Today, was our P-day and the weather was sunny and in the upper 40s this morning. We decided to take advantage of this combination of events to re-live a little history. It was during the 1776 campaign and a failed attempt by George Washington to control the Hudson River. By bringing ships up the Hudson, the British would be able to split the colonies in two. During the summer of that year 31,000 British troops landed on Staten Island and in August Washington’s army was trapped in Brooklyn with their back to the East River at the tip of Manhattan Island. It is a miracle that the entire revolutionary army, thus trapped, was able to evacuate across the East River to Manhattan Island during one long night with the help of unseasonable fog (that covered the river) and currents in the river (that kept the British Men-o-War ships in the bay). General Howe and his brother Admiral Howe then chased Washington and the surviving army North towards White Plains (where Grandma and I now live). There were two forts (Fort Washington on the New York Side and Fort Lee on the New Jersey side) of the Hudson River, built by the colonists to keep any enemy from moving North. Both were at the present crossing of the George Washington Bridge. Both were captured by the overwhelming British throng. Today we visited the remnants of both Forts and walked one mile across the Hudson River on the GW Bridge. It is fun for me to close my eyes and imagine what life would have been like during these critical moments in the history of our country. Over and over again, men and women of great faith and courage stood firm in times of crisis to keep the dream alive.
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