"The Hessians were NOT drunk!" Topic

Although being stuck in New Jersey, who would blame them?
And it's Rall, not von Rall.

Merry Christmas!

So the victory was hard fought and they deserve a lot of credit for it

Hung over is not drunk….it is the result of being drunk :)

Rall may have been hungover. The three regiments? Nope.

Only one Hessian was out drinking the night before, acting Brigade Commander Rall, with a note in uniform coat from a Tory snitch. The victory was due to General Knox's brilliant & aggressive artillery deployment. Including a unit of artillery commandos with the lead column, who's assignment were to spike or capture the Hessian cannons. Plus luck, Washington's attack was running hours late or the morning patrol of 200 Hessians & two cannon would have met the attack , instead of it returning into Trenton. Plus, Rall receiving the incorrect information the bridge had already been captured, preventing the brigade from withdrawing from Trenton. Plus, Rall's arrogance, when he was informed of the two Rall's Regiment battalion cannon being captured, he ordered an attack back into the Trenton's hornets nest by the brigade to recover his regiments prize cannon. The Hessian Brigade at Trenton was NOT a drunk Brigade, it was a combat degraded & depleted brigade from intense fighting at Chatterton Hill and the storming of Fort Washington.

Let alone Rall figured the advanced warning of the attack he received was only going to be militia condicting hit and run attacks, similar to what they had been doing all week.

I am only busting chops here guys. I always thought that the Hessians were taken by surprise because they quite honestly thought that they were in "winter quarters" and thought the actual fighting was over until Spring. I'm thinking they were situated in a position where they could observe the enemy, but I'm thinking they never imagined they would be attacked.
My group actually gamed Trenton and it was a great game.

Stop re-writing history! The Hessians were drunk! My 2nd grade teacher said so and she is NEVER wrong!

Tom is correct that the Rall brigade was degraded but not because of the previous fights at Chatterton Hill or Fort Washington, but due to the constant harassment they suffered from the American militia. It was not unusual for the Hessians, who were ordered by Rall to sleep in full dress with muskets at the ready, to be called out several times during the night due to American hit and run attacks on their outposts. Couple the harassment with Rall's poor decisions not to construct even rudimentary redoubts at key entrances to Trenton, the diversion of Von Donop's command to Mt. Holly and British General Grant's overall dismissive response to Rall's requests to be reinforced and you have prescription for catastrophic defeat.

Cavcrazy, can you give us some tips on how you set up your Trenton scenario? I'd like to give Trenton a try.

@oldnorthstate: Very true the sustained militia terrorism and constant harassment did continue degrading & depleting the brigade. The combat at Chatterton Hill & the assault on Fort Washington led to the brigade's command and control being effected by the heavy officer casualties during them.
Even to the point of Rall holding acting brigade command.

They WERE sleepy, I can assure you….
I am not my best before a cup of joe.

"Artillery commandos", "Militia terrorism" H'mm (chin scratching emoticon)

I think it might be assigning 21st century values in judging Rall's determinationto recover his guns as arrogant.

To lose guns to the enemy was a considerable source of shame to the 18th century soldier. For seasoned professional soldiers to lose guns to what Rall may have deemed to be local militia, an even greater shame. The under-estimation of who his opposition might have been, perhaps hinted of arrogance.

The comment 'cavcrazy' makes comment about 'winter quarters' is valid (but hardly an excuse).

On a separate note, Maj.Gen Grant was a dick.

Walter:
We had the village about 3/4 down the end of a 16 foot table, with a small cottage as a sentry post along the road leading into Trenton. The game started with the Continentals already across the Delaware and marching towards Trenton. When the army came to the sentry house, a roll of the dice determined if they were found out, they were not. The sentries were dispatched in hand to hand fighting and the army continued on. When the village was in sight, there was a second die roll, and this time the Hessians were alerted. As the Americans moved into positions the Hessians took to the streets, pulling there artillery into the common and falling into line. American troops were coming down the road and forming into line, the artillery brought into place. With Continental forces cutting the Hessians off from retreating through the town and blocking the way, The battle was on. It was a tough fight for the Continentals and they lost about a quarter of their forces when all was said and done. It would have been worse but the Hessians were not allowed to fight from the houses….That would have made it a totally different game than what was planned. The game was great fun and I hope to game it again in the future. I'm thinking I may have to paint up some Eureka ragged continentals and some Perry/ Foundry troops adding some green stuff to make blanket coats and such…..make a few units specifically for a winter game.

On a separate note, Maj.Gen Grant was a dick.

No one will disagree on that. Non-controversial statement.

I believe the Hessians may have been tired & emotional.

Some had been un-friended on Facebook and got upset.

Do you know what I find curious about Trenton? How what would have amounted to a inconsequential skirmish in any European battlefield was transformed into a historical defining moment in the narrative of the American Revolution. I doubt that without Trenton Washington would have been able to hold on his command for much longer.

I believe that two other factors contributed, both referred to in Attwood:

1) the long distances the Hessians had marched throughout October and November (from NYC to New Jersey via Kingsbridge) having suffered from some severely upset stomachs in August and September due to pillaging unripened fruit; and

2) the age of many of the "junior" officers, resulting in some deaths and considerable sickness/absence (possibly the same was true of the senior NCOs?).

The only thing I would add to the Grant comment is that he was a fat dick.

^^^^^ hahahaha, well said.

So how did the "myth" get started? Seems like if you were the desperate continentals you would want to make your vanquished foes out to be super soldiers that you bested. Not a bunch of drunken sots who fell right over.

The myth got started well after the war by those who wished to portray the enemy as degenerates. We were fighting Evil.
Stalwart Christians smote drunken sots by reason of our virtue.
The same line of reasoning went into Parson Weems biography of "I cannot tell a lie" George Washington.
Their agenda did not include portraying Washington and the Continentals as competent soldiers learning their trade as they went along.

"Stalwart Christians smote drunken sots by reason of our virtue"- I was about to say something of the sort but would not have expressed it nearly as as well.

"Pillaging"? That was foraging, sir!

"foraging"? Pish-tosh! The American "appropriators" gave perfectly good Continental dollars in exchange. (perfectly good to wrap fish in….)

Rall's Brigade was in a bad situation due to being outnumbered (~1300 to 2400 (or 3500)) and the Americans having 13 guns to the Hessians 6. Von Donop's Brigade (I believe) was the next closest brigade and had the two brigades been together they could have made a better fight of it. Von Donop was 1 to 2 hours away.

v/r

Joe