Their research revealed that property currently owned by the Institute of Advanced Study, between the school’s main campus and the Princeton Battlefield State Park, was actually the location of the bloody and critical counterattack that gave George Washington his victory in the Battle of Princeton.
The researchers presented their findings in detail and discussed them with a panel of experts in the Friend Center on Saturday at “New Revelations on the Battle of Princeton,” a symposium hosted by the Princeton Battlefield Society and the Crossroads of the American Revolution Association.
The Battle of Princeton, which took place on Jan. 3, 1777, was the culmination of a 10-day struggle undertaken by George Washington and his army following their famous crossing of the Delaware River. It was also Washington’s first victory over the British army, as opposed to Hessian mercenaries, and it turned the Revolutionary War in America’s favor after a period of uncertainty, Battlefield Society president Jerry Hurwitz said.
Financed by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the research group studied a broad range of primary sources, including maps, deeds, written accounts and pension records, and used ArcGIS and GPS mapping technology to integrate the data and derive the exact locations, timing and strategic movements of both the American and British forces in Princeton.
“We completed a comprehensive evaluation that looked at topographical information, archeological information and historical information, trying to combine all of those sources together to get a sense of what happened in the battle,” Catts said during the presentation.
After the presentation of the report and panel, the symposium closed with a review of the current efforts to preserve the battlefield, including proposed legislative efforts to declare it a National Heritage Area, and the threats to these efforts.
The Institute has finalized plans to build seven single-family houses and eight townhouses on seven acres of this land, according to its website. Though the study was only completed in September, the Institute has planned the new development for several years.
Hurwitz encouraged the audience to support the preservation of the Institute’s lands. “[The housing construction], to me, would be a sacrilege,” he said. “This should not fly. Where they are building is in the heart of the battlefield. The Institute has to be more sensitive to opinions of the public in terms of destroying a national heritage site.”
President of Friends of Monmouth Battlefield James Raleigh, who was in the audience, said he was concerned that the symposium only featured one point of view of the land-ownership conflict: “The question I have is, since this study involves a lot of the land on the Institute property, who is here from the Institute and what is their view?”
According to Christine Ferrara, the Institute’s Senior Public Affairs Officer, one representative was present at the symposium. However, she said, the Institute was not asked to participate in any of the formal discussions that took place.
The Institute declined to comment on the study’s conclusion that the location of its planned faculty housing facility would damage a historical site.
“It is our understanding that the ... report is not final,” Ferrara explained in an e-mail. “The Institute’s request for a copy of the report to the Department of the Interior was declined on the basis that the report was not yet final. The Institute does not believe that it is appropriate to comment on a report that has yet to be finalized.”
However, Hurwitz said during his opening remarks that a copy of the study, including the entire collection of supporting primary evidence, would soon be made available to the public on the Princeton Battlefield Society website.
Currently, the Institute intends to build on the land but “relinquish development rights to land adjacent to the faculty housing, when built, increasing by at least 10 acres the land around the Battlefield conserved in perpetuity,” according to its website.
Though proponents of preservation efforts have since rallied around the new study in an effort to prevent construction from moving forward, arguing that the land is hallowed and historically significant, event coordinator Kip Cherry explained that preservationists were currently in the “persuasion phase” and that Rep. Rush Holt has tried to facilitate negotiations between the two parties.
“We have no leverage because all land requirements have been met,” she said.
The Battlefield Society is currently suggesting a mortgage subsidy program, similar to the one the University provides to its faculty, as an alternative that would make existing local housing more affordable for Institute staffers.
Around 140 guests registered to attend the symposium, Cherry said. Attendees included local residents, members of neighboring historical societies, archeological and historical experts and Revolutionary War enthusiasts from across the state, who gave the symposium generally positive feedback.
One of those in attendance, P. Rozewski, said he decided to attend the symposium after reading the historical account “Congress at Princeton: Being the Letters of Charles Thomson to Hannah Thomson, June-October 1783.” He said he thought that the event would be a good supplement to the book’s description of the Continental Congress that took place at Princeton, and that he was not let down.
“From what I can gather so far, technology has a lot to do with the way they are able to make those interpretations, even though they rely on old books, like the one I mentioned,” he explained. “They were able to bring together the primary sources and mapping technology. I thought it was pretty cool.”
Brett Bragin, who is from Pittstown, N.J., and has a background in archaeology, said he was particularly interested in the role of mapping technology in the study, despite the fact that he did not know a lot about the actual battle.
“I think the use of the [Geographic Information System] and GPS technology and overlaying the historic maps with the modern maps to try to figure out what the lay of land was like in 1777 is really a fascinating thing,” he said. “I would like to see their maps and look through them in detail.”
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