The Ten Crucial Days are the ten days from 25 December 1776 to 3 January 1777, when George Washington crossed the icy Delaware, captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton, held the Assunpink Creek line against Cornwallis and slipped away by night to win at Princeton, saving the American cause after a year of defeats.
In December 1776 the American Revolution looked close to collapse. Within ten days Washington's ragged army crossed the Delaware River three times, fought three actions and turned a disastrous year into a story of survival. This hub follows the campaign day by day.
The 250th anniversaries fall this winter, from Christmas night 2026 to 3 January 2027, so it is a good moment to separate what is documented from what grew into legend.
The army at the end of 1776
The year had gone badly. After defeat at the Battle of Long Island in August and the loss of New York, the Continental Army retreated across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. An army of nearly 14,000 in August had fallen to under 5,0001 by late November, and many of the men who remained had enlistments that ran out on 1 January.
It was in these weeks that Thomas Paine wrote The American Crisis, which opens with the line "These are the times that try men's souls." The date is often given as 19 December 1776 in the Pennsylvania Journal, or as 23 December. Research in the Journal of the American Revolution shows the pamphlet was printed in Philadelphia on 19 December2, while the Journal itself was not publishing that month. The popular story that Washington had it read to his troops before the crossing has no direct evidence behind it.
The crossing on Christmas night
George Washington planned a three-pronged attack. About 2,400 men under his own command would cross nine miles north of Trenton, while columns under James Ewing and John Cadwalader crossed further south. The watchword was "Victory or Death."3 Ice and a worsening storm stopped Ewing completely, and Cadwalader could not get his guns over, so only the main column went in.
Boats crewed largely by John Glover's Marblehead men ferried soldiers, horses and guns through the floes, with Henry Knox directing. By the time 2,400 men and eighteen cannon were across3 it was 3 AM, and the march did not start until 4 AM, through sleet and snow.
Trenton, 26 December
Trenton was held by a Hessian brigade under Colonel Johann Rall, some 1,000 to 1,500 men depending on the source3. The Americans came in from the north and northwest around 8 AM in two columns, one under Nathanael Greene and one under John Sullivan along the river road. Street fighting and artillery fire pushed the Hessians out of the town, and Rall was mortally wounded.
Hessian losses were about 22 killed, 83 wounded and roughly 800 to 900 captured3, with their artillery and stores. American losses in the fight were tiny: a handful wounded, among them the future President James Monroe. With Ewing and Cadwalader absent, Washington judged his position too exposed and took his prisoners back across the river the same day.
Assunpink Creek, 2 January 1777
Between 27 and 31 December the army crossed back into New Jersey. The deadline of 1 January now loomed: on 30 and 31 December Washington appealed to the New England regiments and offered a bounty of ten dollars a man to stay six weeks4 beyond their terms, and enough of them agreed to keep an army in being.
Lord Cornwallis advanced from Princeton on 2 January with several thousand British and Hessian troops. A delaying force under Colonel Edward Hand, whose riflemen fought from woods and ravines, held them up along the road for much of the day. When Cornwallis finally reached Trenton late in the afternoon, the Americans stood behind the Assunpink Creek, and repeated attempts to force the bridge were thrown back5 as darkness fell.
That night Washington decided not to wait for a second assault. A small force stayed behind to maintain the campfires, dig and make noise, while the rest of the army slipped away by back roads. By 2 AM the Continental Army was on the road toward Princeton6.
Princeton, 3 January
Princeton was held by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood with about 1,200 men and eight cannon6, under orders to march to Trenton that morning. The Americans outnumbered them roughly five-to-one and brought thirty-five cannon. Near the Clarke farms, Hugh Mercer's leading brigade ran into Mawhood's 17th Foot and was broken by a bayonet charge; Mercer was mortally wounded and died nine days later.
Washington then rode between the lines and rallied the wavering troops, and fresh brigades overwhelmed the British. Estimates put British losses at about 230 killed and wounded6 and another 250 captured; American losses numbered about 80. It was Washington's first victory on the field over British regulars7.
The British view: Howe, Cornwallis and the Hessians
For Sir William Howe the 1776 campaign had been a success: New York taken and the rebel army chased out of New Jersey. He placed his troops in a chain of winter posts across the state, with German regiments at the exposed southern end around Trenton and Bordentown. Cornwallis, who had been about to sail home on leave, was sent back to New Jersey after the shock of Trenton.
Rall has often been blamed for not fortifying the town, and an old story holds that his men were drunk after Christmas. Historians such as Fischer reject that tale4: the garrison was worn down by days of alarms, militia raids and patrols. At Princeton, by contrast, Mawhood's small force fought hard enough to cut its way out toward Trenton and was praised in Britain for it. Soon afterwards most British troops left New Jersey for posts near New York.
Why it mattered
None of these were large battles, but together they changed the war's mood. A beaten army had won twice, the enlistment crisis had been bridged, and the British had given up most of New Jersey. The army reached Morristown on 5 January and wintered in the hills there, a strong position covering the roads between New York and Philadelphia.
The campaign also made Washington's reputation as a commander who could take risks and keep his army alive. It set up the hard fighting of 1777 that you can follow in our hub of the greatest battles of the American Revolution, and the long duel described in Washington vs Cornwallis.
Visiting the sites
Washington Crossing Historic Park in Pennsylvania marks the embarkation point at McConkey's Ferry. For the 250th anniversary it will hold its 74th annual Christmas Day Crossing Reenactment8 on Friday, 25 December 2026, with the river crossing at about 1:00 PM in replica Durham boats. Across the river, Washington Crossing State Park in New Jersey covers the landing at Johnson's Ferry, with the circa 1740 Johnson Ferry House and a visitor center museum with a gallery on the Ten Crucial Days.
In Trenton, the Old Barracks Museum preserves a barracks built in 1758 during the French and Indian War, which witnessed the battle. Princeton Battlefield State Park keeps the fields of the Clarke farms, the Thomas Clarke House, built after Clarke acquired the land in 1772, and the stump of the Mercer Oak, which collapsed in March 2000 beside a tree grown from one of its acorns. Check opening hours with each site before you go; for more anniversaries see On This Day in Military History.