On New Year’s Day, 1777, Robert Morris, Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress wrote from Philadelphia to commander in chief of the Continental Army George Washington, who was deployed with his army in a defensive position 35 miles away near Trenton, New Jersey. Morris wrote: “The year 1776 is over I am heartily glad of it & hope you nor America will ever be plagued with such another. . . .” There were many reasons to be “heartily glad” that the year 1776 was over, chief among them the crushing setbacks and hardships that had plagued Washington’s armies since independence was declared six months before. As the year ended, despite the stunning and historic victory at Trenton the day after Christmas, there was good reason to fear that Washington’s army would dissolve and with it any hopes for the American Cause… to continue reading, please click here.
