“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”
— Matthew 5:13 (ESV)
Henry Rutgers was there. As George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Hudson River at Peekskill, having been chased out of New York City by victorious British armies, Rutgers, a captain, was surely present for the retreat. The American Revolution appeared to be on the verge of collapse, with New York City and its vast resources in the hands of British forces and the Continental Army disintegrating as it fled across the Hudson and eventually into New Jersey.