History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 111

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 466

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1 Lee's Memoirs, II., 159-187 ; Sparks, VII., 545-8; Winfield's Hist. Hudson County, 188-191.

2 Between Montclair and Verona.

3 Hist. Mag., April, 1868, 245 ; Whiting's Revolutionary Orders, 122 ; 2d Penn. Archives, XI., 609, 573 ; Life of Alexander Hamilton, by Jolin C. Hamilton, 1834, I., 317 ; Works of Hamilton (ed. 1850), I., 195; Cor- respondence of the Revolution, III., 152 ; History of the Republic, by John C. Hamilton, II., 139; Sparks's Washington, VII., 558; Penn. Mag., XX., 458 ; Simcoe's Military Journal, New York, 1844, 156-7.

with two days' provisions, and to detach parties to secure all the crossings on the Hackensack river at New Bridge, etc. Gen. Wayne was directed to march his division on Friday morning at "sunrising" to a mile below Acquack- anonk Bridge, and to keep up a show of advancing toward Newark until dark, meanwhile foraging, as if that was his mission, but to keep his men fresh. On Nov. 22 orders were issued to Col. Timothy Pickering, Quarter-Master- General, reminding him that he had been directed to see that boats were furnished, mounted on good carriages, pro- vided with good oars, materials for muffling the oars, and for repairing the boats in case of accident. These boats were to be all ready by Thursday, at 12 o'clock, together with horses. The boats were to be carried through the Notch the same afternoon, and the next morning were to be moved from the Notch to Acquackanonk Bridge, where ample hay and grain was to be provided in the meantime for baiting the teams during the halt there. A complete re- lief of good horses was ordered to be provided at Acquack- anonk Bridge early on Friday afternoon, to accompany the boats, and to hasten their transportation. Gen. Knox was directed to send along all such pieces of ordnance as would be available to annoy shipping and to cover a body of troops in crossing a river. The movement of Gen. Wayne from Acquackanonk Bridge toward Newark was intended to indicate an attack on Staten Island. Lafayette wrote to Col. Alexander Hamilton Nov. 22, estimating that forty boats would be needed for "the attack on Staten Island," carrying about 1, 200 men. He knew, of course, that no such attack was intended. Hamilton again entreated his com- mander-in-chief to give him command of 150 to 200 men, that he might participate in the proposed movement against New York. Some of the men, he suggested, "may move on Friday morning towards - -, which will strengthen the appearances for Staten Island, to form a junction on the other side of the Passaic."

"Never was a plan better arranged," wrote Col. Hum- phreys ; "and never did circumstances promise more sure or complete success. The British were not only unalarmed, but our own troops were misguided in their operations." Unfortunately, on the very day the movement was to have been begun, the unsuspecting British, in the most casual way, moved some of their war vessels up the Hudson into such a position as to render the proposed attack utterly out of the question, and Washington was obliged most reluc- tantly to abandon it. Accordingly, on Monday morning, Nov. 27, the army broke camp at Preakness, and marched into winter quarters-the Pennsylvania division near Mor- ristown, and the Jersey brigade at Pompton and at Sydman's in the Clove. 1

1 Sparks's Washington, VII., 280, 302-6, 310-13 ; Sparks's Corres- pondence of the Revolution, III., 146; Life of Hamilton, as cited, I., 318 ; Hist. of Republic, as cited, II., 140; Hamilton's Works, I., 194-5; Life of Putnam, 13-15 ; 2d Penn. Archives, XI., 582-3 ; Penn. Mag., XX., 468.

436

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

[The following letter was written by Washington to Arthur Lee, then one of the American commissioners to France. It is printed in the Life of Arthur Lee, Boston, 1829, Vol. II., p. 170, but is not included in any edition of the Writings of Washington. It is repro- duced below in fac simile from what was probably the original draft, in Washington's own hand, now in the author's collection. Its main interest here is from the fact that it is the only letter of Washington, written by him near the Passaic Falls, which has ever found its way back to this place].

Meaddu Head Quarter Passais Falls 20th how: 1780

I am much obliged to you her the suppertion you do the he faver to make in your Celler of the 11", as I stak at alitimes be per any others which may occur to you advanceve of the public derece. conducive 25

Jamie entirely corvin cad of the absolute necessity of a large and immediate forios aid of money, to thecentruanu of the war, that I should be tak by to do any thing I could with propriety to promdech. - tim fast to yan in confidence, that I have in the most explicit

Passer

437

LETTER OF WASHINGTON.

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of the's head. La minister of Trance here, and if any openi on cas Rassi " inference with the Court of versailles, Jimapure it will be known through this channel _ amore direct com minication might appear as intrusion and an interference Un matters cubat ong province Iam happy to hear

Compress have this important object under consideration Spersnade myselfthen with urge it with all the emphasis it Their fewer and in the form Inost likely to succeed Inthere Should be any thing which I. could contribute to the success of the application, Is heald certainly

438

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

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1781.

THE REVOLT OF THE JERSEY BRIGADE AT POMPTON.

Pursuant to Washington's orders, the Pennsylvania Line went into their old quarters, about four miles from Morris- town, and on Nov. 30 the Jersey Brigade left West Point, marched down the west side of the Hudson, and thence through the Clove to Ringwood, and so on to Pompton, where they took winter quarters, promptly building rude huts for their shelter. A detachment of the brigade re- mained near Sufferns, to guard the entrance to the Clove, and to cover the line of communication toward West Point. The condition of the little American army at this time was pitiable in the extreme. Gen. Knox writes, Dec. 2, 1780: "The soldier, ragged almost to nakedness, has to sit down at this period, with an axe-perhaps his only tool, and probably that a bad one-to make his habitation for winter." Wash- ington repeatedly called the attention of the State authori- ties to their shameful neglect to provide for their men: "Nov. 20, 1780. Ten months' pay is now. due the army. Every department of it is so much indebted, that we have not credit for a single express. . Jan. 5, 1781. The aggravated calamities and distresses that have resulted from the total want of pay for nearly twelve months, the want of clothing at a severe season, and not unfrequently the want of provisions, are beyond description. Jan. 7. The few men who remain in service, will with difficulty find a sufficiency of shirts, vests, breeches and stockings to carry them through the winter." The tender heart of Lafayette

was deeply moved by what he saw. "Human patience has- its limits," he wrote his wife; "no European army would suffer the tenth part of what the American troops suffer. It takes citizens to support hunger, nakedness, toil, and the- total want of pay, which constitute the condition of our sol- diers, the hardest and most patient that are to be found in the world."1 Those who were paid received Continental currency which, despite legislative fiats, had depreciated until a silver dollar would equal seventy-five paper dollars. Vainly had the New Jersey Legislature endeavored by sol- emn enactments to regulate the prices of labor and products; nor had the Courts been more successful.2 To add to the

1 Heath's Memoirs, 265; Sparks's Washington, VII., 313-18, 309, 352, 355 ; Life of Gen. Knox, 64; Memoires Lafayette, I., 168. These trib- utes to the heroic endurance, the incomparable patience, of the soldiers, would seem to be sufficient answers to Lee's sneering suggestion that the Pennsylvania Linc ought to be called the "Irish Line," and to Ban- croft's exaltation of the New England troops, on the score of their al- leged native Americanism, over those of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The revolt of the Connecticut Line in the ensuing May showed that the- appreciation of hardship and injustice was as keen among the heroic sol- diers of one State as of another.

2 The Legislature, by act passed Dec. 11, 1777, had fixed a scale of maximum prices for various articles and provisions. For example: bloomary bar-iron, £3 per cwt .; refined bar-iron, £3 IOS. per cwt .; pig metal, 20s. per cwt .; rolling iron, 630 per ton; sole leath- er, 3s. per lb .; upper leather, 5s. per lb .; men's neat leather shoes, of the common sort, 17s. 6d. per pair ; women's do., 14s .; wheat, I2S .; rye, gs .; Indian corn, 7s. 6d .; oats, 5s .; wheat flour, 33s. per cwt .; hay, £7, Ios. per ton; pork, od. per Ib .; beef, 8d. per lb .; potatoes, 4S. per bush .; butter, 2s. 6d. per lb. As a natural corollary it was.

439

REVOLT OF THE JERSEY BRIGADE AT POMPTON.

discontent, the men who had enlisted for "three years or during the war," and who had endured the dangers and pri- vations of army life for three full years, discovered, to their dismay, that there was a disposition to hold them to the other alternative of their enlistment, or "during the war." While the veterans were unpaid, new recruits received bounties in silver. Under the rankling sense of injustice from these causes, fomented, no doubt, by paid agents of the British, and stimulated by an unusually generous allow- ance of liquor for the celebration of New Year's day, the Pennsylvania Line mutinied at nine o'clock at night, on January 1, 1781, and the next day marched, under the com- mand of their sergeants, toward Philadelphia, to compel Congress to redress their grievances. The Pennsylvania State authorities sent commissioners to treat with the muti- neers, and after several days of temporizing adjusted mat- ters. Gen. Wayne ordered the Jersey Brigade to Chatham, on Jan. 2, and the militia were called out, to check any at- tempt of the enemy to take advantage of the revolt, and in- vade the State. 1

The effect of the Pennsylvania mutiny, and its essential success, was to increase the discontent elsewhere. Gen. Washington, on Jan. 7, significantly suggested to Gen. Heath the wisdom of sending a reinforcement of 100 men from West Point "towards Pompton, to cover the stores at Ringwood, and to act as occasion might require." The same day, Gen. St. Clair reported that some appearance of a disposition in the Jersey troops to revolt had induced Lieut. Col. Francis Barber, of the Third Regiment, who commanded the Brigade, to move 300 or 400 of them to Chatham. Part of them, however, about one hundred and sixty in number, remained at Pompton, nursing their griev- ances. Some of the officers waited on the Legislature, and insisted that their arrears of pay should be settled on the basis of seventy-five paper dollars for one in specie. That body hastily complied, and ordered all the money in the treasury to be sent up to the men. Commissioners-the Rev. James Caldwell and Col. Frederick Frelinghuysen- were also appointed to inquire into the claims of such sol-

also enacted that "The Rates and Prices of Farming Labour, and the Wages of Mechanics, Tradesmen and Handicraftsmen, shall not exceed double what they were in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-five." This preposterous attempt to con- trol the laws of supply and demand by legislation of course was a fail- ure. Then it was sought to shift the responsibility on the courts. On June 10 the Bergen county courts fixed a scale of prices to be paid by the quartermasters and forage masters for the Continental army, but the currency depreciated so rapidly that they had to prescribe new rates in January, 1780. The depreciation is shown by the difference in prices on the dates named:

June, 1779

Jan. 1780.

Wood by the cord

$12

Hay by the cwt.

$160 to $200

Carting, single team per day

Rye and corn, per bush.

Buckwheat and oats, per bush.

Pasture, per day

1.50

1 Penn Archives, VIII., 675, 680 ; Sparks, VII., 351 ; Correspondence -. of the Revolution, III., 192 ; Hamilton's Hist. Republic, I., 147; Memoir of Maj. Samuel Shaw, 85; Marshall's Washington, IV., 393; Irving's Washington, IV., 213; Bancroft's Hist. U. S., X., 415; William Gordon's Hist., IV., 16.

diers of the brigade as conceived themselves entitled to a discharge on account of the expiration of their enlistments, but the men had not been informed of this action. As day after day went by, and nothing was done, the men at Pomp- ton finally got tired of waiting. Having received a part of their pay in almost worthless paper, they spent it for rum. On Saturday evening, January 20, they rose in arms, and placed themselves under the command of Sergeant Major George Grant, of the Third New Jersey Regiment, a de- serter from the British army.1 Sergeant Jonathau Nichols, of Capt. Alexander Mitchell's company, First New Jersey Regiment, was second in command, and the third in com- mand was Sergeant-Major John Minthorn, also of the First Regiment. Some of the more reckless of the men declared that unless they got redress-in the matter of pay, clothing, etc .- they would join the enemy. The house where one of their officers lodged was surrounded and broken open, and with threats of immediate death in case of refusal they compelled him to give up the muster rolls. Col. Israel Shreve, of the Second Regiment, vainly urged them to de- sist, nor would they obey his orders to parade. Next they seized two field pieces, and marched off to join the rest of the brigade at Chatham. The movement excited no little uneasiness among the friends of America, and much exulta - tion on the part of the enemy. It was rumored that the mutineers were about to march to Elizabethtown. This was interpreted as meaning that there they would receive over- tures from Sir Henry Clinton. He ordered Gen. Robert- son, with two or three thousand men, from New York to Staten Island, to be in readiness to cross over to Elizabeth- town and cooperate with the revolting Jersey soldiers. He also sent one Uzal Woodruff, of Elizabethtown, a cousin of sergeant Nichols, with proposals to the mutineers. They, however, when they left their quarters at Pompton, had adopted a solemn resolution to put to death anyone who should attempt or even propose to go to the enemy's lines, and hang up without ceremony every Tory who should pre- sume to say a word tending to induce any of them to desert. Woodruff, finding the men would not listen to treason, pru- dently gave the papers to Col. Elias Dayton, of the New Jersey Line, and convinced that officer of his patriotic zeal. On Monday, Jan. 22, the commissioners from the Legisla- ture arrived in the camp of the mutineers, with assurances that every grievance should be redressed. Col. Elias Day- ton, commander of the New Jersey Line, and Col. Shreve, in both of whom the troops had great confidence, joined in these promises, but insisted that thic soldiers must return to their duty ere they could hear and treat with them. The insurgents urged that their own oaths should be admissible in determining the terms of their enlistment, as it had been conceded to the Pennsylvania mutineers, but Dayton and Shreve would not consent, and the men reluctantly yielded that point. Upon the assurance of obedience, Col. Dayton granted this pardon:

1 Grant appears to have been an unusually intelligent fellow. He was in Gen. Sullivan's campaign against the Indians in 1779, and kept a Journal of the expedition, which is published in Hazard's Penna. Regis- ter, XIV., 72-76.

440

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

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 in- quiry into their enlistments, and of their agreeing immediately upon their being informed 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 imme- diately, without hesitation, shall return to their duty, and conduct them- selves in a soldierly manner. Those who shall, notwithstanding this unmerited proffer of clemency, refuse obedience, must expect the re- ward to such obstinate villainy.

Most of the men were glad to accept the pardon, and on Thursday, Jan. 25, they were persuaded to return to their huts at Pompton, with Col. Shreve, promising to put them- selves 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 souse of their officers, "more like following advice than obeying command," while they flatly refused to acknowledge the orders of other officers. "They condescended 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 sig- nal, 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 nego- tiate with a committee appointed to inquire into their griev- auces, and to whom they were to have dictated their own terms." On Friday, January 26, the last of them straggled 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 mutiuy was apparently rife among the Jersey troops, he called a council of war at New Windsor on Jan. II, at which it was determined to organize a special detach- ment of one thousand men, or five battalions-two from the Massachusetts line, one from the New Hampshire line, one from the Connecticut 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 de- volved upon Gen. Robert Howe, by seniority. It was the intention of the commander-in-chief to order these men for- ward to suppress the insurrection among thie Pennsylvania troops, but as he hesitated at this juncture to withdraw 1,000 men from the garrison at New Windsor, and as the mutineers were numerous, he refrained from decisive meas- ures, until the Pennsylvania State authorities adjusted the matter, contrary to his own ideas of the military require- ments of the case. When the Jersey Brigade followed the pernicious example, he determined to tolerate no lialf-way measures. On Jan. 22 he ordered Gen. Howe with the spe- cial detachment of I, coo 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 detach-

ment is to compel the mutineers to unconditional submis- sion; and I am to desire, that you will grant no terms while they are with arms in their hands in a state of resistance. . .. If you succeed in compelling the revolted troops to a surrender, 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, Jan. 26, where he was speed- ily 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 ascer- tained the precise situation of their encampment, he silent- ly marched from Ringwood at one o'clock ou Saturday morning. It was a dreadful march-a distance of eight miles, on a bitterly cold uight, over rough and mountainous. roads, rendered almost 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 insur- gents to unconditional submission. The march was re- sumed, and the troops quietly surrounded the mutinous brigade. Major Morril was posted ou the Charlottesburgh road, about half a mile above the bridge crossing the Ring- wood river, or a short distance above the present Pompton Reformed church. Lieutenant-Colonel-Commandant Sprout, with one party and a piece of artillery, was ordered to take post on the left of the mutineers; Lieutenant-Colonel Miller, with another party and two pieces, on their right; Major Oliver, with his men, in front of their encampment; and Major Throop, with his party, in the rear. Thus all the roads leading to and from the camp were effectually guarded-the road afterwards known as the Paterson and Hamburg turnpike, running west to Bloomingdale, and southeast to Totowa; the roads leading northerly to Wan- aque 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 leapt into the hearts of the mutineers when they awoke on that still Saturday morning to find their camp surrounded by a stern cordon of soldiers true to their faith. Lieutenant-Colonel 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, exclaimed, "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 Major Morril's guard. As the main camp hesitated to obey the order to parade without arms, Col. Sprout was directed to advauce from the left, with his gun unlimbered and ready to pour its destructive fire into the.

441

REVOLT OF THE JERSEY BRIGADE AT POMPTON.

insurgents. They were given five minutes to yield. There was no escape. Sullenly they succumbed to the incvitable, 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 Sergeant-Major George Grant, who had acted as the commander of the revolters; Sergeant David Gilmore, of the Second Regiment; and Private John Tuttle, of the First Regiment. A field court-martial was promptly held, "standing on the snow," as the record says -with unconscious pathos. Col. Sprout presided. The proceedings were brief. The three men named were imme- diately tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The Jersey officers, however, assured Gen. Howe that Grant had not voluntarily taken the com- mand, and that he had urged the men to return to their du- ty. On this account his life was spared by the General. But the other two were or- dered to be shot at once. With a stern sense of poetic justice, twelve of the most ++ / Graves guilty mutineers were select- ed to be their executioners. Ringwood River

" This was a most painful task," says Surgeon Thacher ; "heing themselves guilty, they were great- ly 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 mer- cy and forgiveness of their God, and such was their agonizing condition, 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 executioners, at the signal given by an officer, fired, three aiming at the head and three at the hreast, the other six reserving their fire in or- der to dispatch the victim, should the first fire fail ; it so happened in this instance; the remaining six then

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End Sussex

W. NELSON DEL. 1897.

SCENE OF THE MUTINY AT POMPTON, JANUARY, 17SI.

The Tavern indicated ahove, was previously the residence of Casparus horses and teams at Pompton Schuyler. It was here that Gen. Washington and Mrs. Washington stopped, March 28-31, 1782, as related on page 444.

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History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 111

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 466

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 466