Introduction

Last week we left general washington and his boys at a low point, having spent their first campaign season being beaten, outmanoeuvred and run off. Washington had escaped across the delaware river with three thousand men, half of whom had enlistments that were due to expire december 30 first. With nothing going for the american army at all, what was to stop it from simply melting away? The hessian garrisons provided a desperate washington with one last chance to steal a victory before the year was up and his entire army went home.