REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITES IN SPRINGFIELD, NEW JERSEY

Petticoat Bridge Skirmish Marker
Petticoat Road Bridge
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On November 19, 1776, British and Hessian forces invaded New Jersey, disembarking at Huyler's Landing in Bergen County. At the time, General George Washington and the Continental (American) army were in nearby Fort Lee. Washington's army had recently suffered a string of defeats in New York city. Upon learning of the landing of the British and Hessian troops at Alpine Landing, the Continental army began a retreat across New Jersey that ended when they crossed over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania on December 2.

While the Continental Army was on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, British and Hessian forces occupied a number of towns throughout New Jersey. Soldiers under the command of Hessian Colonel Carl von Donop occupied Bordentown at this time.

Six miles to the north of Bordentown, Hessian Troops under the command of Colonel Johann Rall occupied Trenton.

The Hessian troops at Bordentown were drawn south towards Mount Holly to engage with a small group of American troops under the command of Samuel Griffin. They fought a skirmish here at Petticoat Bridge over the Assiscunk  Creek. Although the sign states that the skirmish occurred on December 23, it actually occurred on December 22.  After Griffin's troops retreated to Mount Holly, the Battle of Iron Works Hill was fought in Mount Holly was fought the next day, which was December 23.

Following the Battle of Iron Works Hill, the Hessians remained in Mount Holly for several days, instead of returning to Bordentown. This placed them eighteen miles away from Trenton, rather than six miles if they had returned to Mount Holly. As a result, they were too far away from Trenton to be of any assistance to the Hessians there when Washington's troops attacked Trenton after their famous crossing of the Delaware River on Christmas night. The American victory at the Battle of Trenton helped to turn the tide of the war. [1]

Revolutionary War Hospital (Copany Meeting House)
Jacksonville Jobstown Rd.
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This house is a private residence.
Please respect the privacy and property of the owners.

At the time of the Revolutionary War, this house was a Friends (Quaker) meeting house called Copany Meeting House. It is located about a mile and a half from the Petticoat Bridge, and after the skirmish on December 23, 1776, the meeting house was used as a hospital by Hessian troops. [2]

Source Notes:

1. ^ For more information and accompanying sources about the British and Hessian's at Huyler's Landing, and the subsequent retreat of the Continental army from nearby Fort Lee, see the Alpine and Fort Lee pages of this website.

For more information and accompanying sources about the Crossing of the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton, see the Hopewell Township and Trenton pages of this website.

• Details about the Petticoat Bridge Skirmish and the Battle of Iron Works hill can be found in the following contemporary and secondary sources:

Captain Johann Ewald, Translated and edited by Joseph P. Tustin, Diary of the American War - A Hessian Journal (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1979) pages 35 -42

Joseph Galloway, Letters to a Nobleman, on the Conduct of the War in the Middle Colonies (London: Printed for J. Wilkie, No. 71, St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1779) pages 53-54
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here

Joseph Reed, "General Joseph Reed's Narrative of the Movements of the American Army in the Neighborhood of Trenton in the Winter of 1776-77," published in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, December 1, 1884, page 392
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here

Pennsylvania Evening Post, December 24, 1776, reprinted in:
William S. Stryker, editor, Archives of the State of New Jersey, Second Series, Vol. I (Documents Relating to the Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey) (Trenton: John L. Murphy Publishing Company, 1901) page 243
Available to be read at the Internet Archive here

William M. Dwyer, The Day is Ours! (New York: Viking Press, 1983) page 213 -217

William S. Stryker The Battles of Trenton and Princeton (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin and Company,1898) pages 73 - 75>

2. ^ Springfield Township Bicentennial Committee sign