Princeton matters because of what happened in the ten days between Christmas 1776 and January 3, 1777. After the surprise victory at Trenton, Washington slipped around Cornwallis's army in the night and struck the British garrison at Princeton in a sharp, costly fight that proved the Trenton victory was not a fluke. The two battles together — the Ten Crucial Days — transformed the war from a likely British victory into a genuine contest.
PEOPLE
KEY EVENTS
PLACES TO VISIT
STORIES
HISTORICAL VOICE
Annis Stockton and the Papers of Morven
The British were coming, and Annis Boudinot Stockton had very little time. Her husband Richard had already fled Princeton — he would be captured within days and thrown into the Provost Jail in New Yor...
HISTORICAL VOICE
The Doctor Who Died Fighting
Hugh Mercer had seen battle before Princeton. He had fought at Culloden in 1746, on the losing side, a young Scottish surgeon following Bonnie Prince Charlie's doomed rebellion against the British Cro...