Ten Crucial Days
The Battle of Princeton
« The Second Battle of Trenton
The American forces reached Princeton just after dawn. Stopping to reform and take a shot of rum, the troops divided into their two divisions, Greene's and Sullivan's. The road forked near the Stony Brook Friends Meeting house, about l 1/2 miles out of Princeton. Greene's division was to continue down Quaker Bridge Road to its junction with the King's Highway (present Rt. 206), destroy the bridge at Stony Brook Village, and march on Princeton, In the vanguard of Greene's division was Brig. General Hugh Mercer with about 350 men from several. regiments. Sullivan's division was to turn at the Meetinghouse onto Saw Mill Road, a little used back road no longer in existence which ran about 200 yards in front of Thomas Clarke's farmhouse, and attack Princeton from the southeast.
The attack did not go as planned. Two regiments of British infantry, the 17th and 55th of Foot, mounted and dismounted troops of the l6th Light Dragoons and other soldiers on detached duty had left Princeton thirty minutes earlier under Lt. Col. Mawhood. The British had just crossed the bridge at Stony Brook Village, l 1/2 miles from Princeton, on their way to Trenton when they observed the Americans beyond the Thomas Clarke House, 3/4 mile distant. Mawhood reversed his march to support the 40th Regiment of Foot still garrisoning Princeton.
General Mercer, advancing up Quaker Bridge Road, was alerted to the British presence. His troops turned right off the wooded road that ran along the brook, climbed a short slope, and crossed the open fields of Thomas Clarke and the neighboring farm of his brother William Clarke. Mercer was placing his force between the British on the King's Highway and the Americans on the parallel Saw Mill Road 1/2 mile to the east. It is at this point the British first spy Mercer's column and realize that American troops are not only to their right but now behind as well.
Mawhood orders his troops to form an arching defensive position on the low hills south of Princeton. The 40th Regiment to block Sullivan's advance on Saw Mill Road on the British left. Part of the 55th Regiment is to hold high ground west of Saw Mill Road in the center, and the rest of the 55th and the 17th Regiment to prepare to advance over a ridge toward Mercer's position on the British right flank. A British skirmish line is ordered forward on the right while the 55th and 17th drop their packs and form.
The rapid British maneuver surprises Mercer. The fierce fighting that occurs in William Clarke's apple orchard results in heavy casualties on both sides. A determined bayonet charge by the British smashes Mercer's command and the Americans turn and flee toward Thomas Clarke's house, 300 yards away. Several American officers are killed and Mercer, upon refusal to surrender, is bayoneted seven times and left for dead. The two New Jersey cannons with Mercer were captured and turned on the fleeing Americans. Gen. Cadwalader's militia tries to form behind the Thomas Clarke farm but it too panics from British musket and cannon fire as Mercer's men race up the slope toward them. Two Pennsylvanian cannons, under Captain Moulder, are wheeled into action on a slight rise next to Thomas Clarke house. These field pieces are fired point blank into the advancing British lines.
While the British regroup for an assault against Moulder's artillery, the American forces were able to gain the advantage. Continental troops from Rhode Island and Massachusetts and Col. Hand's steady Pennsylvanian rifles form to the right of the cannon. Washington, riding from the head of Sullivan's column, appears on the field and personally rallies the demoralized men of Mercer's and Cadwalader's command. Washington formed a line to the left of Moulder's battery and rode at the front of his troops to inspire their courage. The American Line let loose a massive volley, which obscured the battlefield with smoke, and then charged. Now severely outnumbered on the field, the British (250 -500 British vs. approximat1y 2,000 Americans) are surrounded but not beaten. They form ranks, bayonet their way out and make good their retreat toward the bridge at Stony Brook, then broke in a rout down the road. (The 17th listed Princeton as a victory in their regimental records. They saved over half of their men and their regimental colors (flags)).
Sullivan's Division followed this victory by pushing into Princeton as the British 40th and part of the 55th regiments withdrew. Many British fled on the roads to New Brunswick. But men from the British 40th regiment barricaded Nassau Hall at the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), later surrendering after several cannon balls were fired into the building by Capt. Moulder and Lt. Alexander Hamilton.
The American Army remained in Princeton approximately two hours. Some collected supplies or destroyed what couldn't be taken, others looted. A few took time to sight see in town. One Princetonian observed them: "though they were both hungry and thirsty, some of them laughing outright, others smiling, and not a man among them but showed joy in his countenance".
Wounded were also to be tended. Twenty-two were taken into William Clarke's and several into Thomas Clarke's including Gen. Mercer and British Capt. John MacPherson. Mercer was to die nine days later in Thomas's house and was buried in Phi1adeiphia. (Mercer County, NJ was named in his honor in 1838.)
Back in Trenton, Lord Cornwallis learned of his error at dawn and heard the gunfire from the battle. He immediately set his army in motion back to Princeton. British troops from Maidenhead cannonaded the Americans who were breaking up the bridge at Stony Brook. Fording the stream, the British sent the Americans retreating into town. Washington set his army in motion northward. At Kingston he decided the condition of his troops prevented raiding New Brunswick, a British supply base on the Raritan River. Instead the army moved up the Millstone River and in three days advanced into winter quarters at Morristown. Lord Cornwallis, meanwhile, occupied Princeton for several hours, seeing to the wounded and dead (some British and Hessians, like Americans, looted). Then he ordered his army to advance to New Brunswick to protect their post there. Princeton was left in such a devastated condition that it took many years to recover. Losses at Princeton for the Americans are believed to be 45 killed, possibly double that wounded and the British losses at about 400, mostly taken prisoner but with over 40 killed.
The importance of this period "The Ten Crucial Days" from the Christmas crossing of the Delaware River to the victory at Princeton can be put simply. It saved the Revolution!
Without this remarkable turnaround the American army might well have faded, the French would have dropped their support for the new United States, and the British could have regained her lost colonies. With these victories the American Army was able to hold together for the next seven years until the final peace.