The Battle of Princeton was an American victory on 3 January 1777.1 After the British under Lord Cornwallis trapped George Washington's army at Trenton, Washington marched away during the night, leaving campfires burning, and attacked the British force at Princeton. Washington personally rallied his wavering troops, and the British were driven off. Together with Trenton, the victory saved the American Revolution in its darkest winter.
Anniversary 3 January 2027 marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Princeton; see the whole campaign in The Ten Crucial Days.
Just over a week after crossing the Delaware to win at Trenton, George Washington was trapped. Lord Cornwallis had pinned his army against a river and planned to finish it in the morning. That night Washington's army vanished, and at dawn it fell on the British at Princeton.
Part of The greatest battles of the American Revolution · Before: Battle of Trenton · Next: The Battle of Brandywine
Trapped at Trenton
After the victory at Trenton on 26 December 1776, Washington recrossed the Delaware into New Jersey. On 2 January 1777 Lord Cornwallis advanced with a strong British army and pinned the Americans behind Assunpink Creek at Trenton1, intending to attack the next day.
The night march
Instead of waiting to be attacked, Washington left a small party to keep the campfires burning and make noise2, and marched the rest of his army by back roads around the British flank toward Princeton, where Cornwallis had left a rear guard.
Mercer falls, Washington rallies
Near Princeton on the morning of 3 January the Americans met British troops under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood. In the first clash General Hugh Mercer was mortally wounded and his men fell back.1 Washington rode forward into the fight, within close range of the British line3, and rallied his troops in one of the most celebrated moments of his career.
The British driven off
Reinforced and rallied, the Americans broke the British line. Mawhood's men fled toward Trenton, and British soldiers who took refuge in the college building of Nassau Hall surrendered after American artillery opened fire on it.4 Washington then marched north into the hills around Morristown1 before Cornwallis could catch him.
Why Princeton mattered
Trenton and Princeton, the climax of the Ten Crucial Days1, turned the darkest moment of the Revolution into renewed hope. The British pulled back from most of New Jersey, recruits returned to the Continental Army, and Washington's reputation as a commander was secured. Hugh Mercer died of his wounds days later and became one of the Revolution's martyrs.