The Old Barracks Museum preserves the history of a building constructed in 1758 as a French and Indian War military barracks, used as winter quarters for British soldiers.
Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Barracks was used for a variety of purposes by both the British and the Americans. British prisoners of war were held in the Officers’ House, four companies of the Second New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line were raised here, and in 1777 the Barracks became an army hospital under Dr. Bodo Otto, who oversaw smallpox inoculations for the Continental Army.
The Barracks, and Trenton, are most known for the events of December 1776. At the beginning of the month, British and Hessian troops occupied Trenton, and briefly stayed in the Barracks prior to the Battles of Trenton. Colonists, loyal to the English king, also arrived, seeking protection from the soldiers, and were believed to be staying at the Barracks when Washington and his troops marched into Trenton on the morning of December 26th. After the miraculously successful Battles of Trenton and Princeton, the Americans returned to Trenton in January 1777 and made use of the now empty Barracks, primarily as the aforementioned hospital.
At the beginning of the 20th century, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames organized The Old Barracks Association and spearheaded a campaign to purchase the building. The building has been a museum for over a century, and has frequently been used as a symbol for the state of New Jersey.