Battle of Princeton The Battle of Princeton ( January 3 , 1777 ) was a battle in which General George Washington ' s revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton , New Jersey . On the night of January 2 , 1777 George Washington , Commander - in - Chief of the Continental Army , repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in Trenton . That night , he evacuated his position , circled around General Lord Cornwallis ' army , and went to attack the British garrison at Princeton . Brigadier General Hugh Mercer of the Continental Army , clashed with two regiments under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood of the British Army . Mercer and his troops were overrun and Washington sent some militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help him . The militia , on seeing the flight of Mercer ' s men , also began to flee . Washington rode up with reinforcements and rallied the fleeing militia . He then led the attack on Mawhood ' s troops , driving them back . Mawhood gave the order to retreat and most of the troops tried to flee to Cornwallis in Trenton . In Princeton itself , Brigadier General John Sullivan encouraged some British troops who had taken refuge in Nassau Hall to surrender , ending the battle . After the battle , Washington moved his army to Morristown , and with their third defeat in 10 days , the British evacuated southern New Jersey . With the victory at Princeton , morale rose in the ranks and more men began to enlist in the army . The battle ( while considered minor by British standards ) was the last major action of Washington ' s winter New Jersey campaign . The site of the battle is now Princeton Battlefield State Park . Background . Victories at Trenton . On the night of December 25 – 26 , 1776 General George Washington , Commander - in - chief of the Continental Army , led 2 , 400 men across the Delaware River . After a nine mile march , they seized the town of Trenton on the morning of the 26th , killing or wounding over 100 Hessians and capturing 900 more . Soon after capturing the town , Washington led the army back across the Delaware into Pennsylvania . On the 29th , Washington once again led the army across the river , and established a defensive position at Trenton . On the 31st , Washington appealed to his men , whose enlistments expired at the end of the year , " Stay for just six more weeks for an extra bounty of ten dollars . " His appeal worked , and most of the men agreed to stay . Also , that day , Washington learned that Congress had voted to give him wide - ranging powers for six months that are often described as dictatorial . In response to the loss at Trenton , General Lord Cornwallis left New York City and reassembled a British force of more than 9 , 000 at Princeton to oppose Washington . Leaving 1 , 200 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood at Princeton , Cornwallis left Princeton on January 2 in command of 8 , 000 men to attack Washington ' s army of 6 , 000 troops . Washington sent troops to skirmish with the approaching British to delay their advance . It was almost nightfall by the time the British reached Trenton . After three failed attempts to cross the bridge over the Assunpink Creek , beyond which were the primary American defenses , Cornwallis called off the attack until the next day . Evacuation . During the night , Washington called a council of war and asked his officers whether they should stand and fight , attempt to cross the river somewhere , or take the backroads to attack Princeton . Although the idea had already occurred to Washington , he learned from Arthur St . Clair and John Cadwalader that his plan to attack Princeton was indeed possible . Two intelligence collection efforts , both of which came to fruition at the end of December 1776 , supported such a surprise attack . After consulting with his officers , they agreed that the best option was to attack Princeton . Washington ordered that the excess baggage be taken to Burlington where it could be sent to Pennsylvania . The ground had frozen , making it possible to move the artillery without it sinking into the ground . By midnight , the plan was complete , with the baggage on its way to Burlington and the guns wrapped in heavy cloth to stifle noise and prevent the British from learning of the evacuation . Washington left 500 men behind with two cannon to patrol , keep the fires burning , and to work with picks and shovels to make the British think that they were digging in . Before dawn , these men were to join up with the main army . By 2 : 00 AM the entire army was in motion and the men were ordered to march with absolute silence . Along the way , a rumor was spread that they were surrounded and some frightened militiamen fled for Philadelphia . The march was difficult , as some of the route ran through thick woods and it was icy , causing horses to slip , and men to break through ice on ponds . Plan of Attack . As dawn came , the army approached a stream called Stony Brook . The road the army took followed Stony Brook for a mile farther until it intersected the Post Road from Trenton to Princeton . However , off to the right of this road , there was an unused road which crossed the farmland of Thomas Clark . The road was not visible from the Post Road , and ran through cleared land to a stretch from which the town could be entered at any point because the British had left it undefended . However , Washington was running behind schedule as he had planned to attack and capture the British outposts before dawn and capture the garrison shortly afterward . By the time dawn broke he was still two miles from the town . Washington sent 350 men under the command of Hugh Mercer to destroy the bridge over Stony Creek in order to delay Cornwallis ' army when he found out that Washington had escaped . Shortly before 8 : 00 AM , Washington wheeled the rest of the army to the right down the unused road . First in the column went General John Sullivan ' s division consisting of Arthur St . Clair ' s and Isaac Sherman ' s brigades . Following them were John Cadwalader ' s brigade and then Daniel Hitchcock ' s . Mawhood ' s reaction . Cornwallis had sent orders to Mawhood to bring the 17th and 55th British regiments to join his army in the morning . Mawhood had moved out from Princeton to fulfill these orders when his troops climbed the hill south of Stony Brook and sighted the main American army . Unable to figure out the size of the American army due to the wooded hills , he sent a rider to warn the 40th British Regiment which he had left in Princeton , then wheeled the 17th and 55th Regiments around and headed back to Princeton . That day , Mawhood had called off the patrol which was to reconnoiter the area from which Washington was approaching . Mercer received word that Mawhood was leading his troops back across the bridge and back to Princeton . Mercer , on orders from Washington , moved his column to the right in order to hit the British before they could confront Washington ' s main army . Mercer moved towards Mawhood ' s rear but when he realized he would not be able to cut off Mawhood in time , he decided to join Sullivan . When Mawhood learned that Mercer was in his rear and moving to join Sullivan , Mawhood detached part of the 55th Regiment to join the 40th Regiment in the town and then moved the rest of the 55th , the 17th , fifty cavalry and two artillery pieces to attack Mercer . Battle . Mawhood overruns Mercer . Mawhood ordered his light troops to delay Mercer , while he brought up the other detachments . Mercer was walking through William Clark ' s orchard when the British light troops appeared . The British light troops ' volley went high which gave time for Mercer to wheel his troops around into battle line . Mercer ' s troops advanced , pushing back the British light troops . The Americans took up a position behind a fence at the upper end of the orchard . However , Mawhood had brought up his troops and his artillery . The American gunners opened fire first and for about ten minutes , the outnumbered American infantry exchanged fire with the British . However , many of the Americans had rifles which took longer to load than muskets . Mawhood ordered a bayonet charge and because many of the Americans had rifles , which could not be equipped with bayonets , they were overrun . Both of the American ' s cannons were captured , and the British turned them on the fleeing troops . Mercer was surrounded by British soldiers and they shouted at him " Surrender you damn rebel ! " . Declining to ask for quarter , Mercer chose to resist instead . The British , thinking they had caught Washington , bayoneted him , and then left him for dead . Mercer ' s second in command , Colonel John Haslet , was shot through the head and killed . Cadwalader ' s arrival . Fifty light infantrymen were in pursuit of Mercer ' s men when a fresh brigade of 1 , 100 militiamen under the command of Cadwalader appeared . Mawhood gathered his men who were all over the battlefield and put them into battle line formation . Meanwhile , Sullivan was at a standoff with the detachment of the 55th Regiment that had come to assist the 40th Regiment , neither daring to move towards the main battle for risk of exposing its flank . Cadwalader attempted to move his men into a battle line but they had no combat experience and did not know even the most basic military maneuvers . When his men reached the top of the hill and saw Mercer ' s men fleeing from the British , most of the militia turned around and ran back down the hill . Washington ' s arrival . As Cadwalader ' s men began to flee , the American guns opened fire onto the British , who were preparing to attack , and the guns were able to hold them off for several minutes . Cadwalader was able to get one company to fire a volley but it fled immediately afterwards . At this point , Washington arrived with the Virginia Continentals and Edward Hand ' s riflemen . Washington ordered the riflemen and the Virginians to take up a position on the right hand side of the hill and then Washington quickly rode over to Cadwalader ' s fleeing men . Washington shouted , " Parade with us my brave fellows ! There is but a handful of the enemy and we shall have them directly ! " . Cadwalader ' s men formed into battle formation at Washington ' s direction . When Daniel Hitchcock ' s New England Continentals arrived , Washington sent them to the right , where he had put the riflemen and the Virginians . Washington , with his hat in his hand , rode forward and waved the Americans forward , while he rode ahead on his horse . At this point , Mawhood had moved his troops slightly to the left to get out of the range of the American artillery fire . Washington gave orders not to fire until he gave them the signal , and when they were thirty yards away , he turned around on his horse , facing his men and said " Halt ! " and then " Fire ! " . At this moment , the British also fired , obscuring the field in a cloud of smoke . One of Washington ' s officers , thinking he was dead , as he was in between both lines , exposed from fire on both sides , pulled his hat over his eyes , but when the smoke cleared , Washington appeared , unharmed , waving his men forward . British collapse . On the right , Hitchcock ' s New Englanders fired a volley and then advanced again , threatening to turn the British flank . The riflemen were slowly picking off British soldiers while the American artillery was firing grapeshot at the British lines . At this point , Hitchcock ordered his men to charge , and the British began to flee . The British attempted to save their artillery but the militia also charged , and Mawhood gave the order to retreat . The British fled towards the Post Road followed by the Americans and Washington , still angry from the foxhunt call from Harlem Heights , shouted " It ' s a fine fox chase my boys ! " . Some Americans had swarmed onto the Post Road in order to block to British retreat across the bridge , but Mawhood ordered a bayonet charge , and broke through the American lines , escaping across the bridge . Some of the Americans , Hand ' s riflemen among them , continued to pursue the British , and Mawhood ordered his dragoons to buy them some time to retreat , however , the dragoons were pushed back . Some Americans continued to pursue the fleeing British until nightfall , killing some and taking some prisoner . After some time , Washington turned around and rode back to Princeton . At the edge of town , the 55th Regiment received orders from Mawhood to fall back and join the 40th Regiment in town . The 40th had taken up a position just outside of town , on the North side of a ravine . The 55th formed up to the left of the 40th . The 55th sent a platoon to flank the oncoming Americans , but it was cut to pieces . When Sullivan sent several regiments to scale the ravine , they fell back to a breastwork . After making a brief stand , the British fell back again , some leaving Princeton , and others taking up refuge in Nassau Hall . Alexander Hamilton brought some guns up and had them blast away at the building . Then some Americans rushed the front door , broke it down , and the British put a white flag outside one of the windows . The British walked out of the building and laid down their arms . Aftermath . After entering Princeton , the Americans began to loot the abandoned British supply wagons and the town itself . With news that Cornwallis was approaching , Washington knew he had to leave Princeton . Washington wanted to push onto New Brunswick and capture a British pay chest of 70 , 000 pounds but Major Generals Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene talked him out of it . Instead , Washington moved his army to Somerset Courthouse and in the following days , to Morristown , arriving on January 6 , at 5 : 00 PM . After the battle , Cornwallis abandoned many of his posts in New Jersey , and ordered his army to retreat to New Brunswick . Casualties . General Sir William Howe ' s official casualty report for the battle stated 18 killed , 58 wounded and 200 missing . Mark Boatner says that the Americans took 194 prisoners during the battle , while the remaining 6 " missing " men may have been killed . A civilian eyewitness ( the anonymous writer of " A Brief Narrative of the Ravages of the British and Hessians at Princeton in 1776 – 1777 " ) wrote that 24 British soldiers were found dead on the field . George Washington claimed that the British had more than 100 killed and 300 captured . William S . Stryker follows Washington in stating that the British loss was 100 men killed , 70 wounded and 280 captured George Washington reported his own army ' s casualties as 6 or 7 officers and 25 to 30 enlisted men killed , giving no figures for the wounded . Richard M . Ketchum states that the Americans had " 30 enlisted men and 14 officers killed " ; Henry B . Dawson gives 10 officers and 30 enlisted men killed ; while Edward G . Lengel gives total casualties as 25 killed and 40 wounded . The Loyalist newspaper , " New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury " , reported on January 17 , 1777 , that the American losses at Princeton had been 400 killed and wounded . Consequences . The British viewed Trenton and Princeton as minor American victories , but with these victories , the Americans believed that they could win the war . American historians often consider the Battle of Princeton a great victory , on par with the battle of Trenton , due to the subsequent loss of control of most of New Jersey by the Crown forces . Some other historians , such as Edward Lengel consider it to be even more impressive than Trenton . A century later , British historian Sir George Otto Trevelyan would write in a study of the American Revolution , when talking about the impact of the victories at Trenton and Princeton , that " It may be doubted whether so small a number of men ever employed so short a space of time with greater and more lasting effects upon the history of the world . " Legacy . The equestrian statue of George Washington at Washington Circle in Washington , D . C . depicts General Washington at the Battle of Princeton . Sculptor Clark Mills said in his speech at the statue ' s dedication ceremony on February 22 , 1860 , " The incident selected for representation of this statue was at the battle of Princeton where Washington , after several ineffectual attempts to rally his troops , advanced so near the enemy ’ s lines that his horse refused to go further , but stood and trembled while the brave rider sat undaunted with reins in hand . But while his noble horse is represented thus terror stricken , the dauntless hero is calm and dignified , ever believing himself the instrument in the hand of Providence to work out the great problem of liberty . " Eight current Army National Guard units ( 101st Eng Bn , 103rd Eng Bn , A / 1 - 104th Cav , 111th Inf , 125th QM Co , 175th Inf , 181st Inf and 198th Sig Bn ) and one currently - active Regular Army Artillery battalion ( 1 - 5th FA ) are derived from American units that participated in the Battle of Princeton . There are only thirty current units of the U . S . Army with colonial roots .