TRENTON, BATTLE OF

By December 1776 the Continental Army, reeling from a series of defeats that resulted in the loss of New York and New Jersey, seemed to be in the process of dissolution. As Congress retreated from Philadelphia to the relative safety of Baltimore and the army faced the expiration of the enlistments of all but fourteen hundred men, the future appeared bleak indeed. Defeat had severely impacted Patriot morale and even George Washington privately admitted that the end might be near.

Washington quickly recovered from such pessimism and displayed the determination and resourcefulness that were such prominent marks of his character. He knew that the British garrisons at Trenton and Princeton were isolated and exposed to attack. The garrison of fourteen hundred Hessians at Trenton, under the command of Colonel Johann Rall, was of particular interest. Homesick and exhausted from weeks of dealing with hostile elements in "pacified" New Jersey, the Hessians made an inviting target.

The crossing of the Delaware River, on Christmas evening 1776, has rightfully assumed a prominent position in American iconography. If the crossing did not match the image of indomitable courage in the famous, and largely inaccurate, Emmanuel Leutze painting of 1851, it was indeed heroic. The unsung heroes were Colonel John Glover and his Marblehead mariners, who managed the crossing on a raw and bitter night in which rain, sleet, snow, wind, and floating ice made the crossing difficult and dangerous. Though Washington deplored the delays caused by the weather, the bitter night actually assisted his designs, as weather conditions, rather than the alcohol of legend, were largely responsible for the achievement of surprise. The fighting lasted only an hour and a half and, at the cost of less than ten men killed and wounded; the Americans killed or captured over nine hundred Hessians, including Colonel Rall, who was killed.

Trenton was Washington's most striking victory. Though other campaigns possessed more strategic significance, the victory at Trenton, and the less conclusive fighting at Princeton a week later, rejuvenated Patriot morale and carried the cause through the difficult winter of 1776–1777.

See alsoHessians; Revolution: Military History .

bibliography

Fischer, David Hackett. Washington's Crossing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Ketchum, Richard M. The Winter Soldiers. New York: Doubleday, 1973.

Daniel McDonough