i'nmi his headquarters ai Newtown, Pa., to Congress,
saying,—

" I :iin jnr.t Mt( in ^ "itt to attempt a second pawagf oyoi th< Dal ffl aw

with the troops thai were with » n tl irnlng of the 26th. Gon.Cad-

walbuler •- ■ . >^^.-.l over on the 27th, and Is at Bordontown with about one
thoosand eight hundred men. Goo. Ulfflln will be to-day at Bordon-
town with :ii t one thousand -i\ hundred more. ... In view of the

B hi . prope ed i" be pursued, I tiiink it fair up|«.rtunity is i.ii.toI of

diiviiiK tin- enomy ontlrely from Jerwoy, or ut least to the extn mitj ol
the prot Ince."

In anticipation of the projected rosumptioii of opera-
tions in New Jersey, order- bad been sent to Gen.
Heath, who was still at PeeksMll-on-the-Hudson, i"
leave only a small detaeliment ofhistroi ipsal that place,
and to move al once with his main hmly, cross into New

Jersey, and march towards the British cantonment,
to divert their attention, but without intending aii at-
tack. Gen: William .Maxwell, who in the retreat
through this State had been left at Morristown with
a considerable force (in which was included a large
proportion of the soldiers of Hunterdon and Somerset
Counties), was ordered to advance his troops towards
New Brunswick as it' threatening an attack and harass
all the contiguous posts of the ninny as much a- pos-
sible; and finally, (lens. ( 'adwallader and Milllin.at
Bordentown and Crosswicks, wen- directed to hold
their forces (then amounting 1 ore than three thou-
sand live hundred men i in constant readiness tu rein-
force the main hmly under Washington when it should

make its appearance at Trenton. These dispositions

having been made, and all preparations completed,
Washington moved his army aCTOSS 1 he 1 lelaware into
New Jersey on the 80th of I leeember and ma rehed to

Trenton. At this point, he was under aerioua embar-
rassment, for the terms of servii fa large part of the

Eastern militia expired on the 1st of January, and it
was \erv doubtful whether they could be persuaded
to remain. The arguments of the commander-in-

chief, however, were Successful in prevailing mi them

to i tinue for an additional term of six week.-, in

view of the brightening prospects of the Ajnerican
cause and the promise of a bounty of ten dollars per

man. There w a- no money in the military che-l to
pay these promised bounties, but Washington at nine

sent a messenger to Robert Morris, al Philadelphia,

asking him to supply the mean- if possible : and that
patriotic financier promptly responded b) sending
fifty thousand dollars in cash, born. wed from a rich
Quaker on Morris' individual note and the pledge of

his honor to repay it.

\t the time of the Hessian disaster at Trenton the
British forces in New Jersey were under command of
Gen. Grant, whose headquarters were at New Bruns-
wick. Lord Cornwallis was at New York, making
preparations to -ail for England, in the belief that



the rebellion w a- virtually crushed and the war nearly
over. Upon receipt of the amazing news from Tren-
ton he at once relinquished his voyage, returned to

New Jersey, and put his troops in motion towards

Trenton. The British post at Bordentown, previously

held by a strong force under < 'mini I lonop, had been
abandoned on the liTth of December, and the troops

which had been stationed there retreated to Prim
w here they joined the force of < len. Leslie and threw
up defensive earthworks. When Cornwallis ad-
vanced from New Brunswick, the force at Princeton,

excepting three regiments under Col. Mawh 1,

joined the main column, which moved towards
Trenton and arrived there at about four o'clock in
the afternoon of Thursday, the 2d of January, 1777.

The two hostile armies which then and then
fronted each other were each about live thousand
strong, but om-half the force of Washington* was
made up of undisciplined militia, while thai of his

adversary included many of the finest troop- of the

British army. Before the advance of Cornwallis,
Washington's forces retired across the bridge to the
south side of Assanpink ('reek, when- it was soon
afterwards joined by < reneral < Ireene's division, which
had been sent out to reconnoitre and skirmish with

the enemy, hoping to so delay his movements that no
engagement would be brought on until morning. But
the British regulars promptly drove Greene's detach-
ment into Trenton and across the Assanpink, and
tli.n with very little delay moved in two columns,
one down Green Street towards the bridge, and the
other down Main Street towards the point where the
lower bridge now stands, intending to force a passage
over the bridge and across the ford; but they were
repulsed by the vigorous tire of Washington'- artil-
lery, which, being posted on the high southern bank
of the stream, was so effective that the assailants failed

to cross, and were compelled to retire, but with what
lo-s i> not known. t After the failure of this attempt
Of the British to CrOSS, the Americans kept up their
artillery-lire till dark, and the British withdrew to the

higher ground in the outskirts of the town, along the
Princeton road, where Cornwallis established his



tlladei and Ullflln, with their r. - from Bordentown, had

htngton on the night of the let of January.

t Tin- " 1'iilUi- ol A - iui|iilik" bal I liU'il a* a fearful

, mil. i, in which Ui" itroam was rUlod with I Id British

Unit ti.l- Is a groat, exaggeration, and that there was really no

battle al ill (bal merely â–  brisk can ade From ilie American artillery

nth bank, praTenttng U nemy in grossing the .-ueann, is

prottj clearly ahown bj anauthorit) as nigh as Qon. Washington hlm-

-.11, in the report which I ade to Oongreea, dated Plui kamin, Jan. .">,

1777, in which, rofl

to my expeotal s, the enemy began to advanoeui us;andal

skirmishing tiui head of theh ! .i-. at four o'clock,

whflsl their rear was a* fai back as afaldenboad. They attempted i"

,:. Greek, which rana through treat but, finding I

i died and kindled their Bi
sldo of the creek. En this situation wo ramainod until dark,
in.; the .iii'ii.v and n a ItIi I l. did us

bal UtUo damage." This i- all the mention made i â– â–  lb
chief, in In- "Mi i • Assanpink."



54



HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.



headquarters and directed dispositions to be made for
a renewal of the battle in the morning, when, he said,
he would " catch that old fox," Washington, whom
he imagined he had now so securely entrapped beyond
the Assanpink. But his boast failed most signally of
execution.

The situation of Washington was now perilous in
the extreme, for nothing could be more certain than
that Cornwallis would renew the battle in the
morning, and it was almost equally certain that in
such an event the victory would be with the disci-
plined soldiers of Britain. If such should be the result,
the American army could hardly escape the alterna-
tive of surrender or annihilation, for a retreat across
the Delaware in presence of such an enemy would be
impossible. Immediately after dark a council of war
was called, at which were, assembled the commander-
in-chief and Generals Greene, Sullivan, Knox, Mer-
cer, St. Clair, Dickinson, Stevens, Cadwallader, Mif-
flin, Stark, Wilkinson, and others. Some of the more
impetuous officers advised a stand for a battle in their
present position ; others favored a retreat down the
left bank of the Delaware and a crossing of the river
at Philadelphia under protection of the guns of Gen.
Putnam ; but the plan which was adopted was that of
a rapid night-movement around the enemy's flank to
his rear, and a sudden attack on the British force at
Princeton, which consisted of only three regiments
of cavalry and three squadrons of dragoons. The
execution of this plan was singularly favored by
Providence, for, even while the council of war was
engaged in its deliberations, the weather, which had
been warm during the day, turned suddenly cold ; so
that in a few hours the muddy roads were frozen suf-
ficiently hard to bear up the artillery and greatly to
facilitate the marching of the troops.

The movement to Princeton being decided on, its
immediate execution was ordered. The camp-fires of
the American army along the shore of the Assanpink
were kept brightly burning, and were replenished
with fresh fuel about midnight ; and soon afterwards,
leaving the sentinels on their posts, to delude the
enemy, the forces were all put in motion, and marched
rapidly but silently away in the darkness, with Elias
Phillips, Ezekiel Anderson, and Patrick Lamb as
guides. The baggage-train of the army was sent
away quietly on the road to Burlington. The route
taken led, by way of Sandtown, across Miry Run, and,
farther up, across the Assanpink, around the left flank
of the British army ; then, veering to the left, along
the " Quaker road" to and across Stony Brook, where
the main column left the highway and took a by-road
passing through lowlands directly to Princeton ; while
Gen. Mercer, with about three hundred and fifty men
and two pieces of artillery under Capt. Neal, con-
tinued along the Quaker mail, with orders to proceed
1m Worth's Mill and take possession of the bridge by
which the old road from Princeton to Trenton crossed
Stony Brook.



The march of the American forces had been slow
during the two or three hours immediately following
their departure from their camp on the Assanpink, be-
cause on that part of their route they had been com-
pelled (in order to avoid the outposts of the enemy's
left flank) to traverse a new road, from which the logs
and stumps had not been cleared. But the last part
of their march had been made very rapidly over the
hard-frozen highway ; so that when the sun rose they
were already nearing Princeton. And never was a
sunrise more auspicious than that which sent its rosy
rays through the frosty air on the morning of the 3d
of January, 1777. To Cornwallis at Trenton* it re-
vealed the mortifying fact that the " fox" had escaped
from his trap, and the unpleasant truth was soon after
emphasized by the dull sound of distant artillery
coming from the northward. To the eyes of Wash-
ington and his officers that sunrise was welcome, for
it showed them the position of the foes they had come
to seek ; and it lighted them on their way to one of
the most important victories achieved in the war for
independence.

The British troops in Princeton were a body of cav-
alry and the Seventeenth, Fortieth, and Fifty-fifth
Infantry Regiments of the line, all under command of
Lieut.-Col. Mawhood. He had during the night re-
ceived orders to march at daylight with the greater part
of his command for Trenton, to give his assistance in
the battle which Cornwallis intended to open along
the shores of the Assanpink on the morning of the
3d, and in obedience to that order he had put the
Seventeenth and Fifty-fifth Regiments, with a part of
the cavalry, in motion, and, accompanying them in
person, moved out on the old Trenton road. The
commanding officer, with the Seventeenth Regiment
and nearly all his cavalry, was fully a mile in ad-
vance of the rear division of the column, and had
already crossed the Stony Brook bridge at Worth's
Mill when he discovered Mercer's force moving
rapidly along the opposite bank of the stream towards
the mill. Upon this he promptly countermarched
his men, moved them on the double-quick back to the
bridge, recrossed it, and hastened on to secure a com-
manding position on high ground to the right of the
road. Gen. Mercer, as his detachment emerged from
a piece of woods near the Quaker meeting-house, dis-
covered the British, and, divining their object, double-
quicked his troops towards the same eminence, deter-
mined to occupy it in advance of the enemy if pos-
sible. Having reached the house and orchard of



* " Great was his [Cornwallis'] astonishment ami alarm at dawn to find
the patriot camp-fires still burning, but nut a man, nor hoof, nor tent,
nor cannon thoro. All was silont and dreary on the south 6ide of the
Assanpink, and no man of the British army knew whither the Ameri-
cans bad (led until the din of battle in the direction of Princeton came
faintly upon the keen morning air at sunrise. Cornwallis heard the
booming of cannon, and, although mid-winter, ho thought it was the
rumbling id' distant thunder. The quick cur ..I' Erskino decided other-
wise, and he exclaimed, ' To arms, general 1 Washington has outijenorakd
us I Lotus lly to Princeton I" 1 — Lossing, vol. ii. p. 234.



BUNTEHDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IX TIIK IlKYGUTIOX.



\\'illi:ini Clarke, he perceived 1 1 1 « - enemy's line ad-
vancing up tl pposite slope. The Americana

pushed un to the slight cover of a rail-fence which
was between the opposing forces, and there they de-
livered their vollej with precision and deadlj effect,
firing afterwards at will. The British proinptlyre-
turned the fire and charged with the bayonet. Mer-
cer's riflemen had no bayonets on their pieces, and,
being unable to withstand the furious onset of the
British, fled in precipitation and disorder, abandon-
ing their two field-pieces and closer] pursued bj Maw-
hood's grenadiers; but when thej reached the easl

brow i.f the sh)pe near Clarke's I -,â– , tlu-y were met

by the Continentals and militia under Washington,
w ho had lef) the bj -road on which he was marching,
at a j >• > i ii t near the < >lden farm, and hurried up to the
Bupport of Mercer. 'J'he fugitive Americans were
here rallied and reformed on a new line, and a section
of one of Washington's batteries, commanded by< lapt.

William Moulder, i red a storm of canister into the

faci - of the pursuers.

At this point, Mawhood, discovering for the firsl
line the presence of Washington and his force, ceased
the pursuit, brought up bis artillery-pieces, and
opened on Moulder's section, which he immediately
afterwards charged in a desperate hut unsuccessful
attempt to capture the guns. The scene of the con-
flict at this moment, when the lines of the opposing
confronted each other and the men of each
awaiteil the command to fire, is thus described by
Bancroft :

"Gen. Washington, ft* lite desire to ai atehls troo| i

rodo into the very I e >ui "t iluu^-i', and whon within Ices Ulan thirty

BritJ i ih. â– !!! il-

both paxtlw were about to fire, seeming to 1 j rcos that

they must stand Drm or leave blm I if t the enemj alono. The

two sldea gave a volley ai the mine ino at, whon, as the urn

away, It was thought a mtracli that Washington was untou b



• IaCuati.-,''' a n,-. 1 1. . i ■ -« ,.i tin Life and i i blngton,"

this pari hi i In' battle >>i Prim oton, and the Incident of tlie c

Id alol panic bi hoi I i I ' tv

mentioned thus: " Xhe nido d< Kuunp Ool. ]

. the i â–  .'i "i iii'' columu â– â– â–  i

1 â–  "i Hei i i' itiirnlng to tho spot where he had

leftthee mander-in-chlef, he ws indupon looking

in i ill' aide discovei d hlmonil i I be tine, which bad

been thrown mi" dlsordei by arapld tof thi

ii"- fortui "t the fight,

rein up his horse with in h

remain i ot ibli It*

* i>. - Will you . ii ' up you

nut made In vain. The discomfited ' inl and

form Into line II j ball ru I di

, in. i i i , -

lii. I I • "I both ill" I"'.' Ii

lint over
his nun Unit ho mighl n"t see him dl

mill then ii -hunt : ii was tii" Bhoul "t vii tor) 1 1" aldi -di p von-

11111'.-, m i. ,i i lii oyt Oh, ' I

flying, whllo dimly auiid Uio glim] the ohlof,

olive, unharmed, tnd

.in Ool. ] â–  the finest

In tho A

n hi- «n>. H"" '

oi the chlof, exclaiming, 'Thank I del' whilo



this time, llit"l h. r.r Mh ii : this day near-It nil

id Hand's nil- nun I "..in tn turn the

. they were win.!;
ii. "i over the fields and fon Tho action, from the Anrt

confllt t with Horcer, 'li.l not last more than twenty minutes. Washing-
ton, on the battle-ground, took Hitchcock by the bond, and iKifure liis
"i-viccs."

Col. Mawh I, with the Seventeenth British I: i-

ineni and hi- cavalry, iled from the battle-field t>. the
same road over which tiny hail marched in the morn-
ing, and, crossing the Stony Brook bridge at Worth's

Mill, moved rapidly un toward- Maidenhead, where
they knew Gen. Leslie had passed the night with his
division, the rear-guard "f Cornwallis' army. Leslie,

however, hearing the can adc in tin- direction '•!'

Princeton, was already on the march towards Simiy
Brook, and in his advance met the runted troops of

Mawhood, which latter had been pursued only a
short distance by the American-, because Washing-
ton kmw hi' the proximity of < fen. Leslie in the direc-
tion in which they retreated. Mawh I's artillery-
piece- were hii mi the field, and fell into the hand- ..f

the American-: but, a- they could not take them
away fur waul of horses, they afterwards returned to
the possession Of the enemy.

At the c|..-, ,.l' the ad iuii near Clarke's house Gen.

Washington sent a detachment, under Maj. Celley, of
the Pennsylvania militia, tn destroy the bridge over
Stony Brook, for the purpose of delaj ing the advance
of < li'ii. Leslie with the reserve division of Cornwallis;
Inn before they had accomplished the work the enemy
came in sight un Millett's Mill and opened a fire on
the working-party from their artillery, which finally
drove them from the bridge, though not until ii had
i" .ii rendered impassable for tin- British artillery and
trains. The commanding officer of the detachment,
Maj. Celley, was knocked off the bridge into the
stream, but, succeeding in crawling out, was making

hi- way Inward- Princeton, when he fell into the
hand- ul' the enemy. The British commander. ( '..rn-

wallis, on i dug up tn the bridge, found it imp

for hi- i. .in : but so great was his anxiety for the

safety of hi- magazines of Bupplj at New Brunswick
t which he fully believed to he Washington's destina-
tion that, hiiierh cold a- ii was, he ordered hi- troops
1,1 ford lie stream, which liny did. and then, with
their clothing frozen stiff, pushed on a- fast a- thi \

lie in pursuit of the American-.

In the battle with Mawh 1 the hit wing of his

force, the Fifty-fifth Regiment, was em off from the
right, and was driven into the town, where ii took a

position in a ravine mar the col] ' it wa-

attacked bj the New England regiments of Siark,
I' '. Patterson, and Reed, and afteradespei

i" the tn. Iling n
aide and fi i i.riog

Mil.'"



56



HUNTEKDON AND SOMEKSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.



sistance was utterly routed and sent flying in disorder
along the road towards Kingston. A part of the
Fortieth Regiment (which had been left in Princeton
when Mawhood marched out in the morning, and
which consequently participated very little in the
day's fighting) joined in the retreat and swelled the
throng of fugitives. A detachment of the American
force pursued them, but they soon left the main road,
and, striking off to the left, fled in a northerly direc-
tion along the by-ways and through the fields and
woods of Somerset County.* As to the route of their
flight, different accounts have been given. The Hon.
Ralph Voorhees, in one of a series of historical papers
recently published, said, —

" The Fortieth and Fifty-fifth retreated hastily to Kingston, and from
thence pursued a route that brought them to Middlebush, where they en-
camped for a week in a field a few yards west of where the present church
6tands, and a little to the east of the field where Gen. De Heister laid
â– with his division in June of the same year."

In another account,! published some ten years
since, it is stated that, " while Washington took the
main road towards New Brunswick, these [the fugi-
tives of the Fortieth and Fifty-fifth Regiments],
frightened and flying, made towards the heights
southwest of Rocky Hill, crossed Beden's Brook, and
rushed on till they crowded on the little point formed
by the junction of that brook with the Millstone River,
just in front of what is now known as the old Van-
derveer homestead. Abraham Vanderveer, now
[1870] living at Rocky Hill, says that when the
family saw them coming they were on a run. When
they came into the forks they halted, finding the ice
broken. They then procured rails, laid them on the
ice, and passed over. The Vanderveers had a large
pot of mush, just taken from the fire, intended for
breakfast. The British on coming up said they had
had nothing but hot bullets for breakfast, and, hastily
scooping the mush out with their hands, pursued their
march. These accounts doubtless have reference to
different parties^ of the retreating British, as it is not
to be supposed that they kept together in one body
during the panic of their headlong flight.

In the college buildings at Princeton there remained
a part of the Fortieth Regiment, which had occupied
it as barracks. Washington, supposing that these
men would stand and defend their position, ordered
up a section of artillery, which opened on the build-
ings. The first shot fired passed into the Prayer-
Hall and through the head of a portrait of His



* Washington had no cavalry with him, and of course the pursuit of a
terrified crowd of fugitives by infantry was fruitless. Many of them,
however, were captured, and the pursuing-parties kept up the chase so
long that they had not all rejoined the main body two duys later.

t From the pen of Jacob Magill, of the Newark Journal.

X Washington, in reporting to Congress under date of Pluokamin, Jan.
6, 1777, mentions that Homo of the British prisoners taken in the pureuil
after the battle at Princeton were taken across the Delaware River; and
also that at that time — two days after the battlo — the pursuing-parties
bad nut all returned to the main army. These fads would hcciu to iudi-
cate thai some of the British fugitives fled towards the southwest and
entered Hunterdon County.



Majesty George II. which hung on the wall. But lit-
tle show of resistance was made by the British within
the buildings, and finally James Moore, of Prince-
ton, a captain of militia, with the assistance of a few
others as bold as himself, burst open a door of Nassau
Hall and demanded a surrender of the forces within.
The demand was at once complied with, and the en-
tire body, including a number of sick, gave themselves
up as prisoners of war. This was the last of the
British forces in Princeton, and Washington, having
now entirely cleared the town of his enemies, imme-
diately evacuated the place, and with his army moved
rapidly away towards the northeast on the New Bruns-
wick road.

The advance division of Cornwallis, which had hur-
ried up from Maidenhead towards the scene of action
and dashed through the icy waters of Stony Brook, as
before mentioned, moved forward in the greatest haste
from that point to Princeton. Guarding the south-
western approach to the town was a bastioned earth-
work which had been thrown up a week or two
earlier by their own forces, and upon its rampart a
thirty-two-pounder gun had been mounted by Count
Donop. Now, as the head of Leslie's division came
on at a quick-step, it was greeted by a thundering re-
port from the great gun, which had been fired by two
or three American soldiers who still lingered near it.
The rush of the ponderous shot above the heads of the
British caused the advancing column to halt, and the
commander, who now believed that Washington had
determined to defend the place, sent out parties of
cavalry to reconnoitre, the infantry in the mean time
advancing slowly and with great caution preparatory
to an assault of the work. By these movements Corn-
wallis lost one precious hour, and when his men at
last moved up to the fortification they found it en-
tirely deserted, and soon after the cavalry-parties re-
ported that there was not a rebel soldier in Princeton.
Upon this the British general, chagrined at the de-
lay resulting from his useless caution, ordered his
columns to move on with all speed on the New Bruns-
wick road. Arriving at Kingston, three miles from
Princeton, he found that the Americans had broken
down the bridge at that place ; but this was soon re-
paired, and the army, having crossed the stream, was
again hurried on in the hope of overtaking the Amer-
icans in time to prevent the destruction of the
military stores at New Brunswick. Cornwallis
arrived at that place during the succeeding night,
and was rejoiced to find his stores untouched ; but he
found no American army, for " the fox" had again
eluded him, and was at that time safe among the hills
of Somerset.