Crossing the Delaware: The True Story of Washington’s Daring Christmas Raid
History
By Richard Gundermanconversation-logo-copy-300x28 | December 04, 2021
For most people today, Christmas is a time of food, family and festivities, when attention turns from work and woes to fellowship and celebration. Yet it has not always been so. In fact, Christmas of 1776 marked one of the most harrowing days in American history — when the fate of the fledgling republic itself hung in the balance. Often remembered as Washington crossing the Delaware, it pitted the ragtag Continental Army against perhaps the most feared fighting force on Earth, the German Hessians, whose services had been paid for by Britain. Yet the outcome would ultimately hinge as much on cold, ice and disease as on fighting prowess.
Washington’s forces needed some good news. After they ran the British out of Boston in March of 1776, things began going from bad to worse. The British chased Washington out of New York, then across New Jersey. By year’s end, Washington’s army was shrinking, and morale was low.
The British troops were ensconced in New York, well-fed and warm. They left German troops in charge of Trenton, New Jersey. Washington was expecting the forces of Generals Horatio Gates and Charles Lee to join him, but they were delayed by winter weather and lack of confidence.
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