Battle of Trenton Totally Explained

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ť This article is about the Battle of Trenton which took place on December 26, 1776. For the Battle of Trenton which took place on January 2, 1777, see Battle of the Assunpink Creek .

Hessian Mercenaries
British dragoons

|- | |} The Battle of Trenton was a battle which took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War after Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. General George Washington led the main Continental Army across the river during the Christian holiday of Christmas to surprise and virtually eliminate the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey.

Background

Trenton was occupied by three regiments of Hessian soldiers commanded by Colonel Johann Rall for a total of about 1,200 men. Washington's force of about 2,400 attacked in two columns: Major General Nathanael Greene's division from the north, and Major General John Sullivan's division from the west. A third division never made it across the river because of the weather but was supposed to attack from the south.
The American victory was aided by John Honeyman, who gathered intelligence in Trenton and misled the Hessian defenders. He was responsible for estimating the strength of the Hessian defenders and for convincing them that the Americans were confused and in no condition to attack. Also, the weather made Washington's crossing of the Delaware River next to impossible, further enhancing the element of surprise. The Hessians sent out a patrol every night to check for nearby enemy forces, but they were not sent out that night because of the storm.

Battle

Before Washington and his troops left, it was seen on his desk a note which said "Victory or Death". Delayed by a snowstorm which began at 23:00 on December 25, the American troops were unable to reach the east bank of the Delaware River until 03:00 on December 26. With the storm still raging, fighting began around 08:00 and was over by 09:00.
   Trenton had two main streets, King (now Warren) Street and Queen (now Broad) Street. Rall had been ordered to build a redoubt at the head of these two streets (where the battle monument stands today) by his superior, Count Carl von Donop, whose own brigade was stationed in Bordentown. Donop himself had marched south to Mount Holly on December 22 to deal with the South Jersey Rising, and clashed with the New Jersey militia there on December 23. An officer of the Hessian engineers, Captain Pauli, was sent to Trenton with those orders but was sent back by Rall, without building the redoubt. When Rall was warned that the patriots might attack, he replied, "Let them come. We need no trenches. We will go at them with the bayonet."
   A small guard post was set up by the Hessians in Pennington about nine miles (14 km) north of Trenton, east of Washington's route to the city. When the squad guarding this post saw the large American force on the march, Lieutenant Wiederhold, in command of this Pennington picket, made an organized retreat. Once in Trenton the picket began to receive support from other Hessian guard companies on the outskirts of the town. Another guard company nearer to the Delaware River rushed east to their aid, leaving open the River Road into Trenton. General John Sullivan, leading the southern American column entered Trenton by this route and made hard for the only crossing over the Assunpink Creek, which was the only way out of Trenton to the south, in hopes of cutting off the Hessian escape.
   When the 35 Hessian Jägers under the command of Lieutenant Grothausen who were stationed at the barracks on the northern edge of the town saw the vanguard of Sullivan's forces charging into Trenton, they ran over the Assunpink bridge and left Trenton. Slowly, various companies of the three defending regiments formed and entered the battle. Lieutenant Biel, Rall's brigade adjutant, finally awoke his commander, who found that the rebels had taken the "V" of the major streets of the town where earlier that month Pauli would have constructed the redoubt. The northern American column quickly took this position, and with their cannons denied the Hessians a chance to form in the streets, while the remaining men in the column, and the other column near the river, moved to surround the Hessians.
   Rall led his men and the men of the Lossberg regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel Scheffer, out of the town and attempted to reorganize and retake the town. The Americans, by this time, occupied the majority of the buildings and, from cover, fired into the ranks of the Rall regiment. The regiment broke and routed back through the ranks of the Lossberg regiment, causing more chaos. The two regiments were surrounded in an orchard south of the town, and from the smoke came the drums and standards playing the parley. Rall could be seen slumped over in his saddle; he was mortally wounded.
   At the Assunpink Creek, the Knyphausen regiment, under Lieutenant Colonel von Dechow, became cut off from the bridge and was surrounded. The regiment surrendered just minutes before the rest of the brigade. The American forces had suffered only a handful of wounded, although two men died of hypothermia on the march and more the next night, while the Hessians suffered 115 casualties with at least 23 dead, as well as 948 captured. Rall was mortally wounded and died the later that day at his headquarters. All four Hessian colonels in Trenton were killed in the battle. The Lossberg regiment was effectively removed from the British forces. Parts of the Knyphausen regiment escaped to the south, but Sullivan captured some 200 men along with the regiment's cannons and supplies. Also captured were about 1,000 arms and some much-needed ammunition.
   The effect of this small but decisive battle, as with the much later Battle of Cowpens had an effect disproportionate to its size. The colonial effort across the colonies was galvanised and the physiological dominance achieved by the British Government troops in the previous months overturned. Howe was stunned that such a substantial Hessian garrison could be surprised and overwhelmed so easily, without putting up any notable resistance. The only British soldiers present at the battle was a troop of light dragoons who left the town at the onset of the fighting.

George Washington and the Battle of Trenton

By noon, Washington's force had moved to recross the Delaware back into Pennsylvania, taking their prisoners and captured supplies with them. This battle gave the Continental Congress a new confidence because it proved Colonial forces could defeat regulars. It also increased the re-enlistments in the Continental Army forces. The colonials had now proved themselves against a European army and the fear the Hessians inspired earlier that year in New York was broken. As Captain Johann Ewald [ofthe Jägers], who was with Donop in Mt Holly at the time of the attack, said of the colonists later, "We must now give them the honor of fortifications".
Only two colonials were wounded, both during the colonists' rush to capture Hessian artillery before they could be used in the battle. These wounded were officers: Captain William Washington (the general's cousin), who was badly wounded in both hands, and young Lieutenant James Monroe, the future President of the United States. Monroe was carried from the field bleeding badly after he was struck in the left shoulder by a musket ball, which severed an artery. Doctor John Riker clamped the artery, keeping him from bleeding to death.
The hours before the battle served as the inspiration for the famous painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. The image in the painting, in which Washington stands majestic in his boat as it's crossing the Delaware River, is more symbolic than historically accurate, since the waters of the river were icy and treacherous, and the flag Monroe holds wasn't created until six months after the battle. The crossing also occurred before dawn. Many have doubted that Washington stood, but many scholars believe they all stood, albeit in a different type of boat. Nonetheless, the image has become an icon of American history.

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