Nassau Hall

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Nassau Hall is the main administrative building of Princeton University, in Borough of Princeton, New Jersey. A sober office building today, the Hall had a colorful history, particularly in the eighteenth century:

• The New Jersey Legislature met for the first time in Nassau Hall on August 27, 1776.

• The British Redcoats seized control of Nassau Hall in 1776, and American soldiers were forced to fire upon their own building in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. Three cannonballs were fired, but only two made contact. One glanced off the south side of the building. The damage can still be seen today. Another cannonball flew through a window in the Faculty Room and "decapitated" King George's portrait. The result of the battle was a decisive Patriot victory, and Nassau Hall was retaken by the Americans.
• The Continental Congress convened in Nassau Hall for a bit more than four months (from June 30, 1783, to November 4, 1783). The normal location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had to be vacated due to a rebellion among American soldiers.

[edit] References

• A Princeton Companion article on the Hall
• Inscription on FitzRandolph Gate facing Nassau Hall
• An article on the Hall from the book American Places: Encounters with History

New Jersey in the American Revolutionary War
1776 -Fort Lee - Washington's crossing of the Delaware - First Trenton - 1777 - Second Trenton - Princeton - Millstone - Short Hills - Forage War - Bound Brook - Middlebrook encampment - 1778 - Monmouth - Molly Pitcher - Baylor Massacre - Little Egg Harbor massacre - Chestnut Neck - 1779 - Paulus Hook - 1780 - Connecticut Farms - Springfield - 1783 - U.S. Capital at Princeton