USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Paterson > History of Paterson and its environs (the silk city); historical- genealogical - biographical > Part 37
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The most prominent active British sympathizer in this part of the State, if not in New Jersey, was Robert Drummond, a wealthy shipowner and merchant of Acquackanonk Landing, who had married Jannetje Vree- and. He was a member of the Provincial Congress in May, June and Au- gust, 1775, and acquitted himself so satisfactorily to his constituents that they reelected him speaker ; but when active hostilities began he placed his services at the disposal of his King, and organized the Second Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, of which he was commissioned major. It is said that upwards of two hundred members of this battalion were his neighbors. who had been persuaded to enlist under his influence. This, however, is certainly an exaggeration ; at least, no such number of Acquackanonk men enlisted in the British army ; he must have got his recruits from the Bergen county side of the river. Most of his battalion fell victims to the climate in the Southern States, or perished in battle. Major Drummond himself went to England after the war, with his wife, and died at Chelsea, in 1789. As an instance of the divisions in families during those trying times, his brother David did valiant service in the patriot army and after the war was rewarded with a tract of land in New York State, while Robert was given a farm in Nova Scotia and a pension by the British government.
Another resident of Passaic county, who remained loyal to the British crown, was Joseph Ryerson, who was born at Pequannock, February 28, 1761, and died near Vittoria, Norfolk county, Ontario, August 9, 1854. Eger- ton Ryerson, in his "The Loyalists of America and Their Times," gives the following sketch of the career of Joseph :
He entered the British service May 6, 1776, as a cadet, when he was only fifteen years of age. He was too small and weak to handle a musket, and received a light fowling piece, with which he learned the military exercise in a few days. In the course of a few months an order was received to embody a portion of the New Jersey Volunteers into a corps of Light Infantry, to go to the South to besiege Charleston. Joseph Ryerson was one of the 550 vol- unteers for this campaign. When Colonel Ennis (the Inspector-General of the troops at New York) came to Joseph Ryerson, he said, "You are too young and too small to go." The lad replied, "Oh! Sir, I am growing older and stouter every day." The colonel laughed heartily and said, "Well, you shall go then." * * About eighteen months after leaving New York, and before he was seventeen years of age, Mr. Ryerson received an ensign's
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commission, and he was, in the course of a year, promoted to a lieutenancy in the Prince of Wales' Regiment. His first commission was given him as the immediate reward of the courage and skill he displayed as the bearer of special despatches from Charleston, 196 miles into the interior, in the course of which he experienced several hair-breadth escapes. He was promoted to his lieutenancy for the manner in which he acquitted himself as the bearer of special despatches by sea to the north, having eluded the enemy in suc- cessive attacks and pursuits. He was in six battles, besides several skirm- ishes, and was once wounded. At the close of the war in 1783, he, with his brother Samuel, and many other Loyalists, and discharged half-pay officers and soldiers, went to New Brunswick, where he married in 1784, and settled and resided in Majorville, on the River St. John, near Fredericton. In 1799 he removed to Upper Canada, and settled in Charlotteville, near his brother -- they both having drawn land from the Government for their services. *
* While in New Brunswick he was appointed captain of militia ; on his arrival in Canada he was appointed major, and a few years afterwards colonel. On the organization of London district in 1800 he was appointed high sheriff- an office which he resigned after a few years, in favour of his son-in-law, the late Colonel Bostwick, of Port Stanley. During the war of 1812, with the United States, Col. Ryerson and his three sons took an active part in the defence of their country. He was for many years a magistrate, and chair- man of the Quarter Sessions. Peter Redner, one of the old comrades (in the Revolution), says : "He was a man of daring intrepidity, and a great favorite in his company."
CHAPTER X.
Lafayette's visit to Paterson in 1824-Description of an eye-witness-His recollection of a Paterson prodigy.
Among the places visited by Lafayette on his return to this country in 1824 was Paterson, coming here from Hackensack, along the Goffle road. There is little in the way of records and letters telling of his reception ; Peter Archdeacon, who was an eye witness, tells of it as follows :
General Lafayette returned to the United States and landed in New York on the Ioth of August, 1824. He soon afterwards visited Paterson. After a lapse of forty years the recollections of Totowa were fresh in the visitor's memory. Lafayette on his arrival in Paterson was received with all the congratulations that could arise from the hearts of freemen ; the flow of gratitude for his able and generous efforts in the cause of liberty added to the delight so rapturously felt at once more beholding the companion of the beloved Father of his Country, who shared his toils and dangers. The pro- cession entered Paterson from the Bergen (now Manchester or North Ward) side of the river, under two superb arches displaying their festoons and a variety of flowers interwoven with evergreens. One was inscribed, "Behold our Second Father Cometh." On the other, "Welcome, Lafayette." The houses were everywhere tastefully decorated with wreaths and festoons, the streets were swept, the fire companies displayed their patriotic feeling on the occasion by sprinkling the route with engines, which added much to the pleasure of the scene. The procession moved through the principal streets, which were strewn with flowers. The throng was immense; it was difficult to move and many of the housetops were crowded with anxious eyes to catch a glimpse of the nation's guest. The ladies from the windows greeted the
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hero with their bewitching smiles and waved their white handkerchiefs to the breeze as a token of welcome to the illustrious Lafayette. The procession arrived at the large hotel that formerly stood upon a part of the ground now occupied by Congress Hall, on Main street, which was then kept by Mr. James McNally. Here the assembled citizens rent the air with their acclama- tions of "Welcome, Lafayette!" The General answered with smiles and the waving of his hand. A splendid collation was prepared of the choicest pro- ductions of the season. The nation's guest was introduced to the citizens by the old patriots, General Godwin and John Travers, Esq. After many salu- tations and hearty welcomes to his adopted country the general arose and gave the following toast: "The recollections of Totowa and the enjoyments of Paterson : may this happy, populous manufacturing town more and more bear witness to the superiority of republican institutions and the blessings of freedom, equal rights and self-government." The General afterwards de- parted amidst the hosannas of the multitude, accompanied by his old friend, General Godwin.
There is no doubt that the two generals-Lafayette and Godwin- talked about the old days, but of what they said nothing stands recorded, but what has been recorded is that Lafayette inquired with considerable interest as to how the "big-headed man" was getting along. This query was sug- gested by an incident in which both General Washington and Baron von Steuben figured. Samuel Dewees, who during the Revolutionary war served as a fifer in a Pennsylvania regiment, wrote:
I beheld the most wonderful sight that I ever did behold in all my life. His body was chunkey and about the size of a healthy boy of ten or twelve years old and he laid in a kind of cradle, but his head (although shaped like a human head) was like a flour barrel in size, and it was common for one soldier to describe it to others by comparing it to a flour barrel. It had to be lifted about (the body could not support it) whenever and wherever it had to be moved to. His senses appeared to be good, and it was usual for us to say, "He can talk like a lawyer." He would talk to every person that visited him. All the soldiers that visited him and that had any money, would always give him something. It was said that when General Washington went to see him he gave his father the sum of four or five hundred dollars to aid in his support. Although I have here attempted a description of his person and appearance, it beggared every description I can give, as no person can con- ceive truly his appearance but those that saw him.
Surgeon James Thacher, of the American army, who saw him in July, 1780, after a trip to the Passaic Falls, thus described him:
In the afternoon we were invited to visit another curiosity in the neigh- borhood. This is a monster in the human form. He is twenty-seven years of age, his face from the upper part of the forehead to the end of his chin, measures twenty inches, and round the upper part of his head is twenty-one inches, his eyes and nose are remarkably large and prominent, chin long and pointed. His features are coarse, irregular and disgusting, and his voice is rough and sonorous. His body is only twenty-seven inches in length, his limbs are small, and much deformed, and he has the use of one hand only. He has never been able to stand, or sit up, as he cannot support the enormous weight of his head; but lies constantly in a large cradle, with his head sup- ported on pillows. He is visited by great numbers of people, and is peculiarly
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fond of the company of clergymen, always inquiring for them among his visitors, and taking great pleasure in receiving religious instruction. General Washington made him a visit, and asked, "whether he was a whig or tory?" He replied, that "he had never taken an active part on either side."
Washington was greatly pleased with this felicitous reply, and some years later, when the Baron Steuben had invited him to dine with him, in com- pany with a gentleman from New York, whose loyalty during the Revolution had been very questionable, upon the Baron making some apology for his guest, General Washington laughingly declared, "Oh, Baron, there is no difficulty on that point. Mr. - is very like the big headed boy at Totowa, he never has taken an active part."
When Gen. Lafayette revisited Paterson, he stopped for a moment at the Passaic hotel. to greet Gen. Godwin, and inquired about the "big headed man," remarking that he recollected the house solely on account of having there seen that remarkable phenomenon. The name of the "big-headed man" was Peter Van Winkle; he died when he was thirty-one years of age.
CHAPTER XI.
The Second War with England-Captain Mitchell's Rangers of Paterson Landing-Colfax, Rogers and Danforth.
The population of the territory at present occupied by the city of Pater- son took a lively interest in the war of 1812, several of the prominent men of the day taking an active part in the hostilities. The counties of Essex and Bergen contributed more than the quota asked for by the Federal gov- ernment ; there was but one regiment, the numerical strength of the com- panies being as follows: Essex-74, 37, 48, 57, 29, 28, 28, 59, 63, 25, 42, 33, 31, 33, 20, 25, 31 ; Bergen-50, 58, 52, 47, 34, 39, 12, 43. Among the volun- teer organizations that joined the Federal army was Mitchell's Rangers of Paterson Landing, under the command of Captain Jeremiah Mitchell; the company consisted of 31, there being 19 privates.
The most prominent figure of local celebrity was Brigadier-General Wil- liam Colfax, in command of the Brigade of New Jersey, consisting largely of detailed militia from Sussex and Middlesex counties. The brigade was stationed at Paulus Hook and the Highlands near Sandy Hook. A sketch of the career of General Colfax appears in the previous chapter.
By a curious coincidence two men, subsequently very prominent in the development of the locomotive industry in Paterson, were privates in the war, but neither enlisted from Paterson. Charles Danforth, when in his seventeenth year, enlisted before he came to Paterson, taking the place of a drafted man who had a family depending upon him. Thomas Rogers had come to Paterson in 1812, just before the breaking out of the war, and the future locomotive magnate and millionaire was engaged at the time in the humble occupation of house carpenter. He returned to his home down East in order to join other descendants of the "Mayflower Pilgrims" in their enlist- ment. Both served until peace was declared.
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CHAPTER XII.
Threatening clouds in the Spring of 1861-The call to arms and the response-Enthusiastic demonstrations followed by numerous enlist- ments-The City Blues and patriotic members of the Fire Depart- ment.
For a number of years before the war, Paterson was well provided with military organizations, the number being unusually large when compared to the numerical strength of the population. There were comparatively few able-bodied men who did not belong to some military company and many be- longed to several companies. As might have been expected the men who had volunteered to do duty in cases of fire had also prepared themselves for the more dangerous duty of the soldier. It was consequently not at all a matter of surprise that Paterson exceeded the quota expected of it when it came to an enlistment in the army of the United States.
Six days after the roar of the cannons at Fort Sumter had announced the beginning of the rebellion, the work of enlistment for the preservation of the Union had begun in Paterson. Captain Coventry, who had seen service in the Mexican war, began recruiting in the office of Justice of the Peace Ben- jamin D. Doremus on Broadway. On the following day a requisition was made on the State for arms. On the next day, April 20, the City Blues and Washington Continental Guards, with full ranks, attended divine service in the Congregational church and listened to a patriotic sermon.
The following advertisement was printed on April 22, in the Paterson "Daily Guardian :"
To ARMS!
The undersigned invite their fellow citizens of the City of Paterson and vicinity, without regard to past political opinions or associations, to meet tomorrow, Tuesday, afternoon, at two o'clock, in front of the City Hall, to express their sentiments on the proposed crisis in our National affairs, and their determination to uphold the government of their country, and maintain the authority of the constitution and laws. (Signed) Daniel Barkalow, Philip Rafferty, Henry M. Low, A. J. Sandford, D. G. Scott, George Griffith, John J. Brown, Joel M. Johnson, Joseph N. Taylor, Samuel Smith, J. A. Canfield, E. T. Prall, Benjamin Buckley, A. A. Hopper, Thomas D. Hoxsey, John Brush, Aaron S. Pennington, A. B. Woodruff, John Hopper, H. A. Williams, George Wiley, and one hundred others.
The meeting was largely attended and, after addresses by Benjamin Buckley, Charles Inglis, Jr., Daniel Barkalow, D. G. Scott, Henry A. Wil- liams, Thomas D. Hoxsey, A. B. Woodruff and the Rev. William H. Horn- blower and the passage of resolutions pledging the support of Paterson to the cause of the Union, the following were appointed a war committee: Charles Danforth, Samuel Pope, Henry M. Low, Albert A. Hopper, Benjamin Buck- ley, Joseph N. Taylor, John J. Brown, Philip Rafferty, David G. Scott, An- drew J. Sandford, Jacob S. Rogers, John Hopper, Henry B. Crosby, Robert Carrick, Morgan Colt, Edwin T. Prall, Cornelius Van Winkle, Daniel Barka- low, Samuel Smith, Andrew Derrom, John Quin, Stephen Allen, Charles H.
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O'Neill, Jetur R. Riggs, John C. Westervelt. On the same day Captain Coventry began drilling his 110 volunteers on the island off the West street bridge, then known as Temperance Island on account of the character of the meetings which had been regularly held there for some time. On the 24th the aldermen appropriated $10,000 for the support of the families of the soldiers who were about to go to the front. On May 7 three companies, under command of Captains Coventry, Ayres and Johnson, left Paterson ; the Godwin Guards, all now well advanced in years, acted as an escort to the depot, together with the fire department, such as were not in the ranks of the three companies, and other civic bodies. The troops entrained for New York, where they were quartered in the barracks of the Excelsior Brigade. On May 29 the City Blues started for Washington, the streets to the depot presenting one solid mass of cheering humanity.
Among the prominent and very active men of the day was Hugh Crowell Irish, for he not only ran a grocery, but was city assessor, clerk to the board of freeholders and editor and one of the proprietors of the "Daily Guardian." As a newspaper writer he had been a most enthusiastic supporter of the cause of the Union, but occasionally met with hints to the effect that perhaps he might exchange his pen for a musket. On April 2 appeared an advertise- ment in the Guardian in which Mr. Irish offered his grocery for sale, the closing lines of the advertisement being: "Now, to those young men who have said, 'Why don't you go?' I say, Come along; I'm in for the war." Irish at once began recruiting a company and after five days the first con- tingent left Paterson, thirty-six strong, to join the Thirteenth Regiment.
Recruiting now was the enthusiastic programme for every day; busi- ness was suspended at 4:30 in order to give an opportunity to all to attend mass meetings and look after the doings in the recruiting booths, which were now numerous on all the prominent streets of the city. On September I three companies, commanded by James Inglis, John McKiernan and Archibald Graham, left for the front. Captain McKiernan was an officer of Washing- ton Fire Engine Company No. 3 and his company was recruited largely from the ranks of the fire fighters, not only from the company to which he belonged but also from Jackson Fire Engine Company No. 4. A large proportion of Captain Graham's company came from Neptune Fire Engine Company No. 2. The city's quota had been exceeded, but recruiting continued until 2,011 men had left Paterson for the field of battles.
CHAPTER XIII.
Paterson's contribution to the army in defence of the Union-Many served under the flags of other States-Sketches of those who made themselves conspicuous by ability, energy and courage.
To write a complete history of the part played by men from Paterson in the War of the Rebellion would mean a detailed account of nearly every important engagement and movement in that struggle. When the call came
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for troops New Jersey was ready to furnish more than the quota assigned; Governor Olden repeatedly importuned the War Department to receive more soldiers from New Jersey, but the orders were imperative that not more than three regiments should come from New Jersey and that under no circum- stances would more be accepted. When the call of May 3, 1861, was promul- gated, New Jersey had more than three thousand men ready to be mustered into service. Even at that early date a few of the military organizations, hav- ing grown tired of waiting, had tendered their services to other States and these offers had been readily accepted. When it was evident that the war was not to be won as easily as had been at first anticipated, more troops were called for, and the volunteers from New Jersey were assigned to regiments which had no other affiliation with New Jersey than was presented by the contingent coming from this State. Thus it happened that the glory which should have been New Jersey's was made a part of that from other States.
Prominent among those whose anxiety to serve in the great cause made them neglectful of the fact that their deeds would redound to the credit of States other than New Jersey were the two companies recruited in Paterson by Captain Enoch J. Ayres and Captain J. M. Johnson. As has been noted on a preceding page these two companies left Paterson for the barracks of the Excelsior Brigade of New York under General Daniel E. Sickles; they be- came companies I and D of that organization, First Regiment. Captain Ayres was succeeded by Captain Mitchell, who was killed at Williamsburg, Virginia, May 2, 1862. Captain Johnson resigned in the winter of 1861-62 and was succeeded by Captain Oakley, and upon his resignation the com- mand of the company was assigned to B. Weller Hoxsey, also a native of Paterson. At the expiration of their term of enlistment many of them re- enlisted, largely strengthening the Eighty-second New York, a regiment which remained in service until the surrender of Lee. When the final count was made after the war, of the 310 men who had enlisted from Paterson barely fifty answered the muster roll.
Among the companies composing the Second Brigade of New Jersey, which answered the call of the president of July 24, 1861, were two from Paterson : Company G of the Fifth Regiment, under the command of Cap- tain Edward C. Hopper, and Company G of the same regiment, under the command of Captain John McKiernan. They took part in the desperate encounter which followed the evacuation of Yorktown on May 3, 1862.
When the President, on July 7, 1862, issued a call for three hundred thousand men to serve for three years or during the war, it took fourteen days for Paterson to recruit two companies, subsequently Companies C and K of the Thirteenth Regiment. This regiment left Camp Frelinghuysen, Newark, on August 31, for Fort Richardson, Arlington Heights, and was there assigned to the Third Brigade, First Division, Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac. In 1863 it was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, and in 1864 joined the army of General Sherman, participating in the march
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through Georgia and the Carolinas. It took part in the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville and many other engagements of note.
The Twenty-fifth Regiment was raised in consequence of the call of August 4, 1861, five companies being recruited in Paterson and the other five from the southern counties of the State. The most important engage- ment in which it participated was the battle of Fredericksburg. Upon the expiration of the term of enlistment the regiment was mustered out on June 20, 1863. The roster of its officers show the following from Paterson : Colo- nel, Andrew Derrom; lieutenant-colonel, E. J. Ayres; adjutant, Columbus Force ; quartermaster, James Inglis, Jr .; chaplains, Francis E. Butler and John H. Robinson ; commissary-sergeant, J. R. Putnam ; hospital steward, James Van Blarcom ; assistant hospital steward, George Gravelius.
Company D, of the Thirty-third Regiment, came from Paterson. The company was mustered into service on September 3, 1863, and was mustered out on August 2. 1865, having taken part in the Atlanta campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and the pursuit of Johnston.
Companies A and B of the Thirty-seventh Regiment, whose service lasted from May 31, 1864, to October 1, 1864, had seventeen men from Pas- saic county.
There were fifty Paterson men in the Ninth Regiment.
Paterson was also represented in the Forty-Eighth New York (Conti- nental Guard), the First Cavalry, the Third Cavalry, the Fifth New York Artillery, Serrell's United States Engineer and Artisan Regiment, the Haw- kins New York Fire Zouaves, the Fifty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers, and in numerous other units of the Union army.
Among those whose services in the cause of the Union entitled them to distinction are the following :
Peter M. Ryerson, for many years a familiar figure on the streets of Paterson, was killed at Williamsburg, at the desperate resistance offered by the rebels after the evacuation of Yorktown, May 3. 1862. The following sketch of his career and death appeared in the "Newark Mercury" at the time :
He was born at Pompton, on the 20th of June, 1798. He inherited from bis father a large property and early came into possession of the iron works at that place. He built the rolling mills and iron works at Pompton and at WVynockie and conducted the business on an extensive scale. He was a large stockholder and director in the Morris Canal Company and for several years was superintendent of the works of that company in that region. Soon after he had completed the iron works and was prepared to reap the reward of his vast outlay and exertions, the reduction of the tariff embarrassed his opera- tions, financial difficulties ensued, beneath which he struggled with the most untiring energy for many years, until at last, in the fall of 1859. he was forced to abandon the unequal contest, and, giving up to his creditors the home of his ancestors, where he had passed so many years of toil and anxiety, he removed to Newark with his family. But his was not a spirit that could brook a life of idleness, even at sixty-three, if any field of honorable labor opened to him: and such a field was opened in the war for the Union, and
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