George Washington's Surprise Attack

by Phillip Thomas Tucker

  Chapter V

  Meeting Washington’s Surprise Attack

  Amid the chaotic swirl of the hectic activity now dominating the icy streets of Trenton, no one was doing more to organize the thoroughly surprised Rall Brigade than Lieutenant Jacob Piel. Age thirty-four, Piel demonstrated exactly why Colonel Rall had appointed—a wise decision—this energetic lieutenant as his brigade major as soon he had taken brigade command on September 15, 1776. Upon hearing the first crackle of gun fire by the foremost Virginia Continentals upon the band of Pennington Road pickets northwest of town, he had been the first Hessian officer who attempted to galvanize initial resistance on King Street. In this crisis situation, Rall could not have possessed a more capable officer than his own adjutant, who was an esteemed von Lossberg Regimental officer now serving as adjutant for the entire Rall brigade.

  Adjutant Piel’s tireless efforts began early this morning and now paid dividends. He had been up early, ignoring the piercing cold and the storm’s bitter wrath. Just after 5:00 a.m., despite the darkness, Piel had first departed his cozy sleeping quarters at the Rebecca Coxe House on King Street. The Coxe House was located next to Rall’s King Street headquarters in the large-frame Stacy Potts’s house, just to the south. Meanwhile, other von Lossberg fusiliers of Piel’s regiment were quartered in the town’s northern end.

  A bachelor born in flourishing port city of Bremen located on the River Weser and near the North Sea, Piel had ventured out into the snowstorm on his own initiative long before the first shot was fired in anger to the northwest. Almost as if some premonition had told him that all hell was about to break loose, he had even ordered Rall’s grenadiers and Lieutenant Fischer’s two Rall Regiment guns of the aborted morning patrol to the South Trenton Ferry, which Major Dechow had earlier cancelled, to go back to Dechow, the Knyphausen Regiment’s commander, and ask for new instructions. By this time, Dechow, as the new officer of the day, had recently departed his regimental headquarters on Queen Street to take up new and more comfortable King Street quarters at the guardhouse just fifty paces from Rall’s King Street headquarters.

  Clearly, the astute Piel had wisely hoped to now compensate for Dechow’s obvious tactical error in having cancelled the usual 4:00 a.m. morning patrol. Even more, the conscientious, almost prophetic, adjutant had attempted to wake Rall before 6:00 a.m., when it was yet dark, but to no avail. Then, around 7:00 a.m. and an hour before Washington struck, Adjutant Piel made another failed effort to rouse his commander at the colonel’s headquarters.1

  Therefore, when the first shots between Wiederhold’s pickets and Stephen’s Virginia vanguard had exploded around the Howell cooper house along the Pennington Road at 8:00 a.m., Lieutenant Piel immediately flew into action. Trying not to slip and fall on the icy street, as he was wearing a fine pair of knee-high leather boots like other Hessian officers, Piel sprinted across King Street as best he could.

  After navigating the slick street, Piel then galvanized Lieutenant Johann Heinrich Sternickel’s guard detachment of thirty men of the Rall Regiment, who were stationed at the headquarters watch-house, or alarm house, on King Street near Rall’s headquarters. As a cruel fate would have it, Sternickel would be soon cut down this morning and later die as a prisoner-of-war far from his Germanic homeland. Then the ten other Hessian soldiers poured from their sleeping quarters in private houses along King Street, joining the aroused guard detachment amid the steadily falling snow.

  Ironically, Lieutenant Piel had initially organized this group of around forty men in the hope of advancing up King Street to reinforce Wiederhold’s and Altenbockum’s hard-pressed pickets on the Pennington Road to the northwest. Piel realized that the band of Hessian pickets had their hands full as revealed by the escalating volume of fire rattling ever-louder over the snow-covered heights overlooking the town, and growing closer. Then, the busy adjutant raced back across King Street to the Potts’s house. Frantically “hammering” away, Piel banged on his commander’s headquarter’s door with an urgency that could only mean that serious trouble was brewing for the Rall brigade this Thursday morning. Finally awakened and in his bedclothes, a disheveled Rall opened a second story window of Potts’s house. After having been finally awakened, Rall was informed by the shouting Piel of the shocking news that he could hardly believe: Trenton was under direct attack from multiple directions by large numbers of Americans, who had so suddenly appeared out of the snowstorm and now seemed to be swarming everywhere.2

  After departing Rall’s headquarters, located on King Street’s west side nearly opposite the Anglican, or English, Church, where some von Lossberg fusiliers were quartered, Adjutant Piel then dashed back to his own quarters at the Coxe House. Here, he aroused twenty-nine-year-old Lieutenant Herman Zoll, with a dozen years of military experience and a stern stickler for details, who was now the von Lossberg Regiment’s acting adjutant. A reliable, unmarried officer from Rinteln who had led fifty of his von Lossberg fusiliers in a headlong bayonet charge that had cut down a good many Americans and netted sixty-four surprised prisoners at the battle of Long Island last August, Zoll had taken Piel’s place as regimental adjutant.

  The combined effect of the Hessian soldiers’ winter night’s sleep, the river valley’s depth at Trenton, the howling wind, and the snowstorm’s intensity had initially combined to help to muffle all sounds, even the first burst of gunfire northwest of town, to play a part in initially delaying the garrison’s arousal and overall response to its greatest threat to date. As in both Rall and Zoll’s cases, many Hessian soldiers, worn down by fatigue from past alarms, had remained fast asleep mostly in evacuated homes on both sides of King Street, even after the first hot skirmishing broke out between the Hessian pickets and Stephen’s Virginians along the Pennington Road. Therefore, some deep-sleeping German soldiers had to be vigorously awakened from their slumbers after having failed to emerge from their sleeping quarters, especially in cozy private homes in contrast to the “alarm houses,” even after the initial eruption of gun fire to the northwest.3

  As if the very embodiment of Frederick the Great, Colonel Rall rose to the challenge in splendid fashion after having been abruptly awakened. To his utter dismay, he had been literally caught napping by the same fighting men who he had long casually and loudly denounced as nothing but “a bunch of farmers” masquerading as real soldiers. Rall quickly recovered from the shock of Washington’s surprise attack. After hastily putting on his resplendent blue uniform coat of a full Hessian colonel, he grabbed his cherished saber that had presided over so many battlefield successes.

  Colonel Rall then dashed from his second story bedroom, raced downstairs in his leather boots, and burst out the wooden door of Potts’s house. He then emerged into the noisy confusion of King Street, where chaos yet reigned supreme. Here, excited Hessian officers ran back and forth, attempting to assemble their troops in the slippery street as best they could. Rall immediately attempted to rally his men in the open street between the row of King Street houses, as if still battling against Islam’s holy warriors on behalf of an Orthodox Christianity and Catherine the Great during that seemingly endless struggle between Muslims and Russian Slavs on Europe’s troubled eastern edge.

  The sheer magnitude of the chaos that greeted Rall, who could hardly believe his eyes, in King Street was staggering while the heavy shower of snow and sleet continued to pour down. With Knox’s cannon roaring from the heights north of town, German officers shouted orders, half-dazed soldiers rushed into line, and frightened horses neighed loudly in a scene of perfect confusion. Around a dozen Hessian drummer boys of all three regiments furiously pounded on their drums. Meanwhile, Captain Forrest’s six-pounders and five and a half-inch howitzers busily hurled cannonballs and exploding shells, respectively, down King Street. Spraying a hail of iron fragments in all directions, fiery explosions caused havoc among the fast-forming German ranks amid the din.

  Meanwhile, additional Hessians continued to stumble from the dark houses on both sides of King St
reet, spilling out into the icy street and chaos. But Rall was not deterred by a most vexing and confusing situation that would have completely overwhelmed a less determined commander. After doing all he could accomplish to organize the troops just outside his headquarters, Rall hastened down King Street to rally additional men. Although never been caught by such surprise before, Rall rose splendidly to the challenge. Here, below his headquarters on King Street, Rall attempted to organize his grenadiers for action. While the row of Washington’s angry artillery boomed like thunder to the north, additional Rall Regiment grenadiers tumbled from private houses and from such large wooden structures as the Trenton post office and the Bull Head and City Taverns, a two-story brick building, and out into the teeth of the fierce northeaster and Knox’s stinging cannon fire.

  According to prearranged plan, about half of the regiment’s blue-uniformed grenadiers gathered dutifully at the Rall Regiment’s predesignated rallying point located just south of Rall’s headquarters near the town’s center. However, other well-trained grenadiers, especially the younger German soldiers and exhausted men, whose morale had sunk to new lows in recent days, were panic-stricken by the sheer shock of Washington’s surprise attack. Amid the tumult, these shaken Hessians now headed south down King Street, making fast for the Assunpink bridge to escape, and no one could stop them.

  With the situation now so critical and time to recover from Washington’s surprise attack growing shorter, Rall’s steady leadership in the greatest crisis situation ever faced by his troops was now vital in rallying his grenadier regiment. Rall knew that he had to get his own grenadier regiment formed for battle as soon as possible, after suffering the ignominious fate of a career soldier: a professional and experienced officer having been completely surprised by the most contemptible of opponents, a Virginia planter who lovingly tilled the soil like the ancient Roman aristocrat and republican war hero Cincinnatus, and his homespun soldiers.

  Meanwhile, Lieutenants Piel and Zoll provided more timely assistance to their recently awakened brigade commander by attempting to sort everything out in the confusion. After having been awakened by Piel and obeying Rall’s shouted orders, Zoll sprinted across King Street to the Anglican Church, which was located across the icy street from Rall’s headquarters. Here, he awakened the brigade’s bleary-eyed artillerymen, who were mostly quartered in the wooden church and also in a private house near the King Street alarm house.

  Indeed, the fact that “foreign” troops were quartered in Trenton’s four churches—Anglican (English), later known as St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, on King Street, the Presbyterian Church on Second Street and Queen Street, the Society of Friends (Quaker) Church on Third Street, and the Methodist Church (where the British light horse had been quartered and was now empty) located at the corner of Queen Street and Fourth Street and nearly opposite the west end of Church Alley—was another outrageous sacrilege (only one of many) by the enemy that incensed pious Americans, both military and civilian. Knowing that the Rall Regiment’s two bronze artillery pieces had to be placed in action as soon as possible, Zoll helped to organize the drowsy Rall Regiment’s gunners, who had been asleep in full uniforms unlike the artillerymen of Rall’s other two regiments, as well as the fusilier troops of Francis, or Franziscus, Scheffer’s old company of the von Lossberg Regiment, as they were likewise quartered in the so called English Church.

  Meanwhile, north of Rall’s grenadiers, the von Lossberg fusiliers likewise continued to pour into slippery King Street from their sleeping quarters in private homes at the town’s northern end, or the “right wing of the cantonment,” and mostly in the wooden and brick houses on King Street’s east side, and from other nearby points scattered throughout snow-covered Trenton. Von Lossberg fusiliers of both von Loss and Scheffer Companies spilled out of the Anglican Church, leaving the safety of this once-serene, revered house of God to face Washington’s seemingly enraged, screaming devils from hell, who had so suddenly descended upon them out of a raging winter storm. Companies had to be formed in line in order of their commander’s seniority, a time-consuming process.

  Five colorful, silk battle flags of the von Lossberg Regiment were hurriedly brought out into King Street and the falling snow by the faithful color bearers in the hope of inspiring the just-awakened troops, so that they could rally around them amid the noisy confusion. Among these von Lossberg Regimental banners were the white (Life) battle flag, which every regiment carried, and company flags, or the “Compagnie-Fahne.” The Compangie-Fahne flag was proudly carried by each fusilier company. Among these brightly colored banners was also that of the Lieb (first) Company, or the Life Guard or Body Guard (Leibstandarte) company, which served as the commander’s honor guard and always formed on the line’s right. This silk battle flag of the elite guardian company, or “corps of guards,” was known as “the Liebfahne.” In addition, the Avancirfahne, or soverign’s colors, was also placed at the formation’s head. All the Hessian flags were distinguished by the imposing “golden lion (Lieb)” of Hesse in the center, reminding these Teutonic soldiers of their distant families and homeland for whose honor and reputation they now fought to uphold.

  With a clattering of gear and a considerable amount of shouting from excited officers, who wore large mustaches that were stylish among the Germans unlike the Americans or British, those von Lossberg fusiliers quartered in the houses at the town’s north end and above the Rall Regiment’s grenadiers rushed into formation on ice-slick King Street. Facing their greatest challenge, these battle-hardened fusiliers were distinguished by bright red uniform coats that provided excellent targets to sharp-eyed Americans with Long Rifles.

  Appearing almost like a ghostly apparition in the middle of King Street amid the swirling snow, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Scheffer had somehow mustered the strength to pull himself out of his sickbed when he heard the sounding of the first alarm. He had led the von Lossberg Regiment with skill since September 23, 1776 after the previous commander died of dysentery not long after landing on American soil. Scheffer had been first aroused from his sleep by Zoll’s timely efforts. Although sick for the last five days, Scheffer had not been under qualified medical care at the brigade hospital at the Presbyterian Church on Second Street, just east of its intersection with Queen Street. Instead, like a good commander, he had dutifully remained at his King Street quarters, located just north of Rall’s headquarters, and near where most of his von Lossberg fusiliers were housed.

  Meanwhile, the von Lossbergers continued to form on King Street in the upper end of town. Each fusilier company assembled before its own quarters at the street’s north end according to prearrangement. Exposed in the open air of King Street beside his troops, Scheffer shouted for Zoll to report immediately to Rall to obtain orders about what exactly to do next in this most disadvantageous of situations. First and foremost in facing the ultimate tactical dilemma, Lieutenant Colonel Scheffer needed to know where exactly to assign the von Lossberg fusiliers, who were yet coming together, and how best to deploy the troops.

  With iron cannonballs from Forrest’s Pennsylvania guns hurling through the air filled with dropping flakes of snow, Lieutenant Zoll dashed up to Rall just as the distressed colonel was mounting his skittish horse, which had been brought forth from its stable by an orderly. As if compensating for Scheffer’s incapacity due to illness, Rall ordered Zoll to have the von Lossberg Regiment form at a specified point east of King Street. Most of all, he wanted to get the troops out of the middle of the snowy avenue—a nice, open field of fire for Forrest’s sharp-eyed Pennsylvania gunners who were now firing with a fine precision—and then out of harm’s way to escape the withering fire: a wise tactical decision because hundreds of troops remaining stationary and motionless in a neat formation on the open expanse of King Street was absolute folly, when the Hessian’s legendary discipline was now transformed into a serious liability in such a disadvantageous situation.

  Shouting additional orders after mounting his charger, Rall direct
ed the von Lossberg fusiliers to align just off King Street in Church Ally—situated between, linking, and perpendicular to King and Queen Streets, and located a block north of the Anglican (or English) Church and almost directly across from Rall’s headquarters. Colonel Rall, shouting at the top of his voice, pointed toward where he desired the von Lossberg Regiment to form. Here, about halfway between King and Queen Streets and just east of Rall’s headquarters, the von Lossberg fusiliers sought meager, but adequate shelter, behind a row of wooden structures that stood on the north side of Church Alley, from two simultaneous storms, both the northeaster and Forrest’s artillery fire streaming down King Street. Most importantly and as envisioned by the clear-thinking Rall, Scheffer’s von Lossbergers now occupied a position close to King Street, just to the west, within an easy distance to support the fast-forming Rall Regiment positioned lower down on King Street just to the southwest. Toward King Street’s head to the north, meanwhile, Captain Altenbockum and his fusilier company were yet holding their advanced position, remaining absent from the regimental formation. Fighting on their own hook, the tactically astute captain and his pickets were separated from the von Lossberg Regiment after having decided not to retire down the street to rejoin their command.

  Finally, the formations of two regiments of the Rall brigade gradually became more complete, after the sleeping quarters had been emptied of men, in the projectile-swept King Street sector. After Lieutenant Colonel Scheffer aligned the fusilier regiment’s ranks in Church Alley to face north toward Washington’s bellowing cannon, the von Lossbergers now looked straight into the teeth of not only Knox’s hot artillery fire but also the driving sleet and snow: a decided disadvantage, especially if the Americans suddenly attacked down King Street from the north. Some of Washington’s mounted officers, including Knox who must have worried about his wife Lucy and his family if killed in this battle, watching from the windswept heights believed incorrectly that the Lossberg Regiment, the northernmost of Rall’s troops, had been swept entirely from King Street without realizing that they had merely redeployed east of King Street.