USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > History of Bergen county, New Jersey > Part 7
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"3d. That we will heartily unite with this Colony in choosing dele- gates to attend at a general congress from the several provinces of Ame- rica in order to consult on and determine some effectual method to be pursued for obtaining a repeal of the said Acts of Parliament, which appear to us evidently calculated to destroy that mutual harmony and dependence between Great Britain and her colonies which are the basis and support of both.
" And we do appoint Theunis Dey, John Demarest. Peter Zabriskie . Cornelius Van Vorst, and John Zabriskie, Jr., Esquires, to be a commit- tee for corresponding with the committees of the other counties in this Province, and particularly to meet with the other county committees at New Brunswick, or such other place as shall be agreed upon, in order to elect delegates to attend the general congress of delegates of the Ameri- can Colonies for the purpose aforesaid."
After these resolutions were signed by three hundred and twenty- eight citizens of Bergen County, a local Committee of Safety was organ- ized of which John Fell, a devoted patriot of Paramus was made chair- man. Nothing of a startling nature, however, occurred until in 1776 when it became known that Lord Howe was on his way to New York. Lord Stirling was then in command of the militia in this part of Jersey when he made an attempt to build fortifications on the eastern side of the County, along the Hudson and also at Bergen Point opposite Staten Island. Three companies were now organized in Bergen County and joined in Battalion with three from Essex and two from Burlington. while the regular militia of Bergen was organized in one regiment. This order came from the Provincial Congress in session in Burlington : "Ordered that Cornelius Van Vorst be Lieutenant Colonel, Richard Day First Major, and John Martinius Goetschius, Second Major of the battal- lion of foot militia in the County of Bergen." Lord Stirling, in order to be prepared for defending Bergen, set several hundred of the militia to work in the construction of roads, one from Weehawken to Hackensack Ferry and the other from Paulus Hook to Brown's, and before General Washington arrived he had both these and the forts at Paulus Hook and Bergen Neck well under way. General Washington ordered the work to proceed at Paulus Hook, and upon its completion was garrisoned, but the British were occupying Staten Island before the work could be finish- ed at Bergen Point. On the 4th of July 1776, General Washington ordered General Mercer to station five hundred men at Bergen Neck. and to guard the ferries over the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, prom-
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ising to send an engineer from New York on the following day for the purpose of erecting works for the safety of those places. Fort De Lancey was erected at that time at a point a little below the present canal at Bayonne and General Wadsworth's brigade was sent to Ber- gen and there joined by a battalion of Jersey troops.
The records were removed from Perth Amboy to Burlington early in the year of 1776 by order of the Provincial Congress. No attack was made by either side, nor was any active movement made, although Gen- eral Mercer had planned an attack, which was foiled by bad weather.
The British were concentrating their forces, until about 30,000 men had gathered within the harbor and upon Staten Island. The first firing was by the patriots on the 12th of July, when the two British men-of- war the "Phoenix" and the "Rose," sailed up the habor, the first a vessel of forty guns and the second of twenty guns. The firing was from Palus Hook, but did little harm to the vessels, as their sides were protected by sand bags. As Lord Howe sailed up the harbor on that evening he was greeted with cheers and booming of cannon from the British, who, on the 15th of July, took possession of New York.
Bergen was headquarters until October 5th, 1776. when Washington began his retreat to the Delaware. Removing first to Fort Constitution ( now Fort Lee ), which in turn was evacuated on November 20th, leaving East Jersey to the enemy, who no doubt felt that they had gained a great victory. Lieutenant Colonel Van Buskirk, of Saddle River, who had joined the British, was placed in command of the post of Paulus Hook, while the fort at Bergen Neck was occupied almost wholly by "refugees." This was named Fort DeLancey, in honor of Oliver De Lancey, of Westchester, who had also joined the British.
The following account of the evacuation of Fort Lee was written by Thomas Paine, author of " The American Crisis:"
" As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania. I am well acquainted with many circumstances which those who lived at a distance knew little or nothing of. Our sitil- ation there was exceedingly cramped, the place being on a narrow neck of land between the North River and Hackensack. Our force was in- considerable, being not one-fourth as great as Howe could bring against
us. We had no army at hand to have relieved the garrison had we shut ourselves up and stood on the defense. Our ammunition, light artillery and the best part of our stores had been removed upon the apprehension that Howe would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in which case Fort Lee could be of no use to us, for it must occur to every thinking man, whether in the army or not, that these kind of field-forts are only for temporary purposes, and last in use no longer than the enemy directs his force against the particular objects which forts are raised to defend.
" Such was our situation and condition at Fort Lee on the morning of the 20th of November, when an officer arrived with information that the enemy, with two hundred boats, had landed about seven or eight miles above. Major General Greene. who commanded the garrison,
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immediately ordered them under arms, and sent an express to His Ex- cellency General Washington, at the town of Hackensack, distant by the way of the ferry six miles. Our first object was to secure the bridge over the Hackensack, which laid up the river, between the enemy and us- about six miles from us and three from them. General Washington arrived in about three-quartersof an hour, and marched at the head of his troops towards the bridge, at which place I expected we should have a brush. However, they did not choose to dispute it with us, and the greatest part of our troops went over the bridge, the rest over the ferry, except some which passed at a mill on a small creek between the bridge and the ferry, and made their way through some marshy ground up to the town of Hackensack, and there passed the river. We brought off as much baggage as the wagons could contain, the rest was lost. The simple object was to bring off the garrison and to march them on until they could be strengthened by the Pennsylvania or Jersey militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand. We stayed four days at Newark, col- lected in our outposts, with some of the Jersey militia, and marched out twice to meet the enemy on information of their being advancing, though our numbers were greatly inferior to theirs."
An eye-witness has given the following statement:
"It was about dusk when the head of the troops entered Hacken- sack. The night was dark, cold and rainy, but I had a fair view of theni from the light of the windows as they passed on our side of the street. They marched two abreast, looked ragged, some without a shoe to their feet, and most of them wrapped up in their blankets. Washington then, and for some time previous, had his headquarters at the residence of Mr. Peter Zabriskie, a private . house, now called . The Mansion House,' the supplies for the General's table being furnished by Mr. Archibald Campbell, the tavern-keeper. The next evening after the Americans had passed through the British encamped on the opposite side of the river. We could see their fires, about one hundred yards apart, gleaming brilliantly in the gloom of night, extending some dis- tance below the town and more than a mile up towards New Bridge. Washington was still at his quarters, and had with him his suite, life- guard, a company of foot, a regiment of cavalry, and some soldiers from the rear of the army. In the morning, before the General left, he rode down to the dock, where the bridge now is, viewed the enemy's encamp- ment about ten or fifteen minutes, and then returned to Mr. Campbell's door and called for some wine and water. After he had drank, and Mr. Campbell had taken the glass from him, the latter, with tears streaming down his face, said, 'General, what shall I do? I have a family of small children and a little property here; shall I leave them?' Washing- ton kindly took his hand, and replied, . Mr. Campbell, stay by your family and keep neutral:' then bidding him good-by, rode off.
" About noon the next day the British took possession of the town, and in the afternoon the Green was covered with Hessians, a horrid. frightful sight to the inhabitants. There were between three and four
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thousand, with their whiskers, brass caps and kettles or base drums. A part of these troops were taken prisoners two months after at Trenton."
The British made raids in New Jersey from time to time devastat- ing the county by these foraging expeditions. It was during one of these raids that Colonel Aaron Burr distinguished himself by surprising the enemy's men on picket duty and afterward calling upon the people to rally the country. His attack had so encouraged the people that they turned out and put themselves under his command, when the enemy iu- mediately fled leaving the greater part of the plunder behind.
What was called Clinton's Raid occurred in 1777, and was planned by Sir Henry Clinton who, divided his force into four columns, the gen- eral point of rendevous being New Bridge above Hackensack. One column, under General Campbell, entered New Jersey by way of Eliza- bethtown; one, under Captain Drummond, by Schuyler's Ferry ; one, under General Vaughn, by way of Fort Lee, and the other, under Lieu- tenant Colonel Campbell, by way of Tappan. It was on September 12, the expedition set out, Clinton following, going to Schuyler's Landing on the Hackensack, (Dow's Ferry ), and going by the Belleville turn- pike to Schuyler's house he found Captain Drummond with two hundred and fifty men. General Campbell arrived with his men during the night bringing the cattle they had collected by the way. The columns met on the 15th, as before arranged. On the 16th General Campbell marched his force over to Staten Island, from the English Neighbor- hood. From the people of Essex and Bergen Counties they took four hundred cattle, four hundred sheep, and a few horses, but they had eight men killed, eighteen wounded. ten missing and five taken prisoners.
The most interesting episode in this portion of our history is the attempt to capture the fort at Paulus Hook by Major Henry Lee. This gallant and dashing officer, who had frequently been employed by Washington as a scout along the west bank of the Hudson, had dis- covered that the British fort at Paulus Hook, although a strong place. was negligently guarded, and he conceived the idea of its capture by a night march and a sudden surprise. By permission from Washington, Lee moved from his encampment at New Bridge about four o'clock in the afternoon of August 18, 1779, following what is known as the lower road which intersects the present Hackensack road, near the English Neighborhood church, having taken the precaution to send forward boats in charge of Captain Peyton, with instructions to have them at Dow's Ferry at a certain hour of the night. for the purpose of taking his troops over the Hackensack ; he also detached patrols of horse to watch the communications with North River, and posted Lord Stirling at New Bridge to cover his retreat, if necessary. The whole movement was conducted with such secrecy that they arrived at the fort without being discovered, notwithstanding the fact that, on account of the ignor- ance or the treachery of their guide, they were compelled to wander three hours in the woods between Union Hill and the fort. and the still more remarkable fact that they were in danger of encountering Colonel Van Bus-
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kirk, who had left the fort at Paulus Hook about the time that Major Lee started, with a force of one hundred and thirty men on a raid to the English Neighborhood. That these two forces, one of them at least straggling and floundering upon a misdirected course through the wil- derness and in the darkness of night, should entirely escape each other seems incredible. But such is the well-attested fact. Perhaps their getting lost and marching out of the direct course may have been the very means of their escape. Be this as it may, "Major Lee reached Prior's Mill at three o'clock on the morning of the 19th. The day was near at hand, and the tide that would fill the ditch and overflow the road between Warren and Grove Streets ( Jersey City) was rising. Not a moment was to be lost. They reached the ditch at the intersection of Newark Avenue and Warren Street at half-past three o'clock on Thurs- day morning. The guards were either asleep or took the approaching force to be Colonel Van Buskirk's men returning from their raid. They were not undeceived until the advance had plunged into the ditch. Im- mediately a firing began. The block-house guards ran out to see what was the matter, and were seized. The forlorn hope, supported by Major Clarke, broke through all opposition, and soon became masters of the main work, with the cannon, etc. So rapid were they in their move- ments that the fort was gained before a piece of artillery was fired. The troops came pouring through the abatis, and in a few minutes were victorious. Unfortunately, in crossing the ditch the ammunition was destroyed, and thus their firearms were useless. As soon as Major Sontherland, then in command of the fort, comprehended the situation. he threw himself into a small redoubt, with a captain, subaltern, and forty Hessians. Major Lee had no time to dislodge him or to remove or destroy property. Daylight was at hand, and he had some anxiety about the boats at Dow's Ferry. Besides this, the firing had aroused the British in New York, who could in a few minutes throw a large body of troops across the river. He therefore ordered an immediate re- treat, and sent Captain Forsyth to Prior's Mill to collect such men as were most fit for the action and take a position on Bergen Heights to cover the retreat. Major Clarke was in the advance with most of the pris- oners ; Lientenants Armstrong and Reed formed the rear-guard. Lee now rode forward to look after the boats at the ferry. To his dismay not a boat was there to receive them. Captain Peyton, owing to the lateness of the hour, had removed them to Newark. Lee immediately counter- marched his troops to the Bergen road en route for New Bridge, com- municated with Lord Stirling, and returned to the rear-guard at Prior's Mill. His prospects were now discouraging. With troops worn down. ammunition destroyed, encumbered with prisoners, fourteen miles of re- treat before him on a route liable to be intercepted by troops from New York, with no way of escape to the left, he could only depend upon the invincible courage of his men. On reaching the heights opposite . Wee- hock,' Captain Handy moved on the main road to facilitate the retreat. Here Captain Catlett came up with fifty men and good ammunition. One
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party was then detached in the rear of Major Clarke on the Bergen road, and one to move along the bank of the river. In this manner a sudden attack was prevented. At the Fort Lee road Colonel Ball, who had been forwarded to Lee's assistance, met him with two hundred fresh men. Shortly afterwards a body of the enemy appeared upon the right and opened fire on the retreating Americans. Lieutenant Reed immediately forced them, and Lieutenant Rudolph threw himself into a store-house which commanded the road. This disposition checked the enemy and gave the force time to cross the English Neighborhood creek at the Liberty pole, now Englewood. Just at that moment Major Southerland, who had followed Lee, came up, but halted, and finally fell back without venturing an attack. Major Lee arrived safely at New Bridge about one o'clock in the afternoon. He had captured one hundred and fifty- nine of the garrison, including officers, and lost two killed and three wounded."
The principal actors concerned in the affair were honored by con- gratulatory resolutions passed by Congress, September 24, 1779.
Congress also placed in the hands of Major Lee fifteen thousand dollars to be distributed among the soldiers engaged in the attack.
The massacre at Old Tappan occurred in 1778, the year of unpre- cedented suffering in the continental army at Valley Forge, the noted battle at Monmouth, and of the two other terrible massacres of Wyoming and of Cherry Valley.
The old block-house which stood on Block-House Point above Bull's Ferry was probably built by the Tories as a shelter while they were se- curing wood from the hill in that vicinity to supply the British in New York, during the years 1779-'80. This block-house was placed on the high point above the ravine which extended back of the river on the north side of Guttenberg. It was protected on two sides by perpendicu- lar rocks which rise from the shore and the ravine, and surrounded of the other sides by abatis and stockades, with a ditch and parapet. It had but one entrance, which was a covered way large enough to admit but one person at a time.
Under the Act passed December 26, 1778, an order was issued to raise eight hundred and twenty men to serve two years. One hundred and twenty men, the quota for Bergen County, were organized into two companies.
The first was under the following officers: John Outwater, Captain; Joseph Catterline, Lieutenant ; Abraham Hoagland, Ensign. The second company was under Captain Blanch : Lieutenant. David Demar- est ; and Ensign, Jacobus Boggart. On December 29th, 1871 another call was made for men to serve one year, when four hundred and twenty- two men were placed in command of Major Samuel Haves. The officers of the Bergen Company were Peter Ward, Captain : Joseph Catterline, Lieutenant ; Samuel Verbyke, Ensign.
Bergen County had one company of militia and four companies of minute men in the service. The minute men were enlisted for four
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HISTORY OF BERGEN COUNTY
months, and were always ready to go when called and had precedence of rank over the militia of the province. The companies from each county formed a battalion, ten in all.
In 1776 three companies from Bergen were joined in battalion with three from Essex and two from Burlington, under Col. Philip Van Cort- land, Lieutenant-Colonel David Brearley, and Major Richard Dey. The regular militia of Bergen County was organized in one regiment, as follows :
Teunis Dey, Colonel : John Zabriskie, Lieutenant-Colonel : Cornelius Van Voorst, Lieutenant-Colonel ; Peter Fell, Lieutenant-Colonel ; Rich- ard Der, Captain, First Major ; John Mauritius Goeschius, Captain, Second Major : George Ryerson, Adjutant ; Abraham Van Boskirk, Surgeon.
Captains .- Crynes Bartholf, Thomas Blanch, Joseph Board, James Christi, Samuel Demarest, Abraham Harring, Cornelius Harring, Abra- ham A. P. Harring, John Hopper, Jonathan Hopper. (murdered by Tories at New Barbadoes, Bergen County, April 21, 1799), Adam Huyler. John Huyler, ( twice a prisoner of war), Jacobns Jaraloman, Henricus Kuyper, David Marinus, Henry Obest ( wounded near Hackensack, March 17, 1780), John Outwater ( wounded March, 1780), Elias Romine, Jacob Terhune, Nicausa Terhune, David Van Bossum, Coriner Van Houten, John Vreeland, Peter Ward, John Willis.
Lieutenants. - Henry Bardan, Thomas Blair, David Duffe, William Denniston, David Doremus, John D. Haring, David Van Busse, Peter S. Van Order.
First Lieutenants .- Cornelius D. Blauvelt, George Brinkerhoff, Peter Sanford.
Second Lieutenants .-- Gilliam Bogart, John Uriancy.
Sergeants .- Anthony Beam, - Cooms, John F. Harring, Carpen- ter Kelly, James Riker, Benjamin Romine, John Hasbrook, Cornelius P. Westervelt, Epson Van Winkle, Albert Wilson.
Corporals, etc .---- Abram Vreeland ;, Abraham King, drummer ; Wil- liam Blair, drummer ; Garrett Post, farrier, "Lee's Legion," Continental Army ; Jacob Vanderpool, bombardier, Continental Army.
SCENE OF MAJOR ANDRE'S FATE.
The little village of Tappan, N. Y., although not a part of Bergen County, is nevertheless, incidentally connected with the Revolutionary part of it. The village is but a few rods over the State line, and is the place where Major Andre, the British spy met his fate October 2, 1780. an incident of the Revolution which will ever hold its own for interest with any engagement in that stirring struggle.
1n 1821 the remains of Major Andre were disinterred by order of the Duke of York and taken to Westminster Abbey, where they now rest. When Dean Stanley was in this country, in October. 1878, he and Mr. Cyrus W. Field, his host, visited the spot where Andre was executed and originally buried. The cedar trees which originally marked the spot had been dug up and removed with the remains in 1821, and two wild
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cherry trees planted in their place. A curious fact in this connection is that a peach-tree which had sprung up on the grave was found to have wrapped its roots around Major Andre's skull.
WASHINGTON AT HACKENSACK.
The following account of Washington's march and brief sojourn at Hackensack was written by Rev. Theodore B. Roneyn, and is as follows:
"Washington, at the head of his army, consisting only of about 3000 men, having sent on his baggage to Acquackenouch, crossed the new bridge into the town. This crossing was made at a point now called · Old Bridge,' about four miles north of Hackensack village. It was about dusk when the head of the troops entered Hackensack. The night was dark, cold and rainy, but I had a fair view of them from the light of the windows as they passed on our side of the street. They marched two abreast, looked ragged, some without a shoe to their feet, and most of them wrapped up in their blankets. Washington then, and for some time previous, had his headquarters at the residence of Mr. Peter Zabris- kie, a private house, now called 'The Mansion House,' the supplies for the General's table being furnished by Mr. Archibald Campbell, the tavern-keeper. The next evening after the Americans had passed through. the British encamped on the opposite side of the river. We could see their fires about one hundred yards apart gleaming brilliantly in the gloom of the night, extending some distance below the town, and more than a mile up toward the New Bridge. Washington was still at his quarters, and had with him his suite, life-guard, a company of foot. a regiment of cavalry, and some soldiers from the rear of the army.
" In the morning before the General left, he rode down to the dock where the bridge now is, viewed the enemy's encampment about ten or fifteen minutes, and then returned to Mr. Campbell's door and called for some wine and water. After he had drank and Mr. Campbell had taken the glass from him, the latter, with tears streaming down his face, said, · General, what shall I do? I have a family of small children and a little property here ; shall I leave them?' Washington kindly took his hand and replied, . Mr. Campbell, stay by your family and keep neutral' then bidding him good-bye, rode off.
"About noon the next day the British took possession of the town, and in the afternoon the Green was covered with Hessians, a horrible sighit to the inhabitants. There were between 3000 and 4000, with their whiskers, brass caps and kettles, or brass drums. A part of these troops were taken prisoners two months after at Trenton.
A PICTURE OF THE PATRIOTS.
" They marched two abreast, looked ragged, some without a shoe to their feet, and most of them wrapped up in their blankets." What a picture these words suggest of the condition of that struggling band of patriots as they marched through our streets that cold and rainy night."
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TORY AND BRITISH RAIDS.
The accounts of these raids, transcribed below, are taken from The State Historical Collections : also quoted by F. B. Romeyn.
VAN BUSKIRK'S RAID.
"Northward from Hackensack a few miles some of the most serious depredations were made. Among these was a Tory raid of a hundred men, led by Colonel Van Buskirk, who on the 10th of May, 1779, entered by way of Closter, and carried off a number of inhabitants; firing build- ings, as well as destroying life. Another detachment swept desolation on the 17th, and not a house of a Whig escaped. In the first of these raids Cornelius Tallman, Samuel Demarest, Jacob Cole. George Bus- kirk, were captured. Cornelius Demarest was killed, and Henderick Demarest, Jeremiah Westervelt and Dow Westervelt were wounded. The buildings of Peter Demarest, Matthew Bogert, Cornelius Hyler and Samuel Demarest were burned. In the latter Abram Allen and George Campbell were murdered. Jacob Zabriskie was stabbed in fifteen places. and two negro women were shot down."
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