George Washington's Surprise Attack

by Phillip Thomas Tucker

  Most importantly, Rall also knew that he needed to bolster his attack with all the artillery that he could get his hands on if he was to succeed in his most daring offensive thrust. Rall, therefore, had already ordered Lieutenant Wiederhold to hurriedly bring up the two three-pounders with his Knyphausen regiment from the south. These were the von Lossberg Regiment’s artillery pieces that had become separated from Scheffer’s fusilier regiment during the confusion caused by Washington’s initial attack down King Street. Lieutenant Fischer, of the Rall Regiment’s artillery, had been assigned to command the Knyphausen guns in time for their ill-fated solo advance up Queen Street. However, by this time, both Knyphausen Regiment’s cannon had become disabled after “their touch-pans had burned out,” in one Hessian’s estimation, but in fact one gun had been hit by the artillery-fire of Hamilton’s New York boys. Four of the Rall brigade’s six cannon, consequently, were now of no active service to Colonel Rall by this crucial moment when he desperately needed as much massed artillery firepower as possible to assault the town from the east and to prevail in the end. Therefore, Rall was now severely handicapped without the availability of two-thirds of his artillery, while Washington possessed seventeen guns in action, enjoying an eight-to-one advantage.

  Not deterred by multiple setbacks and soaring casualties, Colonel Rall was determined to reverse the day’s fortunes that had turned so suddenly and decidedly against him. As in just having attempted to gain the Princeton-Trenton Road and turn Washington’s left flank around Queen Street, he now hoped to return the tactical favor of doing what seemed all but impossible by this time: launching a final, all-out offensive effort—a headlong charge—back into the narrow streets of Trenton to catch Washington and his now overconfident soldiers completely by surprise. Indeed, Rall’s most determined counterattack of the day was about to be unleashed in full fury, when a good many American soldiers believed that they already had a resounding victory well in hand, especially after occupying all of Trenton. However, perhaps one other possible tactical option remained open to Rall. Instead of attacking back into the midst of another vicious round of nightmarish urban combat at close range, Rall might have decided to turn his troops southeast in an attempt to ford the creek northeast of the bridge, where the Assunpink, a tidal stream, narrowed. If more prudent and less bold, he then could have attempted to escape to save what remained of his hard-hit command rather than now risking everything, including his entire brigade, on one throw of the dice.

  However, this never-say-die colonel, too proud and capable to consider even the thought of surrender, was yet emboldened by vivid memories of so many past glorious victories, including sparkling successes against yatagan sword-wielding Turks in the Crimea, and especially recent victories reaped by Hessian bayonet charges that had so easily overwhelmed America’s hapless citizen soldiers. Most of all, Rall wanted to redeem his brigade’s badly bruised honor and to regain his two lost artillery pieces, now manned by Orderly Sergeant White’s New Englanders and Pennsylvanians and Knox’s extra artillery crew specially assigned by Knox for the taking over captured guns, of his own regiment. A devastating psychological blow, the loss of one-third of the Hessian brigade’s guns was the ultimate humiliation to Rall and the men of his famed brigade.

  Worst of all, Rall had been surprised and committed the unthinkable by withdrawing completely out of Trenton, before this often-defeated former Virginia militia colonel, who long had been a laughingstock of multitudes of people on both sides of the Atlantic. Rall, therefore, was upset and angry. In consequence, Rall’s upcoming attack was driven in part by a potent mixture of rage, contempt for the American fighting man, and an excessive Teutonic pride, even while the booming of the near-circle of Knox’s cannon grew louder in the late December air.

  Rall was now determined to win it all, and at any cost. He once again gamely prepared to lead the Rall and the von Lossberg regiments, back into the smoky center of American-held Trenton, or Dante’s, inferno. Rall believed that if he regained possession of the town, then Washington’s unprecedented string of tactical successes in the debris-strewn streets of Trenton would be quickly negated in one bold stroke. After all, if the even most fanatical Islamic warriors had been beaten with Rall’s bayonet attacks when in Russian service, then he could certainly yet turn the tables on these upstart American rebels, who had exceeded their capabilities and good fortune this morning.

  Ignoring the earlier wise council from Lieutenant Wiederhold for Rall not to make the classic mistake of underestimating either the size and determination of so many emboldened Americans now swarming all over Trenton, which was filled with drifting clouds of burst-powder smoke that looked eerie under the dim winter sunlight and snow flurries, because they were so “very strong,” the veteran colonel from Hesse-Cassel was undeterred. He now prepared his grenadiers and fusiliers for their most desperate undertaking of the day.

  In a booming voice, Rall ordered his troops, who benefitted at this critical moment from the instilled Prussian-style discipline thanks in part to the tough-minded martinet Adjutant Kleinschmidt’s tireless efforts, to about face and turn around away from Fermoy’s Continental brigade to the north in preparation for the formidable challenge of attempting to overwhelm Trenton to the west. With his fighting blood up, Rall directed Lieutenant Colonel Schneff to form up the two regiments in battle lines facing west and directly toward the town, from where plumes of sulphurous smoke rose higher into the thin winter air until pushed away by the winter wind. Once again with another display of firm discipline and excellent training, the surviving troops of the von Lossberg Regiment aligned on the right, or north, and the Rall Regiment on the left, or south, in mechanical fashion.

  Against the odds, the Hessians were about to launch a frontal assault on the town now swarming with triumphant American troops, whose confidence and spirits were sky-high. Incredibly, Rall had only begun to fight this morning when death hung so heavy in the air, refusing to admit defeat regardless of the tactical situation. As in the past, he was now once again relying upon what Hessian bayonets could accomplish against mostly American farm boys. Quite simply, Rall simply refused to consider doing what almost any other commander, Hessian, British, or American, would have done in a comparable no-win situation: surrender. Yet feeling that this drawn-out battle had only begun—like Napoleon who believed that all was lost and hovered near disaster at Marengo until the battle’s course was reversed near the day’s end—despite seemingly everything having turned against him and lingering on the verge of the most humiliating defeat of his career, Colonel Rall rode rapidly up and down the front of his two veteran regiments.

  As on so many previous battlefields where victory was reaped, Rall’s dynamic leadership style fortified his grenadiers and fusiliers with greater resolve for embarking upon one final effort to win the day. In addition, the colonel ordered his brass band to play a spirited martial tune to inspire his troops for one last counterattack to reverse the day’s fortunes. Once again and ever so briefly, the romance and glory of war returned to reinvigorate Rall, who basked in that old sense of invincibility that had existed before Washington’s surprise attack.

  In a strange way, this tenacious struggle for the possession of Trenton had been now transformed for Rall into a high-stakes contest very much about personal, regimental, and brigade honor, an unblemished reputation, and a good deal of professional pride of a career soldier. After all and something that he could never forget, Rall was the non-noble son of Captain Joachim Rall of Stralsund, situated on a picturesque, blue-colored sound on the Baltic Sea, and former cadet who had fought with distinction in Russia, Bavaria, the Rhineland, the Netherlands, and even in Scotland. And, most of all, Rall was not about to let his men, especially his cherished grenadier regiment named in his honor, down by allowing the dark stain of defeat to blemish the most distinguished military record and reputation in America.

  Besides having lost the two Rall Regiment cannon on King Street, the two guns of the von Knyphausen
Regiment were disabled. One Knyphausen gun had been left behind in Queen Street and the other field piece was yet in the von Lossberg Regiment’s possession, while the remaining two von Lossberg Regiment three-pounders were with the Knyphausen Regiment to the south. If Rall could get these two three-pounders up to bolster his upcoming offensive effort and if the two lost cannon on King Street could be recaptured from Orderly Sergeant White and his New England and Pennsylvania cannoneers and then turned on the Americans, then Rall believed that a good chance remained to achieve a remarkable success. Nevertheless, Rall’s upcoming counterattack with the bayonet was in fact little more than a desperate last-ditch effort, but it was the best possible remaining tactical alternative in part because so many Hessian muskets had become inoperable from the steady deluge from blackened skies. As Rall hopefully calculated, the Knyhausen Regiment’s arrival from the south to reinforce his two regiments might well be sufficient for him to yet turn the tide.

  However, two unexpected and sudden tactical developments—one on the Hessian side and the other stemming from Washington’s own tactical decision—suddenly occurred that significantly affected the battle’s final outcome. Ironically, Rall’s hopes and his men’s spirits additionally brightened when hundreds of Dechow’s fusiliers suddenly appeared from out of the white haze of the falling snow, after having marched up Queen Street from the south. However, just when all three of Rall’s regiments finally came together and were united as one, about to take the offensive together for the first time all day, a strange twist of fate suddenly intervened.

  A Knyphausen Regiment officer, either a top lieutenant or perhaps even an aide to Major Dechow, who was yet hobbled from illness and an aggravated former wound not yet completely healed, reported to Rall. He then asked Colonel Rall if his newly arrived fusilier regiment “should march about left.” At the front of his grenadiers and the von Lossberg fusiliers, Rall answered with a single word, “Yes.” At this time, Rall desired for the Knyphausen Regiment to “about face” to the left, which meant shifting from facing north to facing west toward Trenton.

  Such a relatively simple tactical maneuver should have placed the Knyphausen Regiment neatly aligned and in formation, as Rall envisioned, alongside his other two regiments, which were poised to attack back into Trenton. However, amid the tumult of crashing musketry, the pandemonium and intimidating growl of Greene and Sullivan’s cannon from multiple directions, and the steady snow flurries that limited visibility which all attributed to the general confusion, Major Dechow either misunderstood the transmitted directive from Rall or the communication was jumbled. Dechow, therefore, issued orders that suddenly caused his Knyphausen Regiment to about face. Moving in a neat formation, Dechow’s fusiliers now turned not west toward Trenton as Rall desired, but south toward the Quaker Meeting House and the lower town from where the fusilier regiment had just marched.

  Immediately north of Dechow’s Knyphausen Regiment and with the intoxicating pageantry of war having seemingly briefly returned once more to Trenton, meanwhile, a mounted Rall inspired his lengthy line of two regiments by his example. He was determined to recapture not only his lost cannon but also cherished battle flags. Yet believing that the Knyphausen Regiment was in alignment to the south, Rall turned to face his grenadiers and fusiliers, who loved him like a father and would follow him to hell and back if necessary. He then screamed, “Forward march! And attack them with the bayonet.” To the blue-uniformed men of his own well-trained regiment, he then shouted for all to hear: “All my grenadiers, forward!”1

  Clearly, Rall’s determination to take the initiative and launch a frontal attack was the best tactical decision under the circumstances. After all, Napoleon explained how a military commander “of ordinary talent occupying a bad position, and surprised by a superior force, seeks his safety in retreat; but a great captain supplies all deficiencies by his courage and marches boldly to meet the attack. By this means he disconcerts his adversary, and if this last shows any irresolution in his movements, a skillful leader profiting by his indecision may even hope for victory. . . .” Rall was now fulfilling this timeless maxim in the art of war.2

  But Washington’s acute tactical sense, never more on target than on this frozen morning, had once again risen to the fore. Even before an emboldened Rall shouted to this grenadiers, “alle was meine Grenatir seyn, vor werds,” Washington had already maneuvered to protect his hard-earned prize that had been secured thanks to a hazardous river crossing, a lengthy nighttime march, and much hard fighting—the battle-scared, smoking town of Trenton. As tenacious as a bulldog this morning, especially when his fighting blood was up, the resilient commander from Mount Vernon was not about to relinquish Trenton to a resurgent Rall brigade without a tough fight.

  Therefore, watching hundreds of German soldiers marching closer and spying an opportunity upon sighting the exposed right flank of the von Lossberg Regiment that extended north toward Petty’s Run, Washington “ordered Lord Stirling to advance [the left of] his brigade [south and farther down and parallel to Queen Street] upon their other [right] flank” that was unprotected. Also on Washington or Knox’s order, Captain Hamilton hurriedly shifted his two six-pounders guns a short distance south and down Queen Street, moving his New York cannon into a better position to inflict more damage at closer range. Stirling’s opportunistic troops, consequently, on the Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware brigade’s left also inched farther down the gently sloping ground to provide support for Hamilton, while those New York cannoneers on Stirling’s center descended mostly in a southeast direction to defend the town from the northwest. Meanwhile, Stirling’s Virginians on the brigade’s right remained at King Street’s head to protect Forrest’s Philadelphia artillery.3

  Against rows of American smoothbore muskets and rifles bristling from advantageous firing positions all along the town’s eastern edge over a wide area from north to south, the lengthy Hessian formation surged west with drill ground precision. With Rall riding at their head and cantering forward on his war horse while snowflakes tumbled down from black skies, the finely uniformed grenadiers and fusiliers advanced in amazingly “good order.” Each German soldier seemed to be in perfect step. From all appearances, the relentless advance of Rall’s troops, in a tight, neat formation, looked like a solid wall of invincible Teutonic might. The two veteran regiments moved together as if of one soul and purpose, which was to push every last rebel out of the town and to recapture Trenton at any cost.

  To the ragamuffin American citizen soldiers who could not yet maneuver or march with the same crisp precision as their opponent, Rall’s disciplined advance across the snowy landscape toward Trenton was a magnificent, if not slightly unnerving, sight to behold by even Washington’s veterans. After all, in defending the town, the Hessians “gave smart resistance,” wrote Clement Biddle in a letter, and Washington’s men still felt the sting of that spirited resistance. In the von Lossberg Regiment’s fusilier ranks surging relentlessly onward through the snow to the right, or north, of the Rall Regiment and despite the recent loss of so many comrades, Lieutenant Ernst Christian Schwabe, age thirty, felt a growing sense of admiration as the two determined Hessian regiments “advanced on the town with drums beating” and flags flying in the stiff winter breeze.4

  Nineteen-year-old Lieutenant Carl Andreas Kinen and his brother Ensign Ludwig Kinen, age eighteen, both Dillenburg-born members of the Rall Regiment, were not advancing toward Trenton together. Carl, who had been wounded in the assault on Fort Washington and was unable to fight this morning, was captured earlier by Glover’s men in attempting to cross over the Assunpink bridge. Therefore, teenage Ludwig Kinen now advanced on Trenton in formation without his older brother by his side.5

  Attempting to do the unexpected in a seemingly no-win situation and as if having recently learned a tactical lesson, Rall was determined to wrestle not only the initiative away from Washington, but also the same tactical weapon that had bestowed Washington with so much unprecedented success this Thu
rsday morning: the element of surprise. To Washington’s amazement, Rall had unleashed a classic eighteenth-century bayonet attack right out of the pages of Frederick the Great’s Instructions, as if once again charging up the high ground at Fort Washington, the commander’s own namesake. Worn, black powder-smeared American soldiers, who had thought the battle for Trenton’s possession had already been won, looked on in wonder as the Rall brigade’s brass band of fully uniformed musicians advanced in front of lengthy formations as if on parade, playing a lively Germanic martial air to inspire the survivors of these two elite regiments in their all-out effort to reverse the day’s fortunes.

  Despite the fact that the Germans realized that they were about to enter the vortex of the storm in a nightmarish urban environment, Rall’s order for his grenadiers and the von Lossbergers to push straight west and toward the town’s smoke-filled center lifted the fighting spirit of these tough, professional soldiers who believed that they could yet turn the tide. Like Colonel Rall, these proud Teutonic fighting men were eager to redeem German honor and the Rall brigade’s lofty reputation by regaining not only Trenton but also their cannon. After all, never before had a Hessian field piece been lost in action to Washington’s homespun revolutionaries.

  And their deep-seated disdain (although now lessened after this morning’s dramatic turn of events) for American citizen soldiers itself was even now propelling Rall and his finest troops back into the midst of a hornet’s nest with a burning desire to avenge all the bad that had happened to them this morning. Therefore, with colorful battle flags waving in the stiff winter breeze and young drummer boys furiously pounding their instruments, decorated with ornate, brightly painted sides, in a rhythmical cadence that inspired the men in the ranks, these well-trained Hessians advanced steadily west across the gently sloping ground below Petty’s Run.