USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 14
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The initiative taken by the inhabitants of Morris County, in the meeting of May I, in the year 1775, for the defense of the county against possible invasion, and for providing for the common defense, furnishes a fine illustration of the sturdy independence of the portion of the inhabitants who then dominated county affairs, and makes their New England origin and training to stand out in bold relief. The men of Morris County
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who dominated, by the influence of their character, the series of public meetings held in Morristown, prelim- inary to the commencement of the Revolution, as well also as during its progress, were, for the most part, at least, of the same stock as Samuel Adams and John Hancock and Joseph Warren, of Boston, and others in the Massachusetts Province whose names cannot, for lack of space, be mentioned; and they were as richly imbued with the spirit of freedom as the patriots who, on the green at Lexington, and at the bridge at Con- cord, faced the flower of the British army on the eigh- teenth and nineteenth days of April (preceding the pub- lic meeting in Morristown last mentioned), where were fired "the shots heard round the world."
On the same day of the above mentioned meeting, but apparently at a later hour, and perhaps after its adjournment, a meeting of the delegates already named was held at Dickerson's, sometimes improperly called Norris's, tavern, on what is now Spring street, at the corner of Water street. The picture of this famous building, as it appeared in Revolutionary days, which may be seen in this volume, was sketched from a de- scription given by a lady who, as a child, had for sev- eral years played about the building, and who was, therefore, so familiar with its general appearance, inte- rior and exterior, as to be able to remember even the peculiarity of the old-fashioned knocker on the front door (with a bell attached), as well also as the loca- tion of the principal rooms inside.
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At the meeting held in Dickerson's tavern there were present, William Winds, Silas Condict, Peter Dicker- son (the owner and proprietor of the tavern), Jacob Drake, Ellis Cook, Jonathan Stiles, David Thompson and Abraham Kitchel. The only chosen delegate ab- sent was William De Hart, and the presumption is that his clerical duties in connection with the public meet- ing of the inhabitants of the county, on the same day, detained him. William Winds was chairman of the meeting, and Archibald Dallas clerk. The proceedings of this meeting strongly impress the careful observer with the fearless initiative of its members; and the hand of the bold William Winds, of Pequannock Town- ship, who had served in the French and Indian wars, is plainly visible, even to him who runs, in the signifi- cant action then taken. Preliminary to the more im- portant business to be transacted, it was first resolved that any five of the delegates chosen, should constitute a quorum at subsequent meetings, and that of these five delegates three should constitute a majority, or con- trolling vote, in the transaction of such business as might come before them. The next action of this meet- ing makes one's blood tingle with unalloyed admiration as he carefully considers it. It was resolved, and unan- imously, that military forces should be raised for the pending struggle with the mother country. Of each of those eight delegates who assumed, on behalf of Morris County, the grave responsibilities implied by their heroic resolution, it may be said, and truly :
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He holds no parley with unmanly fears, Where duty bids he confident steers,
Faces a thousand dangers at her call,
And, trusting to his God, surmounts them all.
After the deliberate adoption of the resolution alluded to, the meeting was adjourned until the following day, at 9 o'clock in the morning, at the same place. If the action of the first meeting was of a general and prelim- inary character, that of May 2 was sufficiently definite and progressive to satisfy the most exacting. With their lives, not in their hands, as it is so frequently phrased, but in their votes, these delegates resolved that 300 volunteers be recruited for the defense of the county of Morris against invasion by former friends, now transformed into foes. What strikes one the more forcibly, as he contemplates the fearless initiative of these American colonists up among the beautiful hills of Morris County, is the fact that, while they were for- mulating and casting their votes for the prompt recruit- ing of volunteers, an army of British regulars occupied Boston, and ample reinforcements from Great Britain were even then contemplated.
The 300 volunteers to be recruited, so it was voted, were to be divided into companies of sixty men each ; each company, except the two first, to be officered by a captain and two lieutenants; the two first companies to be commanded by field officers. These field officers, as named at the meeting under consideration, were to be Colonel William Winds and Major William De Hart. The captains of the three remaining com-
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panies, as named at the same meeting, were to be Sam- uel Ball, Joseph Morris and Daniel Budd. John Hunt- ington was to be captain-lieutenant in Colonel Wind's company, and Silas Howell captain-lieutenant in Ma- jor De Hart's company. These companies, it was or- dered, were to be disciplined or trained one day each week, the time and place of training to be determined by the respective commanding officers. Nor was pro- vision for the supply of the sinews of war neglected, for it was voted that the pay of captains should be seven shillings, proclamation money, per day ; of first lieu- tenants, six shillings per day ; of second lieutenants, five shillings per day ; of sergeants, three shillings and six pence per day, and of private men, three shillings per day, with provisions furnished, also arms and am- munition. These wages were to be paid every two months.
It was very evident, from the action of the meeting in Dickerson's tavern, that hitherto peaceful Morris- town was soon to assume a decidedly warlike aspect. The land which seems to have been purchased the year preceding, for the enlargement of the village parade ground, was by no means, as daily developments were demonstrating, a premature movement. The quiet hamlet grouped mainly around the Green, which had known no disturbing sounds, save the melodious clang of the imported church bell, were ere long to resound with the stirring notes of martial music, and the steady tramp of soldiery. Before the lapse of many months, the horrors of actual war would be realized, in forms
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never dreamed of by their heart-rended witnesses; but the veil must not be further lifted. It is enough to know the future when it shall have become the present, with its weal or with its woe, with its victory or with its defeat, with its exultation or with its depression.
It should not be forgotten that at the commencement of the Revolution, the inhabitants of Morris County were, with few exceptions, in anything but a prosper- ous condition. British oppressions, long continued, had slackened the wheels of industry and partially para- lyzed agriculture. The financial obligations assumed by the people, in connection with the inauguration and prosecution of the revolt against the mother country, therefore, greatly enhanced the value of the inflexible determination with which they grappled with the her- culean task confronting them. The significance of their action was this: that at all hazards the revolt against persistent tyranny and oppression must be prosecuted, even to the expenditure of the last dollar they were worth, or to the sacrifice of the last man among them.
One of the most interesting features of the second meeting at Dickerson's tavern, was the vote passed to purchase 500 pounds of powder, and a ton of lead, to be kept in a magazine for the use of the regiment of 300 men soon to be organized. It would be gratifying to the student of local history to know where this maga- zine was situated. Inasmuch as Major William De Hart was appointed to make the purchase of the pow- der and lead in question, it is not improbable that the magazine was somewhere on his premises, near the
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. corner of the present De Hart and South streets. Re- alizing, no doubt, that the action of the two meetings at Dickerson's tavern was, in a sense, premature (as, in- deed, it was), and recognizing also the possibility that this action might be modified, or even wholly set aside, by the Provincial and General Congresses soon to con- vene, it was wisely provided by supplementary vote that the resolutions and votes of these meetings should be considered subject to the control and direction of the last mentioned bodies, and, that after due notice from them, any portion of the action disapproved, should be reconsidered and adjusted to the wishes of the higher authorities. The exigencies of the hour being fully realized, the possibility of an invasion of Morris County by British forces in the near future, was a matter re- quiring prompt attention; hence, by way of provision against such a contingency, it was by vote recom- mended that the inhabitants of the county, capable of bearing arms, who should not become identified with the regiment to be raised, provide themselves with arms and ammunition for self-defense. The meeting was then adjourned till May 9 at 9 o'clock in the morn- ing at Dickerson's tavern.
"To hallow'd duty Here with a loyal and heroic heart, Bind we our lives."
If ever these words were applicable to living men, it was to the eight sturdy Morris County patriots whose
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action at the famous hostelry "under the hill," on behalf of their constituents, has just been reviewed.
Let us pause here and briefly examine the personnel of the meeting adjourned from Captain Peter Dicker- son's tavern, where, on behalf of Morris County, the gauntlet had been bravely thrown down to a powerful government, with a well disciplined army, and a navy amply equal to its support. We must, however, of ne- cessity, confine ourselves to those individuals compos- ing the meeting, whose place of residence was Morris- town. Of Major William De Hart we have already spoken, and of Jonathan Stiles we have spoken also. Silas Condict shall, therefore, first engage our atten- tion. He was the son of Peter Condict, who died in the year 1768, and whose remains now lie in the burying grounds of the First Presbyterian Church of Morris- town.
Silas Condict was born in Morristown, in the year 1738. He was, through his father, of Welsh descent. At the age of five years he began attending the district school, after leaving which he continued to study under his own tutorship. Mr. Condict could, therefore, justly have claimed to be self-educated. In addition to following agricultural pursuits, he engaged during the greater part of his life, in surveying. For this avoca- tion he fitted himself. When a young man, Mr. Condict, in compliance with the wishes of several young men in the vicinity of his house, opened a night school. Some of his pupils were disposed to be disorderly; indeed, they attempted to have "a little fun" in school. The
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teacher firmly insisted upon having order, and reminded the disorderly pupils that it was for their benefit the school had been opened. This had the desired effect, and thereafter order reigned in the school. This inci- dent is related as an illustration of the strength of char- acter with which Mr. Condict was endowed, and which, with other qualifications, made him one of the most valuable men in the State of New Jersey, particularly in connection with the Revolution. For his first wife he married Phebe Day, daughter of Captain Samuel Day. One child, Elizabeth Phebe, was the result of this union. She married James Cook, and, like her mother, dying in early life, she left one child, Elizabeth. Upon the death of her mother, Elizabeth was taken into the family of Silas Condict, and by him and Mrs. Condict was tenderly reared, and trained in genuine Christian fashion. This daughter, upon reaching maturity, mar- ried General Joseph Cutler, one of whose sons was the late Hon. Augustus W. Cutler, of Morristown. The Augustus W. Cutler farm included a portion of the land consisting of several hundred acres, form- erly owned by Silas Condict. Mr. Condict's second wife was Abigail, the daughter of Ebenezer Byram, who was a descendant of John Alden, who came over in the Mayflower. In the year '1772, Silas Condict was elected trustee of the Morristown Presbyterian Church, and as clerk of the board of trustees, and as a member of several important committees, he exhibited business capacity, sagacity and sound judgment, which rendered his services to that organization invaluable. In the
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year 1774, he was directed by the board of trustees of the Presbyterian Church to make a trip to Perth Am- boy, where he was to have the society's charter re- corded ; and he was also requested to make a copy of the charter for common use as a means of preserving in good condition the original. Mr. Condict also served for several years as president of the above mentioned board of trustees. In the more public affairs of Morris- town, Morris County, New Jersey, and the American colonies in general, he was prominent and highly influ- ential. In addition to his services as one of the Morris County delegates, chosen at the public meeting of May I, in the year 1775, he was a member of the State Council of New Jersey from the year 1776 till the year 1780. From the year 1781 till the year 1784 he was a member of the Continental Congress. From the year 1791 till the year 1800, two years excepted, he was a member of the State Legislature, and during three con- secutive sessions-those of 1792, 1793, 1794, he was Speaker of the House. In the year 1797 he was again reƫlected to the Speakership of the same body.
Twice he was appointed one of the judges of the county court. In the work of drafting the first State consittution he served on the committee appointed for that purpose. "In whatever position he was placed he secured that loving respect, that great confidence, which could only be rendered to one who had the rane com- bination in his nature of the greatest integrity, of true justice, of kindness of heart, of an intuitive perception of right and wrong, and of an inherent judgment of
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human nature"-such is the most fitting tribute by one amply qualified to speak of the Hon. Silas Condict. The writer would fain linger upon the further contemplation of the excellencies of such a character, but this cannot consistently be done.
Peter Dickerson was the son of Thomas Dickerson, and was born at Southold, Long Island, (northeastern end) in the year 1724. He came to New Jersey during the year 1745, settling in Morris County. In the same year he married, for his first wife, Ruth, the daughter of Joseph Coe, Sr. Jonathan Dickerson, one of the eight children by the above mentioned marriage, was the father of Mahlon Dickerson, who was Governor of New Jersey. For his second wife, Peter Dickerson married, in the year 1763, Sarah A., the widow of "John Oharrow;" as a result of this union there were four children born to them. Peter Dickerson was an ardent patriot, and his tavern was, from the commence- ment of the difficulties with the mother country, one of the popular rendezvous of those of kindred senti- ments. So far as extant historical records indicate, he first came into public notice in connection with his ap- pointment, on May I, in the year 1775, as one of the Morris County delegates. His presence at the meetings of the Morris County delegates, held in the Dickerson tavern, on May I and May 2 of the above mentioned year, has already been noted. Although no record of the adjourned meeting of the above mentioned dele- gates, to be held on May 9, and at the place last named, has, so far as the writer is aware, come down to the
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present century, it is safe to say that Captain Peter Dickerson was one of the active participants in its im- portant proceedings. Of his presence at a meeting of the county committee held at his tavern on the four- teenth day of September, 1775, there is no question, since it is a matter of record. The business transacted was of vital importance. In the year 1776, he was a member of the Provincial Congress. Nothing, perhaps, more amply justifies the application of the term "ardent patriot" to Captain Dickerson, than the well-known fact that he personally bore the entire expense of the equip- ment of the company commanded by him in the open- ing years of the Revolution-it was the Fifth Company, Third Battalion, and first establishment of the Con- tinental army. The amount advanced by Captain Dick- erson for the purpose mentioned, which was never re- paid by the government, now stands to his credit at the National Capital. Captain Dickerson's popularity as a military officer may be inferred from the fact that when, near the close of the year 1776, many men whose term of enlistment had expired, declined to reenlist, his company seems to have reƫnlisted in a body. While it would be inconsistent with the main purpose of our story to devote further space to the public career of Captain Peter Dickerson, we shall be justified in giving, at a later stage of this history, no little attention to the famous tavern of which he was the owner and proprie- tor.
It has previously been remarked that the resolutions of the Morris County delegates at Dickerson's tavern,
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on May I and May 2, in the year 1775, in regard to the raising, equipping and training of men, was in a sense premature. In confirmation of this remark it may be said that it was not till the third day of June following, that the Provincial Congress made provisions for the regulation of the militia. But the proceedings of the two meetings mentioned, received virtual indorsement by the direction of the Provincial Congress of June 3, in the year 1775, that "where companies and regi- ments were already formed and officers chosen and ap- pointed, the same were to be continued."
"To obey our officers in such service as they shall ap- point us, agreeable to the rules and orders of the Pro- vincial Congress"-such was the promise made by the 300 volunteers recruited in Morris County, in accord- ance with the action of the meetings held in Morristown at Dickerson's tavern, on the first and second days of May, of the eventful year of 1775.
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CHAPTER X
"To do is to succeed-our fight Is wag'd in Heaven's approving sight- The smile of God is victory."
XCEPT by the application of some mechanical force, "water has never E been known to run up hill," and so obviously true is this saying that it may well be considered an axiom, which term by the lexicographer is defined as "a self-evident and necessary truth, or a proposition whose truth is so evi- dent at first sight that no process of reasoning or dem- onstration can make it plainer." There is one thing, however, which possesses the inherent force enabling it to ascend even a hill, and an almost perpendicular one at that; the allusion here made is to the warlike spirit. Of this our readers are about to witness a most interest- ing illustration.
The series of truly stirring meetings of the Morris County delegates, held on the first, second and ninth
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days of the month of May, in the year 1775, at Dicker- son's tavern, "under the hill," had scarcely closed, ere an independent company of mounted soldiery, which was subsequently to become famous in State history, was organized, as the writer surmises, somewhere in the vicinity of the Morristown Green ; and as the writer also conjectures, at the Arnold tavern, situated on the northwest side of this tract of land, with only a narrow country road running between.
"We the subscribers do voluntarily inlist ourselves in the company of Light Horse belonging to the county of Morris. Thomas Kinney, Esq., captain, and do promise to obey our officers in such service as they shall appoint, as agreeable to the rules of the Provincial and Continental Congress. Wit- ness our hands May Ioth, 1775. Jacob Arnold, James Searing, Epenetus Beach, James Smith, Silas Stiles, Patrick Darcy, John Lasey, Benjamin Freeman, Jr., Samuel Allen, Stephen Baldwin, Elijah Freeman, Daniel Edmiston, John Crane, Adam Bests, Conrad hapler, John Mintus, Jacber Beach, George harah, Silas Hand, John Tichener, John Vanwinker, Aaron Parson, Robert Gould, Jr., James Ford, Samuel Den- man, Peter Parset, George Minthorn, John Cooke, Samuel Boldsbury, John Milen, Abraham Hathaway, Saml. Wigton."
The enlistment paper just given, is copied ver- batim from originals brought from Virginia; and with other papers are now known as the "Boteler Papers."
The sense of propriety, of which ex-Sheriff Kinney could not have been wholly devoid, forbids the thought that he could have been the draftsman of the enlistment roll of which the foregoing is a faithful transcript; since to have deliberately written himself down (as-
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suming the roll to have been the product of his own hand) as "Thomas Kinney, Esq.," would have consti- tuted a notorious example of egotism. From the peculiar phraseology of a portion of a paper written by Colonel Jacob Arnold, in the year 1788, and bearing his bold signature, a facsimile of which paper is now in the possession of the writer, the latter ventures to in- fer that the enlistment roll in question was drawn up by none other than Jacob Arnold; and the mere cir- cumstance of his name being the first in the list of subscribers is in no small measure corroborative of the opinion just expressed. The writer is also of the opin- ion that this enlistment roll, so fortunately preserved was for a time at least kept at the tavern, in Morris- town, then kept by "Thomas Kinney, Esq.," and at that prominent public rendezvous received many and pos- sibly all of the signatures which appear upon it.
It is a matter of no small interest that of the thirty- two signatures appearing upon this enlistment roll, twelve at least, or about thirty per cent., were of residents of Morristown. And of scarcely less interest is the fact, that the average age of the twelve residents of Morristown alluded to, was but about twenty-six years. If the average age of the remaining persons whose names are on the roll was about the same, the Light Horse Troop must have been a youthful and de- cidedly energetic body.
To the original number of recruits, as already given, many others were subsequently added, among whom only the following names, so far as the writer is aware,
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have come down to us : John Blowers, Ephraim Carnes, J. C. Canfield, Josiah Butler, John Canfield, John Ester and Jacob Johnson.
The Rev. Baker Johnson, of Wisconsin, is one of the authorities for the statement that Jacob Johnson his paternal grandfather was a member of Arnold's Light Horse Troop. He also states that while serving with this Troop he contracted the disease which terminated his life. From an article which appeared in the New York Observer several years ago, written by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Tuttle, the following extracts will give our readers additional information concerning Jacob John- son :
"On Morris Plains, three miles from Morristown, when the Revolutionary war began, lived a very respectable farmer in good circumstances named Jacob Johnson. He was very fond of good horses, one of which he rode in Captain Jacob Arnold's troop of light horse, a company which rendered invaluable service to their country. Mr. Johnson was on duty a very considerable portion of the time till the year 1779, when hardship and exposure brought on consumption. His great business then was to prepare for death, in which duty Pastor Johnes rendered him unwearied assistance. Mah- lon Johnson, a son of the sick man, and who yet survives at the venerable age of fourscore, remembers Dr. Johnes-how often he visited his father, how long he tarried, how earnestly he instructed, and how earnestly he prayed, until the dying soldier was ready to say: 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen my salvation.' Indeed, Dr. Johnes must have been a model pastor, in his dignified yet winning demeanor. *
* In visiting Jacob Johnson, Dr. Johnes sought also the salvation of his wife, so
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soon to be a widow. Anna Vail was a Quakeress, but the Spirit blessed the pastor's counsels and example, and the dying husband's quiet resignation, so that she, too, became partaker of the same grace, and not long after her husband's death Dr. Johnes had a meeting at her house, when she pre- sented all her children to be baptized. Surely the pastor's reward is seen in the fact that Mahlon, the oldest of those children, still speaks of the pastor's gentle fervor, as he not only baptized him, but besought the Lord to be a father to these fatherless ones.
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