America's First War on Christmas w/ Bruce Carlson
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 1 December 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On December 25, 1776, George Washington and his men celebrated their first post-Declaration of Independence Christmas by crossing a freezing river to mount a surprise attack against their enemies. The plan worked, but almost 250 years later the story of Washington crossing the Delaware might surprise you too. In this episode, RTN favorite Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics joins Bob & Ben for a conversation about one of the US's most recognized, yet little-known battles and how it affected the course of the Revolutionary War.
If you enjoy this episode, check out My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, available anywhere you get The Road to Now. You can also hear Bruce in RTN Episode 85: The History of US-Mexican Relations w/ Bruce Carlson, recorded live from Avetts at the Beach in 2018.
This is a rebroadcast of RTN #151, which origianlly aired in December 2019. This reair was edited by Ben Sawyer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I've been Sawyer and this is the road to now. |
| 0:08.1 | It is now officially the Christmas season. |
| 0:11.5 | Thanksgiving being over with. |
| 0:12.9 | Did you hear me? |
| 0:13.4 | Now that Thanksgiving is over with, it's Christmas season. |
| 0:16.9 | And this is our ninth Christmas at the road to now. |
| 0:19.6 | And it's getting to be like a tradition here. |
| 0:22.6 | We air some of our favorite Christmas episodes over the holidays. |
| 0:25.4 | A lot of times Bob and I get busy, and we like sharing these episodes. |
| 0:29.2 | And it's to the point now where it's weird, but to me, re-airing these episodes is like a holiday tradition. |
| 0:36.7 | But today, one that we have not aired in a few |
| 0:39.0 | years actually it's our conversation with bruce carlson this is from back i think in 2019 |
| 0:44.4 | it's called america's first war on christmas and it's really just about the battles of princeton |
| 0:51.4 | and trenton the crossing of the Delaware on December 25th, 1776. |
| 0:55.8 | What a brilliant move that was. And so we hope you enjoy it today. A good reminder for everybody. |
| 1:02.3 | Ken Burns American Revolution series is out now. Go check that out if you want a pretty epic, |
| 1:07.8 | really visual guide to what this looked like. But for now, we hope you guys |
| 1:13.5 | enjoy this. Bruce Carlson, of course, of my history can beat up your politics, good friend of the |
| 1:17.8 | show. I hope you guys are having a good time. Hope you made it there and back again safely. And |
| 1:23.3 | we look forward to seeing you next week. Take care. Bruce Carlson, historian extraordinaire, host of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics. It's very much an honor to have you back again. |
| 1:35.9 | Bruce, real quick, let me ask you, how long has your show been on? My History Can Beat Up Your Politics has been a podcast since 2006. You know, there were podcasts around before me, |
| 1:46.4 | but not too many. We are talking with a pioneer. This episode is the first war on Christmas. |
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