REVOLUTIONARY WAR SITES IN TRENTON, NEW JERSEY

Trenton Battle Monument
N Warren St. and Tucker St.
Map / Directions to the Trenton Battle Monument
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

ADMISSION:
Free

This Monument, which commemorates the December 26, 1776 American victory at the Battle of Trenton, was unveiled in 1893. The Trenton Battle Monument was designed by John H. Duncan, who was also the architect of President Grant's Tomb in New York City. It stands 148 feet high. On the top of the monument is a statue of George Washington, with his right arm outstretched, pointing toward the site of his victory. The Washington statue and the two bronze statues of Continental soldiers at the entrance, were made by William O'Donovan. O'Donovan was a noted 19th century sculptor of monuments, busts and bas.  [1]

St. Mary's Cathedral
151 North Warren St.
Map / Directions to St. Mary's Church
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

This was the site stood of the dwelling which was used as the Headquarters of Hessian Commander Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall. Rall was mortally wounded in the Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776., He died the following day. From November 30, 1784 to January 5, 1785 the house was the official residence of Richard Henry Lee, President of the Continental Congress, which was then in session in Trenton."  [2]

John Fitch's Gun Shop
149 North Warren St.
Map / Directions to the John Fitch's Gun Shop
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

"Lt. John Fitch, official state armorer, operated a gunshop during the Revolution. It was damaged by the Hessians in 1776, on the Delaware, in 1790, he operated the first commercial steamboat that ran on a regular advertised schedule." [3]

St. Michael's Church
140 North Warren St.
Map / Directions to St. Michael's Church
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

The St. Michael's Church website describes its Revolutionary War significance:
"During the Revolutionary War, services at St. Michael’s Church were suspended because of the mixture of loyalist and revolutionary sentiment in the congregation. The vestry passed a resolution on Sunday, July 7, 1776, to close the church for an indefinite period. This happened the day before the Declaration of Independence was publicly read from the steps of the Trenton Court House.
" Both the Continental and British armies occupied the church at intervals. During the Hessian occupation of Trenton, the building was used as a barracks and artillery pieces were stationed in the churchyard. When the Continental Army and George Washington surprised the Hessians on December 26, 1776, much of the fighting of the first battle of Trenton focused on St. Michael’s Churchyard. Later in the war, the church was used by the Continental Army as a hospital."   [4]

Abraham Hunt House Site
Corner of W. State St. and N. Warren St.
Map / Directions to the Abraham Hunt House Site
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

A plaque on the N. Warren Street site of the building identifies this as the site of the house of Abraham Hunt. Colonel Rall was entertained at the house on Christmas night of 1776.   [5]

Wachovia Bank Building - 1 West State Street
Constitution Ratification Site
Many Meetings During the Revolutionary War Marker
George Washington Triumphal Arch Mural by N.C. Wyeth
1 W. State St.
Map / Directions to theses Sites at the Wachovia Bank Building
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

A plaque on the the bank commemorate the signing of the ratification of the Constitution of the United States at this site on December 18, 1787, by thirty-nine commissioners of the State of New Jersey.   [6]

Old Barracks
101 Barrack St.
Map / Directions to the Old Barracks
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

Old Barracks Website

The Barracks was built in 1758. About 300 British and Irish soldiers were the first to live here during the French-Indian war. The building was then the largest in Trenton.

The Barracks was used by American troops at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.. British prisoners of war from St. John and Chambly, Canada, were imprisoned in the Officers House. Four companies of the Second New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line were raised here. When British and Hessian troops occupied Trenton in December, 1776, some of them stayed in the Barracks. After the Battle of Trenton on December 26, Americans troops returned to Trenton and used the Barracks. The Barracks became an army hospital under Dr. Bodo Otto In 1777. Throughout the war, many soldiers and supplies continued to pass through Trenton. The last soldiers in the Barracks may have been sick and wounded soldiers from the 1781 siege of Yorktown.   [7]

First Presbyterian Church Cemetery
114 East State St.
Map / Directions to the First Presbyterian Church
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

There are 19 Revolutionary War soldiers buried in this cemetery: [8]

Quaker Meeting House & Cemetery
143 East Hanover St.
Map / Directions to the Quaker Meeting House and Cemetery
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

This Meeting House was occupied by the British Light Dragoons December 1776. [9]

Declaration of Independence signer George Clymer is buried in the cemetery. Please note that he signed for Pennsylvania, not for New Jersey.

Alexander Douglas House
165 East Front St.
Mill Hill Park
Map / Directions to the Alexander Douglas House
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

Currently closed during restoration

This house was built circa 1760 on what is now South Broad Street as a one room, two story "shanty". It was purchased by Alexander Douglas in 1769. It was at that location that George Washington called a Council of War during the Battles of Trenton in December, 1776.

Around 1800, Douglas added the two story front structure. The house remained in the Douglas family until 1852.

The Alexander Douglas house has been moved several times. The house was first moved in 1876 to Center Street. It remained there until 1924, when the city of Trenton acquired ownership and moved it to Mahlon Stacy Park. It was moved to its current location, at the northwest corner of Mill Hill Park, In 1972 .   [10]

See next listing below for the original site of the Alexander Douglas House.

Original site of the Alexander Douglas House
Lutheran Church
189 S. Broad St.
Map / Directions to Original Alexander Douglas site
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

Second Battle of Trenton Site
S. Broad St. and Factory St.
Mill Hill Park
Map / Directions to the Second Battle of Trenton Site
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

In the southwest corner of Mill Hill Park, a sign commemorating the Second Battle of Trenton reads, "On this site, late in the afternoon of January 2, 1777, General Washington's 'Little Band' of determined men and boys won the second Battle of Trenton. Having amassed a great concentration of artillery and small-arms power, the Americans withstood three powerful charges by the enemy and exacted a heavy toll in  killed and wounded. This stand enabled the Americans to outflank the enemy during the night and march on to another victory at Princeton, thus completing the ten days that kept a dying Revolution alive." [11]

There is another sign, on the other side of the park, which gives information about the history of the Mill Hill Historic District, including the Second Battle of Trenton.

William Trent House
15 Market St.
Map / Directions to the William Trent House
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

William Trent House Website

The Trent House was occupied by Hessian forces during the Revolution. It played a prominent role in the battles of Trenton in December of 1776. Later, Dr. William Bryant, who was then the owner of the Trent House, was expelled for his Tory sympathies. The house was acquired by Colonel John Cox, a wealthy Philadelphia patriot and Deputy Quartermaster General of the Continental Army. He turned the grounds into a supply depot for Washington's army. [12]

George Washington Triumphal Arch Site
South Broad St. and Lafayette St.
Map / Directions to the George Washington Triumphal Arch Site
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

"At the bridge over the Assunpink Creek on April 21, 1789, the citizens of Trenton honored George Washington as he passed through a triumphal arch on his way to New York City to be inaugurated President of the United States." [13]

Trenton Public Library
120 Academy St.
Map / Directions to the Trenton Public Library
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

A section of the Washington Triumphal Arch is displayed in the Trentoniana room.

Trenton Ferry Site
Bloomsbury St. near Bridge St. Overpass
Map / Directions to Trenton Ferry site
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

"April 21, 1789, Washington passed through Trenton on his way to New York for inauguration. Reception was held in city tavern." [14]

South River Walk Park
Park your car in Waterfront Park, and then walk up stairs to South River Walk Park
Map / Directions to South River Walk Park
Map / Directions to all Trenton Revolutionary War Sites

"By December of 1776, the Continental Army had withdrawn in disarray from New York, across Central New Jersey and the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The British were in complacent pursuit, confident that it was only a matter of weeks or months before General Washington capitulated. Then, in a remarkable turn of events, on Christmas Day and the day following, the American forces regrouped and launched a surprise counter-attack on Trenton, thereby infusing new life into the Revolutionary cause and changing the course of the war.

"The First Battle of Trenton was preceded by Washington's nighttime crossing of the Delaware at McKonkey's Ferry, present-day Washington Crossing, and a nine-mile march to the edge of town. In the early morning of December 26 the American troops caught the British-paid Hessian garrison at the Trenton Barracks unawares and soon forced their surrender. Washington withdrew most of his troops across the Delaware into Pennsylvania again to plan his next move.

"A week later, as an advance British contingent entered Trenton, Washington successfully defended the South Broad Street crossing of the Assunpink Creek. This action, the Second Battle of Trenton, bought the American forces valuable time in which to set up another successful surprise attack on the main body of British troops at Princeton the following day. This series of engagements in Trenton and Princeton dramatically boosted American morale and showed the vulnerability of the ponderous British Army to fast-moving and well-chosen assaults by Washington's troops." [15]