USA > New Jersey > Mercer County > Trenton > History of the city of Trenton, New Jersey : embracing a period of nearly two hundred years, commencing in 1676, the first settlement of the town, and extending up to the present time, with official records of the population, extent of the town at different periods, its manufactories, church history, and fire department > Part 16
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* This bridge is over the Assanpink, a mile or two south of the road from Trenton through the village of Lawrenceville to Princeton, and nearly equi- distant from both towns.
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musket, "and that," said he, " was a dishonorable act, and it will prove my death." He lived but a few days.
It is said that Sir William Erkskine, when the British army had reached Trenton on the 2d, although it was just evening, urged Lord Cornwallis to engage the Americans immediately ; but Cornwallis thought that the escape of Washington's army was impossible, and as his own troops were fatigued, they had better rest until the next morning.
But the morning light discovered his error. Chagrined and dismayed, he retraced, with anxiety and haste, his steps towards Princeton, and did not attempt to pursue the American army, which had retired towards Pluckemin, but hastened his march to New Brunswick, where he had left his baggage and military stores.
The following account is taken from the "Connecticut Journal" of January 22d, 1777, just twenty days after the battle occurred, and purports to have come from an officer who was in the engagement.
He says : "Immediately after the taking of the Hessians at Trenton, on the 26th of December, 1776, our army retreated over the Delaware, and remained there for several days, and then returned and took possession of Trenton, where they remained quiet until Thursday, the 2d of January, at which time, the enemy having collected a large force at Princeton, marched down in a body of four or five thousand to attack our people at Trenton.
"Through Trenton there runs a small river,* over which there is a small bridge.t
General Washington, aware of the enemy's approach, drew his army, (about equal to the enemy) over that bridge, in order to have the advantage of the said river and of the higher ground on the farther side.}
"Not long before sunset the enemy marched into Trenton,
* The Assanpink creek.
¡ Greene street bridge.
# Now " Quintin's Washington's Retreat."
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
and after reconnoitering our situation, drew up in solid column, in order to force the bridge, which they attempted to do with great vigor, at three several times, and were as often broken by our artillery, and obliged to retreat and give over the attempt, after suffering great loss, supposed to be at least one hundred and fifty killed.
"By this time night came on, and General Washington ordered fires to be kindled and everything disposed of for the night.
" But after all was quiet, he ordered a silent retreat, drew off his army to the right, marched all night in a round-about road, and next morning arrived with his army at Princeton.
" All this was done without any knowledge of the enemy, who, in the morning were in the utmost confusion, not knowing which way our army had gone until the firing at Princeton gave them information."
Here is another account of the battle of the Assanpink, and is given as related by an eye-witness, and which was published in the "Princeton Whig," November 4th, 1842.
" When the army under Washington, in the year '76, retreated over the Delaware, I was with them. At that time there remained in Jersey only a small company of riflemen, hiding themselves between New Brunswick and Princeton.
" Doubtless, when Washington reached the Pennsylvania side of the river, he expected to be so re-enforced as to enable him effectually to prevent the British from reaching Philadelphia.
"But in this he was disappointed. Finding that he must achieve victory with what men he had, and so restore confidence to his countrymen, it was then that the daring plan was laid to recross the river, break the enemy's line of communications, threaten their depot at New Brunswick, and thus prevent their advancing to Philadelphia, which was only delayed until the river should be bridged by the ice. But Washington anticipated them. I was not with the troops who crossed to the capture of the Hessians. It was in the midst of a December storm that I helped to re-establish the troops and prisoners on the Penn- sylvania shore.
"The weather cleared cold, and in a few days we crossed on
p*
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the ice to Trenton. Shortly afterwards a thaw commenced, which rendered the river impassable, and consequently the situation of the army extremely critical.
" In the morning of the day on which the battle of the Assun- pink was fought, I, with several others, was detached under the command of Captain Longstreet, with orders to collect as many men as we could in the country between Princeton, Cranbury, and Rhode Hall, and then unite ourselves with the company of riflemen who had remained in that neighborhood.
"We left Trenton by the nearest road to Princeton, and advanced nearly to the Shabbakonk, (a small brook near Tren- ton), when we were met by a little negro on horseback, gallop- ing down the hill, who called to us that the British army were before us. One of our party ran a little way up the hill, and . jumped upon the fence, from which he beheld the British army within less than a half a mile of us. And now commenced a race for Trenton. We fortunately escaped capture ; yet the enemy were so near, that before we crossed the bridge over the Assunpink, some of our troops on the Trenton side of the creek, with a field- piece, motioned to us to get out of the street while they fired at the British at the upper end of it. Not being on duty, we had nothing to do but choose our position and view the battle.
" Washington's army was drawn up on the south side of the Assunpink, with its left on the Delaware river, and its right extending a considerable way up the mill-pond, along the face of the hill where the factories now stand .*
"The troops were placed one above the other, so that they appeared to cover the whole slope from bottom to top, which brought a great many muskets within shot of the bridge.
" Within seventy or eighty yards of the bridge, and directly in front of it, and in the road, as many pieces of artillery as could be managed were stationed.
" We took our station on the high ground behind the right, where we had a fair view of our line, as far as the curve of the
* This was a very high hill, extending from Greene to Warren streets, and has been taken away recently.
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hill would permit, the bridge and street beyond being in full view.
" The British did not delay the attack. They were formed in two columns, the one marching down Greene street to carry the bridge, and the other down Main [now Warren] street to ford the creek, near where the lower bridge now stands.
"From the nature of the ground, and being on the left, this attack (simultaneous with the one on the bridge) I was not able to see.
" It was repelled ; and eye-witnesses say that the creek was nearly filled with their dead. The other column moved slowly down the street, with their choicest troops in front. When within about sixty yards of the bridge, they raised a shout and rushed to the charge.
" It was then that our men poured upon them from musketry and artillery a shower of bullets, under which however, they continued to advance, though.their speed was diminished ; and as the column reached the bridge it moved slower and slower until the head of it was gradually pressed nearly over, when our fire became so destructive, that they broke their ranks and fled. It was then that our army raised a shout, and such a shout I have never since heard ; by what signal or word of command, I know not. The line was more than a mile in length, and from the nature of the ground, the extremes were not in sight of each other, yet they shouted as one man.
" The British column halted instantly ; the officers restored the ranks, and again they rushed to the bridge ; and again was the shower of bullets poured upon them with redoubled fury. This time the column broke before it reached the centre of the bridge, and their retreat was again followed by the same hearty shout from our line.
"They returned the third time to the charge, but it was in vain. We shouted after them again, but they had enough of it. It is strange that no account of the loss of the English was ever published ; but from what I saw it must have been great."
Trenton, at the time of the capture of the Hessians, was a per- fect triangle; Warren street formed the western side of the
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
triangle, Greene street the eastern side, and Front street the southern side.
The present city of Trenton, capital of the state of New Jer- sey, is situated on the east side of the Delaware, opposite the falls or rapids, and is in forty degrees, thirteen minutes north latitude, and seventy-five degrees, forty-eight minutes west longi- tude, from Greenwich, and two degrees, sixteen minutes east longitude, from Washington.
The first settlements, as already stated, were made about the year 1676, one hundred years before the capture of the Hessians at the same place. These settlements were made at the Falls of the Delaware by the Friends, and were on both sides of the river .*
The city of Trenton is sixty miles southwest of New York, thirty miles northeast from Philadelphia, ten miles southwest from Princeton, twenty-six miles southwest from New Brunswick, and one hundred and sixty-seven miles from Washington. The city is at the head of sloop navigation, on the Delaware. In the spring of 1852, a steamer plied past the city, on the Delaware, as high up as Easton, Pennsylvania, fifty-two miles north of this city. This was the first steamer that ever navigated above the falls.
In the year 1822, on Thursday, the 21st of February, at nine o'clock in the evening, the bridge in Warren street, leading from Bloomsbury to Trenton, fell in consequence of the freshet in the river. And on Friday morning, the 22d of February, between eleven and twelve o'clock, the old bridge in Greene street fell with a mighty crash. The first was comparatively a new bridge, having been erected but about eighteen years, while that in Greene street had stood nearly half a century. It is related of this latter bridge that a funeral procession had crossed but a few minutes before it fell.
* The Indians called the falls and its vicinity Saukhiccan, which included both sides of the river. The name was derived from a gun or firelock, and was given by the Delawares to a tribe of the Mohawks who occupied this section of country, they being the first who were supplied with muskets by the Europeans. That on the eastern side of the river, (Trenton) they called Littleworth, in consequence of its low situation, being liable to be carried away by floods in the Delaware, which subsequently occurred.
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
In the year 1843, at a great flood in the Assanpink, the water came down with such tremendous force as to entirely alter the course of the creek. It took a southerly course, and, tearing the street away, left a chasm some sixty feet wide and about twenty feet deep, and carried away about one-half of the old stone mill, built by Mr. Stacy in 1680, foundation walls and all. The mill had for a number of years previous to its destruction been used as a cotton factory. Gideon H. Wells was the proprietor of it. It afterwards, together with other mill property in the same neighborhood, came into possession of the Waln family-William Waln acting for a number of years as agent for the family. He afterwards left the city, and William P. Israel was appointed agent to carry on the business, but in 1839, when the cotton manufacturers were failing in all parts of the country in conse- quence of the pressure in the money market and the tremendous competition upon all cotton fabrics, they were induced to sus- pend operations.
In the year 1849, Henry McCall, of Philadelphia, purchased of Mrs. Waln, of the same place, the land upon the north side of the Assanpink creek, and also the mill site on the south side, together with the water privileges connected therewith. In 1850, he erected the present stone mill for the manufacture of paper. This mill is now occupied by John G. Burke, as a paper mill. It contains eight steam engines and two paper machines, and turns out one and a half tons of paper daily, which finds a market in the cities of New York and Philadelphia. The water for bleaching is carried in iron pipes from a spring on the west side of the canal, down the north bank of the creek until within about fifty yards of Greene street, when it crosses the creek just above the dam.
A few rods south of where the mill now stands was the old " True American Inn,"* destroyed by fire in 1843.
* This inn was kept by Mrs. Richmond, and was Washington's headquar- ters. During the battle, Mrs. Richmond handed General Washington a cup of coffee out of the window on a waiter. This waiter is still in existence, having been for a number of years in the Vanderveer family, and at the sale of the effects of George Vanderveer, this venerable relic was purchased by a gentle- man of this city, and is now in his. possession. It should be deposited either with the historical society or the state department, as a relic.
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
The following account is copied from the "State Gazette" of Tuesday, the 28th of March, 1843, which I believe to be cor- rect, except that part which states that General Washington held his council of war there the night preceding the battle of Trenton, whereas he held it at the old Douglass house, in Broad street :
" The old 'True American Inn,' on Mill Hill, was destroyed by fire this (Tuesday) morning. The fire began, it is said, in the bar-room, but it was not discovered until the lower part of the house was in flames, and the upper story filled with fire and smoke.
"The morning was very stormy, and no one, we suppose, was passing in the streets ; on which account it was not sooner discovered.
" The name of the keeper of the inn is Henry Katzenbach. When the persons asleep in the house were awakened, the smoke was so dense that they could scarcely stagger their way out. John Bozer, a boarder, had barely time to escape with his life, after running to the front room and awakening two men who were lodging there. These men did not escape, and their black, crisped remains were taken from the ruins this morning. The trunks of the bodies, a shapeless and most shocking sight, without the legs, and one of them without a head, are all that remain.
"We learn from the person who first reached the fire that those who escaped from the house were so terrified that they rushed to the barn, fastened themselves in, as if pursued by a demon, and shouted frantically for help.
" At this time, a woman appeared at a window of the third story,* shrieking for help, and crying out that she could not get down the stairs for the smoke and flames.
"No ladder could be found by the few persons present, and
* This house was originally but two stories high, and frame. The sidewalk was four steps above the street, the ascent to which was by stone steps, and was cut down in 1839, when the street was graded, which gave an additional story to the house, making it three stories high, the lower one being built of stone.
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the woman jumped from the window and was severely injured in the hip by her fall. She was lying an hour ago in a very pain- ful, delicate, and dangerous situation, in the tavern opposite, in great need of the attentions of the charitable.
" If supplied with those things that are necessary to her she may recover, and we implore for her the attention of some chari- table females.
" In the same room with this woman was a little girl, a daugh- ter of Mr. Katzenbach, about nine years old, who, it is said, promised the woman to jump out after her. She did not, how- ever, and was burnt to death. The remains of her little body have also been rescued from the ruins-a shapeless, horrid sight.
" The inn-keeper, and, we believe, the inmates of the house, were Germans. The two men were strangers here, having been in the town but a few days. The name of one is unknown. The other's name is Anthony Heiden, and he was employed in a pot- tery near the Eagle tavern.
"Four persons escaped-H. Katzenbach, the keeper of the house, his wife and son, and John Bozer, a laboring man. They lost everything but one or two articles of dress. Their destitu- tion and distress appeal loudly to our citizens for alleviation.
" The night was so stormy that the engines reached the spot very slowly, and but for the heavy rain, the fire would probably have communicated to the Eagle factory, on the one side, and the dwelling-house of Timothy Abbott, Jr., Esq., on the other.
" The wind blew directly upon the factory buildings. The tavern was very old. It stood up on the hill, just over the As- sanpink bridge, and is known in the history of the country as the headquarters of General Washington on the 2d of January, 1777, being the place where the council of war was held which decided upon the march upon Princeton.
" The fire was discovered between one and two o'clock. Mr. Katzenbach also jumped from the third story window, and fell so as to injure his back and ribs very much. He suffered great pain in consequence. Both he and the woman are recovering. The house was insured for one thousand dollars, in the Bucks County Company."
The " Gazette" of Thursday, March 30th, 1843, also records
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the following as happening the next night after the fire, and in the same neighborhood, designating it as the " Flood in the As- sanpink : "
" The rain and thaw of Monday caused a great freshet in the Assanpink, which increased rapidly during Tuesday, and attained on Wednesday morning a greater height than has been known for many years, or perhaps ever.
On Tuesday forenoon the creek rose so that the water ran across Greene street above the factory, and the stream at nightfall had become rapid and turbulent, and threatened to throw down the old Ewing house,* around both sides of which it was cutting deep gullies, in its way back to the creek.
" The furniture was removed from the lower story of the house, which was flooded with water, and as the violence of the stream increased, the danger to the house became more imminent, until about nine o'clock, when the water on the south side of the bridge cut a channel across the street, and on the north side con- sequently subsided it.
" For sometime before this, the water had been forcing its way on the south side, through an old trunk, f unused for years, run- ning from the creek, on the east side of the stone factory, to an old weave shop, on the west side of Greene street, and at eight o'clock the subterranean channel was so enlarged that the south- east corner of the stone mill fell in.t
" About nine o'clock the road fell in, and the deep cut of the waters below was exposed, across it and through the old weave shop, down to the Assanpink, west of the bridge.
* This house is still standing on the west side of Greene street, at the corner of Washington, the fifth door north of the bridge, and was the residence of Chief Justice Ewing for many years.
" The weave shop was a high and narrow frame building, and had been unoccupied as a manufacturing establishment for many years. It was used as a store room at the time of its destruction.
į This was Trent's old mill, built in 1680, by Mahlon . Stacy, and occupied by him as a grist-mill until its sale to Mr. Trent, by whom it was rebuilt and enlarged. It was the first building erected in Trenton for a mill, and the second mill in the state.
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" Just before it fell, people were crossing frequently, and Mr. Gaddis, keeper of the prison, drove over but a few minutes before.
" At ten o'clock the southeastern part of the stone mill fell. The channel of the water was washed wider and wider through the night, and increased towards the south so far as to carry away a building adjoining the rear of the factory store.
" As the cut deepened, the quantity of water passing through it of course became greater, until the larger part of the creek rushed through in a very tumultuous stream, which, setting across the old channel of the creek, struck against the northern shore with great violence, and swept away the gardens lying there.
"We hear that the meadows lying on the Assanpink a few miles east of Trenton have been much overflowed. The Dela- ware has not risen a great deal.
" The snow still lies upon the gravel islands."
Q
1 .
CHAPTER XII.
Washington's reception at Trenton in 1789-An unpublished note of General Washington to the ladies of Trenton-Population of the city in 1810, '20, '40, '50, '55, '60, '70-Capital invested in arts and manufactories-Roads, traveling, etc .- Blazing Star Ferry-Delaware and Raritan Canal and Camden and Amboy Railroad.
A FTER the contest was over, in which these United States were engaged with the mother country, and they had shaken off the yoke of oppression, and the British government had acknowledged their independence, General Washington was chosen the first chief magistrate of the confederated union, to preside over the interests, administer the laws, and guide the counsels of the infant republic. And who more competent than he who had fought and achieved those liberties, to protect them and guide them from abuse.
On the 14th of April, 1789, Mr. Charles Thompson presented to General Washington, at Mount Vernon, the certificate, signed by the president of the senate, stating that he was unanimously elected chief magistrate of the United States.
On receiving this communication, the General said : "I wish that there may not be reason for regretting this choice, for indeed all I can promise is to accomplish that which can be done by an honest zeal."
He immediately left Mount Vernon for New York, to take upon himself the responsibilities devolving upon him as presi- dent of the United States; and in every place through which he passed he was received with the strongest demonstrations of gladness and respect-the heart-felt gratitude of a grateful people
View of the ASSUNPINK BRIDGE built in 1760, and the TRIUMPHAL ARCH, where Gen. Washington was received in TRENTON, 1789.
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to one who delivered his country from the iron hand of mon- archy and despotism.
Marshall says, in his Life of Washington, vol. 5, page 159, " At Trenton, which had been the scene of his deep anxieties and of his triumphs, he was welcomed in a manner as new as it was pleasing.
"In addition to the usual demonstrations of respect and attachment, which were given by the discharge of cannon, by military corps, and by private persons of distinction, the gentler sex prepared in their own taste a tribute of applause, indicative of the grateful recollection in which they held their deliverance twelve years before, from an insulting foe.
"On the bridge over the creek,* (Assanpink), which passes through the town, was erected a triumphal arch, highly orna- mented with laurels and flowers, and supported by thirteent pillars, each entwined with wreaths of evergreens. On the front of the arch was inscribed, in large gilt letters-
' THE DEFENDER OF THE MOTHERS
WILL BE THE
PROTECTOR OF THE DAUGHTERS.'
"In the centre of the arch, above the inscription, was a dome or cupola of flowers and evergreens, encircling the dates of two memorable events, which were peculiarly interesting to New Jersey.
" The first was the battle of Trenton, and the second the bold and judicious stand made by the American troops at the same creek, by which the progress of the British army was arrested on the evening preceding the battle of Princeton.
" At this place, General Washington was met by a party of matrons, leading their daughters, dressed in white, who carried baskets of flowers in their hands, and sang, with exquisite sweet- ness, an ode of two stanzas, composed for the occasion, (it is be- lieved by Governor Howell), as follows :
* In Greene street.
+ Representing the thirteen original states.
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HISTORY OF TRENTON.
' "" Welcome, mighty chief, once more- Welcome to this grateful shore ;
Now no mercenary foe Aims again the fatal blow- Aims at thee the fatal blow.
"' Virgins fair and matrons grave- Those thy conquering arms did save; Build for thee triumphal bowers, Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers- Strew your hero's way with flowers.'
And at the end of the last line, the flowers were strewn before him."
On the north or Trenton side of the bridge, (the south at that time being called Mill hill), over the Assanpink, and near the triumphal arch erected on the bridge, were arranged the ladies of the city. In front of these were the young ladies who were to sing the ode prepared for the occasion; and others, still younger, were ready with the flowers they were to strew in the path of the hero, whose approach they waited to greet.
In passing the arch, and as the choir began their song, Wash- ington turned his horse's head towards them, took off his hat, and listened evidently with the deepest emotion.
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