USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 11
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From Allentown there were two roads to New York-one through South Amboy to the Hudson river, the other leading to Monmouth and Sandy Hook. The first was the shorter route, but Sir Henry resolved to take the road to Sandy Hook, as he judged it would be difficult to cross the Raritan river in the face of the enemy. Washington, anticipat- ing a battle, dispatched one thousand men towards Monmouth Court House, the whole army following at a proper distance. The armies came together near the present site of Freehold, where two or three brief skirmishes were fought, but the final pitched battle took place about two miles from that county seat. The day was one of excessive heat, nearly one hundred soldiers were found dead on the battlefield without even a mark of a bullet. The British soldiers suffered worse in this respect, as the clothing of the American was much lighter in weight. At the approach of night, both armies occupied the field of battle, and the inten- tion of Washington was to continue the fight the following day. The British, however, when darkness flooded the land at about ten o'clock, silently took up their march, and to the surprise of the Americans the morning sun showed no enemies in view. Clinton marched his army twenty-four miles that day, protected his immense wagon train, arrived at Perth Amboy, and embarked his troops for New York. General Washington declined to follow the retreating army in the morning. The battle of Monmouth was the last conflict of any importance to take place in the eastern colonies; the seat of war was henceforth to be in the southern colonies.
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Several minor events took place in Middlesex county. A detachment of the New Jersey Royal Volunteers, consisting of sixty men, on August 19, 1777, crossed Staten Island Sound, marched twenty-seven miles into the interior, captured fourteen prisoners, sixty-two head of cattle, nine horses, destroyed property, and successfully transported their booty in safety to the island. Commissioners appointed by General Washington and Sir Henry Clinton met at Perth Amboy, April 12, 1779, to make arrangements for a general exchange of prisoners. Another invasion was made by about fifty of the "Greens" who crossed from Staten Island in the early morning of October 12, 1779, and secured upwards of a hundred cattle and horses, but a company of American troops obliged them to retreat, leaving most of their booty behind. The raid of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Simcoe, of the Queen's Rangers, on the night of October 25, 1779, in which the gallant leader lost his life, was one of the most notable events of the success of the New Jersey militia. A band of thirty refugees on June 1, 1780, captured ten prisoners at Woodbridge, whom they conveyed to New York.
Captain Adam Hyler and Captain Marriver were enterprising priva- teers of New Brunswick. They cruised between Egg Harbor and Staten Island, and many of their exploits read like a romance. They levied their contributions on the New York fishermen on the fishing banks, and annoyed the enemy so much that an armed force of three hundred men was sent January 4, 1782, to destroy their boats. Hyler, the most suc- cessful of the two, died at New Brunswick in 1782; Marriver lived at Harlem, New York, several years after the war. There is scarcely a town or village in the State that has not its local traditions or veritable accounts of valiant doings in the country's cause, waiting for the patient chronicler to gather and preserve them.
CHAPTER XIII. MIDDLESEX MEN IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
Two citizens of Middlesex county, Nathaniel Heard and John Neil- son, received the military rank of brigadier-general in the New Jersey State troops furnished during the Revolutionary War. General Heard was a native of Woodbridge, and was one of the first to take the field against the enemy. He raised in 1775 a body of troops which he placed at the disposition of the Provincial Congress and the Committee of Safety. He was colonel of the First Middlesex Regiment, afterwards colonel of a battalion of Minute-men, later was in command of a battalion named in his honor Heard's Battalion, then was made a brigadier- general and finally held that rank in the militia. He suffered a heavy penalty for his patriotism; his dwelling with the outside buildings were destroyed by fire by the British, who also appropriated to their use a thousand bushels of grain, seventy tons of hay, one thousand panels of fence, twenty-two hogsheads of cider, and two horses; he lost by these depredations over £2,000. After the Revolution, he held several offices under the National and State governments, being marshal of New Jersey and collector of revenue at Amboy under the former, and surrogate under the latter.
General Neilson was of Scotch and Dutch descent, though the found- ers of his family in America came from Belfast, Ireland. James Neilson, with his brother John Neilson, a doctor, arrived in Perth Amboy in 1716. The former became a resident of New Brunswick before 1730, as he was one of the patentees for a charter obtained in that year. The mail for Somerset county was left at his residence, as Perth Amboy was the near- est post office. James Neilson engaged in the shipping and mercantile business, was one of the first trustees of Princeton College (then the College of New Jersey), was alderman in New Brunswick, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and a member of the Revolutionary Committee of Correspondence. He died at New Brunswick, March 4, 1783, in the eighty-third year of his age. Though far advanced in life at the commencement of the Revolutionary War, he was exceeded by no one in patriotism, believing that the injustice aimed at the colonies was clear and unveiled. He was a true friend to religion, and a liberal contributor to its support. He died childless, but owing to the early death of General Neilson's father, he adopted his brother's son as his own and left him his heir by his will.
Doctor John Neilson, a native of Belfast, Ireland, the father of the General, married Joanna, daughter of Andrew Cojeman, who came from
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Holland with his mother, the widow of Andreas Cojeman. The family settled on the banks of the Hudson river on the Cojeman's patent, after- wards removed to Raritan Landing. Dr. Neilson died March 19. 1745, in consequence of an accident and while a young man.
The only son of Doctor John and Joanna (Cojeman) Neilson was born at Raritan Landing, March 1I, 1745, and given the name of his father. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was engaged in the ship- ping business with his uncle James Neilson. Fired with patriotism for his native country, young Neilson made a strong speech to the citizens of New Brunswick, in which to use his own words, he "bitterly resented the attempt of a venal Parliament fought by an oppressive ministry to tax his country, stating that the only alternative was victory or slavery." He threw himself with energy into the struggle, raised a company of militia, and was appointed its captain. The company was called into service and placed under command of General Heard at the east end of Long Island. Captain Neilson on August 31, 1775, was commissioned colonel of a battalion of minute-men from Middlesex county by the Pro- vincial Congress of New Jersey.
Such was the public appreciation of Colonel Neilson's ability and patriotism that he was urged early in 1776 to take a seat in the Con- tinental Congress of that year, which was to take under consideration the grave measure of the Declaration of Independence. His presence in his native State being deemed so necessary, he was led to decline the honor. A copy of the Declaration of Independence, however, was forwarded to him by Congress, and he was solicited to use his efforts for it to receive a favorable reception in his part of New Jersey. A meeting consisting of a large portion of the inhabitants of New Brunswick was held in the public streets to hear the document read, and a violent opposition was feared. Colonel Neilson, fearless of personal danger, read the instrument to the people, and at its conclusion was greeted with loud cheers by so great a majority that the opponents of the measure did not dare to avow themselves.
In the dark and gloomy days of 1776, when Washington's army was reduced to a mere handful and the country's cause was trembling in the balance, Colonel Neilson, in command of the Second Regiment Middle- sex County Militia, during September and October, was stationed in Bergen and Essex counties. His command in December retired with Washington's army to the west bank of the Delaware river. On the last day of that gloomy year, under orders of General Washington, Colonel Neilson with other New Jersey militia officers was directed to proceed to New Jersey to use their exertions to call together and embody the militia of the State. The efforts of these and a few other brave men at this critical time, and the patriotic response of the State militia, made
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possible the victories of Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth, which turned the scale from deep despondency and finally resulted in the estab- lishment of American independence.
Colonel Neilson with a detachment of his regiment surprised and captured every man of an outpost of refugees stockaded on an island in the river about three miles below New Brunswick, without firing a gun. In acknowledgment of his services he was appointed, February 21, 1777, brigadier-general of militia. During the winter of 1777 the British troops were quartered at New Brunswick, their commander, Lord Howe, mak- ing his headquarters at Colonel Neilson's residence on Burnet street. In the months of September, October and November, 1777, the colonel was in service in the lines at Elizabethtown with the militia of Middlesex and Somerset counties. He served in Monmouth county in June and July, 1778, being a part of the time under command of General Dickerson, and a part holding a separate command. The Assembly and Council, Novem- ber 6, 1778, elected him a delegate to the Continental Congress, but he never took his seat, as his services could not be spared from the State.
In the spring and summer of 1779 he commanded the militia on the lines of Elizabeth and Newark. He was appointed September 20, 1780, deputy quartermaster-general for the State of New Jersey. This position threw upon him great responsibility, as the State failed either by taxes or loans to provide for the support of the army. The currency was depreciated, and forage, food, clothing and transportation were hard to obtain. He continued in this position until the close of the war. His useful and honorable Revolutionary career was terminated by his appoint- ment, June 28, 1782, as one of the commissioners to settle the remaining accounts caused by the depreciation in the money value of their pay with the New Jersey troops.
After the war he succeeded to the property and business of his uncle, and carried on an extensive trade with Lisbon, Maderia, and the West Indies. He was still, however, called upon for services to the public; he was delegate to the State Convention called to consider the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and of its forty members was the last survivor ; he was one of the commissioners to build bridges over the Hackensack, Passaic and Raritan rivers; and was a prominent member of the Assem- bly in 1800 and 1801. General Washington never passed through New Brunswick without calling on General Neilson, and Lafayette at the time of his visit to this country in 1824 presented him with a sword, and evinced the warmest pleasure in seeing him again. General Neilson was an elder in the New Brunswick Presbyterian church, clerk of the session fifty years, and a member of the board of trustees of Rutgers College from 1782, until his death March 3, 1833.
The colonels of the New Jersey Line were: Jacob Hyer, John Taylor, Robert Taylor, John Webster and John Wetherill. Hyer was from
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Princeton, and was first lieutenant-colonel of the Third Middlesex Regi- ment ; afterwards became its colonel. He was a "fine old gentleman of the olden times," and was at one time an innkeeper, but was also engaged in his trade of hatter. Of John and Robert Taylor there is little known. Colonel Webster was a resident of Piscataway, where he was a farmer on a large scale. He was first a captain in the First Middlesex Regiment, afterwards successively its lieutenant-colonel and colonel. Colonel Wetherill was from South Brunswick, and at the commencement of the war was colonel of the Second Middlesex Regiment.
Two other citizens of New Brunswick ranked as colonel in the Revo- lutionary War. Anthony Walton White was born near New Brunswick, July 7, 1750, the only son of Anthony White and Elizabeth Morris, a daughter of Governor Lewis Morris. His ancestors were of a martial strain of blood. The progenitor of the family, Anthony White, a royalist, left England shortly after the execution of Charles I., settling in Ber- muda. His son, also named Anthony, served with the army in Ireland until the Battle of the Boyne. Leonard, the latter's eldest son, was an officer in the British navy; and his eldest son, Anthony White, lived in New York in 1715; son of the latter and father of the subject of this narrative was a lieutenant-colonel in the British army during the French and Indian War in 1753.
As early as 1761, Anthony Walton White, although only eleven years of age, was owing to paternal influence in possession of several official sinecures. He continued a nominal holder of these offices, pursuing his studies in the meantime under his father, whom he in turn assisted in care of his estate, until the outbreak of the Revolution. In October, 1775, he also was appointed an aide to General Washington, and the following February was commissioned by Congress lieutenant-colonel of the Third Battalion of New Jersey troops, and as such commanded the outposts of the army under Washington, continuing in service in the army of the North until 1780, when he was appointed a colonel.
In July, 1780, Colonel White fitted out on his own credit two regi- ments with which the following spring he joined General Gates' army in the South. His command was engaged in skirmishes with General Tarle- ton's troops until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Between 1781 and 1783 he was with General Wayne in the Carolinas and Georgia. He unfortunately, however, became security for the debts of officers and men of his command, which he was obliged to pay, thereby depleting his fortune. In the spring of 1783 he married Miss Margaret Ellis, a young lady possessing great beauty and wealth, who resided in Charles- ton, South Carolina. He resided from 1783 to 1793 in New York, but after that lived in New Brunswick, where he died February 10, 1803. In his late life his fortunes were again impoverished, and the fortune of his
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wife was wrecked through the improvidence of a friend who had been intrusted with its care, and his efforts to obtain relief from Congress on account of his expenditures for men in the service of the government proved unavailing.
The ancestors of Colonel John Bayard were of French and Dutch extraction. Samuel Bayard, a son of Rev. Balthazar Bayard, a French Protestant divine and professor, died in his native country before his widow and children emigrated to America. The widow was a daughter of Rev. Balthazar Stuyvesant, and a sister of Peter Stuyvesant, the famous director-general of New Netherlands, whose wife was a sister of Samuel Bayard, his brother-in-law. The widow with her four children accompanied her brother to New Amsterdam. She was a person of imposing presence, highly educated, with great business capacity, and, like her brother, had an imperious temper. Petrus, her son, a native of Alphen, South Holland, engaged in mercantile pursuits, also in real estate transactions. Among his many purchases of the latter was in connection with a party of Labodists of lands in Cecil county, Maryland, known as the Labodie Tract of Bohemia Manor. Petrus died in New Amsterdam in 1699. His son Samuel, with his brother-in-law, Hendrick Sluyter, in 1698 removed from New Amsterdam to Bohemia Manor, where he built a substantial brick mansion. James, his son, came into possession of the "Great House" in Bohemia Manor at the time of his mother's death in 1750. Here he spent his life, one of the most influential and active citi- zens of Eastern Maryland. In the "Great House" were born, August II, 1738, John Bubenheim and James Asheton Bayard, twins. They attended the famous Nottingham Institution in Maryland, then under the super- vision of Rev. Samuel Finley ; subsequently they were placed under the private tutelage of Rev. George Duffield, the famous Presbyterian theo- logian. The brothers at the age of eighteen years went to Philadelphia, John, dropping his middle name of Bubenheim, entered the counting- house of John Rhea, while his brother took up the study of medicine. John Bayard later engaged in mercantile pursuits, becoming one of the leading importers and merchants of the Quaker City. He was amongst the first to protest against the exactions of the British government, and his name heads the list that signed the non-importation agreement of October 25, 1765. When the period of aggression took place, he was found at the forefront of the struggle. He was appointed a member of the Committee of Correspondence, a delegate to the Provincial Conven- tion, and early identified himself with the Sons of Liberty.
In 1775 three battalions of Associators were organized in Philadel- phia, and Bayard was commissioned major of the second, subsequently promoted to the colonelcy, and saw active service during the next two years. He was in camp with his command at Bristol, Pennsylvania,
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shortly before Washington's crossing of the Delaware. For his services at the battle of Princeton he received the personal thanks of Washington. During the year 1777, Colonel Bayard divided his time between his mili- tary and civil duties. He was appointed March 13 of that year a member of the State Board of War, and four days later was elected speaker of the Assembly. When Lord Howe and the British army approached Philadelphia, Colonel Bayard resumed his military duties and partici- pated in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. Later, when hos- tilities were discontinued for the winter, he again returned to the performance of his executive duties. In 1780 he served as a member of a committee to report the causes of the falling off of the State rev- enues. He was chosen October 13, 1781, to a seat in the Supreme Execu- tive Council, serving until November 4, 1782; soon after he was com- missioned a judge of the High Court of Appeals. He took his seat as a member of the Continental Congress, November 22, 1785. His retire- ment from active business took place in 1788, when he removed from Philadelphia to New Brunswick, where he built a handsome residence in which he entertained many distinguished guests. In 1790 he was made mayor of his adopted residential city, and afterwards commissioned a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Somerset county. His death took place at New Brunswick, January 7, 1807.
Prominent in the medical history of the American army was Charles McKnight. He was the eldest son of Rev. Charles McKnight, for nearly forty years a much esteemed and highly respected clergyman of the Presbyterian church, and one of the early trustees of the College of New Jersey. Of Scotch descent, his forbears emigrated to Ireland at the time of the "Ulster Plantation," which took place at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The reverend gentleman was of such pronounced patriotism for the American cause that he became obnoxious to the Tories, and at an advanced age in 1777 was imprisoned by the British, who treated him with great cruelty. Upon his release from captivity he survived but a short time, his death occurring January 1, 1778. A younger son of the worthy clergyman, an officer in the New Jersey Line, was also confined to the prison ships in Wallabout bay, Long Island, now the present site of the Brooklyn Navy Yard; he perished during his imprisonment, thus joining the great army of martyrs to the cause of independence. The future surgeon-general of the American army was born at Cranbury, October 10, 1750; after receiving an excellent educa- tion he graduated in the class of 1771 from Princeton College. He sub- sequently studied medicine with the celebrated surgeon, Dr. Shippen, of Philadelphia, and owing to his marked abilities was appointed, April II, 1777, senior surgeon of the Flying Hospital, Middle Department ; at the age of thirty years he was made surgeon-general of the American army,
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serving until January 1, 1782. Dr. McKnight then became Professor of Surgery and Anatomy in Columbia College, New York. He gained dis- tinction as a practitioner and teacher, not only in his native country, but also in Europe. A life of constant activity was, however, relinquished in his forty-first year, owing to a pulmonary affection, the result of an injury received during the war, and which caused his death. Dr. Mc- Knight, although an eminent physician, was particularly distinguished at home and abroad as a practical surgeon, and at the time of his death was without a rival in this branch of the medical profession. Dr. McKnight's only son, John M. Scott McKnight, was a prominent physi- cian of New York City. A grandson, Charles McKnight Smith, though a native of Haverstraw, New York, soon after obtaining his medical degree located at Perth Amboy, where he continued practice until his death in 1874, being at that time one of the oldest physicians in practice in the State. He was for many years health officer of Perth Amboy, a vestryman of St. Peter's Church in that city, and collector of the port in 1841 and at intermediate periods till his death.
A noted early physician of New Brunswick who gained military fame in the Revolutionary War was Moses Scott. A native of Neshaminy, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, he early became infatuated with military life, and at the age of seventeen years joined the unfortunate expedition of General Braddock. At the capture of Fort Duquesne, then a commis- sioned officer, he resigned and entered upon the study of medicine. He removed to New Brunswick before the commencement of the Revolution- ary War, and on February 14, 1776, was commissioned surgeon in the general hospital of the Continental army. He supplied himself with medicines and surgical instruments which he obtained from Europe chiefly upon his own credit; but on the enemy invading New Bruns- wick he narrowly made his escape and the outfit of medical supplies was emptied into the streets by the British soldiers. Congress took the entire direction of the medical staff of the army in 1777, and Dr. Scott was com- missioned as senior physician and surgeon of the hospitals and assistant director-general. He was present at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. At the restoration of peace he resumed his medical duties at New Brunswick, where he continued to reside until his death, December 28, 1821.
Among the line officers of the regiments of the New Jersey State troops ranking as lieutenant-colonel was Samuel Crow, of Woodbridge, who was successively a captain in the First Regiment of Middlesex, then a major, and subsequently lieutenant-colonel of that regiment. Jonathan Deare was originally from Princeton, New Jersey, but must have removed before the commencement of hostilities to Amboy, as at a meeting held to discuss measures for the relief of the country, April 28,
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1775, he was appointed one of the standing committee of correspondence for the north ward of that city. He attended the Provincial Congress held May 5, 1775, taking his seat as a member from Middlesex county, and not especially from Amboy. He was also a vestryman of St. Peter's Church of Perth Amboy from 1770 to 1774. His name appears first with rank of major, to a pledge signed by officers of the First Regiment of Militia in the county of Middlesex, dated February 24, 1776. Having been promoted to lieutenant-colonel, he resigned in March, 1778, to become collector of customs for the eastern district of New Jersey. His fee book while naval officer at Amboy from June 8, 1784, to February 8, 1788, in possession of the New Jersey Historical Society, shows the entrance of fifty-two sailing vessels and the clearance of fifty during that period.
Azariah Dunham was the son of Rev. Jonathan Dunham, a resident of Piscataway. He was a civil engineer, residing before the opening of the war at New Brunswick. He was a member of the Colonial Assembly in May, 1775, and during the preceding year a member of the conference held in the city of New York, of delegates from the sister colonies to adopt measures to protect the menaced liberties of the people. He was a member of the first Provincial Congress of New Jersey, also of the Committee of Safety. Colonel Dunham was lieutenant-colonel of the Second Battalion Middlesex Militia, but resigned to devote his attention to the duties of superintendent of purchases, also to raise troops and sign bills of credit for the Eastern Department of New Jersey, a position to which he had been elected by the Provincial Congress and which he filled until the close of the war. There is little known of Micajah Dunn and Richard Lott. Thomas Hadden, a resident of Woodbridge, was first a captain, then major, and afterwards lieutenant-colonel in the First Middlesex Regiment. William Scudder was from a family of millers, and his grist and fulling mill at Scudder's mills was totally destroyed by the British. He was first major and afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Third Middlesex Regiment.
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