A single British regiment bore the brunt of repeated assaults on the William and Thomas Clarke farms

The 4th Brigade of Lt. Colonel Mawhood departed Princeton before dawn on January 3 in order to meet the rest of the army commanded by Cornwallis at Trenton. Mawhood turned the 4th Brigade back into the town at dawn when he saw the American columns approaching from Saw Mill Road, about a mile and a half outside of Princeton. He gave the order for the 17th Unit of Foot, his own regiment, to cover the column. The men set their camp next to a fence in William Clarke's orchard after removing their packs.

Nearly 2,000 American soldiers from Mercer's, Cadwalader's, and Hitchcock's brigades, supported by Edward Hand's riflemen, engaged 246 members of the 17th and about 100 members of the 16th Light Dragoons in a see-sawing battle across the William and Thomas Clarke farms. After initially being repulsed, they were eventually overwhelmed. The cost of the 17th position was high. Ensign George Inman said that the unit left 101 dead or injured soldiers on the cold terrain.