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Show Princeton, New Jersey On Jan. 2, 1776, George Washington, who had been named commander-in-chief of American forces in July of 1775, raised the first flag of his army near Cambridge, Mass. He was training a 16,000 man force. The flag contained 13 red and white stripes, as it now does, plus the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew where the fifty stars are today. A YEAR later, Washington won an important military victory vic-tory at Princeton, N.J. , on Jan. 3, 1977. Following Washington's Washing-ton's surprise attack and victory vic-tory in the Battle of Tronton (Dec. 26, 1776), Cornwallis, the British commander, arrived ar-rived in the vicinity with a larger lar-ger force. Instead of waiting at Trenton Tren-ton to be attacked, Washington Washing-ton decided to attack, himself, and leaving his campfires bur-ing bur-ing on the night of Jan. 2, moved around the British left, where a detachment of his army collided with the British at the Stony Brook bridge. THE AMERICANS were driven back but Washington hurried to the scene with his main body and routed the British Brit-ish force. Then he seized the military stores at Princeton, falling back on a strong position posi-tion at Morristown. There the British refused to attack and this, in effect, left New Jersey in American hands as the main British force returned re-turned to New York. |