ld
electrify the drooping spirits of the army and the country. At Trenton
lay a body of 1,200 Hessians. Christmas night Washington crossed the
Delaware with 2,400 picked men. The current was swift, and the river
full of floating ice; but the boats were handled by Massachusetts
fishermen, and the passage was safely made. Then began the nine-mile
march to Trenton, in a blinding storm of sleet and hail. The soldiers,
many of whom were almost barefoot, stumbled on over the slippery road,
shielding their muskets from the storm as best they could. Trenton was
reached at eight o'clock on the morning of the 26th. An attack was made
by two columns simultaneously. The surprise was complete, and after a
half hour's struggle the Hessians surrendered. Nearly 1,000 prisoners
were taken, besides 1,200 small arms and six guns. Washington safely
retreated across the Delaware.

[1777]

Cornwallis, with 7,000 men, hurried from Princeton to attack the
American army. But Washington, on the night of January 2, 1777, leaving
his camp-fires burning, slipped around the British army, routed the
regiments left at Princeton, and pushing on northward went into winter
quarters at Morristown.

The next campaign opened late. It was the last of August when Howe, with
17,000 men, sailed from New York into Chesapeake Bay, and advanced
toward Philadelphia. Washington flung himself in his path at Brandywine,
September 11th, but was beaten back with heavy loss. September 26th the
British army marched into Philadelphia, whence Congress had fled.
October 4th, Washington attacked the British camp at Germantown. Victory
was almost his when two of the attacking parties, mistaking each other,
in the fog, for British, threw the movement into confusion, and
Washington had to fall back, with a loss of 1,000 men.

In December the American commander led his ragged army into winter
quarters at Valley Forge, twenty-one miles from Philadelphia. It was a
period of deep gloom. The war had been waged now for more than two
years, and less than nothing seemed to have been accomplished. Distrust
of Washington's ability sprang up in some minds. "Heaven grant us one
great soul!" exclaimed John Adams after Brandywine. Certain officers,
envious of Washington, began to intrigue for his place.

Meanwhile the army was shivering in its log huts at Valley Forge. Nearly
three thousand were barefoot. Many had to sit by the fires all night to
keep from freezing. One day there was a