George+Washington+Crossing+The+Delaware+River

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**December 23,1776-**Washington announced a decision to attack the Trenton Garrison just before daybreak December 26. **December 24, 1776-** The boats used to bring the army across the Delaware from New Jersey were brought down from Malta Island near New hope and hidden behind Taylor Island at McKonkey's Ferry, Washington's planned crossing site, **December 25, 1776**-On December 25, Christmas Day, Washington ordered his army to prepare three days' food, and issued orders that every soldier be outfitted with fresh flints for their muskets.He was also somewhat worried by intelligence reports that the British were planning their own crossing once the Delaware was frozen over. At 4 p.m. Washington's army turned out for its evening parade, where the troops were issued ammunition, and even the officers and musicians were ordered to carry muskets. They were told that they were departing on a secret mission. Washington's plan required the crossing to begin as soon as it was dark enough to conceal their movements on the river. **December 26,1776**- On the morning of December 26, as soon as the army was ready, Washington ordered it split into two columns, one under the command of himself and General Greene, the second under General Sullivan. Two parallel routes that lay a few miles inland from the river were set up. Only three Americans were killed and six wounded, while 22 Hessians were killed with 98 wounded.The Americans captured 1,000 prisoners and seized muskets, powder, and artillery. **December 27,1776**-In a war council on December 27, Washington learned that all of the British and Hessian forces had withdrawn as far north as Princeton, something Cadwalader had learned when his militia company crossed the river that morning. In his letter Cadwalader proposed that the British could be driven entirely from the area, magnifying the victory. After much debate, the council decided on action, and planned a third crossing for December 29.
 * December 15,1776**-Washington encamped the army near Mckonkey's Ferry, not far from the crossing site. While Washington at first took quarters across the river from Trenton,he moved on December 15 to the house of William Keith to be closer to the army. =====

[|G.W Crossing the Delaware River Information]
 * ==On December 25, 1776, General George Washington and a small army of 2400 men crossed the Delaware River at McConkey's Ferry, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on their way to successfully attack a Hessian garrison of 1500 at Trenton, New Jersey. This march, at one of the lowest points of the American Revolution, gave the Patriots new hope after their failed effort to keep the British from occupying New York City. The close of 1776 found the cause of American Independence from Great Britain staggering under a succession of defeats. In October, the Continental Congress had made provision for a long-term military force, but at the end of the year this establishment was on paper, not in the field where it was desperately needed. Washington, in his camp on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, realized that he must strike a military blow to the enemy before his army melted away and he was determined to hit the Hessian garrison at Trenton. On the night of December 25, the American main force was ferried across the Delaware River by Colonel John Glover's Marblehead fishermen and in the bleak early morning hours assembled on the New Jersey shore for the march on Trenton, about 10 miles downstream. The surprise attack was complete, and within an hour and a half after the action opened the Hessians surrendered.== ||