The Crossing: Trenton at 250
Your student reads the letters of December 1776 and decides for themselves how a beaten army turned the war. Five sessions, grades 7–12, ready to teach.
In the third week of December 1776, George Washington wrote to his brother that “the game is pretty near up.” A week later his army had crossed the Delaware and taken Trenton. Your student reads what Washington, Thomas Paine and a London mapmaker put on paper that month, weighs where they disagree, and argues whether Trenton was really a turning point.
The 250th anniversary falls this Christmas. The unit works at any time of year.
What’s inside
- Five sessions. High school sessions run 60–75 minutes; grades 7–8 sessions run 40–50 minutes.
- Primary sources: Washington’s letters of Dec 18, Dec 20 and Dec 27, 1776; Paine’s The American Crisis No. 1; William Faden’s 1777 map of the campaign; and the 1776 Virginia act that created Ohio and Monongalia counties.
- A morale graph, a “Pamphlet Detective” dating exercise, a timeline of the crossing and an evidence sort.
- High school writing task: a 600-word essay on whether Trenton was a turning point, with a 20-point rubric.
- A full grades 7–8 path: act out the crossing, trace the two roads on the map, and write a soldier’s journal entry.
- Word bank, quick check and a portfolio record page.
Grades and standards
Grades 9–12, with a full grades 7–8 path. West Virginia standards: SS.US.19, SS.USC.21, SS.USC.4, SS.US.17, SS.US.12, SS.C.11, ELA.11.15, ELA.11.20, SS.8.21, SS.8.20, SS.8.14, ELA.8.22.
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