Again, the countryside is beautiful. It boggles my mind that it took them so long to cross the Delaware with all those men, horses, and artillery. That sure is a long time to think what’s about to happen and get very wary of it all. How brave the soldiers were; and what a leader and G.W. was.
(Right here is supposed to be the famous picture of Washington crossing the Delaware. You’ve seen the picture, right? Good, because it didn’t turn out. I can put it in, but it’s just a black rectangle. So, just imagine that it’s right here. Instead is a picture of the spot and how it looks today.)
Monmouth was really beautiful also. As wickedly hot and humid as it was today, it was especially appropriate since the weather was the same those many years ago. How they marched, fought, ran, retreated, marched, and fought some more in those conditions is beyond my imagination. To think that in December the conditions were the extreme opposite. At Washington’s crossing and the others’ attempts to cross, they were actually freezing to death. At Monmouth, they were dying from heat exhaustion.
The cemetery was so beautiful with its rolling hills, green grass, and huge trees. The gravestone that was most interesting to me was the first one I saw walking into the cemetery. It was a little girl’s who was one year, three months and fourteen days old when she died. What caught my eye was the skull with angel wings on the top of the stone. Very eerie! (Sorry I can’t rotate the picture.)
The other thing I find fascinating is the grand white oak that was the only tree still standing that was originally there at the cemetery. Beautiful!
