12/22/2006

Washington wins at Trenton
By Tom Range, Sr.

On the evening of December 22, 1776, two Continental Army sentries delivered a captive to the farmhouse headquarters of General George Washington. The man had been apprehended crossing the Delaware River from its New Jersey shore near Trenton. The Continental Army was encamped on the western shore of the river in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, after having been pursued for a month through New Jersey by the enemy.

As the soldiers left the two together alone, after being dismissed by the commander-in-chief, the men broke into broad grins and embraced each other warmly. The captive, John Honeyman, had been personally recruited by the general in Philadelphia earlier in the year to serve as a spy. They were both veterans of the French and Indian War. Honeyman's "cover" was that of a cattle merchant.  Living in nearby Griggstown, New Jersey he had ingratiated himself with the British and Hessian forces occupying the territory around Trenton. He sold meat to the occupying forces.  With each delivery he made note of the troop dispositions and defenses of the enemy and reported, by devious means, the information to the general.

After a while, Washington called in his sentries and told them to lock Honeyman up until the next day. During the night, a fire in a haystack diverted the soldiers' attention and the spy made his prearranged escape.  He re-crossed the river, found his way to the Hessian headquarters at Trenton and told the commander Colonel Johann Rall that the Continentals were "an army of farmers" too hungry to fight. Rall laughed and started talking about the Christmas party planned for his officers and men. Honeyman was happy to supply his foes with the necessary meat for the celebration. Early on the day after Christmas, Rall and his men were at their ease after a long night of celebrating.  Suddenly, the Continental forces appeared. Acting upon Honeyman's intelligence, they had crossed the icy Delaware River in scores of boats commanded by John Glover and his Marblehead fishermen.

In a battle lasting less than an hour, Rall and 20 other Hessians were killed, 90 were wounded. A young Patriot lieutenant James Madison seized an enemy artillery piece in the engagement. Only four Americans were wounded, including Lt. Monroe, later to be the fifth president of the United States. The army of farmers seized the military stores at Trenton and later proudly paraded some of their 900 Hessian prisoners through the streets of Philadelphia. After a year of unrelieved defeat and retreat the Continental Army had scored a victory.  Militia enlistments, due to expire at year-end, would be renewed now that Washington had proved that he could win a battle. The Revolutionary War dragged on until 1783.

And what of John Honeyman, Washington's espionage agent? He maintained his cover as a cattle dealer after the Battle of Trenton and kept close to the British forces in New Jersey. When his patriot neighbors in Griggstown heard about his joining the Tory forces following the British, they rushed to his home and threatened to burn it down. His wife Mary, with their seven children huddled around her, handed the leader of the irate mob an official-looking paper stating that Honeyman's family were to be "protected from all harm even though they were kin of 'the notorious Tory, now within the British lines…'." The paper was signed by General Washington.

The general's protection was extended in secret ways throughout the war. In 1777 Honeyman was arrested and charged with treason by officials of the Patriot government of New Jersey. He was not convicted nor did anything come of a similar charge in 1778. And when New Jersey officials were selling off the property of Tories, the scheduled sale of Honeyman's possessions never happened. When hostilities ended, Washington publicly revealed Honeyman's patriotic work and personally thanked him.

Thus the general maintained the cover of his able spy. Honeyman was available to submit intelligence to the Continental Army for the balance of the war. After his death in 1822 at 93 years of age, the remains of this unsung American hero were laid to rest in a churchyard near Trenton.

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