Bright Liberty's Forgotten Sword and the Battle of Princeton

Captain James Moore of the Princeton, New Jersey, militia was a hero of the Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton. A four-decade genealogy search for the unknown original owner of a rare Revolutionary War silver-hilted sword discovers that the sword was his. This unique patriot sword, displaying anti-British iconography, reveals the lives and politics of the leaders and everyday people of Princeton in the Revolutionary War. The search for the story of the sword reveals its eighteenth-century context-its social meanings, its craftsmanship by a young New Jersey silversmith, the symbolism of its designs, and its celebration in ceremonies, art, song, and popular literature. This history is not only about a military artifact but about the dramatic Revolutionary War events in New Jersey that the sword witnessed. If you love American history, rare decorative antique objects, and a mystery, you won't put this book down until the last page is read. This story opens up a lost world of the struggle for American independence in the decisive time of the Revolutionary War.

John Lawrence Brasher, PhD, a native of New Jersey, is Denson N. Franklin Professor of Religion Emeritus at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. Educated at Duke University and Yale University, his publications and research include eighteenth- and nineteenth-century religion in America, Revolutionary War history, folklore, oral history, American music, American decorative arts, American environmental history, environmental ethics, and botanical history and field studies. He has taught at Duke University, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Catawba College, and Birmingham-Southern College. He received the Preservationist Award from the Alabama Sierra Club for his work in preserving old-growth forests and the Excellence in Teaching Award from Birmingham-Southern College.