Battle of Princeton
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| New York and New Jersey, 1776–1777 |
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| Long Island – Kip's Bay – Harlem Heights – Pell's Point – White Plains – Fort Washington – 1st Trenton – 2nd Trenton – Princeton – Forage War – Bound Brook |
The Battle of Princeton was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought near Princeton, New Jersey on January 3, 1777.
Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis had left 1,400 British troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood in Princeton, New Jersey. Following a surprise victory at the Battle of Trenton early in the morning of December 26, 1776, General George Washington of the Continental Army and his council of war expected a strong British counter-attack. Washington and his council decided to meet this attack in Trenton. On December 30, he crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey and, over next few days, massed his troops on higher ground south of Trenton, across a stream running through downtown called Assunpink Creek. On January 2, 1777, the day long march ended when the larger British army led by General Cornwallis encountered Washington's own army. Small groups of American soldiers had succeeded in slowing Cornwallis' march from Princeton to Trenton but the British force arrived en masse in the late afternoon. Each army facing each other from 200 yd apart with only the creek and the bridge in between. Cornwallis ordered the assault... Cannon and rifle fire erupted from Washington's side leaving heavy British casualties after fierce fighting. The bridge held , darkness fell, and Cornwallis withdrew. Hundreds of British soldiers were recovered from the bridge ending the Second Battle of Trenton. That night, Washington's army built up their campfires before silently slipping away after midnight while an unsuspecting Cornwallis slept. Cornwallis had failed to post adequate scouts to detect movements by Washington's army.
Through the night, the army marched over a back road toward Princeton, before reaching the Quaker Bridge over Stony Brook, about six miles south of town. The Quaker Bridge was not strong enough to support the army’s cannon and ammunition carts, so another bridge had to be built quickly. While the bridge was being constructed, Washington reformed his army, and then split it into two parts – the smaller left wing under General Nathanial Greene, and the larger right wing under General John Sullivan. Washington had intended to attack Princeton before dawn, but the sun was rising.
Greene’s assignment was to advance to the Princeton-Trenton highway to stop its traffic and destroy its bridge over Stony Brook. Sullivan’s division, the main attack force, moved toward the rear of Princeton College. The British were known to have outposts on the roads to the north, east and west, but an abandoned road went into town from the west, which Sullivan took.
Before Greene’s division reached the highway, it encountered a column of British soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood. The British had been marching from Princeton to Trenton, but when they saw the American advance they had turned back. The two sides met in an orchard, and fought a bloody skirmish. When Mawhood ordered a bayonet charge, Greene’s leading troops, led by General Hugh Mercer of Virginia, began to retreat in confusion. General Mercer himself was wounded but refused to surrender. When he tried to attack the enemy with his sword, he was bayoneted until presumed dead; he died nine days later. Colonel John Haslet of Delaware replaced General Mercer and was shot through the brain.
With their leaders dead and dying, Mercer’s brigade began to break and run back into the lines of the rest of Greene’s division, which was arriving to support them. They were led by General John Cadwalader, and they brought artillery support.
At this moment, General Washington appeared on the battlefield and rallied his men. Riding a white horse, he led his troops directly into battle, only a few yards from the British lines. Under heavy fire, the British line broke and retreated, with Washington riding in pursuit.
While Greene’s division fought in the orchard, Sullivan’s division began to attack the British troops in Princeton. The British had prepared a number of defensive positions, and when each was overrun or outflanked by the Americans, the troops fell back to another breastwork. However, after a short battle, the British soldiers were enveloped; they no longer could hold any of their defenses; and they retreated or surrendered.
In Trenton, Cornwallis and his men awoke to the sounds of cannon fire coming from behind their position. Cornwallis and his army began to race to Princeton. However, Washington's rear guard had managed to damage the bridge over the Stony Brook, and American snipers further delayed Cornwallis' army. The exhausted American Army slipped away, marching to SomersetCourt House (now Millstone), where they spent the night. When the main British force finally reached Princeton late in the day, they did not remain, but continued in haste toward New Brunswick.
After the Battle of Princeton, Cornwallis abandoned many of his posts in New Jersey, and ordered his army to retreat to New Brunswick.
The victory at Princeton cost the British some 500 men killed, wounded or captured and greatly boosted the morale of the Continental troops, leading 8,000 new recruits to join the Continental Army.
The site of the battlefield is south of Princeton and has become the Princeton Battlefield State Park.
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