History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1, Part 30

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 974

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first time the presence of Washington and his commanded by Captain William Moulder, poured

At the close of the action near Clarke's house

a storm of canister into the faces of the pursuers. General Washington sent a detachment, under

At this point, Mawhood, discovering for the | Major Kelley, of the Pennsylvania militia, to destroy the bridge over Stony Brook, for the force, ceased the pursuit, brought up his artillery : purpose of delaying the advance of General Les- pieces, and opened on Moulder's section, which : lie with the reserve division of Cornwallis ; but he immediately afterwards charged, in a desperate but unsuccessful attempt to capture the guns. The scene of the conflict at this moment, when the lines of the opposing forces confronted each other and the men of each awaited the command to fire, is thus described by Bancroft : before they had accomplished the work the enemy came in sight on Millett's Hill and opened a fire on the working-party from their artillery, which finally drove them from the bridge, though ` not until it had been rendered impassable for the British artillery and trains. The commanding officer of the detachment, Major Kelley, was knocked off the bridge into the stream, but, suc- ceeding in crawling out, was making his way towards Princeton, when he fell into the hands of the enemy. The British commander, Corn- wallis, on coming up to the bridge, found it im- passable for his column ; but so great was his anxiety for the safety of his magazines of supply at New Brunswick (which he fully believed to be Washington's destination) that, bitterly cold - -- - as it was, he ordered his troops to ford the stream, which they did, and then, with their clothing frozen stiff, pushed on as fast as they were able in pursuit of the Americans.

"General Washington, from his desire to animate his troops by example, rode into the very front of danger, and when within less than thirty yards of the British he reined his horse with its head towards them as both parties were about to fire, seeming to tell his faltering forces that they must stand firm or leave him confront the enemy alone. The two sides gave a vol- ley at the same moment, when, as the smoke cleared away, it was thought a miracle that Washington was untouched. Ey this time Hitchcock, for whom a raging hectic made this day nearly his last, came up with his brigade, and Hand's riflemen began to turn the left of the English. These, after repeated exertions of the greatest courage and discipline, re- treated before they were wholly surrounded, and fled over the fields and fences up Stony Brook. The ac- tion, from the first conflict with Mercer, did not Jast more than twenty minutes. Washington, on the battle-ground, took Hitchcock by the hand, and he- fore his army thanked him for his services."

In the battle with Mawhood, the left wing of his force, the Fifty-fifth Regiment, was cut off from the right, and was driven into the town,

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where it took a position in a ravine near the col- lege. There it was attacked by the New Eng- land regiments of Stark, Poor, Patterson and Reed, and after a desperate resistance was utterly routed and sent flying in disorder along the road towards Kingston. . A part of the Fortieth Regi- ment (which had been left in Princeton when Mawhood marched out in the morning, and which consequently participated very little in the day's fighting) joined in the retreat and swelled the throng of fugitives. A detachment of the Ameri- can force pursued them, but they soon left the main road, and, striking off to the left, fled in a northerly direction along the by-ways and through the fields and woods, where most of them es- caped.1

In the college buildings at Princeton there re- mained a part of the Fortieth Regiment, which had occupied it as barracks. Washington, sup- posing that these men would stand and defend their position, ordered up a section of artillery, which opened on the buildings. The first shot fired passed into the Prayer-Hall and through the head of a portrait of His Majesty George II. which hung on the wall. But little show of re- sistance was made by the British within the buildings, and finally James Moore, of Prince- ton, a captain of militia, with the assistance of a few others as bold as himself, burst open a door of Nassau Hall and demanded a surrender of the forces within. The demand was at once complied with, and the entire body, including a number of sick, gave themselves up as prisoners of war. This was the last of the British forces in Princeton, and Washington, having now en- tirely cleared the town of his enemies, immedi- ately evacuated the place, and with his army moved rapidly away towards Kingston.

The advance division of Cornwallis, which had hurried up from Maidenhead towards the scene of action and dashed through the iey waters of Stony Brook, as before mentioned, moved for- ward in the greatest haste from that point to Princeton. Guarding the southwestern approach

to the town was a bastioned earth-work which had been thrown up a week or two earlier by their own forces, and upon its rampart a thirty- two-pounder gun had been mounted by Count Donop. Now, as the head of Leslie's division came on at a quick-step, it was greeted by a thundering report from the great gun, which had been fired by two or three American soldiers who still lingered near it. The rush of the ponderous shot above the heads of the British caused the advancing column to halt, and the commander, who now believed that Washington had determined to defend the place, sent out parties of cavalry to reconnoitre, the infantry in the mean time ad- vancing slowly and with great caution prepara- tory to an assault of the work. By these move- ments Cornwallis lost one precious hour, and when his men at last moved up to the fortifica- tion they found it entirely deserted, and soon after the cavalry-parties reported that there was not a rebel soldier in Princeton. Upon this the British general, chagrined at the delay resulting from his useless caution, ordered his columns to move on with all speed on the New Brunswick road. Arriving at Kingston, three miles from Princeton, he found that the Americans had broken down the bridge at that place ; but this was soon repaired, and the army, having crossed the stream, was again hurried on in the hope of overtaking the Americans in time to prevent the destruction of the military stores at New Bruns- wiek. Cornwallis arrived at that place during the succeeding night, and was rejoiced to find his stores untouched ; but he found no American army, for " the fox " had again eluded him, and was at that time safe among the hills of the upper Raritan.

Washington, on leaving Princeton, moved his force with the greatest possible speed to Kingston, crossing the Millstone River and destroying the bridge behind him. Having proceeded thus far, he was not a little per- plexed in deciding on his subsequent move- ments. The heavy column of Cornwallis was following so closely in his rear that it was only at great peril that he could pursue his original plan2 of marching to New Brunswick. The

2 " My original plan," said Washington in his letter to Congress dated Pluckamin. January 5th, "was to have

' Washington had no cavalry with him, and of course the pursuit of a terrified crowd of fugitives by infantry was fruitless. Many of them, however, were captured, and the pursuing parties kept up the chase so long that they had not all rejoined the main body two days later.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

destruction of the British magazines and stores at that place would have been a most glorious ending of the winter campaign, and would, be- yond doubt, have driven the last vestige of British military power out of New Jersey; but, on the other hand, a collision with the superior forces of Cornwallis, -which it seemed hardly · possible to avoid if the march to New Bruns- wick was continued,-could hardly result other- wise than in defeat, and not improbably in the rout and destruction of the American army. At this juncture the commander-in-chief adopted his usual course,-called a council of war, which was held by himself and his generals in the saddle, and, although "some gentlemen advised that he should file off to the southward," the council resulted in the decision to abandon the original plan, strike off from the New Bruns- wick road, and march the army by way of the ' Millstone valley, and thence across the Raritan, to the hilly country in the northwest.

The plan adopted by the council of war was at once put into execution. The army filed off from the main highway, and, turning sharply to the left, marched over a narrow and unfre- quented road to Rocky Hill, where it recrossed the Millstone River and moved on, as rapidly as was practicable in the exhausted condition of the men, to Millstone, where it bivouacked that night, and on the evening of the 4th reached Pluckamin.

General Hugh Mercer, the commanding officer of the American detachment which first joined battle with the British troops under Mawhood on the morning of the 3d of January, near Princeton, was mortally wounded in that first short, but disastrous conflict. In the volley

which the British Seventeenth Regiment poured into the American line when it held the posi- tion along the rail-fence on the height west of Clarke's house on that memorable morning, a ball, striking Mercer's horse in the foreleg, dis- abled him and compelled the general to dis- mount ; and in the hurried retreat which im- mediately followed through the orchard, while he was in the very midst of the fight, trying to rally his flying troops, he was felled to the earth by a blow from a British musket. "The British soldiers were not at first aware of the general's rank. So soon as they discovered he was a general officer, they shouted that they had got the rebel general, and cried : 'Call for quarter, you d-d rebel !' Mercer, to the most undaunted courage, united a quick and ardent temperament ; he replied with indignation to his enemies, while their bayonets were at his bosom, that he deserved not the name of rebel, and, determining to die, as he had lived, a true and honored soldier of liberty, lunged with his sword at the nearest man. They then bayoneted him and left him for dead."1 It was after- wards ascertained that he had received sixteen bayonet wounds,2 and he was also terribly beaten on the head with the butt of a musket by a British soldier while he lay wounded and help- less on the ground. He was taken to Clarke's house, and there most tenderly cared for and nursed by the ladies of the household; but after lingering in agony for nine days, he expired on the 12th of January.

The American army arrived at Pluckamin on the evening of the 4th of January in a con- dition of extreme weariness and destitution. Not only were the men worn out by loss of

pushed on to Brunswic; but the harassed state of our troops (many of them having had no rest for two nights and a day), and the danger of losing the advantage we had gained, by aiming at too much, induced me, by the advice of my officers, to relinquish the attempt ; but, in my judg- ment, six or eight hundred fresh troops, on a forced march, would have destroyed all their stores and magazines, taken (as we have since learned) their military chest containing seventy thousand pounds, and put an end to the war. The enemy, from the best intelligence I have been able to get, were so much alarmed at the apprehension of this that they marched immediately to Brunswie without halting, except | at the bridges (for I also took up those on Millstone on the " different routes to Brunswic), and got there before day."

1 Recollections of the Life and Character of Washington, by G. W. P. Custis.

2 " The late Dr. Moses Scott, of New Brunswick, with other surgeons, was with General Mercer under the tree after the battle, and said that he had received sixteen wounds by the bayonet, though these were not thought by the general himself (who was a physician) to be necessarily mortal, but that while lying on the ground a British sol- dier had struck him on the head with his musket ; 'and that,' said he, ' was a dishonorable act, and it will prove my death.'"-Raum's " History of Trenton."

Mercer and Washington had been comrades and warm personal friends in the campaigns against the French in | 1755.

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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.

sleep and the excessive fatigue of the rapid night-march from Trenton to Princeton, the battle of that place, and the subsequent march- ing to Kingston, down the valley of the Mill- stone, and from the Raritan to the mountains, but they were very poorly supplied with food, many of them shoeless, and suffering from cold through lack of blankets and sufficient clothing. The officers as well as the private soldiers suf- fered from the same cause. Colonel Rodney said, in reference to his condition during the halt at Pluckamin, " I had nothing to cover me here but my great-coat, but luckily got into a house near the mountains, where I fared very comfort- ably while we stayed here." But there were few, even among the officers, who fared as well as he in this respect.

During the day of January 5th, the main body of the army lay quietly at Pluckamin, resting and waiting for detached bodies to join it.1 When the commands had all reported, and the men had in some degree recovered from the effects of the excessive fatigue and exposure which they had been compelled to endure in the marches and battles from the Assanpink to Plucka- min, the army moved out from its temporary camps at the latter place and marched leisurely to Morristown, where it went into winter-quar- ters in log huts. It is said that while there the only command in which the men were in com- plete .uniform was Colonel Rodney's battalion of Delaware troops, which on that account was detailed for duty as a body-guard to the com- mander-in-chief.

The glorious result of the campaign which commenced on the south shore of the Delaware at McConkey's Ferry at nightfall on the evening of Christmas Day, 1776, and ended when the weary and shivering soldiers of Washington entered their comparatively comfortable winter- quarters at Morristown, wrought a wonderful change in the aspect of affairs in New Jersey. A few weeks before, when the slender and con- stantly-decreasing columns of the American army were crossing the State towards the Dela-

ware, in flight before the pursuing and vieto- rious legions of Cornwallis, a large proportion -probably a majority-of the people of the State had become discouraged, and, despairing of a successful issue to the struggle for liberty, large numbers of them promptly availed them- selves of the terms offered by the proclamation of the British commander, guaranteeing pardon and protection to such rebels and disaffected persons as would come forward to abandon the patriot cause and renew their allegiance to the King.2 It is stated that for a considerable time the daily average of persons within the State who thus signified their adhesion to the royal cause was more than two hundred. Scarcely an inhabitant of the State joined the army of Washington as he was retreating towards the Delaware, but, on the contrary, great numbers of those who were already in the service from this State deserted and returned to their homes. " The two Jersey regiments which had been for- warded by General Gates, under General St. Clair, went off to a man the moment they entered their own State. A few officers, without a sin- gle private, were all of these regiments which St. Clair brought to the commander-in-chief." 3 The most earnest exertions of Governor Living- ston to induce the militia to oppose the invading army were fruitless. Those who visited the army brought back an unfavorable report.

2 " The British comissioners [General William Howe and his brother, Admiral Lord Richard Howe] issued a procla- mation, commanding all persons assembled in arms against His Majesty's government to disband and return to their homes, and all civil officers to desist from their treasonable practices and to relinquish their usurped authority. A full pardon was offered to all who within sixty days would appear before an officer of the Crown, claim the benefit of the proclamation, and subscribe a declaration of his sub- mission to the royal authority. Seduced by this proclama- tion, not only the ordinary people shrunk from the apparent fate of the country in this, its murkiest hour, but the vaporing patriots who sought office and distinction at the hands of their countrymen when danger in their service was distant now crawled into the British lines, humbly craving the merey of their conquerors, and whined out, as ¡ justification, that though they had united with others in seeking a constitutional redress of grievances, they approved not the measures lately adopted, and were at all times opposed to independence,-Gordon's " History of New Jersey," p. 22.

1 In Washington's dispatches to Congress dated at Pluck- amin on that day he says, " Our whole loss cannot be ascer- tained, as many who are in pursuit of the enemy (who were "chased three or four miles) are not yet come in." 1 3 Ibid.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

* and thus jeopardize their possessions. The Leg- islature, itself defenseless, had moved from Princeton to Burlington,1 and there, on the 2d of December, they adjourned, each man going home to look after his own affairs. Until the battle of Trenton, on the 26th of that month, New Jersey might have been considered a con- quered province. Even Samuel Tucker, chair- man of the Committee of Safety, treasurer, and judge of the Supreme Court, took a protection of the British, and thus renounced allegiance to this State, and vacated his offices. Open insur- rection against the American cause had broken out in several counties, among which was that of Monmouth, where a desperate state of affairs existed, to suppress which it was deemed neces- sary to detach a strong military force under Colonel Forman. Panic, disaffection and cow- ardly submission were found everywhere ; despair had seized on all but the sturdiest patriots ; and the conflict for liberty seemed well-nigh hope- less.

They secretly or openly advised others to do : time forward generally acquired high reputation, nothing that would involve them in disloyalty, and throughout a long and tedious war con- ducted themselves with spirit and discipline scarce surpassed by the regular troops. In small parties they now scoured the country in every direction, seized on stragglers, in several light skirmishes behaved exceptionally well, and collected in such numbers as to threaten the weaker British posts with the fate which those at Trenton and Princeton had already experi- enced. In a few days, indeed, the Americans had overrun the Jerseys." Among the inhab- itants, those who had maintained their unswerv- ing devotion to the patriotic cause once more took heart; and even of those who, from motives of fear and self-interest, had availed themselves of the " protection " of the British,3 the greater number were rejoiced at the successes of Washington. General Howe's "protections" had proved to them a delusion. During the time in which the British held undisputed con- trol the country in all directions had been ravaged by their foraging-parties, composed principally of Hessians. These mercenaries But a marvelous change was wrought by the favorable result of the campaign of Trenton and | so, when the "loyal" inhabitants who had were unable to read the English language; and secured protection papers exhibited them to the German marauders, the latter regarded them of despairing patriots, and the glorious event at ; no more than if they had been Washington's passes, but treated their holders with contempt, and showed them no more consideration than was accorded to their Whig neighbors,-which was simply none at all.

Princeton. The Christmas victory at Trenton rekindled a bright spark of hope in the breasts Princeton fanned that spark into a strong and steady flame. An immediate result was a revival of hope and courage among the Jersey militia, causing large numbers of them to join the American army, adding materially to its effec- tive strength. "The militia are taking spirits, and, I am told, are coming in fast from this State," said General Washington in his dis- patches to Congress, written at Pluckamin on the 5th of January, only two days after the victory of Princeton ; and the accessions from this source were much more numerous after that time. "The militia of New Jersey, who had hitherto behaved shamefully,2 from this

In the depredations and atrocities committed during this period by the Hessian and British soldiery, " neither the proclamation of the com- missioners [General and Admiral Howe] nor protections, saved the people from plunder or insult. Their property was taken and destroyed without distinction of persons. They exhibited their protections, but the Hessians could not read and would not understand them, and the British soldiers deemed it foul disgrace that the Hessians should be the only plunderers. Dis- contents and murmurs increased every hour

1 The removals of the Legislature, enforced by the ad- vance of the British army, were : First, from Princeton to Trenton ; then from Trenton to Burlington ; from Burling- ton to Pittstown ; and finally, from that place to Haddon- . field, where it was dissolved on the 2d of December, 1776. . "See Gordon's " History of New Jersey," p. 233.

3 The whole number of those who, in the State of New Jersey, took advantage of the proclamation of the brothers Howe is said to have been two thousand seven hundred and three.

20 H

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with the ravages of both, which were almost of any general officer in the Continental service, and there to surrender their protection papers and sanctioned by general orders, and which spared neither friend 'nor foe. Neither age nor sex ' swear allegiance to the United States of America ; was protected from outrage. Infants, children, upon which terms they were to receive full pardon for past offenses, provided this was done old men and women were left naked and ex- posed, without a blanket to cover them from within thirty days from the date of the procla- the inclemency of winter. Furniture which . mation. But such as should fail to conform to could not be carried away was wantonly de- these requirements within the specified time stroyed, dwellings and out-houses burned or were commanded to forthwith withdraw them- selves and families within the enemy's lines, and upon their refusal or neglect to do so, they were to be regarded and treated as adherents to the King of Great Britain and enemies of the United States. The effect of this proclamation was excellent. Hundreds of timid inhabitants who had taken protection now flocked to the different headquarters to surrender them and take the required oath of allegiance. The most inveterate and dangerous Tories were driven rendered uninhabitable, churches and other public buildings consumed, and the rape of "women, and even very young girls, filled the measure of woe. Such miseries are the usual fate of the conquered, nor were they inflicted with less reserve that the patients were rebel- lious subjects. But even the worm will turn upon the oppressor. . . What the earnest commendations of Congress, the zealous exer- tions of Governor Livingston and the State authorities and the ardent supplications of within the enemy's lines, or entirely out of the Washington could not effect was produced by the rapine and devastations of the royal

State, and the army was largely increased by volunteers and by the return of many who had and returned to their homes during the dark days of November and December, 1776.

forces. The whole country became instantly | previously served in its ranks, but had deserted

hostile to the invaders. Sufferers of all parties rose as one man to revenge their personal in- juries. Those who, from age and infirmities. The main body of the American army lay in quiet at Morristown? for nearly five months. On the opening of spring, the commander-in- chief watched closely and anxiously the move- ments of General Howe's forces at New Bruns- wick, for he had no doubt that the British general was intending to make an important movement, though in what direction he could were incapable of military service kept a strict watch upon the movements of the royal army, and from time to time communicated informa- tion to their countrymen in arms. Those who lately declined all opposition, though called on by the sacred tie of honor pledged to each other in the Declaration of Independence, cheerfully embodied when they found submission to be unavailing for the security of their estates. . " A detached force of several hundred men. under com- mand of General Israel Putnam, was stationed at Princeton in the latter part of January to act as a corps of observation merely, being too weak in numbers to offer serious opposi- Men who could not apprehend the consequences of British taxation nor of American independ- ence could feel the injuries inflicted by insolent, tion if the enemy should appear in force. In Hageman's cruel and brutal soldiers." 1

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History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1, Part 30

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 974

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 974