Trenton

On the morning of December 26, 1776, a swift but decisive clash unfolded at Trenton, New Jersey, marking a turning point in the Revolutionary War. The night before, General George Washington had brought his troops across the Delaware River just north of town, and he now moved the bulk of the Continental Army toward the Hessian garrison stationed there. The fighting was over quickly, and nearly two out of every three Hessian soldiers ended up captured, while American casualties remained slight. This outcome gave a much needed lift to an army whose spirits had been flagging, and it convinced many soldiers to stay on rather than leave the ranks.

Prior to this engagement, the Continental Army had endured a string of setbacks in New York, forcing a long retreat across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. With confidence among the troops running low, Washington, serving as Commander-in-Chief, sought a way to close out the year with a much needed success. His solution was a bold nighttime crossing of the Delaware on December 25 and 26, aimed at encircling the Hessian forces holding Trenton.

Harsh winter conditions and a river choked with ice made the crossing treacherous. Two of the planned detachments never made it across, cutting Washington's assault force down to just 2,400 men, some 3,000 short of what he had originally intended. From there, the troops pressed on for nine miles, roughly fourteen and a half kilometers, toward Trenton itself. The Hessians, confident that no threat loomed nearby, had grown lax in their defenses, posting no distant lookouts or patrols. This left them exposed when Washington's men arrived, and although they fought back briefly and hard, most ultimately laid down their arms. Only a little more than a third managed to flee across Assunpink Creek to safety.

Though the numbers involved were modest, the triumph at Trenton lifted the spirits of supporters and sympathizers of the young nation. Just a week earlier, doubts about the revolution's survival had run high, with the army appearing close to falling apart entirely. This stunning reversal renewed soldiers' faith that the cause was still worth fighting for, persuading many to extend their service. The victory also drew fresh volunteers eager to join the effort.

Background

By the first weeks of December 1776, spirits among American forces had sunk to a dismal point. British troops and their Hessian allies had already driven the Americans out of New York, forcing the Continental Army into a grim withdrawal across New Jersey. Of those who had fought at Long Island, only one in ten remained with the ranks, as desertion thinned the army with soldiers convinced the fight for independence was already lost. Even Washington, at the head of the Continental Army as its Commander-in-Chief, could not hide his own uncertainty, confiding to a cousin back in Virginia that he believed "the game is pretty near up."

Trenton itself was little more than a modest New Jersey town at that point, held by four Hessian regiments, roughly 1,400 troops in all, under the command of Colonel Johann Rall. Facing them, Washington commanded a force of 2,400 men. Major Generals Nathanael Greene and John Sullivan led the infantry divisions, while Brigadier General Henry Knox oversaw the artillery.

Prelude

Washington placed an operative, John Honeyman, inside Trenton, where the man posed convincingly as a Tory sympathizer. Honeyman's background made the disguise easy to maintain, since he had fought alongside Major General James Wolfe at Quebec during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13, 1759. Working as both a butcher and bartender, he conducted business with British and Hessian forces alike, which gave him access to useful intelligence and let him persuade the Hessians that Continental morale had sunk too low for any assault on Trenton to be likely. Just before Christmas, he allowed himself to be taken prisoner by Continental forces, who had been instructed to deliver him unharmed to Washington. Following an interrogation, he was locked in a hut awaiting a morning trial as a Tory, but a fire started nearby and gave him the chance to slip away. The night before fighting began, Hessian commander Rall marked Christmas with his soldiers at the property of Abraham Hunt, a prosperous Trenton merchant and farmer. Hunt maintained the appearance of a hospitable Loyalist, lulling Rall into complacency even as Washington's forces readied themselves for a surprise strike.

Washington's strategy called for three separate columns converging on the town. Cadwalader would stage a distracting assault on the British post at Bordentown, New Jersey, cutting off any reinforcement from the south. Ewing was tasked with ferrying 700 militiamen across at Trenton Ferry to capture the Assunpink Creek bridge and seal off enemy escape routes. The primary force, numbering 2,400, would cross the river nine miles north of Trenton before dividing into two wings under Greene and Sullivan for a strike timed before sunrise. Sullivan's men would come at the town from the south while Greene approached from the north. Should things go well, further strikes on Princeton and New Brunswick might follow.

In the days leading up to the engagement, American scouting parties had begun harassing British cavalry, seizing messengers and striking Hessian sentries. Wanting to underscore the peril facing his troops, the Hessian commander dispatched 100 infantrymen along with an artillery unit to carry a message to the British officer stationed at Princeton. Washington, meanwhile, directed Ewing to gather intelligence about Hessian positions and equipment using his Pennsylvania militia. Rather than simply scouting, Ewing carried out three successful crossings of the river. His men struck a jäger outpost on December 17 and 18, 1776, and torched multiple houses on the 21st. Convinced that Howe might strike Philadelphia from the north should the Delaware freeze, Washington kept every possible crossing point near his Delaware encampment under constant observation.

Reinforcements reached Washington's camp on December 20, 1776, when roughly 2,000 men under Sullivan's leadership arrived. These troops had previously served under Charles Lee, advancing sluggishly through northern New Jersey until Lee's capture. The same day brought another 800 soldiers from Fort Ticonderoga, commanded by Horatio Gates.

Hessian forces had entered Trenton on December 14, 1776, to settle into winter quarters in what was then a modest town of about 100 dwellings, its layout defined by King Street (today Warren Street) and Queen Street (now Broad Street). Rall's superior, Carl von Donop, had departed for Mount Holly on December 22 to address rebel activity in the region, engaging New Jersey militia there the following day.

Donop harbored contempt for Rall and hesitated to leave him in charge at Trenton. Though known for his brashness and lack of English fluency, Rall brought 36 years of military experience to the post. When he sought additional troops, British General James Grant refused, holding American fighters in low regard as soldiers. Despite Rall's seasoned background, his own men held him in little esteem.

Like most American towns of the era, Trenton had no protective walls. Several Hessian officers pressed Rall to fortify the settlement, and two engineers even sketched plans for a redoubt at the town's upper end along with river defenses. Rall rejected their proposals outright. Pressed once more

Battle

The engagement opened at eight in the morning on December 26, when Hessian troops set up a forward post near a cooper shop along Pennington Road, roughly a mile northwest of Trenton. Washington himself rode ahead of his men as he directed the strike against this position. Lieutenant Andreas Wiederholdt, commanding the outpost, stepped outside just as an American soldier took a shot at him and missed. Wiederholdt cried out "Der Feind!" meaning "The Enemy!" and the rest of his men rushed out to join him. Three American volleys followed, answered by a single Hessian volley in return. Washington then directed Edward Hand's Pennsylvania Riflemen, along with a battalion of German-speaking troops, to seal off the road toward Princeton, and they struck the Hessian post stationed there. Wiederholdt soon grasped that this was no minor raid, and upon spotting fellow Hessians pulling back from their post, he ordered his own men to withdraw as well. Both detachments managed orderly retreats, firing all the while as they gave ground. At the northern edge of Trenton, high ground brought them together with a duty company drawn from the Lossberg Regiment. This combined force kept fighting as it fell back gradually, maintaining steady fire and sheltering behind houses. Once inside Trenton, they picked up covering fire from other Hessian units stationed at the town's edges. A separate guard company positioned closer to the Delaware hurried eastward to lend support, which left the River Road into town unguarded. Washington responded by ordering troops to seal off the Princeton escape route, sending infantry forward in formation while cannon were positioned at the top of King and Queen streets.

General Sullivan, commanding the southern column, marched into Trenton via the unguarded River Road and sealed the sole crossing point over Assunpink Creek, cutting off any Hessian retreat that way. He paused briefly to give Greene's division sufficient time to clear the northern outposts of Hessian defenders. The advance then resumed, targeting the Hermitage, the residence of Philemon Dickinson, where fifty jägers under Lieutenant von Grothausen were posted. Von Grothausen sent a dozen jägers forward against the approaching guard, but after advancing only a short distance he spotted an American column bearing down on the Hermitage. He withdrew toward the Hessian barracks, where the remaining jägers rejoined him. Following a single exchange of fire, the jägers broke and ran, some plunging into the creek to swim across while others fled over the bridge, which had not yet been sealed off. Twenty British dragoons also fled the scene. As the columns under Greene and Sullivan pressed deeper into town, Washington positioned himself on high ground north of King and Queen streets so he could watch the fighting unfold and direct his men. Around this time, American cannon on the far side of the Delaware opened fire, inflicting heavy damage on Hessian positions.

Once the alarm sounded, the three Hessian regiments scrambled to prepare for combat. The Rall and Lossberg regiments assembled on lower King Street, while the Knyphausen regiment gathered at the lower end of Queen Street. Rall's brigade adjutant, Lieutenant Piel, roused his commander, who discovered that American forces had already seized the junction of the town's main streets, the very spot engineers had earlier suggested for a defensive redoubt. Rall responded by positioning his own regiment at the lower end of King Street, instructing the Lossberg regiment to ready itself for a push up Queen Street, and holding the Knyphausen regiment in reserve to support his own advance along King Street.

American guns positioned at the top of both streets soon opened fire. Rall answered by sending his regiment, reinforced by several Lossberg companies, to silence them. The Hessians formed up and pushed forward, but American cannon fire and shots from Mercer's men, who had occupied houses along the street's left side, quickly shattered their ranks, forcing them to scatter. Rall then brought two three-pound guns into play. Within only a few minutes, after firing six rounds apiece, half the Hessian gun crews had fallen to American cannon fire. The survivors fled to cover

Aftermath

After the Hessians laid down their arms, Washington reportedly clasped the hand of a young officer, telling him it was a glorious day for their country. Two days later, on December 28, the general sat down with Lieutenant Andreas Wiederhold, who would later rise to colonel, and heard from him an account of everything Rall had gotten wrong in preparing his defenses.

It soon became clear, though, that Cadwalader and Ewing had never managed to get their men across the river. This left Washington's exhausted force, numbering 2,400, cut off and alone. Lacking those additional troops, he concluded that striking at Princeton and New Brunswick was simply beyond his means.

By midday his men had recrossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania, bringing along their prisoners and the supplies they had seized. A week later, Washington built on this victory through further action at the Assunpink Creek and at Princeton, cementing the ground his side had won.