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Film Focus:
The Crossing

Director: Robert Harmon
Cast: Jeff Daniels, Roger Rees, Sebastian Roche.

In December of 1776, the Continental Army,under the command of General George Washington, had almost ceased to exist. Relentless attacks by the British Army and their German mercenaries, as well as death and desertion, had reduced the one-time 10,000-men Army to a mere two thousand. With no hope of more military support by the Continental Congress, Washington's choices were few. Retreat or surrender. Neither option appealed to the Virginian who devised a bold (some thought suicidal) surprise attack upon the 1,500 Hessians stationed across the Delaware River at Trenton. On the night of December 25, when the celebrating enemy was at his most vulnerable to an assault, he crossed the Delaware River with his troops and, in an action lasting only 45 minutes, routed the expertly trained Germans, taking more than 900 prisoners along with 1,200 small arms and much needed supplies. So complete was the surprise that not a single American was killed and only a handful were wounded. Most importantly, the Battle of Trenton gave a mighty boost to the sagging morale of the patriots and changed the course of the Revolution.

The Crossing is based on the book by the same name by Howard Fast, originally published in 1971 by Morrow.

Other Books About the Battle of Trenton

The Campaign of Princeton, 1776-1777, by Alfred Hoyt Bill.Princeton Univ. Press, 1948.

The Day is Ours! November, 1776-January, 1777: An Inside View of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, by William M. Dwyer. Viking, 1983.

George Washington Crossed Here: Christmas Night, 1776, by Ann Hutton. Dorrance & Co., 1966.

The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton & Princeton, by Richard M. Ketchum. Doubleday, 1973.

The Battle of Trenton, by Samuel Stelle Smith. Philip Frenau, 1965.

The Battles of Trenton & Princeton, by William Scudder Stryker. Houghton, Mifflin, 1898.

Books About the Participants

GEORGE WASHINGTON

George Washington: A Biography, by John R. Alden. LA St. Univ., 1984.

Itinerary of General Washington from June 15, 1775 to December 23, 1783, by William Spohn Baker. Hunterdon, 1970.

Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, by Richard Brookhiser. Free Press, 1996.

Washington: A Biography, by Noemi Emery. Putnam, 1976.

The First of Men: A Life of George Washington, by John E. Ferling. Univ. of TN, 1988.

George Washington in the American Revolution, 1775-1783, by James Thomas Flexner. Little, Brown, 1967.

Washington: The Indispensable Man, by James Thomas Flexner. Little, Brown, 1974.

The True George Washington, by Paul Leicester Ford. 1896.

George Washington: A Biography, by Douglas Southall Freeman. 7 vols. Scribner, 1948-54

George Washington: A Life, by Willard Sterne Randall. Henry Holt, 1997.

George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol, by Barry Schwartz. Free Press, 1987.

George Washington: A Profile, by James Morton Smith. Hill & Wang, 1969.

Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation, by Richard Norton Smith. Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment, by Garry Wills. Doubleday, 1984.

Washington and His Comrades in Arms: A Chronicle of the War of Independence, by George M. Wrong. Yale Univ. Press, 1921.

JOHN GLOVER

General John Glover & His Marblehead Mariners, by George Billias. Holt, 1960.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

The Young Hamilton: A Biography, by James Thomas Flexner. Little, Brown, 1978.

Alexander Hamilton: The Revolutionary Years, by Broadus Mitchell. Crowell, 1970.

HENRY KNOX

Champion of Liberty: Henry Knox, by Justin F. Denzel. Messner, 1969.

Henry Knox: General Washington's General, by North Callahan. Rinehart, 1958.

NATHANAEL GREENE

Retreat to Victory: The Life of Nathanael Greene, by Clifford Alderman. Chilton, 1967.

General Greene, by F. V. Greene. 1893.

The Life of Nathanael Greene, Major-General in the Army of the Revolution, by George Washington Greene. 3 volumes. 1867-71.

The Fighting Quaker: Nathanael Greene, by Elswyth Thane. Hawthorn, 1972.

Nathanael Greene: Strategist of the American Revolution, by Theodore Thayer. Twayne, 1960.