Washington's Crossing
by David Hackett Fischer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Reviewed by: Peter Slocum

Ironically, the magnificent bridge that bears his name marks the geographic and military nadir of George Washingtonís career. On November 16, 1776, the commander of a shattered army stood atop the Jersey Palisades and wept as he watched victorious British troops wipe out the remnants of his command in New York.

ìIn the agony of that moment he felt that he had lost everything: lost the war, lost the Cause, lost his own way,î writes David Hackett Fisher in his vibrant new history, ìWashingtonís Crossing.î

And yet, only six weeks later, Washington would lead his ragtag (many soldiers had no shoes) across the Delaware River to drive the British and Hessians out of Trenton and abruptly halt the downward spiral of defeat that threatened to end the Revolutionary War less than half a year after the Declaration of Independence was written.

Fisherís book, one in an Oxford University Press series ìPivotal Moments in American History,î is the story of how Washington and the Colonial Army got from New York to Trenton, and saved the Revolution in the process. While the legendary crossing, made famous by Emanuel Leutze, who was actually trying to inspire European revolutionaries in 1848, is a dramatic enough tale, the weeks leading up to it are even more gripping. And this thorough history makes clear how near a thing it was.

Washington had an imposing, charismatic presence, and inspired tremendous respect, but he does not rank with the American military greats as a commander or strategist. He stumbled and blundered his way into disastrous defeats all around New York in the late summer and fall of 1776. Fisher is highly critical of the performance: Washington misread intelligence, leapt to inaccurate conclusions and allowed his commands to become so entangled that some units did not know to whom they were reporting. This was on the eve of the Battle of Long Island, when the British landed some 22,000 troops on the southwestern shore and drove the Americans nearly into the East River.

ìWashington was racked by doubt and indecision. He decided to send six battalions from New York to Long Island, and four more the next day, but he also sent boats the bring them back instantly,î Fisher reports. In other words, Washington wasnít sure what the British were doing, wasnít confident in his own generals, and wasnít running a very good operation. Nathan Hale, the young lieutenant who responded to Washingtonís desperate call for officers to volunteer as spies, was ìyet another victim of amateur incompetence in the New York campaign.î

Washington got his battered troops off Long Island with a daring nighttime rescue, a courageous move that succeeded thanks to a lingering heavy fog that masked the American movements. This good luck with the weather presaged Washingtonís success in central New Jersey that winter.

One valuable feature of Fisherís book is his decision to provide personal and contextual portraits of the British and Hessian leaders. The remarkable Howe brothers, Admiral Lord Richard Howe and General William Howe, who commanded the British Navy and Army, respectively, both members of Parliament who opposed George IIIís harsh policies toward the Colonies, demanded negotiating authority to go along with their war-making powers. Their desire to make peace with the colonists rather than wage total war helps to explain how Washington was able to escape south through New Jersey after the debacle in New York.

The decision to turn on his pursuers by recrossing the ice-choked Delaware was born of desperation. The rebel capital at Philadelphia was nearby and threatened, the enlistment period of many soldiers was due to expire on January 1, and the Army needed to do something--anything--to show that the rebellion was alive.

Details of the crossing and the battle in Trenton are riveting, and Fisher quotes extensively from journals and letters written by officers and men. A Noríeaster struck as they were fighting through the ice on the river, and made their march miserable, but it masked their approach upon the town.

When the Americans swept out of the snowstorm into Trenton ñ the New Hampshire troops led by John ìlive free or dieî Stark charged with fixed bayonets ñ they caught the Hessians not hung over, but by surprise. The capable Hessian commander Colonel Johann Rall was killed just as he started to rally his troops, and his lieutenants missed the opportunity for a successful retreat. As a result, Washington and his men killed 22, badly wounded 83 and captured 896 officers and men.

It was a profound turn in the war; for the first time since Bunker Hill, the Colonists proved they could compete with the British (and Hessians). Combined with the skirmish several days later that became known as the Battle of Princeton, the Trenton defeat severely damaged British self-confidence and dashed expectations for an early, easy victory. The cost of victory began to seem too high a price to pay. The British thought they could vanquish the rebels with a few surgical strikes, and were not prepared to forcibly occupy most of the colonies in order to subdue the rebellion. After ìThe Crossing,î the equation changed. Ultimately, of course, the Americans won the waiting game that ensued.

A fascinating subplot in this history is the story of the semi-guerilla warfare waged by New Jerseyans against the British and Hessian occupying forces that fall of 1776. The locals were so outraged by looting and rape and other mistreatments, that they began ambushing the Redcoats on country lanes and in small towns, so much so that the British responded with harsh retribution. That only made the Americans angrier, more determined to win their independence.

And it was during this time that Tom Paine, the pamphleteer, serving as an aide de camp and a war correspondent, writing by the light of the campfire as the Army retreated down through New Jersey, determined to rally the colonists to the cause. ìThese are the times that try menís souls,î he wrote, in what he later termed a ìpassion of patriotism.î ìThe 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.î

Peter Slocum is vice president of advocacy for the American Cancer Society-NY/NJ.

08/2/2004