On December 1, 1776, General George Washington ordered his remaining soldiers to abandon New Brunswick and continue retreating south on the King’s Highway (Rte. 27).
Enemy forces had arrived on the far bank of the Raritan River and were preparing to cross. A rear guard of artillery was left behind to delay the enemy’s crossing and allow the American military to distance itself from British and Hessian forces. Somewhere between Six-Mile-Run and Nine-Mile-Run in a wooded area adjoining farmland, a campsite was established for the night. Notables present included: George Washington, Lord Stirling, Nathanael Greene, Hugh Mercer, Israel Putnam, William S. Livingston, Edward Hand, Nathaniel Heard, James Monroe, Aaron Burr, Thomas Mifflin, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine.
Before dawn, the retreating army continued marching across New Jersey in order to reach safety in Pennsylvania.
Resource: Section of: Hills, J., Morgan, B., Dunham, A. & Rue, J. (1781) A map, Middlesex County. [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/gm72003603/.