I drove across the bridge that is where George Washington crossed. The river is something that I would be able to swim across (not during the winter). Why did the Hessian soldiers feel at all safe with the continental army right across the river?
I understand that it was cold, etc.. But an army fighting for its life would attempt to overcome something like that.
Was there a different reason they were complacent? Was there a history of an unspoken Christmas truce?
Thank you
Cold is somewhat understating it, I think. The river was covered in floating ice (which was apparently a major hazard for the boats), and the weather was horrible, with rain and high winds making it very difficult. It wasn’t that they thought the river was impossible to cross (and in fact there were reports of Hessian plans to cross at the time), it was just that they didn’t expect it to be done as quietly, stealthily, and quickly as it was.
The other thing you have to consider is that this wasn’t just a matter of getting a few soldiers across - a couple of squads wouldn’t have been a major threat. He got a big chunk of his army across (including artillery and a few days’ supplies) at night, in hurricane winds, through ice flows across the river, and got them staged well enough to offer a threat.
Main source:
Washington’s Crossing, David Hackett Fischer
They weren’t complacent, if anything they were over vigilant previous to the attack which wore them out and caused to relax a bit but to the extreme storm, right when the Americans attacked. It’s a myth that the Hessians were drunk or hungover.
The Hessian commander had set out five main forward positions about a mile from the town. They posted sentries between them and had a regiment on alert in the center of the town.
However Colonel Rall did not control the countryside around Trenton. There were constant attacks from militias. He had to use 100 to Scott’s for communications back to Princeton and couldn’t patrol to the river four miles upstream without losing men. Americans raided across the river on 17, 18, and 21 December attacking Rall’s outposts. He had the soldiers sleep in their uniforms fully dressed. He sent warnings back to Princeton that his troops were exhausted, American attacks were increasing, and that he didn’t have enough men to control the area. British command didn’t help and in fact turned around the British troops that had gone down to help. The nearest Hessian force, originally within supporting distance of Trenton, was pulled out of position by some skirmishes with militia and its colonel’s infatuation with a young widow.
On Christmas Day they sent out numerous patrols and had been on alert for three straight days due to the attacks and intel that the American army planned to attack on Christmas. Then a nor’eastern hit and the garrison relaxed a bit for the first time in eight days due to the weather. It just so happened that’s when the Americans attacked.
From “Washington’s Crossing”.