Celebrating 250: The Battle of Long Island (and the "Pilot" episode of "TURN: Washington's Spies")

A dual post throwing a few tidbits about our favorite Major and spymaster along with my thoughts on the "Pilot" episode of "TURN: Washington's Spies".

So the Battle of Long Island (or Battle of Brooklyn) officially happened yesterday, August 27th and by now Tallmadge was posted with Chester's regiment at Bedford Pass. They were part of the forces posted forward of the small forts erected around Brooklyn Heights (which included Jamaica Pass). Perhaps it was fortunate that his regiment was not one of the pickets that were instantly overrun by British forces when they attacked in earnest, but they were certainly part of the chaos and retreat of all forward lines in an attempt to get back to the safety of the heights and barricades.

Bedford Pass, for context, is to the right of Jamaica Pass where the line was completely broken during the fighting. (Howe landed his 24,000 force at Gravesend Bay for the attack.) In the battle, Tallmadge says in his memoir:

Before such and overwhelming force of disciplined troops, our small band could not maintain their ground, and the main body retired within their lines at Brooklyn, while a body of Long Island Militia under Gen. Woodhull, took their stand at Jamaica. Here Gen. Woodhull was taken prisoner and inhumanly killed. The main body of our army, under Major-Gen. Sullivan and Lord Stirling, fought in detached bodies, and on the retreat both of those officers were made prisoners. I also lost a brother the same day, who fell into their hands, and was afterwards literally starved to death in one of their prisons; nor would the enemy suffer relief from his friends to be afforded to him.

He talks about the infamous prison ships in New York Harbor where a lot of the Rev War non-commissioned soldiers were placed. Officers were granted a more gentlemanly parole and quarters, but for others, they were sent to the prison ships or placed in inhumane conditions.

Tallmadge also mentions in his memoir that it is his first time witnessing battle and the horrors that accompany it. Based on what he wrote, it seems like it both hardened him, but also embolded him to prevent further bloodshed when he could (he'll continue that mentality throughout the war by going on the offensive to stop civilian casualties, but also led his men in bold attacks on forts with the understanding that they will die).

I well remember my sensations on the occasion for they were solemn beyond description, and very hardly could I bring my mind to be willing to attempt the life of a fellow-creature.

So, what do all of this have to do with the "Pilot" episode of "TURN: Washington's Spies"? Well...if you've seen it, you'll notice that they introduce Tallmadge squarely in the middle of being the lone survivor of an ambush in New Jersey of all things. (Much more suited for Belden since he was posted to Fort Washington and fled across to Jersey to escape the British overrun in Oct./Nov. of 1776.)

I had thoughts. And very strong feelings about his character introduction. It shows tenacity and his willingness to deceive, etc. and all of that fun stuff about a future spymaster, but military campaign-wise, I think this became my biggest pain point and issue with "TURN: Washington's Spies".

It's also one of the biggest reasons why I wrote 4 novels about the 2nd Light with Tallmadge as one of the central characters. To reduce Tallmadge to just a mere spymaster (and making him very naive until the final season) instead of what he truly was - a commando and spymaster - smacked of bad character writing. It's also why between the "Pilot" episode and the 2nd episode, Tallmadge's character went from person who was able to be charismatic, deceive and act on actionable intelligence of his own initiative to dumb, idiot and flailing around with spy stuff with little to no charisma makes for poor writing and treatment.

I think "TURN: Washington's Spies" would have been better served with giving Tallmadge that dual role that he was known for in history instead of just regulating him to mere spymaster. (Don't get me started on the attempted romantic plotlines they gave him.) I get it was probably for budgetary reasons they stuck to single character archtypes, but I kind of wished there was a bit more...meat on "TURN: Washington's Spies" when it came to characters and motivations.

Honestly the only compelling thing that I did like from the "Pilot" episode that did not have me instantly dismissing the TV series when it first aired was the scenes involving Tallmadge's recruiting of Woodhull and then using the intelligence to plot action against Simcoe (I mean, it did not happen, but that sequence was nice). It wasn't until Ian Kahn showed up as Washington in Episode 5 that I was truly invested. He really brought Washington to life and made me continue to watch the series. If the filler stuff was condensed, it probably would have been a very strong series. It was only the end of Season 3 and all of Season 4 that the series felt like it had gotten a very good groove with strong plotlines and no filler.

Btw - the only episode that was mostly correct when it came to historical facts (with some errors like Jameson's character) was "Blade on a Feather" - the episode where Arnold sells West Point, Andre is caught and Arnold escapes.