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Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is

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Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,

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Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

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Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet

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Speaker 1: of Curiosities. George Washington is often remembered as a fierce general,

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Speaker 1: commanding his army of trained soldiers from one battle to

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Speaker 1: the next, from the Battle of Trenton to the Siege

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Speaker 1: of Yorktown to the Battle of Princeton. History books have

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Speaker 1: painted the American army at that time as a collection

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Speaker 1: of the finest soldiers ever assembled. However, reality couldn't have

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Speaker 1: been farther from the truth. Washington was indeed a powerful

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Speaker 1: force during the war. He was calm, organized and intelligent.

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Speaker 1: He was also soft spoken, not relying on loud outbursts

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Speaker 1: to corral his troops. In fact, thanks to several illnesses

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Speaker 1: contracted throughout his life, Washington most likely had a high pitched,

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Speaker 1: breathy voice due to his weakened lungs. But that didn't

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Speaker 1: stop him from leading his troops to victory. Of course,

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Speaker 1: they weren't always successful. The American Army was made up

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Speaker 1: of young men, many of whom had never served in

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Speaker 1: the military before. They were inexperienced and scared, a combination

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Speaker 1: that led to a rocky start for the war. One

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Speaker 1: battle in particular happened to be the biggest of the

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Speaker 1: entire revolution, and it has largely been forgotten for one

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Speaker 1: big reason. The battle occurred in late August of seventeen

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Speaker 1: seventy six, weeks after the Declaration of Independence had been

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Speaker 1: signed in Philadelphia. The British had been in Boston but

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Speaker 1: were run out of town back in March. They traveled

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Speaker 1: up to Canada as they waited for a backup to arrive.

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Speaker 1: Washington started moving his troops to New York a few

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Speaker 1: weeks later, arriving in the Big Apple by mid April.

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Speaker 1: His focus was on building up defenses in and around Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: as he believed New York would be the British Army's

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Speaker 1: next target. His forces were thin, only several thousand. He

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Speaker 1: had several forts built, each with an array of cannons

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Speaker 1: and surrounded by a large ditch. The British came to

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Speaker 1: town from Canada with more than thirty thousand troops ready

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Speaker 1: to put an end to a war that had just begun.

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Speaker 1: Their goal was not only to take over New York,

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Speaker 1: but to take down Washington himself and destroy the Continental

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Speaker 1: Army once and for all. British soldiers and Hessian mercenaries

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Speaker 1: took over Brooklyn with ease. General William Howe moved nearly

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Speaker 1: five hundred ships into the East River while his men

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Speaker 1: stormed the beaches of Long Island. American forces paled in comparison,

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Speaker 1: with a paltry nine thousand soldiers to keep up the

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Speaker 1: entire defense. The British all but wiped out Washington's defenses

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Speaker 1: as he rearranged his regiments and moved half of his

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Speaker 1: troops from Long Island to Manhattan, partly to salvage the situation,

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Speaker 1: partly because he that the British were more interested in

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Speaker 1: the main island than they were in using Brooklyn as

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Speaker 1: a distraction. Unfortunately, on August it was too late. British

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Speaker 1: loyalists in the area helped General Howe and his men

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Speaker 1: navigate the hills of the Jamaica Pass. Late that night,

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Speaker 1: along with the assistance of a local tavern owner and

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Speaker 1: his son, the British managed to capture the five Continental

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Speaker 1: soldiers guarding the past without incidents before coming up behind

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Speaker 1: the Americans In a surprise attack, Hessians rushed Washington's troops

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Speaker 1: while Red Coats surrounded them. A brave four hundred Maryland

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Speaker 1: soldiers stayed behind to fight them head on in order

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Speaker 1: to let their fellow men escape, but over half of

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Speaker 1: those four hundred were killed. Washington saw the writing on

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Speaker 1: the wall. There was no way his army could outlast

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Speaker 1: or outfight the British onslaught, but he refused to surrender. Instead,

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Speaker 1: during a bad rainstorm, he orchestrated an evacuation of nine

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Speaker 1: thousand American soldiers, moving them across the East River under

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Speaker 1: the cover of night. He worked for hours putting his

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Speaker 1: men on boats, but by the next morning there was

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Speaker 1: still many left to go and the British weren't far behind.

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Speaker 1: Washington was worried that he'd be found out before everyone

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Speaker 1: had gotten away. Luckily, a heavy fog moved into the area,

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Speaker 1: hiding his actions from the enemy long enough for every

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Speaker 1: last soldier to get out of harm's way. Washington was

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Speaker 1: the last person to get on a boat. He and

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Speaker 1: all nine thousand of his men reached Manhattan by seven

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Speaker 1: o'clock that morning. When House forces finally reached the American fortifications,

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Speaker 1: they were stunned to find them empty. So why has

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Speaker 1: the Battle of Brooklyn gone relatively unnoticed by the history books?

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Speaker 1: Well because we lost, and history tends to remember the winners.

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Speaker 1: The Battle of Brooklyn went down as the largest battle

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Speaker 1: of the war. Roughly three hundred American soldiers lost their

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Speaker 1: lives compared to the sixty three or so British casualties

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Speaker 1: that day. But their defeat in New York taught Washington

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Speaker 1: and his men a valuable lesson and how to organize

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Speaker 1: an army, and in December of seventeen seventy six they

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Speaker 1: put what they learned to good use. The Battle of

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Speaker 1: Trenton became a turning point in the Revolution. It was

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Speaker 1: a much needed win for America, and it inspired others

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Speaker 1: to join the fight. Had it not been for Washington's

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Speaker 1: quick thinking back in Brooklyn, though, the war might have

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Speaker 1: ended a lot differently, and a lot sooner. Sometimes the

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Speaker 1: best way to win a fight is not to fight

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Speaker 1: at all. He was insanely talented even as a young child.

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Speaker 1: A prodigy, he entertained local audiences, not just with his

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Speaker 1: gift for music, but with his distinctive stage performance. While

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Speaker 1: the press initially ridiculed him for his facial expressions and

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Speaker 1: animation as he played, the crowd ate him up. As

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Speaker 1: he grew older, he perfected that technique, developing a certain swagger.

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Speaker 1: He'd tossed his shoulder length hair over his shoulders as

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Speaker 1: he moved to the beat and pounded out tunes unlike

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Speaker 1: anyone else in his genre. His good looks helped with

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Speaker 1: his popularity. His dark hair, handsome face, and his physique

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Speaker 1: spurred one writer to say how powerful and shattering he

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Speaker 1: was to see in person. When his father passed away,

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Speaker 1: grief overtook him. He stopped performing and taught piano lessons.

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Speaker 1: For a short while, he fell in love with Marie,

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Speaker 1: a students and the wife of an affluent aristocrat. When

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Speaker 1: the affair was discovered, Marie left her husband and family

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Speaker 1: to join her young lover. The two went on to

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Speaker 1: have two children together, but marital bliss didn't last long.

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Speaker 1: Relations between them became strained, and she returned to her

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Speaker 1: homeland while he joined a tour to help fund a

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Speaker 1: charitable cause. The separation from Marie took its toll, and

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Speaker 1: for a short time he considered dedicating his life to

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Speaker 1: the church instead of music. Three things changed his mind.

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Speaker 1: His undying love of music, his mother's insistence that he

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Speaker 1: followed his dreams, and attending a charity concert where he

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Speaker 1: became so moved that he out to be as good

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Speaker 1: or better than his idols. He wrote new music and

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Speaker 1: practice his showmanship techniques designed to set him apart from

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Speaker 1: his peers. His efforts at redefining his music and stage

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Speaker 1: performances paid off. Royalty treated him like one of their own.

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Speaker 1: Women practically threw themselves at his feet. The press always

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Speaker 1: had a story about his escapades, the length of his performances,

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Speaker 1: and the feverish audiences who couldn't get enough when he

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Speaker 1: took to the stage. Crowds of women screamed and cried.

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Speaker 1: On more than one occasion, they rushed the stage to

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Speaker 1: be near him, to rip off a shred of clothing

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Speaker 1: or cut off a lock of his hair. As a souvenir.

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Speaker 1: Women tore at each other's hair and fought bitterly for

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Speaker 1: a glass that he might have touched. The audiences bordered

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Speaker 1: on downright delirious. Female fans held him in their dreams

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Speaker 1: and fantasies. He'd reached fame far beyond his musical heroes.

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Speaker 1: Europe had never seen anything like the mania that surrounded him.

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Speaker 1: He was bold, charismatic, and deliver the style of playing

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Speaker 1: the piano unlike anyone before him. He turned the piano

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Speaker 1: sideways to allow the audience to better view. Sometimes he sat,

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Speaker 1: other times he stood, pounding so hard on the keys

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Speaker 1: at times that one reporter dubbed him the smasher of pianos.

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Speaker 1: It was common for him to play so powerfully that

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Speaker 1: pianos required repair after his shows. Though he continued to

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Speaker 1: spend holidays with Marie and their children, the couple soon

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Speaker 1: called it quits for good. He threw himself fully into

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Speaker 1: his work, some say his best work. Over eight years,

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Speaker 1: he visited one d fifty cities and played in over

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Speaker 1: a thousand concerts. His work influenced other musicians and sparked

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Speaker 1: new trends. Performing became as much showmanship as talent. Though

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Speaker 1: he was financially stable, he never forgot his poor beginnings

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Speaker 1: and gave away large portions of his wealth and performed

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Speaker 1: for fundraisers. After a fire destroyed much of one city,

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Speaker 1: he played several venues to raise money for the homeless.

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Speaker 1: To this day, some consider him one of the most

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Speaker 1: talented pianists to have ever lived. So who was the

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Speaker 1: superstar who brought audiences to their feet like Jerry Lee

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Speaker 1: Lewis and had women screaming and swooning as they did

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Speaker 1: when The Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.

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Speaker 1: Hungarian concert pianist Ron's list who passed away in eighteen

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Speaker 1: forty seven, ten years before Lewis and a hundred and

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Speaker 1: thirteen before the Beatles ever took the stage? Rock on France,

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Speaker 1: Rock On. I Hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of

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Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast

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Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky

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Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award

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Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series,

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Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it

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Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until

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Speaker 1: next time, stay curious. Yeah