The regiment, renamed the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment on 1 January 1777, fought at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek on 2 January 1777 where they held the lower ford on the left flank. In this position, they repelled the attacks of the British light infantry and Hessian jägers. The regiment, which numbered only 120 men, belonged to a 352-man brigade commanded by Hitchcock. The 2nd Regiment participated in the Battle of Princeton the following day. After Charles Mawhood's initial attack routed Hugh Mercer's advance guard, George Washington rallied the Americans on the hill where Thomas Clark's house still stands. Hitchcock's small brigade joined with forces under Edward Hand, Thomas Mifflin, John Cadwalader, and others to defeat Mawhood. Hitchcock and Hand probably deployed on the American right flank.