The British saw that they
could not help themselves, so they made haste to get on board their
vessels and sail away. They never came back to Boston again, but went
to New York.

[Footnote 18: Sharpshooters: men who can fire and hit a small mark
with a bullet at a long distance.]

[Footnote 19: Moccasins (mok'ka-sins): Indian shoes made of
deerskin.]

137. The Declaration of Independence; "Down with the king!"
Washington is driven from New York and across the Delaware
River.--Washington got to New York first. While he was there,
Congress,[20] on the 4th of July, 1776, declared the United States
_independent_--that is, entirely free from the rule of the king of
England. There was a gilded lead statue of King George the Third on
horseback in New York. When the news of what Congress had done reached
that city, there was a great cry of "Down with the king!" That night
some of our men pulled down the statue, melted it up, and cast it
into bullets.

[Illustration: "DOWN WITH THE KING!"]

The next month there was a battle on Long Island,[21] just across
from New York City; the British gained the victory. Washington had
to leave New York, and Lord Cornwallis, one of the British generals,
chased him and his little army clear across the state of New Jersey.
It looked at one time as though our men would all be taken prisoners,
but Washington managed to seize a lot of small boats on the Delaware
River[22] and get across into Pennsylvania: as the British had no
boats, they could not follow.

[Footnote 20: Congress: see footnote 14 in paragraph 133.]

[Footnote 21: See map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 22: See map in paragraph 135.]

138. Washington's victory at Trenton, New Jersey.--Lord Cornwallis
left fifteen hundred German soldiers at Trenton on the Delaware. He
intended, as soon as the river froze over, to cross on the ice and
attack Washington's army. But Washington did not wait for him. On
Christmas night (1776) he took a large number of boats, filled them
with soldiers, and secretly crossed over to New Jersey.[23] The
weather was intensely cold, the river was full of floating ice, and
a furious snow-storm set in. Many of our men were ragged and had only
old broken shoes. They suffered terribly, and two of them were frozen
to death.

[Illustration: WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER.]

The Germans at Trenton had been having a jolly Christmas, and had
gone to bed, suspecting no danger. Suddenly Washington