Not a Moment to be Lost: When the Inestimable Blessing of Liberty was at Stake: Part 2

It's hard to imagine the world without the power and might of the United States of America keeping us safe.  What if our country weren't there to change the course of two world wars and protect weaker countries from unwarranted hostile aggression?  The world would certainly be very different if not for the hard struggle of 2,000 men during the last two weeks of 1776.

Most of us know the story of the days and months preceding the Battle of Trenton.  What we may not know is how quickly the plan for that battle was pulled together.


By December of 1776, General George Washington's Continental Army was on the verge of dissolution.  Three months before, they were driven out of New York City in a disastrous, bloody campaign.  Subsequently chased out New Jersey in a week and a half, the American army looked finished.  Most enlistments expired at the end of the year, which meant that most of the American patriots who hadn’t already deserted were literally packing their bags.  General Washington knew that if the army dissolved, so would the “glorious cause” that he had labeled only months before. He had to act. If he didn't, he would become nothing but a footnote in history as the traitor who led a hopelessly vain effort for independence from the most powerful nation on the face of the Earth.

Of course, looking back, we can just count down the days until Washington crosses the Delaware River and saves the day.  Breathing a sigh of relief and exclaiming what a close call it was, we move on with our daily lives, not grasping just how quickly this complicated plan came together before it was set in motion on that momentous Christmas night.

On December 22, Colonel Joseph Reed, a Massachusetts militia commander, wrote Washington about the dire situation, imploring him to retake the initiative and take back at least part of New Jersey.  He proposed a series of offensive actions across the Delaware to achieve these objectives and at the same time, raise morale.  He suggested:

"We are all of Opinion my dear General that something must be attempted to revive our expiring Credit give our Cause some Degree of Reputation & prevent a total Depreciation of the Continental Money which is coming on very fast....In a little Time the Continental Army is dissolved the Militia must be taken before their Spirits & Patience are exhausted & the scattered divided State of the Enemy affords us a fair Oppy of trying what our Men will do when called to an offensive Attack—Will it not be possible my dear Genl for your Troops or such Part of them as can act with Advantage to make a Diversion or something more at or about Trenton—the greater the Alarm the more likely Success will attend the Attacks—If we could possess ourselves again of New Jersey or any considerable Part of it the Effects would be greater than if we had never left it—Allow me to hope that you will consult your own good Judgment & Spirit, & not let the Goodness of your Heart subject you to the Influence of Opinions from Men in every Respect your Inferiours."

Reed's tone of voice could have gotten him in big trouble with a lesser man, and remember, he's writing to the Commander-in-Chief.  Closing his letter, he explained himself:

"Pardon the Freedom I have used, the Love of my Country, a Wife & 4 Children in the Enemys Hands, the Respect & Attachment I have to you—the Ruin & Poverty that must attend me & thousands of others will plead my Excuse for so much Freedom."

The next day, Washington replied with a daring plan to cross the ice-choked Delaware River to launch a dawn surprise attack on the 1500 strong Hessian garrison at Trenton.  While we don't know what plans Washington already had in mind before Reed's letter, this correspondence would lead us to believe that Colonel Joseph Reed set in motion one of the most crucial actions in American history, a move that had to be pulled together in a mere 48 hours.

When the Inestimable Blessing of Liberty was at Stake: Part 1

We've all heard the story of Washington Crossing the Delaware. It's practically a fairy tale for most schoolchildren, of how the Continental Army, in what seems like a pre-destined course of events, crossed a river and changed history. Some of us may have seen the Emanuel Lutze painting in New York, which helps put symbolic faces to that story and show, albeit a bit unrealistically, what the mood must have felt like that night. But I doubt that most people have any idea how difficult it must have been for George Washington in those dark days when the situation was dire, the cause was in doubt, and the Continental Army was about to dissolve. Over the next few posts, I'd like to shed some light on how this amazing story played out when the world held its breath that fateful December day 235 years ago.

In a letter to John Hancock on December 20, 1776, Washington described the distressing predicament and his doubts regarding the militia upon which he was supposed to rely. This is only 6 days before the crossing, and it would seem that the plan to attack Trenton hasn't even begun to form:

“We find Sir, that the Enemy are daily gathering strength from the disaffected; This strength, like a Snowball by rolling, will increase, unless some means can be devised to check effectually, the progress of the Enemy’s Arms: Militia may possibly do it for a little while; but in a little while also, the Militia of those States which have been frequently called upon, will not turn out at all, or if they do, it will be with so much reluctance and sloth as to amount to the same thing [….] could any thing but the River Delaware have saved Philadelphia? can any thing[....] be more destructive to the recruiting service, than giving Ten dollars bounty for Six weeks service of the Militia, who come in, you can not tell how—go, you cannot tell when—and act, you cannot tell where—consume your provisions—exhaust your Stores, and leave you at last at a critical moment. These Sir, are the men, I am to depend upon, Ten days hence. This is the Basis on which your Cause will and must for ever depend, till you get a large standing Army, sufficient of itself to oppose the Enemy....”

As Thomas Paine so eloquently observed, these truly were the times that tried men's souls.