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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3.

At Trenton, New Jersey: "I arrived here myself yesterday morning, with the main body of the army, having left Lord Stirling with two brigades at Princeton and that neighborhood, to watch the motions of the enemy and give notice of their approach. . . Immediately on my arrival here, I ordered the removal of all the military and other stores and baggage over the Delaware; a great quantity is already got over."- Washington to the President of Congress.

Thomas Paine, who was "with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania," referring in the first paper of his American Crisis* to the retreat through the Jerseys, wrote: "I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat to the Delaware. Suffice it, for the present to say, that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and a martial spirit. All their wishes were one; which was, that the country would turn out, and help them to drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked, that King William never appeared to full advantage, but in difficulties and in action. The same remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds, which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings which we do not immediately see, that God hath blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care."

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5.

At Trenton: "I shall this day reinforce Lord Stirling [at Princeton] with about twelve hundred men, which will make his number about two thousand four hundred. Tomorrow I mean to repair to Princeton myself, and shall order the Pennsylvania troops, who are not yet arrived, except part of the German battalion and a company of light infantry, to the same place. By last advices, the enemy are still at Brunswic; and the account adds, that General Howe was expected at Elizabethtown with a reinforcement, to

* Published at Philadelphia in December, 1776. This is the paper commencing with the well-known words: "THESE ARE THE TIMES THAT TRY MEN'S SOULS."

erect the King's standard, and demand submission of this State."- Washington to the President of Congress.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6.

At Trenton: "To-day I shall set out for Princeton myself, unless something should occur to prevent me, which I do not expect."- Washington to the President of Congress.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8.

At Mr. Berkeley's Summer-Seat, Pennsylvania: "Colonel Reed would inform you of the intelligence, which I first met with on the road from Trenton to Princeton yesterday. Before I got to the latter, I received a second express informing me, that, as the enemy were advancing by different routes, and attempting by one to get in the rear of our troops, which were there, and whose numbers were small, and the place by no means defensible, they had judged it prudent to retreat to Trenton. The retreat was accordingly made, and since to this side of the river. . . In the disordered and moving state of the army, I cannot get returns; but, from the best accounts, we had between three thousand and three thousand five hundred men, before the Philadelphia militia and German battalion arrived; they amount to about two thousand."- Washington to the President of Congress.

Washington crossed the Delaware at Trenton with the rear-guard of the army, early in the morning of the 8th, and about eleven o'clock the same morning, the British came marching down to the river, expecting to cross, but no boats were within reach, all having been collected and secured on the west bank.

The house in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, from which the above-quoted letter was written, was owned by Thomas Barclay,*—not Berkeley, as given

* Thomas Barclay, a prominent citizen of Philadelphia, was an Irishman by birth. He was one of the original members of "The Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick," organized at Philadelphia in 1771, the parent of the present "Hibernian Society," and its president from June 17, 1779, to June 17, 1781. In 1780, Mr. Barclay subscribed five thousand pounds to the Pennsylvania Bank, an institution "established for furnishing a supply of provisions for the armies of the United States."

by Washington. Mr. Barclay purchased the property, containing two hundred and twenty-one acres, in April, 1773, and it is presumed that he erected the house. In November, 1791, the premises, known as "Summer Seat,” passed into the hands of Robert Morris, the Financier of the Revolution The house, which is still standing, about half a mile from the Delaware, in Morrisville, opposite Trenton, is now owned and occupied by John H. Osborne. These head-quarters were retained until December 14.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9.

At Barclay's: "General Mifflin is this moment come up, and tells me, that all the military stores yet remain in Philadelphia. This makes the immediate fortifying of the city so necessary, that I have desired General Mifflin to return and take charge of the stores; and have ordered MajorGeneral Putnam immediately down to superintend the works and give the necessary directions."- Washington to the Presi dent of Congress.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12.

At Barclay's: "You are to post your Brigade at and near Bristol. Col. Nixon's Regiment to continue where it is at Dunk's Ferry [below Bristol]."- Washington to Colonel Cadwalader.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13.

At Barclay's: "I shall remove further up the River to be near the Main body of my Small Army, with which every possible opposition shall be given to any further approach of the Enemy towards Philadelphia."- Washington to the President of Congress.

"On the 14th, Washington moved to the farm-house of William Keith, built in 1763, and still standing, on the road from Brownsburg to the Eagle tavern. These quarters were retained until December 25. Here he was near the upper fords of the Delaware, at which it was supposed the enemy would attempt to cross, and within a half-hour's ride of Newtown, the depot of supplies."-W. W. H. Davis, "Pennsylvania Magazine," iv. 133.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15.

At Keith's: "With the utmost regret I must inform you

of the loss our army has sustained by the captivity of General Lee, who was made a prisoner on the morning of the 13th by a party of seventy of the enemy's light-horse, near a place called Vealtown, in the Jerseys."— Washington to the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania.

Notwithstanding many earnest appeals and orders from Washington to join the main army, Lee, who had been left at North Castle, New York, with a force of three thousand men, so delayed his start, and moved so slowly when started, that he only reached Morristown, New Jersey, on the 11th of December, having crossed the Hudson on the 4th. On the 12th the troops were marched to Vealtown, now Bernardsville, eight miles distant, and Lee took up his quarters three miles off, at Mrs. White's tavern, at the village of Basking Ridge, where he was taken prisoner the following morning. General Lee was not exchanged until April 21, 1778; he rejoined the army at Valley Forge, May 20.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18.

At Keith's: "Since I came on this side, I have been joined by about two thousand of the city militia, and I understand, that some of the country militia (from the back counties), are on their way. But we are in a very disaffected part of the Province; and, between you and me, I think our affairs are in a very bad situation. . . You can form no idea of the perplexity of my situation. No man, I believe, ever had a greater choice of difficulties, and less means to extricate himself from them. However, under a full persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot entertain an Idea, that it will finally sink, tho' it may remain for some time under a cloud."- Washington to John Augustine Washington.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20.

At Camp above Trenton Falls: "The division of the army, lately under the command of General Lee, now of General Sullivan, is just upon the point of joining us. . . General Gates, with four eastern regiments is also near at hand.-P. S. Generals Gates and Sullivan have this instant come in."- Washington to the President of Congress.

By the adjutant's return on the 22d of December, the army under Washington amounted to 10,106 men, rank and file. Of this number 5399 were sick on command, and on furlough; leaving an immediate effective force of 4707. But this return did not include the four regiments just arrived from the northern army, nor Lee's division, now commanded by Sullivan, nor the Pennsylvania militia, under General Cadwalader, at Bristol. The four regiments, having been greatly reduced by disease, amounted to about twelve hundred, Cadwalader's militia to eighteen hundred, and Sullivan's division to about three thousand.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 23.

At Camp above Trenton Falls: "Christmas day at night, one hour before day, is the time fixed upon for our attempt. on Trenton. For Heaven's sake keep this to yourself, as the discovery of it may prove fatal to us."- Washington to Colonel Cadwalader.

Four brigades, under Generals Stirling, Mercer, Stephen, and De Fermoy, had been posted on the Delaware to guard the fords above Trenton, the troops being stationed at the crossings from Yardley's up to Coryell's Ferry, now New Hope. This and the letter of December 20 were written from one of these camps, probably that of Lord Stirling, at Beaumont's, eleven miles up the river, which Washington had also visited on the 10th. The Commander-in-Chief returned to head-quarters at Keith's on the evening of December 24.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25.

At McKonkey's Ferry, on the' Delaware: Crosses the river a little before midnight, the transportation of the troops, about two thousand four hundred, being completed at three o'clock in the morning of the 26th. Marches with the army to Trenton, New Jersey.

The command was formed into two divisions under Generals Sullivan and Greene, one to march by the lower or river road, the other by the upper or Pennington road. Washington marched with the upper division under Greene, which arrived at the enemy's advanced post at eight o'clock, a few minutes earlier than the lower division. McKonkey's Ferry, now Taylorsville, on the Pennsylvania side of the river, and designated on the Jersey shore as "Washington's Crossing," is about nine miles above Trenton. A bridge nine hundred feet long now takes the place of the old ferry.

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