USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Warren County, New Jersey > Part 4
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"At a meeting of a number of Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of Sussex, in the Province of New Jersey, at the Court House in Newtown, in the said county, on Saturday, the 16th of July, A. D. 1774, Hugh Hughes, esquire, chairman.
"Ist. Resolved: That it is our duty to render true and faithful allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, and to support and maintain the just dependence of his Colonies upon the Crown of Great Britain under the enjoyment of our constitutional rights and privileges.
"2nd. Resolved: That it is undoubtedly our right to be taxed only by our own consent, given by ourselves or our Representatives; and that the late acts of Parliament for imposing taxes for the purpose of raising a revenue in America and the Act of Parliament for shutting up the Port of Boston, are oppressive, unconstitutional and injurious in their principles to American freedom, and that the Bostonians are con- sidered by us as suffering in the general cause of America.
"3rd. Resolved: That it is the opinion of this meeting that firmness and unanimity in the Colonies and an agreement not to use any articles imported from Great Britain or the East Indies (under such restrictions as may be agreed upon by the General Congress hereafter to be appointed by the Colonies) may be the most effectual means of averting the dangers that are justly apprehended, and securing the invaded rights and privileges of America.
"4th. Resolved: That we will join, with the greatest cheerful- ness, the other counties of this Province, in sending a Committee to meet with those from the other counties at such time and place as they shall appoint, in order to choose proper persons to represent this Prov- ince in a General Congress of Deputies sent from each of the Colonies. "5th. Resolved: That we will faithfully and strictly adhere to such regulations and restrictions as shall be agreed upon by the Mem- bers of said Congress, and that shall by them be judged expedient and beneficial to the good of the Colonies.
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"6th. Resolved: That the Committee hereafter named do cor- respond and consult with the committees of the other counties in this Province and meet with them in order to appoint Deputies to represent this Province in General Congress.
"7th. Resolved: We. do appoint the following gentlemen our Committee for the purpose above mentioned: Hugh Hughes, Nathan- iel Pettit, Thomas Van Horne, Thomas Anderson, Archibald Stewart, Abia Brown, John B. Scott, Esquires, Messrs. E. Dunlap, Mark Thompson, W. Maxwell.
These resolutions had been drawn up by John Cleves Symmes, who became later an officer in the Revolution, a member of Congress and a justice of the supreme court. After the war he received a gov- ernment grant of 2,000,000 acres of land in Ohio, and went there with several hundred colonists from Sussex county. "He became a judge of the Northwest Territory, and lived to see his daughter, a native of Sus- sex, married to William Henry Harrison, afterward President of the United States."
A general meeting of Committees, similarly appointed, was held at New Brunswick on July 21, 1774, and appointed delegates to a General Continental Congress, at Philadelphia, to determine measures for obtaining "relief for an oppressed people and the redress of our general grievances." Thus originated the Continental Congress, which was conceived in Virginia and held its first meeting on September 5, 1774, in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. Seventy-five delegates repre- sented all the Colonies but Georgia, and Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was President.
This congress recommended the appointment of a "committee of superintendence and correspondence" for each township and county, known later as "Committees of Safety," which did much to aid the progress of the revolution. Every township in Sussex County had its Committee of Safety that regularly reported to the County Committee. It was a part of their duty to see that every citizen signed The Articles of Association approved by the Provincial Congress May 31, 1775, which were as follows :
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"We, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of the township . of - in the County of and Province of New Jersey, having long viewed with concern the avowed design of the Ministry of Great Britain to raise a revenue in America ; being deeply affected with the cruel hostilities already commenced in Massachusetts Bay for carry- ing that arbitrary design into execution; convinced that the preserva- tion of the rights and privileges of America depends, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants, do, with hearts abhorring slavery, and ardently wishing for a reconciliation with our parent state on consti- tutional principles, solemnly associate and resolve, under the sacred ties of virtue, honor and love to our Country, that we will personally, and as far as our influence extends, endeavor to support and carry into execu- tion whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental and Provincial Congresses, for defending our Constitution and preserving the same inviolate.
"We do also further associate and agree, as far as shall be con- sistent with the measures adopted for the preservation of American freedom, to support the magistrates and other civil officers in the exe- cution of their duty, agreeable to the laws of this Colony; and to observe the directions of our Committee, acting according to the Reso- lutions of the aforesaid Continental and Provincial Congresses; firmly determined, by all means in our power, to guard against those disorders and confusion to which the peculiar circumstances of the times may expose us."
At a meeting of the Sussex County Committee of Safety in August, 1775, whose minutes were fortunately rescued from oblivion by B. B. Edsall, Esq., representatives from every township committee were present but one. From Greenwich came William Maxwell, Benjamin McCollough and James Stewart; from Mansfield Wood-House came Edward Demont, Samuel Hazlet, and William Debman; from Oxford, John Lowry, John McMurtry, and William White; from Knowlton, Abraham Besherrer, Nathaniel Drake and Andrew Waggoner; from Hardwick, Casper Shafer; from Walpack, Abraham Van Campen, Daniel Depue, Jr., Moses Van Campen, Joseph Montague, Emanuel Hover, John C. Symmes and John Rosenkraus; and others from the present Sussex county.
Only a few citizens refused to sign the Articles, for example, in
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Greenwich, seven; in Mansfield, two; and probably in this proportion for the rest of the county. Sentiment was not unanimous, however, and those who favored the Crown were beginning to be called Tories and the others Whigs. When the time came later for a separation from the mother country, there were even more Tories than at this time.
The Tories, too, entered into an association resolving not to pay taxes levied by the Provincial Congress nor to purchase goods sold for taxes, nor to pay for non-attendance at musters. On a charge of enter- ing into this association, two magistrates of Sussex county were taken before the Committee of Safety of the Province of New Jersey at Princeton, fined, and made to give bonds for good behavior. They were also removed from office.
Meanwhile, conditions in Massachusetts were becoming serious. The members of the Assembly met without authority of the governor, appointed a Committee of Safety, and asked help from the neighboring colonies. The people voluntarily enrolled into companies called "minute men," as they might be called out at any minute. Provisions were collected, particularly at Concord. In an attempt to destroy these stores, on April 19, 1775, 800 men sent by General Gage were routed by the minute men at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and fled to Boston with a loss of 273 men. This first awoke a desire in America for independence. Under instructions from the Committee of Safety, Fort Ticonderoga was captured "In the name of Jehovah and the Con- tinental Congress," and Crown Point soon followed. On the very day that Ticonderoga fell, May 10, 1775, the Sussex county board of free- holders passed a resolution that "Henceforth no judges' expenses shall be paid by this county," as a protest against the appointment of judges by any other power than the New Jersey Assembly.
On the seventeenth of June, 1775, occurred the battle of Bunker Hill, in which the Americans lost 449 in all, and the British 1,500.
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Here the brave General Warren fell, after whom our county was to be named forty-nine years later.
General Joseph Warren was born at Roxbury, Massachusetts, on June 11, 1741, graduated at Harvard in 1759, began practice as a physician in 1762, and acquired a high reputation by his treatment of smallpox in 1764. Twice he delivered the anniversary oration com- memorating the Boston Massacre. In 1772 he became a member of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, and later, as one of the Suf- folk County Convention, he wrote two papers to Governor Gage which were communicated to the Continental Congress and formed the basis of the early important action of that body.
Dr. Warren was made president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and chairman of the Committee of Safety for Massachusetts. The successful results of the affair at Lexington and Concord were largely due to his vigilance, and he was commissioned a major-general on June 14, 1775, three days before he was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, while fighting as a volunteer in the ranks under General Putnam. A Masonic lodge in Charlestown erected a monument to his memory, on the spot where he fell in 1794, which was replaced by the present Bunker's Hill Monument begun in 1825 and finished in 1857. Our county does well to keep alive the memory of so valiant a patriot as General Joseph Warren.
On June 3, 1775, the Provincial Congress ordered that one com- pany of militia be raised in each township. But our county had already been active in this regard, for on the same date the Congress thanks Morris, Sussex and Somerset for their spirited exertions in raising min- ute-men.
General Washington was given command of the Continental armies by Congress on June 15, and proceeded at once to Boston to take command of the 14,000 troops gathered there, and organize them into an army.
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On August 16, 1775, the Provincial Congress planned to have the New Jersey militia consist of nineteen regiments and eight battalions, of which Sussex should furnish two regiments and one battalion, and that the minute-men should number four thousand, of which Sussex should furnish five companies of sixty-four men each, making one battalion.
Owing to the advice of John Hancock, president of the Continen- tal Congress, New Jersey did not put into constant pay as many troops as she had intended. The Continental Congress asked from New Jer- sey only two battalions. These were quickly raised and officered, the Eastern battalion, under Lord Stirling, of Somerset County, the West- ern battalion, under Colonel William Maxwell, of Greenwich town- ship, in our own county. All men between sixteen and fifty who refused to enroll into the militia had to pay to the township committee four shillings proclamation money per month.
The first volunteers from Warren county to join the Continental troops as Boston were Captain John McMurtrie and Lieutenant Will- iam White, of Oxford township.
The New Jersey Congress also made arrangements for issuing scrip, raising money by taxation, and in fact assumed all the powers of government. The regular legislature, called by the governor, met for the last time on November 15, 1775. It was prorogued by Gov- ernor William Franklin till January 3, 1776, but it never reassembled.
Of the men from our county, prominent in the Revolutionary war, Brigadier-General William Maxwell easily stands at the head. First, as colonel he commanded one-half of the Jersey troops, and later as brigadier-general he commanded them all, so that to follow "Maxwell's Brigade" through the Revolution is to learn the experience of the New Jersey regular troops in the greater part of the war, or till July, 1780, when he resigned.
The Eastern and Western battalions were mustered into the Con-
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tinental army in December, 1775, and were the first troops from New Jersey to actually take the field.
The Western battalion, under Colonel Maxwell, was ordered to the vicinity of the Hudson river, while yet insufficiently equipped, and was supplied with arms in part by the Colony of New York, after "All the arms fit for service that could be obtained in this province" had been collected. After the repulse of Montgomery at Quebec on December 31, 1775, Colonel Maxwell's battalion was ordered at once to Canada. He started at the end of February, 1776, with four com- panies, to march to Quebec, leaving the rest of his command to follow under Lieutenant Colonel Shreve. They marched by way of Lakes George and Champlain, crossing them on the ice, and reached Quebec not sooner than April 11, 1776. Here they found the army so disabled by smallpox, which had been communicated by a woman sent out of Quebec, "that of 3,000 men only 900 were fit for duty." Doubtless many of the boys from our county contracted the disease with the rest. The whole army retired from Quebec on May 4, leaving their stores and many sick behind. General Thomas, chief in command, died of smallpox during the retreat, and Benedict Arnold came in command, and later General Sullivan.
Our Jersey troops took part in the unsuccessful attack on Trois Rivieres, on June 8, and the whole army reached Crown Point on July I, 1776. "They were ordered into barracks at Ticonderoga, and on November 5, 1776, were ordered to return to New Jersey and be dis- charged."
Although these men had undergone great hardships, all of the Jersey troops being destitute of shoes, stockings and many articles of dress, yet most of the officers and many of the men reenlisted.
A third battalion was raised in February, 1776, under command of Elias Dayton, which after a year's experience "in Indian warfare at
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Johnstown, German Flats, Fort Dayton, Fort Schuyler, Ticonderoga and Mount Independence," were discharged on March 23, 1777.
On June 3, 1776, the Continental Congress called for 13,800 militia to be employed to reinforce the army at New York, of which New Jersey's quota was 3,300 men. These were raised by voluntary enlistment, four companies coming from Sussex county. On August II, 1776, an order was given that all the able-bodied men in the State between the ages of sixteen and fifty should immediately be enrolled in the militia, one-half of which should be immediately equipped and march to the flying camp. For the militia of our own county the colonels were Mark Thompson, Ephraim Martin, and John Cleves Symmes.
New Jersey was one of the first of the colonies to declare for Inde- pendence. On June 14, 1776, the New Jersey Congress resolved, "That in the opinion of this Congress the Proclamation of William Franklin, Esquire, late Governor of New Jersey, bearing date on the thirtieth day of May last, in the name of the King of Great Britain, appointing a meeting of the General Assembly to be held on the twen- tieth day of June, ought not to be obeyed," and "That in the opinion of this Congress, the said William Franklin, Esquire, has discovered him- self to be an enemy to the liberties of this country; and that measures ought to be immediately taken for securing the person of the said Will- iam Franklin, Esquire." He would not sign a parole, and on the twenty-fifth of June was sent under guard to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut.
On June 22, 1776, the Provincial Congress of New Jersey elected delegates, to serve for one year, to the Continental Congress, with the following instructions :
"To Richard Stockton, Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis Hop- kinson, Esquires, and the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, Delegates, etc. :
"The Congress empower and direct you, in the name of this Col- ony, to join with the Delegates of the other Colonies in Continental
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Congress, in the most vigorous measures for supporting the just rights and liberties of America. And, if you shall judge it necessary and expedient for this purpose, we empower you to join with them in declar- ing the United Colonies independent of Great Britain, entering into a confederacy for Union and common defense, making treaties with for- eign nations for commerce, and assistance, and to take such other measures as to them and you may appear necessary for these great ends, promising to support them with the whole force of this Province; always observing that, whatever plan of confederacy you enter into, the regulating the internal police of this Province is to be reserved to the Colony Legislature."
On July 2, 1776, two days before the Declaration of Independ- ence was made public, the Constitution of New Jersey was confirmed. It begins as follows :
"WHEREAS, All the Constitutional authority ever possessed by the Kings of Great Britain over these Colonies, or their other dominions, was, by compact, derived from the people and held by them for the common interest of the whole society; allegiance and protection are, in the nature of things, reciprocal ties each equally depending upon the other, and liable to be dissolved by the others being refused or with- drawn;
"AND WHEREAS, George the Third, King of Great Britain, has refused protection to the good people of these Colonies; and by assent- ing to sundry acts of the British Parliament, attempted to subject them to the absolute dominion of that body; and has also made war upon them in the most cruel and unnatural manner, for no other cause than asserting their just rights; all civil authority under him is necessarily at an end, and a dissolution of government in each Colony has con- sequently taken place.
"AND WHEREAS, In the present deplorable situation
some form of government is absolutely necessary * * * we the Representatives of the. Colony of New Jersey, having been elected by all the counties in the freeest manner, and in Congress assembled, have, after mature deliberation agreed upon a set of charter rights and the form of a Constitution in the manner following."
On July 17 the Provincial Congress of New Jersey resolved that,
"WHEREAS, The Honourable Continental Congress have declared the United States, Free and Independent States; we the Deputies of New Jersey, in Provincial Congress assembled do resolve and declare
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That we will support the freedom and independence of the said States with our lives and fortunes and with the whole force of New Jersey.
The State of New Jersey was born July 18, 1776, by virtue of the following resolution :
"Resolved, That this House from henceforth, instead of the style and title of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, do adopt and assume the style and title of the Convention of the State of New Jer- sey."
Late in November of 1776 the organization was effected of four battalions from New Jersey for the Continental Army, constituting a second establishment of troops. The battalions were commanded by Colonels Silas Newcomb, Isaac Shreve, Elias Dayton and Ephraim Martin. They formed "Maxwell's Brigade," under the command of Brigadier General William Maxwell, of Greenwich township, in our county, who was promoted to that rank on October 23, 1776.
A new arrangement of the Jersey troops was made in 1778, under which they were in three battalions which served through the campaign of 1779.
In 1780 three regiments of Jersey troops were raised, for which volunteers were called, the muster master for our county being Major John Van Vleet. Bounties of money and one hundred acres of land were given to each private, and more to the officers. The three regi- ments were under Colonels Ogden, Shreve and Dayton, and the whole under command of General Maxwell till July, 1780, when he was suc- ceeded by Elias Dayton, who commanded until the end of the war. According to Judge Swayze:
"The ladies also did their part, and a committee was formed to receive contributions for the relief and encouragement of the soldiers in the Continental Army. The members from the County of Sussex were Mrs. Robert Ogden, Jr., of Hardyston; Mrs. Mark Thompson, of Hardwick; Mrs. Robert Hoops, of Oxford, and Mrs. Thomas Anderson, of Newton. I can only add to the account which I have derived from Mr. Edsall's address, a reference in an old newspaper published at New York, February 3, 1777, during the British occu- pancy of that city. The newspaper says: 'An epidemic disorder pre-
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vails in the County of Sussex, New Jersey, which was brought hither by the rebels who formed the Northern Army under Gates; and many have been carried off with it. In short, the rebels as a just punishment from Heaven, begin to feel the triple scourge of pestilence, famine and sword; and, if they persist in their delusion, will probably soon receive those dreadful calamities in extreme degree."
After the defeat at Harlem Heights, Washington retreated across New Jersey and did not stop until safe on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, near Trenton. The advance of Cornwallis made it necessary to remove the General Hospital from Morristown, New Jersey, to some point better protected. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was chosen as a suitable place and so the wounded, sick and well nigh famished men were taken as speedily as possible in December, 1776, across our county to Bethlehem, where the Moravian brethren vacated some of their largest buildings that they might be used as hospitals. Surgeons-Gen- eral John Warren and William Shippen were in charge. Again, after the defeat at Brandywine on September 11, 1777, it was necessary to remove the sick and wounded to the number of 2,000 to Bethlehem and Easton.
At this time, too, there were at least sixteen delegates to the Con- tinental Congress at Bethlehem, besides Baron DeKalb and Marquis de Lafayette and his suite. All the military stores were moved to Northampton county, filling seven hundred wagons.
It was only the admirably conducted battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777, a defeat though it was, that prevented the seat of war from being transferred to Northampton county, as was fully antic- ipated by Washington and his staff.
The care the Moravians gave the sick soldiers should remove any doubts of their loyalty. For they and the Quakers were suspected by many as Tories, because the dictates of their conscience forbade them to bear arms. This suspicion produced for them much persecution. On July 15, 1776, when a number of Moravians were passing through Easton, with their wagons laden with flour obtained at the Moravian
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settlement at Hope, New Jersey, they were pursued by the Associators of Easton and searched for munitions of war, but nothing suspicious was found.
The Jersey troops were stationed at Morristown in the winter of 1776-77, and "continued to chase and worry the British at Newark, Elizabethtown and Spanktown with great success" and "in May, 1777, were a part of the division encamped at Elizabethtown, Bound Brook and Spanktown, under command of General Stephen." This division through the summer marched through Pennsylvania, and on September II, 1777, a portion of the "Jersey Line opened the battle of Brandy- wine and continued all day." The brigade had a skirmish at White Horse tavern, and then encamped at Germantown. "Maxwell's bri- gade, with some North Carolina troops, formed the reserve corps and left wing of the army at the battle of Germantown under the command of Major-General Lord Stirling," and "spent most of the winter with the army at Valley Forge, and June 18, 1778, was detached from the main army and with some militia was ordered to harass General Clinton and impede his force. June 28, 1778, the Jersey troops joined the left wing of the army and took part in the battle of Monmouth."
In the Indian Campaign, under General Sullivan, all of the New Jersey Continental line were under Brigadier-General Maxwell, with Colonels Ogden, Shreve, Dayton and Spencer in command of the four regiments. The Jersey troops had undergone great hardships in the winter of 1778-79, when they occupied the advance post at Elizabeth. They numbered 1,294 men, of whom one company under Captain Helms was from our county. The total of Sullivan's army was 4, 100 men.
On May 29, 1779, the regiment under Colonel Shreve, which contained the troops from our county, left Elizabeth under the escort of many citizens of that place and Newark, by whom the officers had been handsomely entertained. They reached Easton on June 5, where they were reviewed by General Maxwell, and where they had the
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pleasure of seeing Lady Washington pass through. She was escorted to the Sun Inn at Bethlehem by General Maxwell. She was on her way from headquarters at Morristown to her home in Mount Vernon. Custis says that "At the close of each campaign, an aide-de-camp repaired to Mount Vernon to escort the lady to headquarters. The arrival of the aide-de-camp escorting the plain chariot with the neat postillions in their scarlet and white liveries, was deemed an epoch in the army, and served to diffuse a cheering influence amid the gloom which hung over our destinies at Valley Forge, Morristown and West Point. Lady Washington always remained at headquarters till the opening of the campaign, and she often remarked in after life, that it had been her fortune to hear the first cannon at the opening and the last at the closing of all the campaigns of the Revolutionary war."
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