_Trenton--The Lion Strikes_
The route, for the first mile and a half, lay up a steep hill, where
the men were much exposed and suffered terribly; after that, for three
miles or so, it wound in and out between the hills, and through forests
of ash and black oak, which afforded some little shelter. The storm
raged with unabated fury, and the progress of the little army was very
slow. The men were in good spirits, however, and they cheerfully
toiled on over the roads covered with deep drifts, bearing as best they
might the driving tempest. It was six in the morning when they reached
the little village of Birmingham, where the two columns divided:
General Greene's column, accompanied by Washington, taking the longer
or inland road, called the Pennington road, which entered the town from
the northeast; while Sullivan's column followed the lower road, which
entered the town from the west, by way of a bridge over the Assunpink
Creek. As Greene had a long detour to make, Sullivan had orders to
wait where the cross-road from Rowland's Ferry intersected his line of
march, until the first column had time to effect the longer circuit, so
that the two attacks might be delivered together. General Washington
himself rode in front of the first column. It was still frightfully
cold.
About daybreak the general spied an officer on horseback toiling
through the snowdrifts toward him. As the horseman drew nearer, he
recognized young Martin.
"What is it now, sir?"
"General Sullivan says that the storm has rendered many of his muskets
useless, by wetting the priming and powder. He wishes to know what is
to be done, sir?"
"Return instantly, and tell him he must use the bayonet! When he hears
the firing, he is to advance and charge immediately. The town must be
taken, and I intend to take it."
"Very good, sir," said the young man, saluting.
"Can you get through the snow in time?"
"Yes, sir," he replied promptly. "I can get through anything, if your
excellency will give the order."
The general smiled approvingly. It was evident that young man's first
lesson had been a good one; his emphasis, he was glad to see, had not
been misapplied.
When Martin rejoined Sullivan's column, which had been halted at the
cross-roads, the men who had witnessed his departure were eagerly
waiting his return. As he repeated the general's reply, they began
slipping the bayonets over the muzzles of their guns without orders.
So eager were they to advance, that Sullivan had difficulty in
restraining them until the signal was given. Such was their temper and
spirit that, in the excitement of the moment, they recked little of the
freezing cold and the hardships of their terrible march. The
retreating army was at last on the offensive, they were about to attack
now, and no attack is so dangerous as that delivered by men from whom
the compelling necessity of retreat has been suddenly removed.
It was about eight o'clock in the morning when they came in sight of
the town. The village of Trenton then contained about one hundred
houses, mostly frame, scattered along both sides of two long streets,
and chiefly located on the west bank of the Assunpink, which here bent
sharply to the north before it flowed into the Delaware. The Assunpink
was fordable in places at low water, but it was spanned by a
substantial stone bridge, which gave on the road followed by Sullivan,
at the west end of the village. Washington came down from the north,
and entered the village from the other side. About half a mile from
the edge of the town, the column led by him came abreast of an old man,
chopping wood in a farm-yard by the roadside.
"Which is the way to the Hessian picket?" said the general.
"I don't know," replied the man, sullenly.
"You may tell," said Captain Forest, riding near the general, at the
head of his battery, "for this is General Washington."
The man's expression altered at once.
"God bless and prosper you!" he cried eagerly, raising his hands to
heaven. "There! The picket is in that house yonder, and the sentry
stands near that tree."
The intense cold and heavy snow had driven the twenty-five men, who
composed the advance picket, to shelter, and they were huddled together
in one of the rude huts which served as a guard-house. The snow
deadened the sound of the American advance, and the careless sentry did
not perceive them. No warning was given until the lieutenant in
command of the guard stepped out of the house by chance, and gave the
alarm in great surprise. The picket rushed out, and the men lined up
in the road in front of the column, the thick snow preventing them from
forming a correct idea of the approaching force. The advance guard of
the Continentals, led by Captain William A. Washington and Lieutenant
James Monroe, instantly swept down upon them. After a scattered volley
which hurt no one, they fled precipitately back toward the village,
giving the alarm and rallying on the main guard, posted nearer the
centre of the town, which had been speedily drawn up, to the number of
seventy-five men. Meanwhile Sullivan's men, with Stark at the head,
had routed the pickets on the other road in the same gallant style.
This picket was composed of about fifty Hessian chasseurs, and twenty
English light dragoons, under command of Lieutenant Grothausen of the
chasseurs. They all fled so precipitately that they did not stop to
alarm the brigade which they had been stationed to protect, but rapidly
galloped down the road, and, crossing the bridge over the Assunpink,
made good their escape toward Bordentown. Grave suspicions of
cowardice attached thereafter to their commanding officer. Had Ewing
performed his part in the plan, the bridge would have been held, and
they would have been captured with the rest. Stark's men, followed by
the rest of Sullivan's division, were now pushed on rapidly for the
town, and the cheers of the New England men were distinctly heard by
Washington and his men on the main road. The main guard on the upper
road, almost as completely surprised as the other by the dashing
onslaught of the Americans, made another futile attempt at resistance
to Greene's column, but they soon fell back in great disorder upon the
main body.
It was broad daylight now, and the violence of the storm had somewhat
abated. In the town, where the firing had been heard, the drums of the
three regiments were rapidly beating the assembly. Colonel Rahl was in
bed, sleeping off the effects of his previous night's indulgences, when
he heard the commotion. Jumping from the bed and running rapidly to
the window, still undressed, he thrust out his head and asked the
acting brigade adjutant, Biel,--who was hurriedly galloping past,--what
it was all about. There was a total misapprehension on all sides, even
at this hour, as to the serious nature of the attack; so the confused
colonel, satisfied with Biel's surmise that it was a raid, ordered him
to take a company and go to the assistance of the main guard, in the
supposition that it was only a skirmishing party, and never dreaming of
a general attack. Nevertheless he then dressed rapidly, and, running
down to the street, mounted his horse, which had been brought around.
The three regiments which comprised his brigade and command were
already forming; they were the regiment Rahl, the regiment Von
Lossburg, and the regiment Von Knyphausen. At this moment the advance
party and the main guard came running through the streets in great
confusion, crying that the whole rebel army was down upon them. The
regiment Rahl and the regiment Von Lossburg at once began retreating to
an apple orchard back of the town; firing ineffectively in their
excitement, as they ran, from behind the houses, at the head of the
column, which had now appeared in the street; while the regiment Von
Knyphausen, under the command of Major Von Dechow, the second in
command of the brigade, separated from the two others and made for the
bridge over the Assunpink.
King and Queen streets run together at the east end of the town. There
Washington stationed himself, on the left of Forest's battery, which
was immediately unlimbered and opened up a hot fire. The general's
position was much exposed, and after his horse had been wounded, his
officers repeatedly requested him to fall back to a safer point, which
he peremptorily refused to do. The joy of battle sparkled in his eyes;
he had instinctively chosen that position on the field from whence he
could best see and direct the conflict, and nothing but a successful
charge of the enemy upon them could have moved him to retire.
A few of the cooler-headed men among the Hessians had rallied some of
the Lossburg regiment, and two guns had been run out into the street
and pointed up toward the place where Washington stood, to form a
battery, which might, could it have been served, have held the American
army in check until such time as the startled Germans could recover
their wits and make a stand. General Washington pointed them out to
the officer of the advance guard, which had already done such good
service, with a wave of his sword. The little handful of men, led by
Captain Washington and Lieutenant Monroe, charged down upon the guns,
which the party had not had time to load. A scattering volley received
them. Captain Washington and Monroe and one of the men were wounded,
another fell dead; the men hesitated. Talbot sprang to the head of the
column, in obedience to the general's nod, and they rallied, advanced
on the run, and the guns were immediately captured.
Meanwhile the fire of Stark's riflemen could be heard at the other end
of the town. St. Clair's brigade held the bridge; the regiment Von
Knyphausen lost a few precious moments endeavoring to extricate its
guns, which had become mired in the morass near the bridge, and then
charged upon St. Clair. But it was too late; Von Dechow was seriously
wounded, and when the regiment saw itself taken in the flank by
Sargeant's brigade, it retired in disorder, though some few men escaped
by the fords.
At this juncture Rahl re-formed his scattered troops in the apple
orchard. He seems to have had an idea of retreating toward Princeton
at first, with the two regiments still under his command; at any rate,
he also lost precious moments by hesitation. It was even then too late
to effect a successful retreat, for Washington, foreseeing the
possibility, had promptly sent Hand's Pennsylvania riflemen along the
Pennington road back of the town to check any move in that direction.
As fast as the other brigades of Greene's column came up, they were
sent down through the streets of the town, until Stirling, in the lead,
joined Sullivan's men. Rahl's brigade was practically surrounded,
though he did not know it. The commander completely lost his head,
though he was a courageous man, brave to rashness, and a veteran
soldier who had hitherto distinguished himself in this and many other
wars. The town was full of plunder gathered by the troops, the
Hessians having been looting the country for weeks; and he could not
abandon it without a struggle. The idea of flying from a band of
ragged rebels whom he had scouted, was intolerable. He had been, he
now felt, more than culpable in neglecting many warnings of attack, and
had lamentably failed in his duty as a soldier, in refraining from
taking the commonest precautions against surprise. He had refused to
heed the urgent representations of Von Dechow, and other of his high
officers. Now his honor was at stake; so he rashly made up his mind to
charge.
"We will retake the town. All who are my grenadiers--forward!" he
cried intrepidly.
The men, with fixed bayonets, advanced bravely, and he led them
gallantly forward, sword in hand. The Americans fired a volley;
Forest's battery, which enfiladed them, poured in a deadly fire. Rahl
in the advance, upon his horse, received a fatal wound and fell to the
ground. The Continentals, cheering madly, charged forward with fixed
bayonets. The Hessians stopped--hesitated--wavered--their chief was
gone--the battle was lost--they broke and fled! Disregarding the
commands and appeals of their officers, they turned quickly to the
right, and ran off into the face of Hand's riflemen, who received them
with another volley. Many of them fell. A body of Virginia troops led
by Talbot now gained their left flank, the Philadelphia City Troop
encircled their rear. The helpless men stopped, completely bewildered,
huddled together in a confused mass. Washington, seeing imperfectly,
and thinking they were forming again, ordered the guns from Forest's
battery, which had been loaded with canister, to be discharged upon
them at once.
"Sir, they have struck!" cried Seymour the keen-eyed, preventing the
men from firing.
"Struck!" cried the general, in surprise.
"Yes, sir; their colors are down."
"So they are," said Washington, clasping his hands and raising his eyes
to heaven; then, putting spurs to his horse, he galloped over toward
the men. The firing had ceased in every direction, and the day was his
own; the three regiments were surrendering at discretion, two to him
and the other to Lord Stirling. As Major Wilkinson galloped up from
the lower division for instructions, Colonel Rahl, pale and bleeding,
and supported by two sergeants, presented his sword, which Washington
courteously declined to receive. The general then gave orders that
every care and assistance should be afforded the unfortunate soldier,
who died the next day in a room in Potts' Tavern.
"This is indeed a glorious day for our country," said the general to
Seymour.
It was in fact the turning-point in the history of the nation. The
captives numbered nearly one thousand men, with twelve hundred stand of
arms, six field-pieces, twelve drums, and four colors, including the
gorgeous banner of the Anspachers, the Von Lossburg regiment.
Of the Continentals, only two were killed and four wounded, while
upward of one hundred of the Hessians were killed and wounded, among
the killed being Rahl and Von Dechow, the first and second in command.
The whole of this brilliant affair scarcely occupied an hour.
As none of the other divisions had got across, it was scarcely safe for
Washington to remain on the east side of the river in the presence of
the vastly superior forces of the enemy, which would be concentrated
upon him without delay. So that, after giving the men a much needed
rest, securing their booty, and burying the dead, the evening found the
little army, with its prisoners, retracing its steps toward the ford
and its former camping-ground.
But with what different feelings the hungry, worn-out, tattered mass of
men marched along in the bitter night! The contrast between the
well-clothed and well-fed Hessians and their captors was surprising,
but not less striking than that between their going out and coming in.
Little recked the frozen men of the hardships of the way. They had
shown the world that they possessed other capabilities than facility in
retreating, and no American army, however small or feeble, would ever
again be despised by any foe.
The return passage was made without incident, save that just on the
crest of the hills leading down to the Ford, the general, who was in
advance again, noticed a suspicious-looking, snow-covered mound by the
roadside. Riding up to it, one of his aids dismounted and uncovered
the body of a man, a Continental soldier, frozen to death. The cold
weapon was grasped tightly in the colder hand. A little farther on
there was another body asleep in the snow,--another soldier! The last
was that man of the headquarters guard who had spoken of his little
children at home on Christmas day. They would wait a long time before
they saw him again. He had been willing to fight the whole English
army! Ah, well, a sterner foe than any who marched beneath the red
flag of Great Britain had grappled with him, and he had been
defeated,--but he had won his freedom!
For forty hours now that little band of men had marched and fought, and
when it reached its camp at midnight the whole army was exhausted. The
only man among them all who preserved his even calmness, and was
apparently unaffected by the hardships of the day, was the commander
himself,--the iron man. Late into the night he dictated and wrote
letters and orders, to be despatched in every direction in the morning.
The successful issue of his daring adventure entailed yet further
responsibilities, and the campaign was only just begun. As for
himself, the world now knew him for a soldier. And a withered old man
in the palace of the Sans Souci in Berlin, who had himself known
victories and defeats, who had himself stood at bay, facing a world in
arms so successfully that men called him "The Great," called this and
the subsequent campaign the finest military exploit of the age!