George Washington Crosses the Delaware and The Battle of Trenton

General George Washington famously crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776. There is a famous painting depicting the scene.  But what led up to that moment and where was he going anyway?

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1776 had been a long year of fighting for the continental army. Morale was certainly at a low point after a string of defeats against the most powerful army in the world. General Washington knew that he needed something big in order to boost morale and increase recruitment. He devised a daring plan to sneak attack Hessian soldiers at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. 

Ok, so who were the Hessians? I thought the Americans were fighting the British?

Hessians were German soldiers that had been hired by the British to supplement their own army.  A lot of times they are referred to as mercenaries but that's a little misleading because they were not individual soldiers for hire. They were complete military units under their own command that were basically rented to the British by German leaders. There were two things that led to this arrangement being possible. 

1. Great Britain was still dealing with the massive debt following the French and Indian War. That debt led them to increase taxes on the American colonies which in part led to the American Revolution in the first place. The debt also forced Great Britain to cut costs and decrease the size of their army. When war became imminent in the American colonies, Great Britain knew that they would have to supplement their own army with hired guns.
2. Germany in 1776 is not the country we know today.  Germany was made up of several smaller feudal states that were always constantly fighting each other and other European states.  This made the German soldiers a fearsome experienced fighting force. This constant warring was also very expensive to the German states. Those expenses made the German leaders willing to rent their armies to Great Britain.   

The hessian soldiers were well respected and feared because of their discipline and experience.  

In those days, not much fighting happened in a war during the winter. The conditions didn’t typically allow for it.  Most armies would find a good place to hunker down and establish a winter headquarters.  British General William Howe, the Commander-In-Chief of British land forces, chose Trenton, New Jersey for around 1,400 Hessian soldiers to spend the winter.

Again, General George Washington knew that his army needed a spark in order to revive the patriot cause.  His plan called for three divisions totaling 5,400 men to cross the Delaware River under the cover of darkness, assemble on the other side, march into Trenton, and attack the unsuspecting Hessians at day break. 

Seems like a great plan right? 

According to Winston Churchill "Those who plan do better than those who do not plan, even should they rarely stick to their plan."

With that being said, nothing went to plan that night for Washington’s army. The plan of attack relied heavily on timing. The time table was destroyed from the get go.  The three divisions were supposed to meet at their designated crossing points no later than sunset and complete all the crossings by midnight. However, many of the regiments didn’t arrive until well after dark.  To make things worse, they were hit by a severe winter storm that brought wind, rain, snow, hail, and sleet. This significantly slowed the effort to cross the river. Washington’s main force was also delayed by strong river currents and ice. By the time Washington himself crossed the river, they were already more than three hours behind schedule.  Unfortunately the other two divisions did not even make it across. The conditions were too strong to overcome.  

So by this time, Washington is way behind schedule and over half of his army didn’t even make it to the party.  He strongly considered canceling the operation because the element of surprise was seemingly slipping away. Luckily he decided to push forward. General Washington would recall later  “As I was certain there was no making a retreat without being discovered and harassed on repassing the River, I determined to push on at all Events.” His force of 2,400 men reached Trenton at around 8am, much later than planned. 

Now, Back to the Hessians!

 You would think that by 8am the majority of the army would be up and at ‘em, but remember this is the day after Christmas.  It is also possible that the Hessian soldiers stayed up a little too late the night before partying.  

Several providential occurrences took place that made the American operation a success. The first was that the Hessians ignored warnings of an impending attack.  An unidentified British spy in Washington’s camp sent warning to British Major General James Grant that Washington planned to attack soon. Grant didn’t believe that Washington would attack, however he did send the warning onto Hessian Colonel Carl von Donop who then relayed the message to Hessian Colonel Johann Rall who was the commander of Trenton.  One issue was that Von Donop and Rall despised each other. Another issue was that Rall, along with many of the Hessian commanders, was arrogant. His arrogance is shown in his response  “Let them come… Why defenses? We will go at them with the bayonet.”  

Rall had also received warning of the attack from several deserters of the American army.  Rall’s forces were absolutely tired by Christmas day. The Hessians at Trenton, along with the other Hessian and British forces in the area, were being harassed daily by local militia. They were on constant high alert and were even commanded to sleep in their uniforms so that they would be ready at a moment's notice.  Even with this constant harassment, Rall was confident that if Washington truly sent a full scale attack, his forces would be able to easily defeat the Americans as they had done before.  

With the Hessians on high alert, how was Washington able to surprise them? 

No one would have believed that Washington would attempt such a daring attack in the storm that hit New Jersey that Christmas night in 1776.  The idea of Washington somehow crossing the Delaware River with an army, while battling strong currents and a combination of strong wind, rain, sleet, hail, and snow was ridiculous.  Once he crossed the river he would then have to march 10 miles in the snow. After days of being harassed and on constant high alert, the Hessians finally felt relief from the storm. They thought they could finally get some rest and let their guard down. They were wrong.

The Battle Begins

At 8 am General George Washington and the continental army began their attack on the Hessians stationed at Trenton. Washington’s army formed into three columns and marched through the snow. Banging German drums sounded the alarm. John Stark led his men and entered the city from the West while Washington and Nathanael Greene attacked from the north.  The Americans quickly swarmed and overwhelmed the Hessians. By 9:30 Trenton was under Washington’s control.  Almost 1000 Hessians were captured by the continental army and 22 were killed including Colonel Johann Rall. Washington came to Rall’s side as he lay dying. Rall asked him to please treat his men with humanity and Washington ofcourse agreed. Because all of Washington’s troops were unable to make it across the river, they were not able to completely prevent the Hessians from escaping. Around 400 were able to escape.  The Americans were blessed to only have 2 soldiers who died and 5 wounded.  Among the wounded was future president of the United States, Lt. James Monroe. 

After the Battle

General Washington knew that he would be unable to hold Trenton at this time since most of his army and much needed artillery was unable to cross the river. The victory was significant even though they were unable to advance their territory.  The continentals seized valuable supplies including muskets, bayonets, swords, and cannons. 

After gathering the supplies, and meeting with his officers, Washington coordinated the effort to get his army back across the river before British reinforcements arrived.  However, this would not be the last time that Washington would cross the river that winter. 

The battle of Trenton was also extremely significant in that it proved to the Americans and the British that Washington’s rag tag untrained army was becoming a formidable fighting force. Before this victory, Washington was at risk of losing his army. The hope of the patriots' cause was bleak. The American victory at Trenton restored hope and confidence in Washington and the young nation.