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

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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

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' 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

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11 11,11..! ' M ' 1 T7 t ! n .LL ' ' ' I I T TT M 11 II II M l ? 1928 Princeton and Its Contributions ALTHOUGH Princeton is fai- from being the old- l . est settlement in New Jersey, yet it has a history of more than two centuries, the first homestead having been established in i68x. It remained, however, for more than half a century a quiet and unimportant hamlet, with its few settlers devoting their time to the clearing of the forest and the tilling of the soil. And yet the roll call of the pioneers of Princeton reveals many names which are now synonymous with patriotism and famous in Ameri- can History: Stockton, Boudinot, Randolph, and others almost as renowned, — men who first showed their in- stinctive Americanism by protesting against the quarter- ing of British troops in their homes during the French and Indian war. In October, 1746, twelve years before that time, the College of New Jersey had been chartered. This college was opened in Elizabethtown the following year under President Dickinson. After his death, later in that year, the college was moved to Newark and put under the care of Aaron Burr. In September, 1847, a new charter was granted by the Governor, Jonathan Belcher, and a few years later the college was permanently located at Princeton. New buildings, including Nassau Hall, were completed, and the town and college of Princeton grew side by side from that time to the present. The College of New Jersey, however, was never a state affair either in interest or support, for even in these very earliest years of its history notable men from Philadelphia and New York were drawn to this new seat of learning, and territorial representation has continued to expand nearly every year of its growth. It was but a short time after the completion of Nassau Hall (in 1756) that such names as Burr, Edwards, With- er spoon, Livingston, Luther Martin and other men of eminence were written into the tradition and history of Princeton. Nassau Hall today is the great monument to the lasting historic and patriotic achievements of these men, and the many others who followed in their foot- steps. That building stood while the first seeds of rebel- lion against British dominion were sown; it witnessed the rise of antagonistic feeling to its apex, the Revolu- tion; it harbored the government of the United States in its critical moments and cradled the Constitution makers of this great nation. The man who presided over Nassau Hall at the time of these historic events was John Witherspoon, a Scotch- man, whom Princeton men will always revere and es- teem. He was president from 1768 to 1794, and under his guidance and tutelage the college began to prosper just as the clouds were darkening on the political sky. Every movement of those clouds was reflected on the campus. When the letter breaking the non-importation agreement passed through Princeton on its way to Philadelphia, the document was seized by the undergraduates and burned with great ceremony in front of Nassau Hall. James Madison, then a student at the College, has left a record of this incident in a letter to a friend. This was one of the first so-called undergraduate demonstra- tions that have persisted to the present day. It was soon followed by one of a more vigorous nature, which Charles Beatty has described in these words: Last week to show our patriotism, we gathered all the steward ' s winter store of tea, and having made a fire on the campus, we there burnt near a dozen pounds, tolled the bell, and made many spirited resolves. But this was not all. Poor Mr. Hutchinson ' s effigy shared the same 30