Washington determined to attack the Hessians in Trenton. He divided his army into three divisions, sending one to Bristol, opposite Burlington, another remained opposite Trenton, while he himself marched several miles up stream to a point since known as Washington's Crossing.
The movements down the river were to be directed against the enemy's detachments at Bordentown, Burlington, and Mount Holly, but the stream was so choked with masses of floating ice that neither division was able to force its way over. Washington, with 2,500 of the best officers and men in the army, crossed the stream in the face of a driving storm of snow and sleet, and, reaching the village of Birmingham, several miles inland, divided his force. Sullivan took the road which runs close to and parallel with the river, while Washington, with Greene, followed the Scotch road. The latter joins the upper part of the town, while the river road enters the lower end. The plan was for the two divisions to strike Trenton at the same time and attack the Hessians in front and rear. It was hardly light on the morning succeeding Christmas, 1776, when Washington drove in the sentinels and advanced rapidly in the direction of Sullivan, the report of whose guns showed that he had arrived on time and was vigorously pressing matters.
WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE.
The rattle of musketry and the boom of cannon roused the startled Hessians, who made the best defense possible. Colonel Rall leaped from his bed, and, hastily donning his clothes, strove to collect and form his men. While doing so he was mortally wounded. The moment quickly came when his situation was hopeless. Supported on either side by a sergeant, Rall walked painfully forward to where Washington was seated on his horse, and, handing his sword to him, asked that mercy should be shown his men. Washington assured him his request was unnecessary. Rall was carried to a building, where, as he lay on the bed, he was visited by Washington, who expressed his sympathy for his sufferings, which soon were terminated by death.
The battle of Trenton, as it is known in history, was remarkable in more than one respect. The Americans captured 950 prisoners, six guns, a large number of small arms, killed twenty and wounded nearly a hundred of the enemy. Of the Americans, four were wounded and two killed, and it is probable that these deaths were due to the extreme cold rather than the aim of the Hessians, whose work is very suggestive of that of the Spaniards in the late war.
The moral effect of the victory, however, was almost beyond estimate. The threatening clouds that had so long darkened the land were scattered, and the glorious sun of hope burst through and cheered all. The triumph may be summed up in the expression that it marked the "turning of the tide." Reverses were yet waiting for the Americans, but the war for independence was steadily to advance to its triumphant conclusion.
THE EFFECT OF THE VICTORY.
The situation of Washington at Trenton, however, was critical. Cornwallis with his powerful force was at Princeton, ten miles distant, and was sure to advance against him as soon as he learned of the reverse at Trenton. Washington, therefore, recrossed the Delaware on the same day of the victory, with his prisoners and captured war material. One result was that the British, as soon as they learned what had taken place, abandoned South Jersey.