USA > New Jersey > New Jersey as a colony and as a state; one of the original thirteen > Part 13
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Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester, b. at Strabane, Ireland, 1722; entered the British army at an early age; was at the siege of Louisburg 1758, and with Wolfe at Quebec 1759 ; governor-general of the Prov- ince of Quebec 1774; governor of British North America 1786-96 ; d. Nov. 10, 1808.
SIR GUY CARLETON.
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York, Pennsylvania, were thirteen captains, from whom, upon May 3d, General Moses Hazen, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was directed to conduct a drawing, by lot, to see which one should be exe- cuted in satisfaction for the death of Huddy. Upon the 27th of May, in Lancaster, thirteen slips of paper were placed in a hat, all blank except one, upon which was written the word " unfortunate." Fate fell upon Captain Charles Asgill, Jr., of the First Regiment of Foot, a mere boy of twenty, but a brave officer, the only son of an English baronet of wealth. Forwarded to Philadelphia and thence to Chatham, accompanied by a friend, Major James Gordon, of the Eightieth Regiment of Foot, Captain Asgill was placed in charge, upon June 11, of Colonel Elias Dayton, of the Second New Jersey Regiment, continental line. It was then discovered that Captain Asgill was not an uncon- ditional prisoner of war, but had been included in the surrender at Yorktown. This mistake gave General Washington much annoyance and dis- tress, so much so indeed that the commander-in- chief sent a messenger-a captive British officer- to Sir Guy Carleton, stating that the British com- mander-in-chief, knowing the alternative, might effect the sparing of the " unfortunate offering."
The scenario of this drama was then transferred to Europe. Owing to the invalidism of Sir Charles Asgill and the mental torture of a daughter, Lady
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Beny Franklin
Theresa Asgill, the mother of the young captain, undertook to sway the sympathies of the thrones of England and France. From London George III, in response to the personal appeal of Lady Asgill, directed Sir Guy Carleton to execute Rich- ard Lippincott, an order that was either sup- pressed or willfully disobeyed. From the Count de Vergennes, prime minister of Louis XVI, a let- ter was sent to General Washington, also in con- formity with the urging of Lady Asgill, desiring that the American commander-in-chief exercise clemency at the request of the French King and Queen. To this was added a like request ad- dressed to Congress from the States-General of Holland. In America Captain Asgill wrote to his commander-in-chief begging for mercy, while in the letters of Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other men of prominence there are constant references to the fate of young Asgill. Possibly the clearest presentation of the affair was made by Tom Paine, when in a letter to the British com- mander-in-chief he wrote:
The villain and the victim are here separated characters. You hold the one and we hold the other. You disown or affect to disown or reprobate the conduct of Lippincott, yet you give him sanctuary and by so doing you as effectually become the execu- tioner of Asgill as if you put the rope around his neck and dis- missed him from the world. * * * Deliver up the one and save the other, withhold the one and the other dies by your choice.
Thus the summer passed with correspondence
Benjamin Franklin, statesman, philosopher, in- ventor, diplomat, editor ; b. In Boston, Jan. 17, 1706 ; d. In Philadelphia, April 17, 1790; father of William Franklin, the last royal governor of New Jersey.
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between Washington and Carleton, and young As- gill late in August and September on parole about Chatham and Morristown. Upon the arrival of the letter from the Count de Vergennes, which had no small degree of weight with Washington and Congress, Captain Asgill, under direction of Congress, was liberated upon November thirteenth and shortly returned to England, where he subse- quently became a general officer in the British army.
Although a call was made upon Sir Guy Carle- ton to further prosecute his investigation into the matter no action was taken. The close of the war drove the subject from the public mind. For his infamy Captain Lippincott received from the crown three thousand acres of land where the City of Toronto now stands, and a half-pay pen- sion for life. He died in Toronto in 1826, at the age of eighty-two.
From the spark kindled at Tom's River and the Highlands a sudden flame illumined both sides of the Atlantic. Throughout France the interest in the fate of Captain Asgill was intense. In his honor M. de Sauvigny wrote a play, " Abdir," in which the young man was the hero; engraved por- traits were sold in European capitals; and the newspapers presented every feature of the case which could possibly have any personal or polit- ical interest.
Count de Charles Gravier Vergennes, b. Dec. 28, 1717 ; d. Feb. 13, 1787; minister at the court of the elector of Treves 1750; secretary of foreign relations 1774 ; negotiated several treaties.
Bergens
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CHAPTER XVI
NEW JERSEY WOMEN IN THE REVOLUTION
T' HROUGHOUT the State, told in tradition or preserved between the pages of county and town histories, there are many tales of woman's work and of sacrifice in providing clothes and nourishing food for the men of the militia, of the State troops, and of the continental line. Somewhat has been preserved-but it has been but little-of the devoted services of New Jersey's mothers, wives, and sweethearts. Frag- ments from newspapers tell of the gifts to the army by congregations in East Jersey, such as clothes from Dr. Jacob Green's church in Han- over, Morris County, while in the smallpox camp of that fearful winter in Morristown women braved death to minister to those who suffered. And then in West Jersey the sweet-faced Quaker- esses watched over the rough-voiced Hessians, scarred by the sword at Red Bank, nursed back to life the red-coated young officers of the King, who came from London's routs to bite the dust at Monmouth, or even yet more tenderly, mayhap, looked for the last time upon the faces of their own kin who, forsaking the ways of the meeting, had been butchered in some midnight raid by the banditti of the board of loyalists. They could not fight nor side with Whig or Tory, these Quaker- esses, but in that supreme hour when suffering
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and death broke down the barriers of strife they could nurse and watch and pray.
Governor William Livingston, with his wealth of sarcasm, never signed his famous "Horten- tius " to a more clever contribution in the New Jersey Gazette than his production which appeared upon the last day of December, 1777. In his ref- erence to the County of Bergen, in which there were many " disaffected " folk of old Dutch stock, His Excellency trod upon dangerous ground, and while his reference to the women of the time and a local custom must have stung, yet the long years have taken away the bitterness and left but a laugh. Thus wrote Governor Livingston to his Quaker friend, Isaac Collins, the editor:
SIR:
I am afraid that while we are employed in furnishing our bat- talions with clothing, we forget the county of Bergen, which alone is sufficient amply to provide them with winter waistcoats and breeches, from the redundance and superfluity of certain woollen habits, which are at present applied to no kind of use whatsoever. It is well known that the rural ladies in that part of our State pride themselves in an incredible number of petticoats; which, like house furniture, are displayed by way of ostentation, for many years before they are decreed to invest the fair bodies of the pro- prietors. Till that period they are never worn, but neatly pilcd up on each side of an immense escrutoire, the top of which is deco- rated with a most capacious brass-clasped bible, seldom read. What I would, therefore, humbly propose to our superiors, is to make prize of those future female habiliments, and after proper transformation, immediately apply them to screen from the in- clemencies of the weather those gallant males, who are now fighting
LIBERTY HALL : ELIZABETH. ( Residence of Governor William Livingston. )
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for the liberties of their country. And to clear this measure from every imputation of injustice, I have only to observe, that the gen- erality of the women in that county having, for above a century, worn the breeches, it is highly reasonable that the men should now, and especially upon so important an occasion, make booty of the petticoats. HORTENTIUS.
It was upon July 4, 1780, that the women of Trenton organized the first society in New Jersey, the plan and scope of whose work geographically embraced the entire State. The purpose of this society was highly laudable, as the New Jersey Gazette of that week shows, being directed toward " promoting a subscription for the relief and en- couragement of those brave Men in the Continen- tal army who, stimulated by example and regard- less of danger, have so repeatedly suffered, fought, and bled in the cause of virtue and their oppressed country."
Emulating a precedent already established by " their patriotic sisters in Pennsylvania," and be- ing desirous " of manifesting their zeal in the glorious cause of American liberty," these women of Trenton, " taking into consideration the scat- tered situation of the well disposed thro' the State, who would wish to contribute to so laud- able an undertaking," unanimously appointed a local committee consisting of Mrs. Cox, Mrs. Dick- inson, Mrs. Moore Furman, and Miss Cadwallader. Of the committee Mrs. Furman was " treasuress " and Miss Dagworthy secretary.
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To carry the plan into effect the committee was directed immediately to open subscriptions and to correspond with women of known patriotism throughout the State. Fortunately the names of those who would further so humane a plan have been preserved. As printed in the Gazette the list is: " For the County of Hunterdon-Mrs. [Vice- President] Stevens, Mrs. [Judge] Smith, Mrs. [Charles] Coxe, Mrs. R. Stevens, Mrs. Hanna, Mrs. T. Lowrey, Mrs. J. Sexton, Mrs. B. Van Cleve, Mrs. [Colonel] Berry, Mrs. [Doctor] Burnet. County of Sussex-Mrs. [Counsellor] Ogden, Mrs. [Colonel] Thomson, Mrs. [Major] Hoops, Mrs. T. Anderson. County of Bergen-Mrs. [Colonel] Dey, Mrs. Fell, Mrs. Kuyper, Mrs. Erskine, Mrs. [Major] Dey. County of Morris-Mrs. [Counsel- lor] Condict, Mrs. [Parson] Jones, Mrs. [Colonel] Remsen, Mrs. Vansant, Mrs. Carmichael, Mrs. [Colonel] Cook, Mrs. Fæsch. County of Essex- Mrs. [Governor] Livingston, Mrs. C. Camp, Mrs. [Doctor] Burnet, Mrs. [Elisha] Boudinot, Mrs. Hornblower. County of Middlesex-Mrs. Neilson, Mrs. [Counsellor] Deare, Mrs. [George] Morgan, Mrs. [Colonel] Neilson, Mrs. Neilson, Mrs. [Daniel] Marsh. County of Monmouth-Mrs. [General] Forman, Mrs. [Colonel] Scudder, Mrs. Newell, Mrs. [Peter] Foreman, Mrs. [Jacob] Wickoff, Mrs. [Peter] Couvenhoven. County of Burlington-Mrs. [Colonel] Cox, Mrs. [Counsel-
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lor] Tallman, Mrs. [Colonel] Borden, Mrs. [Sec- retary] Reed, Mrs. [Captain] Read. County of Somerset-Lady Stirling, Mrs. [General] Morris, Mrs. [Colonel] Martin, Mrs. [Attorney-General] Paterson, Mrs. R. Stockton. County of Glouces- ter-Mrs. [Colonel] Clark, Mrs. [Colonel] Wescott, Mrs. [Colonel] Ellis, Mrs. [Colonel] Hugg, Mrs. Bloomfield. County of Salem-Mrs. [Colonel] Dick, Mrs. Mayhew, Mrs. Tagart. Coun- ty of Cumberland-Mrs. [Counsellor] Buck, Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Elmer, Mrs. Bowen, Mrs. Fithian. County of Cape May-Mrs. [Counsellor] Hand, Mrs. Whilden, Mrs. Townsend, and Mrs. Hil- dreth."
Of this company of women all had attained ·distinction, and all were representative of the culture and social life of the day. None were better known than Lady Stirling; Mrs. Richard Stockton, who under her maiden name, An- nis Boudinot, at " Morven " in Princeton, had not only written patriotic verses, but verses worthy of approving criticism; and Mrs. Will- iam Livingston, mistress of "Liberty Hall " in Elizabeth. Intimately associated with these family names by ties of kinship and friendship were Mrs. Stevens, of Hunterdon, and Mrs. Elisha Boudinot, of Essex. Those who represented the Counties of Monmouth and Cape May bore names of families who had intermarried for a century.
a Jay
Sarah Van Brugh Livingston, eldest daughter of Governor William Livings- ton ; married John Jay April 28, 1774.
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And so, to a less degree possibly, in the case of the other counties.
Unfortunately no record of this organization has been preserved; indeed no information can be obtained as to the results of its work. But certain it is that, instituted under such powerful influences, for so worthy an object, the society per- formed its patriotic labors and could enjoy with- in a few years the blessings that came with peace and reestablishment of domestic relations.
CHAPTER XVII
THE DAYS AT ROCKY HILL-1783
W HILE awaiting the news of the terms of the definite treaty of peace General Washington, ac- companied by Governor Clinton, of New York, upon July 18, 1783, left his headquarters at Newburgh. In eighteen days he performed a tour of at least seven hundred and fifty miles, travelling through the region of Albany, Lake George, the Mohawk Valley as far as Fort Schuyler, Wood Creek, and Otsego Lake.
While Washington had been visiting the scenes made memorable in the struggle which had but recently drawn to a close a mutiny broke out among a portion of the Pennsylvania troops. The Congress of the federation, already de- spised by a large part of the people, and knowing its own weakness, sought safety in flight. Upon the 21st of June the body adjourned from Phila- delphia to Princeton.
The first session of Congress in Princeton was held upon the 30th of June. Scarce six weeks had passed ere Congress requested the presence of General Washington, who received his summons at Newburgh. Here, before his departure for New Jersey, the commander-in-chief had entered with Governor Clinton into negotiations for the purchase of the land where Saratoga Springs is located. This transaction, according to William
George Clinton, b. in Little Britain, N. Y., July 26, 1739 ; lawyer; member New York Assembly 1768 ; delegate to Continental Congress 1776; general in Continental army ; first governor of New York 1777-95 and 1801-04; Vice-President of the United States 1804-12 ; d. April 20, 1812, in Washington, D. C.
Extintion
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S. Baker, was never completed, as some members of the Livingston family had previously obtained control of High and Flat Rock Springs, the only ones then known.
Assigning the command of the troops to Major- General Knox, Washington left Newburgh upon the 18th of August and arrived at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, upon the 24th, where, in a residence suitably prepared by order of Congress, he estab- lished his headquarters. Standing upon an el- evated point near the banks of the Millstone, this home of the then late John Berrien, associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was throughout the autumn a center for the social life of that portion of the State. From its piaz- zas the commander-in-chief could see the con- tinuation of the road over which he had pursued the British regiments flying, after the surprise at Princeton, to the shelter of New Brunswick. To the south and west lay the Hopewell Valley, where had been held the council of war which decided the fate of Monmouth and swept the King's troops from New Jersey. Over the hills lay Somerville, where had been planned the Indian campaign of 1779, while to the far east was Amboy and the Tory rendezvous of Staten Island.
It was upon the 26th of August that Congress welcomed General Washington in an address made by its president, Elias Boudinot, himself a
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Jerseyman. The reception of the commander- in-chief was marked by a display of sentiment as affecting as it was real. The life of a general " who has merited and possessed the uninterrupt- ed confidence and affection of his fellow citizens " had been preserved through a long, dangerous, and important war. This was the singular happi- ness of the United States. Services essential in acquiring and establishing the freedom of the United States deserved the grateful acknowledg- ments of an independent nation. "These ac- knowledgments Congress have the satisfaction of expressing to your excellency."
The routine of meetings between Congress and Washington, during which the question of peace establishment was discussed, was broken by events of a nature distinctively social. At the commencement of the College of New Jersey, held at Princeton upon September 24th, upon the request of a committee of the faculty, whose chairman was Dr. John Witherspoon, the com- mander-in-chief consented to the painting of his portrait, the artist being Charles Willson Peale, of Philadelphia. This portrait, representing Washington at the surprise at Princeton, one of the most valued possessions of Princeton Uni- versity, hangs in Nassau Hall, occupying the space formerly devoted to a portrait of George II. During the battle of Princeton the King's
George II, b. Oct. 30, 1683 ; Duke of Cambridge 1706 ; Prince of Wales 1714; "the policy pursued dur- ing his reign was arst that of Waipole and second that of Pitt" ; d. Oct. 25, 1760.
Y
GEORGE II.
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picture had been injured by a shot from an American battery. General Washington also pre- sented to the College fifty guineas " as a testimony of his respect." In those hours, while waiting for the final ceremonials of the treaty, and longing to seek in his own home relaxations and enjoy- ments after eight years of intense mental and physical activity, the commander-in-chief sat for a crayon drawing, the artist being William Dun- lap, a youth of eighteen.
The life of those who were fortunate enough to be guests at the Berrien house was delightful. Around the general's table sat members of Con- gress, State and county officials of prominence, and such of the military characters of distinction who happened to be in the vicinity. Upon the lawn in front of the Berrien house were the young New Englanders forming the guard, under the command of Captain Bazaleel Howe, whose marqué stood before the door; his son, Dr. John M. Howe, one of the last surviving "sons of the Revolution," lived for many years at Passaic, New Jersey, where he died in 1885. The general him- self rode frequently through the country, his horse, according to Attorney-General Nathaniel Lawrence, of New York, being "a young roan, double bitted, steal bridle, and plated stirrups." Seated upon an old crooked saddle, with a short, deep blue saddle cloth, flowered, buff edged,
RI
FUGATIS
Y LIBERTATIS
COMITLA AMERICANA
DOSTOURIM MELURERATUM.
XVII · MARYIT
WASHINGTON MEDAL.
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" double skirts, crupper, sursingle, and breast plate," General Washington, although he weighed two hundred and ten pounds, frequently rode from Rocky Hill to Princeton, a distance of five miles, in forty minutes.
It was in the chapel of the College of New Jer- sey that the first authentic account of the con- clusion of the definite treaty between Great Britain and the United States was received. Up- on the memorable 31st of October Congress ad- mitted Peter John Van Berckel, minister pleni- potentiary from the States-General of the United Netherlands, to public audience. With General Washington were the Chevalier de la Luzerne, members of Congress, " together with a number of ladies of the first character," to extend a wel- come to Van Berckel, which was accompanied by the usual stately ceremonials of the time. This event and the news from England made that Fri- day and the following day a gala occasion in the little college town.
During his leisure hours General Washington had been preparing his Farewell Address to the armies of the United States, which was issued from the Rocky Hill headquarters upon Sunday, November 2, 1783. This address has all of the dignity, even majesty, of the man who wrote it. Without maudlin sentimentality, without strain- ed construction, there is yet a deep affection
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for those who had fought the long fight, had given their lives to the nation, and had made his own name immortal. General Washington, after al- luding to the perseverance of the armies of the United States through the long arduous years of the war, the securing of national independence, and the opening of a new era of peace and pros- perity, recommended to the soldiers that they carry into civil life a conciliatory spirit, proving that as they had been victorious in battle they could be useful and virtuous as citizens. Thank- ing the officers and men for their assistance, the commander-in-chief recommended the army to their country and their country's God. Upon those who had aided in the struggle the bless- ings of Heaven were invoked, and the hope was expressed that ample justice would be done on earth to those who had sacrificed all to secure in- numerable blessings, not only for themselves, but for others.
The days at Rocky Hill were rapidly passing. In accordance with a recent resolution of the Con- tinental Congress, all the troops in Pennsylvania and to the southward, except the garrison at Fort Pitt, were ordered to be discharged on and after November 15, while upon November 7 an address of the officers and militia of the County of Somer- set was received and answered. This address was of a highly complimentary nature, expressing the
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appreciation of the people of the county that General Washington should so long have re- mained in the section, calling his attention to the loyalty of the residents of Somerset, and the part played by that county in the Revolution. The reply of the commander-in-chief was appreciative and dignified.
Upon the 9th of November Captain Bazaleel Howe was ordered to escort the baggage of Gen- eral Washington to Mount Vernon, leaving his accounts in Philadelphia with Robert Morris. Upon this mission Captain Howe, with six bag- gage teams, immediately departed, while Gen- eral Washington started for West Point, where he arrived upon November 14th. On the way thither the commander-in-chief was detained for several days by a snowstorm at Tappan, where he occupied the headquarters he had used in 1780. From West Point General Washington went for- ward to New York, where he arrived at Day's Tavern, Harlem, upon Friday, November 21, later taking part in the ceremonies incident to the evacuation of the city by the British.
While at Rocky Hill General Washington had for his guest, during a portion of those long autumn days, one who aforetime had shared and participated in his sorrows in the Jerseys, as he later shared his joys. He who was welcome at the Berrien house was Tom Paine, who for all his
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services to the cause of freedom had been neglect- ed by Congress, reviled by the people of his adopted home-Bordentown-and at last took momentary refuge with the one man who under- stood his motives and who sympathized with his thwarted ambitions. There in Rocky Hill, by the banks of the Millstone, Washington and Paine dis- cussed matters of statecraft, of the new life that would follow the peace, and in science tried some experiments in the combustion of marsh-gas, of which there was an abundance in the lowlands along the river. Those were halcyon days for Paine, days when he could be by the side of the great commander, who was disposed to overlook the indiscretion which had compelled Paine's resignation as secretary of the congressional com- mittee on foreign affairs in 1779, and who used his influence at this time to secure from Congress some pecuniary recognition of Paine's services in writing " The Crisis " and other contributions to the cause of freedom. In 1785 Congress granted him three thousand dollars for his Revolutionary writings. It was the one ray in the black cloud of Paine's life-a life so complex, so torn, and at last so shattered that Time itself has failed to give us a just estimate of the man and what he did.
Fortunately, as in the case of the Wallace house at Somerville, the Berrien mansion at
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Rocky Hill has been preserved and reverently re- stored. Owing to its proximity to a stone quarry the mansion has been removed from its original foundations to a safe site, where it has become an attractive object to those who take pilgrimages through the historic farms and villages of Central New Jersey.
HOME OF BETSEY ROSS. (The house in which the frst United States flag is said to have been made.)
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CHAPTER XVIII
NEW JERSEY'S LITERARY LIFE DURING THE REVOLUTION
W HILE it may be said that, with the exception of John Wool- man, the Quaker preacher, Samuel Smith, the historian, and Nathaniel Evans, the poet- missionary at Gloucester, New Jersey, during the colonial period, presents a barren literary field, it is equally true that the Revolution failed not to give to New Jersey the reputation that she fought her battles with the pen as bravely as she fought them with the sword.
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