USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 25
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"We therefore most earnestly request that the present Provincial Grand Masters in the respective said United States would take some measure for the appointment of a Grand Master in and over the said Thirteen United States of America, either by nominating a person proper for that office, whose abilities and rank in life shall answer the importance of that conspicuous and elevated station, and transmit such nomination to our Mother Lodge in Britain, that the appointment may be made, or in such other manner as shall to them appear most eligible. And we further beg leave to express our wishes that the several provincial Grand Masters in these States would, in the intermediate time, enter into unanimous and vigorous measures for checking the growing irregularities in the Society, cementing the dif- ferent branches, erasing the distinction between Ancient and Modern in these States, that the Craft may be established in
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
unanimity, the established principles of its institution more universally extended, and that our conduct may not only be the admiration of men in this world, but receive the final applause of the Grand Architect of the Universe in the other, where there is nothing but light and love.
"Voted, That the foregoing petition be circulated through the different Lines in the Army.
"Voted, That a committee be appointed from the different Lodges in the Army, from each Line, and from the Staff of the Army, to convene on the first Monday of February next, at Morristown, to take the foregoing petition into considera- tion.
"Voted, That when the dividend of the expense of this day shall be paid, each brother will put into the hands of the Treasurer or Secretary what he shall see fit, for the use of the poor of this town.
"Voted, That the money so collected be transmitted to Bro. Kinney, to appropriate to the necessities, first of the widows and orphans of Masons, next to soldiers' wives and children in distressed circumstances; if any shall remain, he will apply it to those poor persons in this town whom he shall judge stand most in need thereof.
"Lodge closed till called together by the Master's order.'
"Dr. Abraham Baldwin, who delivered the 'polite dis- course,' was Abraham Baldwin, who was born in Guilford, Conn., Nov. 6th., 1754, graduated at Yale in 1772 and was tutor there until after the beginning of the War. At the time of the meeting he was Brigade Chaplain in the Connecticut Line.
* *
* * * *
"The meeting-house in which this address was delivered was that of the First Presbyterian Congregation, a frame building erected at least twenty years before, and to which a steeple had been added in 1763. It stood back of and to the east of the present church, and was a plain, square building, covered, like the Old Court House, with shingles. In
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
March, 1796,after the erection of the present structure, it was ordered to be taken down at the expense of the congre- gation, but was, in fact, moved to the west of the church property, was turned into a distillery, and became one of the seventeen which Dr. Barnes alleged to have been in the bounds of the parish in his day."
From the following letter, written by Washington to General William Irvine, on the ninth day of Janu- ary, in the year 1780, it may be reasonably inferred that the expedition under the command of Lord Stirl- ing (to which our story will soon refer), had, previous to the date above mentioned, either been suggested to the commander-in-chief by some officer of the patriot army, or independently contemplated by him:
"Circumstanced as things are-men half starved-imper- fectly clothed-riotous-and robbing the country people of their subsistence from sheer necessity, I think it scarcely possible to embrace any moment, however favorable in other respects, for visiting the enemy on Staten Island, and yet if this frost should have made a firm and solid bridge between them and us I should be unwilling-indeed I cannot relin- quish the idea of attempting it."
With whomsoever the idea of an expedition to Stat- en Island originated, it was decided upon by Washing- ton, as the following second communication to Gener- al Irvine proves:
"Monday, January 10, 1780. I have determined in case the present condition of the ice and prospect of its continuance will warrant the enterprise, to make an attempt upon the enemy's quarters and posts on Staten Island."
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
It was on the fifteenth day of January, five days lat- er, in the year 1780, that Quartermaster Joseph Lewis, as we learn from one of his letters, received orders from General Greene "to procure three hundred sleds or sleighs to parade Friday morning at this post and at Mr. Kimble's."
"I did not fail to exert myself on the occasion," wrote Lewis, "and the magistrates gained deserved applause. About five hundred sleds or sleighs were collected, the majority of which were loaded with troops, artillery and so forth. These sleds and as many more are to return loaded with stores from the British magazines, on Staten Island, except some few that are to be loaded with wounded British prisoners. About 3,000 troops are gone, under the command of Lord Stirling, with a determination to remove all Staten Island, bag and baggage, to Morristown!"
This expedition, of which Quartermaster Lewis thus half-humorously writes, and which set out from Mor- ristown probably about the seventeenth day of Janu- ary, of the year 1780, was a failure, so far as the accom- plishment of the intended object was concerned, for the enemy having in some way received warning of the movement, they were fully prepared to meet the Amer- ican force, and thwart their designs. In the following extract, cited from the New Jersey Gazette, of January 19, we have a fine specimen of the patriotism which is determined to put the best construction upon even the misfortunes of war:
It will "show the British mercenaries with what zeal and alacrity the Americans will embrace every opportunity,
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even in a very inclement season, to promote the interests of the country by harassing the enemies to their freedom and independence."
Three days later, Quartermaster Lewis, in a some- what more serious frame of mind, and yet with an ap- parent tinge of humor, wrote from Morristown:
"I suppose you have heard of the sucess of our late expedi- tion to Staten Island. It was expensive, but answered no valuable purpose. It showed the inclination of our inhabi- tants to plunder."
That this expedition was not only expensive, and so far as the accomplishment of the main design was concerned, fruitless, but disastrous, also, may be in- ferred from the circumstance, that of the 3,000 troops dispatched to Staten Island, about 500 returned to camp on "Kimble's Hill," with frozen feet. By way of retaliation for the raid into their lines, a detachment of British troops in command of Lieutenant-Colonel Bushkirk, between the hours of II and 12 o'clock, on the night of January 25, landed quietly at Elizabeth- town. The force consisted of three or four hundred infantry and one hundred dragoons. They burned the meeting-house, townhouse and another building, plun- dered some of the inhabitants, took several prisoners and retired without the loss of a man. The view taken by Washington of the above-mentioned British de- scent upon Elizabethtown may be learned from the following order issued from the Ford mansion to Gen-
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
eral St. Clair, on the twenty-seventh day of the same month and year:
"You will be pleased to repair to our lines and investigate the causes of the late misfortune and disgrace at Elizabeth- town, and report your opinion thereupon, as soon as inquiry is made."
On the twenty-ninth day of February, in the year 1780, Washington wrote to Joseph Reed, of Philadel- phia:
"We have opened an assembly at camp. From this appar- ent ease, I suppose it is thought we must be in happy cir- cumstances. I wish it was so, but, alas, it is not. Our pro- visions are in a manner, gone. We have not a ton of hay at command, nor magazine to draw from. Money is extremely scarce, and worth little when we get it. We have been so poor in camp for a fortnight, that we could not forward the public dispatches, for want of cash to support the expresses."
Of the subscription paper of the "assembly" mentioned by Washington, in the foregoing letter, the original of which is now in the possession of the Biddle family, on the Delaware, the following is a correct transcript: "The subscribers agree to pay the sums annexed to their respective names, and an equal quota of any further expense which may be incurred in the promotion and support of a dancing assembly to be held in Morristown, the present winter of 1780. Subscrip- tion Moneys to be paid into the hands of a Treasurer to be appointed."
Nath. Greene .400 dolls paid
400 ditto paid H. Knox
John Lawrence 400 dolls paid
J. Wilkinson 400 dolls paid
Clement Biddle .400 dolls paid
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
Robt. H. Harrison .400 dolls paid
R. K. Meade .400 dolls paid
Alex. Hamilton .400 dolls paid
Tench Tighlman 400 dolls paid
C. Gibbs 400 dolls paid
Jno. Pierce 400 dolls paid
The Baron de Kalb 400 dolls paid
Jno. Moylan
.400 dolls paid
Le Ch Dulingsley
400 dolls paid
Geo. Washington
.paid F. D. ($400)
R. Clairborne
. paid 400 dolls
Lord Stirling
paid 400 dolls
Col. Hazen
.paid 400 dolls
Asa Worthington
paid 400 dolls
Benj. Brown
paid 400 dolls
Major Stagg
. paid 400 dolls
James Thompson .paid 400 dolls
H. Jackson . paid 400 dolls
Col. Thomas Proctor ·paid 400 dolls
J. B. Cutting paid 400 dolls
Edward Hand · paid 400 dolls
William Little
paid 400 dolls
Thos. Woodford . paid 400 dolls
Geo. Olney 400 dolls paid
Jas. Abeel
400 dolls paid
Robert Erskine .400 dolls paid
Jno. Cochran 400 dolls paid
Geo. Draper 400 dolls paid
J. Burnet
.400 dolls paid
The Rev. Joseph F. Tuttle, D. D., L. L. D., in speaking of the "dancing assembly," held in Morristown, during the winter of 1780, says: "I will frankly confess this subscription paper produced an unpleasant sensation in my mind, and no reasoning have, as yet, entirely removed the sense of unfitness in the contrast of dancing assemblies * * and the suf- ferings of the barefooted, naked, starving soldiers in the
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
camp only four miles off. Just think of what one of those men, who did not attend the assembly balls, related. It was Capt. Wm. Tuttle who said, 'there was a path which lead from the Wicke house down to the Jersey camp and I have often seen that path marked with blood, which had been squeezed from the cracked and naked feet of our soldiers, who had gone up to the house to ask an alms!' How they suffered there, with the snow piled about them, with insuffi- cient clothing and very scanty and poor food; and yet there was dancing at But it is not my object to criti- cise this contract; for dancing and dying, feasting and star- vation, plenty wreathed with flowers, and gaunt famine bare- foot and wreathed in rags, are contrasted facts in other places than at Morristown, and at other times than 'this present winter of 1870.' My object in mentioning this sub- scription paper is to throw light on the currency of the day. Here were thirteen thousand six hundred dollars subscribed to pay the dancing master and tavern keeper for a few nights entertainment. Nominally it is up to the extrava- gance of the modern Fifth Avenue; but the entire sum sub- scribed in 1780 by those thirty-four gentlemen, for assembly balls, was not worth more than three hundred silver dol- lars. * * Let us rather admire than condemn these brave men, at Morristown, who were striving to invest the stern severities of that winter with something of the gayer and more frivolous courtesies of fashionable life."
The assembly dances, to which reference has been made were held in the Arnold tavern hall, and in the large room on the second floor of the "Continental Store."
A more realistic bit of pictorial reference to the so- journ of Washington's army in Morristown, has not come to the attention of the writer, than the following, quoted from "The Story of an Old Farm," by Andrew D. Melick, Jr .: "There was constant going and com-
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
ing between the different posts, and the highways and byways were alive with soldiers. Farmer-lads on their way to mill with sacks of corn athwart their horses' backs, rode 'cheek by joul' with spurred and booted troopers, and listened with open-eyed wonder to their warlike tales. The rattle of farm wagons was supple- mented by the heavy roll of artillery trains, and squads of infantry were met at every hand."
The time for the removal of the American army from its winter quarters in Morristown and vicinity, and its active participation in another campaign, was approaching. The well authenticated incident about to be related (the popular version is here given), will serve as an illustration of the methods resorted to in the endeavor to procure horses for the transportation of army stores, and for use in the cavalry battalions.
On the right of the road leading westward toward Mendham, and a short distance from the intersection of the Jockey Hollow road with the former road, stood a house, of the New England style of architecture. It was the residence of Henry Wick, the owner of a con- siderable portion of the land on which the camps of the patriot army were pitched. His daughter, Tem- perance, familiarly called "Tempe," was an expert horsewoman, and was the owner of a young horse to which she was strongly attached. Perhaps her fond- ness for this noble animal may have been in a measure owing to the imbibition, on her part, of the sentiment of the poet, who says:
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
"Let cavillers deny
That brutes have reason; sure 'tis something more,
'Tis heaven directs, and stratgems inspires
Beyond the short extent of human thought."
A mile, it may have been, below the Wick house, on the road to Mendham, lived Dr. William Leddell, a brother-in-law of "Temple Wick." On a certain day in the spring of the year 1780, while preparations for the removal of the patriot army were in progress, Temple Wick saddled and bridled her horse, and rode down to Dr. Leddell's for a social call. The call ended she mounted her horse to return home. Nearly in front of the residence of her brother-in-law, she was accosted by several American soldiers, who command- ed her to dismount, and let them have her horse. One of the soldiers had rudely seized the bridle reins. Ap- pearing to be submissive to the loss of her horse, meanwhile entreating the soldiers not to take her fav- orite, she was formulating in her active brain the ruse which, as we shall see outwitted them.
"I am sorry," she coolly remarked, "to part with my horse, but if you are resolved upon taking him from me, let me ask of you two favors, first, that you re- turn him to me, if possible, and second, whether you return him or not, to treat him well."
Completely thrown off their guard by the seeming acquiescence of the gentle rider in the loss of her horse, the reins were released by the soldier who had held them. "Temple" immediately touched the animal with her whip, and like an arrow shot by a strong arm
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
from the bow he sped up the hill toward home. As she rode away at full speed, one or more of the sol- diers discharged their muskets in the direction of the bold rider; not, however, with the intention of hitting her, but probably as a means of frightening her into stopping in her rapid flight.
Onward sped horse and rider, up the long hill lead- ing to the Wick house, on reaching which the horse was taken round to the north side, into the kitchen, from thence into the parlor, and through the parlor into the spare bed chamber at the northwest corner of the building. The single wooden window shutter was at once closed, and the horse, after a caress or two from its rider, was left in the darkened room. The sol- diers, unwilling to be baffled in their endeavor to pro- cure the horse, hastened on foot up the hill to the Wick house, and after searching the premises in vain for the coveted prize, they departed crestfallen. "Tempe's" favorite horse was kept for three weeks in the spare bed chamber, by the expiration of which time the American troops had taken their departure from the vicinity. The prints of the horse's hoofs upon the floor of the bed chamber in the Wick house were visible for many years after the occurrence of the incident related. They disappeared when, a few years since, a new floor was laid in the room.
The writer has conversed with several persons, each of whom "with my own eyes" saw the hoof prints of "Tempe" Wick's favorite saddle horse in the spare bed chamber. The single window in the room mentioned
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
may be seen in the picture accompanying the present chapter; it is on the first floor and farthest from the front of the famous house. Interesting to relate, the exterior and interior of the Wick house, still (1905) standing, is practically the same as in Revolutionary times. The rooms, so far as dimensions and relative positions are concerned, are exactly as they were in the year 1780. "Leddell's Mill" is still in operation, grinding the grain as it did 125 years ago. The stone house-"Dr. Leddell's"-still greets the visitor as he approaches the spot where a woman's tact and bravery outwitted a squad of soldiers greedy for a good horse.
354
CHAPTER XVIII
"A clatter of hoofs on the road! a shout! Bring General Wayne to his feet, in a flash He mounts his steed, for the troops are out! And now Mad Anthony makes a dash To turn them back."
Ballads of New Jersey in the Revolution.
ROM several reliable contemporary witnesses it is learned that during F his sojourns in Morristown Wash- ington was seldom heard to laugh aloud; and in view of the grave re- sponsibilities which continuously weighed upon the mind and heart of the commander- in-chief of the patriot army, this circumstance should not, and doubtless will not, cause surprise. That Washington's customary seriousness, in the face of the exigencies that confronted him, especially during his two sojourns at the county seat of Morris, did not re- sult in moroseness, is evidenced by the well authenti- cated fact that a placid smile upon his noble counte- nance was a frequent and noticeable occurrence.
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
A few instances, however, have been recorded of a hearty laugh indulged in by the ordinary sedate and dignified commander-in-chief. One of these has come to us through General John Doughty, whose acquaint- ance with his chief was intimate, and who became a resident of Morristown after the close of the Revolu- tion. It seems that Washington had purchased a young and spirited horse, whose breaking to the sad- dle he had committed to a man in Morristown, who had made loud professions of efficiency in that particu- lar line. The process of breaking, which took place in a large yard south of the Morristown Green, was eag- erly witnessed by the commander-in-chief and some of his friends. It was not without several characteristic flourishes that the professed expert leaped to the horse's back, but scarcely was he seated when the young animal threw his head downward and his heels upward in consequence of which sudden movements the over-confident rider was precipitately hurled to the ground. Fortunately, the man received no injury save a little internal shaking up and a few slight bruises. As the dismounted rider lay on the ground, dazed but uninjured, Washington burst into hearty laughter, which is said to have brought tears to his eyes. Who afterward successfully broke the young horse for the commander-in-chief the writer is unable at present to say.
General John Doughty, whose name has been men- tioned, was a man of so great importance as to be de- serving of more than a mere passing allusion. From a
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
writer (J. D. O.), who has carefully prepared a life- sketch of this illustrious soldier, the following extract is quoted:
"John Doughty, the son of Thomas, a gentleman of Scot- tish descent, and of Gertrude Leroux the descendant of a Huguenot family, was born about the middle of the last (the eighteenth) century. In 1770 he graduated at King's (now Co- lumbia) college in the city of New York, and in 1776, when the war broke out between Great Britain and the colonies, he began his military career as 'Captain Leftenant in a com- pany of artellery of the State of New Jersey,' as expressed in the commission which is in my possession. The next year he was promoted to the service of the Continental, or regu- lar army, and as Captain or Mayor of Artillery, he served during the entire war with Washington, Knox, Steuben, Laf- ayette, Hamilton and others.
On the conclusion of peace, he was ordered to our Wes- tern territory, to establish forts or block houses on the Ohio river and elsewhere, and to select sites for our future cities. It is melancholy to find that even in those early days of the Republic, there existed corrupt and designing men, who dared to insult a public officer by offering money and other inducements to select their lands for these sites. The in- tegrity and sagacity of Major Doughty have been fully proved by subsequent events, and particuarly by the city of Cincinnati; where he established a fort and garrison. Many years ago I met in Virginia an enthusiastic citizen of Cin- cinnati, who assured me that the name of John Doughty was still remembered and venerated in that great Capital.
In the course of this Western expedition Major Doughty had occasion to survey the Tennessee river, and while in a barge manned by sixteen United States soldiers, he was sur- rounded and attacked by a large force of Indians in canoes. Seated in the stern of his boat he kept up a continuous fire
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HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
against the enemy, the muskets or rifles being reloaded and handed to him by his men. When eleven out of the sixteen soldiers had been killed or disabled, matters began to look serious, and the Major thought the only thing to be done was to put an end to the Indian chief. Standing up, he 'took a aim' (to use his own words) as cool and deliberate as if he had been shooting a robin. The shot happily was successful, the chieftain fell and the Indians fled. With his diminishing crew it was impossible to make any headway against the current of the rivers, and he floated down the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi, until he reached the Span- ish post in Louisiana. He threw himself upon the hospi- tality of the commandant of the garrison, by whom he was kindly entertained, and furnished with an escort to his own country. His protracted absence had caused the greatest anx- iety to his relatives and friends, as well as to the Govern- ment. The letter addressed to him by Gen. Knox, Secretary of War, congratulating him on his safe and unexpected re- turn, attests the high estimation in which he was held by the Department at Washington. A short time after, he was appointed by General Washington, Colonel commandant of a new regiment of infantry, to consist of three battalions, 'in consideration,' as General Knox writes, 'of his long and valuable services.' This position he did not long hold, but in those piping times of peace, preferred, like Cincinnatus, to retire to his own country home. But he was not long permitted to remain inactive. The Government having re- ceived alarming accounts of the encroachments of the Brit- ish on our northern frontier, whereby the people on the border were greatly excited and a collision between the two countries was to be apprehended, entrusted Colonel Dough- ty with the delicate and confidential mission of ascertaining the truth of these reports. The story of the alleged en- croachments was found to be false or exaggerated and the reports were pronounced frivolous and unfounded.
Together with Washington, Schuyler, Knox and other of-
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THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
ficers of the army of the Revolution, Colonel Doughty was one of the founders of the honorable Society of the Cin- cinnati. * * * The remaining portion of his life was spent in agricultural pursuits, in the cultivation of literature, and in the exercise of a generous and elegant hospitality. The property of General Doughty consisted of about four hundred acres of land lying on each side of the Basking Ridge road, beginning at Morristown and extend- ing nearly a mile to the Southwest."
On the eighteenth day of April, in the year 1780, two distinguished foreigners arrived in Morristown; they were the French Minister, Chevalier de la Lu- zerne, and Don Juan de Miralles, a Spanish gentleman the latter of whom was a representative of the Spanishı Court before the American Congress. A review of four of the more presentable battalions of the patriot army, in honor of these foreign diplomats, having been de- cided upon by the commander-in-chief, Baron Steu- ben, the thorough disciplinarian of the army, was in- structed to make the necessary preparations for the event. This review, or parade, which occurred on the twenty-fourth of April, took place on the grand pa- rade, on the Jockey Hollow road. The large platform erected in the field as a reviewing stand, was filled with ladies and gentlemen of distinction, from various por- tions of the States, among whom were Governor Liv- ingston and Mrs. Livingston, of New Jersey, and of- ficers of the American army encamped in Morristown and vicinity. The evolutions performed by the four carefully selected "crack" battalions were of a char- acter to afford satisfaction to the commander-in-chief;
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