"Trenton 1776" Topic

"Americans: George Washington, 5,402 with 17 guns
Hessians: Johann Gottleib Rall, 1,356 with 6 guns

Weather: What they call a "Nor'easter" in this part of the United States. Cold, blasting wind from the northeast, blowing a mixture of snow and rain. Ice starting to form on the Delaware River and streams.

Location: 40.22 N, 74.76 W about 26 mi.(42 km) NW of Philadelphia, PA
Dawn Twilight: 6:50 Sunrise: 7:21 Sunset: 16:40 End Twilight: 17:10: Moonrise: 17:31 nearly full
(calculated from U.S.Naval Observatory site)

Several years ago, while visiting friends in Princeton, we went to the site of Washington's famous crossing of the Delaware and his subsequent victories at Trenton and Princeton at the end of 1776. These two battles were dubbed by historians of the American Revolution a turning point. Up to this date, the year 1776 was near catastrophic for the American cause of independence, with an unending string of British victories and Washington's army virtually annihilated, driven south, clear out of New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. It was only the coming of winter that kept the British commander, Lord Howe, from ending the entire war then. While the Battle of Trenton may not be so obscure to students of American history (as opposed to the average American on a Jimmy Kimmel street interview who couldn't tell you what came first, the Civil War or WWII), not many may know that if it weren't for this tiny, half-hour battle, the American Revolution was on the verge of collapsing. The United States might never have existed. Yet Trenton was more of a raid than a full-on battle. It was like one of those Schrödinger moments in quantum theory where the universe split into two metaverses…"

More in Obscure Battles Blog

link

Armand

"Yet Trenton was more of a raid than a full-on battle."
I disagree. By European standards, it would hardly merit a paragraph in a history book.
But, we're not Europeans, by gum!

By European standards, few American AWI battles would merit a paragraph Cowpens? Kings Mountain? Even the Saratoga campaign.
"Obscure battles"? I think not.

Perhaps Monmouth Courthouse, Camden, Long Island and Brandywine. They are still comparatively small.

Germantown ( about a half mile away).

@Lester – do you mean Germantown is a half mile from you? Just wondering because Germantown is a good 30-45 minute drive from Trenton.

It was the PROOF of Washington's genius as a Strategist, if not always a Tactician.

He knew that a victory (or two) of most any kind was absolutely necessary to keep the army intact, and show the world (but mostly KG III) that the war was anything but "over."

God Bless George Washington!

TVAG

Mr. Jeff Berry titled his blog in this way more than 10 years ago… I understand that not all the battles he describes fit into the concept… but he does an incredibly detailed and enjoyable work that far surpasses many other blogs on this topics…

It is also understandable that according to the canons of European battles those fought on American soil are not considered numerically important… what they forget is that in their not-so-distant past there were also battles of great importance for their history that did not have so many thousands of protagonists… for the American countries that had to fight to achieve their independence… even very small scale battles come to be considered fundamental battles… in my country… the battle of San Lorenzo turns out to be just a skirmish but a foundation stone for our Independence…

Armand

I used to reenact, and read several of the regimental journals of the various Hessian regiments. Most note this action, but at least one has an entry covering from Dec 1776 to March 1777 and says "Nothing of interest happened."

That said, an engineer captain with Colonel von Donop visited Trenton after Rall's brigade arrived and recommended that a redoubt be built about where the flag marked 'Knox' is on that map. This was SOP in the Hessian infantry regulations, but Rall chose not to do that.

Was Trenton intended to be little more than a raid? Or did the failure of so much of the force to successfully land caused Washington to retire after having captured the garrison at Trenton.

Also it isn't accurate that 1776 had been nearly catastrophic. Things had not gone well for Washington's army after forcing Howe out of Boston, and on the Canadian/Northern front. Further south though Dunmore had been forced to evacuate his toehold in Virginia, pro-Loyalist efforts in North and South Carolina had been beaten, the Cherokees had been beaten and a British invasion of Charles Town had been stopped.

First Trenton was very probably intended as a raid. Then Washington had to get his prisoners over to Pennsylvania.
Back in Pa, his army was about to dissolve due to enlistments expiring on December 31.
Having solved the enlistment issue, gathering a few more troops, he returned for Second Trenton and Princeton. He also went into Winter quarters in New Jersey, practically forcing the British to evacuate New Jersey.
Frederick the Great said something like "Hot diggity! That was brilliant!" If you can impress der Alte Fritz, that says everything you need to know about comparison to European warfare. He knew a thing or two.

My Trenton game.

link

My Trenton 2 game.

link