Washington's Crossing

Although most Americans probably have at least a passing familiarity with Washington's surprise victory over the Hessians at Trenton on the day after Christmas, 1776, Fischer's account highlights an equally crucial, yet barely remembered, battle at Trenton a week later when the American forces withstood a counterattack by Lord Cornwallis's forces, setting the stage for a daring overnight march by Washington around the British army to win another victory at Princeton and reverse the momentum of the war. Within a few months British generals who has believed the rebellion almost crushed found that the path to victory had vanished in the snow and mud.