that is december 7 into december 8 wendy armie -- when the army crosses. the british will arrive minutes after the last boat crosses. they will look for votes and boats and come up empty. that protects the american capital of philadelphia and gives washington valuable reading room. both sides are very well informed, through spies, of the other's positions. he has good information about trenton. he is desperate to get a victory going. he is also under the burden that comes with the first of the new year, january 1, nearly half of his soldier's enlistments are going to expire. he is going to lose about half of his army without fighting a battle by january 1. he is desperate to use the army before it dwindles away. he will cross here on christmas night, eight miles north of trenton, to get the army across undetected. he waits until darkness. it is a very dark knight. there is ice in the river. there is ice freezing on the banks. they have to break it away so the boats can land. it is a long night. nor'easter0, a snowstorm kicks in. andzing rain, hail, snow, w