Christmas Eve Story
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from 7k Metals!
We know all of you are looking forward to Christmas Day and hopefully spending it in a nice, warm house with plenty of family, friends, and good food.
As per usual, we’ve thought of a story we want to tell all of you this Christmas Eve! Something that happened two hundred and forty-five years ago on this very day. Hint: it has to do with your favorite General George Washington.
All bundled up with a cup of cocoa? Good.
On December 24, 1776, George was looking at bleak odds. He’d just lost the city of New York and a lot of good men to the British. It was the dead of winter and the Continentals were freezing, starving, and all around miserable. Yet again, it looked like this might be the end for the colonies' independence.
Except for one thing: General George Washington was not a timid man.
For weeks he’d been planning an attack on a camp of Hessian soldiers just ten miles away across the Delaware River. He’d purposefully set the date of his plan for Christmas Eve, knowing how important the victory would be to his men. There was no loss planned for in the General’s mind. The Americans would be successful because they needed to be.
The details were kept under wraps; very few of his men knew the extent of the plan. Even then, the information was leaked to the Hessian camp through their spies. What did they do? They sat back, had another round, and laughed at the thought of the American troops reaching them by Christmas Day.
Maybe they were right to laugh. Washington’s plan was so unlikely to succeed, especially when nearly everything went wrong. His men were late to arrive at the bank of the Delaware, probably postponed by the icy storm that set in just as the sun began to set. Rafts were filled with 2,400 men, military horses, enough artillery for a battle, and even 18 massive cannons. What they lacked in military training these Continentals made up for in sailing experience–remember, most of these men grew up in the colonies and had trades to provide for their families before they’d joined the army. The skill of the sailors saw the entire parade across the choppy, icy waters of the Delaware safely to the other side.
There was no rest to be had after reaching the safety of dry land. George rallied his men and they fought through harsh snow and bone-chilling sleet and winds for ten long miles. It took them all night. By the time the sky was rosy pink with sunrise the Hessian camp awoke to be surrounded by the Continental army. They must have looked like the walking dead, but George and his ragtag army managed to take the Hessian camp in a swift victory.
The genius of General George is in the way he knew his men and their needs. He knew how disparaging the loss of New York was, especially as one of so many. And most important of all, he knew exactly what to get them for Christmas.
Two hundred and forty five years ago today, General George Washington got his boys and country a win on Christmas morning.
Thank you all for taking a moment to remember our main man George and his Continentals today, crossing the icy Delaware to inspire their fight for freedom. Because of those tough, brave men, we have so much more to be grateful for this holiday season.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
