Cannon – Fort Lee Historic Park – Fort Lee, NJ
Washington’s army was now in danger of being trapped between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. At dawn, they began the march south down the Hackensack River Valley, burning bridges behind them at the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. As the rag-tag army retreated across New Jersey, Thomas Paine, an aide-de-camp to General Nathaniel Greene, began writing “The American Crisis” essays, including this historic quote: “These are the times that try men’s Souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”
