Trenton Becomes a W3R-US Victory Town at Successful Dinner Event

09/08/2026

Event Recap, Victory Towns

Attending the event were four Victory Town Mayors: Reed Gucsiora of Trenton; Neena Singh of Montgomery; Phil Kramer of Franklin; and Robert Uhrik of Rocky Hill. Mayor Gucsiora gave a welcome on behalf of the City of Trenton, our host location. The event also included a large contingent of about 20 staff and residents of the Trenton Housing Authority.

Attending on behalf of W3R-US were board chair Larry Abell, vice chairs Elaine Lawton and Carla Clarke, New Jersey committee chair Mary Swarbrick, and Executive Director – Outreach Brad Fay, who also served as the emcee for the evening

The keynote speaker was Kevin Chapman, a reenactor of the Rhode Island Regiment which included a large percentage of Black and Indigenous Patriots. Chapman spoke about the bravery of Black soldiers who marched to Yorktown and then participated in the attack on the 10th Redoubt, the last British fortification at Yorktown. Days afterwards, the British surrendered and American independence became inevitable.

Chapman, who appeared recently in the Netflix documentary The American Experiment, described how Black reenactors are helping to tell a fuller story of the American founding.

“The First Rhode Island Regiment reenactors proudly notes themselves as the only African American Revolutionary War group in the country, a critical designation during our nation’s 250th and a powerful weapon in what I now call the story war.” Chapman went on to talk about the struggle to include people of color in the founding story of America.

“One thing I take a tremendous amount of pride in is educating the black community on our heroes of color. We are now two years into the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, with this year being the 250th of our nation’s declaration of independence. As our nation celebrates with events and activities from coast to coast, my colleagues and I often wonder why we see so few black and brown faces at these events.”

The dinner was held at Cooper’s Riverview restaurant which is located on the site of a historic wharf where American and French troops loaded onto sloops their cannons, ammunition, tents, and other supplies as part of the march to Yorktown, the same week 245 years earlier.

The following day, the William Trent House hosted Generals Washington and Rochambeau on the exact 245th anniversary of their overnight stay at the same home, then known as Bloomsbury. It was there that they planned the crossing of the Delaware River by their two large armies on their way south to Yorktown.