History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 11

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 11
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 11

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This monument is erected to the memory of Joseph Hallen, Exp. who departed this life the 27th of September, 1750. in the aznd year of his #xe. He was a firm friend to his country In the darkest times. Zenslous for American Liberty In opposition to British Tyranny And at last fell a victim To British ('rurlts.

It is proper here to state, that the account given of Judge Hedden's martyrdom, widely different as it is from all versions heretofore published, is related on the authority of the martyr's grand-niece and nephew, with whom the author had personal interviews. It may be added, that Simon Hedden, Joseph's brother, was a man of great strength and ignorant of fear. Ile served three months in what was called "the whale boat service." In an obituary notice of the father of the Heddens, Joseph, senior, the Continel of Freedom said, in November, 1798: "This venerable citizen (he was ninety-six years of age when he died) has from

his youth sustained the character of an honest and upright man, and was much lamented by those who were acquainted with him. He had thirteen children, one hundred and seventy-six grandchildren, one hun - dred and six great-grandchildren, and three great- great-grandchildren."

It is a no less curious than amusing fact that this "father of a host," immediately upon rising every morning, and before dressing, took a generous draught of pure Jersey distilled liquor.

The royal version of the incursions described ap- peared a few days afterwards, in Rivington & Royal Gazette, published in New York. January 29th, and ran as follows :

On Tuesday night the 25th Instant, the rebel press at Elizabethtown were rumpletely surprised and carried off by different detachniente of the King's tropis.

Lient, Lol. Baskirk's detachment-consisting of about I20 men from the Ist and Ath battalion- of Brigadier General Skinner's brigade, with 12 dragootis under command of Lieutenant Stuart-moved from Stuten Island early in the night, and got into Elizabethtown without being dis- covered between the hours of 10 and 11. With little resistance they made prisoners . 2 majors, 3 captains and 47 privates, among whom were 5 dragoons, with their horses, arne and accontrements. Few of the relle were killed, but several were wounded by the dragons, though they afterwards for igual.

Major Luiom, of the 41th Regiment, marched from Powles look ale ut & at night, having under his command the flank companies of that regiment, with detachinents from the 42nd Anspach and Howinn corte In garrison in this pity, and moving the rebel pestrols on the banks of the Passaic, reached the town of Newark unperceived by the enemy, about an hour later than ('ol. Burkirk's anival at Elizabethtown. Simall partire were instantly posted to guard the principal avenues to the town, and Major Lumm sized prevention of the Academy which the rebels lind converted into a larrack. A momentary defence being attempted oven ur eight of the enemy were killed. The remainpler, consisting of 34 non- commissioned officer- and private men, were taken prismen as were likewise & roll magistrate remarkable for his porerating spirit, and another inhabitant. The l'aplain whe commanded in Newark borde hin

The services were performed without los. The following are the names of some of the rebel officers brought to town on Tuesday last, from Newark : Joseph Haddon, a magistrate and commissioner for the loyalists estates in New Jersey : Mr. Redert Natt, an acting comminary. From Ehzabethtown : Maj. Freles, of the 5th Maryland regiment ; C'ul. Bett, of the 4th Regiment, from Prince George to. ; Mr. B. Smith, son of Penrtise Smith : Maj. WilHamsou and his brother.

With regard to the Academy above referred to, it may he remarked that after the ruins had for years served up-town urchindom as a pleasure place. the stones were removed and used in the erection of a dwelling which now presents a fashionable front on Washington place, a few houses west of Broad street, and nearly opposite the site of the oldl Academy.

The operations of the Lumm and Buskirk com- mands appear to have been simply of a piece with the practices which had been carried on for years by the officers and soldiers in the service of King George. Writing from Newark, on the 12th of March, H77, a few months after the battle of Princeton, a highly respected citizen gave the following report of the Ineal situation to Rev. William Gordon, the Congre- gationalist minister at Roxbury, Massachusetts :

" The ravages committed by the British tyrant's troupe in these parts of the country are beyond description. Their font to je are marked with desolution and ruin of every kind. The murdera, rosichments, robbery,

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

and insults they were guilty of are dreadful. When ! returned to the town, it looked more like a scene of ruin than a pleasant, well-cultivated village. One Thomas Hayes, as peaceably and inoffensive n man as 18 in this State, was unprovokingly murderel by one of their negroes, who rau him through the body with his sword. He also cut and slashed his flaxes Taged unche in the same house, in such a mann i that he has not vet recovered from his wounds. Three women of the town were barely ravished by them, and one of them was a w man of nenr seventy years of age. Various other were avaulted by the, who happily escaped their load purposes Yes, not only the common soldiers, but others went about the town by night. in gangs, and forcibly entered into houses, openly inquiring for women. As to plundering, whigs andl tories were treated with a pretty equal hand, and those only escaped who were happy enough to proente a sentinel to in placed as a guard at their door. There was one Captain Nuttman, who had always been a remarkalde tory, and who met the British troops in the Broad street with huzzas of joy. He had his house robbed of almost everything. His very shoes were taken off his feet, and they threatened hard to hang him. It was diligently circulated by the Tories, before the enemy came, that all those who carried in their houses would not be plundered, which induced time to stay, who otherwise would have saved many of their effects by removing them. But nothing was a greater falsehood than this, as the event proved, for none were more robbed than those that tarried at how we with their families.

"Justier John Ogden, whom you know had his house robbed of every thing they could curry away. They ripped open his beds, scattered the feathers in the air, and took the ticks with them ; broke his desk to pieces, and destroyed a great number of important papers, deeds, wills, etc., belonging to hinself and others ; and the more lue entreated them to desist from such unprofitable and pernicious waste, the more ont- rageons they were. They hanled n sick son of his out of his bed, whose life had been despaired of some time, and growly abused him, threaten- ing him with death in a variety of forms. The next neighbor to Mr. Uglen was one Benjamin d'oe, a very aged man, who, with his wife, was at home. They plundered and destroyed everything in the house. and insulted them with such rage that the old people ted for fear of their lives; and then, to show the fulness of their diabolical fury, they burnt their house to ashes. Zophar Beach, Josiah Beach, Fumnel Pen- nington, and others, who had large families were all at home, they roblael iu so egregious a manner, that they were scarcely left a rag of clothing, save what was on their backs. The mischief committed in the house foraken by their inhabitants, the destruction of fences, barns, stables, the breaking of chests of drawers, desks, tables, and other furni- ture ; the burning and carrying away of carpenters' and shoemakers' tools cannot lw. descrilund.

"With respect to those who took protection and their oath, some of these they robbed and plundered afterward : but the most general way in which they obtained the effects of such prople, was by bargaining with them for their hay, cattle, or corn, promising them pay, but none what- ever received anything worth mentioning. I might have observed that it was not only the common soldiers who plundered and stole, but also their officers ; ail not merely low officers and subalterna but sonte of high rank were abutton and reaped the profits of their gallows deserving business. No lose a person than General Erskine Knight, had his room furnished from a neighboring house with mahogany chairs and tables; a consideralde part of which were taken away with his baggage when he went to Elizabethtown. Col. W'Donald has his houw furnished in the san felonious manner, and the furniture was carried off as though it had been part of his baggage. But there is no end of their inhuman combuet. They have not only proved themselves cruel enemies, but per- Bons destitute of all honor ; And there is no hope of relief but by expel- ling these murderers, r Abers und thieves front our country."

At this distance of time it requires considerable confidence and assurance to enter upon the hazard- ous duty of taking issue with any of the stat ments of Mr. Gordon's Newark correspondent. It would appear, however, that he erred somewhat as regards " one Captain Nuttman." Descendants of the C'ap- tain, who care more for truth than they do even for the historical memory of their ancestors, and who, singularly enough, are descendants also of the martyr- patriot Hedden, furnish statements which materially alter the status of the Captain in the above quotation.

According to these statements, Captain Nuttman was quite advanced in years, at the time of the Revolu- tion, and, though having held a captain's commis- sion in the Provincial militia, was altogether a very inoffensive man. His sympathies were doubtless with the British, but it is not believed that he was at all demonstrative. It is quite true that he and his family were plundered one night by the British, and another night by ghouls wearing the garb of patriots- illustrators of Dr. Johnson's definition of patriotism -the last refuge of scoundrels. Once they de- spoiled Captain Nuttman even of his silver shoe- buckles, and his wife of similar buckles and the gold rings on her fingers. The fact that his home was sit- uated in the midst of a beautifully cultivated property ou the banks of the Passaic, about where the Zine Works are now located-the house is still standing- would seem to throw considerable doubt on the state- ment that he " met the British troops in the Broad street with huzzas of joy." As shown by the Council of Safety records, (July 2nd, 1777,) Captain Nuttman was among those of Essex who refused to take the "oaths of Abjuration and Allegiance agrecably to Law," and was removed to the Morristown jail. He is not named in the proceedings of July 21st, 1777, among those whose petition to be removed back to Newark was granted by the Council. This is explain- ed by descendants, who state that Captain Nuttman was liberated by express order of General Washing- ton, probably because of the captain's age and inof- fensiveness. A chair of the Mayflower pattern, be- longing to the captain, is among the memorials at Washington's home and resting place, Mount Vernon, a gift from a grand-daughter of "the remarkable tory," now residing in Newark. This chair, like another belonging to the Camp family, is said to have been used by Washington on one occasion, but where, when, or under what circumstances, are matters about which even the donor of the memorial is uninformed.

Newark, as it is now bounded, does not share that hało of Revolutionary battle-field glory and renown which distinguishes other parts of New Jersey ; but Newark as it was bounded at the time of the great struggle for independence, furnished a part, at least, of one of the most heroically fought minor fields of the Revolution-the battle of Springfield. Up to 1793 the village of Springfield, as now embraced geo- graphically, was partly in Newark and partly in Elizabethtown, yet all in Essex County at that time. The winter of 1779 and '80, as already remarked, was one of great severity in this section of country. The rivers and streams were mostly frozen solid, and snow covered the ground to the depth of several feet. Hence desultory movements of both British and American troops were seriously interfered with. Upon the opening of spring, however, a decided change took place in military operations, Washing- ton's army lay rueamped at Morristown. On the first of June, 1750, his whole command numbered three

ESSEX COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

thousand seven hundred and sixty men. lle had just received intelligence of the fall of Charleston, under General Lincoln, before the combined forces of the British naval and military commanders, Admiral Arbuthnot and Sir Henry Clinton. Such was the condition of affairs in New Jersey, that refugees in- sisted that the people, weary of the terrible ravages of war, and of the compulsory requisition of supplies, were eager to return to their old British yoke. The royalist generals wrote to England that so great was the disaffection among the starved and half-clothed American officers and men, that one-half of them were ready to desert to the English, and the other half ready to disperse. The moment for replanting the British standard in the JJerseys was considered opportune. As events proved, nothing was more fal- lacious; a serious, quiet and undemonstrative atti- tude was mistaken then, as oftentimes before and since, as a popular willingness to sacrifice the dearest principle of life, human liberty. But the movement to replant proceeded, and under the leadership of a Lieutenant General, the Baron Knyphausen, the Hessian commander.

At Connecticut Farms was stationed the Jersey brigade, under General Maxwell, and at Elizabeth- town were three hundred more Jersey militia. On June Gth, Knyphansen's troops, numbering about 5,000, moved from Staten Island to Elizabethtown, the intent being to surprise Maxwell's forec, and, this succeeding, to push on to Morristown and attack Washington's camp there. His advance guard met a very warm reception from the Jerseymen under command of Colonel Dayton. By his greatly superior force Knyphausen compelled Dayton to retreat. The latter was joined by the people, who spiritedly flew to arms, and was enabled to seriously harass Knyp- hausen's troops on their march to the Farmis. The British came provided with seven days' provisions and ample war materiel. Upon reaching Connectiont Farms, the smiling village was reduced to ashes, the church being given to the torch, likewise every dwel- ling in the place except one. The houses had previ- ously been riffed and plundered, after the manner already described. Nor did the fiendish spirit of the hireling soldiery stop there. Hannah L'aldwell, the lovely daughter of Justice John Ogden, of Newark, and the amiable and beloved wife of Rev. James Caldwell, sat in her room at the parsonage, whither she had some months before removed for greater safety, from Elizabethtown. With her were her chil- dren, one a nursling in her arms. The maid apprised Mrs. Caldwell of the approach of a red-cont. " Let me sce ! Let me see !" cried her two-year old boy, as he ran to the window, followed by his mother. At that moment she was shot dead. The parsonage wus fired, and it was with difficulty that the body was snatched from the flames. Mr. Caldwell was then at the Short Hills, near Springfield (now Millburn). Quite accidentally, the night following. he heard of

the wanton and inhuman murder of his wife. By chance he overheard two men speaking of the tragedy. Hle questioned them and learned the facts. Next morning he repaired to the Farms, and found his worst information realized. It may well be believed that, in the words of a Revolutionary chronicler, the cruel murder of Mrs. Callwell and the wanton de- struction of the village produced a strong impression on the public mind, and "served to confirm still more the settled hate of the well-affected against the Brit- ish government."

Maxwell retreated from Connectient Farms to strong ground near Springfield. Here be arrested Knyphausen's approach. A regiment of Hessians, commanded by Colonel Wurmb, attacked him repeat- edly. Thrice did Maxwell's men charge upon the Hessian yagers with fixed bayonets, and retreated only upon the arrival of British reinforcements. Fifty of the yagers were killed or wounded. Washington, meanwhile, having been promptly advised of the enemy's movements, advanced with the main body of his troops to Maxwell's aid. Upon discovering this, though his command was nearly double that of the Americans, Knyphausen turned back to Eliza- bethtown Point, leaving the Twenty-second English regiment at Elizabethtown. An American detach- ment followed in pursuit next morning, drove the Twenty-second from Elizabethtown, and returned unmolested. The gallant Colonel Dayton " received particular thanks " in general orders, and the bravery of the Jersey troops was liberally praised by the Commander-in-chief himself.

Battle of Springfield .- We come now to the battle of Springfield. The movement of some British troops up the Hudson River excited Washington's suspicion that the design of the enemy was to get in his rear. Ile, therefore, moved his eamp to Rockaway Bridge, where it arrived on the twenty -second of June. The post at Short Hills he confided to the care of two brigades under command of Major-General Greene. Early on the morning of the twenty-third, Knyphausen's com- mand, consisting of two compact divisions, and num- bering about six thousand infantry, cavalry and artil- lery, moved from Elizabethtown Point to Springfield. Such now was the American esprit de corps, that the King's troops had to fight their way almost inch by inch. The enemy's right column, before it could drive Major Lee's dragoons from one of the bridges over the Passaie, was compelled to ford the stream. Ilis left column was stubbornly resisted by Dayton's Jersey regiment, and by its overwhelming numbers alone was Knyphausen's force able to press on. Gen- eral tireene prepared for action, but Knyphausen feared, or at all events failed, to engage him, though Knyphausen's troops were drawn up and had begun a heavy cannonade. At Springfield they made a stand of several hours' duration, and, after reducing the town to ashes, and plundering its people of their effects, began their retreat to Elizabethtown Point.

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

A- upon the retreat from Connecticut Farms, the

hireling incendiary served a dual purpose ; in reduc- British flanks and rear were greatly annoyed with a | ing to ashes the house of the impassioned lover of galling fire from the American skirmishers the whole way back. The total loss of the British was un- known, though fifty more of the Hessian yagers were killed or wounded; the latter including one colonel, two captains and one lieutenant. The same night Knyphausen recrossed to Staten Island.

General Greene said, in his report of the action to the Commander-in-chief: "I have the pleasure to inform your excellency that the troops who were engaged behaved with great coolness and intrepidity, and the whole of them discovered an impatience to be brought into action." He added that "the good order and discipline they exhibited in all their move- ments, do them the highest honor." With regard to the object of the enemy's expedition General Greene confessed himself at a loss to determine. " If," said he, "it was to injure the troops under my command, or to penetrate further into the country, they were frus- trated. If the destruction of this place, it was a dis- graceful one." "I wish," said he in conclusion, "every American could have been a spectator ; they would have felt for the sufferers, and joined to revenge the injury."

Washington, himself, in communicating the result to Congress, made the following remarks :

"The conduct of the enemy giving us reason to suspect a design against West Point, on the 21st, the army, except two brigades and the horse, left under the command of General Greene, to cover the country and our stores. ) was put in motion to proceed slowly towards Pompton. on the 22nd it arrived at Rockaway Bridge, ahont eleven miles from Morristown. The day following the enemy moved in force from Eliza- luthtown to Springfield. They were opposed with good conduct and spirit, by Major-Generals Greene and Dickinson, with the Continental tro and such of the militi as hud assembled. But, with their supe- riority of numbers, they of emre gained Springfield. Having burnt the village, they retired the same day to their former position. In the night they ubaidoned it, vriused over to staten Island and took up their bridge. I leg leave to refer Congress to General Greene's report for par- ti ulars.

The Quemy have not made their incursion into this State without lus. Ours has been small. The militia deserve everything that can he said. un both occasions. They flow to arms universally, and acted with a spirit equal to anything I have men in the course of the war."

Thus, instead of finding a whole people cager to return to their allegiance, and ready to huzza over the replanting of the royal standard, the British and their mercenary allies under Kuyphausen encoun- tered a citizen solliery and a population ready to shed their hearts' blood rather than yield the rights described in the Declaration of Independence as being endowed of God. They found men half- starved, half-clad and miserably accoutred, it is true; but they found, al-o, to their chagrin, the same grandly heroic spirit which has given to history such chivalrie characters as Arnold von Winkelreid, at Sempach ; William Tell. in the Alpine fastnesses of Switzerland ; William Wallace, in the Scottish monn- tain-, and the men of Acton, at the old North Bridge of Concord. In a word, the spirit of '76 was found to he still ablaze in the Jerseys. The torch of the

liberty, it simultaneously set aflame in his heart that fire which nothing but death could quench. "Liberty and Independence " was a sentiment which had wound its tendrils round the heart of the Jerseyman. For that sentiment he stood ready to encounter the hardest of hardships, the bitterest of persecutions, and even death.

CHAPLAIN CALDWELL-one American, in particu- lar, bore a part in the fight at Springfield, which richly deserves to live in history, there to be grouped with the brave and true of all times and of all nations. lle came of a lineage ennobled, not by kingly favors, but by the patent of the Great Creator-a lineage distinguished in an older hemisphere for a devotion to faith and principle which rose sublimely superior to all considerations of worldly honor, ease and comfort. He was of French Huguenot stock, which sought shelter in Scotland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; but which soon had to fy thenee to Ireland, owing to the cruel persecutions of Claverhouse. His name-it deserves to be spoken with reverence, and written, as it is, in letters of veneration-was JAMES CALDWELL. Caldwell was a Virginian by birth, his parents having come to the New World from the County Antrim, Ireland, in the early part of the eighteenth century. He was born in 1734, and was educated for the ministry under the tutelage of President Burr, ere yet Princeton College had removed from Newark. He graduated in 1759. Two years later he was ordained by the Presbytery at New Brunswick, and installed as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Elizabeth. A year after this, in 1763, he married Hannah Ogden. In character he greatly resembled William Emerson, the patriot-divine of Massachusetts, who considered that love of God and love of Country were twin-born offspring of the true man. Caldwell, like Emerson, Macwhorter and other Revolutionary period preach- ers of the Gospel, believed that there were times when it was righteous to fight as well as pray-when it was not only justifiable but a duty to turn the temples of the Most High into forts and towers for the defense of His people. When therefore the issue was made between England and America, Cald- well took his place at once on the side of his native land. Almost to a man and woman, his church-to its everlasting honor be it said-sustained him. He became, in June, 1776, chaplain of the Jersey Brigade, under Colonel Dayton. Mentally and physically he was a man of great force and courage. He was of middle stature, but strong frame ; had a pensive placid cast of countenance, which lit up with expressiveness under excitement. His voice was of a silvery tone, and capable of great power. As a preacher he was persuasively eloquent ; as a patriot he carned the love and admiration of the people and the soldiery, likewise the esteem and confidence of Washington

ESSEX COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

and other leaders in the field and council. While the army was in camp in Morris County, Chaplain Caldwell acted as Deputy Quarter-Master General with quarters at Chatham. Such was the respect in which he was held by the people, that his appeals for provision- for the troops were never made in vain. Hi- activity was proverbial in and out of camp. One day he was preaching a sermon to the troops, -a sermon teeming with love of country as well as love of God ; another he would he collecting or distribut- ing stores as commissary. Denoting the manner of man he was, as well as the character of the times, is the fact that oftentimes the warrior-priest placed a pair of pistols on his desk beside the Word of God, so as to be ready for any sudden appearance of the enemy. Over his office door at C'hatham were the letters " D. Q. M. G." It is stated that on one occa- sion he found his friend, Abraham t'lark, a New Jersey signer of the Declaration of Independence, looking wonderingly at the letter -. Mr. Clark -aid he was striving to comprehend their meaning. " Well. what do you think they mean ?" asked C'ald- well. "I cannot conceive," replied Clark, " unless they mean Devilish Queer Minister of the Gospel!"

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 11

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840