The Crossing (2000 film)

"No one hates the British like a Dutch Merchant. (Reflecting on the motives of a Patriot spy in New York)"

"Reserve your opinions, Gentlemen. Hear me out. Across the river, ten miles downstream, is the village of Trenton. It is held by 1,200 Hessians with Raul in command. They have food, warm clothing, blankets, tents, cannons, muskets, ammunition, in short, everything we need. In four days it will be Christmas. There will be a great deal of feasting and a great deal of drinking by the Hessians that day and night. I propose that on the eve of December 25th, we cross the river, march on Trenton, and attack the Hessians before dawn. And if God is with us, we'll take the whole lot of them."

"You are right, my men are not soldiers, they are lads. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen. They run away. They fear the Hessians as they fear death. All this is true. Yet, they have put their trust in me. They could have deserted, thousands have, but these lads have not. They remain with me. And I, not you General Gates, I command this army. And if I, a bumbling Virginia farmer, should decide to lead them into hell, they will follow me into hell."

"The Army will advance!"

"Now listen to me, we have won our first victory in twelve months. We attacked the enemy for the first time, and out of some miracle, or the graciousness of God, or the idiocy of war, we have survived. What can you be thinking? Have we won the war? Gentlemen, this is only the beginning of the war. We have two thousand men. The enemy has twenty thousand. And I swear, I will not eat, nor will I sleep, until I have put that river between him and us."

"Firstly, my dear Sir, in order to attack, one needs an army. You do not have an army. Secondly, in order to attack, one needs Soldiers. Your men are not Soldiers. Thirdly, your troops always go in one direction. To attack, requires the other direction."

"There is no way to cross the river and keep such a plan from the Hessians. They have spies everywhere. The crossing will take hours. And long before you reach the other shore, the Hessians will have their artillery on your boats. Those big durham boats make damn good targets. Even a Yankee gunner couldn't miss them."

"Surrender. This revolution is over."

"Less than a thousand men fit for duty? No food, no clothing? These Hessians are the best Soldiers in the world. The boys we lead are as frightened of them as a Salem pastor at the sight of a witch."

"My men are riflemen. Sharpshooters. They won't take kindly to muskets and bayonets."

"We are going in, all of us. With cold steel at night."

"Jeff Daniels - Gen. George Washington"

"Roger Rees - Gen. Hugh Mercer"

"Sebastian Roché - Col. John Glover"

"Steven McCarthy - Alexander Hamilton"

"John Henry Canavan - Gen. Henry Knox"

"Ned Vukovic - William Alexander, Lord Stirling"

"David Ferry - Gen. Nathaniel Greene"

"Nigel Bennett - Gen. Horatio Gates"

"Karl Pruner - Gen. John Sullivan"

"Duncan McLeod - Williams"

"Andrew Kraulis - Billy"

"Kelly Harms - Tommy"

"Jonathan Watton - Cadman"

"Kris Holden-Ried - Capt. Heineman"

"Julian Richings - McKenzie"