Presented by Roger Williams as part of a year-long series, God of Our Fathers: The Mighty Miracles of the American Revolution. In December 1776, just six months after signing the Declaration of Independence, General George Washington’s fledgling American Army and the cause of liberty were on the brink of collapse. A disastrous campaign in New York that fall led to the loss of more than half of Washington’s troops and to a loss of confidence among Congress and his fellow citizens. The British Generals believed that the rebellious American soldiers, many of whom would see their enlistments expire in just a few weeks, would no longer be able to mount a significant resistance. Settling into winter quarters, they believed all hope for independence was lost. George Washington saw something very different… Taking stock of his army’s desperate situation, the rebel commander-in-chief launched his forces into a series of victorious battles, of which British historian Sir George Otto Trevelyan later wrote, “It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.” That period—December 25, 1776, to January 3, 1777—covered the “Ten Crucial Days” that changed the course of history.