The Coolidge examiner., 1933-07-14
The Master Of Chaos
by Irving Bachelor
mn,yrAsp.A

the inhabitants Of the Pennsylvania
city were in a panic. Many were
leaving their homes. Soon there
were few carriages In the city. He
was happy who could press a milk
cart or a market wagon, to move
his family. They took to the river
on wood flats" in whose grimy
cabins no one could sit erect. Re-
fined ladies slept on deck until
driven TO cover by falling snow.
The British were in need of rest
and, sheltered in their retreats
from the severity of an American
winter, with taverns and markets
to satisfy every need of the body,
the spirit of joy and slumber fell
upon them.
They were rudely awakened on
Christmas night Snow was falling
in a bitter northwest wind. 1t was
no time for any sane person TO be
Out-of doors. Colonel Rail, In COM
mand at Trenton, had had a merry
dinner and with other officers and
their ladies was dancing in the
public hall. The fiddlers were
playing. Between dances they
could hear the cold wind in the
chimney-top and snow pelting the
window-panes. What night They
shivered and gathered before the
fireplace and filled and drained
their glasses again. II was a night
for Joy with nothing to fear. About
midnight uniformed lackey
brought a letter to Colonel Rail
who was in command Engaged in
pretty story. he put the letter in
his pocket. Then in the whirl Of
gaiety he forgot it.
Nine miles from Trenton. a loyal
list woman had seen Washington
with two thousand men crossing the
Delaware in the darkness. She had
ridden post haste through the storm
with the warning, now hidden In the
pocket of Colonel Rail. Who but
an American would think of cross
ing a big river filed with broken
ice and marching nine miles with
storm raging in which two men
were frozen to death? The Euro
peans were to learn that fighting
for liberty and fighting for pay were
a different kind of business.
AT eight o'clock In the morning,
Washington fell on the city with
two detachments. Rails Hessians
surrendered, while other enemy
troops fed in panic. The whole Brit
ish structure on the Delaware was
shattered by this stroke. General
Donop's army retreated General
CORVALLIS abandoned his plan of
going to Europe and took command
in New Jersey. Washington occu-
pied Trenton.
Soon CORVALLIS and his men
came on to give him battle On
the second Of January. IT, the
American commander crossed AS
sanpink creek and made a pretense
of throwing up intrenchments.
CORVALLIS tried TO follow and was
repulsed by artillery. Night came
and CORVALLIS decided TO wait un-
til morning. Washington slipped
away in the night, leaving men to
keep the campfires burning and to
Initiate the chorus of picks, shovels,
axes and OK teams at work. At day
light CORVALLIS began TO throw his
cannon balls upon empty ground.
He attacked nothing. The Ameri-
can camp was deserted. "The ID
Yankees" were of course far on
their way to Princeton. Before he
could arrive there that link in the
British chain would be broken and
Washington on his way to safety.
CORVALLIS had made shrewd guess.
Four hundred men were taken al
Princeton with guns and stores. The
remainder of the British force scat.
tered, having suffered a severe drub-
bing.
This winter fighting with wound
ed men floundering in pools of
blood, unabsorbed on frozen ground
was revolving. At Princeton the
bleeding was not severe, less than
three hundred on both sides having
been killed or wounded, but the
men engaged saw more blood than
then had seen since the war began
Our men were at first severely set
upon and began to retreat, but the
Chief rallied them and they came
! through with a handsome victory.
The enlistment period of two reg.
iments expired that day. The men
had long been looking forward
eagerly to the hour of their release
1t came. Light-hearted they were
going home They applied for their
discharges. General Washington
met them with a grave countenance
He reminded them that it was a
critical time. Their country and
their homes were now in greater
danger than ever before. Success
depended on the dogged faithful.
ness of this body of men. He knew
that the feet of many were bleed.
ing, that all were weary but relief