History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 12

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

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USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 12

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And now to the part Chaplain Caldwell bore in the battle of Springfield. Throughout the engagement he displayed great ardor and conspicuous courage, which, it is safe to assume, lost nothing of its deter- mination by his recollection of the wanton slaughter of his wife a few weeks previously, as already de- scribed. In the midst of the fight, while the men of the Jersey Brigade were contesting every inch of ground with Knyphausen's troops, the gun wadding gave out. At this moment, upon being apprised of the situation, Mr. Caldwell hastened to the Presby- terian Church, near which the Americans were sta- tioned, and soon returned, as the well authenticated tradition states, with his arms full of Dr. Watts' hymn- books. He hastily distributed these to the soldiers. saying: "Now put Watts into them, boys : give 'em Watts!" With such a spirit and such an example on the part of the man of God, it is not surprising that the laymen fought with a degree of gallantry richly deserving the commendation of Washington and Greene; or that the loss on the British side that day was out of all proportion to that of the Americans.

The fate of the knightly priest was equally tragic with that of his lamented wife, and if possible more wantonly ernel in its enactment. He was intimately acquainted with the Murray family, residing in New York. The Murrays had endeared themselves to the Jersey people by their kindness to Jersey prisoner- held in New York. Under protection of a flag of truce, on November 24th, 1781, Miss Beulah Murray visited Elizabethtown, to spend a season with some relatives there. Mr. Caldwell met her with his car- riage at the Point. After seating her in it, he returned to the ferry-boat for Miss Murray's small bundle. While it was being examined, a brutal soldier named

James Morgan, who was off duty, ordered Mr. Cald- well to stop, and, leveling his musket, deliberately fired. Mr. Caldwell dropped dead, shot through the heart. Two days afterwards he was buried in Eliza- bethtown, in presence of a large heart-wounded con- gregation. Rev. Dr. Marwhorter, of Newark, deliv- ered the funeral oration. All New Jersey wept bitter tear- over the bier of the " rebel high-priest." Mor- gan, the murderer, was arrested, tried, andl hanged by Noah Marsh, High Sheriff of Essex County. The execution took place at Westfeld, then in Essex County. Morgan was a hard-hearted wretch, as shown by his calling, with an oath, to the sheriff to hang him quickly, and not keep him "shivering in the cold"-the day of execution being a bitter cold day in January, 1782. Various motives have been as- cribed to the murderer. The most probable one is that Mr. Caldwell had excited Morgan's ire because he had not, as Quarter-Master General, tendered the fellow his pay regularly, and that in a drunken frenzy he saw Mr. Caldwell and murdered him as described. On the trial, a witness named Samuel llicks testified that he had overheard Morgan say he would " pop ('aldwell over," for the reason stated.

In the church which Caldwell served as pastor at Elizabethtown, handsome marble monuments were erected, many years after, in memory of the murdered pastor and his wife. The epitaph on Mr. Caldwell's marble sets forth that he was "the pions and fervent Christian, the zealous and faithful minister, the clo- quent preacher and a prominent leader among the worthies who secured the liberties of his country." It prophetically adds : " His name will be cherished in the Church and in the State, so long as virtue is esteemed or patriotism honored." Mrs. Caldwell's epitaph speaks of her as having been "eruelly sacri- fieed by the enemies of her husband and her country." C'aldwell's name has been given to one of the towns of Essex County. Nor has the poetic spirit failed to find in his character a fit theme for versification. The following well-conceived and neatly turned lines are from the pen of Bret Harte :

CALDWELL, OF SPRINGFIELD.

Here's the spot. Look around you Alive on the height Lay the Hesiand eveninged. By that church on the right Somal the bold Jury farmers; and here run n wall- You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a bull ;

Nothing more. Graves spring, waters run, flowers low, Pretty much as they did a century agu

Nothing more, did I say ? Stay one moment ; you've heard Of Caldwell, the paren, who once preached the Worl Down at Springfield? What ' No? Come, that's bad ; why, he had All the Jeness attana . And they gave him the name

Of " The Rebwi High Priest." He stuck in their gorge ; He loved the laird Gel- and he hated King George.

He had coure, you might my ' When the Hewinus that day Marched up with Kus phausen, they stopped on their way At " The Farus," where his wife, with a child in her nrunt Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew Ant God and that one of the hireling cren

Who fred the shot ! Enough-there she Iay. And Caldwell, the chaplain, her husband, away '

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY. NEW JERSEY.

Did he preach ? Did he pray : Think of him, as you stand By the old church to-lay : think of him, and that band Of militant ploughboys! See the smoke and the heat Of that reckless advance, of that struggling retreat ! Keep the ghost of that wife, fonlly ~lain, in your view- And what could you, what should you, what would you do

Why, just what he did ! They were left in the lurch For the want of more wadding. lle ran to the church. Broke the door, stripped the jews, and dashed out in the rond With his arms full of hymn books, and threw down his load At their fert ! Then. above all the shouting and shots Rang his voice : " Put Watte into 'em-boys, give 'em Watts !"

And they did. That is all. Graves spring. waters run, Howers blow Pretty much as they did ninety-six years ago. You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ball ; But not always a hero like this-and that's all.

Patriot Families .- Newark, at the breaking out of the war numbered less than one thousand inhabi- tants, or about two Inndred families. With that number it was necessary for two families to occupy one house in a number of cases, for it is stated that in 1777 there were but one hundred and forty-one houses in the place-thirty-eight in the North ward, fifty in the South ward, twenty-eight in the East ward, and twenty-five in the West ward.

Among the families pre-eminently true to the cause of America were the Allings, the Balls, the Baldwins, the Beaches, the Bruens, the Burnets, the Camps, the Congers, the Condits, the t'ranes, the Coes, the Hed- dens, the Hayeses, the Johnsons, the Maewhorters, the Meckers, the Pennington> and the Wheelers.

ALLING .- The following Revolutionary reminis- eence of the Alling family is preserved : John Alling, a great-grandson of Deacon AAlling, who came to Newark from New Haven, in 1698, and settled here, was a hearty hater of red-coats. He held the position of lieutenant in a company of Minute Men. Early one morning a detachment of British soldiers was ob- served moving up Market street. The lieutenant hastened into his house, (which stood in from the northwest corner of Broad and Market streets) and warned his wife to conceal herself with the children. With his gun he returned to the street, and lay in waiting for the approach of the enemy. From his hiding place he popped off a couple of the red-coats; but leaving his position, he drew from the enemy a volley, and fled to the orchard under a shower of whistling bullets. In an upper chamber sat his grandfather, who witnessed the flight. "Run, John !" cried the venerable Newarker, and John did, and escaped. "Shall I shoot the old devil ?" said a red- coat to his officer. With more humanity than was wont to possess the natures of his brother officers, when making unceremonious visits to the Jerseys, the officer replied: " No; he's too old to do us any harm." Another of the Allings, Joseph, served with distinction as a captain in the Jersey Brigade.

WHEELER,-Of the Wheeler family, c'en "if Mem- ory o'er their tomb no trophies raise," there still stands a memorial. It is anything but ambitious, anything but worthy the estimable name it recalls.

It is the dilapidated remnant of the once proud Wheeler mansion. situated on the northeast corner of Market and Mulberry streets. It now form- the cen- tral part of a group of cheap buildings. The venera- ble pile has a history. It dates back to 1769, when its erection was begun by Captain Caleb Wheeler, a brother of James. It took seven years to build it. In the summer of the memorable year 1776 it was com- pleted and occupied by the Captain's family. At that time it was accounted one of the great houses of the Province. Captain Wheeler, its owner, was a man of large substance. Soon after the settlement of his family in it, the British began their incursions into New Jersey. Captain Wheeler and a Mr. Williams, a neighbor, whose dwelling stood about where the t'en- tral Methodist Church now stands. had agreed that whoever should first learn of the approach of the British should apprise the other. Very early one morning "the beat of the alarming drum " roused Mr. Williams, He sprang from bed, partially dressed, and hurried to arouse the Wheelers. "Run for your lives ; the British are coming ! " he shouted, ad- ding : "Go to your hiding places, and I will go to mine." Before he could make good his intention he was shot dead; a British spy murdered him. Meanwhile Captain Wheeler secreted himself in the centre of a hay-rick, while his wife and children hid away in a safe part of the house. Along to the hay- rick, which stood on what is now Clinton street, moved several soldiers. Repeatedly they thrust their bayonets through the hay, remarking that "if the d- rebels are in there, they are dead by this time." The Captain's clothing was pretty well pierced, but he escaped without a scratch. His family were unscathed also. The Wheeler house was rifled and despoiled, however, and the beautifully laid out grounds overrun after the malicious manner already depicted. During the war the dwelling, thanks to the sterling loyalty of its owners and occupants, was a house of refuge for many a disgusted deserter from the British ranks. It became noted as such, and more than once was visited by British officers in search of fugitive sohliers. Never once were they successful, however; the runa- ways always found a secure hiding place where Mrs. Wheeler and her children eluded royalist search on the occasion described. Once a French officer, in the British service, made his appearance at the Wheeler house in search of food and shelter. He had deserted from the British army, he said, having "revolted at the idea of fighting against so noble a cause as that of the American, and against so noble a people as the Americans." He was hid away for several days, and finally made his escape to France. The Wheeler property here referred to was occupied in 1884, by George W. Van Ness, as a news room and stationery store, corner of Market and Mulberry streets, Newark.

CAMP .- Of the Camp family there still exists a memorial which recalls the days of the Revolution. It is in the form of an antique piece of ordnance, a

ESSEX COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

six-pound iron howitzer. This eannon, according to the well authenticated records of the family, was given in charge of Captain Nathaniel Camp by no Jess illustrious a personage than George Washington. It was at the time the American army was encamped in New Jersey, and when Newark was subjected to frequent depredatory visits from red-coats and refu- gees. One day, as the tradition has it, General Wash- ington visited Newark, and stopped and dined at Cap- tain Camp's house, which was built in the year 1737, and stood on the southeast corner of Camp and Broad streets. The General promised to send the cannon to Newark, and he did. In speaking of the subject, the descendants of the Captain dwell with pride on the most trifling incidents of the visit-how His Excel- leney had his charger hitched to the fine buttonwood tree in front of the Camp house, and how he heartily enjoyed the ham and eggs prepared for him by the Captain's good dame. The chair the General sat in is still preserved, like the cannon, as a most precious memorial, and has been made to serve the cause of Christianity at church fairs, by charging a fee for its momentary occupancy. Captain Camp commanded an artillery company, but whether any active service was performed by the cannon in Newark-beyond firing national salutes upon cach recurring Fourth of July -is not certain. During the war of 1812 the cannon was in possession of an artillery company, commanded by Captain John I. Plume, stationed in Newark. Subsequently it was restored to Captain Camp's keeping, and was among the Revolutionary relies ex- hibited at the Centennial Exhibition. Henceforth it will form one of the interesting memorials at the Morristown "Washington Headquarters." Upon its breech " Old Nat"-the name given the cannon by the 1812 military-has the following inscription :

N. C. 1777 4012

(The last four figures are this translated : four hundred, to quarter . eighteen pounds. ]

William, a brother of Captain Camp, was, like Judge Julien, "a victim to British tyranny." He was an enterprising Newark merchant at the ontbreak of the war, and is said to have been the only person up to his own generation who had ever imported foreign goods for Newark's consumption. Pictou coal and gypsum were among his chief staples. During the fall of 1776. having made himself obnoxious to the enemies of his country, he was seized as a prisoner by the British soldiers, carried to New York, flung into the Sugar House prison there, und subjected to such privations and cruelties during the winter, that he died in January, 1777. Protected by General Washington's Hag of truce, Captain Nathaniel Camp visited New York and obtained possession of William's body. It was brought to Newark, and interred somewhere in the Old Burying Ground. William Camp was in his

forty-seventh year when he died. t'aleb Camp, another staunch revolutionist, was more fortunate. He was an efficient partisan, and lived to the ripe age of over fourseore. Yet another member of the Camp family carried his life in his hand for the land of his birth-John Camp, a nephew of Captain "Nat," and of William. He met a soldier's fate, having been killed during one of the engagements in Georgia, about the year 1750.

CONGER .- The Conger family was worthily repre- sented in the army by Lieutenant Samuel Conger. The type of man the Lieutenant was is revealed by an incident. When the war closed, the country con- sidered the subject of bestowing pensions on its heroes. Lieutenant Conger was asked if he wanted one. Promptly he replied: "No; I want no pension -at least not as long as I can shoot a shuttle." He was a weaver by occupation, and disdained to ask government support.

BRUEN .-- Caleb Bruen held a Captain's commission in the patriot army. Like Captain Nathaniel Camp, he possessed the confidence of Washington. He somehow gained also the confidence of the British officers, but, at the risk of an ignominious death on the gallows, turned this confidence to the great advan- lage of his country. Because of the intense suffering and privation to which the American soldiery of the Pennsylvania line were subjected by the force of cir- enistance-, some of the officers and men conceived the idea of revolting. Hearing something about the matter, the British sought to foster the disaffertion. A correspondence was opened between the recreant American officers and the British. Somehow, Captain Bruen became possessed of the secret, and was chosen to carry the traitorous correspondence. Waiting till the plot for revolt was ripe, the Captain secretly placed the important dispatches before General Wash- ington. The treason was nipped in the bud, the Commander-in-chief being enabled, by Captain Bruen's action, to pluck the flower of safety from the nettle danger. Captain Bruen, in the soi-disant char- acter of a British spy, next boldly entered the British lines and was arrested. Ile was charged with expos- ing the plot. The letters were demanded, but of course not forthcoming. They were accounted for by the Captain in this way: He was suspected, he said, by the Amerienns, and, in order to save himself and his secrets, he destroyed the letters. His explanation was received with doubt, and he was thrown into the Sugar House at New York, and confined there till the close of the war. He was then brought home, but in a condition as helpless as an infant. After careful nursing, extending quite a long time, he fully recov- ered his health, and lived to a ripe old age.

BALDWIN AND OTHERS .- The Baldwins, like the Burnets, were represented in the Revolutionary cause by a surgeon-Dr. Cornelius Baldwin.

The Balls, by Stephen, who was hanged by the loy- alists because of his "extreme rebel disposition and

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

conduct ;" and Samuel, who was killed in the action ing known, the British commander ordered out a at Connecticut Farms.

The Johnstons, by Rev. Stephen, a graduate of Yale College in 1743, who removed to Lyme, Connecticut, and, it is stated, "was a distinguished religious and political writer, who did much to advance the cause of freedom in the Revolutionary period."

The Beaches, by Josiah, who was shot in the en- gagement near Scotch Plains, June 26th, 1777; and by Zophar, who served first as a sailor and then as a soldier.

The t'ranes, by Joseph, who was mortally wounded while making a gallant "forlorn hope " assault on Fort Delancey, at Saltersville, a post on Newark Bay held by the British.

The Condits, by Colonel- David and Ebenezer.

The Hayeses, by Major Samuel, "a true whig, vigi- lant and active 'in the times that tried men's souls.'"

The Wheelers, by Captain James, who died on March 12th, 1777, having served with distinction in the Revolutionary army, and who, as a deseendant of Newark, was " worthy of a more honorable monument than the edifice stealthily and illegally erected on the burial place of the family."

CAPTAIN LITTELL .- The space from Lexington to Yorktown is dotted with daring and interesting ex- ploits of Jersey militia and minute-men in the immediate neighborhood of Newark. The central figure of quite a number was Captain Littell, who appears to have been a boll, daring, dashing "Son of Liberty," a man of handsome and imposing personal appearance, endowed with great resoluteness, and a stranger to fear. The Captain seems to have been a decided favorite with the fair sex. A volunteer com- pany, thought to have been under his command, was provided by the patriotic women of Newark and vicinity with uniforms of a description which not only distinguished them among their fellow-patriots but which has served to furnish Jerseymen ever since with an appellation of which they are justly proud. The uniforms consisted of tow frocks and pantaloons dyed blue. To these is ascribed the origin of the name "Jersey Blues."

On the very day the British force under Cornwallis abandoned Newark, a company of Waldeckers was dispatched towards Connecticut Farms on some par- ticular service. Captain Littell and his brave spirits speedily followed. Dividing his small force into two sections, the Captain placed one in ambush in the rear of the Waldeckers, and then suddenly appeared in front with the other and boklly demanded the enemy's surrender. Not being able, owing to the nature of the ground, and the approach of night, to determine the size of Littell's force, the Waldeckers sought to make a retrograde movement. Instantly they were assailed in flank as well as front, and were so thoroughly demoralized that they surrendered without having fired a shot. Exasperated over the affair, the great inferiority of Littell's force becom-

large body of Hessians to wipe out the affront. Again, thanks to his thorough knowledge of the ground, his intrepid spirit, his marvellous skill at ambuscading, likewise the esprit and gallantry of his Blues, Littell completely discomfited his enemy. After goading and injuring him severely at several points, he finally, by an adroit manœuvre, drew him into a swamp and compelled him to surrender again to greatly inferior numbers, This defeat was still more mortifying to the hireling General, and this time he determined to make short work of "the ras- cally clever rebel crew." A troop of horse was or- dered ont; but they were only more successful than their predecessor» in that, thanks to their horses, they were able, after being routed, to make good their escape! A fourth attempt was made to put a sun- mary end to the career of the bold Captain and his gallant little band. This time a force of three hun- dred men was ordered out, and placed under the leadership of a noted Tory, one familiar with the country, and, as supposed, with Littell's movements. Ile was to reecive a large reward for the capture of Littell and the destruction of his band. Guided by their American mercenary leader, the Hessian troops secretly stole to the neighborhood of Captain Littell's. house. A large number surrounded it and began a storm of musketry against the dwelling, the design being to destroy the lion in his lair. It happened, however, that the Captain was elsewhere. He ap- peared presently on the scene, but under circum- stances the enemy did not dream of. He had with him his own men and another body of volunteers. He attacked the house-storming party in the rear with such vigor, that, stunned and terror-stricken, the Tory-guided expedition Hed precipitately ; not, however, until its renegade conductor was picked off by a shot from Captain Littell's own musket, nor until the whole body suffered terribly from Littell's ambushed force. At the time of the march of Knyp- hausen from Elizabethtown to Springfield, Captain Littell, with a company of artillery, proved a very lion in the path of the Anglo-Hessian commander.

PENNINGTON .- The well known Newark names of Pennington and Ogden are likewise written in illu- minated characters across the pages of American Revolutionary history.

The Pennington family were represented in the war by William Sandford Pennington, a great-grandson of Ephraim Pennington, one of the, Milford company of original settlers. William Sandford was born in Newark, 1757. He was domiciled with his uncle. Mr. Sandford, a farmer, and was to have inherited his uncle's property. On the breaking out of hostili- ties, despite the fact of his uncle being a pronounced Loyalist, and of a threat of disinheritance if he joined the Rebels, young William warmly esponsed the Revolutionary cause. The gallant stripling-he was still in his tecas-flung away his tempting heir-

ESSEX COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

ship, and entered the patriot army. According to the family traditions, his first service was as a non-com- missioned officer in an artillery company. It is stated that in one of the engagements young Pen- nington was found by General Knox loading and firing a piece of artillery almost alone, and with such gallantry and signal bravery that Knox procured his promotion on the fiehl of batthe as First Lientenant of Artillery. He was commissioned Lieutenant of the Second Regiment of Artillery, April 21, 1780, taking rank from September 12, 1778. A private journal kept by him from May, 1780, to March, 1781, affords us at once an insight into the character of the young lieutenant, and some interesting incidents !of the Revolutionary period. During the greater por- tion of the seven years' war the Lieutenant was stationed with a park of artillery in the neighbor- hood of West Point. Once, while visiting his home here, he had to conceal himself in a hay-rick, for fear of being surprised and captured by refugees. Ile appears to have been an eye-witness, or was in the neighborhood, of the execution at Tappan of the unfortunate Major Andre, the victim of Benedict Arnohl's treachery and the inexorable demands of martial law. In his journal Lieutenant Pennington made this feeling entry :

" MONDAY, 2ND UCTOREn, 1780-This day at twrive o'clock. Major Andre, Adjutant-General of the British army, was executed as a Mpy. He behaved with grent fortitude. Although self-preservation and the laws nad trages of nations justify, and policy dictates the procedure, yet I must conceive most of the officers of the army felt for the unfortunate gentleman."

Within a couple of weeks after making this entry, Pennington made a visit to Newark and took veca- sion then to pay the fair daughters of his native town a neatly turned compliment ; " Wednesday, October 16, I spent a principal part of the day in Newark, visiting my female acquaintances in this place. The ladies in town, to do them justice, are a very sociable, agreeable set of beings, whose company serves to educate the mind, and in a manner to com- pensate the toils of military life." A dinner party at General Washington's table, at which were present Generals Knox and Howe, is thus referred to in the journal : "Tuesday, December 26-This day I had the honor to dine at his excellency tieneral Wash- ington's table, and the pleasure of seeing, for the first time, the celebrated Mrs. Washington, Instead of the usual subjects of great men's tables, such as conquering of worhls and bringing the whole human race into subjection to their will, or of the elegance of assemblies and balls, and the sublimity of tastes in dress, &c., the simple but very landable topie of agriculture was introduced by his excellency, who, I think, discussed the subject with a great degree of judgment and knowledge. The wine circulated with liberality, but the greatest degree of decorun was observed through the whole of the afternoon." The mutinying of the Pennsylvania troops at Morristown,

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 12

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