During George Washington’s 1776 Delaware River crossing, the Continental Army attacked Trenton, New Jersey.
Washington led the operation across the Delaware River on the night of December 25–26, 1776. The army then marched toward Trenton, where it surprised a garrison of Hessian soldiers serving Britain. The Battle of Trenton ended in an important American victory on December 26.
The victory came after a difficult year of defeats and retreats for the Continental Army. Washington hoped the attack would restore morale, encourage enlistments, and demonstrate that the revolutionary army could still take the initiative. The operation captured roughly 900 Hessian soldiers and relatively few American troops were killed.
Washington followed the success at Trenton with another victory at Princeton in January 1777. The crossing and attack were later celebrated in Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 painting Washington Crossing the Delaware, although the painting is an artistic interpretation rather than a literal documentary scene.