Victory or Death

Vol. 1                                      Issue 26

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out and meet it.   Thucydides


                  VICTORY OR DEATH

Cold winter winds came early in 1776. Snow weighed heavy on the oak trees lining the streets of Trenton, New Jersey.  Ice would soon cover the nearby Delaware River. Standing on the western banks, a solitary soldier pondered the smoke rising from the distant town. A new storm was coming.

In the warm summer of  1776, a new nation was conceived upon the unique proposition that all people were created equal and were ordained by God with certain unalienable rights. From this proposition emerged the American Nation whose citizens have transformed the world. Few understand that in early winter of 1776, the fate of the entire American experience rested upon the shoulders of the American soldier.

George Washington was an unlikely soldier. At age 44, he was a successful plantation owner. His military experience as a militia colonel was decades old. Facing the most powerful military in the world, he led a ragged army that had been chased from Harlem Heights in New York across the farmlands of New Jersey to the western banks of the the Delaware River in Pennsylvania. Beaten and battered, barely clothed and poorly armed, the Continental Army was but one pitched battle away from annihilation.

Yet in the face of it all, on the banks of the Delaware River, General Washington conceived of a bold plan.  Pulling paper from his pocket, he penned his assessment of the prospects of the coming battle.  He wrote simply: "Victory or Death".

Crusty fisherman from Marblehead Massachusetts commandeered flat bottom boats and ferried 2400 soldiers and 18 cannon across the icy Delaware River Christmas night 1776. Battling a fierce winter storm, Washington and his army of patriots marched four hours through the night to the outskirts of Trenton.  At 8 am they opened fire on the unsuspecting garrison of Hessian Mercenaries.  In an hour of intense hand to hand fighting, the Patriot Army prevailed, killing and capturing the entire garrison of nearly 1000 soldiers.

Days later, General Washington and his army crossed the Delaware for a second time and marched on the British in Princeton. Initially routed by the more disciplined Redcoat Army, the Continentals rallied when General Washington on horseback appeared waiving his sword.  Standing with them amid musket fire and cannon shot, he personally directed a furious counterattack which drove the British from the battlefield.

In ten days and in two battles, a solitary soldier changed history.  While many years and much hardship would be endured before Independence could be secured, the ten days in late December 1776 proved to be the turning point in the Revolution. These days transformed General Washington into a national hero and revealed to his soldiers and to the nation as a whole the depth of his character and the force of his resolve.

At a time when officers bickered over promotions and soldiers required bonuses to ensure re-enlistment, Washington worked for no pay, and from 1776 to 1781 remained at his post without taking leave.  At a time when Congressional leaders abandoned Philadelphia for the safety of Baltimore, Washington faced British muskets alongside his troops.

Successfully crossing the Delaware not only solidified Washington as the military leader of the country, he emerged as the political and moral leader as well.  He was seen as a leader whose actions need not be embellished by his rhetoric.


His strength of character fostered an ambition for the success of the citizens of the new nation over his own. He acquired status and power which exceeded any to which a person of grander ambition may have aspired by simply doing his duty to God and country. As observed by Fisher Ames, Washington was one of "that small number" of men "who were no less distinguished for the elevation of their virtues than the luster of their talents. . . who were born, and who acted through life as if they were born, not for themselves, but for their country and the whole human race."

From the despair of Valley Forge to the victory at Yorktown, the military genius of George Washington secured our Independence.  As moderator of the Constitutional Convention, George Washington used his political leadership to give birth to a government of the people, by the people and for the people.  As nation's first president, it was the personal integrity of George Washington that defined the role of the chief executive and fostered the peaceful transition of governmental power by votes placed in a ballot box rather than by force of arms.

As the political progeny of a great American, let us commemorate the 280th anniversary of his death by acknowledging that as "Citizens by birth, or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate [our] affections.  The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to [us], in [our] national capacity must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.  With slight shades of difference, [we]  have the same Religion, Manners, Habits, and Political Principles. [We] have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and liberty [we] possess are the work of joint councils, and joint efforts; of common dangers, sufferings and successes."

Let us dedicate ourselves anew to the proposition that a free government can only spring forth from a bedrock of religion and morality. Washington understood that public virtue could not be expected to exist in a land whose citizenry fostered a climate of private vice.  "Let us with caution indulge in the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

February 22nd is not President's Day.  It is the birthday of George Washington, the father of our nation.  Let us rejoice that among all nations we have been blessed by presence of such greatness among us

ATTICUS