XIV. Dec. CHAP. efface the catastrophe at Trenton, and reoccupy the posts on the Delaware by a force of unquestion1776. able superiority, the sluggish Sir William Howe nestled lazily in his warm quarters at New York; and there he remained in comfortable indolence for nearly six months to come. 31. 1777. 1. Very early on New-Year's morning, Robert MorJan. ris went from house to house in Philadelphia, rousing people from their beds to borrow money; and early in the day he sent Washington fifty thousand dollars, with the message: "Whatever I can do, shall be done for the good of the service; if further occasional supplies of money are necessary, you may depend upon my exertions either in a public or private capacity." To the president and to the committee of congress, Washington thus acknowledged the grant of unusual military power: "All my faculties shall be employed to advance those objects, and only those, which gave rise to this distinction. If my exertions should not be attended with success, I trust the failure will be imputed to the difficulties I have to combat, rather than to a want of zeal for my country and the closest attention to her interest." "Instead of thinking myself freed from all civil mark of confidence, I shall constantly bear in mind, that as the sword was the last resort for the preservation of our liberties, so it ought to be laid aside when those liberties are firmly established. I shall instantly set about making the most necessary reforms in the army." This he wrote on NewYear's day, from Trenton, where he was attended by scarcely more than six hundred trusty men. obligations by this He : XIV. 1777. Jan. 1. had timely knowledge that full seven thousand CHAP. veteran troops, including the reserve, other English regiments, Donop's brigade of Hessian grenadiers J and Waldeckers, a small battalion formed of the remnants of Rall's brigade, Köhler's battalion fresh from New York with its heavy artillery, eight hundred Highlanders, and a regiment of light dragoons, were moving against him. He had ample time to pass beyond the Delaware; but he would not abandon New Jersey, which he was set to redeem he might have found safety by joining Cadwalader whose force of eighteen hundred men held the strong post of Crosswicks, or Mifflin who had returned from his recruiting mission and was at Bordentown with eighteen hundred volunteers; but such a retreat would have stifled the new life of the country. In the choice of measures, all full of peril, he resolved to concentrate his forces at Trenton, and await the enemy. Obedient to his call, they joined him in part on the first of January, in part, after a night-march, on the second; making collectively an army of fortyeight hundred or five thousand men; but of these three fifths or more were merchants, mechanics, and farmers, ignorant of war, and just from their families and warm houses, who had rushed to arms in midwinter, inspired by hope and zeal to defy all perils and encounter battles by day and marches by night, with no bed but the frozen ground under the open sky. Leaving three regiments and a company of cavalry at Princeton, where Donop had thrown up arrow-headed earthworks, Cornwallis on the second 2. XIV. Jan. 2. CHAP. led the flower of the British army to encounter Washington. Donop1 advised him to march in two 1777. divisions, so as to hold the direct and the roundabout road between Princeton and Trenton; but he refused to separate his forces. The air was warm and moist, the road soft, so that their march was slow. They were delayed at Maidenhead by skir mishers. One brigade under Leslie remained at that place; while Cornwallis pressed forward with more than five thousand British and Hessians. At Five Mile run he fell upon Hand with his riflemen, who continued to dispute every step of his progress. At Shabbakong creek, the annoyance from troops secreted within the wood on the flanks of the road embarrassed him for two hours. On the hill less than a mile above Trenton, he was confronted by about six hundred musketeers and two skilfully managed field-pieces, supported by a detachment under Greene. This party, when attacked by the artillery of Cornwallis, withdrew in good order. Each side met with losses during the day; of the killed and wounded no trustworthy enumeration has been found. The British captured a faithless colonel of foreign birth, and probably some privates; the Americans took thirty prisoners. At four in the afternoon, Washington, placing himself with the rear, conducted the retreat through the town, and passed the bridge over the Assanpink, beyond which the main body of his army stood in admirable array, silent in their ranks, protected by batteries. The enemy, as 1 Ewald's Beyspiele grosser Helden. Ewald was an excellent offi cer in the corps of yagers. What they pursued, were wor he relates of Donop's advice, he had from Donop. "Oberst Donop hat mich versichert," &c. &c. XIV. ried by musketry from houses and barns; their CHAP. attempt to force the bridge was repulsed. Corn- 1777. wallis next sought to turn the flanks of the Americans; but the fords of the Assanpink could not be crossed without a battle. The moment was critical. The defeat of Washington might have crushed independence; the overthrow of the British army would have raised all New Jersey in their rear, and have almost ended the war. Late as it was in the day, Simcoe advised at once to pass over the Assanpink to the right of "the rebels," and bring on a general action; and Sir William Erskine feared that if it were put off, Washington might get away before morning. But the sun was nearly down; the night threatened to be foggy and dark; the British troops were worn out with skirmishes and a long march over deep roads; the aspect of the American army was imposing. Cornwallis, unwilling to take any needless risk, sent messengers in all haste for the brigade at Maidenhead, and for two of the three regiments at Princeton, and put off the fight till the next morning. The British army, sleeping by their fires, bivouacked on the hill above Trenton, while their large pickets were pushed forward along the Assanpink, to keep a close watch on the army of Washington. Confident in their vigilance, the general officers, "who all did wilfully expect the silver-threaded morn," thought their day's work done, and took their repose. Not so Washington; for him there could be no rest. From his retreat through the Jerseys, and his long halt in the first week of December at Trenton, he knew the by-ways leading out of the Jan. 2. 1777. Jan. CHAP. place, and the cross-cuts and roads as far as BrunsXIV. wick. He first ascertained by an exploring party that the path to Princeton on the south side of 2. the Assanpink was unguarded.' He saw the need of avoiding a battle the next morning with Cornwallis; he also saw the need of avoiding it in a way to mark courage and hope. He knew that there were but few troops at Princeton; and he reasoned that Brunswick could have retained but a very small guard for its rich magazines. He therefore developed the plan which had existed in germ from the time of his deciding to reënter New Jersey, and prepared to turn the left of Cornwallis, overwhelm the party at Princeton, and push on if possible to Brunswick, or, if there were danger of pursuit, to seek the high ground at Morristown. Soon after dark he ordered all the baggage of his army to be removed noiselessly to Burlington. To the council of officers whom he convened, he proposed the circuitous march to Princeton. Mercer forcibly pointed out the advantages of the proposal; Saint Clair liked it so well, that in the failing memory of old age he took it to have been his own; the adhesion of the council was unanimous. 2 1 Ewald's Beyspiele grosser Helden. Ewald, who was a man of uprightness, vigilance, and judgment, is a great authority, as he was present. It does not impair the value of his statement, that, like many writers of the British army of that day, he misplaced Allentown. Many officers thought it lay on the roundabout road to Princeton, and were driven from the country too soon to rectify their mistake. Compare Howe to Germain, Jan. 5, 1777; Annual Register, 18; Stedman, i. 236. 2 Saint Clair's Narrative, 242, 243: "No one general officer except myself knew anything of the upper country." Now, Sullivan knew it better; as did all the officers of Lee's division, and Stark, Poor, Patterson, the New England Reed, and all the officers of their four regiments. Another writer, Reed's Mercer Oration, 34, 35, is out of the way in the advice he attributes to Mercer: "One course had not yet been thought of, and this was to order up the Philadel |