<P> Despite the battle's small numbers, the American victory inspired rebels in the colonies . With the success of the revolution in doubt a week earlier, the army had seemed on the verge of collapse . The dramatic victory inspired soldiers to serve longer and attracted new recruits to the ranks . </P> <P> In early December 1776, American morale was very low . The Americans had been ousted from New York by the British and their Hessian auxiliaries, and the Continental Army was forced to retreat across New Jersey . Ninety percent of the Continental Army soldiers who had served at Long Island were gone . Men had deserted, feeling that the cause for independence was lost . Washington, Commander - in - Chief of the Continental Army, expressed some doubts, writing to his cousin in Virginia, "I think the game is pretty near up ." </P> <P> At the time a small town in New Jersey, Trenton was occupied by four regiments of Hessian soldiers (numbering about 1,400 men) commanded by Colonel Johann Rall . Washington's force comprised 2,400 men, with infantry divisions commanded by Major Generals Nathanael Greene and John Sullivan, and artillery under the direction of Brigadier General Henry Knox . </P> <P> George Washington had stationed a spy named John Honeyman, posing as a Tory, in Trenton . Honeyman had served with Major General James Wolfe in Quebec at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13, 1759, and had no trouble establishing his credentials as a Tory . Honeyman was a butcher and bartender, who traded with the British and Hessians . This enabled him to gather intelligence, and also to convince the Hessians that the Continental Army was in such a low state of morale that they would not attack Trenton . Shortly before Christmas, he arranged to be captured by the Continental Army, who had orders to bring him to Washington unharmed . After being questioned by Washington, he was imprisoned in a small hut, to be tried as a Tory in the morning, but a small fire broke out nearby, enabling him to "escape ." </P>

Who led the hessians in the battle of trenton