William L. Kidder - Ten Crucial Days: Washingtons Vision for Victory Unfolds

Other Books by William L. Kidder

The Pleasant Valley School Story: A Story of Education and Community in Rural New Jersey (2012)

(Winner of the 2013 Scholarship and Artistry Award

presented by the Country School Association of America)

A People Harassed and Exhausted: The Story of a New Jersey Militia Regiment in the American Revolution (2013)

Farming Pleasant Valley: 250 Years of Life in Rural Hopewell Township, New Jersey (2014)

Crossroads of the Revolution: Trenton, 1774-1783 (2017)

Edited by William L. Kidder

Meet Your Revolutionary Neighbors (2015)

A KNOX PRESS BOOK

An Imprint of Permuted Press

ISBN: 978-1-68261-961-2

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-68261-962-9

Ten Crucial Days:

Washington's Vision for Victory Unfolds

2020 by William L. Kidder

All Rights Reserved

Cover image is General George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey in 1777 2007 (oil on canvas), Troiani, Don (b.1949) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

Permuted Press, LLC

New York Nashville

permutedpress.com

Published in the United States of America

Dedicated to

Professors Dr. Jay Luvaas, Dr. Paul Knights, and Dr. Paul
Cares of Allegheny College in the 1960s who encouraged me to research and write about history.

Acknowledgements

This work expands on the research associated with my two earlier works on New Jersey in the Revolution, so everyone acknowledged in those works was also part of this project.

I need to acknowledge the audiences for the many talks I have given over the past several years about subjects related to New Jersey in the Revolution. Audience members have asked a wide variety of questions that have made me think and look at things in different ways. The continuous thinking stimulated by those questions played an important role in the development of this story.

Friends in the local historical community in Mercer and surrounding counties have provided inspiration and support in many ways through their many inquiries and offers of help. I would especially note Richard Patterson, Executive Director of the Old Barracks Museum, and members of his staff. Members of the Princeton Battlefield Society and the Historical Society of Princeton were very enthusiastic about this project and always offered support. The Newtown, Pennsylvania Historical Society library provided important resources for understanding Washingtons time spent in Bucks County before and after the battle of Trenton. Washington Crossing State Park (NJ) provided several important documents and artifacts and I greatly appreciate the help and conversations with Clay Craighead, Mark Sirak, and Nancy Ceperley, who also read parts of the manuscript and offered valuable suggestions. My friend and fellow author and interpreter, David Price, provided encouragement and discussion on several topics that was most helpful and kept me thinking.

Tom Gilmour and Amanda Donald of the Trenton Downtown Association, as well as other members of the committee planning the annual Patriots Week events in Trenton, that highlight the Ten Crucial Days, have also been very supportive and inspirational in thinking of ways that history can be presented to the general public of all ages in ways that create an enjoyment of and interest in history.

Librarian Kathie Ludwig, and her husband David, again provided not only help with the resources of the David Library of the American Revolution, but also many conversations that kept me thinking about how to present the story.

Once again, the New Jersey State Archives provided a vast array of important documents and the staff always made visits there productive and pleasant.

During my research I communicated with a number of historical researchers who shared ideas and resources with me. I would especially acknowledge Jerry Hurwitz, Bob Selig, Bill Welsch, and Glenn Williams who read the entire manuscript and provided many valuable suggestions for improvements and made sure I was consistent and appropriate with terminology as well as information.

While the work of previous writers on the subject of the Ten Crucial Days (including William Stryker, Thomas Fleming, William Dwyer, Samuel Stelle Smith, and David Hackett Fischer) needs to be acknowledged for introducing me to the topic and developing my deep interest in it, I want to especially acknowledge the work of Kevin Bradley, Wade P. Catts, Matthew Harris, and Robert A. Selig for the extensive recent research they have done on the Battle of Princeton and their reports prepared for the Princeton Battlefield Society. I would also like to thank Robert Reid for sharing with them his meticulous research shedding light onto the previously obscured activities of Colonel Hausegger and the German Battalion during the Battle of Princeton. Their reports were part of what inspired me to write on this topic and look at parts of it in new ways.

I am greatly indebted to my publisher, Roger S. Williams, for his enthusiasm and support for this project. As always, it has been a joy to work with him.

As always, I must thank my wife, Jane, for putting up with my concentration on this project that must have seemed an all-consuming obsession at times. And, I cannot omit acknowledging the continuing contributions of my cat, Izzy, who so enjoys being with me when I work that she literally told me to get to work each day. As usual, she is with me as I write this.

While all these people, and no doubt others I have failed to mention, helped me improve this work, any errors are my responsibility and I welcome having them pointed out to me.

Contents

Maps

1. Central and Northern New Jersey - December 25, 1776

2. British Occupation of New Jersey - December 25, 1776

3. British Occupation of Trenton - December 25, 1776

4. Washingtons plan for attcking Trenton

5. General Henry Knoxs Map of the Trenton Battle Plan

6. Night Crossings of the Delaware River, December 25-26, 1776

7. The Night March to Trenton and First Encounters,

c4:00am -c8:00am

8. Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776 - c8:05am - c8:20am

9. Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776 - c8:20am - c8:40am 1

10. Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776 - c8:40am - c9:00am

11. Afternoon and Overnight, December 26-27, 1776

12. Aftermath of Battle of Trenton - December 27-28

3. Aftermath of Battle of Trenton, December 29-31

14. The Spy Map

15. What the Spy Map told Washington about Princeto

16. Troop Concentrations at Princeton and Trenton, January 1, 1777

17. Delaying Actions, January 2, 1777

18. Battle of Assunpink Creek - January 2, 1777

19. Troop Dispositions night of January 2, 1777

20. Washingtons Night March to Princeton, January 2-3, 1777

21. Washingtons Plan for attacking Princeton, January 3, 1777

22. Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 - Initial Sightings c8:00am

23. Battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777 - c8:15am - 8:20am