After completing the Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River, George Washington’s Continental Army, in desperate need of a victory, began an arduous nine-mile march to Trenton on December 26, 1776, at 4 a.m. Their objective was a surprise attack on the Hessian garrison. The army marched inland for about a mile, then south to Birmingham, now West Trenton, where it split into two divisions, one led by General Greene with Washington and the other by General Sullivan. Marching in separate columns for another four and a half miles through a fierce and relentless winter storm, they arrived at opposite ends of Trenton at 8 in the morning. In the ensuing Battle of Trenton, Washington’s Continental Army surprised, surrounded, and captured nearly 900 Hessians and secured a morale-boosting victory of immeasurable proportions.
