Battle Of Trenton Summary

By the end of 1776, the Continental Army was in a state of despair. After the traumatic defeat in Brooklyn, General George Washington led his rapidly depleting army through northeastern New Jersey, crossed the Delaware, and settled in on the banks of the river around December 7, 1776. Washington, knowing the condition of his army, decided to launch one last-gasp effort to defeat the British and boost patriot moral. He did not receive the reinforcements he pleaded for from General Charles Lee or General Horatio Gates in the weeks before the attack, but by late December, he could no longer wait. On December 25, 1776, Washington launched the first attack on the Hessian garrison in Trenton, New Jersey and used three major principles of war to his advantage: simplicity, surprise, and mass.
The Plan
There were three thousand Hessian jägers, grenadiers, and the 42nd Highlanders under the command of Colonel von Donop on the New Jersey side of the river; he positioned half of his men at Trenton and the other half
There were two main streets, King and Queen, running parallel through the town in a north and south direction before coming together at the north end. At the south end, there was a bridge that crossed Assunpink Creek that led to Bordentown. There was one company positioned at the north end of town, another south of the creek, and Rall’s headquarters were in the middle. A picket on Pennington Road consisted of a lieutenant, corporal, and twenty-four men. There was another post under Captain von Altenbockum positioned halfway between the picket and Trenton. On the river road was a post consisting of one captain and fifty jägers. Positioned on the roads to Maidenhead, Crosswicks, ferry landing, and the Assunpink Bridge were four more posts, but they were not in the line of the American