Talk:Battle of Trenton

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Should there be information about the historic reenactments that the city of Trenton has recreating this battle. I have lots of info about this.--68.45.76.174 16:18, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Vandalism 2 Background Information 3 Johann Rahl 4 Boats 5 Who won the battle of trenton 6 Semi-protect

[edit] Vandalism

Does anyone have an idea why this page is suddenly being vandalized so often? It seems like most of the vandals are editors on shared IP addresses in schools. Maybe it's because it's October and people are back in school... Valtam 21:47, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

As an important battle of the Revolutionary War, it is a popular topic discussed in history classes. Because WP is such a popular site, this is one of the first resources found in search engines. Since kids will be kids ... Olessi 22:04, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Well at least it's being taught and they're coming to WP because of it, though we'd hope they'd learn from and improve the article rather than grafitti it. Hopefully some are doing the former. I know in school, getting assigned to learn about x meant that x was probably annoying and in the end I remember very little, except I liked a girl in a university in Trenton. :)

With Wikipedia, I'm starting to become more interested in history and politics, especially around the Revoutionary War, so maybe I'll learn something and enjoy learning it. Gotyear 12:16, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

I feel the same way, Gotyear - in the past, I've read a lot about the Civil War, but am learning more about the Revolutionary War now, through books and Wikipedia. (You spent time in Trenton? That must have been interesting - it's not exactly a touristy town at the moment... About six months ago, on my way to Philadelphia, I visited the Trenton battle memorial and walked past the little church where Rall died.)

Another good thing about Wikipedia is that you can learn a whole lot about certain conflicts by reading some pages' Talk Page: my favorite is the Falkland Islands. Even the naming of that page causes ongoing edit wars! Valtam 21:19, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Background Information

Shouldn't the background information that Gen. Washington was able to convince many of his men to stay beyond their enlistment terms (which were about to expire) which led to the victory at Trenton be added to this section?

Good suggestion. You are welcome to add the information - it is relevant to the article. (When were the enlistments running out? December 31, I think?) Valtam 19:52, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Johann Rahl

I reverted an editor who made that infobox change. It was likely vandalism since he changed nothing else and Johann Rall is a valid link, whereas the other is not. Googling "Johann Rall" trenton gives me 938 results, with reliable sources such as [1] and [2].

Googling "Johann Rahl" trenton gives me 12 unique results. However, this National Parks Service PDF "Crossroads of the American Revolution in New Jersey" says Rahl x4 and Rall x0. An Edited Guide entry of H2G2 (it's been run through their peer review and cannot be easily modified after that). And a few personal pages.

Are these typos or is Rahl an accepted (German?) alternate spelling? Gotyear 12:33, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm. I speak German, and can tell you that Rall and Rahl are two distinct names. I did a little research on your question and found:

German Wikipedia uses the spelling Rall for Johann Rall [3].

German Wikipedia lists 4 people with the last name Rall and 2 people with the last name Rahl. Therefore, these two last names are in usage, and are distinct.

Neither Rall nor Rahl mean anything in German, other than being names. (A Ralle is a German name of a type of bird, though.)

My conclusions: Rall is correct; Rahl is incorrect; they are not interchangable; the article should use Rall only, and not Rahl. Good question, Gotyear! Valtam 15:36, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the research and the explanation, Valtam!

It somewhat disturbs me that a publication of National Parks Service gets it wrong, but I guess that's the phrase "Good enough for government work" in action. ;) And other government works got it correct. Gotyear 16:16, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, going forward, we can hope that future government publications will look to Wikipedia for guidance - and we can hope that people continue to undo the damage from all the vandals who seem to love this page so much! Valtam 19:23, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Boats

The famous painting of Gen. Washington could never have happened in real life, since standing up would have sent the whole boat toppling over. (unsigned - added by User:68.7.140.96, 02:33, 2006 November 6)

That is utterly untrue - The boats had flat bottoms and were leaky - if you sat down in them, you would have become wet, in the middle of winter. Most of the people on the boats stood. Valtam 15:15, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who won the battle of trenton

to be honest I think the people who started this war won it. The reason why i think that is because they knew exactly what they where doing.

Can you be more specific? Valtam 22:18, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Semi-protect

Is there any consensus on Semi-Protecting the page? The vandalism seems to come exclusively from anonymous IP addresses (which seem to be from computers in schools). Semi-Protect would require an account to edit, right? Valtam 14:53, 8 November 2006 (UTC)