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.]

145. Growth of the Spirit of Independence.--The year 1776 is even
more to be remembered for the doings of Congress than it is for the
doings of the soldiers. The colonists loved England. They spoke of it as
home. They were proud of the strength of the Bri