The Stolen General

Originally Aired: March 5, 1940 Cavalcade of America #177, "The Stolen General," stars John Garfield as Colonel William Barton in a daring Revolutionary War tale set during America's first Fourth of July celebration in 1777. When Private Coffin escapes from British captivity bearing fresh scars from a brutal whipping ordered by the arrogant General Prescott, he brings vital intelligence to the Colonial militia headquarters at Tiverton, Rhode Island. Prescott, quartered at the Overing estate on nearby Newport Island, is protected by British infantry, cavalry, and a naval squadron, yet Coffin reveals a crucial weakness: only one sentry guards the house itself. Despite the seemingly impossible odds and Colonel Stanton's initial refusal, Barton proposes an audacious plan to slip past the British fleet under cover of darkness, capture the general, and exchange him for the captured American General Lee. When Barton calls for volunteers willing to risk their lives on a secret mission for freedom, the entire regiment steps forward. The volunteers will be selected through boat races, choosing the finest oarsmen for this dangerous Fourth of July expedition that could give the struggling American cause both a propaganda victory and their general back.