A Letter Addressed to the Abbe Raynal | Page 8

mistake on the part of
Rolle.
The case was this: A detachment of twenty or thirty Americans had been sent across the
river from a post a few miles above, by an officer unacquainted with the intended attack;
these were met by a body of Hessians on the night, to which the information pointed,
which was Christmas night, and repulsed. Nothing further appearing, and the Hessians
mistaking this for the advanced party, supposed the enterprize disconcerted, which at that
time was not begun, and under this idea returned to their quarters; so that, what might
have raised an alarm, and brought the Americans into an ambuscade, served to take off
the force of an information, and promote the success of the enterprise. Soon after
day-light General Washington entered the town, and after a little opposition made himself
master of it, with upwards of nine hundred prisoners.
This combination of equivocal circumstances, falling within what the Abbe styles, "the
wide empire of chance," would have afforded a fine field for thought; and I wish, for the
sake of that elegance of reflection he is so capable of using, that he had known it.
But the action of Princeton was accompanied by a still greater embarrassment of matters,
and followed by more extraordinary consequences. The Americans, by a happy stroke of
generalship, in this instance, not only deranged and defeated all the plans of the British,
in the intended moment of execution, but drew from their posts the enemy they were not
able to drive, and obliged them to close the campaign. As the circumstance is a curiosity
in war, and not well understood in Europe, I shall, as concisely as I can, relate the
principal parts; they may serve to prevent future historians from error, and recover from
forgetfulness a scene of magnificent fortitude.

Immediately after the surprise of the Hessians at Trenton, General Washington re-crossed
the Delaware, which at this place is about three quarters of a mile over, and re-assumed
his former post on the Pennsylvania side. Trenton remained unoccupied, and the enemy
were posted at Princeton, twelve miles distant, on the road toward New-York. The
weather was now growing very severe, and as there were very few houses near the shore
where General Washington had taken his station, the greatest part of his army remained
out in the woods and fields. These, with some other circumstances, induced the
re-crossing the Delaware and taking possession of Trenton. It was undoubtedly a bold
adventure, and carried with it the appearance of defiance, especially when we consider
the panic-struck condition of the enemy on the loss of the Hessian post. But in order to
give a just idea of the affair, it is necessary that I should describe the place.
Trenton is situated on a rising ground, about three quarters of a mile distant from the
Delaware, on the eastern or Jersey side; and is cut into two divisions by a small creek or
rivulet, sufficient to turn a mill which is on it, after which it empties itself at nearly right
angles into the Delaware. The upper division, which is that to the north-east, contains
about seventy or eighty houses, and the lower about forty of fifty. The ground on each
side this creek, and on which the houses are, is likewise rising, and the two divisions
present an agreeable prospect to each other, with the creek between, on which there is a
small stone bridge of one arch.
Scarcely had General Washington taken post here, and before the several parties of
militia, out on detachments, or on their way, could be collected, than the British, leaving
behind them a strong garrison at Princeton, marched suddenly and entered Trenton at the
upper or north-east quarter. A party of the Americans skirmished with the advanced party
of the British, to afford time for removing the stores and baggage, and withdrawing over
the bridge.
In a little time the British had possession of one half of the town, General Washington of
the other; and the creek only separated the two armies. Nothing could be a more critical
situation than this, and if ever the fate of America depended upon the event of a day, it
was now. The Delaware was filling fast with large sheets of driving ice, and was
impassable, so that no retreat into Pennsylvania could be effected, neither is it possible, in
the face of an enemy, to pass a river of such extent. The roads were broken and rugged
with the frost, and the main road was occupied by the enemy.
About four o'clock a party of the British approached the bridge, with a design to gain it,
but were repulsed. They made no more attempts, though the creek itself is passable
anywhere between the bridge and the Delaware.