![CROSSING THE DELAWARE AND THE BATTLE OF TRENTON – Great News from New-York … His Excellency General Washington … in Person at the Head of Three Thousand of our Troops, crossed the Delaware, attacked the Enemy at Trenton … and after a brisk Action of Thirty-five Minutes, entirely routed them. Salem: E[zekiel] Russell, January 6, 1777.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_14376_0241_000(crossing_the_delaware_and_the_battle_of_trenton_great_news_from_new-yo030355).jpg?w=1)
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CROSSING THE DELAWARE AND THE BATTLE OF TRENTON – Great News from New-York … His Excellency General Washington … in Person at the Head of Three Thousand of our Troops, crossed the Delaware, attacked the Enemy at Trenton … and after a brisk Action of Thirty-five Minutes, entirely routed them. Salem: E[zekiel] Russell, January 6, 1777.
“Our Troops behaved with the greatest Bravery. This signal Victory, at this Time, will be productive of the best Consequence. Ardor glows in every Face”
A broadside employing enormous type and a wonderful woodcut of a Continental soldier to convey the dramatic news of Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware and signal victory at Trenton. This is the only extant copy known. In part, “By Colonel Chester this Moment arrived from his Excellency General Washington, who was at Newtown, I have the Pleasure to acquaint you, that early on the Morning of Thursday last, his Excellency in Person at the Head of about Three Thousand of our Troops, crossed the Delaware, attacked the Enemy at Trenton, consisting of about Sixteen Hundred Men; and after a brisk Action of Thirty-five Minutes, entirely routed them … All the Prisoners, except One, were Hessians. Our Troops behaved with the greatest Bravery. This signal Victory, at this Time, will be productive of the best Consequence. Ardor glows in every Face; and I hope we shall soon retrieve all our Losses,” being the text of General William Heath’s letter to John Avery (State Papers V:249). The news was then relayed to Governor Trumbull in Connecticut and then to the Massachusetts Council, received on Saturday, [4 January]. This broadside is dated the following Monday, immediately following the Sabbath. The printer, Ezekiel Russell, had a flair for dramatic headlines: he is also responsible for the famous “Bloody Butchery” broadside issued following the Battle of Bunker Hill. The attractive cut of the Continental soldier with communiqué and cutlass seems to be Russell’s own (see also Ford 2061). Evans 15355; Ford 2062.
One page, oblong folio (212 x 350mm). Illustrated with a woodcut of a Continental soldier. (Light wear at folds including a tiny hole affecting one letter, laid down on japan paper, mild spotting.)
“Our Troops behaved with the greatest Bravery. This signal Victory, at this Time, will be productive of the best Consequence. Ardor glows in every Face”
A broadside employing enormous type and a wonderful woodcut of a Continental soldier to convey the dramatic news of Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware and signal victory at Trenton. This is the only extant copy known. In part, “By Colonel Chester this Moment arrived from his Excellency General Washington, who was at Newtown, I have the Pleasure to acquaint you, that early on the Morning of Thursday last, his Excellency in Person at the Head of about Three Thousand of our Troops, crossed the Delaware, attacked the Enemy at Trenton, consisting of about Sixteen Hundred Men; and after a brisk Action of Thirty-five Minutes, entirely routed them … All the Prisoners, except One, were Hessians. Our Troops behaved with the greatest Bravery. This signal Victory, at this Time, will be productive of the best Consequence. Ardor glows in every Face; and I hope we shall soon retrieve all our Losses,” being the text of General William Heath’s letter to John Avery (State Papers V:249). The news was then relayed to Governor Trumbull in Connecticut and then to the Massachusetts Council, received on Saturday, [4 January]. This broadside is dated the following Monday, immediately following the Sabbath. The printer, Ezekiel Russell, had a flair for dramatic headlines: he is also responsible for the famous “Bloody Butchery” broadside issued following the Battle of Bunker Hill. The attractive cut of the Continental soldier with communiqué and cutlass seems to be Russell’s own (see also Ford 2061). Evans 15355; Ford 2062.
One page, oblong folio (212 x 350mm). Illustrated with a woodcut of a Continental soldier. (Light wear at folds including a tiny hole affecting one letter, laid down on japan paper, mild spotting.)