An Intact Princeton Battlefield Is Within Reach

The January 1777 Battle of Princeton brought General George Washington his first victory against British regulars and may well have decided the fate of the American Revolution. Just nine days after crossing the Delaware, Washington launched his famous charge from a parcel of land now known as Maxwell’s Field, which is owned by the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and lies adjacent to Princeton Battlefield State Park.

In November 2015, the IAS began to clear Maxwell’s Field with heavy equipment in preparation for building faculty-housing units. One month later, TCLF listed the Princeton Battlefield in its Landslide program, highlighting the potential loss of the historic landscape. In March 2016, TCLF joined the Save Princeton Coalition, an alliance of advocacy organizations formed by the Civil War Trust, the National Coalition for History, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Princeton Battlefield Society, and other groups.