The Morristown Chapter of the New Jersey Society,
Daughters of the American Revolution
invites you to a presentation of
The Ten Crucial Days of the American Revolution
December 25, 1776 to January 3, 1777
“…These are the times that tried men’s souls, then…Washington’s vision of victory unfolds…”
In December 1776, a mere six months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, General George Washington's fledgling American Army and the cause of liberty were on the verge of being extinguished. A disastrous New York campaign that fall resulted in the loss of more than half of Washington’s troops and the confidence of Congress and his fellow citizens. Retreating through “the Jerseys” with the remnants of his ragtag Continentals, Washington, and his soldiers sought refuge on the west bank of the Delaware River, having narrowly escaped King George III's British troops and their Hessian auxiliaries. Doubling as peace commissioners, British General William Howe and his brother, Royal Navy Admiral Sir Richard Howe, reasoned that further bloodshed was unnecessary. They assumed that the rebellious American soldiers—many of whose enlistments were to expire at year's end—would no longer be able to offer any significant resistance. Settling into winter quarters, General Howe ordered his regiments to set up a string of cantonments posted through the Jerseys.
George Washington saw something very different... Taking stock of his army’s desperate situation, the rebel commander-in-chief would launch his forces into a series of engagements, of which British historian Sir George Otto Trevelyan later wrote, “It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.” That space of time—December 25, 1776, to January 3, 1777—encompassed “Ten Crucial Days” that changed the course of history.
Speaker: Roger S. Williams, State Historian, New Jersey Society, Sons of the American Revolution and co-founder, TenCrucialDays.org.
For more information, contact: Carrie T Efinger, 1st Vice Regent (2024-2025) Morristown Chapter, NSDAR 1stviceregent.morristownnjdar@gmail.com Cell: 908-763-8360