A monthly feature brought to you by the St. Peter’s History Committee. This article was written by parishioner Keith Betten.
Answer: More than a half century ago (yikes!), I landed my first professional “public sector historian” position as the Director of the Burlington County, New Jersey, Cultural and Heritage Commission. As part of the job, I also became responsible for developing and coordinating that county’s “American Revolution Bicentennial” commemoration.
As a native Philadelphian who was raised in the suburbs west of the city, I had a lot to learn about the long and fascinating history of my new home county, and especially about the important part that Burlington County played leading up to the game-changing battles at Trenton and Princeton. I quickly became an expert on the brutal comings and goings of the British, the Scots, the Hessian, and the American forces in and out of the already historic towns and villages of that area; including Burlington, the capital of West Jersey; Mount Holly, site of the Battle of Iron Works Hill; Bordentown, where my wife Mimo’s childhood home (a ca. 1750 farm house that still stands) was most certainly occupied and plundered by Brits and/or Hessians; and Crosswicks, a beautifully preserved country town that is located immediately adjacent to Hunterdon County where those pivotal battles were fought and won by General Washington in Trenton on December 26, 1776, at the 2nd Battle of Trenton on January 2, 1777, and in Princeton on January 3, 1777.
Other than Washington and the martyred Virginia General, Hugh Mercer, I knew little about the thousands of American soldiers and marines who fought during those days, which Tom Paine would call “the times that try men’s souls.” Years later, when fate and faith would bring Mimo and me to St. Peter’s, I would discover what a significant part our parish had played in those conflicted times.
Always interested in learning more history, I was delighted last year when my son, Ethan, a high school history teacher and permanent part-time guide at Independence National Historical Park (who also occupies the box-pew next to us, with his two sons at St. Peter’s whenever he can) loaned me his copy of the 2020 publication, “Ten Crucial Days–Washington’s Vision for Victory Unfolds,” by William L. Kidder. As I winded my way through its pages and footnotes, I recognized several names I had become familiar with since we had transferred our church affiliation to St. Peter’s in 2012; Cadwalader, Nixon, Shippin, Willson, and Cuthbert. Because I had become involved in St. Peter’s History Committee and had launched the churchyard headstone cleaning group “Taphophiles,” I knew these names, but before having read Kidder’s history, I had not known what a pivotal part those St. Peter’s patriots had played in helping to save the American Revolution.
In December 1776, the nascent American government fled to Baltimore because the British had driven our Continental Army out of Long Island and New York City, and out of New Jersey into Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was universally expected that Philadelphia would be the next to fall. In order to save their city, the five St. Peter’s patriots mentioned above, along with many other Philadelphians, marched northward or sailed up the Delaware to try to prevent an invasion of the American capital. Rather than presenting the details of those historical events here, let me invite you to walk through our churchyard with a copy of our newly issued brochure “Revolutionary War Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines resting in St. Peter’s Churchyard” to learn a bit about their individual contributions to the effort, or better still, order a copy of the Kidder publication to find out where each of them was on every one of those 10 crucial days and how intense the experience of each of them would prove to be.
I offer this information to my fellow parishioners a year in advance of the 250th anniversary of their happening, in hopes that you will consider taking a day-trip north of the city (including, perhaps a nice lunch) to Burlington, Mount Holly, Bordentown, Crosswicks, the beautifully restored “Old Barracks;” center of the Battle of Trenton, and the impressive battlefield in Princeton, where our St. Peter’s Revolutionary War patriots fought and died. Did they save the American Revolution?… They certainly did their part!
Should you, your friends and/or your families want to plan a day-trip through northern Burlington County, Trenton, and Princeton during the “Semi-quincentennial” year, don’t hesitate to contact me, and I’ll be pleased to help you organize your venture.