When Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860, it was doubtful that he knew much about the small Pennsylvania farm town only a short train ride away from Washington, D.C. Even when the cannons roared their shot into Fort Sumter in April of 1861, the thought that Confederate states, now calling for secession, would invade a northern town in an attempt to win recognition from European allies and break the back and will of the Yankee citizenry was beyond him. But it would be so.

It would become the first real blush of success for Washington's army after the Declaration of Independence in July, as many of the battles before the Ten Crucial Days of this Campaign had been less kind to Washington's troops as they battled the British, and their Hessian allies, for the right of freedom. And when the three battalions of troops gathered at various locations along the Delaware River in boats they had confiscated from the region to both prevent the British from following and allow themselve the opportunity for a surprise attack, they were prepared for whatever next move the General would make. And that move at Washington's Crossing would precipitate that first success that many years later would lead to independence and victory.