Impact Without Limits

S5 E11: Washington Crosses the Delaware

• Dale and Brian Karmie / Adkins Media Co.

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In this episode of Impact Without Limits, Brian and Dale continue their journey through the early days of the American Revolution, exploring the defining moments that shaped the fight for independence. From George Washington taking command of the Continental Army to the impossible mission of Henry Knox transporting artillery from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, they unpack the strategy, sacrifice, and perseverance behind some of the Revolution’s most pivotal turning points.

The conversation also dives into Washington’s retreats through New York and New Jersey, the overwhelming odds faced by the American troops, and the miraculous events that seemed to preserve the cause time and time again. Highlighting Thomas Paine’s powerful words in The American Crisis and Washington’s daring crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night, Brian and Dale reflect on leadership, providence, and the thin threads upon which history often hangs.


Episode Highlights: 

  • Washington takes command.
  • Henry Knox delivers artillery.
  • The British take New York.
  • Thomas Paine inspires the troops.
  • Washington crosses the Delaware.


Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on ForeverLawn:

This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.


SPEAKER_03

The Americans didn't initiate the war. They were seeking peace. They put out the Olive Branch petition. They were asking for the king to just redress some of these oppressions. And instead, they're met with armies. They're met with battalions. They're met with the Navy armada. And they're they're attacked. And the British fire the first shots of the war.

SPEAKER_02

So why would two guys leave comfortable jobs, move across the country, and start a business in an industry they're not level, police they don't leave. Could it be successful?

SPEAKER_01

We're doing Brunning.

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the Impact Without Limits Podcast.

SPEAKER_01

Welcome back to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Dale Harmony here in my patriotic hat. In my patriotic shoot.

SPEAKER_03

We've got uh Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, some Eagles, some flags. I think I see an Abe Lincoln on there.

SPEAKER_01

You got a lot going on. There's even a flag on there. Wow. So uh as we continue our our uh dive into some of the history of the founding of this nation, the Revolutionary War era, we we want to ask you a couple questions again. And these are questions just to make you stop and think. So my first question is this there is a famous painting picture of George Washington crossing a river in the Revolutionary War. He's in a boat, he's standing there, there are people around him on the boat, there's ice in the water. Uh hopefully, first of all, you've seen the picture. If not, there's a problem. The question is, what river was he crossing?

SPEAKER_03

It's in the name of the painting. So if you know the name of the painting, you would know that answer. Are we gonna answer it now or are we waiting?

SPEAKER_01

No, we can answer. I just want to pause long enough to for the people to think about it and provide their own answer. And now you can.

SPEAKER_03

And then the second question is, what day did that happen? You can say it.

SPEAKER_01

You can you can give the answer.

SPEAKER_03

What day did what day did Washington cross the Delaware? The Delaware River. He's crossing into New Jersey, Pennsylvania into New Jersey, and he is doing that on Christmas Day. And we'll get into some more. I think we gotta. I mean, we we're fast forwarding quite a bit. And we we talked about this. We skipped so many things we could have dove into, but we're gonna go back and hit a little bit to get to this point. That's in a little bit.

SPEAKER_01

So the overview when when we but so I want to come back, oh Christmas Day. So he he he lands on the 26th. Did they push off before midnight? They they pushed it was the night of Christmas, it was the night of the 25th. And they they I think they might have been delayed by fog and some things, but then they arrive on the shore December 26th, and and a great move that that had a huge turn on the course of the war. But where we last left off, it was 17 the summer of 75. George Washington was just taking over the army. Uh, the British were in Boston, they had they had taken Bunker Hill, and uh Brian and I were talking about this, and I wanted to dive in and get all this stuff, and it's like we're never gonna get anywhere if we do. So we're gonna pull up a little bit. But essentially what happens is the the Brits are in Boston. Washington is now the commander of the the American Army, the Army of the Colonies, and they are just west of Boston, right on the land side of Boston. And it's kind of a stalemate. The the the the two camps exist, and they'll occasionally fire shots across this and that, and little movements of troop here and there, but the the Brits can't get out of Boston because there's just this narrow land, stretch of land going to the inland. Um, so they're unable to make a move, but the Americans can't really attack Boston because it's surrounded by water except for that one strip. And the Brits had Bunker Hill, which was a high ground to the north. Um, but there was the land where the Brits, I think General Gage originally wanted to attack, and we were talking about Bunker Hill to the south or southwest of Boston, which was Dorchester, Dorchester Heights. And it ended up being just left alone. Nobody made a move on that. And what Washington needed was artillery. Uh we were always short of ammunitions, always short of weapons, and always short of artillery. When we're talking about artillery, we mean um cannons. Cannons gunpowder. Yes. And as I'm saying that, a picture flashed across my screen and made me think, Paul Revere, did we ask the question in the other episode of Paul Revere got captured? We did.

SPEAKER_03

Because I don't think we answered it. I don't think we did either.

SPEAKER_01

And the answer is he did. He got captured by the British uh on the morning of the 19th as he was doing his ride. Uh they they took him, they detained him, they questioned him, they ended up turning him loose, but they did keep his horse, I believe, is what was said. So if you were waiting for the answer to that question, there were people that were just struggling all these seats. Not knowing the answer to that, we've now answered it. So um there's a young man who was a bookseller, I think, in the Boston area. His name was Henry Knox, and he comes to Washington and he says, I have this idea. Uh Ethan Allen had taken Fort Ticonderoga along with our friend Furniture magnet? Yes, yes. Wow, took a break from selling books and building furniture. Um, along with our friend Um Benedict Arnold, they'd taken Fort Ticonderoga in May, which was a British fort up by Lake Champlain in New York, and there was a whole bunch of artillery. Well, so what Washington needed was up in Lake Champlain, 300 miles away. And Knox comes in and says, I have a plan. I believe I can go get that artillery and bring it back.

SPEAKER_03

Which, by the way, we talked about this. This should be a movie. This should be a movie.

SPEAKER_01

So if you're a movie maker out there, the story of Henry Knox. It is the the impossible mission. And we actually watched a short video on this done by Eric Metaxis. It's a Prager You video, it's like five or six minutes. Search it, find it, and watch it. Maybe we can put a link to it. Um, but essentially what happens is Knox takes uh a group of men, they travel the the 300 miles up to Fort Ticonderoga, and they find these 59 cannons and and artillery and weaponry. Um, these things aren't light guys. Uh, they said some of the large ones weighed as much as 5,000 pounds.

SPEAKER_03

They have to build they don't have machines. I still don't understand how you move things that are 5,000 pounds without machines.

SPEAKER_01

It's got to be ropes and poolies.

SPEAKER_03

It is, but I mean, that's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01

So they they have to build boats boats, they take them across Lake Champlain. That's a whole story in itself. They have a big storm come up, they almost lose some boats, and then they get to land. Then they have to construct their own sleds that they get oxen and they're using oxen to pull these sleds carrying this stuff, and they're going this crazy trail through the mountains of New York, they're crossing frozen rivers. Uh, at least on one occasion, maybe two, they had a cannon break through the ice as they're crossing these rivers, sink to the bottom. They retrieved them, they pulled them out. They kept going. At one point, they'd build sleds for transport and they got a warm spell in in December and all the snow melted, and so they couldn't move because they didn't have snow to that the sleds could carry them on and they didn't have the wagons. So this journey ends up taking two months, and in two months, Henry Knox transported 59 of these heavy artillery from Ticonderoga. They arrive in Boston to Fort Washington and his army, the end of December, beginning of January. I don't know, somewhere in there. And Washington was astounded. The army was elated, they're cheering because they had these reinforcements. And then they took these artillery and under the cover of darkness, they went and set them up on the uh on the high hills of Dorchester. And the British wake up one morning and there are all these artillery and cannons.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, can you imagine that? You're sitting there and you're you're feeling safe sitting in Boston. You've controlled it for a long period of time. Americans aren't even attacking. You had the bunker hill, you win that. Almost uh a year later, not quite, but almost a year later, you're sitting there in Boston. You wake up one morning and you've got 50 cannons pointed at you.

SPEAKER_01

And and it's there, there's so much to this story because Washington uh was a great leader. What they did is they they set up um, they sent a detachment to the north and they were firing cannons at Bunker Hill and firing shots at Boston from the north to create noise so they could move, have oxen's and carts and things, moving the artillery in Dorchester, and the sound wouldn't be heard because this stuff is all close, guys. And right, it's not like uh it was it took strategy to make this happen. So, anyway, the result of this is the boss, the the the Brits leave Boston, they give up Boston. March it wasn't a battle, there were shots and things done, but they sail off, they evacuate. So that was in a sense a victory for the Americans. They got Boston back, they chased them out, but then Washington's sitting there and thinking, where are they going? They don't know, but what's the assumption? Probably going to New York. New York City. So Washington takes his army and he has to march hundreds of miles. I don't know what I can't remember, it was maybe 200 miles from Boston to New York City. Uh, he marches his army there and they set up in um on Manhattan Island in what we know now as New York City, and they also put troops on Long Island uh to protect the harbor, the gateway in, um uh, you know, to to to hopefully be, you know, I guess protect. I don't know how you do it, but have a front-facing army to protect against the incoming of the British fleet. Well, they're they're sitting there waiting, and and over the course of time, they every day they'd watch the horizon to see if the British are coming, and one morning they look and they see sails. There's a British ship, and then there's another British ship, and then there's another. 100 British ships float show up in the harbor carrying thousands of troops and artillery. And imagine, imagine if you're sitting there on Long Island, the post, you've got a you know, a couple thousand men, and you're watching, and you see this scene, and ultimately, I think it was over 400 ships came into the harbor. And they sailed right past. They the the river was wide enough, the bay was open enough that they sailed on the far side. The Americans are trying to fire shots across with their cannons, they couldn't stop them, and the British set up on Staten Island.

SPEAKER_03

So, I mean, this I can't even picture this, right? I can't even like if I was there to see that armada coming in would be just amazing. So there's a pucker factor. So just to just to recap these dates, you said March, it's March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, by the way, in Boston, the British evacuate, they sail out, Washington realizes they're probably heading towards New York, so he starts moving his troops. Um, then the British re regroup and they're coming down. In between here, oh, by the way, the Declaration of Independence is signed July 4th, 1776.

SPEAKER_01

And that was signed while this they were in New York. I I I can't remember the date they got to New York, but they were there by summer. Yep. Took them a month or two to get down to New York. So now we're fighting for freedom.

SPEAKER_03

It changes from fighting for our right fighting against oppression to now fighting as we're a separate country. And so that leads to August of 1776, which is the Battle of Brooklyn. Right. And that's over 20,000 troops, more than double what the Americans have.

SPEAKER_01

And yeah, so they take New York City. So so here's what happened. So the the British were on Staten Island, the Americans were in New York City on Manhattan Island, but they had uh they sent a detachment to Long Island to try and protect against the ships. Well, the ships made it in, but they still kept the people in Long Island, and the Brits send troops to Long Island and they kick our butts. They pounded us and we had to retreat. And it was one of those things where the retreat from Long Island back to Manhattan was epic. The fact that they were able to get the people and the artillery and everything out of there and save as much loss of life as they could and get back to Manhattan was amazing. But now the British are in Long Island and it sits for a little little while, and then they make a move on Manhattan. And right before they make that move, Washington makes a decision. We need to pull out. Whatever, food, anything, quarters to the Brits, and Congress did not allow it. So Washington has to retreat out of New York City. Um and you know, we talked about it.

SPEAKER_03

But that's that right, that that move, that retreat, I mean, one, that's got to be difficult, right? You you never want to give up ground. But in doing that, and in doing it in the fashion he did, which was under the cover of darkness, he keeps his army intact, he doesn't surrender, he doesn't give up the troops, he doesn't give up the munitions, he doesn't burn the city to the ground, although he wanted to. The British actually take control of the city, they retain control of New York City until the end of the war. Isn't that crazy? It's just amazing to me until 1783. So for the next seven years, the British own New York City.

SPEAKER_01

There, there's there's so much going on here, guys, that we can't get into. But I just want to read some of these numbers. And we could do this about everyone we talked about, but I'm looking here at my computer screen. Um, so you you were talking about the Battle of Brooklyn, which was their their invasion on Long Island, and then they went from there on to um Manhattan Island, but there were 30,000 forces engaged, 20,000 British, 10,000 Americans. So they outnumbered us two to one. There were 2,000 American casualties, only 388 British casualties, and that's injured and killed. But the British had 64 killed, the Americans had 300 killed. But listen to this: the Americans had 1,079 missing and captured. And I'm sure a lot of those were captured, but the missing, a lot of those people were running for the hills, right? They're like, this is my chance to get out. They're just they're they're leaving, they're deserting. You're trying to keep people in what is feeling like a losing battle. So, uh, like you said, Brian, we lose New York, we leave, and and we say it is by the grace of God that Washington got out of New York City. Yeah. Because he was trying to decide whether he was going to go or not. And the British, and and they don't know what each other are doing, but at the same time, the British are planning the attack. And the British actually launched the attack like hours after Washington began the retreat. And the British had planned to leave days earlier, but there was a wind. The wind came from the wrong direction for the boats to get across the harbor, and the British couldn't go when they wanted to go. And you talk about divine providence. Had that wind not been there and the British had come, they would have captured Washington and New York, the war would have been over. You capture Washington as troops, the war's over. Yep. But Washington gets out, and that's another time where we say this, you know. I I think we said an earlier episode that retreat uh and it may have been the greatest victory, one of the greatest victories of the war.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, greatest military moves. Yeah, it's just crazy. And then that kicks off kind of the the fall of defeat or retreat or whatever you want to call it, where the British are are advancing. Yeah, they're kind of pounding us. And they're pounding Washington. Washington is losing battles at White Plains and Fort Washington and Fort Lee, and he's run out of New York. And over the course of that fall, he's retreating across New Jersey, and and he's like just trying to save his troops and not become captured and not surrender. And so he's retreating and retreating. The British are advancing. During this time, Thomas Paine, who had written common sense at the beginning of the year, making a case for independence, and that was one of the main things that led to the the Declaration of Independence, right? We were we were talking in the last episode about the words of Patrick Henry and the words of Samuel Adams and how these words so often inspired the actions and and they went hand in hand. The words without actions were meaningless, but the actions wouldn't have happened without the words. And so Thomas Paine is like embedded with Washington's troops. He's not really fighting. I mean, he's he's supporting, he's helping, but he's not picking up arms. But he's writing um another pamphlet, is the way they would write these things to distribute among the colonies. And during that fall retreat, he writes the American Crisis, right? And and that's you know, it starts with these are the times that try men's souls, right? And that's a that's something that you often you hear quoted. But he publishes that I've seen 19, December 19th, December 23rd, somewhere right in there. But I mean, he's trying to rally the troops, he's trying to rally people. Washington needs supplies and they're not getting them. And he he writes the these words, and it's it's great. I'm not gonna get into it right now, but if you've got time to go out and read the American Crisis Pamphlet, he goes into some details about the retreats and the defeats across New Jersey in the middle of it, but his beginning and end where he's just talking about um, these are the times that try men's soul, right? And he he says um the sun, the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in crisis shrink from the service of their country, but he that stands it by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. And then these these two lines I just love. Tyranny like hell is not easily conquered. And then the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. He says, Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. I mean, just uh just amazing. And you think about like he is witnessing the war, he is witnessing the losses, but he's he's saying, Listen, it's worth the price, right? And and we can still win this. And and so he's doing that, he's writing that, and Washington troops are running thin, they're tired, they're hungry, they're cold. A lot of them don't have shoes, they're running low on munitions. I mean, this is December. If you've been in you know Philadelphia area, it's probably not real pleasant. And he's got a lot of troops. There's ice on the Delaware River. It gets, yeah, it gets nasty. So he's he's got a lot of troops that are gonna leave December 31st. And he's like, I need their guy. I need one more good battle. I need you to fight. And they're like, we don't even have shoes. What are you talking about? But he rallies these troops. Um, and I think that's you know, Washington was just a great leader, right? And I think you've talked about this, but one of the things he did well was he wasn't a general that just told people what to do. He's leading from the front, yes, right? And he's in there and he and and people are willing to fight for him. And so he inspires them and and he convinces them all right, we're gonna do a surprise attack, right? It's Christmas day, and he's pitching this to the guys. I know you're done in a week, I know it's the end, but give me one more battle. Let's go take Trenton. And I don't know if he used it as as um incentive or not, but there was a supply house there. So you have these Hessian soldiers or these Hessian troops that are German mercenaries. They're they're professional fighters, they're mercenaries, and and they're kind of greatly feared, right? Germans are are known as being barbaric and they're known as being tough and burly and and so, but they're also known for drinking. And so one of the legends, and I don't know that this is fact, is that the theory was they're gonna be drunk on Christmas night. That's the time to attack, right? So we're gonna go in on Christmas night. And so Washington devises this plan to have three groups cross the Delaware. He has his big central and then he has two flanks going, but a huge storm comes in, right? And there's this you talked about the ice in the river, and they're going across the river, and two of the the groups get turned back, and just Washington and his group makes it across, and it's supposed to happen in the middle of the night, but the storm's so bad they don't get there till like five in the morning to make this surprise attack, and so they get there, and they they it's they they end up dying. Dominating the battle, right? I think what are the numbers? The Americans have no losses, right? Five wounded.

SPEAKER_01

Americans have zero killed, five wounded. The British have twenty-two killed, eighty-three wounded, but eight hundred missing or captured. Most of those probably captured.

SPEAKER_03

And the biggest thing that happens is they get all the storehouses of food, of clothing, of munitions, and they resupply their troops. And so they get all this stuff. But then Washington realizes hey, we don't have enough men to keep this fort. If we try and stay here and hold this fort, we're going to lose it. So they take all the stuff, they get all the supplies, and they retreat back across the Delaware again and set up and they live to fight another day. And then you have the Battle of Princeton the next week, and they come back and do it again. But I mean, that moment that's captured in that painting, Washington Crossing Delaware, and looking at I realize that that painting is fictional, right? Or it's embellished. Was Washington really standing up like that at command? Right.

SPEAKER_01

I heard two things. Heard one uh voice say Washington wouldn't have been standing because he would have fallen over, and another say probably everybody on the boat was standing because there was so much water that would get into the bottom of the boat, so it would have gotten wet and terribly cold.

SPEAKER_03

And and I also heard it's more of a flat bottom boat than the rowboat that's pictured there. And the flag that's in there wasn't actually a flag yet. So I mean there's a lot, but the point is that is an iconic moment, awesome painting and just just amazing, right? And and you think, and we talk about the thin threads of history, right? And you you were saying it, but Washington gets beaten at any point for the last six months. He's being harassed by General Howe. He's being chased across New Jersey, he's losing battle after battle. And they know if they can take out Washington, you're cutting off the head.

SPEAKER_01

I'm telling you, it's done. If at any point Washington is done, I'm telling you that that the revolutionary war is over. But it didn't happen that way.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, even even if you say, well, somehow the Americans would have would have rallied, without George Washington, American isn't what it is. Without him as the first president, I mean it absolutely um I again I would argue with you that they're they're not gonna win the war without him. But even if you somehow say, well, they would have, it changes the course of history for us.

SPEAKER_01

You don't have the first president.

SPEAKER_03

But this is just an image of, to me, God's hand of providence on George Washington, right? Protecting him, leading him, giving him uh probably some divine direction on when to attack, when to retreat, what to do, giving him protection in these battles.

SPEAKER_01

Right. And you dig into, like I said, there are there are several instances where there are storms, there are winds, there are weather events that saved or either made um the moves that our army wanted to make possible or prevented the British from making some of the moves they wanted to do that preserved our our efforts in this war.

SPEAKER_03

So here's here's one more kind of line or quote from that uh American Crisis pamphlet from Thomas Paine. And he says, I have as little superstition in me as any living man, but my secret opinion has ever been and still is that God Almighty will not give up a people to a military destruction or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war. Right. And you we talked about this. I mean, the Americans didn't initiate the war, they were seeking peace, they put out the olive branch petition, they were asking for the king to just redress some of these oppressions, and instead they're met with armies, they're met with battalions, they're met with an Navy armada, and they're they're attacked. And the British fire the first shots of the war at Lexington Concord. The British make the advance and bunker.

SPEAKER_01

Remember to my side on that one.

SPEAKER_03

Well, the first shot, I'm they were the yeah. Welcome. Yes, all right, you got me.

SPEAKER_01

But man, what just what an amazing story thin threads. So uh, I think that's where we're gonna wrap up, and and we're we're probably gonna pull out of the battle discussion for the most part. We might hit a couple more. Certainly when we're gonna come back and talk about the winter in Valley Forge Some. And um there are a few more we'll dive into, but again, guys, what we're encouraging you to do is stop, um, take a little bit of time, read or listen, research, watch, and we we'll have an episode. We should we should have an episode where we talk about some of the shows or movies that that uh we'd encourage you to see to try and learn a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03

But and I'll I'll throw it out there again. We'll put a link in the show notes. But whitehouse.gov, absolutely 250 series, has about 14 videos from eight to ten minutes long, just great, simple uh walks through somewhat chronologically, um the American story. Just great.

SPEAKER_01

So that's all. Hope you guys have a great week and um enjoy the march up to the the uh 250th anniversary of our declaration of independence.

SPEAKER_03

Wear some patriotic gear, sing some patriotic songs, watch a couple movies or shows, celebrate the American greatness. If you want a hat that Dale is showing in the camera right now, you can you can have one. I don't know where we go. This was Dunham Sports. The uh the eagle through the head is always that's always patriotic. All right. God bless, have a great week. We'll see ya.

SPEAKER_00

This is a thread called me reminding you that faith looks up, hope looks ahead, and love looks all around to see whom it can help. Good day.