1776

I'm currently trying to finish 1776. I got it for Christmas. And it's not that it's a tough read or anything... I just can't find time. Anyway, it's brilliant, and I must recommend it. Highly.

I just read about Washington's crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night. The way they made the crossing and the circumstances under which they retook Trenton on December 26 make their victory all the more impressive, and elevated "His Excellency" General Washington's status to the near-divine. The fact that the Americans lost only TWO men in the campaign is downright miraculous... and those two died of exposure on the march from the Delaware River to Trenton. They retook the town in all of 45 minutes and had only four men wounded while killing about 100 Hessians, taking about 900 prisoner, chasing off the rest, and changing the course of the war. Now, the British retook Trenton soon thereafter, but Washington's retreat was masterly and instead of taking refuge, he swung around and marched the colonials to Princeton and won another stunning victory there before the end of the year.

God blessed America. Seems like the only way to look at it. The way they won at Trenton is much like the English beat the French at the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Shakespeare may have glorified things a bit in Henry V (the Olivier and Branagh films are both quite good, personally I prefer Branagh), but by all accounts the English victory was a miracle.

One of the most amazing facts about the battle was the extraordinary lopsidedness of the casualties. Shakespeare tells of ten thousand French dead versus 29 English dead (Act 4, Scene 8). More modern estimates put the number of French dead at between 4000 and 11000, with best estimates about 7000 (including the murdered prisoners), plus another 2000 prisoners. Estimates of English dead range from Shakespeare's 29 to a high of 1600. (The high number probably represents all deaths for the entire chevauchée [the 15th-century equivalent of a strategic bombing, or in this case, the destruction of everything in Henry's path on his way to Calais] including deaths from dysentary.) The best estimate is about 400.

Thanks to aginc.net for the above info.

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