The life of Ashbel Green

3 January 1777

Battle of Princeton

P , SEPTEMBER 12,

After the battle of Princeton, General Washington retired, in the month of January, 1777, to winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey; and he there formed a plan for subjecting his whole army to the process of inoculation. The plan was, to quarter his troops in small companies in the families of the inhabi- tants, and to direct the military surgeons to inoculate the families, as well as the soldiers, and to afford gra- tuitously to the former, the same medical aid and attention which were to be shown to the latter. This plan, at first, produced a great alarm among the inha- bitants. My father, I well remember, went in a sleigh to Morristown, accompanied by some of the most respectable men of his congregation, to confer with General Washington on the subject. On his return, my father told us that he had been the spokesman, and that he had stated to the General, that he well knew that in military operations it was not unusual to make a certain sacrifice of a number of lives, to ensure the success of a battle, or for the general good of the com-

REV. ASHBEL GREEN. 137

organ case, and the coat of arms of Governor Belcher. At the battle of Princeton—which, by the way, turned the tide of war in favour of our country—a regiment of British troops took shelter in the college, and General Washington drove them out by turning his artillery against it. ‘The stone walls, indeed, could not be per- forated by the shot of fieldpieces, but the impressions they made were long visible, and a number of the balls entered the windows, and made great havoc in the interior of ‘the house. The British abandoned it, and surrendered without further resistance. The large windows, on the south side of the prayer hall, pre- sented a conspicuous mark for the American artillery, and a cannon ball that came in at one of these windows, cut off the head of King George, as it was exhibited in his full length portrait. Such was the accredited tradi- tion when I was a student in the house, and I still believe in its truth. What became of the portrait of Governor Belcher, I know not. Nothing but his coat of arms appeared on the wall to which it had originally been appended.

REV. ASHBEL GREEN. 148

General Washington made a present of fifty guineas to the trustees of the college, which they laid out in a full length portrait of him, painted by the elder Peale, of Philadelphia. ‘This picture now occupies the place, and it is affirmed the very frame, which contained the picture of George the Second, and which was decapi- tated by Washington’s artillery, as stated in my last letter. ‘There is a representation in the back ground of this picture, of the battle of Princeton, in which General Mercer, prostrate, wounded and bleeding, holds a conspicuous place. Affectionately adieu.

P. , SEPTEMBER 20, 1842.

range of their cannon shot. Some of his officers importuned him to go over the brow of the hill, where his personal exposure would not be so great. But he absolutely refused to change his position, assigning as the reason, that his remaining where he was might be of use to encourage the artillery men, who were firing on the enemy. The officers, however, imputed it to another cause; they thought that he was waiting and wishing for a cannon ball to terminate his life and his anxieties together. This, of course, was only an opinion; but an opinion derived from the apparently desperate state of the American army, at that critical hour. For had the suggestion of Sir William Erskine to Lord Cornwallis been adopted, which was, that before the British troops retired to their quarters, he should compel Washington to a decisive battle, humanly speaking, the cause was desperate. All de- pended on gaining the fight. For myself, I do not believe that the opinion of the officers that has been mentioned, was well founded. Washington probably judged rightly, that his exposed situation was of great use to encourage his men; and he never refused to face the most appalling danger, when by doing so he could serve his country. Beside, his danger at the bridge of Trenton was far less than in the battle of Princeton, on the following morning, when, for a considerable time, he was between the musket firing of the enemy and of his own troops. His trust, in both instances, was, I doubt not, in the protecting providence of God, which he was wont so frequently and impres- sively to acknowledge. Not that he supposed, as the Indians are said to have done, at the time of Brad-