I am sorry if you got excited because you thought the Mad Man in the Subject above was President Trump and you do not like President Trump so you were glad I was calling President Trump a Mad Man but the Mad Man I am referring to is not President Trump.
The Mad Man I am referring to is General George Washington.
This Foolishness…Or Is It is about to turn into a History Lesson without much, if any, Foolishness…
General Washington probably was labeled a Mad Man by those who knew what was really happening to the American Revolution at the point in the war where he decided to Cross the Delaware River.
At that point in our War for Independence the odds were against winning the war. The odds were so against winning that any sane General Who Knew Anything About Being A Not Insane General would have given up and gone back to the farm (provided he were not hung by the neck until dead for Treason by the British)…
Ø At this point Washington was disgusted with lots of things…
>The Weather
>The Clock
>His Subordinates
>His Army
>His Government
>Himself
Ø He was also mad about lots of things…
>The Pretentious European Officers under his command who were continually trying to stab him in the back.
>Those Cautious Councils of War all around him.
>Being Ridiculed by his Enemies.
>Mostly he was mad about Losing Every Battle he had Fought.
Ø The colonies had created a Continental Army of 20,000 men on January 1, 1776.
Ø Washington had taken that army to New York City and it had gotten caught in the meat grinder called the British Army (the most professional and best trained army on the planet).
Ø It was only because of a crazy desperate plan he concocted and unexplained weather happenings (many have called it a miracle) that his army was saved from complete annihilation.
Ø He was trying to fight a war against the British Army which had written the book on Military Operations during that century.
Ø When caught in the open, without earthworks for protection, his amateur soldiers did not stand a chance.
Ø His army was best at running away from battles.
Ø His army was getting smaller due to deaths in battles and also because day after day, mile after mile, they fell back, and for every hour spent in retreat, soldiers slipped away and went back home.
Ø All of them would be going home soon because, this was late December, and on December 31st their enlistments would expire.
Ø He was about to not have an army at all.
Ø As the remaining days of his soldiers’ enlistment trickled down to zero, Crazy George managed to regroup all the men under his command.
Ø With some 6,000 men under his control, he conceived an insane plan that he thought might revive the spirits of both his Army and the Nation.
Ø General Horatio Gates was second in command of the Patriot Forces and he was not near as crazy as George.
Ø Gates pointed out that Crazy George was proposing to have three widely separated bodies of men, most of whom lacked proper training, experience and discipline, cross a wide river choked with ice, and make a converging attack on a force of veteran professional soldiers.
Ø He judged this whole attack plan to be crazy suicidal.
Ø Gates was determined not to be seen as crazy as George so he reported himself sick and rode off to Philadelphia.
Ø Crazy George felt he had listened to his subordinates before and that they were lacking in the determination necessary to win the war. But what did he know? He was crazy and they were not crazy.
Ø On this occasion Crazy Ole George decided he was going to listen to his Crazy Ole Self.
Ø On Christmas Eve Night Crazy George called together his officers and revealed his nutty plan.
Ø As the officers left the meeting in the early hours of Christmas Day, they found snow falling and large cakes if ice swirling in the current of the river.
Ø There was little to celebrate on that Christmas Day because there was little food but the citizens of Philadelphia had sent out a couple of wagons filled with old clothes to supplement the Army’s ragged uniforms.
Ø At dark on Christmas Day the Army started crossing the river.
Ø As they headed toward the boats, freezing rain soaked them.
Ø What mad man had come up with this idea?
Ø Many were thinking why did Crazy George wait till darkness was upon them to start his boat ride because now they were stumbling around and bumping into each other trying to find and climb into the boats.
Ø Because of the darkness and confusion the entire crazy operation fell behind schedule.
Ø As the night wore on and daylight was approaching, they were all thinking that their chance of surprising the Hessians was fast slipping away.
Ø It was heavy on their minds that Crazy George was about to secure another major defeat because of his Crazy Idea.
Ø Crazy George was aware that many of his men saw him as nothing more than an aloof, fox-hunting Virginia Aristocrat.
Ø He would have felt worse if he knew that they saw him as nothing more than an aloof, fox-hunting Insane Virginia Aristocrat.
Ø After crossing they still had to march 9 miles to attack Trenton.
Since this is near the bottom, I’ll give you the Bottom Line…Crazy George’s Insane Plan Worked like a Charm, and on that night, Crazy Insane General George Washington took a big step toward transitioning from Nut towards becoming a Military Genius.
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
Lagniappe: Thomas Paine was not in those boats but his words published only 6 days before the General’s Boat Ride were there, “THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
Lagniappe Again: There probably were no NFL Football “Heroes” in those boats with Crazy George.
