My wife Lynn and I just finished watching Ken Burns. new PBS documentary, “The American Revolution.” It’s six episodes and runs for 12 hours.
I saw about 8-9 hours. There’s something about the voice of narrator Peter Coyote — combined with the soft sound of violins and the camera’s slow pan over still drawings — that put me out every evening after about 45 minutes.
It wasn’t for lack of interest.
I’m an American Revolution nerd. I’ve tromped across every major battlefield or point of interest in the Northeast and most in the South and have a bookshelf full of books. I’ve been waiting for this series to be released for at least a year.
The documentary is thorough, engaging and — as is customary for Burns — tells the story through a first-rate cast of historians and gives voice to the written word of Revolutionary era luminaries, soldiers, and common citizens through an ensemble of gifted actors.
A film buff, Lynn loved guessing the actors behind the voices.
“That’s Mandy Patinkin doing Benjamin Franklin,” Lynn said extremely excited, startling me awake.
“Who’s Mandy Patinkin?”
“A singer and actor. He was in Princess Bride and Criminal Minds.”
Nothing registered. Confused, I could only offer,” Why do they have Benjamin Franklin talking during the Battle of Long Island?”
“The Battle of Long Island ended a while ago,” she said. “Washington has retreated to White Plains.”
I slept through the Battle of Long Island and Harlem Heights. Two of my favorites. Damn Peter Coyote got me again.
I turn 60 years old in a few weeks — and, apparently, have become my grandfather, who also had a deep love for and interest in history, especially that of Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley. He marveled at what earlier generations endured and accomplished with so little.
I so wished he were still around recently while reading Rick Atkinson’s second volume in his American Revolution trilogy, “The Fate of the Day,” when I came upon sizable passages referencing the role of Bethlehem and Allentown during the Revolution.
Moravian Bethlehem’s role caring for the wounded and dying of the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, the convalescence of Generals Lafayette and Pulaski, and both cities protection of the Liberty Bell and George Washington’s papers during the British occupation of Philadelphia typically go unmentioned in non-local histories of the war.
Atkinson, who is the most featured historian in the new Burns series, taking on a role like that of Shelby Foote in Burns’ groundbreaking Civil War series, is quite familiar with Lehigh Valley’s contributions to the cause. My grandfather would be so pleased with the region getting its due.
The series — nine years in the making, one year longer than the Revolutionary War — seems to have come out at the perfect time. It doesn’t matter how often you fall asleep; there’s no way to miss the degree of hardship, suffering and pain it took by soldiers and citizens to create our nation.
To understand America’s founding and its Revolution is to have gratitude and to give thanks to those who lived then and who supported the cause of freedom. The suffering of soldiers and the pain and pillage of citizens is often unfathomable.
It also provides a sad understanding that the people of this country have long been divided in their beliefs. The Revolution was as much a civil war at home between those loyal to keeping things the same and those driving change as it was a world war among the colonial powers of Europe. Caught in the middle were the Indigenous people of North America and those enslaved seeking a way to find their own freedom.
And there was a lot of walking. More walking than a Fitbit of today could record. Those soldiers who’ve longed for a day of a mere 10,000 steps.
When the opportunity arose to trap the British army at the port of Yorktown, Virginia, with the French fleet securing the harbor from escape, Washington’s army had to get there — on foot from Morristown, N.J.
“Alright men, we’re heading down to Yorktown. Hang tough. It’s only about 400 miles. We’ll be there in a month.”
There were no paved roads. No bridges over streams or rivers. No change of socks and, often, no shoes. There was no take out. No Grubhub. No Amazon orders. They couldn’t text mom or their wives. Often, there wasn’t even mail. They came home when they did, if they did.
There was often no supply chain or provision. Armies foraged for what they ate. There are many accounts of soldiers going three or four days on broth or nothing at all. Many just walked away and went home — or stole from farms and households. Not everyone was a hero — and not everyone fought for the cause for eight years. They were human.
A different type of human than today. Life was shorter and harder. They didn’t know the creature comforts and convenience that they would suffer and die to create for their children’s children’s children.
Our lives are built upon the work and suffering and dying of those that came before. The least we could do is be thankful for it — and to focus on what unites us as Americans and stop creating false divisions. The new Ken Burns series helps to remind us.
During this season of giving thanks, turn it on and enjoy it — and try to stay awake.
This is a contributed opinion column. Don Cunningham is the president and CEO of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. He can be reached at news@lehighvalley.org.