The Crossing: The Revolution at the River’s Edge

Time was running out.

By Christmas Eve, 1776, George Washington commanded an army that was about to vanish—not by defeat, but by the simple expiration of enlistments. Within days, thousands of soldiers would be free to go home, and many fully intended to do so. 

No act of Congress would abolish the Continental Army, but an army without men, morale, or cohesion exists only on paper. What remained in Washington’s care was less a force than a fragile idea, held together by habit, hope, and only a few days still to spare.

Across the Delaware River, Washington found shelter but no safe harbor. Remaining in place meant watching his army slip away as the year ended, men leaving because their time was up.

Retreat exacerbated Washington’s problem—confirming what many were already beginning to think—that independence had been a summer daydream, persuasive on paper but unable to withstand the winter and the British forces now pressing in. Washington was not inclined to stand still, and retreat was never a posture he accepted readily.