Actor Rob Lowe Looks for this "Roots" at the Old Barracks Museum
Up for Auction
Rare Hand Drawn Map of the Battle of Monmouth
Delineating the disposition of Major General Charles Lee"s forces as they advanced against the British under General Henry Clinton early on the day of battle, before the entry of General Washington onto the field. Included are the positions of Lee,READ MORE
What is this you have been about to day?" The New Jersey Brigade at the Battle of Monmouth
By John U. Rees
Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton’s British forces evacuated Philadelphia on 18 June 1778, after a nine-month occupation. Brigadier General William Maxwell’s four New Jersey regiments were already in their home state, positioned to observe the British army and oppose any overland move towards the coast. Clinton’s columns commenced their march towards New York on June 18th, and New Jersey Continentals and militia immediately began operations to impede the movement. The 20 to 27 June harassment operations caused more casualties in the New Jersey Brigade than the campaign’s culminating battle. Acting most often in small parties, usually in conjunction with militia, the four Jersey regiments suffered two killed, an additional death possibly of sunstroke, five wounded, nine captured, and one missing. In contrast, Maxwell’s brigade casualties in the 28 June battle were seven (possibly eight) wounded and four missing. General George Washington’s Monmouth battle losses were 224 killed and wounded; 132 men were also listed as missing, but an appended casualty note stated “Many of the missing dropt thro’ fatigue and have since come in -“1 READ MORE
"A British Prisoner Wrote..."
(Respectfully
submitted by Matt Murphy)
A British prisoner wrote in 1779 as he spent the night at an inn in Easton, "the noise of the American soldiers who vociferate their songs so loud that the whole house rings with War and Washington, a favorite ballad." READ MORE
The New Jersey Volunteers Loyalists in the
Revolutionary War By William Styker
As soon as General William Howe arrived at Staten Island, on the 7th of July, 1776, so pleased was he with his reception in the harbour of New York that he wrote these words to the British government: "I have great reason to expect an enormous body of the inhabitants to join the army from the provinces of York, the Jerseys and Connecticut, who, in this time of universal oppression, only wait for opportunities give proofs of their loyalty and zeal for government. Sixty men came over two days ago with a few arms from the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, in Jersey,who were desirous to serve, and l understand there are five hundred more in that quarter ready to follow". READ MORE
Sullivan`s Expedition against the Indians
The Last half of the year 1778 was an eventful period in the history of
the fight for freedom in America. The plains of Monmouth, in New Jersey
had just been the scene of a fierce conflict on a hot Sabbath day,
between the Continentals and the British Line and the Royal army hand
disappeared by a midnight flight. The weary patriots were celebrating of
there boastful but unsecured independence when the young nation was
startled by the news of a horrid massacre among the hills and valleys of beautiful Wyoming.Read More
From papers of Charles Lee - Letters from Monmouth
To Benjamin Rush
Camp at Valley forge June ye 4th1778. MY DR. RUSH, Tho I had no occasion for fresh assurances of your.Friendship, I cannot help being much pleased with the warmth which your letter, deliver'd to me by Mr. Hale, breathes, and I hope it is unnecessary to assure you that my sentiments with respect to you, are correspondent--You would think it odd that I shou'd seen to be an Apologist for General Howe. Read More
Chaplains of the New Jersey Brigade
The principal sources of information from which these sketches of the chaplains from New Jersey in the War of Independence have been drawn, are Stryker's '' Officers and Men in the Army of the Revolution" ; " New Jersey Archives" ; Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit" ; Hall's '' History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton"; Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States ; Dubbs', also Good's " History of the Reformed Church in the United States" ; Griffith's &' History of the Baptists in New Jersey," and Fenwick's "History of Salem." Read More
Mark E. Lender - The New Jersey Soldier
With these sentimental lines, Emerson not only celebrated the bravery of the minutemen of 1775, but captured the popular view of all the revolutionary soldiers. Generations of Americans have glorified the patriot army in terms similar to Emerson's and built a patriotic stereotype of its soldiery. Without too much exaggeration,assumptions about the men can be reduced to this: the revolutionary soldiers were democratic "yeomen" farmers or "honest" mechanics. Read More
From Greensleve Typepad - Sullivan`s Staten Island Raid
On August 3rd, 1777, George Washington wrote to Col. Elias Dayton, the senior regimental commander in the Jersey Brigade:
"Sir: The conduct of the Enemy is distressing and difficult to be understood. Since my last, directing you to proceed to Peeks Kill, their Fleet, or a pretty considerable part of it, has appeared off the Capes of Delaware, as we were advised yesterday by Express. In this state of uncertainty about their real object and design, I think it advisable, that you should halt your own and Colo. Ogden's Regiments where this Letter reaches you and there remain till further orders from me, unless you should receive authentic intelligence of the Fleets coming within Sandy Hook or going farther to the Eastward; in which case, you will proceed immediately to Peeks Kill, with all the expedition you can. You will hold yourself and every thing in readiness to march on the most Sudden emergency."READ MORE
Princeton Battlefield land must be protected from development by Institute for Advanced Study
By Richard Patterson
The effort to preserve the
important piece of the original Princeton
Battlefield upon which the Institute for Advanced Study proposes to
build faculty housing poses an unusual problem. Although I strongly
favor preserving that piece of ground, I recognize that the preservation
effort is not to thwart an unfeeling developer, but a highly and
deservedly respected institution of the highest learning and one that
has been somewhat cooperative with the Battlefield Park in the past.READ MORE
Struggle over housing proposal for Princeton Battlefield to continue with meeting this week
Published: Monday, January 23, 2012, 7:00 AM Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 3:42 PM/ By Bridget Clerkin/For The Times, Trenton
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP — The Battle of Princeton, widely recognized as a vital turning point in the Revolutionary War, represented a clear, quick victory for the Americans over the British. The current battle over the land, on the other hand, has been a decade-long process, with no victor yet in sight. On Thursday, that fight will continue as the Princeton Regional Planning Board has another in a series of hearings over the Institute for Advanced Study’s plans to construct 15 houses for its faculty members on land many believe played an important role in that first battle in 1777. READ MORE
'Historic' designation raises hopes for Jacobs Creek Bridge activists in Hopewell Township
Published: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 6:14 AM Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 2:34 PM Lisa Coryell/For The Times
Preservation-minded township residents will try to convince a state panel today to block Mercer County’s plan for a new bridge on the Jacobs Creek Revolutionary War site that was recently granted listings on the state and national historic registers. A 129-year-old iron truss bridge that was recently removed from the site was granted historic designation, as was the surrounding landscape, following a more than two-year-long campaign by residents and preservationists.Read More
State historic panel criticizes county replacement plan for Jacobs Creek bridge
Published: Friday, December 16, 2011, 6:30 AM
Lisa Coryell/For The Times
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP — A state historic panel yesterday ruled that the county failed to justify the need to build a new bridge and roadway through the historic Jacobs Creek site traversed by Washington’s army en route to the Battle of Trenton.Members of the Historic Sites Council criticized the proposal as incomplete and lacking design details necessary for the panel to render a decision. Members also said the public was not given adequate input on the plan.Read More
