USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 21
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MORGAN, Daniel,
Distinguished Revolutionary Officer.
General Daniel Morgan was born in Huntingdon county, New Jersey, in the win- ter of 1736. He was of Welsh extraction, but the facts in connection with his ances-
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try are unknown further than that. He al- ways manifested extreme reticence in re- gard to his origin and early life, but when he made his first appearance in Virginia, at the age of seventeen years, he could read but indifferently, wrote a hand barely legi- ble, and had only an imperfect knowledge of the fundamental rules of arithmetic. His manners were rude and unpolished. It is supposed that he had previously been employed by his father in the work of an herb farm. Disagreeing with his father, he left him to make his own way in the world.
In the winter of 1753 he obtained work for a brief period at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During the spring of the same year he worked upon a farm at Charleston (now Jefferson), Virginia. Being determined to make his own way, he took charge of a saw mill, next became a teamster in private em- ploy, and at the end of two years had earn- ed enough to purchase a horse and wagon for himself. In 1755 he used these as a teamster in the army of the unfortunate General Braddock, after whose defeat on the Monongahela, he was engaged in trans- porting the sick and wounded back to Penn- sylvania. He was already distinguished for extraordinary strength and bravery, as well as for an indomitable spirit. Continuing to haul supplies to the troops along the Vir- ginia frontier, in the spring of 1756 he was abused by a British officer, who finally struck him with the flat of his sword. Morgan forthwith knocked him down, but it was a dear blow for him, since it cost him the infliction of five hundred lashes laid on his bare back. The officer subse- quently acknowedged that he had been in the wrong, and made public apology, and from that moment it is said that Morgan dismissed all resentment. In 1757 Morgan was one of the volunteer militia who went to Edward's Fort on the Cocapehon river, twenty miles northwest of Winchester, Vir- ginia, in consequence of an Indian uprising. This is believed to have been his first mili- tary service. A biographer (Graham)
states that his acquaintance with George Washington began at this time; at any rate, his courage and prowess in fighting In- dians on this expedition brought him into general notice.
In an Indian campaign in 1758, having received an ensign's commission from Gov- ernor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, he was near- ly killed by a savage, who shot him through the back of the neck, the ball grazing the left side of the neck-bone, passing through the mouth near the socket of the jawbone and coming out .through the left cheek. In its passage it removed all the teeth on the left side, without otherwise materially in- juring the jaw. He was on horseback at the time, and, wounded as he was, he rode back to the fort, grasping his horse's neck with both arms, hotly pursued by the In- dian, who, with a yell of rage when he found himself distanced, threw his toma- hawk at Morgan, without effect, and gave up the chase. This was the sole wound that he received during his long military career. This Indian service completed, he re- turned to Frederick county, Virginia, where he had become very popular. It is on rec- ord that his morals had greatly suffered in army life, although he was still indus- trious and saving. His marriage about this time, however, with Abigail Bailey, a young woman of great beauty and force of char- acter, albeit of poor family, had the most decided influence in reclaiming him from evil associates and habits. He christened the home which they soon established, "The Soldier's Rest."
Peace was shortly afterward established between France and Great Britian, but Pon- tiac's (Indian) war breaking out imme- diately afterward, Morgan became a lieu- tenant in a regiment of militia, 1,000 strong, which was raised by the State of Virginia to serve therein. When the Indians were subdued, he returned to his home, where for nine years he led a farmer's life, having acquired a considerable quantity of valuable land by
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grants for his military service, and was re- men were the first to cross, on November garded as a man of substance. During these 13th. On January 1, 1776, the American years his wife contributed not only to his social comfort and material prosperity, but also to his intellectual development, his lei- sure hours being largely devoted to reading and mental improvement. In 1771 he re- ceived a commission from the acting Gover- nor of Virginia as captain of the militia of Frederick county. In 1773 he served on the Virginia fronticr in Lord Duminore's In- dian war, at the close of which the brave but unfortunate Indian chief Logan made the eloquent speech so widely exploited in the school books of one or two generations since. troops attacked Quebec. Morgan led the assault upon the northern and western ex- trentities of the lower town, assuming com- mand of all the forces when Montgomery was killed and Arnold wounded. His com- pany took a battery which was in front of them, driving the British from their guns by almost superhuman exertion. Then, plunging on into the city streets, fighting as they went, he shortly found himself and his company far in advance of the American infantry, and without support. Finally, being surrounded, Morgan and his tiflemen were forced to surrender, a result which so overcame him that he wept like a child. With his men he remained at Quebec as a prisoner of war until the 10th of August, when they were all discharged Oli parole and set sail for New York, reach- ing Elizabethport, New Jersey, September IIth.
In the winter and spring of 1775, Mor- gan was at home with his family, but when the American Revolution broke out in the colony of Massachusetts, and the Continen- tal Congress called for ten companies of riflemen to be raised in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, to join General Washington's army, Morgan was selected as the captain of one of the two Virginia companies by the unanimous vote of the committee of his ( Frederick) county. He at once raised the company, filling it with ninety-six young, hardy and enthusiastic woodsmen, started from Winchester, Vir- ginia, with them, early in July, and in twenty-one days reached Cambridge, Mas- sachusetts, and the American camp, having traveled six hundred miles without losing a man by sickness or by descrtion .. His company was one of the first to report at Boston. At the end of six weeks, by his own request, he was detailed with his com- pany on the expedition to Quebcc, under the command of Benedict Arnold, which left Cambridge, on September 13th. In this his company led the van. following the footsteps of the exploring party, examining the country along the route. freeing the streams from impediments, etc., ctc., and suffering, in common with the whole com- mand, almost incredibly before reaching the St. Lawrence river, which Morgan's rifle-
After a brief stay at his home in Virgin- ia, in the month of November, Congress appointed Morgan, on the recommendation of General Washington, colonel of the Eleventh Virginia Regiment. At the close of the year, having been notified of his re- lease from parole, and received his com- mission, he was instructed to commence re- cruiting for the ranks of his regiment, but before he could complete its enlistment he was summoned to join the army with the men hc had. He reached Washington's camp at Morristown, New Jersey, with one hundred and eighty riflemen about the bc- ginning of April, 1777, and was welcomed by the commander-in-chief with marked consideration. A corps of picked sharp- shooters, five hundred in number, called "rangers," was immediately formed, of which he was put in command. His force was placed in the forefront of the army, charged with the duty of observing the ene- my, and. in case of movement by them, of falling upon their flank. The very day (June 13th) upon which Morgan assumed
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command, Lord Howe advanced from New Brunswick, New Jersey, and the rangers entered on the discharge of their duty, at- tacking and harassing the British in several spirited encounters. In a few days Howe retired toward Amboy, New Jersey, having failed to draw Washington into an engage- ment, and Morgan's force immediately pushed forward to annoy him. Sharp fight- ing took place, in which Morgan greatly distinguished himself.
After the British reached Staten Island, Morgan was posted at Chatham, New Jer- sey. and when the enemy went by sea to Philadelphia he hastened on across country toward the same city. Thence, in view of the rapid approach of Burgoyne from Canada, and because Morgan's riflemen were sure to prove very valuable in fight- ing Burgoyne's Indian auxiliaries, he was sent to the army of General Gates by the commander-in-chief. The riflemen played an important part in the engagements which preceded Burgoyne's surrender, fully justi- fying the statement of General Washing- ton in a letter to Governor Clinton, of New York, dated August 16th: "I expect the most eminent service from them, and I shall be mistaken if their presence does not go far toward producing a general desertion among the savages." To this may be added the words addressed to Morgan after the surrender, by Burgoyne himself, who took the American by the hand, saying: "Sir! You command the finest regiment in the world." Morgan was soon after approached by Gates and confidentially informed by the latter, in person, that the main army was extremely dissatisfied with the con- duct of the war by Washington, and that several of the best officers threatened to re- sign unless a change took place. Morgan is said to have perfectly comprehended Gates in this confidence, and to have sternly re- plied: "I have one favor to ask of you. sir, which is, never to mention that detestable subject to me again; for under no other man than Washington, as commander-in-
chief, would I ever serve." In Gates's dis- patches concerning the Saratoga battles, Morgan's services were not, therefore, deemed worthy of more than a cursory no- tice. His name was not even mentioned in the official account of the surrender, to which he had most eminently contributed.
A little later the "Rangers" were recalled by Washington to his army in Pennsylvan- ia, which they rejoined, November 18th, at Whitemarsh, near Philadelphia. Howe es- sayed an attack upon Washington's forces on the 7th of December, but his advance columns were so severely handled by Mor- gan's riflemen that he retired to Philadel- phia, whence he had come. Reports in that city placed the British loss in this encoun- ter at five hundred, while Morgan lost only twenty-seven. When the American troops went into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Morgan returned to his home at Winchester, Virginia, where he spent several weeks. On re-entering the camp in the spring of 1778. he took post at Radnor, Pennsylvania, and was engaged in various slight movements upon the enemy, partic- ularly thwarting its efforts to attack. When, in June, Clinton led his forces out of Philadelphia on their way to New York, Morgan and his command gained a position upon the British right flank which enabled him to seriously harass them. Morgan was not present at the battle of Monmouth, New Jersey, June 28th, but after the fight he continued his work of following up Clin- ton's army, doing all possible damage to its rear until its arrival at Sandy Hook, whence it embarked for New York. Morgan's con- nection with the Rangers was terminated by his appointment to the command of Woodford's brigade, shortly after he re- joined the main army at Paramus, New Jersey. He had no special service thereaf- ter in connection with Washington's troops, although he was commissioned colonel of the Seventh Virginia Regiment in March, 1779. In June of that year. partly on ac- count of ill health and partly by reason
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of dissatisfaction with the policy of Con- gress in promoting military adventurers from other countries to posts of command in the army over the heads of faithful and successful native officers, he resigned his commission and went home to Virginia and to his family.
The city of Charleston, South Carolina, having fallen into the hands of the enemy, May 12, 1780, by the summer of that year Congress had prepared itself to undertake the task of saving the Southern States to the cause of Colonial Independence, and had appointed General Gates, the victor at Saratoga, to the command of the Southern Department. Gates, who resided in Vir- ginia, at once informed Morgan that he would probably be summoned to serve in the same region. In September, 1780, Morgan joined Gates at his headquarters at Hills- boro, North Carolina, and was soon after made brigadier-general in the army of the United States by act of Congress. His ser- vices in the southern army, after the ap- pointment of General Nathanael Greene as Gates's successor and after Greene's as- sumption of the command in December, 1780, are amply detailed in the standard histories and in the lives of Morgan. Mor- gan commanded the second of two divisions into which Greene cut the southern patriot army. In the eventful campaign which en- sued, occurred the sanguinary conflict of Cowpens, South Carolina, January 17, 1781, which had been pronounced the most bril- liant battle of the Revolutionary War, in point of tactics, as it certainly was mark- edly effective for its defeat of the British. It offered one of the most decisive exhibi- tions of military ability which any Amer- ican force had ever displayed, the English loss being almost equal in number to the American force engaged. Then came the feat of genius by which Morgan rejoined Greene across the fords of the Catawba river, while his powerful antagonist, Lord Cornwallis, was nearer to those fords than he was. Close upon this followed Morgan's
part in the movements which preceded the battle of Guilford Court House, North Car- olina, which battle Cornwallis was forced to make to save Virginia. It was at this time, and prior to that battle in February, 1781, that Morgan's old foe, sciatica, attack- ed him with such effect that he was com- pelled to withdraw from the army and go to his home. For some time previously his duties had been performed in great bodily pain. His disease allowed him no further military service save in the suppression of the Claypool (Tory) insurrection in Vir- ginia in the summer of 1781, and an at- tempted co-operation with the Marquis de Lafayette against Cornwallis, in which he was invested with the command of all the light American troops and of the cavalry. But his bodily trouble attacked him afresh and so disabled him that he was compelled to seek the repose and care of home and family. This was in August, 1781.
The surrender of Cornwallis to Wash- ington took place October 19th. While Washington was besieging the British lead- er in Yorktown, Virginia, Morgan wrote to him a letter of congratulation and hopeful- ness. In the reply which the commander-in- chief immediately sent, he said : "Be assured that I most sincerely lament your present sit- uation, and esteem it a peculiar loss to the United States that you are at this time un- able to render your services in the field. I. most sincerely thank you for the kind ex- pression of your good wishes, and earnest- ly hope that you may soon be restored to that share of health which you may desire, and with which you may be useful to your country in the same eminent degree as has already distinguished your conduct."
The closing years of General Morgan's life were spent in the bosom of his family and in the cultivation and improvement of his farm at Winchester, Virginia. He be- came wealthy, owning in the year 1796 not less than 250,000 acres of land. He had cultivated his mind and improved his man- ners, his lovely wife was a center of attrac-
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tion, and his home became the resort of people of the first social rank. In 1790 he received from the United States Congress the gold medal voted to him years before for the Cowpens vic- tory. In 1795, as major-general, he had a brief command in the army which put an end to the whisky insurrection in western Pennsylvania. He was elected to Congress in 1796, as a Federalist, and zealously sup- ported the administration of President John Adams. His statue was dedicated in 1881 at Spartansburgh, South Carolina.
General Morgan died at Winchester, Vir- ginia, July 6, 1802, and in the procession which escorted his remains to the burial ground in that place were several members of the rifle company which Morgan raised and led to Boston in 1775. General Mor- gan, it is said, died in the assurance of the Christian faith. A horizontal slab marks his last resting place.
MCILVAINE, Joseph,
Lawyer, Soldier, Legislator.
Hon. Joseph McIlvaine was a native of Pennsylvania, but New Jersey was the scene of all the active labors of his life. He was born in Bristol, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1768. He completed an academical edu- cation in his native county, where he also studied law, thien removing to Burlington, New Jersey, where he was admitted to the bar and entered upon practice. In 1800 he became clerk of the county court of Burl- ington county, and continued to serve in that capacity until 1823, and a portion of the same time acting as United States At- torney of the District of New Jersey, under appointment by President Jefferson. In 1818 he had been tendered an appointment to the position of judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey, but declined the hon- or.
He took an unusual interest in military
matters, attaining the rank of captain in McPherson's Regiment of Blues as early as 1798; and in 18c4 he was appointed aide on the staff of the Governor of New Jer- sey, with the rank of colonel. In 1823 he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate, taking the place made va- cant by the resignation of Samuel L. South- ard, and retaining his seat in that body un- til his death, which occurred at Burlington, New Jersey, August 19, 1826. He was of lofty character, and wielded a wide influ- ence. His son, Charles Pettit McIlvaine, became a bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church.
DAVENPORT, Franklin,
Revolutionary Soldier, Congressman.
He was born in September, 1755, in Phil- adelphia, where he acquired a liberal educa- tion, and was prepared for the law. He was admitted to the bar, and located in Woodbury, New Jersey, where he entered upon a practice which was soon interrupted by the breaking out of the Revolutionary war.
At the beginning of hostilities he aid- ed in organizing a company of artillery for Colonel Newcomb's New Jersey brigade, and of which he was commissioned cap- tain. His principal service was under Col- onel Newcomb, but he was also under Col- onel Samuel Smith at Fort Mifflin. Dur- ing the "Whiskey Insurrection" in Pennsyl- vania he was colonel in the New Jersey line, and marched with the troops to Pittsburgh. He was made the first surrogate of Glouces- ter county. In 1798 he was appointed to the United States Senate to fill vacancy oc- casioned by the resignation of John Ruther- furd, and served until March, 1799, when he was succeeded by James Schureman. In the latter year he was elected a representa- tive in the Sixth Congress. He died in Woodbury, New Jersey, July 27, 1832.
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REED, Joseph,
Distinguished Patriot of the Revolution.
Josepii Reed was born in Trenton, New Jersey, August 27, 1741. While yet an in- fant, he was taken to Philadelphia and re- ceived his early education in an academy of that city. He afterward attended Prince- ton College, from which he was graduated in 1757. Entering the office of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of In- dependence and an eminent New Jersey lawyer, he was admitted to the bar in
1763. He visited London, where he con- tinued the study of law for two years, forming in the meantime an attachment tor the lady whom he afterward married -- Esther, daughter of Dennis de Berdt, after- ward agent of Massachusetts.
Returning to America, Mr. Reed prac- ticed his profession until 1770, when he re- visited England to bring home his fiancee. In 1772, upon the resignation of Lord Hills- borough, the Earl of Dartmouth, a warm friend of Reed's father-in-law, succeeded to the colonial office. Accordingly, Reed was invited to communicate to the colonial office his views with regard to the condition and wants of the colonies. The invitation was accepted, and a correspondence was car- ried on from December 22, 1773, to Feb- ruary 10, 1775, which was of considerable importance in informing the British minis- try as to the actual condition of affairs in the colonies, although it laid Mr. Reed open to certain suspicions in regard to his own patriotism. The last of his letters, how- ever, was calculated to do away with any such false impression, as it closed with the ominous declaration : "This country will be deluged in blood before it will submit to any other taxation than by their own legis- lature."
On Washington's departure in June. 1775, to take command of the army, Reed ac- companied him to Boston, and while there was offered and accepted the post of aide to the commander-in-chief. One of his friends
remonstrating with him on the danger of this step, he replied: "I have no inclina- tion to be hanged for half-treason; when a subject draws his sword against his prince, he must cut his way through if he means afterward to sit down in safety. I have tak- en too active a part in what may be called the civil part of opposition, to renounce without disgrace the public cause when it seems to lead to danger, and have a most sovereign contempt for the man who can plan measures he has not spirit to execute." Reed became, in fact, Washington's confi- dential secretary as well as his aide, and his pen was employed in the preparation of many of the most important dispatchies of this campaign. His relations with Wash- ington were peculiarly close and confiden- come to rely on his services and advice that once, on the occasion of a temporary ab- sence of Mr. Reed, he wrote: "My mind is now fully disclosed to you, with this as- surance sincerely and affectionately accom- panying it, that whilst you are disposed to continue with me. I shall think myself too fortunate and happy to wish for a change. * *
* I could wish, my good friend, that these things may give a spur to your inclination to return. I feel the want of your ready pen greatly."
During the autumn and early winter of 1775 he was in Philadelphia, actively en- gaged in political affairs. He was chosen chairman of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, and in January, 1776, elected to the Assembly, where he took a conspicu- ous part in the debates. This Assembly held its last meeting on September 26. 1776, when it adjourned and was dissolved, thus ending the charter government of Pennsyl- vania. The new constitution was pro- claimed a few days later, and the new gov- ernment was organized two months after- ward. In June, 1776, Reed joined the forces in New York, being appointed adjutant-gen- eral of the army, a post made vacant by the promotion of General Gates, and carrying with it the rank of colonel. Soon after this,
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Lord Howe arrived, with his plan of recon- ciliation. He brought with him letters of recommendation to Mr. Reed from the lat- ter's brother-in-law, de Berdt, which were sent at once to Robert Morris in Congress. Reed was present at all the interviews with the officers sent by Lord Howe to the com- mander-in-chief, but the mission proved utterly abortive. Reed participated in the battle of Long Island on the 27th of Au- gust, and the withdrawal of the army upon the night of the 29th, as also in the battle of White Plains and the siege of Fort Wash- ington. Afterward, while he was at Fort Lee with the main army, an incident oc- curred which was tortured by General Charles Lee into an unjust charge against Reed. General Lee, in reply to a letter from Reed, by apparently echoing Reed's language, gave to it an expression which was by no means justified. Lee's letter was accidentally opened by Washington, who felt deeply aggrieved at the contents, and until they were explained by Reed to the commander-in-chief, there was between the two a not unnatural coolness. Lee hav- ing been captured by the British, it was im- possible to obtain the original letter to which he had ostensibly replied. During the spring and summer of 1777, Reed was with his family, feeling slighted by Congress for failing to appoint him to a command, al- though recommended by Washington so to do. Late in May he was made brigadier- general, and was offered the command of a. body of cavalry, but declined it. However, on the landing of Sir William Howe, in Au- gust, he again joined the army as a volun- teer and distinguished himself at the Bran- dywine and Germantown. In September he was elected a member of the Continental Congress, but remained with the army through that winter, and did not take his seat until April 6, 1778.
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