Visitors Center, Routes 32 and 532, Washington Crossing, 215-493-4076.

Bob Beck’s new look at an old image, on exhibit through December 30.

Free.

Park , Routes 32 and 532, Washington Crossing, 215-493-4076. The

222nd anniversary of George Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware

is observed with a full-scale reenactment. Visitors Center opens at

11 a.m. where a documentary film is shown, and Colonial soldiers in

uniform will be in the historic village of Taylorsville. Beginning

at 1 p.m., the revolutionary troops will assemble along the banks

of the Delaware to be addressed by General Washington before the

crossing,

by Durham boats or bridge, depending on river conditions. $1 parking

fee.

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Revolutionary Diaries

In the 1980s, in the course of researching the book

that would become, "The Day is Ours! An Inside View of the Battles

of Trenton and Princeton, November 1776 – January 1777" (newly

available

in paperback from Rutgers University Press), historian and journalist

William Dwyer found himself spending time with a whole new group of

folks. For many of the participants of the war — from American,

British, and Hessian soldiers to myriad fearful and ambivalent

citizens

— kept a record of their experiences during the revolution, and

Dwyer became their avid collector and listener. And it is through

the diaries, journals, letters and memoirs of these men and women

that Dwyer lets them tell the story, in their own words, of the events

that made a nation. Writes one critic, "Dwyer has put together

a wonderful, lively account that reflects a reporter’s respect for

quotes from eyewitnesses. He presents the facts and lets history speak

for itself."

Dwyer is a veteran journalist in both senses of the word. During World

War II he was correspondent for the Stars and Stripes, the armed

forces

newspaper, for which he covered the Fourth Infantry Division. Now

82, Dwyer is a columnist for the Times of Trenton, a job he has held

since the early 1960s. He was press secretary to Governor Richard

Hughes for four years. He has also taught adult education at Rider

College and written for the New York Times, Commonweal, Christian

Science Monitor, and New Jersey Monthly. Married to Marjorie Wright

Dwyer, they are the parents of Suzanna, Princeton Class of ’93 and

captain of the ice hockey team, now teaching at St. Mark’s School

in Boston. He dedicates "The Day is Ours!" to his "kid

brother," First Lieutenant Edward Thomas Dwyer Jr., a pilot who

died in service in October 1944 on a mission from India to China.

In Chapter 31 of his highly readable 385-page history of the three

historic battles that took place so close to home, Dwyer invites his

readers to share the hours before Washington’s historic crossing

through

the thoughts and memories of some of its lowliest helpers:

Bill Dwyer’s View:

Boats in Readiness

It was Christmas afternoon and the Continentals under

General Washington’s direct command in Bucks County — many of

whom indeed had neither coat, show, nor stocking, nor scarce anything

else to cover their bodies — were either preparing to march or

already on the move. An hour or so before the sun would set at 4:35

o’clock, John Greenwood, the 16-year-old fifer from Massachusetts,

trudged out of Newtown in formation with his company and headed

eastward,

toward the Delaware River. He was still suffering from "the camp

itch" and it showed in the way he gimped along. It was not as

painful as it had been on the march from Ticonderoga — ointment

had eased the pain considerable — but his thighs were still raw

and scabbed. Greenwood was not just a fifer now; he was carrying a

musket and about 60 rounds of ammunition stuffed into various pockets.

And three days’ cooked rations (heavily salted meat and hard bread).

This, he figured, must be it, the marching order they had been

expecting.

But where were they going? Faithful to the enlisted man’s

long-standing

credo, he was certain that anywhere at all would be better than where

he had been. But where would it be this time?

"None but the first officers knew where we were going or what

we were going about," Greenwood would later recall, "for it

was a secret expedition, and we, the bulk of the men coming from

Canada,

knew not the disposition of the army we were then in, nor anything

about the country. This was not unusual, however, as I never heard

soldiers say anything, nor ever saw them trouble themselves, as to

where they were or where they were led. It was enough for them to

know that wherever the officers commanded they must go, be it through

fire and water, for it was all the same owing to the impossibility

of being in a worse condition than their present one, and therefore

the men always liked to be kept moving in expectation of bettering

themselves."

In all, some 2,400 Continentals were on the way to the assembly area

centering on Samuel McKonkey’s ferry, eight miles up the Delaware

from Trenton (and thus also known as Eight-Mile Ferry) (note: now

Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania). "The regiments have had their

evening parade," one of Washington’s aides notes, "but instead

of returning to their quarters are marching toward the ferry. It is

fearfully cold and raw and a snowstorm settling in. The wind is

northeast

and beasts in the faces of the men. It will be a terrible night for

the soldiers who have no shoes. Some of them have tied old rags around

their feet; others are barefoot but I have not heard a man

complain."

It had been a mostly sunny day, with the thermometer around 32 degrees

and the wind light out of the north. In the afternoon, however, there

had been a shift of the wind and a falling barometer; a heavy storm

of snow and sleet from the south was on its way. Although

"settling

in," it would not arrive until about an hour before midnight.

Under orders, the Continentals marched in silence toward the ferry

house. "A profound silence to be enjoined," Washington had

ordered, "and not man to quit his ranks on the pain of death."

of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, November 1776 – January

1777,"

Rutgers University Press, 1998; 448 pages; paper, $20.

Top Of Page
Battles of Trenton Commemoration 1998

Barrack Street, Trenton, 609-396-1776. Saturday and Sunday,

26 and 27, noon to 5 p.m.

Trenton’s revolutionary history comes alive through guided tours of

the newly renovated Old Barracks Museum, the William Trent House,

the Friends Meeting House, St. Michael’s Church, and the Alexander

Douglass House. Both days, $7.50 adults; $3 children.

screenings

of the movie "Ten Crucial Days," each hour from 1 to 4 p.m.

From 5 to 6 p.m., fifers and drummers march through the streets.

British army, and their German Hessian mercenaries do battle in

downtown

Trenton at the 222nd Anniversary Celebration of the Battles of

Trenton.

Opening ceremony for the First Battle of Trenton begins at 12:30 p.m.

at the Old Barracks.

At 1 p.m. the cannons will boom in the First Battle of Trenton that

begins at Battle Monument and at the corner of Calhoun and West State

streets, proceeding to Mill Hill Park. At 3 p.m. the Second Battle

reenactment begins in front of the First Presbyterian Church and

advances

to Mill Hill Park.

In other commemorative events, at 2:15 p.m., at Mill Hill Playhouse,

author James S. Pula speaks on the Polish contribution in training

Washington’s Army for battle, and autograph his book, "Thaddeus

Kosciuszko, the Purest Son of Liberty. At from 2:15 to 5 p.m. at Cafe

Ole, author Arthur Lefkowitz autographs his book, "The Long

Retreat:

the Calamitous American Defense of New Jersey, 1776."

At 2:45 p.m., at the First Presbyterian Church, there is a Memorial

Service for the Slain.

Free parking lots are located at South Warren and Lafayette Street,

and at the Trent House, with free shuttle bus service to the Old

Barracks

Museum both days. Call for directions or visit website at

www.trentonnj.com.

Corrections or additions?

— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.