A Christmas Surprise
Fischer, David Hackett
BOOKS IN REVIEW - "A Christmas Surprise" overwhelm his plots. This is the case with Ms. Simmons and her campus adventures. Wolfe's vaunted energy has evolved to a point where his legendary "style" has given way to a...
...There was an exchange of insults about the uniforms, then fighting...
...He was opposed by a professional army, many of them welltrained and ruthless mercenaries...
...Indeed, as Fischer explains, Washington could perhaps not have done it without the help of one of the best of his officers, Colonel Henry Knox...
...But there were many weaknesses he could do little or nothing about: lack of training, uniforms, equipment—especially cannon—and, to begin with, numbers...
...Crossing an icy river, which even at the ferry point was nearly eight feet deep, and fast, by night and in stormy weather, was a reckless move from an untrained army, with a poor communication system or none at all...
...Some of those in ASH I NGTON CROSSING 74 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR DECEMBER 2004/JANUARY 2005...
...Many of the Virginians were slave-owners, and the Marbleheads included former slaves...
...Knox was even taller than Washington, and much bulkier...
...BOOKS IN REVIEW overwhelm his plots...
...In the light of this, his Christmas strategy was extremely daring...
...I recommend it as topical and relevant reading this coming Christmas to Americans who see their country beset by a host of enemies, trying to destroy all the ideas and causes for which they stand...
...With the spring of a deer [Washington] leaped from his saddle, threw the reins of his bridle into the hands of his servant, and rushing into the thickest of the melee, with an iron grip seized two tall, brawny, athletic, savage-looking riflemen by the throat, keeping them at arm's length, alternately shaking and talking to them...
...ness wrote: "In less than five minutes more than a thousand combatants were on the field...
...Still, they were soldiers, not recruits, and for most of 1776 they proved too much for his forces...
...Fischer recounts an incident at Cambridge when a regiment of Virginia riflemen in "white linen frocks, ruffled and fringed" met John Glover's Marblehead Regiment of New Englanders in "round jackets and fisher's trousers...
...This was, says Fischer, on a larger scale than the combats at Concord and Lexington...
...There were other occasions when Washington's personal magnetism—he was always popular with the troops— achieved miracles...
...In a few minutes he had restored order, without striking a blow or invoking military law...
...There was "a fierce struggle" with "biting and gouging...
...Washington had twice served in action with British forces in major engagements, and he did not have a high opinion of them...
...There were also internal antagonisms, running deep into such issues as slavery...
...Hearing of the fracas, he arrived with his colored servant, both on horseback...
...They rode straight into the middle of the fighting...
...He was driven out of New York, lost more than half his men, and feared that the British would soon be in Philadelphia...
...That is the message of Professor Fischer's lively, well-researched, and inspiring book...
...Happily, Washington was a very tall (six foot three), powerful, and confident man...
...He had "a deep bass voice" which could be heard above the roar of the weather...
...An eyewitPaul Johnson's books include A History of the American People and Art: A New History...
...Fischer writes particularly well on the Hessians, and gives fascinating details...
...Fischer quotes Washington as writing of the "savage-looking equipment" of the back-country units...
...Some of them," he said, "especially from Pennsylvania, know no more of a rifle than my horse...
...The "hostile feelings between two of [the army's] best regiments were extinguished by one man...
...He was put in charge of the actual crossing, and here again size and personal physique helped...
...A Christmas Surprise Washington's Crossing David Hackett Fischer (Oxford, 564 pages, $35) Reviewed by Paul Johnson ASHINGTON'S CROSSING of the Delaware River, at Christmas 1776, can be presented as the turning point of the War of Independence...
...George Washington accepted the invitation of Congress to command the army with reluctance and apprehension because he knew the weakness of the forces at his disposal—raw, untrained volunteers, commanded by inexperienced and often insubordinate officers...
...Wolfe's vaunted energy has evolved to a point where his legendary "style" has given way to a softer, more seamless, more cautious craft...
Vol. 37 • December 2004 • No. 10
