USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Narratives of Newark (in New Jersey) from the days of its founding > Part 15
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The next neighbor to this Ogden was Benjamin Coe, a very aged man, who with his wife was at home. They plundered and destroyed everything in the house and insulted them with such fury and rage that the old people fled for fear of their lives, and then, to show the foulness of their malice, they burnt his house to ashes.
Zophar Beach, Josiah Beach, Samuel Pennington, and others, who had large families and were all at home, they robbed in so egregious a manner that they were hardly left a rag of clothing save what was on their backs. The mischief committed in the houses, forsaken of their inhabitants, the destruction of fences, barns, stables, and other outhouses, the breaking of chests, of drawers, tables, and other furniture, the burning and carrying
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away of carpenters' and shoemakers' tools are entirely beyond description.
Those who took the oath and obtained what were falsely called protections there are instances with us of these being robbed and plundered afterward, but the most general way in which they ob- tained the effects of such people was by bargaining with them for their hay, cattle, or corn, promising them pay, but none with us ever received anything worth mentioning.
I might have observed that it was not only the common soldiers that plundered and stole, but also their officers, and not merely low officers and subalterns, but some of high rank were aiding and abetting and reaped the profits of this business.
No less a person than General (William) Erskine, who lodged at Daniel Baldwin's, had his room furnished from a neighboring house with mahogany chairs and tables, a considerable part of which was taken away with his baggage when he went to Eliza- beth Town. Colonel McDonald, who made his headquarters at Alexander Robinson's, had his room furnished in the same felo- nious manner, and the furniture was carried off as if it had been part of his baggage. Another Colonel, whose name I have for- got, sent his servants, who took away a sick woman's bed, Mrs. Crane's, from under her, for him to sleep upon.
When Washington captured Trenton nearly all the goods stolen from Newark homes were returned. The loot was found in the Old Barracks, where the enemy was quartered.
The battles at Assanpink Creek, January 2, and at Prince- ton, January 3, with the Trenton victory gave the desired spirit to Washington's troops. Morristown was then occu- pied and the remainder of a long and severe winter was spent in the fastness of that famous camping ground.
War was engaging the entire attention of Newark and paralyzing its industries. The blight was felt in every home and its effect was not removed till the advent of the third generation.
CHAPTER XXXVI
NIGHT RAID BY KING'S TROOPS
Y FIELDING to entreaties of the people in the spring of 1777, Rev. Dr. Alexander Macwhorter and Elisha Boudi- not jointly wrote Governor William Livingston at his home in Elizabeth Town, expressing the local apprehension of an- other invasion in manner following:
Newark, April 26, 1777.
May it please your Excellency :- The unhappy situation of this town, being so contiguous to the enemy, who threaten us daily with an invasion, renders it absolutely necessary that the militia of this place should be put on more respectable footing and of- ficered with gentlemen whose tried fidelity in a time of distress entitles them to the confidence of their country.
Serious times they were. Tories were informing the enemy of the estates best adapted for foraging purposes. Sur- reptitiously they placed the letter "R" on gate posts or other conspicuous objects readily seen from the roadway. Raiding parties thereby knew of homes where plentiful supplies for man and beast could be obtained. These acts aroused a re- vengeful temper in patriots' homes. The Tories refusing to subscribe to the oath of allegiance were disappearing from town in May, 1777. They, too, partook of a revengeful spirit and blamed their Liberty-loving neighbors for their exile from home and its associations.
Heartaches were in evidence everywhere through tear- dimmed eyes, as the remnants of happy family life made their way slowly across the meadows to the enemy's lines. Thus reads an order of the Counsel of Safety on Tuesday, June 24, 1777:
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Agreed that Major Hayes or the Commanding Officer of the Militia stationed at Newark be ordered to remove from the County of Essex to the South side of Hackensack River in Bergen County in order to go into the Enemy's lines: The following women (with their children) being the wives & children of persons lately residing within this State who have gone over to the Enemy, to wit: Mary Longworth, Catherine Longworth, Elizabeth Wheeler, Phebe Banks, Mary Wood, Hannah Ward, Elizabeth, Betty & Anne Clark, and make return thereof to the Governor and Council of safety.
All were well known, and pleasant associations had been en- joyed in their homes and neighborhoods.
"The commissioners are much impeded in their business," wrote Justice Joseph Hedden, Jr., from Newark, to Governor William Livingston, on July 9, 1777, "in their business on ac- count of the Tory women that remain with us. They secrete the goods and conceal everything they possibly can from them, which gives them a great deal of trouble. There is here one James O'Brien and his wife that have been great plunderers and concealers of goods, and when called upon for anything they petition to leave and go among christians, and not to be detained among brutes, as they call us in this town. Pray make an order to send them among their chris- tian friends, our enemies. I send the following list of women whose husbands are with the enemy : Mary Kingsland, Mary Stager, Filia Risser, Sarah Garrabrant, Mary Grumfield, Elizabeth Howett, Martha Hicks, Autta Van Riper, Susanna Wicks, Mary Garrabrant, Jane Drummond, Sarah Sayres, Lydia Sayres, Margaret Nichols, Elizabeth Brown, Sarah Crawfoot, Abigail Ward. Sending the above women after their husbands will be an advantage to the State and save the commissioners a world of trouble."
The Governor was requested to appoint civil officers for Essex County, particularly the surrogate, as several wills were awaiting probate for the necessary settlement of estates. Another matter needing attention was the appointment of a commission for appraising Tory property. This was organized
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by the selection of Joseph Hedden, Jr., as the President and Major Samuel Hayes and Thomas Canfield as his assistants. The New Jersey Legislature, on June 5, 1777, adopted an amnesty act, offering individuals then with the enemy an op- portunity within the next sixty days to return home, swear allegiance to the Continental Congress, and remain peaceable inhabitants. Refusal to do so caused the auctioneer's ham- mer to fall upon homes and valuable land. The last hours of the amnesty act were approaching. Anxiously did the people wait on August 5, 1777, for the return of kindred, neighbors, and friends. One of the Tories upon whom the pleadings were not in vain was Benjamin Williams, of Tory
Benjamin Coe House (1782) Cor. Court and Washington Sts.
Corner (its name is retained to this day) in the Mountain Settlement, now West Orange. He was a prominent member of Trinity Episcopal Church, whose pastor the Rev. Isaac Brown, in his loyalty to the Church of England, sought refuge within the British lines. At the very last hour, at 11 o'clock at night, Williams subscribed to the oath of allegiance, ad- ministered by Judge Peck at his home on the highway, now in East Orange. He thus saved a large estate.
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Justice David Ogden, a prominent Newark citizen, an emi- nent jurist and an avowed loyalist, bitterly condemned his fellow townsmen allied with the patriot forces, who were known as Whigs, Rebels and Associators. Judge Ogden's property, valued at about $150,000, was confiscated. This included his mansion, furnishings, library and real estate. He was partly reimbursed by the British Government, but no allow- ance was made him from town or State Treasury.
The Judge was positive that the war would end ingloriously for the Rebels, and he awaited with no little impatience the day of the surrender. It came, but not in the way he ex- pected. He was in London when Cornwallis acknowledged defeat at Yorktown, but returned to America after the war and settled on Long Island, where he died in 1800, at the age of 93 years.
Essex County was represented in General Cortland Skinner's Brigade of Loyalists, organized into six battal- ions in September, 1776. The roster contained about 1,300 officers and men, whose uniform was distinguished from the regulars by the coat of green cloth, faced with white, and cocked hats having broad white binding. From head- quarters on Staten Island this band of former citizens sallied forth into Newark and other towns, engaging in every pos- sible destruction in order to handicap the patriots. Each one of "Skinner's Greens," as they were contemptuously desig- nated, was a marked individual. Their wanton acts against life and property provoked the wrath of families. Jemima Cundict says, on "December ye 26, Our People took three green Coats," but she does not mention what happened to them.
"A memorial," in the Council of Safety minutes, of Wed- nesday, July 9, 1777, "from Peter DuBois, Eliphelet John- son, Thomas Cadmus, Jr., James Nuttman, and John Robinson, certain criminals removed from the Gaol of Essex to the Gaol of Morris, was read; setting forth that their distance from their families renders it difficult for them to procure the comforts of life; that the Gaol of Morris had been
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occupied by Prisoners of War, etc., that the filth and Stench of the Rooms were great and offensive.
"That they apprehended fatal consequences may attend their confinement in the Gaol aforesaid & praying that this Board would remand them to their former place of Imprison- ment in the Gaol of Essex."
A deaf ear was not turned to their entreaties. "The Board having considered the said Memorial," runs the de- cision reached, "agreed unanimously-That directions be immediately given to the Sheriff of Morris for cleaning the Gaol without delay; and the prayer of the Memorial cannot at present be granted." On July 18, however, the prison- ers were removed to the Essex County jail.
A few days later, "it being represented to this Board that James Nuttman, one of the above Memorialists, is far ad- vanced in life & has never had the Smallpox & that the said disorder now prevails in the Gaol of Morris, in which the said James Nuttman is Confined; Therefore Agreed, That the said James Nuttman be permitted to remove & be Con- fined in the Gaol of Sussex, he defraying the Expense of Removal."
Other petitions of those charged with high treason were considered at a meeting of the Board on July 21, in manner following:
The petition of Isaac Ogden, George Walts and Aaron Kingsland was read, setting forth that they were removed from the Gaol of Essex to that of Morris by order of this Board; that from the difficulty of getting their provisions dressed, from the Stench & filth of the Gaol, the unhealthy state of the air of Morris, and the prevalence of the Bloody Flux and Camp Fever in said town, their lives are in great danger, and praying that they may be speedily tried for the Crimes of which they stand charged, and in the meantime that they be remanded to the Gaol of Essex.
The order was promptly issued and the prisoners, weak from lack of nourishing food and fresh air, were assisted to the wagon waiting to convey them to Newark, where upon
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arrival they were lodged in the jail. Isaac Ogden, after- ward an exile to Montreal, was a son of Judge David Ogden. The family was divided forever because of the war. Of the five sons of the Judge, Abraham and Samuel cast their lot with the Con- tinental forces, Peter remained his father's constant companion, and Nicholas was among the refugees seeking homes in the Acadia Valley, Nova Scotia.
Tea was a prohibited article during the war, but there is one instance of record of a consignment received in town. Elisha Elisha Boudinot Boudinot, secretary of the Council of Safety, gallantly makes this the last item of business of Tuesday, January 20, 1778:
His excellency was pleased to lay before the Board for their opinion therein, a letter from Col. Seeley, setting forth that some Tea & Sugar was sent to Mrs. Boudinot from her friends at New York, and begging his direction in the premises.
Agreed That the said Tea & Sugar be delivered to Mrs. Boudinot.
The council of safety provided for an identification pass- port, for all persons, resident or traveller, to pass through and out the State. These were issued by members of the council, Legislature, Justices of Supreme Court and of Court of Common Pleas, Justices of the Peace and field officers of militia.
The following is a sample:
County of Essex, ss. The Bearer hereof, Alexander Mac- whorter, aged about 43 years, of a fair complexion, rather stout of stature, gray eyes, resident (or traveler from New York to Philadelphia) has permission to pass to said city, behaving him- self civilly. Dated Newark, N. J. the 1st day of July, 1777.
Each traveller subscribed his or her name and title of office, and inn-keepers and ferrymen were instructed to scrutinize carefully the individual presenting himself or her- self for entertainment or for passage over creek or river.
Alex. Macharter
Rev. Dr. Alexander Macwhorter
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I
This placed a ban upon "disaffected" persons passing secretly into and through the State.
Not till September 10 did the invasion expected in April, take place. British and Hessian found their opportunity, when the militia was absent, and harvests, partly reaped, could be easily. removed. Jemima Cundict, in her diary, records the story as follows:
September 12, 1777, on Friday there was an alarm, our Militia was Called. The Regulars Come over into elsabeth town, Where they had a Brush With a Small Party of our People; then marched quietly up to Newark; and took all the Cattle they Could there was five of the militia (of Newark) they kill'd Samuel Crane, and took Zadock & Allen heady & Samuel freeman Prisoners, one out of five run & escapt. They went directly up to Second River, and on Saturday morning marched up towards wardsessin. Our People attackted there, Where they had a Smart Scurmage. Some of our People got wounded there, but I do not Learn that any was killed. There was Several kill'd of the regulars, but the Number is yet unascertained.
William Matthews, who lived in the mountain section, and was a member of Captain Cornelius Williams' com- pany, was among the wounded. Zaddock and Allen Hedden, and others captured, were confined in the Sugar House, New York. Allen died from the effects of his treatment, but Zaddock survived and lived to an old age.
Another raid was made on Newark on January 25, 1780, in retaliation for the expedition of Washington's troops sent from Morristown to the enemy's camp on Staten Island earlier in the month. Unusually severe was the winter as the year 1779 merged into 1780. The temperature of the first weeks of January was at zero or lower. The Hudson river, Upper New York Bay, the Passaic and Hackensack rivers were frozen from shore to shore, the ice varying in thickness from eighteen inches to two feet:
They were ideal conditions, thought Briton and Tory, for punishing the "rebel autocracy," when in two divisions the attacking force started out on a grand sortie. One
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went from Staten Island to Elizabeth Town, where ex- pectations of capturing American soldiers were fulfilled. Colonel Abraham Van Buskirk, former prominent physician of Hackensack, and now enrolled in the King's forces, com- manded the column. The edifice of the Presbyterian con- gregation, of which Rev. James Caldwell, the noted patriot, was the minister, was burned, and homes pillaged and de- stroyed. On the next Sunday the "church, not intimidated nor discouraged by the barbarous impiety of the enemy," met and sung the following:
With flames they threaten to destroy The children in their nest, . "Come, let us burn at once they cry, The Temple and the priest." And shall the sons of earth and dust That sacred power blaspheme? Will not thy hand that formed them first Avenge thine injured name? Think on the covenant thou hast made: And all thy words of love; Nor let the birds of prey invade, And vex thy mourning dove. Our foes would triumph in our blood, And make our hope their jest; Plead thy own cause, Almighty God, And give thy children rest.
Major Lumm was assigned command of the Newark di- vision. Crossing on the ice in sleds from New York the officers and men assembled at Paulus Hook. There were detachments from the Forty-fourth English regiment and the Forty-second Anspach and Hessian Corps. Upon reach- ing the Passaic River caution was displayed in marching on the town for fear an alert sentry's gun would sound an alarm. Strangely silent were the streets and lanes as the forces marched up from the river to Broad Street. The patriots were asleep or overcome with the cold. Quietly guards were placed at Orange and Broad streets and northward
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and southward along the latter thoroughfare to prevent surprise by the militia. An attack by the enemy was not thought possible on such a bitterly cold night. The Acad- emy held within its walls fifteen sleeping militiamen. A solitary sentinel standing near the door of the improvised barracks was stupefied-he could not believe his eyes- when he saw the King's soldiers surround the building. The occupants were made prisoners almost before they were awakened from their slumbers.
The torch applied to the building soon made it a mass of flames. While the glare was lighting the town a detach- ment was searching for Justice Hedden, he who as appraise- ment commissioner had assisted in confiscating Tory estates, in behalf of the State. The home on the highway opposite the Upper Common was rushed by the King's soldiers and the sanctity of the chamber invaded. The patriot, hauled from his bed, was roughly treated, and clad only in his night clothes was rushed out to the roadway.
Mistress Hedden begged for mercy for her husband of the officer in charge. Hysterically she appealed to the better side of the captor's nature. Her husband was ill she de- clared and before being carried away begged that at least warm clothing be provided him. Her entreaties were unheeded. Mistress Elizabeth Roberts, a married sister of the justice, living on the west side of the Upper Common, about where the Second Presbyterian Church is now situ- ated, seeing the Academy in flames and informed of her brother's capture, ran in the freezing temperature to his assistance.
She joined Mistress Hedden in appeals for the Justice's life. During the excitement Mrs. Hedden was wounded several times by bayonet thrusts and her night dress was stained with the blood flowing from her wounds. It was a heart-breaking scene when the husband and brother was hustled down Broad Street, and the women, in their night robes, were beseeching the soldiers to desist from their cruel treatment of him.
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Homes were plundered on the retreat, for such it had become. The militia, attracted by the confusion and the light of the burning Academy, rapidly assembled, every man with his trusty firearm being a good shot. Down Broad Street the mass of British and Hessian soldiers, prisoners and defenders, passed to Centre and Market streets. The King's troops found their way across the meadows to New York and to their barracks, while the prisoners were distrib- uted among the prison ships.
Justice Hedden was compelled to walk across the meadows and on the ice of the rivers and bay in his bare feet, and then, without care of any kind, was thrust into the Sugar House, New York's principal prison for captured officers and civilians.
Sugar House
Suffering excruciating pain for many weeks, the Justice was brought to his home in the following May by his brothers, David and Simon. His limbs were decomposed, from the effects of which he died on Septem- ber 27, 1780.
Over his grave in the Old Burying Ground a tombstone was erected with this inscription engraved thereon:
This monument is erected in memory of Joseph Hedden Esq., who departed this life the 27th of September 1780, in the 52d year of his age. He was a firm friend to his Country In the darkest times. Zealous for American Liberty In opposition to British Tyranny, And at last fell a victim To British cruelty.
The patriots, besides the Justice, captured that night were, Robert Neill, Josiah Willard, Francis Malone, William Chapman, Frank Mason, John Thompson, John Fullerton, Jeremiah Bardsden, John Mullen, Jacobus Frederick, Francis Detto, Peter Windner, William Lockridge, William Roules,
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Daniel Smith, Patrick Lynn, John Stevenson, Jacob Prouse, Samuel McCord, Jacob Snyder, David Davis, John Hastings, Thomas Mains, Peter Clayton, William Mullen, John Smith, Robert Holston, Benjamin Wells, Thomas Howard, John McMullen, John Brunt, William Hutchinson, John Williams, and James Mitchell. The other commissioners of confiscated property-Major Hayes and Mr. Canfield-were captured on a dark night in the following July.
Newark's list of patriotic men and women who assisted in the establishment of American Independence will never be completed nor will the history of the town in the war be thoroughly chronicled on account of the loss of im- portant records. Included in the noted host are mem- bers of the various committees, the Rev. Dr. Alexander Macwhorter, who served as chaplain in Washington's army; Joseph Hedden, the martyr; Dr. William Burnet, surgeon; Dr. William Burnet, Jr., surgeon; Judge Elisha Boudinot, of the Council of Safety; William Camp, who died in the Sugar House Prison, New York; Stephen Ball, hanged as a spy; Major Ichabod Burnet, serving on Major-General Green's staff; Captain Caleb Wheeler, Captain James Wheeler, Captain Caleb Bruen, Dr. Cornelius Baldwin, sur- geon; Major Samuel Hayes; William S. Pennington after- ward Governor of New Jersey; Captain Robert Nichols, whose home on Washington Street was an ordnance depot; Gen. John N. Cumming, one of Newark's leading citizens in the first part of the Nineteenth Century; and from the moun- tain district, Lieutenant-Colonel David Cundict, who died in service; Rev. Jedidiah Chapman, who defied the entire British army; Dr. John Cundict, surgeon, Captain Thomas Williams, Captain Jonathan Cundict and others.
The militia promptly responded to the appeal for troops at Elizabeth Town and Connecticut Farms on June 7, 1780, and were able to turn back the enemy which had Morristown as its objective. At the "Farms" Mrs. James Caldwell, wife of the famous patriot-preacher, was shot by a soldier of King George's army as she stood by a window of her temporary
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home. This wanton act aroused a bitter feeling in the militia ranks and sorrow was felt in Newark homes. Before her marriage Mrs. Caldwell was Hannah Ogden, and a well- known resident. She was in her forty-third year, and nine children were orphaned by her untimely end.
Another attempt, upon receiving favorable reports of Tories, was made by the British and Hessians to reach Morris- town on June 23. The. Continental line and militia responded to the alarm at daybreak, and before the day passed the assassination of Mrs. Caldwell was avenged. Signal guns, stationed on the mountain, chief among them an eighteen- pounder, "Old Sow," so named because it rooted in the ground when discharged, sent out the call.
The fighting was fast and furious at the bridge over the East Branch of the Rahway River at sunrise, and the Ameri- can defense was forced to retreat about a mile westward. The fight continued till noon when the punishment admin- istered the enemy proved too great an impediment for further progress and its retreat became a rout. The Presbyterian Church and all but four houses were burned by the horde, The militia, in close pursuit, and stationed behind trees and stone walls, harassed the retreating army.
William Sanford Pennington, great-grandson of Ephraim Pennington, Signer of the Fundamental Agreement, was only nineteen years of age when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. He spurned the offer of his uncle, William San- ford, with whom he was living, of being his legatee if he would join the loyalists. Enlisting in the artillery, the young man was commissioned lieutenant of the Second Regiment of that branch of the Continental army, September 12, 1778, in rec- ognition of gallantry displayed in action.
Lieutenant Pennington, at the close of hostilities, was honored with the brevet rank of captain. He chronicled the principal events of his military life in a journal from which is copied the following :. "Wednesday, October 16, 1780-I spent a principal part of the day in Newark, visiting my female acquaintances in this place. The ladies, to do them
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