How then could Washington with his small and ill-furnished forces--his "ragged continentals"--oppose successfully the much larger and well-supplied troops of the enemy? To keep risking battles with an army much stronger than his own would invite defeat and ruin. But there were some things he could do--watch the enemy sharply, harass and worry him by repeated small engagements, obstruct his plans, and whenever possible attack a small separate body and defeat or capture it. This is exactly what Washington did, and often with consummate skill. He won his best moves because he first carefully fought over all his battles in his own brain, and then fought them out with the guns of his soldiers; for he had a faculty of inspiring his men with his own high purpose. They admired him as a hero, trusted him as a friend, and loved him as a father. =206. The Brilliant Victory at Trenton.=--Washington had successfully withdrawn the troops from Brooklyn, but he knew perfectly well that with his scanty force of half-trained men he could not risk a battle with four times as many of the well-drilled enemy--it would be certain ruin to the patriot cause. Our army now had to retreat across New Jersey, the British following closely all the way! It was a distressing movement and it produced general gloom. The country was discouraged, Congress was discouraged, the army itself was becoming discouraged. The British said Washington did not dare to fight, and that the war was about over. In all this gloom there was only one ray of light: Washington never despaired! Sorely tried, he yet kept up his faith and hope. Sick at heart but ever resolute, he declared to his friends that if all others forsook him, he would retire to the backwoods of Virginia and there make a final stand against Great Britain. Reaching the Delaware, the great commander crossed into Pennsylvania. General Howe came up on the east side, and then spread out his army, placing a thousand Hessians at Trenton. See what Washington did. On Christmas night, 1776, he crossed the Delaware to attack the Hessians. The river was so full of floating ice that the Marblehead soldiers found it very hard to manage the boats. After the crossing, the men marched nine miles through snow and hail, sometimes marking the whitened ground with blood from their shoeless feet. [Illustration: THE NIGHT MARCH TO TRENTON.] As they drew near Trenton, Washington, who rode in front, asked a man chopping wood by the roadside:-- "Which way is the Hessian picket?" "I do not know," was the surly answer. "You may tell," said the officer at Washington's side, "for that is General Washington." "God bless and prosper you!" cried the man instantly. "The picket is in that house, and the sentry stands near that tree." The Hessians, who were celebrating Christmas with wild revelry, were surprised, and soon forced to surrender.