Battle of Princeton

3 January 1777

Continental Victory

On 31 December 1776, General George Washington returned to Trenton. He planned to fight a defensive battle and selected a position along the south bank of Assunpink Creek. Lord Charles Cornwallis marched 6,000 Redcoats and Hessians against the Americans. On the evening of 2 January 1777, Cornwallis launched three unsuccessful assaults. That night, Washington slipped around Cornwallis and headed north to Princeton. Outside Princeton 6,600 Americans engaged with 800 British reinforcements for Cornwallis. After fierce fighting, the Americans defeated the British and stormed into the village. Washington marched away before Cornwallis could catch up to him. The Battles of Trenton and Princeton rekindled flagged American spirits nationwide.

Trenton and Princeton not only offset the worst effects of the disastrous defeats in New York but also restored Washington’s prestige as a commander with friend and foe alike. In the execution of the two strokes east of the Delaware, Washington had applied the principles of offensive, surprise, and maneuver with great success and finally achieved stature as a military commander. If these victories did not assure him that he could recruit such an army as Congress had voted, they did at least guarantee that he would be able to field a force the following year. Sir William Howe found that, despite his smashing rout of the Americans in New York, he was left with little more than that city, a foothold in New Jersey, and the port of Newport in Rhode Island. The rebellion was far from being crushed.

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