USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 10
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 10
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 1 > Part 10
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Lafayette reported,-
" After having speat the most part of the day in making myself well acquainted with the certainty of the enemy's motions, I came pretty late into the Gloucester road between the two Creeks. I had tea light horse, almost one hugured and fifty riflemeo, and two pickets of militia. Vol. Armiaud, Col. Laumoy, and Chevaliers Duplessis and Gint were the Frenchmen with me. A scout of my men under Dupleavis went to ascertain how near to Gloucester were the enemy s first pickers, and they found, at the distance of two aules and a half from the' plice. a atrong part of three hundred and fifty Hewians, with field pieces, and they engaged immediately. As my little recoumontering party were in
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HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER, SALEM. AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES.
fine spirits I supported them. We pushed the Hessians more than half a mile from the place where their main body had been, and we made them run very fast. British reinforcements came twice to them, Int very far from recovering their ground they always retreated. The dark- hess of the night prevented us from pursuing our advantage. After standing on the ground we had gained. I ordered them to return, very slowly, to Haddonfield. [ take great pleasure in letting you know that the conduct of our soldiers was above all praise. I never saw men to merry, so spirited, and so desirous to go on to the enemy, whatever force they might have, as that little party in this little tight."
Of Morgan's riflemen he said, " I found them even above their reputation." In this affair the Americans had one killed and six wounded. The British had twenty killed, many more wounded, and twenty pris- oners.
In February, 1778, while Mad Anthony, as Gen. Wayne was called, was at Haddonfield some of his men went to Gloucester to reconnoiter the British. They were pursued, and a running fight took place, lasting nearly to the American cordon, with the great- est loss to the British. Col. Ellis, of the Gloucester County militia, was prominent in this fight. Soon afterward the whole British force at Gloucester moved on Wayne at Haddonfield. by night, but found only his empty quarters. On this occasion Miles Sage was caught, as elsewhere related.
While the British occupied Gloucester many depre- dations were committed on the people in the town- ship. On one occasion some Englishmen came to the house of Col. Joseph Hugg, and engaged in the amuse- ment of throwing a hatehet at the poultry in the yard. Mrs. Hugg said to them, " Do you call yourselves officers, and come thus to rob undefended premises ? I have sons who are in Washington's army. They are gentlemen, and not such puppies as you." The house was soon afterwards burned by Col. Aber- crombie.
Egg Harbor was, during the Revolution, a part of old Gloneester County. Mickle says of it, " In the Revolution the refugees of South Jersey. Delaware, and Maryland were continually passing to and from New York and other Northern points by way of Egg Harbor. These troublesome strangers did infinite mischief to the property of the shoremen, who were generally good Whigs, but on some occasions the tables were turned, and the refugees got their full deserts. Early in September, 1782, Capt. Douglas, with some of the Gloucester militia, attacked a boat containing eighteen refugees, of whom fourteen were killed. Several other equally severe retaliations are recorded.
"Towards the close of the war some people at Egg Harbor, and others further up in the interior, got to carrying on a considerable trade with the British in New York. The refugees often came there in large bodies, and committed great depredations on the peo- ple; and the troops taken at the capture of Lord Cornwallis, who were eantoned in Virginia, frequently escaped in sinall parties, and by concealing themselves in the woods in the day, and traveling only at night, by the assistance of guides and friends whom they
found on their way, got to Egg Harbor, and from thence to New York. To prevent all this Capt. John Davis was sent with a company of men to Erg Har- bor. On one occasion his lieutenant, Benjamin Bates, with Richard Powell, a private. called at a hou-e where Davis had been informed over night that two refugee otlivers were lodging. Bates got to the house before any of the family had risen. except two girls who were making a fire in the kitchen. Ile inquired it there were any persons in the house beside the family, and was answered, ' None except two men from up in the country." He bade the girls show him where they were, which they did. In passing through a room separating the kitchen from the bedroom he saw two pistols lying on a table. Knocking at the door, he was at first refused admittance, but finding him determined to enter the two refugees nnally let him in. They refused to tell their names, but were afterwards found to be William Giberson and Henry Lane, refugee lieutenants, the former a notorion- rascal, who had committed many outrages and killed one or two Americans in cold blood. On their way to the quarters of Davis' company, Giberson called attention to something he pretended to see at a dis- tance, and while Bates was looking in that direction started in another, and being a very fast runner. al- though Bates fired his musket at him, he made his escape. Davis, on being informed of what had hap- pened, told Bates to try again the next night. Ac- cordingly, the next night he went to the same house. While in the act of opening the door he heard the elick of a musket-cock behind a large tree within a few feet of him, and turning around saw Giber-on ju-t taking aim at him. He dropped on his knees. and the ball eut the rim of his hat. Giberson started to run, but before he had got many rods Bates gave him a load of buckshot, which broke his leg. He was well guarded till he could be removed with Lane to Burlington jail, from which, however, he -oon made his escape, and went to New York.
"About the time of Giberson's capture, Davi, was informed of a party of twenty-one British troops, who had escaped from the cantonment in Virginia, and arrived upon the Egg Harbor shore. Knowing where they would embark he secreted himself, with nineteen men, near where the boat lay that was to take them off to the vessel, and there waited their approach. When they came a very warm contest ensued. hand to hand and foot to foot. Davis and his men were completely victorious, having killed or taken prisoner every Englishman."
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Many Revolutionary incidents have passed to ob- livion, and on those that have been rescued from that fate by oral tradition, many times repeated and ninaily recorded, it is well to look with many grains of aliow- ance, for at every repetition such traditions are fiable to receive accession ..
Waterford .- In Waterford the people were -tanci: Whigs during the Revolution. and of course were ob-
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oxious to the British. During the occupation of tablonfield by the latter, in 1778, many of the houses worth from Cooper's Creek were visited by foragers, sho were not scrupolous concerning rights of prop- arty. On one of these occasions a British officer called at the residence of the Champions, and de- manded their best horse. A fine unbroken animal was brought out and saddled, and the officer mounted and role away. On arriving at a pond a short distance away, the colt became restive and threw his rider into the muddy pool. In revenge the officer ordered his men to rob the house, and rode away on a plow horse.
One worthy gentleman had a large amount of specie which he desired to prevent the Hessians, who also had their rendezvous at Haddonfield, from plundering. He therefore took his treasure at midnight to a se- rinded place, and by the light of a lantern buried it. On passing the spot the next morning he discovered that his gold was gone. His lantern had betrayed him to spies who were lurking around, and they re- moved his treasure as soon as he left the place of con- realment.
In sharp dealing, however, the Yankees were usu- ally fully equal to the enemy. On one occasion a Waterford man learned that the enemy at Mount Holly were in want of flour. He took ten well-filled bags to the commissary there, who opened each sack, and, finding good flour, paid the man a liberal price ; as the man started away the officer said to him, "Stop ! you're leaving your bags !" " You need not empty them," said he, " I'll throw the bags in for the sake of the cause !" On examination there was found a small : after that.
quantity of flour at the top of each bag ; the rest was -- awdust.
of some women, one of whom was the mother of Gov- ernor Stratton. One of the women besought him to turn his thoughts heavenward, and he replied, " Mar- tha, I mean to give the enemy thirteen rounds yet." lFe lived to do so, and to relate this adventure to his grandchildren.
Col. Stirling, and the Queen's Rangers under Maj. Simcoe, were at Haddonfield in the latter part of February, 1778, for the purpose of annoying Gen. Wayne, who was collecting supplies of cattle, etc. Simcoe, in his journal, says, " A cireninstance hap- pened here, which, though not unusual in America and in the rebel mode of warfare, it is presumed is singn- lar elsewhere." As Maj. Simcoe was near the out- posts, on horseback, in conversation with Lieut. Whit- lock, they heard the report of a rifle, and a bullet passed between them. They were on high ground, and were able to see the man who fired running away. He was pursued and captured by Lieut. Whitlock and the guard. On being questioned why he had fired thus, he answered that he had often fired at the Hessians, who were there some time before, and thought he would do so again. Maj. Simcoe continues, "As he lived within half a mile of the spot, had he not been taken and the patrols pushed, the next day they would have found him, it is probable, employed in his household matters. and strenuously denying that he either possessed or had fired a gun. He was sent prisoner to Philadelphia." Maj. Simcoe doubled his guards, and enjoined par- ticular watchfulness after this specimen of rebel effron- tery, for he never felt safe among the Gloucester boys
The Forty-second and the Rangers remained some days at Haddonfield, during which time they made valiant assaults on some tar-barrels in Timber Creek, and some rum-casks on the Egg Harbor road. On learning that Mad Anthony was on his way from Mount Holly to attack the forces at Haddonfield, Simcoe wished, as he represented, to secure the in- habitants of the village, by advancing to a favorable position two miles from the village, and lying in ambush. Stirling, however, saw fit to retire within the lines at Cooper's Ferry, and Simcoe led the re- treat thither, notwithstanding his professed eagerness to fight. He says, "The night was uncommonly severe, and a cold sleet fell the whole way from Had- donfield to the ferry, where the troops arrived late, and the ground being occupied by barns and forage they were necessitated to pass the coldest night they ever felt without fire."
Haddonfield .- Several interesting incidents oc- curred at Haddonfield during the Revolution, one of which was the almost miraculous escape of Miles >age, a brave dragoon, who belonged to Ellis' regi- tient. On one occasion, while his regiment was at Haddonfield, he and a comrade, named Ben Haines, were ordered to reconnoiter the enemy near Glouces- ter Point. He lost his companion, and on reach- ing the point learned that the British had already moved for Haddonfield, intending to surprise the Americans. Ife turned his fleet steed, and dashed through the darkness with the utmost speed for his ramp. On arriving at the village he dismounted at ' ... Ellis' quarters to give the alarm, but found that the house was filled with British officers. He re- mounted without being discovered, and galloped off in search of his retreating comrades. The enemy The next day fifty men, picked from the Forty- second and the Rangers, were sent three or four miles towards Haddonfield for some remaining forage; but were met by Wayne's cavalry, and driven back to the ferry. The Americans pursued them to the cor- don of the enemy, where they found the British forces drawn up, the Forty-second on the right, Col. Mark- mere drawn up near the eastern extremity of the town in three ranks. Through two of these he chargol successfully, but his mare fell at the third, and he was at the mercy of his foes, who surrounded Lim, and inflicted on him thirteen bayonet wounds. A Scotch officer interposed in his behalf, and had him taken to the inn of the village and placed in the care : ham in the centre, and the Queen's Rangers on the
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GENERAL HISTORY.
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HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER. SALEM, AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES.
left, and resting their left flank on Cooper's Creek. Some of the British troops were embarking for Phila- delphia, and, as it appeared to be only a reconnois- sance on the part of the Americans, Col. Markham's detachment, with the horses, also embarked. Just at that time a barn within the cordon was fired, and Simcoe supposed the Americans regarded this as an evidence that only a few stragglers were left of the British, they attacked and drove in the British pickets. Whereupon the Forty-second and the Rangers, with some sailors drawing some three- pounders, moved forward. In the vicinity of the academy and the Hicksite Friends' meeting-house the Forty-second maintained a heavy fire on the main body of the Americans in the woods on the Haddonfield road, while the Rangers were only op- posed to a few cavalry that were reconnoitering on the left. As Simcoe advanced " to gain an eminence in front, which he conceived to be a strong advan- tageous position," probably the ridge at Dogwood- town, half-way between Sixth Street, in Camden, and the creek, the cavalry fell back to the woods, except one officer, who faced the Rangers, and slowly . waved his sword for his attendants to retreat. When . fell were dearly sold.
the English light infantry had come within fifty yards of him, one of them called ont, " You are a brave fel- low, but you must go away !" He gave no heed to the warning, and a soldier fired at him, wounding the horse but doing no harm to the rider, who joined his comrades in the woods. This daring rider wa> Count Pulaski, the Pole, who had left his native land, and volunteered to fight for the advancement of the cause of universal liberty.
From the eminence which Simcoe had occupied the English sailors kept up a cannonade on some Americans who were removing the planks from Cooper's bridge, but this proved to be a harmless amusement, for none of the Americans were wounded. The English outnumbered the Americans ten to one in this affray, but the loss fell on the side of the former. Several of the rangers were wounded, and one grenadier was killed. This affair occurred on the 1st of March, 1778.
Cooper's Point was a British outpost during the occupation of Philadelphia. The enemy's lines ex- tended from the point down the Delaware to near Market Street, and thence around to Cooper's Creek. Outside of these lines the people were continually plundered by the Hessians, several regiments of which were stationed here.
After the British occupation of Philadelphia bat- teries were placed along the river, and from these shot were sent after American militiamen who were seen loitering. One of these struck a rain-water cask from which a lady was taking water. On the arrival of the British fleet the men-of-war took posi- tion in the west channel, and the convoys and ten- ders, to the number of a hundred or more, anchored in the eastern channel, between Windmill I-land and
the New Jersey shore. The guns on the men-of-w were frequently exercised with full cartridges; a! shot, which were doubtless thus thrown away, h ... been found at distances of one or two miles from t river, in Newton township.
The Americans frequently annoyed the enen while they lay at the point. Soon after the retre of Simcoe from Haddonfield, in March, 1778, Pula -; with a body of Continental cavalry, approach.d el ... to the British lines to reconnoiter. An ambusca had been placed on both sides of the road from :. bridge to the middle ferry. and as Pula-ki came on advance of his men a Whig, named William We- sprang on a log and signaled to him to retreat. F. did so, and thus his men were saved from destructi .. At about the same time a severe fight occurred Cooper's bridge, where a party of militiamen we surprised by the English. a portion were killed, a. the rest captured and marched to Fort Washingt where they were taken on board of the Jersey pris , ship, from which few lived to return. The minu: men who annoyed the British here were very you! men. They were brave, and the lives of those w!
John Stokes and David Kinsey, or Taph Benn- as he was commonly called, were rangers who di-ti. guished themselves by their daring exploits. Th: hung on the lines of the enemy, and many an En. lishman fell, pierced by their bullets, when they litt dreamed of au enemy being near them. Their nam: were well known to those who were encamped Camden, and the mention of Jack and Taph wou arouse in the Hessians lively visions of the world : come.
CHAPTER X. .
REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY .- ( Continued.)
Troops furnished by Gloucester, Salem, at. Cumberland Counties.1-The first Continental tro . of the " Jersey Line" were raised under a resolut. of Congress adopted Oct. 9, 1775. This resoluti. asked for two battalions of eight companies each, at each company to consist of one captain, one lit. tenant, one ensign, four sergeants, four corpora and sixty-four privates. The privates were to
1 The historian has made free nye of Adj .- Gen. Stryker's "Oma Register of the officers and men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary w. in this account of the troops fornished by the State of New Jery In the preparation of this " Register," Gen. Stryker exanuned and c. pared the pension-lists of the government, the minutes of the Cons of the United States, and of the Legislature and Council of Sat records of the War Department, as well as original manu-cripts, I of companies of Continental troops, diaries of officers, pay mas: memoranda, quartermasters' reports, treasurers' receipta, returns to . commander-in-chief, etc. It is the only extensive and well-anthe cated " Record" of the kind that has been published.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
(ali-ted for one year, at five dollars per month, and i were to be allowed, instead of bounty, "a felt hat, > pair of yarn-stockings, and a pair of shoes;" but were to furnish their own arms. These battalions were first designated the Eastern and Western, and subsequently the First and Second, Battalions. The First was commanded by William Alexander (Land Stirling), and after his promotion to the rank of brigadier general by Lieut .- Col. William Winds, i who was promoted to the coloneley; the Second by Col. William Maxwell. November 10th of the same yar six companies of these battalions, all that were then full, were sent to do garrison duty in the fort on the Highlands of the Hudson; and on the 27th of the same month the balance of the two battalions went into barracks at New York. The battalions were mustered in December, and on the 10th of Jan- uary, 1776, three companies of the First Battalion were onlered to Queens County, N. Y., to aid in arresting Tories. The rest of the battalion were stationed at Perth Amboy and Elizabethtown till May 3, 1776, when they left to join an expedition to Canada. They participated in the operations before Quebee, then went into barracks at Ticonderoga, where they re- mained till Nov. 5, 1776, when they were sent to New Jersey for discharge. On the 8th of January, 1776, the Second Battalion was ordered to Albany to report to Gen. Schuyler.
Authority for the formation of a third battalion, on the same terms, was given by Congress, Jan. 10, 1776. Of this Elias Dayton was made the colonel. Four companies of this battalion were first stationed at Staten Island, and the other four at Amboy.
The data for the following brief history of the seventh company in this battalion are taken from the diary of Ebenezer Elmer, who was commissioned an ensign on the 8th of February, 1775, and promoted to a lieutenancy in this company in the following April.
Recruiting for this company was commenced on the 19th of February, 1775, and on the 1st of March fol- lowing the company was full. It remained in Cum- berland County, preparing for its future campaign, till the 27th of that month, when it marched for its place of rendezvous. Under this date the diary says, "Marched up to where Daniel Stretch abused us (Whig Lane, Salem County ), for which we gave him a new coat of tar and feathers, made him give three hearty cheers and beg our pardon, then proceeded on to the death of the fox that night, very tired."
pronounced by Gen. Washington " the flower of all the North American forces."
The following is the muster-roll of the company. as " appears from the diary and from a manuscript copy made at the time, and now in the po-session of C. E. Sheppard, Esq., of Bridgeton :
Commissioned Officers.
Captain, Joseph Bloomfield: First Lieutenant, William Gifford; Second Lieutenant, Ebenezer Elmer; Ensign, William Norcross.
Cad.l.
Edmund D. Thomas.
Sergeants.
David Dare.
Preston Hanoah.
Recompeoce Lake. Street Maskell.
Corporals.
Jonathan Lummis.
Joho Reeves.
Thomas Parker. Caroll Whittaker.
Musicians.
Joseph Riley, drummer. Lewis James, fifer.
Privates.
John Barret.
Jolin Jones.
Ephraim Bennet.
David Ketcham.
Peter Birney.
Davis Langley.
Davis Bivens.
Elnathan Langley.
Charles Boweo. Daniel Lawrence.
Henry Bragg.
James Logao.
Ezekiel Braynıau.
Jobu Major.
Henry Buck.
Davil Martiu.
James Burch.
Benjamin Massey.
Richard Burch. Uriah Maul.
James Bureu.
Charles McDade.
Juhn Burroughs.
William McGee.
John Casperson.
William McGrah.
Azariah Casto.
Daniel Moore.
Charles Cosgrove.
Elijah Moore.
Jonathan Davis.
John Mutten.
Abraham Dorchester.
Benjamin Ogden.
Samuel Dowdney.
Samucl Potter.
Glover Fithian.
James Ray.
Abraham Garrison.
Clement Remington.
Bennet Garrison. .
Daniel Rice.
Joel Garrison.
James Riley.
Joseph Garrison.
John Royal.
Matthias Garrison.
Edward Russel.
Thomas Gibson.
Ananias Sayer.
Philip Goggin.
Oliver Shaw.
Robert Griggs.
Peter Sheppard.
John Hayes.
Philip Sheppard.
William Haynes.
Reed Sheppard.
Abrahamo Hazleton.
Benjamin Simpkins.
Isaac Hazleton.
Seeley Simpkins.
John llenry.
William Smith.
Daniel Ireland.
Lewis Thompson.
Saumel Jackson.
Moses Tullis.
Tuley Jenkius.
William Tullis.
Erick Johnson.
Elijah Wheaton.
Othniel Johnson.
Ebenezer Woodruff.
Alexander Jones.
Absent.
They went into barracks at Elizabethtown on the , 31 of April, and on the 16th of the same month pro- Sick, John Shaw. ceded to Amboy, where they went into barracks with Desert. T8. three other companies of the same battalion. On the Edward Christian. Daniel O. Ryan. John McGlaskey. 24th of April they all left, and, with the four other companies that had been on Staten Island, proceeded, On the 3d of May the Third and First Battalions by way of Elizabethtown, to New York, where they | embarked on sloops for Albany, where they arrived arrived the next day. On the 2d of May they were ; on the morning of the 8th. The following is a de- mustered by the muster-master-general, and were : scription of the city given in Mr. Elmer's diary :
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HISTORY OF GLOUCESTER, SALEM, AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES.
" The town consists of a large number of houses, mostly old Dutch buildings; it stands in the valley on the West side of North River: the hill on the back of the town is a- high as the tallest houses. It is the value of half a mile long upon the river, and abont forty perches from the water up. There are no street> that lead straight up from the water, and those which run parallel with the river, which ate only two, have several windings in their course. The land is very clayey and slippery In wet weather. In the hilly part of the town is very fine meadow ground. Some distance from the town, on the S. W. side, upon the brink of the hill, stands Gen. Schuyler's honse, which is a very stately building, with fine meadows before his door. The land in general, es- pecially on the east side of the river, is pine woods and very hilly. There is, however, some very good land on the west side, in the vales. The city has a mayor and aldermen in It. tho' the mayor is a rank Tory, and so are many of the inhabitants, though a great many are staunch Whigs."
Such was the capital of the State of New York in 1776.
It was intended that these battalions of New Jersey troops should form a part of an expedition to Canada, but intelligence from Quebee induced a change of plan, and on the 1st of June the Third Battalion marched for Johnstown, in the Mohawk Valley, where it arrived on the 4th.
On the 6th Capt. Bloomfield's company, with others, was sent to German Flats, where an attack from the enemy was feared. On the 18th the rest of the battalion marched for the same place. They ar- rived at Fort Herkimer on the 20th, and received or- ders to fortify there. On the 12th of July the bat- talion, except two companies, one of which was Capt. Bloomfield's, marched for Fort Stanwix.
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