WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 I want you to imagine a founding father whose 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.639 resume reads less like a traditional American 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.619 history book and more like an absolutely unhinged 00:00:09.619 --> 00:00:11.439 Hollywood script. Yeah, it really does read like 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.400 a movie. Right. Like we are talking about a man 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.019 whose life includes nighttime bayonet charges, 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:21.839 massive political scandals, being actively betrayed 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:24.239 by his own second in command. Who happened to 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.480 be a Spanish spy, by the way. Exactly. A Spanish 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.210 spy. Yeah. And ultimately. having his own corpse 00:00:29.210 --> 00:00:31.969 boiled down in a kettle by his son. So welcome 00:00:31.969 --> 00:00:34.869 to today's deep dive. It is quite the list of 00:00:34.869 --> 00:00:36.289 credentials. And looking through the historical 00:00:36.289 --> 00:00:38.929 documents, it is all completely true. Every bit 00:00:38.929 --> 00:00:41.490 of it. Yeah. We are looking at a figure who fundamentally 00:00:41.490 --> 00:00:44.229 shaped the geographical and military trajectory 00:00:44.229 --> 00:00:46.850 of the early United States. Yet his personal 00:00:46.850 --> 00:00:49.250 life was essentially a masterclass in chaos. 00:00:49.509 --> 00:00:52.469 Our single source for this deep dive is a comprehensive 00:00:52.469 --> 00:00:55.049 Wikipedia article on Anthony Wayne, who lived 00:00:55.049 --> 00:00:58.670 from 1745 to 1796. And the mission for us today 00:00:58.670 --> 00:01:01.170 is to unpack the complicated, highly contradictory 00:01:01.170 --> 00:01:04.090 and honestly deeply fascinating life of the man 00:01:04.090 --> 00:01:06.769 known to history as Mad Anthony. And the stakes 00:01:06.769 --> 00:01:09.569 here for American military history are remarkably 00:01:09.569 --> 00:01:12.829 high. I mean, Wayne is celebrated as a brilliant 00:01:12.829 --> 00:01:16.049 tactical commander. He's the namesake of countless 00:01:16.049 --> 00:01:19.209 American towns, counties, a national forest. 00:01:19.250 --> 00:01:21.510 And even a very famous fictional billionaire. 00:01:21.709 --> 00:01:25.090 Right, exactly. But his legacy is also heavily 00:01:25.090 --> 00:01:27.989 scrutinized today. The overarching theme you 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:29.810 will notice as we go through this material is 00:01:29.810 --> 00:01:32.549 that extreme tension, the friction between his 00:01:32.549 --> 00:01:35.750 unquestionable military brilliance and his utterly 00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:38.930 disastrous civilian life. It is a wild ride. 00:01:39.250 --> 00:01:41.890 And if you're looking to truly understand the 00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:44.010 messy reality of the American Revolution and 00:01:44.010 --> 00:01:46.390 the early days of the Republic, this is the story 00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:48.969 you need to hear. OK, let's unpack this, starting 00:01:48.969 --> 00:01:50.730 with the making of the man himself. Right. Going 00:01:50.730 --> 00:01:53.239 back to the beginning. Yeah. Wayne was born in 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.859 1745 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to a Protestant 00:01:56.859 --> 00:01:59.959 Anglo -Irish family. But from the very beginning, 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.219 he was not exactly the compliant son, was he? 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:04.480 Far from it. His father, Isaac Wayne, owned a 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.219 large estate and naturally wanted his son to 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:09.000 follow in his footsteps and become a farmer. 00:02:09.099 --> 00:02:11.870 Which didn't go over well. Not at all. Wayne 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:14.409 fiercely clashed with him over this. He had grown 00:02:14.409 --> 00:02:16.729 up listening to his father's stories as a captain 00:02:16.729 --> 00:02:18.849 in the French and Indian War. And the historical 00:02:18.849 --> 00:02:21.189 accounts show Wayne would actively mimic those 00:02:21.189 --> 00:02:24.009 battles as a kid. Organizing the local boys into 00:02:24.009 --> 00:02:26.310 mock military units and everything. Exactly. 00:02:26.449 --> 00:02:29.250 He clearly had absolutely no interest in agriculture. 00:02:29.889 --> 00:02:32.409 Instead, he went to his uncle's academy and the 00:02:32.409 --> 00:02:34.569 College of Philadelphia to become a surveyor. 00:02:34.939 --> 00:02:37.819 And he was remarkably good at it. So good that 00:02:37.819 --> 00:02:42.180 in 1765, when Wayne is just 20 years old, none 00:02:42.180 --> 00:02:44.639 other than Benjamin Franklin sends him and some 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:47.439 associates up to Nova Scotia. That's a huge deal 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.139 for a 20 -year -old. It is. Wayne is tasked with 00:02:50.139 --> 00:02:53.539 surveying a staggering... 100 ,000 acres of land 00:02:53.539 --> 00:02:55.780 up there to help start a settlement. That is 00:02:55.780 --> 00:02:57.900 a massive logistical undertaking for a young 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.479 guy. It really is. And it shows his early capacity 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.180 for enduring grueling conditions and managing 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:06.300 complex logistics. But as we know, the American 00:03:06.300 --> 00:03:08.460 Revolution was brewing and Wayne eventually found 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:10.860 his true calling in the military, completely 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:13.000 discarding the conventional rule book along the 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.639 way. So how exactly did he operate on the battlefield? 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.460 Because my understanding is that 18th century 00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:23.719 warfare was incredible. It was. What's fascinating 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:26.639 here is Wayne's specific military philosophy. 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:29.819 In the 18th century, conventional warfare was 00:03:29.819 --> 00:03:33.120 all about rigid lines of infantry marching across 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.979 open fields and exchanging volleys of fire. Just 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:37.479 standing there and shooting at each other. Pretty 00:03:37.479 --> 00:03:41.879 much. But Wayne rejected that entirely. He famously 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:46.699 stated, and this is a direct quote, That's a 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:49.800 great line. It is. He focused intensely on maneuver 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:53.259 warfare, speed, utilizing the terrain, and maintaining 00:03:53.259 --> 00:03:55.780 strict, unflinching discipline among his men. 00:03:55.979 --> 00:03:58.039 But that... aggressive, unconventional approach 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:00.159 didn't always work out for him. We have to look 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.860 at the trauma of the Battle of Paoli in 1777. 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:05.520 Wayne's camp gets attacked at night by British 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:07.680 General Charles Gray. Yes. And from what the 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:09.460 text describes, the mechanics of this attack 00:04:09.460 --> 00:04:11.430 were absolutely terrifying. They really were. 00:04:11.830 --> 00:04:14.710 The British commander, Gray, actually earned 00:04:14.710 --> 00:04:17.430 the nickname General Flint because of the specific 00:04:17.430 --> 00:04:19.870 orders he gave his men that night. He ordered 00:04:19.870 --> 00:04:22.250 his troops to remove the flints from their muskets. 00:04:22.389 --> 00:04:24.589 Which means they literally couldn't fire their 00:04:24.589 --> 00:04:27.209 weapons even if they wanted to. Exactly. In the 00:04:27.209 --> 00:04:29.389 heat of a night battle, a soldier might panic 00:04:29.389 --> 00:04:32.069 and pull the trigger. A musket flash in the dark 00:04:32.069 --> 00:04:34.250 would instantly give away their position and 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:36.290 rumin the element of surprise. So it's forced 00:04:36.290 --> 00:04:39.709 discipline. Precisely. So by removing the flints, 00:04:39.829 --> 00:04:42.629 Gray ensured his men would attack Wayne's camp 00:04:42.629 --> 00:04:44.810 in the dead of night using only their bayonets. 00:04:44.949 --> 00:04:48.050 It was a complete disaster for Wayne. He suffered 00:04:48.050 --> 00:04:50.949 significant losses, his men were routed, and 00:04:50.949 --> 00:04:53.290 his reputation was severely tarnished. It was 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:56.009 a huge embarrassment. Huge. The public backlash 00:04:56.009 --> 00:04:59.069 was so intense that Wayne actually demanded a 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:01.470 formal military inquiry just to try and clear 00:05:01.470 --> 00:05:04.230 his own name. But then... and this is arguably 00:05:04.230 --> 00:05:06.730 the most cinematic moment of his military career, 00:05:06.949 --> 00:05:11.189 comes the redemption. Two years later, in 1779, 00:05:11.350 --> 00:05:14.509 at the Battle of Stony Point, Wayne is tasked 00:05:14.509 --> 00:05:16.829 with taking a British cliffside fortification 00:05:16.829 --> 00:05:19.350 on the Hudson River. A nearly impossible target. 00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:21.670 Right. The geography alone makes it a nightmare 00:05:21.670 --> 00:05:24.670 to assault. So how does he pull it off? He perfectly 00:05:24.670 --> 00:05:27.050 replicates the exact same tactic that was used 00:05:27.050 --> 00:05:29.350 against him at Paoli. It's brilliant. It is a 00:05:29.350 --> 00:05:32.149 brilliant and highly risky psychological play. 00:05:32.730 --> 00:05:35.550 Wayne personally leads a nighttime bayonet attack 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:38.569 against the British fort. He commands his light 00:05:38.569 --> 00:05:41.509 infantry to storm the fortifications with unloaded 00:05:41.509 --> 00:05:44.410 weapons, relying entirely on speed and the bayonet. 00:05:44.750 --> 00:05:46.730 The coordination required for that must have 00:05:46.730 --> 00:05:49.110 been immense. It was. The assault lasts only 00:05:49.110 --> 00:05:51.870 30 minutes. Wow. Yeah. The result is stunning. 00:05:52.189 --> 00:05:55.509 Wayne's forces capture about 550 British prisoners 00:05:55.509 --> 00:05:57.829 while suffering fewer than 100 casualties themselves. 00:05:58.310 --> 00:06:00.750 And Wayne himself is literally leading from the 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:03.550 front. He took a British musket ball to the head 00:06:03.550 --> 00:06:06.290 during the charge. A deep gash to the scalp. 00:06:06.750 --> 00:06:09.589 But he refuses to stop. Talk about adrenaline. 00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:11.870 Yeah. He has his men carry him forward so he 00:06:11.870 --> 00:06:14.540 can keep commanding. The Continental Congress 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:16.839 ended up awarding him a gold medal for the victory. 00:06:17.160 --> 00:06:19.459 It was a massive morale boost for an American 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:21.740 army that had been suffering a string of brutal 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:24.339 defeats. And it certainly contributed to his 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:27.540 legendary nickname, Matt Anthony. Though the 00:06:27.540 --> 00:06:29.579 historical record notes there is some debate 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:31.800 about where that moniker actually originated. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.060 Right. Some historians say it came from his incredibly 00:06:35.060 --> 00:06:38.120 aggressive, fiery battlefield tactics, like at 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:41.459 the Battle of Greenspring. There, His men were 00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:44.139 suddenly trapped by a massive, overwhelming British 00:06:44.139 --> 00:06:47.160 force, and Wayne ordered a borderline suicidal 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:49.800 bayonet charge straight into the British lines 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:52.000 just to shock them long enough for his men to 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.839 escape. Which is definitely a mad tactic. Totally. 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:57.519 But others claim the nickname came from his notoriously 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:00.759 quick temper and his off -color language. Specifically, 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.120 there was a well -documented incident where he 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.000 severely punished a highly skilled local informant 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.610 simply because the man showed up drunk. Either 00:07:08.610 --> 00:07:11.209 way, both explanations add to the mythos of a 00:07:11.209 --> 00:07:13.589 man of intense extremes. He demanded absolute 00:07:13.589 --> 00:07:16.069 perfection and aggression, which brings us to 00:07:16.069 --> 00:07:18.050 the period after the Revolutionary War. Here's 00:07:18.050 --> 00:07:20.050 where it gets really interesting. Because the 00:07:20.050 --> 00:07:22.750 man who could command an entire battlefield with 00:07:22.750 --> 00:07:26.250 brilliant precision was an absolute, unmitigated 00:07:26.250 --> 00:07:28.490 disaster in his private life. Total train wreck. 00:07:28.670 --> 00:07:31.329 The war ends. Wayne tries to transition to being 00:07:31.329 --> 00:07:33.990 a regular civilian in Pennsylvania, gets involved 00:07:33.990 --> 00:07:37.430 in politics, tries his hand at business. And 00:07:37.430 --> 00:07:39.769 it just completely falls apart. It really does. 00:07:39.870 --> 00:07:42.089 The friction between his military self and his 00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:45.370 civilian self is glaring. To set the stage, his 00:07:45.370 --> 00:07:48.649 marriage completely fractures. His wife, Mary, 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:50.870 ultimately abandons him. And there was a lot 00:07:50.870 --> 00:07:53.709 of drama there. Oh, yeah. This estrangement happens 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:56.189 amid rampant rumors spreading that Wayne was 00:07:56.189 --> 00:07:58.550 having an affair with Catherine Green, the wife 00:07:58.550 --> 00:08:01.509 of his fellow general Nathaniel Green. Wayne 00:08:01.509 --> 00:08:03.569 already had a history of romantic relationships 00:08:03.569 --> 00:08:05.930 with other women, so the marriage was incredibly 00:08:05.930 --> 00:08:08.230 strained long before the breaking point. On top 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:10.889 of his family life imploding, he ends up completely 00:08:10.889 --> 00:08:13.610 bankrupt. And his political career is a total 00:08:13.610 --> 00:08:15.730 embarrassment. He gets elected to the U .S. House 00:08:15.730 --> 00:08:18.430 of Representatives representing Georgia in 1790. 00:08:18.730 --> 00:08:21.230 But his opponent... A man named James Jackson 00:08:21.230 --> 00:08:23.790 contests the election, accusing Wayne's campaign 00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:26.970 manager, Judge Thomas Givens, of blatant electoral 00:08:26.970 --> 00:08:29.910 fraud. And the House committee investigated and 00:08:29.910 --> 00:08:32.169 actually agreed. They found that significant 00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:35.169 fraud had indeed been committed, and Wayne was 00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:37.370 formally kicked out of Congress. Kicked out entirely. 00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:40.860 Yeah. Now, the records implicate local magistrates 00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.279 rather than Wayne personally organizing the fraud. 00:08:43.399 --> 00:08:45.940 But regardless, he lost the seat and was later 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:49.019 disqualified from even running again due to residency 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:52.519 issues. Which brings up the question of why a 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:55.059 guy from Pennsylvania was running for Congress 00:08:55.059 --> 00:08:57.559 in Georgia in the first place. And this leads 00:08:57.559 --> 00:09:00.610 us to his plantations. When looking at Wayne's 00:09:00.610 --> 00:09:03.190 post -war life, the historical record presents 00:09:03.190 --> 00:09:05.769 a deeply complicated and messy picture regarding 00:09:05.769 --> 00:09:08.190 his involvement with slavery. It does. And we 00:09:08.190 --> 00:09:09.730 should be clear that we are maintaining strict 00:09:09.730 --> 00:09:12.629 impartiality here, simply reporting the historical 00:09:12.629 --> 00:09:14.710 facts from the source material without taking 00:09:14.710 --> 00:09:17.169 sides on modern political debates. Absolutely. 00:09:17.210 --> 00:09:19.259 Just looking at what the documents say. Right. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:21.940 So during his brief private career, Wayne was 00:09:21.940 --> 00:09:24.700 an active slave owner. He initially inherited 00:09:24.700 --> 00:09:27.139 a 40 year old man named Toby in Pennsylvania 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:30.179 who was registered under the law as a slave for 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:33.480 life. Later, the state of Georgia actually purchased 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:37.220 a massive slave plantation for 4000 guineas and 00:09:37.220 --> 00:09:39.360 rewarded it to Wayne for his military service 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:41.259 in negotiating peace treaties in the region. 00:09:41.769 --> 00:09:43.929 Just to put that in perspective for you, 4 ,000 00:09:43.929 --> 00:09:46.169 guineas at that time was an astronomical sum 00:09:46.169 --> 00:09:48.690 of wealth. It was a gift meant to instantly establish 00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:51.950 him as a wealthy aristocratic planter. Exactly. 00:09:52.090 --> 00:09:54.730 And to run this massive new enterprise, Wayne 00:09:54.730 --> 00:09:56.929 took on massive loans from Dutch bankers and 00:09:56.929 --> 00:09:59.950 purchased 47 enslaved people. But the documents 00:09:59.950 --> 00:10:02.129 highlight profound contradictions between his 00:10:02.129 --> 00:10:04.210 internal views and his outward actions. It's 00:10:04.210 --> 00:10:07.129 very jarring. It is. Initially, like many American 00:10:07.129 --> 00:10:09.409 planters at the time, Wayne supported the institution 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:11.940 of slavery. However, However, much like George 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:14.460 Washington, his personal letters show he gradually 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:17.259 grew to oppose the practice. The contrast is 00:10:17.259 --> 00:10:20.279 stark. You have a man taking out loans to buy 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:23.740 enslaved people. But at the same time, his letters 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:26.100 express deep concern regarding the harsh, brutal 00:10:26.100 --> 00:10:28.840 punishments inflicted upon them. He's actually 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:31.960 documented providing refuge for slaves fleeing 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:34.159 punishment from other plantations in Georgia. 00:10:34.590 --> 00:10:37.090 And even earlier during the Revolutionary War, 00:10:37.250 --> 00:10:39.370 while traveling between military camps, Wayne 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:41.769 wrote letters expressing how horrified he was 00:10:41.769 --> 00:10:44.149 by the treatment of slaves he witnessed. He even 00:10:44.149 --> 00:10:46.429 formally urged the governor of Georgia to recruit 00:10:46.429 --> 00:10:49.070 black soldiers to fight for the patriots, advocating 00:10:49.070 --> 00:10:51.169 for their arming and inclusion in the military 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:53.899 effort. So how did this guy? With no agricultural 00:10:53.899 --> 00:10:56.679 interest and massive internal conflicts about 00:10:56.679 --> 00:10:59.200 the labor he was using, actually managed these 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.220 plantations. Spectacularly poorly. His attempt 00:11:02.220 --> 00:11:04.480 at running these Georgia plantations, named Richmond 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:07.179 and Kew, was a total failure. The historical 00:11:07.179 --> 00:11:09.700 record shows he severely neglected his business. 00:11:09.980 --> 00:11:12.500 He just wasn't cut out for it. No, he was constantly 00:11:12.500 --> 00:11:15.299 traveling, attending political events, partying, 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:18.179 or hanging out with former soldiers. He and his 00:11:18.179 --> 00:11:20.419 overseer were criticized by contemporaries for 00:11:20.419 --> 00:11:23.860 having a relaxed hand with the plantation management. 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:26.080 Meaning they just weren't running it effectively? 00:11:26.440 --> 00:11:29.639 Exactly. Because of this neglect, his complete 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:32.620 lack of business acumen, and his penchant for 00:11:32.620 --> 00:11:36.799 wild spending, he acquired massive debt. He actually 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:40.000 had to beg acquaintances for financial help before 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.659 finally - selling the properties at a loss. So 00:11:42.659 --> 00:11:45.159 let's look at the scoreboard by the early 1790s. 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.340 Anthony Wayne is totally bankrupt. His wife has 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:51.440 left him. His plantations have failed. He's been 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.320 booted from Congress in a fraud scandal. And 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:57.399 physically, he is a disgraced, sick man suffering 00:11:57.399 --> 00:11:59.779 from recurring, debilitating bouts of malaria 00:11:59.779 --> 00:12:03.000 he caught down in Georgia. A complete ruin. His 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.120 civilian life is practically non -existent, but 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:06.919 then the 18th century equivalent of the phone 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:09.220 rings. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:11.480 it was President George Washington calling. And 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:13.740 Washington was facing a crisis of existential 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:15.980 proportions for the young nation. This is the 00:12:15.980 --> 00:12:18.840 Northwest Indian War. The United States was desperately 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:21.580 trying to secure the Northwest Territory from 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:24.059 a powerful alliance of Native American tribes 00:12:24.059 --> 00:12:27.460 known as the Northwestern Confederacy. And the 00:12:27.460 --> 00:12:29.419 U .S. military had just suffered a catastrophic 00:12:29.419 --> 00:12:32.639 loss. Catastrophic almost feels like an understatement. 00:12:32.860 --> 00:12:36.460 In 1791, an American force led by General Arthur 00:12:36.460 --> 00:12:38.559 St. Clair was ambushed and practically wiped 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:41.340 off the map. The historical accounts put the 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:45.679 casualty rate at an astonishing 97%. 97%. It 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:47.940 remains the most decisive defeat in the entire 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:50.240 history of the American military and the largest 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:52.559 defeat the U .S. ever suffered at the hands of 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.100 Native Americans. The American public was outraged, 00:12:55.139 --> 00:12:57.159 and the young nation's ability to defend itself 00:12:57.159 --> 00:12:59.759 was entirely in question. So how do you even 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:02.620 begin to rebuild an army after a 97 % casualty 00:13:02.620 --> 00:13:04.960 rate? Washington was actually under congressional 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.519 investigation because of this defeat. He needed 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:09.559 someone who could rebuild the military from literal 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.740 scratch and deliver a decisive, undeniable victory. 00:13:12.980 --> 00:13:15.879 Washington reviewed his options. And despite 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:18.480 Wayne's recent shameful personal and political 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.879 status, Washington knew Wayne was, in his words, 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:25.840 active and enterprising. He understood Wayne's 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.759 uncompromising demand for discipline. So Washington 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.779 calls a swollen -legged, malaria -ridden Anthony 00:13:31.779 --> 00:13:34.080 Wayne out of his ruined retirement to become 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.360 the senior officer of the army. And Washington 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.080 didn't just give him a fancy title. He handed 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.320 him the keys to the treasury. Washington allotted 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:46.019 an extraordinary budget of $1 million for Wayne 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:48.419 to completely rebuild and triple the size of 00:13:48.419 --> 00:13:50.659 the army. Which was an insane amount of money. 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:53.500 To understand the scale of that, $1 million represented 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:56.500 about 83 % of the entire federal budget at the 00:13:56.500 --> 00:13:59.279 time. Could you imagine one general getting 83 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:01.659 % of the national budget today just to build 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:04.019 an army from scratch? It shows you exactly how 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:05.940 desperate the political and military situation 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:08.759 was. Wayne immediately accepted the command and 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:11.129 set about creating a brand new military force, 00:14:11.309 --> 00:14:13.370 the Legion of the United States. And this raises 00:14:13.370 --> 00:14:15.710 an important question. How do you prevent another 00:14:15.710 --> 00:14:18.580 complete disaster like St. Clair's defeat? Wayne's 00:14:18.580 --> 00:14:22.720 answer was rigorous, formalized and unrelenting 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.399 instruction. He basically invents U .S. Army 00:14:25.399 --> 00:14:28.059 basic training, doesn't he? He does. Wayne quickly 00:14:28.059 --> 00:14:30.700 realizes that trying to recruit and train men 00:14:30.700 --> 00:14:33.240 in Pittsburgh is a logistical nightmare because 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:35.759 the troops keep getting distracted by the taverns 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.480 and the local vices. Wayne literally refers to 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:42.039 the area as a frontier Gomorrah. That's a great 00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:45.169 description. It paints a picture. So he marches 00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:47.490 them out into the wilderness and builds Legionville. 00:14:47.690 --> 00:14:51.149 It is the very first facility established expressly 00:14:51.149 --> 00:14:53.149 for the purpose of basic training for regular 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:56.009 army recruits. He structures this new army into 00:14:56.009 --> 00:14:58.269 sub -legions, which are basically the historical 00:14:58.269 --> 00:15:01.070 forerunners of today's modern brigade combat 00:15:01.070 --> 00:15:03.970 teams. And he relies on the training manuals 00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:05.730 written by the Prussian officer von Steuben, 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:08.549 the same von Steuben who famously whipped George 00:15:08.549 --> 00:15:10.950 Washington's starving troops into a professional 00:15:10.950 --> 00:15:12.970 fighting force at Valley Forge years earlier. 00:15:13.370 --> 00:15:16.250 And the discipline Wayne enforces at Legionville 00:15:16.250 --> 00:15:19.590 is incredibly severe. He was an absolute hardliner. 00:15:19.750 --> 00:15:22.350 The historical documents note that he executed 00:15:22.350 --> 00:15:24.690 several troops for severe offenses, including 00:15:24.690 --> 00:15:27.409 putting two soldiers to death simply for falling 00:15:27.409 --> 00:15:29.570 asleep at their guard posts. But there's that 00:15:29.570 --> 00:15:32.250 duality of command we talked about earlier. He 00:15:32.250 --> 00:15:35.049 executes guys for sleeping, but at the same time, 00:15:35.070 --> 00:15:39.029 he builds this immense, almost cult -like loyalty 00:15:39.029 --> 00:15:41.149 among the ranks. He was in the trenches with 00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:43.879 them. Literally. He shared all the brutal winter 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.159 hardships with his men out in the freezing wilderness. 00:15:46.539 --> 00:15:49.220 He obsessively managed the supply lines to make 00:15:49.220 --> 00:15:51.779 sure they had proper gear. And he instituted 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:53.899 a policy of giving the troops a half gill of 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:56.519 whiskey, which is roughly a strong two -ounce 00:15:56.519 --> 00:15:59.559 shot. every single day and an extra shot to the 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:02.179 best marksman. It was a brutal but highly effective 00:16:02.179 --> 00:16:05.200 method of team building. By 1794, the Legion 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:07.019 of the United States was a highly disciplined, 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.580 well -oiled machine, and they began marching 00:16:09.580 --> 00:16:11.919 north into Ohio, building a series of strategic 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:14.860 forts along the way. This brings us to the climax 00:16:14.860 --> 00:16:17.200 of the campaign, the Battle of Fallen Timbers 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:20.879 on August 20, 1794. Wayne mounts a massive assault 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.379 on the Indian Confederacy near modern -day Maumee, 00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:26.960 Ohio, and it is a decisive overwhelming victory 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:30.039 for the U .S. forces. It essentially breaks the 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:32.940 alliance and ends the war, leading to the Treaty 00:16:32.940 --> 00:16:35.480 of Greenville the following year. Yes, a treaty 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:37.360 where Wayne promised the remaining land to the 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:39.840 West would remain Native American forever, a 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.379 promise that, as the history books show, was 00:16:42.379 --> 00:16:44.440 quickly broken as settlers continued pushing 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:47.529 westward after his death. Now, regarding his 00:16:47.529 --> 00:16:49.850 tactical operations following the Battle of Fallen 00:16:49.850 --> 00:16:52.110 Timbers, the historical record details that, 00:16:52.190 --> 00:16:54.570 under the direct policies of President Washington, 00:16:55.210 --> 00:16:58.009 Wayne engaged in severe scorched earth tactics. 00:16:58.309 --> 00:17:00.690 Right. And again, keeping strict impartiality 00:17:00.690 --> 00:17:02.629 here, we're just reporting the historical reality. 00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:05.049 The goal was to ensure the Confederacy couldn't 00:17:05.049 --> 00:17:08.019 regroup or survive the winter. Exactly. As winter 00:17:08.019 --> 00:17:09.940 approached, the U .S. military systematically 00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:12.799 destroyed the fields, food stocks, and homes 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.380 of the Native Americans across the region. Wayne 00:17:15.380 --> 00:17:17.559 reported on this progress back to the capital, 00:17:17.740 --> 00:17:20.200 noting grimly that their future prospects must 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:23.440 naturally be gloomy and unpleasant. It is a harsh 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:25.359 and brutal reality of the frontier campaigns. 00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:28.519 But intertwined with that brutality is this incredible, 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.960 almost cinematic standoff right after the battle. 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:35.559 The fleeing Native American forces tried to take 00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:38.180 refuge inside the nearby British Fort Miami. 00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:41.559 But the British commander, Major William Campbell, 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:45.019 locked the doors. He refused to let them in because 00:17:45.019 --> 00:17:46.900 he didn't want to accidentally start a war with 00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:49.539 the United States. Wayne then deliberately sets 00:17:49.539 --> 00:17:52.680 up his camp right in sight of the British fort. 00:17:53.049 --> 00:17:56.269 He proceeds to destroy crops and burn villages 00:17:56.269 --> 00:17:59.069 right in front of the British garrison, clearly 00:17:59.069 --> 00:18:01.710 trying to provoke a response. Just daring them 00:18:01.710 --> 00:18:04.190 to do something. Yes. When Commander Campbell 00:18:04.190 --> 00:18:06.589 sends a message asking what exactly Wayne thinks 00:18:06.589 --> 00:18:09.130 he's doing operating so close to a British fort, 00:18:09.329 --> 00:18:11.289 Wayne replies that his answer had already been 00:18:11.289 --> 00:18:13.549 given by the sound of American muskets. And then 00:18:13.549 --> 00:18:16.150 the very next day, Wayne takes it a step further. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:19.140 He rides his horse entirely alone right up to 00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:21.799 the exterior walls of the British fort. He slowly 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.420 conducts an inspection of their defenses, basically 00:18:24.420 --> 00:18:26.660 daring the British soldiers to shoot him. It's 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.579 wildly bold. The British garrison actually debated 00:18:29.579 --> 00:18:31.940 firing upon him, but they didn't have explicit 00:18:31.940 --> 00:18:34.279 orders, and Britain was already tied up fighting 00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:37.220 France, so they held their fire. Two commanders 00:18:37.220 --> 00:18:40.079 staring each other down, neither willing to be 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.660 the one to start a global conflict. It is the 00:18:42.660 --> 00:18:45.349 absolute epitome of his character. But while 00:18:45.349 --> 00:18:47.710 Wayne was staring down the British Empire, he 00:18:47.710 --> 00:18:50.150 was completely blind to the massive threat sitting 00:18:50.150 --> 00:18:53.130 right next to him. And this is perhaps the most 00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:55.549 shocking political drama in the entire narrative. 00:18:55.910 --> 00:18:58.549 Throughout this grueling campaign, Wayne's own 00:18:58.549 --> 00:19:00.849 second -in -command, General James Wilkinson, 00:19:00.869 --> 00:19:04.150 was actively trying to destroy him. Wait, how 00:19:04.150 --> 00:19:06.829 does a U .S. general act as an enemy agent without 00:19:06.829 --> 00:19:09.509 getting caught? Because Wilkinson was secretly 00:19:09.509 --> 00:19:12.069 a Spanish spy. It is an incredible betrayal. 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:14.549 Wilkinson was actually serving as a paid Spanish 00:19:14.549 --> 00:19:17.450 officer known as Agent 13, all while wearing 00:19:17.450 --> 00:19:20.430 a U .S. military uniform. That's insane. Wilkinson 00:19:20.430 --> 00:19:22.650 would smile to Wayne's face, but behind his back, 00:19:22.670 --> 00:19:24.630 he was orchestrating a massive shadow campaign. 00:19:24.890 --> 00:19:27.809 He wrote anonymous smear pieces to local newspapers, 00:19:27.910 --> 00:19:30.410 and he constantly sent highly critical negative 00:19:30.410 --> 00:19:32.990 letters to politicians back in D .C. trying to 00:19:32.990 --> 00:19:35.079 get Wayne relieved of command. But it wasn't 00:19:35.079 --> 00:19:37.900 just office politics and bad press. He actively 00:19:37.900 --> 00:19:42.059 sabotaged the Army's logistics. In December 1794, 00:19:42.460 --> 00:19:45.059 Wilkinson secretly instructed the military suppliers 00:19:45.059 --> 00:19:48.019 to delay the troops' rations. He wanted them 00:19:48.019 --> 00:19:50.500 to send just barely enough food to keep the Army 00:19:50.500 --> 00:19:52.859 alive, intentionally trying to starve his own 00:19:52.859 --> 00:19:55.579 men just to prevent Wayne from making any further 00:19:55.579 --> 00:19:58.740 military progress. Yes, Wilkinson's goal was 00:19:58.740 --> 00:20:01.019 to create enough disaster and mutiny that he 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:03.420 could step in and take Wayne's job. Finally, 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:06.180 Secretary of War Henry Knox gets suspicious and 00:20:06.180 --> 00:20:08.059 tips Wayne off about Wilkinson's activities. 00:20:08.460 --> 00:20:11.019 Wayne quietly starts his own investigation, and 00:20:11.019 --> 00:20:13.299 his men actually intercept Spanish couriers carrying 00:20:13.299 --> 00:20:16.019 hidden gold payments meant for Wilkinson. So 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:18.759 Wayne finally has the hard evidence. He intercepts 00:20:18.759 --> 00:20:20.980 the gold, he uncovers the treason, and he is 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:22.940 getting ready to court -martial his traitorous 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:25.240 second -in -command. But he never gets a chance 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:28.180 to swing the trap. In a sudden, almost anticlimactic 00:20:28.180 --> 00:20:30.380 turn of events, on a return trip from Detroit 00:20:30.380 --> 00:20:33.859 in December 1796, Wayne develops a severe complication 00:20:33.859 --> 00:20:36.480 from gout and a stomach ulcer, and he dies at 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:39.140 the age of 51. Just like that. Just like that. 00:20:39.559 --> 00:20:41.519 There has been historical speculation over the 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.940 centuries, though it has never been definitively 00:20:43.940 --> 00:20:46.980 proven, that Wilkinson actually had Wayne poisoned. 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:50.019 After all, Wilkinson benefited immensely from 00:20:50.019 --> 00:20:52.660 Wayne's sudden death. With Wayne gone, the impending 00:20:52.660 --> 00:20:55.359 court -martial completely vanished, and Wilkinson 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:57.539 actually replaced Wayne as the senior officer 00:20:57.539 --> 00:21:00.039 of the army, where he continued to pass U .S. 00:21:00.059 --> 00:21:02.359 intelligence to Spain in exchange for gold for 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:05.180 years. So the Hollywood villain actually wins 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:07.400 in the end. But the bizarre story of Anthony 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:10.460 Wayne doesn't actually end with his death. We 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:12.519 promised you a boiled corpse at the very beginning 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:15.339 of this deep dive and we deliver. Wayne was originally 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:17.339 buried at Fort Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania. 00:21:17.700 --> 00:21:21.299 But years later, in 1809, his son Isaac decides 00:21:21.299 --> 00:21:23.079 he wants to move his father's remains across 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:25.559 the state to the family plot in Radnor, Pennsylvania. 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:28.359 Yes, the logistics of moving a body in the early 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:31.279 19th century were quite grim, and Isaac opted 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:34.180 for a highly unusual method. He disinterred his 00:21:34.180 --> 00:21:36.440 father's body, but instead of moving the entire 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.319 heavy casket, he hires a doctor to boil the corpse 00:21:39.319 --> 00:21:41.680 in a large iron kettle to separate the remaining 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.799 flesh from the bones. then packs his father's 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:46.880 clean bones into two saddlebags for the long 00:21:46.880 --> 00:21:48.799 horseback journey home. And he leaves the boiled 00:21:48.799 --> 00:21:51.240 flesh, the water, and the burial tools right 00:21:51.240 --> 00:21:54.319 there in the original grave. So today, man Anthony 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:57.079 Wayne famously has two distinct grave sites on 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:59.319 opposite sides of Pennsylvania. So what does 00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:01.380 this all mean? How do you synthesize a legacy 00:22:01.380 --> 00:22:04.099 like this? Synthesizing Wayne's legacy requires 00:22:04.099 --> 00:22:06.259 acknowledging how these two completely different 00:22:06.259 --> 00:22:09.869 versions of the man existed simultaneously. Professionally, 00:22:09.869 --> 00:22:12.549 he is the undisputed founder of modern U .S. 00:22:12.569 --> 00:22:15.750 Army basic training. He was a brilliant, relentlessly 00:22:15.750 --> 00:22:17.930 aggressive tactician whose victories secured 00:22:17.930 --> 00:22:19.890 the Northwest Territory for the young United 00:22:19.890 --> 00:22:23.009 States. He took 83 % of the federal budget and 00:22:23.009 --> 00:22:25.230 completely rebuilt an army from the ashes of 00:22:25.230 --> 00:22:28.269 the nation's worst military defeat. Yet personally, 00:22:28.490 --> 00:22:31.450 he was a deeply flawed civilian, a man who failed 00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:33.829 at business, failed at managing his plantations, 00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:36.630 failed at politics, and alienated his family. 00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:39.180 And that is exactly why you should care about 00:22:39.180 --> 00:22:41.900 this story. Because history is messy, and it 00:22:41.900 --> 00:22:44.500 is rarely made by perfect, one -dimensional people. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:47.200 Wayne's story is a masterclass in how someone 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:49.099 can be an absolute disaster in their personal 00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:51.559 life, totally incapable of running a farm or 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.160 maintaining a marriage, yet entirely reshape 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:56.380 the military and geographical trajectory of an 00:22:56.380 --> 00:22:58.559 entire nation when they are called upon in a 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.059 crisis. It highlights the chaotic, unpredictable 00:23:01.059 --> 00:23:04.099 nature of history. and his influence reaches 00:23:04.099 --> 00:23:06.359 much further into our modern culture than you 00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:08.720 might initially think. We mentioned a famous 00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:12.079 billionaire earlier. Yes, the ultimate pop culture 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:14.859 Easter egg. Comic book writer Bill Finger literally 00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:17.259 named Bruce Wayne Batman after Anthony Wayne. 00:23:17.619 --> 00:23:19.799 Later comic writers even officially established 00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:21.680 in the lore that Bruce Wayne is a fictional, 00:23:21.880 --> 00:23:24.900 direct descendant of Matt Anthony, which honestly 00:23:24.900 --> 00:23:26.819 makes perfect sense when you think about a guy 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:29.319 who uses fear, theatricality, and nighttime attacks 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:31.900 to fight his enemies. It's a fitting cultural 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:34.799 tribute to a man whose real life was often larger 00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:38.279 and stranger than fiction. It really is. We've 00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:40.819 covered the midnight bayonets, the Spanish spy 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:43.200 betrayals, and the boiled bones, but I want to 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:45.200 leave you with a final lingering question to 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:47.559 mull over on your own. When you look at a figure 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:49.839 like this, where their professional brilliance 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:52.720 is tied directly to the exact same obsessive, 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:55.619 erratic, and uncompromising traits that completely 00:23:55.619 --> 00:23:58.599 ruin their personal life, Oh wait, I mean, they 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:00.720 completely ruined their personal life. Can you 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:03.039 ever truly separate the madness from the genius? 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.460 Think about it. Thanks for joining us on this 00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:05.920 deep dive.