USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 26
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3 The amount was raised to fifty thousand pounds by an ordinance passed February 28, 1776.
+ Proclamation money was reckoned at seven shillings six- pence to the dollar.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
was made identical in the amounts assigned to each of the counties with that of the ten thou- sand pound tax, before mentioned, levied at the session of the preceding May.
The question of the enlistment and organiza- tion of two battalions of soldiers in New Jer- sey for the Continental service was among the business brought before the Congress at this session. It originated in the receipt, on the 13th of October, of a letter from the President of the Continental Congress to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, it being as follows :
" PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 12, 1775.
"GENTLEMEN,-Some late intelligence,1 laid be- fore Congress, seems to render it absolutely necessary, for the protection of our liberties and the safety of our lives, to raise several new battalions, and there- fore the Congress have come into the inclosed resolu- tions, which I am ordered to transmit to you. The Congress have the firmest confidence that from your experienced zeal in this great cause you will exert your utmost endeavors to carry the said resolutions into execution with all possible expedition.
"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, pro- vided these can be procured, but these are not to be made part of the terms of enlistment.
" I am, gentlemen,
"Your most obedient humble servant, " JOHN HANCOCK. " President."
" By order of Congress, I forward you forty-eight commissions for the captains and subaltern officers in 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 Congress of New Jersey that it should " immediately raise, at the ex- pense of the continent, two battalions, consist- ing of eight companies," of men for the service, and specifying the manner in which they were to be enlisted and officered and the pay and allowances they would receive.
A reply was at once sent (October 13th) to the Continental Congress, expressing the desire
of the Congress 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 manner in which the field-officers for the proposed battalions were to be appointed. This disagreement resulted in some further correspondence, and the matter was afterwards satisfactorily arranged.
On the 28th of October the Provincial Con- gress passed a resolution recommending to the Continental Congress the appointment and com- missioning of the following-named field-officers for the two battalions to be raised in New Jer- sey,-viz. : For the Eastern Battalion, 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 Continental Congress.
The Provincial Congress adjourned on the 28th of October, "to meet at New Brunswick on the first Tuesday in April next, unless sooner convened by the President, Vice-President or the Committee of Safety." The gentlemen ap- pointed to form this committee, to act for the public welfare in the recess of this Congress, were Samuel Tucker, Hendrick Fisher, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Lewis Ogden, Joseph Holmes, John Mehelm, Isaac Pearson, John Pope, Azariah Dunham, John Dennis, Augus- tine Stephenson, Ruloff Van Dyke.
The committee held a five days' session at Princeton, from the 9th to the 13th of January, 1776, at which a number of Tories and disaf- fected persons 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. They saw fit, however, to call an extra session of the Provin- cial Congress, as appears by the following ex- tract from their minutes, dated January 12th, -viz .:
"This Committee received several resolutions and determinations of the Continental Congress respect- ing raising one new battalion in this Province, erect- ing and establishing a Court of Admiralty, advising
1 Unfavorable intelligence from the Canadian expedition under Generals Schuyler and Montgomery.
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.
the forming some useful regulations respecting the Continental forces raised in this Colony; which requisitions, together with many other important con- cerns, render the speedy meeting of a 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 Congress at its previous session had ordered to be raised had proceeded successfully and with rapidity. Lord Stirling, having been commis- sioned 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 regiment of militia which he had previously com- manded, and he found very little difficulty in fill- ing the ranks of his new command. Colonel Max- well's (Western) battalion was recruited with nearly equal facility. In the last week of No- vember (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. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Winds was soon after stationed, with a part of the battalion, at Perth Amboy. Colonel 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 Con- tinental service in December.
The first Monmouth County company that took the field was that of Captain Longstreet, who, in November, 1775, marched his com- mand to Perth Amboy, where they took posses- sion of the barracks, which had been vacated by the Forty-Seventh Royal Regiment of Foot in the fall of 1774, when they moved to join the forces of General Gage in Boston.
On the 2d of February, 1776, Congress ordered to be sent "to the commanding officers and chairmen of the several county committees in the province " a circular-letter in these words :
"GENTLEMEN,-The late repulse at Quebec1 re-
" I The unsuccessful assault on the defenses of thit town.
quires every exertion of the friends of American free- dom, in consequence whereof Colonel Maxwell's bat- talion is ordered to march forthwith, and the Continen- tal Congress have applied to our body urging the great- est dispatch in procuring arms and necessaries for this expedition. Therefore, in pursuance of the aforesaid application, we request you, gentlemen, to use the utmost diligence 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 in money, or the number be replaced, and the expenses of collecting and forward- ing them punctually discharged. We put you to this trouble with regret; but the necessity of the measure must apologise. You will have the arms collected in your county valued by good men, and sent to Bur- lington or Trenton, under the care of such officer of Colonel Maxwell's battalion as may be the bearer thereof."
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 1st,-viz. :
"Lieutenant-Colonel 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 ammuni- tion, 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 quan- tity of lead,-in consideration whereof : Ordered, That Mr. President request the Chairman of the Committee of Somerset to furnish Colonel Winds with four quar- ter casks of powder; and that he also request the Chairman of the Committee of the County of Middle- sex to furnish Colonel Winds with 150 pounds of lead ; and 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 Commit- tee of Elizabethtown have furnished him with six thousand cartridges, Somerset County four quarter casks of powder, Woodbridge a considerable quantity
in the morning of December 31, 1775, by the American forces under Montgomery and Arnold, in which the first- named gallant officer lost his life and the latter was severely wounded.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
and Brunswick one hundred and fifty weight of lead. Our militia are very illy supplied with ammunition ; those who have granted the above supplies are there- fore very desirous that they be immediately re- placed."
This extract is from a communication sent by the Provincial Congress on the date named to the Continental Congress asking for "ten tons of gunpowder and twenty tons of lead, or as much as may be spared," out of a large quantity re- ported to have then recently arrived at Philadel- phia. The request was granted to the extent of half a ton of powder, and out of this, the quan- tity 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 probability (indicated in letters from General Washington to Congress) that General Howe in- tended to evacuate his uncomfortable position at Boston and move his forces thence by sea to New York, as also the knowledge that Sir Henry Clin- ton had embarked from England on a secret expe- dition, whose probable destination was New York, a greater degree of activity was infused into mili- tary measures in general, and especially to those having reference to the defense of the middle colonies. The Continental Congress having re- solved, in January, 1776, that it was necessary to raise a number of additional battalions, assigned the raising of one of these to the province of New Jersey, and recommended to the Provincial Congress that it should take immediate steps to that end. Accordingly, on the 5th of February, the last-named Congress passed a resolution to raise a battalion, in addition to the two previ- ously raised, to be enlisted, organized and offi- cered in the same manner (except that each of the eight companies should be composed of sev- enty-eight instead of sixty-eight privates), and, like the others, to be employed in the Continental service. Company officers for the battalion were appointed by the Congress of New Jersey, but the field-officers were to be appointed and com- missioned by the Continental Congress.
The rapid progress made in raising the Third Battalion is indicated by the following extract from a letter written by President Tucker to the Continental Congress on the 24th of February,
only nineteen days after the passage of the reso- lution ordering the battalion to be raised,-viz .: " I am 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."
On the 13th of February, Congress resolved "that a train of artillery, consisting of twelve pieces, be immediately purchased for the use of this Colony," and on the 2d of March an ordi- nance was passed directing that two complete artillery companies be immediately raised for the defense of the colony, " one to be stationed in the Eastern and one in the Western Division there- of, . .. to be disposed of in this Colony as the Congress, Committee of Safety, Brigadier- General of the Division to which they re- spectively belong shall direct ; each company to be commanded by a Captain, Captain- Lieutenant, First and Second Lieutenants ; and to consist of a Fire-worker, four Sergeants, four Corporals, one Bombardier and fifty matrosses, all of whom are to be able-bodied freemen, and to be enlisted for one year, unless sooner discharged." The commissioned officers ap- pointed for these companies were Frederick Frelinghuysen captain,1 Daniel Neil captain- lieutenant, Thomas Clark first lieutenant, and John Heard second lieutenant of the East- ern Company, and Samuel Hugg captain, Thomas Newark captain-lieutenant, John West- cott first lieutenant, and Joseph Dayton second lieutenant of the Western Company. A com- pany of riflemen was also ordered to be raised, to be joined to Colonel Maxwell's (Second Continental) battalion.
In view of the probability, as before mentioned, that General Howe was about to move hisarmy to occupy New York, and the expected arrival, by sea, of a force under Sir Henry Clinton, a con- siderable number of Continental and Provincial
1 Captain Frelinghuysen soon after resigned his commis- sion and thereupon his artillery company was disbanded, as is shown by an ordinance passed August 21, 1776, order- ing the payment of certain demands, among them being : " To Frederick Frelinghuysen £61 133. 2d., being the bal- ance due to him and men by him enlisted for the eastern company of artillery. who were discharged upon his resig- nation."- Min. Prop. Cong .. 1776. p. 575.
MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.
135
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.1 On the 15th of February the Congress of New Jersey received a communication from the Presi- dent of the Continental Congress, dated Febru- ary 12th, asking this province to send a force of minute-men to New York ; upon the receipt of which the Provincial Congress resolved unani- mously,
"That the above requisition be complied with, and that detachments of minute-men, properly accoutred, equal to a battalion in the Continental service, be im- mediately made, and marched to New York under the command of Charles Stewart, Esq., colonel; Mark Thompson, Esq., lieutenant-colonel; Frederick Fre- linghuysen and Thomas Henderson,2 Esqrs., majors."
1
But again the scarcity of arms presented a serious difficulty, and this time it proved an in- superable obstacle to the desired movement of the troops, as is explained by the following ex- tract from the minutes of the Continental Con- gress, dated February 22d,-viz .:
" A delegate from New Jersey having informed Congress that the regiment 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 month, 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 neces- sary 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 minute-men were thus countermanded the several organizations of minute-men in the colony were disbanded by action of the Provin-
1 In a letter addressed by Lord Stirling to the President of Congress, dated New York, February 19, 1776, he says,-
" SIR, -On the 14th instant I informed you of having re- ceived General Lee's orders to march with my regiment to this place. I accordingly marched the next morning with four companies from Elizabethtown, and arrived here the next day, as soon as the ice permitted us to cross Hudson's River. The other four companies followed the next day." - Collections of the New Jersey Historical Society, col. i. p. 129.
2 Dr. Thomas Henderson, of Freehold.
cial 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 be immediately dis- solved, and incorporated with the militia, in the several companies in the district in which they re- spectively reside, as though such minute-men had never been raised. . . . "
The principal reasons for this action, as enu- merated in the preamble to the ordinance, were that large numbers of the members of minute- men organizations had enlisted in the Continental service, thereby greatly reducing the companies and battalions, and so placing them in a condi- tion in which they could not " answer the design of their institution," and that " our defense, under God, chiefly depends upon a well-regulated militia." Thus the "minute-men" organiza- tions of New Jersey ceased to exist, never having had an opportunity to perform any of the pecu- liar services for which they were formed.
The Congress of New Jersey adjourned on the 2d of March, 1776, having previously 3 pas-ed an ordinance, in which it was " Resolved and di- rected, That there be a new choice of Deputies to serve in Provincial Congress, for every County of this Colony, on the fourth Monday in May yearly, and every year," thus establish- ing regular annual elections of deputies instead 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 Edward Taylor, John Covenhoven, Joseph Holmes, James Mott and Josiah Holmes for Monmouth County. These, with sixty deputies from the other coun- ties, assembled in Provincial Congress at Bur- lington, and organized on the 11th of June by electing Samuel Tucker president and William Patterson secretary.
At this session a great amount of business was transacted, a large proportion of which was it - cluded in the measures taken for raising, organ :- izing and forwarding troops. These measures will not be noticed in detail here, but the most important of them will be mentioned incidentally in succeeding pages, in connection with the events of which the year 1776 was so fruitful. A num-
3 February 28th.
.
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
ber of matters having special reference to Mon-
" Four petitions from the Township of Mid- mouth County are given here (some of them in ' dletown and Shrewsbury, in the County of Mon- a disconnected form) as found in the minutes of mouth, praying that the government of the the "Convention of New Jersey "-as the Pro- | Province of New Jersey may not be changed, vincial Congress then began to be called, viz. :
" June 12, 1776 .- A letter from Colonel David Brearley, of the County of Monmouth, complaining of sundry disaffected persons in his regiment ; read, and ordered a second reading.
"A petition from sundry inhabitants of the County of Monmouth, praying that none of the militia may be taken out of that County, as it | tinental Congress of the 15th of May last ; were
lies so exposed to hostile invasion ; read, and ordered a second reading.
" June 17 .- On reading a second time, the memorial of Colonel David Brearley, respecting certain disaffected persons in Monmouth County; gress would immediately establish such mode of and the letter from the President of the Pro- vincial Congress in New York, stating the cir- cumstances of a defection in Bergen County, --- &c. Ordered, That the same be referred to Colonel Dick, Mr. Sergeant, Mr. Symmes, Col- onel Covenhoven and Mr. Brown.
" June 18th .- Pursuant to a certificate of election, Ordered, That the following per- soas be commissioned as officers in a com- pany of light infantry, in the Township of Mid-
" A representation of the County Committee dletown, County of Monmouth, to wit : John of Monmouth, giving a detail of Colonel For- Burrowes, Jun., Captain ; Jonathan Forman, i man and the minute-men seizing several disaf- First Lieutenant; James Whitlock, Second Lieu- fected persons in that county without the express tenant ; Samuel Carhart, Third Lieutenant.
" James Mott, Second Major of the second | by them afterwards; accompanied with an battalion of foot militia in Monmouth County, account of the expense attending the seizure having resigned his commission, Ordered, That ; of said persons ; read, and ordered a second his resignation be accepted.
"June 19 .-- A petition from sundry inhabit- ants of the Township of Shrewsbury, in Mon- ' mouth County, praying that no new mode of government may be established ; that the pres- ent may continue, as being sufficient for the ex- igency of our affairs ; and that no measures may be adopted that tend to separate this Colony from Great Britain ; was read, and ordered a second reading.
&c., read.
" Two petitions from the Township of Free- hold, in the County of Monmouth, praying that this Congress will immediately establish such mode of government as shall be equal to the present exigencies of this Colony, and fully co- incide with the resolve of the Honourable Con-
read.
" Monday, June 24 .- Two petitions from the Townships of Middletown and Freehold, in the County of Monmouth, praying that this Con- government as shall be equal to the exigencies of this Colony, and fully coincide with the re- solve of the Honourable Continental Congress of the fifteenth of May last; read, and ordered a second reading.
" A letter from the County Committee of Monmouth, enclosing an association signed by certain disaffected persons ; read, and ordered a second reading.
command of the Committee, though approved reading.
" Wednesday, June 26 .- Whereas, it ap- pears, from undoubted intelligence, that there are several insurgents in the County of Mon- mouth who take every measure in their power to contravene the regulations of Congress, and to oppose the cause of American freedom ; and, as it is highly necessary that an imme- diate check be given to so daring a spirit of disaffection ; It is therefore resolved, unani mously, That Colonel Charles Read take to his
"June 21 .- Ordered, unanimously, That Doctor Melancthon Freeman be appointed Sur- 'aid two companies of militia of the County of geon, and Mr. Benjamin Stockton, Surgeon's : Burlington, properly officered and armed, and Mate, to the battalion directed to be raised in proceed without delay to the County of Mon- the Counties of Middlesex and Monmouth.
,mouth, in order to apprehend such insurgents
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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.
and disaffected persons in said County as this Congress shall give in direction to Colonel Read.
" Resolved, unanimously, That Colonel Read take, if necessary, to his assistance the militia of Monmouth.
" Resolved, unanimously, That such officers and militia as engaged in this service shall re- ceive the like pay as the Continental troops.
" Resolved, unanimously, That the said mili- amount of said arms according to the apprais- tia furnish themselves with provisions, and that this Congress will order payment therefor.
" Resolved, That the following directions, Committee of Monmouth, the other from the signed by the President, be given to Colonel Read.
" Colonel Charles Read : You are hereby ordered to apprehend Richard Robins and Moses Ivins, and to deliver them unto the keeper of the common gaol of the County of Glou-
Grover, Guisebert Guisebertson, and Thomas Lewis Woodward, and bring them before this Congress, or, during their recess, the Committee of Safety.
" Ordered, That the Company under the com- mand of Captain Stillwell, which was directed in their own County, excepting such part thereof by the late Committee of Safety to guard the coast of this Colony near Sandy Hook, be con- tinued until the further order of this Convention . Jersey brigade of three thousand three hundred or Committee of Safety. If it be inconvenient men. for any of the Company to continue in the said employment, Captain Stillwell is hereby empow- ered to supply such deficiency by enlistment. Ordered, That Colonel George Taylor be Com- missary for the said Company.
"Friday, June 28 .- Two petitions from sundry inhabitants of the Township of Upper Freehold, in the County of Monmouth, praying that this Congress would immediately establish such mode of government as shall be equal to
County Committee of Monmouth, setting forth that in pursuance of a resolution of the late Congress, said Committee furnished Colonel Maxwell's battalion with fifty stand of arms and that it was in their option to have them re- placed or receive their value in money, and pray- ing that this Congress would order the value of said arms to be paid in money ; read a second time, and ordered that the treasurer pay the : ment.
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