Window Pane in Stacy Potts' House

Benson J. Lossing, who traveled the 13 original colonies in order to produce his Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution in 1850, visited the Stacy Potts house (see Gallery of Images). It served as the headquarters of the Hessian commander, Col. Johann Rall, during the occupation ended by Washington’s victory at the Battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776. Lossing described this pane of glass, then still visible in the front of the house: "In a pane of glass, in the front window on the left of the front door, lower story, may be seen a hole made by a bullet (musket ball), shot during the battle. Colonel (Johann) Rall died in the front room in the second story, immediately over this window." The 9.5-inch by 7.5-inch window pane survives in the Old Barracks collection, and is currently on display.

[credit: courtesy Old Barracks Museum]