American Revolution
The American Revolution was the conflict that founded the United States. Below is an abridged timeline - from early resistance to the Revolutionary War to the Constitution, with brief mentions of West Windsor's role.
Colonial Life
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Prior to the Revolution, the original thirteen colonies of Great Britain stretched across the East Coast of the present-day United States. Each had been founded between the early 1600s and mid-1700s, and for various reasons, including religious freedom, economic opportunity, and more (New Jersey was a mixture of both). There were, of course, other European colonial powers as well, such as the Spanish and French. And, lest we forget, North America's Indigenous residents predated everyone else. The Native Americans in the New Jersey area were the "Lenape," and they lived here for about 12,000 years (including West Windsor!) before most (but not all!) were driven out of the state by the early 1800s.
In the British colonies, settlers largely kept east of the Appalachian Mountains. Life was diverse, with variations among the colonies based on geography, economy, and social structures. While many colonists engaged in agriculture, including family farms in the North and large plantations in the South, others relied on commerce, trade, and crafts in larger coastal cities. Colonists were considered British subjects, subject to its laws and conflicts, but also enjoyed a unique level of freedom - that is, except for the hundreds of thousands of slaves trafficked largely from Africa. The colonies also differed in their religious and political views, as well as their relationships with the British government. Tensions between the colonists and the British Crown gradually increased due to issues like taxation and lack of representation in Parliament, ultimately leading to the American Revolution... |
Click image for source.
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A Brewing Resistance (1763-1774)
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From 1754-1763, the colonies and Indigenous natives were swept up into the French and Indian War, part of a larger global power struggle between Britain and France over territory, wealth, and influence. Although the British emerged victorious, the conflict also bankrupted their empire, so, they began to impose new taxes on their colonies. Just a few examples include the Sugar Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), Quartering Act (1765), and Townshend Acts (1767), each of which taxed imported goods, forced colonists to provide housing and supplies for British Troops, or required the colonists to purchase stamps for printed materials. Colonists, now subject to an increasingly controlling government and began protesting these moves, uniting in resistance against what they saw as growing tyranny. British responses, like the their occupation of Boston (1768), the closing of Boston Harbor (1774), and the Intolerable Acts (1774) only increased tensions.
The Boston Massacre (1770), wherein British soldiers fired on a mob of ciivilians, became a rallying cry for many. Two years later, the Committees of Correspondence formed, as networks of colonial leaders began coordinating resistance. In 1773, the Boston Tea Party saw American patriots dump chests of tea into the Boston Harbor, in defiance of taxation without representation. The next year, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. Delegates from most of the colonies gathered to address rising concerns about the British and demand their fundamental rights to "life, liberty, and property." This represented a significant step in uniting the colonies under a common resistance toward British rule. |
Boston Massacre, 1770. Click image for source.
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Independence Declared (1775-1776)
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War finally broke out on April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. News of bloodshed swept the colonies like wildfire, and thousands of volunteers, including those from the West Windsor area, gathered to form a patriot army. While these were mainly men, many women joined the Continental Army, playing key support roles as nurses, cooks, and even spies and soldiers!
In May, the Second Continental Congress met to oversee the war effort and debate founding a new nation. In June, they appointed George Washington as leader of the Continental Army. In November of year, Britain offered freedom to slaves who fought for them. The patriots' Siege of Boston (Apr 1775-Mar 1776) occupied most of the first year of the war, and forced the British out of this key city. It included the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), which proved that the Americans could hold their own against the superior forces, wealth, and training of the British army. In November of that year, the Americans also captured Montreal in Canada. |
Edward Moran's "Battle of Bunker Hill." Click image for source.
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However, undoubtedly most significant of all was when the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, formally separating the colonies from British rule. The signers included Richard Stockton, who lived in Princeton, and owned about 300 acres of land in West Windsor at the time.
Now driven out of Boston, the British set their sights on New York City. On August 27, William Howe, commander of the British army, dealt a crushing blow to the Americans at the Battle of Brooklyn. This was followed by the Battles of Harlem Heights (Sep. 16), White Plains (Oct. 28), and Fort Washington (Nov. 16), part of the broader "New York Campaign" that ultimately drove the American army out of New York, fleeing south into Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These were the darkest hours of the war, but hope was on the horizon... |
John Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence." Click image for source.
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Ten Crucial Days (Dec. 20, 1776-Jan. 3, 1777)
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Having fled New York, Washington's army was low on supplies and winter was upon them. Worse yet, many soldiers' enlistments were expiring, and with morale low, many were set to abandon the army. And at the same time, the British and Hessians were rampaging across the countryside, causing destruction and civilian casualties - including the West Windsor area. Recognizing the urgency, Washington masterfully achieved three crucial victories between Dec. 25, 1776 and January 3, 1777, a period called the "Ten Crucial Days."
On December 26, 1776, Washington's army famously crossed the Delaware from Pennsylvania into New Jersey, surprising and defeating a Hessian garrison in Trenton and taking the city for the patriots. On December 30, an American scouting party captured twelve British dragoons in the West Windsor area. The captive troops revealed crucial information about the enemy's movements, including that British general Charles Cornwallis was planning to march with thousands of troops from Princeton to retake Trenton. |
E. Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware." Click image for source.
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With this information, Washington was able to stave off British assault at the Second Battle of Trenton (also called the Battle of Assunpink Creek) on January 2, 1777. And, that very same night, in a brilliant maneuver, most of Washington's army snuck out of Trenton, marched north to Princeton (including through West Windsor), and triumphed a third time at the Battle of Princeton. It was in Princeton that Hugh Mercer (namesake of Mercer County) died. At the time, neither Princeton nor West Windsor existed as separate towns; instead they were both part of a larger municipality called Windsor Township.
The Ten Crucial Days was a key turning point in the Revolution; a shining light in a period of darkness. It restored confidence in the Continental Army, convincing enlisted soldiers to renew their contracts and new recruits to sign up. It also positioned Washington's army to drive the British out of New Jersey more broadly, and signaled to observers - including eventual French backers - that the patriots still had a chance. |
Washington's march to Princeton.
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Rest of the War (1777-1783)
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From 1777 to 1783, a variety of key events shaped the Revolutionary War. From June to October of 1777, the British attempted to sever New England from the other colonies, but ultimately failed. The Campaign of 1777 ended with the Battle of Saratoga (Sep. 19-Oct. 7, 1777), a major American victory, convincing France to lend its immense military might to the patriots. In November, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, which established an independent national government. And in June of 1778, the Americans cemented another victory with the Battle of Monmouth.
In September 1778, the United States government signed its first treaty with a Native American tribe, the Lenape, at the Treaty of Fort Pitt. Aimed at establishing peace and friendship, it recognized the Lenape's right to self-governance and territorial integrity, but the Lenape were ultimately betrayed over several more decades as most were driven out of New Jersey and/or subjugated under federal and state rule. From 1779 to 1781, the war shifted south, to battles in Georgia and South Carolina, such as the Sieges of Savannah (1779) and Charleston (1780). However, the British army finally surrendered at the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia, on October 19, 1781. Two years later, on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris formally ended the Revolutionary War, and Britain recognized the United States of America as an independent nation. At the time, Congress was meeting at Nassau Hall in Princeton, making it a capitol building of the United States. |
B. West's "Treaty of Paris." Click image for source.
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Post-War
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The period following the American Revolution was one of growth and transformation. Some British loyalists, such as Thomas Hooper in the historic "Edinburg" area of West Windsor, were persecuted and driven out. At the same time, Congress faced significant challenges, including a large national debt, a weak central government, and disagreements among the states. This included disputed about the nature of an ideal government, the future course of the nation, and controversial subjects such as slavery (which also existed in West Windsor).
Over the next few years, Congress met in various locations. In late 1784, they used French Arms tavern in Trenton. At the time, it was owned by a Revolutionary War veteran and West Windsor native named Jacob Bergen, who later owned an inn in the historic "Dutch Neck" area of West Windsor. This same establishment was where West Windsor's government held its very first meeting, and many thereafter for the next eight decades.
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Jacob Bergen's inn in Dutch Neck, 2018.
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Finally, on September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was signed, and ratified the next year. This document established the structure and powers of our current federal government, enshrined rights for its citizens, and remains the foundational law of the country to this day. In the years that followed, our country would continue to expand and develop. All of American history has its roots in the Constitution, and the generations of exploration, imperialism, colonialism, rebellion, war, and victory that preceded it.
On February 9, 1797, old Windsor Township split into two, and West Windsor was born. At the time, some Revolutionary War veterans, and many civilians who had experienced the war, still lived here, and many of them would witness the growth of our town and our nation for decades to come... |
H. Chandler painting, 1940. Click image for source.
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