USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Warren County, New Jersey > Part 5
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On June 1.8th, at 8.00 o'clock in the morning, the army started on its march from Easton by way of the Wind Gap to Wyoming, arriving on June 23rd, where twelve hundred homes had been ruined by the merciless savages. Here the whole army witnessed the exe- cution of a citizen of Phillipsburg, who had been found guilty by court martial of enticing soldiers to desert from the army. After six weeks of preparation, the army started on its long campaign on July 31, with 1,200 horses bearing supplies and 700 cattle for food. The whole army forded the Susquehanna river and camped at Tioga, from which, leaving supplies behind, expeditions were sent to destroy the Indian village. Colonel Shreve's regiment, under fire, destroyed more than 1,000 bushels of growing corn at the vil- lage of New Chemung, consisting of fifty huts which were burned. Colonel Shreve and 250 of his men were left at Fort Sullivan, at Tioga, to protect baggage, stores and invalids."
The instructions given by Washington to General Sullivan were to accomplish "The total destruction and devastation of the settlements of the hostile Indians of the Six Nations who, true to their ancient com- pact with the English, sided with the Crown. The country must not
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merely be overrun but destroyed. * You will listen to no overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected."
The fighting strength of the enemy was 1,200 warriors, assisted by two companies of the "Royal Greens" of the British army, under Colonel John Johnson, and some Tory militia led by Joseph Brant and Colonel John Butler. These had committed many outrages, notably that of Wyoming.
It took brave men to go thus to the very centre of the strongest Indian nation then known and attempt to destroy it utterly. The revenge of the Indians on any unfortunate captive was dreadful, for example: "The bodies of Lieutenant Boyd and Corporal Parker were found, showing that they had been tied and whipped, their nails torn out, tongues and noses cut off, eyes plucked out, part of their bodies skinned, pierced with darts, and beheaded."
The army marched as far as Genessee Castle, the most beautiful town of all, destroyed it and devastated 15,000 acres. On the return · journey every village of the Five Nations (except of some friendly Oneidas) was destroyed, and the army reached Fort Sullivan at Tioga . on September 30. The troops arrived at Easton on October 15, having destroyed forever the strength of the Six Nations. They had burned forty towns and destroyed more than "one hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn."
On the approach of the army to Easton, prices were marked up to such an extent that the "Jersey brigade, with solemn resolve, deter- mined not to buy a single article in the town." The Jersey troops crossed to Phillipsburg on October 26, 1779, camped at Oxford, one mile from Belvidere, that night, and marched thence past Hope and Johnsonsburg to Sussex Courthouse at Newton, to Warwick, Pompton, Morristown and Springfield, arriving at Scotch Plains on November 5, where Washington joined them on December 7 with the main body of his army.
The troops from the Indian Campaign received the thanks of Con-
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gress, which appointed a special day of thanksgiving, and Washington congratulated them on their success. They lost forty-two men, but only 300 of the 1,400 horses returned. "The terrible winter of 1779-80 followed, and the Jersey troops ended the year of toil and distress with intense suffering from the cold of that fearful winter."
Besides the regular Continental troops, the militia of New Jersey frequently performed invaluable service during the war, the greater part of which was fought on New Jersey soil. When in service they were called State troops, to distinguish them from the regular line.
In 1775 Colonel Ephraim Martin commanded the Sussex militia. A second regiment of Sussex militia was commanded from 1777 to the end of the war by Colonel Aaron Hankinson, who after the war became brigadier-general of militia. The militia did good service against the Tories and Indians, notably at Minisink, and assisted the Continental army in many of its operations in New Jersey and Penn- sylvania. The New Jersey troops were discharged November 31, 1783.
For lists of men of our county who served in the Revolution the reader is referred to Adjutant-General Stryker's lists, from which a list was made for Snell's "History of Sussex and Warren." But, at the best, it is impossible to mention all the names, as many were in regi- ments from other states or counties, and have been entirely overlooked as coming from this county.
Throughout the State of New Jersey, it is estimated that about one-third of the population were Tory sympathizers who, however, staid well in the background with their sentiments except at times when it seemed that the patriot cause was about to be lost.
"The Tories in New York, protected by the English forces, were numerous, wealthy and active; they had many friends, relatives and dependents in East Jersey, over whom they exercised a dangerous influ- ence. During the whole interval from the commencement of hostili- ties until the treaty of peace, New Jersey was a frontier State and exposed to all the miseries of border warfare; at one time the enemy lay upon her northern and southern boundaries and her losses, in pro-
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portion to her wealth and population were probably greater than those of any other State save South Carolina."-Gordon.
While our county had its Tories, yet the prevailing sentiment was strong for independence. The Committees of Safety in each township reported but a few who did not sign the Articles of Association, and many of these were Quakers who desired to take no part in the strug- gle on either side. All those who would not sign were disarmed and watched by the committee.
When Lord Cornwallis entered New Jersey in November, 1777, he issued a proclamation offering. protection to all who would take the oath of allegiance within sixty days, and pardon to "all but the principal instigators and abettors of the rebellion," and gave orders "to dissolve the provincial congresses and committees of safety, to restore the administration of justice, and to arrest the persons and destroy the property of all who should refuse to give satisfactory tests of their obedience."
There were but few Tories in our county who took an active part in the war. The localities where Tory sympathy was strongest were on Scott's Mountain, in Knowlton, and at the Quaker Settlement. For public acts, Tories were severely dealt with. For speaking "very contemptuously and disrespectful of the Continental and Provincial Congresses," at least one citizen was advertized in the public prints as a public enemy, and forced to retract. One citizen of Phillipsburg was executed at the beginning of the Indian campaign for urging soldiers to desert. Two magistrates of Sussex county were deposed from office, disarmed, fined, and forced to give bonds for good behavior, for "signing and promoting" a Tory association. The property of Tories known to be active was confis- cated, and commissioners were appointed to sell it to pay expenses of the war. Thus were confiscated the iron works at Waterloo, at High Bridge, and the Coxe interests at Oxford. These sales often amounted to the payment of heavy fines, as the property was bought by agents of
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the owners, who after the war are found again in possession of their property.
Full pardon, however, was offered in 1778 to nearly all who "have levied war against any of these States or adhered to, or aided or abetted the enemy and shall surrender * and return to the State to which they may belong before the tenth day of June next."
Gorton says: "The Quakers were severely exercised by the pecu- liar duties required of them by the committee of safety and the mili- tary associations. They were required either to take up arms, which they would not do, or contribute to the support of those who did. The latter they would probably have cheerfully done, in some indirect man- ner, if left to do it voluntarily; but an attempt to coerce them had the effect of alienating many of the sect and attaching them to the royal side. There were distinguished men, however, of that sect among the patriots of the revolution; and many more favored the cause."
The Shippen family, who at the time of the war came into pos- session of Oxford Furnace, is connected with at least one important event in American history. The Shippens were strong Tories, and resided in Philadelphia. Benedict Arnold was appointed commander at Philadelphia when the British evacuated it in 1778, and while there fell in love with and married Peggy (or Margaret), the beautiful daughter of Edward Shippen. Doubtless this connection with a Tory family had something to do with his treason later, as well as the bribe of $50,000 in gold and a commission in the British Army that were offered to him.
The most prominent Tory in this region was Lieutenant James Moody, born in 1744. In 1777 he joined the loyal troops of New Jersey, was made ensign of First Battalion in 1779, and lieutenant in August, 1781. In May, 1780, he led an expedition to capture Gov- ernor Livingstone, for whom a reward of 2,000 guineas ($10,000) had been offered, dead or alive, and another expedition to burn the Sussex county courthouse and set free the prisoners, many of whom
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were Tories. He succeeded only in setting free the prisoners. Accord- ing to Snell, "Moody spent much of his time in hunting up unprotected patriots and making them swear allegiance to the Crown. Moody would call on Philip Cummins at regular intervals and make him take the oath, although it was well known among his relatives that his sym- pathies were with the colonies. These visits would generally occur in the night, and Moody was often accompanied by some of his Tory associates, one of whom, on one occasion, discharged his gun at Philip, but Moody struck up the barrel and saved his life."
Lieutenant John Moody, a brother to James, was also an active Tory, and was executed as a spy in 1781. He was captured in an attempt to rob the archives of the Continental Congress.
Prominent among the many brave men from our county who served their country so valiantly in the Revolution, may be mentioned Brigadier-General William Maxwell, Colonels John Cleve Symmes, Ephraim Martin, Mark Thompson, William Bond, Matthias Ship- man; Majors Cornelius Carhart, Samuel Meeker, John Van Vleet; Surgeons Robert Cummins and James Holmes; and Captains Benjamin Mccullough, Joseph Mackey, John Maxwell, John McMurtrie and William Helms.
Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan, too, was born in "Our County," in 1736, for at that date our county was a part of Hunterdon. He was born at Hampton, New Jersey, just over the line from Warren county.
Captain John Maxwell, a brother of the general, was lieutenant in the first company raised in Sussex county, and later at the head of one hundred men recruited mainly in Greenwich township, offered his serv- ices to Washington in the darkest hour of the war. He and his men from our county were engaged in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, and Springfield.
Cornelius Carhart, the ancestor of those of that name in Warren county, was second major in the Second regiment of Hunterdon county militia.
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While no battles were fought on Warren county soil in the strug- gle for independence, yet we were so near the seat of hostilities for the greater part of the war as to produce a state of disquiet until the war was ended. We furnished promptly our men and officers; our farmers' teams were busy hauling provisions to the armies at Morristown and elsewhere in the State; our mills ground the flour to feed the soldiers; our forges and furnaces provided the cannon balls, the cannons and other iron needed; our hills fed the cattle that the soldiers needed for food and the horses they used for transport; our quiet and safe roads. offered the best means of communication between Philadelphia and the Hudson River and New England and no less a person than Lady Washington herself traveled from Morristown to the South through
Historic Tree Between Hope and Bridgeville. "Washington's Tree."
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our county in June, 1799. General Washington traveled by way of Bethlehem, Easton, Belvidere, Hope, Johnsonsburg and Newton on July 26, 1782, attended only by two aides, and the Rev. Mr. Etwein on his way from Philadelphia to Newburg. It is said General Lafay- ette also passed through our county. ·
Two of the early Presbyterian ministers of the county suffered from the Revolutionary war. One of the supplies sent by the Presby- tery of New Brunswick to the churches at Greenwich, Washington and Oxford, from 1739. till 1755, was the Rev. James McCrea, father of Miss Jane McCrea, a beautiful young girl who was visiting friends at Fort Edward, and who was engaged to a young Tory serving in Bur- goyne's army when it was near that place. Some prowling Indians captured Miss McCrea and carried her a prisoner on horseback toward Burgoyne's army. They were followed, and a shot meant for the Indians killed her. The Indians took her scalp and escaped to Bur- goyne's army, where her lover recognized her hair. Many versions of the affair were scattered broadcast over the country, causing thousands of young men to enlist, and no doubt the boys from this county who went with General Sullivan to wipe out the Six Nations of Indians in 1779, felt that they were avenging a personal injury.
The first settled Presbyterian minister in the county served the three churches at Greenwich, Washington and Oxford from 1755 until 1768, when he was transferred to churches at Mt. Bethel and Craig's Settlement. In the darkest hour of the Revolution, just before the battle of Trenton, he presented himself to General Washington at the head of a battalion, requesting that some competent man be put in com- mand while he remained as chaplain. They helped make possible the most glorious victory of the war at Trenton. A few days after the battle, he was surprised at a farm house near Pennington by a British scouting party. They bayonetted him "in cold blood, and he died a martyr to the cause of American liberty." His name was John Rose- brough.
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In July, 1782, Parliament passed a bill to enable the King to acknowledge the independence of the United States, and on November 30 a preliminary treaty of peace was signed which recognized the inde- pendence of the Thirteen United States. The final treaty of peace was signed at Paris on September 3, 1783, and so ended the Revolutionary War.
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE END OF THE REVOLUTION TO THE FORMATION OF WAR- REN COUNTY.
1783-1824.
The peaceful period after the Revolution was one of great internal growth for our county into which the affairs of the outside world scarcely penetrated. The new generation settled and cleared the farms, built substantial stone houses in many cases to replace the original log cabin, developed the water powers, and inside of fifty years had developed the strictly country part of the county to a degree not found to-day.
One of the participants in the war with the Barbary States was Lieutenant Thomas Oakley Anderson, of Newton, who helped destroy the frigate "Philadelphia" at Tripoli, February 16, 1804.
One of the great difficulties of the colonists was to secure ready money. Most of that brought with them soon found its way back to Europe for the purchase of supplies. In 1682 half-pence, originally coined by Mark Newbie for use in Ireland, were made current coin of our province. The value of a beaver was fixed by the government at eight guilders. 1
The current money of the Indians was wampum, the name of which is derived from the Indian word for mussel. The wampum con- sisted of cylindrical or flat perforated pieces of mussel shell which were strung on leather thongs. Owing to a scarcity of small change, wam- pum passed current among the white, six beads being valued at a stiver, of which twenty made a guilder.
The first paper currency of New Jersey was authorized by the legislature in 1709, when paper bills of credit to the value of £3,000
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were authorized for financing an expedition to Canada. Again, in 1723, an issue of £40,000 was authorized, and in 1730 an issue of £20,000 was added. This money passed at par in Pennsylvania, and at seven shillings for six in New York.
The circulating medium in the Colonies before 1800 was largely Spanish silver in the shape of pieces of eight reals, a real being a Mexi- can or Spanish shilling. . From this we get the value of our local "shil- ling" of twelve and one-half cents, or one-eighth of a dollar. These pieces of eight were about the size of our silver dollar, and some of them were called dollars more than two hundred years ago. Many of these old Spanish silver dollars are to be found among the treasured relics in old Warren county families to this day.
In order to secure a uniformity of money values throughout all the Colonies, Queen Anne, on June 18, 1704, published her proclama- tion determining the value of "Sevill, pillar, or Mexico pieces of eight" to be no more than "six shillings per piece, current money." This made the value of the pound equal to three and one-third of these silver dollars. Values thus calculated were known as proclamation money, or Proc money. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania this legal valuation of the piece of eight was not always observed. For a number of years before 1775 it passed for seven shillings six pence, and at this valuation was known as Yorke money. This valuation, or ninety pence to the dollar, was recognized by Congress for some years before our currency reached its present basis of one hundred cents to the dollar.
During the Revolution the bills of credit issued by Congress depre- ciated rapidly. In September, 1777, the Continental dollar passed for seven shillings and six pence; in January, 1778, for five shillings; in June, 1778, for two shillings and ten pence; in September, 1778, for one shilling ten and one-half pence; in January, 1779, for one shilling; in July, 1779, for six pence; in January, 1780, for three pence, and shortly would not pass at all. Many were the fortunes lost by people who took Continental money for their farms and had it depreciate on
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their hands. An idea of the depreciation of the currency may be gained from the taxes levied in the county. Before the war in 1774 the total levy was £1,185; in 1781 the amount was £441,009, which fell to £2,343 in 1789.
Between 1786 and 1788 a special New Jersey penny was issued, some of which have even lately been plowed up. It shows a horse's head above a plow, and the legend "Nova Caesarea," on one side, and "E Pluribus Unum" above a shield on the other. These pennies were coined to the value of £10,000.
In the earliest days mail routes and post-offices were unknown, and letters were delivered by special messenger or by favor of some chance traveller. The first regular mounted post between New York and Boston started January 1, 1673. In 1739 and for many years there- after there was but one mail a week between New York and Philadel- phia.
On February 20, 1792, the Congress of the United States passed an "Act to establish the post-office and post roads within the United States." The act went into effect June 1, 1792. The route established ran from Wiscasset, Maine, to Savannah, Georgia. To this main line a few cross routes were established, among them being one from Philadel- phia to Bethlehem, another from Bethlehem to Easton and Sussex Court House in 1793, and yet another from Sussex Court House, to Elizabethtown, where it met the post road again. The Easton and Goshen mail stage was in operation across Warren county as early as 1803.
In 181 I the only post-offices within the present county limits were at Belvidere, with John Kinney, Jr., as postmaster; Hackettstown, with Benajah Gustin; and Johnsonsburg, with Thomas Stinson.
The earliest postal rates for a letter weighing one-quarter of an ounce were six cents for distances up to thirty miles; eight cents up to sixty miles; ten cents for a hundred miles; twelve and one-half cents for one hundred and fifty miles and over four hundred and fifty miles
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twenty-five cents. Newspapers were carried one hundred miles for one cent, and two hundred miles for a cent and a half.
The postage stamp came into use in 1845, but for several years after that date it was not commonly used. Before that time the amount of the postage, for example, twelve cents for a letter from New York to Morristown, was marked on the envelope, and this was paid at either end of the route to the postmaster, who paid it in turn, less his commission, to a government collector.
As early as 1777 and until after 1800 the road from Easton and Phillipsburg to Belvidere, Hope, Johnsonburg and Newton, and from there by way of Goshen to Newburg, was acknowledged as the best line of travel between New England and Philadelphia. On this route have travelled General Washington, President Adams, General du Chastellux, and many others.
A good idea of the public travelling accommodations in the days of the stage coach is given by an advertisement in the Belvidere Apollo for June 1, 1830. It describes a new line of mail coaches :
"The stage leaves Trenton every Tuesday, Thursday and Satur- day at 6.00 o'clock a. m., arrives at Belvidere at 5.00 p. m. the same days. Leaves Belvidere at half past four a. m. on Mondays, Wednes- days and Fridays, and arrives at Trenton by 4.00 p. m. This line passes through Pennington, Woodsville, Rockton, Ringoes, Fleming- ton, Clinton, New Hampton, Washington and Oxford Furnace. It intersects the Easton and New York lines at Washington, N. J., so that passengers from Easton can arrive at Trenton the same day, and those from New York at Belvidere the same evening. It also inter- sects the stage from Easton to Newton at Belvidere, by which line passengers will arrive in Easton on the evening of the same days, where it intersects the several regular lines of stages to every direction of the country. Persons travelling from Philadelphia to Mauch Chunk will find this the most desirable route they can take. Fare Through $2.75."
In 1827 we gain from an advertisement in the Apollo that:
"By this line of coaches passengers can be accommodated with a passage from Easton to the following places, viz., by the mail stage
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which leaves Easton every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for New- ton, where it intersects the daily line from New York to Buffalo by way of Milford, Montrose, Ithaca and Geneva, at which last mentioned place it intersects several daily lines for Rochester, Buffalo, Lewistown, etc.
"The following mail stages also run regularly from Easton for Wilkes-Barre every Monday, Wednesday and Friday; for New York via Schooley's Mountain Springs every Monday, Wednesday and Fri- day; for New Brunswick every Wednesday; for Berwick via Mauch- Chunk every Friday; for Lancaster via Reading every Monday; for Milford through Stroudsburg every Friday."
After three-quarters of a century of relative disuse for long dis- tance travel, we find our county's roads again filled with travelers, who now go in automobiles as many miles in an hour as the stage coach used to go in a day.
Two long distance routes run through our county. One is from New York to the Water Gap, Pocono and Scranton, by way of Hack- ettstown, Vienna, Great Meadows, Townsbury, Belvidere, and either Myers' or Boardman's ferry. The other is from the east to Easton by way of Hackettstown, Washington and Phillipsburg, over what was once called the Great Western Turnpike. Both of these routes are nearly all macadamized or tarviated, and offer great temptations to violation of the speed laws.
During the past one hundred years the world has made greater progress in some respects than in all its previous history, and greater progress than any succeeding century can reasonably hope to equal.
This is especially true with respect to the application of mechan- ical power; to the development of transportation and means of commu- nication; to the advancement of technical knowledge in adding to the creature comforts of life; to the development of those great sociological aggregations, our cities; and to the invention of machines for the most varied purposes.
The beginning of the end of the old conditions in our county was marked by the completion of the Morris canal and of the Pennsylvania
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canal, which offered cheap transportation for freight, and finally the completion of the railroads in the fifties ushered in the modern era. The change from that which was old to that which was new was made gradually, and its full effect was not reached until the causative factors had been in operation for many years. The end of conditions as they were was caused by increased facilities of communication, so that each little community was no longer self-centered, but was a part of the world, as a whole.
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