Reaching the Delaware, the great commander crossed into Pennsylvania. General Howe came up on the east side, and then spread out his army, placing a thousand Hessians at Trenton.
See what Washington did. On Christmas night, 1776, he crossed the Delaware to attack the Hessians. The river was so full of floating ice that the Marblehead soldiers found it very hard to manage the boats. After the crossing, the men marched nine miles through snow and hail, sometimes marking the whitened ground with blood from their shoeless feet.
The Night March to Trenton.
As they drew near Trenton, Washington, who rode in front, asked a man chopping wood by the roadside:—
"Which way is the Hessian picket?"
"I do not know," was the surly answer.
"You may tell," said the officer at Washington's side, "for that is General Washington."
"God bless and prosper you!" cried the man instantly. "The picket is in that house, and the sentry stands near that tree."
The Hessians, who were celebrating Christmas with wild revelry, were surprised, and soon forced to surrender.