The Continental didn’t stand a chance against the British army who would defeat them over and over. Christmas approached, all the troops lost hope of them surviving or ever returning home. Then things took a turn for the better when Washington was not willing to admit defeat, he planned a bold offensive maneuver. On the evening of December 25th, Christmas Day, Washington would cross 2,000 of his troops over the Delaware River, and attack 1,200 German mercenary troops, known as Hessians the best fighters in the world at the time, in a surprise that would catch them off guard the following morning. This was no one’s favorite idea he had come up with but it was the only way they could win a battle. The attack became a major success, making the cause for independence almost overnight, and bringing Washington’s army back. General Washington displayed many of the attributes of good leadership in the Battle of Trenton and some of these are shown in the film. They are: (1) He understood the larger picture and that the Revolution needed a victory. No one on the British side appreciated this fact. If they had the Hessian troops would have been on alert and Colonel Rall would have reacted to the message that the colonists were marching on his position. (2) Washington seized the initiative so that he had some control over events. (3) He selected good subordinates to carry out his orders such as Knox and Glover. (4) He knew when to stand …show more content…
However, there are a couple of errors that must be addressed. This film is about the Continental army, almost none of the men in the film, is seen wearing the Continental uniforms. Even though it is winter time, and some of the men would have worn civilian clothing that would help them stay as warm as possible, many of the men would have still been wearing their Continental uniforms. For many of them, this would be the only clothing they would have had on them. The movie puts Alexander Hamilton on George Washington’s staff at the time of Trenton. Hamilton was present at the Battle of Trenton; he was a Captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery, which was stationed on the high point of town during the battle. The following year that’s when Hamilton would become part of Washington staff. The river they crossed was also frozen in real life, but in the movie they just make it really cold they never had to break through any ice. Another thing is three coordinated assaults were planned as part of the overall battle plan for Trenton. However, the only one that really got moving was the main assault on Trenton itself. Despite these errors, the film does present a very accurate depiction of George