King George by Steve Sheinkin Page A

o’clock and he would still be sitting in his bath.”
    Rahl was warned that the Americans might try to attack his army. He laughed and shouted, “Fiddlesticks! These clodhoppers will not attack us.” Rahl knew the Americans were starving, freezing, and ready to go home.
    He expected to enjoy a quiet winter at Trenton.
    Across the River
    T he sun set at 4:35 on December 25. Christmas Day had been sunny and cold, about thirty-two degrees. Now clouds covered the stars and a miserable mixture of freezing rain and snow started falling.
    Washington ordered his soldiers to pack sixty rounds of ammunition and a three-day supply of salted meat and bread. Sixteen-year-old John Greenwood was one of the many soldiers who wondered where the army was going that night. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to march too far, because he was suffering from a horrible rash on his legs. Or, as he put it:

    â€œI had the itch then so bad that my breeches stuck to my thighs, all the skin being off, and there were hundreds of vermin upon me.”

    John Greenwood
    At least Greenwood had shoes. Many of the men had worn through theirs and had to tie rags around their bare feet.
    The soldiers gathered at the edge of the Delaware River. They saw black water clogged with bobbing, swirling chunks of ice. And they saw John Glover and his fishermen waiting to row them across the river.
    The boats started crossing and re-crossing the water. It took many trips to get everyone over. Colonel Henry Knox (the cannon expert) was determined to get eighteen cannons over the river also. “The floating ice in the river made the labor almost incredible,” he reported. “The night was cold and stormy; it hailed with great violence.”
    John Greenwood was one of the first to cross the river. Then he stood on the New Jersey side, waiting for hours. “It rained, hailed, snowed, and froze, and at the same time blew a perfect hurricane,” he said. He and the other men pulled down fences and lit fires in a useless effort to keep warm. They watched the boats and waited.
    Washington was watching and waiting too. “I have never seen Washington so determined as he is now,” an officer named John Fitzgerald wrote in his diary. “He stands on the bank of the river, wrapped in his cloak, superintending the landing of the troops. He is calm and collected, but very determined.”
    The plan had been to get the army across the Delaware River by midnight. But thanks to the ice in the river, it took until three in the morning. Washington knew he would not be able to reach Trenton before dawn. “I determined to push on at all events,” he said.
    The army began the nine-mile march to Trenton.
    Surprise!
    Y ou often read about weather being a major factor in historical events. This was definitely true of the Trenton attack. On most nights, the Hessians in Trenton sent soldiers out to patrol the roads leading into town. But the night of December 25 was just too cold and nasty. The routine patrol was canceled.
    So Colonel Rahl and his men were quite surprised when Washington and the Americans marched into town at about eight o’clock in the morning. Hessian soldiers grabbed their guns and ran out into the street. By the time they figured out what was going on, though, Washington’s men already had the town surrounded. And Henry Knox had his cannons set up and ready to go. “These, in the twinkling of an eye, cleared the streets,” Knox reported.

    There was absolutely nowhere for the Hessians to hide. They ran toward houses, but many of the women who had stayed in town suddenly stuck guns out the windows and starting firing.
    The battle of Trenton was over quickly. Colonel Rahl was shot and killed. His entire army surrendered, except for a few men who managed to escape down the road. “This is a glorious day for our country,” Washington told his officers.
    And to make the day even better, American soldiers