Battle of Trenton

“ This defeat was a bitter blow. Never since before the battle of Trenton had the patriot cause seemed so much in danger. But the dark days passed, and once more the Americans began to win instead of lose battles. South Carolina was re-conquered, and Cornwallis, who was commander-in-chief of the British army in the south, retired into Virginia, and occupied Yorktown.
Just at this time Washington learned that a French fleet was sailing for Chesapeake Bay, and he determined to make a grand French-American attack on the British in the south. ”

“ Washington determined to re-occupy Trenton and make it the basis of offensive operations. He recrossed the river on the 30th of December, and soon learned of the approach of Cornwallis with a large force. The number of each army was the same; but the British were all well-trained regulars, while the greater part of the Americans was made up of raw militia-men. Washington moved to some high ground on the north side of the Assunpink, and guarded the bridge spanning the stream. A strong party, under General Greene, had so harassed the enemy that he did not reach Trenton until evening. ”

“ That he was at Trenton the night before Christmas and aided in the defeat and capture of that hated Hessian contingent that had been marauding up and down New Jersey is also an established fact. It is equally true that with the three Rhode Island regiments, forming a material part of Washington’s army, he braved the elements in that historic night march from Trenton to Princeton, fought the next morning in the battle of Princeton, and successfully assisted in driving Cornwallis out of New Jersey. It was the crisis of the Revolution. ”

“ The second began where the first ended, and related the events that took place during the siege of Boston, including the fight on Breed’s Hill and ended with the evacuation of the city by the British.
[4] The present, or third, takes up the thread of the great struggle where the second laid it down; it deals with the preparation for defending New York City, describes the battle of Long Island, the crossing of the Delaware and the capture of the Hessians at Trenton. ”

“ He had put every thing “at the hazard of a die.” Yet the flight of a single deserter, the accidental discharge of a musket, or the occurrence of any one of a dozen possible contingencies might destroy success entirely. As the gray dawn approached, and the vicinity of Trenton became apparent, his heart, usually so calm, beat with terrible suspense. He rode forward to the head of his troops. Just at this instant the outpost of the enemy loomed up in front; a challenge was heard—a hostile answer was given, and a musket flashed across the breaking day. ”

“ The energetic operation of this sanguine temper was never more remarkably exhibited than in the change instantaneously wrought in the minds of men by the capture of Trenton at so unexpected a moment. From the state of mind bordering on despair, courage was invigorated, every countenance brightened, and the nervous arm was outstretched, as if by one general impulse, all were determined to drive the hostile invaders, that had plundered their villages, and dipped the remorseless sword in the bosom of the innocent victims of their fury, from off the American shores. ”

“ Three British battalions lay at Princeton the night before. [7] Two of them were on the march to Trenton when Washington's troops were discovered approaching on a back road. Astonished at seeing troops coming up from that direction, the leading battalion instantly turned back to meet them. At the same time Washington detached Mercer to seize the main road, while he himself pushed on with the rest of the troops. ”

“ Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton were successively evacuated by the Americans and occupied by the enemy. Often the music of the pursued and the pursuers would be heard by each other, yet no action occurred. Arrived at Trenton on the 8th of December, Washington and his army crossed the Delaware in boats. The last one had reached the Pennsylvania shore just as one division of Cornwallis's army, with all the pomp of victors, marched into Trenton. This was about twelve o'clock at night. The British commander, with the main body of the troops, halted within six miles of Trenton. ”

“ To hold what had been gained a chain of posts was now stretched across the Jerseys from Perth Amboy to the Delaware, with Trenton, Bordentown, and Burlington as the outposts and New Brunswick as the dépôt, the first being well placed72 either for making an advance, or for checking any attempts by the Americans to recross the river. Washington believed that the British would be in Philadelphia just as soon as the ice was strong enough to bear artillery. If the expected dissolution of his army had happened, no doubt the enemy's advanced troops would have taken possession of the city at once. ”

“ I was very sorry for this great hurry, because I should have liked to have examined Trenton; it is a very handsome place, and was to me particularly interesting, on account of General Washington’s crossing the Delaware above Trenton, in the winter of 1776-77, and attacking a troop of Hessians, of whom he took one thousand four hundred prisoners. The Hessian Colonel Rall fell in this engagement. This was one of the best fought battles of the American war. ”

“ My orders were, to make the attack one hour before day, and to effect a surprise, if possible. The impropriety, therefore, of sending the boats from Bristol to Dunk's Ferry, and marching the troops from the same place in open day, is evident, as such a movement must have been observed, and communicated to the enemy. And now, tell me the instance, where even continental troops have arrived at the point of attack at the given time? It was General Washington's intention to have made his attack on Trenton before day ”

“ To the British and the Hessians, the American army was a dispirited and broken crew of ragamuffins. They knew how to run and dodge, that was all. At Trenton, all across the Jerseys and at New York, careless confidence was supreme. Howe was quartered at Manhattan for the winter; his troops were negligently stretched from Brunswick to the Delaware. Three regiments of Hessians under Colonel Rahl occupied Trenton and the towns near by; and the general conduct of these filled the two spies with satisfaction. ”

“ The victory of the Americans at Trenton was complete. They lost in the engagement only two privates killed, and two others who were frozen to death. The enemy lost six officers and between twenty and thirty men killed, and twenty-three officers and eight hundred and eighty-six non-commissioned officers and privates made prisoners. In addition to these, many others were found concealed in houses and secured, making the whole number of prisoners about one thousand. The trophies were six brass field-pieces, a thousand stand of arms, twelve drums, and four colors. ”

“ Our army forms a chain of about ninety miles in length from Fort Lee, where our baggage crossed, to Trenton on the Delaware, which river, I believe, we shall not cross till next campaign, as77 General Howe is returning to New York. I understand we are to winter at a small village near the Raritan River, and are to form a sort of advanced picket. There is mountainous ground very near this post where the rebels are still in arms, and are expected to be troublesome during the winter. ”

“ At the officers' messes or in the barracks all the talk was of going home. Besides, if Howe had really wanted to take Philadelphia there was nothing to prevent his doing so. There were no defences. If saved at all, the city must be defended in the field, not in the streets.
Bordentown being rather the most exposed, Count Donop was left there with some 2,000 Hessians, and Colonel Rall at Trenton with 1,200 to 1,300 more. Both were veterans. As these Hessians were about equally hated and feared, it was well reasoned that they would be all the more watchful against a surprise. ”

“ No sooner was it known that he was on his way to New York than Washington, at the head of his dissolving army, resolved to take the offensive and strike an outlying post. In a letter of December 14, the day after Howe began to move, we catch the first glimpse of Trenton. It was a bold spirit which, in the dead of winter, with a broken army, no prospect of reinforcements, and in the midst of a terror-stricken people, could thus resolve with some four thousand men to attack an army thoroughly appointed, and numbering in all its divisions twenty-five thousand soldiers. ”

“ In New York great pains were taken to prevent the truth about the victories at Trenton and Princeton from getting abroad. False accounts of them were printed in the newspapers, over which a strict military censorship was established; but in spite of every precaution enough leaked out through secret channels to put new life and hope in the hearts and minds of the long-suffering prisoners of war.
It was one of the misfortunes of this most extraordinary campaign that every blow Washington had struck left his army exhausted. After each112 success it was necessary to recuperate. ”

“ No night attack of the kind was ever delivered with greater boldness, skill, and success. When the Revolutionary War broke out the American armies were composed merely of armed yeomen, stalwart men, of good courage, and fairly proficient in the use of their weapons, but entirely without the training which alone could enable them to withstand the attack of the British regulars in the open, or to deliver an attack themselves. Washington's victory at Trenton was the first encounter which showed that the Americans were to be feared when they took the offensive. ”

“ Here, through the misty dawn, he beheld some Hessians running down the street toward him, with the cry that Washington, with his entire army, was upon them. At this Rahl shouted to arms. The drums beat. In an instant all Trenton was in a tumult. The privates rushed from their quarters, some with, some without arms; the officers were heard calling to the men, or seen endeavoring to form the ranks; and the inhabitants, roused from sleep, hurried to their windows, and looking out for an instant on the uproar, hastened to conceal themselves in the recesses of their dwellings. ”

“ Washington’s plan was, by a sudden attack, to overwhelm the British centre at Trenton, and thus force the army to retreat upon New York. The Delaware was to be crossed in three divisions. The right wing, of 2,000 men, under Gates, was to attack Count Donop at Burlington; Ewing, with the centre, was to cross directly opposite Trenton; while Washington himself, with the left wing, was to cross nine miles above, and march down upon Trenton from the north. On Christmas Day all was ready, but the beginnings of the enterprise were not auspicious. ”

“ It was not until four o'clock in the morning that the troops were ready to march upon Trenton, nine miles away. As they advanced, a fearful storm of snow and sleet beat upon the already weary men. But they pushed forward, and surprised the Hessians at Trenton soon after sunrise, easily capturing them after a short struggle.
Washington had brought hope to every patriot heart. The British were amazed at the daring feat, and Cornwallis decided to make a longer stay in [Pg 203] America. ”

“ From this position they advanced toward Trenton in great force, on the morning of the 2d of January; and, after some slight skirmishing with troops detached to harass and delay their march, the van of their army reached Trenton about four in the afternoon. On their approach, general Washington retired across the Assumpinck, a rivulet that runs through the town, and by some field-pieces, posted on its opposite banks, compelled them, after attempting to cross in several places, to fall back out of the reach of his guns. ”

“ For it will with difficulty be believed that two armies, on which such important consequences depended, should be crouded into so small a space as Trenton; and that the one, on the eve of an engagement, when every ear is supposed to be open, and every watchfulness employed, should move completely from the ground, with all its stores, baggage and artillery, unknown and even unsuspected by the other. And so entirely were the British deceived, that when they heard the report of the cannon and small arms at Princeton, they supposed it to be thunder, though in the depth of winter. ”

“ In short, the enemy's whole line had been swept away like dead leaves before an autumnal gale, under that one telling blow at Trenton.
Even Washington himself seems not to have realized the full extent of his success until these astonishing reports came in in quick succession. As the elated Americans marched on they saw the inhabitants everywhere pulling down the red rags which had been nailed to their doors, as badges of96 loyalty. "Jersey will be the most whiggish colony on the continent," writes an officer of this corps of Cadwalader's. "The very Quakers declare for taking up arms." ”

“ Of all the mistakes made by England in that war—and they were many—the hiring of mercenaries to fight the Americans was perhaps the greatest. It irritated many loyal men into rebellion, and gave a union and cohesion to the disloyal, such as they never otherwise would have gained. Nor were the mercenaries very valuable as soldiers; they were discontented and quarrelsome; and to their want of vigilance was the irreparable disaster of Trenton wholly due. Even to this day, the Americans talk most bitterly of their being hired by the English to shoot down their own flesh and blood ”