USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Paterson > History of Paterson and its environs (the silk city); historical- genealogical - biographical > Part 33
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gents urged that their own oaths should be admissible in determining the terms of their enlistment, as it had been conceded to the Pennsylvania muti- neers, but Dayton and Shreve would not consent, and the men reluctantly yielded that point. Upon the assurance of obedience, Col. Dayton granted this pardon :
Chatham. Jan. 23, 1781. The commandant of the Jersey Brigade, in answer to the petition of the sergeants for a general pardon, observes that, in consideration of the Brigade having revolted before they were made acquainted with the resolution of the Legislature directing an inquiry into their enlistments, and of their agreeing immediately upon their being in- formed of said resolution, to return to their duty, and of their having neither shed blood nor done violence to the person of any officer or inhabitant ; he hereby promises a pardon to all such as immediately, without hesitation, shall return to their duty, and conduct themselves in a soldierly manner. Those who shall, notwithstanding this unmerited proffer of clemency, refuse obedi- ence, must expect the reward to such obstinate villainy.
Most of the men were glad to accept the pardon, and on Thursday, January 25, they were persuaded to return to their huts at Pompton, with Col. Shreve, promising to put themselves again under the command of their officers. But the spirit of insubordination was still rife. They marched back in a disorderly fashion, yielding a semblance of obedience to some of their officers, "more like following advice than obeying command," while they flatly refused to acknowledge the orders of other officers. "They con- descended once to parade when ordered, but were no sooner dismissed than several officers were insulted. One had a bayonet put to his breast, and upon the man being knocked down for his insolence, a musket was fired, which being their alarm signal, most of them paraded under arms. It seemed, indeed, as if they had returned to their huts simply as a place more convenient for themselves, and where they went to negotiate with a commit- tee appointed to inquire into their grievances, and to whom they were to have dictated their own terms." On Friday, January 26, the last of them strag- gled back from Chatham into their former camp at Pompton. The men felt better for their bit of an outing, and all slept soundly that Friday night. But what an awakening was theirs !
As soon as Washington heard from Gen. St. Clair that the spirit of mutiny was apparently rife among the Jersey troops, he called a council of war at New Windsor on January 1I, at which it was determined to organize a special detachment of one thousand men, or five battalions-two from the Massachusetts line, one from the New Hampshire line, one from the Con- necticut line, and one chiefly from Col. Hazen's regiment. These were selected and arranged by Gen. Heath, and were ordered to be ready to march with four days' provisions at the shortest notice. The command devolved upon Gen. Robert Howe, by seniority. It was the intention of the com- mander-in-chief to order these men forward to suppress the insurrection among the Pennsylvania troops, but as he hesitated at this juncture to with- draw 1,000 men from the garrison at New Windsor, and as the mutineers
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were numerous, he refrained from decisive measures, until the Pennsyl- vania State authorities adjusted the matter, contrary to his own ideas of the military requirements of the case. When the Jersey Brigade followed the pernicious example, he determined to tolerate no half-way measures. On January 22 he ordered Gen. Howe with the special detachment of 1,000 men to march against the Jersey mutineers. He was directed to rendezvous the whole of his command at Ringwood or at Pompton, as he might find best from the circumstances. "The object of your detachment is to compel the mutineers to unconditional submission; and I am to desire, that you will grant no terms while they are with arms in their hands in a state of resist- ance. *
* * If you succeed in compelling the revolted troops to a sur- render, you will instantly execute a few of the most active and incendiary leaders." Gen. Howe at once moved forward with about 600 Continental troops, and arrived at Ringwood on Friday evening, January 26, where he was speedily joined by Capt. Stewart, with three three-pounders. Major Morril, with the New Hampshire detachment, marched at the same time from King's Ferry and arrived about the same time, doubtless via the Ponds. Gen. Howe found the Jersey mutineers mostly back in their huts, but the spirit of insubordination unquelled. Having ascertained the precise situation of their encampment, he silently marched from Ringwood at one o'clock on Saturday morning. It was a dreadful march-a distance of eight miles, on a bitterly cold night, over rough and mountainous roads, rendered almost
Schuyler Panupo R.
DArent
Sufferns
Ringwood River
++/ Graves
roud
To Ponds.
Ligi. Oliver
Miller
River
Vancads 10
Maj. Threep
Pompton
To
Charlottenderg
To Totowa
and Sussex
W. NELSON DEL. 189%.
SCENE OF MEETING AT POMPTON
To Ramapo and
Cannon Ball
Camp
MJOL LOW Ringwood Read Pequannock R.
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impassable by deep snow. At early dawn they arrived within sight of the insurgents' huts. A halt of an hour was made, for further preparations. Could the troops be relied on? They had the same grounds for complaint as the mutineers. Their officers were anxious. But when they were ordered to load their arms they obeyed with alacrity. It was evident they could be trusted. Gen. Howe briefly addressed them on the heinousness of the crime of mutiny, and the necessity of bringing the insurgents to unconditional sub- mission. The march was resumed, and the troops quietly surrounded the mutinous brigade. Major Morril was posted on the Charlottesburgh road, about half a mile above the bridge crossing the Ringwood river, or a short distance above the present Pompton Reformed Church. Lieut .- Col. Com. Sprout, with one party and a piece of artillery, was ordered to take post on the left of the mutineers; Lieut .- Col. Miller, with another party and two pieces, on the right; Maj. Oliver, with his men, in front of their encamp- ment ; and Maj. Throop, with his party, in the rear. Thus all the roads lead- ing to and from the camp were effectually guarded-the road afterwards known as the Paterson and Hamburg turnpike, running west to Blooming- dale, and southeast to Totowa ; the roads leading northerly to Wanaque and Ringwood; and the road leading northeasterly to the Ponds and the Ramapo valley. This was the situation as daylight appeared. What terror must have leaped into the hearts of the mutineers when they awoke on that still Saturday morning to find their camp surrounded by a stern cordon of sol- diers true to their faith. Lieut .- Col. Barber was sent to them with orders immediately to parade without arms, and to march to the ground pointed out to them. Some were willing to yield at once. Others, the more guilty, ex- claimed, "What ! no conditions? Then if we are to die, it is as well to die where we are as anywhere else." Some sought flight by the road to Sussex, but were unable to pass Maj. Morril's guard. As the main camp hesitated to obey the order to parade without arms, Col. Sprout was directed to ad- vance from the left, with his gun unlimbered and ready to pour its destruc- tive fire into the insurgents. They were given five minutes to yield. There was no escape. Sullenly they succumbed to the inevitable, and, to a man, marched, unarmed, to the designated field. Their officers furnished Gen. Howe with a list of the more conspicuous offenders, and out of these, three men-one from each regiment of the brigade-were selected as the guiltiest of all. These were Sergt .- Maj. George Grant, who had acted as the com- mander of the revolters: Sergt. David Gilmore, of the Second Regiment ; and Priv. John Tuttle, of the First Regiment. A field court-martial was promptly held, "standing on the snow," as the record says-with uncon- scious pathos. Col. Sprout presided. The proceedings were brief. The three men named were immediately tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The Jersey officers, however, assured Gen. Howe that Grant had not volun- tarily taken the command, and that he had urged the men to return to their duty. On this account his life was spared by the general. But the other two were ordered to be shot at once. With a stern sense of poetic justice, twelve of the most guilty mutineers were selected to be their executioners.
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"This was a most painful task," says Surgeon Thacher; "being them- selves guilty, they were greatly distressed with the duty imposed on them, and when ordered to load, some of them shed tears. The wretched victims, overwhelmed by the terrors of death, had neither time nor power to implore the mercy and forgiveness of their God, and such was their agonizing con- dition, that no heart could refrain from emotions of sympathy and compas- sion. The first that suffered was a sergeant [Gilmore], an old offender : he was led a few yards distance and placed on his knees ; six of the execution- ers, at the signal given by an officer, fired, three aiming at the head and three at the breast, the other six reserving their fire in order to dispatch the victim, should the first fire fail; it so happened in this instance; the remaining six then fired, and life was instantly extinguished. The second criminal [Tuttle] was, by the first fire, sent into eternity in an instant. The third [Grant], being less criminal, by the recommendation of his officers, to his unspeakable joy, received a pardon. This tragical scene produced a dreadful shock, and a salutary effect on the minds of the guilty soldiers. Never were men more completely humbled and penitent ; tears of sorrow and of joy rushed from their eyes, and each one appeared to congratulate himself that his forfeited life had been spared."
In a thick wood, on the bleak and desolate summit of a rocky knob of the Ramapo mountains, overlooking the Pompton Lakes station on the New York, Susquehanna & Western railroad, the hardy traveler may find two rude piles of weather-beaten field-stones. These are pointed out as marking the lonely, unhonored graves of the two Jersey Mutineers.
After the execution, the men were ordered to parade by regiments, and then by platoons, and obliged to make proper apologies to their officers, and promise of good behavior for the future. They showed the fullest sense of their guilt, and Gen. Howe was so assured of their contrition that he marched back to Ringwood the same day. Gen. Washington returned thanks, Janu- ary 30, to Gen. Howe and his officers and men for their conduct in this affair. "It gave him inexpressible pain," he added, "to be obliged to employ their arms on such an occasion, and he is convinc'd that they themselves felt all that reluctance which former affection to fellow soldiers could inspire." The general had deemed this occasion so critical that he went to Ringwood himself on January 26. The next day he wrote to the commissioners ap- pointed by the New Jersey Legislature to consider the grievances of their troops, informing them of the suppression of the mutiny. "Having pun- ished guilt and supported authority, it now becomes proper to do justice," he remarked. He therefore urged them to hasten an adjustment.
On February 7, 1781, Washington directed that a mere captain's guard of the Jersey Brigade be posted at the entrance to Smith's Clove, and another at Pompton and Ringwood, while the rest of the brigade was ordered to Morristown. In pursuance of his plan to send more of his troops south, Colonel Pickering reported to him, February 18, that he proposed to impress horses and teams at Pompton and Ringwood, to transport the tents as far as Somerset Court House [Somerville]. This was to facilitate the movement of a detachment of 1200 men, including the Jersey Brigade, under the com- mand of Lafayette, to the Chesapeake, where he was directed to fall upon
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and destroy Arnold's troops, then ravaging that vicinity. The Marquis passed through Pompton on February 23, with the men detached from the main army on the Hudson, and during the next few weeks there was a considerable movement of troops through that important post, as Washing- ton distributed his army with a view to an attack upon New York and Brooklyn with 20,000 men. A captain's guard of thirty men was left at Pompton, to guard the stores, and a few militia were ordered out at Second River, and probably at Acquackanonk, with the like object. Christian Lozier and Richard Van Riper, of Acquackanonk, who went into New York, pre- sumably for trading purposes only, were questioned by the British, and re- ported some of these movements. James O'Hara, a spy, who came in from Warwick via Acquackanonk, confirmed the rumors, and gave other informa- tion, all tending to convince Sir Henry Clinton that New York was threat- ened. These mysterious manœuvres were kept up during the summer. About the middle of July, however, Washington felt constrained to abandon his main project, and concluded to move his forces in conjunction with the French army, against the enemy in Virginia. On August 20-21 the Ameri- can troops crossed the Hudson river in force and encamped at Haverstraw. On the 22d Col. Alexander Scammel's Light Corps of specially-selected New England men, marched south, passing through Paramus, Acquackanonk and Springfield. On Saturday, the 25th, the American Light Infantry, under Gen. Lincoln, followed by the same route, together with the First New York, and on the same day Colonel John Lamb, with his artillery regiment, park and stores, covered by Lieut .- Col. Olney's Fourth Rhode Island Regiment, marched through Pompton and Two Bridges to Chatham and Springfield The Second New York Regiment, Col. Philip Van Cortlandt, took the same route, probably the same day. This regiment was accompanied by thirty- four boats, which had been collected and mounted on carriages at King's Ferry, by Washington's direction. The country people about Pompton must have stared at seeing such strange paraphernalia among the impedimenta of an army on the march on inland routes. Sir Henry Clinton naturally regarded this preparation as indicating an attack on Staten Island, in which he found additional evidence in the threatening movements of the Americans at Springfield. Washington himself rode through Ramapo and Pompton on the 26th.
Pompton was destined to be favored with a still more imposing display of the panoply of war. The French army, under the Count de Rochambeau, crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry (opposite Stony Point) on August 24-25, and proceeded via Kakeat to Sufferns, where they camped the first night. On August 25 the First Division or Brigade moved from Sufferns to Pompton, and there went into camp for the night. What a profound sen- sation this splendidly uniformed and thoroughly-equipped French army cre- ated among the country people! First there came the Legion of the Duke de Lauzin, two squadrons of hussars and lancers, his tall grena- diers and his chasseurs-six hundred men in all, mostly Germans, and fit match for the dreaded Hessians Little recked the Duke, that brilliant, gal-
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lant soldier of fortune, that in a dozen years his head would be laid on the guillotine, to appease the greedy thirst of his fickle mistress, the French Re- public. After this noble legion the parks of field guns rumbled heavily along, manned by selected detachments from the second battalion of the regiment of Auxonne, and from the second battalion of the regiment of Metz, the whole under the command of the Count d'Aboville. Then came the regiment of Bourbonnais (formed in 1595), Col. the Marquis de Laval, the Viscount de Rochambeau (younger brother of Gen. the Count de Rochambeau) being the colonel en second. The famous Royal Deux-Ponts regiment next swung jauntily along, led by its gallant young colonel, the Count Christian de Deux-Ponts, his younger brother, the Viscount Gillanme de Deux-Ponts, being his colonel en second, with Lieut .- Cols. de Haden and the Baron d' Esebeck. The Baron de Vioménil commanded this entire divi- sion. Says a French officer: "We went from Sufferns to Pompton, four miles this side of which the river of this name is crossed three times and there are bridges at each passage; the first and third are fordable; the road is superb. This is an open and well cultivated country, inhabited by Dutch people who are almost all quite rich."
The American officers observed with admiration the movements of these experienced campaigners. "I viewed their manner of camping over night," says one; "the perfect mechanical manner of performing all they had to do, such as digging a circular hole and making nitches in which to set their camp kettles for cooking food, &c. ; every necessary accommodation was performed in the most natural and convenient manner. They rose in the morning and paraded by daylight; soon struck tents and began their march, which they completed for the day about noon; then pitched tents and set about their cookery. They marched on the road in open order until the music struck up; they then closed into close order. On the march a quartermaster preceded, and at the forking of the road would be stuck a pole with a bunch of straw at top, to shew the road they were to take."
The next day this brigade left Pompton and marched to Whippany, Morris county, where it halted for the Second Division. The latter camped at Pompton on the night of August 26. It was commanded by the Viscount de Vioménil (the baron's brother), and comprised the regiment of Soisson- nais, Col. the Count de Saint-Maime, with the Viscount de Noailles as colonel en second; and the regiment Saintonge, under Col. the Count de Custine- Sarracks, the Count de Charlus being colonel en second.
The commander-in-chief of the French army, the Count de Rocham- beau, accompanied the troops through Pompton on this momentous journey, and the two corps were officered by the flower of the French nobility. What a striking contrast did these magnificent troops present to the ill-clad Ameri- cans who had marched through the village a day or two before. How differ- ent this spectacle, mirroring forth the glory of war, from that pitiful scene of six months earlier, when the half-starved, barefooted little band of Jersey soldiers at Pompton were summoned to parade on the winter snow, to attend
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the drum-head court-martial and summary execution of their unfortunate comrades whose long-suffering had been tried beyond endurance !
But the brilliant pageant swept by. The American commander-in-chief by a masterly movement outwitted Sir Henry Clinton, hurried the allied armies against Cornwallis, and on October 19, 1781, received the surrender of the British forces on the Virginia peninsula. It is pleasant to know that the Jersey brigade there retrieved the disgrace of the Pompton mutiny, and that among the participants in the crowning victory at Yorktown were Sergt .- Maj. Grant and Sergt. Nichols, two of the leaders in the revolt at Pompton.
The victorious army was conveyed by water from Yorktown to the head of the Elk river, and thence, November 20, 1781, began the march back to the northern encampments, crossing the Hudson river at King's Ferry on December 7. "On account of the inclemency of the season," says Surgeon Thacher, "we have suffered exceedingly from cold, wet, and fatigue, during our long march. But we return in triumph to rejoin our respective regi- ments, and enjoy a constant interchange of congratulations with our friends. on the glorious and brilliant success of our expedition which closes the cam- paign." The gallant Maj .- Gen. the Chevalier (afterwards Marquis) de Chastellux commanded the First Division of the French army as it marched through Pompton on this return journey. Two New York regiments, under the command of Gen. James Clinton, went into winter quarters at Pompton, and immediately proceeded to make themselves comfortable by the erection of huts. The men were so expert in constructing these shelters that they could finish one in twenty-four hours. The walls were of stones laid up in clay, with roofs of planks, logs or bark, a stone chimney on the outside, a small door being next to it, which kept out cold winds. De Chastellux says that the men sometimes constructed barracks, or double log houses, each large enough for eight men, the logs being put together with wooden pins. The weather was extremely cold, and the troops were poorly provided with clothing or provisions, so that it was with difficulty that they could keep warm, although there was an abundance of wood in the adjacent hills. The Rev. John Gano, a noted Baptist preacher, was chaplain of the brigade at this time, but as there was no opportunity for him to preach he was given a furlough. Returning at the close of the winter a private soldier made him uncomfortable by addressing him thus: "Dear Doctor, we have had toler- able health, but hard times otherwise; we have wanted almost everything, scanted in clothing, provisions and money, and, hardest of all, we have not even had the word of God to comfort us." The good clergyman was much disturbed in his conscience at this reproof, until he learned that his critic was one of the most incorrigible jokers in the camp, and had been simply making fun at his expense. A number of the soldiers had enlisted for six months or nine months, and Col. Van Cortlandt, commanding one of the regiments, was anxious to have them reenlist. The use of the Reformed Dutch church on Pompton Plains was secured for the chaplain on his return, and on the first Sunday thereafter he preached to the men. He was apt in selecting significant texts, and doubtless chose on this occasion the words, "There
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is no discharge in that war." Certain it is, that he assured his nearers that it always gave him pleasure to preach to soldiers, especially when he had good tidings to communicate, and he could aver with truth that our Lord and Saviour approved of all those who had entered in his service for the whole warfare. He had no six or nine months men in His service! The whole camp greatly enjoyed the apropos address, and the short-term men were so chaffed by their comrades that most of them reënlisted.
The troops encamped at Pompton at various times during the Revolu- tion did not always occupy the same location. Tradition asserts that during two winters their encampment was on the southern slope of the Pompton Lake, where "Sunnybank," the charming home of "Marion Harland," is now situated. In clearing the wooded hillside on her place remains of huts have been unearthed, together with bullets, flints, gunlocks, and a sword of Brit- ish workmanship, in perfect preservation, with the royal arms of England engraved on the blade, and on the hilt, rudely scratched, the initials, "E. L." At one point on the "Sunnybank" premises there was a paved roadway for the use of the horses and wagons going to the water's edge. It is probable that the huts of the Jersey mutineers were located on the northern slope of the Lake (then much smaller than now, the dam having been raised in 1837), near the Schuyler bridges. The New York Brigade that wintered at Pomp- ton in 1781-82 probably occupied substantially the same site, but extending over more ground and more to the south. Col. Van Cortlandt-who seems to have been in command of the brigade much of the time-doubtless had his headquarters in a small frame building facing southerly on the road to Pater- son, at the junction of the Hamburgh road and the Wanaque road, in the present Borough of Pompton Lakes. This house was small, the main part being thirty feet in front and twenty-four in depth, two stories high in front, with roof sloping almost to the ground in the rear, a small covered porch in the middle leading to quaint old-fashioned half doors. There was a kitchen extension on the east end, about sixteen feet square, one story high, with attic, a covered verandah extending all along its front. From its color the building was known in later years as the "Yellow House." In the roof of the verandah, and in the massive oaken beams of the kitchen, were to be seen for a century and more, the marks where the rude soldiers had thrust their bayonets, by way of "stacking arms," in the war times. In the sum- mer of 1878 a silver spur was dug up in the garden. The building was re- moved about 1890, to permit the changing of the roads. In the early part of the Revolution it was the residence of Casparus Schuyler, grandson of Arent Schuyler, who settled at Pompton about 1701. In the summer of 1780 the house was leased to a young man named Curtis, from Morristown, who con- ducted it as a tavern, with the assistance of his two handsome sisters. The Chevalier de Chastellux, who put up there on the night of December 18, 1780, on his way from Philadelphia to New England, says the inn had been but lately established, and "consequently the best parts of the furniture were the owner and his family." On entering the parlor, where the sisters were wont to sit, he found on a great table the works of Milton, Addison, Richardson,
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