 Now, with the death of General Mercer, the Americans began to flee. These guys had defeated a group of mercenaries the previous week, and they had caught those guys by surprise, but this was a different story. This time they were fighting the king's regulars. Up until then, the British had proven their overwhelming superiority over the Patriots. So how could the Americans hope to defeat them? Were they about to suffer yet another defeat at the hands of the Redcoats? Was the victory at Trenton just a flash in the pan with the hard-fought gains they obtained be lost?