Joseph Reed,
Aid to George Washington, 
Later a Colonel

Joseph Reed wrote that he went to Philadelphia on the evening of December 24, 1776:

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“to urge Genl Puttnam if possible to reinforce Col. Griffin & engage the Attention of the Enemy in that Quarter during the Attack now fixed for the 25th but he found Col. Griffin had returned very ill, that the two Companies of Virginians had also returned leaving their two small Pieces of Iron Cannon & a few Militia at Morris Town & Haddonfield. Genl Puttnam tho’ anxious to do something found that the Shortness of the Time & the unprovided State of the Militia would not admit of the Corporation [cooperation] design’d” (“Reed’s Narrative, 1776–77").

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Historians agree that Morris Town in the above note was actually Moorestown. 

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This matches the time with Captain Ewald (Hessian) account. 

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“Early on the morning of the 24th I was sent out with twenty jagers and fifty Scots to reconnoiter the road to Moorestown as far as the Long Bridge [Hainesport], to learn if it was occupied by the enemy or destroyed. The road there consisted of a succession of defiles through a thick wood. Toward ten o’clock I arrived unhindered at the bridge and found that it was ruined. Presently a few shots came from the other side where the Americans were hidden in several houses, through which a Scotsman was killed. I deployed the jagers along the [Rancocas] creek to answer the enemy with brisk rifle fire and to reconnoiter the area more closely, after which I withdrew and rendered my report.”

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