5. Washington needed a victory to restore morale among his troops
In December 1776, George Washington was aware he badly needed a victory if he was to have any chance of keeping his army together following the end of the year. New levies for recruits in several states would provide additional help, but he needed to retain a veteran core for at least a month into the New Year. Nothing would boost his chances of succeeding in retaining men than a victory. That is, nothing other than money. In yet another letter to Congress, Washington stressed the need to pay his troops, if not all they were owed, at least some of it. Unable to do anything further in the way of money, he turned his attention to obtaining a victory. Despite the tattered, defeated air about his army he had some advantages. For one thing, the British and Hessians couldn’t believe him capable of launching an attack.
In their minds, the same flooded and ice-clogged Delaware River which protected the Americans from attack offered similar protection to the New Jersey garrisons. The wintry weather was atrocious and getting colder by the day. Loyalist spies in the region kept General Grant apprised of the condition of Washington’s army. Yet they failed to inform the British of the concentration of large boats, called Durham boats, gathered on the banks of the river near Washington’s encampments. Or if they did the British failed to understand their significance. They learned soon enough. On Christmas Day, 1776, Washington mustered 3,000 of his most reliable troops and marched them to the riverbank. There awaited Glover’s Marblehead regiment, ready to load the troops, horses, and artillery aboard and convey them across to New Jersey. The password that night was “Victory or Death”.