Washington Crossed the Delaware

West bound. Into PA. After getting chased out of Manhattan and all the way across NJ.
This Day In History: December 3, 1776.


Things weren’t going very well for the General. He had lost every battle to date and he and his troops were heading into PA to lick their wounds. Washington had all the boats along the river burned so the British could not cross. It would make his own crossing back into Trenton a bit more difficult but it may have saved his army. The British pulled up and went off to capture Washington’s second in command, General Charles Lee on the 12th of December. A garrison of Hessians was left in Trenton to guard against the American’s return. With all the boats having been burned, a blizzard underway, and the Christmas Holiday to celebrate, the Hessians got sloppy—and defeated on December 25th.

Concerns over the lack of military success even had Jefferson contemplating capitulation to George the III.