A Year With George Washington
January 2nd, 1777 – General Washington defeats the British for a second time at Trenton and calls a council of war to decide whether to attack the British at Princeton.
After the smashing defeat of the Hessians at Trenton, the day after Christmas 1776, Washington wanted to press his advantage when he learned that a detachment of 5000 troops led by Lord Charles Cornwallis was headed his way.
Sometimes called the Second Battle of Trenton or referred to as the Battle of Assunpink Creek, Washington once more achieved a victory that would have a resounding effect on the spirit and fortune of our nation.
The bulk of his army’s enlistment was set to expire on December 31st, 1776, and Washington knew the cause of liberty would be lost were his soldiers to leave.
The great general, sitting in the saddle atop his war mount, appealed to his haggard and exhausted men to stay for one more campaign.
At first, no one stepped forward. But then, in a moment bursting with both desperation and pride, he called out to them:
“My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably expected; but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay only one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty and to your country which you probably never can do under any other circumstances.”
One soldier stepped forward, followed soon by another, then another, until 3000 men answered the call to arms.
Washington, knowing that a Delaware River escape was impossible owing to their transport boats being staged miles upriver, would stand and fight heroically with his men, repelling three violent British assaults across the bridge at Assunpink Creek.
Cornwallis, with twilight looming over the winter landscape, decided to attack the next day, confidently boasting, “We’ve got the old fox safe now. We’ll go over and bag him in the morning.”
As he had done at New York four months earlier, Washington left a force of 500 men and two cannon to perform a ruse that his troops remained at work fortifying their positions.
When Cornwallis arrived at the scene to attack, the “Old Fox,” along with the 500 performers, had disappeared with his army down an old, little-known Quaker road and were on the way to attack at Princeton.
