Snow Forecast Pushes Historic March Back to Sunday

With snow forecast for Saturday, the 51st Annual Reenactment of the Col. Edward Hand Historic March has been rescheduled for Sunday, Dec. 30, beginning at 11 a.m. in the Lawrence Township Municipal Building (2207 Lawrence Rd.), township Superintendent of Recreation Steve Groeger announced on Thursday.

Bill Agress will once again portray Col. Hand. and will lead Revolutionary War re-enactors, history buffs, township officials, boy scouts and local residents on a march along Route 206 to Trenton to recreate the historical events that took place on Jan. 2, 1777.

It was on that day that Hand and Pennsylvania riflemen under his command engaged British and Hessian troops who were en route to Trenton to fight Gen. George Washington in what was to become known as the Second Battle of Trenton.

Using guerrilla tactics along the King's Highway (Route 206) in Maidenhead (as Lawrence Township was then named), Hand's men successfully slowed the British forces, tiring them, so that they did not reach Trenton until nightfall. Washington's Continental Army was able to hold off the British, and then slip away to Princeton under the cover of darkness.

As they make their way to Trenton on Sunday, marchers will pause at the site of a skirmish Hand's men had with the British at the Five Mile Run creek, just north of Darrah Lane.

Upon reaching the Shabakunk Creek – site of a larger skirmish – the procession will pause on the grounds of Notre Dame High School, where a flag will be raised and a canon fired under the supervision of re-enactors from Coryell's Ferry Militia.

Groeger said the program will begin at the municipal building at 11 a.m., with marchers expected to reach Notre Dame about 12:30 p.m. and their final destination at the Mill Hill Playhouse in Trenton around 2:30 p.m.

For more information contact Groeger in the Lawrence Township Recreation Department at (609) 844-7067 or by email: sgroeger@lawrencetwp.com.

See Also:

• Jan. 17, 2012: "Troop 28 Has a Blast at Annual Col. Hand March"
• Jan. 3, 2012: "Lawrence Holds 50th Annual Col. Hand Reenactment"
• Jan. 2, 2011: "Video/Photo Gallery: Col. Hand Marches Again"