Why was Washington's retreat through New Jersey a success?

Answer 1

Pretty long, but bare with me. I think context is very important

General Washington's retreat through New Jersey was the result of a completely catastrophic campaign during that year (1776). Washington occupied New York City after his success at the Siege of Boston. He had it on good intelligence that New York would be the British Army's next target (he was right). The British eventually landed after a few months, which were followed by a number of battles to determine New York's fate. Britain won every single one of them. Finally realizing New York could not be defended, Washington decided to retreat south through New Jersey in order to defend Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress (the founding fathers) were located.

Arguably, this retreat was the most dire time in the history of our nation. The American soldiers lacked proper clothing, many didn't have shoes (there are accounts blood from feet being left on the trail), many people didn't even have guns, morale and spirits were at an all time low, and there was talk of having Washington replaced. There were only a few thousand soldiers left in the army. If the British caught up to them, they would have been wiped out, and the Revolution would have ended right there.

Washington stopped the retreat on the south side of the Delaware River. The British stopped on the other side, in a small town called Trenton. Winter was coming, and back in these days, generals typically stopped fighting during the winter because of all the hardships soldiers would face. The British General Howe left a small force to occupy Trenton, then he would go back to New York with the rest of army to wait until winter was over. Washington received word of this, but as he didn't act any differently one way or the other, it's thought that he simply did not believe it - here the British were within striking distance of ending the revolution, and they withdraw their entire army?

December rolled around. At the end of the year, the majority of Washington's army would be able to leave to go back to their lives. Their enlistments would be up. With morale as low as it was, Washington knew that when this happened, he would not be able to convince very many to stay, and the army would practically dissolve. There would be nothing to stand in the way of the British. Washington knew he had to do something extremely bold, or the revolution would fail.

He and his generals devised a plan to cross the Delaware and attack the British head on. Shortly before the battle, Washington quickly jotted on a note to himself: "Victory or Death." On Christmas night, in the middle of a devastating hail storm, the American army began to cross the half frozen Delaware River in pitch darkness. The original plan was for three different landing parties to cross at three locations in order to attack Trenton on different sides, but two of the landing parties had to call off the attack due to weather conditions. They simply couldn't get across. Washington was unaware of this, and his party was the only one that made it to the other side. The fate of the nation rested on the shoulders of these 2,400 men. They landed upriver, and spent the rest of the night marching towards Trenton in this vicious storm. Two soldiers froze to death.

The Americans finally arrived at Trenton shortly after dawn, and caught the British completely by surprise. The British could not get themselves organized, and the American army won relatively quickly and easily. Not a single American life was lost, and the entire British army was captured.

News of the Battle of Trenton was like a shockwave across the colonies. A new breath of patriotism was reignited into the revolution -- the same revolution that the British and much of America had thought was all but lost. The answer to your question, why was Washington's retreat a success, is simple: George Washington never gave up. The determination he held onto during this dark hour is indescribable. Privately, he had serious doubts on whether he would succeed, one time even having been caught in tears. But he had an undying faith in the American cause and the men he led, and he never gave up on either of them.

I would highly recommend a book by David McCullough called "1776." It's wonderfully written, and goes into much more detail into this amazing story.

http://www.Amazon.com/1776-David-McCullough/dp/0743226720/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231897494&sr=8-1