The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-21
HISTORIC PRINCETON AND
 SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE MADE IT FAMOUS
New Jerseys College Town, Its Battlefield. Bar racks and Other Never-to-be-forgotten
 | Landmarks.

1t is a common fallacy to confuse mere bigness with importance. This is true in all tho happenings of life, but especially in a view of historic mili- tary operations. We easily realize the epoch making character of Waterloo and Gettysburg by the aid of their pomp and pageantry, and feel their im- portance enhanced by their wealth of horrors. Other conflicts appeal to us vividly by their position. as marking. for instance. the beginning or end of struggles which have turned the course of history Wolfe. at Quebeck, the far mers at Lexington, Washington at Yorktown, or Anderson at Sumter thus gains by position what their scale of operations alone could not give them.
 Hence, few Jerseymen realize that an insignificant skirmish on January 3. l7TT, gave to the battlefield of Prince ton more significance than any other Revolutionary field, save Saratoga and Yorktown. Long Island. Fort Wash ington Charles Lees treachery and the retreat through the Jerseys, had left to the American leader the merest wreck of beaten and dissolving army; and when the confident Cornwalls ar rived at Trenton with his 5000 disc- plined troops, Congress and the coun- try expected hourly the tdings that washington's little band had been cap tured or annihilated, and the war ended.
 The disaffection of the troops and the fanguor of both soldiers and citi- gems were such as to prompt the re- mark of an English historian, that no great page of history is so little stamped with heroism as the American RevolHtiop. Recruiting was impossi- ble: enlistments were expiring, and the country people hastened to safeguard themselves and their property by talk ing the oath Of allegiance to the crown: : Nothing but military success could, even nomentarily. stimulate the dying cause of American independence. Lecky says: Tt seemed st this time almost certain that the American Revolution would have collapsed" A march of ten miles, skirnish of an hour or less, and the opportunity was gone; the Jerseys were cleared of British troops. and England's empire over the thirteen colonies had slipped away Never again did the American cause ap- pear so hopeless. Princeton, skirmish though 1t was. was the turning point, the Gettysburg. of the Revolution. or the abandonment of the Jerseys. the same historian says: "A fatal damp was thrown on the cause Of the loyal fists from which 1t never wholly re- covered"
 British Tneompetency.
 The events which led to the battle Of Princeton. while throwing into the strongest light washington's great est qualities, perform the same service for the monumental incapacity of his adversaries. Surely we can here unoer- stand Thacekary's bitter fling at an English Ministry which hoped to con ouer 5000. 900 Britons with hired Hes sians and half a dozen generals from Bond street In truth, from the absurd Braddock blaring with his drums and trumpets through the forests Of Penn sylvania, to Cornwallis abandoned ike a rat in a trap at Yorktown, the mill tary history of the British in America always saving wolfe--leaves little for the English to be proud of.
 It Is, however, with the field or Princeton as it now exists. and with the historic relics and memories stlll to be found in the old town, that we have to do. The battlefield lies rough ly in and around what used to be called inc "Big Triangle"-that is. the section Streets from their junction near the Princeton Inn, westward and south westward to the Quaker road along Stony Brook Nassau and Stockton streets form part of the old turnpike between New Brunswick and Trenton. the scene Of so many mdrcneS anu countermarches in Washingtons Jer- sey campaigns. About a mile to the west this road makes a curve to the south, and again turning west passes over Stony Brook by a quaint old stone | bridge, near Bruere's grist mill, which | was built in 1714. and which has been | run continuously since. From the l crest of the hill to the vest, the En- | Elsh turned back to meet tho Ameri- l can advance. under Mercer who was | espied coming up the Quaker road and | along Stony Brook The latter had l passed the Quaker church. half a mile | away. and. noting the English return | ing on the double quick toward tho | bridge, he succeeded Tn reaching the | top of the swell to the right to form | line of battle. It. was near Dllliam 1 Ciark's house, since demolished. that l the first collision occurred. The Amer | leans were driven by a bayonet charge | s==@--@~--~z@@@