Town marks milestone with imaginary battle

BORDENTOWN, N.J., June 11 (UPI) -- An old New Jersey town celebrated its 325th anniversary by enacting some imaginary history -- the first and second battles of Bordentown.

About 800 Revolutionary War re-enactors, using historically accurate uniforms, equipment and tactics, did the First Battle of Bordentown on Saturday and the second on Sunday after an overnight campout.

"If it was a true battle, like the Battle of Monmouth, it would follow history," organizer Barry Hausser told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "But when we are staging a battle to be educational, we try to be politically correct, where the Americans win one day and the British take the field the other day."

Bordentown, a few miles south of Trenton where Crosswicks Creek joins the Delaware River, has a lot of history. Thomas Paine, the great agitator and pamphleteer of the American Revolution, once lived there, and so did Joseph Bonaparte, brother of the Emperor Napoleon. In fact, the battles were held on the grounds of a seminary that stands on the site of Bonaparte's mansion.

Resident Cynthia Paton said she thought the enactment was justified because Bordentown was an important transportation hub in Revolutionary War times.