welcome i'm chris korea and this is another edition of open source here on p c t v today we are delighted that we have three guests that are going to tell us about the sammy quinn centennial of the american revolution the first jana cell injure janice is the executive director of the crossroads to the american revolution commission and she is an award winning emmy producer a pre her new jersey's previous and j n and someone who i have come to look to is a great resource our second guest is roger williams roger is a member of the american battlefield trust the david library of the american revolution the friends of washington crossing the many other historical activities and he works very specifically with their own princeton battle field and is going to give us a lot of information about how important princeton was in is in the american revolution our third guest is sarah cura ten sarah is a very distinguished long time historian in the state and she is the executive director of the new jersey historical commission which is the organization which people turn to to really not only be an umbrella but a very specific source of information and i know having recently read some of her work that she has a special she has a special interests in new jersey's lighthouses and i think that is that is worth mentioning because a lot of people like love the light out and travel around to visit them they should they absolutely should so janice first tell us what is the crossroads to the american revolution and as i'm starting to call it the run up to a special celebration some six or seven years from now well crossroads of the american revolution national heritage area is one forty nine national heritage areas and the country but we're the only one that specifically designated to deal with revolutionary war sites in the state of new jersey and that's because new jersey has so many we had almost three hundred battles in our state and we have a lot a lot of sites and so it's a very important thing that we commemorate what happened here and remember what happened here in world leading up to the two hundred fiftieth of the american revolution and so we're going to be in new jersey not forgetting the role that new jersey played in this very important period and describe to us what kind of organization this this is that a public organization private crossroads of the american revolution association is a five hundred one c three we're a nonprofit so there you have been involved in the historical life of our state for a number of years tell us how the new jersey historical commission fits in with the crossroads and as well as the planned celebrations well the historical commission just celebrated its fiftieth anniversary the commission was really formed because the  in state government that really focused on these things that took care of our history and encourage people to preserve it to study it to teach it and to enjoy it so that that's who we are and moving into this rich rich history that our state has so we're the state agents and we're thrilled to be partnering with the nonprofit crossroads american revolution we think of it really winning winning partnership for this so i think janice i'm going to ask you again how do how do people people who are interested in beginning to follow and to be part of some of the activities how should they get started where can they find the information well they can find information on both of our websites crossroads of the american revolution national heritage aries website is w w w dot revolutionary n j dot org we also have a facebook page we send out a newsletter with information fun tracking down the history of that indeed his is name did date back to the american revolution you have a name that says similary resident roger lilian's so tell us a little bit about about your history well the roger williams who which you're referring was the founder of rhode island and despite the fact that my mother was born in providence rhode island i am only related to that roger williams and i a very distant way my direct ancestor came over to america ten years after roger williams and they were second cousins so remembers who the green mountain boys were from there well the green of the boys was the name that was given to the vermont militia now the vermont militia very vermont to not even really become a state until  after the war was over but it did start to become called from on it was actually build the new hampshire land grants so there were citizens who moved up from massachusetts new hampshire and connecticut into what is now the state of vermont and my ancestors who were in connecticut moved up to vermont so that's where my that's where getting better and better is that coming up rolling off my time but this isn't new the revolutionary sites are not new to new jersey in general or princeton in particular so i know that we want to get to the ted cruz still days in a little but we'll come back to that man just tell us today what it is in princeton that people already should be aware of right now well you know it's interesting because in many other states have celebrated a lot of their revolutionary war sites for for many decades it really only has been in the beginning in the twentieth century was when new jersey started to recognize the all of the varied sights of janice mentioned earlier there were more sights and skirmishes and battles in new jersey than any other state any other of the country and so new jersey is all around us i mean we drive to school we go to you know we go to work  for those of us who study the revolution we pass sites every day that involve the revolution and in princeton in particular being a  village that was here since the seventeenth century you just drive south on national street and you're driving past so much that was here during the revolution i mean the bainbridge house was built by joe stockton the stockton family that there were a lot of quaker families that actually moved down from what was then called piscataway town that moved down into this area the first settlements in princeton was not really princeton but the stony brook quaker community that was really where princeton started so doubt the princeton friends school all of those farms that were were down along the stony brook was the original princeton and the original tavern that was in princeton is on what is now called the gulick property which is right on river road right near the mill stone river men henry greenland had set up a tavern there because this was the halfway point between the capital of east jersey was the province one as in the province one road and that was the dividing line between east and west years so that's really where it starts but now it's a whole the thomas clarke house would i realize we're talking about events from that date back to the seventeenth hundreds in new jersey is a very very different place today in fact it's the most diverse state in the union ethnically we continue to be a place where people come to the united states as immigrants and often come to new jersey as a place to live work raise their family so tell me a little bit about how you were planning to make th celebration relevant to today's population well sarah i'd love to build on some of the things that roger was just saying i think that speak to this point of new jersey was a diverse place from the beginning  patriots and those in the middle that want to take a side and because of that this is a real battleground you have armies stayed throughout the war and it was if you want to look on the news today and look at countries that are witnessing you know the revolution i explain that easter is the culture and the religion and the civilians who are living in east jersey which today we sort of call north jersey are very different than the civilians presbyterian or quaker so this is there a lot of quaker land all in south jersey today today we call south jersey slavery was a big issue i mean there were a lot of civilians including my own ancestor who was here during the battle of trenton who owned what were called servants but they were  slaves so those of us who have ancestors we have to do we have to deal with that i mean this is something that we all recognize and that's a part of the story that we that we tell the janice yes tell us about th approach to acknowledge and be inclusive in the celebration well part of that is already certainly going on you know we have on our website we have our revolutionary neighbors section where a lot of teachers  school children are learning about people every day people who were involved in the revolution and he was first and i like i already britain but what we have here also is we have an activity god first school children shows the diversity of what we're portraying in new jersey and the issue that we're trying to do with our revolutionary neighbors a number of them did fight during the revolution but some of them were just you know tavern owners they were doctors they were people that played other roles and so what we try to do is explain the divided loyalties that the state had and also the roles that people played what we hope to do with the two fift painting of washington crossing the delaware which occurred twelve miles from from here the regiment that took washington across the delaware the fourteenth massachusetts  about of the that regiment was of either african descent or indigenous that were there were these were sailors and here on the princeton battlefield was the pri battlefield was the site of the first marine casualty in american military history many of the marines who fought on the princeton battlefield on january third some two hundred seventy seven were of african descent a lot of sailors were were of african descent so that is certainly a part of the story that really gets glossed over that we're we're trying to explain and we're trying to two women who were  involved in the revolution and the events that occurred who were more than just they were doing a lot more than just sitting home you know taking care of the farm  well then the name molly pitcher is there was no one person named molly pitcher there were a lot of women who were involved in the actual fighting so this is again strength and in history education both in schools but also for adults you know after school to continue to explore is not only is it just a whole lot of fun but it's also critical to understanding our our  system of government and our community so one of the great stories and it fits into to what roger was saying about telling this inclusive story of many of our great history organizations here in new jersey and right here in princeton are already doing a great job of starting to tell those stories and every person historic more than for example just opened a great new exhibition and on the history of war event which was the home of richard stockton a signer of the declaration of independence and what they have done and snow exhibit which encourage everybody to go see is they have really told the story of every member of that household and in fact to start this war slave owners there were enslaved members of that household and they're they're telling their stories now to richard start to do is another great example of what makes the revolutions a fascinating and relevant because of course we as citizens we make choices every day whether it's who we're going to vote for whether it's whether hey whether we're going to run for office ourselves to look at the decisions that folks be forced made it is fascinating and richard stockton what a great example he signed the declaration but he paid some there are very stiff consequences of the declaration of independence not only richard stockton but john witherspoon richard stockton was a quaker john witherspoon was a presbyterian many in parliament referred to the  america's war for independence in the early days as the presbyterian war and princeton was a decidedly presbyterian town not only the college of new jersey which was which was built to train presbyterian ministers of the new light presbyterian ministers but there were there was an active string of presbyterian churches throughout this area so during the occupation of princeton in december seventeenth seventy six the occupying british forces the crown forces were absolutely ruthless to the entire town they burned they collected up pews and they in the in the first presbyterian church the and they were quite harsh on the stockton family for for reasons that sarah's just mentioned and they there were a lot of civilians who may have even been neutral before the british got here after they left they changed their tune this may be a good time we were in there the limited time we have to have a lightning round  ten crucial day to help people i really understand sure where the ten crucial days is a name that is given collectively to the trenton campaign and the princeton campaign these are two separate campaigns designated by the army history center everyone is familiar with this iconic painting over by a manual lloyd's of washington crossed the delaware he going he was coming to new jersey this coming to new jersey for a nine mile march in the middle of the night to attack the hessian garrison on december twenty sixth well now he captures all of these hessians now what's he going to do when he brings them back to pennsylvania then he decides that with his army he's now going to start to pick off garrisons in new jersey so he brings the army back to new jersey charles  cornwallis brings an army brings a british army through princeton january first and on january second march seven hundred seventy seven marches down to trenton there's a second battle which i always refer to as the first battle of princeton because that was really a part of the princeton campaign the battle bassam and creek overnight washington marches his army in a brilliant flanking maneuver with the idea of capturing the harrison in princeton didn't work out exactly the way washington wanted it to work out but it was it was a genius battle plan that managed that that happened organically where he captured the garrison here in that that the battlefield that was at the princeton field now it didn't end there the there was washington then brought the troops into the town of princeton but they were only here for about two hours because corn wallis was now on his way back from trenton to to capture the capture the try to capture the the army so before the ten crucial days the jerseys were occupied confidence in washington was very low morale amongst the troops was very low the civilians had thought that the war is over and the british had gone into winter quarters but after th crucial days the crown troops the british never occupied the jerseys ever again throughout the entire war and morale skyrocketed and list once started to bolster and confidence in washington gr so it was a you know people talk about saratoga as the turning point of the american revolution well here in the ten crucial days historic district with these two campaigns it didn't just turn it turned around i mean this is what really kept the revolution going  why new jersey is the crossroads of the american revolution and you know roger and larry kidder who's a wonderful historian and author i do a bus tour and they take people out during patriots week they take people around and show them that area of what happened which is really have the opportunity to do that last year as i was starting this job and it was a great experience that opened to the public absolutely and how what they learned about that were not a couple months away from the possibility that on the patriots week website if you go to the patriots i think it's patriots week to come but i also on the princeton battlefield society website under the events there's also a tab under the events that talks about the ten crucial days bus tour along with some other marvelous programs that are being held by the princeton battlefield society ok well i think it's worth repeating again so we are here today with our g represent our new there is a historical connection be relatively exciting expansion and effort of the crossroads to the american revolution and this is something that we encourage everybody to be on the lookout for so let's go back over what the goals are for the crossroads project and what how the public can get involved and then sarah i'm going to ask you because this story commission is here before during and after our special celebrations well i think you know new jersey new jersey's legislature and our governor was very wise and in not trying to set up something completely new they knew that crossroads was doing this work working with wonderful partners like what's going on here in the princeton battlefield and cross the state and also the new jersey historical commission so that we could come together and help plan for the two fiftieth and so that's what we're very excited about doing and we're  and running with this and we're looking forward to a lot of hard work and a lot of really good outcomes there and in terms of what everyone can expect i think what goals are to have some real impact on the way history education is taught so our students should be looking forward to new infusion of excitement in terms of history teaching but also some new research and community level projects that will highlight our revolutionary history and then of course for also plans really exciting events that will take place around the state to mark this the different parts of this anniversary which after all will go on for quite a while so we expect  t you're going to see a lot of different activity in those areas and the interest in travel and tourism is a partner with us and we'll be working to really hats and capitalize upon our wonderful heritage would say that and in my own case just last weekend we had of a dear friend who is a student both the civil war and to a lesser extent the revolution we took him to the washington's crossing state park drove down the nine miles to the trenton barracks which is open to the public on a regular basis and then of course ended up at the princeton battlefields a good parking lot and  about the semi quinn centennial that will occur in two thousand and twenty six with lots of activities before then good day come back again by