Hillsborough Named 'Victory Town' On Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough is being recognized as a "Victory Town" on the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, marking the township’s place in the 1781 march of American and French troops toward Yorktown.

The designation was presented during the April 28 Township Committee meeting by Brad Fay, who is working with the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, a nonprofit that supports the trail from Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia.

Fay told the Committee the group’s Victory Towns program includes about 200 communities along the 700-mile route.

Hillsborough is one of them, and the Township will receive a marker to commemorate that history.

The speaker also read a letter from trail historian Dr. Robert Selig outlining Hillsborough’s role in the campaign that ended with the surrender of Lord Cornwallis on Oct. 19, 1781.

In the letter, Selig wrote, "The surrender of Lord Cornwallis to General George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, rang in the end of the American War of Independence."

He also wrote that the Continental Army and French allies "marched through Hillsborough, earning your city the designation as a victory town."

Allied troops crossed New Jersey on three parallel routes in August 1781 to help secure supplies and conceal the scale of their movement from British spies.

Selig’s account said units under Colonel John Lamb marched through what is now Manville and then into Hillsborough, passing the Somerset County Courthouse area and continuing toward Griggstown, Rocky Hill and Princeton.

Other American forces under General Benjamin Lincoln and brigades under Rochambeau also moved through or near the township in the following days.

The letter said that by Sept. 2, 1781, residents of Hillsborough had seen hundreds of American and French troops, women and children traveling with the columns, and large numbers of horses and oxen moving through town.

Selig wrote, "As the United States prepares to recognize its 250th anniversary in 2026, the victory towns of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route have special reason to celebrate."

During the meeting, Deputy Mayor Shawn Lipani and former committeeman John Ciccarelli presented a check to the Township from the Rotary Club of Hillsborough for $2,400.

The donation funds Hillsborough’s membership in the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association, as well as the materials needed to create a sign commemorating this historic milestone.

"From a personal standpoint, I've always been very proud of Hillsborough's position in our history of our country," said Lipani. "We just celebrated our own 250th anniversary a couple of years ago, but there's so much history in this town."

"I just feel it's great that we can recognize it and teach our younger people how important this town has been in the history of America," said Lipani.

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