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Battle of Princeton

The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777, and ending in a small victory for the Colonials. General Lord Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood in Princeton. Following a surprise attack at Trenton early in the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington of the Continental Army decided to attack the British in New Jersey before entering the winter quarters. On December 30, he crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey. His troops followed on January 3, 1777. Washington advanced to Princeton by a back road, where he pushed back a smaller British force but had to retreat before Cornwallis arrived with reinforcements. The battles of Trenton and Princeton were a boost to the morale of the patriot cause, leading many recruits to join the Continental Army in the spring.

After defeating the Hessians at the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776, Washington withdrew back to Pennsylvania. He subsequently decided to attack the British forces before going into winter quarters. On December 29, he led his army back into Trenton. On the night of January 2, 1777, Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek. That night, he evacuated his position, circled around General Cornwallis' army, and went to attack the British garrison at Princeton.


On January 3, Brigadier General Hugh Mercer of the Continental Army clashed with two regiments under the command of Mawhood. Mercer and his troops were overrun, and Mercer was mortally wounded. Washington sent a brigade of militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help them. The militia, on seeing the flight of Mercer's men, also began to flee. Washington rode up with reinforcements and rallied the fleeing militia. He then led the attack on Mawhood's troops, driving them back. Mawhood gave the order to retreat, and most of the troops tried to flee to Cornwallis in Trenton.


In Princeton, Brigadier General John Sullivan encouraged some British troops who had taken refuge in Nassau Hall to surrender, ending the battle. After the battle, Washington moved his army to Morristown, and with their third defeat in 10 days, the British evacuated Central Jersey. The battle (while considered minor by British standards)[8][9] was the last major action of Washington's winter New Jersey campaign.

Aftermath[edit]

After entering Princeton, the Americans began to loot the abandoned British supply wagons and the town.[41] With news that Cornwallis was approaching, Washington knew he had to leave Princeton. Washington wanted to push on to New Brunswick and capture a British pay chest of 70,000 pounds, but Major Generals Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene talked him out of it.[42] Instead, Washington moved his army to Somerset Courthouse on the night of January 3, then marched to Pluckemin by January 5, and arrived at Morristown by sunset the next day for winter encampment.[43][44] After the battle, Cornwallis abandoned many of his posts in New Jersey and ordered his army to retreat to New Brunswick. The next several months of the war consisted of a series of small scale skirmishes known as the Forage War.

Legacy[edit]

Part of the battlefield is now preserved in Princeton Battlefield State Park, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.[60] Another section of the battlefield adjacent to the state park was embroiled in a development controversy. The Institute for Advanced Study, which owns the property, had planned a housing project on land where George Washington charged with his men during the battle.[61] Historians, the Department of the Interior and archaeological evidence confirm the land's significance.[62] Several national and local preservation organizations worked to prevent construction on the property, and the Princeton Battlefield Society had legal action pending as of summer 2016.[63] On December 12, 2016, the American Battlefield Trust announced that through its Campaign 1776 project to preserve land at battlefields of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, it had reached an agreement to purchase almost 15 acres of land from the Institute for Advanced Study valued at $4.1 million. This purchase would increase the size of the state park by 16%. Seven of the planned single family dwellings would be replaced with townhouses and a total of 16 housing units would be constructed. The compromise arrangement was subject to approval by the Princeton Planning Board and Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission.[64] The Trust had already acquired and preserved nine other acres of the Princeton battlefield.[65] On May 30, 2018, the Trust announced that it had finalized the purchase after raising almost $3.2 million from private donors, which was matched by an $837,000 grant from the National Park Service and the Mercer County Open Space Assistance Program. The completed purchase ended the long dispute over how and whether the battlefield land would be developed.[66] As of mid-2023, the Trust and its partners had preserved more than 24 acres of the battlefield.[67]


The equestrian statue of George Washington at Washington Circle in Washington, D.C. depicts him at the Battle of Princeton. Sculptor Clark Mills said in his speech at the statue's dedication ceremony on February 22, 1860, "The incident selected for representation of this statue was at the battle of Princeton where Washington, after several ineffectual attempts to rally his troops, advanced so near the enemy's lines that his horse refused to go further, but stood and trembled while the brave rider sat undaunted with reins in hand. But while his noble horse is represented thus terror stricken, the dauntless hero is calm and dignified, ever believing himself the instrument in the hand of Providence to work out the great problem of liberty."[68]


Eight current Army National Guard units (101st Eng Bn,[69] 103rd Eng Bn,[70] A/1-104th Cav,[71] 111th Inf,[72] 125th QM Co,[73] 175th Inf,[74] 181st Inf[75] and 198th Sig Bn[76]) and one currently-active Regular Army Artillery battalion (1–5th FA[77] ) are derived from American units that participated in the Battle of Princeton. There are thirty current units of the U.S. Army with colonial roots.


A famous story, possibly apocryphal, states that during the Battle of Princeton, Alexander Hamilton ordered his cannon to fire upon the British soldiers taking refuge in Nassau Hall. As a result, one of the cannonballs was shot through the head of the portrait of King George II that hung in the chapel, which was subsequently replaced with a portrait of George Washington.[78] Tangentially, a few years earlier Hamilton had been refused accelerated study at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) housed in Nassau Hall. He attended King's College (now Columbia University) in New York, instead.

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Archived 2012-10-09 at the Wayback Machine

Animated History Map of the Battle of Princeton