Washington
Meet the American who rowed Washington across the Delaware on Christmas: sailor-soldier John Glover
Common John Glover delivered a priceless present to the nation.
His saved the reason for American independence on Christmas Day 1776.
Glover was a Marblehead, Massachusetts, mariner-turned-Revolutionary Conflict hero who led a rugged regiment of calloused New England fishermen.
This famed Marblehead militia ferried George Washington and a couple of,400 troops in row boats throughout the ice-choked Delaware River on the night time of Dec. 25 with the American riot getting ready to collapse.
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The daring assault overwhelmed a garrison of 1,400 Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey, who have been combating on behalf of the British crown.
It was a shocking victory that reversed the course of the American Revolution and, finally, reshaped world historical past.
Portrait of John Glover (1732-1797), American Revolutionary officer. Supervised the retreat and troop transport from Lengthy Island and led the advance on Trenton, New Jersey, on Dec. 25, 1776. Authentic Art work: Engraving is facsimile of pencil drawing from life by Col. J. Trumbull.
(Picture by Hulton Archive/Getty Photographs)
“This was a significant army crossing below terribly troublesome circumstances,” American Battlefield Belief historian Kristopher White advised Fox Information Digital.
“Extra than simply males, there have been horses, provisions and artillery. Washington got here armed for a battle.”
The daring triumph after a 12 months of humiliating losses was, by many accounts, a Christmas miracle.
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German-American painter Emanuel Leutze immortalized the assault in 1851.
“Washington Crossing the Delaware” hangs at the moment within the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York Metropolis.
The triumphal art work has been celebrated, imitated and, lately, duplicated for myriad functions in web memes.
“Washington’s daring assault throughout the Delaware was solely one in every of three miracles delivered by Glover in 1776.”
Glover and his Marblehead militia are entrance and middle, manning the oars on this memorable tribute to American resolve.
Formally often called the 14th Continental Regiment, the Marblehead militia was a unprecedented combating drive.
Washington crossing the Delaware, close to Trenton, New Jersey, America, Christmas 1776. George Washington (1732-1799), first president of the USA. From English and Scottish Historical past, revealed 1882.
(Picture by: Common Historical past Archive/Common Photographs Group through Getty Photographs)
It was a totally built-in unit of Latin, White, Black and Native American troops, and no less than one Jewish member, who labored collectively on the excessive seas earlier than battling the Brits. About 20 % of the unit was non-White, in line with regimental rolls.
Three races of Glover’s unit are represented within the oarsmen in Leutze’s portray: a Black man by Washington’s knee, rowing on the starboard aspect; a number of White militiamen; and a Native American in moccasins and bead-pattern pouch steering the boat within the again.
“Washington relied on Glover to do quite a lot of very troublesome issues. And Glover at all times got here by.”
Powering Washington’s assault throughout the Delaware was solely one in every of three miracles delivered by Glover and his Marblehead males to save lots of the riot in that terrible-turned-glorious 12 months of 1776.
“Washington relied on Glover to do quite a lot of very troublesome issues,” Pam Peterson of the Marblehead Historic Fee advised Fox Information Digital.
“And Glover at all times got here by.”
The ‘codfish aristocracy’
John Glover was born on Nov. 5, 1732, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Jonathan and Yabitha (Bacon) Glover. They moved to close by Marblehead when he was a younger boy.
The Glovers have been of modest means. So John took to the ocean at a younger age.
The colonial Massachusetts financial system was constructed upon cod fishing. Glover was on the forefront of the commerce, working his technique to the highest of what historians name the “codfish aristocracy.”
“He was a self-made man,” Paul Beck, a reenactor from Glover’s Marblehead Regiment, advised Fox New Digital. “He was a troublesome cookie, a tough man, a disciplinarian.”
Fishing schooner Hannah was owned by Revolutionary Conflict hero Common John Glover, famed for main George Washington throughout the Delaware on Christmas night time 1776. The Hannah was employed into responsibility by Washington to confront the British off the Massachusetts coast in 1775. It’s thought of the primary warship of the U.S. Navy.
(Marblehead Historic Fee)
Glover had crimson hair and stood simply 5 foot 4 inches tall, however struck others as a pure chief in a world inhabited by hardened males.
He wore pistols with silver handles, “harking back to Patton” and his pearl-handle revolvers, mentioned Beck.
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“He was not a radical by nature, however he and his townsmen felt the sting of tyranny in writs of help, corrupt customs officers, and the unlawful impressments of Marblehead crews by the Royal Navy,” David Hackett Fischer writes in his 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning historical past, “Washington’s Crossing.”
“Glover was a self-made man … a troublesome cookie, a tough man, a disciplinarian.”
“These repeated acts turned a conservative ship captain right into a revolutionary.”
Glover was pushed to riot by the Boston Bloodbath in 1770. He joined the native committee of correspondence, which helped coordinate anti-British actions throughout New England.
He had no formal army coaching, however quickly got here to steer the native militia.
It was a unit of rugged seamen used to onerous labor. They wore tarred trousers — an uncomfortable type of climate proofing — and have been adept at dealing with each muskets and bayonets.
“John Glover ran his regiment like a taut ship with the identical system of command that prevailed at sea,” writes Fischer.
An early picture of the Common John Glover Home in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The house of the Revolutionary Conflict hero, since improved, was declared a Nationwide Historic Landmark in 1972.
(Marblehead Historic Fee)
Glover met George Washington in the summertime of 1775, through the siege of Boston that adopted the Battles of Lexington and Harmony in April.
Washington present in Glover a uncommon and dependable chief among the many ragtag militiamen.
He commissioned one in every of Glover’s Marblehead schooners, the Hannah — named for the seaman’s daughter — into service confronting the British navy.
Glover’s Hannah at the moment is extensively thought of the primary vessel within the historical past of the U.S. Navy.
The British awoke to search out the American military had disappeared earlier than their very eyes.
The legend of Glover’s sailor-soldiers was born in August 1776, after the British invaded Brooklyn and rapidly overwhelmed Washington’s Continental military.
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The Individuals have been pushed up in opposition to the East River and confronted sure slaughter, probably even the whimpering finish of the riot.
The Marblehead males raced to the rescue. They ferried Washington’s complete remaining military of 9,000 males to the security of Manhattan throughout the East River within the single night time of August 29.
The British awoke to search out the American military had disappeared earlier than their very eyes.
Illustration of Common George Washington directing the retreat of the Continental Military throughout the East River, from Brooklyn to Manhattan, after their defeat by the hands of British forces through the battle of Lengthy Island, Aug. 29, 1776. Engraving by JC Armytage from a portray by Wageman.
(Picture by Interim Archives/Getty Photographs)
“In a feat of extraordinary seamanship … they negotiated the river’s swift, opposite currents in boats so loaded with troops and provides, horses and canons, that the water was typically however inches under the gunnels — and all in pitch darkish,” historian David McCullough rhapsodized in his guide “1776.”
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“Few males ever had a lot driving on their ability, or have been below such strain, or carried out so beautifully.”
His unit of about 750 males then held off a British amphibious invasion drive of 4,000 males within the Battle of Pell’s Level in October, in what’s now the New York Metropolis borough of the Bronx.
Making the most of terrain and ducking behind stone fences, Glover’s males devastated the invasion drive.
“Few males ever had a lot driving on their ability, or have been below such strain, or carried out so beautifully.”
“The British and Hessians suffered about 200 killed and plenty of wounded,” writes Fischer.
“The cussed resistance allowed Washington to withdraw his troops north to the hills of White Plains. It additionally demonstrated the stunning stamina of the American troops.”
The American Battlefield Belief calls the Battle of Pell’s Level “Glover’s most interesting hour as a army commander.”
The Crossing
By the tip of 1776, Washington and his all-but-defeated military have been encamped in Pennsylvania, on the west financial institution of the Delaware River.
Colonel Rahl surrenders to George Washington at The Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776, through the American Revolutionary Conflict. From “The Historical past of Our Nation,” revealed 1900.
(Picture by: Common Historical past Archive/Common Photographs Group through Getty Photographs)
The final determined to take the offensive and make a daring assault over the river, attacking the Hessian garrison in Trenton on Christmas.
“Washington hoped {that a} fast victory at Trenton would bolster sagging morale in his military and encourage extra males to hitch the ranks of the Continentals come the brand new 12 months,” writes the web site of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Crossing the Delaware was a plan of extraordinary daring — and extraordinary desperation.
It was a plan of extraordinary daring — and extraordinary desperation.
“Washington is up in opposition to a timetable,” mentioned White of the American Battlefield Belief. “Many of the males have been leaving on the finish of the 12 months” after fulfilling their service obligations.
“If he doesn’t strike now, he’ll lose his military. The trigger may very well be fully misplaced.”
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Washington turned to the boys who proved probably the most expert, courageous and dependable over the previous 12 months: Glover and his 14th Continentals.
The Marblehead males discovered a dependable ally on the Pennsylvania riverbanks: an American innovation referred to as the Durham boat.
They have been sturdy flat-bottomed vessels used to haul coal from the hills of Pennsylvania to the port of Philadelphia.
Reenactors from Glover’s Marblehead Regiment on Christmas 2021 painting George Washington’s heroic crossing of the Delaware Christmas 1776.
(Al Polchek)
They proved the proper autos to ferry an assault drive or males, mounts and cannons throughout an unpredictable, doubtlessly lethal river.
Three totally different invasion fleets have been set to take part within the raid. Solely Glover’s boats made it throughout the Delaware.
The raid was a unprecedented success. Two dozen Hessians have been killed, dozens extra wounded and a few 900 taken prisoner.
Three totally different invasion fleets have been set to take part within the raid. Solely Glover’s made it throughout the Delaware.
The Continental military suffered solely two deaths — males who froze to demise within the bitter chilly of Christmas night time. The path of blood within the snow wasn’t essentially from battle wounds, however from the bloody toes of ill-supplied American troops who marched over the frozen earth barefoot to battle for independence.
The Marblehead militia rowed all the invasion drive — plus 900 prisoners of warfare — again throughout the Delaware.
Members of the Glover’s Marblehead Regiment, a recent group of reenactors, supply a salute to Revolutionary Conflict hero Common John Glover at his grave in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
(Picture by Eyal Oren, Wednesdays in Marblehead)
The unimaginable assault took simply 36 hours. Not a single man died within the two harmful river crossings.
Common Henry Knox “himself later praised the heroic efforts of Glover and his males,” writes McCullough, “describing how the ice within the river made their labor ‘nearly unimaginable’ and probably the most infinite issue that they had in getting horses and cannons on board the boat.”
A nation of tributes
Common John Glover died in Marblehead on Jan. 30, 1797. He was 64 years outdated.
“Following extra distinguished roles within the warfare, together with on the Battle of Saratoga and its aftermath, Glover retired from the Military in 1782,” Glover’s Marblehead Regiment, a recent group of historians and reenactors, says on its web site.
“He returned to Marblehead, rebuilt his enterprise, and went on to serve two phrases within the Massachusetts Legislature and 6 phrases on the Marblehead Board of Selectmen.”
John Glover (1732-1797) was an American fisherman, service provider and army chief and brigadier normal through the American Revolutionary Conflict. From the guide “Gallery of Historic Portraits,” revealed c.1880.
(Picture by Common Historical past Archive/Getty Photographs)
He stays one of many neighborhood’s most well-known figures practically 250 years after main Washington throughout the Delaware.
Glover Sq. is a well-known native level of reference and the positioning of the Common Glover house, a Nationwide Historic Landmark.
A whole lot of native youngsters attend Glover Elementary Faculty, whereas Glover’s tomb in Previous Burial Hill Cemetery stays a spot of honor and reverence.
The frigate USS Glover was the primary ship in U.S. Navy historical past named for an Military officer.
Glover’s Marblehead Regiment boasts corporations of volunteers in each Marblehead and Washington Crossing, Pennylvania.
They may cross the Delaware River on Christmas Day, as they do annually, in honor of the American assault. They may row Durham boats, very like Glover’s males did, constructed with painstaking element to the originals.
Glover’s Rock at Pelham Bay Park within the Bronx honors the positioning of his unit’s heroic battle in opposition to the British invasion drive at Pell’s Level.
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Three ships bearing the title USS Marblehead fought for the U.S. Navy within the Civil Conflict, the Spanish-American Conflict and World Conflict II.
The frigate USS Glover, launched in 1965, was the primary ship in U.S. Navy historical past named for an Military officer.
Marblehead stays a richly patriotic little neighborhood, pleased with its function in forging American independence, in line with Pam Peterson of the native historic fee.
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Washington made a victory tour of the 13 colonies in 1789, the 12 months the Father of His Nation turned its first president, together with the Marquis de Lafayette, the French nobleman who fled his homeland at age 19 to hitch the American Revolution.
They stopped in Marblehead to pay homage to Glover, and to the small-town militia that thrice saved the reason for independence.
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Stated Washington in Glover’s honor: “Your attachment to the Structure of the USA is worthy of males who fought and bled for freedom, and know its worth.”
To learn extra tales on this distinctive “Meet the American Who…” collection from Fox Information Digital, click on right here.