Night of 25 to 26 December 1776
Trenton: the crossing
Washington plans three crossings. John Cadwalader is to make a diversion against the British post at Bordentown, and James Ewing is to cross at Trenton Ferry with 700 militia and hold the bridge over the Assunpink Creek. The main force of 2,400 men is to cross nine miles above Trenton and attack before dawn in two columns.
Rain turns to sleet and then snow as the main force embarks at McConkey’s Ferry. John Glover’s regiment of Marblehead seamen rows the men across in Durham boats, while the horses and the guns go over on ferries. The landing is not complete until 3 am, three hours late, and neither Cadwalader nor Ewing gets across the ice.
The Passage of the Delaware, painting by Thomas Sully, 1819, Museum of Fine Arts, BostonWikimedia Commons, Thomas Sully, Public domain (1819 Passage OfThe Delaware byThomasSully MFABoston.jpeg)
The army marches at 4 am with the password “Victory or Death”. At Birmingham it divides: Nathanael Greene’s division, with Washington, takes the Scotch and Pennington roads, and John Sullivan’s division the River road along the Delaware. When Sullivan reports that the snow is wetting the powder, Washington answers, “Tell General Sullivan to use the bayonet.”
Sources
- David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (2004).
- Richard M. Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers (1973).
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