George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a complex and surprise military maneuver and attack organized by George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, which culminated in their attack on Hessian forces garrisoned at Trenton. The Hessians were German mercenaries hired by the British.
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Return to Pennsylvania[edit]
Following the battle, Washington had to execute a second crossing that was in some ways more difficult than the first. In the aftermath of the battle, the Hessian supplies had been plundered, and, in spite of Washington's explicit orders for its destruction, casks of captured rum were opened, so some of the celebrating troops got drunk,[41] probably contributing to the larger number of troops that had to be pulled from the icy Delaware River waters on the return crossing.[42] They also had to transport the large numbers of prisoners across the river while keeping them under guard. One American acting as a guard on one of the crossings observed that the Hessians, who were standing in knee-deep ice water, were "so cold that their underjaws quivered like an aspen leaf."[43]
The victory had a marked effect on the troops' morale. Soldiers celebrated the victory, Washington's role as a leader was secured, and Congress gained renewed enthusiasm for the war.[2]
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Washington and his troops successfully attacked the Hessian forces in the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776. The military campaign was organized in great secrecy by Washington, who led a column of Continental Army troops from today's Bucks County, Pennsylvania across the icy Delaware River to today's Mercer County, New Jersey in what was one of the Revolutionary War's most logistically challenging and dangerous clandestine operations.
Other planned crossings in support of the operation were either called off or ineffective, but this did not prevent Washington from surprising and defeating the Hessian troops encamped in Trenton under the command of Johann Rall. After prevailing in the Battle of Trenton, Washington and his Continental Army troops crossed the Delaware River again, returning to Pennsylvania west-bound with Hessian prisoners and military stores taken in the battle.
Washington's army then crossed the Delaware River a third time at the end of 1776 under difficult circumstances by the uncertain thickness of the ice on the river. They defeated British reinforcements under Lord Cornwallis at Trenton on January 2, 1777, and were also triumphant over his rear guard at Princeton the following day prior to retreating to his winter quarters in Morristown, New Jersey.
As a celebrated location and development in the ultimately victorious Revolutionary War, the unincorporated communities of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania and Washington Crossing, New Jersey are both presently named in honor of Washington and the logistically complicated covert crossing of Delaware River.
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