Princeton Battle Monument

The Princeton Battle Monument is located in Princeton, New Jersey, adjacent to Morven and Princeton's borough hall. The Monument commemorates the January 3, 1777 Battle of Princeton, and depicts General George Washington leading his troops to victory and the death of General Hugh Mercer.

Commissioned in 1908, the Monument was designed by the prominent Beaux Arts sculptor Frederick MacMonnies with the assistance of architect Thomas Hastings. President Warren G. Harding was present for the 1922 dedication of the Monument. Nighttime illumination of the Monument was part of the original plan for its construction, but it was only in 2007, 85 years after the completion of the Monument, that the lighting work finally got underway, after a successful fundraising effort by the Princeton Parks Alliance. Charles Stone of the New York firm Fischer Marantz Stone designed the lighting scheme.

After years of neglect and unsuccessful "restorations", the monument underwent a professional conservation treatment in 2006 and 2007, as part of the State of New Jersey historic preservation initiative. The treatment was carried out by Aegis Restauro, LLC led by conservators, Zbigniew Pietruszewski and Joanna Pietruszewski, and Farewell, Mills and Gatsch Architects. In September 2007, the Monument was ceremoniously rededicated when the lights were switched on for the first time.