Christmas 1776: Times that Tried Men's Souls

By any measure, December 1776 was a desperate time for General George Washington. Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was nearly lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within sight of Philadelphia. George Washington lost ninety percent of his army and was driven across the Delaware River. Despair had spread through the states. The British had every reason to believe that the Revolution had been crushed.

The ragtag Continental Army under Washington's command was encamped along the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware River exhausted, demoralized and wholly uncertain of its future. The enlistments of the majority of the militias in the Continental Army were due to expire at the end of the month and the troops would return to their homes. In the middle of a battle, Washington was forced to change out armies. The Congress had given him a command, but insufficient funds or resources to maintain it.

Thomas Paine's new pamphlet, entitled The American Crisis, began with these well known words:

"These are times that try men's souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

Although these words helped boost morale, Washington knew had to take quick, decisive action if the revolution was to be preserved.

Washington looked every bit like a commander and he knew that if he was to lead effectively he had to set an effective example. By all accounts, he succeeded. His men wrote home of his presence on the battlefields, exhorting and checking, leading his soldiers and learning about them.

He decided to attack the British.... The target was the town of Trenton just across the Delaware River.

Final preparations for the attack began on December 23. Washington ordered that each man be provided with three days rations and that they keep their blankets handy. He also ordered that security be tightened at each river crossing. The boats used to bring the army across the Delaware from New Jersey were brought down from Malta Island near New Hope and hidden behind Taylor Island at McKonkey's Ferry. A final planning meeting took place on December 24, with all of Washington's General Officers present.

On December 25, 1776, Washington and a small army of 2,400 men crossed the Delaware River at McKonkey's Ferry, Pennsylvania on their way to attack a Hessian Garrison of 1,500 in Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing renewed hope among the Continental Army, Congress and the general population.

On Christmas Day 1776, the troops assembled at the ferry landing and were given the password for the day, "Victory or Death". All of the men were gathered at the point of embarkment by 3:00 p.m. and the loading of the boats began at nightfall. Washington and a party of Virginia troops crossed over first to secure a landing site. The original plan called for the entire army to be disembarked on the New Jersey side of the Delaware by midnight, but it was not until 3:00 a.m. on December 26th that the army completed the crossing. It took another hour to get the troops organized for an attack. A hail and sleet storm had broken out early in the crossing, winds were strong and the river was full of ice floes.

The following is an eyewitness account of those events from Elisha Bostwick, who was a soldier in the Continental Army and who took part in the battle and published his memoirs shortly after. We join his story as Washington (whom he refers to as "his Excellency") and his force begin to cross the Delaware:

"For God's sake, keep by your officers!"

"[Our] army passed through Bethleham and Moravian town and so on to the Delaware which we crossed 9 miles north of Trenton and encamped on the Pennsylvania side and there remained to the 24th December. [O]ur whole army was then set on motion and toward evening began to re-cross the Delaware but by obstructions of ice in the river did not all get across till quite late in the evening, and all the time a constant fall of snow with some rain, and finally our march began with the torches of our field pieces stuck in the, exhalters. [They] sparkled and blazed in the storm all night and about day light a halt was made at which time his Excellency and aids came near to the front on the side of the path where soldiers stood.

I heard his Excellency as he was coming on speaking to and encouraging the soldiers. The words he spoke as he passed by where I stood and in my hearing were these:

'Soldiers, keep by your officers. For God's sake, keep by your officers!' Spoke in a deep and solemn voice.

While passing a slanting, slippery bank his Excellency's horse's hind feet both slipped from under him, and he seized his horse's mane and the horse recovered.

Our horses were then unharnessed and the artillery men prepared. We marched on and it was not long before we heard the out sentries of the enemy both on the road we were in and the eastern road, and their out guards retreated firing, and our army, then with a quick step pushing on upon both roads, at the same time entered the town. Their artillery taken, they resigned with little opposition, about nine hundred, all Hessians, with 4 brass field pieces; the remainder crossing the bridge at the lower end of the town escaped....

When crossing the Delaware with the prisoners in flat bottom boats the ice continually stuck to the boats, driving them down stream; the boatmen endeavoring to clear off the ice pounded the boat, and stamping with their feet, beckoned to the prisoners to do the same, and they all set to jumping at once with their cues flying up and down, soon shook off the ice from the boats....

Three other Continental crossing parties attempted to cross the Delaware at different locations. All of them failed due to the weather and the impenetrable ice on the river. The Hessians suffered approximately 900 casualties during the battle (killed, wounded or captured) while the American losses amounted to 4 killed and 8 wounded.

Under cover of night, Washington's men infiltrated behind the enemy and struck them again, defeating a brigade at Princeton. The British were badly shaken. In twelve weeks of winter fighting, their army suffered severe damage, their hold on New Jersey was broken, and their strategy was ruined.

Perhaps Washington's most significant decision in crossing the Delaware that Christmas night was his decision to use guerrilla-like tactics similar to those he had observed among Native Americans in the French and Indian War. Although not a brilliant military leader, Washington was successful in holding his poorly-trained army together, continuing to demoralize the British with enervating, hit-and-run attacks.

Sources:

Eyewitnesstohistory.com
Wikipedia
Answers.com
AmericanRevolution.com
Blogcritics.org