Published October 24. 2025 10:44AM<\/p>\n
The Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in Allentown, headquarters of the Lehigh County Historical Society, is actively planning for next year\u2019s big birthday celebration, when the United States will turn 250 years old on July 4.<\/p>\n
Lehigh County will be participating in the festivities through a variety of programs that focus on our state and local heritage and the county\u2019s historical significance during the Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n
As many folks recall from history lessons, Pennsylvania played a decisive role in the nation\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n
The museum has scheduled speakers for Saturday lectures throughout this fall, and several of them will be focused on Pennsylvania\u2019s pivotal role in the nation\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
In keeping with that theme, David Price, an award-winning author specializing in the American Revolution, and an historic interpreter at Washington Crossing Historic Park and Princeton Battlefield State Park, recently presented a lecture and book signing at the Heritage Museum.<\/p>\n
Approximately 80 museum visitors attended Price\u2019s program and learned the key factors that led to victory in George Washington\u2019s legendary winter campaign of 1776 to 1777 during the American Revolution.<\/p>\n
In his book, \u201cWinning the Ten Crucial Days,\u201d as well as in his presentation, Price explained how General George Washington used leadership, geography, weather, artillery and contingency to his advantage in turning the tide against the British Empire.<\/p>\n
Early in the war for American freedom, victory looked like a lost cause.<\/p>\n
Price said he prefers an analytical rather than a chronological approach to Washington\u2019s famous crossing of the Delaware River, an event Price refers to as \u201cthe 10 most remarkable days in American history.\u201d<\/p>\n
The quality of Washington\u2019s leadership was most important, according to Price, who said the general had a \u201cbold, enterprising vision\u201d during the three battles \u2013 two in Trenton and one in Princeton \u2013 fought during the brutal 10-day campaign.<\/p>\n
Geography played a role in Washington\u2019s victory, Price asserted, because the dimensions of the territory were too large for the British and German troops\u2019 capacity.<\/p>\n
The weather rewarded the Americans because the river turned to solid ice after Washington\u2019s men crossed it, and a blizzard obscured the march of Washington\u2019s troops.<\/p>\n
Poor visibility and wet muskets from the nor\u2019easter storm created a hardship for the opposing soldiers.<\/p>\n
Artillery led to American success, Price noted, because the skilled use of cannon fire and the number of field guns powered Washington\u2019s troops to victory.<\/p>\n
Contingency, described by Price as good luck or chance, also aided Washington.<\/p>\n
Not only did the nasty weather help the American cause, but so did poor decisions made by opposing officers, which greatly facilitated Washington\u2019s victory, according to Price.<\/p>\n
The Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum, located at 432 W. Walnut St., Allentown, is an institution of lifelong learning.<\/p>\n
Its mission is to educate its visitors about American history, which it accomplishes with lively presentations and interesting visual displays.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTO BY BONNIE LEE STRUNKAuthor and historian David Price speaks with audience members and signs copies of his book at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published October 24. 2025 10:44AM The Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in Allentown, headquarters of the Lehigh County Historical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-13930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}