Summary of Washington’s Crossing

Washington’s Crossing begins on March 17, 1776, which was soon after the British left

the colonies. Everyone is celebrating the defeat of the British but General Washington was not so

sure that it was the end. Between March 17 and June 29 General Washington started to assemble

a real army to fight of the British when they came back, some people in the colonies where

already celebrating the defeat of the British but the British came back on June 29, 1776.

When the British returned they brought many different regiments. The British army was

set up so that they could not perform a coup. Each section of the army was its own army the

Navy was one army and the Infantry was another. And within the armies there where regimens

that where specialized, for example the light infantry where highly trained in sharpshooting and

where also highly mobile. Some regiments where not only about fighting capability, the light

Dragoons where also considered gentlemen and where all required to read, write and be of good

social statist.

The American army was mush less functional and organized. There where some

regiments that had specialties but they where few. One of which was the Philadelphia

Associators they were people from Philadelphia and they form a democratic militia they had no

official leader and they all wore the same plain brown and gray uniforms. The Hessians where an

army for hire that the British Empire bought and so throughout the American Revolution. The

Hessian army was based around making a profit because it was a mercenary army; they only

supplied a basic army. The first disaster was soon after the British landed they decided to attack

Long Island. General Washington assumed that the British would attack Long Island so he

fortified it and placed some troops in New York. Sine the American army was undisciplined

when the British and Hessian troops arrived and started to fire at the Americans they broke rank
and ran. They did not retreat while returning fire; they just ran and did not look back. This was

just the start of many American failures due to incompetent troops. Once all of the Americans

ran from Long Island the British Generals set up their command base there.

The British decided to follow the different detachments from the American Army and to

strike at Philadelphia. First the followed the retreating American army through New Jersey to

Pennsylvania having small skirmishes along the way. Thomas Paine joined the army in July and

was one of the first war correspondents in American history. When Paine saw the problem of

enlistment he wrote a pamphlet called The American Crisis, which called Americans to enlist and

help their country. General Lee was having disagreements with General Washington but then a

stroke of luck came for General Washington when the British captured him. Many people saw

this as a major set back but General Washington saw this as a good thing. The British wanted the

colonies to rejoin the British Empire, so they offered anyone who would swear loyalty to the

king would get a certificate that protected them from the harassment of British and Hessian

regulars. In the British army there was not supposed to be any plundering but often officers

would just look the other way. The British Parliament did question Major General James

Robertson about the reports of plundering and General Howe ordered any man who was caught

plundering was to be hung on the spot. The army continued to plunder and the hangings began,

but this only discouraged plundering but did not stop it.

While the British where following the American army, militias where formed in New

Jersey and they would hit-and-run the British army because they could not survive a major battle.

This kept the British and Hessians on their guard twenty-four hours a day and it tired them out.

General Washington took advantage of the tired state of the enemy and decided to cross the

almost frozen Delaware River. Many events tried to impede General Washington plan, two of the
three groups where stopped from crossing the Delaware River, a bright moon started to shine,

and Washington’s men where cold, wet, and tired. His plan was to strike the Hessian base at

Trenton while all of them where sleeping and capture and kill them all with out too much of a

fight. But since the men were fatigued and cold they were slow to reach Trenton. By the time

they had reached Trenton it was almost 7 o’clock and the Hessian sentries saw them easily, so

the battle began. The American troops out numbered the Hessians so a head on battle would be

about even. Since the Americans had some surprise so they killed almost all of the sentries but

some escaped and alerted the army. Because of the constant militia attacks all of the Hessians

where in full dress and ready for battle when they where awaken. The Hessian commander saw

that they where heavily out number and ordered a retreat, the Americans pursued and finally they

surrounded. Except some Light Dragoons that escaped while the Hessians surrendered. General

Washington took about 760 Hessian prisoners and captured many cannons and much needed

supplies. After the battle of Trenton the American generals discussed weather to attack again

now or wait. They decided to fall back to a natural fortress on Assunpink Creek.

When the British sent General Cornwallis to retake and finish the American army at

Trenton. When General Cornwallis and his troops arrived at Assunpink Creek they where

surprised by a well defended and well armed American army. General Cornwallis sent many

waves of Hessian grenadiers into heavy American rifle and cannon fire. By night fall the bridge

that the Hessians where trying to cross was almost completely red with their blood. The

Americans knew that they could not hold out forever so they formulated a plan to escape

Assunpink Creek and make a surprise attack at Princeton. About five hundred American troops

where left behind so it looked like the main army never left. Because it was winter the roads

where icy and some bridges where collapsed which slowed the army’s march to a crawl.
 When the Americans came close to Princeton’s center a detachment of the British army

was just leaving to reinforce General Cornwallis the two armies met and faced off. Most of the

fighting happened in an orchard and halfway through the battle it was painted blood red. General

Washington observe that his troops where starting to lose ground and saw and opportunity to

lead a charge ageist them. General Washington led the charge on his white horse and it was an

awe-inspiring sight that won them the battle. After Washington’s winter campaign many new

militia formed and Washington decided to rest his army and let the militia harass the British

army while they where foraging. All of these battles between the British foraging parties and the

American militia are called the Forage War the war within a war lasted from January 4 to March

24, 1777.
 Opinion Of Washington’s Crossing

Washington’s Crossing was a great book about the strategy of the revolutionary war.

Some books on the revolutionary war will focus more on the politics and economics of the war.

This book has an entire section on the how the American, British, and Hessian armies were

commanded and very specific details about the history and the specialties. Which is good

because most books will just tell the reader words and phrases and expect them to know that.

There are many maps scattered throughout the book and they show what was happening during

the battles that the book covers.

The maps that are provided are easy to understand and show a lot of information. When

Fischer talks about a person often the book will show a picture of the person that was drawn

during the time of the war. The book might not cover the whole revolutionary war but the time

period that it covers is covered with great detail. Throughout the whole book there are quotes

from soldiers, commanders, and civilians about what Fischer. The quotes that Fischer uses are

integrated into the text of the book so that the reader does not even notice that a quote was until a

word that no longer exists is used.

The book does not only cover the battles and the strategy but also some the problems that

the American army had with the supplies, munitions, and ammunitions. Some of the chapters are

just background on an important people like the Howe brothers and Thomas Paine that will come

up often throughout the book. The writing throughout Washington’s Crossing Fischer writs so

that anyone who does not have a large vocabulary, but no so it sounds unintelligent.