Save the Princeton Battlefield, Consider a Mortgage Subsidy Program

To the Editor:

This week marks the 235th Anniversary of the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, a seminal event in world history. The week before the Battle, General Washington had obtained a map, known now as the Cadwalader Spymap, showing how he could move the Continental Army into Princeton without being detected. With the Continental Congress running out of money, Commissions of many soldiers also were running out on December 31st. After defeating Hessian Troops on December 26th in the first Battle of Trenton, Washington’s army became embroiled in a second battle at Assunpink Creek. To try to keep his army together, on December 31. General Washington gave an extra $10 pay to those who would stay a few weeks beyond the end of their commissions. On January 2, General Cornwallis and his large professional army arrived in Trenton. Thinking that he had Washington cornered he decided to finish the battle the next day. That night  leaving bonfires and a small group to make noise, Washington managed to move his Army out of Trenton, marching all night in freezing temperatures, reaching Princeton via a circuitous route. Somewhat delayed, he marching his army of about 5,500 soldiers up the unguarded Saw Mill Road as dawn was breaking, hoping to initiate a surprise attack against the Princeton Garrison of about 1,500.  

In 2010 John Milner Associates (JMA) under a federally funded commission from the Princeton Battlefield Society completed a study of 175 original accounts of the Battle, including records of the British Court Martial of Cornet Henry Evatt. Dr. Robert Selig, a multilingual American Revolution historian working with JMA, analyzed these accounts and drew from them physical features that could be used to map the progression of the battle. Using the Geographical Information System and the Global Positioning System, JMA mapped and analyzed these data points along with the topography and viewsheds of the battle area.  Maps of the progression of the battle were then overlaid with the archaeological evidence. While much work remains to map the exact location of the now lost Saw Mill Road, and to confirm new information about the first phase of the battle leading to the defeat of General Mercer’s Brigade, all scholars who have carefully studied the Battle of Princeton have concluded that Washington’s winning counterattack took place on property just to the East of what is now Princeton Battlefield State Park. The evidence is overwhelming.

Today, without walking the sloping topography of the Battlefield and understanding the dynamics of the counterattack you cannot appreciate what happened that day, a day when if the Continental Army had not prevailed, the American Revolution almost certainly would have been lost, and George Washington would have been hunted down and hanged. Just as the Battle of Normandy cannot be understood without seeing the topography of Normandy Beach, this pivotal moment in history can’t be memorialized by a sign or a monument, but must be experienced by walking the battlefield. Saving the property where the counterattack occurred is not a matter of whether an organization might be a good neighbor. It is a question of meeting the requirements of Princeton’s Master Plan to preserve the town’s vital historic resources, as the best and highest use. As a willing seller, funds can be obtained to purchase the property and put it into the public domain.

What is the alternative for the Institute for Advanced Study, whose faculty, we are told, just cannot afford to live in the neighborhood immediately around the IAS. There are several, but one that I find compelling is the establishment of a mortgage subsidy program, similar to that of Princeton University’s, which would allow faculty to chose the neighborhood and home of their choice, and enjoy the benefits of gaining equity in their homes. I invite faculty with or without a subsidy to check out my own wonderful neighborhood, only about six minutes from the IAS Campus.

Dan Thompson

Member, Princeton Battlefield Society

Dempsey Avenue