The Events of Saturday, November 13, 2010

          Thankfully, Sam’s Club is not a Walmart. Walmarts open at 6 in the morning. That means that traffic, lights, and shopping noise start at 6 in the morning. Sam’s Club is like Costco. It opens later. That means a nice, dark, quiet night of sleep. We finally woke up, had breakfast, and then headed off toward Washington Crossing State Historic Park, arriving at the visitor’s center around 10.

          It was here that General Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night in 1776 to surprise the British forces; adopting an offensive position for the first time, resulting in the turning point of the Revolutionary War. We took at guided tour around the main area. Our guide was costumed as a rifleman for the Continental Army. He has participated in many reenactments, including the annual reenactment of the crossing. He told us in great detail about the Durham boats, the crossing, and the story of the first battle of Trenton.

          Before this point in the war, the Continental Army had suffered defeat after defeat after defeat. As they retreated southward, they crossed the Delaware River (now the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania) on December 7. In a stroke of brilliance, Washington ordered all boats moved to the Pennsylvania side or destroyed. He didn’t want to make it easy for the British to follow him. The Continental Army set up this position as a defensive encampment, across the river from a group of Hessian soldiers (German mercenaries for the British army). Each day, the number of Continental Army troops decreased due to desertion and illness. Since the terms of enlistment ended on December 31, 1776, Washington needed a victory so the troops would re-enlist. On Christmas Day, he decided that the time had come.

          It is customary in the British army not to fight in the winter or at night. For this reason, Washington decided to try to cross the river under the cover of darkness in the freezing cold winter. He started the march to the ferry at four in the afternoon and began crossing at 6 PM on Christmas Day. The original plan was for three different groups to cross the river—one upstream, one downstream, and one at “Washington Crossing”. Plans fell through, and only Washington’s squad of 2,400 men crossed. Floating ice and a swift current extended the crossing time. It took eleven hours to make the crossing, but all made it alive and without attracting attention.

          Just before dawn, the army reassembled and began the long march to Trenton. Here, they caught the Hessians off guard. Tired from continual skirmishing with New Jersey troops, they fought hard before surrendering around 200 prisoners. The Hessians suffered heavy losses; the Continental Army had a few wounded but only 2 died on the long, cold march to the city. Our tour guide told us about this battle and then the second Battle of Trenton, which absolutely no one knows about.

          General Cornwallis, the commander of the British troops, brought in some British reinforcements to try to take back Trenton.  As Continental scouts reported the number of troops they saw marching, Washington devised a plan. He sent out a fake force toward Princeton to make the British think they were heading in that direction. That was trick move #1. He took a strong defensive position around the city, leaving only one way into the city’s interior: a bridge heavily guarded with artillery. Trick move #2. He also sent out skirmishers. These groups of men would sneak through woods and fire chaotically on the marching troops to stall them. Trick move #3. The British fell into their trap. Thinking that there was a full army to meet them, they found a large open area and lined up. After waiting for a few minutes, they reassembled into two columns and continued marching. This whole process took about an hour, so it gave the Continental Army enough time to rest and to prepare for the fight ahead.

          Cornwallis, seeing the setup of Washington’s army, sent a group of 100 Hessians to cross the bridge. They were quickly wiped out by a wall of artillery fire. He then sent a group of 100 British (maybe they’d be smarter than the Germans?), which was also soon demolished. After a third party of 100 British were slaughtered, he abandoned that plan and was soon in full retreat. We have determined that General Cornwallis was an idiot: he saw that a plan didn’t work but tried it again anyway. These two battles gave the Continental army momentum towards victory.

          Having seen all these sites, we decided to quickly walk across the narrow bridge to New Jersey. We walked across it as Harvey, our RV, was NOT allowed anywhere near it. As we walked on the wood planks, we looked down into the water below. Near the bottom of the bridges concrete supports we saw large groups of large fish. Even from a distance, they looked to be a formidable size. As lunchtime neared, we wanted some fresh fish for lunch. Sadly, we didn’t have any fishing gear.

          Once back in Pennsylvania, we walked back toward the RV. On the way, we passed the house that, according to our tour guide, was Benjamin Taylor’s inn in the early 1800s. Glad to hear that someone named after me has gone into history; Mom wanted a picture of me with “my inn”. If Mom had gotten a video instead of a picture, we could have gone onto America’s Funniest Videos. As I ran across the street, I jumped onto a small ledge near the house. I forgot that I had momentum carrying me forward, and so I slipped off and jumped/fell down into a ditch. I would have made it on my feet if there hadn’t been a six inch layer of fallen leaves at the bottom. Mom says that for a moment my head was above the ledge. Then it disappeared, only to reappear moments later filled with laughter. We laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. Finally, we got the picture.

          More about the inn: Benjamin Taylor, knowing that the toll bridge adjacent to his inn was historically significant, placed a sign on the top advertising it as the location of Washington’s historic Crossing. It was an early tourist attraction, and it brought him in money. The Taylor family expanded to stretch along the river, forming the town of Taylorsville. It was thus named until it was renamed Washington Crossing some time later.

          Moving on, we drove to a fabulous picnic spot, had a great lunch, and then stopped at the Thomas-Neely House. Here, we took a rather dry tour with a guide that, to us, was very corpselike. Although he was very informative, he wasn’t one of our favorite tour guides. One interesting topic of the tour was Washington’s wounds. Apparently, a colonel in the Continental Army mentioned in a letter to his family that General Washington was wounded. This fact only appears in one place in all history and has not been proven or disproven. We may never know for sure, but it is interesting to see the only source in all history that mentions it.

          The Bowman’s Hill Tower was our last planned stop in Pennsylvania. Bowman’s Hill Tower was built as a monument to the Revolutionary War. After a steep and curvy mountain road, we saw the stone monument rising above the trees. I wanted to take the stairs up the 380 foot tower, but the stairs were gated off. Instead, we took the elevator up and then climbed a few narrow, winding steps to reach the platform. Although the tower itself reminded us of a castle or prison, the view was commandeering. We could see quite a ways down along the Delaware River and, in the distance, I think I saw Trenton. Soon, we headed down the tower, down the mountain, and down the road toward New Jersey. Since we couldn’t go over a certain bridge (the RV was too high, too long and too wide), we got caught in some sort of street fair or large event in New Hope. We saw some wacky outfits, scores of motorcycles, and lots of advertisements for a free concert. All it meant for us was wasting time stuck in traffic. We passed the time by waving to pedestrians from the RV—surprisingly, lots waved back! Once out of that city, we found the interstate and zoomed off to Wyckoff, NJ.

          An hour later, we arrived at the house of Gretchen Janssen, the mother of a friend of our parents’ from college (Andrew Janssen who we visited in Oregon earlier on this trip). Oma Janssen, as she has invited us to call her, will be our host while we are touring New York City. We don’t want to drive the RV into the city—what a nightmare that would be!—so we will try to find a quick, cheap way using public transportation. We got settled in the house, had a fantastic chili dinner, and then drifted off to sleep in the RV. Thankfully, this is not a Sam’s Club or a Walmart parking lot or anything else. That means quiet. And peace. At last. For this we are truly grateful.