USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume I > Part 22
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On Sunday, June 25, 1775, Washington passed through Newark on his way to assume command of the Continental Army at Cambridge. Ordinarily travelers from the south on the way
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to New York took ferry at Elizabethtown, but in this instance that route was not feasible, as will appear from the following letter written by General Philip Schuyler to the New York Pro. vincial Congress when Washington, Schuyler and others reached New Brunswick on Saturday, June 24:
"General Washington with his retinue is now here, and pro- poses to be at Newark by nine to-morrow morning. The situation of the men of war [British] at New York (we are informed) is such as to make it necessary that some precaution should be taken in crossing Hudson's river, and he would take it as a favor if some gentlemen of your body would meet him to-morrow at Newark, as the advice you may then give him will determine whether he will continue his proposed route or not."
Washington and his party remained a few hours in Newark in conference with a committee sent from the New York Congress. Where did they stop while here? This will probably never be known with absolute certainty. The Eagle Tavern stood at the north corner of what are now Broad and William streets and it offered about the best accommodations. Across the lane (William street) stood the parsonage of the First Church, where resided the patriot pastor, Dr. Alexander Macwhorter. As the pastor was, later in the war, on terms of considerable intimacy with Washing- ton, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that Washington and his company rested at the tavern near the parsonage and there met the delegation from New York. Did he attend church? Probably not, for the day was for him a crowded one, and as he was a mem- ber of the Church of England he would not have felt altogether at his ease in Trinity, since the great majority of that congregation were hostile to the cause for which he had drawn his sword. The theory that Washington on this visit conferred with Pastor Mac- whorter is based chiefly on the fact that Washington, as he passed through the country, was "feeling the pulse" of the people, gather- ing impressions as best he could of the popular attitude toward the cause of independence, and Dr. Macwhorter was well able to inform him as to conditions hereabouts.
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In order to avoid any possibility of coming in contact with the British soldiery or the forces from the British ships anchored in the upper New York bay (whose presence had made the ferry trip from Elizabethtown too hazardous and diverted the little expedition to the Newark route) it was decided to cross the Hudson river at what is now Hoboken, and about a mile above the then city of New York. The trip from Newark was probably made over the present Plank Road since the only other road to the Hackensack ferry ran from the Schuyler copper mines in what is now Arlington. Washington had left his coach in Philadelphia, and was proceeding to the field of action on his horse, in true soldierly fashion. Leaving Newark that June Sunday afternoon, he in all probability proceeded up Broad street, traveled down Market street, to the ferry from which Ferry street gets its name, across the meadows and over the Hackensack by Dow's ferry.
The cause of liberty was young. A year and more was to elapse before the thirteen colonies were to formally declare to the world that they were henceforth to be united in common cause against a powerful, but blind and irascible parent-country. A year and five months thereafter, almost to a day, Washington was to tread that same Broad street, beaten many times over, baffled at almost every turn and with the "cause" for which he was now going forth to give the best that was in him, all but lost. He was then about 45 years old.
ESSEX COUNTY'S POPULATION IN 1775.
In 1775 there were in Newark, that is, in the town proper, not more than one thousand souls, and in all the county (which then included Newark, Elizabethtown, Acquackanonck, and the scattering groups of homes and farms now known as Rahway, Plainfield, Bloomfield, Nutley, Montclair, Caldwell, the Oranges, Irvington, Lyons Farms, Connecticut Farms, Springfield and Chatham) perhaps 8,000 persons.
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MAKING READY FOR WAR.
Newark's Committee of Correspondence was active from the very day of its organization. Early in 1775 it united with the committee of Elizabethtown in inaugurating a boycott against New York's leading newspaper, known as Rivington's Gazette, denouncing Rivington, the publisher, "a printer of one of the New York gazettes" and "a vile Ministerial hireling." A plan for gathering together ammunition, inaugurated at Hanover, Morris County, was adopted by the Essex County committees, and William Camp of Newark was delegated as the proper person to receive saltpetre and sulphur and which was to be forwarded to the new powder mills erected at Morristown on the banks of the Whippany river and conducted by the Ford family, that built and occupied the house, later turned over to Washington, and now known as Washington's headquarters.
On March 15, 1776, the Newark committee adopted a schedule of prices for goods shipped into the town from the West Indies identical with that fixed by the New York committee, and including West India rum, Jamaica spirits, country rum, molasses, coffee, chocolate, loaf, Muscovado and lump sugar, salt and pepper. If any merchant deviated from the rates as set down he was to be denounced as traitorous to the cause of liberty. More than one Essex County merchant had to be disciplined later on. Two months later the Newark committee advised the people of the township to neither kill nor eat lamb or sheep until the following August. The purpose of this recommendation seems to have been a desire to foster the wool industry which was then being set up in Somerset County, in an effort to encourage home industry.1
' Lee's New Jersey as a Colony and as a State, vol. il, pp. 59-60.
FIRST ESTABLISHMENT, NEW JERSEY LINE.
The first move to place the Province upon an actual war footing was taken in October, 1775, when the Provincial Congress, in response to a call from the Continental Congress, set about raising two battalions, of eight companies each, with eleven officers
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(including subalterns), and sixty-eight privates, for one year, "at the expense of the Continent." Hats, shoes and yarn stockings were to be furnished in place of bounty, by the "Continent," and the men were to provide their own arms. The Province was to pay each officer two and two-third dollars a week for subsistence and privates one dollar a week, while in quarters, and one and one-third dollars while proceeding to join the army. The recruits were to be enrolled by muster masters. One battalion was known as the Western and the other as the Eastern, the latter being recruited largely in Essex County. In January, 1776, a third battalion was called for, to serve for one year. These three bat- talions represented what was called the "First Establishment" of the New Jersey Line.
Part of this establishment saw service in the Province of New York, rounding up Tories and doing garrison duty, and another part did similar work on Long Island, while still other companies lay practically inactive at Elizabethtown and Perth Amboy. A fourth group of companies, including some new to the field and others that had seen service as described above, was sent north with the valorous but unfortunate expedition to Canada.
SECOND ESTABLISHMENT, "FOR THE WAR."
In September, 1776, the enlistment of the Second Establish- ment of New Jersey Continental troops was begun. It comprised four battalions, to be armed and equipped by the recently created State. These men were to serve for the war, unless previously discharged by Congress, and bore much the same relation to the First Establishment as the "three years, or the war" enlistment for the Civil War bore to the first call for seventy-five thousand men for three months. The struggle was on in grim earnest when the Second Establishment was summoned, as was the case when Lincoln called the three-year men to the colors.
The war, which when the First Establishment was summoned was something that was to be, had now become a terrible reality. Part of the wounded in the disastrous battle of Long Island had
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been brought over to New Jersey and taken to Hackensack and Newark, those left at Hackensack being presently removed to Newark.2 Recruits came slowly. A bounty of $20 was assured to every non-commissioned officer and private, and also grants of land in proportion to rank were promised. As for the bounty, New Jersey gave, in place of money, "two linen hunting shirts, two pair of overalls, a leathern or woolen waistcoat with sleeves, one pair of breeches, a hat or leathern cap, two shirts, two pair of hose, and two pair of shoes."
ESSEX COUNTY CONTINENTALS.
Several of the companies of the First Establishment were at Fort Ticonderoga late in October, 1776, and these men were given the preference in the organization of the Second Establishment, many of them re-enlisting. In February, 1777, the Second Estab- lishment was fully organized. One battalion was recruited in Essex County with Elias Dayton as its colonel. He was afterwards made a brigadier general and was succeeded as colonel by Edward Thomas. The lieutenant colonels were: Jeremiah Smith, Samuel Pattee and Moses Jacques, the two latter becoming colonels, subse- quently. Oliver Spencer and Jacob Crane were first majors and lieutenant colonels in succession. Ezekial Woodruff, jr., was second and later first major. Nehemiah Wade was second major, and William Winants surgeon. While this was the only command in the New Jersey Continental Line definitely known as from Essex
" "After Long Island was evacuated, it was judged impossible to hold the city of New York, and for several days the artillery and stores of every kind had been removed, and last night the sick were ordered to Newark, in the Jersies; but most of them could be got no further than this place [ Paulus Hook, now Jersey City] and Hoebuck [ Hoboken], and as there is but one house at each of these places, many were obliged to lie in the open air till this morning, whose distress when I walked out at daybreak, gave me a livelier idea of the horror of war than anything I have met before-the commandant ordered them everything for their comfort that the place afforded, and immediately forwarded them to the place appointed [Newark] and prepared for them." Letter written at Paulus Hook, Sept. 15, 1776, and published in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. See New Jersey Archives, Newspaper Extracts, Second Series, vol. i, pp. 224-225.
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County, the men from Newark and its neighborhood were scat- tered through nearly every battalion in the first and subsequent establishments.
MAXWELL'S BRIGADE-THE THIRD ESTABLISHMENT.
The four battalions of the Second Establishment were placed under the command of Brigadier General William Maxwell, formerly colonel of the second battalion of the First Establishment, and a resident of Sussex County. It was known throughout the remainder of the war as "Maxwell's Brigade" of the Continental Army. In 1779 an effort was made to raise a Third Establishment. It never took the field as such, the men recruited under this call being used to strengthen the various battalions of Maxwell's Brigade, which, early in 1780, was rearranged in three regiments, serving as such until the end of the war. In June, 1781, the Legislature offered a bounty of twelve pounds in gold or silver to every man who would enlist to serve until the close of the war.
Maxwell's Brigade participated in every important action in New Jersey after its establishment. A portion of it opened the battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, and continued in the fight throughout the day. The brigade saw service in Delaware as well as in Pennsylvania. It gave an excellent account of itself at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777. It was at Valley Forge during the greater part of the winter of 1777-78. At the battle of Monmouth on June 27-28, 1778, it was active and efficient, and after the fight was found to be sadly destitute of clothing. In the spring and summer of 1779 it took part in General Sullivan's expedition against the Seneca Indians, up the Susquehanna, to discipline the savages for the Wyoming Massacre. It was in the battle of Springfield, on June 23, 1780, and acquitted itself with honor.
Reorganized and strengthened with the recruits under the so-called Third Establishment, what was virtually Maxwell's Bri- gade made over, accompanied the Continental Army on its long march to the south and was a part of it during the siege and
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subsequent capture of Yorktown. These three regiments, more or less constantly reinforced by levies from the militia, together with many individual enlistments of Jerseymen in the commands of other states, constituted New Jersey's contribution to the heroic Continental Army, whose sacrifices, hardships and consecration to the cause of liberty no pen has ever adequately described.
THE MILITIA ORGANIZATION.
New Jersey's militia organization was somewhat complex and it was made to play its part in meeting the exigencies of the time only by the exercise of constant energy and resourcefulness on the part of the muster masters and a few other tried and devoted persons in the various counties. The obstacles that prevented the maintenance of the State's full quota of militia upon a proper foot- ing were tremendous. In the earlier years of the war the New Jersey militia did not acquit itself with all the credit that one would like to accord to it. The commonwealth had continued too long in a semi-chaotic state for the average individual to hold the central government in full and proper respect. The State and its constitu- tion were both too new to inspire the spirit of loyalty and devotion which the representatives of the Crown had lost during several generations of maladministration. In a word, the militia was not always to be depended upon.
Washington discovered that fact in the trying days at the close of 1776 and his disappointment at the lack of support which his tattered legions received from New Jersey's citizen soldiery was keen. It is enough to say at this point in the narrative that the New Jersey militia retrieved its good name in the latter years of the war, and on one occasion at least received the highest com- mendation for gallantry in the field, from Washington himself.
ANCIENT AVERSION TO A STANDING ARMY.
There had been militia in New Jersey almost from the settle- ment by the English, and through the passing of generations there had grown a deep-rooted aversion to the establishment of anything
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akin to regular troops. In the French and Indian war the Provin- cials furnished their citizen soldiery for hard service, in one-year levies. The experience of these men in the field, where they had a good opportunity to judge of the efficiency of the regular British forces, did not tend to increase the Provincial's respect for a stand- ing army. The disaster to Braddock's troops in this war was, of course, a never-to-be-forgotten influence working to the disparage- ment of the regulars in the minds of the people throughout all the American Colonies. Despite the terrible experiences during the War for Independence when the patriot cause was more than once all but lost because of the lack of trained troops and through the fickleness of the militia, the popular antipathy to a standing army continued very pronounced in fact, it still exists.
THE ESSEX COUNTY MILITIA.
The first organization of militia for the War for Independence was already under way in Newark when Washington passed through on his way to Cambridge, in June, 1775. Essex County's allotment was two regiments, their members to be between the ages of sixteen and fifty,3 with eighty men in each company, the mem- bers to choose their own commissioned officers and these to appoint the non-commissioned officers. The officers were to choose the regimental officers. Companies already in existence were to con- form to the new regulations. The officers received their commis- sions from either the Provincial Congress or the Committee of Safety. Penalties and fines were exacted for absence from muster or refusal to bear arms. Elias Dayton and Philip Van Cortland were the colonels of the two Newark regiments.in 1775.
3 The age limit was by no means rigidly adhered to, as will appear from the following, which appeared in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, July 29, 1776: "An old Gentleman between 60 and 70 now does duty in the Militia near Newark, in New Jersey, is the father of about 15 Children now alive, 9 of which are in the Continental Army, from Captains to Privates."
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THE MINUTE-MEN.
Previous to the organization just described, companies of Min- ute-Men had been organized in Morris, Sussex and Somerset Coun- ties. Similar companies were later formed in all the other counties, Essex providing six. The Minute-Men had precedence in rank over the militia whose formation has just been described. The Minute- Men were to be "held in constant readiness, on the shortest notice, to march to any place where assistance might be required, for the defence of this or any neighboring colony." They were to continue in service for four months. In February, 1776, the Minute-Man organization was given up, and the companies merged with the militia. The chief reason for this seems to have been the great depletion of the ranks which were heavily drawn upon by the militia and for the line companies.
Militiamen were required to furnish themselves with "a good musket or firelock, and bayonet, sword or tomahawk, a steel ram- rod, worm, priming wire and brush fitted thereto, a cartouch box to contain twenty-three rounds of cartridges, twelve flints and a knapsack." A hunting frock was the distinguishing feature of the uniform, such as were worn by the riflemen in the Continental line regiments.
ESSEX MILITIA'S FIRST SERVICE.
The Essex militia first saw active service in February, 1776, when three hundred of them, together with as many from Middle- sex and one hundred from Somerset, were sent to Long Island, in response to an appeal from the New York Committee of Safety, to assist in arresting Tories in Queens County. In July, 1776, three companies of Essex militia were sent to join a detachment of two thousand of their fellows gathered throughout the Province. This force took the place of as many of Washington's men who had been ordered into New Jersey to form a "Flying Camp," 4 whom Wash- ington now sorely needed in his operations on Long Island.
' The Flying Camp was composed chiefly of New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania troops, of the Continental line. The Camp's chief headquarters were at Perth Amboy. General Hugh Mercer was In command.
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THE FLYING CAMP-MONTHLY CLASSES.
The Flying Camp was a sort of outpost established in this State by the Commander-in-Chief, and intended to be moved in any direction that emergency might require as the nature of General Howe's movements should develop. A month later, in August, 1776, one of the two divisions of the New Jersey militia was ordered to join the Flying Camp with all possible haste, and for one month's service. The second class or division was ordered to hold itself in readiness to relieve the first now going into the field.
From that time to the end of the war the militia was main- tained on this basis of monthly classes. By this arrangement the men were given alternate months at home, and as a large majority of them were farmers, the plan permitted them to sustain, to an extent, the crops of the State. This was highly essential in New Jersey, for it existed largely through its farms; there being very few other industries at that time.
INCREASING DIFFICULTY OF MILITIA MAINTENANCE.
Each year brought some new law or laws for strengthening the militia, and they show plainly enough that it became more and more difficult to maintain it at anything like adequate numbers. The various townships and counties were gone through repeatedly by the muster masters, as it were with a fine-toothed comb. Few able-bodied men could escape, without incurring the odium of their more patriotic neighbors. At first, in 1775, men were "requested" to enlist in the militia; a little later they were "directed" to join.
In 1778 the militia was brigaded, those of the following coun- ties being in one brigade: Essex, Bergen, Morris, Sussex, Middle- sex and Somerset. The other counties of the State furnished the Second Brigade. In 1780 bounties ranging from $500 (Continental money) for a colonel, to $60 for a private were given for one month's field service. In 1781, a three-brigade organization was made, Essex, Bergen, Morris and Sussex, comprising the First Bri- gade. In 1781 part of the militia was called out for three months' service, co-operating with the Continental Army. These men were exempted from service for the succeeding nine months.
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THE "STATE TROOPS."
Several times during the war a certain proportion of the militia was mobilized to meet emergencies, New Jersey being the battle- ground during nearly one-third of the whole struggle. The men so apportioned were liable for duty not only in New Jersey but in adjacent States. These detachments were called "State Troops," "New Jersey Levies" or "Five Months' Levies." Under this system two companies of artillery were formed, one for each end of the State. The "Eastern Company" had Frederick Frelinghuysen ' for its captain. Late in 1776 and early in 1777, Essex, Morris and Bergen counties raised a battalion of "State Troops."
In 1779, under regimental formation, totaling four thousand men, four regiments of State Troops were formed, Essex, Middle- sex and Monmouth being called on to supply one. Two or three other "embodiments" of State Troops were made before the war was over, and on the last call, in December, 1781, Essex raised four companies, comprising two hundred and twenty men, their captains being: John Scudder, Jonas Ward, Robert Niel " and John Craig. Near the end of the war recruiting officers received $50 a day (Continental money). When the State Troops were ordered out, the officers of the militia companies were expected to assemble and select those of their commands who were to serve. Those so drawn were either required to take the field or send a substitute at their own expense.
Several troops of light horse were organized from time to time, at the order of the Governor. Many Essex men enlisted in com- mands outside the State for longer or shorter periods.
" Great grandfather of Frederick Frelinghnysen, president of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company (1913). It is a tradition that Captain Frelinghnysen fired from his pistol the shot that mortally wounded Colonel Rahl at Trenton, Christmas Eve, 1776.
" Niel was one of Newark's merchants. In September, 1776, he inserted the following advertisement in a New York newspaper: "Rum to be sold as cheap as the Times will permit, by Robert Niel, at his store in Newark, by the hogshead or barrell. N. B. Some excellent brandy to be sold at the same place; also loaf sngars."
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HOW MEN PREPARED FOR THE CALL TO ARMS.
When called to arms it was the custom of the men to don their uniforms, take their accountrements and proceed at once to the home of their respective captains, from whence they marched to the point of battalion or regimental mobilization. The citizen soldiery could thus be gathered in surprisingly short time. The training of the previous three quarters of a century, during the land riots, described in a previous chapter, had served to develop a system of signals by gunfire in the daytime and beacons at night.
THE MILITIA'S BATTLE-RECORD.
The New Jersey militia participated in these engagements : Quinton's Bridge, Three Rivers, Connecticut Farms, Van Neste's Mills, Battle of Long Island, Trenton, Assanpink, Princeton, Germantown, Springfield and Monmouth. At the first militia organization, William Livingston was made a brigade commander, but soon resigned to become the first Governor of the State of New Jersey, in which post he was of inestimable value.7
JEMIMA CUNDICT'S DIARY.
At every turn in this stage of the history of Newark and of Essex County one feels keenly the almost total absence of the personal note. It is hard to get close to the actual feelings and sentiments of the individual in the records preserved to us. The "tumult and the shouting" died so very, very long ago that it is not easy for us to realize just what they felt and hoped and feared in those epoch-making times. Fortunately, however, there has been preserved to us in the diary of a girl of the "Newark Mountain" (Orange), a few fragments which help us to a somewhat better understanding of the state of mind of the patriots.
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