Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century, Part 17

Author: Sherman, Andrew Magoun, 1844-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Morristown, N.J. : Howard Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 576


USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 17


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Fourteen days after his arrival in Morristown, Washington wrote Governor Livingston, of New Jer-


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sey, a most cheering letter, in which, among other things of importance, he said: "Our affairs here are in a very prosperous train. Within a month past, in several engagements with the enemy"-he evidently refers to the battles at Trenton, Assunpink and Princeton-"we have killed, wounded and taken pris- oners between two and three thousand men. I am very confident that the enemy's loss here will oblige them to recall their force from your State. If I am properly supported, I shall hope to close the campaign gloriously for America."


Washington's army, on his arrival at Morristown, as Gordon rightly estimated, did not exceed in number 4,000 men, and by some historians, 3,000 is the esti- mate given. The British force in New Jersey at the time numbered fully 10,000 men. The short term of enlistment-one year-of most of the soldiers in the American army, would, as the commander-in-chief was well aware, soon expire, and how to replenish the ranks of his army, so soon to be depleted, became to him a matter of deep solicitude. In his endeavor to meet the grave exigency which confronted him, Wash- ington dispatched letters to the New Jersey Council of Safety, to the Governors of the thirteen newly con- stituted States and to the President of the United States Congress, urgently calling upon these official bodies for recruits, and for the munitions of war necessary for the conduct of the prospective campaign. In response to these appeals for recruits they in due course of time began to arrive at the various army


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camps, in what numbers, and with what degree of promptitude, may be learned from a communication written by Washington on the twenty-sixth day of January, in the year 1777, in which he said:


"Reinforcements come up so extremely slow that I am afraid I shall be left without any men before they arrive. The enemy must be ignorant of our numbers or they have not horses to move their artillery, or they would not suffer us to remain undisturbed."


Unwilling to await the expiration of their term of enlistment, not a few of the soldiers of Washington's army, prior to their arrival at Morristown, and even afterward, deserted. The number of desertions be- came so large that Washington awoke to the necessity of prompt and energetic action to check the growing evil. Since his army was not only daily diminishing in numbers, and hence in efficiency, but those who re- mained would, it was apprehended by the sagacious commander, soon become demoralized in spirit, Wash- ington, therefore, wrote letters to the United States Congress, earnestly requesting that body to recom- mend to the different States the enactment of stringent laws against deserters, and against such persons also as should harbor and protect them. He wrote also to the Governors of the States, pressing the same import- ant matters upon their attention. His letter addressed to the representatives of New Jersey closes with the words: "Desertion must of course cease when the of- fenders find they have no shelter." The punishment


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inflicted upon deserters apprehended and brought back to camp was diverse, and, in not a few instances, severe. "Running the gauntlet," as it was termed, was a mode of punishment sometimes inflicted upon deserters. The entire battalion of six or seven hun- dred men to which the apprehended deserter was at- tached, would be drawn up in two lines, about four feet apart on the parade ground. The deserter, who had been stripped of all clothing, save his pantaloons, was then compelled to run between the ranks, while the soldiers on either side applied their whips to his bared back. Three times the deserter was required to thus run through the open ranks of his battalion, while officers near at hand, compelled the men who shrunk from the performance of the disagreeable duty to ap- ply the whip, until sometimes the punished soldier would fall to the ground from sheer exhaustion, with the blood running from his lacerated body. This mode of punishment was usually effectual with the victim, and acted also as a deterrent to further desertions. Hanging was also occasionally resorted to as the pen- alty for desertion. It is said that two deserters who were shot at the Lowantica encampment, are buried there.


The smallpox, of whose beginning we spoke in the previous chapter, was proving so fatal in Morristown, and the vicinity, that on the fifth day of February, in the year 1777, Washington was impelled to address a letter to the United States Congress upon the sub- ject in which he said:


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"The smallpox has made such a head in every quarter that I find it impossible to keep it from spreading through the whole army, in the natural way. I have, therefore, deter- mined not only to inoculate all the troops, now here, that have not had it, but I shall order Doctor Shippen to inocu- late the recruits, also, as fast as they come to Philadelphia."


Many of the people seriously objected to submitting themselves to inoculation; and in the work of persuad- ing his parishioners of the efficacy of this operation, Rev. Timothy Johnes, by reason of his great personal influence, materially aided Washington in his effort to thus stay the ravages of the terrible disease. The smallpox, which, as we have seen, began with Martha Ball, on the eleventh day of January, in the year 1777, extended through the First Presbyterian Church par- ish with truly alarming strides. On the twenty-fourth, and also on the thirty-first day of January, of the year above mentioned, there occurred a death from the dire disease. Rev. Mr. Johnes, during the month of February, attended in his parish eleven funerals of residents of Morristown who had succumbed to the smallpox; this was an average of nearly three each week in the month. In the month of March, the num- ber of deaths fell to nine. During the month of April, there were twenty-one deaths, an average of nearly one death for each weekday. In the months of May, June, July and August there were, respectively, elev- en, six, eight and one deaths, from the same disease. The unfaltering faithfulness of "Parson Johnes" may, with some measure of adequacy, at least, be empha-


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sized by the statement that on the second, seventh and eighth days of the month of April he officiated at two funerals of the victims of the prevalent disease, and on the fourteenth and thirty-first days of the same month, he officiated at the funerals of three of his par- ishioners. This was an aggregate of sixty-eight in his own parish alone, not to mention the deaths in the Baptist parish. It is said that it was no uncommon occurrence during the prevalence of smallpox in Mor- ristown, to find, in the morning, several bodies of vic- tims who had succumbed to the disease during the previous night, lying under the pews in the Presby- terian Church. Among the smallpox patients in the Presbyterian Church, was Nehemiah Smith, a soldier in Washington's army, who was the maternal grand- father of the Rev. Rufus S. Green, recently pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, of Morristown.


There is an apparently well-grounded tradition, which, so far as the writer is aware, has never been questioned, that in the winter of 1777, and during the prevalence of small-pox, Washington was ill with quinsy sore throat. Intelligence of his illness being conveyed to Martha Washington, she hastened to the bedside of her illustrious husband, and in the modest sleeping-room on the second floor of the Arnold tav -. ern, then occupied by Washington, nursed him back to health. At a time during the illness of Washing- ton, when his decease was apprehended, he was asked by a friend at his bedside, whom he could designate as being suitably qualified to succeed him as comman-


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der of the American army; and, being unable to speak in audible tones, he pointed, without a moment's hesi- tation, to General Nathanael Greene, the quartermas- ter-general of the army, who was among the anxious watchers at the couch of his beloved chief.


The winter of 1777 was an extremely cold one, and there was much suffering among the soldiers of the American army. A scarcity of food was also exper- ienced by the patriot army at Morristown and vicinity.


"There was a time," said a surgeon who was with Washington's army during the winter just mentioned "when all our rations were but a single gill of wheat a day."


Washington was not unmindful of the sufferings and sacrifices of his soldiers, and frequently rode to the various points where they were encamped, and billeted, to look after their welfare, and to speak words of cheer to them.


"Washington used to come 'round and look into our tents" (we quote again from the surgeon above alluded to), "and he looked so kind and he said so tenderly: 'Men, can you bear it?' 'Yes, general, yes, we can,' was the reply; 'if you wish us to act, give us the word and we are ready.'" Than this incident, none in the public career of Washington brings out more clearly the better side of his splendid all-round charac- ter. In the light of such incidents, as illustrative of his character, it should be no matter of wonder that Washington's influence over his soldiers was so great and that during the seven years' struggle for indepen-


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dence he should have succeeded in holding his army together under circumstances the most trying. In a letter written by Washington to General Irvine, Com- missary, on Saturday, the twenty-second day of Feb- ruary, in the year 1777, he says:


"The cry of want of Provisions comes to me from all Quarters-Genl. Maxwell writes word that his men are starving-Genl. Johnston, of Maryland, yesterday informed me that his people could draw none-this difficulty I under- stand prevails also at Chatham-What Sir is the meaning of this ?- and why were you so desirous of excluding others from this business when you are unable to accomplish it yourself? Consider, I beseech you, the consequences of this neglect."


On the sixth day of March, in the year 1777, Wash- ington wrote from Morristown as follows, to Gover- nor Trumbull, of Connecticut:


"I tell you in confidence, that, after the fifteenth of this month, when the time of General Lincoln's militia expires, I shall be left with the remains of five Virginia regiments, not amounting to more than as many hundred men, and parts of two or three other Continental battalions, all very weak. The remainder of the army will be composed of small parties of militia from this State and Pennsylvania, on which little dependence can be put, as they come and go as they please."


From the Journal of Colonel Timothy Pickering, the following entry under date of March twenty-sec- ond, in the year 1777, will be found of no ordinary in- terest :


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"Went to Morristown. Finished my business with the Paymaster, and drank tea at headquarters (Arnold's tavern), General Washington and his lady being of the company, and then took leave of the General."


It was on the second day of March, in the year 1777, that Washington wrote from Morristown: "General Howe cannot have less than 10,000 men in the Jer- seys. Our number does not exceed 4,000. His are well disciplined, well officered and well appointed; ours raw militia, badly officered and under no govern- ment." If Washington knew the condition and num- bers of Howe's army, Howe was far from acquainted with the status of the American army at Morristown and vicinity; and it was by resort to such ingenious means and methods as the following, that General Howe was deceived. A certain man had been em- ployed by Washington as a spy upon the British army. It was, however, surmised by some of the more vigi- lant of Washington's officers, Colonel Alexander Hamilton among them, that this spy was "playing double," in other words, that he was taking informa- tion to the British commander, while in the service of Washington. Quartermaster-General Greene's office was at the time in a small building which stood on the present site of Henry M. Smith's store, at the northwest corner of South and Morris streets. Colo- nel Hamilton was one day at Greene's office when the suspected spy entered. Hamilton, having previously resolved to make use of this spy, had commenced what purported to be a careful statement of the condition of


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the American army at Morristown and vicinity. Both as to numbers and munitions of war, this report was a deliberate exaggeration of the actual facts; in short, the American army and its resources were made to appear four times as great as they really were. This report Hamilton was apparently at work upon as the spy entered Greene's office. Pretending to have some errand outside, Colonel Hamilton excused himself, re- marking that he would return soon. As if by accident, in consequence of seeming haste, Hamilton left the re- port on the table where he had been writing and passed out of the office. Glancing hastily over the pages of Hamilton's report, and assured in his own mind that he had an invaluable piece of information for the enemy, the spy quickly folded and thrust into his pocket the precious document. In a few moments the spy was on his way to the British commander. On returning to the office of the quartermaster-general, and finding the fictitious report missing, Hamilton's suspicions of the spy were satisfactorily established. General John Doughty, by whom, after the close of the Revolution, the above incident was related, said that it was the opinion of Colonel Hamilton that the fictitious report of the condition of Washington's army, so eagerly conveyed by the spy to the British commander, was in no small measure the means of preserving the American army at Morristown from at- tack by the enemy, at a time when it was in poor con- dition to repel it.


On the twenty-third day of March, in the year 1777,


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Colonel Elias Dayton's regiment of Morris County soldiers, arrived in Morristown, and were there mus- tered out of service. On the same day, Silas Condict was appointed, by Governor Livingston, a member of the New Jersey Council of Safety. This committee subsequently met several times at Mr. Condict's house, situated about a mile north of the Morristown Green, and a little off the main road now known as Sussex Avenue. With the New Jersey Council of Safety Washington met not a few times at the house of Mr. Condict. This house had no door (as the writ- er has been informed by a descendant of the Condicts) on what was naturally the front; on, that is to say, the side facing the crossroad on which it was situated. If there were windows on that side of the house they were covered by wooden shutters, always closed dur- ing the occupancy of Morristown and vicinity by the American army. The door was on what would nat- urally be considered the back of the house, and from this rear door entrance was had to the interior, with its wide hallway running from front to rear of the building, and with two rooms on either side. The reason for the rear entrance, and for the closed win- dows, was the privacy desired for the meetings of the Council of Safety, before whom matters of grave im- portance were brought, the consideration of which necessitated the greatest possible precaution against ascertainment by outsiders.


During the Revolution, Mr. Condict, being fully aware that his capture by the British was devoutly


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wished, was accustomed to sleeping with a gun and a spear at his bedside, as a means of protection against British marauders and Tories. He often declared he would never be captured alive by the enemy. After the battle of Princeton, several British officers (cap- tured probably at the battle mentioned), in charge of a detachment of American soldiers, were brought to Morristown, as prisoners of war. For some reason, perhaps because there was no room for them in the old jail on the Green, these officers were for a time at least quartered in the house of Mr. Condict. The Brit- ish officers, so the writer has been informed by a de- scendant of Mr. Condict, occupied a front room, and the American soldiers a rear room. The British offi- cers brought with them a dog, which for a while they kept in their room. To this, for some reason, Mr. Condict objected; and at length he ordered the canine to be removed from the house. With a volley of oaths the British officers declared the dog should remain; but Mr. Condict firmly insisted upon his removal; and he was, thereby, removed. The officers became very angry; and in unmistakable manner gave expression to their feelings. Mr. Condict afterward remarked, that he "expected the enraged British officers would run me through with their swords." The American soldiers in the adjoining room, on hearing "the rum- pus," opened their door to ascertain the cause. They came, of course, to the support of Mr. Condict, and thereafter peace reigned in the temporary jail.


While Washington was in Morristown with his


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army-this incident has come to the writer from a source whose reliability he sees no reason to question -James Pitney, familiarly called "Jim Pitney," of Mendham, just returned from service as a soldier in the patriot army, called on the Hon. Silas Condict, for the purpose of ascertaining where the commander- in-chief could be found, as he wished to call upon him. Mr. Pitney was without a hat, and his clothes were ragged and torn. Accompanied by Mr. Condict, who was glad to serve a man of Mr. Pitney's standing in the community, the latter called upon Washington at his headquarters. He was introduced, by Mr. Condict, to the commander-in-chief, as "a man of property and in- fluence at his home in Mendham." Washington must, by his courtesy on the occasion, have made a very fa- vorable impression upon Mr. Pitney, for the latter frequently remarked, as he subsequently recalled the interview, that "Washington is a very fine man."


This house was occupied by Mr. Condict until the year 1798, when he built the house on Cutler street, now occupied by Mrs. Julia R. Cutler, widow of the late Hon. Augustus W. Cutler. After the completion of his new residence in the year above mentioned, Mr. Condict removed into it, and here he passed the clos- ing years of his life. During Mr. Condict's occupancy of his new home, Colonel Joseph W. Cutler, who, as we have seen, married his only granddaughter, lived for a time in the family. He subsequently removed to the old Condict house, where he resided until the de- cease of Mr. Condict. He died in the year 1801, in his


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new home, on what is now Cutler Street. This house is practically unaltered since the Hon. Silas Condict occupied it. There may still be seen the same spac- ious hallway extending from front to rear of the house with the wide stairway leading from the hallway to the second floor. After the decease of Mr. Condict, Col- onel Cutler returned to the new house built by the for- mer, where he resided during the remainder of his life. Mrs. Silas Condict continued to reside in her home in the family of her granddaughter, until her de- cease several years subsequent to that of her husband.


The old Condict house, on the road leading to Brant's paper mill, after a somewhat "checkered ca- reer," was torn down a few years since, and a club house erected on its site. This club house was burned. The site of what was without question one of the most famous houses in the State, and the preservation of which would have been an act of practical patriotism, may still (1905) be discerned, particularly by a clump of lilac bushes still standing, which marks the south- west corner of the old house.


One of the possessions, in the way of a relic, upon which the writer congratulates himself, is a piece of a timber from the famous Silas Condict house of Revo- lutionary times.


There is scarcely a letter of which a transcript has appeared in our story of more interest to Morriston- ians than the following:


"Morristown, April 7, 1777. "Dear Sir-This day I received your favor of the twenty-


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third ultimo, wherein you acquaint me that I have been appointed one of the Council of Safety. I am much con- cerned that you have so few members attending at this criti- cal season, and, although it is extremely difficult at present for me to leave home (my family being inoculated and not yet through the smallpox), yet I will come at any time rather than public busines should suffer, on notice being given me that it is necessary. Colonel DeHart told me to-day that the battalion had arranged its officers, and only wanted an opportunity to present it for commission. The colonel says that he has, at General Washington's request, examined sev- eral of the prisoners now in jail here, and that it will be best for the Council of Safety to sit in this county soon; and if this is thought proper I think it will be best to sit either at Mendham or at Captain Dunn's, in Roxbury, as the army is still at Morristown, and it will be inconvenient to sit there. I am, with great respect, your most obedient and humble servant, SILAS CONDICT.


"His Excellency, Governor Livingston."


As we learn from the foregoing, the county jail on the Morristown Green was full of prisoners, many of whom were Tories. In the jail there were also spies and dangerous characters. To the credit of Morris County it should be said, that most of its inhabitants were, during the Revolutionary period, warmly at- tached to the cause of freedom; and the intense pa- triotism of the county was chief among the considera- tions which attracted Washington with his army to this portion of the State, where for two winters they were encamped. Many incidents illustrative of the experiences of Morris County Tories are related. Of these only two or three can be given. The threat of the


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application of a coat of tar and feathers to an English emigrant, by some of the hot-blooded Morristown pa- triots, forced from this incipient Tory a public confes- sion in the Hanover Presbyterian Church, of the sin of toryism. So thorough was his conversion to the cause of freedom, that he made application to Parson Johnes, of Morristown, for the privilege of a similar confession before his influential congregation. This, he was informed, was superfluous, as one confession was sufficient to save him from the enforcement of the "repent or perish" rule adopted by Morris County vig- ilantes.


Less fortunate, however, was one Thomas Milledge, a leading Hanoverian. Just before the commence- ment of the Revolution, he was elected sheriff of the county. Having scruples against taking the oath to support the cause of freedom, he declined to be sworn. From this negative attitude toward the popular cause, there was but a step to avowed toryism, and, consist- ently with his sentiments, he took that step. Hoping to save his large estate from confiscation to the uses of the New Jersey Province, he joined the enemy. His estate was, however, confiscated and he became an ex- ile from his home. He was commissioned as major in the British army, and in that capacity served through the Revolution. After the close of the war he settled in Nova Scotia. Several years afterward, Milledge visited Morris County, and, during his brief stay he was waited upon by a committee of citizens to ascer- tain his business. To their inquiries he boldly replied:


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"When my business here is finished I will leave the country, but not before." He received no further mo- lestation.


One of the most important personages in Morris County, prior to the commencement of the Revolu- tion, if indeed, he were not the most important, was Pe- ter Kemble, "the Honorable Peter Kemble, Esq.," as he was sometimes spoken of. He removed from New Brunswick, to Morris County, as early probably as the year 1760, and settled in Morristown, his residence be- ing situated on the Basking Ridge road, about four miles south of the Green. He became the owner of several hundred acres of land, which extended north- ward along the Basking Ridge road to a point within about a mile of the village of Morristown. Under the Provincial Governor he held for several years import- ant offices. Socially, he stood very high; in proof of which statement it may be said that one of his daugh- ters was the wife of General Gage, commander succes- sively of the British troops in Boston and New York. His eldest son, Samuel, was the collector of the port of New York, under British appointment. Peter Kem- ble was a Tory, as might naturally be expected. To save the Kemble estate from confiscation, his son and heir, Richard Kemble, took the oath of allegiance to the United States, although he, too, was without doubt a Tory at heart. During the Revolution-it was in the 1777, while Washington was in Morristown-Peter Kemble, then old and infirm, was cited before the Court of Quarter Sessions, by order of the comman-




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