Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s January 3, 1777. I’m with seventeen-year-old Joseph Martin. Joseph has just fought under General Washington at the Battle of Princeton.
JG: “Tell me, Joseph, how did General Washington win so decisively at Princeton with only half the men of General Cornwallis?”
JM: “Mr. Gillespie, General Washington is so smart. We kept our campfires burning, pretending to be settled in, then we went down to the river, around the British left flank, and attacked at Princeton College at dawn. We captured, killed, or wounded over four hundred redcoats.”
This victory at Princeton gave hope to a struggling Continental Army.
Read the full text of George Washington’s letter to John Hancock where he recounts the events of the Battle of Princeton.
John and Jan Gillespie are the founders of the Rawhide Boys’ Ranch; they have fostered 351 teenagers and wrote the book Our 351 Sons; they have also assisted numerous churches in developing youth programs and expanding their total church ministries. After running for U.S. Senate, John founded 1776 American Dream, which exists to demonstrate the vision of our founding fathers and help our generation of youth passionately embrace those values.