Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In summer of 1776, Gen. George Washington suffered many crushing defeats and lost 90 percent of the army under his command. British and Hessian forces recovered much of three colonies in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. By late November, thousands of Americans took an oath of allegiance to George III, and leaders on both sides believed that the American cause had failed. On Christmas night in 1776, Washington and a remnant of the Continental Army made a last desperate effort. They crossed the Delaware River in a howling nor’easter and captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton. In a winter campaign that followed, they defeated British troops in many small engagements, revived the fortunes of the Revolution, rallied Americans to the Patriot Cause, and attracted others to its support. Frederick the Great called their victory "the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievement." Drawing from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Washington’s Crossing, David Hackett Fischer discusses how that was achieved. This video was originally recorded in 2013.
David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. Fischer’s major works span topics from macroeconomic and cultural trends to narrative histories of significant events and explorations of historiography. His thirteen books include, African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals (2022), Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States (2012), Champlain's Dream (2008), Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas (2005), Washington's Crossing (2004), Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement (2000), The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History (1996), Paul Revere's Ride (1994), Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1989), Concord: The Social History of a New England Town 1750-1850 (1984), Growing Old in America (1977), Historians' Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought (1977), and The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy (1976).
In summer of 1776, Gen. George Washington suffered many crushing defeats and lost 90 percent of the army under his command. British and Hessian forces recovered much of three colonies in New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. By late November, thousands of Americans took an oath of allegiance to George III, and leaders on both sides believed that the American cause had failed. On Christmas night in 1776, Washington and a remnant of the Continental Army made a last desperate effort. They crossed the Delaware River in a howling nor’easter and captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton. In a winter campaign that followed, they defeated British troops in many small engagements, revived the fortunes of the Revolution, rallied Americans to the Patriot Cause, and attracted others to its support. Frederick the Great called their victory "the most brilliant of any recorded in the annals of military achievement." Drawing from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Washington’s Crossing, David Hackett Fischer discusses how that was achieved. This video was originally recorded in 2013.
David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. Fischer’s major works span topics from macroeconomic and cultural trends to narrative histories of significant events and explorations of historiography. His thirteen books include, African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals (2022), Fairness and Freedom: A History of Two Open Societies: New Zealand and the United States (2012), Champlain's Dream (2008), Liberty and Freedom: A Visual History of America's Founding Ideas (2005), Washington's Crossing (2004), Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement (2000), The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of History (1996), Paul Revere's Ride (1994), Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (1989), Concord: The Social History of a New England Town 1750-1850 (1984), Growing Old in America (1977), Historians' Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought (1977), and The Revolution of American Conservatism: The Federalist Party in the Era of Jeffersonian Democracy (1976).
