1.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
2.
Princeton, New Jersey
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As of the 2010 United States Census, the municipalitys population was 28,572, reflecting the former townships population of 16,265, along with the 12,307 in the former borough. Princeton was founded before the American Revolution and is best known as the location of Princeton University, Princeton is roughly equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia. It is close to major highways that serve both cities, and receives major television and radio broadcasts from each. It is also close to Trenton, New Jerseys capital city, the governor of New Jerseys official residence has been in Princeton since 1945, when Morven in the borough became the first Governors mansion. It was later replaced by the larger Drumthwacket, a mansion located in the former Township. Morven became a property of the New Jersey Historical Society. Princeton was ranked 15th of the top 100 towns in the United States to Live, although residents of Princeton traditionally have a strong community-wide identity, the community had been composed of two separate municipalities, a township and a borough. The central borough was completely surrounded by the township, the Borough contained Nassau Street, the main commercial street, most of the University campus, and incorporated most of the urban area until the postwar suburbanization. The Borough and Township had roughly equal populations, the Lenni Lenape Native Americans were the earliest identifiable inhabitants of the Princeton area. Europeans founded their settlement in the part of the 17th century. The first European to find his home in the boundaries of the town was Henry Greenland. He built his house in 1683 along with a tavern, in this drinking hole representatives of West Jersey and East Jersey met to set boundaries for the location of the township. Originally, Princeton was known only as part of nearby Stony Brook, James Leonard first referred to the town as Princetown, when describing the location of his large estate in his diary. The town bore a variety of names subsequently, including, Princetown, Princes Town, although there is no official documentary backing, the town is considered to be named after King William III, Prince William of Orange of the House of Nassau. Another theory suggests that the name came from a large land-owner named Henry Prince, a royal prince seems a more likely eponym for the settlement, as three nearby towns had similar names, Kingston, Queenstown and Princessville. When Richard Stockton, one of the founders of the township, died in 1709 he left his estate to his sons, who helped to expand property, based on the 1880 United States Census, the population of the town comprised 3,209 persons. Local population has expanded from the nineteenth century, according to the 2010 Census, Princeton Borough had 12,307 inhabitants, while Princeton Township had 16,265. Aside from housing the university of the name, the settlement suffered the revolutionary Battle of Princeton on its soil
3.
New Jersey
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New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania, New Jersey is the fourth-smallest state but the 11th-most populous and the most densely populated of the 50 United States. New Jersey lies entirely within the statistical areas of New York City. New Jersey was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, in the early 17th century, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. New Jersey was the site of decisive battles during the American Revolutionary War in the 18th century. In the 19th century, factories in cities such as Camden, Paterson, Newark, Trenton, around 180 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period, New Jersey bordered North Africa. The pressure of the collision between North America and Africa gave rise to the Appalachian Mountains, around 18,000 years ago, the Ice Age resulted in glaciers that reached New Jersey. As the glaciers retreated, they left behind Lake Passaic, as well as rivers, swamps. New Jersey was originally settled by Native Americans, with the Lenni-Lenape being dominant at the time of contact, scheyichbi is the Lenape name for the land that is now New Jersey. The Lenape society was divided into clans that were based upon common female ancestors. These clans were organized into three distinct phratries identified by their animal sign, Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf and they first encountered the Dutch in the early 17th century, and their primary relationship with the Europeans was through fur trade. The Dutch became the first Europeans to lay claim to lands in New Jersey, the Dutch colony of New Netherland consisted of parts of modern Middle Atlantic states. Although the European principle of ownership was not recognized by the Lenape. The first to do so was Michiel Pauw who established a patronship called Pavonia in 1630 along the North River which eventually became the Bergen, peter Minuits purchase of lands along the Delaware River established the colony of New Sweden. During the English Civil War, the Channel Island of Jersey remained loyal to the British Crown and it was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was proclaimed King in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I. The North American lands were divided by Charles II, who gave his brother, the Duke of York, the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony. James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River to two friends who had remained loyal through the English Civil War, Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton, the area was named the Province of New Jersey. Since the states inception, New Jersey has been characterized by ethnic, New England Congregationalists settled alongside Scots Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed migrants
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
7.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
8.
Hugh Mercer
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Hugh Mercer was a Scottish soldier and physician. Mercer died as a result of his wounds received at the Battle of Princeton and became a fallen hero and rallying symbol of the American Revolution. Mercer was born near Rosehearty, at the manse of Pitsligo Kirk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to Church of Scotland minister Reverend William Mercer of Pitsligo Parish Kirk, at 15, he attended the University of Aberdeen, Marischal College, studying medicine and graduated a Doctor. As a fugitive in his own homeland in 1747, Mercer fled Scotland after months in hiding and he bought his way onto a ship and moved to America, settling near what is now Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and practiced medicine for eight years. He came to the aid of the wounded and eventually took up arms in support of the army that a few years prior had hunted him, this time as a soldier, not a surgeon. By 1756, he was commissioned a captain in a Pennsylvania regiment, during the attack, Mercer was badly wounded and separated from his unit. He trekked 100 miles through the woods for fourteen days, injured and with no supplies, until he found his way back to Fort Shirley and he rose to the rank of colonel and commanded garrisons. It was during this period that Mercer developed a lifelong and warm friendship with another colonel, both Washington and Mercer served under British General John Forbes during the second attempt to capture Fort Duquesne. Forbes occupied the fort on November 25,1758. Forbes immediately ordered the construction of a new fortification to be named Fort Pitt and he also named the settlement between the rivers Pittsborough, modern Pittsburgh. Forbes’s health, which had been poor for much of the campaign, on December 3,1758, now gravely ill, Forbes began the arduous journey back to Philadelphia leaving Colonel Hugh Mercer in command of Fort Pitt. General Forbes died in Philadelphia on March 11,1759 and he was buried in Christ Church in Philadelphia. Mercers first task was to construct a fort to hold the two forms of the Ohio in case the French were able to execute their plans to return in the Spring of 1759. Drawings of the call this temporary fortification Mercers Fort. It stood at the site of what is today a lot between Point State Park and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette Building. After befriending several Virginia men, Mercer moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1760 to begin his medical practice anew at the conclusion of the war. When Mercer arrived in Fredericksburg, it was a thriving Scottish community that must have been a sanctuary for a Scotsman who could never again see his homeland. He became a member and businessman in town, buying land
9.
Alexander Hamilton
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Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the author of the economic policies of the George Washington administration. He took the lead in the funding of the debts by the Federal government, as well as the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs. His vision included a central government led by a vigorous executive branch. This was challenged by Virginia agrarians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who formed a rival party and they favored strong states based in rural America and protected by state militias as opposed to a strong national army and navy. They denounced Hamilton as too friendly toward Britain and toward monarchy in general, Hamilton was born out of wedlock in Charlestown, to a married mother of British and French Huguenot ancestry and a Scottish father. His father, James A. Hamilton, was the son of laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange. Orphaned as a child by his mothers death and his fathers abandonment, Hamilton was taken in by an older cousin and he was recognized for his intelligence and talent, and sponsored by a group of wealthy local men to travel to New York City to pursue his education. Hamilton attended Kings College, choosing to stay in the Thirteen Colonies to seek his fortune, discontinuing his studies before graduating when the college closed its doors during British occupation of the city, Hamilton played a major role in the American Revolutionary War. At the start of the war in 1775, he joined a militia company, in early 1776, he raised a provincial artillery company, to which he was appointed captain. He soon became the aide to General Washington, the American forces commander-in-chief. Hamilton was dispatched by Washington on numerous missions to convey plans to his generals, after the war, Hamilton was elected as a representative to the Congress of the Confederation from New York. He resigned to practice law, and founded the Bank of New York, Hamilton was among those dissatisfied with the weak national government. He led the Annapolis Convention, which successfully influenced Congress to issue a call for the Philadelphia Convention in order to create a new constitution, Hamilton became the leading cabinet member in the new government under President Washington. These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on imports, to overcome localism, Hamilton mobilized a nationwide network of friends of the government, especially bankers and businessmen, which became the Federalist Party. A major issue in the emergence of the American two-party system was the Jay Treaty and it established friendly trade relations with Britain, to the chagrin of France and the supporters of the French Revolution. Hamilton played a role in the Federalist party, which dominated national. In 1795, he returned to the practice of law in New York and he tried to control the policies of President Adams
10.
Charles Mawhood
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Lt. Col. Charles Mawhood was a British army officer during the 18th century, most noted for his command during the Battle of Princeton. His military service began with purchase of a cornetcy in 1st Dragoon Guards and he served in the Seven Years War, initially as a Captain in the 15th Light Dragoons, then transferred to 18th Light Dragoons. He subsequently saw action in Germany as aide-de-camp to Lord Granby and he continued to rise in rank during the peace, first to major in the 3rd Foot on 17 May 1763, then to lieutenant colonel of the 19th Foot on 17 June 1767. He transferred to the 17th Foot on 26 October 1775 and served with this regiment during General Howes early campaigns of the American War of Independence. Mawhood was left in command of a force at Princeton, New Jersey by Lord Cornwallis in January 1777 while Cornwallis chased after George Washingtons army after the Battle of Trenton. After Cornwalliss attack in Trenton was stopped, Washington sneaked his army around that of Cornwallis, Mawhood acquitted himself well in the battle, but much of the garrison was lost, and the British were driven out of most of New Jersey. Mawhood continued to serve in North America, seeing action during the 1777–1778 Philadelphia campaign. Highly esteemed in England following the battle of Princeton, he was chosen to raise a new regiment, Mawhood died during the siege on 29 August 1780 after suffering from a gall-stone
11.
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
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In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in 1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended significant hostilities in North America, born into an aristocratic family and educated at Eton and Cambridge, Cornwallis joined the army in 1757, seeing action in the Seven Years War. Upon his fathers death in 1762 he became Earl Cornwallis and entered the House of Lords, from 1766 until 1805 he was Colonel of the 33rd Regiment of Foot. He next saw action in 1776 in the American War of Independence. Active in the forces of many campaigns, in 1780 he inflicted an embarrassing defeat on the American army at the Battle of Camden. He also commanded British forces in the March 1781 Pyrrhic victory at Guilford Court House, Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown in October 1781 after an extended campaign through the Southern states, marked by disagreements between him and his superior, General Sir Henry Clinton. Despite this defeat, Cornwallis retained the confidence of successive British governments, knighted in 1786, he was in that year appointed to be Governor-General and commander-in-chief in India. From 1789 to 1792 he led British and Company forces in the Third Anglo-Mysore War to defeat the Mysorean ruler Tipu Sultan, returning to Britain in 1794, Cornwallis was given the post of Master-General of the Ordnance. Following his Irish service, Cornwallis was the chief British signatory to the 1802 Treaty of Amiens and was reappointed to India in 1805 and he died in India not long after his arrival. Cornwallis was born in Grosvenor Square in London, though his familys estates were in Kent and he was the eldest son of Charles Cornwallis, 5th Baron Cornwallis. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend and his uncle, Frederick, was Archbishop of Canterbury. Fredericks twin brother, Edward, was an officer, colonial governor. His brother William became an Admiral in the Royal Navy and his other brother, James, eventually inherited the earldom from Cornwalliss son, Charles. The family was established at Brome Hall, near Eye, Suffolk, in the 14th century, Frederick Cornwallis, created a Baronet in 1627, fought for King Charles I, and followed King Charles II into exile. He was made Baron Cornwallis, of Eye in the County of Suffolk, in 1661, Cornwallis was educated at Eton College and Clare College, Cambridge. While at Eton, he received an injury to his eye by an accidental blow while playing hockey, from Shute Barrington and he obtained his first commission as Ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, on 8 December 1757. He then sought and gained permission to engage in studies abroad. After travelling on the continent with a Prussian officer, Captain de Roguin, upon completion of his studies in Turin in 1758, he traveled to Geneva, where he learned that British troops were to be sent to the Continent in the Seven Years War
12.
New York and New Jersey campaign
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The British held New York harbor for the rest of the war, using it as a base for expeditions against other targets. Washington had New England soldiers as well as regiments from states as far south as Virginia, landing on Long Island in August, Howe defeated Washington in the largest battle of the war, but the Continental Army was able to retreat to Manhattan under cover of darkness and fog. Washington suffered a series of defeats in Manhattan, with the exception of the skirmish at Harlem Heights, at that point Howe returned to Manhattan to capture forces Washington had left in the north of the island. Howe ordered his troops into winter quarters in December, establishing a chain of outposts from New York to Burlington, during the remaining winter months, both sides skirmished frequently as the British sought forage and provisions. Britain maintained control of New York City and some of the territory until the war ended in 1783. Northern New Jersey was the scene of skirmishing between the forces for the rest of the war. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, British troops were under siege in Boston and they defeated Patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill, suffering very high casualties. In January 1776 Washington ordered Charles Lee to raise troops and take command of New Yorks defenses, Lee had made some progress on the citys defenses when word arrived in late March 1776 that the British army had left Boston after Washington threatened them from heights south of the city. At the end of April, Washington dispatched General John Sullivan with six regiments to the north to bolster the faltering Quebec campaign, in June he set sail for New York with the 9,000 men assembled there, before all of the transports arrived. German troops, primarily from Hesse-Kassel, as well as British troops from Henry Clintons ultimately unsuccessful expedition to the Carolinas, were to meet with Howes fleet when it reached New York. General Howes brother, Admiral Lord Howe, arrived at Halifax with further transports after the general sailed, Washington learned from prisoners taken that Howe had landed 10,000 men, but was awaiting the arrival of another 15,000. He consequently split the Continental Army between fortified positions on Long Island, Manhattan and other locations, and also established a Flying Camp in northern New Jersey. This was intended as a force that could support operations anywhere along the Jersey shore of the Hudson. The Howe brothers had been granted authority as peace commissioners by Parliament, king George III was not optimistic about the possibility of a peace, yet I think it right to be attempted, whilst every act of vigour is unremittingly carried on. Their powers were limited to granting of general and special pardons, on July 14, pursuant to these powers, Admiral Howe sent a messenger with a letter addressed to George Washington, Esq. across the harbor. Washingtons adjutant, Joseph Reed, politely informed the messenger that no person with title was in their army. Admiral Howes aide wrote that the Punctilio of an Address should not have prevented the letters delivery, a second request, addressed to George Washington, Esq. etc. was similarly rejected, although the messenger was told that Washington would receive one of Howes adjutants. In that fruitless meeting, held July 20, Washington pointed out that the powers the Howe brothers had been given were not of much use
13.
Battle of Long Island
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The Battle of Long Island is also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. It was fought on August 27,1776 and was the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War to take place after the United States declared its independence on July 4,1776. It was a victory for the British Army and the beginning of a campaign that gave them control of the strategically important city of New York. In terms of troop deployment and fighting, it was the largest battle of the entire war, Washington understood that the citys harbor would provide an excellent base for the British Navy during the campaign, so he established defenses there and waited for the British to attack. After five days of waiting, the British attacked American defenses on the Guan Heights, unknown to the Americans, however, Howe had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Americans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses through casualties and captures, the remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Brooklyn Heights. The British dug in for a siege but, on the night of August 29–30, Washington and the Continental Army were driven out of New York entirely after several more defeats and forced to retreat through New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. In the first stage of the war, the British Army was trapped in the city of Boston and they abandoned it on March 17, setting sail to Halifax. Washington then began to transfer regiments to New York City which he believed the British would next attack because of its strategic importance. Washington left Boston on April 4, arrived at New York on April 13, Washington had sent his second in command Charles Lee ahead to New York the previous February to establish the citys defenses. Lee remained in New York City until March, when the Continental Congress sent him to South Carolina, troops were in limited supply, so Washington found the defenses incomplete, but Lee had concluded that it would be impossible to hold the city with the British commanding the sea. He reasoned that the defenses should be located with the ability to inflict casualties upon the British if any move was made to take. Barricades and redoubts were established in and around the city, Lee also saw that the immediate area was cleared of Loyalists. Washington began moving troops to Brooklyn in early May, and there were several thousand of them there in a short time. Three more forts were under construction on the side of the East River to support Fort Stirling. These new fortifications were Fort Putnam, Fort Greene, and Fort Box and they lay from north to south, with Fort Putnam farthest to the north, Greene slightly to the southwest, and Box slightly farther southwest. Each of these structures was surrounded by a large ditch, all connected by a line of entrenchments. Fort Defiance was also being constructed at this time, located farther southwest, past Fort Box, hulks were sunk at strategic locations to deter the British from entering the East River and other waterways
14.
Turtle (submersible)
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Turtle was the worlds first submersible with a documented record of use in combat. She was built in Old Saybrook, Connecticut in 1775 by American David Bushnell as a means of attaching explosive charges to ships in a harbor, Bushnell designed her for use against British Royal Navy vessels occupying North American harbors during the American Revolutionary War. Several attempts were made using Turtle to affix explosives to the undersides of British warships in New York Harbor in 1776, all failed, and her transport ship was sunk later that year by the British with the submarine aboard. Bushnell claimed eventually to have recovered the machine, but its fate is unknown. In the early 1770s, David Bushnell, a Yale College freshman and Patriot, by 1775, with tensions on the rise between the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain, Bushnell had practically perfected these explosives. That year he began work near Old Saybrook, Connecticut on a small manned submersible craft capable of affixing such a charge to the hull of a ship. The charge would then be detonated by a mechanism that released a musket firing mechanism, probably a flintlock. According to Dr. Benjamin Gale, a doctor who taught at Yale and it dived by allowing water into a bilge tank at the bottom of the vessel and ascended by pushing water out through a hand pump. It was propelled vertically and horizontally by hand-cranked propellers and it also had 200 pounds of lead aboard, which could be released in a moment to increase buoyancy. Manned and operated by one person, the vessel contained enough air for thirty minutes and had a speed in calm water of about 3 mph. Six small pieces of glass in the top of the submarine provided natural light. The internal instruments had small pieces of bioluminescent foxfire affixed to the needles to indicate their position in the dark, during trials in November 1775, Bushnell discovered that this illumination failed when the temperature dropped too low. Although repeated requests were made to Benjamin Franklin for possible alternatives, none was forthcoming, Bushnells basic design included some elements present in earlier experimental submersibles. Bushnells work began to more attention in August 1775, when Franklin was informed of it. Despite Bushnells insistence on secrecy surrounding his work, news of it made its way to the British. On November 16,1775, a message to William Tryon. The details of the report were highly inaccurate, implying Turtle was nearly ready to be deployed in Boston harbor against the fleet that was part of the British siege effort there, in fact, Bushnell and his brother Ezra were still testing the machine in the Connecticut River. In the spring of 1776, after the British withdrew from Boston, Washington agreed, and provided some funding to the inventor to prepare the vessel for deployment
15.
Staten Island Peace Conference
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The Staten Island Peace Conference was a brief meeting held in the hope of bringing an end to the American Revolutionary War. The conference took place on September 11,1776, at Billop Manor, the participants were the British Admiral Lord Richard Howe, and members of the Second Continental Congress John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Rutledge. Since Lord Howes authority was, by design, extremely limited, the conference, held in the days after the British capture of Long Island, lasted just three hours and was a failure. The Americans insisted on recognition of their declared independence. After the conference, the British continued their campaign for control of New York City. When British authorities were planning how to deal with their rebellious North American colonies in late 1775 and early 1776, two brothers, Admiral Lord Richard Howe and General William Howe, were given command of the naval and land aspects of the operation respectively. Since they believed it still be possible to end the dispute without further violence. Admiral Howe had previously discussed colonial grievances informally with Benjamin Franklin in 1774 and 1775, General Howe believed that the problem of colonial taxation could be resolved while retaining the supremacy of Parliament. As a consequence, the Howes were only granted the ability to issue pardons and amnesties, no concessions could be made unless hostilities were ended and colonial assemblies made specific admissions of Parliamentary supremacy. After the fleet arrived in July 1776, Admiral Howe made several attempts to open communications with Continental Army General George Washington, two attempts to deliver letters to Washington were rebuffed because Howe refused to recognize Washingtons title. Washington did however agree to meet in person with one of Howes adjutants, Lord Howe then sent a letter to Benjamin Franklin detailing a proposal for a truce and offers of pardons. He also pointed out to the admiral that you gave me expectations that reconciliation might take place. Howe was apparently taken aback by Franklins forceful response. In the Battle of Long Island on August 27,1776, British forces successfully occupied western Long Island, General Howe then paused to consolidate his gains, and the brothers decided to make a diplomatic overture. During the battle they had captured several high-ranking Continental Army officers, the Congress did however agree to send three of its members – Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge – to a conference with Lord Howe. They were instructed to ask a few Questions and take Answers, when Howe learned of the committees limited authority, he briefly considered calling the meeting off, but decided to proceed after discussion with his brother. None of the believed the conference would amount to anything. Lord Howe initially sought to meet with the men as private citizens, in order that the conference might take place, he agreed to the American demand that they be recognized as official representatives of the Congress
16.
Landing at Kip's Bay
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The Landing at Kips Bay was a British amphibious landing during the New York Campaign in the American Revolutionary War on September 15,1776, occurring on the eastern shore of present-day Manhattan. Heavy advance fire from British naval forces in the East River caused the inexperienced militia guarding the area to flee. Skirmishes in the aftermath of the resulted in the British capture of some of those militia. British maneuvers following the very nearly cut off the escape route of some Continental Army forces stationed further southeast on the island. The flight of American troops was so rapid that George Washington, the operation was a British success, and resulted in the withdrawal of the Continental Army to Harlem Heights, ceding control of New York City on the lower half of the island. However, General Washington established strong positions on Harlem Heights which he proved determined to defend in a skirmish between the two armies the following day. General Howe, unwilling to risk a frontal attack, did not attempt to advance further up the island for another two months. The American Revolutionary War had not gone well for the British military in 1775, at besieged Boston, the arrival of heavy guns for the Continental Army camp prompted General William Howe to withdraw from Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia in March 1776. He regrouped there, acquired supplies and reinforcements, and embarked in June on a campaign to control of New York City. On the night of August 29–30, Washington successfully evacuated his army of 9,000 troops to York Island. Despite showing discipline and unity during the evacuation, the army quickly devolved in despair, large numbers of militia, many of whose summertime enlistments ended in August, departed for home. Leadership was questioned in the ranks, with soldiers openly wishing for the return of the colorful and they would derive great conveniences from it, on the one hand, and much property would be destroyed on the other, Washington wrote. York Island was occupied principally on the tip by New York City, on the western tip by Greenwich village. The sparsely-populated center of the featured a few low hills, principally Indianburg. The island was bordered by two rivers, on the west by the Hudson River and on the east by the East River, which separated the island from Long Island. Kips Bay was a cove on the shore of the island, extending roughly from present-day 32nd to 38th Streets. Opposite the bay on Long Island, the mouth of Newtown Creek, also surrounded by meadowlands. He also ordered an attempt to be made on HMS Eagle, Lee was able to escape, although he was forced to release his explosive payload to fend off small boats sent by the British to investigate when he surfaced to orient himself
17.
Battle of Harlem Heights
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The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The action took place in what is now the Morningside Heights, immediately opposite was the vanguard of the British Army totaling around 5,000 men under the command of Major General Henry Clinton. The overconfident British light troops, having advanced too far from their lines without support, had exposed themselves to counter-attack, meeting reinforcements coming from the south with artillery support, the British light infantry turned and made a stand in open fields on Morningside Heights. The Americans, also reinforced, came on in strength and there followed an exchange of fire. After two hours, with ammunition running short, the British force began to back to their lines. Washington cut short the pursuit, unwilling to risk an engagement with the British main force. The battle helped restore the confidence of the Continental Army after suffering several defeats and it was Washingtons first battlefield success of the war. After two defeats Washington retreated west across the Hudson River, on August 27,1776, British troops under the command of General William Howe flanked and defeated the American army at the Battle of Long Island. Howe moved his forces and pinned the Americans down at Brooklyn Heights, on the night of August 29, General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, evacuated his entire army of 9,000 men and their equipment across the water to Manhattan. On September 15, Howe landed his army in an operation at Kips Bay, on the eastern shore of Manhattan. After a bombardment of the American positions on the shore,4,000 British, after scattering the Americans at Kips Bay, Howe landed 9,000 more troops, but did not immediately cut off the American retreat from New York Town in the south of the island. Washington had all of his troops in the city on their way to north along the westside of Manhattan to Harlem Heights by 4,00 pm, early on September 16, Washington received reports, which proved to be unfounded, that the British were advancing. Washington, who had been expecting an attack, had ordered a party of 150 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Knowlton to reconnoiter the British lines, at daybreak, Knowltons troops were spotted by the pickets of the British light infantry. The British sent two or three companies to attack the enemy to their front, for more than half an hour the skirmish continued, with fighting in the woods between two farms. The British followed in rapid pursuit, as they advanced, the British light troops signalled with bugle calls, which to Colonel Joseph Reed were reminiscent of a fox hunt, and seemed to him to be intended as an insult. Probably about this time, the Second and Third battalions of British light infantry, Reed, who had met Knowlton, rode to Washington to tell him what was going on and encouraged him to reinforce the rangers. Washington would have some troops make a feint, in order to draw the British down into an area of ground known as The Hollow Way. The feint party was composed of 150 volunteers who ran into the hollow way, after the British were in the hollow way, the 150 volunteers were reinforced by 900 more men
18.
Battle of Pell's Point
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The Battle of Pells Point, also known as the Battle of Pelham, was a skirmish fought between British and American troops during the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The conflict took place in what is now part of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, the Americans thwarted the landing, and Gen. Sir William Howe, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, on October 18, he landed 4,000 men at Pelham,3 miles north of Throgs Neck. Inland were 750 men of a brigade under the command of the American Col. John Glover, Glover positioned his troops behind a series of stone walls and attacked the British advance units. As the British overran each position, the American troops fell back, after several such attacks, the British broke off, and the Americans retreated. The battle delayed British movements long enough for Washington to move the army to White Plains. After losing to the British in a battle at White Plains, after a victory at the Battle of Long Island in late August, the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, Gen. Sir William Howe landed his troops at Kips Bay, on the shore of present-day Manhattan. George Washington and his army retreated to Harlem Heights, a plateau situated on the end of Manhattan Island. The next day, the British attacked the Americans and were defeated at the Battle of Harlem Heights, there was very little action for the next month, while the two forces remained in their fortified positions, each unable to decide upon their next move. The Americans believed Howe would either attack Fort Washington or attempt to flank the Americans with a landing at some point on Long Island Sound. After 26 days of contemplation, Howe decided against an attack on Harlem Heights and Fort Washington. Throgs Neck—originally known as Throckmortons, and also known as Throcks, Frogs Neck, conveniently for Howe, there was a road running from Throgs Neck to Kingsbridge, directly behind the American forces. Howe hoped to use road to flank the Americans and pin them against the Hudson River. Under the cover of fog, a force of 4,000 men under the command of General Henry Clinton was landed on Throgs Neck. To their dismay, they found they were not on a peninsula, but on an island, separated from the mainland by a creek, there were two ways to get to the mainland, a causeway and bridge at the lower end, and a ford at the other. They surprised the British troops, who fell back and made an attempt to cross at the ford, the Americans guarding both positions were quickly reinforced, and the defenders soon numbered over 1,800 men. Howe decided it would be better to retreat and land somewhere else, just after midnight on October 18, Howe embarked his army again and decided to land at Pells Point near the town of Pelham, a few miles to the north
19.
Battle of White Plains
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The Battle of White Plains was a battle in the New York and New Jersey campaign of the American Revolutionary War fought on October 28,1776, near White Plains, New York. Alerted to this move, Washington retreated farther, establishing a position in the village of White Plains, Howes troops drove Washingtons troops from a hill near the village, following this loss, Washington ordered the Americans to retreat farther north. Later British movements chased Washington across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, Washington then crossed the Delaware and surprised a brigade of Hessian troops in the December 26 Battle of Trenton. British General William Howe, after evacuating Boston in March 1776, regrouped in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the campaign began with an unopposed landing on Staten Island in early July. After losing the Battle of Long Island on August 27, General Washington, General Howe followed up with a landing on Manhattan on September 15, but his advance was checked the next day at Harlem Heights. Howe established a camp at New Rochelle, but advance elements of his army were near Mamaroneck, only 7 miles from White Plains, on October 20, General Washington sent Colonel Rufus Putnam out on a reconnaissance mission from his camp at Harlem Heights. Putnam discovered the general placement of the British troop locations and recognized the danger to the army, when he reported this to Washington that evening, Washington immediately dispatched Putnam with orders to Lord Stirling, whose troops were furthest north, to immediately march to White Plains. They arrived at White Plains at 9 am on October 21, Washington decided to withdraw most of the army to White Plains, leaving a garrison of 1,200 men under Nathanael Greene to defend Fort Washington on Manhattan. General Howes army advanced slowly, with troops from his center and right moving along the road from New Rochelle to White Plains, while a unit of Loyalists occupied Mamaroneck. The latter was attacked that night by a detachment of Lord Stirlings troops under John Haslet, who more than thirty prisoners as well as supplies. As a result, Howe moved elements of his wing to occupy Mamaroneck. On October 22, Howe was reinforced by the landing at New Rochelle of an additional 8,000 troops under the command of Wilhelm von Knyphausen. Washington established his headquarters at the Elijah Miller House in North White Plains on October 23, the trenches were situated on raised terrain, protected on the right by the swampy ground near the Bronx River, with steeper hills further back as a place of retreat. The American defenses were 3 miles long, beyond that, on the right, was Chattertons Hill, which commanded the plain over which the British would have to advance. The hill was occupied by militia companies numbering several hundred. On October 24 and 25, Howes army moved from New Rochelle to Scarsdale and this move was apparently made in the hopes of catching Charles Lees column, which had to alter its route toward White Plains and execute a forced march at night to avoid them. While Washington was inspecting the terrain to determine where it was best to station his troops, messengers alerted him that the British were advancing. Spencers force advanced to a position on the old York road at Harts corners, Ralls troops attempted to gain the hill, but were repelled by fire from Haslets troops and the militia, and retreated to a nearby hilltop on the same side of the river
20.
Battle of Fort Washington
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The Battle of Fort Washington was a battle fought in New York on November 16,1776 during the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain. It was a British victory that gained the surrender of the remnant of the garrison of Fort Washington near the end of Manhattan Island. It was one of the worst Patriot defeats, General Washington issued a discretionary order to General Nathanael Greene to abandon the fort and remove its garrison – then numbered at 1,200 men but later to grow to 3,000 – to New Jersey. Colonel Robert Magaw, commanding the fort, declined to abandon it as he believed it could be defended from the British, howes forces attacked the fort before Washington reached it to assess the situation. Howe launched his attack on November 16 and he led an assault from three sides, the north, east and south. Tides in the Harlem River prevented some troops from landing and delayed the attack, when the British moved against the defenses, the southern and western American defenses fell quickly. Patriot forces on the north side offered stiff resistance to the Hessian attack, with the fort surrounded by land and sea, Colonel Magaw chose to surrender. A total of 59 Americans were killed and 2,837 were taken as prisoners of war, after this defeat, most of Washingtons army was chased across New Jersey and into Pennsylvania, and the British consolidated their control of New York and eastern New Jersey. During the American Revolutionary War, Fort Washington was located at the highest point of the island of Manhattan, along with Fort Lee, located just across the Hudson River atop the New Jersey Palisades, the twin forts were intended to protect the lower Hudson from British warships. Later in June, the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, George Washington, inspected the location, shortly after Washingtons survey, troops from Pennsylvania began construction on the fort under the supervision of Rufus Putnam. They first prepared a cheval de frise to prevent British ships from sailing up the Hudson, when the cheval de frise was finished, they began work on the fort. Little soil covered the surface, so men had to haul soil up from the low ground. They were unable to dig the ditches or trenches around the fort. The fort was built in the shape of a pentagon with five bastions, the main walls were made of earth, constructed with ravelins with openings for guns from every angle. The fort enclosed a total of three to four acres, the troops built an abbattis around the fort. After the barracks were finished in September, all the troops in the area were placed under the command of Major General William Heath, Washington established his headquarters near the fort. Supporting the fort were numerous defenses, to the south of the fort were three lines of defense. The lines went through the hills and were made of trenches and foxholes, the first line was supported by a second line about 0.33 mi to the north, and a third line was planned to be built 0.25 mi north of the second
21.
Fort Lee Historic Park
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Fort Lee Historic Park is located atop a bluff of the Hudson Palisades overlooking Burdetts Landing, known as Mount Constitution, in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Native Americans appear to have lived in the area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, site of George Washingtons 1776 encampment opposite Fort Washington at the northern end of Manhattan. Fort Lee is named for General Charles Lee, the site is a reconstruction of the encampment including the blockhouse, battery, quarters as well as a visitors center. It is adjacent to Palisades Interstate Park, General George Washington issued orders to General Mercer to summon all available troops and erect a fort on the west side of the Hudson River. Construction commenced in July 1776 on the new fort, to be called Fort Constitution and it was located on the western side of the road that led up the hill from the landing. Concurrently, Fort Washington was being built almost directly across the North River in New York, chevaux-de-frise, south of the Hudson River Chain, were laid between them. These twin forts were intended to protect the lower Hudson from British warships, at first efforts were concentrated close to the water level near Burdetts Landing. Later, fortifications were added atop the bluff under the supervision of Joseph Philips, at the end of September 1776, Fort Constitution was renamed Fort Lee, for General Charles Lee of the Continental Army. George Washington used the stone Bourdette house for his headquarters when he passed time at Fort Lee, at this stage of the war the ferry operated as a supply line and the only link between Forts Lee and Washington. Peter Bourdettes sixteen-year-old son, also named Peter, provided assistance by direct use of the landing, during the week leading up to the evacuation of Fort Lee he rowed back and forth across the river gathering information for General Washington on the anticipated movements of the British forces. On November 16,1776 George Washington witnessed the battle for New York from across the river on the bluff of Fort Lee, Fort Lee was rendered defenseless after Continental Army troops holding Fort Washington were defeated and captured on November 16,1776. The Royal Navy controlled the Hudson River, General William Howe ordered Charles Cornwallis to clear the rebel troops from New Jersey without a major engagement, and to do it quickly before the weather changed. The force included Hessian units commanded by Colonel Carl von Donop, the invasion of New Jersey began the night of November 19–20, when 5,000 British troops ferried across the Hudson on barges and began landing near New Dock Landing. George Washington and Nathanael Greene quickly ordered the evacuation of the fort on the morning of November 20,1776, Fort Lee Museum is located in Monument Park. Which was created by the Daughters of the American Revolution and dedicated in 1908 at ceremony attended by General John Black Jack Pershing, the park was part of the original Fort Constitution of the Continental Army under the leadership of General George Washington. Over 2,600 troops were stationed in and around the Monument Park area, in 2004, the park was reconstructed for the Fort Lee Centennial Celebration. A time capsule was placed at the foot of the monument, Monument Park and Continental Army Plaza in Williamsburg, Brooklyn are the only parks in the United States dedicated to the soldiers of the American Revolution. New Jersey during the American Revolution Battle of Fort Washington Hudson River Chain New Bridge Landing Palisades Interstate Park Adams, Cornwallis and the Conquest of New Jersey
22.
Ambush of Geary
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The Ambush of Geary was a skirmish of the American Revolutionary War fought on 14 December 1776 near Ringoes in Amwell Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Cornet Francis Geary, the leader of a company of dragoons, was shot in a set up by local militiamen. After British forces captured New York City in the first part of the New York and New Jersey campaign, Geary, the son of Admiral Sir Francis Geary, was operating from a station at Pennington when he was killed in the ambush. His body was concealed and later buried in a shallow grave, in the 19th century local historical interest led to the confirmation of his graves location, and the establishment of markers at the site and in England. The British and their Hessian allies regularly sent out reconnaissance and foraging parties and these were vulnerable to attack by local Patriot militia companies. Cornet Francis Geary was the eldest son and heir of Admiral Sir Francis Geary and Mary Bartholomew, born in 1752, he was raised in Surrey and educated at Balliol College, Oxford. Purchasing a cornetcy in the 16th Light Dragoons in 1773, Geary was sent to North America in 1776, on 14 December, Cornet Geary and seven other members of the 16th were sent north on a reconnaissance mission. According to this account, Gearys party rode through Amwell Township toward Flemington to verify that a supply of salt beef, when Gearys company rode by, the militia fired a volley of musket fire, killing Geary. A more brief description by a non-participating British officer reporting the event indicated that Geary was alerted to the impending fire, the dragoons returned fire, but were driven off by continuing militia fire. The militiamen appropriated portions of Gearys uniform, including his sword, British troops that had been sent out to meet them and take the supplies questioned the local inhabitants and searched the area, but could not find his body. The militiamen had concealed it, it was buried in a shallow grave the next day and this was crucial when the Americans began massing boats along the Delaware River prior to Washingtons crossing of the Delaware that culminated with the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776. Gearys troops were stationed only 5 miles from the river and Malta Island, Hunterdon County traditions claim that Gearys belongings were hidden to prevent their discovery by British troops. His coat is said to have been hidden under a pile of wheat on the floor of a garret, many local residents of Hunterdon County were unaware that Geary had been buried there, and accounts persisted that the British had recovered his body. In 1891 the Hunterdon County Historical Society exhumed a body from a site suspected to contain his body, found in the grave were a skeleton and silver buttons labeled Q. L. D. signifying the Queens Light Dragoons. His family placed a marker on the site in 1907. The St. Nicholas Church in Great Bookham, Surrey, contains a bas-relief depicting Cornet Francis Geary and the incident
23.
Battle of Iron Works Hill
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The Battle of Iron Works Hill, also known as the Battle of Mount Holly, was a series of minor skirmishes that took place on December 22 and 23,1776, during the American War of Independence. In July 1776 forces of Great Britain under the command of General William Howe landed on Staten Island, General Howe established a chain of outposts across New Jersey, and ordered his troops into winter quarters. The southernmost outposts were located at Trenton and Bordentown, Bordentown itself was not large enough to house all of von Donops force. Rall went so far as to order his men to fully dressed like on watch. One militia force that rose in December 1776 was a company under the command of Virginia Colonel Samuel Griffin, Griffin was the adjutant to General Israel Putnam, who was responsible for the defense of Philadelphia. Griffins force, whose composition is uncertain, probably included some Virginia artillerymen, Pennsylvania infantry, and New Jersey militia. By mid-December he had reached Moorestown, about ten miles southwest of Mount Holly, by December 21, Griffin had advanced to Mount Holly and established a rough fortification atop a hill near an iron works, south of the Rancocas Creek and the village center. Von Donop sent a Loyalist to investigate, who reported a force of not above eight hundred, nearly one half boys, when von Donop asked Stirling for advice, he replied, You sir, with the troops at Bordentown, should come here and attack. I am confident we are a match for them, on December 21, about 600 of Griffins troops overwhelmed a guard outpost of the 42nd located about one mile south of Blackhorse at Petticoat Bridge. On the evening of December 22, Washingtons adjutant, Joseph Reed, went to Mount Holly, Griffin was ill, and his men poorly equipped for significant action, but they apparently agreed to some sort of actions the next day. On the morning of December 23, von Donop brought about 3,000 troops to Petticoat Bridge where they overwhelmed Griffins men, Griffins troops retreated to Mount Holly where von Donop reported scattering about 1,000 men near the towns meeting house. Jäger Captain Johann Ewald reported that some 100 men were posted on a hill near the church, Griffin, whose troops had occupied Mount Holly, slowly retreated to their fortified position on the hill, following which the two sides engaged in ineffectual long-range fire. Von Donops forces bivouacked in Mount Holly on the night of December 23, von Donop himself took quarters in the house that Ewald described as belonging to an exceedingly beautiful widow of a doctor, whose identity is uncertain. The next day, December 24, they moved in force to drive the militia from the hill, news of the skirmishes at Mount Holly was often exaggerated. Published accounts of the day varied, including participants in the battle. One Pennsylvanian claimed that sixteen of the enemy were killed, while a New Jersey militiaman reported seven enemy killed, Reed noted in his journal that this manouver, though perfectly accidental, had a happy effect as it drew off Count Donop. The planning for Washingtons crossing of the Delaware did include sending a force to Griffin in an attack on von Donop at Mount Holly. The hill that Griffins militia occupied is located at Iron Works Park in Mount Holly, a Guide to New Jerseys Revolutionary War Trail, For Families and History Buffs
24.
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River
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Planned in partial secrecy, Washington led a column of Continental Army troops across the icy Delaware River in a logistically challenging and dangerous operation. The army crossed the back to Pennsylvania, this time laden with prisoners. Washingtons army then crossed the river a third time at the end of the year, the unincorporated communities of Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, and Washington Crossing, New Jersey, are named in honor of this event. While 1776 had started well for the American cause with the evacuation of British troops from Boston in March, the main British troops returned to New York for the winter season. They left mainly Hessian troops in New Jersey and these troops were under the command of Colonel Rall and Colonel Von Donop. They were ordered to small outposts in and around Trenton, howe then sent troops under the command of Charles Cornwallis across the Hudson River into New Jersey and chased Washington across New Jersey. Washingtons army was shrinking, due to expiring enlistments and desertions, most of Washingtons army crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania north of Trenton, New Jersey, and destroyed or moved to the western shore all boats for miles in both directions. The British were happy to end the season when they were ordered to winter quarters. This was a time for the generals to regroup, re-supply, Washington encamped the army near McKonkeys Ferry, not far from the crossing site. While Washington at first took quarters across the river from Trenton, when Washingtons army first arrived at McKonkeys Ferry, he had four to six thousand men, although 1,700 soldiers were unfit for duty and needed hospital care. In the retreat across New Jersey Washington had lost precious supplies, General Horatio Gates was in the Hudson River Valley and General Charles Lee was in western New Jersey with 2,000 men. Other problems affected the quantity and quality of his forces, many of his mens enlistments were due to expire before Christmas, and many soldiers were inclined to leave the army when their commission ended. Several deserted before their enlistments were up, the losses at Fort Lee and Washington placed a heavy toll on the Patriots. When they evacuated their forts, they were forced to leave behind critical supplies, many troops had been killed or taken prisoner, and the morale of the remaining troops was low. Few believed that they could win the war and gain independence, but the morale of the Patriot forces was boosted on December 19 when a new pamphlet titled The American Crisis written by Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, was published. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, within a day of its publication in Philadelphia, General Washington ordered it to be read to all of his troops. It encouraged the soldiers and improved their tolerance of their difficult conditions, General Lees division of 2,000 troops arrived in Washingtons camp under the command of General John Sullivan. General Lee had been captured by the British on December 12, later that same day General Gates division arrived in camp, reduced to 600 whose enlistments had ended, and by the need to keep the northern frontier secure
25.
Battle of Trenton
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The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal battle during the American Revolutionary War which took place on the morning of December 26,1776, in Trenton, New Jersey. After a brief battle, nearly the entire Hessian force was captured, the battle significantly boosted the Continental Armys flagging morale, and inspired re-enlistments. The Continental Army had previously suffered several defeats in New York and had forced to retreat through New Jersey to Pennsylvania. Because the river was icy and the severe, the crossing proved dangerous. Two detachments were unable to cross the river, leaving Washington with only 2,400 men under his command in the assault, the army marched 9 miles south to Trenton. The Hessians had lowered their guard, thinking they were safe from the American army, Washingtons forces caught them off guard and, after a short but fierce resistance, most of the Hessians surrendered. Almost two thirds of the 1, 500-man garrison was captured, and only a few troops escaped across Assunpink Creek, despite the battles small numbers, the American victory inspired rebels in the colonies. With the success of the revolution in doubt a week earlier, the dramatic victory inspired soldiers to serve longer and attracted new recruits to the ranks. In early December 1776, American morale was very low, the Americans had been ousted from New York by the British and their Hessian auxiliaries, and the Continental Army was forced to retreat across New Jersey. Ninety percent of the Continental Army soldiers who had served at Long Island were gone, men had deserted, feeling that the cause for independence was lost. Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, expressed doubts, writing to his cousin in Virginia. At the time a town in New Jersey, Trenton was occupied by three regiments of Hessian soldiers commanded by Colonel Johann Rall. Washingtons force comprised 2,400 men, with divisions commanded by Major Generals Nathanael Greene and John Sullivan. Washington had stationed a spy named John Honeyman, posing as a Tory, Honeyman had served with Major General James Wolfe in Quebec at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13,1759, and had no trouble establishing his credentials as a Tory. Honeyman was a butcher and weaver, who traded with the British and this enabled him to gather intelligence, and also to convince the Hessians that the Continental Army was in such a low state of morale that they would not attack Trenton. Shortly before Christmas, he arranged to be captured by the Continental Army, after being questioned by Washington, he was imprisoned in a small hut, to be tried as a Tory in the morning, but a small fire broke out nearby, enabling him to escape. The American plan relied on launching coordinated attacks from three directions, General John Cadwalader would launch a diversionary attack against the British garrison at Bordentown, New Jersey, to block off reinforcements from the south. General James Ewing would take 700 militia across the river at Trenton Ferry, seize the bridge over the Assunpink Creek and prevent enemy troops from escaping
26.
Battle of the Assunpink Creek
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Washington and the council decided to meet this attack in Trenton, and established a defensive position south of the Assunpink Creek. Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis led the British forces southward in the aftermath of the December 26 battle, leaving 1,400 men under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood in Princeton, Cornwallis advanced on Trenton with about 5,000 men on January 2. His advance was slowed by defensive skirmishing by American riflemen under the command of Edward Hand. After assaulting the American positions three times, and being repulsed each time, Cornwallis decided to wait and finish the battle the next day, Washington moved his army around Cornwalliss camp that night and attacked Mawhood at Princeton the next day. That defeat prompted the British to withdraw from most of New Jersey for the winter, the Hessian garrison was surrounded and quickly defeated. Washington crossed the river again and returned to his camp in Pennsylvania that afternoon, on December 30, Washington moved his army back to Trenton and stationed his men on the south side of the Assunpink Creek. At Trenton, Washington faced a dilemma, all but a handful of his mens enlistments were expiring on December 31, and he knew that the army would collapse unless he convinced them to stay. So, on the 30th, Washington appealed to his men to one month longer for a bounty of ten dollars. He asked any men who wanted to volunteer to poise their firelocks and you have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will consent to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty. At first no one stepped forward, but then one soldier stepped forward, on January 1,1777, money from the Continental Congress arrived in Trenton and the men were paid. Washington also received a series of resolves from Congress including one that gave Washington powers similar to those of a military dictator. Washington decided that he would stand and fight at Trenton, and ordered General John Cadwalader, on December 31 Washington learned that an army of 8,000 men under the command of General Charles Cornwallis was moving to attack him at Trenton. Washington ordered his men to build earthworks that were parallel to the bank of the Assunpink Creek southeast of Trenton proper. The lines extended about three miles down the end of the stream. However, one of Washingtons aides, Joseph Reed, pointed out there were fords up stream that the British could cross. Washington could not escape across the Delaware because all of his boats were a few miles upstream, Washington told his officers that he planned to move the army and that their current position was only temporary. Cornwallis, who had been planning to return to Britain, had his leave canceled and he rode to Princeton to catch up with General James Grant, who had moved with 1,000 troops to reinforce Princeton
27.
Forage War
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The British troops wanted to have fresh provisions to consume, and also required fresh forage for their draft animals and horses. While many of these operations were small, in some cases they became quite elaborate, the American operations were so successful that British casualties in New Jersey exceeded those of the entire campaign for New York. In August 1776 the British army began a campaign to control over New York City. Over the next two months, General William Howe quickly gained control of New York, pushing Washington into New Jersey and he then chased Washington south toward Philadelphia. Washington retreated across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, taking him all the boats for miles in each direction. Howe then ordered his army into winter quarters, establishing a chain of outposts across New Jersey, from the Hudson River through New Brunswick to Trenton and Bordentown on the Delaware River. The occupation of New Jersey by British and German troops caused friction with the local communities, on the night of December 25–26,1776, Washington crossed the Delaware and surprised the Trenton outpost the following morning. Over the next two weeks, he went on to win two further battles at Assunpink Creek and Battle of Princeton, leading the British to retreat to northern New Jersey. General Washington established his headquarters at Morristown, separated from the coast by the Watchung Mountains, over the course of January and February, Washingtons Continental Army shrank to about 2,500 regulars after Washingtons incentives for many men to overstay their enlistment periods ran out. A large number of militia from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania bolstered these forces, the British army was initially deployed from posts as far north as Hackensack to New Brunswick. The garrison, numbering about 10,000, was concentrated between New Brunswick and Amboy, with a sizable contingent farther north, from Elizabethtown to Paulus Hook, militia pressure in January led General Cornwallis to withdraw most of the northern troops to the shores of the Hudson. The area had been heavily plundered during the American retreat in the fall, the men subsisted largely on rations such as salt pork, but their draft animals required fresh fodder, for which they sent out raiding expeditions. Early in the winter, Washington sent out detachments of troops to remove any remaining provisions. General Cornwallis sent out small foraging and raiding parties in January and these were met by larger formations of American militia companies, sometimes with Continental Army support, that led on occasion to significant casualties. In one early example, Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson mustered 450 militia, Washington gave his commanders wide latitude in how to act, issuing commands that they were to be constantly harassing the enemy, and that they should be aggressive in their tactics. These early successes depended in part on successful intelligence, one British commander reported being met with force notwithstanding the Orders were given and their difficulties led British commanders to change tactics, attempting to lure these militia units into traps involving larger numbers of British regulars. In one encounter in late February, British Colonel Charles Mawhood, thinking he had flanked a party of New Jersey militia, as they were driven back toward Amboy, more and more Americans appeared, ultimately inflicting about 100 casualties. The elite grenadiers of the 42nd Foot, part of Mawhoods vanguard, were badly mauled in the encounter, a British force of 2,000 was repulsed by Maxwell in another well-organized attack a few weeks later
28.
Battle of Millstone
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A British foraging party was flanked and driven off by forces composed mostly of New Jersey militia, depriving the British of their wagons and supplies. Cornwallis and the remaining British and Hessian troops in and around Trenton and Princeton withdrew to New Brunswick to regroup after the battle at Princeton, during this time, militia companies mustered to assist the Continental Army. These movements established the area west of New Brunswick up to the Millstone, following the British retreat, Somerset Court House became one of several outposts garrisoned by Patriot militia companies, with support from the Continental Army. A British foraging party of 500 men, led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby of the 37th Foot, left New Brunswick on January 20, there they seized supplies of all varieties, and prepared to return to New Brunswick. Militia companies to the north were alerted to the British movement early in the day, when reports arrived of the activity at Van Nests mill, they marched for that place. In all about 400 New Jersey militia and 50 Pennsylvania militia formed under Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson to dispute the British action. While detailed accounts of their movements are sketchy, Dickinson apparently divided his forces, sending one force to meet the front of the British wagon train, both of these forces forded one of the rivers, wading in icy water that was waist deep. One successfully surprised the British wagon train in the lane near the mill, before it reached the main road and this stopped the train, scattered the wagon drivers and drove the British to retreat precipitously toward the bridge, leaving their booty behind. When the militiamen reached the bridge, the Hessian rear guard fired grape shot from its artillery to cover the retreat, after an exchange of fire across the river without apparent consequence, the British withdrew. Part of this Corps was attacked by the Rebels, which occasiond such disorder Amongst the Waggon Drivers that 42 Waggons were left behind, one British witness was absolutely certain the attackers were not militia, they were sure that no militia would fight in that way. Casualty figures were extremely variable, but British casualties appear to have been in the low 30s according to press accounts, New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783, a documentary history. Harvey, Oscar Jewell, Smith, Ernest Gray, history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Volume 2. Archibald Robertson, his diaries and sketches in America, 1762-1780, New York, New York Public Library. London, Office of the National Illustrated Library, revolutionary War Battles, The Battle of Millstone
29.
Continental Army
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The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
30.
Delaware River
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The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Its watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles in five U. S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, not including Delaware Bay, the rivers length including its two branches is 388 miles. The Delaware River is one of nineteen Great Waters recognized by the Americas Great Waters Coalition, the Delaware River rises in two main branches that descend from the western flank of the Catskill Mountains in New York. The West Branch begins near Mount Jefferson in the Town of Jefferson in Schoharie County, the rivers East Branch begins at Grand Gorge near Roxbury Delaware County. These two branches flow west and merge near Hancock in Delaware County and the waters flow as the Delaware River south. The river meets tide-water at the junction of Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, the rivers navigable, tidal section served as a conduit for shipping and transportation that aided the development of the industrial cities of Trenton, Camden, and Philadelphia. The mean freshwater discharge of the Delaware River into the estuary of Delaware Bay is 11,550 cubic feet per second, in 1609, the river was first visited by a Dutch East India Company expedition led by Henry Hudson. Hudson, an English navigator, was hired to find a route to Cathay. Early Dutch and Swedish settlements were established along the section of river. Both colonial powers called the river the South River, compared to the Hudson River, lord de la Warr waged a punitive campaign to subdue the Powhatan after they had killed the colonys council president, John Ratcliffe, and attacked the colonys fledgling settlements. Lord de la Warr arrived with 150 soldiers in time to prevent colonys original settlers at Jamestown from giving up, the name of barony is pronounced as in the current spelling form Delaware and is thought to derive from French de la Guerre. It has often reported that the river and bay received the name Delaware after English forces under Richard Nicolls expelled the Dutch. However, the river and bay were known by the name Delaware as early as 1641, the state of Delaware was originally part of the William Penns Pennsylvania colony. In 1682, the Duke of York granted Penns request for access to the sea and leased him the territory along the western shore of Delaware Bay which became known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware. The Delaware Rivers watershed drains an area of 14,119 square miles and encompasses 42 counties and 838 municipalities in five U. S. states—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. This total area constitutes approximately 0. 4% of the mass in the United States. In 2001, the watershed was 18% agricultural land, 14% developed land, there are 216 tributary streams and creeks—an estimated 14,057 miles of streams and creeks—in the watershed. The waters of the Delaware Rivers basin are used to fishing, transportation, power, cooling, recreation
31.
Hessian (soldier)
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They took their name from the German state of Hesse-Kassel. The British hired Hessian troops for duty in several eighteenth century conflicts. About 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British during the American Revolutionary War and they entered the British service as entire units, fighting under their own German flags, commanded by their usual officers, and wearing their existing uniforms. The largest contingent came from the state of Hesse, which supplied about 40% of the German troops who fought for the British. The large number of troops from Hesse-Kassel led to the use of the term Hessians to refer to all German troops fighting on the British side, the others were rented from other small German states. Patriots presented the soldiers as foreign mercenaries with no stake in America, many of the men were press-ganged into Hessian service. Deserters were summarily executed or beaten by an entire company, Hessian prisoners of war were put to work on local farms. The small German states of the Holy Roman Empire had professional armies, when military conflict broke out, the German states provided a ready supply of trained troops that was ready to go into action immediately. Hesse-Kassel was particularly prominent in this role, Between 1706 and 1707,10,000 Hessians served as a corps in Eugene of Savoys army in Italy before moving to the Spanish Netherlands in 1708. In 1714,6,000 Hessians were rented to Sweden for its war with Russia whilst 12,000 Hessians were hired by George I of Great Britain in 1715 to combat the Jacobite Rebellion. In the midst of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1744,6,000 Hessians were fighting with the British army in Flanders whilst another 6,000 were in the Bavarian army. By 1762,24,000 Hessians were serving with Ferdinand of Brunswicks army in Germany, in most of these wars, Hesse-Kassel never became a belligerent by declaring war on any other country. The troops were rented for service in other armies, and Hesse-Kassel itself had no stake in the outcome of the war. Thus, it was possible for Hessians to serve with the British and Bavarian armies in the War of the Austrian Succession, even though Britain, historian Charles Ingrao says that the local prince had turned Hesse into a mercenary state by renting out his regiments to fund his government. Of 30,067 German troops leased by Great Britain,12,992 were supplied by Hesse-Kassel and they came not as individuals but in entire units with their usual uniforms, flags, equipment, and officers. Hesse-Kassel like most of the other German principalities still had serfdom, once these troops entered British Territory, where serfdom was illegal, they were still bound by the military code. Their officers were for the most part the upper stratum of society, the only ways a Hessian regular soldier could become a free man under these circumstances was desertion or capture. Serfdom was only abolished in Hesse-Kassel in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte, Hessian troops included jäger, hussars, three artillery companies, and four battalions of grenadiers
32.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
33.
Trenton, New Jersey
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Trenton is the capital city of the U. S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was briefly the capital of the United States, as of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913, making it the states 10th-largest municipality. The Census Bureau estimated that the population was 84,034 in 2014. Trenton dates back at least to June 3,1719, when mention was made of a constable being appointed for Trenton, while the area was still part of Hunterdon County. Boundaries were recorded for Trenton Township as of March 2,1720, a courthouse and jail were constructed in Trenton around 1720, Trenton became New Jerseys capital as of November 25,1790, and the City of Trenton was formed within Trenton Township on November 13,1792. Trenton Township was incorporated as one of New Jerseys initial group of 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21,1798, on February 22,1834, portions of Trenton Township were taken to form Ewing Township. The remaining portion of Trenton Township was absorbed by the City of Trenton on April 10,1837, portions of Ewing Township and Hamilton Township were annexed to Trenton on March 23,1900. The first settlement which would become Trenton was established by Quakers in 1679, in the then called the Falls of the Delaware, led by Mahlon Stacy from Handsworth, Sheffield. Quakers were being persecuted in England at this time and North America provided an opportunity to exercise their religious freedom, by 1719, the town adopted the name Trent-towne, after William Trent, one of its leading landholders who purchased much of the surrounding land from Stacys family. This name later was shortened to Trenton, during the American Revolutionary War, the city was the site of the Battle of Trenton, George Washingtons first military victory. On December 26,1776, Washington and his army, after crossing the icy Delaware River to Trenton, after the war, the Confederation Congress briefly met in Trenton in November and December 1784. Trenton became the capital in 1790, but prior to that year the New Jersey Legislature often met here. The city was incorporated in 1792, during the War of 1812, the United States Armys primary hospital was at a site on Broad Street. Throughout the 19th century, Trenton grew steadily, as European immigrants came to work in its pottery, in 1837, with the population now too large for government by council, a new mayoral government was adopted, with by-laws that remain in operation to this day. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had an area of 8.155 square miles. Trenton is located near the geographic center of the state. However, Mercer County constitutes its own metropolitan area, formally known as the Trenton-Ewing MSA. Locals consider Trenton to be a part of an area called Central Jersey
34.
Garrison
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Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base. The garrison is usually in a city, town, fort, castle, garrison town is a common expression for any town that has a military base nearby. Garrison towns were used during the Arab Islamic conquests of Middle Eastern lands by Arab-Muslim armies to increase their dominance over indigenous populations. In Ireland, Association football has historically been termed the game or the garrison sport for its connections with British military serving in Irish cities. In Israel, a unit is a regular unit defending a specified Israeli zone in need of protection from attack from combatants. Israeli garrison units placed in the territories of West Bank are recognized under UN Resolution 242 as occupied pending peaceful recognition by all regional combatants. It was an old custom in ancient Italy to send out colonies for the purpose of securing new conquests, the Romans, having no standing army, used to plant bodies of their own citizens in conquered towns as a kind of garrison
35.
John Cadwalader (general)
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John Cadwalader was a commander of Pennsylvania troops during the American Revolutionary War. John Cadwalader was born in Trenton, New Jersey of Quaker parentage, in 1750, the Cadwalader family removed to Philadelphia where John and Lambert Cadwalader, his brother, were merchants. On September 25,1768, John Cadwalader married Elizabeth Lloyd and her brother, Edward Lloyd IV, was a delegate to the Continental Congress for Maryland. Their daughter, Maria Cadwalader, married Samuel Ringgold, who became a congressman representing Maryland, two of their sons, Samuel Ringgold and Cadwalader Ringgold, had distinguished military careers. In 1776, Colonel John Cadwalader was elected senior officer of the Philadelphia Associators, Cadwalader had received orders to send his column across the river on the night of December 25–26 and march to Trenton from the south. Meanwhile, George Washingtons column would cross the river to the north of Trenton, after successfully crossing his light forces, Cadwalader discovered that river ice prevented crossing his artillery. He then returned his column to the Pennsylvania side, leaving Washingtons forces unsupported in New Jersey, Washington was successful in his surprise attack on the morning of December 26 against the Hessian garrison in Trenton. Cadwalader and his column did cross the river the next day, after the Conway Cabal, he fought a duel with Thomas Conway in 1778 in which Cadwalader wounded his opponent with a shot in the mouth. Supposedly Cadawalader, a supporter of Washington throughout the cabal, boasted, John Cadwalader married Williamina Bond, daughter of Dr. Phineas Bond, of Philadelphia and niece of Thomas Bond. Their son, Thomas, like his father, became a general of the Pennsylvania militia and their daughter, Frances, married David Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine, who was the British Ambassador to the United States from 1807 to 1809. In 1779, Cadwalader became a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and returned to his estate on the banks of the Sassafras River at Shrewsbury, Kent County and he became a member of the Maryland State Assembly. John Cadwalader died February 10,1786 and he is buried at Shrewsbury Chapel, Kent County, Maryland. Thomas Paine wrote his epitaph, His early and inflexible patriotism will endear his memory to all true friends of the American Revolution and it may with strictest justice be said of him, that he possessed a heart incapable of deceiving. His manners were formed on the nicest sense of honor and the tenor of his life was governed by this principle. The companions of his youth were the companions of his manhood and he never lost a friend by insincerity nor made one by deception. His domestic virtues were truly exemplary and while they served to endear the remembrances they embitter the loss of him to all his numerous friends, surviving pieces are among the finest and best-documented Philadelphia Chippendale furniture ever made. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Biography of John Cadwalader Fischer, David Hackett, ISBN 0-19-517034-2 Jordan, John W. Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography. New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co, John Cadwalader family history Kent County Heritage Committee
36.
John Sullivan (general)
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John Sullivan was an American General in the Revolutionary War, a delegate in the Continental Congress, Governor of New Hampshire and a United States federal judge. Sullivan, the son of Irish settlers, served as a major general in the Continental Army. He commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American revolutionaries, as a member of Congress, Sullivan worked closely with the French Ambassador the Chevalier de la Luzerne. Born in Somersworth in the Province of New Hampshire, Sullivan was the son of Irish settlers from the Beara Peninsula in County Cork. One of his brothers, James Sullivan, became Governor of Massachusetts, another brother, Benjamin, who served in the Royal Navy died before the American Revolution. A landing party from HMS Allegiance on February 14,1781 kidnapped another brother, Captain David Sullivan, who later died of disease. The father, John Owen OSullivan was the son of Philip OSullivan of Beare of Ardea, minor gentry in Penal Ireland, the Penal Laws reduced them to the status of peasants. After emigrating to York, Maine, in 1723, the elder John became a Protestant, in 1760, Sullivan married Lydia Remick Worster of Kittery, now in Maine. John and Lydia Sullivan had six children, Margery, who died in infancy, Lydia, John, James, George and another Margery, Sullivan read law with Samuel Livermore of Portsmouth, New Hampshire between 1758 and 1760. He began the practice of law in 1763 at Berwick, now in Maine and he annoyed many neighbors in his early career, when he was the only lawyer in town, with numerous suits over foreclosures and was threatened with violence at least twice in 1766. But by 1772, he was established and began work to improve his relations with the community. He also expanded his interests into milling from which he made a substantial income, in 1773 Alexander Scammell joined John Sullivans law practice. Sullivan built a friendship with the governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth. In November 1772, Wentworth appointed Sullivan a major in the militia, as the American Revolution grew nearer, Sullivan turned away from Wentworth and began to side more with the radicals. On May 28,1773, at the urging of the Virginia House of Burgesses, hoping to thwart the committee, Wentworth adjourned the Assembly the next day. On December 16,1773, colonists in Massachusetts destroyed tea worth 15,000 pounds at the Boston Tea Party to protest taxes under the Tea Act. The British Parliament responded with the Boston Port Act, effective March 21,1774, Wentworth called a new Assembly, which began meeting on April 7,1774. On May 13, news of the Boston Port Act reached the Assembly, on May 27, the Assembly provided for only five men and an officer to guard Fort William and Mary at Portsmouth harbor
37.
Nassau Hall
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Nassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton University in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. At the time it was built in 1756, Nassau Hall was the largest building in colonial New Jersey, the University, then known as the College of New Jersey, held classes for one year in Elizabeth and nine years in Newark before the Hall was completed in 1756. Designed originally by Robert Smith, the building was remodeled by notable American architects Benjamin Latrobe. In the early years of Princeton University, Nassau Hall accommodated classrooms, a library, a chapel and it housed the universitys first Department of Psychology, for example. From July to October 1783, Princeton was the capital of the early United States, the Congress of the Confederation met in the buildings library on the second floor. At present, Nassau Hall houses Princeton Universitys administrative offices, including that of the universitys president, Old Nassau refers affectionately to the building and serves as a metonym for the university as a whole. The U. S. Department of the Interior designated Nassau Hall a National Historic Landmark in 1960, signifying its importance in the Revolutionary War, the New Jersey Legislature met for the first time in Nassau Hall on August 27,1776. The British Redcoats seized control of Nassau Hall in 1776, Three cannonballs were fired, but only two made contact. One glanced off the side of the building, the damage can still be seen today. Another cannonball flew through a window in the Faculty Room and decapitated King Georges portrait, the cannonball was said to have come from a gun in the artillery company commanded by Alexander Hamilton, who had been rejected by Princeton when he first came to the colonies. The result of the battle was a decisive Patriot victory, the Congress of the Confederation convened in Nassau Hall for a little more than four months. The normal location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had to be vacated due to a mutiny by Continental Army soldiers, starting in 1869 each graduation class adds a new sprig of ivy to grow up the walls of the building. The first U. S. commemorative postage stamp printed on colored paper honored Nassau Hall on its bicentennial. It depicted a front view of Nassau Hall and it was denominated at the then first class rate of 3 cents and was on orange paper. It was first issued at Princeton, N. J. on September 22,1956, the song Old Nassau was adopted as Princeton Universitys alma mater in 1859. The lyrics were written by Harlan Page Peck, a member of Princetons class of 1862, according to Leitchs A Princeton Companion, Langlotz wrote the music for Old Nassau on the porch of his house at 160 Mercer Street one fine spring afternoon. Pecks lyrics have been altered significantly over the years, and several verses of Pecks original text have been omitted, years after female students began attending Princeton after the adoption of a coeducational program in 1969, the songs lyrics were altered to become gender neutral. The original lyrics of the songs first verse and refrain are as follows, Tune every heart and every voice, Bid every care withdraw, Let all with one accord rejoice, chorus In praise of Old Nassau my boys, Hurrah
38.
Morristown, New Jersey
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Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States and the seat of Morris County. Morristown has been called the capital of the American Revolution because of its strategic role in the war for independence from Great Britain. Today this history is visible in a variety of locations throughout the town that make up Morristown National Historical Park. According to British colonial records, the first permanent European settlement at Morristown occurred in 1715, Morris County was created on March 15,1739, from portions of Hunterdon County. The county, and ultimately Morristown itself, was named for the popular Governor of the Province, Lewis Morris, who championed benefits for the colonists. Morristown was incorporated as a town by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 6,1865, within Morris Township, the area was inhabited by the Lenni Lenape Native Americans for up to 6,000 years prior to exploration by Europeans. Morristown was settled around 1715 by English Presbyterians from Southold, New York on Long Island and New Haven, the towns central location and road connections led to its selection as the seat of the new Morris County shortly after its separation from Hunterdon County on March 15,1739. The village and county were named for Lewis Morris, the first, by the middle of the 18th century, Morristown had 250 residents, with two churches, a courthouse, two taverns, two schools, several stores, and numerous mills and farms nearby. George Washington first came to Morristown in May 1773, two years before the Revolutionary War broke out, and traveled there to New York City together with John Parke Custis. In 1777, General George Washington and the Continental Army marched from the victories at Trenton and Princeton to encamp near Morristown from January to May, Washington had his headquarters during that first encampment at Jacob Arnolds Tavern located at the Morristown Green in the center of the town. Morristown was selected for its strategic location. It was between Philadelphia and New York and near New England, the churches were used for inoculations for smallpox. That first headquarters, Arnolds Tavern, was eventually moved.5 miles south of the green onto Mount Kemble Avenue to become All Souls Hospital in the late 19th century. It suffered a fire in 1918, and the structure was demolished. From December 1779 to June 1780 the Continental Armys second encampment at Morristown was at Jockey Hollow, then, Washingtons headquarters in Morristown was located at the Ford Mansion, a large mansion near what was then the edge of town. Fords widow and children shared the house with Martha Washington and officers of the Continental Army, the winter of 1780 was the worst winter of the Revolutionary War. The starvation was complicated by inflation of money and lack of pay for the army. The entire Pennsylvania contingent successfully mutinied and later,200 New Jersey soldiers attempted to emulate them, during Washingtons second stay, in March 1780, he declared St. Patricks Day a holiday to honor his many Irish troops
39.
South Jersey
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South Jersey comprises the southern portions of the U. S. state of New Jersey between the lower Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. New Jersey is sandwiched between the two cities of New York in the northeast and Philadelphia in the southwest, Benjamin Franklin called the state a barrel tapped at both ends. South Jersey may be defined geographically as the area below Interstate 195, in particular the lower eight counties of New Jersey, Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties have several older streetcar towns, and many residents commute to Philadelphia. The Courier-Post daily newspaper, which refers to itself as South Jerseys Newspaper is based in Camden County and it covers all of South Jersey, but focuses primarily on these three counties. The Gloucester County Times based in the city of Woodbury, however, is the newspaper for that county. Salem County and to lesser extents lower Gloucester County and upper Cumberland County serve as communities for the industries in New Castle County. The Atlantic shore areas, in particular Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Cape May has the distinction of being geographically as far south as Washington, D. C. thus giving another sense to the name South Jersey. South Jersey is a peninsula, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, the Delaware Bay to the southwest, and the Delaware River to the northwest. All of South Jersey is part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Atlantic Coastal Plain can be divided into three physiographic subprovinces, the Inner Lowlands, Outer Lowlands, and Central Uplands. The Inner Lowlands are fertile due to the deposition of sediment in the region, the Outer Lowlands is dominated by coastal estuaries, swamplands, and barrier islands near the Atlantic Ocean and is generally infertile. The Central Uplands varies slightly from the Lowlands in altitude and is covered by the Pine Barrens, the Uplands has rolling hills at an elevation over 50 feet, rarely exceeding 200 feet in elevation, along with sandy, acidic soil that makes it unsuitable for agriculture. Commercial farming in the Pine Barrens is limited to plants that thrive in its nutrient-poor soil—generally acidic fruits, in the Pine Barrens, cranberries and blueberries are cultivated in lowland bogs that have accumulated depths of organic matter. South Jersey has a subtropical climate. Compared to northern parts of New Jersey, South Jersey has slightly higher temperatures and receives annual precipitation. Along the Jersey Shore, temperatures are moderated by sea breezes, in 2015, a NJ. com poll with 90,000 respondents asked readers to identify the communities in North, Central, and South Jersey. The Ocean County communities north of Lacey Township were considered to be part of Central Jersey, Camden, located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, has historically been considered the economic hub of South Jersey. Much of Camdens growth resulted from its location near Philadelphia, particularly its role as a transportation hub. For decades after World War II, Camden suffered an economic decline and high crime rate due to the loss of its manufacturing base
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New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
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Assunpink Creek
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Assunpink Creek is a 22. 9-mile-long tributary of the Delaware River in western New Jersey in the United States. The name Assunpink is from the Lenape Ahsënpink, meaning stony, the Assunpink Creek is born in rural Monmouth County, about a mile north of Clarksburg. Flowing westwards, it enters the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. After an unnamed tributary enters from the south, it enters another reservoir, the two lakes, as well as Stone Tavern Lake on the tributary, are popular fishing spots. Below Assunpink Lake, the creek flows under Old York Road, New Sharon Branch enters the creek from the south at Carsons Mills. The creek now turns northwest, passing under the New Jersey Turnpike and then U. S. Route 130, here, it finally exits the Wildlife Management Area. Still further northwest, the creek enters Mercer County Park, bridegroom Run enters from the north side as the creek turns west and is impounded to form Mercer Lake. A small wildlife management area, the Van Nest Refuge, lies along the stream just below the dam and it then passes under Quaker Bridge Road and Interstate 295 before turning southwest and paralleling the Delaware and Raritan Canal. The creek now enters a heavily built-up area, with the Shabakunk Creek and Miry Run entering just above Whitehead Mill Pond, the now-canalized stream flows past the Trenton Transit Center and finally empties into the Delaware River in Trenton. The American soldiers successfully repelled several charges by British and Hessian soldiers across a bridge over the creek. List of rivers of New Jersey USGS gauging station near Clarksville USGS gauging station at Trenton
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John Trumbull
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John Trumbull was an American artist during the period of the American Revolutionary War and was notable for his historical paintings. His Declaration of Independence was used on the reverse of the two-dollar bill, Trumbull was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1756, to Jonathan Trumbull and his wife Faith Trumbull. His father served as Governor of Connecticut from 1769 to 1784, both sides of his family were descended from early Puritan settlers in the state. The young Trumbull entered the 1771 junior class at Harvard College at age fifteen, due to a childhood accident, Trumbull lost use of one eye, which may have influenced his detailed painting style. As a soldier in the American Revolutionary War, Trumbull rendered a service at Boston by sketching plans of the British works. He witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill and he was appointed second personal aide to General George Washington, and in June 1776, deputy adjutant-general to General Horatio Gates. He resigned from the army in 1777 after a dispute over the dating of his officer commission, in 1780 he traveled to London, where he studied under Benjamin West. At Wests suggestion, Trumbull painted small pictures of the War of Independence and he painted about 250 in his lifetime. On September 23,1780, British agent Major John André was captured by Continental troops in North America, after news reached Great Britain, outrage flared and Trumbull was arrested, as having been an officer in the Continental Army of similar rank to André. He was imprisoned for seven months in Londons Tothill Fields Bridewell, after being released, Trumbull returned to the United States. In 1784, following the British recognition of the United States independence, while working in his studio, Trumbull painted Battle of Bunker Hill and Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec. Both works are now in the Yale University Art Gallery, in 1785 Trumbull went to Paris, where he made portrait sketches of French officers for the Surrender of Lord Cornwallis. With the assistance of Thomas Jefferson, serving there as the US minister, while in Paris, Trumbull is credited with having introduced Jefferson to the Italian painter Maria Cosway, they became lifelong intimate friends. Trumbulls painting became widely known due to an engraving of it by Asher Brown Durand. All now hang in rotunda of the United States Capitol, congress reportedly authorized only funds sufficient to purchase these four paintings. Trumbulls The Sortie Made by the Garrison of Gibraltar,1789, in 1831 Trumbull sold a series of 28 paintings and 60 miniature portraits to Yale University for an annuity of $1,000. This is by far the largest single collection of his works, the collection was originally housed in a neoclassical art gallery designed by Trumbull on Yales Old Campus, along with portraits by other artists. His portraits include full lengths of General Washington and George Clinton, New York also bought his full-length paintings of Alexander Hamilton and John Jay
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Arthur St. Clair
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Arthur St. Clair was an American soldier and politician. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office. During the American Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of general in the Continental Army. After the war, he served as President of the Continental Congress and he was then made governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788, and then the portion that would become Ohio in 1800. In 1791, St. Clair commanded the American forces in what was the United Statess worst ever defeat against the American Indians, politically out-of-step with the Jefferson administration, he was replaced as governor in 1802. St. Clair was born in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, little is known of his early life. Early biographers estimated his year of birth as 1734, but subsequent historians uncovered a birth date of March 23,1736 and his parents, unknown to early biographers, were probably William Sinclair, a merchant, and Elizabeth Balfour. He reportedly attended the University of Edinburgh before being apprenticed to the renowned physician William Hunter, in 1757, St. Clair purchased a commission in the British Army, Royal American Regiment, and came to America with Admiral Edward Boscawens fleet for the French and Indian War. He served under General Jeffrey Amherst at the capture of Louisburg, on April 16,1762, he resigned his commission, and, in 1764, he settled in Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania, where he purchased land and erected mills. He was the largest landowner in Western Pennsylvania, in 1774, the colony of Virginia took claim of the area around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and some residents of Western Pennsylvania took up arms to eject them. St. Clair issued an order for the arrest of the leading the Virginia troops. Lord Dunmores War eventually settled the boundary dispute, by the mid-1770s, St. Clair considered himself more of an American than a British subject. In January 1776, he accepted a commission in the Continental Army as a colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment and he first saw service in the later days of the Quebec invasion, where he saw action in the Battle of Trois-Rivières. He was appointed a general in August 1776, and was sent by Gen. George Washington to help organize the New Jersey militia. He took part in George Washingtons crossing of the Delaware River on the night of December 25–26,1776, many biographers credit St. Clair with the strategy that led to Washingtons capture of Princeton, New Jersey on January 3,1777. St. Clair was promoted to general in February 1777. In April 1777, St. Clair was sent to defend Fort Ticonderoga and his small garrison could not resist British General John Burgoynes larger force in the Saratoga campaign. St. Clair was forced to retreat at the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga on July 5,1777 and he withdrew his forces and played no further part in the campaign
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Intelligence in the Battle of Princeton
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Two missions of military intelligence collection, both of which came to a climax on 30 December 1776, contributed to the Continental Armys victory in the Battle of Princeton. The obscure and doubtful intelligence on which General Washington had to base his next action frustrated him after a victory in the Battle of Trenton. Red rags hung from almost every door in expression of Tory sympathies. Reed considered the residents effectually broken and hardly resembling what they had been a few months before, Reed was a New Jersey native, and proposed to Washington that he lead a group of cavalrymen from the Philadelphia Light Horse toward Princeton to enlist spies. The Philadelphia Light Horse was a group of wealthy young men that volunteered its service to General Washington. They paid their own expenses, and, unlike most Continental troops, were gentlemen, the Light Horse wore chocolate brown uniforms, high-topped riding boots, and black hats with silver cords and bucktails. David Hackett-Fischer speculates that ragged Continental infantrymen jeered them as they approached Trenton on matched chestnut horses, Washington approved the mission, and sent Reed with seven cavalrymen. The residents on the road to Princeton, however, were afraid, in Reeds words, the arms and ravages of the enemy had terrified the population, though they were otherwise well disposed, no reward could tempt them to go into Princeton on a mission of espionage. Reed and his men were determined to return with valuable information, expecting that the rear of Princeton would be poorly guarded, they circled the town. They were about a half-mile southeast of Clarksville, almost in view of Princeton itself, Reed assumed he was looting, and sent two cavalrymen to take him prisoner. The Light Horsemen kept the barn between themselves and the house to approach closely without being noticed, a second and third soldier appeared as they rode, and Reed ordered the rest of his men to charge. As things worked out, Reeds men were outnumbered, but they were also in the place at the right time. Most of the twelve British soldiers were busy conquering a parcel of mince pies as the Light Horse surrounded the house, seven cavalrymen, six of whom had never before seen an enemy, thus forced the surrender of twelve well-armed British dragoons. Reed and the Light Horse returned to Trenton with their captives mounted behind and this was critical intelligence, at the time, Washington commanded only 4,700 men, many of whom were new recruits, and all of whom were poorly equipped. On 12 December, Washington had written a letter to Colonel John Cadwalader and this letter emphasized what Washington understood as an imminent necessity for both intelligence and counterintelligence. Spare no pains or expense to get intelligence of the motions and intentions. Any promises made, or sums advanced, shall be fully complied with, every piece of intelligence you obtain worthy of notice, send it forward by express. Keep a good lookout for spies, and magnify your numbers as much as possible and he conversed with some of the officers, and lodged last night with them
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Burlington, New Jersey
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Burlington is a city in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Philadelphia. Burlington was first incorporated on October 24,1693, and was reincorporated by Royal charter on May 7,1733, after American independence, the city was incorporated by the State of New Jersey on December 21,1784. On March 14,1851, the city was reincorporated and enlarged with portions of the surrounding township, the council of West Jersey Proprietors purchased roughly 30 miles of riverfront land in 1676 from the Lenape Native Americans. Burlington takes its name from the English east-coast town of Bridlington and it is now amalgamated into the larger Bridlington town. The Quakers formally established their congregation in 1678, initially, they met in private homes, between 1683 and 1687, Francis Collings constructed a hexagonal meeting house of brick. Over the next century, the membership grew substantially and a building was needed. The present meeting house on High Street was built in 1783 in front of the old meeting house, the cemetery predated the first building. A tablet commemorates that the Lenape chief King Ockanickon, a friend of the English settlers, was buried here in 1681. The oldest gravestone is inscribed D. B, many notable Quakers are buried here. One of the oldest buildings in Burlington is known as the Revell House, originally built in 1685 for George Hutchinson, it stood on East Pearl Street. The property was purchased by Thomas Revell, one of the original European settlers. Local tradition associates this house with the young Benjamin Franklin, who received gingerbread while traveling from Boston to Philadelphia, in the early 20th century, the house was purchased by the Annis Stockton Chapter of the DAR to become their clubhouse. The Colonial Burlington Foundation acquired and restored it in the 1950s, many institutions established in the 18th century continue to function in the 21st century. After the Quakers, the second oldest religious congregation in Burlington were the Episcopalians and their original church, Old St. Marys, remains the oldest church in Burlington and New Jersey. The congregation was founded in 1702 by George Keith and John Talbot, Talbot became the first minister and laid the cornerstone for the church in 1703. He served as the rector until 1725. The congregation prospered, and the became the see of the Anglican bishops of New Jersey. In 1846, under the leadership of Bishop and Rector George Washington Doane and this early Gothic Revival architecture church was designed by Richard Upjohn, who also designed Trinity Church at the foot of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan
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Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
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Hamilton Township is a township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. The township was the states 9th-largest municipality, after having been ranked 10th in 2000, the township is located immediately east of the city of Trenton, the states capital. Hamilton was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 11,1842, portions of the township were taken to form Chambersburg borough and Wilbur borough. Hamilton Township derives its name from the village of Hamilton Square, in 2006, Hamilton Township was ranked by Morgan Quitno as the eighteenth-safest city in the United States, out of 369 cities nationwide. In the companys 2005 survey, the Township was ranked 15th safest of 354 cities surveyed nationwide. According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had an area of 40.387 square miles. Although Hamilton is one of the largest townships in New Jersey it doesnt have a true downtown, groveville, Hamilton Square, Mercerville, White Horse and Yardville are all census-designated places and unincorporated communities located within the township. Van Nest Wildlife Refuge is a 98-acre wildlife management area operated by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections Division of Fish, as of late 2005, much of the new residential development in Hamilton has been geared to accommodating the aging baby boomer generation. New retirement communities and assisted-living facilities outpace that of new residential communities. Such construction has been spurred by several factors, the first being that the public is skeptical of growing school budgets due to its already large size. Hamilton voters have often rejected increases in school budgets in their elections to keep already high taxes from growing higher. As a result, the board has been reluctant to authorize construction of housing that will increase the student population. Another reason is a series of improvements to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the hospital is now a highly respected source of care in the state. It is situated next to where most of the land in the township used to be. As of October 2016, significant construction has been done to build up the Hamilton Township area. Multiple new retirement communities have been constructed, as well as new restaurants, banks, gas stations. Hamilton Township continues to expand rapidly to accommodate the increase in citizens residing in the community, as of the census of 2010, there were 88,464 people,34,534 households, and 23,759 families residing in the township. The population density was 2,240.2 per square mile, there were 36,170 housing units at an average density of 915.9 per square mile
