Retreat and Counterattack -- 1776
General George Washington, after losing New York to the British, led his rebel army in retreat through New Jersey and on Sunday, December 8, 1776 crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. He commandeered every available boat along the river so that Lord Cornwallis's army would be unable to pursue him to attack Philadelphia and capture the Continental Congress.
Directly across from this point, near the Pennsylvania shore, is the island behind which Washington hid the Durham and ferry boats for his return on Christmas night 1776 to attack the British mercenary Hessian troops in Trenton.
By his daring victory at Trenton, Washington and his Continental army restored the ebbing spirit of the colonies in their struggle for independence from Britain, and paved the way for the ultimate victory over Cornwallis five years later at Yorktown, Virginia.
From the Historical Marker Project. Photo credit Dawn Engler.