The Lawrence Township Recreation Department has been honored for its stewardship of the annual Col. Edward Hand Historic March re-enactment.
The Recreation Department was given the Gregory A. Marshall Excellence in Parks and Historic Resources Award by the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association at its annual awards banquet last month.
The award recognizes outstanding programs that preserve and celebrate New Jersey’s parks and historic resources, according to the New Jersey Recreation and Park Association.
The Col. Edward Hand Historic March is more than just a re-enactment, association officials said. It is an immersive experience – from musket firing demonstrations to historical story-telling along the march route.
The event, which is held on the first Saturday in January, was created in 1962 by the late Robert Immordino. He was the first official Lawrence Township historian. It is an official position whose occupant is appointed by the Lawrence Township Council.
The march is led by William Agress, who portrays Hand. Agress is a historical re-enactor who lives in the township.
The annual march re-enacts the efforts of Hand and his band of Pennsylvania riflemen to delay the advance of British and Hessian troops on their way to retake Trenton from the Americans during the afternoon of Jan. 2, 1777.
The series of events that led to the Second Battle of Trenton and Hand’s delaying tactics can be traced to the series of defeats suffered by Gen. George Washington and his troops between August and November 1776. The American rebels had retreated to Pennsylvania.
On Christmas Day 1776, Washington and 2,400 soldiers crossed the Delaware River from Pennsylvania and marched to Trenton, where they routed the Hessian troops in the First Battle of Trenton. They crossed the Delaware River back to Pennsylvania after the battle.
Several days after the famous battle, Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River again and stopped in Trenton. The British and Hessian troops were sent to Trenton to take back the small town from the Americans on Jan. 2, 1777.
Hand and the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment were dispatched to slow down the British and Hessian troops as they marched from Princeton to Trenton.
The Americans engaged the British in several small skirmishes as they passed through Maidenhead, as Lawrence Township was originally known.
Despite the delaying tactics of Hand and his soldiers, the British and Hessian troops reached Trenton at dusk on Jan. 2, 1777. They engaged Washington and his soldiers in the Second Battle of Trenton.
During the battle, the Americans retreated across a bridge over the Assunpink Creek. Their British and Hessian pursuers tried three times to cross the bridge, but they were turned back each time.
The British were going to continue the fight the next day. But during the night and into the morning of Jan. 3, 1777, Washington led his troops around the British and Hessian encampment and followed a back road to Princeton.
The American troops surprised the British troops stationed there in what became known as the Battle of Princeton – and a turning point in the American Revolutionary War.
