january 27th 1781. new jersey. the war forindependence drags into its sixth year. money, spirit and patience are flagging throughoutthe army. time is running out. only three weeks into the new year, the situation reachesa crisis point. the continental army, exhausted and neglected, is on the verge of revolt.in no time, washington has mutiny on his hands. his response will be determined and drastic."unless effectual measures are taken into place, the army upon a more satisfactory footing.itsdissolution and the other ruin of our cause will be the inevitable consequences." - georgewashington. the story of the mutiny began on january 1st in morristown, new jersey.there is little to celebrate this new year. the war has became a unrelenting misery. soldiersfrom the pennsylvania line reach their limit.
unpaid, underfed, and barely clothed. theycan endure no more for the great cause. by 1781, the continental army has become in manyways, the professional organization that washington wanted and needed it to be. but it's an armythat is unhappy. they haven't been paid in a long time and when has been forthcoming,it has been paper money. that is depreciating. moment by moment is worth less every day.the soldiers are quite clear about the fact that they are loyal to their cause but theywant to their terms of their contracts to be contracts to be honored. enraged, theyvoice their grievances to their superiors. but there is nothing to be done. congress,without the power to tax, is out of money to pay its soldiers. the soldiers are notswayed. they see this as a series of broken
promises. they pledge their lives, they'respilling their blood, they thought they were making a contract to serve their country.but the country isn't honoring the contract. the officers watch from from the comfort oftheir quarters. some are sympathetic but others brush the soldiers' concerns aside. suddenlythe ideas of the revolution the talks of liberty and equality of all men seem no longer toapply. i don't think the fact that the officers had better clothing, better food, better equipmentendeared them to the regular troops who were so-cold and so hungry and so behind in theirpay. within the revolution, a rebellion grows. on january 2nd, camps empty as 13,000 soldiers,one-quarter of the northern army up and leave. they march out, taking cannons and weaponswith one destination in mind: continental
congress. a two-day march away from philadelphia.their plan: make congress listen. they get as far as princeton, they seized the townof princeton. washington sends an army to surround them and they negotiate peace witha settlement: the troops who wanna go home get their money. troops who want to stay getthe clothing they need. about half of them go home. and that's the end of it. washingtonbegs congress for money and provisions is the only way to pacify his army. it is littleto late. "as i have used every endeavor in my power to avert the evil that has come uponus so will i continue to exert every means to prevent a extension of the mischief buti can neither foretell or answerable for the issue. - george washington fresh unrest spreads among other camps. theytoo want what they believe that they are owed.
january 20th 1781. pompton, new jersey. now200 soldiers from the new jersey line prevail. they too begin their march to congress, butthis time washington will strike them down for the sake of the revolution, these mutiniesmust end. he couldn't have an army where mutinies took place and hundreds of men left and wenthome. the army would implode. and the war would be lost. worse, any mutiny leads thebritish to believe the army collapse and renew the favor to win the war. washington's viewis: ' that it. enough is enough." the mutineers don't get far. all are quickly captured. amongthem, the ringleaders are sentenced to death by firing squad. but they are not the onlyones who will pay a heavy price for insubordination. in a cruel move, washington then gets their12 closest friends, twelve men who were with
them in the mutiny but not quite the ringleaders,and orders them to shoot them. the men in the jersey line are aghast at this for thecommander, not only for ordering them shot by their friends but at the same time, toprovide. " this was the most painful task. when ordered to load, someone had shed tears."-james thatcher, continental doctor. the six men fire, but they have deliberately aimedhigh, sending a volley over the heads of the condemned men. the second six are immediatelyassembled and under penalty of death themselves, ordered to shoot. this time, the shots findtheir targets. the punishment sends a clear message: sedition will no longer be toleratedin the continental army. after the execution of those men and that terrible winter in 1781, there were no more mutinies.
but the unrest in his army has shaken washington. his authority and the revolution are slipping away. he must find a way to end this war now. in the south, the war continues without pause. an ongoing showdown between two determined armies. having surprisingly beaten the british at the battle of cowpens, the continentals steady themselves for revenge. the british will see to make a all-or-nothing push to annihilate the rebel force. general charles cornwallis, the british commander in the south, has become singular in his obsession. he will not stop until he can make the continental army stand and fight. instead, the rebels keep pulling cornwallis deeper in the back country. on a cat n' mouse chase led by his arch rival, general nathaniel greene.
cornwallis, himself believes that if he could draw nathaniel greene into one decisive fight, if he could bring this war to one pitched battle somewhere in the south, the battle is going to be over. greene won't give him that satisfaction. general nathaniel greene knows better. he learned early on battles like new york and brandywine that keeping the army away from direct confrontation is paramount. like a boxer who realizes his opponent hits harder, greene's plan is to keep moving. to wear down and exhaust his enemy. if he can buy time, he can get reinforcements. greene draws cornwallis step by step farther his lines of supply. farther from the possibility of reinforcements.
farther from the point of no return. greene has been leading a chase for months. that zigzags across the south. through swamps and forests, cornwallis manages to stay close. often trailing by a few hundred yards. but the continentals are like a mirage that disappears as he draws near. the two sides regularly skirmish among scouting parties. but the main armies never meet. greene's continental force is smaller, lighter and faster.
the british, by contrast, are encumbered. they will need to take extreme measures to keep up. to lighten his load, cornwallis orders an enormous bonfire built. onto which, all the unnecessary trappings of a distinguished british army are thrown. wagons. tents. clothing. fine china. silver.
and cask upon cask of rum. cornwallis is very earnest. he does not want to allow greene to escape. he is going to do anything within his power to catch up to greene. "in this situation, without baggage, necessaries with zeal and bayonets only, it was resolved to follow greene's army to the end of the world." -brigadier general charles o' hara. it is a fateful decision that he pay for later. the race picks up speed. the two armies begin to travel at an almost inhuman pace.
moving as fast as forty miles in a single day. greene now sees only one chance for survival. as cornwallis chases him toward the virginia border, greene makes a daring move. he splits his army, sending one branch toward the upper dan river, while the main army moves east where greene has commandeered all the boats along the crossing. cornwallis, fooled, dutifully follows the decoy. it bought greene the time he needed to move down the river to the point where the continentals had gathered the boats on that river and crossed to a point that cornwallis could not hope to cross. greene's plan works. he moves his regiment, all 2,000 men across the dan, reaching the other side just in time. the british, realizing the ploy, rushed to the crossing.
arriving just hours after the last of greene's boats leave. cornwallis, so close to the victory he sought, recognizes that the chase is over. (soldiers cheering)
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