USA > New Jersey > New Jersey as a colony and as a state; one of the original thirteen > Part 12
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Upon the 1st of December General Washing- ton arrived at Morristown, where he established his headquarters in the residence of the widow of Colonel Jacob Ford, Jr., who had commanded the Eastern Battalion of the Morris County militia. Situated a half mile from the Arnold house, which General Washington had occupied in Morris- town during the winter of 1777, the Ford house has fortunately been preserved through the efforts of the " Washington Association of New Jersey." This organization, incorporated March 20, 1874, has for its object the maintaining of the Ford house " through future generations, sacred with its peculiar historic associations."
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT MORRISTOWN. ( The Ford House. )
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R. &
CLINTON ARMS.
Sorry indeed was the lot of the officers and men who entered upon that winter, replete with phys- ical and mental suffering. At West Point, upon the 2d of the preceding October, an elaborate plan of uniform had been adopted for the troops. Thus for New York and New Jersey " Blue faced with Buff, White Lining and Buttons " was des- ignated. The uniforms to be worn by troops of the other States were also blue, the facings dif- fering. White was designated for the facings to be worn by the soldiers from New Hamp- shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connect- icut; red for Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia; blue for North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Yet with a national treasury exhausted, and the States neglecting or tacitly refusing to send their quotas, the men in the field were fortunate indeed if they possessed a rough shirt or a worn corduroy vest.
But it was not alone the lack of proper military clothing that caused alarm. For several weeks the army had been on half allowance, the magazines were exhausted, with no hope of replenishing them, as the commissaries were destitute of money or credit. The new year of 1780 brought neither bread nor meat to the starving troops. The situation was no less critical than it had been at Valley Forge. An urgent appeal for aid was issued to the magistrates of New Jersey, but even
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if some relief were secured the very elements com- bined to render the situation more desperate. Snow lay from four to six feet deep, the roads were blocked, while in a blizzard which swept over the country some of the soldiers "were actually covered while in their tents, and buried like sheep." Thacher's Journal says that for ten days but two pounds of meat per man were received, then for six or eight days there was no meat; then as long a period passed without bread being issued.
The soldiers were feeble from hunger and cold, unable to perform military duty or to construct huts. The personal experience of General Wash- ington was scarcely less distressing. Eighteen of his family were crowded together in the kitchen of the Ford house, " scarce one of them able to speak for the colds they have caught," while there was no proper provision for cooking meals nor for lodging servants.
By the end of January the situation was slightly improved so far as provision was con- cerned, although it was not until the middle of February that the soldiers had taken possession of their huts. As late as March Thacher wrote in his Military Journal ;
The present winter is the most severe and distressing which we have ever experienced. An immense body of snow remains on the ground. Our soldiers are in a wretched condition for the want of
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clothes, blankets and shoes. *
* and provisions * * * * The causes assigned for these extraordinary deficiencies are the very low rate of the public finances, in consequence of the rapid depreciation of the continental currency, and some irregularity in the commissary's department * * It is feared that * *
* very serious consequences will ensue.
To add to these discomforts the country was flooded with counterfeited paper currency made by the British in New York.
The poverty of the army was so extreme that the paymaster's department public dis- patches could not be forwarded "for want of cash to support the expresses." A dancing assembly was opened in camp. Thirty-five sub- scribers, headed by General Washington, agreed to pay four hundred dollars each-eleven dollars in specie-to provide for these festivities.
During the month of January two military movements were executed which were of tran- sient importance. Upon the 17th of the month, in spite of the half-starved, half-clothed, riotous condition of the army, "robbing the Country people of their subsistence from shear necessity," Washington had in mind a plan for making an attack upon Staten Island. Under pretense of scouring the countryside for provisions two thousand five hundred troops under General Stirling were sent out of camp in five hundred sleighs, and crossed from Elizabethport to Staten Island upon the ice. The British, learning
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of the contemplated movement, retired to points of safety. The Americans remained on the island twenty-four hours without covering, in a snow three feet in depth. Five hundred men were frost bitten, and six were killed by a party of British horse. The results of the raid were some tents, arms, baggage, wine, and seventeen pris- oners. As a reprisal, upon the 25th of January, a party of British troops crossed over from Trem- bly's Point, Staten Island, to Elizabethtown. After capturing several prisoners, and burning the meeting house and town house, the one hun- dred dragoons and three hundred or four hundred infantry returned to Staten Island without loss.
While Washington lay at Morristown prepara- tions were on foot in New York City to aid Sir Henry Clinton in South Carolina. As early as Christmas, 1779, Admiral Arbuthnot, General Clinton, and Lord Cornwallis, with between five thousand and six thousand troops, had left Sandy Hook, and upon the 7th of April, 1780, a second detachment of two thousand five hundred men sailed from that city.
To the American camp, worn with cold and hunger, the departure of the British and the re- turn of Spring brought new life. There were also other encouraging signs. By April 19th the French minister, Chevalier de la Luzerne, and Don Juan de Miralles, said to be a secret but unac-
James Clinton, third son of Colonel Charles Clin- ton, who came from Ireland; brother of Governor George and father of Governor De Witt Clinton, If New York ; b. in Ulster County, N. Y., Aug. 9, 1736 ; served in French and Indian War 1755-56 ; colonel in Continental army 1775; brigadier-general 1776, and commanded the New York troops ; d. Dec. 22, 1812.
James Clinton
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credited agent of Spain, had arrived at Morris- town. In their honor the army was paraded under arms upon the 24th and 25th of April, while a ball was given at the Morris Hotel, " at which were present a numerous collection of ladies and gentlemen of distinguished character." It was upon the 28th of April that the "Spanish gentleman " De Miralles, who had "remained dangerously sick of a pulmonick fever," died at headquarters, being buried at Morristown the following day. This "very respectable subject of the King of Spain *
* was dressed in rich state and exposed to public view, as is customary in Europe." The officers of the army, led by General Washington, with members of congress and citizens, "attended the funeral solemnities and walked as chief mourn- ers," forming " a splendid procession extending about one mile." Thus expired and was interred the supposed representative of the Spanish crown, who, cooperating with the French minister, was watching the progress of events in view of possible aid which his government might render the United States.
Upon the 10th of May the Marquis de Lafayette arrived at headquarters from Boston. For over a year this distinguished nobleman had been in France, where, with Benjamin Franklin, he had laid before Vergennes, minister of foreign affairs,
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a true "statement of the situation of the United States." Urging upon his government the press- ing needs of the States, in which he was seconded by D'Estaing, six thousand men were being put in transports for the American campaign. This, said General Washington to James Duane, " opens a prospect which offers a most important advantage to these States."
The timely arrival of Lafayette with such stim- ulating news meant much to an army whose con- dition was still pitiable. A congressional com- mittee visited the camp while Lafayette was at headquarters, and found the army had been un- paid during five months, being destitute of " sugar, tea, chocolate, wine, and spirits," every department being without money or the " shadow of credit." To add to this distress Charleston had surrendered upon the 12th of May, and Sir Henry Clinton, flushed with victory, was on his way to New York, where he arrived upon June 17th.
Camp at Morristown was broken early in June, Washington having moved his army to Short Hills, or the Heights of Springfield upon the 7th. This movement was due to the action of the British, briefly but graphically described in an "Extract of a letter from Morristown," dated June 9, and printed in the Pennsylvania Journal June 14, 1780. The correspondent says:
The enemy came out from New York, via Staten Island, and
Marie Jean Paul Joseph Roche Yves Gilbert du Motter Lafayette, b. in the Province of Auvergne, France, Sept. 6, 1757 ; sprang from an ancient, noble, and wealthy family ; at fifteen beld a commission in the King's army ; d. in Paris, May 20, 1834.
Lafayette
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landed at Elizabethtown, about 5,000. Our army all moved to meet them: The militia turned out with spirit-skirmishing in abundance; one militia Captain with 4 men took 16 British
* * * They [the British] have been between Connecticut Farms and Springfield and burnt every house in the former except one. -They have been drove back to Elizabeth Town Point, where they lie behind our old entrenchments. * * * The militia are near the enemy and kept a constant popping at them .- I believe New York is very bare of troops.
This expedition was similar to a score of like raids from which New Jersey suffered, yet one incident aroused the most intense indignation. This was the willful murder of Mrs. Caldwell, daughter of John Ogden, of Newark, and wife of the Rev. James Caldwell, an uncompromising pa- triot and pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Elizabethtown. The Caldwell residence having been burned in 1780, Mrs. Caldwell removed to a secluded dwelling in Connecticut Farms, her hus- band being absent. As the British were raiding and plundering the region a soldier approached a window of the house and, seeing Mrs. Caldwell surrounded by her children, shot her as she was arising from a bed. The house was set on fire and with great difficulty was her body preserved from destruction. The Rev. Mr. Caldwell, return- ing to Connecticut Farms under a flag, learned the sad fate of his wife-a fate which he soon experienced. Having later become engaged in an altercation with an American sentinel at
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Elizabethtown Point, Mr. Caldwell was also shot, for which the murderer, one James Morgan, was executed at Westfield on the 29th of January, 1782. A sermon upon the occasion was preached by the Rev. Jonathan Elmer, from Jer. XLIV. 4. " Oh! do not this abominable thing that I hate."
It was upon the 23d of June that the Brit- ish burned the village of Springfield. The en- emy, about five thousand strong, advanced from Elizabethtown, their two columns being opposed by the Americans under General Dickinson, Major Lee, Colonels Dayton, Shreve, Ogden, and Angell, and Captain Walker, protecting the roads and bridges leading into the town. Driving back the troops to higher ground, the British made no effort to attack, but wantonly destroyed the village, inflicting considerable loss of life. Having accomplished their object, they withdrew to Staten Island, evacuating Elizabethtown Point and removing the bridges.
The return of the enemy to Staten Island led General Washington to move slowly toward the Hudson River. Arriving at Whippany, June 25th, he proceeded to Ramapo and thence on July 1st to Preakness, five miles from Paterson. Here his headquarters was the stately mansion of Colonel Theunis Dey, where he remained until the 29th of that month.
It was at Preakness that General Washington,
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writing upon July 6th to Fielding Lewis gave tangible expression to those views that have led some to claim that Washington early espoused the cause of Federalism, even before the party was born or named. " I give it decisively as my opinion," he says, "that unless the States will content themselves with a full and well chosen representation in Congress and vest that body with absolute powers in all matters relative to the great purposes of war, and of general concern (by which the States unitedly are affected, re- serving to themselves all matters of local and internal polity for the regulation of order and good government) we are attempting an impos- sibility and very soon shall become (if not already the case) a many headed monster-a heterogene- ous mass-that never will or can steer to the same point."
Filled with the joyous news of the arrival of the French fleet at Newport and the possibility of success in the Rhode Island campaign, the army on July 29th moved from Preakness to Paramus, thence to King's Ferry, where the Hudson was crossed, General Washington establishing him- self at the " Robinson House " on the east bank of the Hudson, a little below West Point.
CHAPTER XV
AN INTERNATIONAL EPISODE
[Vol. 2]
T O SUPPLY the needs of the army in furnishing salt for the curing of meat, as early as June 24, 1776, the council of safety of Pennsylvania had entered into a contract with one Thomas Savadge to erect a salt works at Tom's River. Encouraged by an appropriation of four hundred pounds, Savadge erected his primitive plant on Coate's Point, near Barnegat Bay, which was followed by the construction of two similar works established near by. For the protection of the workmen, who were exempt from militia duty under the laws of the State of New Jersey, a bar- rack was erected, and early in 1777 a company of infantry, with two cannon, were sent to Tom's River by Pennsylvania for the protection of her property. Subsequently Pennsylvania sent Cap- tain Richard Eyre with the armed boat " Dela- ware" to protect the mouth of Tom's River, as the works were not only exposed to raid on land by the Tory volunteers, but were subjected to at- tack by cruisers and British vessels of war. In- deed, in April, 1778, the salt works of the State of Pennsylvania were razed by British troops, but were soon reconstructed. Savadge, the manager, dying, the plant passed into the possession of John Thompson, of Burlington, and thence under the charge of the Monmouth militia. To still further advance the salt making industry, which
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was conducted by the solar process, the " Union Salt Works " at Squan, and the Shark River works and Newlin's works on Barnegat Bay, had been established.
To protect the factory and the little village it- self there had been erected in Tom's River a block- house. Near by the marketable salt was stored, awaiting transportation across New Jersey to such points where it might be needed. This square block-house was a simple affair, constructed of perpendicular logs each seven feet in height, set in the ground, with their upper ends sharpened. Small openings were made, through which mus- kets could be fired. A barrack and a powder magazine, with four small pivot-mounted can- non on the corners of the fort, completed the equipment of the block-house. Entrance and ex- it were accomplished by means of a scaling ladder.
Already the siege of Yorktown had determined the fate of British power in the United States, and while General Washington, in Philadelphia, and Sir Henry Clinton, in New York, were waiting the determination of the struggle Captain Joshua Huddy, at Tom's River, was in command of his little company of twenty-three men. Of those who made militia officers of New Jersey famous none was more conspicuous for daring and for acumen than this Monmouth County leader, whose
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name was soon to be heard throughout America and Europe.
Not only for the purpose of destroying the block-house, but to give encouragement to the Tories on the sea coast of old Monmouth County, the board of associated loyalists in New York set on foot an expedition about the middle of March, 1782. Sailing in whaleboats, some forty refugees, commanded by officers of the Bucks County (Penn- sylvania) volunteers, were sent out of New York Bay with an armed crew of eighty seamen. The " Arrogant," brigantine, accompanied the attack- ing party, which, owing to baffling winds, did not reach the landing place, near Tom's River, until midnight of March 23d. Once on shore they were joined by a detachment of armed refugees, com- manded by Richard Davenport. Under the guid- ance of William Dillon, a refugee, the party took a northern route to Tom's River, escaping the scouts, who had been sent out by Captain Huddy. Appearing before the fort, the Tories made a de- mand of immediate surrender, which Captain Huddy, who had protected his garrison as far as possible, instantly and disdainfully answered.
The action which followed was as fierce as it was brief. With pikes and muskets the besieged held their ground against a force four times their superior. The charging refugees were driven back as they attempted to leap over the sharpened logs,
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losing two brave officers, while the fort itself was red with the blood of the garrison. Depleted of power, with his men dying and wounded, Cap- tain Huddy, who had done " all that a brave man could do to defend himself against so superior a number," surrendered with sixteen men. To the block-house the torch was applied, while fire swept away the nearby mills, salt works, store- house, and every dwelling house in the town, save two. The guns of the block-house, having been spiked, were thrown into the river, while upon the " Arrogant " there were placed the captives and some of the citizens of the village.
Thus upon the cold March Sunday, with a vil- lage laid in ashes, the expedition set sail for New York. Owing to the condition of the wounded Tories no attempt was made to ravage the section of the country near Shark River nor to demolish the salt works at Squan. Arriving in New York the next day, Captain Huddy was at once placed in the old sugar house prison.
Although the expedition against Tom's River differed but little from many another Tory raid upon the exposed Atlantic seaboard, it was des- tined in its consequences to have a far-reaching effect. Interest now centers around the captain of the guard-house, Joshua Huddy.
Hastily removed to the provost jail upon April 1, and thence on April 8 to the guard-ship " Brit-
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tania," Captain Huddy and two associates, Daniel Randolph and Jacob Flemming, were finally placed under the custody of Captain Richard Lip- pincott, a refugee from Monmouth County. As to their disposal Lippincott had secret instruc- tions from the board of associated loyalists, but what those instructions were soon became evident. Under a strong guard Captain Huddy, during the morning of April 12, was taken ashore, landing at Gravelly Point on the Navesink, near the old Highland Light House. Here, upon the shore of old Shrewsbury, was committed one of the foul- est murders which blot the annals of the Revolu- tion. Under direction of Lippincott three rails were placed on the water's edge in the form of a gallows, while upon a barrel-head Captain Huddy wrote his last will. Placing a placard on his breast, which breathed the spirit of the lex talionis, the authors saying they had " determined to hang man for man so long as a refugee is left existing," the body of Joshua Huddy, prisoner of war, swung above the heads of the murderers. And as Captain Huddy pronounced his last words, " I shall die innocent and in a good cause," Lip- pincott, swearing at his men because they would not pull the rope, dragged aloft the form of the heroic patriot. Lippincott returned to New York and reported that he had exchanged Captain Huddy for one Philip White.
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From Monmouth County arose a cry of revenge. After burying Captain Huddy with military hon- ors the citizens met in the court house at Free- hold, and in a petition signed by men of prom- inence urged Congress and General Washington that a policy of retaliation might be instituted. The petition and the affidavits of some of those who had witnessed the murder, as well as the label left upon Huddy's breast, were taken to Gen- eral Knox and Gouverneur Morris, who, as com- missioners of prisoners, were then at Elizabeth- town. Immediately these documents were con- veyed to General Washington at Newburgh.
At a council of war held upon April 19th twen- ty-five general and field officers " agreed that re- taliation was justifiable and expedient." A ma- jority of the council favored an instant demand for the person of Richard Lippincott, which, if re- fused, would be sufficient cause for the selection, by lot, among the British prisoners of an officer of rank equal to that of Captain Huddy. The com- mander-in-chief immediately laid the matter be- fore Congress, which appointed a committee thereupon, the chairman being Elias Boudinot, of New Jersey. Upon April 29th Congress, in a reso- lution, " being deeply impressed with the neces- sity of convincing the enemies of the United States *
* that the repetition of their un- precedented and inhuman cruelties
Gouverneur Morris, half-brother of Lewis Morris. the signer ; b. in Morrisania, N. Y., Jan. 31, 1752 ; d. there Nov. 6, 1816; grad. King's (now Columbia) College 1768; admitted to the bar 1771; delegate to the first Provincial Congress 1775; member Conti- nental Congress 1777-80; delegate to the United States constitutional convention 1787; minister to France 1791-94; United States senator 1800-03.
you marry
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will no longer be suffered with impunity * * unanimously approve of the firm and judicious conduct of the commander-in-chief in his applica- tion to the British general in New York."
During the remaining part of the month of April a dignified correspondence was maintained between General Washington and Sir Henry Clin- ton. The commander-in-chief upon April 21 de- manded the person of Captain Lippincott of the officer commanding. " In failure of it," he con- tinues, " I shall hold myself justifiable, in the eyes of God and man, for the measure to which I shall resort." To this Sir Henry Clinton answered that he had ordered a strict inquiry concerning this " barbarous outrage against humanity," and for- bade the board of associated loyalists to remove any captive from the prison house in which he had been confined.
The court-martial of Captain Richard Lippin- cott disclosed that he had acted under verbal or- ders of the board, particularly of the deposed Gov- ernor William Franklin, and that Captain Huddy, who was hung, supposedly, in retaliation for the death of Philip White, was a prisoner four days before White had been shot while attempting to escape from Monmouth County jail. It was also shown that William Franklin had read the pla- card placed on Captain Huddy's breast.
The defense of the associated board of loyalists
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consisted of a series of accusations against Huddy, who was, they said, "very active and cruel * and had not been ashamed to boast of his having been instrumental in hanging Stephen Ed- wards, a worthy loyalist, and the first of our brethren who fell a martyr to republican fury in Monmouth County." The " Monmouth Retali- ators " and the deeds of General Forman, who, by the board, was called " Black David," " fired our party with indignation." The court-martial, con- sidering that Lippincott had acted under orders, rendered a verdict of not guilty, and tacitly threw the blame upon the board of loyalists, whereupon William Franklin hastily departed for England.
The successor of Sir Henry Clinton was Sir Guy Carleton, who assumed the position taken by his predecessor, and even went to the length of abolishing the board of loyalists, to the end, as he wrote General Washington, that he desired " to pursue every measure that might tend to prevent these criminal excesses in individuals." Without waiting for further action Captain Adam Hyler, of New Brunswick, a warm personal friend of Captain Huddy, entered New York in disguise for the purpose of capturing Lippincott. Had it not been that Lippincott was attending a cock-fight he " would have been offered as a sweet revenge to the manes of poor Huddy."
Among the British unconditional prisoners in
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