1776: "On Christmas Night We Marched"

Lieutenant Joseph Hodgkins helped form and lead the Ipswich Company from Massachusetts. This letter to his wife shares about crossing the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton.  

New Jersey, in Crossing, December y^e [the] 31, ’76. 

These lines come with my most affectionate regards to you. Hoping they will fid you & our children and all friends in as good health as they leave me at this time through the goodness of God, which has been great towards me in many instances, especially since I left Peekskill. I cannot express the hardship and fatigue we have undergone on our march from place to place. But I desire to be thankful that I am alive & well & in good spirits at present. I hope God will still preserve us & carry us through all difficulties & dangers we have to meet with in the way of our duty, & give us an opportunity of meeting together again in this world, and give us hearts to praise his name for all his mercies.

I must just give you a broken account of the proceeding of our army for the few days past. On Sunday y^e [the] 22 of December, we marched to Bristol and encamped in the woods near the town. On Christmas night we marched with about 2000 men to the ferry about 7 miles from camp, in order to pass over to the Jersey side of the river to attack a party of the enemy, that lay at a place called Mount Holly. But the ice prevented our crossing that night. But the troops that lay about 20 miles up the river against Trenton got across, and marched round and came in upon the back of Trenton about morning, and began a heavy fire with their field pieces, which surprised the enemy, so they soon surrendered. The whole that was taken was 925; about 20 killed and wounded, six brass field pieces, a great quantity of small arms and blankets. This gave the enemy a great shock, so they soon retreated from the other places where they intended to stay while the river was frozen strong enough to cross… 

[the rest of the letter is missing/not available]

Source:

The Letters of Joseph Hodgkins and Sarah Perkins Hodgkins. Historic Ipswich online: https://historicipswich.net/the-letters-of-joseph-hodgkins-and-sarah-perkins-hodgkins/