 This action was one of a series of skirmishes known as the Forage War that persisted in northern New Jersey through the first few months of 1777, and it demonstrated that militia companies were capable of putting up a significant fight.After George Washington's successful movements around the army of Charles Cornwallis that culminated in the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777, Washington faced the dilemma of being caught between Cornwallis in Trenton, New Jersey and the rest of the British Army at New Brunswick, New Jersey.Rather than make an attempt on the British outpost at New Brunswick with his exhausted troops, Washington moved his army up the Millstone River valley toward Morristown, New Jersey, a place he knew could be strongly fortified and used as winter quarters.