The alert provincials were ready to receive them; and from their station on the Woodwardsville side of the creek, they poured upon the Britons volleys of musketry, which, with a well-aimed shot occasionally from an old six-pounder, effectually kept them at bay. Being re-enforced the next day, the enemy repaired the bridge, crossed it, and pursued their march toward Allentown. During the skirmish, one of the cannon-balls fired by the Americans struck the north wall of the meeting-house and lodged therein, where it remained until the building was repaired a few years ago. The hole made by the ball is yet visible; the dark spot between the sills of the two upper windows, on the right of the picture, marks the place.
The American troops at Crosswicks, after the battle of Trenton, used the meeting-house for barracks; yet, unlike the British soldiers who occupied churches for a similar purpose, they neither defaced the building, nor disturbed the society in their public religious duties'. Every Wednesday and Sunday the soldiers withdrew, the benches were properly arranged, and worship was held as usual.
During my brief tarry of an hour and a half at Crosswicks, I visited the venerable Mrs. Idell, who was eighty-three years old. She clearly remembered the advent of the Americans there, after the battle of Trenton. She lived with her brother, two or three miles from the meeting-house. Twelve American officers, on horseback, took possession of his house while himself and family were in meeting. The parlor was filled with equestrian accouterments, and she and two other children "almost lost their wits by fright." The old lady was strong in mind but feeble in body when I saw her, yet she was able to sit in their plain old house of worship every meeting-day.
I left Crosswicks at four o'clock, and arrived at Trenton at sunset. It was a pleasant drive of eight miles through a fertile country; the well-filled barns and barracks, and the numerous haystacks, denoting bountiful harvests. I passed a little northward of Bordentown, and had an occasional glimpse of its spires above the brown tree-tops. As we may not, in the course of our journey, approach so near this pleasant village again, let us slacken our pace a little as we go over the crown of the hill, from whence the vane of the Episcopal church is visible, and consider its Revolutionary history.
Bordentown is "a city upon a hill," and "can not be hid." It is at the elbow of the Delaware River, seven miles below Trenton, and from the brow of the eminence on which it stands there is an extensive view of that noble stream and the surrounding country. It derives its name from Joseph Borden, an early settler. Here both the Americans and British had military stores; and hither both parties, at different times, dispatched small detachments to surprise and capture, or destroy them. Here a strong body of Hessians, under
* An American named Clevenger, who had cut away the last sleeper of the bridge when the enemy approached, was shot in the back of the head and killed while retreating. He was the only man whom the Americans lost in the skirmish.
** This view is from the shed in the yard, looking southeast. The building stands in the center of a large square, is of imported brick, and very spacious. The Quakers were numerous in this vicinity in the time of the Revolution, and a large number of the present inhabitants are members of that sect.