Battle of Trenton

An outpost was set up by the Hessians at a cooper shop on Pennington Road about one mile north-west of Trenton. George Washington himself led the assault, riding in front of his soldiers. The Hessian commander of the outpost, Lieutenant Andreas von Wiederholdt, came out of the shop to get some fresh air, and an American fired at him. Wiederholdt shouted "The Enemy!" and other Hessians came out. The Americans fired three volleys at them and the Hessians returned one of their own. Washington ordered Edward Hand's Pennsylvania Riflemen and a battalion of German-speaking infantry to block the road that led to Princeton, and they did attack the Hessian outpost there. Wiederholdt soon realized it was more than just a raiding party, and he saw the other Hessians retreating from the outpost on the Princeton Road, and decided to do the same. Both of the Hessian detachments led an organized retreat, firing as they fell back. They fell back to the high ground at the north end of Trenton, where they were joined by a duty company from the Lossberg Regiment. They engaged the Americans, retreating slowly, keeping up continuous fire and using houses and other buildings for cover. Once in Trenton, they began to receive support from other Hessian guard companies on the outskirts of the town. Another guard company nearer to the Delaware River rushed east to their aid, leaving open the River Road into Trenton. Washington ordered that the escape route to Princeton be cut off, sending infantry in battle formation to block it off, while artillery formed at the head of King and Queen streets.

General John Sullivan, leading the southern American column entered Trenton on the abandoned river road, and blocked the only crossing over the Assunpink Creek. This was the only way out of Trenton to the south, and he hoped to cut off the Hessian escape. Sullivan briefly held up his advance to order to make sure that Greene's division had time to drive the Hessians from their outposts in the no...

On December 26, at 3:00 A.M. the crossing was complete but the column was not ready to march until 4:00 A.M., well behind schedule. Even with intelligence from Loyalists and American deserters, having told him the day and hour of the attack, Rall did not know how large the American attacking force would be. He figured that it would be nothing more than small hit-and-run patrol actions to which he had become accustomed and indifferent.

At 4:00 A.M., about 4 miles from their crossing at Birmingham, Washington's force split into two columns. Greene, along with Washington, led one column onto the Pennington Road to attack the Hessian garrison from the north. Sullivan led the second column continued on the river road so it could attack the Hessian garrison from the west. By 6:00 A.M., the troops were miserable. Sullivan sent word that the men's muskets would not fire due to being exposed to the storm all night. Washington sent word back for the men to use their bayonets instead.

At the Hessian garrison, Rall had passed out and was sound asleep along with most of his 1,200 man force, which was divided into 3 regiments: under himself, Col. Thaddeus Knyphausen, and Lossberg. Because of the severe snowstorm, Maj. Dechow decided not to send out the normal predawn patrol to sweep the area for signs of the Americans. Though the storm cause extreme misery for the troops, it allowed them to approach undetected.

At 8:00 A.M., Washington's party asked a man that was chopping wood where the Hessian sentries were, just outside of Trenton. He pointed to a nearby house. A 20-man outpost of Lt. Wiederhold saw the Americans emerge from the woods about 1/2 mile from the northern end of Trenton, on the Pennington Road. The outpost waited until the Americans were within range, then fired an ineffective volley at them. They quickly dropped back onto their main company position, some 400 yards closer to the town. About 3 minutes after this engagement, Sullivan's advance guard flus...