King George

by Steve Sheinkin

  Then Femmetia helped her mother and sister load everything they could carry into a wagon:

  “My sister and I were all excitement, rushing wildly about the house and bringing the most useless things … . to put in the wagon. Mother coolly took out whatever did not seem to her necessary.”

  Femmetia

  The family rode off to stay with relatives farther from the fighting. They came back to their village a few days later to inspect the damage. “Two of our neighbors’ houses, as well as our own, were burned to the ground,” Femmetia said.

  A Midnight Escape

  This battle was a disaster for the Continental army too. In a week of fighting on Long Island, more than a thousand Americans were killed, wounded, or captured. And Washington’s army was driven back, and back, and back … until it was right up against the edge of the one-mile-wide East River. Washington faced an ugly truth: his entire army was about to be captured right there, right then. Not exactly the way he was hoping the American Revolution would end. But could he slip out of the trap before it shut?

  On August 29, Joseph Plumb Martin found out the army was moving when he saw the other soldiers of his company lining up and preparing to march. No one could tell him where they were going. First of all, they didn’t know. Second of all, they weren’t allowed to talk. “We were strictly enjoined [ordered] not to speak, or even cough,” Martin said. “All orders were given from officer to officer, and communicated to the men in whispers.”

  As soon as it was dark, the men started crowding onto small boats. A group of Massachusetts fishermen under the command of John Glover rowed the boats back and forth across the river. (Glover’s regiment, by the way, was one of the first to include black and white soldiers working side by side.)

  To make the British believe that nothing special was happening, some American troops had to stay behind until the last second. They kept lots of campfires burning, which made it look like a normal night in the American camp. An officer named Benjamin Tallmadge remembered waiting all night for orders to march down to the river. “It was one of the most anxious, busy nights that I ever recollect,” he said, “and being the third in which hardly any of us closed our eyes to sleep.”

  Glover and his men were still rowing back and forth across the river when the sun came up. Amazingly, fog saved them. A thick, wet fog settled over the river, and the entire army (including horses) escaped to Manhattan before the British knew what was going on. “In the history of warfare I do not recollect a more fortunate retreat,” said Tallmadge.

  Too bad you can’t win wars by retreating.

  The Story of Nathan Hale

  The American army had escaped to Manhattan, but George Washington hardly felt safe. He knew the British would continue their attack very soon. But where? When? With how many men? Washington was desperate for any information about British plans. He needed a spy. Nathan Hale volunteered.

  Nathan Hale was a twenty-two-year-old teacher who had no idea how to be a spy. One of Hale’s friends from college, William Hull, tried to talk Hale out of accepting this dangerous mission. But Hale couldn’t be budged. He said he had been in the army for a whole year and hadn’t done anything yet. “I wish to be useful,” he told his friend.

  So Hale put on a plain brown suit, stuck his college diploma in his pocket, and entered British-controlled territory pretending to be a teacher in search of a job.

  No one knows exactly what Hale did or where he went for the next nine days. But on the night of September 21, some British soldiers became suspicious of Hale. They grabbed him and searched him and found more than just a college diploma. They found a map he had drawn and notes on the strength and location of the British army (a more experienced spy would have at least used invisible ink or secret codes).

  Nathan Hale

  Hale didn’t even try denying that he was a spy. And the British didn’t even bother giving him a trial. They hanged him the next morning.

  When they put the rope around his neck, did Nathan Hale really say the famous line?

  “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”

  Yes he did, according to Hale’s friend William Hull. Hull wasn’t at the hanging, of course, but he got the story from a British officer who watched the execution.

  And that’s pretty much all we know about Nathan Hale.

  More Bad News

  Meanwhile, the Continental army was busy moving backward again.

  As one of the soldiers in charge of guarding the shore of Manhattan, Joseph Plumb Martin kept a watch on the water. Every few minutes he and the other American guards called to each other, “All is well!”

  But the enemy ships were so close, British soldiers could hear the Americans talking. And when they heard the Americans say, “All is well!” they called back, “We will alter your tune before tomorrow night!” They kept their promise.

  The British attacked again on September 15. And again the untrained Americans were forced to retreat. In the panic and confusion, Martin got separated from his unit. He was soon sprinting across the island of Manhattan, with the British army close behind. He dove into a swamp and hid behind bushes and weeds while the British marched past. “Several of the British came so near to me that I could see the buttons on their clothes. They, however, soon withdrew and left the coast clear for me again.”

  Washington stood on the battlefield watching his soldiers run for their lives. He screamed for the men to stop. He even hit a few of them as they passed, but the soldiers were simply too scared to stop running.

  An American officer named George Weedon witnessed Washington’s fury on this day. “The General,” Weedon said, “three times dashed his hat on the ground, and at last exclaimed, ‘Good God, have I got such troops as those!’”

  Other witnesses heard Washington shouting: “Are these the men with whom I am to defend America?”

  Washington was so angry, his officers had to pull him off the battlefield to keep him from getting captured.

  Is This the End?

  The Continental army continued fighting and retreating through October and November. The British chased them out of New York City, across the Hudson River, and south into New Jersey. “As we go forward into the country the Rebels fly before us,” said British captain William Bamford. “’Tis almost impossible to catch them.”

  Things were looking terrible for Washington’s army—what was left of it, that is. Soldiers were deserting every day. “Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances almost by whole regiments,” Washington reported to Congress.

  To make things worse, men were taking Continental army guns and ammunition home with them. One guy even tried to take home a cannonball! When it was found in his bag, he had an excuse ready. He wanted to give it to his mother, he said. She could use it to pound spices.

  By the end of November, Washington had just three thousand men left. This little army crossed the Delaware River and set up camp in Pennsylvania. Washington sent Congress an update, saying, “The situation of our affairs is critical and truly alarming.” Congress agreed. With the British moving closer and closer to Philadelphia, the members of Congress decided to pack up and run away to Baltimore.

  What else could go wrong? Plenty. Cold weather was coming and the soldiers had no winter clothing. And there was never enough to eat. Joseph Plumb Martin remembered the men in his unit going without food for two full days. When they complained of hunger pains, an angry officer reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of dried corn that was burnt to a black crisp and said, “Here, eat this and learn to be a soldier.”

  Now for the worst part: Washington’s small army was about to get even smaller. Most of the soldiers had enlisted in the army only until the end of the year. Then they expected to go home for the winter. Martin’s enlistment ended in December, and he eagerly traveled home to his family and friends. “They appeared to be glad to see me,” he said, “and I am sure I was really glad to see them.”

  Don�
�t worry, Martin will be back in the army the next year. But Washington couldn’t wait until the next year. “Ten days more will put an end to the existence of our army,” he wrote on December 20.

  Washington had ten days to save the Revolution.

  Report from Trenton

  Across the Delaware River from the American camp was the small town of Trenton, New Jersey. This was one of many towns now in the hands of the British army.

  Guarding the town were about twelve hundred German soldiers. Americans called them “Hessians” because many of them came from the Hesse region of Germany. The Hessians took over most of the houses in Trenton and made themselves comfortable. “My friend Sheffer and I lodge in a fine house belonging to a merchant,” wrote one officer.

  This kind of invasion should get you out of school, right? Not if you went to Mistress Rogers’s School for Young Ladies in Trenton, which stayed open all winter. We know this from letters that were sent to students that year. William Shippen, for instance, wrote to his daughter Nancy, age thirteen, saying:

  “My, dear Nancy: I was pleased with your French letter which was much better spelt than your English one, in which I was sorry to see four or five words wrong … Take care, my dear girl, of your spelling and your teeth.”

  And while most families got out of Trenton when the enemy arrived, a few stayed to try to protect their homes. A ten-year-old girl named Martha Reed stayed in town with her mother and younger brother—her father was off in the Continental army.

  Martha later described the cold mid-December night that the enemy showed up at her door. “Mother and we two children were gathered in the family room,” she said. “A great fire blazed in the chimney place … Suddenly there was a noise outside, and the sound of many feet. The room door opened and in stalked several strange men.”

  After warming up by the fire, the Hessian soldiers opened the storeroom and ate all the pickles and jarred vegetables. A bit later, they killed a hog and butchered it on the dinner table.

  Even though Martha’s mother spoke no German, she somehow managed to convince the soldiers that her husband was serving in the British army. So the Hessians agreed to let the Reeds stay in the house.

  A few days later a child’s coat gave the Reeds away. Martha explained: “To please my little brother, my mother had made for him an officer’s coat of the rebel buff [gold] and blue, in which he delighted to strut and fight imaginary battles.”

  When the Hessians found this coat, they knew they’d been tricked. They were in the home of Patriots! “What a storm broke around us!” Martha said. “They shook the little coat in our faces, jabbering and threatening.”

  Martha’s mother pulled the children outside and they all hid in the hen house—normally a bad hiding place, since chickens cluck and cackle when they’re disturbed. Luckily, the soldiers had already eaten all the chickens.

  Martha and her family spent a freezing and frightening night in the empty hen house. “That was a night I can never forget,” she said.

  The Lion in the Tub

  In command of the German forces in Trenton was Colonel Johann “the Lion” Rahl. Bravery in battle earned Rahl his nickname. But he was also kind of a lazy guy. He liked to stay up late drinking and playing cards. Then he would sleep late and spend the rest of the morning in the tub.

  “There were times,” complained one of his officers, “when we would go to his quarters for the morning formation between ten and eleven o’clock and he would still be sitting in his bath.”

  Rahl was warned that the Americans might try to attack his army. He laughed and shouted, “Fiddlesticks! These clodhoppers will not attack us.” Rahl knew the Americans were starving, freezing, and ready to go home.

  He expected to enjoy a quiet winter at Trenton.

  Across the River

  The sun set at 4:35 on December 25. Christmas Day had been sunny and cold, about thirty-two degrees. Now clouds covered the stars and a miserable mixture of freezing rain and snow started falling.

  Washington ordered his soldiers to pack sixty rounds of ammunition and a three-day supply of salted meat and bread. Sixteen-year-old John Greenwood was one of the many soldiers who wondered where the army was going that night. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to march too far, because he was suffering from a horrible rash on his legs. Or, as he put it:

  “I had the itch then so bad that my breeches stuck to my thighs, all the skin being off, and there were hundreds of vermin upon me.”

  John Greenwood

  At least Greenwood had shoes. Many of the men had worn through theirs and had to tie rags around their bare feet.

  The soldiers gathered at the edge of the Delaware River. They saw black water clogged with bobbing, swirling chunks of ice. And they saw John Glover and his fishermen waiting to row them across the river.

  The boats started crossing and re-crossing the water. It took many trips to get everyone over. Colonel Henry Knox (the cannon expert) was determined to get eighteen cannons over the river also. “The floating ice in the river made the labor almost incredible,” he reported. “The night was cold and stormy; it hailed with great violence.”

  John Greenwood was one of the first to cross the river. Then he stood on the New Jersey side, waiting for hours. “It rained, hailed, snowed, and froze, and at the same time blew a perfect hurricane,” he said. He and the other men pulled down fences and lit fires in a useless effort to keep warm. They watched the boats and waited.

  Washington was watching and waiting too. “I have never seen Washington so determined as he is now,” an officer named John Fitzgerald wrote in his diary. “He stands on the bank of the river, wrapped in his cloak, superintending the landing of the troops. He is calm and collected, but very determined.”

  The plan had been to get the army across the Delaware River by midnight. But thanks to the ice in the river, it took until three in the morning. Washington knew he would not be able to reach Trenton before dawn. “I determined to push on at all events,” he said.

  The army began the nine-mile march to Trenton.

  Surprise!

  You often read about weather being a major factor in historical events. This was definitely true of the Trenton attack. On most nights, the Hessians in Trenton sent soldiers out to patrol the roads leading into town. But the night of December 25 was just too cold and nasty. The routine patrol was canceled.

  So Colonel Rahl and his men were quite surprised when Washington and the Americans marched into town at about eight o’clock in the morning. Hessian soldiers grabbed their guns and ran out into the street. By the time they figured out what was going on, though, Washington’s men already had the town surrounded. And Henry Knox had his cannons set up and ready to go. “These, in the twinkling of an eye, cleared the streets,” Knox reported.

  There was absolutely nowhere for the Hessians to hide. They ran toward houses, but many of the women who had stayed in town suddenly stuck guns out the windows and starting firing.

  The battle of Trenton was over quickly. Colonel Rahl was shot and killed. His entire army surrendered, except for a few men who managed to escape down the road. “This is a glorious day for our country,” Washington told his officers.

  And to make the day even better, American soldiers found lots of good stuff scattered around town. John Greenwood took a German sword as a souvenir. An American drummer threw his own drum away and picked up a much nicer German one. Other soldiers put on fancy brass German officers’ hats and strutted around town.

  Saved, for Now

  After beating the Americans all year, British leaders in London had been sure they were about to win the war. “But all our hopes were blasted by that unhappy affair at Trenton,” said George Germain, King George’s top war advisor.

  Washington wasn’t done yet, though. He marched his troops to the town of Princeton and won another quick victory. These winter wins inspired thousands of new soldiers to join the army. The American Revolution was alive.

  A Loyalist named Nic
holas Cresswell was truly sorry to see the sudden change in the mood of Americans. “A few days ago they had given up the cause for lost,” Cresswell said. “Their late successes have turned the scale and now they are all liberty-mad again.”

  But King George was still feeling confident. In fact, he had a new war plan. And he looked forward to crushing the Revolution in 1777.

  Showdown at Saratoga

  The British General John Burgoyne celebrated Christmas in 1776 by placing a bet on the American Revolution. Burgoyne wagered fifty golden guineas that he could beat the Americans and “be home victorious from America by Christmas Day, 1777.” This was a bold bet. To win it, Burgoyne would have to cross the Atlantic, crush the Revolution, and get back to London—all in one year!

  No Secrets Here

  What made General John Burgoyne so confident about crushing the American Revolution? Two words: the plan. Burgoyne had spent the past few months working out a detailed plan for winning the war. He presented the secret strategy to King George. The king loved it.

  So in the spring of 1777, Burgoyne loaded cases of champagne onto a ship (he always traveled in style) and set out across the ocean with high hopes.

  General Burgoyne arrived in Quebec, Canada, in early May. As soon as he got off the boat, he started hearing people talk about his socalled secret strategy. The Quebec newspaper even had an article about it, describing exactly how Burgoyne planned to defeat the Americans! As usual in this war, neither side could keep anything secret.