CBS News Radio Independence Day Special 2025 - Hour 1

On the Independence Day Special from CBS News Radio, host Gil Gross and author Stephen Brumwell look at the birth of guerilla warfare, or as military scholars call it “asymmetric warfare.” Invented by Robert Rogers, an American colonist who led Rogers’ Rangers against the French Army in North America, his tactics are still being taught in military academies to this day. Rogers, whom his indigenous opponents called “the White Devil,” became the most famous soldier in North America–eclipsing even George Washington–but fell from grace during the Revolutionary War.

 And what is the 4th of July without fireworks?  John Withington shares the fascinating story of the origins of fireworks and how they continue to amaze us to this day.  

Then, we will learn about Washington's Final Battlewith author Robert Watson about our first President’s effort to establish the new nation's capital and how that almost tore the country apart.