History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 20

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 20
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 20

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" Adjt .- Gen."

But neither general orders nor the efforts of the officers proved effectual in preventing the depreda- tions of the soldiery on the inhabitants, until finally the sternest repressive measures became necessary, and were adopted, as is shown by the following ex- tract from Thatcher's "Military Journal," it being an account of a military execution which took place within the lines at this place for the crimes indicated, -viz. :

" April 20th [1779] .- Five soldiers were conducted to the gallows, ac- cording to their sentence, for the crimes of desertion and robbing the inhabitants. A detachment of troops and a concourse of people formed a circle around the gallows, and the criminals were brought in a cart sit- ting on their coffins and halters about their necks. While in this awful situation, trembling on the verge of eternity, three of them received a pardon from the commander-in-chief, who is always tenderly disposed to spare the lives of his soldiers. They acknowledged the justice of their sentence and expressed their warmest thankfulness and gratitude for their merciful pardon. The two others were obliged to submit to their fate. One of them was accompanied to the fatal spot by an affectionate brother, which rendered the scene uncommonly distressing and forced tears of compassion from the eyes of numerous epectators. They repeatedly em- braced and kissed each other with all the fervor of brotherly love, and would not be separated until the executioner was obliged to perform his duty; when, with a flood of tears and monruful lamentations, they bade each other an eternal adieu, the criminal trembling under the horrors of an untimely and disgraceful death, and the brother overwhelmed with sorrow and anguish for one whom he held most dear."

The camp of the artillery brigade was located, as has been already mentioned, at Pluckamin, which was also the headquarters of Gen. Knox; and there, on the 18th of February, was given, under the auspices of that general and his subordinate officers of the ar- tillery, a grand ball and supper, in celebration of the first anniversary of the signing of the treaty of alli- ance between France and the United States. The affair, which appears to have been a brilliant one, was

thus noticed in one of the public journals of the time :

" The anniversary of our alliance with France was celebrated on the 18th ultimo at Pluckamin at a very elegant entertainment and display of fireworks given by Gen. Knox and the officers of the corps of artil- lery. It was postponed to this late day; on account of the commander- in-chief being absent from the camp. Gen. Washington, the principal officers of the army, with Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Greeno, Mrs. Kuox, and the ladies and gentlemen of a large circuit round the camp, were of the company. Besides these, there was a vast concourse of spectators from every part of the Jerseys.

"The barracks of the artillery are at a small distance from Plucksmin, on a piece of rising ground, which shows them to great advantage. The entertainment and ball were held at the academyt of the park. About four o'clock in the afternoon the celebration of the alliance was announced by the discharge of thirteen cannon, when the company assembled to s very elegant dinner. The room was spacions and the tables were prettily disposed, both as to prospect and convenience. The festivity was uni- versal and the toasts descriptive of the happy event which had given certainty to our liberties, empire, and independence. In the evening was exhibited a very fine set of fireworks, conducted by Col. Stevens, ar- ranged on the point of a temple one hundred feet in length and propor- tionately high. The temple showed thirteen arches, each displaying an illuminated painting. The ceutre arch was ornamented with a pediment larger than the others, and the whole edifice supported hy a colonnade of the Corinthian order. [Here follows a description of the thirteen illuminated paintings, with their accompanying mottoes.]

" When the fireworks were finished, the company returned to the academy and concluded the celebration by a very splendid ball. The whole was conducted in a style and manner that reflects great honor on the task of the managers."

Thus, with something of festivity, but far more of privation, if not of actual suffering, the officers and men of the patriot army passed about six months of winter and spring in their encampments near Middle- brook and Pluckamin. That they remained there until June, 1779, is shown by a letter¿ written by Gen. Washington to Governor Livingston, dated in that month (but without day), at "Headquarters, Middle- brook." The army, however, left its winter quarters about the first of that month, and reached the Hudson on the 7th.|| Gen. Wayne moved from his encamp- ment, south of the Raritan, to the Hudson, where, ou the 15th of July, he stormed and captured the British fortifications at Stony Point. "From this time," says Dr. Messler, "Somerset County ceased to be the rest- ing-place of armies fighting in the cause of liberty ; and the foot of a British soldier trod it no more except in one hasty visit (Col. Simcoe's raid in 1779), which is to be related." The succeeding operations of the American army during that year were carried on along the Hudson River above New York.

+ The treaty of alliance was concluded on the 6th of February, 1778, which was of course the day on which the anniversary celebration would have taken place but for the absence of the commander-in-chief.

# " The exact locality of the 'academy' tradition fixes on the east side of the village street, a short distance north of the late Boylan residence, and the edge of the wood on the farm of the late Dr. Henry Vander- ver."-Dr. Messler.

¿ N. J. Rev. Corr., p. 172.

| " As soon as Washington was advised of this movement (the passage of the British fleet up the Hudson for the supposed purpose of attacking the forte in the Highlands), he drew his troops from their cantoments in New Jersey, and by rapid marches reached the Clove ou the 7th, with five brigades and two Carolina regiments. He pressed forward to Smith's Clove, whence there were mountain-passes to the forts in the Highlands, and there he encamped."-Lossing's Field-Book, vol. ii. p. 212.

* Having reference to an order which had been previously issued by Lord Stirling directing that strict attention be paid to a certain resolution of Congress: " That all officers in the army of the United States be hereby strictly enjoined to see that the good and wholesome rules provided for the discontinuance of profaneness and vice and the preservation of morals among the soldiers are duly and punctually observed."

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.

In the latter part of October, 1779, a party of British troops made a foray into Somerset County, penetrating as far as Millstone, doing a considerable amount of damage, and partially accomplishing the object for which they came. This expedition is usually men- tioned as "Simeoe's raid," because the exploit was performed by a foree of men under command of Lieut .- Col. Simcoe, of the British army. The account of it given below is drawn partly from Simcoe's own report, and partly from a narrative of the affair written by the late Hon. Ralph Voorhees.

The force under command of Col. Simeoe on this expedition consisted of men belonging to a somewhat celebrated corps known as the "Queen's Rangers," which was mostly made up of native Americans, Tories, enlisted into the corps in Westchester Co., N. Y., and in neighboring portions of Connecticut. Col. Simcoe had assumed command of this body in 1777, and afterwards brought it up to a condition of excellent discipline and great efficiency. The strength of the force detailed from the " Rangers" for this par- ticular service was about eighty men, who, embarking at Billop's Point in the night of the 25th of October, were landed at Elizabethtown Point at about three o'clock in the morning of the 26th, when, the column having formed and moved out a short distance on the road, Simcoe announced to his officers the object of the expedition, which was to proceed swiftly to Van Veghten's bridge over the Raritan (near the present railway-station of Finderne), there to destroy a number of flat-boats which Washington had left in the river at that point, and, having done this, to cross the river and proceed to Millstone, take the Amwell road, and follow it till they came to a house at a corner of a road diverging from it to the south and leading into the Princeton road running from that place to New Brunswick. Their object was thus to make a circuit around New Brunswick, so as to avoid contact with any American troops that might be stationed in the vicinity of that town; but after passing New Brunswick, and having arrived at the heights on which stood the "Grenadier Redoubt" (which had been built by the British during their occupancy of the place in 1776 and 1777), they were " to discover themselves" to the American militia for the purpose of inducing the latter to follow them, in which case they were to retreat to South River Bridge, which they were not to destroy or to cross, but to form an ambush near its western approach (in which they were to be supported by a body of British infantry which had been ordered to that place, under command of Maj. Armstrong), for the purpose of entrapping and, if possible, capturing their AAmerican pursuers. This, in brief, was the general plan of the expedition.

Setting out from Elizabethtown, the raiders pro- ceeded to Quibbletown (afterwards known as New Market ) without any notable incident except the cap- ture of a prisoner. "Capt. Sanford's men formed the advance-guard, the hussars followed, and Stewart's men were in the rear, making, in the whole, about eighty. A Justice Crow was soon overtaken; Lieut .- Col. Simcoe accosted him roughly, called him 'Tory,' nor seemed to believe his excuse when, in the American idiom for courtship, he said ' he had only been a-spark- ing,' but sent him to the rear-guard, who, being Americans, easily comprehended their instructions and kept up the justice's belief that the party was a detachment from Washington's army. Many planta- tions were now passed by, the inhabitants of which were np, and whom the party accosted with friendly salutations, At Quibbletown, Lient .- Col. Simcoe had just quitted the advance-guard to speak to Lieut. Stewart,t when, from a public-house on the turn of the road, some people came out with knapsacks on their shoulders, bearing the appearance of a rebel guard. Capt. Sanford did not see them till he had passed by, when, checking his horse to give notice, the hussars were reduced to a momentary halt oppo- site the house. Perceiving the supposed guard, they threw themselves off' their horses, sword in hand, and entered the house. Lient .- Col. Simcoe instantly made them remount, but they failed to discover some thou- sand pounds of paper money which had been taken from a passenger, the master of a privateer, nor could he stay to search for it. He told the man 'that he would be answerable to give him his money that night at Brunswick, where he should quarter,' ex- claimed aloud to his party, 'that these were not the Tories they were in search of, although they had knapsacks,' and told the country people who were as- sembling around ' that a party of Tories had made their escape from Sullivan's army, and were trying to get into Staten Island, as Iliff (who had been defeated near this very spot, taken, and executed ) had formerly done, and that he was sent to intercept them.' The sight of Justice Crow would probably have aided in deceiving the inhabitants; but, unfortunately, a man personally knew Lieut .- Col. Simene, and an express was sent to Governor Livingston, then at Brunswick, as soon as the party marched.

"The party was now conducted by a country lad whom they fell in with, and to whom Capt. Sanford (being dressed in red and without his cloak ) had been introduced as a French officer. He gave information that the greater part of the boats had been sent on to Washington's camp, but that eighteen were at Van Vacter's [Van Veghten's] bridge, and that their horses were at a farm nbout a mile from it. He led the party to an old camp of Washington's, above

* Fifty boats had been built, by Washington's orders, on the Delaware, and hauled across the country on wheels to Van Veghten's bridge on the Karltan. They were intended to be used for erosing to New York, nad were capable of carrying seventy men each. About one-third of them now remained at the bridge.

+ " Lieut. Stewart was a native of Somerset County, a partisan myalist, and extensively known as ' Tory Jim.' If he had been recognized any- where almut Bound Brook or Raritan, it would not have been well for lim.“-Dr. Meseler.

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Bound Brook .* Lieut .- Col. Simcoe's instructions were to burn these huts, if possible, in order to give as wide an alarm to the Jerseys as he could. He found it impracticable to do so, they not being joined in ranges, nor built of very combustible materials. He proceeded without delay to Bound Brook, whence he intended to carry off Col. Moyland; but he was not at Mr. Van Horn's.t Two officers who had been ill were there; their paroles were taken, and they ordered to mark 'sick quarters' over the room-door they inhabited, which was done; and Mr. Van Horn was informed that the party was the advance-guard of the left column of the army which was commanded by Gen. Birch, who meant to quarter that night at his house, and that Sir Henry Clinton was in full march for Morristown with the army."

From Bound Brook the raiders proceeded rapidly to Van Veghten's bridge, where "Lieut .- Col. Simcoe found eighteen new flat-boats upon carriages; they were full of water. He was determined effectually to destroy them, Combustibles had been applied for, and he received in consequence a few port-fires ; every hussar had a hand-grenade, and several hatchets were brought with the party. The timbers of the boats were cut through, they were filled with straw and railing, and, some grenades being fastened in them, they were set on fire. Forty minutes were em- ployed in this business. The country began to as- semble in their rear, and, as Lieut .- Col. Simeoe went to the 'Dutch meeting,' where the harness and some stores were reported to be, a rifle-shot was fired at him from the opposite bank of the river." The dis- patch which had been sent to Governor Livingston at New Brunswick had had the desired effect. The Governor had sent out express-riders to alarm the country, and the people were preparing to give the marauders a warm reception.

The " Dutch meeting" mentioned in Simeoe's nar- rative was the old edifice of the church of Raritan, built in 172I. It stood on the north side of the river, about six hundred yards below the bridge. This church-building they burned, together with a few military stores which it contained. They then re- turned, crossed the bridge, went to Millstone, and there burned the Somerset County court-houset with its contents. That building stood about twelve rods west of the present Millstone bridge. They burned also a house and shop belonging to Cornelius Lott (valued at six hundred and twenty pounds ten shil- lings and cleven pence), and at the same time a house and kitchen belonging to William Cox. From thence the troopers followed the Amwell road towards New Brunswick, intending, when they should come to the house above mentioned as (supposed to be) standing

at the corner of the junction of the Amwell road with the highway leading to the Princeton road, to take to the right. The house they were looking for was that of Garret Voorhees, which had stood at the place named, but had been burned two years before by the British. The guide which they had impressed at Quibbletown supposed he kuew the place perfectly well, but he was ignorant of the fact that the house had been burned, and he therefore unwittingly led them astray. So they continued, in consequence of this mistake, to follow the Amwell road until they came within two miles of New Brunswick.

" Alarm-guns were now heard, and some shots were fired at the rear, particularly by one person, who, as it afterwards appeared, being out a shooting, and hearing of the incursion, had sent word to Governor Livingston, who was at Brunswick, that he would follow the party at a distance and then give a shot, that he might know which way they directed their march. Passing by some houses, Lieut .- Col. Simcoe told the women to inform four or five people who were pursuing the rear ' that if they fired another shot he would burn every house which he passed.' A man or two were now slightly wounded. As the party approached Brunswick, Lieut .- Col. Simcoe began to be anxious for the cross-road diverging from it into the Princeton road which he meant to pursue, and which having once arrived at, he himself knew the by-ways to the heights he wished to attain, where, having frequently done duty, he was minutely ae- quainted with every advantage and circumstance of the ground. His guide was perfectly confident that he was not yet arrived at it; and Lieut .- Col. Simcoe was in earnest conversation with him, and making the necessary inquiries, when a shot, at some little distance, discovered there was a party in front. He immediately galloped thither, and he sent back Wright, his orderly sergeant, to acquaint Capt. San- ford ' that the shot had not been fired at the party,' when on the right at some distance he saw the rail- fence (which was very high on both sides of the nar- row road between two woods) somewhat broken down and a man or two near it, when, putting his horse on the canter, he joined the advance men of the hussars, determining to pass through this opening, so as to avoid every ambuscade that might be laid for him, or attack, upon more equal terms, Col. Lee (whom he understood to be in the neighborhood, and appre- hended might be opposed to him), or any other party, when he saw some men concealed behind logs and bushes between him and the opening he meant to pass through, and he heard the words 'Now, now!' and found himself, when he recovered his senses, prisoner with the Americans, his horse being killed with five bullets, and himself stunned by the violence of his fall."

An American party under command of Capt. Guest had formed an ambuscade, near De Mott's tavern, two miles west of New Brunswick, and upon the advance

* One of the encampments of Washington's army during the preceding winter; situated on the hillside east of Chimney Rock.

+ Col. Moyland had married a daughter of Philip Van Horn, and it was supposed he might be found there on a visit to his wife.

# October 27, 1779.

HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.

of the British Rangers had fired upon them, killing the colonel's horse and taking Simcoe himself prisoner in the manner above stated. The remainder of the party were pursued by the Americans, one of whom, Capt. Peter G. Voorhees, in his zeal advanced ahead of bis men, and in attempting to leap a fence at George's road, at the head of Town lane, his horse became entangled, and the British, on coming up, fell upon him and hacked him most terribly with their sabres. Ile was taken to New Brunswick, and died there a few hours afterwards. He was a brother-in- Inw of Col. John Neilson, and was a young man most highly esteemed. He was a brave officer in the regu- lar army, having entered it at the commencement of the war. At the time of his death he was a captain in the First Regiment of New Jersey Continental troops, commanded by Col. Ogden.

Col. Simcoe was conecaled, during the night sue- cording his capture, in a store-house in New Bruns- wick to prevent the enraged people from killing him in revenge for the cruel treatment which Voorhees had received at the hands of the British troops. He was removed from thence to Burlington, where he re- mained a prisoner until exchanged .*

After Simcoe was taken prisoner his demoralized command made all haste to reach the appointed ren- dezvous at South River bridge, where they found the infantry, under Maj. Armstrong, who had come promptly up, as agreed, and had taken two American prisoners,-Dr. Ryker and Mr. John Polhemns. The advantages they had gained by the expedition were hardly great enough to outweigh the loss of their leader,-a result which came from their guide's ig- norance of the fact of the previous burning of Garret Voorhees' house. Otherwise they would have taken the cireuitous route intended by them, would have probably arrived at South River in safety with their commander at their head, and might have succeeded in drawing the Americans into their ambush and capturing them, as contemplated in the original plan.

In the memoirs of Col. Lee (the celebrated " Light- Horse Harry") the following opinion is expressed in

* " When f'o). Simcoe's horse was shot under him and he himself thrown violently to the ground and rendered insenside, James Schureman, of New Brunswick, saved his life by thrusting wide the bayonet of a all- dier of the militla who attempted to stab him ; he was braced up against a tree, and Dr. Jonathan Ford Morris, afterwards uf Somerville, then n sluudont of medicine in New Brunswick, bled him, and administered such restoratives as could be obtained. He was then taken to New Brunswick and properly cared for. Ha recovered and was exchanged, entered on his command again, and was present with his corps, the Queen's Hangers, at Spencer's Ordinary, on Jumes River, July, 1781, nt King's Bridge, Janu- ary, IT'S, and at Oyster Bay, Long Island, 1775-79, where there was liter- ally n ' best of Tories, of whom William Franklin, late Governor of New Jersey, was chief. Ho became, after the Revolution, Governor of Upper Cunuda, and wrote to Inquire for the young man who hud so kindly and humanely assisted him ut De Mott's tavern, and again, a second time, to Dr. Morris himself, thanking him for his attentions, and offering him advancement nud activo wdistance presided he would visit him In Canada, which Dr. Morris raw reasons to decline. Simene died in Eng- land in 1806, and has n mural monument with several sculptured figures in Exeter Cathedral, executed by Flaxman, the famous English sculp- tor."-Dr. Abruhum Messler.

reference to the Simcoe expedition, and the manner of its execution :

" This enterprise was considered by both armies as among the band- somest exploits of the war. Simcoe executed completely his object (then deemed very important), and traversed the country from Elizala thtown Point to South Amboy, fifty-five miles, in the course of the night and morning, passing through a most hostile region of armed citizens, neces- sarlly skirmishing Brunswick, a military station, proceeding not more than eight or nine utiles from the legion of Lee, bis last point of danger, and which became increased from the debilituted condition to which bis trout were reduced by previous fatigue. What is very extraordinary, Lieut .- Col. Simcoe, being obliged to fred [hix horses] once in the course of the night, stopped at a dignit of forage collected for the Continental army, assumed the character of Lee's cavalry, waked up the commissary about midnight, drew the customary allowance of forage, and gave the usual vouchers, signing the name of the legion quartermaster without being discovered by the American forage commissary or his assistants. The dress of both corps was the same,-green confers and lenther breeches, -yet the success of the stratagem was astonishing."

About the 20th of December, 1779, the army went into winter quarters,-the northern division, under command of Gen. Heath, locating on the east side of the Hudson below West Point, and the main body, with the commander-in-chief, at Morristown. No events of importance pertinent to the history of Som- erset and Hunterdon Counties occurred in the year which succeeded. The dispatches and orders of Wash- ington during that time were dated from " Head- quarters Morristown," "Headquarters Springfield," " Headquarters Rockaway," " Headquarters Rama- paugh," " Headquarters Orangetown," " Headquarters near the Liberty Pole," and from several other places. Many of these mention great searcity of supplies for the army, the slowness with which new troops were furnished by New Jersey, the necessity of im- mediate drafting, the hardships endured by others of the army on account of the depreciation of the currency, which rendered their pay insufficient for their barest necessities, the alarming condition of the affairs of the country, and other similar subjects. During the year (in January, 1870) Lord Stirling commanded a partially successful expedition to Staten Island ; a British force of about five thousand men, under Gen. Knyphausen, crossed (June 6th) from Staten Island to Elizabethtown Point, and advanced towards the interior, but was driven back to the Point ; again, on the 23d of June, a larger force, under Sir Henry Clinton, advanced from the same place to Springfield and burned the town, but, being resolutely met by the Continental troops and the Jersey militia. deemed it prudent to retire, which he did the same day, and crossed back to Staten Island. On the 4th of July the Indies of Trenton met in that town " for the purpose of promoting a subscription for the relief and encouragement of those brave men in the Conti- mental army who, stimulated by example and regard- less of danger, have so repeatedly suffered, fought, and bled in the cause of virtue and their oppressed conn- try, and, taking into consideration the scattered situ- ation of the well disposed throughout the State who would wish to contribute to so laudable an undertak- ing, for the purpose of the convenience of such and

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 20

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