Kirkpatrick Chapel was erected on a hilltop on which Alexander Hamilton, then an artillery captain commanding sixty men of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery, was thought to have placed his cannons to cover the retreat of George Washington's forces after the British occupation of New York. After the British victory in taking Fort Washington in November 1776, Washington's forces retreated across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. Hamilton's battery protected the forces as they crossed the Raritan River and passed through New Brunswick in 1776. British forces commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis under orders from Lieutenant General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe pursued Washington as far as New Brunswick. A historic marker erected as a gift of the Class of 1899 is located next to the chapel, though a more accurate marker is located near the Rutgers Academic Building.