Washington crosses Delaware, Emanuel Leutze's painting.
The battle at Trenton took place on December 26, 1776, during the American War of Independence, following Washington's crossing of Delaware. General George Washington led the continental army through the river to surprise the British garrison of German mercenaries in Trenton (New Jersey). Because of this overwhelming victory, the continental army could take the right positions for the battle at Princeton, which took place the following week.
Trenton was occupied by three regiments of 1400 Hessian soldiers led by Colonel Johann Rall. The George Washington army, which counted about 2400 men, struck two columns: those of General Major Nathanael Greene along the north and those of General Major John Sullivan along the west. A third division was to be attacked southwards, but could not cross the river due to lack of time.
It is claimed that the Hesse's Christmas had celebrated and been too drunk to prepare itself for the battle, but this is not correct. The fact that the Americans won the battle at Trenton was due to a spy named John Honeyman, who managed to gather intelligence and mislead the enemy troops about the position of US troops. The crossing of Delaware took place during a storm and surprised the Hessen people. The crossing was delayed by a snow storm with Christmas raging. Eventually, the American troops reached the other side on December 3 at 3 o'clock. The battle itself only lasted an hour. The Hesseans lost 23 men and 913 were imprisoned. American losses were very limited: two officers were wounded, George Washington's cousin, and James Monroe, the future president of the United States.
In the afternoon, the US troops crossed the Delaware again and returned to the prisoners with Pennsylvania. The victory again gave confidence to the continental Congress, as it was found that US troops were able to defeat regular troops. 2nd Battle at Trenton
George Washington, after victory, expected a counteroffensive from the British troops but was for them. He crossed the Delaware on December 30, 1776, to fight the enemy again in Trenton. The battle against the army of General Cornwallis took place on January 2, 1777. The Washington Army succeeded in reducing the British. The real confrontation would take place at Princeton.
This article or an earlier version has been (partially) translated from French-speaking Wikipedia, which is covered by the Creative Commons Attribution / Share Alike License. See the edit history there.
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