The First American Army - Bruce Chadwick [74]
With at least a few days to think, Washington decided that his army was in just as precarious a position as it had been before. Now pride and revenge would be added to the usual reasons for the British to cross the river and attack him. To thwart them, he boldly crossed the river into New Jersey again. He did so for another reason, too. The general was afraid that the lone victory at Trenton might be seen as a fluke, but a second victory, this time over a large army of British regulars led by William Howe, not hired German mercenaries, would show the world that the Americans could win the war. It would also encourage the militiamen who were at home to join the fight and increase support for the rebellion throughout the colonies.
There was still one more reason, a more ominous one. Many enlistments were up on December 31 and many of his men—cold, sick, weary, and clothed in tattered uniforms—told their officers they could not wait to go home. They admired Washington and embraced the cause, but they were weary. Their departure, with no replacements in sight, would mean the end of the Revolution. Washington had to move fast. The commander in chief had decided to establish a one month emergency service enlistment. Those who remained for the emergency period of four weeks would be given a $10 bonus, more than a month’s pay.
The second crossing of the Delaware took place as planned on December 30, when most of the army crossed with Washington. Another wing had crossed three days earlier with General Cadwalader. That night, Washington sat on his horse in front of an assemblage of several hundred troops in formation in Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville, just north of Trenton, New Jersey. He made a plea for the men to stay for thirty days, with a $10 bonus, and then waited for what he hoped would be mass agreement. Washington moved to the side of the field, expecting the men to step forward. No one moved. Crestfallen, Washington, who despised speaking in public, reined in his horse and walked him forward a few yards and again addressed the troops lined up in front of him.
“My brave fellows,” he began in that deep, steady voice of his. “You have done all I have asked you to do and more than could be reasonably expected. But your country is at stake; your wives, your houses, and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourself out with fatigues and hardships but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay but one month longer you will render that service to the cause of liberty and to your country which you probably never can do under any other circumstances. The present is emphatically the crisis which is to decide our destiny.”20
For several moments that seemed like hours, no one took a step toward the general. Then a soldier in his forties shrugged, turned to the man next to him, and said that he would stay. He walked toward the general. Then, singly and in small groups, others walked toward the commander, too. Within a few minutes, the great majority of the men in front of him accepted his offer for just one more month in the army. Washington leaned forward in his saddle as he watched the men coming forward. He felt a great sense of relief.
Other generals issued the same plea to their men, some in front of dozens of local townspeople from nearby villages who had turned out in the freezing weather for the speeches; their appeals had the same thankful results. Private John Smith remembered that the appeal he heard was far more direct. Smith wrote simply that his general “begged them to tarry one month longer.”21 Few of the generals delivered very powerful speeches, either. White called the plea of General Knox “pathetic.” To the surprise of the soldiers, the area residents in attendance burst into sustained applause when the men agreed to continue fighting.
Sgt. Joe White, whose original enlistment ran until March 1, 1777, was happy to remain in the military, but there were those who were tired of the war. John Greenwood, whose time was up, was one of them. His superiors begged him to stay in the army, but