Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century, Part 18

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 18


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der-in-chief, to answer the charge of aiding the en- emy; his alleged offense being the circulation of the proclamations of the brothers Howe. These procla- mations of the British commanders, it will be remem- bered, offered a free pardon to all rebels who should lay down their arms, and complete protection of per- son and property to those who should take the oath of allegiance to Great Britain.


For some reason, Peter Kemble was discharged, presumably because his son, Richard, who was techni- cally, at least, an adherent of the cause of freedom (and was legally so regarded), became responsible for the future conduct of his father. Passing over many facts of deep interest connected with the Kembles, it may be remarked, that the last survivor of the family, Eliz- abeth, the daughter of the original Peter Kemble, was among the organizers of St. Peter's Episcopal Church of Morristown. She died on the homestead in the year 1836. Four years later what then remained of the extensive Kemble estate, passed into other hands. The Kemble mansion stood somewhat farther down the lawn than the McAlpin house of the present. The slaves' quarters were a little to the rear of the house above mentioned. 1


The entire family of Peter Kemble are buried on the grounds between the Basking Ridge road and the McAlpin house. A copse of trees indicates the loca- tion of the large stone lying horizontally on the ground, and only slightly elevated above its surface.


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From the stone, now broken in five pieces, the writer recently copied the following inscription.


Within this enclosure Rest the remains of the following persons Let no one disturb their ashes PETER KEMBLE Born on the 12th of December, 1701 Died the 23d of February, 1789 ELIZABETH KEMBLE His wife, born the 12th day of April, 171I Died the 30th of March, 1804' ANN EDWARDS Born in Smyrna, in Asia Minor and died in July, 1808 in the 80th year of her age RICHARD KEMBLE Son of Peter Kemble, born in August, 1733 Died 13th of September, 1815 ROBERT T. KEMBLE


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i


Son of Peter Kemble, born April 1, 1735 and died Ist January, 1820 ANN KEMBLE Daughter of Peter Kemble Born 9th of June, 1757


Died 2d of September, 1820 ELIZABETH KEMBLE


Daughter of Peter Kemble Born 18th of December, 1753 Died 16th of June, 1836.


Among the large number of Tories and other pris- oners confined in the Morris County Jail, during the year 1777, was a minister of the Gospel, Rev. Isaac Brown. In the year 1747 Mr. Brown became the rec-


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tor of Trinity Episcopal Church, in Newark. In addi- tion to preaching, Mr. Brown practised medicine, a common thing for ministers to do at that period. Some of his parishioners objected to his presentation of bills for medical services rendered by him, on the ground that such services should have been included in his spiritual administrations. During the Revolu- tion Mr. Brown continued a loyal adherent of the King of Great Britain, and in consequence of his avowed toryism he was taken to Morristown and there confined in the county jail. After his release he went over to New York, then occupied by the British army. In the year 1784 Mr. Brown removed to Nova Scotia, where three years later he died.


In obedience to a summons from Washington, there arrived in Morristown about the middle of April, in the year 1777, an American officer of no inconsider- able note; it was Captain Daniel Morgan. During the preceding winter, Washington, by special solicitation from the United States Congress, had secured the pro- motion of Morgan to a colonelcy. This he had done with a view to the gathering and organization, by Captain Morgan, of a body of 500 picked men from the different regiments composing the army, active, hardy men, accustomed to the woods and skilful in the use of the rifle. These men were to constitute a select corps of sharp-shooters. The early military experience of the commander-in-chief had taught him the value of such a corps, in frequently turning the tide of bat- tle. In pursuance of orders from Washington, the


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requisite number of men were gathered and organized for the purpose named. The command of this corps was given to Colonel Morgan, his lieutenant-colonel and major being, respectively, Richard Butler and Jo- seph Morris, both of whom were promoted from cap- taincies. Under date of June 13, in the year 1777, Washington wrote Colonel Morgan: "The corps of Rangers, newly formed and under your command, are to be considered as a body of light infantry, and are to act as such, for which reason they will be exempted from the common duties of the line." In his official reports and correspondence the commander-in-chief bore frequent testimony to the great value of Mor- gan's sharpshooters in several engagements in New Jersey and elsewhere. "They constantly advanced up- on an enemy far superior to them in numbers and well secured behind strong redoubts," was Washington's report to Congress concerning this corps in one of the engagements in New Jersey.


In a communication to General Gage, an American officer, to whom Washington had sent Morgan's corps for special service, the commander-in-chief said: "This corps I have great dependence on, and have no doubt they will be exceedingly useful to you as a check given to the savages, and keeping them within proper bounds, etc."


"I can get away easily enough if I wanted to," re- marked a stout, rugged-looking fellow, who had been arrested in Rockaway on suspicion of being a spy. He was on his way to the Morris County Jail, in charge


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of James Kitchel, who was then about twenty years of age. "If he (the suspected spy) attempts to run, or to come toward you, shoot him down," had been the instructions of Squire Abraham Kitchel to his son, before the latter started for Morristown with the pris- oner. James Kitchel was mounted on a good horse, and, in accordance with instructions, he compelled the supposed spy to walk a certain distance in advance of him. Young Kitchel, as his father knew, was one of the best shots in the county. The prisoner had gone submissively enough until Morris Plains, only two miles distant from Morristown, was reached, when the conversation between the two above alluded to began.


"Well, try it then,". was Kitchell's reply to the pris- oner's remark about escaping.


"But I don't want to get away," said the suspected spy. "Let me walk alongside of you. I don't like to be driven along this way.


"Keep your distance, or I'll blaze away," declared Kitchel, instantly poising his gun to suit the action to the word; and the prisoner prudently kept his distance until he was under lock and key in the jail on the Green at Morristown.


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CHAPTER XIII.


"Come then, religion, holy, heaven-born maid, Thou surest refuge in our day of trouble."


T was evidently in the early part of the year 1777 that about eighty Hes- I sians, and ten or more Tories were brought, as prisoners of war, under a strong guard of state militia, to Morristown. They had been cap- tured a few days previously at Connecticut Farms, by two or three companies of New Jersey soldiers; not, however, until, in con- sequence of their stubborn resistance, several of the enemy had been killed and wounded. These prisoners of war, a portion of them, at least, were placed in the county jail, on the Green. As these Hes- sians and Tories were all mounted when captured, their horses proved an important acquisition to the resources of the patriots of Morris County.


It has often been said that during the Revolution, the foot of no Britisher, except he were a spy, or be-


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longed to some mounted marauding detachment, ever pressed the soil of Morris County; and this is true, with some modification, however. A British officer visited the county seat of Morris in the year 1777, while Washington and his army were encamped there. With other redcoats he had been captured at the bat- tle of Princeton, and brought as a prisoner of war, by the American army, to the camp at Lowantica Valley, where he and the other captives were confined under guard, either in private houses in the vicinity, or in cabins erected in the midst of the camp for that par- ticular purpose. The officer of whom we are speaking was confined in the house of a resident by the name of Munson. His antipathy to the army of Washing- ton, and the American people in general, was of the rankest sort, and this was the cause of no little trouble between him and his captors. Suspicion that his cap- tors would administer poison to him in his food, was one of the forms this Britisher's antipathy assumed, and as a means of circumventing the imaginary de- signs for his untimely removel, it was his habit to wipe with the skirt of his coat the plate on which his meals were served. He seems, however, to have had no fear of being poisoned in consequence of the use of applejack, for on the occasion of this visit to Morris- town he imbibed so freely, and became so completely intoxicated, as to be irresistibly possessed with the de- sire to make his escape from the single guard who at- tended him.


The writer is at present unaware at which of the


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famous hostelries in Morristown, Arnold's or Dicker- son's (the latter of which was then kept by Robert Norris, Captain Peter Dickerson, the owner, being ab- sent, engaged in the service of his country), the thirsty redcoat procured his applejack; the effect, no doubt would have been the same wherever the liquor was imbibed. As a punishment for his attempt to escape, the British officer, after returning to camp, was flogged by American soldiers. This called forth from the irate Britisher a perfect storm of curses upon his enemies, supplemented by the words: "As to the flog- ging part of it, I did not mind that; but to be put through the operation by these - rebels, that is more than flesh and blood can bear."


Reference has been made in a previous chapter to the circumstance that while, in the year 1777, the Presbyterian and Baptist churches (and the court- house, also, it should be added) were used as hospitals, "Parson Johnes's" congregation worshiped in private houses, and, when the weather was suitable, in the open air. In the orchard to the rear of the parson- age, where these open-air Sunday services were held, the benches were placed in semi-circular form, Dr. Johnes occupying a central position from which he could be advantageously heard by his devout listeners. That Washington and other American officers and soldiers occasionally attended the open-air services, held in the orchard to the rear of the Presbyterian par- sonage, is now too well authenticated to question. It is related that while the general, seated one Sunday in


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his camp chair, conveyed by his orderly from the Arn- old tavern to the place of worship in the orchard, a woman with a small child in her arms entered the grove. There being no available seat for her, Wash- ington rose, and with the quiet dignity which invaria- bly characterized his deportment, offered his camp chair to the encumbered young mother. This is a simple incident, but it nevertheless most clearly exhib- its the better side of Washington's character, and in- creases rather than diminishes admiration of the true greatness of "the Father of his Country."


In a variety of ways Washington during his sojourn in Morristown, in the winter of the year 1777, had been severely tried. The privations and sufferings of his beloved soldiers, which he was powerless to ame- liorate; the loss of valuable officers and private citi- zens; the awful scourge of smallpox in the army and among the people, scores of whom were succumbing to the dire disease; the prevalence of other diseases scarcely less fatal in their consequences; the decima- tion of the ranks of his army by expiration of the term of enlistment of his men, and by frequent desertions; the perplexities invariably incident to the command of a military force, engaged, as in this instance, in a palpably unequal struggle-these were the causes of a depression of spirit on the part of the commander- in-chief, which only appeal, (as he came at last to real- ize) to a higher than merely human power could ade- quately relieve. To that higher power, Washington,


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like many before and since, turned in his extremity for support and consolation.


It was presumably, while experiencing the depres- sion of spirit consequent upon the suggested multi- plicity of difficulties confronting him, that the com- mander-in-chief, one morning, after his accustomed daily inspection of camp at Lowantica Valley, called upon "Parson Johnes," at his home. These two men were no strangers to each other; neither was this the initial visit to the Presbyterian parsonage of the com- mander of the American army, encamped at the coun- ty seat of Morris. Association in the work of devising means and methods for the control of the smallpox and other diseases in the army and in the village; oc- casional, and perhaps frequent, attendance upon re- ligious services conducted on Sunday by the beloved pastor of the only Presbyterian church then in Mor- ristown; and association, also, in the important delib- erations at the Presbyterian parsonage of the New Jersey Council of Safety, in which both Washington and Dr. Johnes had participated, had doubtless result- ed in a mutual acquaintance of these two men, which had ripened into a friendship of no ordinary character. It was on a morning of the week previous to the semi- annual celebration of the Lord's Supper in the Pres- byterian church, that Washington drove up to the home of Dr. Johnes. He left his handsome bay horse in the charge of his mounted orderly, and with stately but heavy tread, ascended the steps of the front veran- da and lifted the old fashioned brass knocker on the


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door, whose short, distinct rap would gain him ad- mission. The usual preliminaries attended to by hos- tess and host, the following conversation ensued be- tween them:


"Doctor," said Washington, "I understand that the Lord's Supper is to be celebrated with you next Sunday. I would learn if it accords with the canons of your church to admit communicants of another denomination?"


"Most certainly," replied the clergyman. "Ours is not the Presbyterian table, general, but the Lord's table, and we hence give the Lord's invitation to all his followers, of what- ever name."


"I am glad of it," declared Washington; "that is as it ought to be; but as I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I would ascertain it from yourself, as I propose to join with you on that occasion. Though a member of the Church of England, I have no exclusive partialities."


Having been assured by Dr. Johnes of a most cor- dial welcome, Washington was among the participants in the memorial service of the following Sunday, ob- served under the trees of the orchard in the rear of the parsonage. Who that has experienced the sooth- ing, sustaining and inspiring effects of the sincere commemoration of the sacrificial love of Jesus, can for a moment doubt that the commander of the patriot army returned to headquarters with a heart relieved of its burdens, because those burdens had been deliber- ately, and in response to Divine invitation, rolled upon the heart of the Infinite Burden Bearer? This com- memoration of the Lord's death was probably the


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only ocasion on which Washington, during his public career, participated, outside of his own church, in such a service.


The gambling evil became so prevalent among the officers and soldiers of the American army while en- camped in Morristown and vicinity, that Washington issued a general order, prohibiting playing with cards and dice, even for amusement; since, if this were per- mitted, it would be next to impossible to distinguish between playing for diversion and playing for gain.


"Officers attentive to their duty will find abundant employ- ment in training and disciplining their men, providing for them and seeing that they appear neat, clean and soldierlike, Nor will anything redound more to their honor, afford them more solid amusement, or better answer the end of their appointment, than to devote the vacant moments they may have to the study of military authors."


If ever the practical wisdom of the American com- mander in the management of men was exhibited, it was in this paragraph of his general order, in which, as a substitute for the pernicious gambling he sought to prevent, he recommended something alike interest- ing and essential. The closing words of this general. order were:


"The adjutant-general is to transmit copies of this order to the different departments of the army. Also, to execute the same to be immediately published in the gazettes of each State, for the information of officers dispersed on the recruit- ing service.


"By his excellency's command,


"MORGAN CONNOR, Adj. pro tem."


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This order was dated: "Headquarters, Morristown, 8th May, 1777."


It must not for a moment be supposed by the read- ers of this story, that the attention of Washington, during the sojourn at the Arnold Tavern, in the winter of the year 1777, was wholly occupied with the adjust- ment of the local difficulties already mentioned. Mili- tary movements of no insignificant character were meanwhile devised and conducted under the supervi- sion of the alert commander-in-chief. In confirma- tion of this statement the following extract from a let- ter of Washington is presented; it was written soon after his arrival in Morristown:


"I have the satisfaction to say that General Philemon Dickerson's behaviour, in an action that happened near Somerset Courthouse, on Mill Stone River, reflected the highest credit on him; for, though his troops were all raw, he led them through the river, middle deep, and gave the enemy so severe a charge that, although supported by three field pieces, they gave way and left their convoy of forty wagons and upward of one hundred horses, most of them of the English draft breed, and a number of sheep and cattle which they had collected."


It may have been some time in the month of Febru- ary, after the arrival of Washington in Morristown, that he stationed strong detachments of Continental troops and State militia in the vicinity of Pluckemin and Quibbletown, in Somerset County. The militia were in command of General William Winds, of Morris County. These troops, who were quartered in New


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Brunswick, were designed to keep close watch of the movements of the enemy and to protect that portion of the state. Several severe skirmishes occurred between the American and British forces, in which the militia, under the bold and impetuous Winds, behaved with great bravery. Of one of these engagements, , an American officer gave an interesting account in the New Jersey Gazette, of March the eighteenth, in the year 1777.


The engagement took place "near Quibble or Squabble- town," and the officer commanding 2,000 of the enemy "is under arrest, for undertaking, like Don Quixote, to do impossibilities. He. instead of marching directly to Bruns- wick, which he might have done, must needs go fourteen miles out of the direct road to take prisoners General Max- well and his party at Sparktown, and to make his triumphant entry into Brunswick, leading his captives in chains, like an old Roman general, in which he found his fatal mistake when too late to remedy it, for he found that he had surrounded a nest of American hornets, who soon put his whole body to flight."


On Sunday, the eighteenth day of May, in the year 1777, Rev. Timothy Johnes preached what was un- doubtedly a stirring sermon from the text: "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land wherein he went; and his seed shall possess it." These words are found in the fourteenth chapter and twenty-fourth verse of the Book of Numbers. That the text and the sermon based on it, as delivered by


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Dr. Johnes in the orchard to the rear of his residence, were suggested by existing local circumstances, is the opinion of the writer. That our readers may judge for themselves in the matter, the first page of the ser- mon notes used by Dr. Johnes, on the occasion allud- ed to, are herewith given, with abbreviations as em- ployed in them, completed by the writer, except where the writing of Dr. Johnes is illegible:


"First, what is to follow the Lord fully?" Second, "What spirit is it which will dispose us to follow the Lord fully?" Third, "We are to follow the Lord fully in times of general apostacy. God will own and honor us in times of general calamity. Premise-it does not imply sinless perfection- sincere endeavor in gospel sense to follow the Lord fully is to follow him universally, not divided between ourselves and or between more mortification and less mortification. But regard the whole will, commandments and government, not partially, when it suits our ease or interest. We are not to be ashamed; in all the relations and stations of life, under all trials, as Caleb here, though threatened to be stoned, we should follow the Lord fully. We should follow the Lord boldly, courageously, public-spiritedly. Caleb knew of the giants and Anakims, of the cities great and fenced about, in the Land of Canaan-but he spoke public-spiritedly in oppo- sition to the ten cowardly, dastardly spies, and in behalf of . the public good, etc."


Among the most illustrious foreign officers who came to this country, and applied for service in the patriot army, was the Polish general, Thaddews Kos- ciusko. He brought with him a letter from Benjamin Franklin to Washington. He probably, and almost


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certainly, found Washington at the Arnold Tavern, in Morristown; it was during the early part of the year 1777. "What do you seek here," inquired the Com- mander-in-Chief. "To fight for American independ- ence," was the noble reply. "What can you do," said Washington. "Try me," was the simple response of the Polish patriot. There was something in the bear- ing and deportment of Kosciusko, which won the con- fidence of Washington; and he was appointed an aide- de-camp on the staff of the commanding general. Kosciusko proved a most trustworthy and efficient ally in the Revolution. It is said that Kosciusko taught the American officers the science of engineer- ing, by reason of which the efficiency of the patriot army was greatly augmented.


"Alexander Hamilton, speaking of the close of the campaign of 1777, and of the way in which Washing- ton held the greatly superior forces of Cornwallis in severe check, says: 'There was persented the extra- ordinary spectacle of a powerful army straightened within narrow limits by the phantom of a military force, and never permitted to transgress those limits with impunity.' Irving speaks of the British army as 'held in check by Washington and his handful of men, castled among the heights of Morristown'; and in closing his account of these memorable days, writes thus:


'These ineffectual attempts of a veteran general to penetrate these fastnesses, though at the head of a veteran force, which would once have been deemed


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capable of sweeping the whole continent before it, were a lasting theme of triumph to the inhabitants; and it is still the honest boast among the people of Morris County that 'the enemy were never able to get a footing among our hills.'"


Near the close of the month of May, in the year 1777, the American army, which for about five months had been encamped in Morristown and vicin- ity, broke camp and marched away over the same route taken on its entrance into Morris County, at the opening of the year. For an account of the disas- trous campaign following the departure of Washing- ton and his patriot army from Morris County, we re- fer our readers to the pages of United States history.


On the seventh day of August following the depar- ture of the American army from Morris County, the New Jersey Council of Safety held a meeting at Mor- ristown, perhaps in the courthouse on the village Green. Of the members of the council there were five present, including Governor Livingston and Silas Con- dict. The doorkeeper was John Martin. At this meet- ing Colonel John Munson was ordered to at once ar- rest and bring before the Council of Safety, John Troop, Peter Saunders and James Moody. These men had for some time been engaged in northern New Jer- sey in recruiting men for the British army. Moody alone, according to his own statement, had recruited 100 men for the King's service, good pay and plenty to do, being the inducements held out to the recruits. Prompt action on the part of Colonel Munson and his




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