Battle of Princeton to be reenacted for the 2015 Memorial Day weekend

Want to celebrate Memorial Day weekend in patriotic fashion?  Then you’ll want to catch the Battle of Princeton reenactment on Sat, May 23, 2015.
 
The Princeton Battlefield Society will put on a day of encampment and reenactment with the Second Pennsylvania Regiment at Battlefield Park.
 
“Washington Returns!” relives Gen. Hugh Mercer’s Jan. 3 1777 attack on the British and the Red Coats’ counter-attack.  The event will include pipes and drums, musket and cannon fire, marching drills, tactical formations, camps and the arrival of Gen. George Washington.  
 
The battle, though small, is considered a turning point in the American Revolution.  It was the culmination of the 10-day campaign that began with George Washington’s Hail Mary pass – the crossing of the Delaware.
 
Washington had lost 90 percent of his army, but he managed to convince his men to stick around a few more weeks and at Princeton they saw the first victory over the British on a battlefield.  The modest success provided the momentum that the Continental Army so desperately needed.
 
Playing such a pivotal role in the war, it may surprise visitors to know that, in 2012, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the battlefield among its 11 most endangered historic places.
 
A portion of the battlefield has been the subject of an ongoing fight between the Institute for Advance Study and the Battlefield Society. The institute happens to own several acres of the historic site and plans to build faculty housing there. This past November, the Princeton Planning Board issued a preliminary ruling allowing for the development.
 
Saturday, May 23, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (rain or shine) – 500 Mercer Rd., Princeton, N.J.
 
____________________________________________
 
This post is part of our South Jersey Events Listing