The Crossing (24 page)

The companies would have a sergeant for every twenty men—in their first organization—and each sergeant would be assisted by two to four corporals. There would be music provided by as many fifers and drummer boys each company could enlist. In the first year of the war, the drummer boys were frequently as young as twelve and thirteen years, the soldiers sometimes as young as fourteen.

In New England, the companies numbered from fifty-nine to seventy-nine men—a curious number given in the documents of the time—even though the Provincial Congress had fixed the number of company men at one hundred. Ideally, the regiment would consist of ten companies, or one thousand men, and the brigade of ten regiments, or ten thousand men. In all truth, most companies were limited to a few dozen, regiments to a few hundred at best, and brigades to little more than a thousand.

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Few accounts of the American Revolution mention the role played by the Scottish Highlanders and their terrifying effect upon the young American recruits as they advanced behind their skirling pipes; in particular, the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, later made famous by Kipling as the “Black Watch.” This regiment was curiously armed during the Brooklyn and Manhattan Island campaign, in that each man carried in addition to musket and bayonet an enormous sword, not unlike the old Scottish claymore. In the heat of battle, the Highlanders were wont to cast aside musket and bayonet and go berserk, laying about them with their huge swords. Even though these swords were abandoned toward the end of 1776, the legend of fear they had created went with the Highland regiments. It was difficult enough to teach the farm boys in the American ranks to face bayonets; broadswords swung by battle-crazed Highlanders were too much.

Several kilted Highland regiments were raised among the Tory colonists, as for example the North Carolina Highland Regiment, which was under the command of Lt. Colonel Alexander Stewart. This regiment was entirely raised in the colonies, out of loyalists. Another Highland regiment, kilted and in full Highland regalia, pipes and all, was the Royal Highland Emigrants, commanded by Lt. Colonel John Small—also raised in the colonies.

There were at least twelve regiments of Orangemen raised in the colonies to fight for the British—King's Orange Rangers, Volunteers of Ireland, Loyal Irish Volunteers, to mention only a few—and several of them wore the kilt and used pipers.

It is all too little remembered today how much of the American Revolution was a civil war. In the course of the Revolution, the British were able to raise eighty-two regiments of foot soldiers and cavalry in the colonies and in Canada, and while most of these troops were far from dependable in terms of enlistment, they do indicate the extent to which the population of the colonies was ideologically split.

That Washington had a personal bodyguard of black soldiers is often glossed over, as is the fact of so many black volunteers in the American ranks; but black regiments among the British is something only to be surmised. We have the record of a British regiment called “The Black Volunteers,” commanded by Captain George Martin, and one might guess that it was composed of escaped slaves—but proof requires a good deal of additional research.

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It is impossible to put together any clear account of the extent of General Washington's artillery in the summer of 1776. However, it is likely that the Continental army owned more than three hundred cannon of various caliber before the Battle of Long Island. No better impression of the retreat can be given than simply to state that by the time the army reached the Delaware River, less than twenty cannon remained in its possession.

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There has been much argument concerning Paine's status with the American army at that time. Washington Irving implies that Washington gave him some sort of temporary rank, and this is possible, so loosely were ranks awarded. Some such rank would have helped Paine to explain his presence, since the notion of a war correspondent remained in the future.

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The following material on the Durham boats has been prepared by the researchers at Washington Crossing State Park, in Pennsylvania. Curiously enough, the fact and function of these boats in a precise sense has been somewhat obscure until recent years. Now, a facsimile of one of the original boats has been built and placed in a cradle on the west bank of the Delaware River near the crossing point. Its great size and weight is surprising at first, and it appears incredible that these huge craft—reminiscent of Viking ships—could be manhandled across an icy river.

Although today most people identify the Durham Boat as the type used in the famous painting, “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” actually, from Colonial times and for a hundred years afterward, it had an interesting history of its own.

In Bucks County in the hills near Riegelsville, iron ore was discovered in 1727. The Durham Iron Works which established itself there had a very special kind of boat built in 1750 to carry heavy loads of ore and pig iron down the treacherous rapids of the Delaware River to market in Philadelphia. A great river traffic grew up around this type of boat, which continued to be known as the Durham Boat. At one time 2000 rivermen ran more than 300 Durham Boats from Easton to Philadelphia, hauling iron and grain, whiskey and local produce downstream, and light loads of manufactured goods upstream. When the boats docked, during the period 1750–1860, scenes around the saloons of Easton, Trenton and Philadelphia were often as lively as any in the Old West.

Durham Boats varied in length from forty to sixty feet. One forty feet in length with an eight foot beam and a depth of hold of about three feet, six inches, would have a draft of 5 inches when empty, and when loaded with 15 tons, about 30 inches. The current carried it downstream, while a crew of six men and a captain wielded the steering sweep, 25 to 30 feet long, and the setting poles and oars to guide it over the rapids. Upstream only two or three tons were carried and the boat was poled along from the bottom of the riverbed.

Such boats were used by General George Washington for the famous crossing of the Delaware, Christmas night, 1776. After he had crossed to Pennsylvania early in December, he began his plan for recrossing toward victory, and used his meager funds to buy and hire Durham boats for this purpose.
*

In a letter by General Washington, dated December 1, 1776, he wrote, “The boats all along the Delaware River should be secured, particularly the Durham Boats.” Such boats should be capable of carrying horses and cannon, as well as men, and when the fateful night came they were manned by General Glover's Marblehead, Mass., fishermen who poled men and equipment safely through the icy river to the Jersey shore. The resultant victory at Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776, became America's first as a nation.

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The end pages of the documentary history of the American Revolution, assembled and edited by Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris and published by Bobbs-Merrill in 1958, show a colorful parade of sixteen different uniforms worn by soldiers in the Continental army. This is the work of the book designer, not the editors, who were fully aware that most uniforms of the American Revolution consisted of
decoration after the fact,
sometimes a hundred years after the fact. Apart from uniforms made for themselves by affluent officers or by well-to-do city companies, there were almost no uniforms at all. Regarding the “hunting shirt,” we have this interesting comment from
Force,
fifth series, Volume I, p. 676:

“The General [Washington], sensible of the difficulty and expense of providing clothes of almost any kind for the troops, feels an unwillingness to recommend, much more to order, any kind of uniform; but as it is absolutely necessary that the men should have clothes, and appear decent and tight, he earnestly encourages the use of hunting shirts, with long breeches made of the same cloth, gaiter-fashion about the legs, to all those yet unprovided.”

On July 24, 1776, Washington issued an order recommending hunting shirts for all troops.

Southeastern Pennsylvania had been for years a center of refuge and settlement for German religious dissenters. By this time, there were many established settlements of Mennonites, Moravians and Lutherans. The Moravians were Germanized Bohemians, followers of John Huss, with a long tradition of resistance to oppression. The Pennsylvania Germans provided many regiments of troops for General Washington's army, and they fought through the war with steadiness and devotion. The Moravians in particular provided medical services, nursing, and so much food that they often went hungry themselves.

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I have seen several accounts of General Israel Putnam's intransigeance and cruelty, qualities which went with his rock-like dependability. Some might argue that such is virtue in the ultimate horror of war, but Washington and many of his staff officers were able to fight and come to victory without those qualities of heartlessness.

The following, from Bedini's fascinating
Ridgefield in Review,
is to the above point:

Among the papers of Lieutenant Samuel Richards, paymaster in Colonel Wylly's regiment, was the following account:

“Feb. 4, 1779. Was tried at a general Court Martial Edward Jones for Going to and serving the enemy, and coming out as a spy—found guilty of each and every charge Exhibited against him, and according to the Law and Usages of Nations was sentenced to suffer death.

“The General (Putnam) approves the sentence and orders it to be put in execution between the hours of ten and eleven
A.M.
by hanging him by the neck till he be DEAD.”

Two days later a soldier of the First Connecticut Regiment was tried and found guilty of desertion to the enemy, and General Putnam ordered the two prisoners to be executed at the same time. Accordingly, the hill which rose above and beyond the American camp (now known as Gallows Hill) was selected for the execution and a gallows was erected. Barber related that the hangman absconded and several boys about twelve years of age were ordered by Putnam to serve in his place. Jones was compelled to ascend a ladder to the gallows, which was about twenty feet from the ground. After the rope had been placed about his neck, General Putnam ordered him to jump from the ladder. Jones refused, however, and stated that he was not guilty of the crime with which he was charged. Putnam then reportedly ordered the boys to overturn the ladder, and, upon their refusal, forced them to do so at the point of his sword …

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General Washington and the Continental Congress saw the struggle very differently. Though Congress was ready to concede immediate if not ultimate hopelessness, Washington would not admit more than a temporary difficulty. His refusal to admit defeat at this low point is well illustrated in the following exchange of correspondence, as quoted by William S. Stryker,
The Battles of Trenton and Princeton,
Houghton Mifflin and Company, 1898. The letter is dated December 12, 1776.

“To Colonel Cadwalader: You are to post your Brigade at and near Bristol. Colonel Nickerson's Regiment to continue where it is at Dunk's ferry but if you find from reconnoitering the ground, or from any movements of the enemy, that any other disposition is necessary, you'll make it accordingly without waiting to hear from me, but to acquaint me with the alterations and the reasons for it as soon as possible. You'l
[sic]
establish the necessary guards and throw up some little redoubts at Dunk's ferry and the different passes in the Neshamine.”

“Pay particular attention to Dunk's ferry as its'
[sic]
not improbable that something may be attempted there. Spare no pains or expense to get intelligence of the enemies
[sic]
motions and intentions. Any promises made, or sums advanced, shall be fully complied with and discharged. Keep proper Patrols going from guard to guard. Every piece of intelligence you obtain worthy notice, send it forward by express. If the enemy attempts a landing on this side you'l
[sic]
give them all the opposition in your power. Should they land between Trenton Falls and Bordentown ferry or anywhere above Bristol, and you find your force quite unequal to their force give them what opposition you can at Neshamine ferry and fords. In a word you are to give them all the opposition you can without hazzarding
[sic]
the loss of your Brigade.”

On the same day Washington wrote to General Ewing as follows: “Sir:—Your Brigade is to guard the river Delaware from the ferry opposite to Bordentown until you come within two miles or thereabouts of Yardley's Mill to which General Dickinson's will extend.”

“About one hundred or a hundred and fifty men will I think be sufficient at the post opposite to Bordentown. The principal part of your force should be as convenient as possible to the ford above Holp's Mill in order that if a passage should be attempted at that place you may be able to give the earliest and most spirited opposition; the success of which depending upon good intelligence and the vigilance
[sic]
of your guards and sentrys
[sic]
will induce you to use every means in your power to procure the first and every endeavor to enforce and encourage the latter.”

Washington then goes on to say as he did to Cadwalader: “Spare no pains nor costs to gain information of the enemies
[sic]
movements and designs. Whatever sums you pay to obtain this end I will cheerfully refund. Every piece of information worthy of communication transmit to me without loss of time.”

It is interesting to note the stress that Washington places upon payment for information. Apparently he is not then under the spell of a mythology of so-called patriotism that is to entwine itself in after-years around the people who were involved in the Revolution as spies.