From battlefield deserters to those who abandoned their duty in moments of crisis, history is filled with tales of those who chose self-preservation over honor. Join us as we examine the most notorious examples of individuals who failed to stand their ground when courage was demanded, leaving others to face the consequences of their retreat.
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00:00When Bob telegraphed the governor to claim their reward, he thought he'd be welcomed as a hero.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:09for the most interesting stories behind historical acts of alleged cowardice.
00:14You're a disgrace. Give his head a good kicking, make you feel better. All in good time.
00:20Number 10. William Hull. What exactly constitutes an act of cowardice? It's often a malleable
00:27thing that can shift depending upon one's point of view. The motives behind William Hull's
00:31surrender to General Isaac Brock during the War of 1812 could be perceived as honorable.
00:37Hull begged for time. He sent a note to Brock, asking for a three-day ceasefire.
00:42The American general was under the assumption that the combined British and Native American
00:47forces would ultimately rout his men. Hull's surrender was intended, in Hull's own words,
00:53designed to spare his battalion the horrors of a massacre. American officials didn't see it that
00:59way, however, and Hull was court-martialed for cowardice in 1814. His sentence of death was
01:04ultimately commuted by President James Madison, thanks largely in part to Hull's service records
01:09during the Revolutionary War. William Hull did not have Lydia Bacon's courage. The American
01:15general disintegrated. Number 9. Horatio Gates. What a difference a couple of years makes.
01:22The military career of Horatio Gates was notable for both victory and defeat. The former was at the
01:29Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. However, Gates's legacy is complicated
01:34by an embarrassing showing at the Battle of Camden in 1780.
01:39The major general's forces lost to Britain's Lord Cornwallis, despite the Americans having the upper hand in terms of numbers.
01:46Gates's leadership was ultimately lacking, and he allowed a thousand of his men to be captured by the British.
01:51His chaotic organizational skills couldn't even be relied upon in retreat, with Gates himself
01:58essentially the only one capable of doing so. He was the only one who was able to
02:03Number 8. James H. Leadley. The Siege of Petersburg lasted over 10 months during the American Civil War and was mired by embarrassing military gaffes such as this one at the Battle of the Crater.
02:29The Union forces should have made the most out of the titular crater blown into
02:34Confederate forces by their mines. Instead, the end results were mass confusion and mass casualties.
02:41Meanwhile, General James H. Leadley lurked safely behind a bunker, reportedly drinking alcohol while
02:47his men perished. An inquiry into Leadley's conduct was committed shortly thereafter,
02:51effectively ending his military career. Number 7. Ted Kennedy. I was overcome,
02:57I'm frank to say, by a jumble of emotions, grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion, and shock.
03:07The presidential hopes of then-Senator Ted Kennedy were effectively squashed after the
03:12Chappaquiddick incident back in 1969. Kennedy's car overturned in a body of water after he left
03:18a party on Martha's Vineyard. A young woman in the car, Mary Jo Kopechny, became trapped within the
03:24submerged vehicle and perished at the scene. Kennedy, for his part, claimed that he had
03:37attempted to rescue Kopechny, both at the time of the accident and later on with his cousin and an
03:42associate. However, Kennedy neglected to inform the police about the accident until the next day.
03:48Accusations of impropriety, drunk driving, and cowardice followed Kennedy until his death in 2009.
03:54I will answer the questions and if you have questions right now, you ask them to me because
03:58I'll answer them. There was a lot of finger pointing at the staff about how the senator
04:04had been allowed to walk into what they thought was a trap. Number 6. Gidgen Johnson Pillow. It
04:10always pays to possess friends in high places. Gidgen Johnson Pillow helped James K. Polk win
04:15the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in 1844. Polk wound up being
04:21instrumental in bailing out Pillow during his multiple military missteps. This included downgrading
04:27a potential court-martial for insubordination in 1848. Later, Pillow joined the Confederates
04:32in the Civil War, tarnishing his reputation further at the Battle of Fort Donelson in 1862.
04:38The command post got hot-potatoed from Pillow to Brigadier General Simon Buckner. The latter
04:43surrendered his Confederate forces to Ulysses S. Grant, while Pillow and the man who had passed
04:49command onto him, John B. Floyd, turned tail and ran away. Number 5. Lloyd Fredendall. Army
04:56leadership can be relieved of their command posts for a number of reasons. Lloyd Fredendall was a
05:01U.S. lieutenant general during World War II, who was replaced by Major George S. Patton after the
05:07infamous Battle of Kasserine Pass. Up against Rommel, what we need is the best tank man we've got.
05:12Somebody tough enough to pull this outfit together. Patton? Possibly. Those under Fredendall's command
05:20were said to have referred to his leadership style as cowardly, and the lieutenant's demeanor as
05:25boastful, yet without the desire to back up his words with actions. The final nail in the coffin
05:31for Lloyd Fredendall as a leader came as a result of Speedy Valley, a bunker Fredendall had built
05:37during Kasserine Pass. The general essentially hid out there as his Allied forces suffered
05:42casualties, yet blamed the failure of this operation upon everybody but himself. Number 4.
05:49Lavrentiy Beria. Many of us wonder how we might react if we ever had to stare down the barrel of
05:55a gun. Lavrentiy Beria was a serial sexual predator and a sycophantic member of Joseph
06:00Stalin's secret police. Beria's reputation as a shrewd politician was evidenced by the wealth
06:06of blackmail material the internal affairs minister compiled against both colleagues and
06:11enemies. Some women will do anything to get their husbands released. Yeah, and she did everything.
06:17I thank the union for bringing me so many devoted wives and f***ing lightsabers. Yet,
06:22when justice came calling for Lavrentiy Beria in 1953, his reaction was anything but brave or
06:29defiant. The man reportedly fell to his knees, groveling and begging for his life to be spared.
06:35This was not to be, however, and Lavrentiy Beria was shot at point-blank range after a short trial
06:41without the benefit of counsel or appeal. Beria has been reprimanded. It's unforgivable.
06:51Number 3. Robert Ford. Have you done this? I swear to god I didn't. This next entry has remained
07:00within the public consciousness thanks to films such as 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James
07:06by the coward Robert Ford. Ford actually rode alongside James and his brother as a member of
07:11the James Younger gang, but he would eventually become infamous for shooting Jesse James in the
07:16back of the head. Robert Ford and his brother Charlie decided to take Missouri Governor Thomas
07:21T. Crittenden up on his bounty for James's death. There's a $10,000 price on his head
07:27offered by Governor Crittenden of Missouri, and Bob Ford wants to cash in. The Fords would
07:34later reenact their cowardly attack from behind in various saloon shows, yet today
07:39Robert Ford's legacy remains that of a coward rather than an outlaw.
07:44Number 2. Eddie Slovik. Another bolo, Slovik. Well, I'm really sorry. Keep the peace downrange, son.
07:50Yes, sir. Sergeant. Yes, sergeant. The United States military hasn't executed a soldier for
07:56desertion since the death of Eddie Slovik back in 1945. This World War II-era soldier
08:01has been the subject of a series of massacres, including the death of his father,
08:06The United States military hasn't executed a soldier for desertion since the death of Eddie Slovik back in 1945.
08:12This World War II-era soldier fully admitted to his desertion, as well as the fear of frontline
08:17combat that initiated his request to be stationed in a rear guard position. The soldier also claimed
08:23that his execution was influenced in part to his past history as a petty criminal prior to his
08:28military service. Slovik wasn't the only one of his kind to be given a death sentence during this time,
08:33with many others having their sentences commuted. Slovik, however, had no such luck. Slovik and his
08:39final remains were interred in an area housing soldiers that had been executed for wartime
08:44murders and sexual assaults. The second volley won't be necessary, Major. Private Slovik is dead.
09:031. Francesco Scatino
09:14Captain Scatino is accused of causing this shipwreck and then abandoning it, as well as
09:19multiple manslaughter. Hopefully, this trial will reveal exactly why such a sophisticated ship hit
09:24the Jagged Rocks. We've seen a lot of historical examples of cowardice thus far in this list,
09:30but the case of Francesco Scatino is a comparatively recent story that made headlines
09:34back in 2012. Scatino was the captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship during its fatal
09:40capsizing in January of that year. The naval disaster resulted in 33 deaths after the Costa
09:46Concordia accidentally struck an underwater rock. He was indicating the one that was submerged,
09:52because he was indicating the one on the right side. And that's why I was asking, sorry, it's
09:57dark. I cannot see which ladder you mean. Scatino, for his part, abandoned his ship prior
10:04to the evacuation of everybody on board. He received scathing nicknames such as Captain
10:10Coward and Chicken of the Seas. Yet the Costa Concordia disaster was truly no laughing matter.
10:16Instead, Francesco Scatino was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his actions.
10:21What, to you, defines a coward? How do you think you'd react in a real life or death situation?
10:34Sound off in the comments below.
10:51Transcribed by https://otter.ai