The Day that America could have lost the War to England

[robycop3]

I recently visited their barracks in Trenton N.J. Did you know they slept 12 men to a room in only 4 beds? Now that's what I call comradeship!

Given the poor heating of those days in barracks, I doubt if they minded those conditions in winter. Summer was likely a different matter...

 

[Adonia]

Given the poor heating of those days in barracks, I doubt if they minded those conditions in winter. Summer was likely a different matter...

All I can say is I wouldn't have wanted to be the man in the middle!

 

[HankD]

All I can say is I wouldn't have wanted to be the man in the middle!

actually anywhere in the room - Europeans are renown for an adversity to deodorants - if they even had them in the day.

 

[Salty]

I recently visited their barracks in Trenton N.J. Did you know they slept 12 men to a room in only 4 beds? Now that's what I call comradeship!

12 men - 4 beds = 3/bed But were all three in bed at once - between guard duty, other duties, ect....

 

[Adonia]

12 men - 4 beds = 3/bed But were all three in bed at once - between guard duty, other duties, ect....

According to the historian on site yes, they did indeed sleep three to a bed. If you remember correctly, they were all in the barracks asleep when General Washington made his attack on Trenton in the early hours of that fateful morning.

 

[Reformed1689]

A British sharp shooter decision not to fire.........

Had England won in 1777 - how would that have changed world history?

It's doubtful that this story is even true. There are a few large discrepancies if you research it.

 

[HankD]

does anyone remember the song - Que Sera Sera, Whatever Will Be, Will Be...

 

[robycop3]

It's doubtful that this story is even true. There are a few large discrepancies if you research it.

While Washington was very important to the USA's future, at that time, he wasn't at all a great General. had he fallen, I believe Gates or Benedict Arnold woulda taken command. Arnold was a good General; he became a traitor when he felt he was deliberately bypassed for promotion. And either he or Gates woulda been a better Commander than Washington was at that time.

 

[robycop3]

A day later, after he had been seriously wounded himself, Ferguson learned that the American officer he let ride off was most likely General George Washington. “I could have lodged half a dozen balls in or about him, before he was out of my reach,” Ferguson recalled, “but it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual, who was acquitting himself very coolly of his duty—so I let him alone.”​

“Or about him”? Sounds like plugging the air. But I thought everyone knew George Washington was bulletproof!

Now, had GW fallen that day, the war wouldn't necessarily been lost by the colonists. Command would've fallen to Benedict Arnold, Horatio Gates, or Nathanael Greene, all of whom were very-able generals. (Yes, Arnold was especially so before he turned traitor. Had he received command, he likely woulda stayed loyal.) What would've been much-different woulda been the office of POTUS. That office mighta ended up with much-more power than it now has.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

Now, had GW fallen that day, the war wouldn't necessarily been lost by the colonists. Command would've fallen to Benedict Arnold, Horatio Gates, or Nathanael Greene, all of whom were very-able generals. (Yes, Arnold was especially so before he turned traitor. Had he received command, he likely woulda stayed loyal.) What would've been much-different woulda been the office of POTUS. That office mighta ended up with much-more power than it now has.

Yes, we might have won the war regardless, but a lot happened between declaring independence and our current constitution. George Washington held great sway, thus greatly affected the direction of the country. I would not want to try to speculate on what might have happened politically without him in the fore.