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The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a camp miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get Your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA.
I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. What's up y'all? Summer's got a different tip-up.
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Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show. And you've heard Bob Drury and Tom Clavin share their story about Red Cloud from their number one New York Times bestseller, The Heart of Everything That Is. They're back now with one of the most interesting and inspiring and underappreciated chapters in American history, the story of the Continental Army's six-month transformation in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Although no battle was fought at Valley Forge, It was the turning point. of the Revolutionary War. Here's Bob and Tom. Tom and I contend in Valley Forge. that the characters who inhabit this book And their shared core of values, which we were pretty much blown away by.
were part of the most productive generation of statesmen in the history of the United States. We say this well aware of FDR's kitchen cabinet. and Abraham Lincoln's team of rivals. What we hope we have accomplished with Valley Forge is As the anthropologists say, is to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. When Tom and I were writing this book, we had I guess I would call what friendly arguments with historians about okay, Valley Fortuno.
Trenton. The Battle of Trenton, the surprise attack on Trenton, and the subsequent victory at Prince, that was the key to the Revolutionary War. And other other Historians would tell us no no no no it's when the french got into the war And others would say, no, no, of course not. It was Yorktown. That was the key.
That was the turning point. Others would say it was Horatio Gates' victory at Saratoga. When the Pulitzer Prize winning for his Washington biography, Joseph Ellis, and his National Book Award winning for his book on Thomas Jefferson came out and said, Valley Ford's was the existential moment in the war for independence. I said, Yeah, go argue with Joe Ellis. Don't argue with us, all right?
Tom, what do you think? You ready for a story? Tell them a story.
Sounds good to me. Yeah. As Bob alluded to, our contention from the very beginning we started working on this book. was Valley Forge became the most important Part of the Revolutionary War. It was the turning point.
And we found that out because we started to do our research. and get deeply into it. The social studies class portrait of Valley Forge. Is guys you know, in the snow, starving and freezing. And then you had George Washington on a horse looking down and watching guys in the snow starving and freezing.
And that's the social studies portrait. What we found out is that so much more was happening. A big part of it was George Washington himself. During the Valley Forge encampment, which lasted from December 1777 to June. 1778.
George Washington went from being a He was already a revered figure. But he went from that to being The American icon, a hero. an action figure. And that happened during the course of Valley Forge. One of the things he was having to deal with was a two-front war.
There was the war itself against the British. But during the encampment of Valley Forge, There were conspiracies that included his senior subsenior officers. and members of the Continental Congress who tried to get him fired. who tried to get him replaced. And they came very close to doing that.
So that was something that was very important about Valley Forge. Washington was surrounded, and I think this is a very poignant part of the story. Washington was surrounded by a loyal group. of young surrogate sons. But these there's Alexander Hamilton, Marquis de Lafayette.
and a character named John Lawrence. And John Lawrence is sort of like the founding father you never knew. But he's also had with him these generals that were totally Loyal to him, Nathaniel Greene. Uh there was another general named Lord Sterling. Who he called himself that insisted he be called Lord Sterling because he claimed to be descended from Scottish.
aristocracy and royalty. Washington's position was, keep fighting, you can call yourself whatever you want. Lord Sterling, whatever. You're a great general. Keep doing it.
The situation, one of the things that people don't know about Valley Forge, which we found out, and Again, now what you saw in social studies, it was not the worst winter of the Revolutionary War. There were worse winters. But Valley Forge, the winter was bad. I mean, it wasn't terrible. It was bad.
But what happened was several systems had broken down in the United States. One system was the government. When the British took Philadelphia, they kicked the Continental Congress out, and they pretty much spread out.
Some of them went to York, Pennsylvania, some of them simply went home, some of them disappeared. There was no functioning government, for the most part, of the United States anymore.
So George Washington at Valley Forge was the United States government. When Valley Forge began in December 19, 1777, the Army went in there with 12,000 soldiers and they built huts. And there's also like about 400 or 500 camp followers. These are women and children that follow the Army wherever they went. Suddenly, Valley Forge became the seventh largest city in the United States.
and it became the capital of the United States. And I think that's something most people would never realize from social studies, that because of the Philadelphia, the capital of the United States being occupied by the British, because there was pretty much no Continental Congress, because everything else in the political system was in complete disarray, Valley Forge was the capital of the United States. and George Washington was the leader, de facto leader of the United States. If he had suddenly been lost for whatever reason, if he suddenly decided, I've had enough, I'm getting out of here, I'm going back to Mount Vernon, the British government, as a persuasion, even offered to make him a duke.
So he would have been the Duke of Mount Vernon.
Something like that. You know, if you just give up.
So there was the idea politically that Valley Forge was at the center of the revolutionist universe. The other thing that was happening is that George Washington realized he cared about two things, the cause of liberty and independence, and his men. and the anguish he was going through was absolutely awful because every day his men were dying. There were some who were deserting, okay, they had to get out of there. But they were dying.
The very first man who died at Valley Forge was Christmas Eve. And Washington found out about it Christmas morning. It was a black soldier from Connecticut named Jethro. He was the first one to die. He died basically of exposure and malnutrition.
2,000 men died at Valley Forge. during the course of those six months. That's more by far than any battle in the Revolutionary War. And that's a remarkable number: The Story of Valley Forge, told by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. It continues here on Our American Stories.
Lee Habib here. As we approach our nation's 250th anniversary, I'd like to remind you that all the history stories you hear on this show are brought to you by the great folks at Hillsdale College. And Hillsdale isn't just a great school for your kids or grandkids to attend, but for you as well. Go to hillsdale.edu to find out about their terrific free online courses. Their series on communism is one of the finest I've ever seen.
Again, go to hillsdale.edu and sign up for their free and terrific online courses. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a can't miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration. And get your America's Block Party tickets now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA.
Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen. Hetty, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon.
Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right. She says he's a, quote, very strange man. But they do get along really well.
Give us exams I know. They do. get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius.
Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5. Goodbye. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts.
Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. You're locked into a lot of things you can't change. Weather, traffic. Hey, stay in your lane.
Your wireless carrier's latest price hike. But you can unlock a better way. Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to $600 a year. Switch to the $25 a month unlimited wireless plan. No contracts, no price hikes, and you keep your phone.
Stop being locked into their games. Unlock the savings at boostmobile.com/slash unlock based on average annual single line of payment of ATT Verizon and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless Plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. And we continue with our American stories and the story of Valley Forge. 2,000 men died.
at Valley Forge more than in any other battle in the war, Let's continue. With his mostly unknown story. Valley Forge was a struggle for survival, not just of the Army. But of the revolution. Because if the Continental Army had ceased to exist, which Washington expected almost every day, December 23rd, he wrote a letter.
to whatever is left of Congress saying, I expect any day for my army to dissolve and disperse. He expected every morning to wake up and look out and they'd be gone. And if they left, if there was no more Continental Army, there was no more war for independence. It was over. Washington anguished over this.
He was constantly begging the governors of the individual states, send me some food. Send me some clothing. Literally, you might think it's a cliche, but he literally, they were blood in the snow. because of all the men that had no shoes. open soars, they were dying of starvation, literally dying of starvation.
And Washington had to try and keep them together. Why did this army stay together? Because it ultimately did. I don't think we're giving away too much. We did win the War of Independence.
That's where we come to the central figure of this book, George Washington. There was such admiration, such caring for him, that the s many of the soldiers Despite the suffering, They could not abandon George Washington. They saw in him. the war for American independence, the ideal. that America was going to be.
Washington was He kept himself in check. He was An aggressive emotional man who never let anyone see it. except for at times Martha, his wife. And When We discovered one of the main themes of Valley Forge is that Washington was fighting a two-front war. at Valley Forge.
One was a war militarily against the British. and the second was a political war against a faction of Congress. Who had been displaced from Philadelphia when the British captured it, and they had taken over the York, Pennsylvania courthouse. And especially the New Englanders, who never really wanted Washington to lead the Continental Army anyway. But they figured, if we're going to fight the great British Empire, we need Virginia in the fold, so that's how he got the job.
And After he lost New York, After the the The stuttering Pennsylvania campaign where he was beaten at Brandywine Creek, he was beaten at Peoli, he was beaten at Germantown. There was more than whispers to usurp this man. Let's replace him with Horatio Gates, who won the great battle of Saratoga. But Washington had this inner. Steely quality.
And not only his officers, But his NCOs and his enlisted men, they recognized it. They would not, as shoddily as they were shorn. I'll tell you, this. Just one. silly example.
When foreign officers would come over to either volunteer to fight for the Americans or to observe They were shocked, shocked. to see The American sentries at Valley Forge In these tattered blankets, naked underneath, not ripped uniforms, naked underneath with no shoes. Standing on their hats in the snow to keep their feet as warm as possible. Washington is the reason. that these men remained at Valley Forge.
And I think he emanated That kind of steely will. He was wounded. He was wounded by these attempts to usurp his position, but he never let it show. Yeah. Um Washington had gotten his first experience as a leader of men in battle in the French Indian War.
He never rose above the rank of colonel. He had hoped to be brought into, actually made an officer in the British Army. They wouldn't have him. Then, between that war and the Revolutionary War, he was back on his farm. I mean, even as the British derisively Referred to him.
He was a Virginia planter. He was a farmer. There was no really, I would say, very formal training. There was that insecurity. And I think also you have to look at Washington, especially I think during Valley Forge, was in such a difficult position because he was very much alone.
By this time Washington had become some He didn't start out this way, but he was a canny politician by this time.
Now, there was no doubt that the Continental Army was in dire straits. But Washington also recognized that he was throwing the gauntlet. to the Continental Congress.
Okay. I hear the whispers. I see the anonymous greeds against me. I know Horatio Gates is triumphed at Saratoga and you want to replace me with him?
Well, I'll tell you what. Go ahead and try it. And if you do try it, he didn't come out and say this. Uh but the underlying the undertone was if you do try this This army will dissolve and disperse. One thing you have to remember, to the politicians in York, some eighty miles inland, An army dissolving or dispersing.
This was, you know, eight to twelve to thirteen thousand men. But all they could envision was We're gonna have soldiers just scavenging in the countryside. taking our own farms and taking our own cattle. And so yes, Washington was being a bit of a cynic. But on the other hand, he was being Perfectly truthful.
Because if they didn't get food, If they didn't get shoes, if they didn't get medicine. The army would have fallen apart. I mean, that's why in some cases they vinegar. In some cases, they were eating, if there was a cow that had died or a horse that had died, they'd eat the hide. Whatever they can find, there are stories, there's something called fire cakes.
They would make, what was that, ashes from the fire?
Well, what it was, it was they would put, they had no leavening agent, they had no yeast.
So they would put this goopy. goopy oak thing together and they would just throw it on a rock in the campfire. And it wouldn't rise at all. And it would be filled with maggots and ashes, and that's where it got the name Firecakes. And it was this hard.
But you know, teeth breaking biscuit. And obvious question is if this was what they had to eat, how did they survive? And I can only point out again that of the estimated 12,000 men that went into Valley Forge in December 1777, 2,000 died.
So they literally, on a daily basis, were dying of starvation, exposure to the elements, disease.
So it really was as horrific as we're making it seem, was their daily existence. At one point, or not at one point, early on, These soldiers figured, okay. Washington ordered these flying hospitals set up around the countryside. But they had no idea of modern medicine. They did not know bacteria, germs.
And so somebody would die in one of these hospitals. And they just dumped the next guy on the same straw, the same vermin. uh infested straw. And finally, the soldiers, of course, not knowing the science of it, saying, These are abattoirs.
So they would just not tell anyone they're sick and they'd die in their huts. General Howe was the. There were two brothers, Richard and William Howe, were the two commanders of the British forces in North America. And They were They were mostly enjoying the pleasures of Philadelphia in the winter. Uh they would send out some foraging parties.
There's one uh event we talk about in in the book. That one of the HOWs that was personally leading a group a British brigade or regiment out into the field to collect supplies. And Washington was enraged by this because he said, they can't do this. They're coming right in our faces. And he said, let's get a force together and go.
And go. attack them.
So we we show them, we teach them a lesson. He couldn't get enough men fit for duty. They either were naked Or they were starving, or they were too weak to get up off their cots. And the British just went about their business, took some of the food that was around in the area, and came back. They were having parties, they were putting on plays.
Andre. Captain Andre, again, was romancing Benedict Donald's future wife. One of the Howe brothers had a mistress. The British officers had numerous mistresses. They were just having a really good time.
And the idea, and the reason why they could do that, there was no insecurity on the part of the British because they assumed that as soon as the spring came and the fighting season began, A, there'd be no American army left, or B, what was left could be easily wiped off the map.
So why not enjoy it? Go ahead, have a good time. And while they were having a good time. My goodness, again, 2,000 died at Valley Forge. And this is the period between December 1777 and June 1778.
when we come back more this great American story, an untold and unknown story. Here on Our American Stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a camp missed Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in America. American history. It's more than just fireworks.
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen.
Heddy, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right. She says he's a, quote, very strange man.
But they do get along really well. Give us examples. I know. They do. get along intellectually.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius.
Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5. Goodbye. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Alright. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little? NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. You're locked into a lot of things you can't change. Weather, traffic.
Hey, stay in your lane. Your wireless carrier's latest price hike. But you can unlock a better way. Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to $600 a year. Switch to the $25 a month unlimited wireless plan.
No contracts, no price hikes, and you keep your phone. Stop being locked into their games. Unlock the savings at boostmobile.com/slash unlock. Based on average annual single line of payment of ATT Verizon and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless Plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com.
And we're back with our American stories and the story of Valley Forge is told. by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. Let's pick up where we last left off. Throughout the book there's all these footnotes in it about little tidbits that we found out during research, one of which was that it was during the Valley Forge encampment that the term Father of his country was first used. It was actually in a German magazine referring to the American Revolution and that George Washington was the father of his country.
Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania German, yeah. And um but I think yes, he I think Washington uh probably some paternal instincts already from helping to raise Martha's children. And then he found himself, which is a really central part of this book. He found himself with these relationships with the Marquis de Lafayette.
With John Lawrence, with Alexander Hamilton. that I think one of the reasons why he could stand the tremendous burden he was under. Because these men were unabashedly supportive of him and adoring of him, and they believed in him. And that, you know, it's kind of it had to make him feel like. We have to stay the course, to borrow something from George H.W.
Bush. We have to stay what we're doing and persevere. And they supported him enormously. Totally devoted to him. They would have instantly taken a bullet for him.
And that's a big part of our story. Alexander Hamilton. who is 22 years old. He was Washington's right-hand man. He wrote many of Washington's letters.
Washington would finish his thoughts. Washington could tell Hamilton, this is what I think about, and Hamilton knew how to translate that into a thousand-page letter to some governor of New York or the governor of Pennsylvania. There was Marquis de Lafayette. Twenty. He was a major general at twenty.
led one of Washington's divisions. When he was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, Washington sent a surgeon to find him and said to the surgeon, Treat him as if he were my son. Totally devoted to him. And then John Lauren was also 22. And became great friends with Hamilton and the Marquis de Lafayette.
And he. Worshiped Washington. He was from South Carolina, and among the things he tried to do. During the Valley Forge encampment, he kept trying to raise a brigade of black soldiers. He thought one of the ways that the Continental Army could be a more effective fighting force is get it more integrated.
And in fact, he did in the sense that there were hundreds of black soldiers part of the Continental Army. It would be the last time America had a fighting force in the field that was integrated until the Korean War.
So, the rest of the army, too, is made up so much of immigrants, Irish, German, Italians, Poland.
So Mm-hmm. There was a turning point at February, in February, was probably the lowest point for Washington. There's a famous painting and story about him kneeling in the snow and praying. We discussed that in the book. It probably didn't happen.
The painting happened, but he probably didn't kneel in the snow. But it was at its lowest point. And a couple of things started to turn the tide. One thing is on a personal level is Martha Washington showed up. And you might think, well, so what?
George and Martha Washington were totally devoted to each other. And when she came from Mount the Comforts of Mount Vernon to go in the snow and the freezing cold. with her husband. For George personally, That was a big turning point. The other point, turning point, is one of our favorite characters in the book, Varon von Steuben.
What you probably don't know is the real story of Baron von Steuben. We mostly think of him: oh, yeah, he was a Prussian general that came over and trained the troops.
Well, that is true. Up to a point. He was not a Prussian general, he was a captain. He was a con man and a spy. He had met Ben Franklin in Paris.
And Franklin had completely given him a new resume. made him a major general in the Prussian army. gave him all his background and everything and said, go over there. And why don't you see how bad things are and report back to me? He gets over there all set to be You know, he's got this resume that's totally doctored.
And Washington buys it.
So he thinks, okay, great, I'm going to get paid a lot of money to be a spy for the French and for Franklin. He falls in love with the Continental Army. He says, my God, for the first time I believe in something. And he spends the next two or three months training the Continental Army. Um There's so many other characters who are in this book.
that their stories are in there that people might not even know about. There's James Monroe as a young officer who becomes the sixth President of the United States or fifth. John Quincy Adams is the sixth. There's even sidebar stories. about uh Captain John Andre, the the British debonair theatrical officer, and he's romancing Peggy Shimpin, which might not seem like a big deal, but she's going to marry Benedict Arnold.
and with her lover convince him to turn over West Point. This is all happening at the same time. What happens is that the Army At the end of Valley Forge, you're getting to the end of Valley Forge. It's going to be time for the British, who have been relaxing and partying and having a great time in Philadelphia. It's going to be time as soon as the spring comes.
to wipe out the American Army. That's what they expected. They saw an army back in the fall that had Barely staggered into a winter encampment and probably starved to death, they expected. When the winter is over, there's either there'll be no army left Whatever was left was going to be low-hanging fruit, easy pickings. And so the two armies met at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse.
And what the British discovered is that whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Yeah. Well, I'm backing up. Because I paid Clavin a hundred bucks. to let me talk.
About the Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben. Von Stubin to you and me. The Baron von Steuben arrived in Valley Forge at the end of February. As ostentatiously as he could. He was in a sleigh.
adorned with twenty-four jingle bells. Pulled by a team of Percheron horses he had purchased in France. coal black to make a good entrance. into Valley Forge. And he had borrowed the money to purchase the horches 'cause he was dead flat broke.
This guy He's my favorite.
Well, Tom mentioned John Lawrence, the founding father you never heard of. Because He died too young. There's Matt Anthony Wayne. I have so many favorite characters in this book. But the Baron Von Steuben, von Steuben is my favorite.
When he arrived at Valley Forge, not only in the sleigh with the horses and the jingle bells, he had his pocket greyhound, Azore, in his lap. He was decked out in a silk uniform with these two big horse pistols, and in his wake. was a retinue Yeah. aides and servants and Assistants, and even a French chef he had brought along. Who by the way quit?
48 hours after eyeballing the conditions at Valley Forge, he said, No way, I'm staying here.
Now And as Tom alluded to, This guy arrived in Valley Forge with a resume more doctored up than the Mayo Clinic. He had met, he was a soldier of fortune. The one thing that is true is that he had fought. in Frederick the Great's Prussian army.
Now, Frederick the Great and his army, in fact, his army Was known as an army with a country as opposed to a country with an army. Frederick the Great was renowned throughout the Western world. As the most feared military leader in the world. And von Steuben had risen to captain. in this army.
But when the European wars stopped, He kinda wandered around looking for a job as a soldier of fortune. And you've been listening to Bob Drury and Tom Clavin telling this story. The remarkable story of Valley Forge. And my goodness, that moment where Martha leaves the comfort of Mount Vernon in February of '78 to visit her husband. at Valley Forge again in February.
It's unbelievable, and this was no duck walk taking that ride. Uh there was no mass transit, folks. and also this character Van Steuben. Who if you grew up where I grew up in northern New Jersey, there are von Steubenhauses all over the place. Because he really did.
become the man he'd never been. and actually became a man well superior to his phony doctored up Resume. Doctored up. like the Mayo Clinic. I'll remember that one and use it.
When we come back, more of this remarkable story, Valley Forge, here. on our American stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q.
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a Camp Miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, Patriots, and artists. Patriotic tributes and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks.
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Black Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen.
Hetty, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right. She says he's a, quote, very strange man.
But they do get along really well. Give us examples. I know. They do. get along intellectually.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius.
Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hetty Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5. Goodbye. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
It's the rage bait? It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts.
Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. You're locked into a lot of things you can't change. Weather, traffic. Hey, stay in your lane.
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by Bob Drury and Tom Cleven. Let's return to the final installment. And von Steuben eventually ended up in Paris. And the French foreign minister Who is a big American supporter, and eventually. worked and worked and worked Louis XVI so much.
That that's what made the French come into the war. But Verjean, Di Verjean, he saw something in Von Stuben and he introduced him. to Franklin and Franklin's associate diplomat Silas Dean.
Now these two guys They were Oh, man, Washington has written so many letters to us. Don't send me any more of these deadbeats, these soldiers of fortune, these. And this is a quote from what I read. over two thousand of George Washington's Memos, private correspondence, official proclamations. I personally read these general orders, the correspondence between.
Congress, and this is my favorite word. He said, send me no more Poppinjays. We don't use that word anymore. But Von Steuben. He sits down within three interviews with Franklin and Silas Dean.
They realize this guy's the real deal. Because Frederick the Great had one rule in his army that no other Western army had. And this was every officer would get down and work and live with the enlisted men. Everyone else thought this was beneath them, including the Continental Army. Every other army bequeathed this job.
to non-commissioned officers, sergeants and corporals. And when von Steuben started telling Franklin, this is how I'll drill them, this is how I'll train them, this is what I'll do, they realized. Washington. As strong as his will was in keeping this army together, as Tom elucidated. It was really A collection.
of disparate militias Shoemakers, farmers, sailors, miners, shopkeepers, they had no idea how to fight. as one well oiled machine.
So Franklin. And Silas Dean. And they say, oh, all right, okay, we got to send Von Steuben over, but he's only a captain.
So suddenly those captain bars disappeared and he had stars on his shoulder, and suddenly he was not only an inspector general of the Prussian army, the vaunted Prussian army, but an aid to Frederick the Great himself. This is how he arrives in Valley Forge.
Now, George Washington has no clue. He knows Frederick the Great. Oh, this is one of his inspector generals.
Okay, let's go. On von Steuben's first day in camp, he decides to take an unofficial inspection tour. Here's this guy showing up in his fancy pants, European uniform, with all the metals, and he's walking into these filthy, dirty huts. and he starts interviewing Continental soldiers. about their sanitary habits.
about do you know how what the difference is between an ordinary march and a quick march. Do you ever he. Within a week, he had issued a series of memos to Washington. This is where you must dig the latrines. These latrines you have, Doug.
No wonder there's so much disease in this camp. You got to put them on the downhill slope on the other side, away from the ovens that are baking bread. You know what? And let's grade the These little paths in front of the huts, and let's make them regimental routes to make this army feel more professional.
So Washington's all into this. And so he gives von Steuben 100 men, his own personal guard of 50, and 50 other men taken from the States, equally. And he said, You are going to be von Steuben's sub-trainers. Von Steuben takes them out on the parade ground at Valley Forge the very first day. There's a hundred men.
There's thousands of other Continental soldiers. They have nothing else to do but, as Tom said, starve and freeze to death. They're all watching. Von Steuben spends the very first morning the entire morning, teaching them the correct way to stand at attention. He goes on.
He teaches them how to wheel. You know, one of the great myths of the American Revolution. is the minute man. You know, slinking through the cops of trees or hiding behind a boulder and picking off. the squared British Redcoats in their battle formation.
And yes, there were times when this guerrilla, when this Indian fighting techniques, that the Americans had, that it worked. But for the most part, these people needed how to learn how to march quickstep into battle, how to wield. How to stand. When a cannonball or grape shot was taking off the head of the guy next to you, how to not fire until you were ordered to fire. Von Steuben starts teaching.
the Continental Army how to do this, how to become a professional army. And My favorite Thing about von Steuben. If I could go back, I wouldn't go back. They said you'd go back to Valley Forge, you meet one person, it wouldn't be Washington. Although he is the protagonist and the hero of our book, it would be von Steuben because.
He's this false staffian character. He spoke, he had no English.
So Washington assigned John Lawrence and Alexander Hamilton. Von Steuben spoke French and German. Hamilton and Lawrence both spoke French. And they were his translators. And von Steuben was such a stickler for detail.
He had one word in English. God damn. And when someone would make a mistake during the training. His face would turn, and he was a portly man with a double chin, and he was in his mid-40s, younger than most of the generals in the American Continental Army. And he would.
His face would red, he'd flail his arms, spittle coming out of his mouth, and he'd yell over at Alexander Hamilton or whoever's transferring. Get over here and swear for me. And Alexander Hamilton would scurry up as von Steuben is unleashing a string of oaths and curses. And by the time Hamilton translated them into English, The Continental troops were doubled over in laughter at this guy. but they understood that he was not afraid, like Frederick the Great, his mentor.
To get down on his knees, on his belly in the muck, and sh this is the way you sh This is the way you put a bayonet. Your bayonet is not for cooking biffstick. It is for stabbing an enemy in the gut.
So von Steuben also knows that sooner or later the charade of his resume was going to, the jig was going to be up. But by the time the jig was up and von Steuben had a lot of of Oomph in Kind of putting it up himself. He was so he had become so enamored of not only the infantrymen, but of the junior officers. First let me say one thing. It's kinda really skipping ahead.
But the very last letter George Washington wrote before resigning his commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in seventeen eighty three. was to the va the Baron von Steuben. thanking him for turning his disparate militias into a professional army.
So that June of seventeen seventy eight, five years earlier, as the Continental Army is marching out of Valley Forge to meet the British on the sandy plains of New Jersey, uh and near the small village of Monmouth Court House. And It was what Tom and I like to call A butchin' sundance moment for the Brits. They looked at this army wheeling and marching and like Who are these guys? These are not the guys that we brushed off like lint at the Battle of Brandywine. Before Christmas, At the Battle of Germantown before Christmas, at the massacre at Paoli before Christmas.
These guys look like they know what they're doing. As it turned out that day, Washington made the initial mistake of putting another general in charge of the attack on the British. He was bringing up the Rear Corps. When he got to the front lines, he saw his Continental Army retreating. Retreating orderly, thanks to Baron von Steuben, but still retreating.
And for the first time in front of his aides, in front of the entire, he lost his temper. He went galloping up and down the front lines until he found the general he had put in charge. and he dressed him down. And it was a blistering hot June day, a heat wave with over 100 degrees. Washington.
up and down, miles and miles. spurring the troops to turn around.
so much so that the horse he was riding Collapsed beneath him and dropped dead of exhaustion. He was handed the reins of another horse and he got up. Finally, he stood on a ridge. And about a mile and a half away, the entire Continental Army could see a sea of red. ten thousand Redcoats.
Cornwallis is best. Doing a slow bayonet charge. By this time, The British artillery had moved into range. As Washington is pointing his sword, and saying to his troops, Who will fight with me? Who will stand with me?
Grape shot is whizzing by his head. A cannonball lands feet from his horse, splatters mud all over him. And he is looking at those British and he's saying, who will stand with me? Who will fight with me? And you've been listening to Bob Drury and Tom Clavin tell the story.
A valley forge and again An underappreciated story. And well as again The great Joseph Ellis said it was the existential moment in the Revolutionary War. You've heard just a part of this great story. And if you want to learn more, of course, Valley Forge is the book. And the writers are Bob Drury and Tom Clavin.
The story of Valley Forge here. on our American stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way.
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America's Black Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen.
She starts dating Howard Hughes. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
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