NOVA

NARRATOR: In 1775, an irregular army made up of American farmers and tradesmen took up arms against the most powerful nation on Earth, Great Britain.

We think of them as inexperienced and outgunned, struggling with inferior technology, but was that true?

(cannon and muskets firing) Can we ever know what it was like to fight in the Revolutionary War?

(cannon fires) JOEL BOHY: You can read books, you can go to the battlefields, but doing experiments, shooting these weapons, really helps give us a better understanding of the soldiers from both sides who fought in the American Revolution.

JAY WALLER: Certainly gives a whole different... MAN: Right.

...appreciation and horror.

BOHY: Yeah.

MATT KEAGLE: The Revolutionary War is on a real cusp militarily.

You see echoes of older ways.

RUSSELL REED: This is aiming for the head.

KEAGLE: And you see some of these kind of glimmers of the future.

The new technologies.

FALLON BURNER: Indigenous ingenuity and European design.

Technology evolves because of this collision of cultures.

(winding) We have a ticking bomb.

This is ticking.

(bursts) Whoa-ho!

(muskets firing) NARRATOR: How did ordinary Americans use this technology to win their freedom?

(cannon fire) KEAGLE: You want to be hitting that same spot, again and again and again.

(fires) I've never experienced or seen anything like this.

NARRATOR: "Revolutionary War Weapons."

Right now, on "NOVA."

NARRATOR: April 19, 1775, Massachusetts.

Tensions between the British and the American colonists are at a boiling point.

(men calling in distance) A moment that's commemorated even 250 years later.

(men calling in distance, talking softly) A silversmith named Paul Revere has spread word that 700 British troops are marching from Boston to Concord.

Their mission?

Seize an American stockpile of weapons and supplies to stop a revolution before it begins.

But as the British pass through Lexington, they are stopped by around 80 militiamen.

(men calling) One of them is 36-year-old farmer John Robbins.

READER: Sometime before sunrise, there suddenly appeared a number of the king's troops, about 1,000.

NARRATOR: The militia and the British are under orders not to fire.

(shouting) NARRATOR: But within minutes, shots ring out.

(muskets firing) The skirmish sparks a war that lasts eight brutal years and leads to the establishment of the United States of America.

It's said that in war, history is written by the victors.

In the story of the American Revolution, the colonial forces are often portrayed as plucky heroes standing alone, armed with inferior technology, against the most powerful nation on Earth.

But the truth is far more complex.

Now, with modern insight, we can reach a better understanding of what it was like to stand in the line of fire, armed with the weapons of the day.

This image of the Battle of Lexington, engraved months later, is based on eyewitness accounts.

It reveals some of the true cost of the colonists' fight for freedom.

Americans lie dead and wounded, and the British are using the most common weapon of the Revolutionary War, the smoothbore musket.

(men yelling, muskets firing) Today, the musket is seen as crude and inaccurate, especially when compared to modern guns.

But is that true?

At Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, historic firearms researcher Joel Bohy is finding out how effective the musket was on the battlefield.

BOHY: So what we've got here is a British Pattern 1756 Long Land musket, more commonly known as the Brown Bess.

The Brown Bess begins use in about 1730, and this type of gun would have been the workhorse of the British Army through the 18th century into the 19th century.

It was an extremely important gun to building the British Empire, and used through the American Revolution.

NARRATOR: Manufactured in the British Isles, each Brown Bess is made up of around 50 individual pieces.

The 46-inch barrel is forged from a single piece of iron, heated to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, then beaten and welded into shape.

The inside is reamed and polished to remove rough edges, resulting in a smooth internal bore.

The stock fashioned from walnut because it is less prone to splitting.

The final step: assemble the metal components, including the flintlock mechanism and trigger, to make the finished musket.

To load it, the soldier starts with a paper cartridge, about a third of an ounce of premeasured gunpowder and a lead ball enclosed in the wrapper.

BOHY: Take the tail.

Bite it off.

Pour some powder into the pan.

More gunpowder down the barrel, with a musket ball.

And... (ramrod tapping) We ram that cartridge home.

And the gun's loaded and ready to fire.

NARRATOR: It's cumbersome.

The process can take 15 to 20 seconds, and must feel like an eternity in battle.

The musket would seem primitive to anyone familiar with the sophistication of a modern rifle.

BOHY: So, here we have the Lee-Enfield No.

1, commonly used in World War I and through World War II, and is a good representation of a modern gun.

NARRATOR: Here, the loading process has been made easier with a self-contained, primed, metallic cartridge.

BOHY: We've got a brass casing, a primer, which sets off the powder inside, and it fires a jacketed lead bullet, which is a lot different than the Brown Bess.

NARRATOR: This .303-caliber round, or .303 of an inch, is also half the diameter of the .69-caliber musket ball.

With a magazine that holds ten rounds, the Lee-Enfield can fire multiple shots in the time it takes to load a single musket ball, which is a big advantage in combat.

BOHY: The bolt is pushed forward.

It's chambered for a round now.

It can fire.

NARRATOR: But for Joel, the best way to assess the musket is not by comparing it to modern weapons, but by testing its effectiveness in battle 250 years ago.

To gain a better understanding, Joel's team will fire at a ballistic gelatin block designed to replicate human tissue, providing valuable insight into how different projectiles can affect a person's body.

With the aid of a slow-motion camera, he'll also try to answer a question: how damaging could a musket shot be?

Finally, he will measure the speed each round exits the barrel, known as the muzzle velocity, using a chronograph.

Marksman Jay Waller will be firing the guns.

First up, the musket, with the .69-caliber ball.

(fires) Pulling the trigger instantly sets off a chain reaction in the flintlock mechanism.

(musket fires) A stone flint strikes a steel hammer.

The impact creates sparks, which ignites the priming powder in the pan.

This ignition passes through a small hole and sets off the gunpowder inside the barrel.

The gas pressure produced here propels the round out of the gun.

(bang echoes) On inspection, it's a direct hit.

You can see where it traveled right through the block and came out the other side.

NARRATOR: Reviewing the footage, they can see the horrific damage caused.

BOHY: Wow.

You just see that ball zip right through.

Look at the cavitation in the gel from that .69-caliber ball.

NARRATOR: When the ball moves through the block, it displaces the gel around it, creating a cavity.

This is known as cavitation, similar to what would happen to living human tissue, devastating to bones and internal organs.

BOHY: The men on Lexington Green knew how deadly these weapons were, but they never had the opportunity to see the damage in the way that we're seeing it now.

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah, certainly gives... MAN: Right.

...a whole different appreciation and horror for what happened.

BOHY: Yeah, yeah.

NARRATOR: On April 19, 1775, one of the Lexington militiamen who feels the destructive power of the smoothbore musket is farmer John Robbins.

READER: The foremost of the three officers ordered their men, saying, "Fire, by God, fire."

Being wounded, I fell.

NARRATOR: The shot enters his back, passes through his body, and shatters his jaw.

In total, ten militiamen are wounded and eight killed.

The musket is clearly deadly.

So why do we see it as a primitive weapon?

Likely because of what later guns can do.

Joel demonstrates this with the modern rifle.

(fires) WALLER: Oh!

Whoa!

Look at that.

(shot echoing) You can see the smoke from the bullet.

NARRATOR: The modern rifle's power is far more terrifying, but what does the data reveal?

Using the chronograph, Joel and Jay compare muzzle velocities.

On the Enfield, that is 2,314 feet per second, whereas the musket is 845 feet per second, so there's a big difference between the two guns.

But you can really see the velocity when you look at the ballistics gelatin blocks.

(fires) NARRATOR: The higher velocity of the modern rifle's bullet means it carries substantially more energy.

When it penetrates the block, much of this is transferred to the gel, causing it to lift into the air.

With a muzzle velocity nearly three times the musket's, the data proves that the musket is much less powerful.

But what makes the rifle bullet have such a high projectile speed?

When the trigger is pulled on the modern rifle, the charge is ignited within the self-contained cartridge.

The vast majority of the explosive force is transmitted to the bullet, propelling it.

The bullet travels flush against the barrel, and, with a more aerodynamic shape, moves cleanly through the air, retaining its power for longer.

But when it comes to the musket, 18th-century gunpowder is less efficient than the modern equivalent.

Its smoothbore barrel is also slightly larger than the ball it fires.

This means the ball bounces down the barrel and allows gases to escape around it when the gunpowder is ignited, resulting in less energy being transferred to the ball.

Being larger, rounder, and less aerodynamic than the modern bullet, it is further slowed by air resistance.

But perhaps the musket's biggest weakness is its relative inaccuracy.

The best way to demonstrate this is to see what a skilled marksman can do with a modern gun.

BOHY: So here we're going to do a test with a modern rifle and the Brown Bess, or the musket, at 100 yards.

NARRATOR: First, the Lee-Enfield.

(fires) (shot echoing) At this distance, it's a great shot.

Now Jay tests the accuracy of the Brown Bess.

The musket shot at 100 yards.

(fires) NARRATOR: There's no new impact.

(musket fires) (fires) No matter how many times they try.

Should we take a walk down and look at it?

All right, so, this shot missed the target.

NARRATOR: Why did it miss?

One key reason is the difficulty of holding the musket steady.

WALLER: It's interesting, because it's only a matter of milliseconds between the time that the flash and the charge in the pan is ignited, and it ignites the charge.

But that fraction of a second is enough to lose and go off-sight.

Yeah, you can move the, move the gun a little bit from the time you pull the trigger till the time it actually goes off.

NARRATOR: This, plus all the factors that make it less powerful, means the smoothbore musket is also less accurate.

(guns firing in distance, people calling in background) Despite this, we know from written accounts that facing musket fire was not for the faint of heart.

To compensate for any inaccuracy, armies during the Revolutionary War relied on a lethal tactic.

(man shouts order, muskets fire) Massed volley fire.

By standing in rows and firing multiple lead balls at their enemy, they made up for the musket's lack of precision, making it very dangerous when used en masse.

After the April 19 clash at Lexington, the British continue on to Concord, where they are attacked by 400 militiamen and forced to retreat, leaving hundreds dead and wounded.

Soon, what began as a skirmish turns into all-out war.

(men yelling) Following the American colonies' declaration of independence in July 1776, the war spreads from the land to the sea.

Some 200 British warships, with 32,000 musket-wielding troops, arrive in New York.

From here, they rapidly deploy into battle.

The Americans are outnumbered and outgunned, so they begin working on a plan to blow up the British warships.

In the United Kingdom, military historian Mike Loades is investigating one of the war's most audacious weapons.

LOADES: This is a model of the first combat submarine.

Now, I say "model" because the original doesn't exist.

All we have is a few hints and clues from subsequent writings.

NARRATOR: The writings come from American inventor David Bushnell.

READER: The external shape of the submarine vessel bore some resemblance to two upper tortoise shells of equal size joined together.

NARRATOR: It was later nicknamed "The Turtle."

LOADES: First, you've got the overall shape.

It's using the technology of a barrel.

It's thick oak staves bound together with iron hoops.

It's not quite barrel-shaped, though, and the reason for that is because you need space inside for an operator to sit, so that's going to broaden it in the middle, and you need space at the top for a hatch, for the operator to get in.

At first glance, it immediately reminds you of a space capsule.

But what it is, in fact, is a time capsule, a time capsule of contemporary technologies.

You've got these pedals here, so the operator is pedaling away-- this is powered by pedal power-- and they are driving a propeller.

NARRATOR: The concept of the propeller dates back to Greek mathematician Archimedes.

His Archimedes screw famously moved water using a spiral blade inside a tube.

Bushnell took this concept and located a blade on the outside of his Turtle.

This is thought to be one of the first practical applications of a propeller.

Along with a rudder, the Turtle has all the components needed to maneuver on the surface.

A particular feature on the outside of the vessel is this hatch at the top here.

It's got these watertight windows, so he has got some natural light inside.

Then, above there, these strange-looking things are really snorkels, so that when it's above water, it's fully ventilated.

NARRATOR: Using the windows, the operator could maneuver on the surface to locate and position the Turtle next to a ship.

It is then ready to descend, by filling the area at the base of the vessel, known as the bilges.

To do that, the operator kicks a lever.

LOADES: This will flood the bilges down there with water.

NARRATOR: Under the surface, a second propeller is used to lower or raise the Turtle.

Once submerged in darkness, the operator only has two instruments for guidance.

LOADES: This is a barometer.

It has a little cork in it, and each of these marks on the glass tube represents a fathom, that's about six feet.

So as he sees the cork bobbing down, he knows he's going down another six feet.

How can he see that underwater?

Because it's been covered with a fungus called foxfire, which is luminous-- it glows in the dark.

And over here is a compass, which, again, the needle on the compass has been coated with this luminous fungus, so he can read his heading.

NARRATOR: The Turtle is designed to move into position armed with a bomb to blow up its target.

LOADES: So, assuming that we've now got to the right depth, we now need to attach the payload, and that's this crank here.

This crank operates that drill at the top, and that bores its way up into the hull of a ship.

NARRATOR: The drill is attached to the bomb by a rope.

Once connected, the Turtle detaches itself, leaving the explosive secured to the ship.

LOADES: And now you've got to get out of here, so you, you pedal away.

When you want to surface, you use these two hand pumps.

Yet more exertion to save your life, pumping away to get that water out of the bilges.

But my goodness, that's a heck of a lot of work to get to that stage.

NARRATOR: Employed to carry out this dangerous mission, 27-year-old American Ezra Lee.

The plan: drive into New York Harbor and blow up the British flagship, HMS Eagle.

But how could Ezra Lee attach a bomb big enough to sink the British ship and get away safely?

Inventor David Bushnell's writings provide some clues, allowing pyrotechnics expert John Hargreaves to figure out how it was supposed to happen.

HARGREAVES: I've rigged this as a demonstration.

This is pretty much the size of the bomb that would have been on the Turtle.

That holds the gunpowder?

HARGREAVES: Correct.

150 pounds.

How do we get a spark to it?

HARGREAVES: Well, in the references to Bushnell's machine, they show a flintlock mechanism.

So this little pocket pistol?

Correct.

Which has got this flintlock here.

So, that flint strikes that...

Yes.

...which creates the spark.

NARRATOR: The pistol's muzzle is screwed into the barrel.

When it's fired, it will ignite the gunpowder.

But Ezra Lee would need time to escape before it exploded.

Bushnell had a plan.

READER: Within the magazine was an apparatus constructed to run any proposed length of time under 12 hours.

HARGREAVES: This is a specialist clock.

It is a very early 19th-century version, actually, but is the nearest thing I could find to the right mechanism.

NARRATOR: The mechanism John thinks Bushnell used comes from a period pocket watch.

HARGREAVES: The pocket watch had been around at the beginning of the 17th century.

It was a pretty rare thing, and they were all watches like this.

The clock is going to count down to zero.

When it gets to zero, it pulls a lever which I have attached to the trigger mechanism of my pistol.

So it pulls the trigger and fires the gun.

(winding) LOADES: This is absolutely ingenious, John.

HARGREAVES: I'm going to set it to a minute to.

(clock ticking softly) Can you hear it ticking?

We have a ticking bomb.

Yeah, this is ticking... (bursts) Whoa-ho!

Look at that!

(chuckling) Excellent!

Proof of concept!

Yes.

NARRATOR: The timer for the bomb was set to 30 minutes, and sealed in a watertight casing.

The countdown would begin when the bomb detached from the Turtle.

READER: This apparatus could not possibly move till, by casting off the magazine from the vessel, it was set in motion.

NARRATOR: To test the gunpowder bomb underwater, they use a modern firing mechanism for safety.

When Bushnell first tested the bomb, he did so with varying amounts of gunpowder.

For safety, John is only using five pounds.

Ezra Lee was carrying 150.

NARRATOR: At 11:00 p.m. on September 6, 1776, after being launched into the water from a whaleboat, Lee starts his mission.

Even though this is a scaled-down test, John is taking all the necessary precautions.

Ezra Lee is facing the real risk that the bomb could fail to detonate, or, worse, explode too early, killing him instantly.

For over two exhausting hours, with the constant risk of being spotted, he navigates toward the British ship.

Upon reaching it, he begins his descent, dropping close to 30 feet below the surface, with the bomb.

(explosion pounds) (Hargreaves chortles) There she blows!

(explosion pounds in slow motion) (explosion pounds) That's just five pounds?

Yes-- five pounds of gunpowder.

The...

The bomb they're dealing with was 30 times that magnitude.

(explosion pounds) NARRATOR: A detonation that large would have been catastrophic.

(explosion pounds in slow motion) The wooden hull of a ship offers less resistance to the bomb's explosive force than the denser water around it.

It would have just ripped through the bottom of the boat.

Instant destruction.

Yeah.

(explosion pounds) NARRATOR: But HMS Eagle is not blown up.

After making his descent, Ezra Lee is unable to attach the bomb.

READER: He went under the ship and attempted to fix the wood screw, but struck, as he supposes, a bar of iron.

NARRATOR: At this crucial moment, running out of air, he abandons the mission.

In a later attempt, the boat carrying the sub is sunk by British gunfire.

This is the end of the Turtle.

LOADES: I have absolutely no doubt that if it had been successful, and if it had been repeatable to scale, if they'd built many more Turtles, and they had destroyed the British fleet, it would have shortened the war by years.

The war would have been over in months.

(men shouting, muskets firing) NARRATOR: Following the failure of the Turtle, the war grinds on, with neither side securing a strategic advantage.

But, in 1777, the tide starts to turn.

Now, with access to more weapons and 13,000 troops, the Americans achieve a decisive victory at the Battle of Saratoga.

Both armies are using muskets, but there's another weapon on the battlefield bringing its own advantages and weaknesses: the long rifle.

Developed in the early 1700s by German and Swiss immigrants, the long rifle was designed as a highly accurate hunting gun.

After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the Americans quickly set up sharpshooting rifle units.

At Saratoga, it is claimed one of these units, Morgan's Riflemen, plays a crucial role in securing the American victory.

This isn't the first time Morgan's Sharpshooters have been celebrated.

One newspaper in 1775 wrote...

READER: Yesterday, the company were drawn out to show the gentlemen of the town their dexterity in shooting.

A clapboard with a mark the size of a dollar was put up, few shot being made that were not close to or in the paper.

NARRATOR: The report also suggests the long rifle is much more accurate than the musket.

But is that true?

BOHY: This test is going to be for accuracy.

We're going to be shooting at that melon 60 yards downrange with a long rifle.

NARRATOR: Even before it's fired, there is a visible difference that gives it an advantage over the musket.

BOHY: The benefit of the rifle is, it has front and rear sights, while the musket only has a front sight.

It's going to help with the accuracy of the gun.

NARRATOR: Having two sights allows for more precise alignment, providing two points of reference, enabling the shooter to more effectively maintain focus on the target.

Is this ready?

BOHY: Yeah, he's going to go now.

(fires) NARRATOR: Having never fired the long rifle before, Jay just misses the melon.

But now he has his mark, and adjusts his aim.

(fires) (fires in slow motion) Yes!

(chuckles) NARRATOR: It's a direct hit.

But why is it so accurate?

The answer lies in the name, the rifled barrel.

Forged by specialist gunsmiths, the iron barrel is bored to include spiral grooves, known as rifling, on the inside surface.

This changes how the ball behaves.

When fired, the ball engages with the grooves, causing it to spin around its longitudinal axis.

This spinning motion gives the projectile angular momentum, helping it resist external forces like air resistance and maintain a straighter path.

The result?

The ball remains stable in flight over longer distances, significantly enhancing accuracy.

Combined with improved sights and a smaller, tight-fitting ball, which travels at a higher velocity, the long rifle is a formidable sharpshooting weapon.

But there are also disadvantages: a slower loading time, with the long barrel being cumbersome, and the small ball needing firm positioning.

BOHY: If you're in combat, you need to load and fire as quickly as you possibly can.

With a rifle, it's going to be, you know, one shot or two shots a minute, compared to the four you can get with the musket.

NARRATOR: Meaning this symbol of American patriotism and success is particularly vulnerable during reloading, leaving a soldier defenseless and open to attack from bladed weapons.

Following the American success at Saratoga in 1777, the Revolutionary War enters a new phase.

A year later, the French officially join the American cause, bringing much-needed troops and supplies.

Some Indigenous communities are also playing a role in the war.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson refers to them as "merciless Indian savages."

But their relationships with the colonists and the crown are complex.

Both sides are seeking to recruit them.

Historian of Indigenous Eastern Woodlands Fallon Burner specializes in this often-untold story of the war.

BURNER: Native people were involved in the American Revolution since the beginning, since Lexington and Concord.

Native people fought on both sides of this conflict.

That might be the American side, that might be the British side, that might be remaining sort of neutral.

These decisions are based on what is best for that Native nation and the trajectory that they are on.

NARRATOR: In a conflict often characterized by small skirmishes, whoever Indigenous people side with, their impact is felt, often with the help of a deadly axe, the tomahawk.

Fallon is meeting up with Eastern Woodlands weapons expert Russell Reed to discuss Indigenous people's weaponry and its role in the war.

BURNER: I know that the word for tomahawk actually comes from this area here in Tidewater, Virginia.

Can you tell us a little bit about the kinds of tomahawks that settlers would have been seeing when they first arrived here?

So, when the English first arrived, you're going to see the tribes from Virginia, and really, throughout much of the Eastern Woodlands, using stone-bladed axes like this to clear brush and fields, to work on canoes, build houses, and also, certainly, as a weapon when the time required it.

However, after the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and other colonial powers arrive, rapidly, you're going to see this replaced bit by bit with iron and steel versions of the tomahawk that we more think of nowadays.

NARRATOR: With Europeans came new technology, including ironmongery and steelwork.

Early on, colonial traders realized they could exchange metal goods, including ax-heads, for items needed in Europe.

REED: The advantages to this are several.

Stone tomahawks worked for thousands of years.

There's no issue in using them.

However, the iron and steel ones can be brought to a little bit of a finer edge for more effective cutting, and this can be purchased or traded for at fairly cheap cost-- in some cases for a couple of deerskins.

It just makes a lot of sense to trade for scores of these rather than make stone versions that are a little heavier and not quite as sharp.

NARRATOR: Over time, metal tomahawks transformed, taking on new shapes with intricate decoration.

Some even contained pipes that could be smoked.

But the tomahawk remained a weapon for close combat.

REED: You're going to see a sort of a system of weapons.

You're going to have your long-range weapon, so that's going to be your longbow, your rifle, or very commonly, this Indian trade gun, musket.

NARRATOR: Once in battle, the system is deployed rapidly.

You're going to be leveling that at your enemy... ...firing... (gunshot echoes faintly) ...and then, while your enemy is hopefully reloading, you're going to see this long-range weapon tossed to the side, immediately drawing tomahawk and your knife.

And so you're going to see the knife in one hand, tomahawk in the other, and actually closing in on your enemy.

Period sources routinely talk about the fact that this is actually going to be brought aiming for the head.

It certainly can be an effective weapon against the body, but layers of thick clothing, and the fact that this is a fairly light weapon, you're going to see a lot more targeting of the head, the knife being something you can use to follow up or possibly to block a strike.

It's quickly either brought to the side or straight down.

You can see it sort of cleaved pretty much right through the center of it, like that, and then it can even be brought back in the opposite direction.

That would be terrifying if that was my head.

(both laugh) Now, you can imagine this on a battlefield with hundreds of warriors, muskets going off, arrows flying everywhere, and then warriors closing the distance with devastating effect on their enemies.

NARRATOR: Against an enemy, especially slow-loading riflemen, the tomahawk could be highly effective.

So we definitely see a lot in movies or other cultural depictions of Native warriors throwing and letting go of their tomahawk to hit a target.

Mm.

How viable and actionable do you think that is?

It's likely that actually throwing your tomahawk in combat would be incredibly uncommon.

This weapon simply doesn't weigh a lot, and you would have to match the rotations to hit your enemy perfectly, and you're incredibly limited on range.

It's certainly going to be more effective used in the hand.

So you throw it, you've gotten rid of it, then you don't have it to use anymore.

Yes, you have now-- unless you've been incredibly lucky and successful, you have now disarmed yourself, given your enemy your main weapon.

So how much of a difference do you think the tomahawk made in the revolution?

It really is such an effective hand-to-hand weapon that you're going to see colonial forces, militia, and the British all carrying tomahawks, as well.

And so we do get period accounts in the revolution where the tomahawk comes into play in a big way, with lots of hand-to-hand fighting, which can turn the tide of the battle one direction or the other, commonly leading to the victory of whoever is employing it first and most effectively.

NARRATOR: After six brutal years, the war takes a sudden turn.

In 1781, in a surprise move, nearly 18,000 American and French troops corner 8,000 British in Yorktown, Virginia.

(muskets firing, men shouting) Outnumbered and surrounded, the British are forced to dig in.

Pitched battles and skirmishes are out.

Now this becomes a siege war.

In this painting, "The Siege of Yorktown," the artist captures the defensive earthworks built by both sides and the powerful weapon intended to defeat them, the cannon.

(cannon firing) The contest between these earthworks and the cannon would become one of the most iconic in history.

But which one would come out on top?

At Yorktown today, historian Marvin-Alonzo Greer is finding out.

GREER: So what you're seeing here is a reconstruction of the 18th-century earthworks that the British created.

This foliage here, this greenery, would not have been here at the time.

It would have all been dirt and earth and palisades here, these wooden spikes sticking out of the ground.

NARRATOR: In just six weeks, the British construct a system of fortified earthworks.

GREER: These defenses would have been built by a mixture of people, some by soldiers in the British Army, but the vast majority of these defenses would have been built by freedom-seekers.

NARRATOR: Before the Revolutionary War, all 13 colonies practiced slavery.

During the conflict, many enslaved people are brought to the battlefield, often as laborers.

Some fight on the American side voluntarily with the hope of freedom.

The British also offered them liberty if they joined their ranks.

Thousands take this opportunity at Yorktown.

They've become known as freedom-seekers.

GREER: Most of their names are lost to history, but we do have names of at least two: Eve, from Williamsburg, and her son George.

They were enslaved by Peyton Randolph and his wife, Betty Randolph.

Betty Randolph writes in 1781 some of her enslaved people, including Eve and George, have gone to the enemy, right here to Yorktown.

NARRATOR: In the painting of the siege, there are clues about how the defenses are built.

Piles of strange-shaped objects lie next to passing troops, but what are they?

Revolutionary War expert Matthew Keagle has built three examples.

KEAGLE: So these are called gabions.

Basically, big wicker baskets.

But they don't have a bottom or a top, so you can move them where you need to go, you can dump earth into them, and they're going to hold it there.

NARRATOR: Gabions have been used in defensive fortifications since the time of the Ancient Egyptians.

During the Revolutionary War, and with so many American towns lacking stone wall defenses, gabions are commonplace.

We're just looking at this cross-section of the works.

So imagine this continuing through us and past us to make a whole wall nine feet or more deep.

NARRATOR: With ditches dropping no less than six feet and ramparts of equivalent height covered in spiked palisades, the earthworks at Yorktown present a formidable obstacle.

But they had to face down the cannon.

Originating in China 800 years ago, the first experimental cannon were made of bamboo.

By the 1770s, the most expensive and lightweight are made of bronze, but the more common ones are heavier, larger, and made of iron.

KEAGLE: This is the most powerful weapons system known at this time.

The works at Yorktown are all designed around the capabilities of these weapons, either to prevent incoming fire from damaging people and equipment, or as platforms to fire artillery from.

NARRATOR: At Yorktown, the Americans and French bring 100 cannon to the battle.

The British have 250 cannon, but not nearly as much ammunition.

To defeat earthworks, artillerymen used solid iron shot.

KEAGLE: Right here, we're working with a French four-pounder.

So that's not the weight of the barrel.

That's the weight of the shot this is going to fire.

So a solid iron ball weighing four pounds is going to come hurtling out the muzzle of this cannon downrange.

NARRATOR: For this cannon, there are five crew members.

Each has a specific role.

KEAGLE: So what we see up here is, on that front right, he's got the sponge rammer.

NARRATOR: The sponger ensures the cannon is safe to fire.

By plunging the barrel with water and pulling it out with the vent closed, a vacuum extinguishes any embers from the previous shot.

KEAGLE: So when he pulls that out... (vacuum pops) ...we get that sound, which is evidence of the vacuum inside the tube, because if you put a round or cartridge in there afterwards and there's even the smallest ember, that could set that off.

NARRATOR: Another crew member passes the cartridge, which holds the gunpowder, to the loader.

After inserting this, the loader then adds wadding, which holds the cartridge against the breech of the cannon.

Next, the iron ball, followed by more wadding.

KEAGLE: Then the sponge rammer is actually going to ram down this whole mass into the breech, because for the gunpowder to work correctly, to get the most force possible, it needs to be compacted into as small a space as possible.

Now, at the rear, at the vent of the weapon, they're going to take a small spike, drive that through the vent hole, through the cartridge, opening up the gunpowder inside there.

NARRATOR: With the cartridge open, the gunner pours additional gunpowder into the vent, and then inserts a fuse.

Finally, the commander who aims the gun prepares to fire.

At Yorktown, the closest the American and French guns get to the British lines is just 200 yards away.

Fire.

NARRATOR: Within an instant of lighting the fuse, the gunpowder inside the barrel ignites.

The gases produced rapidly build to create pressure between the ball and the base of the barrel.

In milliseconds, this pressure propels the ball out of the cannon.

(fires) (fires in slow motion) (cannonball pounds) KEAGLE: Came around here.

Oh!

Look at that!

Did it just plunge right through the gabion?

Yeah.

See, see right there.

That shattered sapling, and then we've gone right into here.

That's our second hole, isn't it?

Yep.

KEAGLE: It's dislodged a fair amount of earth, but they're still holding.

(cannonball pounds) GREER: The fact that it passed through the earth, the saplings, and into a second one... And into the next one.

That's some power.

That really is.

Because this is so loosely constructed, this isn't like firing into a stone wall, so the nature of this defense has helped it to kind of almost heal itself.

NARRATOR: Earthworks could effectively withstand a single strike.

(cannon fires) But at Yorktown, the Americans and the French are firing up to 3,500 rounds every day, with some cannon shot six times the weight of this four-pounder.

(Greer talking indistinctly) KEAGLE: We got the palisade!

Right on target.

Bullseye.

(cannonball pounds) NARRATOR: The second shot is inches from the first hit.

Your intention is, you want to be hitting that same spot again and again and again and again, ultimately battering down that wall.

Oh, yeah, that... (fires) (cannonball pounds) (fires) (cannonball pounds) NARRATOR: After six tightly grouped shots, they inspect the damage.

I have never experienced or seen anything like this.

(laughs) With that earth just literally sucking up all of that artillery fire.

Um, the accuracy is amazing.

But it's this kind of consistency that is ultimately going to win you something like the siege of Yorktown.

NARRATOR: Over nine days of bombardment, the Americans and French fire an incredible 15,000 cannon rounds.

Finally, after three weeks of siege, mounting losses, and low supplies, the British surrender, ending the last major battle of the Revolutionary War.

As for the freedom-seekers who helped build these defenses, like Eve and her son George, when smallpox breaks out in the fort during the siege, the British expel them.

Threatened once again with enslavement, most take their chances between the opposing armies in no man's land.

(cannon firing) Eve escapes, but after a reward is issued, she is captured.

GREER: We don't know what happens to George.

Yeah.

Her son probably died of smallpox or in no man's land, but Eve is sold for "her bad behavior," for going to and seeking her freedom.

"Harrowing" is the word that continues to come to mind through all of this.

Exactly.

NARRATOR: It would be another 84 years before slavery is abolished throughout the United States.

After the siege of Yorktown, the British realize the war can no longer be won.

After eight years, and 57,000 killed in action on both sides combined, they recognize the independence of the United States of America.

This freedom was only possible thanks to the people who fought and the extraordinary technology they used.

KEAGLE: As an American, this is the foundation of the United States.

We're a relatively young country, we're one that was born out of eight years of struggle, of a vicious war.

BOHY: Going out and shooting these weapons can give you a much greater understanding of the battles, how they were fought, how they were won and lost, and it enables me to have a much better understanding of the war itself.

Back then, this was cutting-edge technology, this was experimentation, this was original thought.

Indigenous people were involved in this conflict since the very beginning.

So was their technology.

The tomahawk is really this unifying factor here that ties Indigenous history and American history together.

GREER: Whether people are inventing technology or using the technology, an instrument of war can also be used as an instrument of freedom.

And I think we as humans can learn a lot from this time period, because, just like our lives today, there's good and bad happening on all sides, and it's really up to we, the users of technology, to determine how our future will be paved.