against Philadelphia, crossed to the west bank of the Hudson and took post with General Greene at Fort Lee. Four thousand men were left at

SCENE OF OPERATIONS ABOUT

North Castle under command of General Lee. Fort Washington, on Manhattan Island, five miles north of the city, was defended by three thousand men under Colonel Magaw. This fort was a place of great natural and artificial strength. The skill of its construction had attracted the attention of Washington and led to an acquaintance with the engineer, who from that time forth, through the stormy vicissitudes of nearly a quarter of a century, enjoyed the unclouded confidence of his chief; the engineer was ALEXANDER HAMILTON, then a stripling of but twenty years of age. On the 16th of November the British attacked Fort Washington in overwhelming force. The garrison made a stubborn defence. More than five hundred of the assailants were killed or wounded. But valor could not prevail against superior numbers, and Magaw, after losing a hundred and fifty men, was obliged to capitulate. The garrison, numbering more than two thousand, were madeprisoners of war and crowded into the foul jails of New York. Two days after the surrender, Cornwallis crossed the Hudson with a body of six thousand men and marched against Fort Lee. Seeing that a defence would only end in worse disaster, Washington hastily withdrew across theHackensack. All the baggage and military stores collected in Fort Lee fell into the hands of the British, who at once pressed forward after the retreating Americans. Washington with his army, now reduced to three thousand men, crossed the Passaic to Newark; but Cornwallis and Knyphausen came hard after the fugitives. The patriots retreated to Elizabethtown, thence to New Brunswick, thence to Princeton, and finally to Trenton on the Delaware. The British were all the time in close pursuit, and the music of their bands was frequently heard by the rearguard of the American army. Nothing but the consummate skill of Washington saved the remnant of his forces from destruction. Despair seemed settling on the country like a pall.

On the 8th of December, Washington crossed the Delaware. The British essayed to do the same, but the American commander had secreted or destroyed every boat within seventy miles. In order to effect his passage, Cornwallis must build a bridge or wait for the freezing of the

river. The latter course was chosen; and the British army was stationedin detachments in various towns and villages east of the Delaware. Trenton was held by a body of nearly two thousand Hessians under Colonel Rahl. It was seen that as soon as the river should be frozen the British would march unopposed into Philadelphia. Congress accordingly adjourned to Baltimore; and there, on the 20th of the month, a resolution was adopted arming Washington with dictatorial powers to direct all the operations of the war.

Meanwhile, the British fleet under command of Admiral Parker had left New York for Narragansett Bay. On the same day that Washington crossed the Delaware the islands of Rhode Island, Prudence and Conanicut were taken; and the American squadron under Commander Hopkins was blockaded in Blackstone River. During his retreat across New Jersey, Washington had sent repeated despatches to General Lee, in command of the detachment at North Castle, to join the main army as soon as possible. Lee was a proud, insubordinate man, and virtually disobeyed his orders. Marching leisurely into New Jersey, he reached Morristown. Here he tarried, and took up his quarters at an inn at Basking Ridge. On the 13th of December, a squad of British cavalry dashed up to the tavern, seized Lee and hurried him off to New York. General Sullivan, who had recently been exchanged, now took command of Lee's division, and hastened to join Washington. Fifteen hundred volunteers from Philadelphia and vicinity were added, making the entire American force a little more than six thousand.

The tide of misfortune turned at last. Washington saw in the disposition of the British forces an opportunity to strike a blow for his disheartened country. The leaders of the enemy were off their guard. They believed that the war was ended. Cornwallis obtained leave of absence, left New Jersey under command of Grant, and made preparations to return to England. The Hessians on the east side of the river were spread out from Trenton to Burlington. Washington conceived the bold design of crossing the Delaware and striking the detachment at Trenton before a concentration of the enemy's forces could be effected. The American army was accordingly arranged in three divisions. The first, under General Cadwallader, was to cross the river at Bristol and attack the British at Burlington. General Ewing with his brigade was to pass over a little below Trenton for the purpose of intercepting the retreat. Washington himself, with Greene and Sullivan and twenty-four hundred men, was to cross nine miles above Trenton, march down the river and assault the town. The movement was planned with the utmost secrecy -the preparations made with prudence and care. Christmas night was

selected as the time; for it was known that the Hessians would spend the day in drinking and carousals.

Pennington

Me.Conkey's
Ferry

Wan?

Princeton

Delaw

RI

Brook

R.Jan.3.

Assanpink Cr.

KouteJan,2

About the 20th of the month, the weather became very cold, and by the evening of the 25th the Delaware was filled with floating ice. Ewing and Cadwallader were both baffled in their efforts to cross the river. Washington's division succeeded in getting over, but the passage was delayed till three o'clock in the morning. All hope of reaching Trenton before daybreak was at an end; but Washington, believing that the Hessians would sleep late after their revels, divided his army into two columns and pressed forward. One division, led by Sullivan, passed down the river to attack the town on the west; the other, commanded by Washington and Greene, made a circuit to the Princeton road. The movement was entirely successful. At eight o'clock in the morning the American columns came rushing into the village from both directions. The astonished Hessians sprang from their quarters and attempted to form in line. At the first onset Colonel Rahl was mortally wounded. Forty or fifty others fell before the volleys of the patriots. For a few minutes there was confusion, and then a cry for quarter. Nearly a thousand of the dreaded Hessians threw down their arms and begged for mercy. At the first alarm about six hundred light horse and infantry had escaped toward Bordentown. All the rest were made prisoners of war. Before nightfall Washington, with his victorious men and the whole body of captives, was safe on the other side of the Delaware.

Treat

Bris

Burlington

MILES

town

Mirykun

Bordentown

BATTLE OF TRENTON AND

PRINCETON, 1776-7.

The battle of Trenton roused the nation from despondency. Confidence in the commander and hope in the ultimate success of the American cause were everywhere revived. The militia from the neighboring provinces flocked to the general's standard; and fourteen hundred soldiers, whose term of enlistment now expired, cheerfully re-entered the service. It was at this time that Robert Morris of Philadelphia, the great financier of the Revolution, came forward with his princely fortune to the support of his distressed country. As to Cornwallis, he found it necessary to postpone his visit to England and hasten back to New Jersey.

Three days after his victory, Washington again crossed the Delaware and took post at Trenton. Here all the American detachments in the vicinity were ordered to assemble. To General Heath, in command of the New England militia stationed at Peekskill, on the Hudson, Wash

ington sent orders to move into New Jersey. The British fell back from their outposts on the Delaware and concentrated in great force at Princeton. Cornwallis took command in person, and resolved to attack and overwhelm Washington at Trenton. So closed the year. Ten days

previously, Howe only waited for the freezing of the Delaware before taking up his quarters in Philadelphia. Now it was a question whether he would be able to hold a single town in New Jersey.

ΟΝ

CHAPTER XL.

OPERATIONS OF "77.

N the 1st of January, 1777, Washington's army at Trenton numbered about five thousand men. On the next day Cornwallis approached from Princeton with greatly superior forces. The British were exasperated and the Americans resolute. During the afternoon there was severe and constant skirmishing in the fields and along the roads to the east and north of Trenton. As the columns of the enemy pressed on, Washington abandoned the village and took up a stronger position on the south side of Assanpink Creek. The British, attempting to force a passage, were driven back; it was already sunset, and Cornwallis deferred the attack till the morrow.

2. Washington's position was critical in the extreme. To attempt to recross the Delaware was hazardous. To retreat in any direction was to lose all that he had gained by his recent victory. To be beaten in battle was utter ruin. In the great emergency he called a council of war and announced his determination to leave the camp by night, make a circuit to the east, pass the British left flank and strike the detachment at Princeton before his antagonist could discover or impede the movement. Orders were immediately issued for the removal of the baggage to Burlington. In order to deceive the enemy, the camp-fires along the Assanpink were brightly kindled and a guard left to keep them burning through the night. Then the army was put in motion by the circuitous route to Princeton. Everything was done in silence, and the British sentries walked their beats until the morning light showed them a deserted camp. Just then the roar of the American cannon, thirteen miles away, gave Cornwallis notice of how he had been outgeneraled.

At sunrise Washington was entering Princeton. At the same mo

ment the British regiments stationed there were marching out by the Trenton road to reinforce Cornwallis. The Americans met them in the edge of the village, and the battle at once began. The patriots, under General Mercer, posted themselves behind a hedge, and were doing good work with their muskets until the British charged bayonets. Then the militia gave way in confusion, and Mercer, one of the bravest of the brave, received a mortal wound. But the Pennsylvania reserves and regulars were at hand, led by the commander-in-chief. The valor of Washington never shone with brighter lustre. He spurred among his flying men, who rallied at his call. He rode between the hostile lines and reined his horse within thirty yards of the enemy's column. There he stood. From both sides there came a crash of musketry. Washington's aid drew his hat over his eyes that he might not see the chieftain die. The wind tossed up the smoke, and there, unhurt, was the sublime leader of the American armies. The British were already broken and flying, with a loss of four hundred and thirty men in killed, wounded and missing. The loss of the Americans was small; but the gallant Mercer was greatly lamented.

Washington had intended to press on to Brunswick and destroy the enemy's magazines. His men, however, were too much exhausted for the march. The legions of Cornwallis were already in hearing, and there was no time for delay. Washington accordingly withdrew to the north, and on the 5th of January took a strong position at Morristown. Cornwallis hastened to New Brunswick to protect his stores. In a short time

the whole of New Jersey north of Newark and Elizabethtown was recovered by the patriots. In all parts of the State the militia rose in arms; straggling parties of the British were cut off, and the outposts of the enemy were kept in constant alarm. The Hessians, whose barbarous invasion and brutal conduct had almost ruined the country, were the special objects of patriot vengeance. Vexed by the perpetual assaults of partisan warfare, Cornwallis gradually contracted his lines, abandoning one post after another, until his whole force was cooped up in New Brunswick and Amboy. The boastful British army that was to have taken Philadelphia now thought only of a safe return to New York.

In the early spring, General Howe despatched a fleet up the Hudson to destroy the American stores at Peekskill. Macdougal, the commandant, finding himself too feeble to make a successful defence, blew up the magazines and retreated. On the 13th of April Cornwallis marched a division out of New Brunswick and surprised General Lincoln, who was stationed at Boundbrook on the Raritan; but the latter made good his retreat with a trifling loss. On the 25th of the same month, General Tryon with a detachment of two thousand men landed on the north shore