As the anniversary of the “Ten Crucial Days” of the American Revolution—10 days at the end of December 1776 into January 1777 when the Continental Army and British army fought several key battles—comes and goes, local author David Price wants to teach Lawrence residents about New Jersey’s role in the war.
A Lawrence resident, Price recently wrote his first book, Rescuing the Revolution: Unsung Patriot Heroes and the Ten Crucial Days of America’s War for Independence. He is set to give a 10-minute talk about Col. Edward Hand at the Lawrence Municipal Building Jan. 7, 2017 at 10 a.m., prior to the annual Edward Hand March.
Hand, colonel of the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment that saw action in all three engagements of the Ten Crucial Days campaign, is one of Price’s “unsung heroes.” Each year, Lawrence resident William Agress and a troop of dedicated volunteers and living history enthusiasts recreate the pivotal delaying action of Hand’s Pennsylvanians and other soldiers that slowed the advance of Charles Cornwallis’s 8,000 British and Hessian troops prior to the Battle of Assunpink Creek on Jan. 2, 1777. The Col. Hand March is open to the public. For more information, call the Lawrence Township Recreation Department at (609) 844-7065.
Price, a historical interpreter at Washington Crossing Historic Park in Pennsylvania, has had three speaking engagements in New Jersey and Pennsylvania since November and to date has five more presentations scheduled in 2017.
Price leads guided tours at Washington Crossing Historic Park that focus on the “Ten Crucial Days” and other historical aspects of the park. He is a member of the Crossroads of the American Revolution Association, the Museum of the American Revolution, the Old Barracks Association, and the Princeton Battlefield Society. He holds degrees in political science from Drew University and Rutgers University and was a nonpartisan research analyst with the New Jersey Legislature for 31 years.
