The Crossing

The Crossing is a dramatization of George Washington's brilliant victory at Trenton the day after Christmas in 1776. Had the desperate Continental Army not attempted to surprise the Hessians at Trenton or had the Hessians won the battle, the American Revolution would probably have failed. This engagement, between a little more than 3,000 men, was a turning point in history.

In order to present more history, the screenwriter has changed a number of the details and subsidiary events. However, the The Crossing gets the broad scenario right. It presents the desperate situation of the Continental Army and of the Revolution. It shows Washington's resolve to make a last ditch effort to show that American soldiers could defeat the British Empire's best troops. The movie brings to life the frigid crossing of the river, the miserable march to Trenton, the battle, and the victory. Washington, often seen as distant and aloof, is presented as a human being contending with vastly superior British forces, a crumbling army, and resistance to his leadership from some of his fellow generals.

Details Surrounding the Battle of Trenton

Here are a few supplementary details from The Crossing...

Artillery history relevant to the Revolutionary War…

Smooth-bore cannon were the universal choice. No other invention except the wheel was better-suited to its duty, and remained less changed in fundamental nature from its inception in the 15th century, to its final disappearance in the middle of the 19th. The shock power of this instrument, on land as well as on sea, cannot be overestimated. The cannon was first of bronze, then of cast iron as this cheaper material became available. It was simply a smooth bore, closed at one end, with a touch hole drilled to the surface of the breech. It projected solid shot of cast iron or stone, later also bags of musket balls or grapeshot, and even lengths of chain, and other inventive loads for special purposes. Iron shot could be heated red-hot in a furnace to cause fires when embedded in a wooden hull or palisade. A shell was a hollow ball filled with powder and provided with a fuse that would be lighted when the shell was fired, sputtering as the shell flew, and finally setting off the powder, shattering the casing. This was purely an antipersonnel load. To fire a cannon, the bore was first swabbed with water to extinguish any sparks that would make loading unsafe. A measured quantity of gunpowder was then poured into the bore, and rammed down behind a wad of some material. A small amount of powder was also poured down the touch hole. The load was then rammed onto the wad. The gun was set to bear, and a match (a glowing stick called a slow-match was popular) touched to the touch-hole. A flash, a boom, a cloud of smoke, and the load was sent on its way at the speed of sound. The gun recoiled, hurling its mass backwards against any restraint provided. A gun rigidly mounted had to be very well mounted indeed, to prevent destruction of its mount. By 1800, the match had been replaced by some kind of lock that ignited the powder in the touch hole (or other kind of fuse) by a spark when a lanyard was pulled. Also, the powder, wad, and load could be pre-measured and packed in bags or cartridges to make loading faster. The phrase 'to spike a cannon' meant to disable it by driving a tapered wrought iron plug, or spike, down the touch hole with a hammer until it was level and firmly embedded.


Alexander Hamilton

http://americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/hamilt.htm



General Hugh Mercer


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Mercer


Hessian Soldiers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessian_(soldiers)


John Glover

http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/glover.html


Henry Knox

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1196.html


Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall

http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/rall.html

And We Are Off...

The preliminary research projects will be due on Monday, October 18. This means you will have to have completed the following:

research - the background to your problem or question

hypothesis - a prediction concerning what your study will find or attempt to answer

variables - things that can change, depending on conditions (independent/dependent)

procedure - what will be done, in order to get an answer to the hypothesis