I was gonna say Rall! Really! Anyway, he was known for his hatred of the rebels, and considered them very inept when it came to fighting, also, it wasn't that he couldn't read the message, he chose NOT to read the message and simply stuck it in his pocket!(You see, he was still celebrating the afternoon of the 25th, and, he considered the forces of Washington a non-threat, so, why even bother to read the message, in his mind, nothing would become of it if indeed they did attack) From the book "Military Blunders"
Also, Washington attacked from the North, there was a north wind blowing that night, and the picket line troops that were at the cities edge had their backs to the north, due to wind chill...Rall was killed when they retreated to a bridge, he tried to rally his troops by going back across the bridge, waving his sword, and was subsquently hit in the head, before he died though, he gave the command to 'retreat'. The rest, as they say , is "history".
[ 07-03-2001: Message edited by: Ripsnort ]