Washington Crossed the Delaware on Christmas Morning

1776
Washington crosses the Delaware
This Day In History

During the American Revolution, Patriot General George Washington crosses the Delaware River with 5,400 troops, hoping to surprise a Hessian force celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. The unconventional attack came after several months of substantial defeats for Washington’s army that had resulted in the loss of New York City and other strategic points in the region.

At about 11 p.m. on Christmas, Washington’s army commenced its crossing of the half-frozen river at three locations. The 2,400 soldiers led by Washington successfully braved the icy and freezing river and reached the New Jersey side of the Delaware just before dawn. The other two divisions, made up of some 3,000 men and crucial artillery, failed to reach the meeting point at the appointed time.
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How to celebrate Christmas weekend like George Washington
Philly.com
Natalie Pompilio, For The Inquirer
December 25, 2015

Groups of soldiers in the snow at Washington Crossing Park in Bucks County

Everything you think you know about George Washington's leading his troops across the Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776? It's probably wrong, especially if you're basing your knowledge on a certain oil painting.

Those who want a more accurate depiction of that event can journey Saturday to Washington Crossing Historic Park in Bucks County, where more than 300 reenactors in appropriate colonial dress - including the good general himself - will re-create scenes from that night 239 years ago, crossing the river to New Jersey in replicas of the actual craft used by the Continental Army.

"It's a fun event, a great event, but it's also a very serious commemoration," said Joseph Capone, executive director of the Friends of Washington Crossing Park. "We don't want to forget the soldiers' sacrifices. We don't want to lose that history."

The crossing is one of multiple regional activities commemorating a period of 10 days as 1776 ended and 1777 began that helped turn the course of the Revolutionary War for Washington and his ragtag army.
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George Washington's wartime 'oval office' getting extreme makeover

George Washington's wartime 'oval office' getting remade
By JOANN LOVIGLIO
The Associated Press
Published: March 31, 2013

PHILADELPHIA — A large canvas tent that served as George Washington's home and command center during the Revolutionary War is being duplicated down to the finest stitch and will serve as an educational tool and ambassador for a new museum coming to Philadelphia's historic district.

The 22-foot-long, 15-foot-wide oval tent, also called a marquee, is being reproduced this summer as part of a new partnership between the planned Museum of the American Revolution and Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg.

While the original will be a centerpiece of the museum, slated to open in 2016, its sturdier new cousin being made in Virginia will be on tour ahead of the museum opening.

"We all know Mount Vernon, but this is a home of George Washington that most people don't even think about," said R. Scott Stephenson, director of collections for the Revolution Museum. The future first president stayed in the field with his troops through the war, living and working in the tent that was the nation's first "oval office" of sorts, he said.

Stephenson and Mark Hutter, Colonial Williamsburg's journeyman tailor supervisor, will pick up 160 yards of hand-loomed linen from a facility in Northern Ireland that was able to produce the fabric to 18th-century specifications. An additional 90 yards of linen making up the inner chambers of the tent are being handmade by weavers at Colonial Williamsburg.

Hutter's team will spend a few days in April at a secret location outside Philadelphia where the tent and some 3,000 other artifacts are being carefully stored and archived until the museum is built. The Williamsburg artisans will get up close and personal with Washington's marquee, examining its seams, grommets, eyelets and thousands of stitches while perfecting their techniques for re-creating the 225-year-old artifact.
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"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
George Washington

President Washington would be ashamed

President Washington would be ashamed
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
February 18, 2013

Today is Presidents' Day selected in honor of our first president, George Washington's birthday. While most Americans have the day off, a group of Americans are still working. They are standing watch over this nation, deployed all over the earth and risking their lives in Afghanistan while too many Americans have forgotten all about them. They return to their hometowns as veterans but again, forgotten about by the other Americans enjoying their freedoms because of their efforts.

President Washington was the first president and knew what it was like to fight for this nation and be ready to pay any price asked to defend these shores. He also knew what it was like to be a veteran.

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
President George Washington

He was not alone among Presidents with the dual title of President and Veteran.

Chester A. Arthur
James Buchanan
George H. W. Bush
George W. Bush
Jimmy Carter
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Millard Fillmore
Gerald Ford
James A. Garfield
Ulysses S. Grant
Benjamin Harrison
William H. Harrison
Rutherford B. Hayes
Andrew Jackson
Thomas Jefferson
Andrew Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
John F. Kennedy
Abraham Lincoln
Did not experience combat but served during Black Hawk War burying the dead shortly after battles ended.
James Madison
William McKinley
James Monroe
Richard Nixon
Franklin Pierce
James K. Polk
Ronald Reagan
Theodore Roosevelt
Zachary Taylor
Harry S. Truman
John Tyler

We have never really lived up to George Washington's dream of treating veterans right but now with Congress has been playing political "chicken" with the budget causing sequestration cuts to hit almost everything, it will be hitting the troops and their families hard in a time when they need more than they have been getting. Families are on the front lines standing watch over the troops. If they are not supported then we cannot say we support the troops when we cannot support their families.

"Funding for soldier and family programs such as the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Program, Soldier Family Assistant Centers and the Army Substance Abuse Program will be reduced," the Army memo stated.

But that is not all. Military suicides at an all time high and this is what is coming.

Odierno warned that even programs to boost the number of counselors and therapists to combat military suicides – one of the Army's top priorities – would be at risk under sequester.

"We will not be able to afford the number of counselors we have today," Odierno said.

Army Planning Cuts on Family Programs
Feb 18, 2013
Military.com
by Richard Sisk

The Pentagon has begun a "deep dive" review of more than 170 military family and recreation programs on bases worldwide to identify redundancies and efficiencies -- all the while insisting that the effort is not aimed at scrapping facilities in the new era of tight budgets.

Pentagon officials said that Army daycare programs, the focus of an ongoing investigation over the hiring of more than 30 workers with criminal backgrounds Fort Meyer, Va., were also included in the 120-day task force review.

"We're going to be peeling these back, looking for redundancies," said Charles Milam, the acting deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy, about the programs targeted for the data-driven review that he leads.
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War to home Christmas letters saved for history, re-tweet

War to home Christmas letters saved for history, re-tweet
by Kathie Costos
Wounded Times Blog
December 25, 2012

At first I thought how lousy it was that so much history is being lost with the technology we have now. Thousands of tweets sent back and forth between the troops and families, pictures and videos replacing hand written accounts of what they are thinking and praying for.

Then I thought about more.

Technology provides us with instant communication across thousands of miles. Could you imagine George Washington sending a tweet crossing the Delaware?

George Washington's Christmas Crossing The weather is cold, but not as cold as it was on this day in 1776, when a raging blizzard tormented the tattered remnants of Washington’s volunteer army.

Back then, there was no one to witness either the misery or the bravery of this heroic band. Today thousands of spectators from all over the world, many dressed in period clothing, are here to watch Rinaldi’s Washington and his men re-enact the event credited with saving the republic.

“These are the times that try men’s souls,” Rinaldi begins, solemnly intoning the words from Thomas Paine’s American Crisis, as Washington did to rally his cold and hungry troops. Parents hush small children; conversation drops to a respectful murmur. “The summer soldier and 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...”

Think of all the history that would have been lost. How about during WWI when there was a truce between sides. Imagine them on a cell phone later that day taking instant pictures as their wives sent them back pictures of the kids opening their gifts.

The Christmas Truce
On January 1, 1915, the London Times published a letter from a major in the Medical Corps reporting that in his sector the British played a game against the Germans opposite and were beaten 3-2.

Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxons recorded in his diary: 'The English brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.'

The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other sections of the line it held over Boxing Day and in some areas, a few days more. In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of aggressive behaviour was conspicuous well into 1915.

I was reading this when I got onto the computer early this morning and thought about Christmas letters being sent home from war.

From war with love: Christmas letters home span centuries but hit same notes
By Bill Briggs
NBC News contributor

Across three pages — typed on Christmas Eve 1966 from a village in South Vietnam — the soldier’s words to his wife dance seamlessly from a description of singing carols in the jungle to his latest enemy kills to, finally, a vow of eternal affection.

“Last night we had a candle-lighting ceremony ... Gasoline drums welded together end to end with a white Noel on the side. Electric light on top covered by red cellophane ... Reindeer and Santa Claus at front. It was raining,” Army Gen. Sidney B. Berry wrote to his wife. He next reveals how he recently had perched in a helicopter door, firing his rifle at men below: “We all were shooting. And we killed several ...”

“Lovely Anne, I love thee,” Berry closed. “Perhaps the best aspect of this whole period of separation is our increased appreciation and understanding of each other. I love thee, and I will devote the rest of my life to making love to thee.” He signs off: “Thy wearied professional, Sid.”

This time of year, communication from combat lines has long provided a poignant piece of Christmas.

From the Civil War to the Vietnam War, troops ranging from privates to a general struck the same literary chords — no matter the success of their conflict, their era, or the location of their last battle. They often chronicle violence during a moment meant to celebrate peace. They typically express humor, perhaps to put families at ease. And they reveal yearnings to be back with gathered families and friends.

“A lot of people wrote letters to their mothers at Christmas. I guess it’s a time you really start to think about home, really start to think about where you come from,” said Conrad Crane, chief of historical services at the Army Heritage and Education Center.

Some of the letters offered to NBC News were were originally mailed to nieces, parents and wives.
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With technology comes problems. Computers crash, accounts get canceled and files are not saved. There is a lot of history being lost when people don't think of how important all of this is to future generations. Save what you have so that generations from now will learn what we have learned from hand written letters. Print emails, make copies of pictures and save them so that when your children grow up they can learn. We all know we are not getting enough information from the media these days on what is happening in Afghanistan so you are the one to save their voices. Don't just trust Facebook to save all your files because one day they could be just as irrelevant as a lot of sites we used to use.