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It is June 1778. The British have evacuated Philadelphia, making a dash through Haddonfield and Mount Holly, retreating northeast towards Manhattan Island. General Washington orders his army out of Valley Forge, and crosses the Delaware at Lambertville. On the 23rd he reaches Hopewell, and on the 24th convenes the most significant gathering of Continental Army leadership than at any other point in the War for Independence. Washington headquarters in Hopewell for two days before dispatching several thousand troops to chase the British into Monmouth County. The ensuing Battle of Monmouth delivers a critical victory for the Continentals and is recognized as the army's coming of age moment; a turning point in the cause for independence!
Where exactly in Hopewell was Washington's war council that hatched the plan for the first major battlefield success of the Revolution? Washington, La Fayette, Greene, Knox, and the others gathered in the home of Joseph Stout on the northeast corner of town, occupied at the time by his relative John Price Hunt. Today, this property is called Pheasant Hill, and you know it as one of the vineyards of Unionville. "Hunt's House," as Washington recorded in his daily orders sits mere yards above our prized Chardonnay vineyard. The early stages of the Battle of Monmouth were planned at Unionville Vineyards.
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