The Christmas Crossing

Having piqued our own interest in the 230th anniversary of the publication of Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis, Number I, and it’s relation -- as an expression of ideals -- to General George Washington’s army crossing Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776 and victorious attack on the Hessian cantonment at Trenton, we took the time this year to go to the site where McConkey's Crossing was, for the annual reenactment. It is now, of course, referred to as Washington's Crossing on both sides of the river.

The event involves a mustering of the troops, an inspection by the General and rowing one of the Durham boats across the river to the New Jersey side, weather permitting, of course! The analogy to the original crossing only goes so far! There is a movie offered at the center, and it is a great event for kids and adults. My guess would have been that a few thousand folks turned out, particularly if you counted the crowds on both sides of the river. That's pretty impressive for a mid-day educational trip on Christmas day. The rain held off until the end of the crossing.

We took several photos. The one above, as you can see, shows the docked boats in the shadows at the river crossing. It was actually taken a day earlier on Christmas Eve at sundown. By sundown on Christmas day, it was raining. The photo shows the width of the river, and in the background you can see the current bridge. Look closely and you can see one of the pillars is a different color. I believe this is from repairs to damage occasioned by impact from floating debris during a recent flood.

The second photo was during the “inspection” of the troops and officers by "His Excellency," and as you can quite readily tell, Colonel Knox is standing just behind him.

For several years now, Washington has been portrayed in these reenactments by Robert Gerenser, a local businessman and resident of nearby New Hope, Pennsylvania. It would almost be enough to convince you that you were there, were it not for the press photographers inching out from behind the sycamore tree to get the shot. That, and the fact that it was all conducted a little after mid-day.

The third photo, below, is of two of the boats as they are stored in a shed right there at the sight. It gives you a good idea of their size.

Thinking and reading about that event, the remarkable thing to me is that none of the rather significant obstacles that cropped up during the run-up to the crossing – and there were many – stopped Washington from moving forward with the plan.

Congress by law actually required that a “council of war” be held by leaders before any significant move was undertaken. Washington even called one right after the victory at Trenton, inquiring as to whether they should immediately continue on the offense. Maybe to some extent he thereby felt constrained to move ahead with the plans for the attack, in the absence of some extraordinary or unanticipated impediment.

Or, maybe he was a leader who simply rose to the occasion in the knowledge that any war undertaking has inherent risks, changing circumstances, and even petty personal intrigues, but that staying true to the cause was the thing. If it is worth fighting and dying for, it is worth taking every possible step to win.

Or maybe it was a combination of these and possibly other factors as well. We'll never know for certain what was in his mind in those moments, but we'll always be grateful for his perseverance and that of his courageous men, under extremely difficult conditions.

In a separate post, we'll examine some of those impediments that obviously must have crossed his mind that night as he waited for the crossing of the river to be completed.

Merry Christmas, everyone!