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The Battle of Trenton was fought on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War campaign for New Jersey. In a surprise attack, the Continental Army led by George Washington attacked the winter quarters of a brigade composed primarily of German troops from Hesse-Kassel in Trenton, New Jersey.〔Ketchum, pp. 239–255〕 The Hessian brigade was under the command of Colonel Johann Rall; he died of wounds sustained in the battle, and about two thirds of his men were taken prisoner.〔Ketchum, pp. 255–268〕 It was the first major victory after a long string of defeats that had resulted in the loss of New York City, and was a significant boost to American morale.〔Fischer, p. 257〕〔Ketchum, pp. 273–275〕 It was followed by two more American victories, first in a second battle at Trenton on January 2, 1777, and then on January 3 at Princeton.〔Fischer, pp. 287–343〕 Most of the German brigade comprised three Hessian regiments: those of Rall, von Lossberg, and von Knyphausen. The remainder of the brigade consisted of artillery corps attached to each regiment, a detachment of Jäger, and a small company of British dragoons. The attacking American army consisted of units from the Continental Army, including companies of its artillery, and a few companies of militia. Additional units were intended to also participate either in the attack, or in diversions to draw attention from the main thrust; these units failed to cross the icy Delaware River and did not participate in the action. ==Hesse-Kassel and British Army== After the war broke out in 1775, the British government realized that it would need more troops than it could raise on its own to fight the war, so it sought to hire troops from willing third parties in Europe.〔Fischer, p. 52〕 All of these hired troops came from German principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. The single largest contingent, with more than 12,000 arriving in North America in 1776, came from the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel.〔Eelking, p. 23〕 The garrison that was quartered at Trenton was a brigade of about 1,400 men, almost all from Hesse-Kassel, under the command of Colonel Johann Rall. The brigade was composed of three regiments, each of which had an artillery company attached. Also included in the brigade were a company of Hessian Jäger (basically light infantry) and a small company from the British 16th (Queen's) Light Dragoons.〔Fischer, p. 396〕 The Hessian regiments were named for their formal commanding officers. Since many general officers were also commissioned as colonels of regiments, they were often not present with the regiment, or were busy with their other duties even if the regiment fell under their higher-level command. Since Rall commanded the entire brigade, his regiment's operations were directed by its lieutenant colonel, as were the regiments of Lieutenant Generals Wilhelm von Knyphausen and Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg, the second and third ranking general officers in the North American forces of Hesse-Kassel after Lieutenant General Leopold Philip von Heister.〔Eelking, pp. 283–284〕 The information in this table is based primarily on the reports of surviving Hessian officers submitted during inquiries into the disaster demanded by Frederick II, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel,〔Ketchum, pp. 325–326〕 with some estimates provided by David Hackett Fischer and other historians. The reported strengths do not include the 28 regimental officers.〔 The casualty figures are from an official Hessian return (a formal report on the unit's strength) that also does not include officers.〔 Officers killed or who died of their wounds included Col. Johann Rall and Maj. Friedrich von Dechow, the acting commander of the Knyphausen regiment.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Order of battle of the Battle of Trenton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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