Washington's army must have known that just because it was right didn’t
mean it would be easy. They had endured devastating losses on the battlefield,
smallpox, typhoid, typhus, and epidemic dysentery. Men defected, men deserted.
They were starving, and filthy, without any winter clothes and their numbers
dwindled as the battles increased. More men died in prisons ands from disease
than from war wounds. They crossed rivers during freezing winter storms and
marched through a noreaster that caused the temperatures to plummet so badly
that “two men froze to death on the march.” Though their numbers and
circumstances worsened, Patrick Henry understood what carried them on. He
declared:
Friends and angels perhaps. They never should never have won
the Revolutionary War. Sherrie Dew, a corporate president and member of several
international boards, puts it this way: “They were outmanned, outmaneuvered,
outsmarted, and outgunned again and again by a superior British army, yet they
prevailed. The only explanation is the intervention of God.”
On Dec. 31, 1776, all the enlistments for the entire army
had expired leaving every soldier free to go home. Washington called the troops
into formation and urged them to reenlist, promising them a large bonus if they
did. As the drums rolled, he asked those willing to re-up to step forward, but
nobody did. Many of their farms were neglected, their fields had lain barren
and their families were starving. Despite their desperate poverty they were
ready to reject the money. They just wanted to go home. Washington turned and
rode away from them. Then he stopped, turned back and rode up to them again.
Listen carefully to what he said:
“My brave fellows,
you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably
expected, but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses, and all that
you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we
know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you
will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which
you can probably never do under any other circumstance.”
“. . .your country is at stake, your wives, your houses, and
all that you hold dear. . .” Consider
another general named Moroni who, like Washington, was attempting to rally his
own troops by writing the necessity of the cause upon their hearts. The words
he used are known as The Title of Liberty and they read:
"In memory of our God, our religion, our freedom, and
our peace, our wives and our children,”
Words that touch upon the noblest of men’s sensibilities.
Moroni’s words brought loyal men forward to defend their families and homes,
and likewise, when Washington’s drummers began to roll the drums, the men began
stepping forward. “God Almighty,” wrote Nathanael Greene, “inclined their
hearts to listen to the proposal and they engaged anew.”
As beloved as he was, Washington could have set himself up
as a king, but understanding that another form of government was desired for
this land, he announced that he would not seek another term and that he would
instead relinquish the Presidency. Imagine the thoughts of conquered King
George III when he heard that Washington might do this . . that the men who had led a rag tag army
against the greatest army in the world and had beaten them . . . the man who
was revered enough by his people to be catapulted into the highest office in the
land . . . that this man would then turn and walk away from that position of
his own accord against the cries for his people to remain there . . . When King
George heard this he remarked,
“if he does he will be the greatest man in the world.”
