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Entered according to Act of Congress, in June, 1867, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia. Vol. I. Written for Burke’s Weekly. WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE. IIE latter part of the year 1776, when the @Hm JMIm hopes of the Americans were at their lowest ebb, " and the army and cause were more gloomy than at any MY previous period of the war, this dar ffji ing and perilous feat was accom plished by the Commander-in-Chief. The American ar my had met with disaster after disas ter; Fort Washing ton, a strong post on the Hudson river, had fallen. Wash ington, in order to prevent Sir William Howe from marching on Philadelphia with his entire army, had been compelled to re treat from river to river in Pennsylva nia, until, from vari ous causes, his army had been reduced to barely four thousand men, with which number ho crossed the Delaware river. Here he was joined by other detachments of the army, but not in sufficient numbers to enable him to meet Sir William Ilowe, who, with a large and well appointed army, was only wait ing until the river was frozen sufficiently hard to enable him to cross on the ice and attack the city. The army, feeble and miserably clad, was on the point of dissolution by the expiration of its term of enlistment. — “The year and the campaign were clos ing amidst unusual despondency. Wash ington almost alone remained unshaken, MACON, GrA., NOVEMBER 30, 1867. and on one occasion he declared that if the enemy succeeded in obtaining posses sion of the whole of the Atlantic States, ho would retreat behind the Alleghanies, and bid them defiance there. But it was at precisely this juncture that he struck the boldest stroke of the war, and in less than two weeks not only entirely changed the face of affairs, and retrieved the for tunes of the campaign, but established his own reputation, for all coming time, as a consummate chieftain.” A considerable detachment of the Brit ish army, consisting principally of Hes sians, with a squadron of dragoons, were in possession of Trenton, New Jersey, while similar bodies occupied other points, with a larger force at Brunswick. Washington conceived the plan of sur prising the Hessians at 1 ronton, and the other forces at Bordentown and Burling ton, by dividing his own small army into three parties, one headed by himself, and the others by Gens. Ewing and Cadwal lader, and crossing the river above and below Trenton. “On the night of the 25th of December, when the Delaware, a broad and rapid stream was filled with floating ice, under a driving storm alter nately of snow, rain and sleet, and with the weather so cold that two of his men froze to death on the way, his own part of the movement was successfully accom plished. Trenton was surprised by him about 8 o’clock in the morning, and after a brief action, with nominal loss to the Americans. A thousand Hessians were taken prisoner—their commander, Col. and resumed the defensive. By such bold and successful operations as this, the fortunes of the war were completely re versed, and the confidence and hopes of the country revived. — ♦♦♦ During the war, a lady, passing from cot to cot through the wards of a hospital, was shocked to hear one fellow laughing at her. She stopped to reprove the wretched fellow. “Why, look here, ma’am,” said he, u you’ve given me a tract on the sin of dancing, when I’ve both legs shot off.” No. 22 Hall, being killed.— The dragoons escap ed down the river.” In consequence of the impossibility of .•rossing the river at other points, the two detachments under Ewing and Cadwal iader failed to accom plish their portion of the plan. Washing ton rocrosssed the river in safety with his prisoners, who were nearly half as numerous as his own detachment, and, af ter an interval of two or three days; return ed to his old quarters