Combat· American Revolutionary War
Battle of Assunpink Creek (Second Trenton)
As Lord Cornwallis marched on Trenton to trap Washington's army against the Delaware, the Americans dug in behind Assunpink Creek and threw back repeated British attempts to force the bridge and fords.
Continental Marines from the Philadelphia battalion under Major Samuel Nicholas served with Washington's force during this phase of the New Jersey campaign, part of the body of seamen and Marines that Cadwalader's brigade brought to the field. Holding the line bought Washington the night he needed: rather than fight a doomed pitched battle, he slipped away in darkness and marched on Princeton, where the same Marines went into action the next morning on Cadwalader's right flank. The Assunpink stand preserved the Continental Army at a precarious moment and set up one of the war's most celebrated maneuvers, with the Marines taking part as land soldiers.
Podcast episodes on American Revolutionary War
Record no. 131