USA > New Jersey > Union County > Elizabeth > History of Elizabeth, New Jersey : including the early history of Union County > Part 39
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The number of men that are now in the service here loudly call for more ample supplies of almost every necessary (except provisions), than
* Pa Eve. Post, No. 243. Pa. Journal, No. 1758. + Am. Archives, 4th Ser., VI. 1272.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
can be obtained here, such as ammunition, flints, arms, and indeed stores of every kind, an attention to which I cannot give in the manner I could choose in the present exigency .*
The following incidents, taken from letters written, in the Camp at Elizabeth Town, show that the troops were kept continually on the alert :-
Last Wednesday noon [10th] a soldier belonging to one of the regiments on Staten Island, being in liquor, and having wandered from his compan- ions, got upon the meadows near Elizabeth Town Point, which being ob- served by Col. Smith, who had the command that day at the Point, he sent over a party of men who took him prisoner.
Yesterday nine of our Riflemen crossed the river [Sound] in order to harass some Regulars who were throwing up a kind of breastwork on a bridge for their enemies, who kept firing on our men for some time, with- out doing any execution, till one of the brave fellows went within a few yards of the enemy, and desired them to surrender. At that instant he received a ball through his head, which killed him on the spot. The Col- onel sent over a flag of truce to the commanding officer on the Island, de- siring leave to bring off his man, which the officer very politely agreed to and let him take man, rifle and all his accoutrements.t
A few days before this, Gen. Mercer had come on here from Amboy, in order to surprise the enemy on Staten Isl- and. He planned an invasion for the night of the 18th, pur- posing to cross the Sound from the mouth of Thompson's Creek, a little below the Point, to the Blazing Star. Maj. Knowlton was to head the Continental troops. The first di- vision marched to the Creek by 9 o'clock in the evening. The Pennsylvania troops, attached to the Flying Camp, were to follow ; in all about 1300 men. But the Pennsylvanians had marched that day from New Brunswick, and were com- pletely exhausted on their arrival. A tremendous thunder- storm, also, came on, making it impracticable to cross the Sound, and the expedition was reluctantly abandoned. +
Abraham Clark, in the letter to Col. Dayton, Aug. 6th, referred to above, in giving him local information, says, of the militia,-
* Sparks' Washington, III. 463, S. Irving's Washington, II. 234. Sedgwick's Livingston, p. 198. t Pa. Journal, No. 1754. Am. Archives, 5th Ser., I. 575.
# Am. Archives, 5th Ser., I. 470. Marshall's Washington, II. 424. Sparks' Washington IV. 20.
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They form a chain from Elizabeth Town Point, where strong works, are erected at an amazing expense of labour, chiefly effected by our Mili- tia before the Pennsylvanians arrived to their assistance. (He adds), Elizabeth Town was in great consternation upon General Howe's taking possession of the Island ; but at present I believe they are very easy. I formerly informed you that Mrs. Dayton had sent the chief of her goods into Springfield. Many that moved away from Elizabeth Town have since returned.
Our election for Council and Assembly, Sheriffs, &c., comes on next Tuesday in all the Counties of New Jersey. I now feel the want of you in Elizabeth Town. I sat down to consider to whom I might venture to write on politicks, and have none that I dare speak plainly to. Had you, or my much esteemed friend Mr. Caldwell, been there, I should have been at no loss. I have none like-minded. I have friends, it is true, but none there now that I dare speak with freedom to .*
The war, brought thus to their very doors, had wrought a great change in the society of the town. A large number of the best men of the place had taken up arms, either in the militia, or in the service of Congress, and so were of uncer- tain residence. Intercourse between families had become much more reserved, as no one knew at what time he might be betrayed to the one or the other party, nor which party might presently be in the ascendant. With the vast host of disciplined troops on Staten Island, the very flower of the British army, and daily increasing in numbers by the arrival of reinforcements, the tories had great reason to expect to be shortly restored to their homes and estates, and in turn to vex and dispossess their patriot neighbors. It is not strange that Clark wrote as he did.
Mr. Irving, however, has (undesignedly, no doubt), done injustice to the town, by inserting, at this point of time, what Gov. Livingston humorously wrote, Feb. 19, 1784, more than seven years later, of " his own village of Elizabethtown, as being peopled in those agitated times by ' unknown, unrecom- mended strangers, guilty-looking tories and very knavish whigs.'" Seven years of war on the frontiers would, of course, occasion great revolutions and convulsions in the so- cial fabric of such a locality.t
* Am. Archives, 5th Ser., I. 785. Mr. Caldwell, his pastor, had, about the Ist of May, ac- companied Col. Dayton to the North, as Chaplain of his regiment.
t Irving's Washington, II. 255. Sedgwick's Livingston, p. 246.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
Notwithstanding the failure of Gen. Mercer's attempt to invade the Island on the 18th of July, Washington wrote, on the 27th, that he was hoping still to " make some efforts to annoy them " from this direction. But, on the 29th, he in- forms Congress that,-
By the advice of General Mercer and other officers at Amboy, it will be impracticable to do any thing upon a large scale, for want of craft, as the enemy have the entire command of the water all round the island. I have desired General Mercer to have nine or ten flat-bottomed boats built at Newark Bay and Elizabeth Town, with a design principally to keep up the communication across Hackinsac and Passaic Rivers.
The plan alluded to contemplated an attack from the Point, with a force of three thousand nine hundred men, but boats could not be procured to transport half that number across the Sound ; and so it was abandoned .*
The militia from Pennsylvania, attached to the Flying Camp, and stationed at the Point and its vicinity, soon be- came so disaffected with the service, that " many were daily returning home without orders," adding greatly to the gathering gloom that was settling over the town. It became necessary for Washington to make, Aug. 8th, an earnest appeal to their patriotism, in order to arrest the move- ment, representing to them " that the fate of our country depends, in all human probability, on the exertion of a few weeks." +
The first battalion of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Rifle Battalions were, at this time, stationed in the town and at the Point. A writer at New York, Aug. 26th, says, " Our people at Elizabeth-Town and the enemy on Staten Island, cannonaded each other yesterday afternoon [Sunday], with- ont doing any damage except disturbing the congregation."#
The foreign mercenaries from Waldeck, Hesse Cassel, and Brunswick were now arriving by thousands, their numbers being greatly exaggerated in the reports that were alarm- ingly spread over the country. Gov. Tryon wrote from Sta- ten Island, Aug. 14th, to Lord Germain,-
The whole armament destined for this part of America, except the
* Sparks' Washington, IV. 19-20. t Ibid., pp. 37-S. $ Pa. Journal, Nos. 1755, 1700.
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last division of the Hessians, being now assembled here, I expect, by the courage and strength of this noble Army, tyranny will be crushed and legal government restored. (15th Aug.) Yesterday evening Sr Peter Par- ker brought into the Hook a Fleet of Twenty five Sail from the South- ward .*
These last were the forces that had been ineffectually em- ployed against Charleston, S. C. They numbered three thousand troops, and were under the command of Lord Cornwallis.+
On the 21st, Gen. Livingston wrote to Gen. Washington, that the enemy were in motion ; that he had sent over a spy the night before, who had returned in safety, and reported, that 20,000 men had embarked, to make a descent on Long Island, and ascend the Hudson ; that 15,000 Hessians were to make, at the same time, a diversion at Bergen Point, Elizabeth Town, and Amboy. Owing to a terrific thunder- storm that came up the same evening, the movement was postponed to Thursday morning, 22d, when 9000 British sol- diers under Sir Henry Clinton effected a landing at Graves- end, L. I., without opposition. Others followed subsequently, and the disastrous battle of Long Island was fought at and near Flatbush, on the 27th, compelling the American army to evacuate the Island on the night of the 29th.}
At this date, and before the real nature of the disaster to the army was fully known to him, Livingston wrote to Wm. Hooper of N. C., in Congress, from the " Camp at Elizabeth Town Point," as follows :-
I removed my quarters from the town hither to be with the men, and to enure them to discipline, which by my distance from the camp before, considering what scurvy subaltern officers we are ever like to have while they are in the appointment of the mobility, I found it impossible to introduce. And the worst men (was there a degree above the super- lative) would be still pejorated, by having been fellow-soldiers with that discipline-hating, goodliving-loving, 'to eternal fame damn'd,' coxcombi- cal crew we lately had here from Philadelphia. My ancient corporeal fabric is almost tottering under the fatigue I have lately undergone : constantly rising at 2 o'clock in the morning to examine our lines,-till daybreak, and from that time till eleven in giving orders, sending de-
* N. Y. Col. Docmts., VIII. 684. t Irving's Washington, II. 298-9. , Irving's Washington, II. 310-335. Pa. Journal, Aug. 28.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
spatches, and doing the proper business of quarter-masters, colonels, com- missaries, and I know not what .*
Two days afterwards, Aug. 31st., Gen. Livingston was chosen the first Governor of the State of New Jersey. Pre- sently after, he resigned his military command, and entered upon his executive duties. The command of this post de- volved upon his friend and townsman, Col. Matthias William- son, who received, a few days after, from the Legislature, a commission appointing him Brigadier-General of the New Jersey Militia. In a letter to the Governor, Sept. 15th, he gratefully acknowledges the honor, promises that, as far as his small abilities enable him, he will execute the trust com- mitted to his care with the utmost fidelity, and represents the importance of longer terms of militia service and prompt pay, or " the important posts at the ferries of this Town will in a great measure be abandoned by our militia." He finds, also, that the ammunition magazines in this town are very deficient. A ton of powder was sent, in response to this communication.+
At the same time, John De Hart, Esq., of this town re- ceived the appointment of Chief Justice of the State, and, on the 16th gratefully acknowledged the " great honor " con- ferred him, expressed the wish that his "abilities were equal to that high and important office," and declared, that " such as they are they shall be exerted to discharge with dignity and uprightness the very great trust reposed in" him. At the meeting of the Legislature in January following, the Governor stated, that De Hart had refused to qualify as Chief Justice, notwithstanding his letter of acceptance, and Robert Morris was appointed in his stead.+
On Tuesday, Sept. 24th, four transports . arrived at this town, with 420 American soldiers, taken prisoners at Quebec, the previous winter. They had been liberated on parole. From a representation made by Gov. Livingston to Congress, it appears, that while he was in command of this post, so
* Sedgwick's Livingston, pp. 199, 200.
t Am. Archives, 5th Ser., II. 366, 1362. N. J. Rev. Correspondence p. 9.
: # Ibid., p. 11. Mulford's N. J., p. 433.
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many prisoners were sent to him from the army, that the town gaol could not contain them, and he was obliged to send them to Millstone, Somerset Co. In all its dire aspects, the people of the town were brought to know by experience the intense excitements and the awful horrors of war. In the hospitals here, 82 were reported, Nov. 1st, as sick; of whom 25 were from Canada .*
The disastrous campaign on Long Island was followed by the abandonment, on the part of the American army, of the city of New York, on Sunday, Sept. 15th, and its occupation by the British. A large portion of its inhabitants fled into the interior, and many of them into New Jersey, while the tories of this section, many of them, made their way as speedily as possible to the captured city. More and more it was becoming doubtful, whether the whigs, or tories, would prevail. It was in this gloomy period of apprehension that the following letter was written by the Hon. Robert Ogden, of this town, to his son-in-law, Maj. Francis Barber, in service with Col. Dayton, at German Flats, N. Y. :-
Elizth Town, Oct. 6, 1776, Sunday Eves 8 o'clock.
My dear Son, Mr. Barber,
Through divine good our family are all in the land of the living, and we still continue in the old habitation, [on the Point Road] though almost surrounded by the regulars. They have long been on Staten Island, about a month on Long Island, three weeks had the possession of New York, which by the way is, nearly one-fifth of the city burnt to the ground ; who set it on fire is unknown, but the regulars charge it to the Whigs, and 'tis said have put several to death on that account, whether just or unjust the great day will decide.
He then gives some account of the battle of Long Island, and the battle near the Blue Bell ; says that he has been sick, and adds :
Through divine goodness the fever has now left me, but in a continual hurry, having much more business than a man of my years ought to do, but don't at present, know how to avoid it.
In the beginning of my letter I told you we were almost surrounded- began at Staten Island, and led you round by Long Island, New York,
" Am. Archives, 5th Ser., II., 588, 597, 853.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
and Blue Bell. But now come to a very serious part of the story-Our troops yesterday evacuated Bergen-carried off the stores and artillery, moved off as many of the inhabitants as they could get away, drew the wheat and other grain together, and 50 men were left to set fire to it, and last night it was set on fire, the flames were seen here.
Your Mother * still seems undetermined whether to stay here by the stuff, or remove up to Sussex. A few days will determine her, but perhaps in a few days it may be too late to determine a matter of this importance. Your unele David [Ogden] and Mother's maxim is "they that live by faith won't die with fear." It has been a sickly, dying time in this Town for a month past. Stephen Crane has lost his wife [Aug. 17, 1776], Daniel Williams his, John Harris his, Benjamin Winans his Timothy Woodruff his, Sister Ogden, Hannah Ogden [wife of David] has lost her son Samuel, Mrs. Stubbs is dead, Mr. Noel, t and last night. Col. Dayton's father [Jonathan] died suddenly in his chair, besides a great many children. Also Aunt Betty Mother Hetfield has been very sick but is recovered. Robert is and has been very poorly this fall and a great
to his wife and children are moved up to Morris Town, and most of our gentry are gone off. Matthias' wife [Hannah, daughter of Col. Elias Dayton] and her granny Thompson are moved up to Springfield. Friends in general well. Hannah [his daughter, æt. 15,] has been sick but is got well and is grown considerable this summer, lives at Doct. Caleb Haly- stead's [his brother-in-law] with her aunt [Mary, wife of Job] Stockton.
Your Mother has been lying for a month past-the old sore ankle- but the sore is now healed up. Major Morris Hatfield was taken prisoner on Mountrisse's [Montresor's] Island, and is sent down to New York to be cured of his wound as he was shot through the cheek.
It is said Major Hatfield fought valiantly, that he fired his musket 9 times, and the last account of him by our men was, a grenadier was coming up to him with bayonet fixed to run him through, and they saw the Major fire, and the grenadier drop at his feet ! I have now done with my story for this time, having wrote as I generally tell my stories, in a blundering, unconnected way. However I you would receive this. Your Mother joins me in tenderest affectionate regards to you, and all the family desire to be remembered to you and to all friends.
I am yours affectionately Robert Ogden.
The battle of White Plains was fought on the 28th of Oc- tober ; Fort Washington was taken on the 16th of November; and Fort Lee evacuated on the 18th. The campaign was now transferred to the soil of New Jersey. Washington, with the fragment of an army, reduced by the expiration of
* Phebe, eldest daughter of Matthias Hatfield, Esq.
t Garret Noel, previously bookseller, N. Y .; he died, Sep. 22d.
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militia enlistments, and the consequent scattering of his forces to their homes, and utterly unable to obtain new recruits or levies, was compelled to retire before the vastly superior troops of the enemy. A slight diversion had been made by Gen. Williamson, from the Point, on Staten Island, Sunday, *Oct. 13th ; but it amounted to nothing. The very next day, Col. Slough's Battalion of Pennsylvania Associators, which had been stationed here, was discharged to return home, with the thanks of the General for their decent and orderly be- havior while at the Point, and during the excursion of the day before. Thus, in every quarter, the patriot army was melting away .*
In anticipation of the invasion of New Jersey by the enemy, Gen. Washington wrote from White Plains, Nov. 7th, to Gov. Livingston, urging the importance of placing the Jersey mili- tia on the very best footing, and to forward him new re- cruits. He then adds :-
The inhabitants contiguous to the water, should be prepared to remove their stock, grain, effects, and carriages upon the earliest notice. If they are not so, the calamities, which they will suffer, will be beyond all de- scription, and the advantages derived by the enemy immensely great. They have treated all here without discrimination ; the distinction of Whig and Tory has been lost in one general scene of ravage and desola- tion. The article of forage is of great importance to them, and not a blade should remain for their use. What cannot be removed with convenience should be consumed without the least hesitation.
He urges, also, that the barracks here, at Amboy, and at Brunswick, be put in order "to cover our troops." He in- forms Congress, Nov. 14th, that the army has left the other side of Hudson's River, and that he intends to quarter them at Brunswick, Amboy, Elizabeth Town, Newark, and Hacken- sack. Fort Washington had not then been taken.+
Gen. Williamson at once wrote, Nov. 26, (on hearing of the capture of Forts Washington and Lee), to the brave and patriotic Col. Jacob Ford, Jr., of Morris Town, in the most urgent terms :--
* Pennsylvania Journal, No. 1769.
+ Sparks' Washington, IV. pp. 163, 4, 174.
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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY.
You are ordered to bring out all the Militia in your County immediately, and march them down to Elizabeth Town, and see that each man is fur- nished with a gun, and all his accoutrements, blanket, and four days' provision, and when they arrive to join their respective companies and regiments .*
Washington had fallen back upon " Aquackanonck," on the right bank of the Passaic River, Nov. 21st, and, the next day, fell down to Newark, where he remained unmolested for six days. The interval was improved by the people of Newark and Elizabeth Town, in removing their families and effects beyond the Newark Mountains and the Short Hills, into the more inaccessible interior. The distress and conster- nation that prevailed all along the expected route of the two armies can better be conceived than described. It is not known that a record of it remains. On Thursday morning, Nov. 28th, Washington, with the wreck of his army, not more than 3500 in number, entered the almost deserted town by the old road from Newark, the advanced guard of Lord Cornwallis entering the latter town as the rear of the Amer- ican army left it. Pushing on to secure an encampment on the right bank of the Raritan, so as to be ready to oppose any troops that might be sent by way of Staten Island to Amboy for cutting off his retreat, he reached New Brunswick on Friday ; remaining there but two days, and then, on Sunday, December 1st, he took up the line of March for Trenton, ar- riving there on Monday morning. Writing from Brunswick, on Saturday, the 30th, he says,
From intelligence received this morning, one division of the enemy was advanced last night as far as Elizabeth Town, and some of their quar- termasters had proceeded about four or five miles on this side, to provido barns for their accommodation. Other accounts say another division, composed of Hessians, are on the road through Springfield, and are re- ported to have reached that place last night. t
Col. Huntington writes, Dec. 2d, from Ramapo to Col. HIcath, that not more than a hundred of the enemy remained at Hackensack, and that their main body was at Elizabeth
* Am. Archives, 5th Ser., III. 1121
t Sparks' Washington, IV. 189, 190, 3-5, 200.
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Town. A field officer in the British army, on the same day, wrote to a friend in London,-
The troops under General Lord Cornwallis, after driving the Rebels from Fort Lee, or Fort Constitution, in New Jersey, proceeded from Hack- ensack to Newark, and from Newark to Elizabeth Town, where they found great quantities of stores amongst which are twenty tons of musket bullets. The Rebels continue flying before our army. *
On the approach of the enemy, Gen. Williamson, with the militia under his command, retired up the country. Writing from Brunswick, on the 1st, to Gov. Livingston, Washington says, ----
I have not, including General Williamson's militia, more than four thousand men. I wrote to General Williamson last night, and pressed him to exert himself ; but, I have reason to believe, he has not the confi- dence of the people so much as could be wished.
Gen. Williamson writes from Morris Town, December 8th, in defence of his apparent inefficiency, as follows :-
Very few of the Counties of Essex and Bergen joined my command. (I) have it from good intelligence that many who bore the character of warm Whigs have been foremost in seeking protection from General Howe and forsaking the American Cause. Colonel Thomas of Essex County is with us, but has no command of men. ... I can declare before God, I have worried myself to the heart in endeavouring to serve my country to the extent of my power. General Mercer is knowing to many difficulties I laboured under to keep the Militia together while he had the command at Elizabeth Town. Upon the whole, I am so entirely disabled from doing my duty in the brigade, by my lameness that I have wrote to Governor Livingston to request his acceptance of my resignation. t
The difficulties with which he had to contend were not ex- aggerated. The most disheartening was the defection of so many professed patriots. Washington wrote, on the 5th, to Congress,
By my last advices, the enemy are still at Brunswic; and the account adds, that General Howe was expected at Elizabeth Town with a rein- forcement, to erect the King's standard, and demand a submission of this State.
The next day, 6th, he writes,-
* Am. Archives, 5th Ser., III. 1037, 9. t Ibid., p. 1120.
ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY. 4-49
By a letter of the 14th ultimo from a Mr. Caldwell, a clergyman, and a staunch friend to the cause, who has fled from Elizabeth Town, and taken refuge in the mountains about ten miles from hence [thence ?] I am informed that General or Lord Howe was expected in that town to publish pardon and peace. His words are, " I have not seen his procla- mation, but can only say he gives sixty days of grace, and pardons from the Congress down to the Committee. No one man in the continent is to be denied his mercy." In the language of this good man, "The Lord deliver us from his mercy." *
The proclamation by the brothers Howe was issued, on Saturday, Nov. 30th, the day after the British occupation of this town. It commanded all persons, who had taken up arms against his Majesty, to disband and return home; and offered to all who should, within sixty days, subscribe a decla- ration, that they would be peaceable subjects, neither taking up arms themselves, nor encouraging others so to do, a free and full pardon for the past. Care was taken to give every possible publicity to this document, and means, not always the most gentle, were used to induce subscriptions. +
The people had witnessed, but a day or two before, to what a sad plight the army of Washington-" the grand army," that so recently confronted the British forces,-was reduced, as in tattered array it fled before the enemy to the Raritan. They were, at that moment, surrounded by the well-caparisoned troops of Cornwallis, whose squadrons were spreading themselves over the whole land, and, unresisted, occupying every town and hamlet. The patriot cause ap- peared to be utterly hopeless. It seemed impossible for Con- gress to retrieve the disasters that, since the fatal field of Flatbush, had come upon the country. The " Declaration of Independence " seemed now but an idle boast. It was re- garded as certain, that the authority of King George would soon be reestablished in all the States. Such was the confi- dent expectation and boast of the Loyalists at New York, on 'Long Island, on Staten Island, and in every place occupied by the British troops. Even the most sanguine of patriots spake and wrote in the most despondent terms. +
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