The Washington herald., 1913-02-12

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Copyright 1915. lr McCI,Ic N-v~rrr.r srri'cat.l
NO. 80.
on Christmas day Washington made his
advance, and ordered a crossing to be
made in three divisions, under cover
OF the night. Only his own division.
twenty-five hundred strong, effected the
passage.
Twas ten hours pcrilous work TO
cross the storm-swepr river in the
pitchy darkness. amidst the hazards Of
floating ice. but not a man or sun
was lost.
There was nine miles march through
driving snow and sleCt after the landing
before Trenton could he reached. the
point Of attack and two men were frozen
to death az they went.
washinrton'. Fnmou. Order.
Gen. Sullivan sent word that the
guns were wet: Tell him to use the
bayonet," said Washington. for the
town must he taken.
And it was takcn-in the early morn
ing, at the point Of the bayonet, with a
loss OF but two or three men.
The surprise was complete.
Colonel Rail. the commander of the
place. was mOrtally wounded at the first
onset. and nine hundred Hcssians sur
ltIutItu at tlStI'Nl'll
When he had gotten his prisoners safe
on tn" south side Of the river, Washing
ton once more advanced TO occupy the
town.
Plays n Pcri1Ous Game.
1t was a perilous place to be, no
doubt. with the great unhridged stream
behind him: but the enemy : line was
everywhere broken, now that its center
baH faEan had heen Wit hHra "
from the river in haste, abandoning its
cannon even and its baggage ut Burling-
ton: and Washington calmly dared TO
play the game he had planned
1t was not Howe who came to meet
him, but the gallant CORVALLIS. no mean
adversary. bringing eight thousand men.
Washington let him come all the way
to Delaware without himself stirring. eX
cept TO put small tributary stream be-
tween his men and the advancing col
umns: and the confident Englishman
last We have gun down the old fox, and
we'll hang him in the morning"
The Fox Escapes.
Then, while n small force kept the
camp-fires burning and worked audibly
at the ramparts the cold night through,
the fox was up and away.
road TO Princeton and New Brunswick,
where he knew Cornwalliss stores must
be-
AS the mornings light broadened into
day (January 3. 1170 he met the British
detachment at Princeton in the way, and
drove il back in a decisive rout, a keen
ardor coming into his blood as he saw
the sharp work done.
An old-fashioned Virginia foX-hunt,
gentlemen" he exclaimed. shouting the
view-halloo. Had his troops been fresh
and properly shod to outstrIp Cornwallis
at their heels, be would have pressed on
to New Brunswick and taken the stores
there: but he had done all that could
be done with dispatch, and withdrew
straight TO the heights of Morristown.
The Patriots Winners.
CORVALLIS could only hasten back to
New York. By the end Of the month the
Americans were everywhere afoot; the
British held no posts in New Jersey but
Paulis Hook, Amboy, and New Bruns-
wick; and Washington had issued a
commanding all who had
General Howe's offer of pardon
either to withdraw within the British
lines or to take the oath of allegiance
to the United States.
Men loved to tell afterwards how Fred
erick the Great had said 1t was the most
brilliant campaign of the century.
Congress took steps before the winter
was over to secure long enlistments, and
substitute a veritable army for the three
levies with which Washington
had hitherto been struggling to make
shift. |
Pledges His Private Fortune.
After the affair at Trenton, Washington
mad been obliged to pledge his own pri-
vate fortune for their pay to induce the
men whose terms of enlistment were |
10 expire on New Years Day-more than
half his force-to stay with but q few