The Battle of Princeton

Washington leading the troops at Princeton

After the surprise attack on Hessian troops at Trenton on Christmas night, 1776, George Washington recrossed the Delaware into Pennsylvania and plotted what to do next. The British troops under Cornwallis came down from New York to fill the vacuum. Washington then went back into New Jersey, and was faced with a decision. He ended up winning a skirmish at Assunpink Creek, and then rolled the dice and took a back roads approach toward Princeton. The two armies met there on January 3, 1777.

I live only about five miles from Princeton Battlefield State Park, and drive by it all the time, as it is bisected by a fairly busy road. I've wandered around it a few times, but decided to make another visit on the 235th anniversary of the battle, which in many ways was a turning point of the war, as it was one of Washington's greatest victories and convinced many, including the French, that the Americans could actually win the war.

As usual, I came across a closed visitor's center, which is the Thomas Clark house, which was built in 1772 and ended up serving as a field hospital. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but you think it would have been open on the anniversary of the battle. As a dedicated Democrat, I blame Chris Christie.

It was a cold day, but I took a walk of the park from end to end. The actual park itself doesn't encompass the entire field of battle, which extended all the way to the campus of Princeton University. Legend has it that a battery, led by Alexander Hamilton, pelted Nassau Hall (being used as British headquarters) with cannonballs, one of them crashing through a wall and decapitating a portrait of George III on the other side. There is still an indentation in the wall from cannon fire in the Hall's bricks today.

The Princeton Battle Monument

Also, the route Washington took from Trenton to Princeton is marked with stone obelisks. Much of the route is today Quakerbridge Road, through the town known today as Lawrenceville. I stopped at one near the Updike Farm, not far from Stony Brook Bridge, which Washington tried to destroy, but in retrospect, it was okay that he failed, because the bridge still exists and is in heavy use for automobile traffic.

The most notable feature of the battlefield was, until 2000, the Mercer Oak. Legend also has it that General Hugh Mercer, one of the Americans, was lain under this tree after being wounded. He died of his wounds nine days later in Clark House. The tree finally gave way in 2000, but an acorn from the original tree was planted to grow a new one, which is now about twenty feet high.

Finally, there is a monument to the battle that stands before Princeton Borough Hall, which was dedicated in 1922. President Warren Harding attended the dedication.