Worksheet # 37          Home Questions Puzzle Links Next

UNITING IN THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE

And good men came to fight and to give of their souls

To set these lands free from the British controls.

With the cry on their lips, risking life and great harm:

“We’ll see who will own this house and this farm!”

Ah, but the start of this venture, ‘twas a ragged affair,

As dissent in the ranks was neither mild nor rare.

Each colony was keen to be the boss of its men,

Quite deaf to the pleas for a true sense of union.

But, New York and New England, southern states and all

Had to join the same team or meet their downfall.

And Ben Franklin, it was, who put it most eloquently:

“We'll need to hang together. . . or be hanged separately!”

Yet as war opened out, it seemed from all angles

The Brits met success in nearly all of their tangles.

With their navy unmatched to move troops all about,

They soon captured New York and drove Washington out.

Indeed, George’s rebels were so badly battered,

He saw many go shoeless, their clothing all tattered.

And as sickness and fear started taking their tolls,

The weary soldiers “knew times that try men’s souls.”

But in desperate December 1776,

The General pulled off the most brilliant of tricks.

On a bone-chilled night, between each cough and each shiver,

He led forces across the Delaware River.

Whose waters were icy and when a storm blew in,

It came close to chaos for these near frozen men.

Some marched in bare feet, trailing blood in the snow,

In the dark dead of night with still a battle to go!

And the day after Christmas, the soldiers called Hessian,

Were completely surprised at the Battle of Trenton.

A stunning fine win, and Americans took heart,

That the dream of freedom would have a fresh start.