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GENEALOGY 974.9 N421DAB V. 4
M: L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01802 7307
GENEALOGY 974.9 N421DAB V. 4
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ARCHIVES
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
SECOND SERIES. Vol IV.
This volume was prepared and edited by authority of the State of New Jersey, at the request of the New Jersey Historical Society, and under the direction of the follow- ing Committee of the Society :
WILLIAM NELSON, GARRET D. W. VROOM, AUSTIN SCOTT, FRANCIS B. LEE, ERNEST C. RICHARDSON.
DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY
OF THE
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
VOLUME IV.
EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS RELATING TO NEW JERSEY,
NOV. 1, 1779-SEPT. 30, 1780.
EDITED BY
WILLIAM NELSON.
TRENTON, N. J. STATE GAZETTE PUBLISHING CO., PRINTERS. - 1914.
1136438
PREFACE.
The dominant tone of this volume is War! War! War! Here are detailed the movements of both armies during much of 1779 and 1780. We have the details of the British raids on Newark and Elizabethtown in January, 1780, accompanied by their harsh and unnecessary cruelty -pages 151-3, 155, 166-8, 174-9, 180-2, 188-9, 221, 394-5; of the raid on Bergen County near Fort Lee, in March, 1780-pages 253, 257, 280, 306-8, 321, 323-4, 378; of the attack on Connecticut Farms and Elizabeth in June, 1780-pages 414-18, 421-424, 432, 433, 439, 440, 441, 445-6, 448, 449, 451-3, 455, 457, 461-2, 464-5, 474-7, 480, 481-4, 490, 492-98, 531-7, 564-5, 568; the raid of the British by way of the Newark meadows and their approach on Newark in May, 1780-pages 394-5, 402, 501; the British raid on Woodbridge, in May, 1780- page 406; the bold exploits of the daring New Jersey Refugee, Ensign Moody, May, 1780-page 552. The attack on Connecticut Farms, accompanied by the burn- ing of the Presbyterian Church and the murder of Par- son Caldwell's wife, elicited a practically unanimous cry of horror from all men of the time in whose bosoms a spark of humanity remained. By way of contrast we have the spectacle of the cold-blooded indifference of a New Jersey Refugee, who viewed the remains of the mar- tyred woman apparently without a feeling of regret-an indifference even more horrid than the barbarity which had wrought her death-pages 564-5.
vi
PREFACE.
These raids on Connecticut Farms, Springfield, New- ark and Bergen County undoubtedly worked more harm than benefit to the British cause, arousing as they did the most peaceably inclined men to the horrors of grim war, and even to threats of retaliation by the Americans-pages 544-5.
In connection with the raid on Elizabethtown is the ex- traordinary and incredible episode at the house of Gor- ernor Livingston in which Miss Susan Livingston is re- ported to have indulged in gentle dalliance with the Colonel Commandant of a British regiment engaged in the ex- pedition-pages 494-8, 522 n.
We have Washington's contemporary account of the brilliant exploit of General Wayne in attacking the block- house at Little Ferry, Bergen County, June, 1780-pages 577-8. And in connection with the same affair we have Andre's famous poem of the Cow Chace-pages 585, 668.
Details are given of the raid on Shrewsbury in March, 1780-page 299.
While these events were going on, calculated to absorb men's minds, there were still those who found time and inclination to discourse at length upon the policy and practicability of regulating prices by legislation, and by mass meetings to fix the value of the paper currency- pages 594-6, 615, 620.
There is quite a display of the activities of the ladies during the Revolution-pages 462, 486.
While these larger affairs were uppermost, the common incidents of life went on apparently without interruption ; so we have accounts of the manufacture of salt, of the opening of the Grammar School in Queen's College on the Raritan in the fall of 1779; of the demand for School
vii
PREFACE.
Masters-page 391; of the opening of the Newark Acad- emy, in 1780-pages 199-209.
It is gratifying to notice that Princeton College and Grammar School had been "revived from the desolations of war"-page 293. One of the sad results of those "desolations" is the forced sale of the property of Lord Stirling-pages 262-4. But with all these war doings much land and property was bartered and sold, farming was carried on, and stock raising diligently pursued.
Much light is thrown upon the economic and social con- ditions of the times by the communications and advertise- ments. It is doubtful if a similar portrayal of the actual conditions of the times in New Jersey can be found elsewhere.
February 10, 1914.
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
W HEREAS inquisitions, in due form of law, have been taken, and to the court of common pleas, in and for the county of Cumberland, in the State of New-Jersey, returned against Andrew Donnaldson, Ga- briel Glan and Jonathan Ballanger, for joining the army of the King of Great Britain: These are therefore to in- form the said Andrew Donnaldson, Gabriel Glan and Jonathan Ballanger, that they or some persons in their behalf respectively, or some persons interested in the prem- ises, appear at the next court of common pleas, to be holden at Bridgetown, in said county, on the last Tuesday in No- vember next, in order to tender a traverse according to law, otherwise judgment final will be entered against them re- spectively, according to an act of assembly, in favour of the State, by
ENOS SEELEY,
WILLIAM KELSAY, - Commis- sioners. Oct. 22.
To be sold by way of publick vendue, on Tuesday the 30th day of November next, between the hours of 12 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon, at the court- house, in Bridgetown, a certain plantation or piece of land, situate in the township of Hopewell, in the county of Cum- berland, and State of New-Jersey, bounding on lands of Nicholas Dowdney, Isaac Wheaton, Andrew Jenkins, For- man Sheppard, &c. containing 34 acres of land, part whereof very good wood land, the rest in good fence; seized and sold as the late property of Daniel Jenkins, to and for the use of said State, by
ENOS SEELEY, Commis- WILLIAM KELSAY, sioners.
Cumberland county, State of New-Jersey, Oct. 22.
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
THE publick are requested to take notice, that the sub- scribers, two of the commissioners for forfeited estates, in and for the county of Cumberland, in the State of New-Jersey, having compleated the sales of the estate of Peter Sowder, jun. late of Deerfield township, in said county : Therefore all persons having any lawful claims or demands against said Peter Sowder, jun. are hereby desired to appear at the court-house in Bridgetown, in said county, with their respective accounts properly stated in writing, on Monday the 29th day of November next, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon of said day, when and where two of the judges of the court of common pleas for said county, will receive the same in order to examine and adjust such accounts, by an order or orders on the Treas- urer of the State, as may appear to be right, or as to jus- tice, in their opinions, doth appertain.
ENOS SEELEY, WILLIAM KELSAY,
Commis- sioners.
Oct. 22.
New-Jersey A T an inferior court of common pleas Essex county. held for said county of Essex, on the 21st day of September, were returned inquisitions for joining the army of the King of Great-Britain, and other treasonable practices found against Francis Thomas, Edward Laight and Jane Drum- mond,1 of which proclamation was made at said court, that if they or any on their behalf, or any person interested, would appear and traverse, a trial should be awarded, but no traverses offered : Therefore notice is hereby given, that if neither they nor any in their behalf, nor any interested, shall appear and traverse at the next court to be holden for said county, the inquisitions will then be taken to be true,
1 Wife of Major Robert Drummond, of the New Jersey Volunteers (Loyalists).
3
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1779]
and final judgement entered thereon, in favour of the State.
JOSEPH HEDDEN, jun. SAMUEL HAYES, THOMAS CANFIELD
Commis-
sioners.
Newark. Oct. 1.
TRENTON, NOVEMBER 3.
On Saturday last at a Joint-Meeting of the Honorable the Council and the Assembly of this State, His Excel- lency WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, Esquire, was re-ap- pointed Governor for the ensuing year.
At the opening of this Session the Honorable JOHN STEVENS, Esquire, was re-chosen Vice-President of the Legislative-Council, and the Honorable CALEB CAMP, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Assembly. JOHN STEV- ENS, jun. Esquire, is re-appointed Treasurer for the ensu- ing year.
We hear that General Sullivan has marched the army under his command, from Easton, to join the grand Amer- ican army at West-Point.
From Elizabethtown we learn, that on the morning of the 27th ult. some of the enemy, in boats, went up Newark river, and set fire to our guard-houses, but they soon re- turned without doing any other mischief.
We have the pleasure to inform our readers, that the party of the enemy that came up to Van Veghter's bridge, to burn the boats, as mentioned in our last paper, suffered much more considerably than was at first imagined; the militia killed three of them, made six prisoners, and wounded a considerable number; they pushed them so closely, that they dropped a great number of their caps, coats, and other articles; and if it had not been for a large body of foot that were landed at South-Amboy, to cover their retreat, every one of them would have fallen into our hands. Their commanding officer, who was made
4
NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
prisoner, is Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, of a new corps called the Queen's American Rangers.
It is to be observed that Simcoe is one of the enemy's principal partizans, and that his exploits have generally been marked with acts of the most inhuman barbarity. In this expedition Capt. Peter Voorhees, of the first Jersey regiment, unfortunately fell into their hands near Bruns- wick, and was massacred in the most shocking manner. Dr. Ryker and Mr. John Polhemus were made prisoners by the covering party, with several others.1
Returns of Members of the Legislature received since our last.
For BERGEN COUNTY,
Representative in Council, Theunis Dey, Esquire.
Representatives in Assembly, Peter Wilson, Robert Mor- ris, Isaac Blanch, Esquires.
For CAPE-MAY COUNTY, Representative in Council, Jesse Hand, Esquire.
Representatives in Assembly, Richard Townsend,2 Jona- than Leaming, James Whilden, Esquires.
For SUSSEX COUNTY, Representative in Council, Robert Ogden, Esquire. Representatives in Assembly, Mark Thompson, Peter Hop- kins, Anthony Broderick, Esquires.
A few Bushels of excellent SALT,
To be exchanged for Wheat, Rye or Indian Corn. En- quire of the Printer.
1 See New Jersey Archives, 2d Series, Vol. III., pp. 715, 719, 720, 721-3. 2 See p. 16 post.
5
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1779]
Two HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD.1
S TOLEN from the subscriber's farm, on or about the 24th inst. a light sorrel white-faced MARE, belong- ing to Col. Wadsworth, commissary-general; she has several white feet, is marked in several places with the saddle, about 12 years old, has lately been foundered and not yet entirely recovered, about 14 and an half hands high. Any person who will secure the thief, shall receive One Hundred Dollars reward, and the same for the mare on her delivery to either Col. WADSWORTH2 or WILLIAM PHILLIPS.
Maidenhead,3 Oct. 30.
Two Hundred and Twenty Dollars Reward.
M ADE their escape out of the gaol of the county of Burlington, this day, a certain JOSEPH HEATON, about 22 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches high, has long light coloured hair; had on a blue coat, leather breeches, &c. Also, a certain JOHN PATTERSON (a Scotch- man) about 25 years of age, somewhat pitted with the small-pox, has short brown hair, round hat, short coat, leather breeches. Also JOHN McCARNEL, about 26 years of age, of a down look, thin faced, short light coloured hair; had on a green coat, &c. Also JAMES ST. CLAIR, about 26 years of age, short brown hair; had on a short light coloured jacket and trowsers, &c. Whoever secures the said men in any gaol within this State, shall receive the above reward, or One Hundred Dollars for said Heaton, and Forty Dollars for each of the others, by ED- WARD COLLINS, Keeper of the Gaol.
Burlington, Oct. 27, 1779.
1 These large rewards were in the depreciated currency of the day.
2 Jeremiah Wadsworth, of Connecticut, Deputy Commissary-General of Purchases, June 18, 1777; resigned Aug. 6, 1777; Commissary-General of Purchases, April 9, 1778; resigned January 1, 1780; died April 30, 1804 .- Heitman's Rev. Register.
3 Now Lawrenceville, between Trenton and Princeton.
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
S ALT to be sold at the Union Salt-Works at Manasquan,
in the township of Shrewsbury, both foreign and
home-made, of the best quality; country produce, such as flour, wheat, rye, Indian corn, pork, beef, wool, flax, woollen or linen cloth, as well as current money, will be received in exchange.
A number of wood-cutters are wanted at the said works, to whom good encouragement will be given.
Also, a quantity of home-made salt, of the best quality, at the house of Joseph Newbold, in Chesterfield, Burling- ton county, to be exchanged as above.
THIS is to give notice to all those that are out on furlough, or otherwise from the State Regiment
stationed at Elizabethtown, to return to their re- spective companies immediately, or they will be advertised as deserters, and treated accordingly.
By order of SYLVANUS SEELEY, Col. Com. of the State Regt.
Jos. CLUNN, Capt.1
ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD.
W AS lost or stolen last September, out of Peter Han- kinson's kitchen, a GOLD LOCKET, the marks on the locket N S to H R. Any person who will bring it to the printer of this paper, or to Peter Hankin- son, shall receive the above reward, and no questions asked. Trenton, Oct. 29. -The New-Jersey Gazette, Vol. II, No. 97, Nov. 3, 1779.
General Sullivan has joined General Washington's Army, and the Whole is moving downwards from West- Point : Maxwell's Brigade is at West-field near Elizabeth- Town.
1 For a sketch of Capt. Joseph Clunn, see New Jersey Archives, 2d Series, III. : 21.
7
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1779]
Capt. Munns, in the Ship Ambuscade, from Oporto for this Port, is carried into Egg Harbour .- The New-York Gazette: and the Weekly Mercury, No. 1464, November 8, 1779.
New-Jersey, Nov. 6. 1779.
To be SOLD by Public Venduc,
At Chesnut Neck, on Tuesday the 16th inst. The Privateer Schooner MERCURY, with eight carriage guns, together with her provisions, stores, &c. compleatly fitted for sea, having been but twelve hours out from New- York; a Virginia-built vessel, and remarkable fast sailor
By order of the Court of Admiralty JOSEPH POTTS, Marshal
New-Jersey Nov. 6. 1779.
To be SOLD by Public Vendue,
At Chesnut Neck, on Tuesday the 16th inst. The Sloop WILLIAM with her cargo consisting of 112 hogsheads and 8 tierces of St. Kitts Rum.
By order of the Court of Admiralty JOSEPH POTTS, Marshal.
N. B. The money will be expected at the close of the sale. No person must expect indulgence.
THE STATE SALT WORKS to de Sold.
On Monday the fifteenth day of November inst. will be sold by Public Vendue, the Salt Works belonging to the State of Pennsylvania situate on Barnegat Bay, in the County of Monmouth, in the State of New-Jersey, to- gether with the tract of Land containing about fifty acres, on which the same are built, and all the privileges which have been purchased for their accommodation. These Works have been erected on a very extensive plan, calcu- lated to make a great quantity of Salt, and in a situation
8
NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION. [1779
the most favourable for the purpose. The buildings are large, commodious, and in good order, consisting of a dwelling-house, boiling-house, drying-house, two store- houses, a wind-mill for raising the salt water by pumps, and a smith's shop, &c. &c.
On the same day will be sold, a great variety of Utensils for Salt-making, Houshold and Kitchen Furniture, Oxen, Cows, Calves, Hogs, about thirty thousand feet of Pine Boards, a Cart and Geers for four horses, a compleat set of Blacksmiths Tools, Window Glass, &c.
The sale to begin at Ten o'clock in the forenoon, on the premises.
FREDERICK HAGNER.
Philadelphia, November 4, 1779. -The Pennsylvania Packet, November 9, 1779.
To AZARIAH DUNHAM, Esquire.
SIR.
I BELIEVE you are so well acquainted with my circumstances for some weeks past, that you will readily pardon the delay which has attended this my answer to your address.
I acknowledge with you, Sir, that risking one's life, and spending one's all. are claims to consequence very frequent at this day ; but, Sir, I must observe, they are claims, to which neither you, nor the chicken-hearted gentleman who writes for you, can ever pretend.
That you was at a loss what to do with Mr. Timoleon, appears not only from the first sentence, but from the whole of your elegant pro- duction. Indeed had it not been for the pretty words, meanness and timidity, and the pretty idea of mixing them, I believe you would scarce have sallied forth this second time. I shall only say, that, whatever bashfulness you may have observed in my former address, you shall, for the future, have no cause to complain that I do not use "open and explicit terms."
I did not mean to insinuate, that your character is not fair and reputable-a very different cause induced me to smile at seeing you step forth the CHAMPION; and I believe whoever knows you, and whoever respects you, thinks with me, that you acted a part very inconsistent and truly ridiculous.
I wish not, Mr. Dunham, to "stab the reputation or to wound the feelings of an honest man ;" I wish, Sir, to see the truth investigated, and to contribute my mite towards checking the prevailing villainy of the times. I very unexpectedly took up my pen to address you; just before I sat down for this purpose, I was speaking in favour of your honesty and fidelity, tho' I could not but at the same time disapprove
9
NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1779]
of your conduct in endeavoring to exculpate a set of men, whom I knew to deserve the censure of their country .- But, Sir, when I was informed by that venerable gentleman, from whose character you endeavoured to detract, by prefixing a quondam to his honorable titles that you, whilst a commissary in our army, had been a speculator in rum and flour ; that you had purchased several hogsheads of the former, and sold them again at an advanced price for your own private emolument; I say, Sir, upon being thus informed, my indig- nation rose, and I could not but deem your conduct "infamous and detestable," and consider you, if guilty of it, as deserving "of being turned out of employment with disgrace, of being banished from the society of virtuous men, and of being looked upon with as much ab- horrence as a robber." Influenced solely by a regard for the publick weal, I presumed to call upon you in the Gazette and ask you respect- ing the truth of this account .- I left my name for you at the Printer's. -I engaged, if you denied the charge, you should hear farther from me .- Where is the meanness, where appears the timidity of my con- duct? Could I have acted more generously. or more frankly accused you, after receiving such information? Let the publick determine.
I now come to your defence, which is prefaced with a detail of motives sufficient, in your opinion, to deter you and your brethren from dishonest practices, and with a wish, that, if they have not had this desirable effect, you may be dismissed from office, and held up to view as melancholy objects of human depravity. I heartily join you, my friend, though I would rather you had said hung up as examples to others, provided no commissions were granted to any department on the purchase of hemp. Pardon me, Mr. Dunham, I cannot help laughing at this unmeaning jargon .- Pray, have not all offenders sufficient, nay similar motives to engage them to be virtuous? Or, has any person attempted to prove, that commissaries and quarter- masters ought not to be honest? Surely, you and your writer were very dull, or very much at a loss indeed !- Your defence itself is of the same species ; you deny what you was never accused with, you confess the charges exhibited against you, and endeavour to palliate your conduct, by observations, for which those, under whom you act, are, I believe, but little obliged to you. Pray, Sir, at what time of year did you receive orders to desist from the purchase of flour? What quantity was then on hand, and what quantity was procured at the moderate price you mention? Had the purchasing commissaries, in the State of Pennsylvania, similar directions? I wish you to answer these questions, perhaps it may unravel some of the mysteries of your department, or perhaps it may remove some suspicions re- specting their conduct.
I shall say nothing farther concerning your defence. I only wish, for the good of my country, that Congress would raise the Commis- sions on all kinds of purchases to such a HEIGHT, that gentlemen, who have condescended to become commissaries and quartermasters, may not be under the necessity of becoming traders, to support them- selves and their families .- I will not deny a word of what you say,
1
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NEW JERSEY IN THE REVOLUTION.
[1779
concerning your zeal and activity in your office; on the contrary, I will do you the justice to declare, that, tho' I believe you have also committed iniquity, and transgressed with your brethren, few, if any, have done greater justice to the community, or more warmly exerted themselves to procure proper supplies for the army, and to make their purchases at the lowest possible rates. As to your forty-pound stroke, it is too little to deserve an answer-Do you imagine that, commis- sary-like, I wished to give such a price for an ordinary plantation ? At what rate, good Sir, do you pay for a yoke of ordinary oxen ?- I suppose, when you declare, that you never attempted, in a publick News-paper, to prove that the depreciation of our money was twenty to one, you mean to insinuate that I am the author of the True Patriot .- You are unlucky, Mr. Dunham, in your conjectures on this head ; in your first address, you fix the matter upon a Divine, a Presi- dent, or a Judge-and now, Sir, you father those productions upon poor Timoleon, a farmer of Somerset ; and I assure you, Sir, I have no more connection with the writer of those pieces, than I have with the Pope of Rome.
I would now proceed and attack, agreeable to promise, the com- missary and quartermaster departments at large ; but alas! you, their GOLIAH, have shamefully deserted them-After marching forth with great parade at the very appearance of an antagonist, you have retired under cover of a negative proposition, and suspecting that even here you may receive considerable annoyance, you have resolved to secure a retreat into the citadel of your own personal honesty.
If, Sir, I should now inform you, that two or three of your deputies were apprehended by the magistrates of a certain town, whilst pur- chasing cattle at double and treble the current price, on suspicion of their being Tories who had procured a quantity of counterfeit money from New-York-If I should relate to you, that a commissary up the North-River, was last winter the purchaser of a large quantity of rum at Seven Pounds per gallon, which two of his relations purchased at Philadelphia, evidently with publick money, at Four Pounds per gallon, he and they sharing the profits, which amounted, clear of ex- pences, to Five Thousand Pounds-If I tell you, that a few months ago, a commissary, in Hunterdon county, purchased a quantity of wheat at Ten Dollars per bushel, and afterwards paid for it Twelve, and still advised the farmer to wait longer for his money, as he was sure wheat would soon be Twenty Dollars per bushel-If, Sir, I inform you that last week, whilst the court of sessions was held at Newark, the quartermasters there received orders to give FIFTY POUNDS per ton, for new hay, when the inhabitants had no idea of asking more than One Hundred Dollars; in consequence of which they, to their credit be it spoken, memorialized Congress on the sub- ject-If, without attending to particular instances of villainy, I should roundly assert, that the present depreciated state of our currency is, in a very great measure, owing to the misconduct of those who have purchased for the army ; and if, in confirmation hereof, I should, among a variety of other arguments, adduce instances redounding
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NEWSPAPER EXTRACTS.
1779]
much to your own honour, and that of others of your brethren of the staff, plainly evincing, that it has been, and is greatly in your power, to regulate the prices of the necessaries of the army-I say, Sir, if I should thus proceed to shew, that a great number of your brethren have indeed been Harpies who have preyed upon our vitals, What is to be my answer from Mr. Dunham ?-
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