On Christmas night 1776, with his army on the verge of collapse, Washington crossed an icy river in a blizzard and pulled off the most daring surprise attack of the Revolution.
By December 1776, the American Revolution was on the brink of extinction. Washington had lost New York, been chased across New Jersey, and watched his army shrink from desertions and expired enlistments. Thomas Paine captured the moment: 'These are the times that try men's souls.'
Washington's plan was audacious bordering on reckless: cross the Delaware River in the dead of winter on Christmas night, march nine miles through a sleet storm, and launch a dawn surprise attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton, New Jersey.
The crossing itself was a logistical nightmare. Chunks of ice floated in the dark river. The 2,400 soldiers, 18 artillery pieces, and dozens of horses had to be ferried across in Durham boats by Colonel Glover's regiment of Massachusetts fishermen — the same men who had saved the army at Long Island. The crossing took all night.
At dawn on December 26, Washington's half-frozen soldiers hit the Hessian garrison before they had recovered from their Christmas celebrations. The battle lasted less than 45 minutes. The Americans suffered only three killed and six wounded. Nearly 1,000 Hessians were captured.
The psychological impact was as important as the military one. News of the victory spread instantly, reversing the Revolution's momentum at its darkest hour. Soldiers who had planned to go home reenlisted. New recruits arrived. Congress stopped fleeing Philadelphia.
Emmanuel Leutze's 1851 painting of Washington standing heroically in the bow of a boat has become one of the most iconic images in American history — though historians note Washington would almost certainly have been sitting down to avoid capsizing the vessel.