Soldiers Used Ice Creepers During The American Revolutionary War

Seasons Greetings everyone. In the very early morning hours of this day, I filmed a video as part of the Historic Soldiers Christmas Series that I began on December 8 of this year. In this second episode in the series, I am focusing on the American Revolutionary War. As all of you know, George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River Christmas evening into the morning of the 26th in complete darkness ... much like the darkness that I was surrounded by when I filmed the video.

Many of us associate Christmas Time with snow and ice. How did Soldiers navigate through snow and ice during the Revolutionary Period? They used ice creepers. I have an example of an ice creeper to show you. The individual whom I purchased the hand-forged iron ice creeper from discovered a similar ice creeper at a Revolutionary War Campsite that was in use from 1779 to 1783.

Although this blog entry pertains to the American Revolutionary War, it is likely that these ice creepers were in use during the Seven Years War and perhaps even King George's War. The following video and photographs will reveal this particular ice creeper from various angles.


The url for the above video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onAZgUkEk5Y

Here is a screenshot from one of the test videos:


Here I am still outside in 30-degree weather for this photo with the ice creeper:


Some close-up views ...

 

You will note the oval shapes. Straps were used with these ice creepers and the straps were laced inside of these holes.




 

You can also see the points on the bottom. These were necessary for treading on the ice.





The ice creepers were placed just beyond the heel and one ice creeper was used per shoe so someone walking through the snow or someone walking on the ice would use two ice creepers.

Christmas was not widely celebrated in the Colonies. The celebration of Christmas was largely frowned upon and stores were kept open on December 25. This is why I thought to present an object that was in use during the winter seasons throughout the Revolutionary War as opposed to a specific Christmas-related item.

I thank all of you for reading and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.