White. Normally seeing that color covering the ground would bring great joy to me, but now it was only the source of my pain. The snow was burning into the soles of my feet; enough to make me even begin to doubt the end of this war. Looking over to my right, I saw my best friend Jonathan Wood. His clothes were hanging in tatters around his skeleton-like form, his beard grown out like a wild man’s, also making it hard to remember how chubby and jolly he used to be.

“All men halt!” the General boomed. Instantly we all ceased movement.

“We’ll camp here tonight.” He commanded. The army began to search for firewood and set up tents as if we were wind-up toys with no personality; only doing what was needed to survive. Once camp was established and the fire was set up, General Washington called us to mid camp.

“Soldiers, I know that this winter has taken its toll on us and the nation…” he was interrupted the by the loud murmurs and grumblings of the men, “But we all need to remember why we are here, to fight for our freedom!” I tried to cheer along with some of the other men, but I found that it hurt to make it more than feeble.


“The Hessians have moved closer to our fort and we need to stop them.” Continued the General, “Desperate times call for desperate measures so I feel that we need to attack tonight.”

“But General,” one of the bolder soldiers remonstrated, “It’s Christmas Eve!”

“Ahhh,” said General Washington thoughtfully, “ That’s the point; Germans celebrate Christmas by getting as drunk as possible, which will make our attack all the more surprising.” He stated with a smile.

“Prepare for battle!” he commanded as he ducked into his tent. For a moment I sat there in stunned silence. How on Earth could an army of starving, half-naked wild men defeat the ruthless Hessians? We had to save our fort, but wasn’t this plan a little too desperate?
**************************************


Five hours later we were crossing the Delaware as silently as the wind itself. I was situated in the boat where the General was, causing me to feel very honored and a little brave. How could I not feel brave with a man who oozed confidence to the point where he rested his leg upon the bow? As I continued rowing, suddenly General Washington held his hand up to signal us to stop. All was silent. Slowly and quietly we got out of the boats and stepped onto shore. We could smell the wine and food and hear the music that the Germans played in celebration. Soon we approached their camp, close enough to see their drunken expressions and lethargic movements.

General Washington turned around and whispered the word that could have been my death sentence or my salvation, “Attack!” The whole army popped out from behind the bushes. No longer were we tired and hungry, but were a real army. The Hessians didn’t have time to grab their weapons or even be scared before every last one of them were gone. Call this attack desperate if you will, but to me it was the bravest thing that I had ever done, and with that I cheered along with the rest of my men.