Prelude to Glory Vol, 3 by Ron Carter

Author:Ron Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781609089238
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2017-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

Notes

This lengthy chapter covers two of the most important events of the Revolutionary War: Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River and the subsequent battle at Trenton. The actions and events depicted in this chapter are as accurate as possible and are based almost exclusively on pages 248-65 in Ketchum’s The Winter Soldiers, which provides an excellent outline and summary of the historical events. The battle was fought in a howling blizzard and was one of the wildest scenes recorded in the Revolutionary War.

This chapter also touches on some additional points of interest.

Before the American soldiers embarked on their journey across the river, Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis was read to them (see Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers, p. 248). Paine’s stirring words helped warm the hearts of the men preparing for battle.

Traditionally, historians have reported that Major James Wilkinson delivered a letter to Washington from General Gates the day of the crossing informing him that Gates had departed to Philadelphia. However, Gates’s reasons for leaving Washington at this critical juncture have been debated for years afterward. Some accuse Gates of going to Congress to gain favor in hopes of replacing Washington (see Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers, p. 249), while other defend his motives, proposing that Gates left the army due to poor health (see Nelson, General Horatio Gates, p. 77 and Chase, The Papers of George Washington, vol. 7, p. 418). In addition, many historians doubt the reliability of Wilkinson’s memory, as it was several years before the major recorded the incident and by then had developed a deep animosity towards Gates (see Nelson, General Horatio Gates, p. 76 n. 34). The debate remains unresolved.

The day of the Delaware crossing was clear, though the skies grew darker and the storm clouds moved in throughout the day. By eleven o’clock at night, a heavy storm finally broke, pelting the American army with snow, sleet, and eventually hail. The storm persisted, adding to the delay in Washington’s schedule (see Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers, p. 252).

Some of the lines of dialogue in this chapter are variations on dramatic and descriptive quotations from the men who experienced the events firsthand. James Wilkinson made famous the observation that the snow was “tinged here and there with blood from the feet of the men who wore broken shoes” (as quoted in Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers, p. 248), and Thomas Rodney recorded that the night march to Trenton was “as severe a night as I ever saw” (as quoted in Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers, p. 252). Washington did scrawl a note to Sullivan, ordering him, “Use the bayonet. I am resolved to take Trenton” (as quoted in Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers, p. 253).

Brigadier Generals Ewing and Cadwalader attempted to cross the river as portrayed in the novel, but inadequate boats and an approaching storm motivated Ewing to cancel the crossing and hope for the best. Not so with Cadwalader. Being unable to cross at Bristol, Cadwalader’s men ferried the boats farther south to Dunk’s Ferry, where they attempted a second crossing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.