bought for his own mess. The Chapman mansion, the quarters of General Knox and Alexander Hamilton-now belonging to the Johnson family, on the opposite side of Jericho hill a mile from Brownsburg—is also in excellent condition, and probably the best preserved house in the county of the revolutionary period. Knox occupied the front room first floor of the west end, then divided into two rooms, now both in one, twenty-five by seventeen feet, and Hamilton, then a young captain of artillery, lay sick in the back room. The late Peter G. Cattell, who lived and died on an adjoining farm, and whom I personally knew in my boyhood, used to relate that he saw Washington at Knox's quarters.

Many of the line and regimental officers were quartered at farm-houses near their camps and their location is well known. Captain Washington, Lieutenant James Monroe, subsequently President of the United States, and Surgeon Ryker were at William Neeley's, over the line in Solebury Township; Captain James Moore, of the New York Artillery, a young man of twenty-four, died at the house of Robert Thompson the day the Continental army recrossed the Delaware to attack the Hessians, and was buried just below the mouth of Pidcock's creek in the edge of the timber. His grave, still to be seen, is marked by sculptured stones and a few years ago patriotic persons of the neighborhood enclosed it with an iron railing; Marinus Willett, Jr., an officer of a New York infantry regiment, died at the house of Mathias Hutchinson, Buckingham Township, and was buried near his dwelling, whence the remains were removed to the family vault at home.

Washington had not been long on the west bank of the Delaware, after making his small army secure from attack, when he took the military situation into serious consideration. This he grasped at a glance, and recognized the campaign of 1776 to have been a failure. He was now convinced the military policy must be radically changed, and that immediately, from a defensive to an aggressive war, if the Colonies would win their independence. His subsequent attack on the Hessians at Trenton was

the keynote of Washington's new policy and the turning point in the conflict.

The situation, at a glance, in the early days of December, 1776, was as follows and very critical. An icy river separated the defeated Continentals from their victorious foe, and the enemy was only waiting for the river to freeze over, that he might cross and finish the struggle at a single blow, and there was great danger of it. This, by all odds, was the darkest hour in the war for independence, and all eyes and all hearts were turned to Washington as the saviour of the country. Even Congress was preparing to throw on him the entire responsibility of the war, but he presented to the army and the country the calm dignity that marks the undaunted spirit and invites confidence. The crisis had arrived and Washington met it with undaunted courage.

It is often the case, in great public tribulation, that new supporters flock to a good cause at the darkest hour, and when least expected. It was so in this emergency. At this juncture, a new friend throws the weight of his influence into the scale. This was Thomas Paine, the author of "Common Sense," written in the American camp during the late campaign. He now issues another strirring appeal to the disheartened patriots called "The American Crisis," which soon became famous, and was first published in the Pennsylvania Journal, of December 19, 1776. It was read in every camp and its cheering effect was wonderful. Among other things he said: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the summer patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands it now deserves the thanks of man and woman." It sounded like a clarion note, and stirred every patriotic heart in the army. This stirring appeal was ordered to be read at the head of each regiment, and the effect upon the spirits of every one was apparent.

The late General William S. Stryker, in his exhaustive book entitled, "The Battles of Trenton and Princeton," draws the following touching picture of the sufferings of the Continental army at

this period on the west bank of the Delaware; he says: "What could be more cheerless than the condition of the Continental army in December, 1776? Christmas Day was approaching, but, for them, there was no holiday rejoicing. The weather was bitterly cold, and their miserable clothing, which was scarcely sufficient to protect them in autumn weather, left them exposed to the nipping frost of early winter. At night they lay down on these hillsides covered with snow, without so much as a blanket to shield them. In lieu of shoes, they had bound their feet with rags. Suffering with cold and hunger, marching over the frozen ground with bleeding feet; this was the fate of the patriot army which had been gathered for the purpose of resisting British tyranny in America. What then was left, for these heroic men, but to make one final struggle for liberty to strike one last, desperate blow and die? The cold increased. Across the Delaware River, in the cantonment of Trenton, preparations for the Christmas revel were in progress; but, on the Pennsylvania shore, men grasped their flintlocks more closely in their chilled fingers and waited, with stern, determined faces the next orders of their leader."

Washington's whereabouts from crossing the Delaware December 8, when driven out of New Jersey by the enemy, to recrossing it on the 25th, to attack the Hessians, is not without interest. As I have already stated, he made his headquarters at the Barclay house, the day he crossed into Pennsylvania. He remained there until the 14th, when he removed to the Keith house, in Upper Makefield Township, to be near the main body of his small

On the 16th he wrote Congress from Keith's: "Many of my troops are entirely naked, and most so thinly clad as to be unfit for service." The same day he and General Greene rode up to Coryell's Ferry; he was down at Trenton Falls and Morrisville on the 20th inspecting the situation of affairs, and back at headquarters on the 22d; again down at Trenton Falls on the 24th, and back at headquarters the same day, to make his final preparations to recross the river on the 25th. "Headquarters" did not travel about with the Commander-in-Chief, as many

would suppose, for, when at other localities, his letters were dated from "Camp," "Camp above Trenton Falls," &c.

When Washington first conceived the plan of recrossing the Delaware and attacking the Hessians is not definitely known, but probably soon after he had crossed to the west bank. Dr. Benjamin Rush tells us, in his diary, that he saw Washington write the watchword, "Victory or Death," on the 23d of December, and, about the same time, he wrote to Colonel Reed; "Christmas day, at night, one hour before day, is the time fixed upon for the attempt upon Trenton. For Heaven's sake keep this to yourself as the discovery of it may prove fatal to us." He likewise made Gates acquainted with his plans and wished him to go to Bristol, take command there and operate from that quarter; but this jealous subordinate pleaded ill-health, and requested leave to proceed to Philadelphia. He left camp Christmas morning, a few hours before the troops marched for their rendezvous on the bank of the Delaware; but Gates forgot to halt at Philadelphia, whither his leave allowed him to go, and hastened on to Baltimore to intrigue with Congress, and make interest among the members against the plans of the Commander-in-Chief.

As General Greene enjoyed Washington's full confidence, there is every reason to believe he was among the first to whom the plan of recrossing the Delaware was unfolded. On the 24th Greene wrote to Colonel Biddle, "If your business at Newtown will permit, I shall be glad to see you here. There is some business of importance to communicate to you which I wish to do to-day." As the contemplated attack on the Hessians was fully matured, doubtless this was the "business of importance" Greene wished to tell Biddle. But listen to what follows in the same letter, and written at the most trying period of the war: "No butter, no cheese, no cider-this is not for the honor of Pennsylvania." While it lets in a ray of light on the gloom of war, it lets us know the sturdy soldier, Greene, could not divest his mind of "creature comforts" while making ready for the bold venture of the morrow.

In the meantime, Washington was completing his arrange

ments to march against the enemy. This had to be done with the greatest secrecy as the country swarmed with tories, and he knew all his movements were closely watched. Of his whole force, estimated at six thousand, only twenty-four hundred could be found fit for the service, composed of troops from New England, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The men were provided with three days' cooked rations and forty rounds of ammunition. General Cadwalader was to coöperate below Bristol by crossing and attacking the enemy's post at Mount Holly. A few days before Christmas, boats were collected at Knowles' Cove, two miles above Taylorsville the place at which we have met, then called "McConkey's Ferry." On the evening of December 24, after Washington had returned from his inspection of affairs at the camp above Trenton, and had turned his glass, for the last time, on the enemy across the river, he rode over from Keith's to Merrick's to take supper with General Greene. As the conference concerned the important operations of the next day, there is hardly a doubt that Knox and Stirling and Sullivan, and probably others of the trusted lieutenants of the commander-inchief, were there. Mr. Merrick's daughter Hannah waited on the table and kept the plate, from which Washington ate, as a memento of the event. After supper, the family was sent to a neighbor's across the fields to spend the night, so there should be no listeners to the council of war that was destined to destroy British empire in America. It was here the final arrangements were made to recross the Delaware and march on Trenton. What a momentous occasion; how big with future events!

While Washington was making preparations to strike the enemy, everything was pleasant and serene in the Hessian lines at Trenton. Their's was a "Merry Christmas," and, in the evening, a number of officers, including General Rahl, their commander, repaired to the house of Abraham Hunt, a suspected tory but unjustly so, to conclude the festivities of the day. After night fall a Bucks County tory sent a messenger across the river with a note for Rahl advising him of Washington's contemplated attack. The note was handed to him, but the Hessian General,