| Show THE BATTLE tATTLE OF TRENTON I 1 interesting account of the battle of trenton ig Is believed to be the most par and authentic yet given to the world it is from no 13 of the series of historical articles published in the stata state gazette at tren ton march 17 18 1843 1813 13 gegan Geman germantown town telegraph telea a h I 1 an pw wednesday the of december 1776 G general ivy ilg lly washington ashington with his army was od on ta we fc bank of the delaware encamped bearta corsville ors ville then MIKon keys ferry 8 antle a above krove ove trenton the troops under gen dicken dickenson on were at Yarle and detachments were encamped still farther up the river jhb the boats oats 0 on the river had all been se curd apri i gen washington v ashin ton had crossed with hisa hiar 0 on p the first of this month the pennsylvania inia troops were in two bodies one ond at Bristo bristol lunder lider ilder gen cadwallader and the other at Moms ville opposite trenton under general edving at this tim time the british under gen howe liwe re station stationer stat ioneA ionel eit in detachments at mount holi roll hociy 70 me mack mach 0 o c horse horbe ballington Bar lington and bordentown Borden town and a 4 T anton there therel were three regiments of iles hes al a mounting to about 1500 men and a british ilg lit ht horse divisions of the arm army were rye rge also at Prince princetown town and new wicey onet part of the plan of washington lon was to decro re crosa croaa delaware with his ar army y at ma Kon non keiTy keiry kerry fry in the night of the of dege December nind did fid for gen ewing with the part of tha thearty th earmy udder ulder his command 2 to cross at or thus both might fall upon the ebern aime alme t time ewing at the south and at the northwind north end of the town v at troops oops command commanded eol col b by Y G geh gen erl eit washington washing cn C in in person amounting 17 to 2400 24 00 men with 20 pieces of artillery began to cross at ferry the troops at Yarle and the stations above had that day assembled at this ferry among the prominent and active men who were emryed employed in ferrying over the troops were uriah slack william green and david laning it was between 3 and 4 in the morning before all the artillery and troops were over and read ready t to 0 march many of the men were very fy des destitute tu t e as regarded clochin clothing the present mr george Muir heidy heldy of well weil informed the writer that he noticed one man whose pantaloons were ragged and who had neither stockings nor shoes the ground was covered with sleet and snow which was falling altho aitho before that day there was no snow or only a little sprinkling on the ground gen washington who had sat in silence on a beehive wrapped in bis bis big cloak while his troops were crossing as they were about to march enjoined upon all profound silence during their march to trenton and said to them 1 11 I hope that louwill yon you will all fight like men 1 gen washington wished to get 12 men who should be mounted on horseback without arms or uniform in plain farmers habit to ride before the army to reconnoitre and get what information they could with respect to the british army their out guards c were but three who would volunteer for this service these were david lanin laning of Trent Trento onland nand john muirheid and john guid guld of the following persons persona were also guides and marched with the army viz col joseph philli phillps ps capt philip phillips and ada elias phillips of maid mald maidenhead ahead joseph Inslee Edon burrou burroughs 1119 stephen burroughs ephraim woolsey and henry of hopewell and capt john mott amos scudder and william green of trenton I 1 the army march marched edwith with a quick step in in a body from the river ni er up the crossroad cross road to the bear tavern about a mile mue from the river the whole army marched down this road to the village of birmingham distant about 3 ai miles there they halted examined their an nimi min mangand gand and found it all wet web w et capt Mott who ed had taken the precaution to wrap his handkerchief around the lock of his gun found notwithstanding the priming was wet well says gen sullivan we gust must must then fight them with the bayonet from birmingham to trenton the distance by the river road and the scotch road is is nearly equal being being about 41 miles the troops were formentin for formed formes meTin in two divisions one of the them com commanded commended minded by gen sullivan marched down the river road the otheron banded by general washington accompanied by generals lord stirling green mercer iier and Ste stevens with david laning lining and others for their guides filed off to the left crossed over to the scotch road and went w ent down this road till it enters the pennington road about a mile above trenton Scarce Scar celya lysa wm word wa s spoken from the time thae the troops left the ferry except what passed between the officers and the guides till they reached trenton and with such stillness did the army move that thai that they were not discovered until they came cama upon the he out cut guard of the enemy which was posted in the outskirt of the town at or near the house of the rev mr Fl frazier azier when one of the sentries called to lan laning in who was a little in advance of the troops aj and asked who is 13 there laning replied A frand frend frie nd 1 A friend to whom A friend to gen washington at thaoe this the guard fired and retreated the amer amerein in troops immediately returned their firmand fire and rushed upon them and drove them into town at the head of king street t ca capt t T forrest opened a six gun battery under tt the immediate orders of gen washington which commanded the streeta captain william washington and lt james monroe afterward president of the united states perceiving that the enemy were endeavoring deavo ring to form a battery in in king street near where the feeder crosses the street rushed forward with the advance guard drove the artillerists from their gun gunsard sand took from them two pieces which they were irr the act of firing these officers were both wounded in this successful enterprise A part of this division marched lowr lown down queen street and extended to the left BO so as to cut off the retreat of the enemy binemy towards princeton the division of the army which came down the river road under general sullivan fell upon the advanced guard of the british at ruther fords place adjoining col Dickin dickinsons sons near the southwest part of the town about the same time that washington entered it at the north both divisions pushed forward keepin keeping up a running fire with light arms meeting with dut out ut little opposition until the enemy were nvere driven eastward in second street near the presbyterian where there was some fi fighting ht the enemy having made a momentary stand but finding themselves hemmed in and overpowered they laid down their arms on the field between the presbyterian church and park genau place then called the old iron works worl a gen rahl rahi 1 who comm commanded aDded the hessians and had hi head quarte quarters rs at tb the e house of stacy potts opposite perry street on the west side bide of warren occupied for many years yeara as a tavern was mortally wounded early in the engagement ga ement being shot from his horse while exerting himself to form his dismayed and disordered troops but where or by whom is 13 not at present known by the writer he has heard several statements on these subjects but no two of them agree when supported by a file filo of sergeants he presented his sword to gen washington whose counte countenance nance hance beamed with com complacency piar ency at ake the success oatha of the tho day dache he was pale paie ale aie bleeds ble bie bleeding edG and covered with blood and in broken accents he hl e seemed to implore those attentions tent ions which the victor vitor was well dap disposed ased to bestow upon him he was taken to bis mad quarters stacy potts where he died of his wounds the number of prisoners was 23 officers and privates 4 stand of colors 12 drums 6 brass field pieces and 1000 stand of arms and accoutrements were the trophies of victory the british light horse and or hessians escaped at the beginning of the battle over the bridge across the at trents arents mills and fled to bordentown Borden town if gen ewing whose divisions of the army were opposite to trenton had been able to cross the delaware as bontem contemplated 1 I abed and take posses sion slon of the bridge on t the e pink all the he enemy that were in trenton would have been captured but there was so much ice on the shores of that it was impossible e to get the artillery over the hessians lost 7 Ficera officers of 20 or 30 men killed 24 of these were buried in one pit in the presbyterian burying Z ground bythe american troops immediately after the actors which greatly revived the drooping spirits of the army gen washington washinton ton commenced marching his prisoners up to the eib eig eight mile or ferry and before night all were safely landed on the western shore of the delaware but mr muirheid eid cid before mentioned said that general W would not suffer a man to cross more than was necessary until all the prisoners were over the americans lost two privates killed and two were frozen to death the late mr richard scudder informed the writer that the night after the taking of the hessians several of the american soldiers worn down and poorly clad and having sum suf suffered flared much from the cold stayed at his fathers house which is about two miles below the ferry that several of them were very sick in the night and that two or three died might blight not these have been the persons referred to in history as having C frozen to death the next day the british that were at princeton marched on to trenton in pursuit of the american army and went up the scotch road as far as mr benjamin clarks darks now edward S mcillvain MII MIll vain esq and inquired which route gen washington had taken and being informed that he had hid gone with his prisoners up the river road they compelled their so son john nJohn clark dark a lad jad of 12 years to guide gulde ulde them across to birmingham some of tet tel the e american soldiers were at this time in clarks darks house his mother unwilling to trust her son with the enemy with true spartan courage pursued the B british ri ibish and got him released soon after the british finding g that washington ton had tro crossed assed the delaware dellaware dei Doi laware returned to princeton |
