Larry Mendte Curtis Sliwa America 250th June 23

Curtis shares the story of George Washingtons many narrow escapes as he evaded the British army and navigated across the Hudson River.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Curtis and Larry celebrate two fifty Stories that made America
on sevent ten. Wo Wow, we're eleven days out the
celebration of our two hundred and fiftieth birthday. Larry's done
a great job at critiquing the Americans battle against the
bridge in New Jersey. I've handled the New York side.

(00:21):
Nobody else is doing this, So let me just briefly recap.
Remember General Howe leaves Boston. He says, man, there's just
too many rebels here. We got to go to a
friendly place. So he decides to land on Staten Island.
He gets totally received well. He now invades Brooklyn, where
George Washington is with his troops up on Park Slope.

(00:43):
Thank god for four hundred regulars from Maryland. They basically
all get slaughtered, but they slow down. General how George
Washington is able to make it right to the East River.
He's surrounded. He's gonna get slaughtered right hung Ah, the
fog comes in Manhattan. They're chasing them up Manhattan. The
last time we spoke about the Bronx where they were

(01:05):
chasing them down Gunhill Road where Gunhill Road is now
and the Pennsylvania riflemen stopped the Brits or they would
have had George Washington again. So George Washington and the
remains of the Continental Army, which are mostly men now
who are coming from Delaware to back up General Washington.

(01:27):
They're also coming from Massachusetts, They're coming from now New York,
upstate New York. So now they have a significant force
of about four thousand. They head up to White Plains.
General howis in hot pursuit. He says, We're just steps
away from getting these guys. I've got five thousand British regulars.
I've gotten loyalists who are in the Marianat. These are

(01:50):
residents of Westchester who are loyal to the Crown. And
I've got eight thousand Hessians who are getting off ships
in the Long Island South and they're gonna move right
into New Rochelle. So they take over New Rochelle, and
the Brits go right into Scarsdale. So they have George
Washington and his troops completely surrounded, except George Washington has

(02:14):
the high ground in White Plains. In fact, if you
happen to be in the area, go to Elijah Miller House.
It's North White Plains and General Washington has instructed his
army to build trenches. It's gonna be trench warfare. He figures,
it's the only way we can stop the Brits and
the Hessians and the loyalists from Amaranac. Three miles of trenches,

(02:36):
two layers, so if you get through the first layer,
you have to get through the second layer. The only
thing missing are alligators in the trenches. So now everybody's
bedded down. The Americans have their cannons trained on the bricks.
The Hessians are ordered to cross the Bronx River. They refuse.
They tell General how to messengers. No, no, no, We're

(02:58):
not crossing the Bronx. However, we're gonna stay right where
we are. So General Howe says, okay, we got it,
and they start charging towards white planes. General Washington sees this,
and the regiment from Connecticut and Delaware agreed that they
will charge out and meet General Howe and the British regulars. Well,
guess what, they get cut down, But the Continental Army

(03:22):
from Connecticut and Delaware, they were just magnificent and slowing
them down. Meantime, the Hessians have finally decided, Hey, maybe
we'll join the battle but just mercenaries anyway. So they
come up the rear, and now all of a sudden,
George Washington realizes they've gotten through the first trenches. They're
gonna somehow go over the second trenches, and he's got

(03:45):
the Massachusetts in the New York regimen. They're fighting off
the Brits, and now the Hessians and the Loyalists coming in,
so he orders retreat, retreat, retreat, and General Howe and
the Hessians and the Loyalists are in full prison suit.
So they estimated at that point about eighteen thousand of
the bridge. The Hessians and the Loyalists are now pursuing.

(04:06):
What is left of George Washington's army is only three
thousands in the left. They start going up Westchester. They
are along the Hudson River. All of a sudden they
hit Peak Skill, which is right in front. It's actually
north they call it the Mario Fatcheproo Tacomo Bridge, and
it's always a Tapmanz bridge. That's where it is now.

(04:27):
And they get the longboats out and they're going to
cross the Hudson and go over to the Palisades. And
they are aided once again by an act of God,
a heavy rain like we experienced here in New York
City yesterday, except and went all day all night. So
General Howe says to his troops, you know what, we
got a bunker down. The horses, the wagons, they can't

(04:49):
get through this, just too much mud. The Hessians, they say,
oh great. The Loyalists they go back to Mamaranac and
they hunk her down. And George Washington and the Revolutionutionary Army,
the brave men from Connecticut that were left Delaware, that
were left Massachusetts and New York are able to cross
over that Hudson River, and the longboats to be able

(05:11):
to fight another day as they then run up the palisade. Larry,
in terms of the stories you've told was You're been
magnificent and the ones that I've told so far, George
Washington had more escapes than Harry Houdini had in his lifetime.
There are so far out of the stories you've told,
and I've told had to be at least twelve times

(05:31):
where the Brits had them surrounded and they were going
to hang them from a tree.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
We don't realize until these story is a nice job
on that one, Until these stories, how lucky the American
Revolution was because you're right. There were several times when
they had Washington and he was able to escape, and
some of it was just laziness or pride or over
confidence that they had him so we can rest for

(05:58):
the night, and then he just goes and scape, escapes
in the night.

Speaker 1 (06:00):
Up next, Alan greensped top economist, died. He always wanted
to be a judge, musician. Wait till you get the link.