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Schematic plan · American Revolution

Battle of Trenton

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
TrentonUrban groundCentreLeft wingRight wingCentreReserveLeft wingRight wingReserveGunsGunsHorseHorseHorseHorse0250 m500 mN

USA (Am Army, 2,420 men under Washington) attacked Great Britain (Rall's Hessian Bde, 1,520 men under Rall) in New Jersey. The CAA Database of Battles records 1.5 hours of fighting on a front of 1.3 km, a frontal attack against hasty defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 12 (0%), Great Britain 996 (66%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

USA

Washington

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry511
USA centreInfantry682
USA right wingInfantry511
USA reserveInfantry426
USA cavalry of the leftCavalry10
USA cavalry of the rightCavalry10
USA artillery (18 guns)Artillery270
WashingtonCommander—
In this plan2,420

Great Britain

Rall

UnitArmMen
Great Britain left wingInfantry338
Great Britain centreInfantry451
Great Britain right wingInfantry338
Great Britain reserveInfantry282
Great Britain cavalry of the leftCavalry10
Great Britain cavalry of the rightCavalry10
Great Britain artillery (6 guns)Artillery90
RallCommander—
In this plan1,519

What the sources report

USAGreat Britain
Strength, this plan2,4201,520
Losses, this plan12996

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 85, “Trenton”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
1.5 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Urban
Weather
Wet, Light precipitation, Cold, Winter, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense
Front width
1.3 km (attacker), 0.2 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker2,420122018Frontal attack; Breakthrough; Pursued
Great Britaindefender1,520996206Defensive plan; Annihilated

Attacker’s advantages leadership +3 · intelligence +2 · initiative +2 · surprise +2

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.