USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Annals of Morris County > Part 14
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(the place infernal) " next night !"
So far as possible, let us now relate the facts which show the sufferings and heroism of our soldiers, on Kimbal-bill, the Winter of 1779-'80. On the ninth of December, General Greene wrote, "Our hutting goes on rapidly, and the troops will be under cover in a few days. The officers will remain in the open field until the boards (from Trenton) arrive, and as their
The general fact that that Winter was one of terrible severity is well known ; but we may obtain more vivid ideas of this fact by a fow details. In the New Jersey Gazette of February 0th, 1780, pubhshed at Trenton, the editor says, "The weather has been so extremely cokl, for near two months past, that sleighs and other carriages now pass from this place to Philadelphia, on the Delaware, a circumstance not remembered by the oldest person among ns." As carly as the eighteenth of December. 1779, an officer, who visited some of the smaller encampments along the hills, in the vicinity, writes, "I found the weather excessiveiy cold." (New Jersey Gazette, December 22d, 1779.) On the fourteenth of January, Lord Stirbng led a detacbment against the enemy, on Staten
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ANNALS OF MORRIS COUNTY.
Island ; and on the morning of the fifteenth, he crossed on the ice, from Ehzabethtown- Point. (Lite of Stirling. 206 ; Spark>'s Wri - ings of Washington, vi., 447.) The Hudson was so bridged with ice as to permit foot-passengers to eross from New York to Hoboken and Paulus Hook.
But the unparalleled depth of snow added to the intense sufferings of the soldiers. On the fourteenth of December. as Thacher says, the "snow was two feet deep." On the twenty- eighth ot December, an officer says, in the New Jersey Gazette, " while I am writing, the storm is raging without." But the great storm of the Winter began on the third of January, when the greater part of the Army were not pro- tected by the huts, which were not yet ready for occupation. Doctor Thacher thus describes the storm ( Military Journa), 181); " On the 3d inst." [January, 1780] " we experienced one of the most tremendous snow storms ever remem- bered ; no man could endure its violence many minutes without danger to his hle. Several marquees were torn asunder and blown down, over the officers' heads, in the night, and some of the soldiers were actually covered while in their tents and buried, hike sheep, under the snow. My comrades and myself were roused from sleep by the calls of some officers for assistance ; their marquee bad blown down, and they were almost smothered in the storm, before they could reach our marquee, only a few yards, and their blankets and baggage were nearly buried in the snow. We (the officers) are greatly favored in having a supply of straw for bedding ; over this we spread all our Htankets, and with our clothes aud large fires at our tet, while four or five are crowded together, preserve ourselves from freezing. But the sufferings of the poor soldiers cau scarcely be described ; while on duty they are unavoidably exposed to all the inclemency of the storm and severe cold ; at night, they now have a bed of straw on the ground and a sin- gle blanket to cach man ; they are badly elad aud some are destitute of shoes. We have contrived a kind of stone chimney, outside, and an opening at one end of our tents gives us the benefit of the fire within. The snow. is now from tour to six feet deep, whichi so ov- structs the roads as to prevent our receiving a supply of provisions. For the last ten days, we received but two pounds of meat a man, and we are frequently for six or eight days entirely destitute of meat and theu as long without bread. The consequence ia, the soldiers are so enfeebled from hunger and cold, as to be almost nnable to perform military duty or 'Jabor in constructing their huts. Ii is well known that General Washington experiences the greatest solicitude for the sufferings of his
Army and is sensibte that they in general con- duet with heroic patience and fortitude."
This storm continned for several days, ac- companied with violent winds, which drifted the snow so that the roads were impassable. So deep was the snow, that, in many places, it covered the tops of the fences. and teams could be driven over them. Under date of "JAnu- ary 22d, 1780," an officer on Kimbal-hill wrote the following lively description of the condition of the Army, in consequence of thus storm : " We had a Fast, lately, in Camp, by general constraint, of the whole Army ; in which we fasted more sincerely and truly for three days, than we ever did from all the Resolutions of Congress put together. This was occasioned by the severity of the weather and drifting of the snow, whereby the roads were rendered impassable and all supplies of provision cut off, until the officers were obliged to release the soldiers from command, and permit them to go in great numbers together, to get pro- visions where they could find them. The in- habitants of this part of the country discovered a noble spirit in feeding the soldiers ; and, to the honor of the soldiery, they received what they got with thank'niness, and did little or no damage." (New Jersey Gazette, Jannary 26th, 1780.)
The manuscript letters of Joseph Lewis, Quarter-master at Morristown, prove this de- scription to be truthful. On the eighth of Jan- uary. he wrote, " We are now as distressed as want of Provision and Cash can make us. The soldiers have been reduced to the neces- sity of robbing the inhabitants, to save their own lives " On the next day, he wrote, " We are still in distress for want of provisions. Our Magistrates, as well as small detachments from the Army, are busy collecting to reheve our distresses ; and I am told that the troops already experience the good effects of their industry. We are wishing for more plentiful supplies." Aud, in real distress, he writes under the same date " the sixty million dollars lately collected by tax, must be put into the hands of the Superintendent for the new pur- chases. You will therefore have but little chance of getting Cash nutil more is MADE. If none comes sooner than by striking new emis- sions, I must run away from Morris and live with you at Trenton or some other place, more remote from this, to secure me from the already enraged multitudes."
On the eighth of January, General Washing- ton wrote from the Ford mansion, the comforts of which must have made the sufferings of his soldiers seem the more awful : "The present state of the Army, with respect to provisions, is the most distressing of any we have expert- onced since the beginning of the War. For a
64
ANNALS OF MORRIS COUNTY.
fortnight past, the troops, both officers and mon, have been almost perishing for want They have been alternately withont bread or meat, the whole time, with a very scanty.al. lowance of either, and frequently destitute of both. They have borne their sufferings with a pitience that merits the approbation, and ought to excite the sympathy, of their coun- trymen. But they are now redneed to an extremity no longer to be supported." (Sparks's Writings of Washington, vi., 439.) This letter, which was addressed to " the Magistrates of New Jersey," is one of the noblest productions of his pen : and right nobly did those, thus feelingly addressed, respond to the appeal. And in this, mone were superior to the people of Morris-county, on whom, of necessity, fell the burden of affording immediate relief, and whose efforts did not cease when this was effected. On the twentieth of January, Wash- ington wrote to Doctor Jobe Witherspoon. that "all the Counties of this State that I have heard from, have attended to my requisition for provisions, with the most cheertul and commendable zeal ;" and to " Etbridge Gerry. in Congress," he wrote " the exertions of the Magistrates and inhabitants of this State were great and cheerful for our relief." (Sparks's Writings of Washington, vi., 448, 456.) In his Military Journal (page 182), Doctor Thacher speaks, with enthusiasm, ot " the ample sup- ply" of food furnished by " the Magistrates and people of Jersey ;" and Isaac Collins, Editor of the New Jersey Gazette, on the nineteenth of January, says, " With pleasure, we mform our readers, that our Army, which the unexpected inclemeney of the season and the roads becom- ing almost impassable, had suffered a few days for want of provisions, are, from the spirited exertions now making, likely to be well sup- plied."
It was during this season of distress, that Hannah Carey, wife of Captain David Thomp- son, of Mendham, one day fed troop after troop o. hungry soldiers ; and as they told her they had no means of paying her, she said to them, "Eat what you want ; you are engaged in a good cause ; and we are willing to share with you, what wo have, as long as it lasts l" and Hannah Carey Thompson was only one ofea great company of women, like-minded with herself. It is true, she gave an impudent Tory such a reception of scalding water, on a cer- tain occasion, as made him roar with pain and in future, abstain from such acts ; but then her heart was large towards the suffering defenders of her country. In Whippany, the potatoe-bin, the meat-bag, and the granary of Uzal and Anna Kitchel always had some com- fort for the patriotic soldiers ; and the ample farm of old General Winds, of Rockaway, had
not borne harvests too good for him to bestow on his brethren-in-arms. Often, the soldiers, goaded by bunger, would go several miles to beg or steal a little food ; and, in some such excursion, it happened that Elizabeth Pierson, second wife of Parson Green, of Hanover, "particularly lamented the .oss of a fat inrkey that had been reserved for a Christmas din- ner ;" but her husband, although his son, Asy- bel, never remembered to have seen him smile, perpetrated quite a scriptural joke, “ when he rather excused what the soldiers had done, by qnoting these words from the Book of Pro- verbs, 'Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry !'" Pro- visions came, with a right hearty good will, from the farmers in Mendham, Chatham, Han- over, Morris, and Pequannock ; and not only provisions, but stockings and shoes, coats an 1 blankets. Over on Smith's Hammock, as it was called, beyond Hanover Neck, Ralph Smith's mother assembled the patriot womed to sew and huit for the solchers. In Whip- pany, Anna Kitchel and her neighbors are at the same good work ; and, in Morristown, " Mrs. Parson Johnes" and " Mrs. Counsellor Condiet," with all the noble women in the town, made the sewing and knitting-needles fly on their mission of mercy. The memory of the Morris-county women of that day is yet as delightful as the " smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed !" and this tribute to their worth is not woven up of fictions, but of facts, gathered from hving lips, and, therefore, never may those women perish from the memory of their admiring and grateful descendants.
The generosity of which we have spoken is much enbanced by the fact, that the people supposed themselves to be giving, and not sell- ing, their provisions. According to the prices -Continental Currency-affixed to various ar- ticles, by the Magistrates of Morris-county, in January, 1780, they gave away thousands of dollars to soldiers at their tables ; and as for provisions, nominally sold, they were paid for either in Continental bills or certificates, both ol which they considered as nearly worthless. Their opinion of the bills was not wrong, since, after the War, hundreds of thousands of dollars were left on their hands, which were never redeemed; but many of them made a serions mistake in their estimate of the certifi- cates which were redeemed with interest. Yet many of these men threw these certificates away, as worthless, and esteemed themselves as doing an unpaid duty to their country.
It is interesting to ascertain the prices of various articles used in the Camp, that Winter. On the twenty-seventh of January, Quarter- master Lewis wrote: "The Justices, at their meeting, established the following prices to ho
65
ANNALS OF MORRIS COUNTY.
given for Hay and Grain " throughout the County [of Morris], from the 1st of December, 1779, to the 1st of February next, or until the Regulating Act take place.
'. For Hay, 1st Quality, £100 per ton. 6.
.. 3d
66 £50 66
" for one horse, 24 hours, 6 dollars.
per night, 4 66
Wheat. per bushel,
50 66
Rye,
35
Corn,
30 ..
Buckwheat and Oats,
20
This, certainly, is rather a startling " Price Current ;" but it was only in keeping with such significant advertisements as frequentty ap- peared in the papers of that day : "One Thou- sand Dollars Reward" for the recovery of "' my negro man, Toney ; or "Thirty Spanish Milled Dollars," for the recovery of my runaway *. Mulatto Fellow, Jack." "Forty paper dollars were worth only one in specie ;" and the fact increases our wonder, alike at the patriotism of the people and soldiers, which was sufficient to keep the Artay from open mutiny or being entirely disbanded.
'To leave this gloomny side of the picture, a little while, it is well to record the fact that, on the twenty-eighth of December. 1779, whilst the snow " storm was raging," Martha Wash- ingtou passed through Trenton, on her way to Morristown; and that a troop of gallant Vir- ginians, stationed there, were paraded to do her honor, being very proud to own her as a Virginian, and her husband also. She spent New Year's Day in Morristown; and now, in the Ford mansion, you may see the very mirror in which her dignified form has often been reflected. The wife of the American Com- mander-in-chief received her company, did the honors of her family, and even appeared, occa- sionally, at the " Assembly Balls,"' that Winter dressed in American stuffs. It is a pleasing anecdote, winch was once told me by the late Mrs. Abby Vail, daughter of Uzal and Anna Kitehel. Some of the ladies in Hanover, and, among them, "the stately Madame Budd," mother of Dr. Bern Budd, dressed in their best, made a call on Lady Wash- ington, and, as one of them afterwards said, " we were dressed in our most elegant silks and ruffles, and so were introduced to her ladyship. And don't you think, we found her with a speckled homespun apron on, and en- gaged in knitting a stocking! She received us very handsomely, and then resumed her knit- ting. In the course of her conversation, she said, very kindly, to us, whilst she made her needles fly, that American ladies should be patters of industry to their countrywomen ; * * we must become independent of England by doing without those articles which we can
make ourselves. Whilst our husbands and brothers are examples of patriotism, we mnst be examples of industry !" "I do doclare," said one of them, afterwards, " I never felt so ashan.ed and rebuked in my life !" It is very possible that Martha Washington, with her knitting-needles and homespun dress, might not be admitted into the same circle with our modern " Potiphars ;" and yet she does shine beautifully, in this little scene, proving herself the worthy companion of the illustrious Wash- ington.
From documents, not very important in themselves, we sometimes derive impressive lessons. The original of the following sub- scription for Assembly Balls in Morristown, that Winter, is still in possession of the Biddle family, on the Delaware : " The subscribers agree to pay the sums annexed to their re- spective names and an equal quota of any further expence which may be incurred in the promotion and support of a dancing Assembly to be held ir Morristown, the present winter vI 1780. Subscription Moneys to be paid in o the hands of a Treasurer hereafter to be ap- pointed.
Nath. Greene 400 dolls paid
H. Knox 400 ditto paid
John Lawrence
400 dolls paid
J. Wilkinson
400 dolls paid
Clement Biddle
400 dolls paid
Robt. H. Harrison
400 dolla paid
R. K. Meade
400 dolls paid
Alex. Hamilton
400 dolls paid
Teuch Tighlman 400 dolls paid
C. Gibbs 400 dolls paid
Jno. Piereu
400 dolls daid
The Baron de Kalb
400 dolis paid
Jno. Moylan
400 dolls paid
Le Ch. Dulingsley
400 dolls paid
Geo. Washington
paid F. D. ($400.)
R. Clairborne
pd 400 dolls
Lord Sterling
pd 400 dolls
Col. Hazen
pd 400 dolls
Asa Worthington
pd 400 dolls
Benj. Brown
pd 400 dolls
Major Stagg
pd 400 dolls
James Thompson
pd 400 dolls
H. Jackson
pd 400 dolls
Col. Thomas Proctor
pd 400 dolls
J. B. Cutting
pd 400 dolls
Edward Hand
pd 400 dolls
William Little
pd 400 dolls
Thos. Woolford
pd 400 dolls
Geo. Olney
400 dolls paid
Jas. Abeel
400 dolls paid
Robert Erskine
400 dolls paid
Jno. Cochran 400 dolls paid
Geo. Draper
400 dolls paid
J. Burnet
400 dolls paid."
The amounts thus "paid " constitute the somewhat imposing sum of thirteen thousand, six hundred dollars "for the support of a dancing Assembly the present winter of 1780." Now I frankly confess that this paper produced an uncomfortable sensation in my mind, by the somewhat harsh contrast between the dancing of the well-housed officers, at O'Hara's tavern,
£80
66
ANNALS OF MORRIS COUNTY.
and the "hungry ruin " at Kimbal-hill. The Assembly was not so well set off with gas-lights and fashionable splendor as many a Ball in our day. No doubt it was rather a plain affair, of its kind : and yet it reminds one that, while these distinguished men were tripping "the light fantastic toe," in well-warmed rooms, there were, at that very time, as Captain Wil- liam Tuttle often told it, a great many tents in which there were soldiers without coats and barefooted, shivering and perishing in the fearful storms and colds of that same "present winter of 1780;" and that there were paths about the camps, on Kimbal-hill, that were marked with real blood expressed from the cracked and frozen feet of soldiers who had Ho shoes !
However, I do not allude to this contrast as pecnhar to that place and those men, for feast- ing and starvation, plenty crowned with wreaths of yellow wheat and gaunt .amine wreathed in rags and barefoot ; dancing and dying, are facts put in contrast in other places beside O'Hara's and Kimbal-hill, and at other times than " the present winter ot 1780."
The principal object of introducing the sub- scription-paper here is to show the kind of currency on which our Revolution was com- pelled to rely. Here we find the leading men in Morristown, paying a sum for the dancing- master and landlord, the ministers of a httle amusement, which, nominally, is large enough for the high figures of Fifth Avenue million- aires ; but a closer inspection shows that the sum of thirteen thousand dollars was not worth as much as three hundred silver dollars. Doc- tor Thatcher says, significantly, "I have just seen in the newspaper an advertisement offer- ing for an article forty dollars. This is the trash winch is tendered to requite us for our sacrifices, sufferings, and privations, while in the service of our country. It is but a sordid pittance, even for our common purposes. while in camp ; but those who have families depen dent on them. at home, are reduced to a de- plorable condition." The officers of the Jersey troops, in their Memorial to the Legislature of New Jersey, declare " that four months' pay of a solcher would not procure for his family a bushel of wheat ; that the pay of a Colonel would not purchase oats for his horse ; that a common laborer or express-rider received four times as much as an American officer."
If such were their circumstances, let us rather admire than condem these brave men, at Mor- ristown, who were striving to invest the stern severities of that Winter with something of the gayer and more frivolous conrtesies of fash- ionable life.
As for Eghting, there was but little, the principal expedition being the descent of a de-
tachment on Staten Island, under Lord Sti - ling. The expectations raised by this expedi- tion are quite flatteringly told in an unpublished letter of Joseph Lewis, Quarter-master. He writes, under date of "January 15th 1780." that he had orders from General Green "to procure three hundred sleds or sleighs to parade Friday Morning at this post and at Mr. Kim-
ble's * * * I did not fail to exert * myself on the occasion, and the Magistrates gained deserved applause. About five hundred sleds or sleighs were collected, the majority of which were loaded with troops, artillery. &c. These sleds and as inany more are to return loaded with stores from the British Magazines. on Staten Island, except some few that are to be loaded with wounded British Prisoners. About 3000 troops are gone, under the com- mand of Lord Stirhug, with a determination to remove all Staten Island, bag and baggage, to Morristownl" (MS. Letter of Joseph Lewis. )
This expedition failed of realizing its object. because the enemy, by some means, Had been put on his guard. Still, Collins of the New Jersey Gazette, was sure it would " sbew the British mercenaries with what zealand alacrity the Americans will embrace every opportunity. even in a very inclement season, to promote the interest of the country by harassing the enemies to their freedom and independence." (New Jersey Gazette, January 19th, 1780.) And. on the twenty-second of that Jannary. Quarter- master Lewis wrote in quite a subdued tone. "I suppose yon have heard of the success of our late expedition to Staten Island. It was expensive but answered no valuable purpose. It skewed the mclination of our inhabitants to plunder." (MS. Letter J. Lewis. ) This expe- dition was at a time when " the cold was in- tense ;" and about five hundred of the soldiers had their feet frozen.
The eremy. by the way of retaliation, on the twenty-fifth of January, crossed to Elizabetli- town and burnt the Town-house and Presbyte- rian Church. They also " plundered the house of Jeeaniah Smith." The same night, another party "made an exe irsion to Newark, surprised the guard there, took Mr. Justice Hedden ont of his bed, and would not suffer him to dress : they also took Mr. Robert Niel. burut the Academy, and went off with precipitation." Rivington's Royal Gazette speaks of this Jus- tice elden as "a rebel magistrate remarkable for his persecuting spirit." (Now Jersey Ga- zette, February 2d and 16th, 1780.) It war marvellous that Heddeu survived that march. in such weather, from Newark to New York : but the tough man was nerved thereto by bi- brutal captors.
But have the troops enongh to cat ? General Greene's letter to " the Colonel of the Morris-
ANNALS OF MORRIS COUNTY.
own Militia " gives us a most sorrowtul answer. "The Army," writes Greene, in Jan- uary. "is upon the point of disbanding for want of provisions ; the poor soldiers having been for several days without any, and there is not being more than a suffieiney to serve one Regiment in the Magazine. Provisions are scarce at best ; but the late terrible storm, the depth of the snow, and the drifts in the toads prevent the little stock from coming forward, which is in readiness, at the distant Magazines. This is, therefore, to request you to call upon the Militia-officers and men of your Battalion to turn out their teams and break the roads, from between this and Ilack- etistown, there being a small quantity of pro- visione, there, that cannot come until that is done. The roads must be kept open by the inhabitants, or the Army cannot be subsisted. And, unless the good people immediately lend their assistance to forward supphes, the Army minst disband. The dire ul consequences of -Ich as real . will not tutare you feel . gs wita a description of : but remember the sur- rounding mahabitants will experi be . the first undan holy effects of such a raging evil." (Johastou's Life and Correspondence of Na- thamel Greene, i., 146 )
Ou the eleventh of Jannary, Greene wrote. "sneh weather as we have had, never did I feel," and the snow was so deep and drifted " that we drive over the top of the fences." He then describes the sufferings of the soldiers, and adds, " they have displayed a degree of . magnanimity, under their snf rings, which does them the highest honor." (Ibid, 148.) On the tenth of Mareb, Joseph L wis tells his superior officer, " I should be happy to receive about fifty thousand collars to persuade the wagoners to stay in Camp until May, which will prevent the troops from suffering." And ou the twenty-tight of the same mouth, be agam writes, "I am no longer able to procure a single team to releve the distresses of our Army, to bring in a upply of wood, or forward the stores which are absolutely necessary. * * * I wish I could inbabit some kind retreat from those dreadful complaints, nuless I bad a house filled with money and a Magazine of Forage to guard and protect me." " Good God ? where are our resources fed ? We are finly in a most pitiful situation and almost distracted with calls that it is not in our power to answer." (MS. Letter of J. Lewis.)
.
But there is another fact which adds a deeper shade to this picture of suffering, since from Thacher's Mihtury Journal, we have this sentence, in which, with no litte exultation, lie says, " having to this late season -February 14th-in our tents, experienced the greatest in- convenience. we have now the satisfaction of
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