The Delaware between Washington and Cornwallis.

Weakness of the American Army.

Gloomy Aspect of Affairs

have done. Let us return to the consideration of the movements of the two armies upon the Delaware.

Washington took the precaution, when he crossed the river, to secure every boat and bateau, so that Cornwallis had no means for continuing an immediate pursuit. The latter had intended to cross a portion of troops early the next morning between M Conkey's and Coryell's Ferry, for the purpose of capturing a number of boats which the Americans had collected on the Pennsylvania side. But these had been taken away, and he had no alternative but to construct boats, or wait for the freezing of the Delaware, so that he might pass his troops over on the ice.

Washington had but twenty-two hundred men under his command when he crossed the river; and two days afterward, in consequence of the expiration of the term of service of a portion of these, he had but seventeen hundred-indeed, not more than one thousand on whom he could rely. The proclamation of General Howe, mentioned on page 308, vol. i., November 30, had been circulated freely in the Jerseys since the day of its publication, and 1776. had produced wide-spread disaffection to the patriot cause.' New Jersey was now in possession of a victorious enemy, and nothing but the feeble barrier of the Delaware lay between Cornwallis and his well-disciplined army, and Philadelphia, the Federal capital, where Congress was in session. The public treasury was exhausted, and the Congress bills of credit were beginning to be looked upon with suspicion and disfavor. Hourly the American army was melting away, and despondency was brooding over every patriot's mind. Clouds and darkness were gathering thick on every side. The campaign had been little else than a series of discomfitures, and the inefficient provisions made by Congress for keeping up an army were manifest to all. Distrust of Congress and of the army began to prevail in all minds, and the sun of American liberty seemed about to set amid the clouds of hopeless despair. Yet Washington was firm and undaunted. His faith in the ultimate triumph of the Americans seems never to have burned with a brighter and steadier light than at this dark moment. Although December frosts were rapidly preparing a bridge over which the enemy might cross the Delaware and march triumphantly to the conquest of Philadelphia and all Pennsylvania, yet he was calm, determined, hopeful, When asked what he would do if Philadelphia should be taken, he replied, "We will retreat beyond the Susquehanna River, and thence, if necessary, to the Alleghany Mountains." While there was a shadow of an army in the field-while Congress maintained its sittings and unity—while a single ray of hope for success remained, no thought of abandoning the righteous cause was harbored in the mind of that great and good man. Already, in the very darkest hour, he

Mrs. Mercy Warren seems to have formed a correct estimate of Lee's character from her own observations on the occasion of his dining with herself and husband at Watertown, while the army was at Cambridge. In a letter to Samuel Adams, she speaks of him as “plain in his person to a degree of ugliness; careless even to unpoliteness; his garb ordinary; his voice rough; his manners rather morose; yet sensible, learned, judicious, and penetrating." Such is the character of Lee which I received from the lips of Mrs. Hamilton, who expressively called him “ a crabbed man."

1 Among the prominent men who had espoused the Republican cause at the commencement and now abandoned it, was Tucker, president of the New Jersey convention which had sanctioned the Declaration of Independence, and Joseph Galloway, a member of the first Continental Congress. For ten days after the issuing of the proclamation, two or three hundred persons a day came in to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown. Their disappointment is mentioned on page 308, vol. i.

2 Although the Americans had generally suffered defeat, yet, from a summary of prisoners taken by each party, during 1776, given in Sparks's Life and Writings of Washington (iv., 547), the Americans were quite successful in making captures. The number of American prisoners taken by the British was 4854; the number of British taken by the Americans, 2860; making a difference in favor of the enemy of 1994. In this statement is not included the 431 Americans captured at the Cedars, but includes the Hessians taken at Trenton. The number of American officers taken was 304-staff 25; privates, 4101 total, 4430. In addition to men, the Americans lost, according to Gordon (ii., 131), 12 mortars and cannons of brass, and 235 of iron; 23,979 empty shells, and 17,122 filled; 2684 double-headed shot; a large quantity of grape-shot; 2800 muskets; 400,000 cartridges; 16 barrels of powder; a quantity of bar iron; 500 intrenching tools; 4 covered wagons; 200 hand-barrows, carts, crows, mantelets, chevaux-de-frize, &c. ; 4000 barrels of flour, at Forts Washington and Lee; baggage, tents, and a large quantity of other stores

Putnam in Command at Philadelphia. Reorganization of the Army. Adjournment of Congress to Baltimore. The Quakers

had conceived the masterly stroke of military skill which presently brought forth such a radiant spark of hope and joy upon the frozen banks of the Delaware.'

1776.

After passing the Delaware, the salvation of Philadelphia became the object of Washington's greatest solicitude. He dispatched General Putnam thither, who, with General MifAin, commenced the erection of defenses at different points around the city. Congress, now alive to the necessity for the most energetic action, put forth all its powers. It resolved to defend Philadelphia to the last extremity. A stirring appeal to the people was adopted and sent forth, and a thorough organization of the army was begun, in accordance December 11, with a plan matured by Washington and a committee of Congress, while the American army was upon Harlem Heights, a few months previous. According to this plan, all the hitherto scattered Continental forces were to be embraced in one grand army, consisting of eighty battalions of seven hundred and fifty men each, to be raised in the several states. Massachusetts and Virginia were each to furnish fifteen battalions; Pennsylvania, twelve; North Carolina, nine; Connecticut, eight; South Carolina, six; New York and New Jersey, four each; New Hampshire and Maryland, three each; Rhode Island, two, and Georgia, one. As an inducement for men to enlist and supply the places of those whose term of service was about expiring, liberal bounties were offered. A loan of five millions of dollars at four per cent. interest was authorized.

1776.

On the 12th of December, Congress invested General Putnam with almost unlimited power in Philadelphia, placing under his control all the munitions of war in the city, and also authorizing him to employ all the private armed vessels in that harbor for the defense of the place. On the same day, under the advice of Putnam and Mifflin, Congress resolved to retire to Baltimore, because Philadelphia, now being made the seat of war, could not furnish that quiet so necessary to wise and dispassionate legislation. A committee of three, consisting of Robert Morris, George Clymer, and George Walton, was appointed to remain in Philadelphia, to act in behalf of Congress, during its absence. That body, pursuant to adjournment, reassembled in Baltimore on the 20th. The Whigs in Philadelphia were in great consternation when Congress left. They feared the Loyalists in their midst quite as much as the approaching enemy. On the departure of Congress, the active Loy. alists assumed a bold tone; and General Putnam, who was sent thither to fortify the city, was in daily expectation of an insurrection in favor of the royal cause. Nearly the whole body of Quakers, though passive, belonged to that party.

In a letter to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, written on the 14th of December, six days after he crossed the Delaware, he said, alluding to the approach of Gates with a considerable force, "They may, in conjunction with my present force and that under General Lee, enable us to attempt a stroke upon the forces of the enemy, who lie a good deal scattered, and to all appearance in a state of security. A lucky blow in this quarter would be fatal to them, and would most certainly rouse the spirits of the people, which are quite sunk by our late misfortunes."—Writings of Washington, iv., 220, 221.

General Greene, to whom Washington communicated his plans, wrote to Governor Cooke, of Rhode Isl. and, on the 21st, "We are now on the west side of the Delaware. Our force is small when collected together; but, small as it is, I hope we shall give the enemy a stroke in a few days. Should fortune favor the attack, it may put a stop to General Howe's progress." Colonel Reed wrote to Washington on the 21st, "Will it not be possible, my dear general, for your troops, or such part of them as can act with advantage, to make a diversion, or something more, at or about Trenton ?"-Ibid., 542, 543.

Each soldier was to have a bounty of twenty dollars, besides an allotment of land, at the end of the war, to all who survived, or to the families of those who should fall in the service. The allotment of a common soldier was to be one hundred acres; of an ensign, one hundred and fifty; of a lieutenant, two hundred; a captain, three hundred; a major, four hundred; a lieutenant colonel, four hundred and fifty; and a colonel, five hundred. This allotment was to be extended only to those who enlisted "during the war."

3 A rumor having gone abroad that Congress was about to disperse, that body resolved that Washington should be desired to contradict "the false and malicious report spread by the enemies of America," in his general orders. The commander-in-chief, in a letter to the President of Congress from Trenton Falls, written on the 12th, wisely declined publishing such refutation, and gave good reasons for his course. "It was a fortunate circumstance," says Sparks (Washington, iv., 210), "that General Washington did not publish this resolve to the army, for, the next day after it was passed, Congress actually adjourned from Philadelphia, to assemble again in Baltimore." The resolution was transmitted to Washington by the sec retary of Congress, but it does not appear among the published proceedings of that body.

Howe's Plans.

Injudicious Disposition of the British Troops.

Augmentation of Washington's Forces

In the mean while, Washington was preparing to strike the enemy. General Howe, the commander-in-chief of the British forces, remained in New York, and the operations in New Jersey were under the control and direction of Lord Cornwallis. It appears from Howe's dispatches' that he did not contemplate pursuing the Americans further than the Delaware, but designed sending a strong force up the Hudson to meet Burgoyne, who was to penetrate the country from Canada. Cornwallis urged the capture of Philadelphia as a paramount measure, and Howe consented. Yet, with all his vigilance and skill, the arrangement of the British army in the Jerseys was not creditable to the sagacity of Cornwallis. It was scattered in detachments along an extended line. A body of Hessians, under Colonel Rall, was stationed at Trenton, and another, under Count Donop, was posted at Bordentown. The English troops were divided into a chain of cantonments, extending from New Brunswick to the Delaware, and down that river to a point below Burlington. Small detachments were also stationed at Black Horse and Mount Holly. Cornwallis looked with such contempt upon the weak and scattered forces of Washington, and was so certain of an easy victory beyond the Delaware, where, rumor informed him, the people were almost unanimous in favor of the king, that he did not regard great vigilance as necessary. He had returned to head-quarters at New York; and so confident were the British generals that the contest would be ended by taking possession of Philadelphia, that Cornwallis had prepared to sail for England on leave of absence." His military stores were chiefly at New Brunswick, and there was his strongest detachment.

December, 1776.

Lee's division, under Sullivan, and the regiments from Ticonderoga, united with Washington on the 21st. The increased pay of officers, the proffered bounties to the soldiers, and the great personal influence of the commander-in-chief, had the effect to retain in the service, for a few weeks at least, more than one half of the old soldiers. The militia of Pennsylvania turned out with considerable alacrity; and on the 24th, between five and six thousand Americans were gathered around the standard of Washington.' The commander-in-chief's head-quarters were at Newtown, a little village on a small branch of the Neshaming, two miles northeast from Bristol.*

There were about fifteen hundred Hesssians and a troop of British light horse at Trenton; these Washington determined to surprise. The posts at Mount Holly, Burlington, Black Horse, and Bordentown were to be attacked, at the same time, by the Pennsylvania militia, under Generals Cadwalader' and Ewing, the former to cross near Bristol, the latter below Trenton Falls; while Washington, leading the main body of the Continental troops in person, assisted by Generals Sullivan and Greene, and Colonel Knox of the ar

1 Parliamentary Register, xi., p. 260, 362.

* Ramsay says that Colonel Rall, being under some apprehension for the safety of Trenton, applied to General Grant for a re-enforcement. That officer, partaking of the confidence of others, said to the messenger, "Tell the colonel he is very safe. I will undertake to keep the peace in New Jersey with a corporal's guard."

3

By the adjutant's return on the 22d of December, the army of Washington amounted to ten thousand one hundred and six men. Of this number, five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine were sick, on command elsewhere, or on furlough, leaving an effective force of four thousand seven bundred and seven. To these must be added the effective men of Lee's division and the Pennsylvania militia.

4 Washington occupied the house now (1848) owned by Dr. Lee, on the west side of the creek; General Greene was at the large brick house, now Hough's Hotel; and General Mercer was at Mr. Keith's, a little out of the town. It is related that on the morning of the day when the Americans marched to M'Conkey's Ferry, General Mercer told Mrs. Keith that he dreamed, the previous night, that he had been attacked and overpowered by a huge black bear. Mercer was killed by the British and Hessians at Princeton a few days afterward, and those who knew of his dream superstitiously regarded it as a premonition of his fate. John Cadwalader was a native of Philadelphia. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Convention in 1775, and was twice appointed brigadier by Congress, but declined the honor. He participated in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He fought a duel with General Conway, the quarrel which led to it growing out of the intrigue of that officer with Gates and others against Washington. Conway was badly but not mortally wounded. Cadwalader removed to Maryland after the war, and became a member of its State Legislature. He died on the 10th of February, 1786, aged forty-three years. He was a gentleman of large fortune, and dispensed its blessings with a liberal hand. He has many descendants in Philadelphia and vicinity.

Successful Diversion, by Putnam, in favor of Washington.

The American Army cross the Delaware on Christmas Night.

tillery, was to cross the Delaware at M Conkey's Ferry, and march down upon the enemy at Trenton. The river yet remained quite free from ice, and every thing seemed auspicious. Unknown to General Washington, Putnam, who had been made acquainted with the design of attacking Trenton, sent Colonel Griffin, with a body of four hundred and fifty militia, across from Philadelphia into New Jersey, to make a diversion in favor of the Trenton expedition. Griffin was instructed to proceed to Mount Holly, for the purpose of attracting the attention of Colonel Donop at Bordentown. He was ordered not to fight, but to retreat down the river when the enemy should appear. This movement had the desired effect. Donop, who should have been near enough to support Colonel Rall,' moved against Griffin with his whole force of two thousand men; and so dilatory was he in his marches after the retreat of the Americans, that it was two days before he returned to his post.

Christmas night was selected by Washington for the execution of the enterprise. He well knew the German habit of celebrating that day with feasting and drinking, and reasoned wisely on the probability of a large portion of the Hessians being half disabled by intemperate indulgence.

1776.

The division with which Washington was to cross the Delaware consisted of two thousand four hundred men, with twenty pieces of artillery. At dusk they paraded December 25, at M Conkey's Ferry (now Taylorsville), expecting to reach Trenton by midnight. The cold weather of the twenty-four hours preceding put serious obstacles in the way. The river was so full of floating ice that at first it was doubtful whether a crossing could be effected at all. A storm of sleet and snow had just commenced, and the night became excessively dark and dreary. The perilous voyage began early in the evening, in boats and bateaux, but it was nearly four o'clock in the morning before the little army was mustered on the Jersey shore. Washington there separated his troops into two divisions, one to march by the lower, or river road, the other by the upper, or Pennington road. The distance to Trenton by each highway was about equal. The commander-in-chief ordered both divisions, immediately on forcing the out-guards, to push directly into the town, that they might charge the enemy before they had time to form. To surprise them before daylight was out of the question; sudden movements and physical force must supply the place of strategy. Washington, accompanied by Generals Lord Stirling, Greene, Mercer, and Stephen, commanded the division on the upper road; Sullivan led that upon the river road. Both divisions marched so silently that they were not discovered by the enemy until within a short distance of the picket-guards on the outskirts of the village. Each encountered the out-guards at the same time, and a brisk skirmish ensued; the pickets of the enemy firing from behind houses while retreating to the main body into the town, closely pursued by the Americans. The Hessian drums beat to arms, and in a few moments the disordered ranks were marshaled into battle order by the brave Colonel Rall. Part of Washington's division pushed down King (now Warren) Street, and a part down Queen (now Greene) Street. Sullivan's division entered by the mansions of Colonels Dickinson and Rutherford, through Second and Front Streets. By this disposition of the patriot forces at the time of the attack, the enemy were hemmed in by the Assanpink, or Assumpink (a considerable stream running through the town), on the south, and the invading troops. At the head of King Street, Captain Forest opened a six-gun battery, which commanded the avenue. Captain William Washington and Lieutenant James Monroe, perceiving that the enemy were I The name of this officer is spelled, by different writers, Rohl,* Ralle,† Roll,‡ Rhalle,§ Rhal,|| Rahl,¶ Rawle,** Rall.ft

2 Gordon, ii., 152. Stedman, i., 231.

3 Among the most prominent and active men engaged in ferrying the army, tradition has preserved the names of Uriah Slack, William Green, and David Laning.

* Captain Washington was afterward greatly distinguished as colonel of a corps of cavalry in the campaigns of the South. James Monroe was afterward President of the United States. Both officers were slightly wounded while performing this exploit.

The Battle in Trenton.

Colonel Rall mortally Wounded.

Capture of the Hessians.

endeavoring to form a battery in the same street, near where the canal feeder now crosses the way, rushed forward with a small party, drove the artillery-men from their guns, and

captured two of the pieces just as the gunners were about to fire. These were the first decided movements of the belligerents at the moment of surprise.

When Colonel Rall had formed his men for action, he attempted to advance and repel his assailants; but, being completely hemmed in, and his troops panic-stricken, all was confusion. The Americans were pressing closer and closer, and with deadly aim were thinning the Hessian ranks. At length a bullet mortally wounded Colonel Rall, and he fell from his horse, pale and bleeding. His aids and servant、 bore him to his quarters at the house of a

Quaker named Stacey Potts, while Lieutenant-colonel Scheffer, his next in command, took his place at the head of the troops. But all order was at an end. Seeing their commander fall, the Hessians fled in dismay, the main

EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN.-This map shows the country around Trenton, and the military operations there at the close of 1776 and commencement of 1777. h shows the position of Hand's rifle corps on the 26th of December, where they stopped the retreat of the Hessians; i, the Virginia troops; k, the Hessians; m, m, m, skirmishes, January 2d; n, n, Cornwallis, January 3d.

1 The warmest of the conflict took place near the junction of Warren and Perry Streets, and the Presbyterian church in Second Street. The enemy laid down their arms on the field between the Presbyterian church and Park Place, then called the Old Iron-works.

This is a frame building standing upon Warren Street, opposite Perry, near the corner of Bank Alley.