USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
359
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
and received, also, the expressed approbation of Chev- alier de la Luzerne, who occupied a special seat on the reviewing stand. Don Juan de Miralles, as will in due course be seen, was not present upon this interesting occasion.
In the evening a ball was given by the chief officers of the American army, probably in the hall on the second floor of the "Continental House," at which Washington and Luzerne were present, as well, also, as not a few ladies and gentlemen of more or less dis- tinction. From the camp ground of Knox's artillery brigade on the Mendham road, a display of fireworks, including cannon firing, sky rockets, and other curious pyrotechnics, was given for the entertainment of those who, for several reasons, did not attend the "grand ball." As the ballroom was lighted by means of tal- low candles, requiring frequent "snuffings," numerous non-attendants doubtless enjoyed a larger measure of illumination than those who, to the music of the times, "tripped the light fantastic toe."
While the four battalions of the patriot army were performing their military maneuvers on the parade ground, and while other "crack" battalions, owing to lack of shoes and stockings and presentable clothing, were unable to participate in "mock war" for the grati- fication of distinguished visitors, Don Juan de Miralles was tossing with death fever on his bed at Short Hills, whither, on the day after his arrival in Morristown, he had gone on a visit to friends. On the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh of the month of April he succumbed
360
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
(in Morristown, according to one account, at least) to the disease with which he had been stricken, and on the twenty-ninth was buried with the honors due to his official station at Morristown.
The style in which he was buried is said to have sur- passed in magnificence that of any other burial ever occurring at the county seat of Morris. His coffin was covered on the outside with rich black velvet, and lined with fine cambric. For burial, he wore a scarlet suit, embroidered with gold lace, a gold-laced hat, a wig carefully cued, white silk stockings and diamond shoe and knee buckles. On his fingers appeared a profusion of diamond rings, and suspended from a superb gold watch were several seals richly set with diamonds. The honorary pallbearers were six field officers, and on the shoulders of four artillery officers in full uniform, the actual pallbearers, he was borne to the grave. The chief mourners were Washington and other officers of high rank, and several members of the American Congress. A procession extending over a mile, composed of army officers and representative Morristown citizens, followed the remains to the grave, while minute guns were fired by the artillery. A Spanish priest performed the last rites at the grave, employing the impressive form of the Roman Catholic church. To prevent the disturbing of the buried re- mains for "filthy lucre's" sake, a guard of soldiers was placed at the grave of the Spanish Minister in the Presbyterian church cemetery.
Mention has not a few times been made of the
36I
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
"Continental House," a famous structure, the history of which is briefly as follows: During the encampment of the American army in and near Morristown in the year 1777, Moore Freeman, deputy quartermaster- general of New Jersey at the time, applied to the trus- tees of the Presbyterian church for leave to erect a. storehouse for the Continental army on "the parson- age lot," as the lands belonging to the church were sometimes called. Consent being given, the building was erected. It stood on the present site of the na- tional bank, and next to a house which had been built by a "Mr. Huntington, deceased." This Mr. Hunt- ington may have been Simon Huntington, who died July 17, 1770, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. The Huntington house seems to have stood some- what to the southeast of the Continental House.
The "Continental House," as its name partially in- dicates, was used for a few years after its erection as a storage place for army supplies of various kinds. To this storehouse Colonel Benoni Hathaway seems to have brought some of the "merchantable powder," manufactured at Ford's powder mill, on the Whippa- nong River. In this building some of the officers and soldiers of Washington's army were quartered, a por- tion of the latter, no doubt, as guards, during the winters of 1777, 1779 and 1780.
Here were brought several cannon captured by American troops in a British sloop, which was grounded in Elizabethtown Creek. The names of some of the Morris County soldiers who assisted in bringing
362
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
these guns to the county seat are: Captain William Day, Ephraim Sayre, James Brookfield, Samuel Day, Ellis Cook, Caleb Horton (son of the first pastor of Madison) Joseph Bruen, Benjamin Harris and Ben- jamin Bonnell. During Washington's second sojourn in Morristown, in the winter of 1779-80, the upper part of the Continental House was used for several assem- bly balls. It was not, however, used as a tavern until after the close of the seven years' struggle for inde- pendence. It was burned in the year 1846 when the palatial New Jersey Hotel, which it adjoined, was destroyed by fire.
A very pretty incident is related as having occurred in the spring of the year 1780, at the Dr. Jabez Camp -. field residence, situated on what is now Morris street, a picture of which appears in this volume. This house was the quarters of the surgeon-general of the Ameri- can army, Dr. John Cochran. Mrs. Cochran was the only sister of General Philip Schuyler, whose daughter Elizabeth, a charming girl of twenty-two years of age, spent several months as a visitor at her aunt's in the early part of the year last mentioned. At the quar- ters of the surgeon-general, Colonel Alexander Ham- ilton, one of Washington's aides, and a resident at the Ford mansion, was a frequent visitor during Miss Schuyler's sojourn at the former place. It was said that the presence of Miss Schuyler at the Cochran home was the chief attraction to Colonel Hamilton, and it is popularly believed that the courtship which resulted in the subsequent marriage of this interesting
363
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
couple had its beginning at the quarters of Dr. John Cochran.
In the month of September, of the year 1848, Loss- ing, the entertaining writer of history, visited Morris- town. He was the guest over the one night he spent at the county seat of Morris, of the Hon. Gabriel H. Ford, son of Colonel Jacob Ford, Jr., at the Ford Mansion. In the account of his flying visit to Morris- town, as given in "Field Book of the American Revo- lution," he says:
"I have said I spent an evening at Morristown with Judge Ford, the proprietor of the headquarters of Washington. I look back upon the conversation of that evening with much pleasure, for the venerable octogenarian entertained me until a late hour with many pleasing anecdotes illustrative of the social con- dition of the army, and of the private character of the commander-in-chief.
"As an example of Washington's careful attention to small matters, and his sense of justice he mentioned the fact that, when he took up his residence with his mother, he made an inventory of all articles which were appropriated to his use during the winter. When he withdrew in the spring, he inquired of Mrs. Ford whether everything had been returned to her. ‘All but one silver tablespoon,' she answered. He took note of it, and not long afterward she received from him a spoon hearing his initials-'G. W.' That spoon is preserved as a precious relic in the family. *
* Mr. Ford, then a lad, was a favorite with Hamilton,
364
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
and, by permission of the chief, the colonel would give him the countersign, so as to allow him to play at the village after the sentinels were posted for the night. On one occasion he was returning home about nine o'clock in the evening, and had passed the sentinel, when he recognized the voice of Hamilton in a reply to the soldier's demand of 'Who comes there?' He stepped aside, and waited for the colonel to accompany him to the house. Hamilton came up to the point of the presented bayonet of the sentinel to give the coun- tersign, but he had quite forgotten it. 'He had spent the evening' said Judge Ford, who related the anec- dote to me, 'with Miss Schuyler, and thoughts of her undoubtedly expelled the countersign from his head.' The soldier lover was embarrassed, and the sentinel, who knew him well, was stern in the performance of his duty. Hamilton pressed his hand upon his fore- head, and tried hard to summon the cabalistic words from their hiding place, but, like the faithful sentinel, they were immovable. Just then he recognized young Ford in the gloom. 'Ay, Master Ford, is that you?' he said in an undertone; and stepping aside, he called the lad to him, drew his ear to his mouth, and whis- pered, 'Give me the countersign.' He did so, and Ham- ilton stepping in front of the soldier, delivered it. The sentinel, seeing the movement, and believing that his superior was testing his fidelity, kept his bayonet un- moved. 'I have given you the countersign; why do you not shoulder your musket?' asked Hamilton. 'Will that do, colonel?' asked the soldier in reply. 'It will do.
365
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
for this time,' said Hamilton; 'let me pass.' The sol- dier reluctantly obeyed the illegal command, and Hamilton and his young companion reached head- quarters without further difficulty. Colonel Hamilton afterward married Miss Schuyler."
From "Publications of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America, No. I, Edited by the Committee on Research," the following valuable ex- tract is given:
"(Captain John Steele, son of Captain William and Rachel Carr Steele, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1761. At the age of seventeen he ran away from college to enter the army, and was soon made captain of a company of veterans from Cumberland Valley. He was nine- teen years old when the following letter was written. Wounded at Brandywine, he followed Washington through his campaigns until the surrender of Cornwallis, when Cap- tain Steele was officer of the day. Immediately after the war he married Abigail Bailey, of Lancaster County. He fre- quently represented his district in the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. In 1809 he was appointed Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, which office he held until shortly before his death in 1827. He was one of the original members of the Cincinnati. He is buried in the old Pine Street Presbyterian churchyard, Philadelphia.)"
"Dear Will: I have omitted several opportunities of writ- ing, with a daily expectation of seeing you and my brother Jake, which I now cease to hope for, as we have taken the field for several days in consequence of a sudden and unex- pected excursion of the enemy, from Staten Island and Jer- sey, who have, (as usual) committed the most cruel and wanton depredations by burning and destroying the houses and property of many peaceable and defenceless inhabitants;
366
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
but the most striking instance of their barbarity was in tak- ing the life of a most amiable lady, wife of Parson Caldwell of Springfield, who left nine small children, the youngest eight months old which sat in its Mamma's lap a witness to the cruel murder, though insensible of its loss, nor did their barbarity end there, for after several skirmishes (in which it is thought we killed at least 150 and a proportionate num- ber wounded, together with several officers, one of which was General Stirling) they retired to Elizabeth Town Point, where they remained fortifying and possessing themselves of parts of the town; and 'tis said that two nights ago they made an indiscriminate sacrifice of all the females in the place :- a cruel slaughter indeed! Yesterday a Captain from the British army deserted to us, the cause to me unknown, but he is beyond doubt a damned rascal, but it all conspires to make glorious the once dreaded (though now ignomi- nious) arms of Britain.
"I am at present enjoying myself incomparably well in the family of Mrs. Washington, whose guard I have had the honour to command, since the absence of the General and the rest of the family, which is now six or seven days. I am happy in the importance of my charge as well as in the presence of the most amiable woman upon earth, whose character should I attempt to describe I could not do justice to, but will only say I think it unexceptionable; the first and second nights after I came it was expected that a body of the enemy's horse would pay us a visit, but I was well pre- pared to receive them, for I had not only a good detach- ment of well disciplined troops under my command, but four members of Congress who came volunteers with their mus- quets, bayonets and ammunition. I assure you they have disposed of a greater share of Spirits than you have ever seen in that body or perhaps ever will see as long as they exist. I leave you to judge whether there is not considera- ble mint due their commander. I only wish I had a company of them to command for a campaign! and if you would not
367
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
see an alteration in the constitution of our army against the next, I would suffer to lose my ears and never command a Congressman again. The rations they have consumed con- siderably overbalance all their service done as volunteers, for they have dined with us every day almost, and drank as much wine as they would earn in six months. Make my best love to my dear sister Betsey, parents, brothers and sisters, as well as to all my good neighbors; but in a most particular manner to somebody I can't write to for fear of miscarriage.
"I am your affectionate Brother,
JACK STEELE,
"Headquarters, Morristown, June 14th, '80."
Washington, with the greater portion of the patriot army, left Morristown in the early part of the month of June, in the year 1780. By the twenty-first of the month he was on his way toward West Point, on the Hudson. Two brigades of the army, however, in com- mand of General Greene, were left in the vicinity of Springfield, about ten miles southeast of the county seat of Morris. Landing at Elizabethtown Point on the night of June 5, with 5,000 men, including the famous Coldstream Guards, Lieutenant-General Knyphausen, the British commander, made an at- tempt on the following day to reach Morristown. At Connecticut Farms he was met by an American force in command of General Maxwell, and Colonel Day- ton. The patriot army was, however, pushed back toward Springfield, where, on the twenty-third of June, a battle was fought, resulting in the hasty retreat of the British force. Among the participants in the ac-
368
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
tions at Connecticut Farms and Springfield was Lien- tenant-Colonel Benoni Hathaway, of Morristown. At the former place, Colonel Hathaway received a severe wound in the neck, from a British sentinel, whose re- peated challenge he deliberately failed to answer. At the battle of Springfield, in which Colonel Hathaway exhibited great bravery, there occurred a disagreement between him and General Heard, an efficient officer, whom Hathaway accused of unnecessarily leaving the field with his command. On his return to Morristown Colonel Hathaway preferred charges against his superior officer, his communication to Governor Liv- ingston being as follows:
Morristown, 15 July, 1780.
"To his Exelency the Governor. I send you in Closed Severel charges which I Charg B D Haird with while he commanded the Militare Sum Time in jun Last at Elizabeth Town farms which I pray His Exilency would Call a Court of inquiry on these Charges if his Exilency thinkes it worth notising from your Hum Ser Benonoi Hathaway Lut Coll." To exilency the Governor.
"This is the Charges that I bring against General Haird While he Commanded the Milita at Elizabethtown farms sum Time in June last 1780.
"I-Charg is for leaving his post and Marching the Trups of their post without order and Leaving that Pass without aney gard between the Enemy and our armey without giv- ing aney notis that pass was open Between three and fore Ours.
"2-Charg is Retreating in Disorder Before the Enemy without ordering aney Rear gard or flanks out leading of the Retreat Him Self.
369
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
"3-Charg is for marching the Trups of from advantiges peace of ground wheare we mit Noyed them much and Lick- ley prevented thear gaining the Bridg at Fox Hall had not the Trups Bin ordered of which prevented our giving our armey aney assistence in a Time of great Destris.
"4-Charg is for marching the Trups of a Bout one mile from aney part of the Enemy and taken them upon an Hy mountan and kept them thear till the Enemy had gained Springfeald Bridge.
"List of Evidence
Coll Van Cortland
Wm Skank the Brigad Major
Capt Benjman Cartur
Capt Nathaniel Horton Adjt Kiten King
Major Samuel Hays Leutnant Backover."
Morristown was of too great importance, strategic- ally, to be entirely abandoned by the American forces, hence, on his departure in the early part of June, in the year 1780, Washington had left there about 2,000 Pennsylvania troops, which, with the local militia, were considered adequate to the protection of the county seat of Morris. These Pennsylvania troops were at the time encamped on the grounds at the southeast corner of the Jockey Hollow and Mendham roads, the position formerly occupied by Hand's bri- gade. Between these troops and their officers there was a difference of opinion concerning the term of ser- vice for which they had enlisted; the rank and file con- tending that it was for three years only, while the latter were equally as earnest in their contention that
370
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
it was for the war, regardless of how long it might con- tinue.
If this had been the only cause of dissatisfaction on the part of the troops encamped on the Jockey Hollow road, the trouble of which we are about to speak might not have ocurred; but these soldiers had received no pay for twelve months and they were also without necessary food and clothing.
"Though the Pennsylvania troops (we now quote from Thatcher in his Military Journal, written while the Revolu- tion was in progress) have been subjected to all the dis- couragements and difficulties felt by the rest of the army, some particular circumstances peculiar to themselves have contributed to produce the revolt. When the soldiers first enlisted, the recruiting officers were provided with enlisting rolls for the term of three years, or during the continuance of the war, and as the officers indulged the opinion that the war would not continue more than three years, they were perhaps indifferent in which column the soldier's name was inserted, leaving it liable to an ambiguity of construction. It is clear, however, that a part, enlisted for three years, and others for the more indefinite term 'during the war.' The soldiers now contend that they enlisted for three years at furthest, and were to have been discharged sooner, in case the war terminated before the expiration of this term. The war being protracted beyond the time expected, and the officers knowing the value of soldiers who have been trained by three years' service, are accused of putting a different construction on the original agreement, and claiming their services during the war. The soldiers, even those who act- ually listed for the war, having received very small bounties, complain of imposition and deception, and their case is ex- tremely aggravated by the fact, that three half Joes have now
37I
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
been offered as a bounty to others, who will enlist for the remainder of the war, when these veteran soldiers have served three years for a mere shadow of compensation! It was scarcely necessary to add to their trying circumstances, a total want of pay for twelve months, and a state of naked- ness and famine, to excite in a soldier the spirit of insurrec- tion. The officers themselves, also feeling aggrieved, and in a destitution, relaxed in their system of camp discipline, and the soldiers occasionally overheard their murmurs and complaints."
Continued brooding through the autumn of the year 1780, over the situation, resulted in the decision to re- volt. In accordance, therefore, with preconceived plans, the entire force of Pennsylvania troops, with the exception of portions of three regiments, marched under arms to the magazine (or storehouse) where they supplied themselves with provisions and ammu- nition. This was on the first day of January, in the year 1781. They seized six field pieces, and from the stables of General Wayne took the required comple- ment of horses to move them.
By some writers of local history it is stated that the magazine from which these revolters procured their supplies was the one located on the south side of the Morristown Green, known as the "Continental House," subsequently transformed into a tavern and kept by one O'Hara. The more reasonable theory, however, as the present writer conceives (and a theory, indeed, which has substantial support in extant dcou- mentary evidence), is that from the magazine estab- lished by General Wayne, after his arrival in Morris-
372
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
town late in the year 1780,just to the east of the Wick house, the revolters procured provisions and ammuni- tion. From the "Continental House," near the Mor- ristown Green, the mutineers are by some said to have procured the field pieces, as this magazine was the re- pository of cannon while in use as a storehouse of gov- ernment supplies, but it is far more likely that the field pieces were found nearer camp. Indeed, it is practic- ally certain that they were taken from the summit of Fort Hill, to the rear of the camp ground, where can- non had previously been planted for defense against attack by the enemy. The mutineers are said to have been in command of a sergeant-major, by them ap- pointed, whom they called "major-general."
Of the fragments of the brigade which had not at first joined in the revolt, some of the line officers took command, and with them attempted to restore order. There is a local tradition to the effect that the revolt- ers, in their resistance to this attempt, fired and killed Captain Adam Bettin, of the Tenth Pennsylvania Regiment, and wounded several other officers. It is said that on either side several were killed. Of the wounding and killing of several of the officers and sol- diers there is little doubt; but the popular theory con- cerning the manner of Bettin's death should in view of the facts in the case, be abandoned. The facts, as ex- tant records indicate, are as follows: Some of the muti- neers were in pursuit of an officer who had attempted to use force in quelling the mutiny. As the pursuers turned a corner of one of the camp streets they sud-
373
·
HISTORIC MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
denly encountered Captain Bettin. In their excited state of mind, mistaking Bettin for the officer they were pursuing, the mutineers fired, and killed him on the spot; his killing was, therefore, surely accidental.
The threat of the mutineers to bayonet their oppos- ers if they did not instantly join in the revolt produced the desired effect, and the rank and file of the entire brigade were soon involved in the mutiny, which is now one of the interesting incidents of local history.
General Anthony Wayne, who was in command of the Pennsylvania troops in Morristown at the period under consideration, was quartered at the residence of Peter Kemble, on the Basking Ridge road, about a mile southeast from camp. Hearing, on the morning of January first, of the mutiny of his troops, Wayne mounted his horse, and, in company with some of his staff officers, sped westward toward the camp, in the hope of being able to restore order. In a field on the opposite side of the road from camp where some of the mutineers were gathered, Wayne addressed his sol- diers, endeavoring to persuade them to return to duty. After listening for some time to their beloved com- mander, the soldiers became restless; and one of their number discharged his musket over Wayne's head. Wayne, supposing the musket had been discharged at him, immediately threw back his outer clothing, thus baring his breast, and exclaimed: "Shoot me, if you will!" But no further shots being fired the brave offi- cer was convinced that there was no murderous intent on the part of his troops. After further vain attempts
374
THE STORY OF ITS FIRST CENTURY
to restore order General Wayne returned to his quar- ters at Peter Kemble's.
Toward evening, with the sergeant-major at their head, the mutineers marched down the Fort Hill road on their way, in accordance with mutual resolution, toward Philadelphia. As the mutineers came in sight, Wayne went out from his quarters to ascertain the oc- casion of the strange spectacle which greeted his eyes. He intercepted the resolute mutineers at a point a little to the southeast of the crossing of the Basking Ridge road by the road from Fort Hill. The locality is indi- cated by a picture accompanying the present volume. Upon ascertaining the intent of his troops, he endeav- ored, first by expostulation, and then by threats, to dissuade them from their purpose.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.