Christmas night holds a special significance in our state and nation's history it's the night that General George Washington turned the tide of the Revolutionary War and set the stage for his eventual victory over the hessin the Germans fighting for the British Army and it all happened in our state's capital Ted Goldberg is in Trenton for a tour that's part of Patriots week going on today through December 31st where a significant slice of our history comes to life look at this guy's got a hot dog Ralph Siegel is great at pointing out interesting stuff on the streets of Trenton they don't realize the battlefield is still here uh the streets are still here exactly as they were well not this one in particular but the other ones were seagull's tour of Trenton is part of patriot week an effort to help teach new jerseyans not just where to find statues of hot dog vendors but more about the important role their state played in the Revolutionary War Washington's goal is to be in moristown the red box represent two brigades he's got to get these pieces off the board and that's the Battle of trip seagull starts his Tour by setting up his characters including George Washington 44 years old superb Horseman the height of his powers and what happened after the famous crossing of the Delaware when Washington's ragtag Army scored a shocking win over German troops the tactics in the Battle of trend is to deprive the enemy of a fair field of battle so these Germans come marching out into the street artillery fire they March back and here comes the Barbarian horde charging at them and they're like they don't even know who these guys are Washington's approach shattered the German defense and led to a huge momentum shift in the war artillery Fire coming down the street and he pulls back and he sees instantly what Washington's doing deprive the enemy of a fair field of battle that Cannonball comes out of a six-pounder fully loaded and Fire fired at about 700 mph it's about the speed of sound and it's skipping down the street deprive the enemy of a Fairfield of battle by Spring the British would have come and cleaned up and we would not be standing here talking about the United States of America Patrick Murray is one of the state's esteemed political pollsters and a board member of Crossroads of the American Revolution a group working with New Jersey historical commission to improve the state's historical sites ahead of 2026 New Jersey is planning on a series of celebrations honoring the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence it's going to take some money to invest in some of the the museums that we have in the area kind of bringing them together uh in a in a cohesive kind of brand so everybody understands that how important these all were and how they all work together when they did the Declaration of Independence a rider comes to the courthouse steps and reads the Declaration of Independence out loud see also does tours of Gettysburg and he enjoys teaching people about American history I'm glad people come to it and I'm happy to be able to kick it off and bringing light to battles that don't get the line share of attention very much overshadowed they pay all attention to Jockey Hollow and Marist toown uh National Park Service Miss Trenton went up there and established the first Historic Park in the United States at in moristown they should have done here Mar Town's W they went to rest after fighting in Trenton last year Governor Murphy signed a bill allocating $25 million to invest in Revolutionary War sites here in the state setting the scene for a massive celebration in 2026 in Trenton I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music]