{"id":12005,"date":"2022-12-26T16:06:39","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T14:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=12005"},"modified":"2022-12-26T16:06:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T14:06:43","slug":"december-26-1776-battle-of-trenton-washington-catches-the-germans-asleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=12005","title":{"rendered":"December 26, 1776: Battle of Trenton, Washington catches the Germans asleep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1776, the second year of the American Revolution, the war was not going well for the Americans. As simultaneously with the creation of their new state, armed forces had to be formed to fight against one of the best armies in the world, the British.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 1776, British General Howe from his base in Nova Scotia landed in New York, defeating Washington, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the American forces only a year earlier. Howe demanded the revocation of the Declaration of Independence, and with the American representatives refusing, he attacked again, nearly destroying the American army. He then made New York his center of operations and supply base, pushing what he had rescued from the US Army deeper into Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Americans after a series of almost overwhelming defeats, which cost them a lot in blood, experienced officers, valuable material – especially cannons – but above all in morale, were ready to disintegrate into groups of ragged and hungry fugitives. The Delaware River separating the opposing forces and the severe winter saved the situation temporarily, but Washington knew that the inactivity and defeats would further demoralize his soldiers. However, the news in Washington’s camp was not all black. The arrival of reinforcements from Generals Gates, Sullivan, and Kantwallander swelled his numbers and offered some optimism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Washington, at the head of such men as were able to march, ventured a surprise crossing of the Delaware during the night of Christmas, 1776, with the intention of overpowering the garrison of the city of Trenton. The garrison consisted of soldiers from the German state of Hesse, serving as mercenaries to the British. The professional Hessian warriors had proved a formidable opponent in the preceding battles, responsible for many deaths and executions of prisoners. For this reason they had a reputation that filled the hearts of American soldiers with dread as well as hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Beyond the Delaware were encamped two infantry regiments of 1,500 Germans, who by no means expected that the ragged rebels could move against them. Washington mobilized some 2,400 men (more initially, but not all the phalanxes crossed the river in time) and with the help of local crews of sailors and fishermen forced every watercraft, mostly boats and ferries, and crossed the swollen and battered river during the long night river ice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the darkness, the difficulty of coordination and the need to maintain secrecy, the Americans managed to gather the 26th’s troops on the opposite bank. As if by magic very few had been lost in the water. The anticipation of the attack – a welcome change after months of retreat – boosted the morale of all who gave it their all.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Hessian Germans were caught sleeping, rushing out of the barracks and taking up positions literally in their underwear, still giddy from the evening’s Christmas feast. The Americans harvested the first German concentrations and captured the center of the city, also capturing an enemy cannon, gaining the advantage of the higher ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The German commander, Colonel Johann Rall, tried to reorganize his men and counterattack despite the unfavorable position he found himself in, but Washington placed him in a crossfire that killed and wounded many, including Rall himself. The image of their colonel lying mortally wounded was decisive. The Hessian soldiers surrendered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory was an incredible boost to the morale of the revolutionary army and the people. With casualties of only 2 dead from the cold and 5 wounded, the Americans looted the materiel of two German regiments, captured 800 prisoners, while enemy casualties were 100 killed and wounded. Things would henceforth be different for the fate of the Americans and Washington personally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1776, the second year of the American Revolution, the war was not going well for the Americans. As simultaneously with the creation of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2362,7,2846],"tags":[4015,3861,215,70,1976,4014,3101],"class_list":["post-12005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-science","category-research","category-wars-battles","tag-battle-of-trenton","tag-battles","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-war","tag-war-of-independence","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12010,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12005\/revisions\/12010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}