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Though Washington's victory at Trenton did not in itself turn the tide of the war in favor of the Americans, it did at least force the British onto the defensive and breathe new life into the American cause, at a time when yet another defeat might have been fatal.
Though Washington's victory at Trenton did not in itself turn the tide of the war in favor of the Americans, it did at least force the British onto the defensive and breathe new life into the American cause, at a time when yet another defeat might have been fatal.
==Background==
After the British army under General [[William Howe]] had secured [[New York City]], a large portion of it, under the command of General [[Charles Cornwallis]], was assigned to drive Washington's Continental Army from New Jersey. Crossing the [[Hudson River]] from New York on November 20, Cornwallis forced the Americans out of their position overlooking New York City, and kept up a slow pursuit across the state over the next two weeks. By December 8, the Continental Army had fallen back across the [[Delaware River]] and taken up a position on the Pennsylvania side opposite [[Trenton]], which British troops occupied that same day. Though there were some suggestions that the British continue the pursuit across the Delaware and take [[Philadelphia]], Howe ultimately decided against this, due in part to the onset of winter, the exhaustion of many of his soldiers, and the domination of the lower Delaware by American naval vessels. Instead, he ordered Cornwallis to establish a network of garrisons across New Jersey, by both British regulars and German mercenaries (commonly referred to as Hessians, though they in fact came from several different German states), as a prelude to further campaigning in the spring.
The fall of New York and New Jersey (as well as [[Rhode Island]], much of which was also conquered in December 1776 after a British invasion force took the port city of Newport) produced panic and despair among many Patriots. A few (including Richard Stockton, a signer of the [[Declaration of Independence]]) abandoned the cause altogether and took an oath of allegiance to the British Crown in return for the promise of amnesty being offered by Howe. Even among those who did not, there were many signs of disaffection from the struggle. A [[Virginia]] [[Loyalist]] remarked that by early December many Patriots in his district "had given up the cause for lost....Their recruiting parties could not get a man."<ref>Nicholas Cresswell, ''The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell'', ed. Samuel Thornely (New York, 1924), 179.</ref>
==The Battle==
==The Battle==