USA > New Jersey > New Jersey as a colony and as a state; one of the original thirteen > Part 11
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The intense heat of the weather, and the preceding fatigue of the troops made it necessary to halt them to rest, the enemy in the meantime presenting a front about one mile advanced beyond the seat of action. As soon as the troops had recovered breath, Gen. Washington ordered two brigades to advance upon each of their flanks, intending to move on in front at a proper time to support them, but before they could reach their destination night came on, and made any farther movements impracticable.
The loss upon the occasion was severe. In the return to Congress that of the American army is given as eight officers and fifty-two rank and file killed; twenty-seven officers and one hundred and twenty rank and file wounded; nine of the artil- lery killed and ten wounded. The loss of the King's troops was estimated by the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury to be one hundred and ten killed, one hundred and seventy-two wounded, Molly Pitcher, rightly Mary Ludwig ; daughter of John George Ludwig, a German Palatine ; b. in Pa., probably at Carlisle, Oct. 15, 1744; married Jobn Hays 1769, a gunner in Proctor's 1st Pa. Art. ; she followed him to the field, and when he was shot at Monmouth she took his place; "served nearly elght years in the army" ; placed on list of balf-pay offt- cers ; married Sergeant George McCauley, er Mc- Kolly ; d. Jan. 22, 1823, and buried with military honors.
MOLLY PITCHER AT MONMOUTH.
·
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and fifty-six missing, to which must be added many deserters, the Philadelphia Evening Post of June 25, 1778, estimating that before the battle five hundred men had filed from the British army and returned to Philadelphia.
At midnight of June 28th Clinton silently with- drew to Middletown, there occupying a highly ad- vantageous military situation, from which he later took position in New York City.
In a summary of the battle the Whig account, to which allusion has been made, thus reviews some of the important features of the affair at Monmouth:
Our troops behaved with the greatest bravery, and opposed the flower of the British army. * *
* Of the enemys dead many have been found without any wound, but being heavily cloathed they sunk under the heat and fatigue. We are well assured that the Hessians absolutely refused to engage, declaring it was too hot. Their line of march from the courthouse was strewed with dead, with arms, knapsacks and accoutrements, which they dropt in their retreat. They had the day before taken many prisoners, whom in their haste they left behind. Had we been possessed of a powerful body of cavalry on the field, there is no doubt the success would have been much more compleat, but they had been so much employed in harassing the enemy during the march, and were so detached, as to give the enemy great superiority in numbers, much to their advantage. Our success, under heaven, is to be wholly ascribed to the good disposition made by his Excellency, supported by the firmness and bravery of both officers and men who were emulous to distinguish themselves on this occasion. The great advance of the enemy in their way, their possession of the strong grounds at Middletown, added to the exhausted state of our troops, made an immediate pursuit ineligible.
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With the battle of Monmouth ended extensive operations for the control of New England and the Middle States. Henceforth it was the south- ern commonwealths that were to feel the brunt of war. As yet the plans of Clinton were somewhat embryonic, Washington believing that he designed a further attempt to secure control of the Hudson Valley. To protect East Jersey and New York State the American commander- in-chief, on July 1st, fell back to Englishtown and thence to New Brunswick, the march being made through deep sand, and without water except such as was secured at South River. The army encamped at New Brunswick, occupying both sides of the river, and on the 4th of July cele- brated the second anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by firing thirteen pieces of can- non " and a feu-de-joie of the whole line." On Sunday, July 5th, the right wing of the army left New Brunswick, which was followed by the left wing on Monday. The troops moved to Scotch Plains, Springfield, Watessing, Acquackanonk, Paramus, Kakeate, and to King's Ferry, where the crossing of the Hudson was effected.
On Saturday, July 1, General Washington had his headquarters at Paramus, while the British, after the battle of Monmouth Court House, hav- ing embarked at Sandy Hook, were encamped on Staten, Manhattan, and Long Islands. Here the
THE ARNOLD TAVERN. ( The first headquarters of Washington at Morristown in 1777
THE BIVOUAC AT MONMOUTH.
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general received the news of the arrival under command of Count d'Estaing of the French fleet of twelve ships of the line and six frigates, which reached the Capes of the Delaware on July 8th. Upon the 11th of July the French fleet arrived at Sandy Hook, and in August made an effectual demonstration against Newport. General Wash- ington left Paramus upon July 15th, his objective point being Haverstraw. He later inspected the works at West Point, and on the 19th crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry with the last division of his army. Arriving at White Plains, General Washington, in a letter written to General Nelson upon the 20th of August, calls attention to the fact that after two years' maneuvering "both armies are back to the very point they set out from, and that which was the offending party in the beginning is now reduced to the use of spade and pickaxe for defence."
Estainy
CHAPTER XIII
THE WINTER AT SOMERVILLE AND THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN-1778-79.
F OLLOWING the battle of Monmouth and the rehabilitation of the army General Washington remained upon the Hudson establishing headquar- ters at White Plains, Fishkill, and Fredericksburg. In the absence of important military land operations in the north two impor- tant problems presented themselves for his con- sideration. One was the finding of proper places for a horde of foreign military officers, some capa- ble, some adventurers, who had nearly driven Franklin to distraction in Paris and then accom- panied the French fleet to America. This, with an earnest effort to create a sentiment favoring a restoration of national credit, occupied the atten- tion of the commander-in-chief.
By the 27th of November arrangements had been made for quartering the army during the coming winter. On the west side of the Hudson the North Carolina brigade was stationed near Smith's Clove, the New Jersey brigade was quartered at Elizabethtown, while the Vir- ginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania troops were located at Middlebrook. A bri- gade was also left to guard West Point. On the east side of the river two brigades were at Fishkill and the Continental vil- lage, while the New Hampshire and Connecticut troops and Hazen's regiment were in the vicinity
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT WHITE PLAINS.
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of Danbury. At Pluckemin, New Jersey, a park of artillery was located.
From Fredericksburg the commander-in-chief proceeded to Elizabethtown, where he arrived upon the first of December. After viewing the ar- rangements made for the New Jersey brigade, and participating in a " festive entertainment " given in his honor, he returned to Paramus in view of a report that the enemy's fleet had gone up the river. As this maneuver terminated at King's Ferry Washington set out for Middlebrook, now called Bound Brook, where he arrived on the 11th of De- cember. Here his attention was directed to the " dispositions for hutting the army."
It was in Somerville that General Washington established his headquarters, in a well appointed, newly-built mansion known as the "Wallace House." This structure, but little altered, and now well preserved through the efforts of the Revolutionary Memorial Society of New Jersey, stands amid a grove of trees upon the edge of the town, a conspicuous and much visited landmark. At nearby points other general officers were lo- cated. At Pluckemin, six miles distant from Som- erville, General Knox and his artillery brigade were quartered in huts, while the main army lay at Bound Brook. In spite of the inconvenience to the officers in the effort to hut troops at the close of the campaign the soldiers entered upon
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winter quarters in a reasonably comfortable man- ner, quite in contrast, at least, to the encampment at Valley Forge.
In obedience to a call from Congress General Washington arrived in Philadelphia upon Decem- ber 22d, leaving the command of the army in the hands of General Stirling. At the close of the year, in a letter to Benjamin Harrison, General Washington draws this "picture of the times and of Men." Dated from Philadelphia where Con- gress was in session, its directness in allusion to existent conditions leaves no doubt that he had in mind members of that Congress and their friends who, leaving Washington to manage an unpaid, starved, and ill-equipped army in Amer- ica, and Franklin to meet constant drafts, equip a privateer navy, and soothe with promises a King in France, were plunged in the depths of political inconstancy and financial imbecility. It was then that Washington wrote:
I should in one word say that idleness, dissipation and extrava- gance seems to have laid fast hold on most of them. That specula- tion-peculation-and an insatiable thirst for riches seems to have got the better of every other consideration and almost of every order of men. That party disputes and personal quarrels are the great business of the day whilst the momentous concerns of an empire-a great and accumulated debt-ruined finances depre- ciated money-and want of credit (which in their consequences is the want of everything) are but secondary considerations and post- poned from day to day., from week to week as if our affairs wear the most promising aspect.
THE WALLACE HOUSE AT SOMERVILLE.
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While in the city he had conferred with Con- gress upon the operations of the next campaign, and in social life had attended the celebration of the festival of Saint John the Baptist, where be- fore the Society of Free and Accepted Masons, at a sermon at Christ Church, he had been called the Cincinnatus of America. He had danced in the old Powell house on Second Street, been present at the banquet given by Congress in honor of the French alliance, and had sat for his portrait to Charles Willson Peale and to Pierre Eugene du Simitière, the eccentric Swiss artist. Both Gen- eral and Mrs. Washington were the guests of Henry Laurens during this "the only relief he enjoyed from service since he first entered into it."
General Washington reached his headquarters at Somerville upon February 5, 1779, and within a few days after his arrival, upon the 18th, oc- curred one of the most notable social events of the Revolution. The affair was in honor of the first anniversary of the French alliance; the place where this notable celebration took place being the headquarters of General Knox at Pluckemin. It was then that General Knox and the wives of the artillery officers entertained the commander-in- chief, Mrs. Washington, the principal officers and their wives, and prominent people of New Jersey. With the discharge of sixteen cannon "the com- pany collected in a large public building to par-
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take of an elegant dinner," while in the evening, after a display of fireworks, "a splendid ball opened by his excellency, General Washington, having for his partner the wife of General Knox, concluded the celebration," seventy ladies and between three hundred and four hundred gentle- men being present. Of this affair General Knox, in an evident but perhaps proper spirit of self- satisfaction, says that it was a most "genteel " entertainment and the first of its kind ever " ex- hibited " in New Jersey.
In this connection an interesting sidelight is thrown upon Washington's social disposition in a letter written during the middle of March from General Greene to Colonel Wadsworth. At a " little dance " at General Greene's headquarters, which was at the Van Veghten house on the banks of the Raritan, half way between Bound Brook and Somerville, " His Excellency and Mrs. Greene danced upwards of three hours without once sitting down."
But there were matters of deeper moment than fêtes and dances when a foe more insidious than the Anglo-Hessian troops threatened to disrupt the States. In the quiet of the camp General Washington, in philosophic reflection, could esti- mate with unerring precision the dangers of the times-dangers of so great moment that he poured out his soul to James Warren in one of those
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pathetic letters which more than aught else give us a true insight into George Washington as a man and as a patriot. Thus he wrote upon the 31st of March:
Speculation, Peculation, Engrossing, forestalling, with all their concomitants afford too many melancholy proofs of the decay of public virtue and too glaring instances of its being the interest and desire of too many, who would wish to be thought friends, to con- tinue the war.
These causes, with stockjobbing and party dis- sensions, led to a depreciated currency. "Is there anything doing, or that can be done, to restore the credit of our money?" asks Washington late in April of the president of Congress. "It has got to so alarming a point that a wagon load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon load of provisions "-a statement entirely within reason when at the time $2,115 in paper represented only $100 in specie.
Again, during the month of May, Washington said in letters that he did not fear the enemy's arms, but that the rapid decay of the currency, undue party spirit, increasing rapacity, want of harmony in councils, declining zeal of the people, discontents and distresses of the officers of the army, prevailing insecurity, and insensibility to danger were symptoms of an alarming nature. We must not forget the fable of Jupiter and the
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countrymen, he added, when affairs are at so low an ebb.
The arrival of M. Gérard, the French minister, and Don Juan Marailles, a Spanish grandee, was the occasion of an imposing military display upon the 2d of May. In front of the troops marched Lee's light horse, followed by General Washing- ton, his aides-de-camp, foreign ministers and their retinue, and the general officers. After a field re- view the distinguished officers took seats upon a stage, where in their presence and in the presence of the ladies of the camp the army performed field maneuvers and evolutions.
Upon June 3d Washington broke camp at Mid- dlebrook, and by way of Morristown moved to- ward the Highlands of the Hudson. At Ringwood he spent Sunday, June 6th, his army advancing through Troy, Pompton, and Ringwood without heavy baggage, marching rapidly to the protec- tion of West Point, which was in danger of as- sault by the British. With the view of protect- ing the valley of the Hudson General Washing- ton made his headquarters at West Point from July 21st until November 28th, when the Ameri- can army went into winter quarters at Morris- town.
Of all the events connected with General Wash- ington's presence at Somerville by far the most interesting and important was the planning of the
ON THE MARCH.
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"Indian campaign of 1779." While yet the boom of Monmouth's guns was in the patriots' ears the Indians of the Pennsylvania and New York frontiers had murdered and pillaged inoffensive settlers, and, instigated by Tory allies, had left a trail of blood and ashes from Wyoming to An- drustown, German Flats, and Cherry Valley. Act- ing under advice of Congress, General Washing- ton made immediate preparations "to take ef- fectual measures for the protection of the inhab- itants and the chastisement of the savages," the latter composed of the Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas, Mohawks, Onondagas, and Tuscaroras-the so- called Six Nations, and their allies, two companies of the "Royal Greens," led by Joseph Brandt, Colonel John Butler, Wallace N. Butler, and Sir John Johnson.
After a season of preparation, during which the command of the expedition had been tendered to and refused by Major-General Horatio Gates, Washington, upon the 31st of May, selected for the important duty Major-General John Sullivan, who was instructed to destroy and devastate all Indian settlements and crops on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and New York, as well as to capture as many prisoners as possible, without reference to age or sex.
To assist Sullivan troops at Pittsburg and near Albany were directed to cooperate by diversion in
Joseph Brant ( "Thayendanegea"), principal chief of the Six Nations of Indians ; b. on the banks of the Ohio River about 1740; served under Sir William Johnson, who married his sister Mary ; commis- sioned colonel in the British army 1776 ; active in the Cherry Valley and Minisink massacres ; d. in Can- ada, Nov. 24, 1807.
Jos Brand
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Western Pennsylvania and New York and by join- ing the advancing forces. The division of General Sullivan, as finally organized at Wyoming, con- tained about three thousand five hundred men. In one brigade under General Enoch Poor were the First, Second, and Third Massachusetts Regiments and the Second New York Regiment. General Edward Hand commanded the Eleventh Pennsyl- vania Regiment, the German Regiment, two com- panies of Wyoming militia, and an independent light infantry company of the Pennsylvania line. The Third Brigade under General Maxwell con- sisted of the First, Second, and Third New Jersey Regiments, and Spencer's regiment, while the ar- tillery was commanded by Colonel Thomas Proc- tor, of Pennsylvania.
The roster of the New Jersey brigade in this Indian expedition discloses the names of Jersey- men who had won and were winning fame by valorous deeds at arms. Commanded by Briga- dier-General William Maxwell his staff was com- posed of John Ross, major; Aaron Ogden, aide-de- camp; Nathan Wilkinson, quartermaster; and Andrew Hunter, chaplain.
Of the First New Jersey Regiment Matthias Ogden was colonel. In this regiment were the colo- nel's company with Jacob Piatt as its captain- lieutenant; the lieutenant-colonel's company, Eden Burrowes, first lieutenant; major's company, Will-
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iam Piatt, first lieutenant; Fourth Company, Jona- than Forman, captain; Fifth Company, Giles Mead, captain; Sixth Company, Alexander Mitch- ell, captain; Seventh Company, Peter V. Voorhees, captain; Eighth Company, John Holmes, captain; Ninth Company, Aaron Ogden, captain.
The Second New Jersey Regiment was under the command of Colonel Israel Shreve. Of the colonel's company Samuel Hendry was captain- lieutenant; of the lieutenant-colonel's company Samuel Naglee was first lieutenant; of the major's company Abel Weyman was first lieutenant; while the captains of the remaining companies were Fourth, John Hollinshead; Fifth, John N. Cumming; Sixth, Samuel Reading; Seventh, Na- thaniel Bowman; Eighth, Jonathan Phillips; and Ninth, William Helmes.
The Third New Jersey Regiment had for its colonel Elias Dayton. The colonel's com- pany was commanded by Captain-Lieutenant Jonathan Dayton; the lieutenant-colonel's com- pany by Lieutenant John Blair; the major's William Gif- company by Nathaniel Leonard. ford was captain of the Fourth Company; Richard Cox held like position in the Fifth Company; the captain of the Sixth Company was Jeremiah Ballard, as was John I. Anderson of the Seventh Company. The Eighth Company, in the absence of its captain, Bateman Lloyd, who
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had been taken prisoner of war, was under the command of First Lieutenant Benjamin Horn, while the captain of the Ninth Company was Seth Johnson.
Of Spencer's regiment Oliver Spencer was colo- nel. The colonel's company was commanded by Captain-Lieutenant William Beach, the lieuten- ant-colonel's company by Lieutenant William Bull, the major's company by First Lieutenant John Orr, while the captains of the remaining companies were: Fourth, John Burrowes; Fifth, Benjamin Weatherby; Sixth, James Broderick; Seventh, John Sandford; Eighth, James Bonnel; Ninth, Abraham Neeley; Tenth, Nathaniel Toun; Eleventh, John Combs. The total strength of the brigade was one hundred and eleven officers and very nearly thirteen hundred men.
It was at Easton, Pennsylvania, between the middle of May and early in June, that the three New Jersey regiments reported for duty. The First New Jersey broke camp at Elizabethtown on May 11th, and upon the 29th of the same month the Second also left that village, marching by the forks of the Raritan to Pittstown and Masquenetcunk. Before their departure the offi- cers of the Second New Jersey had been hand- somely entertained by the citizens of Elizabeth- town and Newark. In the meantime the Third was also on the march to Easton, while Spencer's
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regiment, with the Second New York, had gone into camp at Tunkhanna, and had been engaged in cutting a military highway to Wyoming, using " unparalleled exertions in clearing and repairing the road." While in Easton Lady Washington visited the Easton camp, where she was enter- tained by Generals Sullivan and Maxwell.
With the departure of the main body of the army from Easton upon June 18th began a cam- paign as arduous in prosecution as it was success- ful in results. Advancing to Wyoming, a six days' march brought the troops to the vicinity of Wilkes Barre. Here Colonel Ogden's regiment was detailed to guard provision boats, while the army witnessed the departure of Lieutenant-Colo- nel David Brearley, of the First New Jersey, who returned to his native State to assume the office of chief justice, in which capacity he opened court at Freehold upon July 27th.
Thence until the 4th of October this gallant band of twenty-five hundred men, often ill- equipped, penetrated the wilderness of Pennsyl- vania and New York, in constant warfare with Indians and Tories, but ever redressing the bar- barities inflicted upon the settlers. Through swamps and woodland, over mountains, along turbulent streams swollen by rains, the advanc- ing army drew their supplies and equipment. Scarcely resting night nor day, in constant danger
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of surprise, many fell sick from fatigue and ex- posure, among them General Sullivan. Yet the division pressed on, and none more willing than the New Jersey brigade. In their trail the troops left burned villages and devastated cornfields, de- stroying such Indian towns as Newty-Channing, Old and New Chemung, Newtown, now Elmira, N. Y., Middletown, and Kanawlohalla, Runonvea, Appletown, Kanadasega, Seneca Castle near Geneva, Waterloo, Gothseungquean, Kanandai- gua, and many another thriving Indian settlement in the beautiful lake region of Central New York.
It was upon October 15th that the New Jersey brigade reached Easton upon its return from the frontiers. Here congratulatory letters were ex- changed between General Sullivan and the offi- cers of the regiments composing the brigade. Upon the 26th the brigade, crossing the Delaware, camped at Oxford, and by way of Sus- sex Court House, Warwick, Pompton, Morristown, and Springfield reached Scotch Plains on Novem- ber 5th, later encamping with General Washing- ton during the second winter at Morristown. Both Congress and the commander-in-chief highly com- plimented the troops upon their bravery in an expedition during which forty towns and one hun- dred and sixty thousand bushels of corn had been destroyed. The mortality of the expedition was slight, but forty-two killed or died, but of fourteen
. Yo.
SIR HENRY CLINTON'S BULLET DISPATCH.
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hundred horses that were on the expedition only three hundred returned, one hundred perishing at one time.
With the close of the expedition the power of the Indian in Western Pennsylvania and New York was broken, although not finally crushed. Subsequent ravages and massacres were much less severe and at last ceased. It was the begin- ning of the end-when New Jersey's continental line and the troops of other States, under the stern necessity of revenge, made possible the breaking down of a barrier which brought into existence Buffalo, Pittsburg, and the greater cities
of a newer West.
CENBONWILL
GENERAL WASHINGTON RECONNOITRING.
CHAPTER XIV
THE SECOND WINTER AT MORRISTOWN-1779-80
M OVING southward from West Point late in November, 1779, it was upon the 30th of that month that General Washington crossed the Hudson at King's Ferry and proceeded on his way to Morristown. Already the British had abandoned Stony and Verplanck's Points as well as Rhode Island preparatory to the institution of a southern campaign. General Washington therefore made instant preparations to put his army into winter quarters. To Com- missary-General Clement Biddle, of Philadelphia, had been given orders to impress forage for use of the army on the march between West Point and Morristown.
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