The colonial troops were at a massive disadvantage at the start of the war. Not only were they untrained and unseasoned in combat, but there was not even a proper continental army. Regional militias with various time commitments ruled the day and almost cost the fledgling nation the war before it even began.
Did you know that one of the earliest significant engagements of the war was in New York City? I had no idea, or that knowledge was sacrificed to make room for something else in my mind. It was a disaster for the American troops. New York played well into the British superiority at sea, with its multiple intersecting waterways. Buoyed by 8,000 Hessian mercenaries the British landed in Long Island and soon pressed their advantage, routing our troops in Brooklyn through an inexplicably unguarded pass. The Hessians were brutal in their slaughter, decapitating soldiers and wielding their heads on spiked.
Washington was incredibly demoralized. Troops retreated at random, the officers had no control. He felt everything slipping. In a stroke of genius and providence Washington led the 9,500 members of the continental contingent across the East River to lower Manhattan (roughly where the Brooklyn Bridge is today) in a single night. Notoriously difficult, the river that night was calm as a sea of glass. The sailors put cloth over their oars to mute the sound. In the morning, without everyone yet across a thick fog rolled over the waters. One soldier claimed visibility at around six feet. The rest of the troops made it across, all 9,500 without a single incident.
Despite the miraculous retreat to Manhattan, the colonials were still hemmed in on all sides by British boats and troops. Washington and his generals fled north to the Harlem Heights and left a thin line of troops along the riverbanks from lower Manhattan up to Harlem. More disaster, and more tactical blunders, lay ahead.
Fort Washington, at the upper end of Manhattan island, was another poorly conceived fortress. It was meant to serve as a bulwark against the British navy, but proved inferior to that task. Moreover, there was no water supply in the fort, requiring colonials to go to the river for water. Obstinately, the continental army attempted to hold the fort. Though they rained artillery on to the charging Hessians, the fort was quickly overrun and the British claimed 3,000 prisoners of war.
At this time the forces of the continental army were split with Washington rushing to New Jersey in an attempt to head off any British advance on Philadelphia. The army fractured and in disarray it is difficult to imagine the tumult in Washington's mind as he watched his beleaguered forces sullenly retreat into New Jersey, burning bridges behind as they went. The British offered pardon to those who swore fealty to the crown and thousands in New York and New Jersey rushed to do so. Everything was falling apart. Washington knew with certainty that he would be executed as a traitor if he was to be captured.
Yet by all accounts he cut a stunningly noble figure as he led the army, tail between its legs, across New Jersey. It made such an impression on Thomas Paine that he wrote that if people still venerated heroes as gods Washington would unquestionably be worshiped.
The debacle in New York also proved to Washington that it would do the continentals no good to challenge the might of the British navy. The war must be fought inland. His back up against the wall, the contracts of the militia expiring at the end of the year, he steeled his resolve for the Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware and a desperate effort to change the momentum of the war and restore morale to the colonies.
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