ylvania at his back and New
Jersey before him across the Delaware were less than half loyal to the
American cause and probably willing to accept peace on almost any terms.
Never was a general in a position where greater risks must be taken for
salvation. As Washington pondered what was going on among the British
across the Delaware, a bold plan outlined itself in his mind. Howe,
he knew, had gone to New York to celebrate a triumphant Christmas. His
absence from the front was certain to involve slackness. It was Germans
who held the line of the Delaware, some thirteen hundred of them under
Colonel Rahl at Trenton, two thousand under Von Donop farther down the
river at Bordentown; and with Germans perhaps more than any other
people Christmas is a season of elaborate festivity. On this their first
Christmas away from home many of the Germans would be likely to be
off their guard either through homesickness or dissipation. They cared
nothing for either side. There had been much plundering in New Jersey
and discipline was relaxed.

Howe had been guilty of the folly of making strong the posts farthest
from the enemy and weak those nearest to him. He had, indeed, ordered
Rahl to throw up redoubts for the defense of Trenton, but this, as
Washington well knew, had not been done for Rahl despised his enemy and
spoke of the American army as already lost. Washington's bold plan
was to recross the Delaware and attack Trenton. There were to be three
crossings. One was to be against Von Donop at Bordentown below Trenton,
the second at Trenton itself. These two attacks were designed to prevent
aid to Trenton. The third force with which Washington himself went was
to cross the river some nine miles above the town.

Christmas Day, 1776, was dismally cold. There was a driving storm of
sleet and the broad swollen stream of the Delaware, dotted with dark
masses of floating ice, offered a chill prospect. To take an army with
its guns across that threatening flood was indeed perilous. Gates and
other generals declared that the scheme was too difficult to be carried
out. Only one of the three forces crossed the river. Washington, with
iron will, was not to be turned from his purpose. He had skilled boatmen
from New England. The crossing took no less than ten hours and a great
part of it was done in wintry darkness. When the army landed on the New
Jersey shore it had a march of nine miles in sleet and rain in order
to reach Trenton by daybreak