Page 143 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

A Patriot’s view of the history and direction of our Country

and his troops had been routed out of New Jersey and across the

Delaware River to Pennsylvania. On Christmas of 1776, when the
English troops were confident that the colonists were beaten into

complacency, Washington led his troops back across the Delaware
River and routed out the English. This battle would boost morale

and change the present course of the war. Washington was a keen
observer and learned to integrate the military and political aspects

of the war – a necessity to keeping up troop morale. He also
committed the colonial army to seizing every major colonial city,

something he felt was imperative – the loss of major cities would
reduce support of the colonists. In the winter of 1777, Washington

met a formidable opponent at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. For six
months his troops faced the harshest of winters, claiming thousands

of lives. Even through the devastating losses during the winter, the
troops that did survive remained committed. Washington forced

the English army into confinement in New York, while separating
those troops from support and reinforcements. With the backing of

French troops and war ships, Washington was able to force
th
England's army to surrender to him on October 19 1781. However,
not until November of 1783 had the English army completely
evacuated New York. Before this, the French had vacated and the

colonial troops had worked without pay for years. To avoid a
mutiny, Washington convinced Congress to pay the troops a five

rd
year bonus. On December 23 1783, Washington bade his troops
farewell.
In 1787, Washington, and others, came to realize that the earlier
ratified Articles of Confederation were not sufficient to govern a

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