The Rise of George Washington

George Washington, the first president of the United States, had to overcome challenges and obstacles before he became president and it began at the battle of Trenton. This battle was the beginning of many successes and there was only one main reason- grit. Grit is a very important reason why George Washington was successful in the battle at Trenton. Although the war was a success, Washington did not have a perfect beginning. It was perfectly visualised on the 1999 movie “The Crossing” as it showed that Washington was at a low point in the war for independence.

New York was attacked and Washington’s men were forced to cross the Delaware River and to go to Pennsylvania. When crossing, they were split into three groups and only Washington’s group arrived at the destination. What was worse was that a lot of his men had a week or so until they were done being soldiers, and Washington’s failures weren’t going to convince them to rejoin. Another disadvantage was that the British took over Philadelphia and they had more soldiers that Washington. All of these negative events would have given George Washington many reasons to surrender to the British and to let down many loyalists.

Washington had many people to lead and trust, but many did not like or trust him or his tactics, as it was seen on “The Crossing”. Some officers were jealous of his position so they wanted him to fail so that any one of them can take his place. Others wanted his position because they didn’t think he was doing a good job. In the dinner scene of “The Crossing”, an officer objected to his plan and he gave multiple reasons of why the plan would fail. He also highly implied that Washington is a poor leader. John Glover himself doubted Washington’s plans.

The fisherman from Massachusetts was not fully convinced of Washington’s plan but he agreed to them. There were many people who did not like George Washington or his plans but that did not stop him from going through with them and forcing people to go through with them as well. Washington went through with his plan, the plan to attack the German mercenaries at Trenton on Christmas night, ignoring the doubts and hate others had on him and his plans. At the beginning, the plan didn’t go as planned, as shown on “The Crossing”. The fishermen had to cross everyone in small boats across the river on Christmas night.

Unfortunately, they could not do it quick enough because once they were done, they wouldn’t be able to get to Trenton before sunrise. An officer was on Washington’s back, scolding him, saying that they would not get to Trenton in time. Washington ignored him and went ahead with the plan anyway. He risked it all in the battle at Trenton with 2400 men, and his tactics worked. They surrounded the mercenaries while they were not ready and they surrendered. The attack did not go through as planned, but Washington did not give up and he went on to complete his goals.

George Washington did not seem like a hero at first. Everything was going wrong for him and he did not have a lot of people on his side. His plans were not working either. These are the many reasons Washington could have failed. But he did not. Washington had the passion and perseverance to reach his long term goal- to win a battle. This is the definition of grit. A lot of things were not going his way but he worked his way up and that battle was the first of many victories. Grit is an important reason for his success at Trenton and his many successes after.