 The deadline for enlistments was still set for the end of the year. The possibility of the army ceasing to exist was still very real. So days later on December 31st, 1776, Washington gathered his soldiers back at Trenton and pled with them to re-enlist and even offered them a $10 bounty. Now these are the kinds of moments that are easy to overlook. You might think, how could they give up now? They just won the war and the war wasn't even over.