well at Chatterton Hill, where the American right wing
had been turned, and the fate of the day decided, by
his brigade. He had taken a leading part in the storming
of Fort Washington. The same adventurous spirit
which in former years had led him to join the Russians
under Orloff as a volunteer to fight against the Turks,
served him on those occasions. The ease with which
he had seen victories won, since he had come to America,
had filled him with an overweening confidence.
The ragged wretches who had been driven across New
Jersey might capture a patrol or drive in a picket, but
were, he thought, quite incapable of a serious attack
on a Hessian brigade. “Earthworks!” said he with an
oath to Major von Dechow, who came to advise him
to fortify the town; “only let them come on! We'll
meet them with the bayonet;” and when the same
officer requested him to have some shoes sent from New
York, he replied that that was all nonsense. He and
his brigade would run barefoot over the ice to
Philadelphia, and if the major did not want to share the
honor, he might stay behind. General Grant, the
English general commanding in New Jersey, shared Rall's
contempt for the rebels, and when the latter proposed
to him to send a detachment to Maidenhead, to keep
open the communication between Princeton and Trenton,
replied scornfully that he could bridle the Jerseys
with a corporal's guard. Von Donop, who commanded
at Bordentown, sent a captain of engineers to Trenton
to induce Rall to allow the place to be fortified, but
the latter was obstinate. Earthworks were unnecessary,
he said. The rebels were good-for-nothing fellows.
They had landed below the bridge several times
Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/105
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TRENTON.
89