By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
One day after it was initially set to take place but three days before the historic date the 51st annual Col. Hand Historic March got underway Sunday morning, led by re-enactor William Agress, portraying Col. Edward Hand, and Councilman Michael Powers.
The march was schedule to occur Saturday morning, but it was postponed because of the impending snowstorm, said Mr. Agress, who portrays Col. Hand each year. And it’s a good thing that it was postponed, because Lawrence Township received about an inch or two of snow.
”We have the luxury of changing the date,” Mr. Agress told the 60 audience members Sunday morning. But the band of soldiers from the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, commanded by the real Col. Hand, did not have a choice. They marched in the mud from Lawrence to Trenton on Jan. 2, 1777.
The American troops were sent to delay the advance of British and Hessian troops, who were on their way to Trenton on Jan. 2, 1777, to retake it. But Col. Hand’s troops held off the numerically superior forces in several skirmishes, until the Americans fell back to Trenton.
Mr. Agress said that given the change of date for the re-enactment, he had “visions” of making the march himself, accompanied by his son, Andrew Agress, and a couple of re-enactors. But he told the group that he was “very pleased” that they turned out.
Mr. Powers, who is a former mayor, was substituting for Mayor Jim Kownacki. The mayor and Col. Hand traditionally lead the six-mile-long trek to Trenton, starting from the Municipal Building and traditionally ending either at the Old Barracks or at the Douglass House, where Gen. George Washington plotted the Battle of Princeton.
Mr. Agress introduced several former “George Washingtons” Ron Rinaldi, Bob Gerenser and Sam Davis who were in the audience. They have portrayed Gen. Washington over the years at the annual re-enactment of Gen. Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River, on the way to the First Battle of Trenton on Dec. 26, 1776.
”New Jersey is where it all took place,” said Mr. Davis. “Col. Hand detained and delayed Lord Cornwallis’ army from Princeton to Trenton with his hit-and-run tactics. If he had not done his job, the Second Battle of Trenton might not have been successful.”
Mr. Davis outlined the Second Battle of Trenton on Jan. 2. The British and Hessian troops tried three times to cross the bridge over the Assunpink Creek. Lord Cornwallis called off his troops and decided to make another effort to capture Gen. Washington in the morning but the Americans slipped away during the night and fought the Battle of Princeton on Jan. 3.
The re-enactment was started by the late Robert Immordino, who was a former Lawrence Township historian, Mr. Agress said. Mr. Agress has been portraying Col. Hand complete in a blue and buff uniform for more than three decades.
Before releasing the audience to take part in the march, Mr. Agress offered a moment of silence for three people who died during 2012 Jennie Immordino, who is Mr. Immordino’s widow; former Mayor Charles Connell; and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), who spent his early years in Lawrence Township while his father was in charge of the fledgling New Jersey State Police.
Mr. Agress noted that Gen. Schwarzkopf was the Memorial Day Parade grand marshal in 1997, when Lawrence Township celebrated its 300th birthday. The general, who gained fame for his role in Operation Desert Storm, initially turned down township officials’ request to participate. He relented when the late Viola Titus, his former elementary school teacher and a lifelong resident, asked him to take part.
After the program, Mr. Agress moved the audience outdoors to watch as re-enactor Stephen Rote fired a replica of a Revolutionary War-era rifle that would likely have been used by soldiers in the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment.
After Mr. Rote fired the last shot, about 30 marchers set off on Route 206/Lawrence Road toward Trenton. They stopped at the Little Shabakunk Creek at Darrah Lane, which was the site of the first of two skirmishes in Lawrence known historically as Maidenhead Township.
The marchers stopped again at Notre Dame High School, on the banks of the Shabakunk Creek and the site of the second and major skirmish in Lawrence. They gathered around the memorial flagpole set up in honor of Mr. Immordino and watched as re-enactor Barry Kelly raised the flag of the 1st Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment.
In the meantime, members of the Coryell’s Ferry Militia, a re-enactors’ group led by Mr. Gerenser, set up their replica Revolutionary War-era cannon. Several smaller blasts were followed by a series of larger ones to honor Gen. Schwarzkopf.
Mr. Davis/Gen. Washington was invited to set off the last and largest blast in honor of Gen. Schwarzkopf “from one general to another,” he said as he touched off the fuse. A very loud blast, followed by an equally large puff of smoke, was the result.
Lining up the marchers, Mr. Agress told them that “it’s only another four-and-a-half miles to go.”
Then, a smaller but hardier band of marchers eight in all continued the trek to Trenton.

