USA > Delaware > History of Delaware : 1609-1888 > Part 64
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87
the purpose of protecting the trade of the bay and river. He was authorized to " take the command of the State schooner now lying at. New Castle," and also, of " the sede barge, or long boat, at the Cross-Roads," in the county of Kent ; to put them imo proper fighting condition ; to recommend to the President of the State one person to be com- missioned as lieutenant of marines and to enlist forty men for service of the vessels, which were to ernise on the bay and river only. On the 13th Mir. Dickinson appeared before the joint conven- tion of the Legislatare and accepted the position of President in a brief address, in the course of which he said :
"If, in my atteintes t dischare this complicated duty, any part of it e-capes my attestion, I ask, and shall at all times gratefully terrive, your advice or information. As it does not appear to me inconsistent with tais daty, so it wi't be a pleasing employment to consult the rase of th. > goud prende of the state, is far as can be done without we thening our everticos in maintaining this just and messary war, which bin of 6.Ose aud vinter cannot desne. May a happy harmony in senti- ment and metsoins, so Lenercial to society, always prevail among us, or, if there must be a division, let it only be between those who generously conteirl forth . freedom, in dependence and prosperity of the racontry, and such as weakly wish tor a dangerous and dishunor- able subudission to enemies se infatuated as to hate where they ought to admir. and to provoke their own amd pursue the ruin of these states, though nature and policy pount out that we should be blessings to one another."
The Legislature also made appropriations of £100 cach to Thomas Rodney, Nicholas Vandyke and Thomas MeKean, the delegates in Congress, and furnished the past and present officers of the Delaware troops with money as follows:
Colonel David Hall, Lieutenant Joseph Vaughan, Captain Peter Jacquett and Captain Robert Kirk- wood. £100 each ; Major John Patten, $75; Cap- tain James Moore, Captain John Learmouth, Cap- tain John Wilson, Captain Daniel P. Cox, Captain George Parvis and Doctor Reuben Gilder, £60 each ; Lieutenants Charles Kidd. James Camp- bell, Joseph Horsman, Elijah Skillington, Edward Roche, Henry Dutf and Thomas Anderson, $40 each ; to Ensign Stephen Mc Williams, $30; and to Mrs. Joanna Holland, whose husband, Captain John Holland, had been killed at the battle of Germantown, $40. Appropriations of $475 for supplies. for the detachment under the command of Captain William MeKennan, and $$25 for sup- plies for the men who remained in Greene's army were ordered ; and it was recommended to the President "to issue his orders to the officers of the Delaware regiment now in the state (Captain Moore excepted ), and not prisoners of war," that as soon as they should receive the money appropri- ated to them "they do repair to their regiment, so that the officers thereof, now with General Greene may, if they think proper, apply for leave of absence for a time, and their places supplied by such as are within the intent of this resolution."
The vigilance that is the price of liberty had dictated these measures relative to the Delaware troops, and was characteristic of the attitude of the
!
263
DELAWARE DURING THE REVOLUTION.
Delaware patriots during the war. Like their as- sociates of the other States, they were not prepared to accept the Yorktown surrender as the end of the war. They did not at first understand that King George III. and his ministry had been crushed by the tremendous power of the French alliance, and the defeat of the flower of the British army under Cornwallis. The recruits who had seen the York- town surrender were returned home, and disbanded in January of 1782. Seymour's diary tells of the movements of Kirkwood's men after they had no more fighting to do in the South. He wrote:
"On November 16th, 1782, the In lawate Reziment had orders to hold themselves in realities to match home from the mouthward. the the same day started tron Head quarters of the Ashley river for home. coming by way of Camden. Having arrived there November 2nd, were detained thirteen days by orders from tieneral Girene . lett on December 5th ; coming by way of salisbury, Peter-bigh, Carter's Ferry, on James River, we arrived at Georgetown in Maryland, Jannary 1:h. 1783; left there the same day and arrived at Christtina Brulze on the 17th, after a march of seven hundred and twenty miles from Lncamp- ment on Ashley Hiver, which was performed with very much difficulty. our nien being so very weak after a tedious sickness which prevailed amongst them all last summer and fall.""
The " Blue Hen's Chickens," a sobriquet which the Delawareans had been honored with since the beginning of the war, resumed their duties as citizens upon their return home. The ap- pellation dates back to the days of 1776, when Cap- tain Jonathan Caldwell's company, of Haslet's regiment, took with them game chickens, celebrated in Kent County for their fighting qualities, and said to be of the brood of a certain blue hen, re- nowned through the country-side. Mr. Whitely, in collecting this information, found the following names of the officers and members of the company :
Jonathan Caldwell, captain.
Jolin Corse, 4th sergt.
John l'atten, Ist bent, George Met'all, bl lient.
Johni MeCannon, 1-t corp.
Jolin Dewees, 2d corp.
Jamira Stevens, ensign.
Robert Oram, 3d corp.
John Depoister, Ist sergt.
Ishar Matthews, 4th corp.
Joseph Campbell, 21 sergt.
Robert Thompson, diummer.
John Rown, 3d sergt.
Cornelius Comegys, bier.
Privates.
John Shearn.
John Hart.
James Millington.
Francis Blair.
John Manning.
John Wilson.
John Kinnanion.
John May
Michael MeGinnis.
Thomas Fling.
Robert Solway.
George Riall.
William l'low man.
Peter Grewell.
John Allen.
William Perry.
John Butler.
Ephrtami Townsend.
Jacob Wilson.
Isdac thx.
Nathan Bowen.
John Matthews.
John Pegg.
William Hall.
George Bateman.
Mark Ivans.
Joseph Robinson.
Hosea Wilson.
James Carson.
John Edingheld.
Jolin Nickerson.
Nathan Gans.
John Spring.
Lewis Humphreys.
Zachariah Baily.
Kimler II islet.
Peter Bice.
Garrett Fagan.
James Robinson.
Harman Clarke.
John siminions.
John Timis.
Robert Graham.
Lambert Williams.
John Kelly.
William Mort.
Allen Hubnett
Alexander Mc Dowell.
William Edingfield.
Dant-l Lawley.
Robert Ferrell.
Peter Wilcox.
In the intervals of duty Caldwell's men used to amuse themselves with pitting their game-cocks, and the fame of the matches spread throughout the
army and into cotemporary history, so that the " Blue Hen's Chickens " became a synonym for the Delaware veterans. Their record may tittingly be concluded with Henry Lee's remark, in speaking of the Continental line, that " the State of Dela- ware furnished one regiment only, and certainly no regiment in the army surpassed it in sollier- ship."
Ramsey, in his " History of the United States." vol. i. p. 209, says:
" The Delaware Regiment was reckoned the most eficient in the Conti- mental Army. It went into active siste soon after the commencement of the content with Great Britain, and served through the whole of it. Courting danger wherever it was to be encountered, fixquently tothing patt of a vieteniony atmy, but oftehet the companions of then contitis- men in the gloom of disaster, the Pelawat y funight at Broklyn, at Trenton and at Princeton, at Bran lywthe and af Germantown, at Guillon and at Entaw, until at length, reduced to a handful of brave men, they concluded their services with the war in the glorious teruunation of the Southern campaign."
Doctors Latimer and Tilton were the medical officers of distinction whom Delaware furnished. Whitely says of them :
" Dr. Henry Latimer was born in Newport in 1752. He commenced the study of medicine in Phila lelphrt, and completed it by graduating at the Medical Collegeof Edinburgh Upon his return home he commelord the practice of his profession in Wilmington, but in LEFT he, as Well as Dr. Tilton, were appointed surge das in the Continental Army, and white attached to what was called the living Hospital, and were with the mimy in all the battles in the Northern Department, from Brandywine to Yorktown. He acquired quite a distinction as a surgeon, and on peace he returned to the practices of his profession. He was elected inumber of our Legislature after our state organization ; also to Congress from 174 to 179%, and waselected in 199 la the Legislature one of the Senators froin this State in Congress, and served out his constitutional term. He died in Is19.
" Dr. James Tilton's history is about the same as Dr. Latimer's Iln entered the army a> surgeon of Colonel Haslet's Regiment. He was also skilled and honored as a surgeon. Upon the return of prace be settled on the property now owned by William How Land ; was surgeon General of the army in the War of lal2, and died in 1818. "
The concluding incident of the war in or around Delaware, occurred April 8, 1782, when the American sloop-of-war " Hyder Alley," Captain Barney, defeated the British sloop " General Monk," at the entrance of the bay. At the session of the Legislature on January 25, 1782, President Dick- inson sent in a long message, in which he congrat- ulated his countrymen upon the successes of the American cause in the South, but reminded them of what appeared to be the decision of the British ministry to push the war to extremes, and to break the Franco-American alliance. The final paragraphs of his message are an exhibition of the spirit prevalent in Delaware, to continue the war unto the last stage of exhaustion, if necessary. He wrote :
"We, knowing that a vast majority of the inhabitants of these States will, at every hazard, mountain their independence, now indispen-ably necessary for supporting their haber and happiness, and desire no peace but upon this ground, and that not one iu a hundred would risk lite or property for reconciliation upon my othet teams, have relied too much upon this solid mass of opposition, Relaxation ensued and has lien followed by its natwe'd consequences. Happily for us, indeed, viltie bus frequently joni the areats of propheten. On the other hand, por enemies, Viewing the same solopost through the dressing acute of possion and prejuone, believe that the thinnessof our battalions nud the dilatottaess of our suppliers are in a great degree occasioned by the dts- affection of large manbeis to our cause. This etror princes another, and leads them to a fect a dissolution of public credit trom diesiste- tion at the burtheus inite. Ad, and a flattering comparison between their
264
HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
funds, supposed by them to be almost inexhaustible, and the wcantiness of our revenues."
President Dickinson went on to point out that the American patriots were willing to sacrifice everything for the preservation of their liberties ; he also discussed the folly of the British -upp .. sition that a long-continued and cordial friendship between France and the United States was im- possible, and in conclusion recommended to the Legislature early compliance with the acts of Congress for strengthening the confederation and improving the condition of the finane. By a supplementary message of the same date it ap- pears that, in obedience to the request of Geutrai Washington, Mr. Dickinson had established at Wilmington a temporary hospital for sick schtiers returning from Virginia. The armed schooner which the State had equipped to craise in the- Delaware had been blockaded at New Castle by a stronger British vessel, and the President saw no hope of releasing her except by the co-operation of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
During the January session of 1782 the Legis- lature passed the act for taking the first census of the State, and on February 2d it elected Philemon Diekinson, Thomas MeKean,1 Caesar Rodney and Samuel Wharton delegates to Congress for the current year. In their instructions reference was made to the resolutions passed by the Legislature in January, 1779, protesting against those articles of the Act of Confederation which made possible the almost illimitable territorial extension of the then frontier States by western acquisitions. The delegates were required to endeavor to procure an amendment of the Confederation in those partieulars, and to employ their " most industrious exertions for obtaining, without any delay whatever, a final settlement of the boundaries of these States whose claims are immoderate, and of the rights of the United States on the principles of the resolu- tions, an adherence to which is so plainly con- sistent with justice and so indispensably essential to the peace and welfare of the Union. It is probable that the property of the islands in the Delaware may be considered as connected with this subject. We desire that you will attend also to this point and that you will take care that due regard be had therein to the rights of this State."
An act of Congress passed on December 4. 1781, was the cause of trouble and loss to Delaware. In many instances the little vessels of her citizens trading upon the bay and river had been captured by the enemy, but unless they were immediately
barned or taken out of the adjacent waters they were very likely to be recaptured by the bold residents of the neighboring shores. The act of Congress provided, however, that unless the re- captures were nade within twenty-four hours of tise captere chere would be no restitution to the original owners. In adopting this regulation Congress had conformed to the practice of other natioas ; "but," said the Delaware instructions to her congres-mer :
" A" apprehen ! there unght to be a distinction made between captures in cont.non cases and captures of vessels employed in the island trade for the sole purpose of carrying the grotter of the country to markets within ihn Stufe an' alw iss profiting between and in sight of Lunds on each side withan ere: prosthe into the open sea. . . . If the ples- ent legislation continues in forer, the damage to this State minst be ex- ceedingly great, a not ne-thetable during the war. We have but very few shallune lett, and the liti vity of procuring more is too well-known. If the property of those that remain is to be divested in the manner be- fere mentioned, it is ht_bly probable that in a short time there will not be a vessel brionging to a i inhabitant of this State."
To prevent this calamity the delegates were urged to press upon Congres such an amendment to the law as would permit the return of recaptured versels to their owners, upon payment of salvage, not exceeding oue-fourth the value of the prop- ertv.
President Dickinson's message on the reassem- bling of the Legislature at Dover, June, 1782, embraced congratulations on the birth of a son and heir to King Louis XVI of France, and a warning not to repose confidence in any expeeta- tion that the recent changes in the British minis- try meant an honorable treaty of peace. "I sincerely share with you," added the President, " in the high pleasure you must receive from the truly honorable testimony given by that distin- guished commander, General Greene, to the uniform good conduct, singular merit and important services of the officers and soldiers of our line." On the 19th the two Houses adopted resolutions most emphatically condemning any attempt to conelude a treaty of peace with Great Britain except through Congress. The resolutions were brief, but pithy. They said :
"That the United States, in Congress assembled, have, by their Con- federation, the sole and. exclusive night and power of determining a peace and war, and of entering into treaties and alhances.
"That the honor and true interests of the United States require an inviolable adherence to the eugisements of the treaty between his most Christian Majesty (the king of France) and the sail states,
" That any than or body of men that shall presume, without the anthority of the sand states in Congress assembled first duly had, to enter into a negotiation concerning; a prave or truce with the King of Great Britain or his agents, ought to be considered and treated as ene- Dnes of the said states.
" That the whole power of this State shall be exerted for enalding Congress to carry on the war until a price consistent with our Federal U'nion atid national faith can be obtained."
These resolutions were sent to the delegates in Congress as in-tructions. The next session of the Legislature continued from October Ist to Novem- her 1, 1782, but as the minutes were lost the only information of the proceedings is gained from the messages of President Diekin-on and a few other scattering papers. The message of October 29th
1 In 1782 a political attack was made in Philadelphia npon Chief Jus- tice Mckean, now of Pennsylvania, for holding, in addition to the office of judge, those of delegate to Congres from leftware and Pre-vient of Congress. It was shown tlust other members of Congress had done the etne thing; and although the Constitution of Pentials ama probelated him fran serving as chief justice and member of Cohetes at the same tinte, it was urged that the prohibition did not apply to him, from the fact that be held the offices from different States.
265
FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE WAR OF 1812-15.
shows that in the preceding Augu-t Captain which too evidently appears in our sister State in Moore's recruits for the Delaware regiment were giving up what justice so loudly demands of her." It is part of the history of the country that the northwestern lands question was eventually ar- ranged to mutual satisfaction. marched to Philadelphia instead of being sent to the South, as originally purposed, and that there were eight regiments of militia in the State, seven of which the President had lately reviewed, find- ing occasion to speak favorably of all, but especially of those commanded by .Colonels Duti, Hall, Jones and Polk. William Winder, Jr., was appointed commissioner to settle accounts with the United States. At the session of January 14, 1783, President Dickinson announced that he had been elected President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and resigned his office as executive of Delaware. He had turned the administration of the State over to John Cook, Speaker of the Legislative Council, on November 4, 1782, who, on January 17, 1783, announced that Captain MeKennan was marching northward with a detachment of the Delaware regulars that had been doing daty in the Southern army, the latest recruits being still quartered in Philadelphia.1
On February 1st Nicholas Van Dyke was elected President by eighteen votes out of thirty in the joint convention, and Casar Rodney, James Tilton, Eleazar MeComb and Gunning Bedford, Jr., were chosen delegates to Congress,
On June 5, 1783, President Van Dyke officially communicated to the Legislature the conclusion of peace between the United States and France on one side and Great Britain on the other. In his message he said :
"I beg leave to congratulate you on the happy and important event of peace, liberty and independence wenred to these states by the pre- liminary treaties between the belligerent powers. The accomplishment of these olgects, nudler the sintles of Invine Providence and the and of our Illustrious ally, has placed Somnies in an equal station among the Datiuns of the earth. Herattention shunla n we be un hverted to support a character worthy of the vutueu- struggles by which she has in her late ardent conflict acquired her elevation ; and, I hope, a regular adunnis- tration of justice and a due veneration of national faith, will reuder her As respectable in prace as she has been illustrious th war."
On June 21st the Legislature instructed the delegates in Congress to insist that Delaware was entitled to a right, in common with other members of the Union, to the land west of the national frontier. Much opposition was developed to ac- cepting the Virginia act of January 2, 1781, respecting the partial cession to the United States of the lands northwest of the Ohio River. " We apprehend," resolved the Legislature, " the con- sidering of these lauds as the now indisputable right of the United States in common, and here- after to be granted out on terms beneficial to the whole, is so plainly consistent with justice and so indispen-ably essential to the future peace and welfare of the Union, that we feel ourselves not a little alarmed at such a seeming disinclination,
1 Delaw tro entistel during the lev Anti intry Wir-1771-s;, inc'ul- Ing Continental ad bers and mintia, in 170, 7 4; 12, 1.91; IT., 343; 1779, 317; 1780, 556; 1781, 50; 1754, 104 anl 1783, 215 men, wiking a total of 3763 men.
With the passage of aets raising twenty-two thousand tive hundred pounds and to authorize Congress to levy duties on imports into the State for a limited time, and to establish a sinking fund for the payment of interest on the public debt, the Legislature adjourned to the following October. It had nothing important to do at the October session except settle some contested elections in Kent and Sussex counties, which had no connec- tion with affairs of the Revolution, except that some of the lately disbanded soldiers were accused of intimidating voters. The war over, the State entered upon the work of repairing its ravages; and accommodating herself to the new conditions of peace under a republican form of govern- ment. By the services of her statesmen in conneil and her soldiers in the field she had borne a noble and illustrious share in the achievement of independence and the formation of the nation.2
CHAPTER XV.
FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE WAR OF 1812-15.
THE treaty of peace with Great Britain was signed at Paris on the 20th of Jannary, 1783, but it was not until January 14, 1784, that the deti-
" The following is a list of the invalid pensioners of the Revolution, belonging to the state of Delaware, in 1701, with the monthly allowance to each :
Edward Armstrong, Lientenant.
John Blaney. Private,
30)
John Brown.
5 00
Hicharl Cogan, 2 00
2 50
I-lae Carvel, ..
5 0)
John ('lifton, .4
5 00
Patrick Dunn, Sergeant
5 410
Charles Dowd, Corporal
5 10
Jenkin Evans sargeant
5 0)
Josephs Ferguson, Private
5 10
George Gutten,
5 00
Thom- Holston, 14
5 (1)
Dennis Leary,
5 00
Timothy Liyfield
3 (H)
William 31 Kennan, Captain
5 00
James Murphy, Privite
3 00
John Merill,
2 50
John Pemberton,
5 0J
Andrew Pollard,
Jahn Peters m,
4.
5 1.0
William Redd .n, Sergrant,
5 (H)
Joseph Sapp. Private.
5 (1)
John Sheit int,
3 0)
Thomas Wilson, Serecan't
5 00
John Whitungton,."
2 10
Joseph Muthubunt,
5 00
17}
.
,
1
1
Ridley lulett.
200) -
Thomas Metimre, Sergeaut.
5 (0)
5 00
Thanis Wel 4, Private,
John Conter,
266
HISTORY OF DELAWARE.
nitive treaty of peace was ratified by Congress. The event was proclaimed in Delaware with every demonstration of joy ; cannons were fired, towns illuminated and patriotic toasts drunk.
Although the formal ratification of Congress had been necessary to give full effect to the treaty of peace, the war had ceased on sea and land as early as the 12th of April, 1783, and the country was at length able to settle down to the full enjoyment of the benefits which the long and painful struggle had secured. Throughout the contest Delaware had borne her portion of the burden and heat of the day. In the darkest hours of the Revolution, though harassed by the intrigues of the Tories and the bickerings of the Whigs, the patriotie men who controlled her affairs in that stormy period re- sponded nobly to the demands that were made upon them in both men and supplies. She was the scene of some of the most important acts that involved the gravest consequences to the struggling colonies, and that she played her part worthily cannot be denied.
At the beginning of the war "the eonnties of New Castle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware " were prosperous in material wealth, but at its close they were left impoverished and deeply in debt. But the war also found them dependent counties, and left them an organized, independent and sovereign republie, mistress henceforth of her own destinies, in the nation of States. The future was still doubtful before her. She was entering upon a strange and untried career, with new principles. new institutions, new duties and new perils : but, as we shall ere long see, she addressed herself to the task before her as resolutely as to that of conquer- ing her freedom, and with no less success.
Congress, solicitous for the honor and interests of the nation, agreed in 1753 upon a measure, the object of which was " to restore and support publie credit," by obtaining from the States " substantive funds for funding the whole debt of the United States." These funds were to be raised in part by duties on goods imported, and in part by internal taxation. To the amount necessary for this pur- pose, each State was to contribute in proportion to its population.
This measure was recommended to the several States, and the recommendation was accompanied by an address prepared by a committee, consisting of Mr. Madison, Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Ellsworth, urging its adoption by considerations of justice, good faith and the national honor. General Washington also, in a letter addressed to the Governors of the several States on the condition of public affairs, took occasion to add the weight of his influence to that of Congress in favor of the plan.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.