History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 41

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

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malefactor, while his only crime was his ardent , parting farewell ofhi- friends and the consolations of attachment to the cause of American liberty. The gratitude of the country has been long de- ferred, and, though late, your petitioner asks that, in common with the representatives of her deceased sister, she may be allowed such sum in money and such quantities of land as her father would have been entitled to had he served until the conclusion of the Revolutionary War."

This petition was presented to Congress on the 21st of December, 1836, and referred to a special committee, consisting of Mr. Storer, of Ohio; Mr. Buchanan, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Hardin, of Kentucky; Mr. Elmore, of South In February, 1837, this committee made a re- port, recommending the desired measure of re- lief, and embody ing a representation of the facts in the case, accompanied by remarks upon it, from which the following extracts are made :

"Perhaps the annals of the civilized world do not present a more melancholy spectacle than was exhib- ited in New Jersey while the British army occupied the city of New York. The people were all at arms, their substance wasted by the enemy, their farms un- tilled, their families dispersed. In addition to the constant and harassing inroads of the British, there was a foe within her very borders, more watchful and more relentless than the common enemy. Traitors to American liberty filled the land, willing to sacrifice their former friends to gratify their malignant passions or to prove their loyalty to their King. These men, combined together for the avowed object of murder and plunder, were to be met at all points; and it re- quired the utmost energy, activity and address to op- pose them. Their movements were sudden, and from their intimate knowledge of the country, their march was often unknown until their object had been effected. Hence the most untiring vigilance was required to counteract their plans ; and Captain Huddy became so zealously engaged as a partisan leader that he was more obnoxious to the Tories than any individual in the American service. To these desperate men it was then all important that one whom they so much dreaded should be deprived of power to oppose them ; and no means were left unattempted to etfeet that purpose.

" The documents which the committee have an- nexed to this report minutely describe the horrible tragedy, and they forbear to state here the incidents which are there recorded in the language of eye-wit- nesses. There is something so revolting in the man- ner a brave soldier was doomed to die, something so fiend-like in the haste to sacrifice him without the

religion, that no age, however barbarous. can furnish a stronger instance of refined, deliberate cruelty. Yet even here the devoted sufferer sustained his high reputation for moral firmness and heroic devotion to liberty. Mr. Randolph testifies that when the Refugees were taking the irons from Captain Huddy, to con- duet him to the gallows, the brave man said he should die innocent and in a good cause; and with uncom- mon composure and fortitude, prepared himself for his end. And, to use the language of one who assisted at the execution, ' he met his fate with all the firm- ness of a lion.' His executioner was a negro.

"It is painful to state that after a lapse of fifty years, while the story of Asyill's captivity has been made the theme of the biographer and poet, the mem- ory of the murdered Huddy has not been honored Carolina; and Mr. Schenck, of New Jersey. with an epitaph. His country, it would seem, has outlived the recollection of his services, and forgotten that such a victim was ever sacrificed for American liberty. The resolution of Congress, adopted on the day subsequent to the discharge of Asgill, and which required that ' the British commander should be called to fulfill his engagement to make further inquisition into the murder of Captain Huddy, and to pursue it with all the effect that a due regard of justice will ad- mit,' is yet unfulfilled and unrequited ; and the only memorial on the publie journals of American gratitude for the services of the living and the character of the dead are resolutions of retaliation, none of sympa- thy or condolence.

"The committee, in the consideration of the ease, cannot account for the silence of an American Con- gress upon a claim like this present, which the history of the Revolution so amply established. It is true, his representatives have made no appeal until they offered their memorial at this session, but it is be- lieved that the principles of natural justice are inde- pendent of all such agency. If their modesty has hitherto deterred them, it is at least the gratifying evidence that there is one American family who have forborne to remind the Legislature of the nation of its high duties, and are contented to await the judgment of their countrymen, however tardy may have been its announcement.

" The children of Captain Huddy were both females, and were left at an early age to their mother's protec- tion. She struggled, as did the other high-souled women of the Revolution, with the ordinary vicissi- tudes of war, and sustained herself by the prospect of future independence. When her gallant husband was in the field, she knew he was engaged in a holy cause, and prepared herself for whatever might occur; but when she found that she was left desolate, and the father of her children had been eruelly and wantonly murdered, she thenceforward lived but for them. These orphans, after the return of peace, were mar- ried ; one of them, with her mother, is now dead ; the survivor, who is the memorialist, at the advanced age

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of seventy years, now resides in the West, and asks, ere she joins those who have already departed, that the sutferings of her father may be remembered, and his services, even at this late day, be requited by some token of national gratitude.

" As Captain Huddy was not in the regular army, there is no one of the resolutions of the old Congress that would include this case, were it a claim for mili- tary services merely. But when it is remembered that he was actively engaged from 1776 to 1782 in a most hazardous and important duty, at a time when ordi- nary zeal would have become cold and ordinary cour- age erushed, when they regard his exposure, his posi- tion and his untimely death, the committee cannot but conelnde that the spirit of these resolutions should be extended to your memorialist ; and if there is such an attribute as national gratitude, it should now be ex- erted. The Committee report the following resolutions for the consideration of the House :

" Resolved, That the Congress of the United States holds in high estimation and grateful remembrance the services of Captain Joshua Huddy, of New Jersey, in the war of the Revolution, and unites in the opin- ion of the Continental Congress of 1782 that he was wantonly and inhumanly sacrificed by the enemy while in the heroic discharge of his duty.

" Resolved, That in consideration of the services ren- dered to his country by Captain Joshna Huddy, and in the performance of which he was taken prisoner, and afterwards executed for no other crime than his devotion to liberty, it is the duty of Congress to ap- propriate to his children the same sums they would have received had their father been a Continental officer, and had continued in the service until the close of the war; and the whole benefit of the resolutions of September 19th, 1777, and August 24th, 1780, he extended to them."

These resolutions, with the entire report of the committee, were adopted by Congress Feb- ruary 14, 1837, granting to the heirs of Captain Huddy the benefits of existing pension laws, the same as if he had been an officer of the regular Continental service; also giving them six hundred aeres of the public lands and the sum of twelve hundred dollars, it being the amount due to him for seven years' service as captain of artillery. And so closes the sad story of the patriotic services and savage mur- der of a man whose name is often mentioned as that of the Hero Martyr of Monmouth.

Richard Lippincott, the Tory captain, whose name became a theme of reproach and univer- sal execration among the patriots of the Revolu- tion on account of the leading part which he took

in the barbarous murder of the hero, Joshua Huddy, was a native of Monmouth County, born in the year 1745, and at the beginning of the war of the Revolution was a resident of Shrewsbury township. In or about 1778 he left Monmouth County and went to New York, where he laid before the Board of Associated Loyalists a proposition to raise a company of Tories for their service, of which company he was to have the captaincy. The desired an- thority was given him, the company was quickly raised, and he duly received his captain's com- mission under orders of ex-Governor Wil- liam Franklin, president of the board. He became one of the most active and energetic of the subordinate officers in the royal service, and was correspondingly detested by the pa- triots, especially those of Monmouth County. His property in Shrewsbury township was eon- fiscated and sold in 1779, as elsewhere men- tioned.

Among his friends, the British, it appears that his standing was good. At the court- martial which was convened in New York, by order of Sir Henry Clinton, to try him for the part he took in the hanging of Captain Huddy, one of the witnesses, Colonel John Morris, of the Second Battalion Royal Volunteers, testi- fied that he had known the prisoner, Lippineott, for many years ; " that he always supported a good character since deponent has known him, and he has always endeavoured to serve the Government all in his power, and that with propriety. Deponent has never known him guilty of plundering or any action of that kind." John Wardell, a Shrewsbury Tory, and at that time with the Loyalists, testified, at the same court-martial, "that he had been ae- quainted with Captain Lippincott for more than ten years ; that he was his neighbour, and had been always looked upon as a peaceable, inof- fensive man."

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooke, the Episco- palian clergyman of Shrewsbury, who had gone over to the British in New York, and was at that time a chaplain to one of their bri- gades, was another who testified in Lippincott's behalf before the court-martial. In the min- utes of his testimony is found the following :

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" That he had not known Lippincott before the peril, and nobly maintained the Lippincott family motto, scrundus dubusque rectus. Indeed, the truth is, I have always heard it declared by himself and others that he had the authority for White." Rebellion, but has been acquainted with him, upwards of three years since Captain Lippin- cott has been within his Majesty's lines. That he has been particularly acquainted with him , from Sir Henry Clinton himself to hang Huddy and has every reason to think his character ; stands as fair as that of any Refugee within his Majesty's lines." Whether, by the use of the words in this last sentence, the reverend gentle- man intended to make a distinction in the mat- ter of character between the Refugee officers and those of the regular British line cannot now he determined.

After the close of the Revolution, Lippincott went to England to claim compensation for his services and for the losses he sustained in the confiscation of his property by reason of his adherence to the royal cause. He was placed on the retired list of captains, with half-pay for life : and the British government gave him a grant of three hundred acres of land at York (now Toronto). On that tract he settled in 1793, and there he died in 1826, in the eighty- second year of his age. His daughter Esther (his only child) married George Taylor Denni- son, and their son, George T. Dennison (who became for a time a member of the Canadian Parliament), wrote as follows, in vindication of the character of his grandfather :

" Richard Lippineott," he said, " was naturally a person of the most harmless and quiet dispo- sition. Philip White was a half brother to his wife, and Lippincott was exasperated by the butchery of an innocent relative,' who, found on a visit to his mother's house, was treated by Huddy as a spy. The old man [Lippincott] was respected by all who knew him in the coun- try [Canada], rich and poor, and was so well known to all old Loyalists who settled there that persons came uninvited thirty or forty miles to pay tribute to his memory ; hundreds still living [about 1830] will repudiate the un- favorable character, as a man and soldier, given him by the American historian [Sabine]. He was true to his Sovereign both in property and

Doubtless, Lippincott did sustain a good char- acter among his Canadian neighbors during his later years, but that has very little to do with the murder of the patriot Huddy. It is doubt- less true, however, that he was ordered by a superior officer of the Board of AAssociated Loy- alists to hang the man (Huddy) whom, above all others, they hated and feared for the tireless ! vigilance and energy with which he acted against the villains of their gang; but the allegation that the murder of Huddy was ordered or countenanced by Sir Henry Clinton is too palp- ably false and absurd to be entertained for a moment. The historian Sparks, when in Lon- don, saw original letters from Sir Henry and from his successor in command at New York- Sir Guy Carleton-expressing in the strongest terms their indignation at the murder of the American captain.

The surrender of Cornwallis and his army was universally regarded as an announcement of the approaching close of the long struggle of the Revolution. Another year of nominal hostilities succeeded, but the event of Yorktown had assured the independence of America, and that fact was tacitly acknowledged, not only by the British, but by their Tory allies, to whom the result brought the deepest disappointment and despair. It was an announcement to them that their cause was irretrievably lost ; that they were homeless and without a country ; that their property would be (if it was not already) con- fiscated : and that, penniless and friendless, they must seek other homes in a foreign country, and there try to begin life anew. " When the news of peace became known," says a writer of that time, " the city of New York presented a scene of distress not easily described. Tory adherents to the crown who were in the army tore the lappels from their coats, stamped them under their feet and exclaimed that they were ruined ; others cried out that they had sacrificed all to

1 Probably having reference to Stephen Edwards, the circumstances of whose capture and execution were as he relates, and in whose execution Iluddy did take part ; while the case of Philip White was entirely different.

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prove their loyalty, and were now left to shift for themselves without the friendship either of their King or their country."

In the month of September next preceding the final evacuation of New York by the British, more than twelve thousand Loyalists and Refu- gees-men, women and children-embarked at the city and at Long and Staten Islands for Nova Scotia and the Bahamas. "Some of these victims of the war tried to make merry at their doom by saying they were bound to a lovely country, where there are nine months winter and three months of cold weather in the year ; while others, in their desperation, would have torn down their houses, and had they not been pre- vented, would have carried off the bricks of which they were built." Those who went to Nova Scotia were landed at St. John's and Shel- burne, where many, utterly destitute, were sup- plied with food at the public charge, and were obliged to live in huts of bark and rough boards. " Among the banished ones were per- sons whose hearts and hopes had been as true as Washington's; for in the division of families,

"John Taylor and William Walton, at New York, but having property in Shrewsbury, John Williams, Christopher Talman, John Wardell, Michael Price, James Mount, John Williams, Jr., John Pintard, Clayton Tilton, Samuel Cook,' James Boggs, James Curlis, Asahel Chandler, John Morris, William Price, Robert Morris, Peter Vannote, James Price, John and Morford Taylor, John Hankinson, Timothy Sco- bey, William Lawrence, Peter Wardell, Oliver Tal- man, Richard Lippincott,? Josiah White, Benjamin which everywhere occurred, and which formed ' Woolley, Ebenezer Wardell, Robert Stout, Nathaniel one of the most distressing circumstances of the conflict, many wives and daughters who, though bound by the holiest ties to Loyalists, had given their sympathy to the right from the beginning, and who now, in the triumph of the cause which had their prayers, went meekly-as woman ever meets a sorrowful fate-into hopeless, interminable exile."

The sales of Loyalist property in New Jersey, adjudged to be forfeited and confiscated during the war of the Revolution, were made nnder the provisions of " An Act for taking charge of or leasing the Real Estates, and forfeiting the Per- sonal Estates of certain Fugitives and Offend- (rs," passed by the Legislature April 18, 1778. "John Irons and David Smith, of the township of Following are the copies of notices of some of Dover, will be sold at Freehold Court-House at the the sales made in Monmouth County, under time of sales there. that act, viz. :

" Moumouth County, ss .: Whereas, inquisitions have been found, and final judgment entered thereon, in favour of the State of New Jersey against persons herein mentioned: Notice is hereby given that the real and personal estates belonging to Samuel Osborn,

Thomas Leonard, Hendrick Van Mater, John Throckmorton, Daniel Van Mater, John Longstreet, Jr., Alexander Clark, Joseph Clayton, Israel Britton, John Okeson, John Thompson, Thomas Bills and Benzeor Hinkson, all of the township of Freehold, will be sold at Freehold Court-House, begin- ning on Wednesday, the 17th day of March next, and continuing from day to day until all are sold.

"Thomas Crowel, George Taylor, Jr., James Still- well, John Mount, boatman, Conrad Hendricks, Joseph Baley, John Cottrell, Richard Cole, Samuel . Smith, John Brown, James Pew, Thomas Thorne, Ezekiel Tilton, Joseph Taylor, John Tilton, of Mid- dletown, and William Smith, of Middlesex, having lands in said town, will be sold at publiek vendue, beginning on Monday, the 22d day of March next, at the house of Cornelius Swart, and continue from day to day until sold.

Parker, John Hampton, Samuel Layton, Jacob Har- ber, Jacob Emmons, Britton White, Tobias Kiker and Daniel Laffeter, late of the town of Shrewsbury, and Gerardus Beekman, of New York, having prop- erty in said township, will be sold at publick ven- due, beginning on Monday, the 29th of March, at Tinton Falls, and continue from day to day until all are sold.

"John Leonard, Gisbert Giberson, Samuel Still- well, Barzilla, Joseph, Thomas, William and Samuel Grover, John Horner, Fuller Horner, John Perine, William Giberson, Jr., Malakeath Giberson, John Polhemus, Jr., Benjamin Giberson, Samuel Oakerson, Elisha Lawrence and John Lawrence, sons + of John, late of Upper Freehold, and Isaac Allen, late of Trenton, will be sold at publiek vendue, be- ginning on Monday, the 5th day of April next, at Wall's Mills, and continue until all are sold.

" The two emissions called in, and bank-notes will be taken in pay. No credit will be given. The sale

1 Previously rector of the Episcopal Church at Shrews- bury.

2 The notorious Refugee officer who commanded the gang who murdered Captain Joshua Huddy.

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will begin at 9 o'clock each day. Also, deeds made to the purchasers, agreeable to Act of Assembly, by

" SAMUEL FORMAN, " JOSEPH LAWRENCE, " KENNETH HANKINSON,

" Commissioners.

"February 17th, 1779."

CHAPTER XI.

MONMOUTH COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION (Continued).

Officers and Soldiers of Monmouth County in the Patriot Service.

THE first Continental troops of the " Jersey Line," raised in 1775, were two battalions, designated the Eastern and Western, and subse- quently the First and Second Battalions. The First was commanded by Colonel William Alexander (Lord Stirling), and, after his pro- motion to be brigadier-general, by Lieutenant- Colonel William Winds, who was raised to the rank of colonel; the Second by Colonel Wil- liam Maxwell. The following year a third battalion was added, which was placed under the command of Colonel Elias Dayton. In the fall of this year (1776) a "second establish- ment " of troops from New Jersey for the Con- tinental army was made, embracing four bat- talions, commanded by Colonels Silas Newcomb (succeeded by Colonel Matthias Ogden), Isaac Shreve, Elias Dayton and Ephraim Martin. These formed " Maxwell's Brigade," com- manded by General (late Colonel) William Maxwell. İ

regiment contained six companies, and they were commanded as follows :

First Regiment .- Captains Jonathan For- man, John Flabavan, Giles Mead, Alexander Mitchell, Peter G. Voorhees and John Holmes,

Second Regiment .- Captains John Hollings- head, John N. Cumming, Samuel Reading, Nathaniel Bowman, Jonathan Phillips and Wil- liam Helms.

Third Regiment .- Captains John Ross, Wil- liam Gifford, Richard Cox, Jeremiah Ballard, Joseph I. Anderson and Bateman Lloyd.

On the 14th of June, 1780, an act was passed calling for six hundred and twenty-four men to be raised in the several counties of the State, to continue in service until January 1, 1781. The quota of the several counties was,-Monmouth, sixty men; Bergen, thirty-three ; Essex, forty- five; Middlesex, forty-seven ; Somerset, fifty- four; Burlington, sixty-five; Gloucester, fifty- one; Salem, fifty-one; Cape May, thirteen ; Hunterdon, eighty-four; Morris, fifty-one; C'umberland, thirty ; Sussex, fifty. On the 25th of June the Legislature found it necessary to adopt more effectual means to complete the quota, the deficit of which was then four hun- dred and fifty men, to raise which number re- eruiting officers were appointed in each of the several counties. The officer so appointed for Monmouth was Gilbert Longstreet. The bounty then paid to each recruit was twelve pounds in gold or silver, and the recruiting officer was allowed thirty shillings in coin for each reernit. The men so enlisted were required to engage to serve during the war.

General Maxwell continued to command the Jersey Brigade until July, 1780, when he re- signed, and was succeeded by Colonel Elias Day- until the close of the war.

A new arrangement of the American army was effected in 1778, under which, and during the campaign of 1779, the " Jersey Line" em- , ton as senior officer, who commanded the same braeed three battalions. February 9, 1780, Congress called upon this State for sixteen hun- The news of the cessation of hostilities was an- nounced in the camp of the brigade April 19th, 1783, and the Jersey Line was discharged No- vember 3d of that year. dred aud twenty men to supply the deficiency, in which volunteers were called for, large boun- ties offered, and recruiting officers and muster master- appointed for the several counties. The muster-master for Monmouth was Colonel Asher At various timesduring the war New Jersey, by reason of its being continually exposed to the in- Holmes. The three regiments thus raised were commanded by Colonels Mathia- Ogden, Isaac cursions of the British and the ravages of Refu- Shreve and Elia- Dayton, respectively. Each gees and Indians, found it necessary to embody,

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as occasion required, a certain quota of volun- teers from the militia of the different counties. These men were held liable to duty when needed, not only in this, but in adjoining States. These organizations were called " New Jersey Levies," "Five Months' Levies," but most generally designated as " State Troops."

Under the act passed November 27, 1776, for the raising of four battalions from the militia to serve until the Continental battalions coukl be raised and organized, Monmouth County sent two companies, as part of the battalion assigned for Monmouth, Middlesex and Burlington, of which the field officers appointed were : Charles Read, colonel ; Thomas Seabrook, lieutenant-col- ; onel ; John Taylor, major.

An act was passed, September 24, 1777, to raise a company of artillery. The battery was soon organized under command of Captain Joshua Huddy. It was stationed in Monmouth County, and did good service until March 24, 1782, when its commander was taken prisoner at Tom's River, and was soon after murdered by Refugees, as has been narrated.

Under the call of October 9, 1779, for four thousand volunteers to continue in service until December 20, 1779, one regiment of ten com- panies was raised in Monmouth, Essex and Mid- dlesex Counties, and placed under command of Colonel Asher Holmes, of Monmouth.

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 41

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