professor james byrd, the author of "sacred scripture, sacred war, the bible and the american revolution." we will visit trenton, new jersey to explore general george washington's crossing of the delaware river. tour takescities american history tv on the road to feature the history of cities across america. here is a recent program. times that trye men's souls. the sunshine patriot will end this crisis stray from the service of his country but he deserves the love and thanks of man and women. thomas payne will write the american crisis. it will be published on december 19 in the pennsylvania journal. washington has it read to the soldiers to try and bolster the sinking morale.

the situation is dire due to the defeats washington has suffered. his recruitment is almost nonexistent. they need a victory. they need something positive going. washington, certainly, is well aware and desperate for it. the victory at trenton, when they get it, will be a huge morale boost, confidence builder. the result will be recruitment. it will encourage men to come forward to join the army. this is the site where general washington on christmas night, and the continental army, landed. boats would have been landed up and down the bank for some distance. the army crossed during the darkness, during the night. washington had about 2400 men, 18 cannons, 100 horses. washington was hoping to have everybody across by midnight. it wasn't until about 4:00 the next morning on december 26, the

army was across and ready to march to trenton. the prelude to our story is the new york campaign in the summer and fall of 1776. the british landed an army on staten island shortly after the declaration of independence. there were a series of battles defeats for general washington, , beginning with the battle of long island, followed by harlem heights, white plains, the capture in new york as well, and the defeats at fort washington and fort lee. really, fort lee was an abandoning of the fort and important supplies. and that began in late the november, retreat through new jersey. washington fell back through new jersey. because of the defeats, morale was sinking fast. he was counting on the new jersey militia as well as the pennsylvania militia to come

forward and strengthen his army. they were not turning out in any significant numbers. he had to continue retreating through new jersey. when he is halfway across the state, he orders the gathering of the boats along the delaware river. he sends men forward to the river to start confiscating all the boats. for 70 miles north of philadelphia, everything that floats is being gathered by the army so the british will not have any boats left across the -- left to cross the river. washington, when he arrives in trenton, the army will begin crossing the delaware river, that is the retreat crossing. very important to save the army from the british pursuit. that is december 7 into december eight when the army escapes across the river in trenton the pennsylvania. the british will arrive minutes after the last boat crosses. on december 8, they arrive in

trenton. they will look for boats and come up empty. the delaware river stops the british advance protects the , american capital of philadelphia and gives washington valuable breathing room. both sides are very well informed, through spies, of the other's positions. he does have good information about the hessians in trenton. he is desperate to get a victory going. he is also under the burden that comes with the first of the new year, january 1, nearly half of his soldier's enlistments are about to expire. he is going to lose about half of his army without fighting a battle by january 1. he is desperate to use the army before it dwindles away. he will cross here on christmas night, eight miles north of trenton, to get the army across undetected. he waits until darkness. it is a very dark night.

there is ice floating in the river. there is a constant problem with ice freezing on the banks. they have to break it away so the boats can land. it is a long night. to add a little extra drama, around 11:00, a nor'easter snowstorm kicks in. freezing rain, hail, snow, and wind blowing like a hurricane. this was a classic nor'easter that was very miserable, that would continue into the next morning during the battle and be an important factor during the battle, because once their muskets get wet you have a hard , time getting a spark and fire. i think it was john greenwood, he got across earlier in the night and had a long wait. so they were tearing down fence rails. the johnson ferry house on the hill back here probably suffered quite a bit of material damage to the army. they were tearing down fence rails to build fires and trying

to keep warm during the snowstorm. greenwood writes that he spent the night in front of a bonfire. when his front was facing the fire, his back was freezing. when his back was facing the fire, his front was freezing. he spent the night spinning around basically in front of the fire, trying to keep warm. colonel henry knox who was in charge of the crossing, one of the soldiers wrote about it. you could hear his booming voice during the night over the crash of the river. it would have been a noisy, chaotic situation locally with the bonfire and soldiers trying to keep warm. the initial troops that crossed were sent inland to set up a perimeter to capture anybody who happened to be out. so again the element of surprise , is key. anybody who would be out would be brought into the line so they would not give warning of the attack. the list of characters for the

crossing, there is quite a few well-known officers. the important ones were colonel henry knox who was in charge of the crossing. colonel john glover's men for massachusetts were manning the boats. there were a lot of sailors. you have division commanders, two division commanders, general nathanael greene and general john sullivan. they are going to be leading to -- two several marches to trenton. you also have alexander hamilton with the new york artillery. he will be an aide for washington later on in the war. you have a young, 18, lieutenant james monroe, who would become our fifth president of the united states. you have quite a few of the founding fathers in the army at this point. once the army is across, they had to wait, the artillery took some time to get across. it is about 4:00 in the morning on december 26. a nine mile about march ahead of them.

i think it is greenwood, john greenwood who wrote about the march. he says basically, we marched no faster than a 10-year-old could walk, and stopping frequently. there was a line of march, numerous halts and starts. it took about four hours to go the nine miles. there was a crossroads. the army divided into two columns. they had about a four mile march from there. washington accompanied general that daniel green's column which would come into the northeastern part of town. general sullivan came in a long river road. within minutes of each other, they encountered the hessian guard posts on the edge of town and forced them into town. this is a pivotal moment of the revolution. the crossing of the delaware christmas night, followed by the victory at trenton is the game saver, in my view. to many, including washington,

certainly to the british, they felt the war was about over. they were ready to wrap this up. we needed a victory. trenton is a small battle. 900 hessians are captured, a little over 900, but the morale effect is huge. it is almost viewed by the population at the time as a miracle event. >> you can watch this and other programs on the history of communities across the country at c-span.org cities tour. this is american history tv, only on c-span3. c-span's history series landmark cases returns this month, with a look at 12 new supreme court cases. each week, historians and experts discuss the constitutional issues and personal stories behind the

significance of praying decision -- supreme court decisions. , and tot 9:00 eastern follow all 12 cases we have a companion guide. landmark cases, volume two. the book costs $8.95 plus shipping and handling. go to c-span.org/landmark cases. sunday -- >> sunday on cue and day, doug mills talks about the photos he took while covering president trump. >> obviously, he enjoys having us around. i really believe despite his constant comments about fake news and the media and so forth, i really feel he enjoys having us around the cousin helps drive his message. it helps drive the news of the day, which he does every day. he is constantly driving a

message. therefore, having us around allows him to do that. >> q and a sunday night on c-span. weekend, the c-span cities tour takes you to lynchburg, virginia. with the help of our comcast cable partners, we will explore lynchburg's rich literary scene and historical sites. beginning at 5:00 p.m. eastern sunday tv on c-span2 and on american history tv on c-span3, working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. >> you are watching american history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. you are watching american history tv,