Birth of the Republic

S01 E06 • Tuesday, Nov 29, 1994 • Nov 29

General Nathanael Greene becomes the new commander of the southern Continental Army. He and General Daniel Morgan devise a plan to defeat the British in the south. While Morgan defeats Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of the Cowpens, Greene leads Lord Cornwallis on an exhausting march across the Carolinas and Virginia, culminating in the Battle of Guildford Courthouse. An exhausted Cornwallis is forced into Virginia, where he is trapped by Washington and the French at Yorktown, effectively ending major combat in the War. The War ends and the soldiers return home. Rather than becoming king, George Washington resigns as commander of the Continental Army. The new countries government is weak and ineffective, leading to political turmoil, leading Washington to return to public life and lead the Constitutional Convention, becoming the new country's first president.