The weather was below freezing. Soon the Delaware would freeze over and the Hessian would be able to walk across. 1500 men, well armed, well fed, well supplied. We had fought against them on Long Island. They bayoneted those that had surrendered to them. We had no illusions that our fate would be any different, should they capture us.

The ice flows were getting heavier now in the river. We tried to stay warm. But standing your turn at watch was like a torture. The wind whipped any warmth a man might have away. And the strain of keeping alert, of watching and waiting, in the cold and the dark, was more than some men could stand.

The day before Christmas, orders came. Prepare three days rations for tomorrow, draw supplies of ammunition, make all preparations for movement. On Christmas day we could hear the Hessians celebrating across the river. Before nightfall we formed up and started marching. I expected that we would retreat again. That our orders would carry us to the southwest. I was wrong.