During the cold winter encampment at Valley Forge, Washington rallied the troops. A big Christmas surprise was about to take place. While the British partied in Trenton, Washington loaded his men in boats and crossed the icy Delaware River in the dead of night for a surprise attack. The victory that took place would continue to be remembered in American History. I can imagine the letters sent home told exciting stories as the New Year came rolling in.
Christmas Victory
Brought troops hope for the New Year
Winter snow still falls
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Stamp Art: Dwight L. Roth
Frank Tassone asked us to write a Haikai poem related to New Years. As I thought about those freezing cold soldiers camped at Valley Forge, I wondered what they must be thinking as Washington laid out his plan to attack the British in Trenton, NJ. This is my Haibun about that time.
Roth Poetry 
Very beautiful Dwight! ❤
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Thank you Deborah!
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Both the art and the words.
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Thank you very much! I was experimenting with stamp art creations. A friend of mine gave me a whole plastic tub of used stamps!
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Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #4: Dwight Roth’s latest #haibun for my current #haikai challenge!
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Lovely poem and stamp art, Dwight. We used to go to Valley Forge often when I was a teen. A grad school friend, Wayne Bodle, wrote a book on the soldiers at Valley Forge. My NJ town has a park on the river that was the site of another battle–Red Bank Battlefield Park.
Happy New Year to you and yours!
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Great memories! Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year!
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And to you!
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A reminder that history is important. Lovely stamp art. I think I can imagine being as cold as those troops might have been. When younger I was a guest at a country home in winter – silly me expecting the heat to be on at night! I think my whole body shivered all throughout the night. Hard to function when you are so cold.
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I can understand that! Thanks.. The stamp art was an interesting project. The picture in the center is also a set of stamps.
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I’ve got a gent I buy older stamps from at face value… so I always ‘decorate’ my letters and packages with ‘old’ stamps 🙂 I recognized the center image as stamps right off. I don’t really collect them, officially. But I do sort of save old stamps that I get on my own mail… if you ever need any more… 🙂
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