Book Review: David Hackett Fischer’s Washington’s Crossing

View in Catalog

---

In winter 1776 General George Washington took a desperate gamble to preserve the fledgling American Army and the American cause for independence.

Author David Hackett Fischer chronicles this saga in his book, Washington’s Crossing.

The first few chapters provide profiles of the armies that will appear throughout the book. 

• Rebels: United States Army fighting for freedom from Great Britain
• Regulars: British troops seeking to put down the simmering revolution
• Hessians: German mercenaries paid by Great Britain to fight against the Rebels.

Summer – Fall 1776

Fading hope, low morale

Following the July 4th signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Battle of Long Island took place on August 27, 1776. General William Howe, the British commander, had forces heavily outnumbering those of the poorly trained and poorly disciplined U.S. Army.  Washington’s troops were quickly outmaneuvered by the more seasoned British troops.  Following the defeat, the Americans benefited from a night of miserable weather, which allowed Washington to complete a harrowing nighttime evacuation across the East River to Manhattan, saving his remaining army through both stealth and fog.

What followed was a relentless string of losses. British and Hessian forces seized New York City, then pressed the retreating American Army across New Jersey through the autumn months of 1776.

Washington’s army was quickly depleted by combinations of disease, desertion, and expiring enlistments. During this dispiriting fall season, American troops had dropped from more than 31,000 in September, including troops in New York and New Jersey, to barely 3,000 who marched east from Newark, NJ in early December. Compounding the crisis, many New Jersey residents, weary of war and doubtful of American prospects, began swearing loyalty oaths to the Crown, further isolating the rebellion. In December as temperatures and spirits plummeted, the Revolutionary cause seemed to teeter.

Winter 1776

The Gamble Begins

Seeking refuge from their losses, Washington’s forces crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania in early December, allowing them time to regroup. This retreat sets the stage for the book’s central drama. In December, following a number of small skirmishes between small bands of American troops and British and Hessian troops, frustrations were rising among the British and their allies.  After keeping constant vigilance, on the alert for an attack by the Americans, exhaustion was setting in for British and Hessian troops stationed along the Delaware River in New Jersey. 

On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington made a calculated and extraordinarily risky decision: he would re-cross the ice-choked Delaware River under cover of darkness.

Attack!

The plan was for Washington and his troops to attack from the North while other American forces would move from points in southern Pennsylvania.  Commanders south of Trenton were unable to cross the river due to ice floes that prevented a safe landing.  Washington and his troops had to go it alone.

Using flat bottomed Durham boats and ferries, Washington and about 2,400 soldiers, along with artillery and horses, began crossing the Delaware River less than 10 miles north of Trenton.  The crossing took nearly nine hours to complete due to treacherous winter conditions. 

Battle of Trenton

The gamble succeeded spectacularly. Marching through sleet and snow, Washington’s forces surprised the Hessian garrison stationed at Trenton early in the morning of December 26, 1776. In a fierce, but short battle, the Americans killed or wounded roughly 22 Hessians and captured nearly 900 more, suffering only a handful of casualties themselves. This unexpected victory electrified the American cause, restoring morale and proving that the American Army could still defeat a professional European force.

Ten Crucial Days

Emboldened by this success, Washington pressed his advantage. In early January 1777, after a tense standoff near Trenton against General Lord Cornwallis’s approaching army, Washington executed a daring nighttime march around British lines to strike at Princeton. There, American forces defeated additional British regiments in a sharp engagement that further damaged British confidence and control over New Jersey. Together, the twin victories at Trenton and Princeton reversed the momentum of the war, encouraged fresh enlistments, and convinced skeptical observers, both at home and abroad, that American independence remained a viable possibility.

Final Thoughts

Readers will find this book compelling on multiple levels.  History enthusiasts who enjoy focused accounts of the Revolutionary War’s early and most precarious phase will likely find this to be a rewarding choice. Throughout the book are colorful profiles of many military officers and political figures that bring them and their mannerisms to life for the reader.  Especially thrilling is knowing how a single, daring military campaign reversed the trajectory of the War. The momentum gained with the Battle of Trenton, later followed by significant military and naval support from the French, ultimately enabled the newly formed United States of America to defeat what was, at the time, the world’s greatest military power.

This successful revolution gave birth to the first modern-day democracy, leading many nations in the New World to follow suit.

---

---