We left Washington on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware--his army greatly reduced by the return of numbers to their homes, and depressed by a long and disheartening retreat before an exulting foe. Nor would the Americans have now been permitted to pause in safety, had the British commander succeeded in procuring the means necessary to make the passage of the river. Finding his efforts for this purpose, however, fruitless, he began his preparations for retiring into winter-quarters. The main body of the army was therefore cantoned between the Delaware and the Hackensack: about four thousand men occupied positions between Trenton and Mount Holly, and strong detachments lay at Princeton, Brunswick, and Elizabethtown. The object of this dispersion over so wide an extent of country, was to intimidate the people, and thus prevent the possibility of recruiting for the continental service; while in the spring these forces could be immediately concentrated, and it was then proposed to put an easy conclusion to all rebellious contumacy. The desperate condition of his country's fortunes now pressed with saddening weight upon the mind of Washington, and he resolved, if possible, to retrieve misfortune by some daring enterprise. To such an enterprise he was the more inclined, since, with the exception of about fifteen hundred effectives, his whole force would be entitled in a few days to its discharge. Having formed his plan--an attack upon the British posts on the Delaware--he proceeded to put it in execution. [Illustration: Battle of Trenton.] Early in the morning of the 26th of December, 1776, the main body of the American army, twenty-four hundred strong, and headed by Washington in person, crossed the river at M'Konkey's ferry, about nine miles above Trenton. The night was tempestuous with rain and sleet, and the river encumbered with quantities of floating ice, so that the passage, although begun soon after midnight, was not fully effected until three o'clock, and one hour more elapsed before the march could be commenced. The Americans moved in two divisions along the roads leading to the town, and their operations were so well combined, and executed with such precision, that the two attacks on the British outposts were made within three minutes of each other. The pickets attempted resistance, but were almost immediately driven in upon the main body, which was forming hurriedly in line. Colonel Rawle, their commander, soon after fell, mortally wounded; the confusion of the soldiery became irremediable; and, after a loss of about twenty killed, one thousand men laid down their arms, and surrendered their munitions and artillery. On the American side, the loss in battle amounted to only two killed and four wounded; among the latter, James Monroe, afterwards president of the United States.