History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 10
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 10

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" The Congress have agreed to furnish the men with a hunting-shirt, not exceeding the value of one dollar and one-third of a dollar, and a blanket, provided these can be procured, but these are not to be miade part of the terms of enlistment.

" I am, gentlemen, " Your must obedient hunible servant,

" JOHN HANCOCK, " President."

" By order of Congress, I forward you forty-eight commissions for the captains and subaltern officers In the New Jersey Battalions.

" TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION OF NEW JERSEY."

The resolutions of the Continental Congress referred to in Mr. Hancock's letter were passed by that body on the 9th and 12th of October, recommending to the Con- gress of New Jersey that it should " immediately raise, at the expense of the continent, two battalions, con- sisting of eight companies," of men for the service, and specifying the manner in which they were to be en- listed and officered and the pay and allowances they would receive.

A reply was at once sent (October 13th) to the Con- tinental Congress, expressing the desire of the Con- gress of New Jersey to promote the common interests of the colonies as far as lay in their power, and to raise the troops as desired, but objecting to the man- ner in which the field-officers for the proposed bat- talions were to be appointed. This disagreement resulted in some further correspondence, and the matter was afterwards satisfactorily arranged ; but in the mean time the Congress of New Jersey passed the

" IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS HIELD AT THESTON

" THE 26TH DAY OF OCTORER, 1775.

" Whereas, The Honorable Continental Congress have recommended to this Congress that there be immediately raised in this Colony, at the ex- pence of the Continent, two Buttulions, consisting of eight companles each, and each company to con-ist of sixty-eight privates, and officered with one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign, four Sergeants, and four Corporals, on the following conditions: That the privates be enlisted for a year, at the rate of five dollars per calendar month, liable to be dis- charged nt any time on allowing one month's pey extraordinary ; that, each of the privates be allowed, Instead of a bounty, a felt bat, a pair of yarn stockings, and a pair of shoes,-the men to find their own arms; that cach captain and other commissioned officer while in the recruiting service of this Continent, or on their murch to join the army, shall be allowed two dollars and two-thirds of a dollar per week for their subsist- ence ; and that the men who enlist shall, each of them, whilst in quarters, be allowed one dollar per week, and one dollar and one-third of a dollar when on their march to join the army, for the same purpose [here fol- lows the prescribed form of enlistment].

" This Congress, desirous to carry into execution the above resolution of the Continental Congress, do resolve that warrants be issued to proper persons for Immediately raising the said two Battalions, consisting of eight companies cach, and ench company of sixty-eight privates, and officered with one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign, four Sergennts, and four Corporals, on the terms aforesald; which sergeants, corporale, and privates to be culisted shall be able-bodied freemen, And it is further directed that, when any company shall be enlisted, the persons having warranta for raising the same shall cause a muster to be had thereof, in the presence of either Elias Dayton, Azariah Dunham, Joseph Ellis, or John Mchelin, Esquires, who are hereby appointed muster masters to review the said companies. .

. And it is hereby recommended to the luhabitants of this Colony to be niding and assisting, as far as their influence extends, In raising the afuresaid levies. . . . "

On the 28th of October the Provincial Congress passed a resolution recommending to the Continental Congress the appointment and commissioning of the following-named field-officers for the two battalions to be raised in New Jersey,-viz. : For the Eastern Bat- talion, the Earl of Stirling colonel, William Winds lieutenant-colonel, and William De Hart major; for the Western Battalion, William Maxwell colonel, Israel Shrieve lieutenant-colonel, and David Ray major. These appointments were soon after made, and commissions issued by direction of the Conti- nental Congress.

The Provincial Congress adjourned on the 28th of October, "to meet nt New Brunswick on the first Tuesday in April next, unless sooner convened by the President, Vice-President, or the Committee of Safety." The gentlemen appointed to form this com- mittee, to act for the public welfare in the recess of this Congress, were Samuel Tueker, Hendrick Fisher, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Lewis Ogden, Joseph Holmes, John Mehelm, Isaac Pearson, John Pope, Azariah Dunham, John Dennis, Augustine Stevenson, Rulotľ Van Dyke. Six of these thirteen members were from Hunterdon and Somerset Counties.

The Committee hell a five days' session at Prince- ton, from the 9th to the 13th of January, 1776, at which a number of Tories and disaffected persons

* Unfavorable Intelligence from the Canadian expedition nudler Gens. Schuyler and Montgomery.

+ Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety, 17:3-76, p. 233.

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

were severely dealt with, and provision was made for the erection of beacons and the keeping of express- riders in constant readiness to convey intelligence in case of alarm from invasion or other causes, but no important action is found having special reference to Hunterdon or Somerset Counties. They saw fit, how- ever, to call an extra session of the Provincial Con- gress, as appears by the following extract from their minutes, dated January 12th,-viz. :

" This Committee received several resolutions and determinations of the Continental Congress respecting raising one new battalion in this Province, erecting and establishing a Court of Admiralty, advising the forming some useful regulations respecting the Continental forces raised in this Colony ; which requisitions, together with many other important concerns, render the speedy meeting of the Congress of this province absolutely necessary. This Committee have therefore appointed the meeting of said Congress to be at New Brunswick on Wednesday, the thirty-first day of this instant, January."

The Congress accordingly met at the time and place designated, and commenced business on the 1st of February.

The recruitment of the two battalions which Con- gress at its previous session had ordered to be raised had proceeded successfully and with rapidity. Lord Stirling, having been commissioned colonel of the First or Eastern battalion, had taken with him to it several of the officers and a considerable number of the men of the Somerset County regiment of militia, which he had previously commanded, and he found very little difficulty in filling the ranks of his new command. Col. Maxwell's (Western) battalion was recruited with nearly equal facility. In the last week of November (1775) Stirling established his head- quarters at Elizabethtown to fill his battalion to the maximum, six companies of it having previously been ordered to garrison the fort in the Highlands on the Hudson River. Lieut .- Col. Winds was soon after stationed, with a part of the battalion, at Perth Am- boy. Col. Maxwell's battalion was ordered to the vicinity of the Hudson River, and both the Eastern and Western battalions having been filled, or nearly so, were mustered into the Continental service in De- cember .* It does not appear, however, that they were fully armed and cquipped when so mustered, as is shown (at least in regard to the Western battalion) by the following action taken by the Provincial Cou- gresst at New Brunswick, on the third day of its ses- sion, Feb. 2, 1776,-viz. :

" Whereas, The Continental Congress have ordered Colonel Maxwell's battalion to march to Canada as soon as the men can be furnished with arms and othor articles absolutely essential ; und whereas, arms are ex- tromely scarce, and indeed impossible to be procured in time for the equipment of said battalion without making application to the several Counties in this Province: Resolved, That the Committees, or other public bodies, in whose hands any of the New Jersey Provincial arms and

* These two battalions were the first troops of New Jersey which actu- ally took the field. Lord Stirling was of Somerset County, and one of its leading citizens, while Gen. Maxwell bore nearly the same relation to Hunterdon County, although he resided a short distance outside her boundaries.

+ Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety, 1775-76, pp. 341, 342.

accountrements are deposited [are requested ?] to deliver the same to the commanding officer of said battalion, or his order; of whom they are required to take vouchers, with the valuation of said arms, etc., there under written; and that this Congress will either immediately pay for said arms, agreeable to appointment, or replace them as soon as possible, whichever the said Committees or public bodies shall think most proper.

"This Congress do, in the most strong and explicit manner, recom- mend to every private person who has armis fit for immediate nse to dis- pose of the same for the purpose above mentioned."

And the Congress, on the same day, ordered to be sent "to the commanding officers and chairmen of the several county committees in the province" a cir- cular-letter in these words :

"GENTLEMEN,-The late repulse at Quebect requires every exertion of the friends of American freedom, in consequence whereof Colonel Max- well's battalion is ordered to march forthwith, and the Continental Con- gress have applied to our body urging the greatest dispatch in procuring arms and necessaries for this expedition. Therefore, in pursuance of the aforesaid application, we request you, gentlemen, to use the utmost dili- gence and activity in collecting all the public arms belonging to your county, being your proportion of the Provincial arms unsold. Dispatch in this case is quite necessary, as, no doubt, the arms are distributed in the hands of the associators, it will be necessary that every officer do his part. The value of the arms will be paid iu money, or the number be replaced, and the expenses of collecting and forwarding them punc- tually discharged. We put you to this trouble with regret; but the ne- cessity of the measure must apologise. You will have the arms collected in your county valued by good men and sent to Burlington or Trenton, undor the care of such officer of Colonel Maxwell's battalion aa may be the bearer hereof."

That some of the arms for the New Jersey battalions were supplied by New York appears from the record of the proceedings of the Continental Congress, which body on the 2d of January, 1776,

" Resolved, .. . That the hundred stand of arms supplied by the Colony of New York for the New Jersey Battalion be paid for by the Convention of New Jersey ; and that, in order to enable the said Conven- tion to make such payment, as well as to furnish such of the men belong- ing to the said Battalions as are yet unprovided with arms, the further sum of one thousand dollars be advanced to the said Convention, and that the price of the arms be deducted out of the wages of the privates belonging to said Battalions."

That a great scarcity of ammunition as well as of arms existed among the men of the two battalions appears by the following extract from the minutes of the Congress, dated February Ist,-viz. :

" Lient,-Col. Winds informed this Congress that he was stationed at Perth Amboy with a part of the Eastern battalion of the Continental forces raised in this Colony, and that he was destitute of ammunition, and thought it not improbable he might soon have occasion for a supply. And this Congress being informed that the County of Somerset had a quantity of powder in store, and the County of Middlesex a quantity of lend,-in consideration whereof: Ordered, That Mr. President request the Chairman of the Committee of Somerset to furnish Colonel Winds with four quarter casks of powder; and that he also request the Chair- man of the Committee of the County of Middlesex to furnish Colonel Winds with 150 pounds of lead; und that the said powder and lead shall be replaced in some convenient time."

The Committees promptly acceded to this request, as appears from the minutes, dated February 10th, -viz .:

"On a requisition from Lord Stirling, the Committee of Elizabethtown have furnished him with six thousand cartridges, Somersot county four

# The unsuccesHfn) assault on the defenses of that town, in the morn- Ing of Dec. 31, 1775, by the American forces under Montgomery and Ar- nold, in which the first-named gullaut officer lost his life and the latter was severely wounded.

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.

quarter casks of powder, Woodbridge a considerable quantity, and Brunswick one hundred and fifty welght of lendl, Our militin are very illy supplied with ummunition ; those who have granted the above sup- plies aro therefore very desirous that they be Immediately replaced."

This extract is from a communication sent by the Provincial Congress on the date named to the Conti- nental Congress asking for " ten tons of gunpowder and twenty tons of lead, or as much as may be spared," out of a large quantity reported to have then re- cently arrived at Philadelphia. The request was granted to the extent of half a ton of powder, and out of this the quantity borrowed of Somerset County, Brunswick, Woodbridge, and Elizabeth was replaced.

In consequence of the unfavorable result of the military operations in Canada, and the strong proba- bility (indicated in letters from Gen. Washington to Congress) that Gen. Howe intended to evacuate his uncomfortable position at Boston and move his forces thence by sea to New York, as also the knowledge that Sir Henry Clinton had embarked from England on a secret expedition, whose probable destination was New York, a greater degree of activity was in- fused into military measures in general, and especially to those having reference to the defense of the middle colonies. The Continental Congress having resolved in January, 1776, that it was necessary to raise a nom- ber of additional battalions, assigned the raising of one of these to the province of New Jersey, and recommended to the Provincial Congress that it shoukl take immediate steps to lhat end. Accordingly, on the 5th of February, the last-named Congress passed a resolution to raise a battalion, in addition to the two previously raised, to be enlisted, organized, and otli- cered in the same manner (except that each of its eight companies should be composed of seventy-eight instead of sixty-eight privates), and, like the others, to be employed in the Continental service. Company ollieers for the battalion were appointed by the Con- gress of New Jersey, but the field-officers were to be appointed and commissioned by the Continental Con- gress. The Provincial Congress also resolved, Feb- ruary 13th,

" That Col. Dunbar, who lives in the Eastern Division of New Jersey, be recommended to the Honorable Continental Congress as a person well qualified to be appointed joint commienry with Col. Lowrey, who lives in West Jersey, for the Third Battalion, now raising, and such as shall be ruised in this Colony in the future."

l'ol. Lowrey was a resident of Flemington, Hun- terdon Co., and, receiving the appointment of com- missary, performed most valuable services to the American cause during the war.

The rapid progress made in raising the Third Bat- talion is indicated by the following extract from a let- ter written by President Tucker to the Continental Congress on the 2-tth of February, only nineteen days after the passage of the resolution ordering the bat- talion to be raised,-viz. : " Fam likewise to request that commissions may be sent for the officers of the Third Battalion, as some of the companies are already full and others in a fair way."

The ever-present difficulty-scarcity of arms-was an obstacle to the new battalion, as it had been in the cases of the others, and of all troops being raised at that time. This is made apparent by the tenor of a letter sent by the New Jersey Congress to the Conti- nental Congress, dated February 10th, from which is quoted the following :

"GENTLEMEN,-Sensible of the importance that the battalions raised in this Province should be as speedily as possible furnished with arms, we collected for the supply of the First and Second Battalions all the arms fit for service that could be obtained in this Province. We have therefore no resource of providing arms for the Third battalion but from our own manufactories, or importation. How soon they can be manufactured is uncertain ; and we have no present prospect of receiving them from abrond. But, being informed that two thousand stand have lately been Imported, and that they are within your disposal, we should be glad that part of them may be ordered for the use of the Third Battalion, unless some more immediate public service calls for them. We beg leave to propose whether it would not be advisable to clothe the battalions now raising in uniform, deducting the expence attending it out of the men's wages. . . . "

The pressing need of blankets for the troops is also shown by this entry on the congressional minutes dated March 1st :

"This Congress, sensible of the extreme scarcity of blankets now wanted for Continental forces, do recommend it to all the inhabitants of this colony who inny have any good blankets that they can possibly spare to dispose of the same to the commissary ou reasonable terms for the use of said forces."

On the 13th of February, Congress resolved " that a train of artillery, consisting of twelve picees, be immediately purchased for the use of this Colony"; and on the 2d of March an ordinance was passed di- reeting that two complete artillery companies be im- mediately raised for the defense of the colony, "one to be stationed in the Eastern and one in the Western Division thereof, . . . to be disposed of in this Colony as the Congress, Committee of Safety, Brigadier-Gen- eral of the Division to which they respectively belong shall direct ; each company to be commanded by a Captain, Captain-Lieutenant, First and Second Lieu- tenants; and to consist of a Fire-worker, four Ser- geants, four Corporals, one Bombardier, and fifty matrosses, all of whom are to be able-bodied free- men, and to be enlisted for one year, unless sooner discharged." The commissioned officers appointed for these companies were Frederick Frelinghuysen captain,* Daniel Neil captain-lieutenant, Thomas Clark first lieutenant, and John Heard second lieu- tenant of the Eastern Company, and Samuel Ilugg captain, Thomas Newark captain-lieutenant, John Westcott tirst lieutenant, and Joseph Dayton second lieutenant of the Western Company. A company of riflemen was also ordered to be raised, to be joined to Col. Maxwell's (Second Continental) battalion. And

* Capt. Frelinghuysen soon after resigned his commission, and there- upon his artillery company was disbanded, as is shown by an ordinance pawed aug. 21, 17, ordering the payment of certain demands, among them leing . "T. Frederik Frelinghuysen (6) 136. 21., bring the bal- nuce due to him and men by him rulistel for the eastern company of ar- tillery, who were dischargei ujum his resignation."-Min. Tror. Cong., 1776, p. 575.

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

it was ordered (February 3d) that, as Lord Stirling, previously colonel of the First Regiment of militia in the county of Somerset, had been appointed to a com- mand in the Continental army, "Stephen Hunt, Esq., be colonel, Abraham Ten Eyck, Esq., lieutenant-colo- nel, James Linn, Esq., first major, and Derrick Med- dagh, Esq., second major of the said regiment, and that their commissions be made out accordingly."

In view of the probability, as before mentioned, that Gen. Howe was about to move his army to oc- cupy New York, and the expected arrival, by sea, of a force under Sir Henry Clinton, a considerable num- ber of Continental and provincial troops had been ordered to that city, and among these the battalion of Lord Stirling, who received orders to that effect about the 1st of February, and moved his command from Elizabethtown to New York on the 5th and 6th of that month .* On the 15th of February the Con- gress of New Jersey received a communication from the president of the Continental Congress, dated Feb- ruary 12th, asking this province to send a force of minute-men to New York. Its tenor was as follows :

"GENTLEMEN,-The arrival of troops at New York, the importance of that place to the welfare of America, and the necessity of throwing up a number of works to prevent our enemies from landing and taking post there, render it necessary that a number of troops should immediately join Maj .- Gen. Lee; I am therefore desired to apply to you, and request you would, with all possible expedition, send detachments of your minute-men equal to a battalion, under proper officers, and well armed and accoutred, to New York, there to be under command of Gen. Lee. Your approved zeal in the cause of your country gives me the strongest assurance that you will with alacrity embrace this opportunity of giving aid to your neighbors, and that your people will cheerfully engage in a service by which they will not only reuder a very essential service to their country, but also have an opportunity of acquiring military skill and knowledge in the construction of field-works and the method of fortifying and entrenchiug camps, hy which they will be the better able, when occasion calls, to defend their rights and liberties."

Upon the receipt of which the Provincial Congress resolved unanimously,

"That the above requisition be complied with, and that detachments of minute-men, properly accontred, equal to a battalion in the Continen- tal service, be immediately made, and marched to New York, under the command of Charles Stewart, Esq., colonel, Mark Thompson, Esq., lieu- tenant-colonel, Frederick Freliughuysen and Thomas Henderson, Esqrs., majors."

But again the scarcity of arms presented a serious difficulty, and this time it proved an insuperable ob- stacle to the desired movement of the troops, as is cx- plained by the following extract from the minutes of the Continental Congress, dated February 22d,-viz. :

" A delegate from New Jersey having informied Congress that the regi- meut of militia ordered by the Convention of that Colony to march to the defense of New York, in consequence of the resolve of Congress of the 12th of this montb, were not sufficiently armed, and that they could not be furnished with arms unless the Congress supplied them, and as

this Congress have not arms to spare,-those they have being necessary for arming the battalions in the Continental service : Therefore, Resolved, that the march of said battalion of militia be countermanded."

One week after the marching orders to the New Jersey minnte-men were thus countermanded, the several organizations of minute-men in the colony were disbanded by action of the Provincial Congress, which on the 29th of February passed an ordinance in which it was directed

"That all the minute-men heretofore embodied in the several parts of this Colony he immediately dissolved, and incorporated with the militia, in the several companies in the district in which they respectively reside, as though such minute-men had never been raised. .. . "

The principal reasons for this action, as enumerated in the preamble to the ordinance, were that large numbers of the members of minute-men organiza- tions had enlisted in the Continental service, thereby greatly reducing the companies and battalions, and so placing them in a condition in which they could not " answer the design of their institution," and that "our defense, under God, chiefly depends upon a well-regulated militia." Thns the "minute-men" organizations of New Jersey ceased to exist, never having had an opportunity to perform any of the peculiar services for which they were formed.

The Congress of New Jersey adjourned on the 2d of March, 1776, having previouslyt passed an ordi- nance, in which it was " Resolved and directed, That there be a new choice of Deputies to serve in Provin- cial Congress, for every County of this Colony, on the fourth Monday in May yearly, and every year," thus establishing regular annual elections of deputies in- stead of the special elections called, as they had pre- viously been, at the pleasure of Congress.

The elections were held at the time specified, and resulted in the choice of Philemon Dickinson, John Allen, Samuel Tucker, John Hart, and John Mehelm for Hunterdon, and Frederick Frelinghuysen, Wil- liam Paterson, John Witherspoon, Jacob R. Harden- bergh, and James Linn for Somerset County. These, with fifty-five deputies from the other counties, assem- bled in Provincial Congress at Burlington, and organ- ized on the 11th of that month by electing Samuel Tucker, of Hunterdon, president, and William Pater- son, of Somerset County, secretary.

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 10

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170