History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 29

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth county, New Jersey > Part 29

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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 Plnekamin, January 5th, " was to have

1 Washington had no eavalry 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 np 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- vond doubt, have driven the last vestige of Clarke's house on that memorable morning, a British military power out of New Jersey ; but,

ball, striking Mercer's horse in the foreleg, dis- on the other hand, a collision with the superior abled him and compelled the general to dis- forces of Cornwallis,-which it seemed hardly 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 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 usnal 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- , ardent temperament ; he replied with indignation wick road, and march the army by way of the ; Millstone valley, and thenec across the Raritan, to the hilly country in the northwest.

The plan adopted by the council of war was at once put into excention. The army filed off from the main highway, and, turning sharply to the left, marched over a narrow and unfre- ymented 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 Płuckamin.

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

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.

General Hugh Mercer, the commanding officer of the American detachment which first joined battle with the British troops under Mawhood The American army arrived at Pluckamin on the evening of the 4th of January in a con- dition of extreme weariness and destitution. on the morning of the 3d of January, near Princeton, was mortally wounded in that first short, but disastrous conflict. In the volley 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 mneh alarmed at the apprehension of this that they marched immediately to Brunswic without halting, except at the bridges (for I also took up those on Millstone on the «litferent routes to Brunswie), and got there before day."

) 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 hy 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 ware, in fight before the pursuing and victo- night-march from Trenton to Princeton, the rious legions of Cornwallis, a large proportion -probably a majority-of the people of the battle of that place, and the subsequent march- ing to Kingston, down the valley of the Mill- i State had become discouraged, and, despairing stone, and from the Raritan to the mountains, but they were very poorly supplied with food, many of them shoeless, and suffering from cokl through lack of blankets and sufficient clothing. The officers as well as the private soldiers suf- fered from the same cause. Colonel Rodney

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 said, in reference to his condition during the halt . patriot cause and renew their allegiance to the 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.

King .? 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 number-

During the day of January 5th, the main body of the army lay quietly at Pluckamin, ;of those who were already in the service from resting and waiting for detached bodies to join ' this State deserted and returned to their homes. it.1 When the commands had all reported, and . " The two Jersey regiments which had been for- the men had in some degree recovered from the 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. effects of the excessive fatigue and exposure which they had been compelled to endure in the marches and battles from the Assanpink to Plocka- 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 MeConkey'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-

2 . The British comissioners [General William lowe 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 Veux 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."

3 lbid.

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

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- and thus jeopardize their possession -. The Leg- dueted themselves with spirit and discipline 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-

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 quered province. Even Samuel Tucker, chair- "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

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- i rection against the American cause had broken out in several counties, among which was that of Monmouth, where a desperate state of affairs " themselves of the " protection " of the British,3 existed, to suppress which it was deemed nece -- 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-

But a marvelous change was wrought by the favorable result of the campaign of Trenton and Princeton. The Christmas victory at Trenton rekindled a bright spark of hope in the breasts of despairing patriots, and the glorious event at 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 Ameriean 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- patehe- to Congress, written at Pluekamin 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,? from this

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 were unable to read the English language; and so, when the "loyal" inhabitants who had secured protection papers exhibited them to the German marauders, the latter regarded them 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.

In the depredations and atrocities committed during this period by the Hessian and British soldiery, " neither the proelamation 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 soldier- 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- vanee of the British army, were : First, from Princeton to Trenton ; then from Trenton to Burlington ; from Burling- ton to Pittstown ; aud finally, from that place to Haddon- field, where it was dissolved on the 2d of December, 1776 .. 2 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.

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with the ravages of both, which were almost of any general officer in the Continental service, sanctioned by general orders, and which spared and there to surrender their protection papers and swear allegiance to the United States of America ; upon which terms they were to receive full pardon for past offenses, provided this was done within thirty days from the date of the procla- neither friend nor foe. Neither age nor sex was protected from outrage. Infants, children, ok! men and women were left naked and ex- posed, without a blanket to cover them from the inelemeney 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- rendered uninhabitable, churches and other selves and families within the enemy's lines, public buildings consumed, and the rape of and upon their refusal or neglect to do so, they women, and even very young girls, filled the were to be regarded and treated as adherents to measure of woe. Such miseries are the usual 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 within the enemy's lines, or entirely out of the State, and the army was largely increased by volunteers and by the return of many who had previously served in its ranks, but had deserted and returned to their homes during the dark day- of November and December, 1776. fate of the conquered, nor were they inflicted with less reserve that the patients were rebel- lious subjeets. 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 Washington could not effect was produced by the rapine and devastation> of the royal forces. The whole country became instantly hostile to the invaders. Sufferers of all partie- rost 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 saered 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. . . Men who could not apprehend the consequences of' British taxation nor of American independ- ence could feel the injuries inflicted by insolent. cruel and brutal soldiers."1

General Washington was not slow to avail himself of the advantages to the American cause offered by this situation of affairs, and on the 25th of January he issned, from his head- quarters in Morristown, a proclamation requir- ing all persons who had accepted protection from the British commissioners to repair to the army headquarters, or the nearest headquarters

2 1 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- tion if the enemy should appear in force. In Hageman's " llistory of Princeton " there is related an incident illus- trative of General Putnam's strategy, as follows: "A British officer, Major- General MePherson, who lay mortally wounded at Princeton, desired the presence of a military comrade in his last moments. The kind-hearted General Putnam could not refuse the request, but resorted to strat- egy to hide his weakness from the enemy. lle -ent a flag to New Brunswick in quest of the friend, who entered Princeton after dark. The general had arranged it so that every unoceupied house was carefully lighted, lights gleamed in all the college windows, and he marched and counter- marehed bis scanty forces to such effeet that the British soblier on his return to the eamp reported it at least five thousand >trong, while he had only a few hundreds."

1 Gordon, pp. 232, 233.

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not learn, though he believed that Howe's ob- about seventeen thousand effective men, a force jective point would be the city of Philadelphia. far outnumbering that of Washington, inchund- Early in May it was ascertained by Washing- 'ing the corps of observation under Sullivan. ton that the British forces at New Brunswick had been largely augmented, and that they were engaged in building " a portable bridge, so con- structed that it might be laid on flat-boats,"-in other words, a pontoon-bridge. Regarding thisas an almost certain indication that Howe was pre- paring to move forward and cross the Delaware, Washington at once decided to move his forces to a point nearer New Brunswick, to be within striking distance of the enemy in case he should attempt toexecute his suspected design. The point selected was the range of hills to the northward of the village of Bound Brook,-generally mentioned as the "Heights of Middlebrook," -and to this place the army was moved from Morristown about the 28th of May, on which day the headquarters of the commander-in-chief jeetive point, or to move up the Hudson River were established at the new position.

The army of Washington, at the time when it moved from Morristown to Middlebrook, was about eight thousand four hundred strong, in- cluding cavalry and artillery. But of these more than two thousand were sick, and this, their appearance at Somerset Court-House, with other causes, reduced his effective strength to five thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight men, rank and file. This number, however, was soon afterwards very considerably increased by accessions from beyond the Delaware, for they moved back on the 19th to New Bruns- orders had been issued for all troops in the field, as far south as the Carolinas, to rendezvous in New Jersey. When the movement to Middle- brook was made, General Sullivan, who had succeeded General Putnam in command at Princeton, had about fifteen hundred troops under him at the place, and his forees were con- siderably angmented by the arrival of troops from the South, moving northward under the order before mentioned. General Benediet Arnold, commanding at Philadelphia, was or- dered to station a force on the New Jersey side , it was leaving New Brunswick, but little harm of the Delaware, to do what might be done to prevent the British from erossing that river, in case they should succeed in escaping from Wash- ington and Sullivan.

The British army in and about New Bruns- wiek had been reinforced until it numbered

Moreover, the British force was largely made up of veterans and was finely equipped, while a large portion of the American army was com- posed of raw militia not well provided with equipments and elothing. The position oecu- pied by Washington, however, was very strong by nature and fortified to some extent, and his location was such that he couldl at onee take advantage of a movement of the enemy, whether he should advance towards the Delaware or re- tire towards the Hudson ; for he was still in doubt as to the intention of the British com- mander,-whether it was to move directly on Philadelphia by land, or return his troops to Amboy, there to embark and proceed by sea and the Delaware Bay to reach the same ob- to co-operate with General Burgoyne, who was then reported to be moving southward from Canada by way of Lake Champlain.

On the 14th of June two British divisions, under Generals Cornwallis and De Heister, made where they intrenched and remained for five days, vainly defying Washington to come down from the heights and fight them, but finding it impossible to entice him from his stronghold wick, which place was evaenated on the 22d by the whole British army, which then commenced retreating towards Amboy. Washington sent three brigades under General Greene to harass their rear, with orders to General Maxwell to fall on their flank, and to Sullivan to move down to the support of Greene, but Sullivan received his orders too late, and Maxwell never received his at all, on account of the capture or desertion of the messenger. The rear of the British was attacked by Wayne and Morgan as was done them and they continued their retreat to Amboy. Washington then moved down from his strong position at Middlebrook and took another and weaker one at Quibbletown (now Newmarket).

The intelligence that Washington had left

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MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION.

marched his column> back towards New Market in the manner stated. " But the resistance they encountered at every stage of their advance was disheartening in the extreme. Nearly every cross-road had its -quad of pugnacious militia, which poured its deadly volleys into the splen- did columns of the well-equipped troops." At Woodbridge Cornwallis fell in with Morgan's Rangers (the American " corps of seven hun- dred men, with one piece of eannon," mentioned clear by the following extract from hi- report. by Howe), and a severe skirmish ensued, in -viz. :

"The necessary preparations being finished for crossing the troops to Staten I-land, intelligence was received that the enemy had moved down from the mountain and taken post at Quibbletown, intending, as it was given out, to attack the rear of the army re- moving from Amboy ; that two corps had also ad- vanced to their left,-one of three thousand men and eight pieces of cannon, under the command of Lord Stirling, Generals Maxwell and Conway, the last said The British right. under Cornwallis, was soon after engaged with the troops of Lord Stirling, which fight was thus reported by Howe: to be a captain in the French service ; the other corps consisted of about seven hundred men, with only one piece of cannon. In this situation of the enemy it "Lord Cornwallis, soon after he was upon the road leading to Scotch Plains from Metuchen Meeting- house, came up with the corps commanded by Lord Stirling, whom he found advantageously posted in a was judged advisable to make a movement that might lead to an attack, which was done on the 26th. in the morning, in two columns. The right. under command of Lord Cornwallis and Major-General Grant, Brigadiers Matthew and Leslie, and Colonel ; country covered with wood, and his artillery well dis- Donop, took the route by Woodbridge towards Scotch . posed. The King's troops, vieing with each other upon this occasion. pressed forward to such close ac- tion that the enemy. though inclined to resist, could not long maintain their ground against so great im- petuosity, but were dispersed on all sides, leaving three pieces of brass ordnance, three captains and sixty men killed, and upwards of two hundred officers and men wounded and taken."

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 29

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148