New Jersey

Basking Ridge Sites
Batsto Historic Site
Baylor Massacre Site
Bound Brook
Boxwood Hall (Boudinot House)
Burlington
Chestnut Neck
Cooper's Ferry (Camden)
Coryell's Ferry
Cranbury
Crosswicks
Dey Mansion
Elizabeth
Englishtown
Five Mile Creek (or Run)
Fort Lee
Fort Mercer
Freehold (Monmouth Courthouse)
Gloucester Point
Haddonfield
Hancocks Bridge
Honeyman House
Hopewell
Hunt House
The John Woolman Memorial House
Liberty Pole
Little Egg Harbor Massacre Site
Middlebrook Encampment
Monmouth Battlefield State Park
Morristown National Historical Park
Old Dutch Parsonage
Old Tennent Church (Freehold Meeting House)
Paulus Hook (Jersey City)
Princeton
The Oliver Cromwell House
Proprietary House (Westminster)
Quinton Bridge
Ringwood Manor and Iron Works
Rockingham (Berrien House)
Salem
Shabakunk Creek
Springfield
Toms River
Trenton
Von Steuben House
Wallace House

Little remains in modern New Jersey as a reminder that the region was first colonized by the Dutch and Swedes, who came primarily as traders. But when the British gained suzerainty over New Netherland, they quickly took steps to establish permanent settlements. The Duke of York's Proprietary, granted in 1664 by Charles II to his brother the Duke of York, the future James II, included the present state of New Jersey, which got its name at this time from the Channel island of Jersey, where Charles II had been given refuge in 1650.

Conflicting land claims were long a problem in the new colony, but suffice it to say here that in 1676 a line was drawn dividing it into East and West Jersey. In 1702 "the Jerseys" were united as a royal province though the region continued to have political, social, economic, and cultural differences reflecting its division by the boundary line of the seventeenth century. East Jersey was dominated by New England Puritanism and economically oriented toward the metropolis of New York; West Jersey was dominated by the Quakers, with William Penn and his associates in a controlling role and with an economic orientation toward Philadelphia.

Today's visitor to New Jersey will find many reminders of the state's split personality in the colonial era. There are surviving segments of the Province Line Road. Architectural landmarks and place-names of the Swedish presence are along the Delaware in western New Jersey, whereas their Dutch equivalents are on the other fringe of the state. (Bergen, founded by the Dutch in 1618, is New Jersey's oldest permanent settlement.) In Burlington and Perth Amboy, old capitals of the two Jerseys, vestigial land rights of the original signers of the agreement of 1676 are preserved by the Boards of Proprietors of East and West Jersey.

After a slow start in European settlement, the population of New Jersey grew from about 15,000 in 1702 to about 140,000 at the outbreak of the American Revolution. The state has been called "Cockpit of the Revolution," an apt designation because it was a major theater of military operations as the main American and British armies swept back and forth between New York City and Philadelphia. Late in 1776 the British conquered almost all of the state, only to be driven back by Washington's brilliant actions at Trenton and Princeton. The last major action in the North was on the Monmouth Battlefield in 1778, but before and after this there was serious fighting and much maneuvering when the British advanced from bases in New York, Perth Amboy, and New Brunswick toward Washington's campsites around Morristown and Middlebrook.

Meanwhile, the rich farms of New Jersey had drawn foragers from both armies to regions spared by the main armies (see salem), a considerable amount of skirmishing took place between Loyalist and Patriot militia units, and the Jersey coast became a hotbed of privateering (see little egg harbor massacre site). The Raritan River was a base for such "whaleboat warriors," as Adam Hyler and his New Brunswick rivermen armed themselves to conduct raids on British ships around New York.

Much of the terrain that figured so prominently in battles and skirmishes of the Revolution has been paved over by urban development, particularly in the heavily industrialized portion of the state adjacent to New York City. Most landmarks have long since been razed and landforms obliterated so as to make a personal visit unproductive. This guide touches only lightly on this heavily built-up region, but the Bergen County Historical Society is active, and one of its members, Adrian C. Leiby, published The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley (Rutgers University Press, 1980). This is an excellent source of information on landmarks in Bergen and Hudson counties.

Many other parts of New Jersey are surprisingly unspoiled. The Pine Barrens, scene of Revolutionary War bushwacking, privateer operations, and skirmishes between foraging parties, still have large areas of wilderness. Hikers will find many historic landmarks that are inaccessible to road-bound travelers. So much of the war in this region having been amphibious, such places as Sandy Hook, the privateering centers, Cape May, and the sites of the Delaware River forts can be seen properly only by boat. Canoeists are fortunate in having available the fourth revised edition of Exploring the Little Rivers of New Jersey, by James and Margaret Cawley (Rutgers University Press, 1993).

The state has no published guide to historical markers and no system of official information centers. Individual historians and popular writers have played a greater role in preserving New Jersey's Revolutionary War heritage than government officials. Some of their works are identified above, and others in the articles that follow. One of these came from novelist and historian Alfred Hoyt Bill, who published the 128-page New Jersey and the Revolutionary War (Rutgers University Press, 1992). Another, more recent source for this state's Revolutionary War accounts and landmarks is Mark Di Ionno's A Guide to New Jersey's Revolutionary War Trail: For Families and History Buffs (Rutgers University Press, 2000).

The New Jersey Historical Commission offices are at 225 West State Street, Trenton, N.J. 08625. Phone: (609) 292-6062; website: www.newjerseyhistory.org. The New Jersey Historical Society is located in the middle of Newark's art district at 52 Park Place. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the library is open from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the same days. Phone: (973) 596-8500; website: www.jerseyhistory.org.

Basking Ridge Sites

Basking Ridge Sites, Somerset County. The Widow White's Tavern, where General Charles Lee was captured by a British patrol on Friday, 13 December 1776, had undergone many changes before it was razed about 1950. The site, which remains unmarked, is at the southwest corner of South Finley Avenue and Colonial Drive. A blue state marker on Lord Stirling Road indicates the site of the General William Alexander ("Lord Stirling") estate. Still standing are two small brick buildings, believed to have been slave quarters.

Batsto Historic Site

Batsto Historic Site, Mullica River, Batsto, Burlington County. In the Pine Barrens, about 10 miles east of Hammonton on N.J. Route 542, is this recent restoration of a community that produced bog-iron products (including cannon for the Revolution) and glass from 1766 until abandoned in 1848. The Manor House (c. 1750) is all that remains to indicate the wealth of this portion of the huge Joseph Wharton estate, but the restoration includes workmen's cottages, a gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith and wheelwright shops, general store, and the oldest known fully operating post office in America. Batsto Village has been put on the National Register. As of 2004 the entire site, including the Manor House, the museum, and the visitors center underwent renovation. Guided tours are offered three times a day, seven days a week, but it is advisable to call for a reservation. Hours of operation are daily from dawn to dusk. Phone: (609) 561-0024. Website: www.batstovillage.org.

Baylor Massacre Site

Baylor Massacre Site, Hackensack River, Bergen County. The mass grave and several surviving houses of the so-called Old Tappan Massacre of September 1778 are marked on County Road 53 (Rivervale Road) between Routes 116 (Old Tappan Road) and 90-132 (Prospect and Washington Avenues). The mass grave is in a park on Red Oak Drive a few hundred yards east of Rivervale Road. Bodies of American dragoons had been buried in tanning vats, and the site was long marked by a millstone used in the tanning operation. About the time of the Civil War the stone was dragged away, and in recent years only a few people in the vicinity remembered being told where it had been located. In 1967 Mr. Thomas Demarest of Old Tappan took the initiative in seeing that archaeological work was done to locate the graves before they were permanently lost. After two weeks of digging, the first human remains were found. Uniform buttons with the cipher "LD" (Light Dragoons), silver stock buckles, and other artifacts established beyond doubt that the searchers had found what they were looking for. Parts of six bodies were accounted for when all the vats were found and explored. The official casualty list was eleven Patriots killed outright and four who died of wounds in the area. Either this is wrong, or there are other, undiscovered graves.

Patriot propagandists raised the cry of "massacre" whenever their troops were badly beaten and sustained heavy casualties. At Old Tappan the dragoons commanded by the young and inexperienced Colonel George Baylor had the misfortune of being staked out for attack by forces under Major General Charles Grey, who was famous for his "massacre" of Anthony Wayne's command at Paoli, Pennsylvania. Helped by Loyalist guides, the regulars approached Baylor's position under cover of darkness, killed or captured a twelve-man security outpost at the bridge across the Hackensack just south of the Patriot camp, and caught about one hundred dragoons asleep in three barns along what ironically was then called Overkill Road (now Rivervale Road). Baylor and his second in command, Major Alexander Clough, were among the casualties, only thirty-seven of the 104 enlisted men escaping unhurt. Clough died of wounds several days later; Baylor recovered sufficiently to take command of another dragoon regiment after being exchanged, but he died a few years later of his wounds.

Congress ordered an investigation of the alleged massacre, affidavits collected from survivors indicated that one soldier had received sixteen stab wounds and three others received twelve. The exhumed bodies support the atrocity charges; the skull of one man shows a fracture that almost certainly was caused by the butt stroke of a Brown Bess inflicted when the victim was on the ground.

In 1972 the site of the mass grave was developed into a 2-acre county park. The millstone has been restored to its former position here, after having been donated to the River Vale Board of Education by a descendant of the farmer who had it hauled out of his field and after standing for years on the lawn of the Holdrum School. The exact location of the six barns occupied by the dragoons is not known. Historical markers on Rivervale Road (County Road 53) between Old Tappan Road and Prospect Avenue indicate surviving landmarks. (The Colonel Cornelius house can be seen from the road. A nursing home is on the site of the Haring house where Baylor and Clough were trapped.) Much of the area remains unspoiled by modern construction except just north of the burial site, where a housing development has been planted in the last few years. The county bought three building lots for the park, where the mass gravesite will be preserved in a landscaped area alongside the river. The area where the British formed for their attack is now covered by the Edgewood Country Club.

Historical inquiries may be directed to the Bergen County Historical Society. Phone: (201) 343-9492; website: www.bergancountyhistory.org.

Bound Brook

Bound Brook, Raritan River, Somerset County. The present bridge over the Raritan between Bound Brook and South Bound Brook is the site of the important skirmish that took place on 13 April 1777. While the main American army was still in winter quarters at Morristown, an outpost of about five hundred Continentals and militia was here at Bound Brook under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln. About 7 miles southeast at New Brunswick were eight thousand British and German troops. Cornwallis left the latter base with about two thousand regulars on a foraging expedition. The militia outposts around the bridge on the Raritan at Bound Brook were careless, permitting Cornwallis to cross the river and threaten the isolated American position with encirclement by superior forces. Lincoln was able to get away, thanks largely to the personal efforts of Lieutenant Simon Spalding, but he lost his artillery detachment. Cornwallis withdrew with about twenty-five prisoners and the captured guns as General Nathanael Greene approached with a relief column.

An ancient granite monument marking the site of the skirmish has been moved a few feet from its original position in the dangerous intersection just north of the bridge to the side yard of the Pillar of Fire ("Holy Jumper") Temple at 519 Main Street. The inscription says Cornwallis had four thousand troops, but other authorities put the figure at about two thousand. East of the road leading to the bridge from Main Street are markers pertaining to the colonial history of this site, but the entire area is covered with rundown commercial structures. Traffic conditions make sightseeing by car dangerous.

A short distance north of Bound Brook is the site of Washington's Middlebrook Encampment.

Boxwood Hall (Boudinot House)

Boxwood Hall (Boudinot House), 1073 East Jersey Street, Elizabeth. This mansion, saved from demolition in the late 1930s, restored through a WPA project, and open since 1943 as a historic house museum, was built about 1750 by the mayor of Elizabethtown. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark. During the years 1772 to 1795 it was the home of Elias Boudinot (1740–1821), a man of fine appearance, considerable scholarship, many good works, and great wealth. Alexander Hamilton lived with the Boudinots briefly while getting some schooling in Elizabethtown before entering King's College (Columbia) in 1773. In later years he was a frequent visitor to Boxwood Hall. In June 1777 Boudinot was made commissary general of prisoners, his task being to deal with the British on behalf of American prisoners in enemy hands. The journal he kept during the Revolution was published in 1894 and is an important primary source. Elected to Congress in 1777, he did not attend until July of the next year, but then served until 1784. He was president of that body for a year, starting on 4 November 1782. In June 1783 he became acting secretary of foreign affairs. Back in Congress in 1789, he was a Federalist. He left the House of Representatives to succeed David Rittenhouse as director of the mint, holding this office during the years 1795 to 1805 and leaving Boxwood Hall for a new home in Philadelphia. He then retired to study biblical literature, attempting to prove that the American Indians might be descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and taking a leading part in the establishment of the American Bible Society. He became that organization's first president, is credited by some with originating Thanksgiving Day, and was a trustee and benefactor of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) from 1772 until his death in 1821.

Boxwood Hall is associated with the controversial story of Reverend and Mrs. James Caldwell. The latter was killed during the British attack on Connecticut Farms in June 1780, and her husband was killed by a sentinel at Elizabethtown Port in January 1782. American patriots then and since have contended that both were martyrs killed by British bullets, but there is evidence that the bullets were fired by Americans. Be that as it may, the body of James Caldwell was publicly displayed before the door of Boxwood Hall, and Elias Boudinot made a speech on the occasion.

Lafayette was an overnight guest in 1824. After having several owners, Boxwood Hall was inherited by William C. DeHart, who undertook to ruin it. In 1870 he demolished the two wings, superimposed two stories, added a rear service wing, and leased it as a boarding house. Later it became the Home for Aged Women of Elizabeth. The restoration has undone much of the damage, but the wings remain clipped and the boxwood-bordered avenue from the river to the front door is gone with the wind. Boxwood Hall is owned and operated by the state of New Jersey. Hours of operation are Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Burlington

Burlington, Delaware River, Burlington County. Many colonial buildings remain in this city that for more than a century was the capital of the province of West Jersey. The Revell House, 215213 Wood Street, was built in 1685, making it the oldest in the county; according to tradition this is where Benjamin Franklin stopped on his way to Philadelphia in 1723 and was given gingerbread by an old lady, as recounted in his autobiography. At High and Pearl Streets is the little building where Franklin's print shop was operated in 1728 and where Isaac Collins printed money for the province in 1776. From the site of Burlington Wharf, at the foot of High Street, the strategically important ferry operated from 1685 until the present bridge was built. At the foot of Wood Street was the residence of William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin and last royal governor, 1763 to 1774.

Burlington figured prominently in the strategy of the war from December 1776 until June 1778. Justifying his wide dispersal of troops along the Delaware before the British disaster at Trenton, General Sir William Howe wrote on 20 December 1776: "The chain [of advanced posts], I own, is rather too extensive, but I was induced to occupy Burlington to cover the County of Monmouth, in which there are many loyal inhabitants." But this forced Washington to extend his own defenses of the Delaware down this far on the opposite bank, Burlington being one of the places where the British could cross the river in renewing the offensive against Philadelphia. The German garrison of Burlington was withdrawn after the first Battle of Trenton, and before making his move to Princeton, Washington sent his baggage, stores, and three heaviest guns to Burlington with a strong escort.

When the British evacuated Philadelphia in June 1778, they moved through Burlington en route to Bordentown before striking out for what became the Monmouth Battlefield. New Jersey's first newspaper (excepting The Plain Dealer, published for eight weeks in 1775 and 1776 at Matthew Potter's tavern in Bridgeton), the New Jersey Gazette, was established at Burlington in 1777 and became influential during the Revolution. In his wild efforts to justify his conduct in the Battle of Monmouth, General Charles Lee used this paper as one of his many channels for taking his case to the public. "A note of [Lee's] to the printer of the Burlington paper savors of insanity or flows from worse sources," wrote General Anthony Wayne in a letter of 16 July 1778.

Further information on other local historic landmarks is available from the Burlington County Historical Society, 451 High Street, Burlington, N.J. 08016. Phone: (609) 386-4773. Guided tours, children's programs, a museum, and a research library are available from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. The Society occupies the James Fenimore Cooper House, where the author was born in 1789. Adjoining is the James Lawrence House, where this naval hero of the War of 1812 was born in 1781.

Camden

Camden. Seecooper's ferry.

Chestnut Neck

Chestnut Neck, Mullica River, Atlantic County. A boatyard covers the ruins of this little village that played such a large part as a center of American privateering during the Revolution. Sir Henry Clinton decided in the fall of 1778 that the time had come to clean out what he called "a nest of rebel pirates," and he gave the job to the remarkable Patrick Ferguson. Then only a captain but famous as inventor of a good breech-loading rifle and as a resourceful commander of independent operations, Ferguson spent three weeks laying waste to a long stretch of the Mullica River, burning ten large vessels and destroying shipyards, storehouses, and Patriot homes. He burned the entire village of Chestnut Neck, which comprised the fort, Payne Tavern, Adams Landing, several storehouses, and about a dozen homes. In the course of his operations he surprised Pulaski's Legion in a raid (see little egg harbor massacre site).

The site of the village of Chestnut Neck is privately owned and access is restricted, but it may eventually be developed as a historic landmark. In 1950 the area of the colonial village was surveyed by Paul C. Burgess, who located the ruins of eleven homes, the fort, and other public structures mentioned above. Some archaeological exploration has been done, and it appears that the ruins have been protected so far from destruction because they lie about 3 feet below ground level. Freak weather in March 1971 exposed much of the river bottom around Chestnut Neck and revealed several sunken ships, tons of English ballast stones, anchors, and other items. The Mullica River from Chestnut Neck to the Batsto Historic Site is one of the few remaining unspoiled waterways in New Jersey, and Great Bay is good for sailing.

Chestnut Neck Battle Monument, erected in 1911 by the General Lafayette Chapter of DAR, is on U.S. 9 near the junction of County Road 575, about 2 miles northeast of Port Republic.

Cooper's Ferry (Camden)

Cooper's Ferry (Camden), Delaware River. First settled in 1679, for the most part by Quakers, this was nothing more than a few houses known variously as Pluckemin, the Ferry, and Cooper's Ferry until after the American Revolution. Jacob Cooper laid out the town in about 1773, naming it in honor of Lord Chancellor Camden, but it was not chartered under that name until 1828. The place was important as the ferry on the main colonial road through Philadelphia.

In the present city there is only one significant vestige of early American architecture, Pomona Hall. This is a handsome house whose early part was begun in 1726 by Joseph Cooper Jr., with a later part built in 1788 by his nephew, Marmaduke Cooper. The two-and-a-half-story house of "tapestry" brickwork (including the builder's initials) is located at 1900 Park Avenue in Camden, and is the home of the Camden Historical Society. Phone: (856) 964-3333. Pomona Hall is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday afternoons and is furnished with some exceptional pieces of furniture, and features a handsome staircase. A modern building adjoining Pomona Hall has a good research library of local history, a museum, and a museum store.

Coryell's Ferry

Coryell's Ferry, Delaware River. See under pennsylvania. The New Jersey end of this strategic crossing was in today's Lambertville.

Cranbury

Cranbury, Middlesex County. One of New Jersey's oldest European settlements and a place mentioned in the military operations of 1776 and 1778 (see monmouth battlefield), Cranbury has so far remained an attractive old village at the center of fast-moving industrial and residential construction. On Main Street are several pre-Revolutionary structures, including the Newold House (c. 1750). The old Post House, built during the Revolution and renamed the United States Hotel around 1780, is now the Cranbury Inn. The Cranbury Museum has recently been established in a small frame house dating from the Civil War era. It is located at 4 Park Place East and is open on Sunday afternoons. Phone: (609) 655-2611 or (609) 395-0702.

Crosswicks

Crosswicks, Burlington County. Destruction of the bridge and the skirmish here on 23 June 1778, a few days before the Battle of Monmouth, gave Washington valuable intelligence about the route General Clinton was taking in his withdrawal from Philadelphia to New York. Chesterfield Friends Meeting House (1773) was hit three times by American cannon in the course of this delaying action against General Knyphausen's column. A ball remains lodged in the north wall, and scars on the floor at the western end of the interior may have been made by British gun carriages. In December 1776 the church had been occupied by Patriot troops under General John Cadwalader, who crossed the Delaware too late to take part in the Trenton raid but who joined Washington in time for the Princeton campaign.

The little village is exceptionally attractive today, having many interesting buildings that preserve an unreconstructed eighteenth-century appearance. Its famous church is, however, the landmark for which Crosswicks is best known. The large, rectangular structure of aged brick—some of it salvaged from the older structure of 1706—is set in a huge yard. The Crosswicks Oak in the southwest corner of the yard has a plaque proclaiming that the tree was standing when William Penn reached America in 1682. An old wagon shed and other outbuildings are on the grounds.

Dey Mansion

Dey Mansion, Preakness Valley Park, Passaic County. Washington's headquarters in July and November 1780, this Georgian manor house was built about 1740 for Colonel Theunis Dey by his father, Dirck. Owned by the town of Wayne since 1930, it is a gambrel-roofed, two-and-a-half-story structure of Dutch aspect in which various building materials are combined in an interesting and pleasing manner. The house and garden have been restored. Dey Mansion is located at 199 Totowa Road and is open to the public from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Phone: (973) 696-1776.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth, Union County. Several important structures of the colonial and Revolutionary War periods have survived in the urban atmosphere that has grown considerably in the past two centuries around Newark Bay. Because of its many Revolutionary War associations, Boxwood Hall (Boudinot House) has been covered separately. The section on springfield gives the story of the two British raids in June 1780 in which Elizabethtown and its "fighting parson," James Caldwell, figured so prominently. His church (the First Presbyterian) and the nearby academy were burned in an earlier raid of January 1780, when record-breaking cold weather permitted the British to cross from Staten Island on the ice. The present structure, dating from 1786, is particularly handsome, and the old burying ground has several graves of famous Americans. The Belcher-Ogden Mansion (c. 1680), 1046 East Jersey Street, is of exceptional importance from the architectural as well as the historical standpoint. Tours are offered by appointment. Phone: (908) 351-2500. Other landmarks, all private, are the Bonnell House, 1045 Jersey Avenue at the northwest corner of Catherine Street; outbuildings of the Crane House, 556 Morris Avenue at Cherry Street; "Liberty Hall," west side of Morris Avenue opposite State Teachers College, open to the public Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. from April through December; and the Wilcox House, 1000 Magie Avenue.

Englishtown

Englishtown, Monmouth County. A few miles northwest of the Monmouth Battlefield and on the Patriot army's line of march to that place, Englishtown has two surviving structures of the Revolution. One is the Village Inn, built in 1726, which was Washington's headquarters after the battle. Well preserved and identified by historical markers in the very center of town (intersection of Water Street and Main Street), the inn is operated by the Battleground Historical Society and features a variety of historical exhibits. A few doors away on N.J. 522 is the two-story frame building that was the home of Moses Laird, Washington's guide before the battle and his host afterward. The building is a private residence.

Five Mile Creek (or Run)

Five Mile Creek (or Run). This name is frequently applied to the main battle of Colonel Edward Hand's delaying action on the eve of the Battle of Princeton, 2 January 1777. The decisive skirmish actually took place about a mile farther south at Shabakunk Creek.

Fort Lee

Fort Lee, community of Fort Lee, Hudson River. The western terminus of the George Washington Bridge and urban development have permanently destroyed most of this historic site. On the 300-foot bluff near the river, the sites of some outer works of Fort Lee are preserved within Palisades Interstate Park. The fortification area west of the ravine is divided among various private owners. Proposals have been made to explore and restore the site, but there is not much left with which to work.

Forts Lee and Washington were built to defend the Hudson River from British naval operations. Work started in the summer of 1776. But Fort Washington was captured with a tremendous loss of personnel and matériel on 16 November 1776, and the Patriots were forced to abandon Fort Lee a few days later, leaving most of their matériel behind to save the two thousand troops stationed there. The British had moved surprisingly fast. Lord Cornwallis with about six thousand regulars landed about 6 miles above Fort Lee at Closter Dock (around modern Alpine in Palisades Park; a historic marker to his scaling of the Palisades is on U.S. 9W). But word of this attempted envelopment reached Washington in time.

The Palisades Interstate Park Commission renovated the Kearney House in 2003. This historic building is listed on the National and State Historic Registries as the "Blackledge-Kearney House" and is sometimes referred to as the Cornwallis Headquarters. It is the oldest surviving structure in Palisades Interstate Park. Phone: (201) 768-1360.

Fort Mercer

Fort Mercer, Red Bank Battlefield Park, Delaware River near the town of National Park, Gloucester County. Fort Mercer was a large earthwork with fourteen cannon that defended one end of the river barrier extending to Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania. These two forts were part of a system designed to defend Philadelphia from amphibious assault along the line of the Delaware River. The existence of these river defenses shaped the British strategy of avoiding the direct approach up the Delaware and attacking Philadelphia in 1777 via Head of Elk, Maryland, Cooch's Bridge, Delaware, and the Brandywine, Pennsylvania. After taking Philadelphia on 26 September and repulsing Washington's audacious counteroffensive at Germantown on 4 October, the British had to spend almost two months reducing the Delaware River defenses and establishing a relatively secure line of communications to Philadelphia. Fort Mercer was the last nut the invaders had to crack, and it proved to be a hard one.

Colonel Christopher Greene commanded the garrison of about four hundred Rhode Island troops assigned to the defense of Fort Mercer. New Jersey militia declined to answer the call to reinforce the Continentals, with the result that last-minute changes had to be made in the lines of the earthwork. On the orders of the French engineer assigned to Fort Mercer (Captain, later brevet Lieutenant Colonel, du Plessis), a new wall was built to cut off the northern wing. The attack by two thousand Hessians on 22 October 1777 was brilliantly repulsed by Greene, who had his men hold fire until the Germans were at point-blank range. Colonel Von Donop was fatally wounded and about a third of his 1,200 troops engaged were killed or wounded, whereas Greene had fewer than forty killed and wounded.

Fort Mifflin, across the river, was abandoned about three weeks later, making Fort Mercer no longer tenable. Lord Cornwallis was approaching with two thousand British troops for another assault when Greene successfully evacuated his position the night of 20 to 21 November.

Traces of the moat are preserved in the 20-acre battlefield park, and remnants of Fort Mercer can be found in the northern section of the park. Also standing is the James Whitall House, in whose orchard Fort Mercer was built and where Von Donop and other wounded Hessians were tended. The stone kitchen wing is believed to date from the early 1700s; the main section of the brick house was built in 1748. The park is located at 100 Hessian Avenue and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Phone: (856) 853-5120. The Whitall House is open to the public for tours on Wednesday through Sunday. For further information, contact the Gloucester County Historical Society. Museum phone: (856) 848-8531.

Freehold (Monmouth Courthouse)

Freehold (Monmouth Courthouse), Monmouth County. When the tired British army in its withdrawal from Philadelphia to New York reached this place on the afternoon of 26 June 1778, they found a village of a few dwellings scattered around a courthouse. The area northeast of Freehold, where Patriot forces under General Charles Lee undertook his mismanaged operations on the morning of the Battle of Monmouth, is covered by modern construction. Some of the preliminary maneuvers, however, may still be traced on the ground. The nearby Monmouth Battlefield, on the other hand, is remarkably well preserved.

Within the present commercial city, best known to visitors for the attraction of its harness-racing events, are several important Revolutionary War sites. The present courthouse is where the original one stood in 1778 and where the British wounded were left. St. Peter's Episcopal Church, occupied by troops of both sides, is still in use and was recently restored. The Craig House survives from the Revolution and has been refurbished to reflect its mid-eighteenth-century style. Guided tours of the farmhouse are available, and interested parties should call for scheduling. Phone: (908) 462-9616.

Hankinson Mansion, known as the Covenhoven House, 150 West Main Street, is the major surviving landmark. It was used by the British commander, Sir Henry Clinton, the night before the Battle of Monmouth. Built between 1690 and 1709, it features fine interior paneling and still has some of its original shingles. It was restored in 1972 to reflect the period after 1740. One of several historic houses maintained by the Monmouth County Historical Association, the Covenhoven House is used for special events. The Association has its headquarters, library, and museum in an attractive modern (1931) building of Georgian design at 70 Court Street. Phone: (732) 462-1466.

Gloucester Point

Gloucester Point, Delaware River, Gloucester County. The first white settlement on the east bank of the Delaware was established by the Dutch, who built Fort Nassau here in 1623. Not until Irish Quakers arrived in 1682, however, did the village start to grow. Gloucester Point was occupied in November 1777 by five thousand British troops under Cornwallis and supported by the fleet. Gloucester Point Park, at New Jersey Avenue and King Street, is the site of the annual meeting of the Proprietors of West Jersey and of Hugg's Tavern. The latter, razed in 1929, had been used by the local Committee of Correspondence and by Cornwallis.

Remains of the British frigate Augusta (sixty-four guns) may be seen here. This ship and the Merlin (eighteen) were badly damaged by fire from Fort Mifflin on 22 October 1777 when Washington's forces successfully defended Fort Mercer (Red Bank). In trying to withdraw, both ships ran aground. An explosion wrecked the Augusta the next day, and fire destroyed the Merlin. During the centennial of the American Revolution an effort was organized to raise the Augusta and tow it up the Schuylkill for exhibition in Fairmount Park, and plans were working out until it was discovered that the hull could not be gotten past the bridges on the Schuylkill. Money for the project ran out, and the Augusta was abandoned on Gloucester Beach and stripped by souvenir hunters.

Haddonfield

Haddonfield. In moving from Philadelphia toward New York City in the summer of 1778, the British army under General Clinton paused here to regroup before marching on to Monmouth Battlefield. Indian King Tavern, located at 233 Kings Highway East, has survived as a significant example of the colonial wayside inn. Built in 1750 and once known as the American House, it was a stopping place for couriers on the Kings Highway before the Revolution, and later a meeting hall for the state legislature and Council of Safety. It is now a state historic site and open to the public for touring on Wednesday through Sunday. Phone: (856) 429-6792. Information on many structures, sites, and programs of historic interest in Haddonfield may be accessed by contacting the Historical Society of Haddonfield, whose home is the acclaimed Greenfield Hall, located at 343 Kings Highway East. Phone: (856) 429-7375.

Hancocks Bridge

Hancocks Bridge, Alloway Creek, Salem County. British and Loyalist raids from Salem in March 1778 resulted in so many Patriot casualties at Quinton Bridge and Hancocks Bridge that they are remembered as "massacres." The background of these operations is covered under salem.

Major Simcoe was chagrined by his failure to wipe out the entire Patriot force at Quinton Bridge. Colonel Mawhood decided to commit a larger portion of his command against the Rebel militia around Hancocks Bridge, and entrusted this mission to Simcoe. After a personal reconnaissance, Simcoe planned an elaborate amphibious raid from Salem to the Delaware and up Alloway Creek. Under cover of darkness the attackers landed several miles below the village, waded through swamp to the road south of the creek, and moved stealthily to assigned positions near the houses believed to be occupied by Patriots. One detachment set up a blocking position on the dike along which reinforcements might come from Quinton Bridge. The Twenty-seventh Foot advanced overland from Salem to support the raid from the northwest side of the creek.

It was a dark and stormy night, which made the British movements difficult to control, but helped them achieve complete surprise. As luck would have it, however, all but twenty of the Patriot troops had left the village. The raiders charged through the front and back doors of Judge William Hancock's house and killed everybody in it. Among the victims were the old judge and his brother, both of them well-known Loyalists. Simcoe had been informed that the judge had not lived in his house since the Rebels took control of the village, but what the British did not know was that Hancock returned to his home at night.

(Benson Lossing published Simcoe's sketches of this action and the one at Quinton Bridge. See II, pages 344 and 345 of the original edition, or II, pages 138 and 139 of the 1972 reprint.)

Quite apart from its historic significance, the well-preserved Hancock House is of architectural importance. The brickwork of the two-and-a-half-story structure is remarkable: on one end the initials and date "W S H 1734" are patterned into the "tapestry" design above nineteen zigzag vertical lines of red and blue glazed brick. The initials are for William and Sarah Hancock, the owner and his wife, in accordance with a fairly common custom in this and other regions of colonial America. At the back of the house is a door that appears to be lacking the necessary steps to be reached from ground level. This is a saddle-door, or hearse-door, a common feature in the neighborhood and serving, as the names indicate, for mounting a horse or for a loading platform. In the attic are discolorations said to be bloodstains left from the massacre.

In 1991 the house was closed to the public. It reopened in 1998 after the New Jersey Division of Parks and Services performed a wide array of repairs on the structure, including addition of a cedar-shingle roof.

Adjacent to the Hancock House is the old cabin of cedar planks that was moved to this location from near Salem. Built of beautifully joined planks of local swamp cedar by Swedish pioneers, it is said to date from about 1640. This state historic site is open on Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Phone (856) 935-4373.

The Quaker Meeting House is on the main street about 100 yards from the above site on land donated by William Hancock. Its oldest portion dates from 1756, an addition from 1784.

(For the local historical society and identification of a useful map of the region, see the end of the section on salem.)

Honeyman House

Honeyman House, near Griggstown. John Honeyman is credited with giving Washington the information about enemy dispositions in Trenton that led to the great Patriot triumph there on 26 December 1776. One of Washington's most able spies, he kept his secrets so well that he was accused during and after the Revolution of being a British agent. The house where he lived during the period 1776 to 1786 is a well-preserved private home that can be seen from the road. It is 0.7 mile north of the village of Griggstown on the east bank of the canal that parallels the Millstone River.

Hopewell

Hopewell, Mercer County. This old village is famous as the home of John Hart (c. 1711–1779) and as the place where Washington made critical decisions in developing the strategy leading to the Battle of Monmouth. Several historic structures have been preserved in and near Hopewell, which remains a quiet and attractive country town.

John Hart's father had come here from Stonington, Connecticut, about 1712 and had risen to a position of local importance. A good twenty years before the Revolution, John himself had become a successful farmer, "the most considerable man in the community," and a growing power in public affairs. He was elected to the assembly in 1761 and served for the next ten years later, after which he continued in the Provincial Congress of New Jersey until sent to the Continental Congress in June 1776. Two months later he signed the Declaration of Independence, became speaker of the newly created state assembly, and was one of the most prominent Rebels of the region just as it became a theater of war.

John Hart was at this time a man of advanced years with many "hostages to fortune" in addition to his large family, and he was to pay dearly. His farm and mills were devastated by the opposing armies. The elderly Hart and his wife were forced to seek refuge in the woods and hills when the British came to arrest him. Martha Hart died as a result of her hardships as a refugee, and John died about two years later.

The Hart House, at 60 Hart Road, is a private home on a quiet street in modern Hopewell. Not marked, it is 0.6 mile from the traffic light at Greenwood Avenue and West Broad Street (County Road 518). To find it coming from Lambertville, turn left at this light onto Greenwood and look for Hart Road a short distance farther. Turn left onto Hart Road and look for number 60 on the right.

Not until 1865 did the New Jersey Legislature get around to providing for a memorial to its first speaker. Then it managed to botch the job: "Nearly every date on the monument at Hopewell is incorrect," notes the author of the article on John Hart in the Dictionary of American Biography. It stands on West Broad Street (County Road 518) next to the easily spotted Old School Baptist Church of 1748. The latter is a simple, two-story brick structure painted bright red, with arched windows and heavy paneled doors. Also known as the Baptist Meeting House, it was a hospital during the Revolution. Hart is buried in the nearby cemetery, as are many Revolutionary War veterans.

Washington reached Hopewell late in the afternoon of 23 June 1778 as his army stalked the British in their withdrawal from Philadelphia to New York. D. S. Freeman writes that Washington opened a headquarters near the Baptist Meeting House and began to get detailed reports that indicated what his enemy was trying to do. An important council of war was held the next day near Hopewell at the Hunt House.

Hunt House

Hunt House, County Line Road near Hopewell, Mercer County. Washington's letters of 23 to 24 June 1778, when critical decisions were being made in the days just before the Battle of Monmouth, were headed "Hunts" or "John Hunt's House." This supports the tradition that this house was the scene of the famous council of war in which most of Washington's generals sided with the veteran Charles Lee in recommending that the British not be seriously molested in their effort to retreat through the Jerseys to New York. Generals Anthony Wayne, Nathanael Greene, and Lafayette went on record with their objections, Alexander Hamilton voicing his off-the-record opinion that the majority decision "would have done honor to the most honorable body of midwives and to them only." (See monmouth battlefield.)

Privately owned, unmarked, and screened from the road by high hedges, the well-preserved Hunt House is on a hill roughly midway between Hopewell and Blawenburg, just west of the county line. To reach it from Hopewell, drive toward Blawenburg on County Road 518 and turn left on the unpaved road just short of the county line. The latter is marked on the highway. Drive 1.2 miles, crossing the railroad and making two right-angle turns. This is a section of County Line Road. The Hunt House will be to your right on the crest of the hill and with a commanding view.

The John Woolman Memorial House

The John Woolman Memorial House on 99 Branch Street in Mount Holly commemorates the life and work of John Woolman (1720–1772), one of the first active abolitionists in America, who helped lead the Quakers to their antislavery position, which they adopted in 1776. Construction of the house began in 1771, and it is maintained within Woolman's orchards as it looked in the 1780s. Open Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and by appointment by calling (609) 267-3226.

Liberty Pole

Liberty Pole, Englewood, Bergen County. At Lafayette and Palisade Avenues in Englewood is a liberty pole erected in 1964, presumably on or near the site of the original pole put up in 1766 to celebrate repeal of the Stamp Act. Liberty Pole Tavern, a well-known landmark of the Revolution, stood nearby. The tired troops of "Light Horse Harry" Lee successfully fought off an attack by Loyalists here on 19 August 1779 as the Patriots withdrew to New Bridge from their successful raid on Paulus Hook (Jersey City). The old tavern was one of the few buildings standing when the town of Englewood was laid out in 1859.

Little Egg Harbor Massacre Site

Little Egg Harbor Massacre Site, near Tuckerton, Ocean County. When Captain Patrick Ferguson started wiping out American privateering bases along the Mullica River (see chestnut neck), the newly raised legion of Casimir Pulaski was ordered to oppose his operations. Pulaski's Legion, three light infantry companies, three light horse troops, and an artillery detachment, was too late to interfere seriously with Ferguson's search-and-destroy operations. But its arrival did force the British to discontinue their plan of attacking a major base of the privateers around the Forks of the Mullica and of raiding the nearby Batsto iron works (see batsto historic site).

Pulaski's troops included a high percentage of deserters and a good many foreign adventurers of dubious military merit. His legion reached the Little Egg Harbor district around modern Tuckerton and camped a short distance southwest, around a farm. A deserter went over to Ferguson and informed him of Pulaski's location, pointing out that his camp might be surprised because morale was low and security lax.

Ferguson loaded 250 of his best troops in boats and under cover of darkness rowed 10 miles to what is now Osborne's Island. He then moved about 2 miles through salt marshes and bog to reach the place where the infantry of Pulaski's Legion had a fifty-man outpost a short distance from the main camp. It was about an hour before first light on 15 October 1778 when the British moved in to catch their quarry asleep in three houses; only five were taken alive.

Pulaski led his mounted troops up, and Ferguson retreated to his boats with the loss of a few men captured. At a bend in Radio Road on Pulaski Drive, somewhat less than 3 miles from the center of Tuckerton, is the Pulaski Monument. Presumably it stands about where the main American camp was located. What inspired the Society of the Cincinnati to erect this memorial to Pulaski's humiliating defeat is hard to understand, but it is even more difficult to find local authorities who can pinpoint landmarks of the action. Contemporary accounts of the Little Egg Harbor Massacre vary considerably, and modern historians have shown little interest in straightening out the record of exactly when and where it occurred.

Middlebrook Encampment

Middlebrook Encampment, north edge of Bound Brook, Somerset County, just east of the junction of Routes 22 and 287. The campaign of 1777, which ended with the British capture of Philadelphia, started with a complex sequence of strategic maneuvers between the main British and American armies in north central New Jersey. Anticipating the British offensive, Washington left his winter quarters around Morristown and advanced to a forward position around Middlebrook. Here he covered the passes of the Watchung Mountains while putting his army within 7 miles of the major enemy outpost at New Brunswick. Students of strategy will recognize the Middlebrook encampment as being a classic flanking position that would check a British attempt to advance on Philadelphia via the overland route through New Jersey used the preceding year. General Sir William Howe, who had studied the same basic military textbooks as Washington, consequently undertook to lure his opponent out of this strong position and defeat him. When Howe deployed south of the Raritan between New Brunswick and Somerset Courthouse (now Millstone), Washington left Middlebrook and split his forces, putting a strong detachment under General William Alexander ("Lord Stirling") near modern Metuchen and his main body around the place then called Quibble Town, now New Market. Feigning a strategic withdrawal through New Brunswick to Amboy, Howe then launched an offensive designed to defeat in detail the strong detachment under General Alexander near Metuchen. He hoped to defeat the rest of Washington's weakened army afterwards in a pitched battle after blocking his retreat through the passes to Middlebrook. Washington saw through Howe's strategy as soon as the British advance was detected. Alexander fought a brisk rear guard action against Lord Cornwallis around Metuchen (the Battle of Short Hills), and the main body of the Patriot army withdrew safely to Middlebrook. The British returned to Staten Island, whence they later moved by sea to Head of Elk, Maryland, to start their successful advance on Philadelphia by way of the Brandywine (see under pennsylvania).

Having used the Middlebrook encampment in May to June 1777, Washington's army was back during the period November 1778 to June 1779. Major military operations in the North had ended with the Battle of Monmouth (see monmouth battlefield) in June 1778, so the second season at Middlebrook was less dramatic than the first.

The Washington Camp Ground Association owns 23 acres of the historic site on the north edge of Bound Brook (on Mountain Avenue) and at the foot of First Watchung Mountain. It is undeveloped except for a memorial flagpole flanked by two Civil War cannon (Parrott guns), a painted sign, a speaker's stand, and a Girl Scout cabin. The site is reached by driving north on County Highway 527 (Mountain Avenue) from Bound Brook, proceeding 0.1 mile beyond U.S. 22 (underpass), and turning left (west) onto Middlebrook Avenue. The latter winds through a residential area for 0.5 mile to the Camp Ground, which is easily spotted on the hillside to the right.

The word "Middlebrook," so famous as the name of this encampment, survives locally only as the name of the inconspicuous creek that forms the western boundary of the borough of Bound Brook. The site is open free to the public all year round.

Monmouth Battlefield State Park

Monmouth Battlefield State Park, west of Freehold, Monmouth County. The colonial crossroads village of Monmouth Courthouse, which gave its name to this major battle of the Revolution, is located approximately 12 miles east of Exit 8 off the N.J. Turnpike on Route 33. From the Garden State Parkway, take Exit 123 to Route 9 south for 15 miles to business Route 33 West. The park is located 1.5 miles on the right, near the present town of Freehold. Here the landmarks of the preliminary skirmishing have virtually disappeared, but a short distance west the terrain of the real battle is remarkably well preserved. Fields have been enlarged, swampy creek beds and ravines have been drained and graded; a railroad and County Road 522 bisect the battlefield, but the state owns about 1,800 acres, including the major terrain features. The site is now a state park and major recreation area that includes a visitors center (located on Comb's Hill), an interpretive center, over 25 miles of hiking and horseback trails, and picnicking areas, and a reenactment of the great battle is held every year during the last week of June. Moving west toward Old Tennent Church (Freehold Meeting House) from modern Freehold on County Road 522, you will initially be following the colonial road along which Lee's disorganized detachment retreated. Between the highway and the railroad embankment is the bogus "Molly Pitcher's Well," constructed by the railroad in modern times and having no true association with history.

A little farther along, and easily spotted, is a railroad underpass. Turn left here and immediately to your right is the site of the hedgerow that figured so prominently in the final phase of the battle. In this immediate area is the surviving Old Tennent Parsonage. The present road leads southwest to Wemrock Brook and the base of Combs Hill, critical terrain from which Patriot guns delivered enfilade fire against the flank of attacking British forces.

Returning to the railroad underpass and the highway, this is where the alignment of the colonial road to Old Tennent Church and the modern highway part company. The old bridge over West Ravine (now Weamacony Creek) was just below the present one. A highway marker indicates that Charles Lee and Washington had their famous encounter just east of the latter point. The high ground due north is where General William Alexander ("Lord Stirling") commanded Washington's left wing. Here the British started their unsuccessful attacks on the last position organized by the Americans. Washington, Von Steuben, and Alexander exhorted the defenders of this flank as the Black Watch, supported by light infantry and field artillery, attempted to penetrate or envelop it.

One problem in the development of Monmouth Battlefield Park was that major disagreement existed among authorities as to what happened where. Mythmakers have already succeeded in creating the impression that Molly Pitcher had an important part in the Patriot victory.

To go back now to an explanation of the Monmouth campaign, the battle took place on 28 June 1778 as General Sir Henry Clinton marched from Philadelphia to New York. The British had been occupying Philadelphia while the Americans shivered at Valley Forge. Lacking shipping to make the move by sea, and also worried about the French fleet, Clinton decided to move overland. Starting on 16 June, he successfully accomplished the difficult task of crossing the Delaware without being caught astride the river. He paused at Haddonfield to embark his sick, his heavy equipment, and some three thousand Loyalists for New York and to organize the rest of his command for the arduous march.

Washington, meanwhile, had reacted quickly to news of the British withdrawal from Philadelphia, ordering his army to cross the Delaware at Coryell's Ferry (now Lambertville). But as Clinton continued up the river toward Bordentown, just below Trenton, the Americans had the perplexing problem of dispersing sufficiently to find and slow up the enemy and at the same time keeping well enough concentrated to avoid "defeat in detail." Bad roads and bad weather (rain alternating with days of record-breaking heat) impeded the operations of friend and foe but caused greatest suffering in the ranks of the British, who were marching with heavy individual loads and escorting 1,500 wagons in addition to their artillery.

From Bordentown the British could have taken any one of several routes north. Not until he reached Hopewell did Washington start to get the detailed reports from which a true picture of enemy intentions emerged. A famous council of war took place on 24 June (probably at the Hunt House) while Washington's troops were given a day's rest. Washington tentatively accepted the "bridge of gold" strategy advocated by General Charles Lee and endorsed by the majority of his generals. Using a term familiar to European strategists of the time, Lee argued that an escape route should be left open to the enemy and that Washington should not risk his amateurs in a major engagement with Clinton, in whose ranks marched some of the finest regiments of the British army.

But Washington and his army had lost their amateur status at Valley Forge, the Trenton-Princeton campaign proving that they were capable of brilliant performance against those professionals who had triumphed so consistently since Bunker Hill. The training directed by General Von Steuben at Valley Forge had already paid off when the young General Lafayette had to extricate his command from Barren Hill, Pennsylvania. The speed and efficiency with which the little Rebel army left its winter quarters at Valley Forge in pursuit of Clinton was further evidence of its new professionalism.

The Monmouth Campaign is therefore fascinating for what it reveals of Washington's generalship, not only in the field of strategic decision making but also in working with the strengths and weaknesses of his major subordinate commanders. Not wanting to abandon hope for bringing on a major engagement but knowing that Lee was not the right man to use, Washington got Lee to waive his seniority so Lafayette could command a special task force organized to put more pressure on the British withdrawal. But just as Washington apparently had finessed this move, Lee decided that he should command this detachment after all.

Thus it came to pass that on the eve of the Battle of Monmouth, five thousand American troops under a general who did not want to fight were 5 miles from Monmouth Courthouse at Englishtown, and the rest of the army was with Washington another 8 miles to the west, at Cranbury.

The British had reached Monmouth Courthouse the afternoon of 26 June after a 19-mile march on roads deep with sand and in a humid heat. Many had died of heat exhaustion, and Clinton let his troops rest on 27 June. The American command and control system, meanwhile, had temporarily broken down. Washington had no further doubt about the general route the British were following, and he had made a night march (25 to 26 June) to reach Cranbury. Colonel Stephen Moylan's thirty dragoons, Colonel Dan Morgan's six hundred riflemen, and General Philemon Dickinson's one thousand New Jersey militia were observing British movements, but their efforts were uncoordinated. Washington was in the dark, not only about enemy movements but also about the location of his own troops at this critical moment.

Shortly before daybreak, at 4 a.m., Clinton's supply train under the escort of Knyphausen's division started north for Middletown while Clinton waited with Cornwallis's division until this forward element had the proper lead. The fatuous Lee got around to resuming his cautious advance at 7 a.m. He had not bothered to send out patrols during the night to make contact with Patriot militia around Monmouth Courthouse or to keep him informed of Clinton's activities, and when he finally did reach the scene of action he proceeded to get into a violent argument with General Dickinson about whether, in fact, Clinton had resumed his retreat or was preparing to attack! But Washington had received a report from Dickinson about the British movement and was leading the rest of his army forward from Cranbury to support Lee.

The true situation at this time was that a strong British rear guard remained around the courthouse, but Clinton and Cornwallis had left. In a confused series of mismanaged efforts Lee succeeded only in warning Clinton that a major portion of the Rebel army was at hand. The British commander in chief, who had been doing everything in accordance with conventional tactical wisdom, ordered back a brigade and some light dragoons from Knyphausen's division to cover his northern flank while Cornwallis turned to eliminate Lee's threat to his rear.

The latter's thoroughly confused troops dropped back and then broke into a panic-stricken retreat. British officers naturally did what they could to encourage this stampede. What happened next is not known with any degree of certainty, except that Washington met Lee on the road and personally took command. The Patriots managed to rally, check the British on successive lines of defense, and hold their final position against a series of heroic but poorly coordinated assaults.

With the temperature reading 100 degrees in the sun, Clinton called a halt to his efforts. Washington ordered a counterattack and planned to pursue, but his own troops were too exhausted to comply. The British regrouped about half a mile east of the Middle Ravine, rested until midnight, and then slipped away. By 10 a.m. the next day they entered Knyphausen's camp at Middletown, and a day later Clinton's entire force was at Sandy Hook waiting for boats to take them to New York.

The Battle of Monmouth was the last major engagement in the North, the longest sustained battle of the Revolution, and perhaps the best one ever fought by the army that Washington personally headed. Strategically and tactically, it showed Washington at his best. Troops and commanders on both sides performed with tremendous proficiency, particularly considering that they had endured great hardships before reaching the battlefield and fought the long battle on one of the hottest days of the Revolutionary period. Monmouth probably witnessed the largest concentration of African American troops on the United States side of the Revolution, an estimated seven hundred serving in the Continental army at the battle.

Monmouth Battlefield State Park is open year-round from dawn to dusk and admission is free. Phone: (732) 462-9616; visitors center phone: (732) 780-5782.

Morristown National Historical Park

Morristown National Historical Park, 30 Washington Place, Morristown. About 30 miles west of the principal British base of New York City but protected by a series of parallel ranges of hills and small mountains, Morristown was of great military importance to the American cause. Fortunately, the most interesting landmarks have been preserved. In the Jockey Hollow Area a wildlife sanctuary and nature trail have been developed in the unspoiled setting of Washington's army's encampment during the terrible winter of 1779 to 1780. In this area are the Tempe Wick house and gardens and a replica of the crude log hut that served as a military hospital.

The "Fort Nonsense" site is preserved on a hill overlooking Morristown. Reconstructed fortifications once marked this place where Washington is alleged to have ordered construction of earthworks merely to keep his soldiers too busy to get into trouble. This legend has been discredited, no reference to "Fort Nonsense" having yet been discovered in any document written before 1833.

Tours are available daily of the Ford Mansion at 230 Morris Street in the Headquarters Area, which was built during the period 1772 to 1774 by Colonel Jacob Ford Jr., an influential iron manufacturer and powder mill owner. He died early in 1777. During the winter of 1779 to 1780 his widow and their four children occupied two rooms of the mansion while Washington moved in with seventeen other "guests," including his wife, aides, and servants. "Washington's Headquarters" is a splendid example of colonial architecture. Its restoration started in 1939, and another restoration, most of it focused on the Washington's Headquarters Museum, began in January 2005.

Behind it is the Historical Museum, notable for its research library, one of the country's most valuable collections of Washington memorabilia, and other historical exhibits.

The Schuyler-Hamilton House at 5 Olyphant Place dates from about 1765. Here Alexander Hamilton successfully courted Elizabeth Schuyler.

A "living history" program of colonial crafts and military arts has been one of the park's major attractions. Additionally, there is a twenty-minute introductory video and a visitors center where souvenirs and books can be purchased. The entire site encompasses over 1,700 acres. Phone: (973) 539-2016 (visitors' information); (973) 543-4030 (Jockey Hollow Visitors Center).

Old Dutch Parsonage

Old Dutch Parsonage, Somerville, Somerset County. At 65 Washington Place, near the Wallace House and therefore frequented by General and Mrs. Washington during several months in 1778 to 1779, this handsome brick house is the birthplace of Frederick Frelinghuysen (1753–1804). The latter was a young lawyer and Patriot politician before entering military service during the Revolution. First a major of minutemen, then a militia colonel and aide to General Philemon Dickinson, he took part in the campaigns of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth. In 1790 he was commissioned a brigadier general in the Indian campaign in the Old Northwest, and during the Whiskey Rebellion he served as a major general of militia. Meanwhile he had held a number of elected offices: congressman for eight months during the Revolution (from November 1778) and for a year starting in 1782, a state legislator for several terms, and a United States senator (5 December 1793–May 1796).

These are the Revolutionary War associations of the Old Dutch Parsonage, but this historic landmark is much more significant for its cultural distinctions. It was built by the congregation of the First Dutch Reformed Church in 1751 for their parson. The first occupant was the father of Frederick, but he died when the boy was only two years old. The bereaved Mrs. Frelinghuysen, daughter of a wealthy East India merchant, was about to take her two small children home to Amsterdam when the young New Yorker who had been living in the household as her husband's divinity student persuaded the widow to marry him.

With this sound secular underpinning the new master of the parsonage, Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (1736–1790), went on to become one of the first ministers of the Dutch Reformed faith ordained in America (1758) and a founder of what became Rutgers University (then Queen's College, chartered in 1766). Not until late in 1771 did the school open, however, and at this time the eighteen-year-old Frederick Frelinghuysen was the only member of the faculty. Thus can the Old Dutch Parsonage be called the cradle of Rutgers.

Jacob Hardenbergh preached resistance against England so effectively that the British put a price on his head. The dominie slept with a musket at his bedside and on several occasions had to flee his home to avoid capture. He served in the state legislature during several sessions. When Washington took up residence in the nearby Wallace House, he formed a warm friendship with Hardenbergh. This remarkable man had never been in good health, and he died in 1790 after four years as full-time head of Queen's College. Two other residents of the Wallace House during Washington's stay were the slaves Greg and Phyllis, the latter of whom was admired for her cooking. The original slave quarters above the kitchen have been preserved.

The parsonage was about to be demolished in 1907 but was bought by descendants of the first occupant and moved about 100 yards to the present location. Colonial furnishings include a gilded Dutch mirror brought to this country around 1750 by Dinah Van Bergh when she arrived as the bride of John Frelinguysen. The Frelinghuysen Chapter of the DAR has deeded the house to the state, which administers it as a historic site. Both the Wallace House and the Parsonage are open to the public. Phone: (908) 725-1015.

Old Tennent Church (Freehold Meeting House)

Old Tennent Church (Freehold Meeting House), 448 Tennent Road, near Route 9, Tennent, Monmouth County. "The new church" is what Washington called it, the simple but imposing white structure having been built in 1751 to replace an earlier one of 1731. The present name was adopted in 1859; before this the church had been known successively as the Old Scots Meeting House and the Old Freehold Meeting House. The Scots Presbyterian congregation was chartered in 1749 and is still vigorous.

On high ground overlooking the West Ravine and alongside the road from Englishtown to Monmouth Courthouse, the tall structure remains as a benchmark of the Battle of Monmouth (see monmouth battlefield). The old road past the church has disappeared, the present highway—County Road 522—being a short distance south.

Spectators gathered on the hilltop during the battle of 28 June 1778, some of them watching from the steeple and the roof of the church. One is said to have been mortally wounded by a spent cannonball that left a scar on a gravestone he was using for a seat. Portions of the battlefield are visible from around the church.

Old Tennent is a frame building of two stories with a steeply pitched roof that greatly increases its height. A stubby, octagonal steeple on one end of the high gable is topped by a spire and an early Dutch weathercock. Cedar shingles, with their many layers of white paint, form the siding. The church, which may be visited weekdays between 9 a.m. and noon, has an old-fashioned pulpit with overhanging sounding board, narrow pews with high backs, and a gallery once reserved for slaves. Beneath the center aisle is the grave of William Tennent, former minister and ardent Patriot, who died in 1777. (It is not certain whether the church was named for William, his brother John, or both.)

In the cemetery is the tomb of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Monckton, a British hero of the battle who was mortally wounded in leading his grenadier battalion in the last assault on the hedgerow. He was pulled into the American lines, together with the captured colors of his battalion, and died a prisoner.

Old Tennent Church serves an active congregation today. The venerable building, cemetery, and grounds are beautifully maintained. A modern annex, at a respectful distance, bustles with weekday activity. Phone: (732) 446-6299.

Paulus Hook (Jersey City)

Paulus Hook (Jersey City). The scene of "Light Horse Harry" Lee's triumph on 19 August 1779 has long since been obliterated by the commercial development of Jersey City. The site of the main British fortification is said to be about where Washington and Grand Streets now intersect. Paulus Hook Park has been created at this spot. Elements of Washington's abortive "Flying Camp" are said to have been stationed here in the latter half of 1776, but the main camp, under General Hugh Mercer, was at Amboy. Conceived as a force of ten thousand militia that could move rapidly to threatened areas, the Flying Camp never attained that strength. Some two thousand of Mercer's men helped construct the fortifications of New York City, many were captured in the Battle of Long Island, and most of the troops at Fort Lee were from the Flying Camp. Formally authorized on 3 July 1776, the organization went out of existence on 30 November of the same year, having accomplished little. Yet the romantic name recurs on Revolutionary War monuments. Presently there remains a Paulus Hook Historic District, and a few of the buildings and churches have been preserved.

Princeton

Princeton, Mercer County. Foreign visitors might well wonder why such great wealth has been expended on the architecture of Princeton University and so little effort has been made to develop the Princeton Battlefield. What happened here in a few minutes on 3 January 1777 brought to a brilliant conclusion "The Nine Days' Wonder," Washington's remarkable counteroffensive with a ragged little army that saved the American Revolution. It was almost five years later that Washington's victory at Yorktown virtually ended the war, but on this occasion Cornwallis said to him: "When the illustrious part that your Excellency has borne in this long and arduous contest becomes a matter of history, fame will gather your brightest laurels rather from the banks of the Delaware than from those of the Chesapeake."

The history of the Trenton-Princeton campaign, the nine days that ended in the Battle of Princeton, has been so well described that it will not be summarized here. Emphasis will be placed instead on what the informed visitor can expect to find on the ground today.

The route of Washington's night march from Trenton to Princeton is marked by twelve stone monuments, the last of which are on County Road 533 leading north to Princeton. U.S. 206 follows the general trace of the main road between Trenton and Princeton that Cornwallis took and along which British reinforcements marched from Princeton toward Trenton. As you approach Princeton on County Road 533, or Quaker Road, the topography is much as it was two centuries ago. It is a region of large farms, with wide, open fields to the right and the unspoiled course of Stony Brook to the left.

But the "Back Road" onto which Washington's main force turned just short of the Quaker Meeting House is gone. The Princeton Pike, which turns into Mercer Street, is a road put in after the Revolution (1807) and is roughly parallel to the old Back Road but some 250 yards to the northwest. (Battle Road, in the residential development just to the southwest of Princeton township, follows a stretch of the old Back Road. Another vestige survives as a declivity just east of the Thomas Clark House, mentioned below.)

Continuing on Quaker Road in the path of General Hugh Mercer's detachment, crossing the Princeton Pike (Mercer Road), the county highway follows Stony Brook to the old stone bridge and ruins of Worth's Mill. Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood had left one regiment behind in Princeton and was leading two others up the steep hill from this bridge toward Trenton (on what is now U.S. 206) when his alert flank guards looked back and discovered the Rebel troop movements to their rear.

Visiting Princeton when the leaves are off the trees, as they were on the day of the battle, makes it possible to appreciate the critical role played by the terrain in providing observation from Mawhood's position on the high ground west of the Stony Brook Bridge.

Mercer's assigned mission was to destroy the heavy wooden flooring of the bridge to block British movement back to Princeton, but his troops were driven off by fire. Mawhood doubled back, retraced his steps up the Post Road (U.S. 206) toward Princeton about one-quarter mile to the vicinity of the Olden House (still standing; see below), then cut south. Mercer, meanwhile, had left the Quaker Road and moved northeast toward the high ground now covered by residential housing. A single modern street, Parkside Drive, starts about where Mercer left Quaker Road and loops up the hill through the general area of the initial skirmish; this street leads to the middle of the battlefield park at Mercer Road.

An important topographical feature of the battlefield was the creek running along the southeast side of the Post Road (U.S. 206) and presenting an obstacle to troop movement from the highway to the high ground that was the initial objective of Mawhood and Mercer. This stream is still there, but its banks have been cleared and smoothed. The orchard in which the first fighting occurred has disappeared.

Battlefield State Park is an open area of about 50 acres astride Mercer Road. For nearly three hundred years, this ground was occupied by a solitary white oak tree famous now as the Mercer Oak. The great tree collapsed in 2001, but it stood near the place where the middle-aged but highly promising Hugh Mercer was mortally wounded. Legend has it that he was carried to the tree after receiving seven bayonet wounds and having been left for dead on the field, but it is much more likely that he was taken straight to the Thomas Clark house.

The battlefield park is unmarked, so the visitor is left to private resources to identify the ground on which Washington rallied his troops for the successful counter-attack against Mawhood. A ceramic tablet beneath a flagpole on the east edge of the field represents the only "interpretation" that state and local history agencies have managed to come up with so far.

Frog Hollow, where the British tried to make another stand against Washington's army, can still be seen east of the Graduate College in the open ground of the Springdale Golf Course. The positions of American and British troops opposing each other in Frog Hollow were just north of the Back Road, so in terms of present landmarks this portion of the battlefield is not on the golf course but in the residential area bisected by College Road.

The famous "spy map" of Princeton showed the Americans that the Back Road would permit their entering the town without encountering several prepared defenses on the main roads. Mawhood had left the Fortieth Foot to hold Princeton when he headed for Trenton with the Seventeenth and Fifty-fifth Foot. The Fortieth had its main position, one hundred men with eight six-pounders, at the western approach to town, where Stockton and Nassau Streets now join at the Princeton Battle Monument (see below). Another one hundred men were in a fortification in an orchard where Vandeventer Avenue and Wiggins Street now cross. Three or four small cannon were at Vandeventer and Nassau covering the Post Road in the direction of Kingston, and two small guns in front of Nassau Hall covered Witherspoon Street. The latter street led north to John Witherspoon's country house, Tusculum, which was being used by the officers of the Fortieth Foot (see below).

But the British were unable to organize their defense of Princeton. Washington's strategic surprise and his subsequent tactical success against Mawhood in the fierce engagement around the bridge now paid off. The British abandoned their strongpoints in the streets of the village and most of them fled, although they took all but two guns with them. Some took refuge in Nassau Hall and prepared to make a stand. Captain Alexander Hamilton rolled his battery into the Back Campus and a body of infantry prepared to assault the building. The cannon roared, the storming party entered the building, and the British quickly surrendered. Out marched 194 prisoners.

Having so skillfully executed this thrust deep to the British rear, Washington's tired troops had to move fast to escape the larger enemy force under Cornwallis moving north from Trenton. The ragged little Patriot army had been under arms for forty hours in bitter winter weather without time for rest or hot food. Washington marched to Kingston and then up the east side of Millstone River to Somerset Courthouse (now Millstone). Cornwallis pursued to Kingston, then returned to his base at New Brunswick. By 6 January, when Washington reached Morristown, the British had been cleared from all their conquests in New Jersey except the posts at Amboy and New Brunswick, where they presented no offensive threat.

The only Registered National Historic Landmarks in Princeton are Nassau Hall and Princeton Battlefield Park. Morven, the governor's mansion, is among the "Sites Also Noted." Others fail to meet various criteria of the National Survey, mainly that of "integrity," but are nevertheless of great interest. Several excellent guidebooks to the Princeton area are available, but the places associated with the American Revolution are briefly described below. The sequence of the following paragraphs corresponds generally with the route usually followed in visiting the sites. Nassau Hall is the logical starting point, this centrally located structure being Princeton's most important landmark.

The Bainbridge House. Located in the center of Princeton at 158 Nassau Street, this is a handsome little two-story frame structure with a painted brick veneer front. Built about 1765 by Robert Stockton, it was used by General Sir William Howe in late 1776 and by members of Congress in late 1783 (see Nassau Hall, above). William Bainbridge, who became famous as commander of the U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812, was born in the house in 1774, hence the present name. Owned by Princeton University, the Bainbridge House is leased by the Historical Society of Princeton, which uses it for headquarters and operates it as a house museum. The Society has a good reference library on regional history and genealogy and offers a variety of guided walking tours pertaining to the history, architecture, and ethnicity of the area. Phone: (609) 921-6748.

Morven. Morven is at 55 Stockton Street (U.S. 206), just west of its junction with Nassau Street. It served as the official residence for New Jersey's governors until the late 1980s. The grandfather of Richard Stockton (1730–1781) acquired a large tract around Princeton in 1696, and Morven is believed by some authorities to date from 1701. Recent studies (Grieff et al., Princeton Architecture) conclude that the structure was completed in 1755. A splendid Georgian manor house of painted brick, with classical columns and detailed pediment on the wide porch of the central section, the mansion has unmatched wings (each the size of a normal house). Two fires were followed by reconstruction, and records are few, so Morven has been a problem for architectural historians. Stockton inherited the mansion and died here a broken man during the Revolution. A graduate of the College of New Jersey eight years before it was moved to Princeton, he had distinguished himself as a lawyer and Patriot politician. As a signer of the Declaration of Independence he was subjected to particularly harsh treatment by the British when they captured him in the winter of 1776. In his weakened condition Stockton signed the amnesty proclamation. He returned to find his estate pillaged by the British, his fortune greatly depleted, his health fatally impaired by neglect of a lip wound during his imprisonment, and his patriotism impugned because he signed the amnesty declaration. A tumor spread from his lip to the throat, and Stockton died early in 1781. His grave was located when the cemetery of the Princeton Friends Meeting (below) was restored in 1912. A memorial stone was erected the next year.

Morven was occupied by senior British officers including Cornwallis. Its library and furniture were looted during the occupation. Washington visited Morven in 1783 while Congress held its sessions in Nassau Hall.

Recently renovated, the Morven House reopened to the public in 2004 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday through Friday, and from noon to 4 p.m. on weekends. Phone: (609) 683-4495.

The Nassau Club. This edifice, at 6 Mercer Street near the monument, is on the site of the Jonathan Sergeant house burned to the ground by the British in December 1776, the only house in Princeton to suffer this fate during the Revolution. The present structure dates from 1813.

Nassau Hall. Construction of Nassau Hall was begun in 1754, two years after the College of New Jersey (founded 1746) was formally moved to Princeton from Newark (having been originally at Elizabethtown). Named for King William III of the House of Nassau, the building contained classrooms, eating and sleeping accommodations, and chapel for the entire student body (seventy undergraduates initially). American and British troops used Nassau Hall during the Revolution as barracks and hospital, doing much damage to the building. During the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line in January 1781 the Board of Sergeants occupied the ruined building. When Congress fled from Philadelphia to escape the threat of three hundred disgruntled war veterans, Nassau Hall was the national capitol during the period 24 June to 3 November 1783.

The simple lines of the solid, long stone building influenced the design of Harvard's Hollis Hall (1762–1763), Brown's University Hall (1770–1771), and Dartmouth Hall (1784–1791), thus helping establish the familiar architectural tradition of so many later college structures. The original character of Nassau Hall was destroyed in the reconstruction following the fire of 1855.

A precious scientific relic exhibited in Nassau Hall is the orrery (planetarium) built by David Rittenhouse and acquired in 1771 by the College. Ironically, it was not damaged by the British (who intended to send it back to England) but was broken by idly curious American troops tampering with the delicate instrument. Most of it could be repaired, but the part showing the phases of the moon never worked properly again. Behind Nassau Hall in the center of the Back Campus, or Cannon Green, is a gun that may have been part of a British battery deployed to defend the village in January 1777. Abandoned by troops of both sides because its carriage was broken, it was taken to New Brunswick during the War of 1812 to be used in the defenses of that town, but was found to be unsafe to fire. A group of Princeton citizens retrieved it about fifteen years later, and in 1838 it was planted, muzzle down, where it has since become an object of various college traditions. Known as the Big Cannon, it is not to be confused with the other one (planted between Clio and Whig Halls a short distance to the south) that figured in the "Cannon War" of 1875 between Princeton and Rutgers.

"The Old Barracks." This edifice at 32 Edgehill Street incorporates part of Princeton's oldest building. It was the original homestead of the Stockton family, started in the early 1700s and evolving into a two-and-a-half-story fieldstone house of eleven rooms. Plain and rectangular in design, it derives its name from the fact that it was used by British troops for barracks. The surviving portion of "the Old Stockton House," as it is labeled on the "spy map" of 1776, was bought in 1908 and restored as a private residence. It remains privately owned and is not open to the public, but presents an interesting view from the street. (Edgehill Street runs between Stockton and Mercer Streets a little less than 0.25 mile west of the Princeton Battle Monument.)

Olden House. The Olden House (private)is marked on the south side of Stockton Street about 0.25 mile east of Stony Brook Bridge. Washington stood on the porch of this little frame house to watch his defeated army march past in its retreat to Trenton in December 1776; exactly a month later he revisited the house to give instructions that British wounded be properly tended there. Architectural historians have disagreed, but an authoritative study concludes that the Olden House stands on its original foundations.

This stretch of Stockton Street is said to preserve its colonial appearance of small houses separated by spaces originally reserved for pastures and gardens. There is evidence that an eighteenth-century blacksmith shop was at number 481 and that the smith's home was at number 487.

In 1996 the Olden House went under a major restoration. It is the gift shop and home of the Drumthwacket Foundation. Reservations are required; phone: (609) 683-0591.

The Princeton Battle Monument. This memorial, conspicuous at the intersection of Nassau and Stockton Streets, was unveiled in 1922 by President Harding. It is a bad imitation of the sculpture on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Princeton Friends Meeting. Commonly known as the Quaker Meeting House, and a landmark of the battle of 1777, this was the center of a Quaker settlement established in 1696. (Captain Henry Greenland was the first white settler, his plantation occupying most of what became Princeton township and dating from 1681.) In 1709 the Quakers built a small frame meetinghouse. The present structure dates from 1758 and is a two-story building with a front porch, stone fireplaces at each end, and a simple interior with a gallery reached by a winding staircase. The window glass and much of the woodwork are original. Wounded men were treated here after the Battle of Princeton. The nearby cemetery, surrounded by a stone wall erected in 1859, has the grave of Richard Stockton (see Morven, above) and of the Olden family. In the late 1800s the Stony Brook Meeting, as this was originally called, fell into disuse. The structure was restored in 1912, and since 1949 it has been used regularly by the Society of Friends formally reestablished in Princeton eight years earlier.

Stony Brook Bridge. The present stone bridge across Stony Brook was built in 1792 to replace the original one of 1738 at this point. Ruins of Worth's Mill rise prominently near the center of the bridge. The mill was bought in 1716 by Joseph Worth and operated until the early part of the twentieth century.

Tusculum. This residence, built by John Witherspoon when he was president of Princeton, remains standing and in excellent condition a short distance north of the town. A great stone structure that looks like a barn, it was built in 1773 and named for the resort where Roman nobles had their summer houses. It was headquarters of the Fortieth Foot during the brief British occupation of Princeton. Little structural damage was done because the invaders left so precipitously on 3 January 1777—leaving their breakfast to be eaten by the Patriots, in fact—but Witherspoon's fine library of rare books and his valuable furniture fell victim to vandalism. Witherspoon lived at Tusculum permanently from 1779 until his death in 1794. As of this writing the house cannot be visited, and in certain seasons is not visible from the road.

The Oliver Cromwell House

The Oliver Cromwell House, located at 114 East Union Street in Burlington City, was built in 1798. Oliver Cromwell (1752–1853) spent much of his long life in this home. Cromwell, a free black, was one of an estimated five thousand African Americans who served on the Patriot side during the Revolution. He was one of the two African Americans to cross the Delaware on 25 December 1776 with George Washington (the other, Prince Whipple, is the one appearing in the famous painting by Emanuel Leutze), taking part in the ensuing Battles of Trenton and Princeton. The following year Washington asked Congress to allow the enlistment of black troops, which it allowed, to the benefit of the Patriot cause. Cromwell went on to see action at the Battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and Yorktown, and had his discharge papers signed personally by George Washington.

Proprietary House (Westminster)

Proprietary House (Westminster), 149 Kearny Avenue, Perth Amboy, Middlesex County. The Council of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey had this house built in 1764 for the royal governor's residence. It was occupied by the royal governor, William Franklin, until he was arrested by order of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey in June 1776. During the British occupation of Perth Amboy the house was used by General Sir William Howe. Soon after the Revolution a fire destroyed the interior. The house then became a resort hotel until 1883, when it was taken over by the Presbyterian Board of Relief for Disabled Ministers and Widows and Orphans of Deceased Ministers. At that time it was named Westminster. In 1911 it became a roominghouse. The Proprietary House has gone under significant renovation since being taken over by the state of New Jersey. The house is maintained by the Proprietary House Association and is open to the public during the following hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays. Phone: (732) 826-5527.

Quinton Bridge

Quinton Bridge, Alloway Creek, Salem County. For reasons explained under Salem, the British were operating in this region in the spring of 1778. Colonel Charles Mawhood and Major John Graves Simcoe, supported by local Loyalists, killed approximately thirty Patriot militia around Quinton Bridge on 18 March by drawing the defenders into an ambuscade. All landmarks have disappeared except the piles of the old bridge, which are a few hundred feet upstream from where N.J. 49 now crosses Alloway Creek into the village of Quinton. About 100 yards farther along this highway and on the north side is a granite marker erected in 1918 to commemorate the Revolutionary War skirmish. About 3 miles away is another granite marker, this one erected in 1928 to mark the graves of men who fought at Quinton Bridge.

Perhaps because the action was a brilliant British victory, local historians have not gone to pains to set the record straight. Even the date of the action and the names of landmarks and principal commanders vary from one account to another. The following reconstruction is as accurate as I have been able to make it.

Captain William Smith was the senior officer with the three hundred Patriot militia around Quinton Bridge when Colonel Mawhood approached from Salem with regulars of the Seventeenth Foot and Simcoe's Loyalist Rangers. Mawhood devised a stratagem to draw the Patriots out of their prepared defenses and across the bridge into an ambuscade. Under cover of darkness the British concealed detachments of the Seventeenth and the Rangers in and around Wetherby's Tavern on the Salem side of the creek and a pistol shot northeast of the highway. The morning of 18 March, Mawhood baited his trap by having an element of the Seventeenth Foot leave the area of the tavern and march away toward Salem.

Falling for the trick, Captain Smith left one hundred troops to man the prepared defenses and led two hundred militiamen across the bridge in a disorganized pursuit. Neglecting to scout their flanks, the Patriots hurried along the road past the tavern. They had gone only a few hundred feet beyond the bridge when a surprise fire was delivered by concealed troops from the front, flanks, and rear. Between thirty and forty Patriots died in the panic-stricken flight back across the creek, many of them drowning in an attempt to cross downstream from the bridge.

Andrew Bacon defied British fire to cut away the draw of the bridge, but this hero received a wound that left him a cripple. Meanwhile, Colonel Elijah Hand arrived with his militia and two cannon to reinforce the defenses on the south bank and check the pursuing British. Disappointed by his lack of greater success, Mawhood withdrew but struck again at Hancocks Bridge.

Although no Revolutionary War structures remain, the terrain over which the main action took place remains undeveloped on the Salem side of Alloway Creek. Simcoe's sketch of the battle can be correlated easily with the modern topographical map of the area. Archaeologists would probably have little difficulty in finding the location of major landmarks on the battlefield.

The cemetery mentioned at the beginning of this section can be found by going east from Quinton on N.J. 49 for about 0.7 mile from the bridge, turning right on Jericho Road (well marked), and proceeding 2.3 miles. The cemetery is in a clump of old trees about 100 yards across an open field to your left (east).

A granite marker there reads: "Honor to the brave American soldiers killed in the skirmish at Quinton's Bridge." The only headstone standing among the stubs of some twenty-five others is that of the commander who blundered so badly: Captain William Smith (1742–1820).

Ringwood Manor and Iron Works

Ringwood Manor and Iron Works, Passaic County. The mines, furnaces, forges, and manor house at Ringwood started becoming a part of American history soon after 1730, when Cornelius Board found iron deposits in the area. He built Sterling Forge sometime before 1740, and sold land to the Ogdens of Newark, whose Ringwood Company started smelting iron in 1741. Peter Hasenclever organized the American Company and developed ironworks at Ringwood and elsewhere as manager for this group of investors (also called the London Company). This German entrepreneur had sold his interest in a mercantile business in Cádiz in 1763 and left Spain for England to become a British citizen. An excellent ironmaster and an energetic manager, he is believed to have lived at Ringwood and to have devoted most of his attention to development of this property. But after becoming overextended in his operations, Hasenclever turned the Ringwood works over to John Jacob Faesch, returned to England, and declared bankruptcy.

Robert Erskine (1735–1780) came to America in 1771 to take over from Faesch, who left to develop highly successful ironworks at Mount Hope and elsewhere. Erskine was educated at Edinburgh and was a fellow of the Royal Society (admitted in 1771 under the sponsorship of Benjamin Franklin) and a qualified engineer in several fields, including hydraulics and topography. He quickly became an excellent ironmaster but was unable to get necessary working capital from London. Erskine struggled along with advances from a New York bank. When the Revolution broke out he lined up with the Patriot cause.

Having thus saved his properties from confiscation, Erskine organized his workers into a militia company. This move not only provided local protection but also kept his men on the job and out of the Continental army. Erskine was commissioned a captain of this company and was promised that his militia would be ordered away only in case of invasion. The Ringwood works furnished the American armies a variety of iron products, from miscellaneous hardware, camp stoves, and ordnance items to major components of the great chains used to obstruct the Hudson. The old manor house, which burned during the Revolution, and the new one built nearby were visited by Washington and his generals. Contemporary journals mention the gracious entertainment for which the ironmaster's manor house was noted.

But the master of Ringwood is better remembered as the mapmaker of the Revolution. In addition to having professional training in topography and unusual skill as a draftsman, Erskine had traveled over much of the region west of the Hudson that became the theater of military operations. Although Washington met Erskine early in the war, knew of his ability as a cartographer and his familiarity with the ground, and was badly handicapped by lack of good maps, Erskine did not become a full-time mapmaker until the summer of 1778. During the next thirty months as geographer and surveyor of the United States, he made 129 maps, some of them having as many as twenty sheets. Most have been preserved by the New-York Historical Society (170 Central Park West, New York, N.Y. 10024) and many are reproduced in histories of the Revolution.

Erskine caught cold during a field trip and died on 2 October 1780, the day Major John André was executed some 20 miles away at Tappan. The story that Washington attended Erskine's funeral seems to be based on the premise that he did not want to witness André's hanging, but the mythmakers have carelessly overlooked the realities of time, distance, and funeral arrangements.

The tomb of Erskine is in Ringwood Manor State Park. No likeness has yet been found of this major figure in American history, and little mention was made of his work during the Revolution in contemporary writings because so much of it was secret.

Ringwood continued after the Revolution to be a major source of iron products, including heavy ordnance items. The state park preserves little more than the sites that figured in the Revolution. Principal attractions are the elaborate manor house that evolved after 1810, the extensive landscaping and formal gardens, and interesting relics dating mostly from after the Revolution. Ringwood Manor became a National Historic Landmark in 1967. Near the town of Ringwood, the 4,044-acre park is a wildlife sanctuary. Picnicking, hiking, fishing, and other outdoor activities are provided for in the park. 1304 Sloatsburg Road, Ringwood, N.J. 07456-1799; phone: (973) 962-7031.

Rockingham (Berrien House)

Rockingham (Berrien House), near Princeton, Somerset County. Located along the Delaware and Raritan Canal on County Route 603 in Franklin Township, this two-story frame house was used by Washington from 23 August to 10 November 1783, before he retired to Mount Vernon. From its second-story porch he read the "Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States."

The oldest portion of the house is possibly the second-oldest house remaining in the Millstone River Valley. The original structure, a two-story, two-frame house, is believed to have been built between 1702 and 1710. John Berrien bought it about 1764 and expanded it to twenty rooms. In July 1783 the house, its numerous outbuildings, and 360 acres of surrounding farm were offered for sale. Congress had taken refuge in Princeton and was anxious to have Washington handy for final conferences on military matters, so they made the Rocky Hill (Rockingham) house available to him, Mrs. Washington, and his staff. Although the general would have been happier to make a single move from Newburgh to Mount Vernon, his days at Berrien House were exceptionally pleasant. Evidence poured in to prove that he was regarded as a national hero. Congress was expressing its gratitude in a number of ways. Rocky Hill was the scene of much official entertaining (which both of the Washingtons enjoyed), including a dinner for Congress on 5 September that was served under a captured British marquee on the lawn.

After the Revolution the historic house changed hands several times before large-scale quarrying operations started destroying the hill on which it had been built. At one time the abandoned house was a shack for quarry workers. The Washington Headquarters Association was then organized by local citizens to save Rockingham. Moved about 0.25 mile up the hill from the Millstone River, it was restored and opened to the public in 1897. In 1935 the Association presented the house to the state, which has since administered it as a historic site. But the quarry continued its destruction of the hillside, and in 1957 the house was again moved less than a mile from its original site. In 2001 it was moved to the present address. The house is now run by the state of New Jersey within the Department of Parks and Forestry and has been restored to its original state. Visiting hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Wednesday through Sunday, although it is recommended that visitors call first to assure that they are open. Phone: (609) 683-7132.

D. S. Freeman points out in his biography of Washington that the house was known originally as Rocky or Rock Hill, not Rockingham. The latter name may have stemmed from a journalistic error in New York's Royal Gazette in August 1783.

Salem

Salem, Salem County. The first permanent settlement of English colonists on the Delaware River was established here in 1675 by Quakers under John Fenwick. In 1682 New Salem, as it was originally called, became a port of entry by royal commission. The place prospered as a center of trade and industry.

Foragers under General Anthony Wayne collected 150 head of cattle around Salem in February 1778 for Washington's army at Valley Forge. The British then sent about 1,500 troops to Salem to conduct their own foraging operations and stop those of the Patriots. Loyalist reinforcements joined the British at Salem, increasing the strength of Colonel Charles Mawhood's regulars and the newly raised Queen's Rangers under Major John Graves Simcoe. With intelligence furnished by the local Loyalists, Mawhood and Simcoe surprised and annihilated careless detachments of Patriot militia at nearby Quinton Bridge and Hancocks Bridge.

Salem's decline as a river port started during the Revolution; agriculture in the region became unproductive soon thereafter, and many of its people moved west. In the words of the WPA guide, "Zadock Street left Salem in 1803, founded Salem, Ohio, and then Salem, Indiana, a few years later. His son, Aaron, established Salem, Iowa; the parade ended at the Pacific Ocean with Salem, Oregon."

After an economic revival and the establishment of industry about the time of the Civil War, Salem preserves a considerable amount of small-town charm and a number of historic landmarks. One is the Friends Meeting House on East Broadway opposite the head of Walnut Street. This two-story, red-brick building with two entrances (originally for men and women), was erected in 1772 to replace an earlier structure that stood within the Friends Burial Ground. The latter survives on West Broadway between Fourth and Fifth Streets. Here is the ancient Salem Oak, beneath which John Fenwick bartered with the Indians for land. At least five hundred years old, the tree is 80 feet tall and measures more than 30 feet in circumference.

The Salem County Historical Society is located at 79-83 Market Street, Salem, N.J. 08079. Phone: (856) 935-5004.

Shabakunk Creek

Shabakunk Creek, just south of Lawrenceville on U.S. 206, Mercer County. Washington's brilliant strategy in the Princeton campaign was made possible by the delaying action directed by Colonel Edward Hand against British forces under Cornwallis on the road from Princeton to Trenton. While Washington's main force occupied defensive positions along the Assumpink Creek in Trenton on 2 January 1777, a large covering force was sent north on the Post Road (now U.S. 206) to block the expected British advance. The controversial General Rochedefermoy, whose American nom de guerre generally is rendered as Fermoy, had command of the American delaying action, but for reasons that have never been explained he abandoned his troops and returned to Trenton. Colonel Hand assumed command and ordered a slow retreat as superior enemy forces moved south from Lawrence (then called Maidenhead). Wherever a good delaying position could be organized, Hand halted his troops for a stand. Along Shabakunk Creek he held the British for two hours before continuing an orderly withdrawal to Trenton.

The site is marked on U.S. 206 about a mile south of its intersection with County Highway 546 in Lawrenceville.

Springfield

Springfield, Union County. On 7 and 23 June 1780 the British penetrated to this point in large-scale raids from Staten Island. On both occasions their operations were designed to pull Washington's main army from its strong defensive position around Morristown, and on both occasions they were outfought by American forces. But in the process the British destroyed virtually all of Springfield, Connecticut Farms (now Union), and Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth).

Despite the destruction of 1780 and the subsequent urbanization of this portion of New Jersey, several important structures of the Revolutionary and earlier period remain standing, particularly in Elizabeth. The topography is of more interest to serious students of military history, however, and much of it is still unspoiled. With a current large-scale topographical map of the area and contemporary sketches of the military actions it is possible to trace on the ground the interesting events of June 1780.

From his headquarters at Morristown, Washington had good reason to be perplexed by the British maneuvers that started early in that month. The main British army had shifted its efforts to the South, where they were successfully overrunning South Carolina after having failed to achieve a strategic decision in the North. A large French expeditionary force under Rochambeau was expected in America to support the Patriot cause. One of Washington's finest generals, Benedict Arnold, was commanding the critical defenses of the Hudson Highlands centered around the newly created fortress of West Point.

When a large British expedition from Staten Island landed at De Hart's Point near Elizabethtown and started advancing toward the gaps of the Watchung Mountains around Springfield, Washington suspected that this was a strategic diversion to mask some great strategic plan that the British were unfolding. Actually, General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, the second-highest ranking general in Britain's American forces, was taking advantage of Sir Henry Clinton's absence to exercise his initiative. The veteran Prussian had intelligence indicating that Patriot morale in New Jersey was low and that local Loyalists were eager to rise up and support British military operations in the region.

On 7 June a powerful column of about five thousand British, German, and Loyalist troops advanced west from Elizabethtown through Connecticut Farms. Colonel Elias Dayton's Third New Jersey Regiment (of Maxwell's Brigade) had been outposting Elizabethtown. Reinforced by local militia, Dayton conducted a delaying action to the bridge over the Rahway River at Springfield. Surprised by the effective American resistance, the British withdrew to the high ground just to the northwest of Connecticut Farms and established a defensive position. After burning most of the settlement the raiders retreated in a heavy thunderstorm during the night (7-8 June). The Patriot regulars and militia, both being reinforced, pursued vigorously and effectively. His operation a conspicuous failure, Knyphausen retained his beachhead at De Hart's Point but evacuated part of his force to Staten Island.

Washington had meanwhile moved his main body forward from Morristown to the Short Hills, just to the northwest of Springfield. He was delighted with the performance of Dayton and the Jersey militia but unsure as to what Knyphausen meant to accomplish. The situation became even more confusing when the British marched forth again on 23 June in what appeared to be a repetition of their earlier effort.

Clinton had returned from Charleston on 17 June to learn of Knyphausen's fiasco. But almost immediately, he received a message from the traitor Benedict Arnold that Rochambeau's expeditionary force was on its way across the Atlantic to join the Patriot cause. Clinton therefore ordered a renewal of the advance on Springfield, but this time it really was a strategic diversion. Clinton had good reasons: he wanted to delay Washington's movement to cross the Hudson and join Rochambeau, who was to debark at Newport, Rhode Island, and he wanted to gain time for his troops to return from Charleston, after which he planned to launch an offensive up the Hudson and into Westchester County. The latter maneuver would concentrate British forces, not only to prevent a junction of Washington and Rochambeau but also for the defense of New York City against a French attack from the sea.

The Second Battle of Springfield, 23 June, was a more serious affair than the skirmish on 7 June. Both sides had been reinforced, the British now numbering about six thousand, the Americans having about half that strength in Continentals and local militia. Because of threatening moves of British ships up the Hudson toward West Point on 20 June, Washington had moved his main force to Pompton, but he had left General Greene with about one thousand Continentals at Springfield. He had also detached mounted troops, including the dragoons of "Light Horse Harry" Lee's legion, to screen the country between Springfield and Elizabethtown. In addition, Washington had organized a task force of five hundred men under General Edward Hand to harass the beachhead at De Hart's Point.

So when Knyphausen sallied forth the second time he met a well-organized delaying action. Closing up to the Raritan River just east of Springfield, Knyphausen used half of his strength to continue the advance but sent the rest on a wide envelopment along what is now Vauxhall Road. Lee's dragoons, reinforced by militia, skillfully delayed the British enveloping column while Colonel Israel Angell's Rhode Island Continentals defended the Springfield Bridge (on the Raritan) for forty minutes. Angell then withdrew through the village, a spirited resistance being offered on the high ground around the church (see below), and the Rhode Islanders joined Colonel William Shreve's New Jersey militia around the "Second Bridge," just west of the village.

Greene reinforced Lee with two regiments of New England regulars to block the threatened envelopment and concentrated the rest of his force on high ground just west of Springfield. Knyphausen had had enough. Breaking off the action, he withdrew after burning all but four of the buildings in Springfield. Washington had started moving to support Greene and had ordered the evacuation of supplies from Morristown when he got the news that no help was needed at Springfield. The invaders quickly withdrew to Staten Island, leaving only their dead, wounded, some stragglers, and some prisoners of war. (Casualty figures are very confused, as are many other facts of the two raids.)

The Cannonball House survives in Springfield as the major landmark of the Revolution. Built about 1750 as a simple farm house, it bears the scar of a cannonball said to have been fired during the fighting on 23 June. Open on a very limited schedule as a house museum (the cannonball is among the artifacts on exhibit), it is headquarters for the Springfield Historical Society, located at 166 Milltown Road in Springfield. For an appointment, call (973) 912-4464.

Conspicuous on high ground in the center of modern Springfield is a little white frame church built in 1791 on the site of the one burned in June 1780. By 1778 the latter structure was being used as a public storehouse and the congregation was worshiping in the parsonage a short distance north. Reverend James Caldwell had delivered a memorable series of sermons to the Springfield congregation in 1774. Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth, Caldwell was known to his Loyalist enemies as the "high priest of the Revolution" and to his admirers as the "fighting parson." When the British landed near Elizabethtown for their first raid, Caldwell's wife Hannah and their children took refuge in the parsonage at Connecticut Farms. Here Mrs. Caldwell was killed during the skirmish on 7 June. Patriot propagandists made her a martyr "killed … by a shot from a British soldier, June 25th, 1780, cruelly sacrificed by the enemies of her husband and of her country." Thus reads the inscription on the monument to Reverend Caldwell and his wife in Elizabeth. The date is obviously wrong, but there is evidence that the rest of the statement also is muddled. Nobody can ever know for certain what really happened, but evidence was produced that she was murdered by a former servant who had some motive for revenge. Many believed at the time that she was killed by a stray shot.

Caldwell went to Connecticut Farms after the first skirmish at Springfield, in which he took part as chaplain of Colonel Dayton's regiment, to find this personal tragedy. In the battle of 23 June he is said to have broken into the church at Springfield, emerged with an armful of Watts's hymnals, and flung them to Patriot soldiers who had run out of wadding for their muskets. As they tore pages out for this use the fiery parson is alleged to have exhorted, "Give 'em Watts, boys—give 'em Watts!" Like so many clever sayings of the Revolution, this one is not mentioned by honest historians, probably because it was not mentioned by any primary sources, but it is repeated by civic boosters and popular writers. Bret Harte was inspired to write a poem entitled "Caldwell at Springfield."

Reverend Caldwell was murdered under peculiar circumstances by an American sentry in Elizabethtown. On 24 November 1781 he made the mistake of arguing with a soldier about the latter's strict interpretation of the special orders prescribed for his guard post. The soldier proceeded to shoot the reverend dead, for which lack of good sense the soldier was hanged for murder. Evidence was presented that the soldier, James Morgan, had been bribed to kill Caldwell whenever the opportunity arose.

In Westfield are landmarks associated with the trial and execution of Morgan, the former taking place in a building where the Presbyterian Church now stands at Broad Street and Mountain Avenue, and the latter spot, Morgan's or Gallows Hill, being on Broad Street at the northeast side of town.

Toms River

Toms River, Ocean County. The Huddy-Asgill Affair started here when Loyalists surprised the blockhouse commanded by Captain Joshua Huddy of the militia, taking him prisoner and burning the small settlement on 24 March 1782. The Loyal Association of Refugees later took Huddy from a prison ship and hanged him on 12 April in revenge for his alleged killing of the Loyalist Philip White. This hanging precipitated a famous episode that figures in most general accounts of the Revolution and is the subject of a book by Katherine Mayo, General Washington's Dilemma (1938). (Mayo's book is out of print, but can be purchased through internet venues.) In brief, after failing to have surrendered to them the Loyalist captain, Richard Lippincott, who had been in charge of Huddy's execution, the Patriots selected by lot a British captain to hang in retribution. As luck would have it, the intended victim was the only son of Sir Charles Asgill. Lady Asgill packed off to the French court to intercede with the king and queen for the life of young Captain Charles Asgill, and Congress finally directed that he be released. (Captain Asgill, about twenty years old at the time, succeeded to his father's title and rose to the rank of full general in 1814.)

The crude blockhouse surrendered by Huddy was located on the knoll where the Ocean County Courthouse on Washington Street was built in 1850.

Trenton

Trenton, at the head of navigation of the Delaware River. New Jersey's capital was first settled by Europeans in 1680. Originally called the Falls, the place was renamed in 1719 for William Trent, who five years earlier had bought the plantation of the original pioneer and who was chief justice of New Jersey in 1724. His house, a red-brick early Georgian structure built in 1719, became the official residence of the first colonial governor and was used by state governors. Restored and furnished in 1936 and again in 1993, it is operated by the Trent House Association and located at 15 Market Street in Trenton. Visiting hours are daily from 12:30 p.m. until 4 p.m. Phone: (609) 989-3027.

To eliminate the odium of billeting British troops during the Colonial Wars, the General Assembly hit on the solution of building five barracks in Burlington, Elizabethtown, Perth Amboy, New Brunswick, and Trenton. Only the Trenton barracks survives. Originally a two-story structure of native, undressed stone, it was started on 31 May 1758 and occupied that December, although it was not completed until the next spring. The central portion was 130 feet long, and 58-foot wings were on the north and south. Officers' quarters were later added to the north wing.

When the Seven Years' War ended (1763), the assembly ordered that the furnishings of all five barracks be sold and the buildings rented. During the Revolution they reverted to their original purpose, being occupied by American, British, and Hessian troops as the tide of war changed. Washington retreated through Trenton, arriving on 3 December 1776 and transporting his army into Pennsylvania four days later. Trenton was garrisoned by the Hessian brigade of Colonel Johann Rall that had distinguished itself at White Plains and Fort Washington, New York.

Having suffered one humiliating defeat after another, and forced to abandon New York City and retreat across New Jersey, Washington astonished friend and foe by the brilliance of his counteroffensive across the storm-lashed Delaware River on Christmas night, 1776. Rall's garrison was surprised the next morning at about 8 a.m., many of the 1,200 Hessians suffering the effects of Christmas festivities. The Germans responded bravely, forming in the streets of Trenton and attempting to assault the guns that had gone into action at the heads of King and Queen Streets. Recoiling in the face of point-blank fire and under increasing musket fire from the west, the Hessians retreated to the open field east of the village. Here they soon surrendered. The elderly Rall was mortally wounded seconds after ordering withdrawal from the village. About 500 Germans escaped, 918 were captured, and 22 were killed. (Authorities disagree wildly on the number who escaped.) Washington did not have a man killed in the skirmish, and only about four Americans were wounded. One was Captain James Monroe, who became the fifth president of the United States. Another was Captain William Washington, kinsman of the commander in chief and later a hero of Nathanael Greene's campaigns in the South. One of the artillery companies that performed such decisive service was commanded by Captain Alexander Hamilton. Washington's force when it crossed the Delaware numbered about 2,400 troops (18 guns); the shooting lasted less than two hours.

Trenton Battle Monument, on the highest ground in modern Trenton, marks the place where the Patriot artillery opened the battle. It is 148 feet high and served by an elevator to an observation deck offering a good view of the surrounding country. On top of the deck's roof is a statue of George Washington. This state and national historic site is at the intersection of North Broad and Warren Streets. The site is open free to the public on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For further information and details on scheduling private tours, contact the Washington Crossing State Park. Phone (609) 737-0623.

The Old Barracks, from which tumbled the sleepy Hessians on 26 December 1776, has been preserved as Trenton's prize attraction. Of exceptional historical and architectural interest, it also serves as a model and inspiration in the field of conservation. Having been used during the Seven Years' War and the Revolution (hundreds of wounded from Yorktown were cared for here), the barracks were sold in 1786 and made over into private dwellings. In 1813 a 40-foot swath was cut through the northern end of the central section to extend Front Street westward to the State House (built in 1792 and much changed since then). After having served for fifty years as a home for aged women, the remaining L-shaped portion of the barracks was put up for sale in 1899. The Daughters of the American Revolution and others succeeded in saving the historic structure from demolition, later forming the Old Barracks Association to restore it. The northern wing, being used for private housing, was bought by the state. The city later agreed to close the extension of Front Street, making restoration of the entire site possible.

This work was completed in 1917, and since then the Old Barracks has been open to the public. A further restoration began in 1985 and was completed in 1998. The site is owned and maintained by the state but administered by the Old Barracks Association. An interpretation center features large dioramas portraying the three main events in Washington's masterful counteroffensive: his crossing of the Delaware, his raid on Trenton, and his subsequent victory at Princeton. Five smaller dioramas depict significant lesser episodes such as the "capture" of John Honeyman (who is alleged to have given Washington information that contributed to the triumph at Trenton) and the fighting near the Old Barracks. Tape recordings complement the dioramas, and there is a sixteen-minute narrative tied to eighty slides presenting the story of this campaign. An excellent collection of firearms is also on display. The Old Barracks hosts a series of special events, including reenactments. A living-history program, "Camp In," is available.

The Old Barracks is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on major holidays. Phone: (609) 396-1776. Located near the State Capitol on South Willow Street opposite West Front Street, it may be viewed from the outside at any time. For particulars write Old Barracks Association, South Willow Street, Trenton, N.J. 08608.

Trenton has a number of other sites associated with the Revolution. One is the Friends Meeting House (usually closed to the public) at East Hanover and Montgomery Streets, used by troops on both sides during the war. Others figured in Washington's return to Trenton around New Year's Day 1777 for his campaign to the north around Princeton. Washington's camp was on the south bank of Assumpink Creek. Sandtown Road, which he took from here through Mercerville, is now Route 53. The delaying action north of Trenton that figured so prominently in the events preceding the Battle of Princeton was fought around modern Lawrenceville (see five mile creek).

Von Steuben House

Von Steuben House, River Edge, Bergen County at the dead end (east) of Main Street. In 1967 it was proved that the oldest portion of this Dutch house was built around 1695 by David Ackerman, whereas previously it had been said to date from Isaac Zabriskie's acquisition of the property about 1738. The Zabriskies enlarged the sandstone and brick structure, which became a mercantile establishment. During the Revolution it was used by American and British forces, Washington being quartered here briefly in 1780. The house was confiscated as Loyalist property, purchased after the war by the state of New Jersey and presented to General Friedrich von Steuben for his services on behalf of the Patriot cause. Steuben never occupied the house (preferring New York City and having been given 16,000 acres in upstate New York), but it has become known popularly as the Von Steuben House. Officially it is the Ackerman-Zabriskie-Von Steuben House. Owned by the state, it is one of the headquarters of the Bergen County Historical Society and open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Phone: (201) 487-1739.

Wallace House

Wallace House, Somerville, Somerset County. William Wallace had not completed construction of his house when General and Mrs. Washington moved in during the second Middlebrook Encampment. The Washingtons occupied the Wallace House from December 1778 to June 1779. Major operations in the North having ended, Washington's principal military occupation was planning the Sullivan Expedition that wiped out the Iroquois settlements of western New York. Near the Wallace House are several houses still standing that were used by Washington's senior generals. Across the street is the brick house built in 1751 and now known as the Old Dutch Parsonage.

The Wallace House is a white frame structure of two stories with a large attic and a small kitchen wing. Original architectural features survived unchanged when the Revolutionary Memorial Society acquired the property. In 1946 the Society presented it to the state. The historic house museum is located at 38 Washington Place in Somerville and administered by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Services. Both the Wallace House and the Old Dutch Parsonage are open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Phone: (908) 725-1015.

Westminster

Westminster. Seeproprietary house.