 This was the password for the mission, but it was also a perfect description of what was at stake. One more defeat and the cause would truly be over. I sometimes wonder what was going through Washington's mind in the hours before the attack on Trenton. He knew that he was on the brink of becoming the man who lost independence for his country. Could he live with that? Was there anything that gave him solace? Now, he had recently written to his brother, and I quote, under a full persuasion of the justice of our cause, I cannot but think the prospect will brighten