142.  From the Hudson to the Delaware, 1776.—­Even now with his splendid fleet and great army Howe could have captured the Americans.  But he delayed so long that Washington got away in safety.  Washington’s army was now fast breaking up.  Soldiers deserted by the hundreds.  A severe action at White Plains only delayed the British advance.  The fall of Fort Washington on the end of Manhattan Island destroyed all hope of holding anything near New York.  Washington sent one part of his army to secure the Highlands of the Hudson.  With the other part he retired across New Jersey to the southern side of the Delaware River.  The end of the war seemed to be in sight.  In December, 1776, Congress gave the sole direction of the war to Washington and then left Philadelphia for a place of greater safety.

[Sidenote:  Battle of Trenton, 1776. Higginson, 203; Hero Tales, 45-55]

143.  Trenton, December 26, 1776.—­Washington did not give up.  On Christmas night, 1776, he crossed the Delaware with a division of his army.  A violent snowstorm was raging, the river was full of ice.  But Washington was there in person, and the soldiers crossed.  Then the storm changed to sleet and rain.  But on the soldiers marched.  When the Hessian garrison at Trenton looked about them next morning they saw that Washington and Greene held the roads leading inland from the town.  Stark and a few soldiers—­among them James Monroe—­held the bridge leading over the Assanpink to the next British post.  A few horsemen escaped before Stark could prevent them.  But all the foot soldiers were killed or captured.  A few days later nearly one thousand prisoners marched through Philadelphia.  They were Germans, who had been sold by their rulers to Britain’s king to fight his battles.  They were called Hessians by the Americans because most of them came from the little German state of Hesse Cassel.

[Illustration:  Battle of Trenton.]

[Illustration:  Battle of Princeton.]

[Sidenote:  Battle of Princeton, 1777. Source-Book, 149-151.]

144.  Princeton, January, 1777.—­Trenton saved the Revolution by giving the Americans renewed courage.  General Howe sent Lord Cornwallis with a strong force to destroy the Americans.  Washington with the main part of his army was now encamped on the southern side of the Assanpink.  Cornwallis was on the other bank at Trenton.  Leaving a few men to keep up the campfires, and to throw up a slight fort by the bridge over the stream, Washington led his army away by night toward Princeton.  There he found several regiments hastening to Cornwallis.  He drove them away and led his army to the highlands of New Jersey where he would be free from attack.  The British abandoned nearly all their posts in New Jersey and retired to New York.

CHAPTER 15

THE GREAT DECLARATION AND THE FRENCH ALLIANCE

[Sidenote:  Rising spirit of independence, 1775-76.]