The University Building That Was the Climax of the "Ten Crucial Days" of the American War of Independence
Lessons from the past on avoiding becoming the sunshine patriot and summer soldier
This is Nassau Hall on the Princeton University campus- what is not often realized is this building was the site of the culmination of what is called “Ten Crucial Days” when the American Revolution teetered on the precipice of defeat in December 1776. I took this photo last week on our trip to New England.
After being driven from New York City by British forces under Lord Cornwallis, Washington’s army limped across New Jersey, dwindling from 14,000 troops to barely 5,000 by the time winter set in. Washington crossed the Delaware River (yes, that iconic painting) to save what was left of the Continental Army on 25 December 1776.
Morale was low and many enlistments would end on 1 January.
Thomas Paine wrote “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 his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman....”.
Washington read Paine’s words to his men and gambled on a bold move- they crossed the Delaware in a winter storm back into New Jersey on 26 December 1776 and decisively won the Battle of Trenton before crossing back into Pennsylvania. Seeing momentum on his side, Washington planned a *fourth* crossing of the Delaware. With enlistments expiring, he addressed his men on 31 December 1776. He offered to pay the men out of his own pocket if they would fight on just three more months.
Not a single man stepped forward.
He then got off his horse, acknowledged their sacrifice and told them that that history would judge them for their choice at that moment.
Every single man stepped forward to fight on.
The Continental Army crossed the Delaware again on 2 January 1777 and won the Second Battle of Trenton. Knowing Lord Cornwallis and the bulk of his forces were headed for Trenton, Washington then swung his forces south of the city and headed for the British rear at Princeton.
On 3 January 1777, the Continental Army engaged British forces at Princeton, nearly losing when a British bayonet charge threatened to break the American line. Washington himself led from the front to reinforce the line, at one point he was on his horse only 30 yards from the British battle line. With reinforcements pulled in to reinforce the American battle line, the British retreated and barricaded themselves at Nassau Hall.
As the American attack on Nassau Hall started, artillery rounds were fired into the building. One cannonball sailed through an open window and beheaded a portrait of King George. This was seen by some of the British officers as a providential sign and they surrendered, ending the Battle of Princeton.
Commanding the American artillery units? Alexander Hamilton.
New life was breathed into the American Revolution as Washington’s gamble proved the Americans could win against the most powerful army in the world.
This is an inauspicious Independence Day for many people in light of judicial decisions and what seems like an endless stream of mass shootings. There’s no question it’s easy to be down on the direction our nation is headed, but our history is one of perseverance and struggle for better.
We cannot afford to be sunshine patriots and summer soldiers in this time of crisis.
For generations of minorities, immigrants, Native Americans and other marginalized populations, this is their norm. To be politically, judicially and even economically shoved to the margins of the American Dream, to not even be a footnote to the dominant narrative of our nation is nothing new to them.
Yet, they persevered, holding on to a dream of what America can be.
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