The Patriot army was always in need of military supplies, and this was especially true in January 1777. Even so, one wagon of captured goods contained a powerful surprise.
The supply situation had improved some since December of the preceding year when Washington had led his tiny force across the icy Delaware River to attack the Hessians at Trenton. That victory had awakened some enthusiasm for the cause, and now Gen. George Washington had led his men across the river again.
To the British commander Lord Howe, it appeared Washington was merely revisiting the scene of his former victory, because the Patriot army was again in Trenton. Howe ordered Gen. Lord Cornwallis to move to Princeton, gather his troops, and advance on Trenton. On January 2, 1777, Cornwallis advanced with six thousand men, leaving three regiments to guard his base at Princeton.
All day on January 2, the Patriot troops fought as they slowly fell back on Trenton. By nightfall the British were in the streets of the village facing the Patriot position.
Washington had moved to the south bank of Assunpink Creek and entrenched his men on a ridge. From the front the position looked strong, but its right flank was unguarded. Even worse, the Delaware River blocked any line of retreat. It looked to Cornwallis that Washington had made just the sort of mistake one would expect of an amateur. Washington’s army was in a trap, and Cornwallis let it be known he was ready to bag the fox. The Patriot army was ready to fight from behind breastworks as they had done so well at Bunker Hill. Only this time the British would not oblige them by attacking head-on. Cornwallis planned to turn the unprotected flank and butcher the Patriots as they tried to flee across the Delaware River.
During the night, as Cornwallis fed and rested his men so they would be ready for the fox hunt the next morning, Washington’s army slipped away by its undefended flank, moving toward Princeton. Daylight revealed the Royal Army confronting only empty entrenchments. The fox had run instead of going to ground.
As dawn broke on January 3, Col. Charles Mawhood of the Seventeenth Infantry was moving toward Trenton to join other parts of the British army. Left in Princeton were the Fortieth and Fifty-fourth Regiments. Moving toward Maw-hood, each ignorant of the other’s presence, was a Patriot unit led by Gen. Hugh Mercer. As the two units converged on the hill known today as Mercer Heights, gunfire began. Following their usual practice, the Patriot riflemen aimed for the British officers. Among the first to fall was Capt. William Leslie of the British Seventeenth Regiment.
William Leslie was a son of Lord Leven of Scotland and a nephew of Gen. Alexander Leslie. As a member of one of the most famous military families in Scotland, William joined the Black Watch Regiment as a teen and served with that unit in Ireland. In 1776 William got a promotion and joined the Seventeenth Infantry. He was well liked by his men and fellow officers and was described as being sweet-natured, compassionate, and kindly.
Falling a casualty to one of Mercer’s long rifles, William’s body was placed in a baggage wagon by a fellow officer. Unsure just how many men were facing him but confident in the ability of his men to handle the challenge, Mawhood pushed forward. At first the attack was a success because Mercer’s command was composed of riflemen. Their weapons, though accurate at a longer range, were slower to load than muskets, and the rifles were not fitted with bayonets. Mercer was reinforced by Pennsylvania troops under Gen. John Cadwalader. Hand-to-hand fighting occurred before the Redcoat attack was blunted, and Mawhood fell back on the two regiments left in Princeton.
Washington was in the thick of the fight, sometimes within 30 yards of the British lines, inspiring his men by his example and by his cheering taunt of the British, “Come on. Bag the fox! How do you Lobsterbacks like this fox-hunt?” Later Washington would describe his emotions at the moment in a letter to a friend. “I have heard the musket balls sing about my ears and I tell you they make a delightful music.” Capt. William Leslie would have disagreed had he been able to do so.
Some of the British barricaded themselves in Nassau Hall on the campus of Princeton University. Musket balls splatted harmlessly against the thick stones of the walls, but Henry Knox brought up two cannons and the last British holdouts soon surrendered.
Washington had won a neat victory over three crack British regiments, but he knew Lord Cornwallis, with six thousand men, was moving against his rear as fast as they could cover the route back from Trenton. Gathering his booty, including British wagons, Washington marched to Pluckemin, where he was protected by the rugged terrain of the Watchung Mountains.
On January 5, 1777, the needy Patriot troops began to unload the captured wagons. With gleaming eyes and eager hands, they unpacked boxes of musket ammunition, crates of hardtack crackers, bales of warm overcoats, and sturdy boots. But in one wagon was a real surprise—a British officer, dead. William Leslie had become a prisoner of war, albeit a posthumous prisoner. Searching the body in an attempt to identify the officer, the soldiers found another surprise. In Leslie’s pocket was a letter from Dr. Benjamin Rush, a leader of the independence movement.
Dr. Rush had studied medicine in Edinburgh and had met the Leslie family while a student there. Indeed, he had fallen in love with Jean, William’s sister. Jean did not wish to marry someone from the colonies, but the families remained good friends. When the war broke out, Dr. Rush had written to Captain Leslie to say that if the captain should ever be captured, Rush would guarantee his parole and would try to have him released to his custody, so he would not have to remain in a prison camp. The doctor now made good his promise in an unexpected way.
Out of respect to Dr. Rush, General Washington intervened in the matter of Captain Leslie and ordered the British officer buried with full military honors. After the war Dr. Rush located the grave and, at his own expense, erected a stone that bears the following epitaph:
In Memory of
the Honorable Capt Wm Leslie of the 17th British
Regiment Son of the Earl of Leven
in Scotland
He fell Jany 3d 1777 Aged
26 years at the battle of
Princeton
His friend Benjn Rush M D of
Philadelphia
hath caused this stone to be erected as a mark
of his esteem for his worth
and of his respect for his noble Family
Capt. William Leslie is the only British fatality of the Battle of Princeton to be buried in an individual grave. He is the only known posthumous prisoner of war in the entire Revolutionary War.
CHARLES
CORNWALLIS
THE EARL CORNWALLIS
DECEMBER 31, 1738–
OCTOBER 5, 1805
In the United States, Lord Cornwallis is usually remembered for the surrender of his army at Yorktown, Virginia, the last major battle in the Revolutionary War, and the event that began peace negotiations. His career was much more than his service during that war and his influence in British politics is far greater.
Born into an aristocratic family, Cornwallis was educated at Eaton and Cambridge and chose a career in the military. As a young officer, he studied military subjects in Europe and participated in the Seven Years’ War (known in the United States as the French and Indian War). In 1760, Cornwallis became a Member of Parliament as a member of the Whig Party. He voted against the Stamp Act, a law that antagonized many citizens in the colonies, and often expressed sympathy for the colonists.
Assigned to put down the revolution in 1776, Cornwallis helped win British victories at Long Island and at Brandywine Creek. Sent to the southern colonies in 1779, he participated in the siege of Charleston, which forced the surrender of Continental forces under General Benjamin Lincoln (see “Benjamin Lincoln”) and tried to control South and North Carolina. He was frustrated in this goal by guerrilla fighters such as Francis Marion (see “Francis Marion”). Cornwallis marched his army north to Virginia, where he was trapped at Yorktown and surrendered his forces (see “Turning an Insult Against the Insulter,” “I Can Fire a Cannon at It if I Want—It’s My House,” and “Worms Won the War for the Patriots.”)
Lord Cornwallis continued his career by serving as Governor of India, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and a negotiator in the long war against France. He died in India and is buried there. His memorial in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London does not mention his service in the colonies.