The next month there was a battle on Long Island,[21] just across from New York City; the British gained the victory. Washington had to leave New York, and Lord Cornwallis, one of the British generals, chased him and his little army clear across the state of New Jersey. It looked at one time as though our men would all be taken prisoners, but Washington managed to seize a lot of small boats on the Delaware River[22] and get across into Pennsylvania: as the British had no boats, they could not follow. [Footnote 20: Congress: see footnote 14 in paragraph 133.] [Footnote 21: See map in paragraph 135.] [Footnote 22: See map in paragraph 135.] 138. Washington's victory at Trenton, New Jersey.--Lord Cornwallis left fifteen hundred German soldiers at Trenton on the Delaware. He intended, as soon as the river froze over, to cross on the ice and attack Washington's army. But Washington did not wait for him. On Christmas night (1776) he took a large number of boats, filled them with soldiers, and secretly crossed over to New Jersey.[23] The weather was intensely cold, the river was full of floating ice, and a furious snow-storm set in. Many of our men were ragged and had only old broken shoes. They suffered terribly, and two of them were frozen to death. [Illustration: WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE RIVER.] The Germans at Trenton had been having a jolly Christmas, and had gone to bed, suspecting no danger. Suddenly Washington, with his men, rushed into the little town, and almost before they knew what had happened, a thousand Germans were made prisoners. The rest escaped to tell Lord Cornwallis how the Americans had beaten them. When Washington was driven out of New York, many Americans thought he would be captured. Now they were filled with joy. The battle of Trenton was the first battle won by the Continental Army. [Footnote 23: See map in paragraph 135.] 139. Our victory at Princeton, New Jersey; the British take Philadelphia; winter at Valley Forge; Burgoyne beaten; the king of France agrees to help us.--Washington took his thousand prisoners over into Pennsylvania. A few days later he again crossed the Delaware into New Jersey. While Cornwallis was fast asleep in his tent, he slipped round him, got to Princeton,[24] and there beat a part of the British army. Cornwallis woke up and heard Washington's cannon. "That's thunder," he said. He was right; it was the thunder of another American victory. [Illustration: WASHINGTON ON HORSEBACK.] But before the next winter set in, the British had taken the city of Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. Washington's army was freezing and starving on the hillsides of Valley Forge,[25] about twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia.