November
2002
Trenton
in History: Bands
of Brothers fought at Trenton, not just Normandy
By
Ralph Siegel
 |
|
Stephen
Ambrose
|
The
recent death of historian Stephen Ambrose brings to mind what
presently must be regarded as his most famous work, "Band
of Brothers," an account of a paratrooper company in Europe
during World War II.
"Band
of Brothers" was written before another classic, "D-Day,"
made Ambrose a best-selling author. But "Band of Brothers"
was made famous by the miniseries of the same name produced by
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg for HBO. It is an intimate account
of individual soldiers and the bonds they formed in the trial
of war.
The
title phrase derives from Shakespeare's Henry V: "We few,
we happy few, we Band of Brothers, for he today that sheds his
blood with me shall be my brother." It moved George Washington
to muse in retirement: "My first wish would be that my military
family, and the whole Army, should consider themselves as a band
of brothers, willing and ready to die for each other."
As would later be true of Grant and Eisenhower, the nation's first
president recalled most fondly not his political life but his
military experience.
And in this regard, no place in the world has more formative significance
than Trenton. Valley Forge, Yorktown, even Morristown have more
recognition today, but to discover the streets of Trenton as a
Revolutionary War battlefield is to rediscover the emergence of
George Washington himself, to get a new understanding of the greatness
of the first great American.
The
Battle of Trenton climaxed the six-month period of the most severe
trial for the Virginia general and his volunteer army made up
mainly of New England Yankees. It was here Washington saw the
truth to the insight: They don't fight for you, they fight for
each other.
Patriotism
or other such notions may stir men to leave home and enlist, but
it is a bond of brotherhood that holds together the fighting men
who stay.
By
winter of 1776, the disasters in New York and the retreat across
New Jersey had brought the Continental Army to its darkest moment.
The Declaration of Independence had coincidentally triggered the
British Empire's most determined effort to extinguish this insurrection.
Washington's desperate lunge to reverse his fortunes with the
Christmas crossing and the Trenton attack was the death test of
his bedraggled force. His catch phrase for the campaign was "Victory
or Death," and it was literally true.
Faced with depletion of the ranks by desertion and with the expiration
of enlistments, with collapsing morale, with the risk of death
or of a crippling wound or of fatal illness in a British prison
barge, the Continentals were in danger of vanishing from sheer
exhaustion and loss of will.
But
after the astonishing victory over the Germans at Trenton, the
maneuverings of the following week and the subsequent blows against
British arms in Trenton and Princeton, the Continental Army and
therefore the cause of independence were literally saved.
Nathanael
Greene, John Glover, Arthur St. Clair, William "Lord Stirling"
Alexander and Johnny Stark led their troops in a superbly conceived
attack. Henry Knox skillfully directed artillery fire, including
the battery of young Capt. Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton's New
Yorkers fired cannonballs and canister down Warren Street, where
Lt. James Monroe came close to death in a charge against a German
gun position.
And Mercer County namesake Gen. Hugh Mercer, Washington's dearest
hometown friend, stormed the town with his brigade across the
snowy fields to the west, seizing the houses and posting his riflemen
in the windows so they could open fire through the misery of a
winter storm. It was this style of heroic boldness that would
cost the Scotsman his life at Princeton.
These were the "brothers" Washington meant in his old
age as central to his memories.
After
Trenton and Princeton-"The 10 Days Campaign"-grueling
times and tests did lay ahead. Still to come were the rout at
Brandywine, the grim massacre at Paoli, the setback at Germantown.
Still to come were the deprivations of Valley Forge and Jockey
Hollow.
But
after surviving December 1776, the army would never again be on
such thin ice. Never again would Washington's position and generalship
be challenged. More than a decade later his enduring primacy among
Colonial leaders made him the automatic selection for president
without an election.
And
never again would this "band of brothers" who fought
together in Trenton and Princeton be arrayed together on the same
line of battle. Many today may have forgotten the significance
of Trenton, and some of us are working to refresh modern memories
of our history.
But
there can be no question that Washington's band of brothers never
forgot this place.
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Ralph
Siegel leads tours of the Trenton battlefield. Visit his Web site
at www.TrentonBattlefieldTours.org
