1777. ANOTHER NIGHT-MARCH. 131 dollars to each man, more than half of them consented to remain a few weeks longer. Lord Cornwallis had already returned to head-quarters at New York. At the first news of Trenton he was forthwith ordered back to the Jerseys. Gathering the scattered parties that had lately lined the Delaware, and bringing forward fresh troops from Brunswick, he advanced in one compact body from Princeton. On the afternoon of the 2nd of January he came in sight of the American army, which at his approach retired from Trenton, and took post on some high ground beyond the Assanpink, guarding the bridge and the fords by their artillery. A battle, and in all likelihood a blow to the Americans, seemed impending for the morrow. But in the evening Washington assembled his officers in a Council of War, and laid before them a scheme which he had formed. From the numbers that Lord Cornwallis showed in front it seemed probable that but few remained in the rear. Might it not be possible by a night-march to surprise and overpower those few, and push onward to Brunswick, there capturing the military chest and stores, and releasing from captivity General Lee? The release of that officer, I may observe in passing, was an object of great interest to the Americans, since the British, on account of his former commission in their service, were disposed at this period to treat him, not as a prisoner of war, but as a deserter. It was not till many months afterwards that, on orders from home, and on vehement threats of retaliation by the Congress, they agreed to his exchange. The plan thus skilfully formed was no less skilfully carried into execution. All night, to avert the suspicion of the British, the American fires were kept burning, and the guards ordered to remain at the bridge and fords. Meanwhile the baggage was sent off to the rear, in the direction of Burlington, and the army commenced its march with Quaker-like silence along what was called the Quaker road. Thus stealing forward on the east side of the Assanpink, they reached Princeton a little after sunrise. In that town, as it chanced, three British regiments and three troops of Light Horse had passed the preceding night. Their numbers are not given with precision, but would certainly be underrated were we to take Washington's account. For, on another occasion, at this period, when desiring rather to depreciate the force opposed to him, he computed that the Hessian regiments, when they came out complete, did not exceed 600, nor the British 250 men each.* One of the regiments at Princeton the 17th, under Colonel Mawhood was already on its march to join Lord Cornwallis; of the other two, the 55th was just moving, and the 40th still at its quarters. In the grey of a winter morning the Colonel mistook the first ranks of the advancing enemy for Hessians, but on discovering his error, boldly charged them. Led on by Mawhood, the gallant 17th pressed forward with bayonets fixed, threw the American vanguard into confusion, and though of course unable to contend for any length of time against the growing numbers of the foe, still it cut its way through, and pursued its march to Lord Cornwallis without further hurt or hindrance. The 55th and 40th were not so fortunate. They made a brave resistance, especially the 55th which came up the first; but exposed to so great disparity of numbers, they were overpowered. Finally, they were repulsed, and driven back in disarray along the road to Brunswick, leaving behind one hundred dead, and three hundred prisoners. There were also three brass field-pieces, which for want of horses, the American commander could not secure. On his side, there fell one of his Generals, named Mercer, and four Colonels or Captains, but no more, as he states, than twenty-five or thirty privates. During this action Washington himself, with the utmost intrepidity, appeared in the thickest of the fight, animating his men by his example even to the alarm and dissatisfaction of his officers.† On the other hand, the British troops evinced so much of steady courage and discipline under every disadvantage, as to warrant their chiefs in the belief that had the 40th come up in time from Princeton, and the three regiments *To Governor Cooke, April 3. 1777. † One officer writes from Morristown a few days afterwards: "Our army love their General very much, but they have one thing against him, which is the little care he takes of himself in any "action." Note by Mr. Sparks to Washington's Writings, vol. iv. p. 262. 1777. ACTION AT PRINCETON. 133 formed in line together, they might have stood firm against all the efforts of the not large nor well-appointed American army, and enabled Lord Cornwallis to take it in the rear. Washington did not find it possible to fulfil his first intentions, and push onward to Brunswick. His men were exhausted with fatigue, having been eighteen hours without food, and thirty-six without rest; most of them were ill-clad, and many barefoot. Moreover Lord Cornwallis, seeing at day-break that the American army was no longer before him, and hearing the guns in his rear, was hastening back with all speed to Princeton and to Brunswick, there to secure his reserve and magazines. The American General therefore desisted from pursuit of the two defeated regiments, and turned aside towards Pluckemin; first, however, destroying the bridge over Stoney Brook, and thus retarding any pursuit of himself. Two days afterwards he moved to Morristown, a position among the hills, not easy of access yet well provided with supplies. From thence sending out detachments he overran and reduced nearly the whole of the Jerseys. General Howe, not willing to be roused from his winter quarters at New York, seemed content to lose the province so lately gained, and satisfied with merely retaining posts at Brunswick and Amboy. At this time one of Washington's detachments, under General Heath, was pushed forward, even beyond the Hudson, in the direction of Kingsbridge. There the British held a fort, which, though in their possession, retained the name which the Americans had given itFort Independence. To this fort General Heath sent a summons to surrender, couched in the most peremptory terms. 66 Twenty minutes only can be allowed for the garrison to give their answer; and should it be in the "negative, they must abide the consequences." The garrison returned no answer, but found no consequences follow, since the fort was not attacked, and General Heath quietly withdrew. For this ridiculous affair he was properly rebuked by Washington.* * "Your summons, as you did not attempt to fulfil your threats, was not only idle but farcical, and will not fail of turning the The sur both Thus concluded the campaign of this year. prise at Trenton, and the skirmish at Princeton of which the Americans have dignified with the name of battles are not to be estimated solely by their rank as feats of arms. Their results, moral as well as military, were of very high importance. In the first place they had saved Philadelphia, and arrested the conquering progress of the British troops. Next, as we have seen, they replaced the Jerseys beneath the sway of Congress. No greater act of impolicy can well be imagined than that the British General should tamely acquiesce in the reduction of a province which had so recently and so warmly espoused his cause, thus exposing the loyalists within it to every kind of persecution and ill-treatment, and discouraging most effectually the loyalists elsewhere. Hardly less impolitic, hardly less injurious, had been the license allowed the troops, and above all, the foreign mercenaries, while this province still continued in their hands. Acts of plunder, or of insult, not promptly repressed, nor duly punished, led of course to alienation and resentment. The details of any such outrages, sometimes taken on oath, but more frequently magnified by rumours and surmises, were published in the American newspapers, as incentives against the King and people of Great Britain. There is then no cause for wonder, if by such deplorable excesses in the men, and remissness in the chiefs, the temper of the Jerseys, of late so favourable, was wholly changed. As the American troops advanced they observed, at least in some districts, that almost every house on the road had a red rag nailed upon the door, as a token of attachment to the Crown; but all such tokens the inhabitants were now busy pulling down.* The moral effects of Washington's successes were felt throughout the United States. In the strong words of one of their own historians, it seemed like a resurrection from the dead.† Washington himself, indeed, had never "laugh exceedingly upon us." To Major General Heath, February 3. 1777. See also Heath's Memoirs, pp. 107. 113., as cited by Mr. Sparks. *Life and Correspondence of Reed, vol. i. p. 280. + Ramsay, vol. i. p. 326. 1777. CHANGE OF FEELING IN CONGRESS. 135 ceased to be serene and self-assured. In the lowest depths of fortune he said calmly to one of his chief officers, that he should strive to the last, retiring, if need were, from State to State, and from post to post, and if even forced back from all, maintaining the war beyond the Allegany mountains.* But many others, who in bygone years had bawled while he was quiet, and who had blamed him for being so, were now wavering and whispering, while he continued firm. There was a general gloom and despondency, an idea that the British arms were irresistible, and that the struggle for Independence was drawing to a close. In this state of public feeling, the recruiting for the new army, on which all Washington's hopes depended, made no progress. By the days of Trenton, and of Princeton, this state of public feeling was reversed. They had shown that it was not merely behind entrenchments and redoubts that the American forces could fight; but that even in the open field, under favourable circumstances, they could cope with, and might overpower, their disciplined and veteran foes. Confidence returned, and with confidence exertion. New recruits began to come in, and some of the older enlisted were persuaded to remain, while clothing, stores, and other requisites for them were more freely supplied. In no place was the change of temper more marked and more apparent, than in the ranks of Congress. When that assembly met again at Baltimore, so keen was their sense of the present peril, as to overcome what hitherto had been among their main principles of action, their dislike of a standing army, their distrust of a military chief. On the day after the affair of Trenton, but of course before its issue could be known, they conferred upon their General, for six months to come, powers of the most extensive kind,—the powers, in truth, of a Dictator. Washington was authorised to raise sixteen battalions in addition to those already voted; to apply at his pleasure to any of the States for the aid of their Militia; to appoint and displace all officers below the rank of Brigadier-General; to take, wherever he might be, whatever he might want for the use of his army, allowing a reasonable price for the same; * Ramsay, vol. i. p. 310. |