December 1776: Historical Outline of the “Ten Crucial Days”

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By December 1776, the American Revolution was in its second year. Although the Declaration of Independence had been written and signed over the summer, the revolution was not going well for the Americans. The Continental Army, led by General George Washington, had recently faced several setbacks in the field. It was outmaneuvered by the British in a series of battles. By November 20, after the loss of Ft. Lee, Washington begins to move his army south to the Raritan River. The Crown troops were now fully in control of New York and its environs and began moving troops into East Jersey.

December 1, 1776: Anticipating a British advance across the Raritan, Washington begins to move his depleted army south to Trenton on the Delaware River. In a rear-guard action, New York Artillery Captain Alexander Hamilton’s battery delays the British crossing of the Delaware. Washington sends orders to multiple military units to commandeer all watercraft on the Delaware.

December 8, 1776: The Continental Army finished crossing the Delaware from New Jersey to Pennsylvania as the British arrived in Trenton.

December 10, 1776, Washington writes to his brother Lund, expressing dismay that enlistments in his army are coming to an end and that he is receiving no support from replacement militia.’

December 12, 1776: Both Washington and Congress are convinced the British will move on Philadelphia. After granting Washington near dictatorial powers to recruit reinforcements, Congress evacuates the city.

December 13, 1776: Given Washington’s dire situation, British Commander, Gen. William Howe, assumes the American Cause is lost. He orders a string of winter cantonments throughout the Jersies and that his army stand down for winter quarters.

December 19, 1776, Pamphleteer Thomas Paine published “American Crisis,” which would soon become a rallying cry for the Cause and the continued quest for Independence.

December 20, 1776: Washington received reinforcements near McConkey’s Ferry in Pennsylvania, with 2,000 soldiers arriving from General Lee's division under General John Sullivan. Washington now has a numerical advantage over Col. Johann Raul’s 1,500 Hessian Garrison in Trenton, who were also exhausted from daily attacks by American units since December 14.

December 23, 1776: Gen. William Maxwell draws Hessian Col. von Donop away from Bordentown down to Mt Holly, New Jersey, thereby unable to support Col. Raul’s garrison,

December 24, 1776: Washington presents to his officers his plan to achieve his objective to retake control of New Jersey, which would begin with an attack on Raul’s garrison.

December 25, 1776: Three columns of the Continental Army began crossing the Delaware River in the evening as the weather worsened. The leading column, commanded by Washington, was the only one to successfully cross the icy river.

December 26, 1776: Washington’s column finished crossing around 3:30 a.m. and then marched nine miles over dark, icy roads to Trenton during a Nor’ester storm.. The Continental Army surprised the Hessians there with an early morning attack. The battle was over in only about 45 minutes, capturing about 1,000 Hessians along with muskets, gunpowder, and cannons. Later that day, the Americans begin crossing back into Pennsylvania.

December 27, 1776: Cadwalader’s 1,500-strong division crosses into New Jersey and reports to Washington the British and Hessian troops had retreated about 12 miles north to Princeton.

December 30, 1776: To continue the momentum after the Battle of Trenton, Washington and his officers decide to join Cadwalader in New Jersey, but many of the experienced Continentals enlistments were to expire at year’s end. About half of Washington’s agreed to stay with the army for another six weeks after having been offered a bounty. Washington now has from 5,000 to 6,000 men.

December 31, 1776: The Continental Army made its third crossing of the Delaware and moved back to Trenton. They are positioned on the more defensible high ground on the south bank of the Assunpink Creek.

January 2, 1777: After a brilliant delaying action by PA Col. Edward Hand, along the road south from Princeton, the Americans repelled a late-afternoon attack at the Assunpink by the British General Charles Cornwallis. With the creek separating the forces, the British planned to renew the attack the next day with 7,000 to 8,000 men. Acting on local intelligence, Washington’s Council of War that night decides to have the army quietly leave the Assunpink in the middle of the night and march 12 miles north to attack the British 1,200-strong rear-guard in Princeton.

January 3, 1777: The Continental Army reached Princeton under cover of night using a lesser-known back road. The battle that followed was intense but brief, lasting less than an hour, ending in a clear American victory. However, with Cornwallis’s superior force close at hand, Washington decides to evacuate Princeton and head northwest into the Watchung Mountains near Morristown.

Not knowing the position of Washington’s army, Gen. Cornwallis withdraws northeast to Brunswick and Perth Amboy. The change of fortunes of the two armies in December had a profound impact on the course of the American Revolution. Washington’s success in outmaneuvering and defeating the British boosts American morale and enlistments. The war would continue for another seven years, but never again would the British gain control of the land that would become known as “The Crossroads of the American Revolution.’ In his multi-volume work, The American Revolution, British historian Sir George Otto Trevlyan would write of the Ten Crucial Days, “It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world.”