Prelude to Victory
You might well imagine that General George Washington stood where you are now stand as he patiently watched his force of 2400 troops march up from the boats on the river over the road in the immediate foreground. Through his officers he would direct the assembly and assignments of the units of Gen. Greene’s and Gen. Sullivan’s divisions on Colonial Lane, on your left, and the assembly field beyond the road to ferry landing.
During the landing Washington would frequently return to the comfort of the tavern to review with his guides and officers the strategy of the approach to Trenton. To insure secrecy, Washington directed Gen. Stephens to encircle the landing area with pickets “so that no man may leave or enter.” He ordered “a profound silence to be enjoined, and no man to quit his ranks on the pain of deatj.” No fires were permitted.
The Continental soldiers, cold and miserable as they waited out there in the dark, did not know that, in a few hours, they would mold history in an incredible victory.
Courtesy hmdb.org
