NJ a battlefield

The General is worried. The weather is bad and he constantly fretts whether this invasion will stay secret. Will he achieve surprise? It is very important to the success of the operation. The coming compaign would be a campaign of liberation and very well could lead to the end of the war!

One could easily think this statement is in regards to the famed Normandy invasion of WW2, or some other well known far off battlefield.
But no! It is in "well known" (note sarcasm on well known) Titusville, NJ. New Jersey?! I thought NJ was the arm pitt of the USA? Far from it! NJ has a very rich history. From 1776 through to the end of the war NJ was marched over, raided, occupied, pillaged, sieged, encamped, scirmished and battled on.

December 1776 was indeed the lowest point for the patriot cause.
Washington and his Army was soundly and embarassingly defeated in a series of battles over New York City, the capture of Fort Washington and the loss of 2600 troops left his Army incapable of confronting the British, his two most senior second in commands were attempting to unseat him from his post and intentionally ignoring orders, Washington could no long engage the British and thus forced to abandon all of New Jersey, Congress adjorned and fled basically giving all powers to Washington, and now that New Jersey was occupied the Britsh were slowly stiffling the rebellion through an amnesty compaign. Last but not least his whole Army would completely disband in a couple weeks because their enlistments were up and considering the aforementioned most if not all were very willing to go home.
His only hope now was to avoid destruction and keep the Army together, because if he and the army were destroyed the cause would be destroyed. He took the Army across the Delaware to a defensive position and then went to thinking and strategizing. It was now or never for him to rally the population around him. He needed to do something drastic!

What he finally decided on was ambitious. Cross the river and capture Trenton, Princeton and New Brunswick reclaiming NJ from the British.
This is where Washington crossing state park comes into the story and why Nikki and I spent an afternoon there. We took some scenic strolls on the PA side of Washington crossing State Park. The bulk of Washington's Army camped around this area taking in the same view of the river we were getting. They were probably hungry and cold, most likely they talked about how excited they were to go home soon. Although when we were there the setting was peaceful, calm and quiet.
At the site of the crossing there is a large stone marker, right around where the troops assembled to cross. When we looked at the River it was calm. At the time however the weather was below freezing, a hail/snow storm flared up. Not only that but the river was fairly high causing an increased current that would smack their wooden boats with sharp and thick chunks of ice. Not only were these soldiers demoralized, hungry, cold and worriying about being in a battle but they had to worry about drowing or freezing in the river!
To the left of the stone marker is a small long sandy island quite close to shore. Now there are geese fighting over nesting spots but then it was where Washington hid his small fleet of Durham boats from prying eyes on the otherside of the river.
The crossing then commenced, it took them just about 9 hours to cross finally finishing at 3am. Thanks to a bridge it took Nikki and I about 60 seconds.

On the other side of the bridge there is a small house called the Johnson Ferry house. It is a small cute house probably smaller than some people's garages. In 1776 it served as a command center for Washington working on details of the attack while his forces crossed. Think of the activity of that place! 2400 people assembling, people yelling, horses everywhere, a few cannon pieces. When we were there it was so peaceful and calm, it's funny to imagine the area buzzing with the drama of war.

From there Washington marched on a dirt road that passes the Visitor Center to Bear Tavern. You pass this spot by car on the way to the park it is appropriately called Bear Tavern Road.) Further from there Washington took Pennington Road.
the assault on Trenton had achieved complete surprise, capturing Trenton and eliminating the 900 person Hessian garrison there. By January 2nd the British made an attempt to recapture the city which was blocked. Washington then left a token force to make the british think they were still encamped in Trenton when in reality overnight he march on Princeton where Cornwallis had left a smaller holding force himself. From there Washington gave up on capturing New Brunswick because his forces were exhausted, they marched torwards Somerset courthouse near Manville. Where, for just an interesting fact only a dozen days or so after Princeton there was a skirmish at Van Nest Mill which was located near where Finderne Ave goes over the Raritan. After the the US troops went on to their first encampment at Morristown. The British withdrew to New Brunswick.

Within the period of one month the American Army went from the depths of despair to the high point of the war up tot hat time. Because of the Trenton victory many troops reenlisted, and volunteered with new confidence, the revolution regained new energy, and the British lost their firm grip on New Jersey.

All this happened in New Jersey!?
I wonder how many people in the state know of the popular Washington crossing picture but don't realize he was crossing in their backyard. Probably quite a few!
Oh well, Nikki and i had a great time taking in the scenery and imagining history.

popular Washington Crossing painting
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware.png/800px-Washington_Crossing_the_Delaware.png
Johnson Ferry House 1
http://www.ettc.net/njarts/examples/ACF9E8.jpg
Johnson Ferry house 2
http://www.ettc.net/njarts/examples/ACFD2.jpg