The first American Christmas happened in 1776. It was on the eve of the 25th into the morn of the 26th when the British occupying troops and German conscripts, the Hessians, who had ravaged the Jersey colonists’ homes and farms for weeks, slumbered, fat and satiated from their Christmas feasts, on the other side of the Delaware River in Trenton. Little did these troops know, though, that this false sense of comfort following their overwhelming victories in Long Island and Manhattan would prove their most inauspicious enemy.
It was Christmas night when General George Washington crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey under the cover of darkness. About halfway into their journey, Washington and his men where engulfed by a terrible storm of sleet and frozen rain—at least one American soldier froze to death along the way. By the time they reached land, Washington and his troops were hours behind schedule, a lot of them marching to shore with cloth wrapped around their feet in place of shoes and bellies empty and starving due to the long winter that had depleted their food and supplies and morale.
Yet, despite the storm pushing back the timeliness of their attack, the rebel troops were still able to catch the Hessians by surprise. The Hessians, so confident of the Americans’ ineffectiveness as a fighting unit, had left their lookout points abandoned for the Christmas evening. And, so, the rebel troops came to shore undetected. When the Hessians finally became aware of the attack, they were highly unprepared, stomachs slow and fat with Christmas feast, hangovers abound, and guns frozen by the freshly fallen icy rain.
The battle was a stolen victory and a necessary one for the Americans and especially for General Washington whose competence had been called into question by his men as well as the other patriot generals. When the Battle of Trenton was finished, 106 Hessians were dead and 868 captured along with much needed supplies. The Americans had lost but four men. And Washington had saved the Revolution while exposing the English army’s worst flaw- their arrogance.
So, take heed on this Christmas Night of eves more rebellious and more successful, of morns more productive in the face of eminent defeat, and of a time when the necessities were scarce but the only want was for a victory and a sense of idealistic pride for the cause of a revolution.
Before the plastic absurdity of it all, that was the last real American Christmas.
Happy Awakenings Amerika,
Freemont Barrington
