Jeanne, Jeanne Maville,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:35</time>
which is now known as Jumonville, uh, Ravine, if you wanna go visit it, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:39</time>
he's the brother of the commander of Fort Duquesne, the French commander.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:45</time>
One of the French men gets away and able ma- to make it to Fort Duquesne

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:49</time>
and let them know what happened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:51</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:51</time>
Unprovoked attack from the British, killed your brother, and this is when

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:30:57</time>
George will make the fort of necessity, realizing that the men, the French men

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:02</time>
from Fort Duquesne are gonna come and, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:08</time>
for revenge for what happened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:09</time>
Yeah, so, so essentially they've just kicked off the French,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:11</time>
uh, French and Indian War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:12</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:13</time>
Right.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:13</time>
And, and George will survive this, and he will w- write in his journals that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:17</time>
he hears bullets whipping by his head.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:20</time>
Uh, he escapes without any wounds.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:22</time>
Um, and He said, "I heard bullets whistle, and believe me, there's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:26</time>
something charming in the sound." So he's in the middle of this battle.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:31</time>
He sees it happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:31</time>
He loses control.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:32</time>
He loses control of his command.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:34</time>
A half king, I would say more or less, is the one who started this war.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:38</time>
Yeah, he's the one who's kinda… He, he's the one manipulating

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:40</time>
both, both s- well, really the British into doing what he wants.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:44</time>
And he does this, and then just leaves.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:47</time>
It's like, okay- Yeah, he got what he wanted

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:49</time>
he got what he wanted.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:50</time>
He got his revenge, and he's, peace out to George.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:52</time>
Like, so now George has to deal with this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:54</time>
So in July of 1754, um, a- anticipating this counterattack from the French,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:31:59</time>
he does this makeshift fort at what they call Great Meadows, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:03</time>
they allude to it in the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:06</time>
It's low ground.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:07</time>
It was n- It's highly exposed

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:08</time>
not

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:09</time>
a wise choice.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:09</time>
It's an old lake bed, so if there's any kind of rain or

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:13</time>
flooding, it will flood out.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:15</time>
Um, and so he builds this small makeshift fort, uh-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:19</time>
And that's n- Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:21</time>
Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:22</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:22</time>
And on July 1st, 1754, the French and native forces, so you have to imagine the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:27</time>
French have some natives on their side of about 1,700, will meet George Washington

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:32</time>
and his troops, which are reinforced.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:34</time>
They do show it in the movie, reinforced by a British militia

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:39</time>
that- Right … comes to help them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:40</time>
By,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:40</time>
by actual British- Mm-hmm … like, led by actual British officers,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:43</time>
not Fr- not Virginia militia.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:45</time>
There's some actual, like, British, you know, formal officers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:48</time>
Yes, and they also p- poke at George Washington that you're really not

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:52</time>
a, a British officer, and you're not a, an gentleman, that even

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:32:57</time>
though you do have command of us, you don't really have command of us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:00</time>
Now, one thing they said in the movie, and I, and I only wanna ask this because it

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:03</time>
was one of the kinda like, one of the few humor spots in the movie, um, was when the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:08</time>
British came up to where the tr- the, uh, the additional troops came up to support

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:13</time>
George Washington at Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:15</time>
They kinda, they rode up in the movie, and he asked, "Where's Colonel so-and-so?"

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:19</time>
I forgot his name.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:19</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:20</time>
They're like, "Oh, he died the other day. He fell off his horse- Mm-hmm … and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:22</time>
broke his neck," or something like that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:24</time>
And he's like, and they're like, "You, you've now assumed his, his rank." So

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:28</time>
George goes from m- major- Mm-hmm … in the Virginia militia to now colonel,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:33</time>
and so did that actually happen?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:34</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:34</time>
'Cause, like, in the movie, his, his friends, his, his colonial friends kinda,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:39</time>
a- as soon as that happens, one of his friends, they like cut to one of his

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:41</time>
friends look at him, and he just kinda gives him a like, "Oh- … that's pretty

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:45</time>
cool." Like, that, like the nod, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:46</time>
His, his friend just sitting outside.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:47</time>
He's like, "Man, Ge- George is a colonel in, like, less than a year."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:51</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:52</time>
You know?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:52</time>
So that's what they're alluding to, these battlefield promotions.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:54</time>
So is, did

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:54</time>
that actually happen?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:55</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:55</time>
Oh, yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:55</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:56</time>
100%. This is why George will take, have full responsibility

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:33:58</time>
of this, uh, um, surrender.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:01</time>
So here he is.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:01</time>
George is 22-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:03</time>
Yep

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:03</time>
… when the, when, in 1754.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:05</time>
So he's 22.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:06</time>
He's a colonel.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:07</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:07</time>
Which is wild 'cause less than a year before, he was nothing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:11</time>
Um, he w- Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:12</time>
… wasn't even a, a Virginia militia officer.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:14</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:15</time>
So they say, uh- You have on July 3rd, 900 French so- soldiers attack

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:22</time>
Fort Necessity and ensuing battle will end in George Washington's surrender.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:27</time>
So Just the hopelessness of the situation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:31</time>
They show it a little bit in the movie, the rain.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:34</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:34</time>
George Washington said the rain was so bad the f- on July 3rd

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:38</time>
when this battle takes place, that they couldn't even see each other.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:42</time>
Wow.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:43</time>
And it, it also shows how it floods out the fort, and it gets their

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:47</time>
gunpowder wet, and that was what it really incapacitated them.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:53</time>
Then so they're basically taken over, and they surrender.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:34:57</time>
And in that surrender, George Washington has to sign, uh, the treaty

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:02</time>
of surrender, and it's all in French.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:05</time>
And he doesn't have a great interpreter.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:08</time>
Again, not knowing French is his handicap.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:11</time>
It says that they assassinated Ensign Jumonville, so they actually

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:15</time>
went there to assassinate him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:17</time>
He's admitting to that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:19</time>
And so when he signs the surrender, he has to leave some British

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:23</time>
officers with him, they also allude to that, uh, and then they have

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:27</time>
to, uh, march back to Williamsburg.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:30</time>
And so when he comes back to Williamsburg and he shows the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:32</time>
surrender, the governor is upset that he admitted to assassinating- Yeah,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:37</time>
he's reading him the Riot Act- Mm-hmm

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:38</time>
and George Washington keeps saying, "Well, my interpreter…"

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:40</time>
And he's like, "It doesn't ma- Yeah … it doesn't matter, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:42</time>
You signed it."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:43</time>
Yes, and the, this particular killing of the brother of the, the leader

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:48</time>
of Fort Duquesne, this inflames the tension between the British

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:50</time>
and the French- Yeah … which will ignite the French and Indian War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:53</time>
So that's what they always say George Washington was that spark of the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:35:57</time>
French and Indian War because of what he losing control there at, um, at-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:01</time>
Fort Necessity

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:02</time>
… at Fort, what, before that, at, uh, losing control at Jumonville.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:05</time>
Oh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:05</time>
yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:05</time>
And then answering it with Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:08</time>
Side note, we went to Fort Necessity and did the lines from Hamilton,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:13</time>
"History has its eyes on you," 'cause that's what George Washington's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:15</time>
singing about, and that's when Chris Jackson first contacted us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:19</time>
So it's there for you if you wanna see it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:22</time>
Now, in the movie, they burn it to the ground.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:24</time>
In reality, they also burned it to the ground.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:27</time>
So what you see today when you go to Fort Necessity is the actual

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:30</time>
location with a recreation.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:32</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:33</time>
So super cool.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:34</time>
Yeah, so, so they, they show that, and then they show, I think, the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:38</time>
next year in 1755, right, when-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:42</time>
Braddock

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:42</time>
Braddock, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:43</time>
So they do sh- they do show that, uh, some of that, uh, part of the conflict

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:48</time>
when George Washington really starts to get his reputation, you know.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:52</time>
And so did he actually resign his commission like he did in the movie?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:36:56</time>
'Cause in the movie, he comes back, and he's just completely humiliated by

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:01</time>
this massive failure at Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:04</time>
So he does try to resign his commission.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:07</time>
Remember?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:08</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:08</time>
And the governor says, "It would look bad on me 'cause I chose you." So Governor,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:13</time>
um, Duignal, did I say his name right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:15</time>
Dinwiddie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:16</time>
Dinwiddie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:17</time>
I cannot say that name.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:18</time>
He says, "It reflects bad on me if I pick somebody who can't do this job

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
correctly." And so what happens with that is, uh- We now know Dinwiddie as

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:29</time>
starting George Washington's career.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:31</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:31</time>
And so he doesn't let him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:32</time>
He lets him basically have a leave of absence.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:34</time>
Oh, 'cause, 'cause in the movie, he It, they kinda made it look like

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:39</time>
he resigned, like they had let him resign, and then he came back to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:42</time>
be, to ask to be the aide-de-camp to Braddock- Yes … to General Braddock.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:47</time>
Kinda proves himself.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:48</time>
He s- he says, he tells General Braddock, Braddock's is planning on

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:52</time>
get- moving his larger force to kick the French out of the Ohio Valley, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:37:58</time>
Washington comes in and says, "I'm the only one who knows how to get there."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:01</time>
And Braddock's like, "Ah, it's only gonna take us a week." Washington's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:03</time>
like, "No, it's gonna take you at least a month." And Braddock's like, "What?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:07</time>
A month?" And he starts showing him the map. He's like, "This

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:10</time>
is all single, single file.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:12</time>
Like, it's this, this country is not like, you know, Great Britain.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:17</time>
It's not like England."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:19</time>
And so he prove, he kinda proves that, and so Braddock's like, "Okay,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:22</time>
you're gonna be aide-de-camp." Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:24</time>
And then he, he brings him along, and that's why he's riding with Braddock

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:28</time>
to this, to this f- kinda fi- the final conflict that they show in the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:32</time>
Yeah, so I think they, they allude to Washington doesn't want to…

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:38</time>
He wants to clean up his mistakes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:39</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:39</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:40</time>
He wants-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:40</time>
He, he's still ambitious

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:41</time>
… and he, he feels like he has a lot of now experience in the area.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:45</time>
Yeah, well, and in the movie, they kinda, again, show his mother.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:48</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:48</time>
His mother, he comes home all defeated.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:51</time>
He's ch- he's taken his anger out on a, on a tree.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:54</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:54</time>
He's trying to chop down a tree.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:55</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:56</time>
And his, and his mother- Cherry tree … his mother comes and, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:38:59</time>
talks to him and kinda, like, says, you know, "If you don't learn from…"

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:01</time>
Basically, "If you don't learn from these mistakes, then, then you failed twice."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:05</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:06</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:06</time>
You failed once at y- at your actual failure, and you failed a second time by

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:10</time>
not learning from it and not being better.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:13</time>
And so he kinda, he shows that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:15</time>
He's at his low point, and then the movie kind of sends him on the upswing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:19</time>
Yeah, and so he volunteers as the aide-de-camp to Edward Braddock,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:23</time>
to General Edward Braddock.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:25</time>
Uh, and we know that George Washington's gonna have some tremendous aide-de-camps

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:29</time>
when he, for the Revolutionary War.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:31</time>
So you can see, like, how he's learning- Yeah … to do these jobs.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:34</time>
Now, he's gonna recommend split the army into one main column, flying columns.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:39</time>
He's gonna say, "There's a difference in fighting within these forests.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:43</time>
You can't set up these two columns.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:45</time>
There's no fronts.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:46</time>
There's no large fields.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:48</time>
People fight from the trees."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:49</time>
So he's trying to kinda give him, like, the, the topography

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:53</time>
and- He's like, "The, the fighting style's different." Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:55</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:55</time>
And he, and just think, even if you've never been to England-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:39:58</time>
Mm … just think of it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:00</time>
If you've ever seen a movie of, that's been filmed over there,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:02</time>
the countryside is just different.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:03</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:04</time>
It's just different.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:05</time>
And when you, and you think about, you know, Pennsylvania- Mm … and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:09</time>
how thick the forests are out there, it's just totally different terrain.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:14</time>
And even Braddock was kinda, they kinda show how surprised Braddock was when

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:19</time>
he's like, "I've been in, you know, many, many, many battles." He's like, "Not

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:22</time>
like, not like here on the new country."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:25</time>
And then he gets up there, and he's like, "Why are we stopped?" He's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:27</time>
like, "There's a tree." He's like… And he's, he's yelling at one of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:30</time>
his majors or colonels, whatever.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:31</time>
He's like, he says, "How do you expect to defeat the French if you can't defeat

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:34</time>
a tree?" And it's this massive tree that just fell across- the trail, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:38</time>
they gotta spend half a day chopping this tree up just to get through

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:41</time>
' Cause you need the wagons that,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:43</time>
uh- 'Cause you have to have the-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:44</time>
all the artillery … all the, all the supplies and all the stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:45</time>
And so they did a really good, I thought they did a really good job of showing

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:51</time>
w- how hard these conflicts were and how difficult it was to get from one location

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:40:56</time>
to the next if you weren't do- going on the river, and all of this stuff.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:01</time>
And then so finally we get to this, this conflict.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:04</time>
Yeah, so they basically, they're- they're being sent to expel

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:08</time>
the French from Fort Duquesne.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:10</time>
So this is, again, we're leading, th- th- we're trying to do the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:13</time>
same job now the third time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:15</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:15</time>
So now we have Braddock, we have a whole British army who's going to do this,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:21</time>
and Washington has volunteered as the aide-de-camp to the general in charge.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:25</time>
So they get there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:26</time>
They get to almost in the same area.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:28</time>
I mean, they are right beside Fort Necessity when a huge

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:31</time>
battle takes place, and it's the Battle of the Mon- Monongahela.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:35</time>
And two thor- two-thirds of the British forces become casualties, and Braddock

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:40</time>
is killed, and that's does happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:42</time>
Now, in the movie they allude to he's killed right away.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:45</time>
In reality, he lingers.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:46</time>
He does, he does get a chest wound, and he lingers for a couple days- Oh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:50</time>
okay … and dies a couple days later.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:51</time>
Okay.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:52</time>
But again, for a movie, they rush where he gives him his sash.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:57</time>
That actually does happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:41:59</time>
Yeah, so Washington is basically-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:01</time>
He's, has dysentery … he, he's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:03</time>
been sick.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:03</time>
He's very sick.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:04</time>
He gets up, he's riding his horse.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:06</time>
He's trying to go kinda save his men, 'cause his men- He's near the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:09</time>
battle … the Virginia Militia, the Virginia Militia were on the front line.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:12</time>
Front lines, yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:13</time>
And then so he's trying to save his men, while at the same

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:16</time>
time, who is the other major?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:18</time>
So Thomas Gage, and what's so interesting is this is absolutely true, the command

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:22</time>
of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:24</time>
Thomas Gage is going to be the commander-in-chief of the British

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:28</time>
forces during the American Revolution.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:30</time>
Which is so interesting because it shows these two kind of, there's this push-pull

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:34</time>
relationship between Washington and Gage.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:37</time>
Gage is this traditional, formal, has official commission and everything

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:41</time>
like that, whereas Washington doesn't.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:43</time>
But you see Gage kind of coming around to Washington, and at one point

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:47</time>
he's even telling Washington when Washington's sick on his horse getting

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:50</time>
ready to go save his men, he's like, "Washington, it's, the battle is lost."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:54</time>
Mm-hmm, yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:55</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:55</time>
He's, he's trying to, he even calls him friend.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:57</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:58</time>
He's like, "C- come, friend," right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:42:59</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:00</time>
And, and he's like, "What could be worth it?" And, in that,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:03</time>
that classic hero shot, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:04</time>
You know, he's, Washington looks up.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:06</time>
He's like, "My men." Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:07</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:07</time>
And he rides off.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:08</time>
And, uh, but so they show this relationship between these two, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:12</time>
Gage, they show him kind of saying, "Oh, the general called the retreat."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:17</time>
Which didn't happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:17</time>
Which didn't happen, and so Washington's trying to find the general, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:22</time>
that's, he finds General Braddock.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:24</time>
Braddock sees Wash- and J- Washington.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:26</time>
They do a good job of showing him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:28</time>
Like, the actor's pretty tall.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:29</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:30</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:30</time>
Oh, yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:30</time>
And so he was this big, imposing- And with the red hair

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:32</time>
yeah, he's got- Reddish … kind of reddish hair.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:34</time>
And so he finds the general, the general gives him his sash,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:36</time>
which you said is accurate.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:38</time>
Sash is at Mount Vernon today.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:38</time>
And, and, and he, and Braddock basically tells him, "Rally the men. Hold this."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:43</time>
He's still giving him direction.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:44</time>
He had never called the retreat like Gage had, had implied.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:48</time>
And Gage makes it sound like, "This is not my home. My home

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:52</time>
is in, across the ocean." Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:54</time>
And George Washington's like, "This is my home."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:56</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:56</time>
Well, that's, he said- Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:57</time>
… that, that's the difference between us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:58</time>
That's the difference between us.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:43:59</time>
These men will meet again 20 years later, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:02</time>
That's so

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:02</time>
crazy.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:02</time>
As commander in chiefs of their opposing forces.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:05</time>
I find that, and that's true.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:07</time>
Right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:07</time>
So I find that very cool how they did that.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:11</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:11</time>
Uh, so then you see him get the sash from Gage, uh, which will eventually happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:15</time>
Gage doesn't, I mean, uh, the, the sash from, uh, Braddock, which does happen.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:20</time>
Braddock will die a couple days later.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:22</time>
They do bury Braddock there on the main road, and they did that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:26</time>
because they believed the American Indians would desecrate his grave.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:29</time>
So they felt like if they put his grave on the main road and trampled over it,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:33</time>
that no one would know where it was.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:35</time>
Today, there's a big monument there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:37</time>
Again, it's right beside the Juniper, uh, location where the massacre took place,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:42</time>
and it's right beside Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:44</time>
You can see all of these three places within, like, 10 miles.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:46</time>
It's amazing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:47</time>
So in the movie, he kinda does this heroic bullets can't touch me ride, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:52</time>
He, he rides out, he gets to his men, he kinda rallies his Virginia militia.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:44:56</time>
He's able to kinda start maneuvering the troops to, to turn things around, to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:01</time>
turn the tide of that particular battle.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:03</time>
Yep.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:04</time>
And he kinda just saves, he saves the day there.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:07</time>
So during the engagement, Washington will have two horses shot out from under

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:10</time>
him, his hat and his coats are pierced with bullets, and he, uh- redeems his

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:17</time>
reputation among his credits f- for losing command at, uh, the Battle Fort Necessity,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:24</time>
because he's out there in front, because he helps his men, because he is this

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:28</time>
marker of inspiration of not getting hit by any bullets and going out in front.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:34</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:34</time>
Well, I… Who is it?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:35</time>
Ben Kingsley that plays the governor?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:36</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:37</time>
Yes.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:37</time>
So Ben Kingsley, uh, i- in, um… I'm trying to think of other movies that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:40</time>
people would know him, know him from.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:42</time>
He was in, like, some of the I- Gandhi … Gandhi.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:43</time>
He was in some of the Iron Man movies playing that weird actor, uh, who

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:47</time>
kind of pretended- Sherlock List.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:48</time>
Yeah, so he's, he's been in a bunch of movies, but he does a great job.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:52</time>
So after this, Washington saves the day at Fort Duquesne, right?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:56</time>
So they, they come back and he saved a bunch of men that

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:45:59</time>
probably would've been captured.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:00</time>
Um, they come back home and he's basically kinda giving the report to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:04</time>
the governor, who is Ben Kingsley.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:05</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:06</time>
And Ben Kingsley's standing there with some other British officers and, and

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:08</time>
Washington is still… Like, he's cleaned up, but he's still in the same uniform.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:12</time>
He's like, "You know, what's with the uniform?" He's like,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:13</time>
"Well, this is the only one that I have." He's like, "No, no, no.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:15</time>
There's a… There's bullet holes in it."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:17</time>
He's like, "Well…" And Washington n- understand the question.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:20</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:20</time>
And he keeps kinda hitting him with it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:22</time>
He's like, "There's, there's a hole in your hat. There's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:24</time>
holes in your uniform," and, and Washington just kinda looks at him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:28</time>
Like, "It's the only hat I

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:29</time>
have." Like, it's, it's, it's, "This is all I have." And, uh, you know,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:33</time>
and then they, they do some things, you know, with the Native Americans-

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:36</time>
Which never happened

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:37</time>
which never happened.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:37</time>
So in the movie they actually… I guess some of the opposing Native Americans

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:42</time>
had said, "Hey, we wanna talk to this guy, Washington." So he goes and talks

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:45</time>
to him, and they kind of say, like, "Oh, you're protected," and it kinda…

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:49</time>
They kind of put it over the top as far as the mystery surrounding him.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:52</time>
The myth that does become… The myth that, that does becomes the reality

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:55</time>
of George Washington- Yeah … that he will ride out in front of his troops, he

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:46:59</time>
will be one of the first people on the battlefield, that he doesn't get hit.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:02</time>
He really is an inspiration.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:03</time>
This all comes after his life, and so we allude to it now, but they are trying

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:10</time>
to make it in the movie like they're…

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:11</time>
they recognize it in the moment- Yeah … which they really didn't.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:16</time>
Some of the things here, too, that happen is he comes back and he appoints

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:20</time>
him commander with the rank of colonel to the Virginia Militia, and they

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:25</time>
allude to why their colors are blue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:28</time>
Yeah, so it's the new uniforms.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:30</time>
Yes, and it's because indigo is a crop that actually is grown in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:35</time>
Pennsylvania, it's grown in Louisiana.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:37</time>
A lot of people have indigo plantations, and it's a dye.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:41</time>
The dye is blue, and so it's just an easier color to access,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:45</time>
and that's what they allude to.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:46</time>
I don't know if that's true, but that's why they wear the blue.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:50</time>
It worked really well for the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:51</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:51</time>
And so, and th- you know, I, I mentioned that Ben Kingsley, you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:55</time>
know, governor scene is like, "Hey, you have all these holes in, um,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:58</time>
in, you know, in your uniform."

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:47:59</time>
And then, and then all of a sudden the… kinda the last part of the movie, the last

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:02</time>
scene of the movie is, um- How is him in the new blue uniform, which you see all

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:09</time>
the pictures of George Washington, like picture, uh, an image of George Washington

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:13</time>
in his uniform, it's that blue uniform.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:15</time>
It's the classic blue uniform, so he's wearing that, and then he's, he's walking

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:18</time>
in front of his troops, and he gives a speech, and they're like, everybody's

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:21</time>
like, "Yeah, Virginia," you know?

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:22</time>
So it was great.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:23</time>
Yeah, and what they don't allude to is like two years later, he- this is again

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:27</time>
when George Washington, impatient for his, um, official royal commission,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:32</time>
and he believes that Braddock would've give him a, a commission, um, asks

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:36</time>
for it again, and he's denied again.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:38</time>
Um, it ends in 1755, so this would've happened in 1757.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:43</time>
Uh, so you're gonna start to see, I think they're making a sequel now, more of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:46</time>
what's gonna reinforce George Washington fighting for independence for our country.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:51</time>
I do wanna say one more thing.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:52</time>
Uh, Christopher Gist, they do have him as a character in this.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:48:56</time>
Uh, they do kinda show him saving George Washington's life.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:00</time>
He's known for saving George Washington's life twice.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:03</time>
He goes on missions with him into the wilderness.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:06</time>
Um, when they fall into the river as they're heading down to Pittsburgh,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:11</time>
uh, it's actually Gist that gr- that saves Washington from drowning in

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:15</time>
the river, and they make it over to the island, and they're able to

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:19</time>
spend, uh, a night on that island.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:21</time>
And, uh, during the night, it will freeze, and they're able to walk over.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:28</time>
Um, but Gist does not, um, pass away at Fort Necessity.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:32</time>
He actually will live a lot longer, but he's a part, he's part of

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:36</time>
the Braddock Expedition in 1755.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:39</time>
He's a part of Fort Necessity in 1754, and he actually dies in 1759 of smallpox.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:45</time>
So he's not shot at Fort Necessity, and it's not the moment that George

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:49</time>
Washington realizes his big blunder.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:52</time>
Um, but it adds to the, to the movie, so.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:55</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:49:56</time>
But Gist does save his life, and they do spend that night, uh, on the island

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:01</time>
in Pittsburgh until it freezes over, and they do walk across the river together.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:04</time>
Yeah, it was, it was great.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:07</time>
I actually really enjoyed the movie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:08</time>
Even the kids, uh, kind of enjoyed it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:10</time>
Mm-hmm.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:10</time>
So if you are a history fan, which I'm sure you are if you're watching

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:13</time>
this or if you're listening, we would recommend going to see it.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:16</time>
I think they did a pretty good job.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:18</time>
Um, and we actually saw, I saw on social media that the guy who wrote the

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:22</time>
movie says they're filming a follow-up, so they're gonna film one for around

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:26</time>
1776, so that should be pretty cool.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:27</time>
That's really awesome.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:31</time>
It's easy to look back at the giants of American history and see them as

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:34</time>
statues carved out of marble, perfect, stoic, and destined for greatness.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:41</time>
But as we walked out of Young Washington, the thing that lingers is the reminder

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:46</time>
that before the glory, there was the mud George Washington's story

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:51</time>
didn't begin with a grand victory.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:53</time>
It began with a humiliating defeat, international blunders, and a young

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:50:58</time>
man desperately trying to prove himself on a dangerous frontier.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:03</time>
He wasn't born a legend, he was forged by his failures.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:08</time>
Whether you love the cinematic style of Angel Studios or prefer to stick

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:12</time>
strictly to primary sources, this film does something critical: it

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:16</time>
humanizes the father of our country.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:19</time>
It reminds us that leadership isn't about never falling down.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:22</time>
It's about having the courage to dust off the bullet holes in your coat, get back

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:27</time>
on your horse, and take the next step.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:30</time>
We'll talk to you next time.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:32</time>
Thank you

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:38</time>
This has been a Walk With History production.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:40</time>
Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:43</time>
Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:46</time>
Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:50</time>
Talk With History is supported by our community at thehistoryroadtrip.com.

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:55</time>
Make sure you hit that follow button in that podcast player,

<cite>Speaker:</cite>
<time>00:51:58</time>
and we'll talk to you next time

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