Patron's Perspective: Staff Ride of the Ten Crucial Days Campaign

In December 2010, the David Library introduced a new program into its regular schedule: the "staff ride" battlefield tour. Our initial tour covers the surviving sites and marching routes of the Trenton-Princeton or "Ten Crucial Days" Campaign of December 1776-January 1777. Library Patron Dennis Waters attended our May 21st staff ride and was kind enough to send along some detailed comments that provide great insights into the experience of the staff ride. We've chosen to present the highlights of his report at the top: please see "below the fold" for the full text of his report. Our thanks go out to Dennis and all the other members of the David Library Family who have made this program a great success!

WPT III




"Over the years I have read most of the books on the subject and visited...most of the sites. But I knew my knowledge fell short, and so I grabbed the chance to spend a day touring the sites with a group organized by the David Library and led by Feinstone Scholar in Residence Will Tatum."


"The preparation makes...[the staff ride] more than just another battlefield tour and the tour makes...[it] more than just another lecture about a battle. The David Library prepared us by mailing an advance packet of maps and transcripts of eyewitness accounts from their collection."


"The lunch place was Bill’s Olde Tavern...which was standing on the site when Washington and his men passed by. My fellow staff-riders were a good group and it was nice to have a chance to get to know some of them a little better."


"Will literally marched us across the battlefield, showing us the positions of the British and Continental forces and how the rolling terrain affected the course of the battle. This exercise really showcased the benefits of the staff ride concept, and I came away with a much greater appreciation of what had transpired there."



"...the DLAR Staff Ride was a great outing and worth every penny."




Staff Ride of the Ten Crucial Days Campaign

by Dennis Waters

Like many history-minded denizens of the Delaware Valley I have had a longstanding interest in the “ten crucial days” of 1776-77, comprising the First and Second Battles of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton. Over the years I have read most of the books on the subject and visited (or at least driven by) most of the sites. But I knew my knowledge fell short, and so I grabbed the chance to spend a day touring the sites with a group organized by the David Library and led by Feinstone Scholar in Residence Will Tatum.

The day was billed as a “staff ride.” I’m not a military historian, so this term was new to me. Staff rides were originally developed by the Prussian military in the 19th century as training exercises to provide officers with in-depth studies of battlefields. They combine advance preparation and site visits to maximize understanding of the key factors that led to victory or defeat. The preparation makes them more than just another battlefield tour and the tour makes them more than just another lecture about a battle. The David Library prepared us by mailing an advance packet of maps and transcripts of eyewitness accounts from their collection.

So at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, May 21, 19 of us gathered at the David Library to join Will Tatum for a day of study and exercise. It had been raining all week but Saturday was sunny and beautiful. Will began with a helpful presentation on 18th-century warfare, the armies and units involved, and the series of unhappy events that had driven Washington and his army to the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware in mid-December of 1776. We then gathered around a table and Will used a simple map to illustrate the movements of troops across the terrain we were about to visit.

Then we piled into a comfortable little chartered coach and began our journey. The first stops were the respective Washington Crossing parks on both the PA and NJ sides. Then, to the extent possible given current road alignments, we traced one of the routes the Continentals followed from Washington Crossing to Trenton. We disembarked at the Washington Battle Monument to try to envision the First Battle of Trenton, admittedly not an easy task given the current cityscape. Then we proceeded to Mill Hill Park, where we walked down to the Assunpink Creek to review the Second Battle.

We left Trenton by the same back-door route that Washington used on the night of January 2, 1777, stopping for lunch in Mercerville (named for a key figure in the Battle of Princeton), which was known as Sandtown in Colonial times. The lunch place was Bill’s Olde Tavern, the original part of which was standing on the site when Washington and his men passed by. My fellow staff-riders were a good group and it was nice to have a chance to get to know some of them a little better.

Washington’s 1777 back roads today pass through a heavily-trafficked shopping center complex, which requires a different kind of endurance, but we prevailed and found our way to the Princeton Battlefield State Park, which for me was the real highlight of the day. Will literally marched us across the battlefield, showing us the positions of the British and Continental forces and how the rolling terrain affected the course of the battle. This exercise really showcased the benefits of the staff ride concept, and I came away with a much greater appreciation of what had transpired there.

We then braved the Saturday traffic in Princeton for a quick drive-by of Nassau Hall, where the Battle of Princeton officially concluded when the British waved a white flag out a window. Our tour also concluded at that point, and our coach returned to the David Library, arriving at about 4:30. It was a full day, and through all of it, Will Tatum remained informative, entertaining, and enthusiastic.

I do have a few quibbles about the program, but nothing that would keep me from recommending it wholeheartedly. I would have traded some of the time spent at Washington Crossing for more time at the end to actually get out and walk around Nassau Hall. And since the bus could not cross the old bridge at Washington Crossing and had to go all the way down to cross in I-95 at Scudders Falls, it would have been nice to have the option to walk across from the PA to the NJ side, especially on such a fine morning.

And being from Lawrence Township (known as Maidenhead in the day), I would have liked more prominence for the delaying action of Col. Edward Hand in slowing the advance of Cornwallis so he could not fully engage Washington on the afternoon of January 2nd. But parochial concerns aside, the DLAR Staff Ride was a great outing and worth every penny.


Have something you want to share, such as a question, research find, or a personal story about the Library? Email Will Tatum at tatum@dlar.org