Battle of Trenton

Figure 1: General George Washington leading the

American troops across the Delaware River on December  25, 1775.

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Keyshawn Jagroop:

            The battle of Trenton was the battle of heart of cruelty, and in which the group who was fighting with heart was known as the Americans, and the group of cruelty were the Hessians. The leader of the Americans was no other then the brave and heroic general George Washington, who fought off towards the leader of the Hessian army Colonel Rahl. General George Washington was the main reason why the Americans won this battle in the American Revolution because he was the man who forced the hessians to surrender by taking out the one man who supplied them with their energy and spirit to continue fighting. It all started on December 25, 1776 in Trenton, New Jersey when George Washington and his troops were crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night to try and surround the Hessians. A lot of the men crossing the river with Washington didn’t make it because of all the dangerous ice patches in the water and severe weather, so there were only 2,400 Americans to face off against the Hessians.

            Although on a good note General Washington’s plan in catching the Hessians off guard worked because as soon as they landed in Trenton the Americans walked 9 miles south knowing the Hessians wouldn’t be prepared. As soon as the Americans found sight of The Hessians they began battling, but the Americans had fought them off because for one, the Hessians weren’t prepared to fight and two because General George Washington had though one step ahead of them. Although, Colonel Rahl had been instructed to construct defensive works because the Americans were coming, but he just ignored and continued on with his Christmas dinner. This ignorance is what led to the general’s downfall because he had thought him and his troops could’ve beaten the Americans easily, but he didn’t know what really they were capable of.

            Now, I’ll talk about how General Washington thought of the perfect plan to end up surrounding the Hessians and take out their main leader. The Americans troops were split into four different groups led by four different people and their names are Washington, Sullivan, Mercer and Greene. The troop led by George Washington, Mercer, and Greene all attacked from the South, and Sullivan took a position in the North East to cut off the Hessians retreat. So basically George Washington attacked in from the South directly to start putting in some serious damage to the Hessians, and Sullivan just made sure nobody escaped from the attacks by the Americans. Although there was only one thing the Americans did that ended the Battle of Trenton and gave them the final victory towards the Hessians. While the battle between the Hessians and Americans were going on, the Hessians troops were shortening and George Washington delivered one of the most severe blows through their hearts that scarred them to the point where they couldn’t fight anymore. He had stricken Colonel Rahl, which had been the only person who kept the Hessians to continue fighting, but as soon as he fell flat on the solid ground, the Hessians finally ended the Battle of Trenton surrendering to George Washington and the Americans. So by the leadership and battle tactics of George Washington and the Americans, the Battle of Trenton went down in history with the Hessians surrendering and the Americans coming off with a win.

Figure 3: The surrender by the Hessians, with Colonel Rahl down

                                                                http://www.britishbattles.com/battle-trenton.htm  

Figure 2: The map of the American's plan of

surroundment to the Hessians.

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Introduction

The Battle of Trenton was an important battle to win for them. The Battle of Trenton was on December 20, 1776 during the Revolutionary war. The Continental Army, lead by George Washington, had suffered many defeats in the upper state New York. Trying to give his army a rest they crossed the Hudson River. Though it was heavily guarded by Hessian soldiers, there was a horrible snow storm that helped them stay unseen. Though they ended up fighting the Hessian soldiers they ended up defeating the soldiers. The results of the battle showed that the Continental Army was much stronger than the Hessian soldiers. In this part of the essay I will explain what were the advantages and disadvantages of each army.

Battle of Trenton, by H. Charles McBarron, Jr., 1975

The Continental army had many advantages over the Hessian soldiers. They had more then two thousand four hundred soldiers on their side of the battle. The Hessian soldiers unfortunately had only one thousand five hundred soldiers and that gave the Continental Army a nine thousand soldier edge. But everyone knows that an army must have skill for its large amount of soldiers to matter. That too was bad for the Hessian soldiers too because of other helpful countries such as France and Spain the Patriots were good in combat. That also gave them an advantage. The Patriots were also well armed and that was helpful.

          The Hessian soldiers were also well armed. They were also well rested since all they had done was scout the area. They had a large amount of soldiers, but they were also out numbered greatly. They also were lucky because the Continental Army had walked nine miles to reach the Hessian soldiers. Not only had they walked nine miles they had just come back from a battle. That gave the Hessian soldiers a huge advantage. The Continental Army had gone hours without food or rest. Having lived on the land of Trenton they knew where was what. In the end the Hessians had lost badly.

          The results of the battle were great for the Continental Army. They had defeated the Hessian soldiers without much injury or death. Since they were tired and hungry they waited to let the Hessians go to sleep until the assault. Once the Hessians were asleep they were attacked by two thousand four hundred soldiers. The continental army ended up taking two thirds of the Hessian army as slaves so that would be about one thousand soldiers. The battle was quite unfair because there were two thousand four hundred soldiers versus six hundred soldiers.        

Manahil Ali:

     How did the Americans win the Battle of Trenton? In the following passage, I will be talking about how the Americans won, the outcomes of the battle, and some popular myths that people think occurred during that time period. One main reason on why the Americans won the Battle of Trenton was because of the amazing spirit and energy that their general had, and the brilliant plan that George Washington made. It was his idea to attack the Hessians when they weren't prepared. He had planned one step ahead, and that is why the Hessians surrendered to him and his army. General George Washington had made the Americans split into four different groups and attack from all sides. These four groups were Washington, Mercer, Sullivan, and Greene. Three of them had attacked from the South, and Sullivan had positioned at the North East. This made the Hessian's troop become smaller and smaller, and by the end of the battle, Colonel Rahl had surrendered to the Americans.

     The outcomes of the Battle of Trenton was that it gave the Continental Congress confidence. They changed their attitudes towards the next battles and only made positive actions. That is why they were successful in the following battles later on. It also helped the Americans know that they were not afraid to fight, since the Hessians had caused them to fear for their lives before the Battle of Trenton. The Hessians actually ended up with more injuries and casualties than the Americans. They had 22 fatalities, 83 injuries, and about 896 soldiers captured. The Americans only suffered from two fatalities and five injuries.

     There are also a lot of different myths that people believe happened during the Battle of Trenton. One popular myth that many believed was the reason why the Hessians lost was because they had been drunk from the Christmas celebrations. Since the Battle of Trenton occurred on December 25, 1776, it was also Christmas season during that time. Even though they were all fighting for their lives, the soldiers would not miss out on a holiday dinner. That is why many believe the Hessians were drunk, and could not fight as well as they could've if they did not drink. An officer from Washington's troop had wrote before the battle started, "They make a great deal of Christmas in Germany, and no doubt the Hessians will drink a great deal of beer and have a dance to-night. They will be sleepy to-morrow morning." This shows that the Hessians were tired and unprepared for the battle, since they were so helplessly drunk. Well, as you can see, the Americans clearly won this battle for a reason. They had a great man leading them to victory, and many advantages unlike the Hessians.

Figure 4: George Washington leading the Americans on

attacking towards the Hessians

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