Princeton University - Bric A Brac Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

Page 32 text:

' II II 11 rr-rr 1778 I II M 11 II II M II II t I It ! 1 II T I • n ' 1 t II I I J 19281 7 Battle of Princeton — (Continued) to Princeton, twelve miles away. The moving mass wended its path over a recently constructed road, pitted with frozen quadmires and obstructed by newly hewn tree trunks, the only highway over the frozen country- side paralleling the English line of communication. Washington had flown. As the frosty dawn broke, the continental army crossed Stony Brook; brigades under Sherman, Sullivan, St. Clair, Mercer, Cadwalader, and Hitchcock traversed the stream in that order, and up the east side of the stream. Washington had been advised that the demolition of another bridge across Stony Brook and to the north would intercept the enemy line of communication and would hinder a possible attack by Cornwallis when the British found that the Americans had withdrawn. General Hugh Mercer and a small force was commissioned for this task, and the detail party branched from the main body and proceeded north through woods lining the east side of the stream. Three regiments of British regulars, commanded by Colonel Charles Mawhood, were quartered in Princeton during the night. Early on the dawn of January third, Colonel Mawhood departed to join Cornwallis in Tren- ton leaving one regiment, the 40th, in the village. The two regiments had crossed the bridge, which was Mer- cer ' s objective, when some members of the leading brigade, climbing from the stream bed to the top of the hill, sighted what later proved to be Washington ' s army passing over the back road to Princeton. Maw- hood ' s reasoning led him to believe the force was a small one because of dense woods and rough topography, and it seemed best to warn the regiment remaining in Prince- ton and to attack the Americans moving along the back road. At once reversing their column, the red coats recrossed the bridge and started toward town. Mercer ' s proximity was unknown to them. After retracing his route a short distance, Mawhood turned cast off the highway, sent one of his regiments to head off the Amer- ican leading brigade, and was then informed that a detachment of Americans (under Mercer) was south of the British. The American commander, although learning that a large enemy force had returned to his side of the Stony Brook, was ignorant of the British position and sought safety for his men by wheeling to the east and joining Washington ' s main guard. The focus at which Mawhood ' s own regiment surprised Mercer ' s men was an orchard on the Clark farm. Mercer wheeled to the north into line and drove the opposing detachment back until the main body of red coat regulars deployed and reinforced it. British cannister halted the militia, and American muskets had to yield to the charge of British bayonets. The continentals lost ground and were forced to flee. In the enemy charge. General Mercer was struck down by a gun butt, and his identity revealed. Red coat sol- diers, bayonetting him, left him terribly wounded. Mercer died in great agony on January twelfth in the farm house on the Clark estate. Meanwhile the harassed Americans had lost all their leading officers but one and were utterly routed. The division of the main army under Cadwalader had now hurried to the aid of the continentals and met the fleeing remnants of Mercer ' s detachment. Bewilderment was rife amog Cadwalader ' s unskilled militia, joined by fleeing soldiers and con- fronted by Mawhood ' s main force that had pursued their advantage ruthlessly. American artillery under Moulder flayed the enemy cavalry on the west and gave time for Washington to reform his battle line and to marshal the able veteran of the rear, commanded by Hitchcock. Supported by the veterans, creeping toward Mawhood ' s 28

Page 31 text:

I 1 I I !M Ml M II n II II II 11 ! 1 I.J n M 1 Ej 1928 7 Battle of Princeton BETWEEN five and six thousand able-bodied patriots were gathered on Christmas day, 1776, around the headquarters of General Washington on the Penn- sylvania side of the Delaware River and southwest of Trenton. Envious American eyes were fixed on the force of Hessian soldiers, carousing in true holiday spirits in the New Jersey town. The German mercenaries were heedless of the silent, ragged force of men that later crossed the river a few miles north of their camp Christ- mas night, marched to the encampment, and fell upon the regiments quartered there. The surprised soldiers, or, rather, what remained of the British militaries, was scattered in the wilds of central New Jersey. JECOND POSITION During the ensuing week. Lord Howe in New York, appraised of the American victory, despatched General Cornwallis with eight thousand trim British regulars to western New Jersey. The continental regiments, jubilant in the time of victory, had encamped south of Assanpink Creek in Trenton after transporting the captured Hessian troops to the Pennsylvania bank and recrossing the Dela- ware ' s icy channel to their present position. Militia under Cadwalader, Ewing, and Mifflin joined Washing- ton ' s regiments of foot and artillery along the creek. As the British strength in Trenton was augmented by daily arrivals of fresh soldiers from New York, Wash- ington realized the danger to the American position and condition of the fighting revolutionists. He had lately been granted the supreme command of the army as military dictator. An engagement with the enemy appeared inevitable, and the American leader sought means of avoiding any encounter against superior num- bers. He was willing, however, to vie with isolated portions of the enemy ' s troops after the fashion of the ancient Roman general, Fabius. Necessity, dire neces- sity, he wrote, will, nay, must, justify an attack. The feasible alternative was to march northeast, out- flanking Cornwallis, and to sever the red coat line of communication at some point between Trenton, Maiden- head (now Lawrenceville), Princeton, and New Bruns- wick, but preferably at the college town, which lay due south of Morristown where the next largest continental army was encamped. Skirmishes in Trenton on January 1, 1777, strengthened this decision. The night of the second, the continental were at work, so the red coat imagined, in making campfires and erecting breastworks, but this noisy, flaming activity was a ruse to cloak the withdrawal of the Americans, men, cannon, and baggage. A starry sky, a cool wind, and frozen roads were providential blessings to the marshalling militia. By one o ' clock in the morning the column had stealthily departed on its circuitous route 27

Page 33 text:

The Battle of Princeton —{Continued) left flank, the American line advanced until the red coat ranks broke and scattered, leaving men and cannon on the field. During the engagement, the American first brigade under Sullivan parried every movement of the British 55th despatched against it by Colonel Mawhood. Both divisions were inactive in the first part of the affray. Once Mawhood was in precipitate retreat to the north and west, the 55th r egiment hastened to join the 40th regiment to stem further American advance. Sullivan ' s men and others from the main army closed with the foreign regulars in a ravine (now on the east side of the Graduate College hill) and brushed the opposition into the college town. Some members of the English soldiery barricaded themselves in Nassau Hall, but a few cannon balls from an American battery silenced resistance. One of the balls entered the Prayer Hall and punctured a portrait of George II. In the building, the continentals found imprisoned revolutionists and British wounded. Danger from attack was not vet dissipated. Washington had ordered a detachment of militia to destroy the bridge over Stony Brook which General Mercer had been unable to accomplish. As the men were completing the destruc- tion of the bridge, Cornwallis ' army, now fully cog- nizant of Washington ' s position, hove into sight. Rem- nants of Colonel Mawhood ' s scattered 17th had been absorbed by the main force of opposing British. By delaying the red coats ' progress at the stream and on the east side of the brook, Washington ' s army was enabled to leave the town. After following the English line of communication as far as Kingston, the continental army turned north to Rocky Hill and eventually to Morristown. Two nights and a day had told upon the vigor .of militia and veterans alike. Rich stores and supplies lay at New Brunswick, but the fatigued troops were in no condition to seize them or to wrestle with the fresh numbers of Cornwallis. The loss of Mercer was a blow to the revolutionists, but in numbers the enemy ' s casualties far exceeded the continentals. The Americans had defeated the flower of the British veterans. The dread of the Hessians had already been exploded. Pennsylvania and the larger part of New Jersey were free of red coats. Supporters of the revolutionary cause increased considerably, and hope and cheer for the future of the war swept through the people of the states. Victory was yet possible. 29t