USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Annals of Morris County > Part 5
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ious consultations of Washington .. men who constantly attended him, able to furnish so few authentic mat history. The last of her Revolutionar. through whom we are able to embrac triots of 1776, are only just departing when we attempt even a meagre histor .county, or of any promment individus we are compelled to resort to "unwritten tions of the elders," with a full knowleug their probable uncertainties and exaggeratio. But it is too late to enter complaints, sin they cannot no , be redressed. The fathers Morris County are dead, and although we muc regret that they left so little from which the children might construct a fitting memorial to their virtues as citizens, and as patriots we cal only say, "Peace to their ashes."
When the Revolutionary war began, the pro- ple of Morris County generally sympathized with it, and in proportion to their means, did ne much to sustain it as any other section of tl state. Here, as elsewhere, there were tories wh showed their hostility to the Patriots by deed. of violence and robbery, which were sometimes even marked with bloodshed; but the masses of the people, tracing their ancestral lines back to New England, were thrilled with a patriot- ism which serupled at no sacrifice for an end es- tremed so desirable. In many cases, all the male members of the family old enough to car- ry a musket were enrolled citber in the regular army or among the "minute men." The mothers, the wives and the daughters tilled the soil, while their sons, husbands and fathers contended with the enemy. One woman wax urged to get a "protection" from the Britis and she asked, "Would it be right or woman for me to secure a protection from the British when I have a husband, a father, and five bro thers fighting the British ? I think not, and therefore I will not do it." For the safety o her family she was urged to that course, but with the magnanimity of a Spartan and the faith of a Christian, she replied, "I will not get a 'protection' from the British : if the God of battles will not take care of us, then we will fare with the rest !" She was not alone in her resolve. Morris County could Loast of hun- dreds of women who would endure any hard- ship and encounter any danger, rather than sanction by a word the presence of an invader, and the impertinence of s foc.
As for the men. the first alarm sent them to the rescue, leaving the plough and reaping- hook to the women, whilst they should repel the enemy. One man was stacking his grain when he heard the sound of the alarm cannon booming over the hills. In an instant, hc sprang down with the exclamation, "I can stand this !" seized his gun and hurried to Jr
before the New Jersey Historical Soci- 12th, 1853.
L
ANNAALS OF MORRIS COUNTY
The Kitchels, the Condiets, the the Dickinsons. the Howells, the De- je Jacksons, the Tnttles, and other hke stuff, threw themselves with ani- nto the contest, to share its dangers
, if not all the townships in the county, I patriotie associations, both to guard .ast tories and to further the general inter- sof the American canse. The original paper ned by one hundred and seventy-seven eiti- 'ny of "Pequanoc" township, is among the mositios to be seen in the Library of this So- irty. This township embraced the present owuship of Rockaway, and the article itself which was signed by the male inhabitants of he town, may stand as an index to the feelings which pervaded the County. "The Association of Whigs in Pequanock township in 1776," adopted the following pledges :
"We the subscribers, Freeholders and Inhab- gnts of the township of Pequanock, in the County of Morris, and Province of New Jersey, having long viewed with Concern the avowed Design of the Ministry of Great Britain to raise a revenue in America ; being deeply affected with the cruel Hostilities already commenced in Massachusetts Bay for carrying that arbi- trary Design into Execution ; convinced that the Preservation of the Rights and Privileges of America depends, ander GOD, on the firm Union of its Inhabitants, Do, with hearts ab- horring Slavery, and ardently wishing for a Reconciliation with our Parent State on Con- stitutional Principles, solemnly ASSOCIATE and ESOLVE, under the Sacred Ties of Virtue, ionor, and Love to our Country, that we will personally, and as far as our Infinence extend, endeavor to support and carry into Execution whatever Measures may be recommended by the Continental and Provincial Congresses, for lefending our Constitution, and preserving the same inviolate.
"According to the Resolutions of the afore- said Continental and Provincial Congresses, we are firmly determined by all means in our pow- or to guard against the Disorders and Confu- xions to which the peenliar circunstances of the Tunes may expose us.
"WE DO ALSO FURTHER ASSOCIATE AND AGREE, as far as shall be consistent with the Measures adopted for the preservation of American Free- dom, to support the Magistrates and other Civil Officers in the Excention of their Duty aprecable to the laws of this Colony, and to ob- serve the Dircetions of our Committee acting."
To the honor of the Morris County yeomanry let it be said, that the British never sncereded a lodging a detachment of troops within its "ders, although many attempts were made. onder will, not far from Morristown, the
magazine sitnated in the town, together wi the character of the County as a hot-bed of 1 bellion, acted as so many incitements to tl enemy to make the attempt to reach the moun tains of Morris. The enemy were twice repuls ed at Springfield, (in 1777 and 1780,) and 01 another occasion a detachment penetrated as far as 'he Passaic at Chatham, The British. officer sem word to Gen. Winds that he propos- ed to take dinner at Morristown the next day' The General, who was not remarkably seleet il his terms when excited, sent word back to the braggart-"If you dine in Morristown to-mor row noon, yon will sup in hell to-morrow night !"
The people were ready at a moment's warn ing to fly to the rescue of their soil from the invader, and some eye-witnesses have told me that, on the slightest alarm, the county seemed alive with men who were hastening to tho ren. dezvons to be led against the enemy.
"Parson Green," of Hanover, was the expon ent of the Church to which he ministered, an of the whole Presbyterian community. He w sent to the Provincial Congress ; he preneb_u and prayed in behalf of our armies; and al. though he did not join the army at Springtielt in 1780, he was present to encourage his conn trymen in their resistance to the enemy. Th. mothers and the ministers, the men and the muskets, the powder and the pulpits of Morris County all were pledged to encourage and aid her soldiers in the general cause of freedom Her Whig Associations contained the bone ant sinew of her mdependent yeoman, and her Vi- ilance Committees kept so sharp a look-out treason at home, that toryism could do 1. more than show its rage by a few violent al. bloody acts. Her soil was the home and the hospital of American soldiers, and was co ise crated by the frequent presence of Washington Her grain fields, her berds and flocks, afforde food to the patriots of the army, and her ire mines furnished cannon balls with which fight the enemy. In such men as Lord St ling of Baskingridge, and General Winds Rockaway, Colonel Dayton of Snecasunna, C. tain Deffart and Benoni Hathaway of Mor town, Aaron Kitchel, William Tuttle and S nel Beach of Hanover, were found comr leaders for every emergency, and the ) stood ready to go where they might lead. causo of American independence was em' a popular cause in Morris County, to w) rich and the poor, the okl and the young of the soil and makers of iron, all pledge selves with admirable enthusiasm. In there were not the most liberal mean: eation, but all the men and some of th had been educated to the use of fire-s whilst their Whig Associations numbe
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ho signed the pledges of freedom by making ! wir ' mark," all of them knew how to wing the bullet to another kind of mark, even the t of any enemy to the sacred cause they bad esponsed.
Among the patriots of Morris County, we minst assign a prominent position to William Winds, of Rockaway. By wealth as a landhold- er, and by natural gifts, he was a leader of the people. It cannot be too much regretted that the history of such a man should have been left n'written, and thus at the merey of Time. His name will never be forgotten, and the numer- ous anecdotes concerning him will be handed down from generation to generation. He will bo a favorite hero of local tradition for ages to come ; but tradition makes sad work with the finer elements of history, retaining and retail- ing as it does only the disconnected anecdotes which are calculated to gratil'y the popular taste forsomething striking. The popular memory is very strong in its impressions concerning men; brt connected narratives made of facts are as fleeting as tracks on the sea-shore. It will be the object of this paper to gather up, so far as possible, what remains of General Winds's his- . tory ; and in doing this, it will be proper also & delicate the man as he lives in the tradi- tions of Morris County.
William Winds was born in Southhold, Long is'and, in the year 1727 or 8. The Hon. Mah- lon Dickerson informs me that a few years since he saw the house in which Winds was born; but so careless or ignorant are those who ought to know these things, that I am ouly able to guess the year of his birth from the record on his monument that he died "Oc- toler 12th, 1789, in the 62d year of his age." From "a list of the names of old and young, Christians and heathens, Freemen and ser- vants, white and black, &c. irhabirteinge with- in the Townshipp of Southhold," it would ap- prar that the Winds family, carly in the last e ntury, was quite numerous. (Documentary łist., New York, vol. i, p. 453.) William re- Loved to New Jersey when he was a young nan, and purchased a part 'of the Burroughs tract of land, on Pigeon Hill." After improv- ing several acres of his purchase, he ascertain- rd that the title, under which hogheld it, was noi reliable, and with a frank statement of the fart he sold bis right, giving a quit-claim deed. He then bought a large tract of land only a 4h "t . listance from the village of Dover. Here ed until his death. The barn which he s still standing, and the foundations of use are vot to be seen. Ilo sold from iginal purchase several farms, retaming s own use what is still known as "the s farm." For these facts I am indebted
to Jacob Losey, . J., a ... , age . still living.
His wealth as a landholder, and his nat. force of character, gave Winds great influenc in the community, at a time when the savages yet infested New Jersey, and the whole coun- try was agitated with the contest between Eng- land and France. At such a period a leader, who might be looked up to for counsel, would be in great demand. Besides this, Winds was so chivalric in his bravery, and so decided in his views. and withal there was in him such a blending of courage with great physical pow- ers, that his fellow citizens naturally turned to him in times where ordinary gifts were insuffi- ci ent to meet the emergencies which wero con- slantly arising.
In conversing with an aged native of Rocka- way, I was informed by her of a tradition which had been currently reported ever since she was a child, which seems worthy of being sifted, as she was twenty-three years old when Geu. Winds died, and she had lived a neighbor to him all that time. Her father, Deacon John Clarke, was intimate with Winds, and in this way she received the story.
As Mrs. Anderson relatod the tradition,* it was without dates or places. In the old French war a brigade was raised in New Jersey to aid in the conquest of Canada, and in this brigade Winds was commissioned as an officer. On their march, a great way north of Albany, the New Jersey troops were exposed to the enemy, and whilst being attacked were forbidden by their own commander to fire again, or offer any resistance. Winds, although a subordinate, ran up to the general officer, and remonstrated with him, but he drew his sword on him. The warm blooded Winds seconded by the enraged troops made such an answer to this, that the commander put spur to his horse and fled for his life. Wiuds now assumed the command and brought off the troops with honor.
Such is the statement of an old lady, who re- tained the cheerfulness and vivacity of youth, until she nearly attained ninety years of age. In consulting Mr. Losey, the aged man already alluded to, I ascertained that a battallion was raised in New Jersey in 1758, the term of en- listment being for one year, and Winds received a royal commission in this battallion as a ma- jor, but Mr. Losey is mistaken in the rank he assigns Winds at that period, since in the rec- ords of the Presbyterian Parish of Rockaway on Jan. 29th, 1771, he is called Captain Winds,
* There is so much that is improbable in this tradition, that the Committee on Publications are unwilling to allow it to be printed und their direction without stating their belief th it is not in any way confirmed by contempc aneous records.
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. - st April auch, 17 . He was a cap- on that war. The name of the detingneut Anmander he is not able to state, nor the place at which the scene described by Mrs. Anderson occurred, but he has no doubt that somne such incident did occur, since it was a common talk when he was a young man. He was acquainted with Winds, having hved sever- xl years in his neighborhood. In comparing his version of this incident with that of tuy other informaut. I tind a very great correspon- dence lx tween the testimony of the two wit- Desses, but Mr. Losey further states that Winds was not present at the capture of Que- bec by Wolfe, in 1759, the term for which the New Jersey troops were enlisted having expired. Yet Winds was present in many skirmishes, and assisted in taking many prisoners. His treat- ment of these was so generous, that severalac- companied him back to New Jersey, and set- tled there. Among these was a man named Cubhey, whom Mr. Losey knew, and to whom Gen. Winds became so attached, as to present him with a deed for twelve acres of land in the vicinity of Dover. This man acted as a sort of body servant to Gen. Winds for many years. The conduct of Winds in this campaign was favorably reported by his soldiers, and he be- came more than ever a popular man at home. Iu this as in all his future campaigns he gained the love of his troops by his standing between them and greedy speculators, who thus were not able to push a merciless warfare on the means of the common soldiers.
With shght variations the tradition is con- firmed by Cel. Joseph Jackson, of Rockaway, who was personally acquainted with Winds, and whose father repeatedly served under humm during the revolutionary war.
That New Jersey sent troops to Canada in 1758 in certain," and that they formed a part of the army which Abercrombie led to the at- tack en Ticonderoga, in July of that year, is also certain, This probably affords us the clue to the tradition bere related concerning Winds. In that disastrous battle, the gifted Montcalm commanded the French. gathering laurels which only served to render the wreath of vic- tory, which fortune on the succeeding year gave to the dying Wolfe, the more fadeless. In spite of the sound advice of Stark, the bus- band of "Molly Stark," and also some English offleers, Abercrombie calling them .Rehoboum counsellors," precipitated his gallant troops npon a foolish and bloody defeat. His conduct wa weverely reprobated by the survivors of his army, and by the authorities at home.t
* See Bancroft's U. S., vol. iv. pp. 290, 304. + Bancroft's U. S. vol. iv., pp. 300-307.
there is the seed out of which grew in a'l probability the Morris county tradition. home Winds was not merely a brave man t "the bravest of the brave." In some res. K he was the most noted mau in the county, sud he beld there a relative position which was nuit so obvious in an ariny made up of brave men from England and Scotland, and the New Erg- land Colonies who. among other noted spirits. had sent Wolfe, Putnam, and Molly Stark's man. With communities as with individuals, there is a natural tendency to vanity, and with the former this is gratified by dilating to their utmost dimensions the heroic deeds of their ropresentative men. Thus it was not nu- natural for the good people of Morris county to discuss, by blazing hickory fires. and over ings of enler, the deeds of their soldiers in that bloody campaigu. Among these reminisences, under the general inspira- tion of such occasions, the important share which such au eccentric, brave, and popular man as Winds, took in those scenes, would re- ceive a large allowance. for thos not only did they find the theme of good firesido stories, but food for their vanity as a community.
But bo this as it may, there ciu be little doubt that Winds was a commissioned captain . in active service, in the severe campaign at thic north in 1758, and that he there gained himself the reputation of being a bold and trusty offi- cer.
I have not been able to learn whether Winds engaged in military service at any time during the pemod intervening between the French War and the Revolution. Meanwhile hu re- ceived a commission from the English antl or- ities as one of the King's Justices of the Peace for the county of Morris. This was previous to 1765, a year famons in American history for the passage of the odion's Stamp Act. In com- mon with the masses of his countrymen, he re- garded this act as an intolerable oppression, and resisted its practical enforcement, a thing more difficult than common in his case a: a Justice of the Peace. The bold resistance if the New England Colonies has found a place n history, and yet the mountains of Morris cond- ty furnished as singular an evasion of the .ct as any on record. To avoid the use of le stamped paper, Justice Winds substituted the bark of the White birch. Warrants and wilts. bonds and executions were not then ao non.er- ous as in these days of litigation, and the & m- plicity of the times allowed a brevity in these legal documents which might now le ever- ed indecoron-, but when the constable
od a warrant to arrest "Richard Ro bring him before ine, William Winds." was no one boll enough to deny the su authority, If there Le another iustant
ANNALS OF MORAM
authority. If there be another instauce of a RWor .: Justice of King George nullifying the Stamp Act with white birch bark, it has escap- ed my notice, and this must therefore be reck- oued as one of the signs which marked that generation of froemen.
The Presbyterian Church of Rockaway was organized about the year 1752, although meas- nres had been taken some time prevlous to put np a meeting-bouse. The first subscription for this purpose bears date of 1749, but so far at we can now ascertain, the frame was not raised until the third year afterward. It remained unfinished for more than half a century. With this congregation Winds was connected, and at some time, which no record iu existence points out, he made a public profession of re- ligion. In all probability it was during the pastorato of the Rev. James Tuttle, the first Jastor, who held the office from 1768 to 1771. The records of the parish show that Winds was a liberal contributor to the expenses of the church, and also that he assisted largely in building the first meeting-house, although it must be acknowledged that his warm imperi- vus temper betrayed him into some extrava- ances scarcely consistent with his profession. For instance, finding his horses oue Sabbatlı morning to be somewhat fractions, he com- pelled them to drag his family to meeting in a sleigh on bare ground ; and on another occa- rion, after the commencement of the Revolu- trou, when the congregation was startled by a messenger ou horseback, bringing the news that the enemy were on the march to Morris- town, Winds exhibited the most angry impa- tience because "the minute men" had come to church without their guns. One venerable woman is still living who witnessed the scene, and she says that Winds never went to church iu those days without his arms, and that on this alarm he was so provoked at the remissuess f his fellow soldiers, "that he spoke, or rather bawled, so loud that I should think he might have been heard to the Short Hills !""
The same old lady tells me that Winds some- times led in prayer when the congregation, for want of a pastor, held "Deacon's meetings." she says that in his prayers his voice usually Vas gentie and low, until he began to pray for the cause of American freedom, when bis excitement became explosive, and his voice was raised until it sounded like heavy thunder ! he has heard him suddenly raise his voice rom a low pitch to its highest power when raving for America, so that the congregation would be startled as by a sudden peal of thunder.
All witnesses agree in describing Winds as a largo and powerful mian. Dr. Ashbel Green, in his revolutionary reminiscences, says that he "' was of gigantic frame and strength, and no
vue doubted his courage. But the mes. markable thing about hitt was his voice.
exceeded in power and efficiency (for it was articulate as well as loud,) every other liumas voice I ever heard." The Dr. aptly donotes it as a " stentorophonie voice." Mrs. Andeeuu, who lived more than half a mile in an from Winds's bouse, the valley of the Rocka ..
river intervening, says that she has frequently heard distinctly the various orders which he was issuing to the laborers in his fields. The anecdote of his frightening off a detachment of British soldiers, by crying out to the top of his voice, "open to the right and lett and let the artillery through," is famihar to every Jersey- man. The scene of this anecdote was on the Hackensack river, as was testified by Stephen Jackson, Esq., father of Col. Joseph Jackson, who was present when the farce was enacted. There are many anecdotes still related, which show that since the days of Stentor such a voice has rarely been heard, but its most sin- gular exhibition was iu church music. When he sang, the old people say he not merely drowned the voices of the whole congregation, but he seemed to make the very building itself shake.
At this point it will be in place to glean some facts which show the man as he was at home. Here everything was planned and executed with military precision. He insisted on literal obe- dience to his orders, and this when his own interests suffered by it. From Mrs. Winds to his slave, no one darco vary a hair's breadth from his commands, under penalty of such a storm as it was fearful to encounter. His favorite laborer, for this reason, was a man called Ogden, and on one occasion his prompt attention to orders was to the cost of his employer. Winds was starting for Morristown one morning, when he saw that his sheep had broken into a grain field. Greatly excited, he roared out, " Ogden, go and kill every one of those sheep!" and springing on his horse, he rode off at full speed, which he did not abate until he had gone more than a mile. Theu be bethought himself that his man was a terrible literalist, and wheeling his horse, he rode back at a John Gilpin rate, at every leap of his horse roaring out like the report of a brass field-piece, " Ogden, hold your hand ! Ogden, hold your hand !" But Ogden had executed orders so far as to have slaughtered sevou of the sheep before he received counter orders. In the greatest good humor, he commended the man for his promptuess, but assured him that he had done enough for the present.
Anecdotes of a similar character are very numero.is, some of which do not place the man in a very amiable light. Whilst he never laid violent hands on his wife, yet it is said that h
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ANNALS OF MORRIS COUNTY.
worked her up is & room for some deviation com bis orders. She was in feeble health, yet with a woman's wit she usually adapted herself to the oddities of a man she really loved, and oft 'n shieldel his men from the effects of his disr asure. Although feeble, she outlived fa had reason to regret a great while de of his orders, which was to a niece, to whom he was much attached, to execute some errand on the horse which he himself usually rode, and which was as fiery as his master. The young woman, not daring to disobey, got on the horse, and was thrown. The fall made her a eripple for life. During her tedious illness he watched her as tenderly as if she had been his own child, and when he died he left her a legacy, amounting to "one-twentieth of his whole estate."
At another time the wife of his favorite Frenchman, Cubby, came to ask sune favor when his temper was not altogether placid. With the palm of his hand he knocked her over. Her husband went to a neighboring Justice to get a warrant, but good 'Squire Ross, knowing Winds's peculiarities, took Cubby and his wife to the General's house, when the following good-natured colloquy healed the rupture :
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