"victory or death"

It was Christmas Day in Northern Pennsylvania. A freezing, exhausted group of men, protecting American from the British, was led by General George Washington. The volunteer group of farmers, merchants, and settlers marched through an icy, driving rain and snow. Hundreds collapsed from sickness and exhaustion as they marched through the night. One third of them did not have boots. Their rag-wrapped feet literally left a trail of blood in the Pennsylvania snow. On their shoulders literally rested the future of America. Their password - "victory or death" - was their reality. Newt Gingridge claims those who made the sacrifices to win the revolution, have a message for those of us living today: He is challenging us to read the story of George Washington and his men. Historian William Forstchen has launched a new novel, "To Try Men's Souls." It is novel about George Washington and the fight for American freedom .

"To Try Men's Souls" is the wrenching, first person account of General George Washington's 1776 sneak attack the enemy at Trenton after crossing the Delaware River. This tale of heroism and sacrifice is told through the eyes and private thoughts of General Washington, writer Thomas Paine, and Jonathan Van Dorn, a young private in the struggling colonial army. It takes its title from Thomas Paine's famous work, "The Crisis," which opens with a phrase that captures perfectly the heroism and endurance displayed by Washington and his men: "These are the times that try men's souls..." "To Try Men's Souls" is a story of the miracles that can be achieved by a free people with courage and a willingness to endure. As Washington and his men march, a storm bears down on them, turning frozen earth to mud. "To Try Men's Souls" describes the unimaginable conditions the American heroes faced:

"Raise your foot, put it ahead of you, heavy mud caked thick to each boot. Put your foot forward, sink into the congealing glue nearly to the boot top, sometimes the chilled slop spilling down inside. Pull your other foot up out of the slop, stagger forward another step. There was no longer any semblance of a marching column, just an endless weaving line of men ahead, the last few stragglers of this broken army." (see Newt Gingrich Letter, October 21, 09, Vol. 4, No 42).

The Storm that brought such terrible suffering for America's heroes was called by Washington "Our Christmas Miracle." Why? Because the storm that created such hellish conditions for the Americans, who defended America from the enemy was the same storm that caused the British-paid German mercenaries, who were Washington's target in Trenton, to stay inside that night. Even though the weather caused the Americans to arrive four hours late - well after dawn - when they got to Trenton, the enemy invaders, the Hessians, were asleep in their beds. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Washington and his men won the battle of Trenton. Their victory reinvigorated the cause of American freedom. Washington's "Christmas miracle" was the turning point in the Revolutionary War in 1776, and the birth of America.