, the column led by him came abreast of an old man,
chopping wood in a farm-yard by the roadside.

"Which is the way to the Hessian picket?" said the general.

"I don't know," replied the man, sullenly.

"You may tell," said Captain Forest, riding near the general, at the
head of his battery, "for this is General Washington."

The man's expression altered at once.

"God bless and prosper you!" he cried eagerly, raising his hands to
heaven. "There! The picket is in that house yonder, and the sentry
stands near that tree."

The intense cold and heavy snow had driven the twenty-five men, who
composed the advance picket, to shelter, and they were huddled together
in one of the rude huts which served as a guard-house. The snow
deadened the sound of the American advance, and the careless sentry did
not perceive them. No warning was given until the lieutenant in
command of the guard stepped out of the house by chance, and gave the
alarm in great surprise. The picket rushed out, and the men lined up
in the road in front of the column, the thick snow preventing them from
forming a correct idea of the approaching force. The advance guard of
the Continentals, led by Captain William A. Washington and Lieutenant
James Monroe, instantly swept down upon them. After a scattered volley
which hurt no one, they fled precipitately back toward the village,
giving the alarm and rallying on the main guard, posted nearer the
centre of the town, which had been speedily drawn up, to the number of
seventy-five men. Meanwhile Sullivan's men, with Stark at the head,
had routed the pickets on the other road in the same gallant style.
This picket was composed of about fifty Hessian chasseurs, and twenty
English light dragoons, under command of Lieutenant Grothausen of the
chasseurs. They all fled so precipitately that they did not stop to
alarm the brigade which they had been stationed to protect, but rapidly
galloped down the road, and, crossing the bridge over the Assunpink,
made good their escape toward Bordentown. Grave suspicions of
cowardice attached thereafter to their commanding officer. Had Ewing
performed his part in the plan, the bridge would have been held, and
they would have been captured with the rest. Stark's men, followed by
the rest of Sullivan's division, were now pushed on rapidly for the
town, and the cheers of the New England men were distinctly heard by
Washington and his men on the main road. The main guard