If any one desires to see General Washington when he displayed his
manhood and military genius at their best, let him study the records of
his life for the month of December, 1776. The soldier, the statesman,
the citizen, the brave, indomitable man, each in turn appears, and
shines in the trying hours of that month.
Only the River Delaware separated the hostile armies, and the enemy
waited but for the ice to form, in order to add Philadelphia to the list
of his summer conquests.
Congress had adjourned from Philadelphia to Baltimore. New Jersey was
ravaged by ruthless bands of soldiers. Disaffection was on every side.
The winter, prematurely cold, threatened to make an ice-bridge over the
stream in ten days, and within about the same time the terms of most of
General Washington's troops would expire, and he might be left without
even the semblance of an army. "Dire necessity," as he said, compelled a
movement of some kind.
Christmas had come. It was a cold, freezing day. There was already a
large amount of ice floating by, and heaped up along the shore, in many
places rendering access to the water impossible, and in all places
difficult.
About four o'clock in the afternoon, the troops were drawn up in parade
before their camp at Trenton Falls.
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