And slipped through our fingers, unknowing, the foe.
Mawhood’s brigade, never feeling its danger,
Had started for Trenton at dawn of the day,
Crossed Stony Creek, after we had gone over,
When Mercer’s weak force they beheld on its way;
Turning contemptuously back to attack it,
They drove it with ease, in disorder ahead—
Firelocks alone were no match for their cannon—
A fight, and then flight, and brave Mercer lay dead.
Murdered, some said, while imploring for quarter—