Glover and the “Indispensables” Save Washington’s Army (Spring 2024 | Volume: 69, Issue: 2)

Glover and the “Indispensables” Save Washington’s Army

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Authors: Patrick K. O'Donnell

Historic Era: Era 3: Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820s)

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Spring 2024 | Volume 69, Issue 2

Editor’s Note: The author of 13 books, Patrick K. O’Donnell is one of our leading military historians. His fascinating book about the crucial role that John Glover and the Marblehead men played in the Revolution, The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware, reads like David McCullough’s 1776 and Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers. We are delighted to publish this essay adapted from the book.

John Glover was the same age as George Washington and a close friend. National Park Service
John Glover was the same age as George Washington and became a close friend and ally. National Park Service

Trailing blood in the snow, the often-shoeless soldiers marched to the boats at night in the midst of the storm as sleet pelted their bodies. At the Delaware’s edge, men from Marblehead packed General George Washington’s army into the vessels. They began crossing the fast-flowing, ice-chunk-filled river – a challenging task for even the most experienced sailors. With the morning rapidly approaching, every moment counted to maintain the element of surprise against the Hessian garrison at Trenton. Despite the odds, Colonel John Glover’s soldier-mariners pressed on.

In the winter of 1776, a pall of gloom and the prospect of capitulation hovered over the nascent United States. The Continental Army had endured one crushing defeat after another. The ragtag fighting force had thinned from over 18,000 strong to a few thousand men. With most enlistments set to expire on December 31, 1776, it would shrink to mere hundreds, who were largely barefoot and starving. As Washington direly confided in a letter to his brother, “I think the game is pretty near up.”

The American Revolution could have met an early, dramatic demise several times, if not for this unsung group of patriots.

To turn the tide, the commander in chief staked the entire war on a desperate gamble, involving some of the most difficult maneuvers of the Revolutionary War: a night attack, an assault crossing a river in the middle of a nor’easter, and a strike on the British-controlled town of Trenton. The ominous countersign “Victory or Death” marked the gravity of the operation.

In these extreme circumstances, Washington turned to the only group of men he knew had the strength and skill to deliver the army to Trenton – John Glover’s Marblehead Regiment. These indispensable men miraculously transported Washington and the bulk of his army across the Delaware in the heart of the raging storm, without a casualty. 

John Glover and the Marblehead men struggling to transport Washington and the American army across the Delaware is one of the most iconic images in American history. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Emaneul Leutze's idealized painting of John Glover and the Marblehead men struggling to transport Washington and the American army across the ice-filled Delaware River is one of the most iconic in American history. Metropolitan