American revolution. And the story is, washington and the Continental Army, after having lost battles in new york and retreating across new jersey, came into bucks county and its getting of december 1776. They encampments ever locations around this area, including the tops in the only house which is also part of our park and things were pretty desperate at this point for washington and the patriots cause. The Continental Army really needed a win. Washington was afraid that the british were going to remain in philadelphia and take over the capital and you really knew that what he needed was a bold action and after meeting with his war counsel, they made a decision that on christmas night, they would cross the delaware and march to trenton to attack a post at trenton. As they began to march from the thompson has down here, a snowstorm it started and the weather was terrible, there was snow and hail and it was basically a pretty bad noreaster, and all of these men, 2400 of them all, had to cross the delaware and began their march. There were other regiments who are supposed to cross it to other locations, at the trenton ferry and at the bristol ferry, and they were not able to get across for a variety of reasons in the weather was absolutely. Make way for the general. General washington, i know it is secret mission, but could you tell us about this operation . This is our final chance, this is our chance to make an impact on this war, the problems we have is our enlistments our expiring, soldiers want to go home, i have ten days, just ten short days in order to make this attack, we feel that what the weather behind us, the element of surprise on our side they will be able to take the city of trying, to raise him around the troops, and prove to congress but we are viable army they should support and hopefully, and hopefully enlistments will arrive. Have you done an operation like this before . We have not. The only operates weve done where the evacuations from new york, which was very well done and my hat is off to them, when massachusetts, whom in the bodes that remove this from new york and they retreated down from the jerseys to the banks of the delaware. Right now theyre trying to keep river between us and the passion mercenaries that are now in camp in the town. We are trying to stay between them and the city of philadelphia. Tell us about your forces. What type of men are they . Hopefully you keep this among ourselves, but we do have 3000 troops, of which i have found about 2400 are fit for duty. The remainder have fallen ill from malnutrition and from the weather and we are caring for them further north of the river. We have 2400 troops ready to go. We have three days rations cut, three runs variation each and we expect to get them a good fight. My name is frank lyons, from hardly just down the street nine portraying colonel john whoever from marvel head, massachusetts. Colonel glover was the commander of the 14 fundamental regiment which was also known as the marble had marinerss. Marble head is a small town about ten miles north of boston when the American Revolution started. Are the same part of this part of the United States on the east coast. Because of the intolerable acts, all those british and documents that led up to the American Revolution, most of the men at marble head were unemployed and very unhappy and they were happy to join marble head regiment which eventually signed up 550 men. They never expected to find themselves all the way down here in pennsylvania, colonel glover and his marble head regiment saved washington and his army three times, this being the third time. The first time, after the disastrous battle of long island, glover and his men road 9000 men, horses, cannon, baggage across the lower east river from brooklyn into what is modernday downtown brooklyn into lower manhattan. Saved Washingtons Army is from being encircled by the british. And then it tells coin and then he sealed up the east river, and was planning to march across, and trap washington in manhattan. Never once again, with 700, men held off 4000 british and hessian troops. The british took between seven and 800 casualties i saw that he wasnt attacked to escape from manhattan and to fight another day. And then we fast forward to washington the section of pennsylvania and around the 22nd of december, glover marches into this area and he camps up the hill near where Washington Headquarters were, and washington calls him to his headquarters and tells him what he wants to do, cross 800 feet of iraqi i strewn river, or under cover of darkness, and by the, way the barometer is falling and we could be looking at some weather, and lover modest to washington and says, your excellency, it is impossible. Washington says to clever, colonel glover, i did not ask you to assess possibilities, i asked you if you could do it, a colonel weber thanks for a second and says, general washington, we can do it and that is when legend tells us, this legend, it is not written anywhere, but legend tells us that that is when washington made the final decision to go ahead with this bold strock which truly did save the American Revolution. You can point to maybe a dozen events that truly change the course of World History forever and one of them took place right on this ground where we are standing here. It is one of the three iconic parts of the revolutionary war. If you ask, anyone even the smallest part of history, theyre going to talk about Washington Crossing the delaware and the battle of york town. Everyone knows the iconic painting which was obviously pointed in the 1850s based on the reinke river but everyone knows that painting as Washington Crossing the delaware, and i will tell, you this river does freeze solid. We certainly do not get icebergs. It is thick sheets of ice that goes straight across. So, the reenactment part of this. What will take place . We will start by seeing washington and his officers review his troops. We will hear washington give a speech to the troops and then everyone will board the boats, the boats that we have here and across the delaware. Tell us about the boats. The votes are one of the types of votes that were used during the crossing to get men from pennsylvania to new jersey. What is special about the durham boats is that they are large and they were originally made to haul pick iron from the durham iron works up and down the delaware so they were ideal for putting a lot of guys in and getting them from point a to point b. But they were not the only boats that were used during the crossing. They are the only type of boats you will see here during the reenactment. Washington, when he came to pennsylvania, ordered all the boats that were on the new jersey side of the delaware brought over to pennsylvania, and hope of slowing down the crossing that the british my due to invade philadelphia so, the durham boats were used and in particular, a ferry was used, it is why they came difficulties ferry, so that you could get artillery across, horses across, because obviously you will not be able to get any of them in a durham boat. music music musicc glover, how do the conditions look . My marvel headers have just returned from traversing the river. They report to me that the river is swift and the river is strewn with ice. But they are confident, sir, and theyre determined to convey our army across the delaware this very night. Excellent. And remember, its victory or death. We will not fail. Please turn your troops and repair them for inspection. Thank you. Dismissed. Weve asked congress coverage for many things that were short. Of food, tents, provisions, blankets. We have had citizens of philadelphia coming up to provide us with at least some blankets to keep them warm. It reminds me of the crisis by thomas payne. Your sergeants have read to you. He wrote, these are the times for tried men souls, the summer soldier in the sunshine patriots will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country, but he who stands it now deserves the love and thanks of men and women. And my troops you deserve that love and thanks. You are here with me now and continue our fight. I look forward to seeing you in trenton and remember, victory or death for. Colonel sergeant . Yes, your excellency. Prepare the troops to board. That i will. Washington knew they could be valuable for transporting troops, basically ferries took people across the river, not the durham votes, so they dont maneuver while going across the river, and its a real art form. You have to roll them up the river and take him to the wind in the courage to get them in positions, they were really meant to float down the river, and to be pulled down the river and steered with this big sweep or that is in the back end of the vote what you will see out here today so, know they are not real manoeuvrable when youre going across the river, and it takes a little bit of skill for these guys to be able to do it. My name is leon vaughan, and im portraying a member of colonel glovers marble headers. 13th regiment out of marblehead, massachusetts, fishermen who help George Washington get across water. How is the crossing today . The crossing today was very easy. Some years it had snowed, some years it has rained, and it has been cold but today perfect weather conditions. Tell me about your portrayal, why do you do this . I do it because it is not in the average American History textbook, about the 40 percent of colonel office unit because during that time in massachusetts, black men were a large part of the whaling in the fishing industry. It is meant hot caught every day this is a typical dress of a codfish fisherman. The trousers, theyre open, so just in case you fall in the water, you wouldnt have any water in your pants, they could drain and you could come up and you would not drown that easy. And the hat, you could have it pulled down over your ears, not like the try cohen hats, and everything was practical. Going backwards. Prepare to cast off. But then, we were here from day one. I had a cousin who did Extensive Research on my fathers mother and he traced her ancestry back to one of the 20 and odd africans who were on the boat that landed in hamptons virginia, 60 19, so i can trace my family back in this country for hundred years. You have to go deep into libraries, you have to go to used bookstores and the internet has helped also. I picked up a book out of a library and in this book, i found, in the painting of george Washington Crossing the river, the man rolling the boat to the right of George Washington, is a black guy. His name was prince whipple. He was the servant of one of George Washingtons aides, and he is a black guy rowing the boat in the painting. A lot that crossing 1776. If we had to wait for 2400, it would take all day. Took washington nine hours. About 300 today and about 48 boats crew. The boats crew come out and practice on a local lake. We come down and practice on the river. We do there is a lot at the planning goes on all year. There will be a meeting in january and that we will start planning for next year. My father never owned a motor. When we went out fishing, we wrote in the chesapeake bay, we rode into the bay. I was ten years old. I started growing the boat at ten. Row in this is just a reflection of my childhood. As a reenactor ive been doing George Washington for nine years now and its a tremendous opportunity. As you look around here, you see hundreds and hundreds of visitors that come to this park just to see this one event. Its an iconic event and its something that, not only is regional important, but also nationally important. Without this victory, the army wouldve collapsed. How did you get into this type of thing and why did you do it . As an amateur historian, i have been doing revolutionary war reenactment for 26 years. Over the years, when you work your way up from up private, to a sergeant, to an officer, you look at your predecessors and you say, i think i can do a better job or i can do Something Different and ive taken on the role for the last nine years and had many successful crossings. I actually like the fact that not only we educate the public in what took place here and how much is meant to our nation, but it keeps the site viable. 2013 we had six inches of snow and for hours and i watched my boat come across and you couldnt see the shoreline on either side once you got into the river and they canceled it once i got out there and deemed unsafe to cross anymore boats. It was one of those, it started as daylight, sunny and by the time of the crossing, there was six inches of snow on the ground. It certainly felt like the period and i have also been here when it rains, sleet and snow on the same day and the troops are grumbling, they are complaining, standing waiting to cross and have to look at them and say, these are the conditions that the troops actually crossed under and im sure they were complaining about the same discomforts. If i have a general staff i also have commanderinchief guard and we also have our commanderinchief position flag. That is how you know where the general is in the battlefield or camp that specific fly which is now in philadelphia. And pull. And pull. And paul. And pull. The officers were aware of where they were going, where they were marching to and that they were attacking the outpost. The men in the boats didnt necessarily know exactly where their destination was clearly they were aware that something significant was about to take place. They were cold, many of them were sick, they were hungry, they didnt have the equipment as far as appropriate clothing that they needed to protect themselves from this weather. They did this under great hardship. They were very brave. They accomplished something that i dont know, i know i certainly couldnt do, under those circumstances. They marched nine miles after the crossing, in the snowstorm, they marched nine miles south to trenton and they attacked the haitians, who were not expecting to be attacked for a number of reasons. First of all, because it was just after a major snowstorm. It was also the time of year, wintertime, where most armies went into their winter camps and stopped fighting. The haitians actually had been engaged, several times, by some of the local militias in new jersey and were really on edge. This was not a type of fighting they were accustomed to. By the time it was christmas and there had been in major snowstorm, they were hoping to have the opportunity to rest a little bit. Of course, that didnt happen. They were attacked by the Continental Army who was able to feed them in pretty short order. The army stayed in threaten for just a short amount of time and then brought prisoners about 900 or so prisoners back and crossed again at a couple of different ferries. Officers were kept overnight at the tavern here and enlisted and eventually the officers were taken to new tempest, just a couple miles here. It is always good to know your history. No to where you have come. That where you know where you are going and you try not to repeat some of the same mistakes. When i was in school, i hated history. It was always teaching me about what somebody else did, now i have to learn and high school nor in college about real American History, all inclusive American History. Like, one time i was given a lecture at an office of homeland security. It was their black History Month program. After i gave a short speech on the black involvement in the civil war, one of the white men in the audience stood up and said, why are you here teaching us black history . I said sir, im not teaching you black history, i am teaching you American History. It just happens to be about black people. Most people are probably familiar with the Emmanuel Leutze painting. What do you think of that . I think it is a lovely painting. Leutze was not trying to provide a snapshot of the actual historic event. Leutze was telling a story and in that painting you see the story of the American Revolution, that he was trying to inspire people in germany at the time and their quest for revolution so, you see Washington Crossing, you see james monroe who ends up being a president. You see a flag, what we now call the betsy ross flag that is used in the painting. Well, that flag was not being used in 1776, but leutze already knows how the story ends and he includes it there. You are seeing two future president s. You are seeing a variety of different types of people in that boat, which was just like the makeup of the army, a variety of different types of people. My name is jared frederick, i am an instructor of history at penn state, and i am also a reenactor with the furious fourth World War Ii History group. We are here at the u. S. Army heritage days at Education Center in pennsylvania. It is a major complex on the Army Heritage trail
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