The Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, was a battle between American and British troops that took place in and around Trenton, New Jersey, on January 2, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, and results in an American victory.
Following the victory at the Battle of Trenton early in the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington of the Continental Army and his council of war expect a strong British counter-attack.
Washington and the council decide to meet this attack in Trenton, and establish a defensive position south of the Assunpink Creek.
Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis leads the British forces southward in the aftermath of the December 26 battle.
Leaving fourteen men under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood in Princeton, Cornwallis advances on Trenton with about five thousand men on January 2.
His advance is significantly slowed by defensive skirmishing by American riflemen under the command of Edward Hand, and the advance guard does not reach Trenton until twilight.
After assaulting the American positions three times, and being repulsed each time, Cornwallis decides to wait and finish the battle the next day.
Washington moves his army around Cornwallis's camp that night and attacks Mawhood at Princeton the next day.
That defeat prompts the British to withdraw from most of New Jersey for the winter.
