USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 25
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"3d. That as soon as the companies are so formed the officers of such a number of companies as shall by them be judged proper to form a regiment do assemble and choose one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, a major and an adjutant for each regiment."
The "ordinance," also passed on the last day of the session, and having for its object the raising of funds, principally for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the militia bill, recited and declared that :
" Whereas, It has become absolutely necessary, in the present dangerous and extraordinary state of public affairs, in which the usual resources of govern- ment appear to be insufficient for the safety of the people, and in which the good people of this Province have therefore thought proper to choose Deputies in this present Congress, that a fund be provided for the use of the Province : We, the said Deputies, being per- suaded that every inhabitant is willing and desirous to contribute his proportion of money for so import- ant a purpose, do, pursuant to the powers intrusted to us by the people, resolve and direct that the sum of Ten Thousand Pounds, Proclamation Money, be immediately apportioned and raised for the use afore- said; the same to be apportioned, laid out and disposed of in such manner as hereinafter is directed."
The amounts to be raised under this ordinance by the several counties of the province were
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apportioned to them as follows: Bergen, £664 88. Od .; Burlington, £1071 138. 4d .; Cape May, £166 18s. Od .; Cumberland, £385 68. 8d .; Es- sex, £742 188. Od .; Gloucester, £763 28. 8d .; Hunterdon, £1363 16s. 8d .; Middlesex, £872 68. 8d., Monmouth, £1069 28. 8d .; Morris, £723 8s. Od .; Salem, £679 12s. Od .; Somer- set, £904 2s. Od .; Sussex, £593 58. 4d.
Other sections of the ordinance pointed out the manner of assessing and collecting the tax, and provided that when the amount collected " in a c, inty should be received by the county collector he should pay the same over to the county committee, " to be disposed of by them in such manner as they in their discretion shall think most proper" to meet expenses arising from the exigencies of the times." After the adoption of these measures for the public safety it was by the Congress
" Ordered, That Mr. Fisher, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Dan- iel Hunt, Mr. Frelinghuysen, Mr. I. Pearson, Mr. Dunham, Mr. Schureman, Mr. John Hart, Mr. Bor- den, Mr. Deare, Mr. Baldwin, Mr. Schenck, Mr. Ralph Hart and Mr. Heard, or any three of them, in conjunction with the President or Vice-President, be a Committee of Correspondence, with power to con- vene this Congress."
Immediately after the appointment of the Committee of Correspondence, the Congress ad- journed, June 3, 1775.
It is a rather remarkable fact in the history of this Provincial Congress of New Jersey that, although one of its first acts was to declare that its members had "assembled with the pro- foundest veneration for the person and family of His Sacred Majesty, George III., firmly pro- fessing all due allegiance to his rightful authority and government,"1 the close of its first session was marked by the adoption of the most vigorous measures in preparation for armed resistance to that sovereign's authority.
Two weeks from the day on which the Con- gress of New Jersey closed its session at Tren- ton, a force of British regulars moved from Boston to Charlestown, and marched in splendid order and perfect confidence up the acclivity of
Bunker Hill to attack the slight defenses of the patriot force that stood waiting for them in silence upon the summit. Twice were the scarlet lines hurled back in disorder down the slope, but as often did they re-form and return to the assault. Their third charge was successful; the Provincial forces, undismayed, but with empty muskets and cartridge-boxes, were at last forced from their position, and the soldiers of the King carried and held the blood-soaked crest. This event-the battle of Bunker Hill-is as well known and conspicuous in history as that of Marathon or Waterloo, and it was more im- portant in its results than either. Just before its occurrence General George Washington had been appointed2 by the Continental Congress 3 commander-in-chief of the forces of the United Colonies, and immediately afterwards he as- sumed command of the army at Cambridge and disposed his thin lines to encircle the British forces in the town of Boston.
In less than a week after the memorable battle in Charlestown, the startling news had been re- ceived in Philadelphia, and was known in every township of New Jersey. In this alarming state of affairs the general Committee of Corre- spondence of the province, exercising the powers intrusted to them, called a second session of the Provincial Congress, which body accordingly convened at Trenton on the 5th of August following. Eighty-three members were in at- tendance. Those of Monmouth County were Ed- ward Taylor, Robert Montgomery. John Holmes, John Covenhoven and Daniel Hendrickson.
The Congress at this session adopted a num- ber of measures for promoting the public safety, the principal of which were a resolution to pro- vide for the collection of the ten thousand pounds tax ordered at the May and June ses- sion, and a resolution "for further regulating the Militia, etc.," the first-named being the first business that was attended to after the opening of the session. It appears that many obstacles had been encountered in the collection of the tax, and that in a great number of instances payment had been avoided or refused.
1 Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety, 1775-76, p. 171.
2 .June 15, 1775.
3 The Continental Congress had convened in Philadelphia on the 10th of May, 1775.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
In adopting "the plan for further regulating the Militia, etc.," the Congress
" Resolved, 1. That the several County or (where there is no County) the Township Committees do transmit the names of all the Militia Officers chosen within their respective Districts to the Provincial Congress, or to the Committee of Safety, to be by them commissioned, agreeable to the directions of the Continental Congress.
" Resolved, 2. That all officers above the rank of a Captain, not already chosen or appointed, pursuant to an ordinance of this Congress made at their last " session, be appointed by the Congress or, during their recess, by the Committee of Safety.
" Resolved, 3. That where the inhabitants of differ- ent Townships have been embodied into one Company, Battalion or Regiment, before the 20th day of June last, it is not the intention of this Congress that they should be dissolved, provided they govern themselves according to the rules and directions of the same."
Ten resolutions succeeding those above quoted directed the organization of the militia of the province into regiments and battalions, and the number of each of these organizations to be appointed to the several counties ; established the order of their precedence; prescribed the manner in which they were to be raised, armed and governed ; provided for the collection of fines from " all effective men between the ages of sixteen and fifty who shall refuse to enroll themselves and bear arms," or who, being en- rolled, should absent themselves from the mus- ter, and directed how such fines should be applied. The troops directed to be raised and organized were to be equal to about twenty-six regiments, apportioned to the different counties as follows: The militia of Bergen County to compose one regiment ; of Essex, two regiments or four battalions; of Middlesex, two regi- ments ; of Monmouth, three regiments; of Morris and Sussex, each two regiments and one battalion ; of Burlington, two regiments and a company of rangers ; of Gloucester, three bat- talions ; of Salem, one regiment ; of Cumber- land, two battalions ; of Cape May, one battal- ion ; of Somerset, two regiments; and of Hunterdon, four regiments. And it was pro- vided "that the precedency of rank in the militia shall take place in the following order : 1. Essex ; 2. Salem ; 3. Gloucester ; 4. Morris ; . 5. Sussex ; 6. Cape May; 7. Monmouth ; 8.
Somerset ; 9. Bergen ; 10. Cumberland ; 11. Middlesex; 12. Hunterdon ; 13. Burlington ; and that, when there may be more than one regiment or battalion in a county, the prece- deney shall be determined by the county commit- tee, according to their former seniority."
Besides providing for the organization and arming of the militia, as above mentioned, the Congress resolved :
"That for the purpose of effectually carrying into execution the recommendation of the Continental Congress respecting the appointment of minute-men, four thousand able-bodied effective men be enlisted and enrolled in the several counties in this Province, under officers to be appointed and commissioned by this Congress or Committee of Safety, who shall hold themselves in constant readiness, on the shortest notice, to march to any place where their assistance may be required for the defence of this or any neigh- boring colony."
These " minute-men " were to be enlisted for a term of four months, at the end of which time they were to be "relieved, unless upon ac- tual service." They were given precedence of rank over the common militia of the province, and whenever called into actual service were "to receive the like pay as the Continental Army, and be furnished with camp equipage and pro- visions ; and also be provided for, if wounded or disabled in the service of their country." Their officers were to be nominated by the sev- eral county committees, or (in counties having no general committee) by the township commit- tees jointly, "with assurance that as soon as their companies are completed, they shall re- ceive commissions from the Provincial Congress or the Committee of Safety." The organiza- tion of the " minute-men" was directed to be made in companies of sixty-four men each, in- cluding officers, these companies to be formed into ten battalions for the whole province, and the apportionment to the several counties to be as given below,-viz. : Bergen County to fur- nish one battalion of four companies ; Essex County, one battalion of six companies ; Mid- dlesex County, one battalion of six companies ; Monmouth County, one battalion of six com- panies ; Somerset County, one battalion of five companies ; Morris County, one battalion of six companies ; Sussex County, one battalion of five
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.
companies ; Hunterdon County, one battalion power.' It does not appear, however, that it became necessary for the committee to exercise this power in any very important public busi- ness in the less than seven weeks which inter- vened between its formation and the reassem- bling of the Provincial Congress. During that at Princeton. v of eight companies ; Burlington County, one battalion of five companies ; Gloucester and Salem Counties, one battalion of seven compa- nies,-four to be furnished by Gloucester and one by Salem ; Cumberland County to furnish three companies, and Cape May County one interval the sessions of the committee were held company, all to act as " independent companies of light infantry and rangers."
Whatever arms and accoutrements were ob- . tained by the county and township committees were directed to be issued to the minute-men in preference to the militia until the former were armed and equipped, the remainder to be used for arming the militia. It was
"Resolved, That this Congress do recommend to the several County Committees in this Colony that they immediately employ gunsmiths to make such a num- ber of arms as they shall judge to be necessary and wanting in their respective counties; and that in the manufacture of said arms particular attention be paid to the directions of the Continental Congress.
It was also by the Congress
Ordered, That the several County Committees do appoint one Surgeon to each Regiment and Battalion belonging to their respective Counties; and certify the name of such Surgeon to the next Congress, or to the Committee of Safety, in order to his being prop- erly commissioned."
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The above mentioned, with the appointment of Philemon Dickinson as brigadier-general, were all the important military measures adopted at this session.
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The Congress adjourned on Thursday, August 17th, after a session of seventeen days, its last act prior to adjournment having been the ap- pointment of Hendrick Fisher, Samuel Tucker, Isaac Pearson, John Hart, Jonathan D. Ser- geant, Azariah Dunham, Peter Schenck, Enos Kelsey, Joseph Borden, Frederick Frelinghuy- sen and John Schureman as a Committee of Safety to control public affairs during the re- cess.
This was the first Committee of Safety of the province of New Jersey,-a body which came to be greatly feared by those inimical to the cause of America. During the times when the Congress was not in session this committee wielded extraordinary and almost unlimited .
At its August session, the Provincial Con- gress of New Jersey had provided for a new election of deputies from the counties of the province, and under this provision, Monmouth county elected Edward Taylor, John Covenhoven and Joseph Holmes, who, with forty-four other delegates from the several counties, formed the Second Provincial Congress, which convened in its first session, at Trenton, on the 3d of Octo- ber, 1775.
1 Mr. Charles D. Deshler, in his excellent paper read be- fore the New Brunswick Historical Club at its fifth anniver- sary, said of this Committee of Safety : " In effect it consti- tuted a practical dictatorship, residing not in one man in- deed, but in a majority vote of eleven or more persons, who were appointed by the Provincial Congress from time to time. Its members were invariably chosen by the deputies to the Provincial Congress from among their own number, and were men upon whom they could rely for courage, pru- dence, firmness, activity and sagacity. They exercised, as a committee, all the powers intrusted to or assumed by the Provincial Congress, save that of legislation. They con- ducted all the correspondence and conferences with the Continental Congress and Provincial Congresses of other colonies ; they gave orders for the arrest of suspicious or disaffected persons ; they tried and acquitted or condemned to imprisonment or detention men who were charged with disaffection or acting in concert with, or giving information to, the enemy ; they kept expresses in constant readiness to forward intelligence with all speed : they appropriated public moneys, commissioned officers in the militia or in the corps of minute-men, held prisoners of war. settled con- troversies between officers, civil and military, acted as a Court of Admiralty, confiscated the property of those who aided and abetted the public enemy, took order for the general security of the Province and for its defense, and in fine, they were the executive branch of the government, as the representatives of the power and authority of the Pro- vincial Congress during its recess. All which they exer- cised (with an ability and integrity that has never been im- peached) till they were superseded, in October, 1776, by the first Legislature under the new State Constitution (adopted July 2, 1786), which invested the Governor and a Council of twenty members with certain powers for a limited time under the title of 'The Governor and Council of Safety.'"
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
The Congress composed of these members so , passed for the same purpose, except that its re- recently elected and fresh from among the peo- quirements were more clearly defined, thorough and peremptory, and that evasion or non-com- pliance was punished by severer penalties and forfeitures, and these to be rigidly and relent- lessly enforced. One of the provisions of the ordinance was to the effect that every man en- rolled in the militia " shall, with all convenient speed, furnish himself with a good musket or firelock and bayonet, sword or tomahawk, a steel ramrod, priming-wire and brush fitted thereto, a cartouch-box to contain twenty-three rounds of cartridges, twelve flints and a knapsack, agreeable to the direction of the Continental Congress, under the forfeiture of two shillings for the want of a musket or a firelock, and of one shilling for the want of the other above enumerated articles ; " also "that every person directed to be enrolled as above shall, at his place of abode, be provided with one pound of powder and three pounds of bullets of proper size to his musket or firelock." ple was the first thoroughly representative body which had convened in New Jersey under the Revolutionary order of things. Among the business transacted -by this Congress was the passage, on the 24th of October, of " An Or- dinance for compelling the payment of the ten thousand pound tax from such persons as have refused to pay their quotas." The resolution levying this tax had been passed at the May session, and the subject had received further attention at the session held in August ; not- withstanding which, a large amount still re- mained uncollected,-payment being refused, -- for which reason this ordinance was passed, authorizing more stringent measures against de- linquents and directing the chairman or deputy chairman of any county committee to order the properly authorized persons "to make distress on the goods and chattels " of such delinquents, and to "make sale thereof at public vendue, giving five days' notice thereof by advertise- ment in such town or county."
But the most important of the measures taken at this session were those which related to the mustering and equipping of the military forces, and to raising the funds necessary for that pur- pose. One of these [passed October 28th] was " An Ordinance for regulating the Militia of New Jersey," which, after reciting in its preamble that " Whereas, The ordinances of the late Pro- vincial Congress for regulating the Militia of this Colony have been found insufficient to answer the good purposes intended, and it ap- pearing to be essentially necessary that some further regulations be adopted at this time of imminent danger," proceeded to adopt and direct such "further regulations" as were deemed necessary to accomplish the object for which the previous ordinances had been found insufficient,-viz., the enrollment in the militia of all able-bodied male inhabitants of the prov- ince between the ages of sixteen and fifty years (except those whose religious principles forbade them to bear arms), their muster, equip- ment and instruction in military tactics under command of proper officers. It was not ma- terially different from the earlier ordinances
The following extracts from the minutes of the Congress are given here as having reference to military matters at that time in Monmouth county, viz :
"October 12, 1775 .- A petition from the officers of the united regiment of Freehold and Middletown, praying that the officers therein named may be commissioned, was read; Or- dered, That commissions do issue accordingly.
"October 20, 1775 .- The Congress met pur- suant to adjournment. The certificate of the election of officers of the several companies of Militia in the Township of Freehold was read; Ordered, That commissions do issue to the sev- eral officers therein named.
"The certificate of the election of field offi- cers for the battalion of minute-men for the County of Monmouth was read ; Ordered, That commissions do issue to the officers therein named.
"October 25, 1775 .- Ordered, That commis- sions do issue to Samuel Forman, Esq., Lieu- tenant-Colonel, Elisha Lawrence, Esq., First Major, and James Mott, Esq., Second Major of the Second Regiment of Militia in the County of Monmouth."
The purchase of arms, ammunition, camp
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equipage, artillery and other military necessities for the province, and the furnishing of funds for such purchase by the issuance of bills of credit, were provided for by an ordinance passed October 28th,1 of which the preamble and most important sections were as follows :
" Whereas, It appears essentially necessary at this time of increasing danger that the inhabitants of this Colony should be furnished with ammunition and other military stores, and that this Colony should be put into some proper posture of defence:
" It is therefore Resolved and Directed, That Messrs.
. Samuel Tucker, Abraham Hunt, Joseph Ellis and Alexander Chambers be, and they are hereby, ap- pointed Commissioners for the Western Division; and that Hendrick Fisher, Azariah Dunham, Abra- ham Clark and Samuel Potter be, and they are hereby, appointed Commissioners for the Eastern Division of this Colony; which said Commissioners, or the major part of them, are hereby authorized and directed to receive of the Treasurers of this Colony, for the time being, appointed by this Congress, or either of them, all such sum or sums of money as they shall from time to time find necessary to expend for the use of this Colony, pursuant to the resolutions hereinafter mentioned.
" And it is further Resolved and Directed, That the said commissioners be, and they are hereby, author- ized and directed to contract with artificers for, or otherwise purchase, three thousand stand of arms at any price not exceeding Three Pounds Seven Shil- lings each stand; and also to purchase ten tons of gunpowder, twenty tons of lead, one thousand car- touch-boxes, at any price not exceeding nine Shil- lings each; a quantity of flints, brushes, priming wire and cartridge paper, not exceeding one hundred Pounds in value; two chests of medicine, not exceed- ing three hundred Pounds in value; four hundred tents, with camp equipage, etc., not exceeding one thousand eight hundred and seventy Pounds in value; two thousand blankets, not exceeding fifteen hundred Pounds in value; a number of axes, spades, and other intrenching tools, not exceeding three hundred Pounds in value ; and a train of artillery not exceed- ing five hundred Pounds in value .?
" And whereas, It is absolutely necessary to provide a fund for defraying the above expense, it is therefore Resolved and Directed, That bills of credit to the amount of thirty thousand 3 Pounds Proclamation money+ be immediately prepared, printed and made as follows, to wit : Five thousand seven hundred bills, each of the value of three Pounds; six thousand bills, each of the value of one Pound ten Shillings; four thousand bills, each of the value of fifteen Shil- lings; and three thousand bills, each of the value of six Shillings; which bills shall be in the form follow- ing, to wit :
"This bill, by an Ordinance of the Provincial Congress, shall pass current in all payments within the Colony of New Jersey for Proclamation Money ; Dated the day of 1775,' and shall be im- pressed with such devices as the inspectors of the press hereinafter appointed shall direct; and when printed shall be delivered to Hendrick Fisher and Azariah Dunham, Esquires, of the Eastern Division, and to John Hart and John Carey, of the Western Division, four of the signers thereof, in equal moieties; one moiety to be signed by the Treasurer and signers of the Eastern Division, and the other moiety by the Treasurer and signers of the Western Division. . . . "
The succeeding parts of the ordinance pro- vided for the numbering, signing, countersign- ing, counting and inspection of the bills, with various other details, all which were laid out and directed with great minuteness as a safe- guard against the possibility of irregularity or fraud. And it was further provided by the ordinance that " for the better credit and effec_ tual sinking of the said bills of credit there shall be assessed, levied and raised on the sev- eral inhabitants of this colony, their goods and chattels, lands and tenements, the sum of ten thousand pounds annually in every of the years one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six ;" . . . and the apportionment of this annual tax
1 Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety, 1775-76, p. 246.
2 It was found that the articles named could not be pur- chased for the sums to which the commissioners were limited ; and thereupon, on the 10th of February, 1776, the Congress gave them unlimited authority to purchase, by the following. action ; "Whereas, By an ordinance of this Congress, passed at Trenton the 28th day of October last, the Commissioners therein named and appointed to purchase firearms and military stores were particularly `restricted in the price to be paid for said firearms, whereby
the manufactory thereof hath been greatly impeded ; for the remedy whereof it is resolved unanimously that the said Commissioners have full power immediately to proceed in contracting for firearms upon the best terms in their power, without any limitation or restriction; and that this Congress will in convenient time pass an ordinance for that purpose."- Minutes Provincial Congress and Council of Safety, 1775-76, pp. 858, 359.
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