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Colonial Christmas Camels
Written by David Errickson

Recently while exploring the charming Pennsylvania town of New Hope, I passed through the nearby village of Washington’s Crossing, so named because it sits directly at the spot where, on Christmas Eve 1776, General George Washington’s army embarked on the historic nighttime attack across the Delaware River to surprise and defeat the British and Hessians at Trenton. It was a vital victory and turning point in the Revolution. On both sides of the river in that vicinity are fine parks worth visiting that commemorate the event. They are connected, conveniently and inevitably, by the Washington Crossing Bridge.

While enjoying the parks, my thoughts turn toward the soldiers that bravely clambered into the boats that frigid evening to face an uncertain fate across the water. They were far from their families and homes, cold and scared, but determined to do their duty to their young country with loyalty and honor. After so many defeats, what were they thinking? Did they have time to write a last letter home? How many would endure to another bitter winter Christmas at Valley Forge one year later?

Stroll the shore and contemplate the dark river filled with ice, and picture yourself at an oar.

A few momentous years after the battle, in another holiday season, the victorious general ended his military service at Fraunces Tavern, in lower Manhattan. Surviving the Revolution and standing to this day as the oldest standing structure in New York City, it is the site of Washington’s farewell address to his officers on December 4, 1783. Desperate to be at his beloved Mt. Vernon for Christmas, he departed the next day for the 3 week journey by boat, horse and wagon. Today you can visit the small museum, dine in the famous Long Room, and find the time to be grateful to those that managed to save this wonderful building from the concrete and steel fate that surrounds it.

Washington made it home by Christmas in a howling blizzard. He loved the holiday season in Virginia. He went to great strides to make the time memorable because he never knew when he might again be called away. Like most Virginia planters of the time, he marked the season with fox hunting and feasts, parties with neighbors, and more of a celebration than a solemn religious observance. In 1787 he even hired a camel (for 18 shillings) to entertain his holiday guests. The day after Christmas, Boxing Day, the servants would be given boxes containing a small gift or coin. Their labors, and those of the slaves, were suspended until the immense Yule Log burned out.

Here in Tidewater, the flavor of Christmas past comes to life like nowhere else in Colonial Williamsburg. Beginning on Thanksgiving weekend, the town sparkles with special events for everyone. Over 1200 candles and 700 wreaths of pine and fruit decorate the doors, all specially made with items common in the 1700s. December 4 is the Grand Illumination, a night of fireworks, light displays, and costumed carolers. Any night from Nov 28 to Dec 31 one can enjoy the popular Christmas Decoration Walking Tour. Afternoon tea is enjoyed daily at the Williamsburg Inn, and taverns in historic district serve authentic Revolutionary era fare from colonial menus.

You can even stop by the College of William and Mary to hear the college president read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", somehow appropriate as a professor there is said to have brought the German tradition of decorated trees to America's Christmas season in 1842. First Night ends the season New Year's Eve with music, dancing, and great food at several locations in Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary. Check it out at ChristmasInWilliamsburg.com , and bring your good cheer.

This Christmas, 235 years after that fateful night on the Delaware River, American soldiers are once again far from home in harm’s way. They are the same stalwart American children who marched on Trenton, Chateau Thierry, Bastogne, and Inchon. They will stand on a frozen wall somewhere so that we can safely decorate our trees, open our presents, and enjoy our feasts and families. They will long for home, and shed a lonely private tear for precious moments missed. I think of them and want to do more to deserve their service, to recognize their sacrifice. I hope you will remember them in your holiday prayers. Washington would have.