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Revolutionary Talk - Powder Problems · Plausibly Live - The Dave Bowman Show Podcast

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  Live from the banks of the Sheet Tucket River in the heart of
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  downtown Norwich. It's revolutionary talk here on
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  WREV, 760 AM for Patriots Fund. The phone and text number is
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  209565. Dave, that's 209-565-3283.
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  Now. Here's your host, Dave Diamond.
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  Well, it's been a crazy summer. We finally made it to October
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  and let me tell you folks, when you hear what I have to tell you
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  today, you are going to be shocked that we have made it
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  this far. I don't know how we did it.
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  I really don't. You want to join the show today?
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  It's 209565, Dave. It's 209-565-3283. e-mail Dave
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  at the Dave bowmanshow.com. Let me tell you what happened
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  yesterday. General Washington got a report
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  and in this report we learned that powder is running out in
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  the in the Army. We we got no powder.
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  It's running so low right now that our troops around Boston
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  literally have nine shots per man.
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  That's it. Nine shots.
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  That's not an Army, folks. That's a bluff.
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  I don't know how the British don't know this.
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  I don't, I don't know how it's going on in Boston right now.
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  But the only thing I can figure is it must be worse there
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  because after Bunker Hill and all this stuff that's been going
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  on up in Quebec, it's hard to believe that we just, how could
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  we be in this situation? Our army looks strong, I'll give
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  you that. They, they look, well, I don't
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  know. I was out there the other day
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  and they don't look that great. But there's a lot of Esprit de
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  corps, as the French would say. But it may just be hollow.
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  General Washington is keeping the truth quiet.
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  He doesn't want panic in the ranks.
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  And I can understand that. And I know what you're going to
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  say. You're going to call me every
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  day when you're talking about this.
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  Wait, you're talking about it. You just tell the British.
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  The British don't listen to this show.
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  And even if they did listen to this show, they would just think
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  that I'm lying to them. They would think I'm just making
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  it up to to, to lure them out into an attack.
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  But look, folks, panic or no panic, without powder, this
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  whole thing could collapse like that.
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  We're in trouble here. How do you fight for liberty if
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  you can't even load your musket? And who's at fault for this?
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  Well, Congress is just dragging its feet.
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  What else is new, right? What have they done since they
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  since the Virginia Association? What have they?
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  What have they, what have they been wasting their time doing?
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  Why are we sending these people down there to eat fancy meals
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  and swill French wine if all they're doing is talking about
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  reconciliation and and olive branch petitions?
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  They're dragging their feet. We need, we don't need olive
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  branches. We need powder.
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  They send a petition with one hand to the king and they can't
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  send a keg of powder to the troops with the other.
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  What's going on in Congress? You got John Adams down there.
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  You know, John, we've had him on the show several times.
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  He's pushing hard for war measures.
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  He's he really, he told me the other day that Dave, we're,
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  we're, we're already at war. We're already an independent
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  country. We're already doing the things
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  that we need to do. And if that's true, great.
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  I'm all for it. But reality is that means that
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  you're responsible for this. It means that you have a job to
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  do to get these people, you know, up and going to get them,
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  I don't know, working and we're not doing it.
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  And you got John Dickinson like I, I've never met John
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  Dickinson. I don't, I couldn't, couldn't
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  pick him out of a crowd. I'm told he's quite tall.
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  He's down there talking about, well, we need to be reconciled.
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  You know, we need to be reconciliatory towards the king
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  and we need to, we need to be agreeable and we need to, we
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  need to, you know, stop the bloodshed.
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  Look, we didn't fire the first damn shot.
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  They did. This isn't, we didn't start
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  this. We don't need people like
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  Dickinson down there going off about.
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  We need to be friendly, we need to, we need to be.
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  We don't need that. What we need, there's some spine
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  and some backbone. We need some people to make up
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  their minds down there. Do we want to fight or we want
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  to go crawling back to King George and Parliament?
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  And go sorry. What about you?
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  But I'm not sorry. And I'm I'm, I'm, I'm appalled
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  that this is the idea that we've come up with.
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  These guys can't make up their minds.
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  That's not leadership. That's just, I don't know,
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  they're just down there debating.
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  It's a debate society with French wine and stupid arguments
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  about things we don't need to be argued about.
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  What we need to be doing is getting our troops equipped with
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  what they need. That's what Congress is supposed
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  to do. How are we ever going to form a
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  country where we're going to be in 250 years if we can't get
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  things done the way we need them to be done?
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  What are we going to do? Shut down everything and go?
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  We'll just wait until we have some money.
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  It's a little scary. A little scary.
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  Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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  Welcome back. It's revolutionary talk.
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  I'm Dave. You want to join me?
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  Area code 209565. Dave, it's 209-565-3283.
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  So the good news, I guess, is across the ocean over in the
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  Atlantic, over in London, Mario, London, these days, King's
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  getting ready to open Parliament.
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  You know, they do that just every October, every October,
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  they open up Parliament. It's a big fancy thing.
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  King George gets his carriage and they, he takes the whole
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  family and they go for a ride. People line the streets and
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  cheer for him. Although I've heard from someone
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  who's close to John Wilkes, the Lord Mayor of Mayor of London
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  right now, that it's not going to be quite the, not going to be
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  quite the, the, the welcome that he's expecting.
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  I mean, he's expecting people to kowtow to him and cheer and all
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  that. And I understand there's going
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  to be some, oh, let's just call it hissing along the way.
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  But we've got an advance copy of his speech.
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  The Wilkes people sent it over a few weeks ago.
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  It's just a draft, so surely it's been modified since then.
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  But the speech contains language that ought to upset everybody
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  here. The king, the king of England,
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  the king of England is calling us rebels.
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  He is accusing us of being, quote, open and avowed
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  rebellion. He's saying that we're the
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  rebel. We're the ones who are being, I
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  don't know, rebellious to the very ideas that we believe in
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  our as in our rights as Englishmen that have been
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  trampled by these lunatics over there.
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  If we had Tarkin Rocks, we could throw them off of them like
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  Julius Caesar did, but we don't have that here.
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  I guess we could take them down the Thames River and throw them
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  off the cliffs down there in New London.
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  I don't know. But the bottom line is he's
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  calling us the open and avowed rebellion.
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  He's saying we're the ones doing this, We didn't fire the first
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  shots. We're not the one that sent
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  troops over here. We're not the one trying to tax
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  people. You are, you lunatic.
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  Tell you what, I'd like to be on the streets of London that day
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  when they open Parliament. I, I imagine it's not going to
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  be he's quite as well as you go, quite as well as he thinks it's
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  going to go because he always does.
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  Of course, the other, the other news out of Parliament, the
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  other news out of London is that King is talking about bringing
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  in foreign mercenaries. You don't.
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  Do you understand this? He has already already made
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  appropriations, contacts and even decisions, I guess, to
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  bring in his Hessian troops. You know, this whole Hanover
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  nonsense. He gets to be King of Hanover
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  and King of England. I don't know how the hell that
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  works. I don't know what English.
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  I mean, I know what they were thinking because the guy's a
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  Protestant and great and all that.
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  But you know, it's one of those things is it's divided
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  loyalties. I guess I never should have
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  brought that sausage eating, sauerkraut sucking German over
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  to be king of England to begin with, but they did.
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  And now this guy's talking about using Hessian troops, Hessians,
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  Germans coming over here to shoot at us.
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  And he's going to pay for them, of course, but they're foreign
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  soldiers. They're not even us.
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  They they don't have any part as well, but they're not, they're
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  not going to be. These are professional soldiers,
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  folks. These aren't going to be just,
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  you know, I mean, I guess the regulars are too, but at least
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  I, I guess you could argue at least they're Englishmen.
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  We're not even going to be able to yell insults at these people
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  because they're not going to understand them.
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  They're going to look at us and go vegetes work.
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  We're going to throw sausage and sauerkraut out of maybe that'll
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  be the maybe that's the thing to do.
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  And in the meantime, Congress still dithers.
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  His Majesty, His Royal Majesty, His Highness, his sharpening
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  his, his sword and tightening his news.
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  Look, we're not petitioners anymore.
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  We're not, we're not asking this guy for anything anymore.
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  We're rebels to him. And I say, like John Adams said
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  a couple of weeks ago, good on him.
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  Look, let's be the rub. Let's be us.
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  Let's say screw you. We're not part of you anymore.
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  The problem is you still got people like Dickinson up there.
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  And let me tell you something, folks.
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  You cannot fire petitions at redcoats.
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  You can't scare off Hessians with polite words.
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  Why not? Because they don't understand
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  them anyway. They don't speak English.
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  They don't speak the Lord's tongue, they speak that crappy
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  German stuff. You need powder.
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  You need powder to do this. And we need powder now, not
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  later, not on down the street. We need it now.
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  Congress had better get their stuff together because otherwise
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  things are going to be a mess. Today's show brought to you by
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  or just plug your share of the price.
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  Get your get your boat ready to battle the Brits.
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  Stay with us. We'll be right back with your
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  calls. Welcome back.
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  I'm Dave Diamond, glad to be here with you today.
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  The news is not good, folks. It's just not good.
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  And here we are watching Congress dither while the king
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  calls us rebels. Which I'm fine with, I don't
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  have a problem. I got no problem at all being a
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  rebel. To that sauerkraut sucking
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  German, let's go to line 1. I'll fight, Sir, don't mistake
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  me on that. I've got my musket on the
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  mantle, and I'll stand in line with my neighbors till the cows
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  come home. But what goods My musket without
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  shot? Powder's dearer than gold now,
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  and there's not a keg to be had in three.
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  Counties. I know, I know, we.
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  Can March all the way to Boston if you ask us.
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  But when the redcoats come on with bayonets and drums, are we
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  supposed to meet him with empty barrels?
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  A man can't defend liberty with prayers and petitions.
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  He needs powder in his horn and lead in his pouch or else he's
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  just another target. Amen.
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  Amen. You are so right my friend.
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  Musket without powder is nothing but a stick with an iron on the
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  end. Congress had better hear that
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  plane. Dickinson and his soft handed
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  friends are busy polishing petitions to the King.
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  You and your neighbors though are staring down bayonets with
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  empty powder horns. Powder is liberty my friends.
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  Powder is survival. And if those gentlemen in
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  Philadelphia don't send it N soon, this revolution is going
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  to be over before it's begun. You're not wrong to be angry.
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  You're wrong if you stay quiet about it.
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  Line 2, you're up. Go.
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  Listen to me, Sir. Washington's no general graying
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  country Squire playing soldier. Come on.
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  Kings troops are. Trained, fed and backed by the
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  best Navy on Earth, when the Redcoats March, they do not
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  stumble into the woods and hope for luck.
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  They form lines, they breathe together.
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  They reload like a machine. Your.
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  Farmers with their hunting muskets will be haunted.
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  Mark my words. This will be crushed unless
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  someone in Philadelphia wakes up and calls those wild.
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  Now, geez, bless his heart for his faith in uniforms and drill
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  books. Clearly he was not at Lexington
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  and Concord or Bunker Hill, you moron.
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  The King's machine is dependent on a distance and supplies.
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  His ship's got to cross this ocean, and it ain't easy to do
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  October, November. You know that your men must be
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  fed thousands of miles from home.
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  Commanders have to fight on foreign soil where we don't like
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  you. There's a few of you loyalists
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  out there. I get it.
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  And thanks for your call, by the way.
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  And you know we believe in that kind of speech here.
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  We got something you can't buy. That's local grit, rifle skill.
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  That a 'cause that moves fathers to take the field.
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  Washington may not be some pompous parade red coated
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  general, I get it. But he knows how to make an army
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  out of farmers. He's done it before.
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  Don't you bet on redcoats beating hearts that won't to.
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  We're not going to yield to those.
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  You're crazy. Line three, you're up.
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  Go. Look, I can get powder.
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  I've got contacts in the Indies. Ships that slip.
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  Past the patrols and men who know how to hide A keg.
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  But it does not come free. There is freight, bribes,
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  insurance and danger. My sailors will risk life and
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  liberty for coin. Who is to pay?
• 16:18
  Do you expect merchants to bankroll the whole rebellion out
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  of charity? We need payment upfront, or at
• 16:24
  least the promise of reward. Without money, the finest plans
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  are only speeches on paper. You've been down to Norwich,
• 16:32
  ship Chandler and rope works. All you got to do is pledge your
• 16:34
  share of the prize. They'll they'll help.
• 16:36
  That's a fair words. I get it.
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  I get it, Merchant, you don't go to see on promises alone.
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  I I get it. Congress has to put its hands in
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  the purse. It's or the people must one of
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  the two. We can offer bonds, We can raise
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  local subscriptions. We can authorize prizes captured
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  British stores give the merchants credit on on future
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  public debts. Let the towns pledge their
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  taxes, grant letters of mark and reprisal.
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  Have we done that yet? So privateers can earn their
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  keep by law. I mean, we got a Congress.
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  We're rebels. Let's let's issue letters of
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  Mark. We can't let pride stop these
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  payments. Powder costs money, Liberty
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  costs more. And either way, we either pay
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  now or we pay later in blood. Yeah, there's still some of them
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  loyalists out there. I get it.
• 17:29
  And there you have it. But at the end of the day, we
• 17:34
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  stout work. That's Old Harbor Mutual and
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• 18:01
  Look, folks, it's it's pretty simple.
• 18:04
  We got no powder. We got a hesitating Congress.
• 18:07
  We got a we got Congress dithering, and we got a hostile
• 18:11
  German king over in England who's getting ready to unleash
• 18:14
  his Hessian troops on us. We've got to do something.
• 18:20
  We need powder. You got powder.
• 18:23
  Call up your town. Get it to the troops.
• 18:24
  They need it. Powder is liberty, my friend.
• 18:27
  No powder, no freedom. And while His Majesty brands us
• 18:31
  as traders, we have got to decide whether we're a people or
• 18:37
  whether we're a petition. It's today, folks.
• 18:41
  It's today, October 1st, 1775, and powder is life.
• 18:46
  I can't say this enough. Powder is liberty while Congress
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  diddles around, doesn't do what they need to do.
• 18:57
  We're sending our boys out there and saying, hey, face the
• 19:00
  redcoats. Yeah, we're rebels are right
• 19:03
  now. You might as well dig in and you
• 19:05
  might as well go with it because the King's going to make sure
• 19:09
  that you stay that way. But remember that today is the
• 19:13
  day that we have to make that decision.
• 19:18
  Are we going to stand up and be a nation?
• 19:21
  Are we going to stand up and face the pretty?
• 19:23
  Are we going to stand up and do things right, or are we going to
• 19:26
  continue to dither around and pretend that we can get along
• 19:28
  with these people? Without powder, without liberty,
• 19:34
  our revolution is nothing but parchment, prayers, and Dave
• 19:39
  Diamond, we'll see you tomorrow. Revolutionary talk right here on
• 19:42
  WREV. Norwich, 760 AM.