Crossroads of the Revolution: Bucks' multifaceted role in birth of our nation
Christmas Day 1952. A pivotal moment in history comes into focus. Actor St. John Terrell playing George Washington and a few colleagues in Revolutionary War uniforms oar across the Delaware River from an engraved stone monument in Upper Makefield. The marker implanted on the river bank in 1895 memorializes the very spot where Washington and his army embarked 177 years earlier to save the American Revolution.
For a couple of years, it’s great fun for the actors to make the crossing an annual event at Christmas. But during the fifth outing an overweight oarsman in the stern causes the small dingy to nearly capsize. Ol’ George in uniform standing in a hero’s pose loses his footing and nearly belly flops into the icy river. Everyone realizes a bigger boat is needed, maybe two. In a subsequent crossing, intruders dressed as Indians stage a mock attack on the flotilla. Washington Crossing Historic Park officials eventually assert control, formalizing the event. In 1976, Washington makes his 24th crossing with 120 troops in four 40-foot-long boats. A crowd of 24,000 cheers lustily. “Go get ’em, George!” For the 2017 event, my grandson Dashiell, family friend Wynne Wert and I dress in war garb to join the general at his invitation.
It’s all a reminder of the difficulty of winning independence from England. In the fall of 1776, Washington gloomily writes his brother, “I’m afraid the game is nearly up.” That all changes on Christmas night in the general’s last bid to reverse humbling battlefield losses. Against arctic winds, floating ice and sleet, he and 2,500 soldiers cross the Delaware and march on Trenton in a stunning victory in which only 4 Americans are injured. British casualties are 22 killed, 92 wounded and 948 Hessian mercenaries captured and herded under guard back to Bucks.
It’s the beginning of the end to British domination. However, it remains tenuous for a few years in which Bucks is a wartime hotspot. . . .
– The Bensalem crossing, Dec. 25: Half of Washington’s army on Christmas night fails to cross the Delaware at Dunk’s Ferry to attack Trenton. Gen. John Cadwalader’s 2,700 troops and heavy artillery are stymied by extremely bad weather. George wins anyway.
– Doan Gang raids, 1776-1781: Five Plumstead brothers and a cousin bedevil Washington for years. As British spies, they key Washington’s defeat on Long Island and nearly undermine his later victory at Trenton. The gang terrorizes the countryside, robs tax collectors and steals horses to support British forces.
– Lafayette joins the Revolution, July 31, 1777: Washington resides for two weeks in widow Moland’s house in Warwick, his army of 11,000 encamped around him. The first American flag is unfurled. French Marquis de Lafayette and Polish Count Pulaski join the cause. In August, the army marches off to defeat at the Battle of Brandwine, forcing a retreat to Valley Forge. The British seize Philadelphia.
– Lafayette in Bristol, Sept. 11: The marquis suffers a severe leg wound at Brandywine. John Davis, commander of the Bucks County militia, carries him from the battlefield. A boat takes him upstream to Bristol to receive medical care at a home across from today’s King George II Inn before being hospitalized in Bethlehem.
– Battle of the Kegs, Jan. 6, 1778: Rebels in Falls and Bordentown float kegs with explosives down the Delaware to try and sink British warships at anchor in Philadelphia. Little damage is done.
– Newtown raid, Feb. 18: Enemy cavalry and infantry ravage and burn Joseph Jenk’s fulling mill on Core Creek in Middletown. The enemy then attacks Newtown’s Bird in Hand Inn where tailors stitch wool uniforms for Washington’s army at frigid Valley Forge. Five picket guards are shot to death. The enemy mortally wounds 5 picket guards, captures 10 militiamen and the tailors, then carts them off to Philly.
– Battle of the Kegs, part 2, May 8: English infantry on barges accompanied by a gunboat from Philadelphia land in Bordentown. As retribution for the Battle of the Kegs, the enemy sets fire to the town, destroys boats at anchor and razes the Falls ferry landing before departing.
– Bristol raid, May 10: At dawn, horse soldiers storm Bristol’s guardhouse at the corner of Otter and Mill streets. Prominent residents in town are roused, arrested and imprisoned in Philadelphia for a several weeks.
British attention turns to rebel activities in the South. By mid-June, the Royal Navy and Army evacuate Philadelphia for the Chesapeake. Three years later Washington and Lafayette accept the surrender of British forces at Yorktown, Va. A formal end of the war is announced under the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
– Battle of Crooked Billet, May 1: Notorious British Army Major John Simcoe leads an assault on 300 militiamen bivouacked near Hatboro’s Crooked Billet tavern. Simcoe’s cavalry massacre and disfigure many, torch others hiding in haystacks and chase survivors down Jacksonville Road into Warwick where they escape.
A list of battles and skirmishes along the Delaware River and in New Jersey during the American Revolution can be found on the internet at www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/battles.pdf
Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County’s multifaceted role in the birth of our nation
