26 December 1776, 9 am
Trenton: the Hessians surrender
The Rall and Lossberg regiments fall back to a field outside the town and try to retake it, with the brigade’s band playing. Caught by fire from three sides, from the high ground, the houses and the guns, the attack stalls. Rall is mortally wounded, and the two regiments surrender in the field.
The surrender of the Hessian troops to Washington after the Battle of Trenton, copy of a nineteenth century lithographWikimedia Commons, unknown author, Public domain (Surrender of the Hessian Troops to General Washington, after The Battle of Trenton. December 1776. Copy of lithograph, 1 - NARA - 532880.tif)
The Knyphausen regiment, cut off from the others, marches the wrong way, towards the Assunpink bridge, and finds it held. John Stark leads a bayonet charge, the regiment’s wet muskets will not fire, and Sullivan’s men surround it. It surrenders minutes after the rest of the brigade.
The Hessians lose 22 killed, among them Rall, 83 wounded and 896 captured. The Americans have two men dead from the cold on the march and five wounded, one of them James Monroe. They take about 1,000 muskets, the brigade’s guns and its stores of food and clothing.
Sources
- David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (2004).
- Richard M. Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers (1973).
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