The Revolutionary War was a cat and mouse game involving pursuit\, evasion\, surveillance\, intelligence gathering\, and constantly shifting strategy. Because New Jersey was centrally locate d between New York City and Philadelphia\, it was a coveted geographical l ocation to control. It&rsquo\;s no surprise that more skirmishes and battl es were fought here than in any other colony. And George Washington and hi s troops had to live somewhere while away from home. Depending on how long they planned to remain in a particular area\, sometimes they pitched tent s (an encampment) and sometimes they built huts (a cantonment) at strategi c locations. The goal was to keep an eye on the British. At the risk of ov ersimplifying the situation\, after those ten crucial days from December 2 5\, 1776 to January 3\, 1777 involving the Battles of Trenton and Princeto n\, Washington and his men encamped for the winter in Morristown\, establi shing outposts at various key locations to detect/ monitor British movemen t. The British\, headquartered in New Brunswick\, decided to launch a surp rise attack on one such outpost in Bound Brook but\, because they had to f ord the Raritan River\, They could not do so until the winter had passed. But then\, in April\, attack they did! It was 4000 British against 500 Con tinentals! The Continentals escaped via an unguarded exit. Washington took immediate action\, sending troops to Bound Brook and moving his camp from Morristown to a place called Middle Brook (as it was originally spelled)\ , in the Watchung Mountains\, to keep a closer eye on the enemy.
\nL
inda Barth will pick up the story from here.
The \ ;Van Harlingen Historical Society and the Somerset County Library System i s proud to host this program in collaboration. \;
\nhttps://sclsnj. libnet.info/event/17343984 URL;VALUE=URI:https://sclsnj.libnet.info/event/17343984 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/sclsnj/Programming_Icons_A dult.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR