Yeah, he slept here somewhere.

Growing up in New Jersey, you learn a lot of jokes about the state. I'm not going to repeat about 95% of them, because I think my blog testifies to the fact that New Jersey is more than a Turnpike and an airport. We are known as "The Garden State" because back when we were 13 colonies struggling for independence, New Jersey was literally the bread basket of the colonies (and we continue to do well with produce today, thank you very much!) Throughout that struggle, known as the War for Independence, or the American Revolution, New Jersey was turf for more encampments, battles, and sieges than any other colony. The historical markers to where General George Washington slept are nearly everywhere since New Jersey IS the "Crossroads of the Revolution" (check your state quarter on that one). Princeton was the site of a very decisive battle that helped turn the tide for the Continental Army in early January 1777. A little more than a week after crossing the Delaware River and surprising Hessian forces in Trenton on Christmas Day, a very bloody battle was fought at Princeton when British General Cornwallis sent the redcoats from New York City to recapture Trenton. The battle field is down the road a few miles, but this monument stands at the end of Nassau street looking into downtown Princeton. (I didn't go there because traffic is crazy this time of day and I had a tutoring appointment in the other direction.)

The monument depicts General Washington fighting the battle while Liberty exhorts him even as she supports General Mercer who had just been mortally wounded. The defeat of the British was a morale boost for the men of the Continental Army who agreed to stay on for another ten days after they captured Trenton from a bunch of tired and hung over Hessians. The upstart ragtag rebels proved to themselves that they could fight to victory over the world class redcoats. The subsequent re-enlistment of the forces gave the rebels a fighting chance that would later be secured at Yorktown, Virginia.

Behind the monument, sphinx flank the path to Morven,
which used to be the Governor's mansion.
I've always thought them to be a little random here.