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Dec 2010 Issue
By Laurel Beckstead
Although America had declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, by the end of the year General Washington’s army was near collapse. They were battling the strongest army in the world while suffering from hunger and sickness with little or no military supplies. Soldier pay seldom came. With soldiers longing for the comfort and safety of home, how was Washington going to keep his army going, let alone win the war?
To stir the troops to action on December 23, 1776, Thomas Paine wrote these inspiring words, using a drum for a desk:
“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 their 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. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated” (The American Crisis).
The following day, Christmas Eve, General Washington concluded that it would be the perfect time to strike at Trenton. Benjamin Rush came to cheer the General before they left for battle. He saw a note Washington had written which said, “Victory or Death.” These words became the password for the surprise attack.
On this freezing and stormy Christmas night with Thomas Paine’s words etched in their hearts, the troops crossed the Delaware River. Once across the river, the soldiers marched through the night toward Trenton in sleet and snow. Many of them had no boots, and their bleeding feet, wrapped in rags, turned the snow red. General Washington rode up and down the line, encouraging them. As the wet weather began to wet the gunpowder, General Washington relayed the message, “Tell General Sullivan to use the bayonet. I am resolved to take
Trenton.” Washington led the assault, from the attack on the first outpost to the final rally, where Washington yelled, “March on, my brave fellows, after me!”
The Americans defeated the Hessians, after which General Washington is said to have grabbed the hand of a young officer and said, “This is a glorious day for our country.” It was the bold leadership of General Washington that eventually won the Revolutionary War. He recognized God’s providential hand in the events of the war. God’s influence was General Washington’s greatest strength that guided him through this victory at Trenton and every experience in the Revolutionary War.
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