American History: Peace Treaty Ends American Revolution
December 06, 2012
Print: "Washington, Crossing the Delaware"
From VOA Learning English, this is THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
This week in our series, we complete the story of the American Revolution.
The time is December seventeen seventy-six. British General William Howe has decided to stop fighting during the cold winter months. The general is in New York. He has already established control of a few areas near the city, including Trenton and Princeton in New Jersey.
General George Washington and the Continental Army are on the other side of the Delaware River. The Americans are cold and hungry. They have few weapons. Washington knows that if Howe attacks, the British will be able to go all the way to Philadelphia.
"And he's looking at his army which is melting away…”
Historian Gordon Wood says that moment was the low point of the war for George Washington.
"…and he decides to make one great effort on Christmas night and crosses the Delaware in dead of winter — cold, ice — and he crosses it and attacks Trenton, where you have about one thousand Hessians who are kind of overwhelmed and defeated. It's a small tactical victory but a great psychological effect, because it's the first time that Washington's ever actually done something positive, and it really does, I think, change the psychology of the war."
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