He had just finished working with opium and  instruments  over  a  young,  groaning American. It was the last of several cases he had treated, one after another, over a period of several exhausting hours.

     Now the thunder of the guns had died away, and it was not apt to resume at this location - for Dr. Rush was aware, as Lord Cornwallis was not, that the American army had disappeared into the night.

     The decision had been made in early evening of January  2.  The  American  officers had debated their options: to stand and fight, facing trained brigades with a largely untrained army; or to back away downriver, hoping to find enough boats to ferry to Pennsylvania before the enemy could catch up; or to march in an extended flanking movement to strike the British rearguard at Princeton.

     The last of these alternatives was decided upon; probably at the suggestion of New Jersey's General  Dickinson or Colonel  Reed, both of whom knew the territory well. Reed was able to map out the route: the old road striking a little north of Sandtown (now Mercerville) and continuing east to a crossing of the Assunpink at the "Ouaker Bridge," then north to Stony Brook and Princeton.

     If the army could cover the fourteen miles by night, a surprise would be in store for the British rear-guard at Princeton; and as great a surprise  for  Cornwallis,  left far behind and isolated at Trenton.

     To implement the decision, time was of the essence - as it had been in most of the maneuvers of the previous few critical days. After nightfall, fires were kindled near the creek bank, within  view of the  British encamped in Trenton, and men were assigned to create a clatter with entrenching tools as though in preparation for a full-scale battle the next morning. Guards at the bridge and the upper-creek fords were reinforced, and pickets patrolled the length of the American position to prevent any stealthy crossing by enemy scouts.

     Meanwhile, the American encampment was breaking up. The three  heaviest pieces of ordnance and all the baggage wagons were drawn away on the road south to Burlington, to permit the army to travel rapidly on its march east and north.  The guard over this wagon train was quickly enlarged by many volunteers who, after a taste of battle at the Assunpink, were quite ready to depart for more peaceful dimes as escort for the wagons.

     The excess guards were ordered back for marching duty, and by midnight the advance column was ready to  move out on the Sandtown road (following in general the line of present-day Hamilton Avenue).

     Favoring the operation was the weather; a drop in temperature had come during daylight and evening of the 2nd. The roads, miry the night before, were now crusty. Unfavorable to the operation was the fact that two thirds of the army, after marching arduously in mud one night earlier, were now marching without sleep for a second night. This had occurred during the events surrounding the original Battle of Trenton, and now it was occurring again. Freedom, at this time, was demanding of its
champions no small sacrifice in the way of sleepless nights.

     Leaving the tiny settlements of Bloomsbury and  Mill  Hill  behind, the army was near Sandtown at two in the morning. This part of the  march  as  well  as  the  previous  day's American cannonade occurred in Nottingham Township, then and for many years there after a part of Burlington County.

    A  tale  quoted  by  General  Mercer's biographer and in at least -one New Jersey history tells us that a Burlington County girl, Jane Waglum, was closely familiar with the route and that, dressed in male attire, she acted as a guide to Mercer in the vanguard of the army.

     In the ranks, as the night wore on, soldiers were falling asleep on their feet at every halt of the long procession, to be bowled over by the troops  behind  them  when  the  marching resumed.

     Four hundred men had been left behind to maintain deceptive picket lines and fires at the scene  of  the  previous  day's  battle,  with instructions to follow in the track of the main body at about three in the morning. By this hour the main army was nearing the end of the Sandtown road, about to move into the old Ouaker  road  to  Pnnceton.  The  vanguard approached Stony Brook, only two miles from the destination, shortly after the break of dawn.

     Then came the first great surprise of January 3, 1777.

     Of the three British regiments detailed as a rear-guard at Princeton, two had left the town at four in the morning in accordance with Lord Cornwallis' instructions, to join him at Trenton. They were two miles into the march when, to their  astonishment, a file of Americans appeared at the edge of a thicket of woodland.

     The Americans under General Mercer were equally astonished at sight of the redcoats. The British dodged for cover to an orchard nearby, and the Americans took cover in another orchard - where Captain Daniel Neil of New Jersey ranged two artillery pieces and fired at the British. The enemy formed ranks and fired three volleys at the Americans. Advancing with
bayonets, they killed Captain Neil and seriously wounded General Mercer and four other officers.

     The  American  column,  retreating,  was reinforced by the up-coming regiments including Cadwalader's regulars, the Philadelphia Associators, and Mifflin's militia. Washington, riding midway of the army and hearing the sounds of battle, galloped up with his aides and urged the Americans to stand firm.

     Without  hesitation  he  took command: "Parade with us, my brave fellows!" Riding in front of the troops, he pointed them forward. Men of the colonies followed in a widespread line, mounting a rise of ground to within thirty yards of the British position. With Washington between  the  lines both sides fired simultaneously; and the Commander in Chief's aides turned their faces away, positive that in his exposed position the General would be a victim of this sharp encounter.

     The smoke was clearing, disclosing a number of men and horses down on all sides. The British lines broke; the redcoats, overwhelmed by numbers, ran for cover...and out of the smoke Washington appeared, still mounted, to urge the chase. The Americans pushed the attack until Washington, coming upon the form of General Mercer at the scene of the earlier engagement, drew up; and directed his army toward the original objective: Princeton.

     After sporadic skirmishing and heavy artillery  fire,  most  of  the  British  remaining  in Princeton escaped hurriedly on the road to New Brunswick, leaving military stores and equipment behind.

     The American generals would have liked to continue the chase,  following the  British regiment from Princeton on the road to New Brunswick, where immense supplies and a British military chest containing 70,000 English pounds were stored under light guard. The rank and file, however, were exhausted, and the American army moved north, into the hills.

     Cornwallis, a dispatch advised, had been entirely surprised by the early-morning sound of guns from the Princeton direction - and now was hurrying his army from Trenton to protect the New Brunswick stores, "in a most infernal sweat, running, puffing, blowing and swearing at being so outwitted."