After retreating across new jersey came into bucks county in the beginning of the december 17th, 76. They encamped in several locations across this area including the house that is also part of our park. Things were desperate at this time. The Continental Army really needed wayne. Washington was afraid that british were going to invade philadelphia and take over the capital. He knew what he needed was a bold, bold action and after meeting with the war counsel, they made the decision that on christmas night they would cross the delaware and march to trenton to attack the outpost at trenton. As they began to march particularly from the Thompson House to the ferry, a snowstorm started. And the weather was terrible. There was snow and hail and it was basically a pretty bad noreaster. And all of the men, 2400 in all, had to cross the delaware and begin their march. There were other rej ments that were supposed to cross in two other locations at the trenton ferry and bristol ferry. They were not able to get across for a variety of reasons. The weather was absolutely a major part of that. Make way for the general. J general wash, what i know its a secret mission, but can you tell us about this operation . This is our final chance. This is our chance to make an impact in this war. The problems we have is theyre expiring. Soldiers want to go home. I have ten days, just ten short days in order to make this attack. We feel that with the weather behind us, the element of surprise on our side, well be able to take the city of trenton, raise the morale of the troops, prove to congress that were viable army that they should support and hopefully, hopefully they will rise. The have you done any operation like this before . We have not. The only operations weve done of every maritime order have been the evacuation from new york. Which was very well done and my hats off to the marble headers from massachusetts who manned the boats that removed us from new york and then we retreated down to the jersey and to the bank of the delaware. Right now were trying to keep the river between us and the mers on airy thats are right now in the town of trenton. Were trying to stay between them and the city of philadelphia. Tell us about your forces. What type of men are they . Hopefully you keep this among ourselves, but we do have 3,000 troops of which i have found are 2400 are fit for duty. Remainder have fallen ill from malnutrition, from the weather, and we are caring for them further north of the river. We have 2400 troops ready to go. They have three day rations cooked, 16 rounds of ammunition each and we expect to give them a good fight. My name is frank lions from yardly down the street. Im portraying colonel john glover from marble head, massachusetts. Colonel glover was the commander of the 14th continental regiment which is also known as marble head mariners. It was the glovers marble head regiment. They were marble head is a small town ten miles north of boston. When American Revolution started, it was the tenth largest port in the United States on the east coast. Because of the intolerable acts and all those british enactments that led up to the American Revolution, mostst men in marble head were unemployed and very unhappy and they were happy to join marble head regiment. Glover initially signed up 550 men. Think never expected to find themselves in pennsylvania though. Colonel glover and the marble head regiment saved washington and the army three times, this being the third time. The first time after the disastrous battle of long island, glover and his men rode 9,000 men, horses, baggage across the lower east river from brooklyn into what is the modern day downtown brooklyn into lower manhattan. And saved Washingtons Army from being encircled by the british. And then again at pels point when wallace was planning to, he sailed up the east river out to the Long Island Sound and he was planning to march across the north bronx and trap washington in manhattan. Glover once again with 700 men held off 4,000 british troops. He took about 22 casualties. The british took about somewhere between 7 h00 and 800. That gave washington time to escape from manhattan. Then we fast forward to the 22nd of december. Glover marches into this area and he camps up the hill where Washington Headquarters were. He tells him what he wants to do. He crossed 800 feet of a rocky ice strewn river under the cover of darkness. By the way, the barometer is falling. Could be looking at some weather. And glover and he says its impossible. Washington says to glover, colonel glover, i did not ask you to assess possibilities. I asked you if you could do it. Thats when legend tells us and this is not written anywhere. Its one of the three iconic parts of the revolutionary war. You ask anyone, even the smallest amount of history that are going to talk about valley forge, Washington Crossing the delaware, and the battle yorktown. Everyone knows the iconic pain which was painted in 1850s based on the ryan river. But everyone knows that painting as Washington Crossing the delaware. You certainly dont get icebergs. It is very, very thick sheets of ice. What will take place . Were going to start by seeing washington and his officers review the troops. Will well hear washington give a speech to the troops and then everyone for the boats. Tell us about the boats. The boats are one of the types of boats that were used during the crossing to get men from pennsylvania to new jersey. What is special about the boats is that they are large. And they were originally made to haul pig iron from the iron works up and down the delaware. So they were ideal for putting a lot of guys in and getting them from point a to point b. But they werent the only boats used during the crossing. They are the only types of boats youll see here during the enactment. Washington, when he came to pennsylvania, ordered all of the boats that were on the new jersey side of the delaware brought over to pennsylvania in hopes of slowing down any crossing that the british might do to invade philadelphia. So the boats were used and in particular a ferry was used. Thats why they came to this ferry so that you can get artillery across and forces across because obviously youre not going to be able to get any of them into a little boat. Is. Glover, how do the conditions look . My marble headers have just returned from traversing the river. The river is swift. The river is strewn with ice. But theyre confident, sir, and their determined to convey our army across the delaware this very night. Excellent. And remember, its victory or death. We will not fail. Please turn to your troops and prepare them for inspection. Weve had had citizens of philadelphia come willing up to provide us with at least some blankets to keep you warm. It reminds me of the crisis by thomas payne, your sergeants have read to you. He wrote these are the times that try mens souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country. They deserve the love and thanks of man and woman. And my troops, you deserve that loving thanks. Youre here with me now to continue our fight. I tip to remember that victory or death. Colonel sergeant . Yes . Prepare the troops to board. That i will. Ready . Row away. The boats were meant to float down the river. They were not meant to go across the river. Washington knew they could be valuable for transporting troops. Basically ferries took people across the river, not the dorm boats. So they dont maneuver well going across the river. And they had to row them up the river and tack into the wind and the current and just to get them into position. They were meant to float down the river and to be pulled and down the river and steers with this big sweep orr that is in the aft end of the boat which youll see out here today. It takes a little bit of skill to be able to do it. My name is leon vaughn. Im portraying a member of colonel glovers marble headers. 14th regiment out of marble head. I helped washington get across water. How was the crossing today . The crossing today was very easy. Some years it has snowed. Some years it has rained. And its been cold. But today, perfect weather conditions. Tell me about your portrayal. Why do you do this . I do this because its not in the average American History textbook. About 40 of colonel glovers unit. Because during that time in massachusetts, black men were a large part of the wheeling and fishing industry. Being that john glovers men they caught cod every day. And this is a typical dress of a cod fisherman. The trousers, theyre open. So just in case you fell in the water, you would have water in your pants and they could drain and you could come up and you would not drown that easy. And the hat, if it got cold, you can have it pulled down over your ears, not like the tricorp hats. Everything was made what you wore is practical. Now, we were here from day one. I have a cousin. He did Extensive Research on my fathers mother. And he traced her ancestry back to one of the 20 and odd africans that were on the boat that landed at Point Comfort in hampton, virginia, 1619. So i can trace my family back in this country 400 years. You have to go deep into libraries and used book stores and the internet has helped also. I picked up a book out of a library and in this book, i found in the painting of george Washington Crossing the river, the man rowing the boat to the right of George Washington is a black guy. He was a servant of one of George Washingtons aides. He is the black guy rowing the boat on the painting. There were about 300 soldiers that crossed. If we had to wait for 2400, it would take all day. It took washington nine hours. But, yeah, about 300 today and about 48 boat crews. The boat crews come out and practice. They practice on a local lake. And then we come down and practice on the river. So we do theres a lot. The planning goes on all year. There will be a meeting in january just to be briefed and then we start planning for next year. I kind of had advanced training because my father fished. He never owned a motor. We rowed into the bay. I was 10 years old. I started rowing a boat at 10. So rowing this is just a reflection of my childhood. Ive been doing George Washington for nine years now. Its a tremendous opportunity. As you as you look around here, you see hundreds and hundreds of visitors that come to this park just to see this one event. Its an iconic event. Not only is regionally important but nationally important. Without this victory, the army would have collapsed. How did you get into this type of thing and why do you do it . As an amateur, ive been doing revolutionary war reenacting for 26 years. And over the years when you work your way up from a private to a sergeant to an officer, you look at your predecessors and say i think i can do a better job or i could do something different. I like the fact that we educate the public in what took place here and how much it meant to our nation, but it keeps the site viable. They cancelled it right after i went out there and deemed unsafe to cross any more boats. It was one of those. It started out a day like today. Sunny. A little cool. By the time of the crossing, you had six inches of snow on the ground. It certainly did feel like the period. Ive also been here when it rain, street and snowed all in the same day. And the troops are grumbling. And i have to look at them and say these are the conditions that the troops actually crossed under. And im sure they were complaining about the same discomforts. I have a general staff. I also have a commander in chief guard and we also have our standardbearer. And that is how you know where the general is on the battlefield and the camp. That specific flag which the original is now in the museum of the American Revolution in philadelphia. The officers were aware of where they were going and they were attacking the outpost. The men didnt know the destination. They didnt have the equipment as far as appropriate cloenling that they needed to protect them from this weather. So they did this under great hardship. They were very brave and did accomplish something that i dont know i know i certainly couldnt do under those circumstances. They marched nine miles after this crossing in the snowstorm. They marched nine miles south to trenton. And they attacked the heshins who were not expecting to be tacked for a number of reasons. First of all, because it was just after major snowstorm. It was also the time of year, winter time, where most armies went into their winter camps and stopped fighting. And they had actually been engaged several times by some of the local militias in new jersey and were really on edge. And, you know, this wasnt a type of fighting that they were accustom to. So by the time it was christmas and there had been major snowstorm, they were hoping to have the opportunity to rest a little bit. Of course that didnt happen. They were attacked by the Continental Army that was able to defeat them in pretty short order. They stayed in trenton for a short amount of time. They brought 900 or so prisoners back and crossed again and a couple different barriers. And officers were kept overnight at the tavern here. And enlisted and eventually the officers were taken to newtown, pennsylvania. A couple miles from here. Well, its always good to know your history. Know where you have come from. That way you know where youre going and you try not to repeat some of the same mistakes. When i was in school, i hated history. Because it was always teaching me about what somebody else did not what my people did. Now i have to join this hobby to learn what i didnt learn in high school, nor in college about real American History. One time i was given a lecture at an office of homeland security. It was black History Month program. After i gave a short speech on the black involvement in the civil war, one of the white men in the audience stood up and said, why are you here teaching us black history . I said, sir, im not teaching you black history. Im teaching you American History. It just happened to be about black people. What do you think of that painting . I think its a lovely painting. He was not trying to provide a snapshot of the actual historic event. It was telling a story. And in that painting, you see the story of the American Revolution. That he was trying to inspire people in germany at the time and their quest for revolution. You see james monroe who ends up being a president. You see a flag, what we no you call the betsy ross flag that is used in the painting. Well, that flag wasnt being used in 1776. But they already know how the story ends. He includes it there. So youre seeing two future president s. Youre seeing the flag. And you see a variety of different types of people in that boat. Television has changed since cspan began 41 years ago. But our mission continues. To provide an unfiltered view of government. Already this year we brought you primary election coverage. The president ial impeachment process, and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of cspans Public Affair programming on television, online or on our free radio app and be part of the conversation on washington journal or through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by private industry. Americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Historian, author and reenactor describes the fourth infantry difgss role in the d day invasion and