The Price of Liberty: Honoring 250 Years of American Independence

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Twelve score and ten years ago, our Founding Fathers declared independence from Great Britain, breaking free from a world ruled by kings and ushering in a bold experiment in human freedom. The Declaration of Independence forged what the great Abraham Lincoln would later describe as “a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”1

As we celebrate the historic milestone of 250 years of American nationhood, we must never forget the immensity of the suffering and sacrifices that were endured in the fight to secure our independence against the mightiest empire in the world. John Adams had a front row seat to that struggle, sharing in its hardships from the very beginning and putting his life on the line for the cause. With an eye toward the future, Adams wrote, “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom! I hope you will make a good use of it.”2

John Adams was one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Those men risked everything as they put their names to that profound document, resolutely proclaiming America’s separation from Great Britain and establishing the nation’s foundational creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”3 By openly committing themselves to American independence, those signers committed high treason in the eyes of Great Britain, engaging in open rebellion against their lawful sovereign, King George III, actions that could be punished with unspeakable brutality. A recent ruling from a British judge to Irish revolutionaries offered a terrifying preview of what these Americans were opening themselves up to. As that judge decreed in his punishment, “You are to be drawn on hurdles to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged by the neck, but not until you are dead, for while you are still living your bodies are to be taken down, your bowels torn out and burned before your faces, your heads then cut off, and your bodies divided each into four quarters.”4 No wonder that another signer, Benjamin Rush, later reflected that by affixing their names to the Declaration, it felt like they were signing “our own death warrants.”5

Despite exposing themselves to such great risks, the signers of the Declaration and all engaged in the Revolutionary War against Great Britain understood that the fate and future happiness of mankind depended upon their willingness to persevere in the struggle. After all, there is a reason the signers vowed that “for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."6 John Adams echoed those sentiments when he wrote, “I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction. . . .”7

Declaring independence from Great Britain and expressing the noble sentiments underlining the new American nation were one matter. Actually securing that independence and allowing the United States to take its place on the world stage was another issue entirely. Great Britain was determined to hold on to their 13 American Colonies, sending the largest expeditionary force of the eighteenth century, a vast host of 32,000 troops supported by hundreds of ships, to crush the upstart rebels. There could be no mistaking British resolve as those forces began to assemble along the waters outside New York City during the summer of 1776. American independence and all that was promised by the Declaration would have to be won on the battlefield. That tall task fell to General George Washington and the soldiers of the Continental Army. As Washington reminded his troops of what was at stake, “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army.”8

Although animated with a supreme belief in their cause, Washington and his band of citizen-soldiers were simply overwhelmed as they took on the professional military might of Great Britain. In the five months after the Declaration of Independence, American forces suffered repeated battlefield losses and setbacks. During that period, Washington’s army lost 90 percent of its strength and the enlistments of most of his best troops were set to expire at the end of the year. In a private letter that the American commander in chief wrote to his brother, he confessed that unless a new army was speedily recruited, “I think the game is pretty near up.”9 New York City and New Jersey were also firmly in British hands, leaving Philadelphia, the seat of the American government, in grave danger of also falling to the enemy. As the British reasserted control in those areas, many citizens were flocking forward to accept pardons and taking the oath of allegiance to King George III. From this ascendant position, the British also hunted signers of the Declaration of Independence. One of them, Richard Stockton of New Jersey, was captured and thrown into prison. Harshly treated by his captors and fearing for his family and home, Stockton accepted an offer of amnesty from the British and signed a declaration of allegiance to the king, giving “his word of honor that he would not meddle in the least in American affairs.”10 Stockton thus became the only signer of the Declaration who abandoned the American cause and swore allegiance to the British crown. Sensing that America’s defeat was imminent, one British officer boasted, “It is well nigh over with them.”11

Given the perilous condition of the American cause in December 1776, the fledgling country’s only hope of survival lay with George Washington and his remaining bad of sick, hungry, exhausted soldiers, many of whom possessed so little clothing and shoes that they were described as “entirely naked” and resembling “animated scarecrows.”12 Staring down defeat from the frigid, icy banks along the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, it was up to Washington and his suffering soldiers to give one final effort to save their country. Spurring on his fellow defenders of American liberty during this intense time of desperation, Thomas Paine took up his pen, famously writing in The American Crisis, “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 their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”13

To save their country, General Washington and his soldiers went into action on Christmas night 1776. Intending to strike an enemy outpost garrisoned by elite Hessian soldiers at the town of Trenton, New Jersey, Washington launched one of the most daring operations in military history. In the midst of a severe winter storm, the commander in chief and his army boarded large, flat-bottomed cargo boats and ferries to cross the ice-filled Delaware River, which had swollen to flood stage, making it wider and swifter than usual. It was a frightfully hazardous enterprise, especially for men with such little clothing and footwear. As Washington’s soldiers marched to their crossing points, Major James Wilkinson vividly recalled the snow being “tinged here and there with blood from the feet of the men who wore broken shoes.”14 One soldier, 16-year-old John Greenwood of Massachusetts, said that the men “were nearly half dead from cold for the want of clothing . . . many of our soldiers had not a shoe to their feet and their clothes were ragged as those of a beggar.”15 On crossing the Delaware itself, Wilkinson recalled, “The force of the current, the sharpness of the frost, the darkness of the night, the ice, and a high wind tendered the passage of the river extremely difficult.”16 As Greenwood described the conditions, “It rained, hailed, snowed, and froze and at the same time blew a perfect hurricane.”17

After 11 hours of toil and struggle, all of Washington’s troops along with 18 cannon, 50 horses, and numerous supply wagons had made it over to the New Jersey shore. A difficult ten-mile march to Trenton now lay ahead. It was nearly four o’clock in the morning when the army finally began that march, putting Washington’s operation about four hours behind schedule. Because of that dangerous delay, the commander in chief even considered canceling the operation, but in the end, as was his nature, he decided to push forward in the face of adversity. As Washington later wrote, “… as I was certain there was no making a retreat without being discovered, and harassed on repassing the river, I determined to push on at all events.”18

There was no rest for the weary. With the storm intensifying, the frigid, dangerous march to Trenton continued to push Washington’s men to their limits. One of the most enduring images from that march was the bloody footprints left in the snow from the many men who made the trek with no shoes or rags tied around their feet. At least two soldiers fell out of the marching column and froze to death by the side of the road during the advance.

Despite the difficulty of the march and the operation being so far behind schedule, Washington and his army were still able to achieve the element of surprise on the morning of December 26th. In a clash that lasted about two hours, Washington’s army routed the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton, capturing nearly 900 of the enemy along with a horde of invaluable supplies. When Major Wilkinson rode up to General Washington to report that the last Hessian regiment on the battlefield had surrendered, the commander in chief, a man who was famous for guarding his emotions, took Wilkinson by the hand, smiled, and said, “Major Wilkinson, this is a glorious day for our country.”19 Indeed it was.

The victory at Trenton by General Washington and his army was the start of what ultimately became a brilliant ten day campaign that resulted in two more significant battlefield triumphs. After all had seemed lost, those victories turned the tide of the Revolutionary War, renewing faith in the fight for American liberty. By having the courage to cross the Delaware River and fight on during the dark days of December 1776, General George Washington and the soldiers of the Continental Army had saved the American Revolution from ruin.

As historian David Hackett Fischer reminds us, “We celebrate 1776 as the most glorious year in American history. They remembered it as an agony. . . .”20 One can certainly sense that in the letter of Robert Morris to George Washington on the first day of 1777: “The year 1776 is over, I am heartily glad of it and hope you nor America will ever be plagued with such another.”21 And so, as we honor America’s 250th birthday, let us never forget that we owe everything to the brave souls who daringly declared American independence and the soldiers who courageously stepped forward to save the new nation, along with all of its hopes and dreams, by refusing to give up and besting the British on the battlefield. They changed the world forever, and for the better, rising up to meet and overcome the enormous challenges brought on by that transformative moment in history. As Captain William Hull of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment reminds us, “What can’t men do when engaged in so noble a cause?”22

Notes:

1. James M. McPherson, Hallowed Ground: A Walk At Gettysburg (Crown Journeys, 2003), 139.

2. "Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 26 April 1777," Massachusetts Historical Society.

3. "Declaration of Independence: A Transcription," National Archives.

4. Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (Penguin Books, 2011), 236.

5. "Benjamin Rush to John Adams, 20 July 1811" (excerpt from first paragraph), National Park Service.

6. "Declaration of Independence: A Transcription," National Archives.

7. Quoted in Benson Bobrick, Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution (Simon & Schuster, 2014), 202-203.

8. Quoted in David McCullough, 1776 (Simon & Schuster, 2005), 113.

9. Quoted in David Hackett Fischer, Washington's Crossing (Oxford University Press, 2006), 151.

10. Fischer, 164.

11. Chernow, 264.

12. Quoted in John Ferling, Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence (Oxford University Press, Inc, 2007), 165.

13. "The American Crisis," American Battlefield Trust.

14. Quoted in Richard M. Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton (Henry Holt, 1999), 248.

15. Quoted in Bruce Chadwick, The First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and the Men Behind America’s First Fight for Freedom (Sourcebooks, 2005), 142.

16. Chadwick, 140-141.

17. Chadwick, 141.

18. "George Washington to John Hancock, 27 December 1776," Founders Online, National Archives.

19. Ketchum, 265.

20. Fischer, 363.

21. Quoted in Mark Maloy, Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, December 25, 1776-January 3, 1777 (Savas Beatie LLC, 2018), 1.

22. Fischer, 259.

Bibliography:

Bobrick, Benson. Angel in the Whirlwind. Simon & Schuster, 2014.

Brookhiser, Richard. Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington. Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Chadwick, Bruce. The First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and the Men Behind America’s First Fight for Freedom. Sourcebooks, 2005.

Chernow, Ron. Washington: A Life. Penguin Books, 2011.

Ferling, John E. Almost A Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence. Oxford University Press, Inc, 2007.

Fischer, David Hackett. Washington’s Crossing. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Ketchum, Richard M. The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton. Henry Holt, 1999.

Maloy, Mark. Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, December 25, 1776-January 3, 1777. Savas Beatie LLC, 2018.

McCullough, David. 1776. Simon & Schuster, 2005.

O’Donnell, Patrick K. The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2021.