USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > Old times in old Monmouth > Part 3
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" We departed thence from New Castle, Del .. and got over the river not withont great danger of some of our lives. aVhen we were got over we were troubled to pro cure guides ; which were hard to get and very changeable. Then had we that wilderness to pass through since called West Jersey not then inhabited by Eng- lish ; so that we have travelled a whole day together without seeing man or wo- man, house or dwelling place. Sometimes we lay in the woods by a fire and some- time in the Indians' wigwams or houses. We came one night to an Indian town and lay at the king's house, who was a very pretty man. Both he and his wife received us very lovingly and his attend- ants (such as they were) were very respect- ful to us. They laid us mats to lie on ; John Jay, a friend of Barbadoes who came with us from Rhode Island and in- tended to accompany us through the woods to Maryland, being to try a horse, got upon his back and the horse fell a run- but provision was very short with them, having caught but little that day. At another Indian town where we staid the king came to us and He could speak some English. I spoke to him much and als , ning, cast him down upon his head and
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OLD TIMES IN OLD MONMOUTH.
broke his neck as the peaple said. Those that were near him took him up as dead, carried him a good way and laid him on a tree. I got to him as soon I could and feel- ing him, concluded he was dead. As I stood pitying him and his family I took hold of his hair and his head turned any way, his neck was so limber. Whereupon I took his head in both my hands and setting my knoes against the tree I raised his head and perceived there was nothing out or broken that way. Then I put one hand under his chin and the other behind his head and raised his head two or three times with all my strength and brought it in. I soon perceived his neck began to grow stiff again and then he began to rattle in his throat an ; quietly after to breathe. The people were amazed but I bade them have a good heart, be of good faith and carry him into the house. They did so and set him by the fire. I bid them get him something warm to drink and put him to bed. After he had been in the house a while he began to speak, but di i not know where he had been. The next day we passed away and he with us, pretty well, about sixteen miles to a meeting at Middletown through woods and' bogs and over a river where we swam our horses and got over ourselves upon a hollow tree. Many hundred miles did he travel with us after this.
To this meeting came most of the people of the town. A glorious meeting we had and the truth was over all, blessed be the gret Lord God forever. After the meeting we went to Middletown harbor about five miles, in order to take our long journey next morning through the woods towards Maryland, having hired Indians for our guides. I determined to pass through the woods on the other side of the Delaware that we might head the creeks and rivers as much as possible. The ninth of seventh month we set forward, passed through many Indian towns and over some rivers and bogs. When we had rid over forty miss we made a fire at night and lay by it. As we came among the Inians we declared the day of the Lord to them. Next day we travelled fifty miles as we computed, and at night finding an old house, which the Indians had forced the people to leave, we made a fire and lay there at the head of Delaware bay. The , ext day we swam our horses over a river about a mile, at twice, first to an Island called Upper Dini- dock and thence to the main land, having
hired Indians to help us over in their canoes."
The island called by Fox Upper Dini- denk is now known as Burlington Island; it was formerly called Matinicunk, which name Fox has misunderstood. He also calls the Delaware river here Delaware bay as he does in other places. By his journal it would seem no whites at that time lived at Burlington though a few whites had lived there and in the vicinity many years before.
It is impossible to read the accounts of travelling at this early period without being forcibly reminded of the contrast in travelling then and now. Many of the Quaker preachers speak of crossing streams in frail Indian canoes, with their horses swimming by their side; and one, the fearless, zealous John Richardson, (so noted among among other things for his controversies with "the apostate George Keith ") in substance recommends, in travelling across New Jersey, "for safety, travellers' horses should have long tails." The reason for this singular suggestion was that in crossing streams the frail canoes were often capsized, and if the traveller could not swim, he might prob- ably preserve his life by grasping his horse's tail. Mr. Richardson describes how one man's life was preserved by this novel life preserver; in this case the life- preserver being the long tail of Mr. R.'s own horse ; and in commenting upon it he quaintly observes " that he always ap- proved horses' tails being long in crossing rivers."
Long before Fox and Burnyeate crossed the state the whites, particularly the Dutch, frequently crossed our state by In- dian paths, in going to and fro between the settlements on the Delaware and New Amsterdam (New York), though they have left but meagre accounts of their journeyings, and their are strony probabili- ties that the Dutch from New Amsterdam, after furs and searching for minerals, crossed the state as far as Burlington Is- land, Trenton, and points far up the Dela- ware from forty to fifty years before the trip of these Quaker preachers.
That their journeyings were not always safe, is shown in the following extract of a letter written by Jacob Alricks, Septem- ber 20th, 1669 :
" The Indians have again killed three or four Dutchmen, and no person can go through; one messenger who was eight
.
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OLD TIMES IN OLD MONMOUTH.
days out returned without accomplishing his purpose."
The next day he writes :
I have sent off messenger after messen- ger to the Manhattans overland, but no one can get through, as the Indians there have again killed four Dutchmen.
At the time of writing these letters Alricks resided in Delaware, and they were addressed to the Dutch authorities at New York.
CONFISCATION IN THE REVOLUTION.
LOYALISTS OF FREEHOLD, MIDDLETOWN, SHREWSBURY, UPPER FREEHOLD AND DOVER.
The sales of property in New Jersey ad- judged to be confiscated during the war, appear to have been in accordance with the act of the Legislature, April 18th, 1778, entitled “ An Act for taking charge of or leasing the real estates and for forfeiting the personal estates of certain fugitives and offenders, &c."
We give below a copy of an official ad- vertisement of property to be sold in old Monmouth under this act. While among the names are found some who were quite noted for their services under the British. of whom mention is made in another chap- ter, yet there are probably several, who, because of conscientious scruples against war and to avoid being drafted, left the county and sought refuge in the British lines on Long Island or New York. This was probably the case in the township of Shrewsbury where Quakers were quite nu- merous. How the Quakers fared who stayed at home and risked drafting may be inferred from an extract, which we pro- pose to give hereafter, describing drafting in Burlington county.
During the course of the war it would seem that almost every man in the county capable of bearing arms, except Quakers, took an active part in the fearful strife on one side or the other.
As an evidence of how not only neigh- bor was arrayed against neighbor but rela- tive against relative, it is only necessary to compare the names in this advertisement, with the names given in the list of the Monmouth militia, Not only are old fami- | Boggs.
liex represented on both sides, but in some cases persons of the same name are promi- nent on both sides ; for instance, Elisha Laurence, mentioned below, was a Colonel in the Loyalists, while another Elisha Law- rence, was a Lieutenant Colonel on the American side.
Most of the persons mentioned below were of the most honorable class of tories, or loyalists, as they called themselves- persons of education, wealth and standing, and for that very reason their activities in and advocacy of the British cause was very injurious to the Americans, so much so that it is said that at one time in the early part of the war the Refugees gained the ascendancy and had possession of Freehold village for about a week or ten days and we find that about Nov., 1776, General Washington "found it necessary to detach Colonel Forman of the New Jersey militia to suppress an insurrection which threat ened to break out in Monmouth county, where great numbers were well disposed to the Royal cause."
" Monmouth County, ss : Whereas inqui- sition have been found and final judgment entered thereon in favor of the State of New Jersey against persons herein men- tioned-NOTICE is hereby given that the real and personal estates belonging to Sam- uel Osburn, Thomas Leonard, Hendrick Van Mater, John Throckmorton, Daniel Van Mater, John Longstreet jr, Alexander Clark, Joseph Clayton, Israel Britton, John Oxeson, John Thompson, Thomas Bills and Benzeor Hinkson, all of the township of Freehold, will be sold at Free- hold Court House, beginning on Wednes- day the 17th day of March next and con- tinuo from day to day until all are sold.
"Thomas Crowel, George Taylor jr, James Stillwell, John Mount, boatman. Conrad Hendricks, Joseph Baley, John Cottrell, Richard Cole, Samuel Smith. John Bown, James Pew, Thomas Thorne. Ezekiel Tilton, Joseph Taylor, John Til- ton, of Middletown and William Smith of Middlesex having lands in said town. will be sold at public vendue, beginning on Monday the 22nd day of March next at the house of Cornelius Swart and continue from day to day until sold.
"John Taylor and William Walton at New York but having property in Shrews bury, Jolın Williams, Christopher Talman, John Wardell, Michael Price, James Mount, John Williams, Jr., John Pintard, Clayton Tilton, Samuel Cook, James James Curlis, Asael Chandler,
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OLD TIMES IN OLD MONMOUTH.
John Morris, William Price, Robert Mor- ris, Peter Vannote, James Price, John and Morford Taylor, John Hankinson, Timo- thy Scobey, William Laurence, Peter War- del, Oliver Talman, Richard Lippencott, Josiah White, Benjamin Woolley, Eben- ezer Wardell, Robert Stout, Nathaniel Parker, John Hampton, Samuel Layton, Jacob Harber, Samuel Layton, Jacob Em- mons, Britton White, Tobias Kiker and Daniel Lafetter, (Lafetra ?), late of the township of Shrewsbury, and Garnadus Beekman of New York, having property in said township, will be sold at public vendue, beginning on Monday the 29th of March at Tinton Falls and continue from day to day until all are sold.
" John Leonard, Gisbert Giberson, Sam- uel Stillwell, Barzilla, Joseph, Thomas, William and Samuel Grover, John Horner, Fuller Horner, John Perine, William Gi- berson, Jr., Mallakeath Giberson, John Polhemus, Jr., Benjamin Giberson, Sam- uel Oakerson, Elisha Laurence and Jotin Laurence sons of John, late of Upper Freehold and Isaac Allen late of Trenton, will be sold at public vendue beginning on Monday the 5th day of April next at Walls Mills and continue until all are sol 1.
" John Irons and David Smith, of the township of Dover, will be sold at Free- hold Court House at the time of sales there.
" The two emissions called in and bank notes will be taken in pay. No ,credit will be given. The sale will begin at 9 o'clock each day. Also deeds made to the pur- chasers agreeable to act of Assembly by
" SAMUEL FORMAN
" JOSEPH LAURENCE
" KENNETH HANKINSON
" Commissioners.
" February 17th, 1779."
CAPTAIN WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM.
How American prisoners were treated by the British at New York. Horrible con- fession by the British Provost Marshal.
The following is copied from the Ameri- can Apollo, February 17th, 1792. In it will be found some startling confessions, show- ing how hellish was the treatment of our ancestors who were confined as prisoners in New York during the Revolution by this fiend in human shape. It furnishes
another reason why our forefathers so de- tested the British. It will amply repay perusal. Captain Joshua Huddy, and many other old Monmouth patriots, were for a time in this villain's charge :
" The life, confession, and last dying words of Captain William Cunningham, former- ly British provost marshal in the city of New York, who was executed in London the 10th of August, 1791.
" 1, William Cunningham, was born in Dublin barracks in the year 1738. My father was trumpeter to the Blue Dragoons, and at the age of 8 years 1, was placed with an officer as his servant, in which station I continued until I was 16, and being a great proficient in horsemanship, was tak- en as an assistant to the riding master of the troop, and in the year 1761 was made sergeant of dragoons, but the peace com- ing the year following, I was disbanded .- Being bred to no profession, I took up with a woman who kept a gin shop in a blind alley near the Coal Quay ; but the house being searched for stolen goods and my doxy taken to Newgate, I thought it most prudent to decamp; accordingly set off for the North and arrived at Drogheda, where in a few months after I married the daughter of an exciseman by whom I had three sons.
" About the year 1772 we removed to Newry where I commenced the profession of scowbanker, which is the enticing of mechanics and country people to ship themselves for America on promises of great advantage, and then artfully getting an indenture upon them ; in consequence of which, on their arrival in America, they are sold or obliged to serve a term of years for their passage. I embarked at Newry in the ship Needham, for New York, and arrived in that port the 4th day of August, 1774, with some indented servants I kid- napped in Ireland, but who were liberated in New York on account of the bad usage they received from me during the passage. In that city I used the profession of break- ing horses and teaching ladies and gentle- men to ride, but rendering myself obnox- ious to the citizens in their infant struggles for freedom, I was obliged to fly on board the Asia man of war, and from thence to Boston, where my own opposition to the measures pursued by the Americans in support of their rights, was the first thing that recommended me to General Gage ; and when the war commenced I was ap- pointed provost marshal to the royal army,
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OLD TIMES IN OLD MONMOUTH.
which placed me in a situation to wreak my vengeance on the Americans. I shud- der to think of the murders I have been acces- sory to, both with and without orders from gov- ernment, especially while in New York, during which time there were more than two thousand prisoners starved in the different churches by stopping their rations, which. I sold.
" There were also two hundred and sev- enty-five American prisoners and obnox- ious persons executed, out of which num- ber there were only about one dozen pub- lic executions, which chiefly consisted of British and Hessian deserters. The mode of private executions was thus conducted : A guard was dispatched from the provost about half after twelve at night to the Barrack street, and the neighborhood of the upper barracks, to order the people to shut their window shutters and put out their lights, forbidding them at the same time to presume to look out of their win- dows and doors on pain of death, after which, the unfortunate prisoners were con- ducted, gagged, just behind the upper bar- racks and hung without ceremony and there buried by the black pioneer of the provost.
" At the end of the war I returned to England with the army and settled in Wales, as being a cheaper place of living than in any of the populous cities, but being at length persuaded to go to Lon- don, I entered so warmly into the dissipa- tion of the capital, that I soon found my circumstances much embarrassed, to relieve which I mortgaged my half pay to an army agent, but that being soon expended, I forged a draft for three hundred pounds sterling on the board of ordnance, but-be- ing detected in presenting it for accept- ance, I was apprehended, tried and con- victed, and for that offence am here to suffer an ignominious death.
"I beg the prayers of all good christians, and also pardon and forgivness of God for the many horrid murders I have been ac- cessory to.
" WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM."
THE ATTACK ON TOMS RIVER.
Burning of the 'village. Capture of Cap- tain Joshua Huddy. A day of horrors.
In giving an account of this affair we shall first copy a brief statement from Have's Collections. the editor of which
visited the place in 1842 in search of his- torical information relating to olden times in Old Monmouth:
"In the American Revolution. a rude fort or blockhouse was erected a short dis- tance north of the bridge. at the village of Toms River, on a hill about a hundred yards east of the road to Freehold, on land now belonging to the heirs of Elijalı Robbins, deceased. In the latter part of the war, this blockhouse was attacked by a superior force of the enemy. Its com- mander, Captain Joshua Huddy, most gal- lantly defended it until his ammunition was expended and no alternative but sur- render left. After the little brave garrison was in their power, it is said they deliber- ately murdered five men asking for qual - ters. From thence Captain Huddy, Jus- tice Randolph, and the remaining prison- ers were taken to New York, where, suffer- ing the various progressions of barbarity inflicted upon those destined to a violent or lingering death, those two gentlemen, with a Mr. Fleming, were put into the hold of a vessel. Captain Huddy was ironed hand and foot, and shortly after barbarously hanged on the shore of the Highlands of Navesink."
During the war of the Revolution the chief organ of the tories and British in America was " Rivington's Royal Gazette," published in New York, of which paper and its editor we may have occasion to speak hereafter. Quite complete files of this paper are preserved in the library of the New York Historical Society. The following is its version of the attack on Toms River:
" The authentic account of the expedi- tion against the rebel post on Toms River, New Jersey, under the Honorable Board of Associated Loyalists :
"On Wednesday the 20th inst ( March 1782,) Lieutenant Blanchard of the armed whale boats, and about eighty men belong- ing to them, with Captain Thomas and Lieutenant Roberts, both of the late Bucks county volunteers, and between thirty and forty other refugee loyalists, the whole under the command of Lientenant Branch- ard, proceeded to Sandy Hook under the convoy of Captain Stewart Ross, in the armed brig Arrogant, where they were de- tained by unfavorable winds until the 23d. About 12 o'clock on that night, the party landed near the mouth of Toms River and marched to the blockhouse at the town of Dover ( now Toms River ) and reached it just at daylight. On their way they were
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OLD TIMES IN OLD MONMOUTH.
challenged and fired upon, and when they came to the works they found the rebels, consisting of twenty-five or twenty-six twelve months men and militia, apprized of their coming and prepared for defence.
" The post into which they had thrown themselves was six or seven feet high, made with large logs with loop holes be- tween and a number of brass swivels on the top, which was entirely open, nor was there any way of entering but by climbing over. They had, besides swivels, muskets with bayonets and long pikes for their de- fence. Lieutenant Blanchard summoned them to surrender, which they not only refused, but bid the party defiance ; on which he immediately ordered the place to be stormed, which was accordingly done, and though defended with obstinacy, was soon carried. The rebels had nine men killed in the assault, and twelve made prisoners, two of whom are wounded. The rest made their escape in the confusion .- Among the killed was a major of the mili- tią, two captains and one lieutenant. The captain of the twelve months men station- ed there, is amongst the prisoners, who are all brought safe to town. On our side, two were killed-Lieutenant Iredell of the armed boatmen and Lieutenant Inslee of the loyalists, both very brave officers, who distinguished themselves on the attack and whose loss is much lamented. Lieu- tenant Roberts and five others are wound- ed, but it is thought none of them are in a dangerous way ..
" The Town, as it is called, consisting of about a dozen houses, in which none but a piratical set of banditti resided, together with a grist and saw mill, were, with the blockhouse burned to the ground, and an iron cannow spiked and thrown into the river. A fine large barge (called Hyler's barge,) and another boat in which the rebels used to make their excursions on the coast, were brought off. Some other attempts were intended to have been made, but the appearance of bad weather, and the situation of the wounded, being without either surgeon or medicines, in- duced the party to return to New York, where they arrived on the twenty-fifth."
The attack on Toms River was made on Sunday morning, March 24th, 1782. Cap- tain Huddy received notice of the expect- ed attack on the previous evening, and at. once notified the inhabitants ; sentinels were carefully stationed, and towards morning Captain Huddy sent a scouting party to reconnoitre. This party missed
the British ; it is probable they went down along the river, while the enemy, guided by a refugee named William Dillon, came up the road near where the Court House now stands. The sentinels stationed some distance outside of the fort, on the ene- my's approach, fired their guns to notify the little garrison. Before reaching the fort, the British were joined by a band of refugees under Davenport, whose stamping ground was in old Dover township; him- self and men had cabins and caves in the woods, by the head waters of Cedar Creek, Toms River and other streams. No Tory or Tory sympathizer was tolerated in the village of Toms River, which was the only reason that caused Rivington's Royal Ga- zette to call its people " banditti."
Upon the approach of the British, the Americans opened fire so effectually that the British account acknowledges that seven were killed or wounded, though the damage inflicted upon them must have been greater. A negro refugee killed, was left by them outside of the fort for the Americans to bury. On the side of the Americans, among the casualities, were Major John Cook, John Farr and James Kinsley, killed ; Moses Robbins wounded in the face; John Wainwright fought un- til shot down with six or seven bullets in him. From circumstantial evidence it is probable that Captain Ephraim Jenkins was among the killed. Among the pris- oners taken were Captain Joshua Huddy, Daniel Randolph, Esq., and Jacob Flem- ing. One of the guards named David im lay, escaped and hid in a swamp until the British left. Major Cooke ( at one time of the 2nd regiment, Monmouth militia ), it is said was killed outside the fort by a negro.
All the houses in the village were burned except two, one belonging to Aaron Buck and the other to Mrs. Studson. Aaron Buck was an active Whig, and one reason why his house was spared was owing, it is supposed, to the fact that his wife was a neice of William Dillen, the refugee guide. Mrs. Studson's husband, Lieutenant Joshua Studson, had been murdered by the ref- ugee Captain John Bacon, a short time before, and the British probably thought injury enough had already been done to her. Among the houses burned was one belonging to Captain Ephraim Jenkins, and also one in which Abiel Aikens lived in which the first Methodist sermon at Toms River was preached, by Rev Benja- min Abbott, in 1778.
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OLD TIMES IN OLD MONMOUTH.
What a terrible day to the inhabitants of Toms River was that memorable Sab- bath ! Probably not less than a hundred women and children were rendered home less ; the killed and wounded demanded immediate attention ; husbands and fatlı- ers were carried away captive, their house- hold goods, provisions-their all destroyed. Some families were entirely broken up, the heads killed, mothers and chilren scattered, never as families meeting again.
MEMORANDA RELATING TO PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE FOREGOING.
William Dillon, the refugee guide, had once been tried and sentenced to death at Freehold, but subsequently pardoned. and the first we hear of him afterwards was as pilot of a British Expendition, which came from New York into old Cranberry inlet, then open, opposite Toms River, to recapture the ship "Love and Unity," which a short time previous had been captured by the Americans.
Aaron Buck was an active member of the militia. The Dillon whose daughter he married was a much better man than his brother, who acted as guide to the ref ugees. Aaron Buck left two daughters from whom have descended several re- spectable shore families. One married Judge Ebenezer Tucker, formerly mem- ber of Congress, after whom Tuckerton, in Burlington county, was named. The other married John Rogers, of Dover township, ancester of many. persons now residing in Ocean county. It is said that after the war Mr. Buck in a temporary fit of in- sanity, committed suicide hy hanging himself on board his vessel at Toms River.
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