USA > New Jersey > Historical collections of the state of New Jersey : containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc. relating to its history and antiquities, with geographical desciptions of every township in the state. > Part 9
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Such a warfare could not fail to exasperate the natives ; and we are told that, so soon as they became aware that these massacres were by the whites, (for, from the secrecy observed, and the darkness of the night, they thought they had been attacked by their enemies, the Maquas,) they murdered in the country all the men they could find ; but, more humane than the whites, spared the females and children. Houses and barns, grain and hay, were destroyed, and war waged for a month or more. In March, a peace was concluded, which lasted only till October ; when three or four soldiers, sta- tioned at Pavonia for the protection of a family, having been attacked, war was renewed; and so serious was its character, that, in March, 1644, the authorities of New Amsterdam proclaimed a solemn fast, to deprecate the anger of Jehovah.
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: " Peace was permanently restored the following year; and as, in their distress, they had fasted, so now the good burghers rejoiced, and kept a day of public thanksgiving and praise. We hear of no further disturbances from this time ; and in 1664 the English came into possession of the coun- try. Of course, the unsettled state of the intercourse with the Indians had interfered most materially with the settlement of this portion of the New Netherlands.
" There are no data by which a true estimate can be formed of the num- . ber of Indians within what are now the limits of New Jersey, when first population began to change the character and aspect of the country ; but probably there were more than two thousand when the province was taken under the domination of the English. An old pamphlet in the Philadelphia Library, printed in 1648, to induce emigration under the grant to Sir Ed- ward Ployden, (Plantagenet's New Albion, p. 22,) states that the natives in this section of the country were under the dominion of about twenty kings; that there were 'twelve hundred under the two Raritan kings on the north side, next to Hudson's river, and those come down to the ocean about Little Egg bay and Sandy Barnegate ; and about the South cape two small kings, of forty men apiece, called Tirans and Tiascans ; and a third reduced to fourteen men, at Reymont.' The seat of the Raritan king is stated to have been called (by the English) Mount Ployden, 'twenty miles from Sandhay sea, and ninety from the ocean ; next to Amara hill, the retired paradise of the children of the Ethiopian emperor-a wonder, for it is a square rock, two miles compass, one hundred and fifty feet high, a wall-like preci- pice, a strait entrance easily made invincible, where he keeps two hundred for his guards, and under is a flat valley, all plain, to plant and sow.'
" The writer is at a loss to locate this 'Mount,' and 'retired paradise,' if such actually existed, save in the imagination of 'Beauchamp Plantage- net, Esq. ; ' as he knows of no place answering the description. On early maps of New Jersey, an Indian path is designated, running from the mouth of Shrewsbury river in a northwesterly direction, crossing the Raritan a little to the westward of Amboy ; and thence in a northerly direction to Minisink island, in the Delaware river, near the northern boundary of the state. This was probably their great thoroughfare. The Sanhicans, the deadly enemies of the Manhatae, but whom De Laet characterizes as a bet- ter and more decent people, inhabited that part of the province lying west of Staten Island ; and further south were the Naraticongs, Maravancons, and other branches of the great Delaware tribe.
" When the province came into the possession of Lords Berkeley and Carteret, they consulted the peace and happiness of the settlers, by the es- tablishment of the best regulations for intercourse with the natives. They say to their governor and councillors, should they 'happen to find any na- tives in our said province, and tract of land aforesaid, that then you treat them with all humanity and kindness, and not in anywise grieve or op- press them, but endeavor by a Christian carriage to manifest piety, justice, and charity, and in your conversation with them ; the manifestation where- of will prove beneficial to the planters, and likewise advantageous to the propagation of the gospel.'-(East Jersey Records.) And, in order that they might be protected from the arts of designing men, their lands were not allowed to be purchased excepting through the governor and council, in the name of the lords proprietors.
"It was to be presumed, however, that intercourse with such varied
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characters, as ever constitute the first population of a new country, would present many causes for outbreaks and disputes. The assembly, therefore, early took measures to guard against such difficulties by prohibiting all trade with them ; and in 1675, when some apprehensions were entertained, the sale to them of ammunition was prevented, as well as the repairing of their firearms; and the continuance of peace was, in subsequent years, still further secured, by prohibiting the sale, gift, or loan to them of any intoxicating drink. These wholesome restrictions, modified as occasion re- quired, continued in force under the government of the twenty-four proprie- tors, and that of the crown which succeeded. Mrs. Mary Smith, in a man- uscript account of the first settlement of Burlington, quoted in Watson's Annals, says, 'the Indians were very civil, brought them corn, venison, and bargained also for their land.' It was said that an old Indian king spoke prophetically, before his death, of the increase of the whites, and the dimi- nution of his race. Such predictions were current among them, as early as 1680. At the time Perth Amboy was settled, (1684,) there appears to have been only a few natives in that vicinity ; and those who visited the place are represented as very serviceable to the settlers, from the game they caught, and the skins and furs they procured and sold to them."
" The first serious outbreak occurred in 1755; but, so soon as a nostile feeling became apparent, the legislature appointed commissioners to examine into the causes of dissatisfaction. A convention was held at Crosswicks, for the purpose, in January, 1756 ; and in March, 1757, a bill was passed, calculated to remove the difficulties which had grown out of impositions up- on the Indians when intoxicated, the destruction of deer by traps, and the occupation of lands by the whites which they had not sold .- (Neville's Laws, vol. ii., p. 125.) During this year, however, and the first part of 1758, the western borders of the province were in much alarm from the hostile feeling prevalent among the Minisink and neighboring tribes-from May, 1757, to June, 1758, twenty-seven murders having been committed by them on the West Jersey side of the Delaware. A constant guard was kept un- der arms, to protect the inhabitants ; but it was not always able to check the predatory excursions of the savages.
"In June, 1758, Gov. Bernard, of New Jersey, consulted Gen. Forbes and Gov. Denny, of Pennsylvania, as to the measures best calculated to put a stop to this unpleasant warfare; and through Teedyescung, king of the Delawares, he obtained a conference with the Minisink and Pompton Indians, protection being assured them .- (Smith's New Jersey, pp. 447, 448.) It shows no little regard for truth, and the prevalence of a humane and for- giving spirit, on the part of the whites, as well as confidence on the part of the Indians, that the one party should venture, after what had passed, to place themselves so completely in the hands of their enemies, and the other to profit not thereby.
" The conference took place at Burlington, August 7th, 1758. On the part of the province, there were present the governor, three commissioners of Indian affairs of the house of assembly, and six members of the council. Two Minisink or Munsey Indians, one Cayugan, one Delaware messenger from the Mingoians, and one Delaware who came with the Minisinks, were the delegates from the natives. The conference opened with a speech from the governor. He sat, holding four strings of wampum, and thus addressed them : 'Brethren, as you are come from a long journey, through a wood
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full of briers, with this string I anoint your feet, and take away their sore- ness ; with this string I wipe the sweat from your bodies; with this string I cleanse your eyes, ears, and mouth, that you may see, hear, and speak clearly ; and I particularly anoint your throat, that every word you say may have a free passage from the heart. And with this string I bid you heartily welcome.' The four strings were then delivered to them. The "result of the conference was, that a time was fixed for holding another at Easton, at the request of the Indians; that being, as they termed it, the ' place of the ' old council-fire.'
" The act passed in 1757 appropriated £1,600 for the purchase of Indian claims ; but, as the Indians living south of the Raritan preferred receiving their proportion in land specially allotted for their occupancy, 3,044 acres, in the township of Evesham, Burlington county, were purchased for them. A house of worship and several dwellings were subsequently erected, form- ing the town of Brotherton ; and as the selling and leasing of any portion of the tract was prohibited, as was also the settlement upon it of any per- sons other than Indians, the greatest harmony appears to have prevailed between its inhabitants and their white neighbors .- ( Allinson's Laws, p. 221.)
"On the 8th October, 1758, the conference commenced at Easton. It was attended by the lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania, six of his coun- cil, and an equal number of the house of representatives; Gov. Bernard of New Jersey, five Indian commissioners, George Croghan, Esq., (deputy Indian agent under Sir William Johnson,) a number of magistrates and freeholders of the two provinces, and five hundred and seven Indians, com- prising delegations from fourteen different tribes. Gov. Denny being obliged to return to Philadelphia, the business of the conference was mainly con- ducted by Gov. Bernard, who, in its management, evinced no small degree of talent and tact. It was closed on the 26th October ; and the result was a release, by the Minisink and Wapping Indians, of all lands claimed by them within the limits of New Jersey, for the sum of £1,000. Deeds were also obtained from the Delawares and other Indians, and they were all de- sired to remember ' that by these two agreements the province of New Jer- sey is entirely freed and discharged from all Indian claims." At least such was the opinion of Gov. Bernard and the Indians; but the assembly, the ensuing March, in answer to the governor's speech, mention a small claim of the Totamies, and some private claims, still outstanding. The minutes of this interesting conference are printed at length in Smith's History. The governor recommended to the succeeding assembly the continuance of a guard, and the establishment of a regular trading-house ; but neither meas- ure was adopted. The amicable relations, thus happily begun, remained undisturbed for several years. In 1764, a frontier guard of two hundred men was again kept up for some time, in consequence of disturbances in Pennsylvania ; but the alarm soon subsided.
" In 1769, Gov. Franklin attended a convention held with the Six Na- tions, by several of the colonial governors, and informed the assembly, on his return, that they had publicly acknowledged repeated instances of the justice of the New Jersey authorities in bringing the murderers of Indians to condign punishment; declared that they had no claim or demand whatsoever on the province ; and in the most solemn manner conferred on its government the distinguished title of Sagorighwiyogstha, or the great arbiter, or doer of jus- tice-a name which, the governor truly remarked, reflected high honor up- on the province .- (New York Journal, Oct. 26.)
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" In 1802, the small remnant of these original possessors of the soil, re- maining in Burlington county, obtained permission to sell their lands and re- move to a settlement on the Oneida lake, in the state of New York, where they continued until 1824; when, with other Indians, they purchased from the Menominees a tract bordering on Lake Michigan, and removed thither. In 1832, the New Jersey tribe, reduced to less than forty souls, applied to the legislature of the state for remuneration on account of their rights of- hunting and fishing on unenclosed lands, which they had reserved in their various agreements and conventions with the whites. Although no legal claim could be substantiated, yet the legislature, in kindness, and through compassion for the wanderers, directed the treasurer to pay their agent two thousand dollars, upon filing in the office of the secretary a full relinquish- ment of all the rights of his tribe .- (Gordon's New Jersey.) Thus was extinguished every legal and equitable claim of the Indians to the soil of New Jersey-a fact which must gratify every citizen of the state."
ATLANTIC COUNTY.
ATLANTIC COUNTY is bounded NE. by Burlington co., SE. by the Atlantic ocean, S. by Cape May co., SW. by Cumberland co., and NW. by Gloucester co. It is about 30 miles long by 20 wide ; and was formed from the eastern part of Gloucester co., in 1837. The principal streams are the Great Egg Harbor, running through it near- ly centrally ; the Little Egg Harbor, separating it from Burlington co. ; and the Tuckahoe, on its southern boundary. These streams are navigable for many miles, and facilitate the transportation of timber and cord-wood to market, which form the most valuable pro- ducts of this part of the state. Clams, oysters, and fish abound in the numerous bays and inlets on its coast ; and many of its inhab- itants gain their livelihood by oystering and fishing. Ship-building is carried on in the little settlements on the streams; and glass- houses and furnaces are scattered here and there among the pines. Agriculture is but little pursued, there being but few farms.
The pine-region of New Jersey extends over about one third of its territory, comprising the whole of this, and parts of Middlesex, Monmouth, Burlington, Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland, and Cape May counties. This immense tract is very thinly settled, there being many square miles on which there is not a single inhabitant ; " where deer, foxes, and rabbits are abundant, and the bear finds a lair to protect its race from extirpation." Through these wilds wind numerous roads, by mazes almost inextricable ; where
" the scarcely-waving pine Fills the brown shade with a religious awe."
Thirty years since, this immense forest was of little value ; but the introduction of steamboats and anthracite coal has created such a
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demand for fuel, that the lands have risen from ten cents to four or five dollars per acre ; and in some instances, where convenient to market, bring from fifteen to sixty dollars. Where the pine has been cleared, oak springs up; and frequently, where the oak has been cut, the pine again succeeds. Upon the clay and loam soils oak abounds, of an excellent quality for ship-building. In the sandy region are extensive swamps bearing white cedar, very valuable, and worth from one to three hundred dollars per acre.
Atlantic co. is divided into five townships, viz :
Egg Harbor, Hamilton, Mullica, Weymouth, Galloway.
This is the most thinly-settled county in the state. In 1830, the townships now comprising it numbered 8,164 souls ; in 1840, 8,726
EGG HARBOR.
EGG HARBOR was incorporated in 1798. It is about 11 miles long by 10 broad ; and is bounded NE. by Galloway, SE. by the ocean, S. by Great Egg Harbor bay, separating it from Cape May co., SW. by Great Egg Harbor river, dividing it from Weymouth, and NW. by Hamilton. Its surface is level, and principally covered with pines. On the coast is a marsh, four miles wide, studded with twenty or thirty islets, encircled by bays and arms of the sea. Beyond these, next to the ocean, Absecum beach stretches along parallel with the coast, for 9 miles. Bargaintown, 10 miles SE. of May's Landing, has a Methodist church, and about 30 dwellings. Leeds- ville, on the shore, 1 mile SE. of Bargaintown, contains 15 or 20 dwellings. Somers Point, on Great Egg Harbor bay, is quite a place of resort in the summer. Here are good boarding-houses for the accommodation of strangers. From this place along the shore, to Absecombe, there is an almost continuous line of houses. Ac- cording to the United States census, in 1840, the population of this township was 2,739. It contained 10 stores, capital $10,600 ; 3 grist-mills, and 4 saw-mills; $9,800 capital employed in manufac- tures ; 10 schools, 810 scholars.
Capt. Richard Somers, one of the most gallant and intrepid offi- cers that ever did honor to the United States navy, was a native of this township. He was the youngest child of Col. Richard Somers, a prominent man, in this vicinity, in the American revo- lution. The subject of our notice was born about the year 1778, at Somers Point. He first attended school at Philadelphia, and af- terward at a celebrated academy in Burlington. About the year 1794, Somers, then 15 or 16 years of age, first went to sea, in a coasting vessel, from Egg Harbor. Two years after, he received a warrant as a midshipman, and made his first cruise in the frigate United States, in company with Decatur; both of whom became, for the remainder of life, generous professional rivals, and strong personal friends. In 1801, Somers was promoted to a lieutenancy, and at the time of his death was appointed master-commandant.
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In 1803, at the period of the difficulties with the Barbary powers, Lieut. Somers was appointed to the command of the Nautilus, a beautiful schooner of 12 guns, attached to the Mediterranean squadron ; which sailed in the summer and autumn of this year, and became so celebrated under the orders of Preble.
While at Syracuse, on this, or perhaps a previous occasion, where the American vessels made their principal rendezvous, a charac- teristic anecdote is related of Somers, by his biographer. He was walking in the vicinity of the town, in company with two brother officers, when five Sicilian soldiers, carrying swords, made an at- tack on the party, with intent to rob. One of the gentlemen had a dirk, while Somers and the other were unarmed. The officer with the dirk used the weapon so vigorously as soon to bring down one assailant ; while Somers, seizing the sword-blade of his antagonist, was severely cut in the hand by the unsuccessful efforts of the Sicilian for its recovery ; but finally he wrested it from him, and plunged it into his body. This decided the matter, the three rob- bers taking to flight.
When the American squadron under Preble was maintaining the blockade against Tripoli, in 1804, he distinguished himself in its early stages, as well as on the occasion in which he lost his life. At one time he was engaged in a gunboat, within pistol-shot, against a force at least five times superior. In the end the enemy were obliged to make off, and he brought off his boat in triumph. On another occasion, as his boat was advancing to her position, an incident occurred which marked his presence of mind. Somers, while leaning against the flagstaff, saw a shot flying directly in a line for him, and bowed his head to avoid it. The shot cut the staff, and on measuring, it was certain he escaped death only by the timely removal.
After several unsuccessful enterprises to force the enemy to terms, it was resolved to fit up the ketch "Intrepid" in the double capacity of fire-ship and infernal, and to send her into the inner harbor of Tripoli, there to explode, in the very centre of the ves- sels of the Turks. As her deck was to be covered with a large quantity of powder, shells, and missiles, it was hoped the town would suffer not less than the shipping. The panic created by such an assault, made in the dead of night, it was fondly hoped would produce an instant peace ; and more especially the liberation of the frigate Philadelphia, whose officers and crew were thought to have been reduced to extreme suffering by the barbarity of their captors.
The imminent danger of the service forbade the commodore or- lering any of his officers upon it; and Somers, with whom the conception of this daring scheme is supposed to have originated, volunteered to take the command.
"On the afternoon of the 4th of September, Somers prepared to leave the Nautilus, with a full determination to carry the ketch into Tripoli that night. Previously to quitting his own vessel, he
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felt that it would be proper to point out the desperate nature of the enterprise to the four men he had selected, that their services might be perfectly free and voluntary. He told them that he wished no man to accompany him, who would not prefer being blown up to being taken ;* that such was his own determination, and that he wished all who went with him to be the same way of thinking. The boats now gave three cheers in answer ; and each man is said to have separately asked to be selected to apply the match. Once assured of the temper of his companions, Somers took leave of his officers ; the boat's crew doing the same, shaking hands, and expressing their feelings, as if they felt assured of their fate in advance. Each of the four men made his will verbally ; disposing of his effects among his shipmates, like those about to die. Several of Somers' friends visited him on board the Intrepid before she got under way. Among them were Stewart and Decatur, with whom he had commenced his naval career in the United States. These three young men, then about twenty-six years of age each, were Philadelphia-bred sailors, and had been intimately associated in service for the last six years. They all knew that the enterprise was one of extreme hazard, and the two who were to remain behind felt a deep interest in the fate of him who was to go in. Somers was grave, and entirely with- out any affectation of levity or indifference ; but he maintained his usual tranquil and quiet manner. After some conversation, he took a ring from his finger, and breaking it into three pieces, gave each of his companions one, while he retained the third himself."
Two boats accompanied the ketch to bring off the party just af- ter setting fire to the train. In the whole there were thirteen men, all volunteers.
About nine o'clock in the evening Lieut. Reed was the last to leave the ketch for his own vessel. "When he went over the side of the Intrepid, all communication between the gallant spirits she contained and the rest of the world ceased. At that time every thing seemed propitious. Somers was cheerful, though calm ; and perfect order and method prevailed in the little craft. The leave- taking was affectionate and serious with the officers, though the common men appeared to be in high spirits."
The ketch was seen to proceed cautiously into the bay, but was soon obscured by the haze on the water. "It was not long before the enemy began to fire at the ketch, which by this time was quite near the batteries, though the reports were neither rapid nor nu- merous. At this moment, near ten o'clock, Capt. Stewart and Lieut. Carrol were standing in the Siren's gangway, looking intent- ly toward the place where the ketch was known to be, when the latter exclaimed, 'Look ! see the light !' At that instant a light was seen passing and waving, as if a lantern were carried by some
* It was supposed that the enemy were nearly out of ammunition, and if the ketch had fallen into their hands, they would have had a sufficient supply. This was the reason for adopting, if necessary, this dreadful alternative.
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person in quick motion along a vessel's deck. Then it sunk from view. Half a minute may have elapsed, when the whole firma- ment was lighted with a fiery glow ; a burning mast with its sails was seen in the air; the whole harbor was momentarily illumi- nated ; the awful explosion came, and a darkness like that of doom succeeded. The whole was over in less than a minute ; the flame, the quaking of towers, the reeling of ships, and even the bursting of shells, of which most fell in the water, though some lodged on the rocks. The firing ceased, and from that instant Tripoli passed the night in a stillness as profound as that in which the victims of this explosion have lain from that fatal hour to this."
In the American squadron the opinion was prevalent, that Somers and his determined crew had blown themselves up to pre- vent capture ; but subsequent light has rendered it more probable that it was accidental, or occasioned either by a hot shot from the enemy. " Thus perished Richard Somers, ' one of the bravest of the brave.' Notwithstanding all our means of reasoning, and the greatest efforts of human ingenuity, there will remain a melan- choly interest around the manner of his end, which, by the Al- mighty will, is forever veiled from human eyes, in a sad and solemn mystery."
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