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Speaker 1: Pushkin.

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Speaker 2: Hey, hey, it's Malcolm Gladwell. Before we get into this episode,

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Speaker 2: I wanted to let you know about my new book,

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Speaker 2: The American Way of Killing. Stay tuned at the end

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Speaker 2: of the episode to hear a preview and get The

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Speaker 2: American Way of Killing at pushkin.fm slash audiobooks or wherever

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Speaker 2: audiobooks are sold.

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Speaker 3: Hey, Revisionist History listeners. This has been Matt of Halfery.

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Speaker 3: A little while ago, As part of my Staten Island summer,

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Speaker 3: I went on a history show called The Dollop. It's

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Speaker 3: hosted by the comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds, who,

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Speaker 3: it turns out, have both done sets on Staten Island

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Speaker 3: that turned out poorly. This episode was a comeback special

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Speaker 3: about an extremely niche topic. When I was reporting the

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Speaker 3: Staten Island problem, I spent a day on the island

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Speaker 3: with a Revolutionary War historian named Phil Pappas, learning about

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Speaker 3: how Staten Islanders really did not want the American Revolution

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Speaker 3: to happen. Sadly, that got cut from the show. But

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Speaker 3: the guys at The Dollop did a deep, deep dive

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Speaker 3: on the topic and came up with an even crazier story.

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Speaker 3: And that's the episode you're about to hear today. You

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Speaker 3: can listen to more from The Dollop over on their

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Speaker 3: show page. And here's our episode.

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Speaker 1: My father's dead. You killed him.

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Speaker 4: They think that I'm shiny.

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Speaker 2: Oh!

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Speaker 3: I am a pie man!

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Speaker 4: I'm Pete Rose, and I only go to Gold's Gym,

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Speaker 4: this one specifically.

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Speaker 1: Rumor is that his penis is broken.

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Speaker 4: And show him where the taco bar was.

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Speaker 1: His brain just fucking exploded.

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Speaker 4: River of cheese! You been drinking any gnome juice? No, officer.

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Speaker 1: My dad had a fart chair.

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Speaker 4: Hey, cover me.

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Speaker 1: You're listening to The Dollop on the All Things Comedy Network.

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Speaker 1: This is an American History Podcast where each week I...

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Speaker 1: Dave Anthony read a story from American history to a

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Speaker 1: guy who grabbed a drink at the wrong time.

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Speaker 3: It's spilling.

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Speaker 4: Gareth Reynolds has no idea what the topic is going

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Speaker 4: to be about. Good Lord.

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Speaker 5: But before we jump into the dollop, which we're also

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Speaker 5: calling the revisionist history dollop because we have a guest.

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Speaker 5: We're doing a crossover like when Batman and Robin used

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Speaker 5: to do a Scooby-Doo.

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Speaker 3: Wait, who's Scooby-Doo?

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Speaker 1: We're definitely Scooby-Doo.

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Speaker 6: 100%.

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Speaker 1: 100%.

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Speaker 4: Without questions.

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Speaker 5: We have Ben Nadaf-Haffrey joining us. And thank you. Thank

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Speaker 5: you for joining us, Ben. This has been like in

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Speaker 5: the works for a minute. I'm honestly surprised this happened.

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Speaker 3: I'm shocked. I'm shocked that– I'm not only shocked that

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Speaker 3: this happened, but I was shocked in the first place

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Speaker 3: that you guys immediately gravitated towards this story because it

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Speaker 3: is a deep cut.

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Speaker 1: Well, it is a deep, but I like deep cuts.

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Speaker 5: It's also our buddy did it. And, and then Dave

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Speaker 5: was like, this is crazy. So Dave's been working on

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Speaker 5: it in, in some capacity as well. But this is

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Speaker 5: because you did a series on Staten Island.

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Speaker 3: Yes.

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Speaker 5: And then this was kind of one that we were

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Speaker 5: there was just kind of the leftover stuff.

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Speaker 4: And we were like, well, let's do it together. So

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Speaker 4: what is the Staten Island series called and where can

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Speaker 4: people listen to it?

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Speaker 3: So it's called The Staten Island Problem. And you can

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Speaker 3: listen to it on the Revisionist History podcast.

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Speaker 4: That's what Colin Jost and Pete Davidson suffered from.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, when their ferry boat is, you know, they bought

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Speaker 3: that Staten Island ferry and they've for like a decade

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Speaker 3: tried to figure out what to do with it. And

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Speaker 3: just like a month ago, a state official was like,

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Speaker 3: I've got a great idea. You should sink it and

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Speaker 3: we can make an artificial coral reef.

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Speaker 4: I know.

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Speaker 5: I think there's– it's obviously been a terrible investment, but

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Speaker 5: there's got to be something about being like officially sinking.

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Speaker 4: It must be a tough one.

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Speaker 5: But anyway, so the Staten Island problem and– It's about

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Speaker 5: Staten Island's attempt to secede from New York City.

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Speaker 3: For those who don't know, Staten Island is one of

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Speaker 3: the five boroughs in New York. And the reason you

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Speaker 3: may not know that, you know, it's Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Manhattan,

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Speaker 3: Staten Island. Staten Island calls itself the forgotten borough, as

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Speaker 3: in like the unloved borough, the one that no one

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Speaker 3: ever pays attention to. It's true. It's totally true. That's

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Speaker 3: like why I did this story. I was like, they're

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Speaker 3: kind of right. Just want to leave.

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Speaker 4: They're being pouty though, right?

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Speaker 3: Oh, the chip on the shoulder is like core to

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Speaker 3: the identity. That's just like, you gotta.

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Speaker 4: Should they secede?

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Speaker 1: Yes. Yes, absolutely. When I lived in New York, I

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Speaker 1: went there to do stand up once and it was

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Speaker 1: like going to another country and they hated you.

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Speaker 5: I would arguably say the craziest, like when I was

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Speaker 5: first starting the craziest, uh, set I'd ever gone through

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Speaker 5: was in Staten Island where everyone just yelled at you

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Speaker 5: during your set and every comedian went through it. So

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Speaker 5: you were kind of like, it's not me, but you

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Speaker 5: would just be up there just fighting.

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Speaker 4: It was, I was like, what is this?

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Speaker 1: Was it a grandpa's?

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Speaker 4: I don't remember if it.

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Speaker 1: Was a grandpa's.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: There was a comedy club called grandpa's.

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Speaker 4: It wasn't a comedy club.

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Speaker 3: You're like notionally I'm in New York, but this is not. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: I was like the train came here, but that's, it's different.

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Speaker 4: It didn't work. Like the train got me half the way.

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Speaker 3: You can't, you got to take a ship the rest

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Speaker 3: of the way, like a half hour out to sea.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, which is just never good.

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Speaker 3: No, but I think that's where the reason this story

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Speaker 3: that you guys have actually done, and I know very

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Speaker 3: little about ultimately, but it's about how, why I gravitate

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Speaker 3: towards this story is because it shows that Staten Island

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Speaker 3: is like eternally not part of New York City. They're just,

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Speaker 3: they are always on the other side. So I'm happy

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Speaker 3: that you guys are doing this.

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Speaker 1: When I was going through this, I was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: it's exactly the same. It's 200 years later and it's

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Speaker 1: exactly the same. 250 years later.

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Speaker 4: I don't understand. 200.

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Speaker 5: I will not allow that last celebration for the 250

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Speaker 5: to be real.

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Speaker 4: I want to redo.

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Speaker 5: I want to do a 255 once we maybe get

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Speaker 5: through some of this, which we won't. Anyway, well, welcome

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Speaker 5: to the listeners from yours. And we encourage our listeners

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Speaker 5: to go check out the– staten island problem and then

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Speaker 5: weigh in and uh now let's do whatever the hell

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Speaker 5: this is.

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Speaker 4: 1738 dave yells.

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Speaker 3: The day yeah i've heard enough that i know that.

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Speaker 5: Okay i don't like the way you put that to

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Speaker 5: be i've heard enough that's i've heard enough.

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Speaker 1: That's how a lot of people describe our show i've

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Speaker 1: heard enough.

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Speaker 4: Yeah i've heard enough.

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Speaker 3: I saw one comment on the one I listened to

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Speaker 3: that was like when they get– it's like usually in

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Speaker 3: a dollop episode when they're 25 minutes in and like

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Speaker 3: you have the main character is like four years old

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Speaker 3: and he's lived in three brothels. Like that's par for

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Speaker 3: the course. But when you're like 25 minutes in and

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Speaker 3: he's like middle-aged, you know some crazy stuff is coming.

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Speaker 1: That's right. Yeah, that is very true. Yes. Yeah, the

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Speaker 1: quicker they age, the more you know it's a crazy story.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. Like not a lot known about his boyhood.

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Speaker 4: You're like, this is going to be bad.

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Speaker 1: Oh, boy.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Uh christopher billup he has two p's on the end

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Speaker 1: of his name which really throws me off i want

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Speaker 1: to go billup it's.

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Speaker 3: Like verizono with the ends.

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Speaker 1: That's right uh was born on staten island new york

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Speaker 1: he would be the oldest of eight alive kids born

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Speaker 1: to thomas and sarah farmer billup now we always say

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Speaker 1: alive kids because they had a lot more like if

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Speaker 1: you had if you had eight alive yeah we don't.

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Speaker 4: We don't count the dead ones here i don't know

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Speaker 4: about you ben on yours.

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Speaker 1: But we i don't know it's the pre-vaccine world there's

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Speaker 1: so many that passed you know what i mean it's

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Speaker 1: eight there were.

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Speaker 3: Eight living descendants in this family.

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Speaker 1: Eight living yeah he had eight that's remarkable he had

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Speaker 1: seven brothers and sisters that's way.

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Speaker 5: More affordable on staten island eight that is numbers too

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Speaker 5: that really has to be.

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Speaker 3: Because you're batting above average you gotta be.

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Speaker 5: Putting out 20 to get eight yeah there's like a

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Speaker 5: there's also a robust mosquito population on staten island in

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Speaker 5: that era um You.

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Speaker 3: Know, a lot of disease from mosquitoes. So they're really

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Speaker 3: crushing it.

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Speaker 4: Mosquitoes are really hung in there with their disease.

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Speaker 1: They really don't like them. I was driving here and

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Speaker 1: there's one in my car. I'm like, what's happening right now?

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Speaker 4: I'm leaving town.

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Speaker 3: Keep going.

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Speaker 4: Keep going. Let's go to Tijuana. Get me out of here.

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Speaker 3: Get me to Staten Island. I gotta go back.

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Speaker 4: You live for half a day.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so Christopher's dad... Major Thomas Billup was the son

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Speaker 1: of Anne Billup, who married a colonel. And Anne was

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Speaker 1: the daughter of a Royal Navy officer, another Christopher Billup,

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Speaker 1: who was awarded 932 acres of land on the southern

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Speaker 1: tip of Staten Island. And he builds a big stone

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Speaker 1: manor house. The land is named Bentley Manor. So they're

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Speaker 1: loving it. It's pretty sweet. It's a lot of land.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, 930 acres on Staten Island is two on regular scale.

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Speaker 3: One two-bedroom apartment.

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Speaker 4: It's a studio with a stove.

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Speaker 1: So young Chris is destined to be in the military.

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Speaker 1: He's from a military family. And eventually he does and

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Speaker 1: he becomes a colonel, which is what everyone on Staten

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Speaker 1: Island eventually starts to call him. So by the 1770s,

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Speaker 1: he's known as Colonel.

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Speaker 5: By the powers of deduction, you would say there were

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Speaker 5: not a lot of Colonels from Staten Island.

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Speaker 4: Otherwise.

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Speaker 4: Remember, we're the Scooby-Doo part. So I just want to

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Speaker 4: be very clear. We're the Scooby half.

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Speaker 3: Does that mean I have to, like, growl Batman voiceless?

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Speaker 5: No, you can be what Dave's kid called the Wacky Batman.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll be a wacky Batman. I'll be a 1960s, like, kapow,

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Speaker 3: bazinga Batman.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: So Bentley Manor had been built up over the years,

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Speaker 1: and now this Christopher Billup owns it. So there's the

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Speaker 1: stone house on the water that his grandfather built. There's

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Speaker 1: four more houses that he would rent out. And a

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Speaker 1: neighbor remembers him as he's a very tall, slim man.

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Speaker 5: Sure.

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Speaker 1: Staten Island at this point, mostly farms.

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Speaker 4: Okay.

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Speaker 1: If you can believe that.

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Speaker 3: I can't.

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Speaker 1: Everything else is agriculture. There's wheat and orchards.

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Speaker 4: What is a staten? Oh, well.

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Speaker 1: It's a Dutch term.

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Speaker 3: Is it?

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Speaker 1: For what?

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Speaker 3: I think so.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. Well, look at you asking questions that

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Speaker 1: can't be answered.

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Speaker 3: What is a staten?

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Speaker 4: You know what I mean?

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Speaker 3: There's a place called the staten on Staten Island that's

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Speaker 3: very famous.

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Speaker 4: Staten.

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Speaker 3: Oh, interesting. It was probably at the time called... It's

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Speaker 3: Richmond for a while, too. Oh.

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Speaker 1: There's Richmond Town in this, yeah.

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Speaker 4: A weird change.

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Speaker 1: Okay.

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Speaker 3: Staten Island by Dutch explorers.

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Speaker 4: Staten.

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Speaker 3: Name honored the Staten Generale, which was the parliament of

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Speaker 3: the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.

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Speaker 4: I thought it had something to do with the Seven United.

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Speaker 1: You should have known that, yeah. Yeah, I'm... That's his specialty.

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Speaker 4: Rikus, Rikus, Ben.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so there's wheat, orchards, cattle, salt hay off the marshes,

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Speaker 1: oysters and clams.

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Speaker 4: Big player back then.

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Speaker 1: Out of the shallows. They'd sell those and sell everything

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Speaker 1: in New York City mostly, but they also would sell

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Speaker 1: it to the British.

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Speaker 4: Sure.

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Speaker 1: Have you ever read about the oysters in New York, Ben?

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Speaker 1: The whole oyster situation?

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Speaker 3: I knew about the oysters on Staten Island, but I

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Speaker 3: didn't know about the rest of New York.

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Speaker 1: There is an amazing book, which I wish I knew

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Speaker 1: the title of right now, about oysters in New York.

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Speaker 1: it's incredible.

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Speaker 5: Oh, you also wanted to mention the book that you

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Speaker 5: based a lot of your stuff on quickly, but who.

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Speaker 3: Is that? Well, so yeah, this, this, all of everything

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Speaker 3: we know about Staten Island and the American revolution comes

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Speaker 3: from this historian named Phil Pappas, who is himself a

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Speaker 3: Staten Islander born and bred and wrote this amazing book

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Speaker 3: called that ever loyal Island. And he's condescending. Well, you'll

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Speaker 3: see why when you get further into it. into the

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Speaker 3: story but it's like it's a fantastic book.

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Speaker 4: The oysters in the hudson were insane.

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Speaker 1: Right yeah i mean the we we we americans just

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Speaker 1: lived on oysters for a long time and ended up

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Speaker 1: just decimating yeah oyster.

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Speaker 4: It's like everything else that we get where you're like

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Speaker 4: If you just did it a little slower, it could

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Speaker 4: be forever. And we're like, no, we will eat it

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Speaker 4: all and then no one will have anything.

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Speaker 3: But I'm hungry now.

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Speaker 5: I'm hungry to eat all the oysters now and make money.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really good.

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Speaker 5: My only complaint, no indigenous people have died on this venture.

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Speaker 1: We did two episodes on it. It's really crazy. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so they're selling to New York City. And then in

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Speaker 1: the years leading up to the revolution, a lot of

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Speaker 1: what they're producing– is sold to the Royal Navy. A

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Speaker 1: warship anchoring there, that means hundreds of men who need

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Speaker 1: bread and beef and fresh water, and the Navy pays

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Speaker 1: in silver, so it's a good deal.

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Speaker 3: Okay.

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Speaker 1: And when a king's ship needs water, it fills its

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Speaker 1: casks at a spring on the island's northeast shore, a

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Speaker 1: spot that is called the watering place.

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Speaker 4: Very good title.

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Speaker 3: You know what you're getting into.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. I thought this was a brothel.

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Speaker 1: It's very much like a surfer. Any surf spot is

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Speaker 1: named after what they.

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Speaker 3: Restaurants.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Big Rock. It's all what you see from the surfboard.

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Speaker 1: Colonel Billup has been in charge of the Islands Militia

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Speaker 1: now for about three years, which is called Billup's Corps

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Speaker 1: of Staten Island Militia. Okay.

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Speaker 3: Once again, we're just naming things extremely aptly.

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Speaker 5: Well, it's also how book titles were, you know, when

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Speaker 5: it would just be like, he actually wrote a book

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Speaker 5: about it called The Endless Forests in the Area Where

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Speaker 5: I Lived for Five Years and Eventually Left Because My

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Speaker 5: Wife Had Tuberculosis.

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Speaker 3: I don't need to read the book now.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: Uh, so that's a peacetime appointment. Obviously there's no war

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Speaker 1: when he gets appointed. Now on the Island, there's five churches.

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Speaker 1: The biggest is St. Andrews, which is the Angelican church

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Speaker 1: at Richmond town. Nice.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: That's what we're just talking about.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: You don't need to yell about it. I'm gonna. Out

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Speaker 1: of the, uh, out at New Dorp.

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Speaker 3: Oh, come on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a place called New Dorp.

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Speaker 5: Stop.

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Speaker 4: I don't want to even know where Dorp came from.

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Speaker 3: Dorp?

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Speaker 5: Couldn't that sound more like the Carlos Mencia sound he

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Speaker 5: made when he was.

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Speaker 4: Calling, Dorp!

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Speaker 3: Dorp! You stub your toe.

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Speaker 5: Dorp!

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Speaker 4: It was the alt to Homer's Doe. It's either Doe

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00:15:09,250 --> 00:15:09,580
Speaker 4: or Dorp.

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Speaker 3: What is the alternate universe Simpsons thing? This just triggered

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Speaker 3: some deep Simpsons knowledge. It's like the Shelbyville Simpsons or something, right?

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Speaker 4: Oh, right, yeah.

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Speaker 5: Oh, no, no.

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Speaker 3: When he's replaced by Russians, there's a film version of

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Speaker 3: The Simpsons that they're trying to pass off as the

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Speaker 3: real Simpsons family.

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Speaker 5: Oh, I kind of remember that. That just takes me

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Speaker 5: to when the Flanders have a family reunion.

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Speaker 1: Sure, yeah.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, I can't remember.

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00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,580
Speaker 3: There's like the fake Homer goes, duh, oh, or something

350
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Speaker 3: like that.

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Speaker 4: I know the English Flanders goes.

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Speaker 5: Great googly moogly moo.

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Speaker 1: So at a new dorp there is a Moravian church

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Speaker 1: and the minister lives beside it with his family his

355
00:16:05,729 --> 00:16:08,470
Speaker 1: name is Hector Gambold and Gambold writes a lot of

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Speaker 1: letters and so that's a lot of those survived and

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00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:15,649
Speaker 1: that's a lot of what we know that's helpful Yeah,

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00:16:15,670 --> 00:16:16,590
Speaker 1: so write letters, people.

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00:16:16,690 --> 00:16:16,869
Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Didn't help Comey, but anyway.

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Speaker 3: No.

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00:16:22,330 --> 00:16:24,520
Speaker 4: Comey was like, but my journal. They were like, yeah,

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00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:27,600
Speaker 4: get out of here. My diary.

364
00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely diary. Unless your name's Fauci, then don't diary.

365
00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:31,499
Speaker 3: Don't keep.

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00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:33,139
Speaker 4: I met Barbara Streisand.

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00:16:34,540 --> 00:16:36,780
Speaker 1: On the island, there's five. Oh, I already did that.

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00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,770
Speaker 1: So the trouble starts, right? Over taxes, the colonies are

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00:16:40,850 --> 00:16:41,570
Speaker 1: paying to the crown.

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00:16:41,850 --> 00:16:42,070
Speaker 3: Sure.

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00:16:42,090 --> 00:16:42,229
Speaker 4: Right?

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00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:45,800
Speaker 1: There's a big shopping boycott, as we'll call it. The

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00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,279
Speaker 1: British Parliament closed the port of Boston because of the

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00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:52,879
Speaker 1: Boston Tea Party. Continental Congress answers by agreeing that no

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00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:58,230
Speaker 1: colony will buy British goods until Parliament backs down. And so,

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00:16:58,310 --> 00:17:02,690
Speaker 1: of course, Richmond County on Staten Island wants nothing to

377
00:17:02,750 --> 00:17:05,300
Speaker 1: do with this. They want... They're not going to change anything.

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00:17:05,460 --> 00:17:08,320
Speaker 3: They're like, but can't we still buy maybe just a little?

379
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,859
Speaker 3: It's so nice to sell to the British. That's what happens.

380
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:12,480
Speaker 4: That's the problem.

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Speaker 3: It's a big market, guys.

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Speaker 5: Pete Davidson and Colin Jost are like, now's our time.

383
00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:17,420
Speaker 5: Anyone want to buy this?

384
00:17:20,420 --> 00:17:23,780
Speaker 1: So Staten Island refuses to join this. And the colonel

385
00:17:23,820 --> 00:17:27,460
Speaker 1: does that personally. He sits in the New York Assembly

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00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:32,290
Speaker 1: and votes down every measure that favors the Congress. And

387
00:17:32,310 --> 00:17:34,150
Speaker 1: when the assembly refused to- You.

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Speaker 4: Gotta love it.

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00:17:34,770 --> 00:17:35,030
Speaker 1: Yeah.

390
00:17:35,210 --> 00:17:35,470
Speaker 3: No.

391
00:17:35,870 --> 00:17:36,110
Speaker 4: No.

392
00:17:36,670 --> 00:17:37,030
Speaker 3: No.

393
00:17:37,610 --> 00:17:40,370
Speaker 4: No. No.

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00:17:40,390 --> 00:17:44,260
Speaker 3: No. That one. No.

395
00:17:44,300 --> 00:17:45,129
Speaker 1: No.

396
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,340
Speaker 4: Oh, that's a no.

397
00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:53,020
Speaker 1: When the assembly refuses to send delegates to Philadelphia, somebody

398
00:17:53,060 --> 00:17:56,980
Speaker 1: proposes going around it and putting the question straight to

399
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Speaker 1: the people of Richmond County. But the colonel goes to

400
00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,340
Speaker 1: that meeting and beats it there, too, by a large majority.

401
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,580
Speaker 1: So it's clear Staten Island wants nothing to do with

402
00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,639
Speaker 1: any of this business. They just want to be able

403
00:18:08,660 --> 00:18:09,360
Speaker 1: to sell their stuff.

404
00:18:09,420 --> 00:18:10,200
Speaker 4: Yep, they're happy.

405
00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:11,440
Speaker 1: And they're happy with the British.

406
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,440
Speaker 3: They're like, this is not so bad.

407
00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:15,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty good.

408
00:18:16,060 --> 00:18:17,840
Speaker 1: I'm making money over here.

409
00:18:18,290 --> 00:18:19,869
Speaker 4: You guys keep doing that. That's helping.

410
00:18:21,410 --> 00:18:25,670
Speaker 1: Then in April of 1775, the shooting starts outside Boston

411
00:18:25,710 --> 00:18:30,160
Speaker 1: at Lexington. And the first thing the colonel does after

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00:18:30,250 --> 00:18:33,770
Speaker 1: Lexington is to write to the British Army and ask

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Speaker 1: them not to come.

414
00:18:35,070 --> 00:18:35,410
Speaker 3: Okay.

415
00:18:35,890 --> 00:18:38,530
Speaker 1: And he signs a letter to General Gage, who is

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00:18:38,670 --> 00:18:42,600
Speaker 1: the British Army's commander, requesting that no troops be sent

417
00:18:42,740 --> 00:18:46,240
Speaker 1: into New York. And his explanation given nine years later

418
00:18:46,860 --> 00:18:50,060
Speaker 1: said he was, quote, hoping the flame would blow over.

419
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:56,440
Speaker 4: Let's just ride this one out. So good.

420
00:18:56,480 --> 00:18:59,200
Speaker 1: Some guys got shot. Some other guys got shot.

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00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:00,960
Speaker 4: I don't see this lasting very long.

422
00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:02,200
Speaker 1: It's going to blow over.

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00:19:02,260 --> 00:19:03,860
Speaker 5: I don't think this is going to go on for

424
00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:07,300
Speaker 5: too much longer. If you could give us a week,

425
00:19:07,340 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 5: that would be really helpful.

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00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,359
Speaker 1: So he spent a year, in his words, quote, keeping

427
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:17,680
Speaker 1: the inhabitants of the island quiet till the arrival of

428
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:22,940
Speaker 1: British troops. Meanwhile, Staten Island will not stop selling to

429
00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:23,710
Speaker 1: the British Navy.

430
00:19:23,900 --> 00:19:24,409
Speaker 3: Oh, God.

431
00:19:24,430 --> 00:19:27,270
Speaker 1: They're the king's ships, right? And as far as Staten

432
00:19:27,310 --> 00:19:29,170
Speaker 1: Island is concerned, this is the king's island.

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00:19:29,790 --> 00:19:32,740
Speaker 4: The king would request more oysters. He's gone peckish again.

434
00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,160
Speaker 1: What, are you just going to leave all these oysters

435
00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:35,740
Speaker 1: in the water?

436
00:19:35,900 --> 00:19:36,180
Speaker 4: Yeah.

437
00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:36,639
Speaker 1: Come on.

438
00:19:37,940 --> 00:19:39,300
Speaker 4: Secret oyster handoffs.

439
00:19:40,220 --> 00:19:43,060
Speaker 3: There's also like, don't they, somewhere in here, they're also like,

440
00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:45,580
Speaker 3: can't they propose like a truce? They're like, can't we

441
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:47,960
Speaker 3: just like make friends with the British again? It might

442
00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:49,530
Speaker 3: be just a way to work this out.

443
00:19:50,030 --> 00:19:54,010
Speaker 4: We made a side truce with the British. We are

444
00:19:54,030 --> 00:19:56,609
Speaker 4: an island. I want to remind everyone of that.

445
00:19:58,230 --> 00:20:00,940
Speaker 1: So, of course, the colonies. are now pissed that Staten

446
00:20:01,020 --> 00:20:05,820
Speaker 1: Island won't join the boycott. So they start another boycott.

447
00:20:06,540 --> 00:20:10,580
Speaker 1: New Jersey stops buying Staten Island's produce until the island

448
00:20:10,740 --> 00:20:18,400
Speaker 1: appoints an enforcement committee. So the island... appoints an enforcement committee,

449
00:20:18,540 --> 00:20:19,790
Speaker 1: but then just ignores it.

450
00:20:21,420 --> 00:20:24,540
Speaker 3: This committee, when I went around the island with Phil,

451
00:20:24,700 --> 00:20:26,859
Speaker 3: the guy who wrote the book with all this, he

452
00:20:26,900 --> 00:20:28,490
Speaker 3: took me on a tour of all these sites. It

453
00:20:28,510 --> 00:20:31,590
Speaker 3: was amazing. Every single one of them is next to

454
00:20:31,650 --> 00:20:35,510
Speaker 3: a no-fault divorce lawsuit clinic.

455
00:20:35,710 --> 00:20:36,490
Speaker 4: Oh, my God.

456
00:20:36,610 --> 00:20:38,670
Speaker 3: It's final form. We went to the place where this

457
00:20:38,690 --> 00:20:44,790
Speaker 3: committee met. which is still preserved. And I was like,

458
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,230
Speaker 3: what did they do here? And he's like, you know,

459
00:20:46,310 --> 00:20:49,190
Speaker 3: just kind of, he's kind of like threw a ball

460
00:20:49,230 --> 00:20:51,750
Speaker 3: against the wall, sort of like, just like, it was

461
00:20:51,770 --> 00:20:53,910
Speaker 3: just kind of like, like met to meet. They were

462
00:20:53,950 --> 00:20:55,630
Speaker 3: just sort of like, yeah, we're not going to look

463
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,040
Speaker 3: into that report of disloyalty.

464
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:01,300
Speaker 4: So just pure.

465
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:01,680
Speaker 3: Yeah.

466
00:21:01,740 --> 00:21:04,170
Speaker 4: Just purely just like, yeah, we're working on it.

467
00:21:04,220 --> 00:21:04,340
Speaker 3: Yeah.

468
00:21:05,980 --> 00:21:07,440
Speaker 1: Most of our L.A. government committees.

469
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:08,280
Speaker 4: I was going to.

470
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,070
Speaker 5: Say, it reminds you very much of, like, the parliamentarian

471
00:21:12,130 --> 00:21:13,510
Speaker 5: role or something like that, where.

472
00:21:13,610 --> 00:21:16,130
Speaker 4: You're like, here's what I think. And everyone's like, cool,

473
00:21:16,330 --> 00:21:17,010
Speaker 4: go fuck yourself.

474
00:21:17,310 --> 00:21:18,190
Speaker 1: Here's the point.

475
00:21:18,270 --> 00:21:19,830
Speaker 3: It's just like letting it die in committee.

476
00:21:20,230 --> 00:21:22,150
Speaker 4: Yeah, right. Yeah.

477
00:21:22,170 --> 00:21:24,130
Speaker 1: Oh, that's very interesting. Is this the first let it

478
00:21:24,170 --> 00:21:24,830
Speaker 1: die in committee?

479
00:21:24,970 --> 00:21:29,920
Speaker 3: Oh, man. Aw. I love that it's just all under

480
00:21:29,940 --> 00:21:31,580
Speaker 3: the framework of let it blow over.

481
00:21:32,060 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 4: Let it blow over.

482
00:21:32,980 --> 00:21:34,580
Speaker 3: Let's just let this cool down.

483
00:21:34,700 --> 00:21:39,970
Speaker 4: Two, three weeks. Two, probably two, maybe three. It's called

484
00:21:39,990 --> 00:21:40,690
Speaker 4: an excursion.

485
00:21:42,030 --> 00:21:42,230
Speaker 3: Right.

486
00:21:42,250 --> 00:21:44,810
Speaker 1: So they're ignoring it. They're just trading with the crown still.

487
00:21:45,170 --> 00:21:49,790
Speaker 1: And in February 1776, the Continental Congress writes the county

488
00:21:50,610 --> 00:21:54,780
Speaker 1: into its minutes for, quote, Amnesty and opposition to the

489
00:21:54,860 --> 00:21:59,120
Speaker 1: system and measures adopted for preserving the liberties of America.

490
00:22:00,340 --> 00:22:01,560
Speaker 1: That's not good. You don't want to be written in

491
00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:01,960
Speaker 1: for that.

492
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,190
Speaker 4: No, it's pretty targeted, honestly.

493
00:22:04,750 --> 00:22:05,550
Speaker 1: Hey, traitors.

494
00:22:05,610 --> 00:22:10,370
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. So they put us in the minutes.

495
00:22:12,570 --> 00:22:13,510
Speaker 3: Always bad news.

496
00:22:13,530 --> 00:22:14,270
Speaker 4: Oh, boy.

497
00:22:14,330 --> 00:22:17,810
Speaker 5: Never great, but we are officially in the minutes.

498
00:22:18,090 --> 00:22:19,700
Speaker 1: All right. I can still sell oysters, though, right?

499
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,060
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, but we're on notice. I mean, we're

500
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:23,400
Speaker 4: in the minutes, and that's never good.

501
00:22:23,580 --> 00:22:25,200
Speaker 1: So we got to get these oysters going quick.

502
00:22:25,220 --> 00:22:26,500
Speaker 4: It's not. I think you're taking away different.

503
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:27,220
Speaker 1: Get them out the door.

504
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,440
Speaker 4: It's not. Again, I'm sort of saying we're in a

505
00:22:29,460 --> 00:22:31,940
Speaker 4: dark spot. But yeah, let's sell them.

506
00:22:31,980 --> 00:22:36,379
Speaker 1: Yeah, get the oysters out there. At this point, the rebels,

507
00:22:36,580 --> 00:22:39,620
Speaker 1: as we'll call the us, the Americans.

508
00:22:39,740 --> 00:22:40,020
Speaker 4: Sure.

509
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,100
Speaker 3: The mainlanders. Yeah.

510
00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:46,060
Speaker 1: The rebels hold New York City. So that April, Continental

511
00:22:46,220 --> 00:22:50,180
Speaker 1: soldiers take up posts at the watering place, standing with

512
00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 1: rifles between the Royal Navy and the island's drinking water.

513
00:22:54,750 --> 00:22:57,910
Speaker 5: That's got to– I mean you don't want to parch

514
00:22:58,090 --> 00:22:58,910
Speaker 5: the Royal Navy.

515
00:22:58,930 --> 00:22:59,830
Speaker 4: You don't want them parched.

516
00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:02,910
Speaker 3: You can't even get to the no-fault divorce place anymore.

517
00:23:03,450 --> 00:23:03,510
Speaker 5: No.

518
00:23:05,450 --> 00:23:06,660
Speaker 4: Well, we're going to have to behead her.

519
00:23:09,430 --> 00:23:13,110
Speaker 1: But what the islanders do is just row out to

520
00:23:13,130 --> 00:23:15,170
Speaker 1: the warships to do business with them anyway.

521
00:23:16,390 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 5: When you watch that, you're just like, what the hell.

522
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:20,740
Speaker 4: Are they doing?

523
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 3: It's just like a tiny sailboat inching along the horizon.

524
00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:27,760
Speaker 4: Loaded up with a cartoon level of oysters. They're going

525
00:23:27,780 --> 00:23:33,890
Speaker 4: to go bad. They're fucking eating the oysters. Are they shucking?

526
00:23:33,910 --> 00:23:34,490
Speaker 3: What?

527
00:23:36,810 --> 00:23:43,000
Speaker 1: By June, Washington, that's George, Washington is demanding an investigation

528
00:23:43,100 --> 00:23:47,810
Speaker 1: into reports that his own riflemen are taking bribes to

529
00:23:47,890 --> 00:23:51,130
Speaker 1: row the Islanders out. I just.

530
00:23:51,550 --> 00:23:52,970
Speaker 3: This is actually the first fairy.

531
00:23:52,990 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 4: I can't. Yeah, it's not a bad idea. I've often...

532
00:23:59,580 --> 00:24:00,480
Speaker 4: I would say.

533
00:24:00,980 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 5: Ben, the thing I've learned on this show more than anything,

534
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,900
Speaker 5: which is why we say that history repeats itself, or

535
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,270
Speaker 5: at least rhymes. I can never get over that it

536
00:24:10,530 --> 00:24:12,550
Speaker 5: always has existed.

537
00:24:13,030 --> 00:24:13,630
Speaker 4: That it's just like.

538
00:24:13,650 --> 00:24:17,830
Speaker 5: It's just always been thus. Rhymes find a way, you know,

539
00:24:17,870 --> 00:24:18,630
Speaker 5: no matter what.

540
00:24:19,210 --> 00:24:19,889
Speaker 1: Yeah, always.

541
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 4: It's just so funny.

542
00:24:21,580 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 1: You guys are like, you're going to give me $ 10? Okay,

543
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:24,700
Speaker 1: I'll roll you out there.

544
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have no principles.

545
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,270
Speaker 3: It's like our new country sounds nice, but I mean, really.

546
00:24:29,530 --> 00:24:33,210
Speaker 4: But also, my country sounds really good, too. That'd be great.

547
00:24:34,910 --> 00:24:38,270
Speaker 1: So Washington is pissed. He's just across the water in

548
00:24:38,290 --> 00:24:41,190
Speaker 1: New York, and he writes that the people of Staten Island, quote,

549
00:24:41,830 --> 00:24:46,390
Speaker 1: after the fairest professions have shown themselves our inveterate enemies.

550
00:24:46,810 --> 00:24:46,970
Speaker 3: Wow.

551
00:24:48,060 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: Now this is, yeah.

552
00:24:49,060 --> 00:24:49,660
Speaker 4: That's bad.

553
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:50,900
Speaker 3: It's in the minutes again.

554
00:24:51,300 --> 00:24:54,940
Speaker 5: Yeah, is that bad when George Washington calls your island

555
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:55,540
Speaker 5: an enemy?

556
00:24:59,380 --> 00:25:00,520
Speaker 4: Rowing out oysters.

557
00:25:00,540 --> 00:25:03,210
Speaker 3: Man, we've really put our chips down now, guys.

558
00:25:05,010 --> 00:25:07,050
Speaker 4: Look, are we in or are we out, guys?

559
00:25:07,110 --> 00:25:07,510
Speaker 3: I don't know.

560
00:25:07,910 --> 00:25:09,450
Speaker 4: How far do we want to take this shit?

561
00:25:11,130 --> 00:25:13,410
Speaker 1: I am amazed that Staten Island ever became part of

562
00:25:13,430 --> 00:25:14,270
Speaker 1: New York City.

563
00:25:14,330 --> 00:25:15,070
Speaker 4: It is crazy.

564
00:25:15,290 --> 00:25:18,200
Speaker 3: It is geologically a part of New Jersey. It's like

565
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 3: spiritually and geologically, it is New Jersey.

566
00:25:21,500 --> 00:25:22,300
Speaker 1: It's much closer.

567
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 3: It's way closer to New Jersey.

568
00:25:24,020 --> 00:25:26,660
Speaker 4: I understand fighting that, though. I understand fighting that.

569
00:25:27,380 --> 00:25:31,950
Speaker 3: There's an annexation movement. Oh, to join New Jersey? In 2025,

570
00:25:31,940 --> 00:25:34,700
Speaker 3: I think it's still afoot, maybe. The Republicans in New

571
00:25:34,740 --> 00:25:37,110
Speaker 3: Jersey are like, it would be helpful to have that

572
00:25:37,270 --> 00:25:37,990
Speaker 3: island here.

573
00:25:38,010 --> 00:25:38,350
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.

574
00:25:38,370 --> 00:25:40,970
Speaker 1: I bet it would. At some point, they'll blow up

575
00:25:40,990 --> 00:25:41,930
Speaker 1: the Verrazano Bridge.

576
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,100
Speaker 3: That was floated during the secession movement. They were like,

577
00:25:46,140 --> 00:25:51,660
Speaker 3: when this happens, we'll blow up the Verrazano.

578
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:56,640
Speaker 5: It's kind of awesome. In 2025, to be like, we

579
00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:57,670
Speaker 5: would like it.

580
00:25:59,060 --> 00:26:00,100
Speaker 1: Let's blow it up.

581
00:26:00,120 --> 00:26:01,020
Speaker 4: Is that crazy?

582
00:26:03,860 --> 00:26:08,460
Speaker 1: On July 3rd, 9,000 British soldiers begin landing on Staten Island.

583
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:09,320
Speaker 4: Unbelievable.

584
00:26:09,460 --> 00:26:12,610
Speaker 1: Led by General William Howe, commander of the British Army

585
00:26:12,770 --> 00:26:17,010
Speaker 1: in America. On July 4th, 1776. Now, that's a big day.

586
00:26:17,330 --> 00:26:17,460
Speaker 3: Is it?

587
00:26:17,470 --> 00:26:18,270
Speaker 1: You know what happened then?

588
00:26:18,970 --> 00:26:21,560
Speaker 4: Oh, that was when we wrote the song that I

589
00:26:21,580 --> 00:26:22,140
Speaker 4: got to stand for.

590
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 1: That's right. In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress declared the colonies independent.

591
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:32,500
Speaker 1: And on July 6, 1776, in Richmond Town, Staten Island,

592
00:26:32,500 --> 00:26:36,379
Speaker 1: 500 men gather in the road. Richmond Town is right

593
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 1: in the middle of the island. There's a courthouse, two churches,

594
00:26:38,860 --> 00:26:41,300
Speaker 1: a tavern, a few dozen houses, so not a big place.

595
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:41,840
Speaker 4: A divorce.

596
00:26:42,340 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 1: Divorce.

597
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,760
Speaker 3: That was at-fault divorce.

598
00:26:49,700 --> 00:26:53,100
Speaker 1: Governor William Tryon watches them. Tryon is the royal governor

599
00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:56,500
Speaker 1: of New York, and he has been running the king's government,

600
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,380
Speaker 1: off the deck of a ship in the harbor for

601
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:01,990
Speaker 1: a better part of a year because the rebels hold

602
00:27:02,010 --> 00:27:02,350
Speaker 1: the city.

603
00:27:02,670 --> 00:27:03,590
Speaker 3: He's trying his best.

604
00:27:03,930 --> 00:27:05,230
Speaker 4: Yeah, he is.

605
00:27:05,510 --> 00:27:08,570
Speaker 1: And next to him there is General Howe. In front

606
00:27:08,590 --> 00:27:12,730
Speaker 1: of them, the 500 Staten Island farmers are sworn into

607
00:27:12,770 --> 00:27:17,610
Speaker 1: the service of the king. They are from Billups Island Militia.

608
00:27:17,630 --> 00:27:18,570
Speaker 3: This feels traitorous.

609
00:27:19,070 --> 00:27:19,890
Speaker 1: Very much so.

610
00:27:20,110 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 3: Go ahead. Go ahead. No, no, go ahead.

611
00:27:23,340 --> 00:27:25,460
Speaker 1: I was going to say, but there are still a

612
00:27:25,500 --> 00:27:26,940
Speaker 1: lot of loyalists around.

613
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 3: There always are.

614
00:27:28,340 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 1: But this is just a giant group of them in

615
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,420
Speaker 1: one place. But there's a ton of loyalists helping the British.

616
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 3: In New York at large, but Staten Island is remarkably so.

617
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:40,020
Speaker 4: Remarkably.

618
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:42,620
Speaker 5: Honey, I think we're Britain again.

619
00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:47,160
Speaker 4: I'm not sure. They're taking some kind of oath out there.

620
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:51,100
Speaker 3: My favorite thing that Phil told me is... that the

621
00:27:51,180 --> 00:27:55,570
Speaker 3: Islanders burn the Patriot leaders in effigy after word of

622
00:27:55,650 --> 00:27:58,170
Speaker 3: the Declaration of Independence comes out. And also that there's

623
00:27:58,190 --> 00:28:00,930
Speaker 3: like all of these letters from the British soldiers when

624
00:28:00,970 --> 00:28:03,610
Speaker 3: they arrived there, where they're writing home and they're like,

625
00:28:03,790 --> 00:28:08,200
Speaker 3: this Island is amazing. And they're greeting us as like

626
00:28:08,620 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 3: saviors from the rebel mob. And it's like, they can't

627
00:28:12,980 --> 00:28:15,740
Speaker 3: get over how happy they are that we're here. They're like,

628
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 3: this is awesome.

629
00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:19,750
Speaker 5: They got effigies of their government. This is a real vibe.

630
00:28:20,740 --> 00:28:21,700
Speaker 5: This is awesome.

631
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:22,960
Speaker 1: They really like us.

632
00:28:22,980 --> 00:28:27,360
Speaker 4: This is really going good. Babe, I'm famous here.

633
00:28:30,910 --> 00:28:33,970
Speaker 1: So the 500 men are out of a total population

634
00:28:34,010 --> 00:28:37,630
Speaker 1: of 2,847, and that includes children and slaves.

635
00:28:38,830 --> 00:28:42,810
Speaker 5: Well, if memory serves, they're not considered people.

636
00:28:43,890 --> 00:28:48,650
Speaker 1: Yeah, correct. So that's a pretty big chunk of the population.

637
00:28:48,670 --> 00:28:49,310
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a good hunk.

638
00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 1: For the colonel and his men, a job very easy

639
00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:58,990
Speaker 1: at first. They watch 15 miles of shoreline facing New Jersey.

640
00:28:59,830 --> 00:29:00,250
Speaker 4: Okay.

641
00:29:00,290 --> 00:29:01,450
Speaker 1: You got to keep an eye on New Jersey.

642
00:29:01,490 --> 00:29:01,770
Speaker 3: Sure.

643
00:29:02,110 --> 00:29:03,310
Speaker 4: It's still the same.

644
00:29:03,970 --> 00:29:07,580
Speaker 1: It's still the same. They arm and assemble every time

645
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,320
Speaker 1: an alarm goes up with the colonel at the front.

646
00:29:11,180 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 1: They dig dirt walls into the hills for the British

647
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 1: to put cannons behind.

648
00:29:16,540 --> 00:29:17,020
Speaker 4: Really?

649
00:29:17,220 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: They got the good job.

650
00:29:19,300 --> 00:29:21,690
Speaker 4: They are like, is it an island or a pirate

651
00:29:21,710 --> 00:29:24,150
Speaker 4: ship now? It's taking on that vibe.

652
00:29:24,310 --> 00:29:25,460
Speaker 3: Column A, column B.

653
00:29:25,690 --> 00:29:29,650
Speaker 4: Yeah. Like, if you're watching that, be like, Jesus Christ,

654
00:29:29,670 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 4: they're putting cannons in the dirt.

655
00:29:31,570 --> 00:29:33,300
Speaker 3: There's the Scotland Crossbones flag.

656
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 4: Oh, my God.

657
00:29:34,260 --> 00:29:34,700
Speaker 1: Look at that.

658
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 4: How did they get parents?

659
00:29:37,660 --> 00:29:40,220
Speaker 1: They round up several hundred of their neighbors to drive

660
00:29:40,260 --> 00:29:42,970
Speaker 1: wagons and haul artillery. The island's moving.

661
00:29:43,810 --> 00:29:46,130
Speaker 4: There's a sail moving the goddamn island.

662
00:29:46,210 --> 00:29:47,750
Speaker 3: It's getting farther from New Jersey.

663
00:29:47,770 --> 00:29:48,850
Speaker 4: I think they're going to Britain.

664
00:29:50,690 --> 00:29:53,510
Speaker 1: They haul artillery for the British Army and the horses

665
00:29:53,530 --> 00:29:57,220
Speaker 1: and wagons go with them. They find the army. It's foraging.

666
00:29:57,260 --> 00:30:00,130
Speaker 1: It's firewood. So they're doing everything. They're the suppliers of

667
00:30:00,150 --> 00:30:00,740
Speaker 1: the British Army.

668
00:30:00,850 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 4: Okay.

669
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,700
Speaker 1: So the colonel's mansion sits at the southern tip of

670
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:06,380
Speaker 1: the island right on the water facing.

671
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:07,140
Speaker 4: That says a lot.

672
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:08,660
Speaker 1: Facing Perth Amboy. The.

673
00:30:09,450 --> 00:30:12,650
Speaker 5: The colonel's mansion. Really does sort of justify a lot

674
00:30:12,670 --> 00:30:13,050
Speaker 5: of this if.

675
00:30:13,010 --> 00:30:13,590
Speaker 3: You think about it.

676
00:30:13,590 --> 00:30:18,380
Speaker 1: Back then all colonels had mansions. Yeah, that's cool. So

677
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: they're right across this narrow channel from New Jersey. You

678
00:30:21,970 --> 00:30:23,290
Speaker 1: can row across in a few minutes.

679
00:30:23,470 --> 00:30:23,810
Speaker 4: Okay.

680
00:30:24,170 --> 00:30:27,310
Speaker 1: And New Jersey is rebel ground. So the colonel's house

681
00:30:27,490 --> 00:30:31,690
Speaker 1: is visible from New Jersey. As is the colonel when

682
00:30:31,730 --> 00:30:34,750
Speaker 1: he just stands outside. Like, you can see him.

683
00:30:35,050 --> 00:30:36,690
Speaker 4: It's like how Sarah Palin describes Russia.

684
00:30:36,710 --> 00:30:39,010
Speaker 3: I can see Russia from my house. I can see

685
00:30:39,050 --> 00:30:40,170
Speaker 3: New Jersey from my house.

686
00:30:40,590 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 4: But to be able to see him like, what is

687
00:30:42,420 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 4: he doing? He's in a robe. He's having some hot beverage.

688
00:30:45,620 --> 00:30:46,680
Speaker 4: He's really stretching.

689
00:30:46,780 --> 00:30:47,520
Speaker 1: Oh, he's waving.

690
00:30:47,580 --> 00:30:48,580
Speaker 4: He's enjoying himself.

691
00:30:48,620 --> 00:30:50,500
Speaker 3: Years from now, we'll call it yoga.

692
00:30:56,230 --> 00:30:57,710
Speaker 4: He's counting gold again.

693
00:30:57,730 --> 00:30:58,110
Speaker 1: Hey, man.

694
00:30:58,330 --> 00:30:58,810
Speaker 5: Hey, man.

695
00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:03,750
Speaker 1: Across the water in New Jersey is a rebel named

696
00:31:03,950 --> 00:31:08,210
Speaker 1: Nathaniel Fitz Randolph. Everyone calls him Captain. I'm going to

697
00:31:08,230 --> 00:31:08,710
Speaker 1: call him Fitz.

698
00:31:09,010 --> 00:31:10,070
Speaker 4: Okay.

699
00:31:10,230 --> 00:31:12,790
Speaker 1: He's about 30 years old. He spends the war rowing

700
00:31:13,010 --> 00:31:16,810
Speaker 1: over to Staten Island in the dark. And he does

701
00:31:16,850 --> 00:31:20,070
Speaker 1: it often enough that papers on both sides are writing

702
00:31:20,130 --> 00:31:22,540
Speaker 1: about how he's famous to the rebels and infamous to

703
00:31:22,580 --> 00:31:25,420
Speaker 1: the loyalists. Everyone knows who this guy is.

704
00:31:25,420 --> 00:31:26,740
Speaker 4: We have like a rowing Batman?

705
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:27,620
Speaker 1: Yes, a rowing Batman.

706
00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:29,040
Speaker 3: It was a slow news.

707
00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:30,920
Speaker 1: Period.

708
00:31:31,060 --> 00:31:35,430
Speaker 3: Nothing big was happening in world historic events.

709
00:31:35,490 --> 00:31:36,630
Speaker 4: Who is Roman?

710
00:31:39,030 --> 00:31:41,510
Speaker 1: But even the people who hated him conceded that he

711
00:31:41,610 --> 00:31:44,570
Speaker 1: was decent to the men he captured and did not

712
00:31:44,610 --> 00:31:45,930
Speaker 1: let his people rob houses.

713
00:31:46,010 --> 00:31:47,350
Speaker 4: Sorry, who is he capturing?

714
00:31:47,370 --> 00:31:51,750
Speaker 1: Yeah, I missed that. So he is... Rebel American going

715
00:31:51,850 --> 00:31:54,410
Speaker 1: over and grabbing whatever, a soldier or whatever, or an

716
00:31:54,470 --> 00:31:55,950
Speaker 1: important person from Staten Island.

717
00:31:56,090 --> 00:32:00,070
Speaker 4: Okay, so he's anti-Staten Island, obviously.

718
00:32:00,270 --> 00:32:02,590
Speaker 1: He's anti-British, and therefore anti-Staten Island.

719
00:32:02,610 --> 00:32:03,950
Speaker 4: Yes, because Staten Island's part of Britain.

720
00:32:04,070 --> 00:32:06,260
Speaker 3: He rows over and he does a comedy set.

721
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:09,120
Speaker 4: He comes back. They boo him.

722
00:32:09,340 --> 00:32:10,500
Speaker 3: That did not go well.

723
00:32:11,900 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 5: So he's rowing over there, and he's grabbing someone of note.

724
00:32:16,930 --> 00:32:18,830
Speaker 5: And then he's bringing them back to the mainland and

725
00:32:18,870 --> 00:32:20,050
Speaker 5: people are like, oh, it's good.

726
00:32:20,070 --> 00:32:20,590
Speaker 1: That's right.

727
00:32:20,610 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 4: And they're like, what the hell are you doing? He's like,

728
00:32:22,390 --> 00:32:26,380
Speaker 4: it's a vibe. It's popping.

729
00:32:27,540 --> 00:32:30,860
Speaker 1: This is how bad comedy is in Staten Island. David

730
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 1: Tell went before me and he got off stage and

731
00:32:32,740 --> 00:32:34,840
Speaker 1: was like, oh, God, get me out of here.

732
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 3: I want to hear more about these Staten Island sets

733
00:32:41,980 --> 00:32:44,540
Speaker 3: you guys did I didn't even realize there was a

734
00:32:44,540 --> 00:32:45,240
Speaker 3: comedy circuit that.

735
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,980
Speaker 5: Went through there I think I did stand up on

736
00:32:49,500 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 5: the ferry to Staten Island and.

737
00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,900
Speaker 4: It was a death sentence.

738
00:32:56,310 --> 00:32:59,290
Speaker 3: They're just slamming on the accelerator it was the first

739
00:32:59,310 --> 00:32:59,590
Speaker 3: trip that.

740
00:32:59,550 --> 00:33:03,250
Speaker 5: Took 10 minutes that's a lot of smoke you're really.

741
00:33:03,130 --> 00:33:06,610
Speaker 1: Cooking That was, oh God, I know who books that gig.

742
00:33:08,050 --> 00:33:08,510
Speaker 1: Or did.

743
00:33:08,970 --> 00:33:10,610
Speaker 4: The guy who booked it for me was a guy

744
00:33:10,630 --> 00:33:11,660
Speaker 4: named Pudge, I believe.

745
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 1: Oh, okay, that's different.

746
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,340
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it was horrible.

747
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:19,060
Speaker 5: I bombed and then could hear people talking about how

748
00:33:19,140 --> 00:33:23,150
Speaker 5: I bombed. I literally at one point said to someone,

749
00:33:23,350 --> 00:33:24,570
Speaker 5: I go, I can hear you.

750
00:33:24,590 --> 00:33:28,050
Speaker 4: She was like, oh, sorry. I was like, yeah, it's okay,

751
00:33:28,070 --> 00:33:29,810
Speaker 4: but keep your voice down.

752
00:33:29,830 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, so Grandpa was in New Dorp. Grandpa's Comedy Club.

753
00:33:34,660 --> 00:33:37,380
Speaker 1: And Grandpa was Al Lewis from the Munsters. That's who

754
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 1: owned it. That's why it was called Grandpa's.

755
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:40,420
Speaker 4: Dave's 80.

756
00:33:40,420 --> 00:33:45,380
Speaker 3: Dave fought for the British. I did.

757
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 1: A little bit. I still am.

758
00:33:47,140 --> 00:33:49,640
Speaker 4: This is going to happen. Dave took an oath after

759
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:50,140
Speaker 4: his set.

760
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,140
Speaker 3: Should we reconsider? 250 years, it's been long enough.

761
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,020
Speaker 4: It's not a bad idea. The rogue guy grabs him.

762
00:33:58,200 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 1: Oh, come on.

763
00:33:59,140 --> 00:34:01,540
Speaker 5: You're going back to the mainland.

764
00:34:02,660 --> 00:34:08,600
Speaker 1: So the colonel puts a 100-pound bounty on Fitz's head. Okay.

765
00:34:09,380 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 1: So then Fitz, in response, put a 100-pound bounty on

766
00:34:12,060 --> 00:34:12,750
Speaker 1: the colonel's head.

767
00:34:12,770 --> 00:34:13,620
Speaker 4: He's not allowed to do that.

768
00:34:13,989 --> 00:34:17,009
Speaker 1: And he one-ups it and said he was going to

769
00:34:17,029 --> 00:34:18,310
Speaker 1: have to go get the colonel himself.

770
00:34:18,850 --> 00:34:19,150
Speaker 3: Wow.

771
00:34:19,810 --> 00:34:21,030
Speaker 1: So I guess he gets his own bounty.

772
00:34:21,250 --> 00:34:21,489
Speaker 3: Yeah.

773
00:34:21,509 --> 00:34:23,450
Speaker 1: Do you pay yourself for taxes?

774
00:34:23,850 --> 00:34:27,769
Speaker 3: Self-dealing. That doesn't happen until 250 years later in American history.

775
00:34:27,870 --> 00:34:29,849
Speaker 3: You've got to be president to do that kind of thing.

776
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:31,820
Speaker 4: Insider rowing.

777
00:34:33,419 --> 00:34:36,140
Speaker 1: Uh, uh, he then, uh, gets a tip that the

778
00:34:36,180 --> 00:34:38,420
Speaker 1: Colonel will be attending a ball on Staten Island.

779
00:34:39,060 --> 00:34:39,420
Speaker 3: Several.

780
00:34:39,460 --> 00:34:41,979
Speaker 5: Who's the tip from? Uh, this guy keeps looking over

781
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,180
Speaker 5: there and he can see everything.

782
00:34:45,020 --> 00:34:47,619
Speaker 4: With bald eyes. He could just, how do I know?

783
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:49,790
Speaker 5: Uh, cause there's actually a ball going on right now

784
00:34:49,810 --> 00:34:50,690
Speaker 5: and the Colonel's at it.

785
00:34:52,350 --> 00:34:54,969
Speaker 1: Uh, so it's several miles inland from his estate. So,

786
00:34:55,509 --> 00:34:59,649
Speaker 1: so Fitz heads to Staten Island. And he goes to

787
00:34:59,669 --> 00:35:01,509
Speaker 1: the house where the ball is happening.

788
00:35:01,529 --> 00:35:04,250
Speaker 4: This guy's wife, by the way, definitely was like, he's cheating.

789
00:35:04,609 --> 00:35:06,399
Speaker 4: He's 100%. Oh, you're going to Staten Island again? You

790
00:35:06,419 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 4: can just tell me if it. Okay.

791
00:35:07,980 --> 00:35:08,660
Speaker 1: What's her name?

792
00:35:08,759 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 4: I'm going to Staten Island again to try to get

793
00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:11,039
Speaker 4: the key.

794
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:16,580
Speaker 1: Uh-huh. And he, so he goes to the ball. He

795
00:35:16,660 --> 00:35:19,939
Speaker 1: peeks inside so he can get a look at the

796
00:35:19,980 --> 00:35:23,660
Speaker 1: colonel and see what he's wearing, worried that he might

797
00:35:23,700 --> 00:35:25,819
Speaker 1: grab the wrong guy in the dark. So he wants

798
00:35:25,839 --> 00:35:26,320
Speaker 1: to see.

799
00:35:26,339 --> 00:35:27,819
Speaker 3: Poorly wet ball.

800
00:35:29,910 --> 00:35:34,469
Speaker 5: What a setup. I'm going to have to go by feels.

801
00:35:34,629 --> 00:35:37,170
Speaker 3: Should we immediately option this to be a movie.

802
00:35:37,210 --> 00:35:38,589
Speaker 1: A major motion picture?

803
00:35:39,149 --> 00:35:44,610
Speaker 5: This is like a Marvel plot, Roman.

804
00:35:46,790 --> 00:35:51,799
Speaker 1: So Fitz ran up. He's a wanted rebel. He has

805
00:35:51,839 --> 00:35:56,480
Speaker 1: a price on his head, 100 bucks or pounds. And

806
00:35:56,500 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 1: he goes into a ball of a room full of

807
00:35:59,259 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 1: loyalists on an island held by the British Army.

808
00:36:02,500 --> 00:36:03,399
Speaker 3: Did he dress up?

809
00:36:04,299 --> 00:36:07,170
Speaker 1: I don't know how he pulled it off, but some

810
00:36:07,210 --> 00:36:10,430
Speaker 1: people did recognize him, acquaintances, but they didn't say anything.

811
00:36:12,350 --> 00:36:15,049
Speaker 4: He must have been playing the part a little bit.

812
00:36:15,129 --> 00:36:17,330
Speaker 1: I don't imagine he's just winking at a lot of people.

813
00:36:17,410 --> 00:36:20,310
Speaker 4: How good are the British, huh? Look at all these oysters.

814
00:36:20,549 --> 00:36:24,619
Speaker 4: This is awesome. This is living. This is great, huh?

815
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:29,880
Speaker 4: I hope the mainland rower never comes this way. Colonel,

816
00:36:29,919 --> 00:36:30,580
Speaker 4: nice outfit.

817
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,100
Speaker 3: Wait, how do we know that some people recognize him?

818
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,540
Speaker 3: It's like after the fact. Oh, yeah, I saw that guy.

819
00:36:35,549 --> 00:36:37,509
Speaker 3: I knew who that was. You don't get invited back.

820
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:39,670
Speaker 1: It's got to be in the letters. Yeah. I don't

821
00:36:39,690 --> 00:36:40,499
Speaker 1: know how else you'd know.

822
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:43,249
Speaker 4: That's all we got. That is a weird thing to

823
00:36:43,290 --> 00:36:46,209
Speaker 4: put in your letter, though. Some people knew him. Others didn't.

824
00:36:47,049 --> 00:36:51,170
Speaker 1: Definitely people wrote about it years later, so maybe that's why.

825
00:36:51,430 --> 00:36:54,270
Speaker 1: The next morning, the colonel is riding home from the ball.

826
00:36:54,450 --> 00:36:54,729
Speaker 1: He's tired.

827
00:36:54,770 --> 00:36:55,089
Speaker 3: He's half asleep.

828
00:36:55,109 --> 00:36:56,350
Speaker 4: So he did an all-nighter at the ball.

829
00:36:56,370 --> 00:36:57,109
Speaker 1: He's probably hungover.

830
00:36:57,149 --> 00:36:58,369
Speaker 4: He did an all-nighter at the ball?

831
00:36:58,410 --> 00:36:59,350
Speaker 1: Yeah.

832
00:36:59,370 --> 00:36:59,569
Speaker 4: Yeah.

833
00:36:59,969 --> 00:37:03,519
Speaker 1: And when Fitz steps into the road, right in front

834
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:07,189
Speaker 1: of him and seizes him. And the details have been

835
00:37:07,210 --> 00:37:10,469
Speaker 1: lost to history. But for some reason, by July 27th,

836
00:37:10,569 --> 00:37:13,610
Speaker 1: he's back on Staten Island. The colonel?

837
00:37:13,730 --> 00:37:13,950
Speaker 5: Yeah.

838
00:37:14,230 --> 00:37:17,939
Speaker 1: What? They caught him. He caught him, which we tried

839
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:20,499
Speaker 1: to do for a while. And then all of a sudden,

840
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:21,859
Speaker 1: he's free. And we don't know why.

841
00:37:21,940 --> 00:37:23,980
Speaker 4: What is the time difference between when he caught.

842
00:37:23,799 --> 00:37:25,300
Speaker 1: Him to when he was back on the island on

843
00:37:25,319 --> 00:37:26,350
Speaker 1: the 27th?

844
00:37:26,370 --> 00:37:31,450
Speaker 3: The colonel never wrote an extremely self-aggrandizing book about all this.

845
00:37:31,950 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 1: He just– He tweeted a bit.

846
00:37:33,129 --> 00:37:35,249
Speaker 4: He assumed history would.

847
00:37:35,310 --> 00:37:35,870
Speaker 1: No, he didn't.

848
00:37:35,930 --> 00:37:38,230
Speaker 4: He assumed that history books would be like.

849
00:37:37,930 --> 00:37:39,809
Speaker 3: And he never anticipated this.

850
00:37:40,149 --> 00:37:41,710
Speaker 4: No, he never was like, this won't work?

851
00:37:43,649 --> 00:37:47,410
Speaker 1: He was probably exchanged because he was kidnapped for the

852
00:37:47,489 --> 00:37:50,269
Speaker 1: sole purpose of trading in a prisoner exchange.

853
00:37:50,569 --> 00:37:50,899
Speaker 4: Okay.

854
00:37:50,919 --> 00:37:51,800
Speaker 1: So he was probably traded.

855
00:37:51,819 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 3: Okay.

856
00:37:53,279 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 1: But this is not close to– I would hold on

857
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 1: to that one.

858
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

859
00:37:57,020 --> 00:37:58,839
Speaker 1: This is not close to over. In February of 1779,

860
00:37:58,839 --> 00:38:04,009
Speaker 1: a raiding party from Staten Island comes for Fitz in Jersey.

861
00:38:04,250 --> 00:38:04,710
Speaker 3: Okay.

862
00:38:05,489 --> 00:38:07,890
Speaker 1: At 3 o'clock in the morning, a party of loyalist

863
00:38:07,989 --> 00:38:12,670
Speaker 1: troops cross from the island. They land. They walk into town.

864
00:38:12,790 --> 00:38:15,919
Speaker 1: Nobody sees them because it's 3 a.m. Nobody's up. And

865
00:38:15,940 --> 00:38:18,200
Speaker 1: they go straight to the house where Fitz lives.

866
00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:21,299
Speaker 5: This is going to be very validating for the cheating thing, though,

867
00:38:21,339 --> 00:38:22,900
Speaker 5: for him. He'll be like, see?

868
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:26,039
Speaker 4: I've been robbed. They're coming to get me.

869
00:38:28,790 --> 00:38:32,310
Speaker 1: Unbeknownst to the raiding party, a rebel scout from a

870
00:38:32,330 --> 00:38:35,950
Speaker 1: nearby post has stopped to spend the night at the house. Okay.

871
00:38:36,410 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 1: So there are 12 rebel soldiers inside with fits.

872
00:38:41,219 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 3: Tough.

873
00:38:42,020 --> 00:38:45,959
Speaker 4: That is brutal. It's not what it looks like. No, no. Yeah,

874
00:38:45,980 --> 00:38:48,640
Speaker 4: he's like Jason boarding the room. He's like, there's only candles.

875
00:38:50,100 --> 00:38:53,009
Speaker 1: So the sentry does not see the loyalists until they

876
00:38:53,049 --> 00:38:55,170
Speaker 1: have nearly surrounded the building.

877
00:38:55,529 --> 00:38:55,890
Speaker 5: Okay.

878
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,859
Speaker 1: And then he fires a musket once and runs away.

879
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 4: Wait, who does Fitz?

880
00:39:01,219 --> 00:39:01,740
Speaker 1: No, the sentry.

881
00:39:01,819 --> 00:39:04,060
Speaker 4: Oh, the guard. Oh, that guy. I love that guy.

882
00:39:04,620 --> 00:39:06,060
Speaker 1: That's me. That's what I'm doing. I'm shooting it once

883
00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:06,719
Speaker 1: and I'm taking off.

884
00:39:06,819 --> 00:39:08,899
Speaker 4: Well, to be fair, I mean, he's like, it's going

885
00:39:08,919 --> 00:39:10,020
Speaker 4: to take 20 to reload.

886
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:11,139
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely.

887
00:39:11,379 --> 00:39:13,340
Speaker 4: Words out. I'm going to get a coffee.

888
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:17,339
Speaker 1: So when the gun goes off, the Loyalists storm the

889
00:39:17,399 --> 00:39:19,360
Speaker 1: house and they just take Fitz and the other 12

890
00:39:19,359 --> 00:39:22,680
Speaker 1: guys easily with that incident. They're just like, ah. They're

891
00:39:22,700 --> 00:39:24,479
Speaker 1: probably all laying on the floor asleep.

892
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:25,180
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.

893
00:39:26,509 --> 00:39:28,439
Speaker 1: On the way out, they steal the buckles of the

894
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,100
Speaker 1: shoes of the women in the house.

895
00:39:30,259 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 3: Smart.

896
00:39:31,540 --> 00:39:32,299
Speaker 1: You got to get your stuff.

897
00:39:32,540 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 4: That's just economics.

898
00:39:36,069 --> 00:39:39,370
Speaker 3: I'm like, how is everyone arranged? There's like one room

899
00:39:39,390 --> 00:39:41,519
Speaker 3: with like... 12 guys on the floor and then there's

900
00:39:41,540 --> 00:39:43,099
Speaker 3: like bedrooms with the women of the house.

901
00:39:43,359 --> 00:39:45,979
Speaker 5: When I picture these times, I always just imagine the

902
00:39:46,020 --> 00:39:46,739
Speaker 5: Three Stooges.

903
00:39:48,279 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 4: Sleeping caps. One of them's like.

904
00:39:50,660 --> 00:39:53,589
Speaker 1: Oh, there's definitely a couple. If there's a bed, there's

905
00:39:53,629 --> 00:39:54,750
Speaker 1: definitely three or four soldiers.

906
00:39:54,770 --> 00:39:55,390
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.

907
00:39:55,410 --> 00:39:55,589
Speaker 3: Yeah.

908
00:39:55,609 --> 00:39:56,249
Speaker 4: They do the 69 sleep.

909
00:39:56,270 --> 00:39:56,609
Speaker 5: When up until.

910
00:39:59,390 --> 00:40:02,520
Speaker 1: I don't know when the fire departments in the late 1800s,

911
00:40:02,529 --> 00:40:04,960
Speaker 1: it was just two, always two dudes in a bed.

912
00:40:04,980 --> 00:40:06,839
Speaker 3: That's just the way it was.

913
00:40:06,859 --> 00:40:07,579
Speaker 4: Which is what I say.

914
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,100
Speaker 3: We should do it in fast motion. Yeah. Yeah.

915
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:10,819
Speaker 2: Yeah.

916
00:40:10,859 --> 00:40:11,180
Speaker 1: Right.

917
00:40:11,219 --> 00:40:11,640
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

918
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:17,140
Speaker 1: Um, so, uh, the, he's put in a provost prison

919
00:40:17,180 --> 00:40:20,080
Speaker 1: in New York and then the British put him in irons.

920
00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:21,019
Speaker 4: Oh dear.

921
00:40:21,799 --> 00:40:25,919
Speaker 1: Now the rebels keep coming for the Colonel. And in March, uh,

922
00:40:26,430 --> 00:40:28,650
Speaker 1: the New York Gazette reports that two or three different

923
00:40:28,690 --> 00:40:32,479
Speaker 1: parties have lately been at his house, quote, in order

924
00:40:32,540 --> 00:40:36,200
Speaker 1: to captivate him once more with a view to get

925
00:40:36,279 --> 00:40:39,319
Speaker 1: him for an exchange. So they're trying to get him

926
00:40:39,399 --> 00:40:41,340
Speaker 1: to swap for Fitz.

927
00:40:41,540 --> 00:40:44,669
Speaker 3: They just think he's valuable. They're not like, this guy

928
00:40:44,930 --> 00:40:47,609
Speaker 3: is quarterbacking the whole thing. They don't think he's like

929
00:40:47,669 --> 00:40:50,109
Speaker 3: the linchpin of the British effort. They just think they'll

930
00:40:50,129 --> 00:40:51,129
Speaker 3: do anything to get him back.

931
00:40:51,549 --> 00:40:51,850
Speaker 1: Yeah.

932
00:40:52,069 --> 00:40:53,910
Speaker 4: Why don't they take him? Why don't they.

933
00:40:54,089 --> 00:40:54,510
Speaker 1: The colonel?

934
00:40:54,569 --> 00:40:54,769
Speaker 2: Yeah.

935
00:40:55,279 --> 00:40:58,160
Speaker 1: They can't. They just haven't been able to steal him.

936
00:40:58,219 --> 00:40:59,840
Speaker 1: It's hard to grab a guy.

937
00:40:59,859 --> 00:41:01,959
Speaker 3: Especially if you grabbed him once.

938
00:41:02,399 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to grab him. He's right

939
00:41:06,500 --> 00:41:09,999
Speaker 4: there in front of his house! I could go get him.

940
00:41:10,799 --> 00:41:13,290
Speaker 1: How can we not get this guy? He's doing yoga

941
00:41:13,770 --> 00:41:15,489
Speaker 1: every morning at 9am!

942
00:41:15,589 --> 00:41:19,270
Speaker 4: We can see him!

943
00:41:19,969 --> 00:41:24,680
Speaker 1: So, they do a couple of raids, but they Both fail,

944
00:41:24,799 --> 00:41:29,999
Speaker 1: but then a third on June 23rd, 1779 does not.

945
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,919
Speaker 1: As previously mentioned, the colonel's house can be seen across

946
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:36,230
Speaker 1: the water, so the rebels station men in the steeple

947
00:41:36,339 --> 00:41:40,210
Speaker 1: of the town church and give them orders to watch

948
00:41:40,250 --> 00:41:41,490
Speaker 1: for the colonel to come home.

949
00:41:41,629 --> 00:41:42,830
Speaker 4: Is this a Trojan church?

950
00:41:42,850 --> 00:41:46,070
Speaker 1: They're literally like, you guys, I got a great plan.

951
00:41:46,250 --> 00:41:46,709
Speaker 1: Hear me out.

952
00:41:46,750 --> 00:41:48,110
Speaker 4: How did this take years?

953
00:41:48,230 --> 00:41:49,590
Speaker 1: We watch his house.

954
00:41:49,989 --> 00:41:50,109
Speaker 2: Huh?

955
00:41:50,169 --> 00:41:50,509
Speaker 6: Huh?

956
00:41:51,219 --> 00:41:55,359
Speaker 4: So someone on the mainland invented hiding. And this is

957
00:41:55,399 --> 00:41:59,219
Speaker 4: going to be huge. This is a huge technology, a

958
00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:03,760
Speaker 4: huge breakthrough. What this is is not revealing where you.

959
00:42:03,399 --> 00:42:04,019
Speaker 1: Are right away.

960
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,880
Speaker 4: It works better in summer when there are leaves. You

961
00:42:07,899 --> 00:42:11,390
Speaker 4: guys remember surprise parties? It's that but for kidnapping, okay?

962
00:42:11,410 --> 00:42:13,290
Speaker 1: This is going to change all war.

963
00:42:13,350 --> 00:42:15,910
Speaker 4: This is big. Peter Thiel has the copyright.

964
00:42:17,690 --> 00:42:20,790
Speaker 1: Uh, so he comes home, the rebels head across. So

965
00:42:20,830 --> 00:42:23,709
Speaker 1: they wait for him. It's not like they're waiting in

966
00:42:23,730 --> 00:42:29,279
Speaker 1: Staten Island hiding there. They're still across in Jersey, just

967
00:42:29,379 --> 00:42:31,709
Speaker 1: watching the house. That's the rebels.

968
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:34,169
Speaker 4: How did nobody, how was nobody like, we could do

969
00:42:34,230 --> 00:42:34,890
Speaker 4: this over there.

970
00:42:35,489 --> 00:42:38,269
Speaker 3: Also, like, to be visible from New Jersey, you have

971
00:42:38,290 --> 00:42:41,430
Speaker 3: to be at, like, the most extreme, like, outer edge

972
00:42:41,469 --> 00:42:43,920
Speaker 3: of Staten Island. Like, he must have been the farthest

973
00:42:44,060 --> 00:42:45,769
Speaker 3: south point of New York.

974
00:42:46,100 --> 00:42:47,120
Speaker 1: I believe it is.

975
00:42:47,140 --> 00:42:50,400
Speaker 4: I believe it's right there. He is taunting at this point.

976
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:53,640
Speaker 5: You really, I mean, obviously, if there's only, like, a

977
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,400
Speaker 5: little bit you can see, and you're like, I choose

978
00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:57,060
Speaker 5: to live there.

979
00:42:57,779 --> 00:42:59,620
Speaker 1: You would think he would just be going out, dropping

980
00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:00,980
Speaker 1: his pants and slapping.

981
00:43:00,620 --> 00:43:02,630
Speaker 4: His butt cheeks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's spreading it.

982
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:04,259
Speaker 1: He's doing the spread thing again. There he goes.

983
00:43:04,279 --> 00:43:04,819
Speaker 3: He's spreading it.

984
00:43:05,569 --> 00:43:08,710
Speaker 1: So they head across in a boat in silence, muffling

985
00:43:08,750 --> 00:43:10,629
Speaker 1: the sound of the oars, as you do.

986
00:43:10,910 --> 00:43:12,190
Speaker 3: Sure.

987
00:43:12,210 --> 00:43:15,910
Speaker 4: They land. It's probably quite ineffective, but you maybe just

988
00:43:15,969 --> 00:43:17,069
Speaker 4: have to lay it flat.

989
00:43:17,350 --> 00:43:17,589
Speaker 3: Yeah.

990
00:43:18,089 --> 00:43:20,230
Speaker 4: It's really taken a long time.

991
00:43:19,989 --> 00:43:23,370
Speaker 1: To get there. They land. They walk up to the house.

992
00:43:23,489 --> 00:43:24,930
Speaker 4: We're back on the mainland.

993
00:43:25,129 --> 00:43:27,009
Speaker 1: In a single file, they walk up to the house.

994
00:43:27,969 --> 00:43:31,310
Speaker 1: They give the countersign and go inside without anybody raising

995
00:43:31,330 --> 00:43:33,969
Speaker 1: the alarm, and the colonel's in bed.

996
00:43:33,989 --> 00:43:34,430
Speaker 3: Yeah.

997
00:43:34,730 --> 00:43:35,469
Speaker 1: He's sleeping.

998
00:43:35,669 --> 00:43:35,849
Speaker 3: Sure.

999
00:43:36,190 --> 00:43:39,270
Speaker 1: So they just grab him. And when they're taking him

1000
00:43:39,310 --> 00:43:42,689
Speaker 1: out of the home, he asks for time to grab

1001
00:43:42,710 --> 00:43:43,250
Speaker 1: his hat.

1002
00:43:45,609 --> 00:43:46,430
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, look.

1003
00:43:46,549 --> 00:43:48,890
Speaker 3: It was really different back then.

1004
00:43:49,410 --> 00:43:52,270
Speaker 5: There are rules of engagement, and there are war crimes,

1005
00:43:52,310 --> 00:43:54,069
Speaker 5: and obviously you've got to let the guy get his hat.

1006
00:43:54,359 --> 00:43:57,819
Speaker 1: We do. There's a lot of hat stuff on the island.

1007
00:43:57,839 --> 00:43:58,180
Speaker 5: Hat fetching.

1008
00:43:58,719 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1009
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,439
Speaker 4: Well, we've gone through a lot of the hat respect thing.

1010
00:44:02,589 --> 00:44:06,369
Speaker 1: Like if someone is in disarray, the papers are always like,

1011
00:44:07,290 --> 00:44:09,710
Speaker 1: he was without a hat. Like that's to describe.

1012
00:44:09,350 --> 00:44:09,930
Speaker 4: How messed up things were.

1013
00:44:09,950 --> 00:44:11,569
Speaker 5: No, if you think taking your hat off for the

1014
00:44:11,609 --> 00:44:13,549
Speaker 5: national anthem is a pain in the ass, you have

1015
00:44:13,690 --> 00:44:14,489
Speaker 5: no idea how.

1016
00:44:14,790 --> 00:44:18,130
Speaker 4: Lucky you are.

1017
00:44:18,629 --> 00:44:20,930
Speaker 1: They don't allow him to grab his hat. What?

1018
00:44:20,950 --> 00:44:22,590
Speaker 4: The actual fuck?

1019
00:44:22,669 --> 00:44:24,150
Speaker 3: Oh man, things have changed.

1020
00:44:24,710 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 4: Well, that's not good.

1021
00:44:26,319 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: Well, that is just, I mean, that is not gentlemanly.

1022
00:44:29,540 --> 00:44:29,700
Speaker 5: Death.

1023
00:44:29,719 --> 00:44:29,879
Speaker 3: Death.

1024
00:44:31,140 --> 00:44:33,580
Speaker 1: His own guard is posted a short distance away but

1025
00:44:33,660 --> 00:44:39,019
Speaker 1: never noticed a thing. They got comfy. One rebel goes

1026
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:42,460
Speaker 1: into the stable and takes the colonel's horse, beautiful animal,

1027
00:44:42,500 --> 00:44:44,219
Speaker 1: and takes it down to the water. But the horse,

1028
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:46,649
Speaker 1: because he's a jerk, will not get in the boat.

1029
00:44:47,629 --> 00:44:48,750
Speaker 1: So the man shoots the horse.

1030
00:44:49,299 --> 00:44:49,519
Speaker 3: Jesus.

1031
00:44:49,569 --> 00:44:51,489
Speaker 4: I don't know why. I don't think we need that detail.

1032
00:44:51,549 --> 00:44:53,010
Speaker 1: What else are you going to do with the horse?

1033
00:44:53,609 --> 00:44:54,750
Speaker 4: I mean, look.

1034
00:44:54,830 --> 00:44:57,069
Speaker 1: If it's not going to get in the boat, what

1035
00:44:57,109 --> 00:44:57,950
Speaker 1: other options are there?

1036
00:44:58,370 --> 00:45:00,369
Speaker 4: So I just killed it. What?

1037
00:45:00,770 --> 00:45:01,069
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah.

1038
00:45:01,250 --> 00:45:03,769
Speaker 1: Just let the thing go. It's a nice horse. Yeah,

1039
00:45:03,989 --> 00:45:04,370
Speaker 1: I should have.

1040
00:45:04,549 --> 00:45:06,950
Speaker 3: I should have. What are you doing? It's all happening

1041
00:45:06,989 --> 00:45:07,550
Speaker 3: so fast.

1042
00:45:07,690 --> 00:45:09,149
Speaker 4: Yeah, but there's so many moving pieces.

1043
00:45:09,330 --> 00:45:11,719
Speaker 1: It's not happening fast. This is the slowest thing ever.

1044
00:45:11,779 --> 00:45:14,180
Speaker 3: I know. Hiding had kind of turned my mind around.

1045
00:45:14,899 --> 00:45:17,700
Speaker 5: And I did stomach, so it's a slow one. Why

1046
00:45:17,759 --> 00:45:20,839
Speaker 5: would you shoot him in the stomach? We walked through

1047
00:45:20,879 --> 00:45:22,739
Speaker 5: a lot of versions of this. We never talked about

1048
00:45:22,779 --> 00:45:23,180
Speaker 5: that horse.

1049
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:24,479
Speaker 1: Well, you're not supposed to take a horse.

1050
00:45:24,500 --> 00:45:26,210
Speaker 4: What is with a horse not getting on a boat?

1051
00:45:26,270 --> 00:45:27,129
Speaker 4: Doesn't it understand?

1052
00:45:27,190 --> 00:45:29,230
Speaker 1: Who thinks a horse will get on a rowboat?

1053
00:45:29,250 --> 00:45:29,950
Speaker 4: I completely agree.

1054
00:45:30,739 --> 00:45:34,019
Speaker 3: Completely agree. Can you do stealth mode rowing when you

1055
00:45:34,060 --> 00:45:38,379
Speaker 3: have a horse passenger?

1056
00:45:38,739 --> 00:45:39,259
Speaker 4: Trying to get a horse.

1057
00:45:39,279 --> 00:45:41,940
Speaker 3: The horses are quiet, but the neighing is very loud.

1058
00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:46,739
Speaker 4: Trying to get a horse on a rowboat. It's making

1059
00:45:46,779 --> 00:45:47,880
Speaker 4: it harder to row.

1060
00:45:48,759 --> 00:45:53,600
Speaker 3: Horse was definitely behaving rationally. A, you don't need me. B,

1061
00:45:53,899 --> 00:45:54,820
Speaker 3: absolutely not.

1062
00:45:55,219 --> 00:45:55,940
Speaker 4: I'm not going to go.

1063
00:45:56,580 --> 00:45:56,779
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1064
00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:57,439
Speaker 4: No. No.

1065
00:45:58,589 --> 00:46:01,229
Speaker 1: So the gunshot alerts the British that something's going on,

1066
00:46:01,250 --> 00:46:01,919
Speaker 1: but by the time they.

1067
00:46:01,980 --> 00:46:04,799
Speaker 5: The idea that you could have just left the horse- Yeah.

1068
00:46:04,879 --> 00:46:09,060
Speaker 5: Not only for ethical reasons, but to seek off better.

1069
00:46:09,379 --> 00:46:09,640
Speaker 2: Yeah.

1070
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 4: Well, I shot the horse. The British know. I buckled.

1071
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:16,600
Speaker 3: He looked mean. He looked real mean.

1072
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,519
Speaker 1: You're going to be weird. What am I going to do?

1073
00:46:18,540 --> 00:46:20,579
Speaker 5: I buckled like a lady's shoe out there. I shot

1074
00:46:20,620 --> 00:46:21,340
Speaker 5: the horse twice.

1075
00:46:24,080 --> 00:46:26,640
Speaker 1: But it's too late because Jersey's so close that by

1076
00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:29,229
Speaker 1: the time the British- Organize.

1077
00:46:28,950 --> 00:46:30,810
Speaker 4: And get down there Alright we're ready They're back on the.

1078
00:46:30,770 --> 00:46:33,730
Speaker 1: Mainland Yeah they're in Jersey already So Colonel's now a

1079
00:46:33,730 --> 00:46:36,549
Speaker 1: prisoner But it's not so bad Basically he promises the

1080
00:46:36,589 --> 00:46:39,669
Speaker 1: Continental Army He will not escape And will not take

1081
00:46:39,730 --> 00:46:43,220
Speaker 1: up arms In exchange They let him do his thing

1082
00:46:43,359 --> 00:46:46,120
Speaker 1: in New Jersey So he's basically just cruising around in

1083
00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:49,680
Speaker 1: Jersey now And he promises not to do anything bad

1084
00:46:49,940 --> 00:46:52,200
Speaker 1: That's the prisoner situation.

1085
00:46:51,799 --> 00:46:56,810
Speaker 5: I don't understand That's how it works with officers It's

1086
00:46:56,830 --> 00:46:58,049
Speaker 5: a gentlemanly agreement.

1087
00:46:58,549 --> 00:47:00,069
Speaker 3: But then why not let him take his hat?

1088
00:47:00,850 --> 00:47:01,789
Speaker 4: Exactly where I was going.

1089
00:47:01,830 --> 00:47:02,450
Speaker 1: Well, here we go.

1090
00:47:02,469 --> 00:47:03,269
Speaker 3: Exactly where I was going.

1091
00:47:03,290 --> 00:47:06,029
Speaker 1: He's going to hold a grudge, isn't he? As you should.

1092
00:47:06,069 --> 00:47:06,930
Speaker 1: Just walking around all that time.

1093
00:47:07,049 --> 00:47:08,689
Speaker 4: I mean, he can see it from where he's being.

1094
00:47:08,710 --> 00:47:10,609
Speaker 4: He can see it from where he's... It's right there.

1095
00:47:10,629 --> 00:47:11,850
Speaker 3: Right there on the hat rack.

1096
00:47:12,129 --> 00:47:14,149
Speaker 1: It's right there. I can grab it.

1097
00:47:14,290 --> 00:47:15,769
Speaker 3: Right next to the yoga mat.

1098
00:47:15,969 --> 00:47:19,379
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1099
00:47:19,669 --> 00:47:22,129
Speaker 1: So as long as he keeps his word, he stays

1100
00:47:22,190 --> 00:47:24,610
Speaker 1: out of a cell, right? So for four months, that is...

1101
00:47:25,879 --> 00:47:31,459
Speaker 1: colonel christopher billups sentence okay exile in new jersey yeah

1102
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:33,259
Speaker 1: yeah you see yeah.

1103
00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:39,430
Speaker 7: May i go into jail now uh but then in

1104
00:47:39,529 --> 00:47:44,569
Speaker 7: october new york state blows that agreement up the legislature

1105
00:47:44,629 --> 00:47:48,489
Speaker 7: convicts him of loyalty to the king yeah We knew this.

1106
00:47:48,969 --> 00:47:49,270
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1107
00:47:49,310 --> 00:47:51,089
Speaker 4: We all knew this.

1108
00:47:51,109 --> 00:47:53,450
Speaker 1: Yeah. We knew. What are we doing? We knew that.

1109
00:47:53,469 --> 00:47:54,870
Speaker 4: The four months is the issue.

1110
00:47:54,890 --> 00:47:58,670
Speaker 3: He's in the legislature being like, we should all. Yeah.

1111
00:48:00,410 --> 00:48:03,150
Speaker 1: And you are sentenced to no hat. Well, guys.

1112
00:48:04,250 --> 00:48:04,630
Speaker 3: Guys.

1113
00:48:04,830 --> 00:48:08,830
Speaker 1: So the colonel is banished and everything he owns is

1114
00:48:08,890 --> 00:48:09,850
Speaker 1: taken by the state.

1115
00:48:09,870 --> 00:48:11,050
Speaker 4: You're going to Staten Island.

1116
00:48:11,649 --> 00:48:16,109
Speaker 1: So they take his 1078 acres. The stone house his

1117
00:48:16,149 --> 00:48:18,710
Speaker 1: grandfather built, the dead horse they take, they take everything.

1118
00:48:19,049 --> 00:48:19,690
Speaker 1: The hat.

1119
00:48:20,330 --> 00:48:20,850
Speaker 3: Jesus.

1120
00:48:21,390 --> 00:48:23,049
Speaker 1: In New York, the British are holding.

1121
00:48:23,149 --> 00:48:26,090
Speaker 4: Put it on in front of him. No!

1122
00:48:26,870 --> 00:48:28,969
Speaker 1: In New York, the British are holding two American prisoners

1123
00:48:29,049 --> 00:48:33,880
Speaker 1: in irons. One is Nathaniel Fitz Randolph. So New Jersey

1124
00:48:33,919 --> 00:48:37,959
Speaker 1: decides to answer that by doing the same thing to

1125
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:44,300
Speaker 1: a loyalist, and that's Colonel Billup. Okay.

1126
00:48:44,379 --> 00:48:44,539
Speaker 3: So.

1127
00:48:45,350 --> 00:48:47,689
Speaker 1: The governor of New Jersey wrote a letter saying the

1128
00:48:47,710 --> 00:48:51,569
Speaker 1: state had no personal resentment against the colonel. Quote, it

1129
00:48:51,629 --> 00:48:54,580
Speaker 1: is his particular misfortune to be in our position at

1130
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:56,219
Speaker 1: this melancholy juncture.

1131
00:48:57,279 --> 00:48:59,359
Speaker 3: Hate to do it.

1132
00:48:59,399 --> 00:49:00,800
Speaker 1: We got to put this guy in prison.

1133
00:49:00,819 --> 00:49:04,039
Speaker 5: The amount of things that were emotionally written back then

1134
00:49:04,180 --> 00:49:05,400
Speaker 5: and the amount of things that weren't.

1135
00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:09,339
Speaker 4: And this is one where he's like, it's melancholy. We're down.

1136
00:49:09,649 --> 00:49:11,049
Speaker 1: I'm really sad I got to put this guy in

1137
00:49:11,089 --> 00:49:11,389
Speaker 1: a prison.

1138
00:49:11,410 --> 00:49:13,819
Speaker 3: It's tough. And what he was just like popping around

1139
00:49:13,859 --> 00:49:15,960
Speaker 3: New Jersey. And then they were like, things have changed.

1140
00:49:16,440 --> 00:49:17,019
Speaker 1: That's right.

1141
00:49:18,219 --> 00:49:21,359
Speaker 3: Such that now you must be in manacles.

1142
00:49:21,399 --> 00:49:26,090
Speaker 5: That was tough, but it is where he wrote Borden

1143
00:49:26,129 --> 00:49:26,450
Speaker 5: to run.

1144
00:49:28,649 --> 00:49:31,480
Speaker 1: So on November 6th, the colonel is actually sent to prison.

1145
00:49:32,600 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 1: There are two letters that are sent with him. The

1146
00:49:35,739 --> 00:49:38,649
Speaker 1: first is for the jailer. Quote, you are hereby commanded

1147
00:49:38,669 --> 00:49:41,950
Speaker 1: to receive into your custody the body of Colonel Christopher Billup,

1148
00:49:42,290 --> 00:49:45,289
Speaker 1: prisoner of war, herewith delivered to you and having put

1149
00:49:45,649 --> 00:49:48,650
Speaker 1: irons on his hands and feet. you are to chain

1150
00:49:48,690 --> 00:49:52,229
Speaker 1: him down to the floor in a close room in

1151
00:49:52,350 --> 00:49:55,270
Speaker 1: the said jail, and there so detain him, giving him

1152
00:49:55,350 --> 00:49:57,390
Speaker 1: bread and water only for food.

1153
00:49:57,710 --> 00:49:59,230
Speaker 3: Comma with melancholy.

1154
00:50:00,799 --> 00:50:03,299
Speaker 4: That feels very standard as far as.

1155
00:50:03,779 --> 00:50:04,160
Speaker 1: Doesn't it?

1156
00:50:04,299 --> 00:50:05,539
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1157
00:50:05,580 --> 00:50:07,989
Speaker 4: They're like, okay, yeah, so he's a prisoner. Got it.

1158
00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:09,939
Speaker 3: It's like the hiding thing. They're like, we got to

1159
00:50:09,980 --> 00:50:11,060
Speaker 3: really spell this one out.

1160
00:50:12,540 --> 00:50:14,950
Speaker 4: Don't get him wet. Don't feed him after midnight.

1161
00:50:14,969 --> 00:50:16,809
Speaker 3: Comma New Jersey, comma Earth.

1162
00:50:17,109 --> 00:50:17,410
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1163
00:50:21,620 --> 00:50:23,560
Speaker 1: The second letter is for the colonel.

1164
00:50:24,359 --> 00:50:28,069
Speaker 4: By the way, bread and water, you give me that

1165
00:50:28,089 --> 00:50:29,250
Speaker 4: for three days, I'm not upset.

1166
00:50:29,870 --> 00:50:30,190
Speaker 3: Really?

1167
00:50:30,270 --> 00:50:31,009
Speaker 4: That sounds pretty good.

1168
00:50:31,069 --> 00:50:32,690
Speaker 1: I think it was longer than three days. Yeah.

1169
00:50:33,009 --> 00:50:34,790
Speaker 5: No, eventually I'd be like, can I get some butter?

1170
00:50:34,930 --> 00:50:37,519
Speaker 5: But for the first few days, I'm like, I'm carving

1171
00:50:37,560 --> 00:50:38,120
Speaker 5: and loving it.

1172
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:43,899
Speaker 1: So the other letters to the colonel, the official who

1173
00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:46,680
Speaker 1: signed the first one says he is sorry. He writes, quote,

1174
00:50:47,230 --> 00:50:50,029
Speaker 1: to be under the disagreeable necessity of treating him this way.

1175
00:50:50,149 --> 00:50:53,330
Speaker 1: But retaliation is directed, and the colonel can end it

1176
00:50:53,509 --> 00:50:55,709
Speaker 1: any time he likes by writing to New York and

1177
00:50:55,750 --> 00:51:00,499
Speaker 1: arranging better treatment for the two American prisoners. So they're

1178
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:02,999
Speaker 1: saying they just want Fitz and the other guy out

1179
00:51:03,020 --> 00:51:03,439
Speaker 1: of irons.

1180
00:51:03,500 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 4: Right. And he can do that.

1181
00:51:06,140 --> 00:51:08,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's like, yeah, how about you get involved?

1182
00:51:08,560 --> 00:51:12,700
Speaker 3: Wow. We can unmanacle the right hand or the left

1183
00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:13,660
Speaker 3: if you're a lefty.

1184
00:51:14,460 --> 00:51:19,060
Speaker 4: That is such a strange... situation.

1185
00:51:18,060 --> 00:51:21,320
Speaker 1: To be in so he is chained to a jail

1186
00:51:21,359 --> 00:51:25,359
Speaker 1: floor eating bread and water in order to improve the

1187
00:51:25,419 --> 00:51:27,979
Speaker 1: living conditions of the guy who kidnapped him in the

1188
00:51:28,000 --> 00:51:32,319
Speaker 1: first place so weeks go by and a message comes

1189
00:51:32,359 --> 00:51:36,080
Speaker 1: to the colonel from George Washington George tells him to

1190
00:51:36,140 --> 00:51:38,559
Speaker 1: resign his command of the militia and he can go

1191
00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:41,060
Speaker 1: home nobody will touch you or your property during the

1192
00:51:41,100 --> 00:51:42,910
Speaker 1: war or after it so that's a pretty good.

1193
00:51:42,839 --> 00:51:46,499
Speaker 4: Deal that is the perfect deal Take it. Yeah.

1194
00:51:46,700 --> 00:51:52,819
Speaker 1: He says no. He likes being in charge of the militia.

1195
00:51:52,919 --> 00:51:56,060
Speaker 4: Men have never been sane.

1196
00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:57,580
Speaker 1: He's like the king.

1197
00:51:57,620 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 3: Rather than go to therapy. Yes.

1198
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:00,700
Speaker 1: Exactly.

1199
00:52:00,799 --> 00:52:03,759
Speaker 4: This is just like, dude, look, just say you miss

1200
00:52:03,779 --> 00:52:04,280
Speaker 4: your dad.

1201
00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:04,860
Speaker 3: No.

1202
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:05,840
Speaker 4: No.

1203
00:52:07,839 --> 00:52:10,230
Speaker 1: Chain me tighter. He says no.

1204
00:52:11,250 --> 00:52:11,969
Speaker 3: Psychotic.

1205
00:52:12,569 --> 00:52:15,430
Speaker 1: But regardless, in December, the two sides work out a trade,

1206
00:52:15,529 --> 00:52:17,109
Speaker 1: and the colonel gets to go home on the 26th.

1207
00:52:17,109 --> 00:52:22,709
Speaker 1: 19 days later, the water freezes. Now, the winter of

1208
00:52:22,710 --> 00:52:27,010
Speaker 1: 1779 into 1780 was the hardest of the century. Water

1209
00:52:27,029 --> 00:52:30,710
Speaker 1: rays around New York froze solid enough to carry infantry, artillery,

1210
00:52:30,930 --> 00:52:33,590
Speaker 1: and cavalry across the.

1211
00:52:33,839 --> 00:52:35,380
Speaker 4: Roman was like, this is tough.

1212
00:52:35,440 --> 00:52:36,999
Speaker 1: Just on foot.

1213
00:52:37,339 --> 00:52:38,939
Speaker 4: I've been made redundant.

1214
00:52:39,279 --> 00:52:39,580
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1215
00:52:41,060 --> 00:52:43,950
Speaker 1: So... On the night of January 14th 1780 Washington They.

1216
00:52:43,989 --> 00:52:46,320
Speaker 4: Thought everyone was Jesus And now they're.

1217
00:52:46,210 --> 00:52:51,000
Speaker 1: Jesus So on the night of January 14th 1780 Washington

1218
00:52:51,040 --> 00:52:54,979
Speaker 1: sent 2,500 men Across the ice Into Staten Island On

1219
00:52:54,980 --> 00:53:01,009
Speaker 1: 300 sleds Borrowed from New Jersey farmers Whee Whee This

1220
00:53:01,089 --> 00:53:07,029
Speaker 1: is fun Huh? Yay The whole British force On the

1221
00:53:07,109 --> 00:53:09,489
Speaker 1: island Was 1,800 men So not enough to.

1222
00:53:09,489 --> 00:53:11,589
Speaker 4: Yeah So Washington's done Fucking around.

1223
00:53:11,379 --> 00:53:14,809
Speaker 1: Yeah So the British army asked the colonel to call

1224
00:53:14,910 --> 00:53:18,310
Speaker 1: out his militia. In town, the militia is mostly, up

1225
00:53:18,370 --> 00:53:20,390
Speaker 1: until now, they've been mostly just doing the grunt work, right?

1226
00:53:20,589 --> 00:53:20,910
Speaker 3: Right.

1227
00:53:21,029 --> 00:53:24,870
Speaker 1: Building stuff and bringing the supplies. Digging. Yeah, digging.

1228
00:53:24,890 --> 00:53:25,469
Speaker 4: Mainly digging.

1229
00:53:25,649 --> 00:53:26,819
Speaker 3: A lot of holes.

1230
00:53:27,210 --> 00:53:29,939
Speaker 4: What are we digging for? Not sure. Keep going.

1231
00:53:31,020 --> 00:53:33,779
Speaker 1: So combat like this is something new. So the colonel

1232
00:53:33,799 --> 00:53:37,060
Speaker 1: goes to his militia, and he asks them to come

1233
00:53:37,419 --> 00:53:40,759
Speaker 1: into the fort at Richmond, and then he begs them.

1234
00:53:42,109 --> 00:53:45,350
Speaker 1: He tells them what the Americans will do to this

1235
00:53:45,509 --> 00:53:46,420
Speaker 1: island if they take it.

1236
00:53:46,430 --> 00:53:47,550
Speaker 4: The Americans.

1237
00:53:47,589 --> 00:53:51,670
Speaker 1: Hang some of them, right? Uh-huh. And ruin the rest.

1238
00:53:51,750 --> 00:53:57,779
Speaker 3: Sure. Hang some. Do a set. Burn some. Another set.

1239
00:53:58,799 --> 00:53:59,560
Speaker 4: May I be hanged?

1240
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,320
Speaker 1: And then he walks into the garrison like, let's go.

1241
00:54:03,660 --> 00:54:09,560
Speaker 1: And then nobody follows. Not one man would join the garrison.

1242
00:54:11,020 --> 00:54:14,800
Speaker 1: They then go to the public houses instead to drink

1243
00:54:14,859 --> 00:54:16,930
Speaker 1: and hear the news, or they just went home to

1244
00:54:16,969 --> 00:54:21,269
Speaker 1: see about their cattle or their land. And these are

1245
00:54:21,310 --> 00:54:26,459
Speaker 1: not secret rebels. They were men the American government had marked,

1246
00:54:26,629 --> 00:54:30,519
Speaker 1: many of them refugees out of New Jersey. Refugees from

1247
00:54:30,540 --> 00:54:30,919
Speaker 1: New Jersey.

1248
00:54:31,879 --> 00:54:36,339
Speaker 4: That is just remarkable. Some New Jersey refugees.

1249
00:54:36,399 --> 00:54:38,020
Speaker 1: That's what they call them in New York City.

1250
00:54:38,040 --> 00:54:39,640
Speaker 5: We've been through so much.

1251
00:54:40,259 --> 00:54:42,200
Speaker 4: Aren't you just doing this to make money on oysters?

1252
00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:42,900
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1253
00:54:44,100 --> 00:54:46,660
Speaker 4: Our home is gone. It's there.

1254
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:50,299
Speaker 1: So some of them have every reason to expect to

1255
00:54:50,339 --> 00:54:55,900
Speaker 1: be hanged if the Americans win and lose everything they had, right?

1256
00:54:56,219 --> 00:54:58,499
Speaker 1: But they're still not going to step up and fight.

1257
00:54:58,759 --> 00:54:58,939
Speaker 3: Wow.

1258
00:54:59,950 --> 00:55:02,450
Speaker 1: The truth is the British had overstayed their welcome and

1259
00:55:02,469 --> 00:55:05,150
Speaker 1: then abused the island and its people badly.

1260
00:55:05,310 --> 00:55:05,570
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1261
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:09,739
Speaker 1: So a man named Blake interviewed years later said, quote,

1262
00:55:09,779 --> 00:55:13,719
Speaker 1: the soldiers in general behaved at first very well, paying

1263
00:55:13,759 --> 00:55:16,640
Speaker 1: for everything that they took. But when they came back

1264
00:55:16,739 --> 00:55:20,070
Speaker 1: from Jersey, they stole everything they could lay their hands on.

1265
00:55:22,190 --> 00:55:23,469
Speaker 1: They started with fences.

1266
00:55:25,799 --> 00:55:28,109
Speaker 3: Where they started with stealing fences?

1267
00:55:28,410 --> 00:55:29,930
Speaker 1: That's right. What are you going to take?

1268
00:55:29,950 --> 00:55:32,930
Speaker 4: They fenced fences? Wow.

1269
00:55:32,989 --> 00:55:34,250
Speaker 1: You guys are being too literal.

1270
00:55:34,629 --> 00:55:35,070
Speaker 2: All right.

1271
00:55:35,089 --> 00:55:37,210
Speaker 4: Now this is how you fence, right?

1272
00:55:37,419 --> 00:55:38,279
Speaker 1: No.

1273
00:55:38,359 --> 00:55:40,599
Speaker 3: If we put this up on the battlefield, they'll never

1274
00:55:40,640 --> 00:55:40,979
Speaker 3: get us.

1275
00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:44,040
Speaker 4: Look at all these posts. Idiots.

1276
00:55:46,620 --> 00:55:49,200
Speaker 1: Fences are very important for a farm community Like Staten

1277
00:55:49,239 --> 00:55:51,799
Speaker 1: Island They keep the livestock from eating the crops But

1278
00:55:51,839 --> 00:55:58,560
Speaker 1: the British soldiers needed firewood So we just used the fences.

1279
00:55:58,120 --> 00:55:59,660
Speaker 4: My cow's over there.

1280
00:56:02,290 --> 00:56:05,609
Speaker 5: It's chaos Oh my god So yeah we got all

1281
00:56:05,649 --> 00:56:09,850
Speaker 5: this wood for our fences And we're quite cold.

1282
00:56:11,489 --> 00:56:12,710
Speaker 3: It's impossible man.

1283
00:56:14,790 --> 00:56:18,930
Speaker 1: Local Isaac Simonson quote, the fences were all destroyed, not

1284
00:56:19,009 --> 00:56:21,879
Speaker 1: a rail being left in three months. At that time,

1285
00:56:21,980 --> 00:56:24,979
Speaker 1: things were very cheap. After the British came, prices more

1286
00:56:25,020 --> 00:56:25,540
Speaker 1: than doubled.

1287
00:56:25,799 --> 00:56:28,719
Speaker 3: Can I just say, in the eternal Staten Island-ness of

1288
00:56:28,759 --> 00:56:33,989
Speaker 3: this story, this is like 18th century NIMBYism. Literally not

1289
00:56:34,029 --> 00:56:38,459
Speaker 3: in my back. You took away... What demarcated my backyard.

1290
00:56:39,060 --> 00:56:40,920
Speaker 3: That was– the taxes also.

1291
00:56:40,940 --> 00:56:44,150
Speaker 4: You think NIMBY is bad now. Yeah.

1292
00:56:44,629 --> 00:56:48,189
Speaker 1: I mean the British were– so the thing my mind

1293
00:56:48,230 --> 00:56:51,330
Speaker 1: always goes back to is when they took Philadelphia, they

1294
00:56:51,370 --> 00:56:55,460
Speaker 1: just took over houses and instead of using an outhouse,

1295
00:56:56,169 --> 00:56:59,160
Speaker 1: they would just– they just cut holes in the floor.

1296
00:56:59,180 --> 00:56:59,860
Speaker 4: Oh my god.

1297
00:56:59,960 --> 00:57:01,560
Speaker 1: And would just use that as their toilets.

1298
00:57:01,580 --> 00:57:01,770
Speaker 3: Oh my god.

1299
00:57:02,219 --> 00:57:03,540
Speaker 1: So they're not great.

1300
00:57:04,460 --> 00:57:05,239
Speaker 3: Not good guests.

1301
00:57:05,600 --> 00:57:10,669
Speaker 4: That's tough. There's an outhouse. There's also an inhouse.

1302
00:57:12,290 --> 00:57:12,670
Speaker 3: Christ.

1303
00:57:12,770 --> 00:57:14,049
Speaker 1: And that's how bathrooms are invented.

1304
00:57:14,069 --> 00:57:15,029
Speaker 3: We call it the loo.

1305
00:57:15,930 --> 00:57:22,930
Speaker 4: Yeah. By the way, the pitch was good. The pitch eventually. Directionally, yes.

1306
00:57:23,169 --> 00:57:25,880
Speaker 3: Eventually, we got there.

1307
00:57:26,200 --> 00:57:28,900
Speaker 5: There's nothing worse than the long hike.

1308
00:57:30,300 --> 00:57:34,600
Speaker 4: Dad's pooping. He's taking that long walk of shame.

1309
00:57:35,940 --> 00:57:38,360
Speaker 1: The first time the army went to New Jersey, a

1310
00:57:38,419 --> 00:57:39,470
Speaker 1: proclamation went out.

1311
00:57:39,480 --> 00:57:41,360
Speaker 4: Or if there was no toilet paper in the outhouse,

1312
00:57:41,400 --> 00:57:43,260
Speaker 4: that weird walk back to the main house.

1313
00:57:43,340 --> 00:57:44,100
Speaker 1: That is a rough one.

1314
00:57:46,040 --> 00:57:47,220
Speaker 4: Dad, were you shot?

1315
00:57:47,700 --> 00:57:48,060
Speaker 3: No.

1316
00:57:48,900 --> 00:57:49,880
Speaker 4: We're out of TP.

1317
00:57:50,020 --> 00:57:52,140
Speaker 1: They just use their jacket and throw it away behind.

1318
00:57:52,919 --> 00:57:55,900
Speaker 1: It's tough. It's a good conversation, though. The first time

1319
00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:58,499
Speaker 1: the army went to New Jersey, a proclamation went out

1320
00:57:58,540 --> 00:58:00,729
Speaker 1: telling everyone to put their fences back up.

1321
00:58:04,310 --> 00:58:07,650
Speaker 3: What? We found the issue that really gets them going.

1322
00:58:07,810 --> 00:58:09,890
Speaker 4: It's just like how we get an Amber Alert. I've

1323
00:58:09,910 --> 00:58:10,770
Speaker 4: got a defense alert.

1324
00:58:11,790 --> 00:58:14,090
Speaker 1: Then the army came home and destroyed the fences again.

1325
00:58:14,590 --> 00:58:15,010
Speaker 3: Damn it.

1326
00:58:15,250 --> 00:58:18,150
Speaker 1: What did the British use for firewood once they used

1327
00:58:18,210 --> 00:58:21,200
Speaker 1: up all the fences, you ask? Well, the churches, of course.

1328
00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:22,320
Speaker 4: Oh, my God.

1329
00:58:22,820 --> 00:58:26,039
Speaker 1: They're like literally the stuff that's most important. They're like,

1330
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:27,100
Speaker 1: let's do that first.

1331
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:29,300
Speaker 4: What about the trees? Is there a church here?

1332
00:58:31,250 --> 00:58:36,650
Speaker 1: There was a reformed Dutch church at Richmond Town. A

1333
00:58:36,870 --> 00:58:40,490
Speaker 1: frame building finished right about when the war started. A

1334
00:58:40,550 --> 00:58:43,550
Speaker 1: minister named Van Pelt, quote, the British used it gradually

1335
00:58:43,630 --> 00:58:44,550
Speaker 1: up for firewoods.

1336
00:58:44,590 --> 00:58:44,749
Speaker 3: Wow.

1337
00:58:44,790 --> 00:58:46,170
Speaker 1: They just used up the whole church.

1338
00:58:46,410 --> 00:58:46,770
Speaker 3: Wow.

1339
00:58:47,890 --> 00:58:48,930
Speaker 4: Well, now take the priest.

1340
00:58:50,270 --> 00:58:54,040
Speaker 1: A Presbyterian meeting house became a hospital and was then destroyed.

1341
00:58:54,900 --> 00:58:57,060
Speaker 4: This might be how they started burning people at the stake.

1342
00:58:57,360 --> 00:58:57,959
Speaker 1: Seriously.

1343
00:58:58,100 --> 00:58:58,340
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1344
00:58:58,750 --> 00:59:01,570
Speaker 1: We need more firewood. What about that lady?

1345
00:59:03,450 --> 00:59:04,590
Speaker 3: Can't use a good steak for that.

1346
00:59:05,610 --> 00:59:08,510
Speaker 5: All right, not the steak. We'll burn them on her.

1347
00:59:08,590 --> 00:59:09,910
Speaker 5: The two women, tape them together.

1348
00:59:10,890 --> 00:59:12,689
Speaker 4: Dolores, stand as long as you can.

1349
00:59:13,050 --> 00:59:14,890
Speaker 3: You've had tape this whole time?

1350
00:59:14,910 --> 00:59:16,850
Speaker 1: Yeah!

1351
00:59:16,870 --> 00:59:17,770
Speaker 4: You guys don't have tape?

1352
00:59:18,370 --> 00:59:19,130
Speaker 3: And yoga?

1353
00:59:19,720 --> 00:59:22,360
Speaker 4: Yeah, you guys don't have tape and yoga?

1354
00:59:23,940 --> 00:59:26,680
Speaker 1: The Dutch church at Port Richmond had a balcony, a

1355
00:59:26,740 --> 00:59:28,780
Speaker 1: steeple with a bell on it, and shingles from the

1356
00:59:28,840 --> 00:59:29,439
Speaker 1: ground up.

1357
00:59:29,500 --> 00:59:31,289
Speaker 4: Those are gone. Good night.

1358
00:59:31,910 --> 00:59:36,229
Speaker 1: Soldiers lived in it until eventually it blew over in

1359
00:59:36,250 --> 00:59:38,750
Speaker 1: a storm. No one is inside, but it blew over.

1360
00:59:40,140 --> 00:59:42,260
Speaker 1: At New Dorp, which is a name I'll never get

1361
00:59:42,320 --> 00:59:43,200
Speaker 1: over and no one should.

1362
00:59:44,100 --> 00:59:48,890
Speaker 3: And when it blew over, they all said, Dorp! A

1363
00:59:48,970 --> 00:59:50,610
Speaker 3: chorus of voices rose up.

1364
00:59:51,050 --> 00:59:51,890
Speaker 4: Oh, Dorp!

1365
00:59:53,630 --> 00:59:58,610
Speaker 1: Soldiers set fire to Gamble's Moravian Church, then came into

1366
00:59:58,630 --> 01:00:02,700
Speaker 1: the parsonage one evening, frightening his family, destroying their furniture,

1367
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:06,099
Speaker 1: and and carried off the congregation's records, probably to burn.

1368
01:00:07,780 --> 01:00:11,240
Speaker 1: Gamble wrote that a complaint by civilians to British officers

1369
01:00:11,380 --> 01:00:15,820
Speaker 1: commonly makes bad worse. One Islander said he obeyed the

1370
01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:19,300
Speaker 1: two officers quartered in his house without ever objecting because

1371
01:00:19,340 --> 01:00:21,869
Speaker 1: there was no use in it. Quote, if I'd done so,

1372
01:00:22,250 --> 01:00:25,230
Speaker 1: we should have been requited with a curse and a

1373
01:00:25,570 --> 01:00:26,630
Speaker 1: blow of their swords.

1374
01:00:26,650 --> 01:00:26,910
Speaker 6: Hmm.

1375
01:00:27,820 --> 01:00:28,160
Speaker 4: Awkward.

1376
01:00:28,200 --> 01:00:30,400
Speaker 1: It's just amazing that they're treating the people that are

1377
01:00:30,419 --> 01:00:31,979
Speaker 1: helping them like this.

1378
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, right. And that the people are taking it like, well, okay.

1379
01:00:35,520 --> 01:00:38,390
Speaker 1: So civil government is- There's an outhouse, guys.

1380
01:00:38,669 --> 01:00:38,970
Speaker 4: No.

1381
01:00:39,110 --> 01:00:39,450
Speaker 6: No.

1382
01:00:40,730 --> 01:00:43,090
Speaker 1: Civil government has stopped existing at this point. The courts

1383
01:00:43,110 --> 01:00:46,419
Speaker 1: were closed. The courthouse was burned. Jesus.

1384
01:00:46,770 --> 01:00:47,660
Speaker 4: Can we get that gavel?

1385
01:00:50,130 --> 01:00:52,890
Speaker 1: And yeah, these are their allies. So by this point,

1386
01:00:52,990 --> 01:00:55,900
Speaker 1: the militia members aren't really feeling particularly inclined to lay

1387
01:00:55,940 --> 01:00:57,080
Speaker 1: down their lives for the crown.

1388
01:00:57,120 --> 01:01:00,100
Speaker 4: You guys don't seem to have that... You're not excited anymore.

1389
01:01:00,120 --> 01:01:02,419
Speaker 4: Am I crazy? What's going on?

1390
01:01:03,840 --> 01:01:08,120
Speaker 1: So when the American rebels arrive, nobody is there to

1391
01:01:08,160 --> 01:01:12,830
Speaker 1: stop them. But the garrison held. The British spies had

1392
01:01:12,850 --> 01:01:15,910
Speaker 1: warned them Americans were coming and they were ready. And

1393
01:01:15,950 --> 01:01:19,480
Speaker 1: the soldiers stood on a frozen island... in a blizzard

1394
01:01:19,520 --> 01:01:21,940
Speaker 1: for a day and a half and went home without incident.

1395
01:01:22,590 --> 01:01:25,670
Speaker 1: But after the army came, hundreds of American civilians with sleds.

1396
01:01:26,190 --> 01:01:28,270
Speaker 1: They were dead set on looting the hell out of

1397
01:01:28,290 --> 01:01:31,590
Speaker 1: Staten Island. This is how it happens.

1398
01:01:31,669 --> 01:01:33,189
Speaker 4: Stop saying we.

1399
01:01:33,450 --> 01:01:40,080
Speaker 1: Not an invading army, but people like getting stuff. They

1400
01:01:40,180 --> 01:01:42,300
Speaker 1: emptied a man's store while he stood in it and

1401
01:01:42,380 --> 01:01:44,340
Speaker 1: burned another man's two sloops.

1402
01:01:45,120 --> 01:01:46,220
Speaker 4: His two sloops?

1403
01:01:46,300 --> 01:01:46,700
Speaker 3: Sloops.

1404
01:01:47,440 --> 01:01:48,070
Speaker 1: Sloop ships?

1405
01:01:48,350 --> 01:01:49,189
Speaker 3: Some kind of ship.

1406
01:01:49,210 --> 01:01:49,770
Speaker 1: Small ships.

1407
01:01:49,890 --> 01:01:50,130
Speaker 3: Sure.

1408
01:01:50,710 --> 01:01:55,290
Speaker 1: They took cattle, horses, carriages, bedding, and furniture. They took people.

1409
01:01:56,290 --> 01:01:59,540
Speaker 1: Long after the war, a man named Pompey Prowl remembered

1410
01:01:59,560 --> 01:02:01,940
Speaker 1: that night. He said ice was so strong that, quote,

1411
01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:04,919
Speaker 1: the Americans come over and steal colored people and sell

1412
01:02:04,960 --> 01:02:05,800
Speaker 1: them for slaves.

1413
01:02:05,919 --> 01:02:07,939
Speaker 4: Oh, sweet God. Never good.

1414
01:02:09,320 --> 01:02:10,740
Speaker 1: Got to make a buck, right?

1415
01:02:10,900 --> 01:02:11,300
Speaker 4: Never good.

1416
01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:11,960
Speaker 1: At all costs.

1417
01:02:12,270 --> 01:02:15,270
Speaker 3: Wait, the first part of that is ice was so strong?

1418
01:02:15,970 --> 01:02:17,410
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they could just run.

1419
01:02:17,310 --> 01:02:20,030
Speaker 4: Across the land. Their funding was in the homeland security bills.

1420
01:02:20,350 --> 01:02:23,189
Speaker 1: You're thinking, yeah, I get the... In today's environment, I

1421
01:02:23,190 --> 01:02:23,790
Speaker 1: get the mix-ups.

1422
01:02:23,870 --> 01:02:27,070
Speaker 3: I was just trying to parse what was being claimed

1423
01:02:27,090 --> 01:02:27,840
Speaker 3: about the climate.

1424
01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:29,639
Speaker 2: This is.

1425
01:02:29,680 --> 01:02:32,900
Speaker 4: Imagine a time when Tom Homan had teeth. That's what

1426
01:02:32,940 --> 01:02:34,039
Speaker 4: was happening in this area.

1427
01:02:34,060 --> 01:02:39,280
Speaker 1: No such time. The colonel's house was looted too, of course. Quote,

1428
01:02:39,480 --> 01:02:42,610
Speaker 1: the severe frost at last gave the rebels an easy

1429
01:02:42,750 --> 01:02:45,980
Speaker 1: access to his farm on the ice when they carried

1430
01:02:46,260 --> 01:02:50,150
Speaker 1: off a black man, his cattle, horses, carriages, bedding, and

1431
01:02:50,250 --> 01:02:51,990
Speaker 1: other furniture to a large amount.

1432
01:02:52,010 --> 01:02:52,550
Speaker 4: Not the bedding!

1433
01:02:52,790 --> 01:02:53,950
Speaker 1: Not the bedding, yeah.

1434
01:02:54,090 --> 01:02:54,630
Speaker 4: No!

1435
01:02:55,830 --> 01:03:01,950
Speaker 1: Magistrates valued the lot at 944 pounds. It also, he said,

1436
01:03:01,990 --> 01:03:05,610
Speaker 1: compelled him to move his family out of so exposed

1437
01:03:05,650 --> 01:03:07,840
Speaker 1: a situation. So he's like, well, I got to go.

1438
01:03:07,860 --> 01:03:09,180
Speaker 4: He's lost it all, I think, is the.

1439
01:03:09,240 --> 01:03:09,880
Speaker 1: I got to get out of here.

1440
01:03:09,900 --> 01:03:10,939
Speaker 4: Is his full repossession.

1441
01:03:11,400 --> 01:03:12,479
Speaker 3: I also... Yeah, no.

1442
01:03:13,550 --> 01:03:14,630
Speaker 4: Go ahead.

1443
01:03:14,710 --> 01:03:18,790
Speaker 3: This house, I believe in, I think it is Billups

1444
01:03:18,810 --> 01:03:22,950
Speaker 3: house where the attempt at a truce conference in the

1445
01:03:22,990 --> 01:03:27,720
Speaker 3: beginning of the revolution is held. Like after the British

1446
01:03:27,780 --> 01:03:31,340
Speaker 3: launched the big battle in New York City from Staten

1447
01:03:31,419 --> 01:03:37,740
Speaker 3: Island on September 11th, I think 1776. They're like, all right,

1448
01:03:38,020 --> 01:03:40,340
Speaker 3: now you've seen what we can do. Do you want

1449
01:03:40,360 --> 01:03:43,840
Speaker 3: to make nice? And they invite, I think it's Ben

1450
01:03:43,880 --> 01:03:48,959
Speaker 3: Franklin and maybe Adams over to Bill's house on Staten Island.

1451
01:03:49,290 --> 01:03:52,430
Speaker 3: And they're like, we can make this all disappear. You

1452
01:03:52,470 --> 01:03:55,330
Speaker 3: just like agree that nothing happens and you love the

1453
01:03:55,370 --> 01:03:57,990
Speaker 3: king and it can all go back to as it was.

1454
01:03:58,390 --> 01:04:01,470
Speaker 3: And that's like, that's the moment when we all, we

1455
01:04:01,510 --> 01:04:03,650
Speaker 3: could have just remained part of great Britain and we

1456
01:04:03,810 --> 01:04:04,470
Speaker 3: chose not to.

1457
01:04:04,490 --> 01:04:06,010
Speaker 4: Oh my God.

1458
01:04:06,190 --> 01:04:06,430
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1459
01:04:07,960 --> 01:04:10,100
Speaker 4: That's so great. They were probably like, this is the

1460
01:04:10,160 --> 01:04:12,070
Speaker 4: most important thing that will ever happen on 9-11.

1461
01:04:12,100 --> 01:04:14,940
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. This is huge.

1462
01:04:15,419 --> 01:04:18,909
Speaker 4: History will remember this. They will never forget what happened

1463
01:04:18,950 --> 01:04:19,309
Speaker 4: in here today.

1464
01:04:19,330 --> 01:04:20,510
Speaker 3: Phil Pappas remembers this.

1465
01:04:20,830 --> 01:04:23,010
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, right.

1466
01:04:23,110 --> 01:04:23,309
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1467
01:04:24,690 --> 01:04:28,610
Speaker 1: So the colonel moves after he comes back from prison.

1468
01:04:29,110 --> 01:04:31,710
Speaker 1: He stops sleeping in his house. Every night he walked

1469
01:04:31,930 --> 01:04:35,850
Speaker 1: up from Bentley to his father-in-law's to sleep. And every

1470
01:04:35,890 --> 01:04:38,590
Speaker 1: night somebody sat up to watch over him while he

1471
01:04:38,700 --> 01:04:42,380
Speaker 1: slept because the colonel was a very hard snorer. and

1472
01:04:42,400 --> 01:04:46,010
Speaker 1: he was worried he would sleep through another kidnapping attempt.

1473
01:04:46,130 --> 01:04:50,669
Speaker 4: Oh, my God. Come on. That's REM I've never experienced.

1474
01:04:50,750 --> 01:04:53,520
Speaker 3: That's amazing. You're stressed enough that you're worried that you're

1475
01:04:53,540 --> 01:04:55,380
Speaker 3: going to be kidnapped at any point, but you're still

1476
01:04:55,419 --> 01:04:58,260
Speaker 3: sleeping deeply enough that you need someone to watch you.

1477
01:04:58,300 --> 01:04:59,559
Speaker 3: I would be up all night.

1478
01:05:00,060 --> 01:05:02,599
Speaker 4: I get 12 hours. Yeah, all night.

1479
01:05:02,720 --> 01:05:03,860
Speaker 1: I mean, once I'm out, I'm out.

1480
01:05:03,960 --> 01:05:09,530
Speaker 3: Yeah. snoring also the like logic of that makes no

1481
01:05:09,610 --> 01:05:12,650
Speaker 3: sense it's like he's snoring deep loudly enough that he

1482
01:05:12,690 --> 01:05:14,550
Speaker 3: can't hear the he.

1483
01:05:14,390 --> 01:05:16,950
Speaker 1: That's probably what he thinks yeah yeah.

1484
01:05:16,790 --> 01:05:19,209
Speaker 4: This is this is a different time.

1485
01:05:21,250 --> 01:05:23,150
Speaker 1: They didn't know a lot of sleep apnea back.

1486
01:05:23,030 --> 01:05:25,280
Speaker 3: You still got a casper mattress he.

1487
01:05:25,150 --> 01:05:29,939
Speaker 4: Does Actually, Helix is actually the mattress he probably had.

1488
01:05:29,980 --> 01:05:33,110
Speaker 5: Not to jump on your sponsors, Ben, but even back then,

1489
01:05:33,169 --> 01:05:36,309
Speaker 5: if you want a mattress, you could be kidnapped.

1490
01:05:35,550 --> 01:05:37,250
Speaker 3: Off of- You know what? If he's sleeping that deeply,

1491
01:05:37,310 --> 01:05:39,889
Speaker 3: it's probably a Helix.

1492
01:05:39,950 --> 01:05:44,190
Speaker 5: California duck slucks, which is quite a bit. The Staten

1493
01:05:44,250 --> 01:05:46,760
Speaker 5: Island duck slucks use promo code Staten Island or promo

1494
01:05:46,780 --> 01:05:47,300
Speaker 5: code Billups.

1495
01:05:47,540 --> 01:05:47,800
Speaker 4: Thank you.

1496
01:05:47,840 --> 01:05:49,960
Speaker 3: It's filled with wooden fences.

1497
01:05:50,780 --> 01:05:51,040
Speaker 5: Yes.

1498
01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:52,200
Speaker 1: Nice and comfy.

1499
01:05:53,020 --> 01:05:58,250
Speaker 4: The new Helix horse meat mattress. filled with a whole horse.

1500
01:05:58,270 --> 01:05:59,530
Speaker 3: It's one of a kind.

1501
01:05:59,890 --> 01:06:02,010
Speaker 5: Listen, why did we shoot it? We don't know, but

1502
01:06:02,050 --> 01:06:04,150
Speaker 5: we stuffed it in some felt. Now you're going to

1503
01:06:04,190 --> 01:06:05,450
Speaker 5: felt a good night's sleep.

1504
01:06:07,790 --> 01:06:11,120
Speaker 1: So Staten Islanders are now refusing to serve in the

1505
01:06:11,160 --> 01:06:14,660
Speaker 1: loyalist militia and they go further. What's their problem? Some

1506
01:06:14,700 --> 01:06:18,480
Speaker 1: are passing the Americans information about the strength and condition

1507
01:06:18,540 --> 01:06:23,100
Speaker 1: of British troops. A private complained that the residents were

1508
01:06:23,140 --> 01:06:27,490
Speaker 1: spying for the enemy, ambushing patrols and taking every opportunity

1509
01:06:27,550 --> 01:06:31,800
Speaker 1: to shoot at the soldiers of the garrison. You're not

1510
01:06:31,820 --> 01:06:35,460
Speaker 1: on the same side anymore. It's pretty clear.

1511
01:06:35,820 --> 01:06:36,740
Speaker 4: It feels like it's turned.

1512
01:06:36,820 --> 01:06:38,999
Speaker 1: It feels like when they're actually shooting at you. I'm

1513
01:06:39,020 --> 01:06:39,360
Speaker 1: starting to.

1514
01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:41,710
Speaker 4: Understand how Staten Island became a part.

1515
01:06:41,530 --> 01:06:41,970
Speaker 3: Of New York.

1516
01:06:45,090 --> 01:06:47,750
Speaker 1: The British had had enough, and they evacuated Staten Island

1517
01:06:47,870 --> 01:06:50,430
Speaker 1: on December 3rd, 1783.

1518
01:06:50,430 --> 01:06:51,070
Speaker 4: We've all done it.

1519
01:06:51,510 --> 01:06:54,459
Speaker 1: Residents came down to the shore to watch the fleet go.

1520
01:06:55,460 --> 01:06:59,789
Speaker 1: One wrote, quote, we are very boisterous in our demonstrations

1521
01:06:59,930 --> 01:07:03,170
Speaker 1: of joy. We clapped our hands. We waved our hats.

1522
01:07:03,230 --> 01:07:06,630
Speaker 1: We sprang into the air. And some few who had

1523
01:07:06,710 --> 01:07:13,459
Speaker 1: brought muskets with them fired a foot of joy. A

1524
01:07:13,500 --> 01:07:16,870
Speaker 1: few others in the exuberance of their gladness indulged in

1525
01:07:16,950 --> 01:07:21,840
Speaker 1: gestures which though very expressive, were neither polite nor judicious.

1526
01:07:22,760 --> 01:07:23,820
Speaker 1: The old finger.

1527
01:07:23,960 --> 01:07:26,560
Speaker 5: One guy from Philly ate horse poop to celebrate and

1528
01:07:26,660 --> 01:07:31,099
Speaker 5: everyone felt pretty weird about it. That is so funny

1529
01:07:31,140 --> 01:07:35,640
Speaker 5: to listen to how they wrote about euphoria.

1530
01:07:36,040 --> 01:07:39,160
Speaker 3: Demonstrations of boisterous joy.

1531
01:07:39,400 --> 01:07:42,380
Speaker 5: There were demonstrations of boisterous joy. We were waving our hats.

1532
01:07:42,780 --> 01:07:44,100
Speaker 5: A few gentlemen shot muskets.

1533
01:07:45,050 --> 01:07:48,169
Speaker 4: Hey, hey! Remember, we have nothing.

1534
01:07:49,870 --> 01:07:52,340
Speaker 3: Some people left some sleds on the island, but other

1535
01:07:52,380 --> 01:07:52,860
Speaker 3: than that.

1536
01:07:53,760 --> 01:07:55,599
Speaker 4: Some people didn't realize it was the spring and tried

1537
01:07:55,640 --> 01:07:57,479
Speaker 4: to sled to the island. This was great!

1538
01:07:57,540 --> 01:07:58,420
Speaker 1: I shot a horse!

1539
01:07:58,600 --> 01:07:59,080
Speaker 4: Why?

1540
01:07:59,100 --> 01:08:00,499
Speaker 1: What do we have?

1541
01:08:00,540 --> 01:08:01,060
Speaker 5: Woo!

1542
01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:04,519
Speaker 1: Nobody knows how many Loyalists left with the fleet, but

1543
01:08:04,560 --> 01:08:07,830
Speaker 1: the island came out of the war with more people

1544
01:08:08,230 --> 01:08:12,750
Speaker 1: than when it started. Wow. 2008, 1847, and it was now... 3,835.

1545
01:08:15,080 --> 01:08:22,599
Speaker 1: So they gained 1,000 people. And Colonel Christopher Billup left,

1546
01:08:22,820 --> 01:08:26,660
Speaker 1: and in September 1783, he filed his claim in London.

1547
01:08:27,340 --> 01:08:28,000
Speaker 4: His claim?

1548
01:08:28,580 --> 01:08:31,900
Speaker 1: For losses from incursions. One hat.

1549
01:08:34,280 --> 01:08:35,880
Speaker 3: Three good night's sleeps.

1550
01:08:37,840 --> 01:08:39,560
Speaker 1: My mommy gave me that hat!

1551
01:08:40,080 --> 01:08:44,820
Speaker 4: One yoga mat and blocks. Wow.

1552
01:08:45,180 --> 01:08:46,340
Speaker 1: Horse, obviously.

1553
01:08:46,360 --> 01:08:46,440
Speaker 5: Yeah.

1554
01:08:47,520 --> 01:08:48,150
Speaker 3: That was a tough one.

1555
01:08:48,260 --> 01:08:49,740
Speaker 4: Unnecessarily shot.

1556
01:08:51,780 --> 01:08:55,240
Speaker 1: Okay, so losses from the incursions of the enemy, 1,500 pounds.

1557
01:08:55,270 --> 01:08:57,600
Speaker 1: I thought they would say it was valued.

1558
01:08:57,090 --> 01:08:57,290
Speaker 4: At 944 pounds.

1559
01:08:57,310 --> 01:08:58,750
Speaker 3: Where is that inflation? Losses of the ice in one night,

1560
01:08:58,750 --> 01:09:01,150
Speaker 3: 944 pounds. pounds did you say where is.

1561
01:09:01,130 --> 01:09:06,760
Speaker 1: That that places losses of the ice uh of losses

1562
01:09:06,940 --> 01:09:10,320
Speaker 1: of the ice in one night 944 pounds so that's

1563
01:09:10,880 --> 01:09:14,370
Speaker 1: when all the people came after uh-huh when all the

1564
01:09:14,410 --> 01:09:19,090
Speaker 1: people just ran over and stole everything losses to the

1565
01:09:19,130 --> 01:09:24,750
Speaker 1: british yeah losses to the british military 1441 pounds For

1566
01:09:24,790 --> 01:09:27,990
Speaker 1: living away from his family for seven years, 1,500 pounds.

1567
01:09:28,490 --> 01:09:29,210
Speaker 3: That was very tough.

1568
01:09:30,550 --> 01:09:33,780
Speaker 4: You could have just stopped. That was a tough time.

1569
01:09:33,980 --> 01:09:37,640
Speaker 1: For the forced sale of his land, 4,752 pounds. To

1570
01:09:37,680 --> 01:09:41,620
Speaker 1: prove it all, he brings deeds going all the way

1571
01:09:41,720 --> 01:09:45,040
Speaker 1: back to 1687. He's got orders from three generals about

1572
01:09:45,160 --> 01:09:49,260
Speaker 1: him having to stay there. And an American newspaper reporting

1573
01:09:49,600 --> 01:09:52,700
Speaker 1: on his spirited conduct in the only battle he was in.

1574
01:09:52,880 --> 01:09:54,200
Speaker 1: So that's his record.

1575
01:09:54,220 --> 01:09:54,400
Speaker 3: Sure.

1576
01:09:55,370 --> 01:09:59,390
Speaker 1: Two generals swear for him. His claim for loss of

1577
01:09:59,430 --> 01:10:05,900
Speaker 1: property entered in the commissioner's ledger is 5,171 pounds and

1578
01:10:05,900 --> 01:10:06,580
Speaker 1: 10 shillings.

1579
01:10:06,940 --> 01:10:09,840
Speaker 3: That's like the rest of your life, right? You're set.

1580
01:10:10,440 --> 01:10:11,320
Speaker 4: That's a nice chunk.

1581
01:10:11,400 --> 01:10:13,100
Speaker 1: Well, then they just give him 400 pounds.

1582
01:10:13,740 --> 01:10:14,020
Speaker 3: What?

1583
01:10:14,600 --> 01:10:19,740
Speaker 1: And they offer him. 80 pounds a year, I guess,

1584
01:10:19,760 --> 01:10:21,280
Speaker 1: in a pension or whatever.

1585
01:10:21,300 --> 01:10:22,059
Speaker 4: Oh, my God.

1586
01:10:22,100 --> 01:10:24,960
Speaker 3: The British are not looking good in this.

1587
01:10:25,060 --> 01:10:25,800
Speaker 4: No, they're not.

1588
01:10:25,840 --> 01:10:28,420
Speaker 3: Maybe the revolution was a good idea.

1589
01:10:28,460 --> 01:10:30,500
Speaker 4: For the first time ever, the British are coming out

1590
01:10:30,540 --> 01:10:35,480
Speaker 4: a little scared. That is crazy. All that, they're like,

1591
01:10:36,180 --> 01:10:40,550
Speaker 4: we'll give you 490 a year. That's terrible. That's a

1592
01:10:40,730 --> 01:10:41,730
Speaker 4: bad deal.

1593
01:10:42,370 --> 01:10:44,030
Speaker 3: Almost avert the entire thing.

1594
01:10:44,520 --> 01:10:48,200
Speaker 4: I gave my life up for what you were doing. Yeah. Anyway,

1595
01:10:48,820 --> 01:10:49,240
Speaker 4: get out.

1596
01:10:52,360 --> 01:10:55,560
Speaker 1: One sentence was added to the decision. Quote, at the time,

1597
01:10:55,640 --> 01:10:58,080
Speaker 1: we think it is necessary to say that on his

1598
01:10:58,160 --> 01:11:02,660
Speaker 1: going to Nova Scotia, we mean the said allowance shall cease.

1599
01:11:03,450 --> 01:11:05,850
Speaker 1: So he goes to Nova Scotia, the 80 pounds is

1600
01:11:05,910 --> 01:11:07,970
Speaker 1: over because they know his plan is to move to

1601
01:11:08,010 --> 01:11:10,990
Speaker 1: Nova Scotia. And when he does, he gets no more money.

1602
01:11:11,810 --> 01:11:12,450
Speaker 4: He does move?

1603
01:11:12,950 --> 01:11:17,220
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of crisscrossing. It's like, why

1604
01:11:17,280 --> 01:11:20,080
Speaker 3: go to London from Staten Island just to ping pong

1605
01:11:20,150 --> 01:11:21,210
Speaker 3: right back again?

1606
01:11:21,970 --> 01:11:25,770
Speaker 5: That's how you don't make small talk with the decision makers. No,

1607
01:11:25,790 --> 01:11:30,690
Speaker 5: Scotia's pretty nice. They're like, got it.

1608
01:11:30,930 --> 01:11:33,550
Speaker 1: I hate flying to the East Coast. I can't imagine.

1609
01:11:34,410 --> 01:11:35,070
Speaker 4: It's your life.

1610
01:11:35,770 --> 01:11:40,020
Speaker 5: My life's been pretty much three boat rides. That's been

1611
01:11:40,060 --> 01:11:40,640
Speaker 5: pretty much it.

1612
01:11:42,350 --> 01:11:44,530
Speaker 3: And a couple months in New Jersey.

1613
01:11:44,770 --> 01:11:45,190
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1614
01:11:45,250 --> 01:11:45,630
Speaker 1: Yeah.

1615
01:11:45,770 --> 01:11:46,730
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1616
01:11:46,790 --> 01:11:49,890
Speaker 1: Billup does very well in Nova Scotia. He sat in

1617
01:11:49,930 --> 01:11:53,560
Speaker 1: the first New Brunswick Assembly and then on the province's

1618
01:11:53,640 --> 01:11:58,080
Speaker 1: council by appointment of the king. And he died at St.

1619
01:11:58,240 --> 01:11:59,760
Speaker 1: John in 1827, age 90, worth at least $ 75, 000.

1620
01:11:59,640 --> 01:11:59,780
Speaker 3: Wow.

1621
01:11:59,840 --> 01:12:01,060
Speaker 1: That's a lot of money.

1622
01:12:01,080 --> 01:12:01,720
Speaker 3: That's a real.

1623
01:12:01,720 --> 01:12:03,180
Speaker 1: 92. Are those Canadian dollars?

1624
01:12:03,500 --> 01:12:03,800
Speaker 3: Yes.

1625
01:12:08,050 --> 01:12:09,470
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh yeah, there's a difference.

1626
01:12:09,490 --> 01:12:10,309
Speaker 1: Never mind, so.

1627
01:12:10,210 --> 01:12:13,270
Speaker 7: It's $ 7.

1628
01:12:12,010 --> 01:12:12,670
Speaker 3: He was a bummer.

1629
01:12:13,010 --> 01:12:14,670
Speaker 4: Living to 90 with all that.

1630
01:12:15,730 --> 01:12:19,510
Speaker 3: That's really impressive. 90 and those, that's crazy.

1631
01:12:19,650 --> 01:12:20,990
Speaker 4: Those are solid stats.

1632
01:12:21,450 --> 01:12:24,350
Speaker 1: His headstone says that his uncompromising loyalty.

1633
01:12:24,390 --> 01:12:26,690
Speaker 4: His headstone at the end says, Turn over for more.

1634
01:12:28,970 --> 01:12:30,250
Speaker 3: Second episode to follow.

1635
01:12:31,990 --> 01:12:35,510
Speaker 1: His headstone says that his uncompromising loyalty during the American

1636
01:12:35,570 --> 01:12:39,729
Speaker 1: Rebellion obliged him at the termination of that contest to abandon,

1637
01:12:39,750 --> 01:12:44,430
Speaker 1: without compensation, his hereditary property on Staten Island.

1638
01:12:44,490 --> 01:12:46,030
Speaker 4: That's what you're saying about book titles.

1639
01:12:46,150 --> 01:12:47,910
Speaker 1: The headstone is still just like bitter.

1640
01:12:47,940 --> 01:12:51,760
Speaker 5: It's a bitter headstone. Also, you're like, wait, what?

1641
01:12:52,040 --> 01:12:52,780
Speaker 4: He was a traitor.

1642
01:12:54,520 --> 01:12:57,380
Speaker 1: Staten Island was under occupation for seven years and five months,

1643
01:12:57,880 --> 01:13:00,700
Speaker 1: longer than any community in America during the Revolution.

1644
01:13:00,720 --> 01:13:02,010
Speaker 4: Wow. That is crazy.

1645
01:13:02,050 --> 01:13:04,350
Speaker 3: Yeah, but at what point do they start calling it

1646
01:13:04,390 --> 01:13:05,150
Speaker 3: an occupation?

1647
01:13:05,590 --> 01:13:09,050
Speaker 1: I know, right? Yeah, like three years in. All right, wait,

1648
01:13:09,110 --> 01:13:10,510
Speaker 1: fuck this. No, no, no.

1649
01:13:10,550 --> 01:13:12,030
Speaker 3: You know what? This is bad for me.

1650
01:13:12,860 --> 01:13:18,400
Speaker 4: All right, wait a minute. Wow, that is so– you.

1651
01:13:20,260 --> 01:13:22,120
Speaker 5: Know, that's what's so funny about this sort of stuff,

1652
01:13:22,180 --> 01:13:25,320
Speaker 5: at least for me, is I never think about these little–

1653
01:13:25,700 --> 01:13:29,560
Speaker 5: wrinkles of how difficult this was to actually get done

1654
01:13:30,100 --> 01:13:31,820
Speaker 5: like i feel like it's just like yeah one day

1655
01:13:31,840 --> 01:13:33,620
Speaker 5: it was done and then instead you're like no no

1656
01:13:33,700 --> 01:13:35,840
Speaker 5: no staten island.

1657
01:13:35,740 --> 01:13:39,300
Speaker 3: What a traitorous island well and they had like obviously

1658
01:13:39,330 --> 01:13:41,910
Speaker 3: it was the right position they were just like yeah

1659
01:13:41,930 --> 01:13:44,850
Speaker 3: we have access to the british empire the rocking the

1660
01:13:44,890 --> 01:13:46,550
Speaker 3: boat is going to mean there's going to be guys

1661
01:13:46,650 --> 01:13:49,290
Speaker 3: on sleds coming over and kidnapping like.

1662
01:13:49,150 --> 01:13:51,770
Speaker 4: Let's just like a mini hormuz.

1663
01:13:52,350 --> 01:13:59,400
Speaker 1: Exactly Well, it's almost like medieval or before. You just

1664
01:13:59,420 --> 01:14:01,280
Speaker 1: think all of a sudden the river's frozen, and then

1665
01:14:01,300 --> 01:14:04,940
Speaker 1: all these people are just running across the ground. Sledding!

1666
01:14:05,000 --> 01:14:05,740
Speaker 4: Sledding!

1667
01:14:05,920 --> 01:14:07,630
Speaker 3: It was actually the invention of the ice luge.

1668
01:14:08,290 --> 01:14:10,930
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it was the bomb sledders.

1669
01:14:11,950 --> 01:14:17,090
Speaker 1: Sources, Philip Pappas, that ever-loyal island, Staten Island in the

1670
01:14:17,110 --> 01:14:22,390
Speaker 1: American Revolution. Charles Anthon. Anthon? Who dropped the Y off there?

1671
01:14:23,030 --> 01:14:27,470
Speaker 5: Dave Anthony, so he's obviously taking issue with that.

1672
01:14:27,570 --> 01:14:32,850
Speaker 4: It's personal now. Completely personal. The Y is the whole thing!

1673
01:14:34,710 --> 01:14:39,160
Speaker 1: Interview notebooks, Staten Island. History of Richmond County. Richard Bales.

1674
01:14:39,720 --> 01:14:44,330
Speaker 1: History of Richmond County. J.J. Clute, Annals of Staten Island,

1675
01:14:44,530 --> 01:14:48,590
Speaker 1: and William Davis, The Conference or Billup House, Staten Island,

1676
01:14:48,610 --> 01:14:48,930
Speaker 1: New York.

1677
01:14:50,450 --> 01:14:50,710
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1678
01:14:50,970 --> 01:14:53,430
Speaker 4: Wow. That was great. That's wild.

1679
01:14:53,690 --> 01:14:54,730
Speaker 3: Amazing.

1680
01:14:54,830 --> 01:14:56,890
Speaker 4: Now, you didn't really know any of that, which also

1681
01:14:56,990 --> 01:14:57,690
Speaker 4: surprises me.

1682
01:14:58,970 --> 01:15:01,250
Speaker 3: I did not. I didn't know anything about the Billup story.

1683
01:15:01,430 --> 01:15:06,420
Speaker 3: I knew about Staten Island's preferences during the American Revolution. Yeah.

1684
01:15:06,720 --> 01:15:11,150
Speaker 3: But Billup is really an amazing– As they say in

1685
01:15:11,230 --> 01:15:12,660
Speaker 3: story terms, he's a great donkey.

1686
01:15:13,180 --> 01:15:15,190
Speaker 4: Yeah, he really is. He really is.

1687
01:15:16,030 --> 01:15:19,250
Speaker 5: Um well uh ben thank you so much for joining

1688
01:15:19,330 --> 01:15:20,750
Speaker 5: us i mean this was great.

1689
01:15:20,550 --> 01:15:23,590
Speaker 3: Yeah this was a blast thank you guys so so.

1690
01:15:23,410 --> 01:15:26,200
Speaker 4: Just remind remind everyone again where they can go.

1691
01:15:26,020 --> 01:15:29,360
Speaker 3: If if we've wet the palette yeah if you're just

1692
01:15:29,400 --> 01:15:33,240
Speaker 3: like what i need is more staten island stories if

1693
01:15:33,280 --> 01:15:37,540
Speaker 3: you want to hear this happen in 1989 to 1993

1694
01:15:37,540 --> 01:15:40,040
Speaker 3: and and uh think about it as a parable for

1695
01:15:40,060 --> 01:15:42,360
Speaker 3: what's going on in the country now then you should

1696
01:15:42,620 --> 01:15:45,960
Speaker 3: come listen to the staten island problem on revisionist history.

1697
01:15:46,300 --> 01:15:48,300
Speaker 1: I mean all i was thinking reading this is like

1698
01:15:48,500 --> 01:15:52,540
Speaker 1: oh so you you supported a king like yeah sort

1699
01:15:52,580 --> 01:15:55,490
Speaker 1: of thing and then uh then you cut shit all

1700
01:15:55,570 --> 01:15:57,510
Speaker 1: over yeah and now you're mad and how does it

1701
01:15:57,530 --> 01:16:00,090
Speaker 1: huh interesting how did that how did that go over

1702
01:16:00,130 --> 01:16:02,930
Speaker 1: time interesting yeah how'd that go.

1703
01:16:02,910 --> 01:16:07,240
Speaker 5: In the long run yeah yeah uh well thank you

1704
01:16:07,280 --> 01:16:11,340
Speaker 5: ben and uh and yeah enjoy what ben does and

1705
01:16:11,360 --> 01:16:12,820
Speaker 5: you You've been listeners.

1706
01:16:12,860 --> 01:16:14,000
Speaker 1: Enjoy what we do.

1707
01:16:14,040 --> 01:16:16,060
Speaker 3: This was great. Thank you guys. This was, this was really,

1708
01:16:16,100 --> 01:16:16,540
Speaker 3: really fun.

1709
01:16:16,600 --> 01:16:17,080
Speaker 4: Thank you.

1710
01:16:18,620 --> 01:16:21,330
Speaker 2: Part one, dishonest conversations.

1711
01:16:21,800 --> 01:16:23,610
Speaker 3: Chapter one, a shooting lesson.

1712
01:16:40,230 --> 01:16:43,890
Speaker 2: Forty minutes outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, deep in the

1713
01:16:43,930 --> 01:16:48,330
Speaker 2: piney woods, there is an outdoor shooting range. Nothing fancy.

1714
01:16:48,910 --> 01:16:52,470
Speaker 2: A winding gravel driveway. A little shed where you sign in.

1715
01:16:53,210 --> 01:16:56,010
Speaker 2: A series of long shooting alleys hollowed out of the

1716
01:16:56,050 --> 01:16:59,510
Speaker 2: side of a hill. A man named Greg Wallace drove

1717
01:16:59,530 --> 01:17:02,570
Speaker 2: me there one day in his SUV. A big bag

1718
01:17:02,610 --> 01:17:05,620
Speaker 2: of guns and equipment in the back. Wallace is a

1719
01:17:05,630 --> 01:17:09,380
Speaker 2: law professor and a competitive shooter. Gray hair. Thoughtful.

1720
01:17:09,850 --> 01:17:10,210
Speaker 1: Friendly.

1721
01:17:10,990 --> 01:17:13,210
Speaker 2: We set up cardboard targets in the shape of a

1722
01:17:13,250 --> 01:17:16,440
Speaker 2: man's head and torso and put on ear protection.

1723
01:17:18,620 --> 01:17:20,260
Speaker 6: All right, we're going to start off with this one

1724
01:17:20,300 --> 01:17:24,700
Speaker 6: right here. This is a, it's a custom built.

1725
01:17:26,420 --> 01:17:26,540
Speaker 3: AR-15.

1726
01:17:26,660 --> 01:17:31,530
Speaker 6: It has the adjustable stock. It has a 14 and

1727
01:17:31,540 --> 01:17:33,770
Speaker 6: a half inch barrel.

1728
01:17:34,470 --> 01:17:37,190
Speaker 2: He handed me the gun. It was much smaller than

1729
01:17:37,230 --> 01:17:40,210
Speaker 2: I thought it would be and much heavier. A solid

1730
01:17:40,530 --> 01:17:41,190
Speaker 2: block of metal.

1731
01:17:41,910 --> 01:17:42,270
Speaker 4: All right.

1732
01:17:43,030 --> 01:17:43,890
Speaker 6: You want to shoot it?

1733
01:17:43,930 --> 01:17:44,130
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1734
01:17:44,390 --> 01:17:44,730
Speaker 1: Okay.

1735
01:17:44,870 --> 01:17:45,190
Speaker 4: All right.

1736
01:17:45,830 --> 01:17:46,130
Speaker 3: I will.

1737
01:17:46,770 --> 01:17:50,950
Speaker 6: Let's get you comfortable on this here. So see if

1738
01:17:51,010 --> 01:17:53,810
Speaker 6: that works. Now what you need to do is to

1739
01:17:54,310 --> 01:17:54,950
Speaker 6: hold it up here.

1740
01:17:55,110 --> 01:17:55,450
Speaker 1: Okay.

1741
01:17:55,770 --> 01:17:58,979
Speaker 2: He adjusted the rifle so it fit snugly against my shoulder.

1742
01:17:59,200 --> 01:17:59,490
Speaker 3: All right.

1743
01:17:59,980 --> 01:18:01,820
Speaker 6: And then you need to lean your head over a

1744
01:18:01,820 --> 01:18:04,760
Speaker 6: little bit where you can see with your, you keep

1745
01:18:04,800 --> 01:18:06,680
Speaker 6: looking with your right eye. You want to see that

1746
01:18:06,700 --> 01:18:08,160
Speaker 6: you want to find the red dot in there.

1747
01:18:10,340 --> 01:18:11,000
Speaker 3: Oh, I see the red dot.

1748
01:18:11,020 --> 01:18:11,440
Speaker 1: You see it?

1749
01:18:11,880 --> 01:18:12,080
Speaker 3: Yep.

1750
01:18:12,500 --> 01:18:12,660
Speaker 5: Yep.

1751
01:18:12,820 --> 01:18:15,020
Speaker 6: I want you to bring your left foot forward. Get

1752
01:18:15,060 --> 01:18:16,840
Speaker 6: in that kind of boxing stance.

1753
01:18:16,880 --> 01:18:17,420
Speaker 3: There you go.

1754
01:18:17,440 --> 01:18:18,070
Speaker 1: There you go.

1755
01:18:18,080 --> 01:18:22,150
Speaker 6: All right. Bend forward just a little bit. All right. Now,

1756
01:18:22,350 --> 01:18:24,870
Speaker 6: I'm going to take it off of safety. Now, once

1757
01:18:24,890 --> 01:18:27,310
Speaker 6: you touch that trigger, once the safety goes off, it

1758
01:18:27,350 --> 01:18:27,870
Speaker 6: will fire.

1759
01:18:28,170 --> 01:18:33,550
Speaker 2: Okay? I fired once and then twice. I missed the

1760
01:18:33,590 --> 01:18:37,360
Speaker 2: target badly. Wallace stepped in and made some adjustments. My

1761
01:18:37,480 --> 01:18:39,870
Speaker 2: feet were in the wrong place. I had taken my

1762
01:18:40,070 --> 01:18:42,310
Speaker 2: eye off the target. I hadn't been prepared for the

1763
01:18:42,330 --> 01:18:45,250
Speaker 2: way the rifle moved after I pulled the trigger. Then

1764
01:18:45,300 --> 01:18:49,680
Speaker 2: I fired again. Much better. Wallace gestured towards the cardboard

1765
01:18:49,760 --> 01:18:52,600
Speaker 2: cutout of a human torso at the end of the range,

1766
01:18:52,600 --> 01:18:55,350
Speaker 2: now with a neat bullet hole to the chest. He

1767
01:18:55,350 --> 01:18:59,030
Speaker 2: seemed pleased with my progress. He told me, I would

1768
01:18:59,050 --> 01:19:05,180
Speaker 2: have put him down. Guns are the great distinctive feature

1769
01:19:05,280 --> 01:19:08,960
Speaker 2: of American life. No other country has such a wide

1770
01:19:09,020 --> 01:19:12,480
Speaker 2: variety of firearms owned by such an enormous share of

1771
01:19:12,540 --> 01:19:17,540
Speaker 2: its population. For generations, Americans have struggled to make sense

1772
01:19:17,580 --> 01:19:20,660
Speaker 2: of this fact. If you've ever seen a bumper sticker

1773
01:19:21,020 --> 01:19:24,140
Speaker 2: on a gun enthusiast's car saying something like, guns don't

1774
01:19:24,180 --> 01:19:27,140
Speaker 2: kill people, people do, you'll have a sense of what

1775
01:19:27,200 --> 01:19:31,580
Speaker 2: the argument is about. Are guns the cause of America's

1776
01:19:31,700 --> 01:19:35,760
Speaker 2: ills or the symptom? In this book, we will come

1777
01:19:35,840 --> 01:19:39,200
Speaker 2: to a consideration of those questions in due course. But

1778
01:19:39,260 --> 01:19:41,840
Speaker 2: in this, the first section of The American Way of Killing,

1779
01:19:42,360 --> 01:19:46,140
Speaker 2: I want to focus on how dishonest this argument has become.

1780
01:19:47,260 --> 01:19:50,740
Speaker 2: By dishonest, I don't mean that one or both sides

1781
01:19:50,800 --> 01:19:55,470
Speaker 2: in the fight over guns are deliberately lying. Dishonesty comes

1782
01:19:55,530 --> 01:19:59,190
Speaker 2: in many more subtle flavors than that. A conversation that

1783
01:19:59,250 --> 01:20:02,910
Speaker 2: starts with the best of intentions can become dishonest for

1784
01:20:02,980 --> 01:20:06,760
Speaker 2: any number of reasons. When either side pretends that something

1785
01:20:06,800 --> 01:20:10,760
Speaker 2: is consequential when it is not. When either side avoids

1786
01:20:10,820 --> 01:20:14,769
Speaker 2: the right conclusion because it is too difficult. Or when

1787
01:20:15,040 --> 01:20:19,280
Speaker 2: either side blinds itself to the truth. through laziness or indifference.

1788
01:20:20,360 --> 01:20:24,190
Speaker 2: The American conversation about guns is rife with these kinds

1789
01:20:24,230 --> 01:20:25,010
Speaker 2: of dishonesties.