Washington’s Bold Gamble: Christmas Day 1776

Fred Borch is a lawyer and historian. He was Professor of Legal History and Leadership for 18 years at The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School located at the University of Virginia. He served 25 years in the Army as a uniformed attorney. After retiring from active duty, Fred took a job in the U.S. Government as the only career historian whose focus was exclusively on military legal history. He has seven degrees, including an M.A. in history from the University of Virginia.

Many Americans have seen—or know of—Emanuel Leutze’s painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” Painted in 1851, it now hangs in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for all to admire. The painting is a stirring depiction of General George Washington as a soldier and commander, standing tall in the bow of a small boat as he leads the Continental Army across the frigid, ice-filled Delaware River to attack Hessian troops in New Jersey. As scholars have shown over the years, Washington never crossed the Delaware standing upright in a boat, much less in full uniform with flags flying around him, as shown in Leutze’s celebrated painting. Yet Washington did launch a surprise attack across the Delaware on Christmas Day, December 25th, 1776—a daring attack that secured the Continental Army’s first major victory of the Revolutionary War and breathed new life into the fight against the British.

While Washington had been leading the Continental Army since June 1775, success had eluded him, and the war against the British had been going badly. By the winter of 1776, a series of battlefield failures had resulted in morale among the soldiers being at rock bottom. The American campaign in New York in August had been a disaster, with the British crushing the revolutionaries at the Battle of Long Island. The fight, which was the first major battle after the United States declared its independence on July 4th, occurred in present-day Brooklyn. Many Continental soldiers were killed or captured, and Washington was forced to abandon Manhattan and retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania. As the cold winter days and nights set in, Washington’s soldiers suffered from a lack of food and warm clothing. Some men deserted, and others left the Army as their enlistments expired. General Washington realized that if he were to hold his Army together, he would have to have a victory sooner rather than later.

Washington understood that the Continental Army was the Revolution’s center of gravity; if the Army were defeated, the Revolution would fail. After the Battle of Long Island, Washington also understood that, given the relative strength of the British Army, he must avoid direct engagements and adopt a Fabian strategy. Named after Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman general who used the concept to defeat Hannibal in 217 B.C., the strategy involves avoiding major fights in favor of hit-and-run tactics that wear down the enemy through attrition. As a result, Washington decided to take his Continental Army across the Delaware River under the cover of darkness, march to Trenton, and attack the Hessian outposts in and around Trenton. Washington correctly assumed that if he launched his attack on Christmas Day, the Hessians, who were German mercenaries fighting for the British, would be unprepared for battle and celebrating instead.

Washington managed to gather various boats to be used to cross the ice-clogged Delaware. The largest crafts were vessels used to carry pig iron down the river.

Around 6 p.m. on Christmas Day, Washington and 2,400 soldiers began crossing the Delaware. The operation was extremely dangerous because of the frigid temperatures, darkness, sleet, and a snowstorm that struck the attacking Americans in the middle of the crossing. Washington and his men continued to row their boats across the river, but two other Continental Army brigades that were supposed to support the attack failed to overcome the weather obstacles and turned back to the shore. Amazingly, Washington and his men crossed the Delaware in the treacherous storm and then marched ten miles to Trenton early in the morning on December 26th. The Americans surprised the Hessians, many of whom were asleep. Some claimed at the time that the Hessians were drunk or hung over from a night of Christmas drinking; however, most historians do not believe this is accurate. Rather, the Hessians may have failed to defend themselves simply because they were exhausted from weeks of Continental Army attacks on their patrols and barracks.

It was a smashing victory. In what is now known as the First Battle of Trenton, Washington and his men captured more than 1,000 Hessian officers and soldiers, as well as their wives and children. They also seized much-needed supplies, including food and clothing. Most importantly, the Americans suffered few casualties.

Washington’s audacious plan and its resounding triumph gave the Continental Army the victory it needed. Washington now had the loyalty of his soldiers and a restored Continental Army—a key component of future success in battle. His bold Christmas Day gamble paid off because the victory also showed Americans—and the members of the Continental Congress—that he was the right man for the job: a powerful and resilient leader who could achieve success in battle with the British and win the Revolution.