History of Morris County, New Jersey, Part 8

Author: Halsey, Edmund Drake, 1840-1896; Aikman, Robert; Axtell, Samuel Beach, 1809-1891; Brewster, James F; Green, R. S. (Rufus Smith), 1848-1925; Howell, Monroe; Kanouse, John L; Megie, Burtis C; Neighbour, James H; Stoddard, E. W. (Elijah Woodward), 1820-1913
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: New York : W.W. Munsell & co.
Number of Pages: 540

USA > New Jersey > Morris County > History of Morris County, New Jersey > Part 8

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The following were lieutenants from Morris county (battalion indicated by E or W, as above):

Aaron Biglow, W .; George Bockover, E. (also in Sus- sex county); Caleb Crane; John Crane, first lieutenant, E., April 19th 1777, in Captain Beach's company; Wil- liam Fairchild; Phineas Farrand, Captain Minard's com- pany, E .; Ezra Halsey, E .; Matthias Harris, W .; Giles Lee, first lieutenant; Paul Lee (also wagon master); Edward Lewis; Benjamin Lindsley, second lieutenant, E., April 19th 1777, Captain Beach's company; Eleazer Luse, W .; Howell Osborn, W .; J. Osborn, E .; Thomas Osborn, E., Captain Baldwin's company; John Pipes, first lieutenant, Heard's brigade, June 16th 1776, also continental army; Abraham Post, E .; Matthew Raynor, E .; John Robarts, E .; Simon Van Ness, E. (Captain De Bow's company); Christopher Walmsley, E .; D. Wilson; Josiah Ward.

The following were ensigns:

Samuel Allen, April 19th 1777, Captain Beach s com- pany; Josiah Burnett, E., wounded in leg at Elizabeth- town, September 15th 1777; Joshua Guerin, E .; James Lum; Abraham Rutan, E., Captain Layton's company; Martin Tichenor, E., Captain Baldwin's company.

An independent organization, which was raised en- tirely in the county, and won for itself an enviable dis- tinction for its long and faithful service and brilliant achievements, was the company known as Arnold's Light Horse. The following is a copy of the original enlist- ment paper of this command:

" We the subscribers do voluntarily enlist ourselves in the company of light horse belonging to the county of Morris, Thomas Kinney, Esq., captain, and do promise to obey our officers in such service as they shall appoint, as agreeable to the rules of the Provincial and Continenal Congress. Witness our hands May 10th 1775. Jacob Arnold, James Serring, Epenetus Beach, James Smith, Silas Stiles, Patrick Darcy, John Losey, Benjamin Free- man jr., Samuel Allen, Stephen Baldwin, Elijah Freeman, David Edmiston, John Crane, George O'Hara, Silas Hand, Jabez Tichenor, Jabez Beach, Robert Gould jr.,

ARNOLD'S LIGHT HORSE-REVOLUTIONARY ANECDOTES.

James Ford, Samuel Denman, Peter Parret, George Minthorn, John Cook, Samuel Bolsbury, Adam Bosts, John Milen, Conrod Hopler, Abraham Hathaway, John Winters, Samuel Wighton, John Van Winker, Aaron Parsons."

Captain Kinney shortly afterward resigned and Arnold took his place. While the above list shows the original members of the company there were many others who joined it afterward. John Blowers, Ephraim Carnes, J. C. Canfield, Joseph Butler, John Canfield and John Ester are named as some of these recruits. Blowers in an affidavit found among the "Condict papers," before referred to, gives a good idea of the men who composed this force, and of the services they performed. He says he served first under Captain Jacobus:

" The company of militia was drawn up to have a draft made from them to join the troops on Long Island. Blowers stepped forward, saying he would not be drafted but would volunteer, and was at once followed by Samuel Farrand, John Ester, Philip Price and as many more as were required of the company. Jacobus had command. They were marched through Newark to New York, where they were six weeks laying up works, after which they were marched to Amboy, where there were other Jersey militia.

" On his return home, finding militia duties likely to be frequent, he joined Arnold's force. Stephen Baldwin was a trooper there and did duty as a sergeant-an active and good soldier. The whole company, except when the enemy were strong and in case of sudden alarm, was not often together, but was divided and subdivided -two, four, five, eight, ten, etc., together-as circum- stances required. Were often used as videttes to watch the movements and carry orders and tidings of the enemy. To train and discipline, were often assembled. Each man found his own horse and equipments. Knew Baldwin in service every month during the first two years. Troop lay at Morristown when Lee was made prisoner at Basking Ridge. Had his horse stolen from him at Parsippany, and the man who brought tidings of Lee's capture to Morristown rode it and Blowers recov- ered it. Blowers and a part at least of the troop served at Millstone, Second River, on Raritan River, at Spring- field, Connecticut Farms (where Hessians were taken, early in the war), at Elizabethtown often, at Newark, and Aquacknunk. He was in the battles of Springfield and Monmouth. In winter '76-7, when Winds lay at Van Mullinen's near Quibbletown, he was stationed on the Raritan at the house of one Ten Eyck. Did duty at Trenton and Princeton carrying orders. At Hackensack had like to have been taken prisoner near a British fort in the neighborhood of Hackensack. The troop did not do duty by monthly turns, as infantry, but were in con- stant watchful duty as videttes and express carriers to the end of the war."

In the minutes of the Provincial Congress there is mention made of an appropriation to Thomas Kinney for expenses in escorting Governor Franklin to Connecticut -a service exceedingly hazardous.

From these Condict papers many interesting facts con- cerning the services of the militia and the frequency with which they were called out can be gathered. Take for example the affidavits of James Kitchel, who entered the service at the request of his father, Abraham Kitchel, Esq., August Ist 1776, when but seventeen years old, under Captain Isaac Halsey, in Colonel Ford's regiment.

He marched first to Elizabethtown, where he remained until he was taken sick and brought home by his friends, being gone in all four months. He enlisted under Cap- tain Josiah Hall in January 1777, for three months, when the British lay at New Brunswick, and was stationed at Quibbletown. He was in several engagements at Ash Swamp, Woodbridge, Quibbletown and other places. He served one month under Captain Charles Ogden in the summer of 1779, and lay guarding the lines at Pompton and building a fort there. One month he served under Captain Stephen Jackson, at Elizabethtown, in the sum- mer of 1777; one and a half months under Captain Joseph Beach, guarding Morris jail, when twenty-one men were confined there under sentence of death, and two were hung by Sheriff Carmichael. In the fall of 1777 he served under Captain John Bigelow, near Hackensack, and was in the attack upon a British fort at Pollyfly under General Winds. In 1779 he served at Elizabeth- town, Blazing Star and Trembly's Point, during the sum- mer and fall, under Captain Bates, Colonel Thomas and General Williamson. In 1780 he served at Elizabethtown one month, under Captain Horton.

Henry Wick (on whose farm the Revolutionary army encamped in 1780-81) was at one time captain of a Morris county company of cavalry, which did good service dur- ing the war. He was frequently detailed as guard of Governor Livingston and of the privy council. At one time near Camptown one of the members of the Provincial Congress, Caleb Camp, was surprised by a party of British infantry at his own home, and while he was de- liberating as to the possibility of getting to his horse in the barn, and so away, Captain Wick's company charged in upon them and put the enemy to flight, though superior in numbers. The dead were found for three miles in the course of their flight.

From Dr. Tuttle's "Revolutionary Fragments," pub- lished about thirty years since in the Sentinel of Freedom, we take these incidents of the war:

Mrs. Eunice Pierson,. daughter of Abraham Kitchel, stated to the doctor that her uncle, Aaron Kitchel, was peculiarly obnoxious to the tories, and that on several occasions attempts were made to capture him. She said that a price was laid on his head. To one scene she was an eye witness. One dark night the family was sur- prised by the entrance of several noted tories, com- pletely armed. There could be no mistake about their intentions, and high words ensued, in which Mr. Kitchel gave them to understand that he was not afraid of them. At last, cooling down a little, they asked for cider, and he treated them liberally. In the meantime Mrs. Kitchel, with real womanly shrewdness, perceiving that no time was to be lost, pushing her little niece, Eunice, toward the bedroom door, said, aloud, "This is no place for you; you must go to bed." She followed her into the room, closed the door and raised the window; Eunice was lifted out and told to hurry as fast as her feet would carry her to her grandfather's house, some rods distant, and tell him to come up with all the help he could muster. "I tell you, I was a great coward in the dark

HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.

in those squally times," said the old lady, "and I was not long in going." Fortunately three of his sons were with the grandfather, and the tories, waking up sud- denly to the sense of their having been caught napping, took to their heels.

David Gordon, who lived to a very great age and was for many years sexton of the Rockaway Presbyterian church, was in the service, and among the many anec- dotes he told was the following account of a march his company made to Newark from Morristown - a fine illustration of the democracy of the times, even among soldiers, and also the power of proper motives ! The captain halted his company and thus addressed them. " Brother soldiers, we must get to Newark to-night, and we cannot do it and march in a body. Let every man make his way as best he can, and if we get there each one of you shall have half a gill of rum for tea." " Oh, captain," roared his followers, "call it a gill, and then we can do it !" "Well, a gill it shall be, then," said the captain; "but halt when you get this side of Newark, and let us march into town as brother soldiers should, together and in order !" The march was accordingly accomplished by each "on his own hook," and the valiant captain had the pleasure of entering Newark at the head of his company in the " brother soldier" way. In the night the men were roused up and embarked in boats, and were rowed down the Passaic in perfect silence. They landed on the salt meadows and marched up to a little village, probably Bergen. The object of this expedition Dr. Tuttle inferred to have been to break up a gang of tories, some of whom were captured and carried to Morristown.

Among the incidents of the battle of Springfield was a disagreement between General Heard and Colonel Hath- away, the latter accusing his superior of having unne- cessarily retired from the field. The following is a verbatim copy of the charges he preferred, which shows that the gallant colonel could use his sword probably better than his pen:

" MORRISTOWN, 15 July, 1780. "To his Exelencey the Governor-

" I send you in Closed Severel charges which I Charg B. D. Haird with while he comanded the Militare Sum Time in june Last at Elizebeth Town farms which I pray His Exilency would Call a Court of inquiry on these Charges if his Exilency thinkes it worth notising from your Hum Ser

BENONI HATHAWAY Lut. Coll."

" To exilencey the Governor

" This Is the Charges that I bring against General Haird While he Comanded the Militia at Elizabethtown farms sum time in Jun last 1780.

prevented thear gaining the Bridge at Fox Hall had not the Trups Bin ordered of which prevented our giving our armey aney assistence in a Time of great Destris.

"4 Charg is for marching the Trups of a Boat one mile from aney part of the Enemy and Taken them upon an Hy mountan and kept them thear till the Enemy had gained Springfeald Bridge.

"List of Evidence: Coll Van Cortland, Wm. Skank the Brigad Major, Capt. Benjman Cartur, Capt. Nathanal Norton, Adjt Kiten King, Major Samuel Hays, Leutnant Backover."

Dr. Ashbel Green, son of Dr. Green of Hanover, and afterward president of Princeton College, was a volunteer in the Morris county militia, and served under General Heard when he was left with three brigades to guard New Jersey; Washington, with the main army, having gone up to West Point. In his biography is a very graphic account of an unsuccessful attempt to drive the enemy from Elizabethtown Point, undertaken under a very false impression as to their numbers. The militia behaved with great steadiness, advancing under a heavy artillery fire, and only showed want of discipline in firing at some redcoats who were being brought in as prison- ers, supposing them to be the enemy advancing in force. He stated that his colonel, who was a very brave but a very profane man, rode forward and backward before his regiment, and in a loud voice threatened to kill the first man who should fire another gun until he gave the order. Mr. Green contrasts the conduct of his colonel with that of his captain, Enoch Beach, who was a deacon in his father's congregation, and a man of distinguished piety. He stood before his company with the greatest calmness and composure, and scarcely spoke at all, unless it was to drop now and then a word of encouragement to his men while they were waiting orders to advance. The troops were drawn off in good order by moving the mil- itia in such a way as to give the enemy the idea that an attack was to be made in another quarter. The enemy's numbers were far superior to those of General Heard.

There were some tories in the county, and they did great damage to the people; not by their acts of open hostility, but by murdering and plundering, mostly at night and in small gangs. The party led by the infamous Claudius Smith was as much dreaded as any. At one time thirty-five of these men were confined in Morris jail. Two of them, Iliff and Mea, were hung, and the remainder were branded in the hand and released. Those of the more respectable citizens who espoused the royal cause left the country and their estates were confiscated. Alexander Carmichael and Aaron Kitchel, as commis- sioners, advertised for sale on Tuesday March 30th 1779, at the house of Jacob Arnold, in Morristown, the real estate of Thomas Millidge, Stephen Skinner, John Troop, John Steward, Ezekiel Beach, Joseph Conliff, John Thornburn, Asher Dunham, Richard Bowlsby, Philip Van Cortland, Samuel Ryerson, Jacob Demarest, Isaac Hornbeck, William Howard and Lawrence Buskirk, an inquisition having been found and final judgment entered of the county. Millidge had been elected sheriff, and

" I Charg is for leaving his post and Marching the Trups of their post without order and Leaving that Pass without aney gard between the Enemy and our Armey without giving aney notis that Pass was open Between three and fore Ours. 2 Charg is Retreating in Disorder Before the Enemy without ordering aney Rear gard or flanks out leading of the Retreat Him Self. 3 Charg is for marching the Trups of from advantiges peace of against them. These men were the prominent loyalists ground wheare we mit Noyed them much and Lickley

AFTER THE REVOLUTION.

but for his political sympathies would have been much respected and deservedly so.

The women of Morris county were not at all behind the men in their patriotism and in genuine sacrifices for their country. They nobly sustained and encouraged their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons in their work; and in the care of the sick and wounded, in manufactur- ing clothing for the destitute, and in tilling the soil while the men were in the ranks, they contributed their full share to the good cause. The story of Anna Kitchel, of of Uzal Kitchel, is well known. Being urged by a timid deacon to procure a British protection she told him, " Having a husband, father and five brothers in the American army, if the God of battles do not care for us we will fare with the rest !"

HE war left the people of the colonies in a dreadfully impoverished state. Many who had. been wealthy when the war broke out were reduced to poverty. Officers and men . returned to their homes with very little but the glory of their achievements to console or support them. The money issued by authority of the Con- tinental Congress was so depreciated as to be practically worthless. The pressure from the outside which had kept the colonies united and made the general govern- ment respected was now withdrawn, and the sense of having delivered themselves from the control of a power- ful foreign nation made men independent in feeling and impatient of restraint. The country was in more danger in 1783 than in 1776, and the posterity of that genera- tion have reason to be more grateful for the good sense of the men of that day, which led them to unite in the formation of a constitution and in agreeing to live by it, than to their courage and self-sacrifice in the struggle with Great Britain, great as that courage' and self-sacrifice were. But not only was danger of anarchy and confu- sion to be dreaded. The war had had a demoralizing effect upon officers and men. The restraints of religion had become irksome, infidelity had made rapid progress and intemperance had greatly increased. It is the uni- versal report of the decade next succeeding the peace that the state of morals and religion which then prevailed was inost alarming, and Morris county was no exception to the general rule. It was the day of Paine's " Age of Reason," which found a soil well adapted to it in the minds of men flushed with victory and restive under control. Previous to the war liquors were imported from . abroad, and were used in comparative moderation. After

the peace distilleries were found established in all parts of the country, and drunkenness prevailed to an extra- ordinary extent and among all classes of people. Some particular industries had been unduly stimulated, others had been abandoned; and it was several years before business became readjusted and the old order of things resumed.

But the people of Morris county were in many respects fortunate. The enemy had not devastated their fields or burned their dwellings. They had every element of wealth Whippany, sister of Captain Timothy Tuttle and wife |in themselves, and they were not long in turning their attention to developing the resources they possessed. Be- fore the end of the century the county had grown wonder- fully. Forges and mills were built or rebuilt on the many streams. Houses of a more comfortable and pretentious style took the place of the log cabins which had been the usual habitations of the people. New lands were cleared and better roads made. In 1794 a great revival of re- CHAPTER VI. ligion swept over the country, to be succeeded by other revivals in 1806 and 1818. Schools were established throughout the country, and high schools at Morristown RECOVERING FROM THE REVOLUTION-MORRIS COUNTY MEN IN THE WAR OF 1812. where young men were fitted for college. Newspapers were published, the first one in Chatham in 1781, called The New Jersey Journal, by Shepherd Kollock, a refugee from Elizabethtown; afterward, in 1797, the Morris County Gazette, and in 1798 the Genius of Liberty, at Morristown.

In 1780 the funeral of Jacob Johnson, in Morristown, drew together a large concourse of people, who followed the remains from beyond Speedwell to the old church. In this procession there was but one vehicle, and that was used for carrying the body. All the rest were on foot or on horseback. Dr. Johnes and the attending physicians, each with a linen scarf around his shoulders, according to the custom of the times, led the procession on horseback.

In the diary of Joseph Lewis, a wealthy citizen of Morristown, son-in-law of Dr. Johnes and clerk of the county, is the entry: July 23d 1784-" Robert Morris, Esq., set out for Brunswick, being one of the committee appointed to meet committees from other counties to consult and devise some plan for establishing trade and commerce at Amboy." What came of this project is unknown. Elizabethtown no doubt continued to be the shipping point for this county until Newark was made nearer by its better means of communication.

In this same diary, under date of October 3d 1786, Mr. Lewis says: "I went in company with the court and sundry of our respectable inhabitants to wait on the Chief Justice Brearly from White tavern to this place. We returned in procession, in the following order, on horseback: Ist, the constables; 2nd, coroners; 3d, sheriff; 4th, chief justice, in his carriage; 5th, judges of the pleas; 6th, justices; 7th, clerks; 8th, citizens." No doubt the members of the procession were all on horse- back except the chief justice; and this attention to the judge coming to hold a general jail delivery was intended to impress the people with the majesty of the law.

To show how elections were conducted in those early

HISTORY OF MORRIS COUNTY.

days take another quotation from this diary: Tuesday October 10th 1786-" This day I served as clerk of the general election. Judge Stiles conducted the election. Colonel Hathaway, David Tuttle, Justice Ross, William Winds and Nathaniel Terry were inspectors, and Will Canfield and Henry Canfield as clerks: Abraham Kitchel, Esq., was elected a counselor; Aaron Kitchel, Esq., Colonel Cooke and Colonel Starke, assemblymen; Jacob Arnold, Esq., sheriff, and Enoch Beach and Victor King, coroners." The election of candidates for the State convention to ratify the federal constitution lasted from Tuesday November 27th to Saturday December Ist 1787, and resulted in the election of William Woodhull, John Jacob Faesch and General William Winds.

The death of General Washington was the most notable event which closed the century. The newspapers of the day were heavily lined and mark the very general ev- idence of sorrow throughout the land. In every town meetings were held and appropriate addresses made. Rev. John Carle's address, delivered at Rockaway, De. cember 29th 1799, was printed by Jacob Mann, and a copy is still in existence. The speaker drew a com. parison between his subject and Moses, and but echoed the sentiments of his hearers and of other orators in speaking of Washington as "the greatest man that hath graced the present century in any part of the world."

When the war of 1812 broke out the militia of the county was organized in four regiments of infantry and one squadron of cavalry. The regiments of infantry were commanded by Lieutenant Colonels Silas Axtell, John Smith, Joseph Jackson and Lemuel Cobb, and the brigade formed by them was commanded by Brigadier. General John Darcy. Lieutenant-Colonel William Camp- field commanded the squadron of horse. The militia were assembled on the call of the general two or three times each year, and were in a fair state of efficiency. There were three uniformed companies-Captain Car- ter's company of riflemen from Madison or Bottle Hill, Captain Halliday's company of Morris rangers, and Cap- tain Brittin's fusileers, of Chatham.

On the 15th of May 1812 Captain Carter's company paraded on Morris Green, with 250 of the militia, who were assembled for that purpose and were described as a well-disciplined, handsome body of men. Both that company and the rangers stood ready to volunteer their services at a moment's warning. Meantime recruiting was going on for the United States service, and Captain Scott of the new establishment had about sixty men and Captain Hazard, of the new, about thirty enlisted. The Jersey regiment, to which no doubt many Morris county volunteers belonged, numbering in all about 800 men, Lieutenant-Colonel Brearly commanding, struck its tents at Fort Richmond, on Staten Island, on Tuesday August 18th, and embarked for Albany. It reached the encamp- ment at Greenpoint (Greenbush?), near Albany, " in good health and spirits," on the 22nd, and on November 12th the camp there was broken up and the regiment marched northward to the Canada frontier.

November 16th 1812 Governor Aaron Ogden, in view -

of particular instructions addressed to him by the general commanding at New York, called upon all uniformed companies to hold themselves ready on twenty-four hours' notice to take the field. The enemy's fleet threat- ened the city then, and at intervals afterward during the war. The militia regiments of this State relieved each other in duty at Jersey City, Sandy Hook and the High- lands, in readiness to meet the invader.

In September the third regiment of Morris militia was called into active service and marched to Sandy Hook. It was in the United States service from September 17th to November 30th 1812, when the men were mustered out and returned home. The roster of the field and staff of this regiment was as follows:

Lieutenant-colonel, Joseph Jackson; majors, Peter Kline and Daniel Farrand; adjutant, William McFar- land; quartermaster, Joseph Edsall; paymaster, Jonas Wade ; surgeon, Reuel Hampton ; sergeant major, Thomas C. Ryerson; quartermaster sergeant, Isaac WVade.

There were six companies, as follows: Captain John Hinchman's company, 81 men; Captain Samuel Dem- arest's, 64 men; Captain Abner Dodd's, 61 men; Captain William Corwine's, 74 men; Captain Stephen Baldwin's, 70 men; Captain Peter Cole's, 75 men; total, 433 officers and men.

August 12th 1814 General James J. Wilson, in command at the seacoast, accepted the service of the three volun- teer uniformed companies, together with 185 officers and men who were to be taken from the other militia. The militia of Morris and Sussex were to be formed into one regiment, and this regiment was to be one of three com- manded by Brigadier-General William Colfax. Agree- ably to orders of the governor of the State the three uniformed companies marched off on Saturday morning, September 3d, for Harsimus, near Paulus Hook, where they were to be stationed for a time. In the notice of their leaving it is added, " The greatest cheerfulness and animation prevailed among them, and they appeared to entertain a just sense of the nature of the duties re- quired of them and of the honor of performing those duties with resolution and firmness."

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