Dec. 25-26, 1776. With most of his 6,000 men’s enlistments set to expire Dec. 31, George Washington needs a moral victory to convince them to stay in the army. He orders 2,500 of them to cross the Delaware River and conduct a surprise attack at the British outpost at Trenton guarded by hired Hessian or German soldiers. Crossing the Delaware River takes longer than George Washington expects. “But the quantity of ice, made that night, impeded the passage of the boats so much, that it was three o’clock before the artillery could all be got over; and near four before the troops took up their line of march,” Washington writes. http://ow.ly/i/eFg0V