* See a notice of Mr. Howland, of Providence, in connection with this event, on page 63.
** I have not met with any official account of the number killed on this occasion. A writer in the Connecticut Journal of January 22, 1777, says the enemy were "obliged to retreat and give over the attempt, after suffering great loss, supposed at least 150 killed." In a minute account by an eye-witness, published in the Princeton Whig of November 4, 1842, the writer says "the creek was nearly filled with their dead."
*** This view is from the north side of the Assanpink, a few rods above the bridge, looking south. The bridge, seen upon the right, is built of stone, and very strong, and is upon the site of the old one. The creek is curbed by a dam near the bridge, and forms the sheet of water seen in the picture. The old "Stacey Mill" of the Revolution, the largest building in the sketch, was quite dilapidated from the effects of fire and flood, when I was there. The two old houses on the left of it are of stone, covered with stucco, and were there at the time in question. On the bank, between them and the house of Mr. Timothy Abbott, seen on the extreme left, was a building used as a tavern, in the Revolution. It was demolished a few years ago. Along the high bank, from the mill eastward to the rail-way, now covered with houses and gardens, and also westward, some distance toward the Delaware, the Americans were encamped. The bank was being terraced when I visited Trenton, and will, in time, be a beautiful spot.
[[[Cornwallis Out-generaled.--March of the Americans toward Princeton.--Their Approach discovered by the Enemy.]]]
{ 234}ton] in the morning." Great was his astonishment and alarm at dawn to find the patriot camp-fires still burning, but not a man, nor hoof, nor tent, nor cannon there. All was silent and dreary on the south side of the Assanpink; and no man of the British army knew whither the Americans had fled, until the din of battle in the direction of Princeton came faintly upon the keen morning air at sunrise.
Cornwallis heard the booming of cannon, and, although mid-winter, he thought it was the rumbling of distant thunder. The quick ear of Erskine decided otherwise, and he exclaimed, "To arms, general! Washington has out-_generaled_ us. Let us fly to the rescue at Princeton!"