This small frame house currently serves as the headquarters for the Trenton Historical Society. It is four blocks from the Old Barracks Museum.

Built in 1766 on Queen Street (now South Broad St.) by Jacob Bright, the house was bought by Alexander Douglass on May 12, 1769. Douglass later became quartermaster of the Continental Army during the Revolution.

The house served as the HQ of General Arthur St. Clair following the first Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. On January 2, 1777, General George Washington and his staff met in a council of war at the house, where they decided to march the bulk of the Continental Army away from Trenton during the night to avoid a large British force under Cornwallis already in Trenton.

Cornwallis, hearing of the defeat of the Hessians, marched quickly with 8,000 British troops. Skirmishes started outside Trenton (now, Lawrenceville), as Colonel Hand with 400 infantry used a variety of delaying tactics to buy time for Washington's forces in Trenton. The British spent the better part of the day pushing on through to Trenton, eventually clearing the city on the north side of the Assunpink Creek.

Several attacks across the Assunpink Creek Bridge were repulsed by Continental Army soldiers dug in and backed by artillery on the Mill Hill Heights south of the Assunpink. Cornwallis pulled back for the night, leaving Washington to confer with his staff at the Douglass House.

With rags padding horses hooves and artillery and wagon wheels, and a number of sentries left behind to keep campfires burning and generally make the British believe the Continentals were still there, the army slipped away north in a midnight march up Sandtown Road (now Hamilton Ave.)

This strategy succeeded, and the Army marched north to encounter and defeat a detachment of British troops at the Battle of Princeton on January 3.

The house is sparsely furnished, primarily one sitting room and a dining room. The upstairs was closed. An information panel outlines the second battle of Trenton (Battle of the Assunpink). A reconstruction of a flag hangs on the wall.

Note that the house has been moved three times, most recently in 1973, when it was moved to its current position at the corner of East Front and Montgomery Streets.

Contact

Trenton Historical Society
165 East Front St.
PO Box 1112
Trenton, NJ 08606
609-989-3111

Hours: Third Sunday each month, 12:00 noon to 4:00p.m.
Admission: free

More Trenton

Introduction
Old Barracks Museum
Alexander Douglass House
Trenton Battle Monument
William Trent House
NJ State House
Mill Hill Section
War Memorial, Old Masonic Lodge
Trenton Map (Large: 141K)

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