Historical reenactors and veterans are protesting a housing development project on Princeton Battlefield land.
PRINCETON - Veterans and historical reenactors are joining the fight to save a section of the Princeton Battlefield from becoming the site of a housing development project.
On Monday members of the Civil War Trust and supporters met to create Veterans for Princeton, a group designed to save a section of the Princeton Battlefield.
"It was a rallying cry," Jim Campi, a spokesperson for the Civil War Trust said Tuesday.
The section, called Maxwell's Field, is currently being prepped for the construction of a 15-unit faculty housing development by the Institute of Advanced Study.
That development has been opposed by historical and veterans groups for years. The most notable opponent has been the Princeton Battlefield Society, which has been locked in a legal battle with the institute for over a year.
Lieutenant General Richard Mills of the Marine Corps University Foundation, who was asked to speak Monday, said that he is in full support of the Veterans for Princeton, the Battlefield Society and their joint efforts to stop the construction.
"It's important that we save those kinds of sites," Mills said Tuesday. "It was a critical battle in the war.... It's truly a shame that we plow underground where men fought."
Veterans for Princeton joins other groups that have come out in opposition of the housing project in the past few weeks since the institute started preparing the land for development in December.
Most recently, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora and American Revolution reenactors met at the battlefield Saturday to show their support for the society.
"This site is a sacred place, where soldiers died with great valor fighting to keep the American Revolution alive," Gusciora said in a statement released by the Battlefield Society.
The support comes in the midst of increasing tensions between the institute and opponents of the project.
Last month the society announced plans to file a federal lawsuit against the institute for disrupting land that the society said holds wetlands.
Earlier in February the institute fought back against what they claim were trespassers on their property. They filed a police report saying that they'd seen members or supporters of the society collecting soil samples from the Maxwell's Field land.
No one was ever charged following the incident.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.