PATRIOTS WEEK at Trenton City Museum

Alexander Hamilton and the 24 Cannon of Trent Town

A Patriots Week Talk by David Bosted
Saturday, December 28
2 pm

“By placing each infantry unit and each piece of cannon on a large tabletop map, we can follow the movements of individual fighting units. This will make clear the actual sequence of events in Trent-town on the snowy morning of December 26, 1776, and refute some fallacies.”—David Bosted

Alexander Hamilton played a key role in the opening moments of the battle of Trenton. “The New York artillerymen, commanded by young Alexander Hamilton, sent volley after volley down King Street.”

Future U.S. President James Monroe also played a critical role early in the Battle. A scratch force under his command ran down King Street (now Warren St) to capture the Rall cannon, which were partially disabled by Alexander Hamilton’s artillery fire. The Rall unit’s two brass Cannon were captured and taken from the Hessians near where the D & R Canal now crosses under Warren Street. Lt. James Monroe, then 18 years old, was seriously wounded in the capture of the cannon.

The Art, Imagery, and Parody of The 10 Crucial Days

A Patriots Week Talk by Roger Williams
Sunday, December 29
2 – 4 pm

One of the iconic images of the early days of the American Revolution is that of Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas 1776, portrayed in an 1851 painting by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. This painting solidified this crucial event in the public mind, and it remains one of the best-known portrayals of the Revolution. Painted in Germany 75 years after the Battle of Trenton, it is not surprising that some details need to be more accurate. This is also true of many other artistic interpretations of this and other events of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton.

Local public historian Roger Williams will share many of these interpretations during his talk,
pointing out how these images have reinforced certain beliefs about the Revolution and created
opportunities for exaggeration and even distortion of the actual events. Roger Williams is a historical interpreter at Washington Crossing Historical Park and at Princeton Battlefield. He is co-founder of TenCrucialDays.org, an affiliated organization committed to promoting the sites and the history of the Ten Crucial Days in 1776-77 that “turned the tide of American fortunes toward independence.” He is also the State Historian for the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.