Stories of Great Americans for Little AmericansEggleston, Edward
History
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
Eggleston, Edward
United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
But Washington did not stay in Trenton. He did not wish to be caught
like a fox in a trap. He could not get across the river. But he knew a
road that went round the place where Cornwallis and his army were. He
took that road and got behind the British army.
It was just like John waiting to catch James. James is in the house.
John is waiting at the front door to catch James when he comes out. But
James slips out by the back way. John hears him call “Hello!” James has
gone round behind him and got away.
Washington went out of Trenton in the darkness. You might say that he
marched out by the back door. He left Cornwallis watching the front
door. The Americans went away quietly. They left a few men to keep up
the fires, and make a noise like digging. Before morning these slipped
away too.
When morning came, Cornwallis went to catch his fox. But the fox was
not there. He looked for the Americans. There was the place where they
had been digging. Their camp fires were still burning. But where had
they gone?
Cornwallis thought that Washington had crossed the river by some means.
But soon he heard guns firing away back toward Princeton. He thought
that it must be thunder. But he found that it was a battle. Then he
knew that Washington had gone to Princeton.
Washington had marched all night. When he got to Princeton, he met the
British coming out to go to Trenton. They were going to help Cornwallis
to catch Washington. But Washington had come to Princeton to catch
them. He had a hard fight with the British at Princeton. But at last he
beat them.
When Cornwallis knew that the Americans had gone to Princeton, he
hurried there to help his men. But it was too late. Washington had
beaten the British at Princeton, and had gone on into the hills, where
he was safe.
The fox had got out of the trap.
WASHINGTON’S LAST BATTLE.
Washington had been fighting for seven years to drive the British
soldiers out of this country. But there were still two strong British
armies in America.
One of these armies was in New York. It had been there for years. The
other army was far away at Yorktown in Virginia. The British general at
Yorktown was Cornwallis. You have read how Washington got away from him
at Trenton.
The King of France had sent ships and soldiers to help the Americans.
But still Washington had not enough men to take New York from the
British. Yet he went on getting ready to attack the British in New
York. He had ovens built to bake bread for his men. He bought hay for
his horses. He had roads built to draw his cannons on.
He knew that the British in New York would hear about what he was
doing. He wanted them to think that he meant to come to New York and
fight them. When the British heard what the Americans were doing, they
got ready for the coming of Washington and the French. All at once they
found that Washington had gone. He and his men had marched away. The
French soldiers that had come to help him had gone with him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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