As preparations were being made for a pivotal battle in the Revolutionary War, this quote was discovered in a journal of one of the soldiers in the Continental Army. “The Regiments have had their evening parade, but instead of returning to their quarters, they are marching toward the ferry. It is fearfully cold and raw and a snowstorm is setting in. The wind is northeast and beats in the faces of the men. It will be a terrible night for the soldiers who have no shoes. Some of them have tied old rags around their feet; others are barefoot, but I have not heard a man complain. They are ready to suffer any hardship and die rather than give up their liberty.”
It was a monumental gamble for General George Washington. He would attack the Hessian stronghold at Trenton, New Jersey, on Christmas night, after crossing the Delaware River with his men and artillery. The surprise of the holiday attack would be aided, for the most part, by a fierce nor’easter that produced strong winds, snow, and sleet.
Formulating A Plan
The year 1776 was coming to an end and things weren’t going very well for the Continental Army led by George Washington. Earlier, his troops had barely escaped Long Island, aided by a thick shroud of fog, where a battle against the British Army surely would have resulted in a humiliating defeat.
Morale was low and it was diminishing by the day for the Continental Army. Supplies were scant, cash was short and the original enlistment time for many of the troops would soon expire. Unless there was some glimmer of hope for victory, it appeared that the war for independence would be lost and severe consequences would follow.
To make matters worse, the weather had not been kind to General Washington and his soldiers. Constant rain in early December made it slow going for the troops. They marched through New Jersey and set up camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
As an act of pure desperation, Washington concocted a plan that would ultimately change the course of the Revolutionary War. The plan would involve a surprise attack on Hessian soldiers that were located in and around Trenton, New Jersey Hessians, as they were called by the Continental Army, were German soldiers who were used by the British to aid them in their war effort (more on them later). Adding an element of surprise, Washington presented his plan to the war councils to attack Trenton on Christmas night.
The Continental Army needed a victory, ANY kind of victory to help raise morale and to encourage the reenlistment of the troops.
Battle of Trenton logistical map. Credit. U.S. Military Academy Dept. of History-Public Domain
Execution Of The Plan
Before the battle, Washington commissioned a spy named John Honeyman posing as a Tory (or British sympathizer) to Trenton. Honeyman has plenty of experience dealing with the British and the Hessians. After staying there for several days, he allowed himself to be captured by Washington’s army and provided exceptional intelligence about the Hessian forces in Trenton. There were also minor attacks on the Hessians, mainly meant as a distraction.
Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday in 1776. There were periods of sunshine in the morning but it was very cold with temperatures in the upper teens. Winds were light from the north. By afternoon the skies became increasingly cloudy and the wind switched to the northeast and it began to increase in speed. The temperature had only reached the upper 20s.
By evening, weather conditions deteriorated as freezing rain moved in. That eventually changed to sleet and snow as the intensity of precipitation increased. The temperature hovered around 30 degrees before falling again later in the night.
Painting of Washington Crossing The Delaware by Emanual Leutze. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Wikipedia Commons-Pubic Domain.
To engage in battle at Trenton, Washington’s forces had to cross an increasingly icy Delaware River. Around 5 p.m. the crossing commenced with nearly 2,400 soldiers, 18 cannons, and 100 horses several miles north of Trenton. The river was about 300 yards wide.
According to mountvernon.org Washington’s army crossed the river in shallow-draft Durham boats – strongly built cargo vessels, most of them between 40 and 60 feet in length, designed to move iron ore and bulk goods down the river to markets in and around Philadelphia.
These expertly built craft with their high side walls were strong enough to survive the ice-choked Delaware River. Heavy artillery pieces and horses were transported on large at-bottomed ferries and other watercraft more suited to carrying that type of difficult cargo. It shouldn’t be surprising that most of Washington’s soldiers stood during the crossing since the bottoms of Durham boats were neither comfortable nor dry.
The weather during the crossing, which took ten hours, was quite extreme. In addition, there was so much ice on the river that crossing it seemed nearly impossible. One of the soldiers described the conditions as “a violent storm of rain, hail, and snow coupled with the ice flows and high winds”.
Weather conditions became a double-edged sword. Heavy snow and sleet added an element of surprise and visibilities would be severely limited by the enemy. Because of numerous delays, Washington contemplated calling off the battle entirely, however. he later wrote, “As I was certain there was no making a retreat without being discovered and harassed on repassing the River, I determined to push on at all Events.”
Around 3 a.m., after the Delaware River was successfully crossed, the nine-mile march toward Trenton began. Unbelievably, many of the troops marched without shoes. One soldier froze to death on the way. As the night wore on, precipitation became heavy snow and the temperature fell back to the low 20s.
The Hessians
The Hessians had come to Trenton less than two weeks before Christmas to set up their winter quarters. Four regiments of Hessian soldiers, about 1,400 men, occupied the area, commanded by Colonel Johan Rall.
Before continuing with the story, I thought that it would be interesting to know more about these “Hessians”. If you managed to stay awake during an American History class, you were told that Hessians were “mercenaries” who were soldiers paid to fight for various armies.
That is not quite the case here. Most of these soldiers came from the province of Hesse-Cassel, in what is now southwest Germany. At the time, the ruler of this province was Landgrave (Duke) Fredrick II, who was the son-in-law of King George II.
The Landgrave would have troops trained to fight in foreign wars. Many of them came from impoverished families that were eager to receive food and payment for their services the families of these soldiers were also promised food and shelter. The countries that needed help with ongoing wars would pay for the soldiers and those funds would be distributed to the soldiers and their families. Exactly how much was distributed to the soldiers and families as opposed to how much was kept by the royalty is the subject of conjecture. The name “Hessians” came from the province of Hesse-Cassel.
A depiction of Hessian Hussars (Cavalry) during the Revolutionary War. C. Ziegler-Wikimedia Commons-Public Domain
The British didn’t have a large standing army so King George III agreed with the Landgrave to keep 12,000 Hessian troops in America at any given time. All in all, nearly 30,000 Hessians served during the Revolutionary War. Nearly 8,000 died but more perished by illness than by battle. Hundreds of Hessians were captured as prisoners. Some defected and joined the Continental Army. Others were sent to work on farms in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area where Germanic immigrants had settled and spoke a language that was familiar to them. Nearly 5,000 Hessian troops remained in America after the war.
The war was supposed to end quickly but as it dragged on, it became more difficult for the Landgrave to supply enough troops to keep the agreement. Also, the Continental Army was able to encourage desertion among the Hessians and, as mentioned, had some serving as troops and spies for their side.
The Hessians were no slouches as warriors. This was a well-trained, disciplined, and efficient army with extremely distinguished officers. They became a significant help to British forces in battles from the Carolinas to New England.
In the end, the toll on this army of men and the province that sent them had become too overwhelming. The Revolutionary War was the last time that Hessian troops were “rented out” to any foreign power.
Returning to the battle of Trenton, there were no natural barriers to fortify the town but Rall didn’t feel the need for any fortifications. In addition, the attack of the Continental Army shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise at all. Spies and deserters from the American side warned Colonel Rall that the Americans were planning an attack.
Colonel Rall dismissed all of the intelligence. After all, it was Christmas and they couldn’t possibly be attacked on THAT day. In addition, the weather was awful, the ice kept growing on the rivers and any attack would be precarious at best.
Like most of us, the Hessians liked to have a good time once in a while and Christmas Day was a perfect one for drinking and singing. While clouds and wind increased as a cold day turned into evening, little did they know what was in progress on the other side of the river!
The Battle of Trenton
With all of this buildup, it’s difficult to let you down but this one wasn’t much of a battle at all. As the Continental Army approached Trenton under the cover of heavy snow, the small British brigade in Trenton escaped, leaving the Hessians to fend for themselves.
Washington’s army cut off other possible escape routes. The march to Trenton would take four hours. Some local civilians joined the forces and provided useful information about the surrounding terrain.
On the morning of December 26th, Washington took one brigade along Pennington Road, through thick snow, to Trenton while another, led by Major General John Sullivan marched down River Road. Washington let Sullivan’s forces attack Trenton while his forces set up on higher ground around the town and they could monitor the movements of the Hessians. Artillery was perfectly stationed on the higher ground to provide support to the troops. A stunned Colonel Rall and his regiments initially tried to defend the city but they were outflanked, outmanned, and outgunned.
The battle lasted just one hour before the Hessians surrendered to General Sullivan. Overall, Hessian forces suffered 22 deaths and 83 injuries, and 896 were captured. Colonel Rall died from injuries suffered in the battle. The Americans only suffered two deaths (both from frostbite) and five injuries. The most serious injury was to an 18-year-old soldier who had left the College of William and Mary to join the Continental Army. His name was James Monroe, who would later become President of the United States.
Another future president, James Madison also participated in the battle. The future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, and future Vice President Aaron Burr were also there. If that’s not enough, one of the American artillery sections was commanded by Captain Alexander Hamilton, who would later become Secretary of the Treasury.
Meteorological Conditions
Even though we have gone back to the eighteenth century, we have plenty of weather observations for this event. Reports from earlier in December of 1776 indicated a wet period with plenty of rain. By the morning of December 25th, there was a light north wind with temperatures in the low 20s.
So, it looks like a cold front had passed through the region in the days just before the event with high pressure likely to the north. As clouds and precipitation developed through the late afternoon and evening, with winds increasing from the northeast it was apparent that this storm was a nor’easter.
Since the temperature rose to about 30 degrees, we can assume that an area of low pressure moved up the East Coast but New Jersey remained to the west (or colder side) of the low, but the Atlantic Ocean had an effect. With the reports of freezing rain and sleet, the low probably tracked close to the coast. With temperatures dropping toward the morning of December 26th, and mixed precipitation changing to all snow, we can assume that the low passed by and continued to move northward or northeastward as it departed the Mid-Atlantic region with strong winds switching to the northwest.
Here is what the surface weather map might have looked like by late evening on December 25, 1776 (without many of the cities).
The Revolutionary War was a tale of an overwhelming underdog overcoming incredible odds. In many cases, the weather was a positive factor for the Continental Army and the battle of Trenton nor’easter was an example As battles go, Trenton was a rather small one compared to many others but the victory was just what George Washington and his troops needed to keep the war going and that would lead to the independence of a new nation.
