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Monadnock Hiker
Deerslayer
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
August 31 2017
Status: offline
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 Posted - December 28 2019 : 2:12:48 PM
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Yeah, ... my thoughts too. Just "happened to see it" on Youtube & watched a few minutes & didn't stop.
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On Christmas Day 1776, George Washington made the decision to lead his army across the icy Delaware River in the face of a severe snowstorm to attack a British encampment at Trenton, New Jersey. This was a critical decision. Things had not been going well for Washington. He had suffered several significant defeats without any major victories.
The brand new Republic was at stake.
But forward he went. And on December 27, 1776, exactly 243 years ago, he wrote to John Hancock reporting his victory at Trenton. The ice on the river, he wrote, “made me despair of surprizing the Town, as I well knew we could not reach it before the day was fairly broke, but as I was certain there was no making a Retreat without being discovered, and harassed on repassing the River, I determined to push on at all Events.”
Of his troops he said: “In justice to the Officers and Men, I must add, that their Behaviour upon this Occasion, reflects the highest honor upon them. The difficulty of passing the River in a very severe Night, and their March thro’ a violent Storm of Snow and Hail, did not in the least abate their Ardour."
Just a week before Washington had ordered that a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine be read to all of his soldiers to inspire them.
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Paine wrote:
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These are the 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.
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Credit: Judicial Watch ... |
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