Battle of Princeton

After winning the Battle of Trenton on Christmas night, 1776, General George Washington took his tiny force and challenged General Cornwallis' British army consisting of 8,000 men. This ten-day period from Christmas 1776 to early January 1777 was described by Frederick the Great of Prussia as "the most brilliant in the world's history."

The evening of Jan. 2, 1777, General Washington left the campfires of his troops burning and quietly had his army sneak around the back of the British camp at Princeton, New Jersey. Then, at daybreak on Jan. 3, 1777, Washington accomplished a brilliant surprise attack. His men captured three regiments of British troops. It was a huge victory that energized the Patriots.

Yale President Ezra Stiles observed in an Election Address before the Governor and General Assembly of Connecticut:

"In our lowest and most dangerous state, in 1776 and 1777, we sustained ourselves against the British Army of 60.000 troops, commanded by...the ablest generals Britain could procure throughout Europe, with a naval force of 22,000 seamen in above 80 men-of-war.

Who but a Washington, inspired by Heaven, could have conceived the surprise move upon the enemy at Princeton-or that Christmas eve when Washington and his army crossed the Delaware? ...

The United States are under peculiar obligations to become a holy people unto the Lord our God."