Captain Alexander Hamilton's New York Artillery Company in action at Trenton. Today the 1st battalion 5th Field Artillery
December 18, 1776
Washington to his cousin,
"I think the game is nearly up...."
December 23, 1776
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and women."
Thomas Paine, The Crisis.
"On the way to the boats, Greenwood (American fifer 15th Continental Regiment) continued, "seeing some of our men were much pleased with the brass caps which they had taken from the dead Hessians, our prisoners, who were besides exceedingly frightened, pulled off those they were wearing and, giving them away, put on the hats which they carried tied behind their packs. With these brass caps on, it was laughable to see how our soldiers would strut-fellows with their elbows out and some without a collar to their half-a-shirt, no shoes, etc."
A classic Christmas Day battle.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the usual Christmas message of peace on earth. To paraphrase Brian Blessed in the original Black Adder " And goodwill to all men.....unless they are Hessians, then kill the bstrds!"
ReplyDeleteNo not the usual but I wanted to remember the event as its a good story. With the cause looking lost a dramatic event to save the day and reverse the course. As to the poor Hessian soldiers I have always felt nothing but sympathetic for them. Sent to a war not their own. The poor garrison was constantly under attack with alarms every night for the weeks leading up to it. I have no doubt the men were worn out.
DeleteJonathan -
ReplyDeleteI have been reading Napoleon's bulletins about the campaigns of 1806. It seems he had it in for the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, who seems to have considered it a pretty lucrative bizzo to hire out his soldiery as mercenaries. It seems the actual soldiery weren't all that enthusiatic.
At any rate, Napoleon gave the Prince and his hereditary successor the boot, issuing a proclamation to the people of Hesse-Cassel to the effect 'You'll be much better off without this horrible coot: trust me on this.'
Cheers, and best wishes for the Season
Ion
And this time good for Napoleon.
DeleteThere's the old story that the Hessians had been celebrating too much the night before. In reality, they had been standing to and seeing off militia raids. Rall decided they could have a good night's sleep for who would dare approach through the nor-easter to attack them?
ReplyDeleteAgree! I have always felt bad for the poor Hessian soldiers. Reading the journals they were exhausted from constant alarms daily.
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