The victory at Trenton came as a complete surprise to people and governments all over the world. They could not understand how a ragged, half-frozen, starving assortment of hardly trained civilian troops, on one of the bleakest nights of a bleak year, 1776, of the struggle for independence, could defeat one of the world’s best professional armies.
This book is an attempt to explain how and why this effort succeeded. There emerges a picture of the American soldier as a more strongly committed fighter for his cause of freedom and liberty than the professional Hessian soldier whose only interest was the booty victory brought.
The story of the Battle of Trenton certainly demonstrates how highly valued were the rights the revolutionists sought to establish and serves as a reminder that the ideals they so valiantly struggled for are worthy of fighting for today—life, liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness.