Americans discouraged
71. The People Did Not Know Washington. Those were, indeed, dark days for the Americans. Hundreds of Washington's soldiers had gone home discouraged, and many other faint-hearted Americans thought the cause lost, and were again promising obedience to George III. But the people did not yet know Washington.
On Christmas night, with two thousand five hundred picked men, Washington took to his boats, and crossed the Delaware in spite of the floating ice. Nine miles away, in Trenton, lay the Hessians, those soldiers from Hesse-Cassel, in Europe, whom George III had hired to fight his American subjects, because Englishmen refused to fight Americans.
SCENE OF WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGNS IN THE NORTH
On went the little army in spite of the biting cold and the blinding snow. During this fearful night two men froze to death and many others were numb with cold.
WASHINGTON ON THE MARCH TO TRENTON