USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 16
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To render the country this service, to bind New Jersey to separation by their votes, the delegates were acting strictly within their powers and instructions. Yet, somehow', there still lingered in the hearts of a few of the members of the Provincial Congress a hope that connection with England might be resumed. Even in the midst of rejoicing over the victory in New England this idea seemed to possess a few of the delegates, and unfortu-
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nately these few occupied positions of such prominence that their views seemed to reflect those of the State. But the masses of the people were anx- ious for independence and determined to support the Congress in every way. The Provincial body assembled at Burlington on June 10th and was flooded with petitions from all sections of New Jersey asking that a new Consti- tution be framed and a government be formed as the Continental Congress had recommended. The question of a Constitution was referred to a committee which in due time reported a scheme. This Constitution was adopted on July 2d, but it contained a clause to the effect that, should the King of Great Britain redress the grievances of the Colonies in full, it should become void, and the colony be once more administered solely by English law. But the Declaration of Independence two days later put an effectual stop to all such sentimental paltering, and on July 18th the Con- gress decided to be known as "the Convention of the State of New Jersey, ' and declared the State free and independent. It ordered all legal docu- ments to be made out in the name of the People instead of that of the King, and so the bond was forever cast aside.
Meanwhile Governor Franklin continued nominally to rule, although bit by bit the authority had been torn from his hands until none was left, and his voice became simply that of a private citizen. Very likely, had he remained quiet, he would have been altogether forgotten and left to wear out his anguish or chagrin in the solitude of his own chamber. He seems to have drawn his salary regularly, so that much of substantial acknowledgment was awarded him, but that was about all. In a mis- guided moment, however, he determined to assert himself, and on May 30th he issued a proclamation convening the Legislature. This was more than the Provincial Congress, then in session, would permit. The time had long passed in which to permit of two legislative bodies in the Prov- ince, and now it possessed full power and authority to carry its edicts into effect. That power and authority it quickly exhibited. It stopped the Governor's salary, formally declared his authority at an end, spoke of him as "Mr. Franklin," and ordered Colonel Nathaniel Heard, of Middle- sex, to proceed to Amboy and arrest him. If he agreed to waive any claim to authority in writing, Heard was to take his parole, permitting him to reside at Princeton or Bordentown, or at Rancocas, where he owned a farm. If Franklin refused this he was to be held as a prisoner and closely guarded. Franklin flatly refused to agree to any such terms, and after placing a guard around his house Colonel Heard reported and asked for instructions. The Provincial Congress, somehow, appeared unable to de- cide as to what should be done in the matter "of our late Governor," and referred the subject to the Continental Congress, suggesting that he would
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"be capable of doing less mischief in Connecticut or Pennsylvania." As a result, Franklin was taken to Burlington and formally examined as to his position by a committee. He refused to answer questions, defied the authority of the Provincial or the Continental Congress, and declared with some show of firmness that he was still Governor. Under these cir- cumstances his fate was sealed. He was ordered under guard to Connecti- cut, and so he passes from our story. Soon after reaching Connecticut he was paroled by Governor Trumbull and went to England, where he re- mained until his death, in 1813.
With the occupation of Manhattan Island by Washington's victorious troops, the activity of New Jersey in the War of the Revolution may be said to have really commenced. Up to that time the period had been one of preparation and drill. In February, 1776, Colonel Heard and a force of 300 Jersey militia, mainly from Essex county, had been ordered to Long Island to assist in disarming and dispersing the many Tories there, and acquitted themselves with much success in that arduous and some- what thankless task. William Alexander, the titular Earl of Stirling, had fortified Elizabethtown, where he commanded the First New Jersey Regi- ment of regular troops. William Livingston, who had been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the New Jersey militia, had established his head- quarters at Elizabethtown, and the troops were deployed so that immediate aid could be given the defenders of Manhattan and the Hudson. On June 3d, the Continental Congress ordered that 3,300 militia from New Jersey should be added to the reinforcements being sent to Manhattan, and this force was at once organized, a bounty of three pounds being given to every man who enlisted, and the term of service was fixed to expire on De- cember Ist. Of course all this was working in the dark. There were sev- eral places at which the enemy might strike, and many believed that Phil- adelphia, which from the meeting of Congress had been tacitly regarded as the capital of the "rebel government," would be selected, while others again deemed it likely that an effort would be made further south, so as to divide the Colonies into two, it being the notion of tlie advisers of Britain in the country that the southern people were much less devoted in their allegiance to the Continental cause than those to the north.
It was Washington's belief, however, that New York would be the next point of attack, and he zealously used the time at his disposal in pre- paring for it. The city became an armed camp. The heights surrounding Brooklyn were fortified, and a chain of forts covered the Hudson and the East River as far as Hellgate in the latter, and up to the heights overlook- ing the Harlem and the Hudson on the former. Across on the New Jer- sey shore, Fort Lee was made as strong as possible, not only, it would
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seem to defend the passageway of the river, but to afford a landing place should the fortune of war make a retreat from Manhattan Island and its neighborhood imperative. Fort Lee, in fact, was regarded by Washington as one of the most important points in his entire line of defense.
The period of doubt soon passed. Toward the end of June a British fleet was reported off the coast, and the story of the Declaration of Inde- pendence was 'hardly told throughout New Jersey when word was passed along that a British army had landed on Staten Island. From that there seemed no longer any doubt that Manhattan Island was to be the scene of hostilities, and that New Jersey would be a part of the territory in- volved in the campaign. The first result of this was an inpouring into
BRITISH FLEET OFF SANDY HOOK.
Jersey soil of a host of loyalists, non-combatants and indifferents. There was, in reality, throughout the neighborhood, no place else for them to go. New York was in the hands of the patriots; Long Island had been harried of its loyalists and suspects several times, and, while New Jersey had thrown itself heartily into the cause of liberty, there was known to be a large section of its population which on religious grounds were op- posed to armed strife, and there was yet another section, pretty numerous it must be admitted, which still believed that the troubles might be ar- ranged, the grievances listened to, the wrong's rectified and the connection with Great Britain restored. We do not wish to suggest that these people
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or any considerable number of them would have surrendered to Britain all that had been contended for; they were simply foolish enough to be- lieve that Britain would in reality surrender to them. And so it was that loyalists and others from New York, as soon as Washington's lines had been drawn on Manhattan Island and long even before Howe's forces had taken possession of Staten Island, had begun pouring into New Jersey, in the hope of at least being permitted to remain there in peace, until the storm should blow over. But the sympathies of these people were with the British and they did not hesitate to proclaim their views and strive to win over new adherents to the royal cause, or at least argue patriotism into indifference.
That movement the Provincial Congress could not witness without grave anxiety, nor did it fail to notice that the loyalist force within its own borders seemed to be gradually acquiring coherence and heart. The center of the trouble seemed to be in Monmouth County, but there were serious signs of disaffection in Burlington, Hunterdon and Sussex, and particularly in Bergen, the latter, from its nearness to New York and its strategic position, demanding close attention. Early in 1776 the Provin- cial Congress began dealing sharply with loyalist sentiment, and repri- manded, or fined, or placed under bonds, many persons in various parts of the State who were openly known to entertain views in opposition to the complete freedom of the Colonies. There appears to be no doubt that a loyalist propaganda was being zealously carried on, especially in Mon- mouth, and it seems possible that it was hoped by the British in some way to utilize the coast there in order to be useful in landing troops should the military situation require it. At all events, from the time the British fleet salied from Halifax, there was a noticeable spirit of activity among the loyalists throughout New Jersey. Acts of violence were openly com- mitted the authority of the Congress was flauntingly defied, houses were broken into and their occupants beaten, and, as usual in such times, rob- beries were frequent. On June 26th Congress sent Colonel Charles Read with two companies of Burlington militia into Monmouth with instruc- tions to arrest several of the more noted and active of the disaffected, and Lieutenant-Colonel Abraham TenEyck and Major Berry were ordered to perform a similar service in Hunterdon and Somerset. On July Ist, Mon- mouth County was practically in a condition of rebellion, and orders were given for a general disarmament of all persons whose loyalty was ques- tioned. Heroic measures were adopted. Many were haled before Con- gress and dealt with in summary fashion, a few were imprisoned, several were heavily fined, but in most cases a promise of quietness or of reforma- tion was sufficient to stop proceedings, or at the worst the malcontent was
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permitted to reside in some district where his opinions would not be par- ticularly harmful.
On July 16, 1776, Congress ordered 2,000 of the Jersey militia into camp to take the place of men ordered attached to Washington's forces. It was now imperatively necessary that New Jersey should be thoroughly defended, because in the event of any disaster to the Continental forces that State, as we may henceforth speak of it, would become the center of hostilities. Besides, the steady massing of the British troops on Staten Island might mean a descent upon New Jersey as the opening move in the campaign which was about to begin. Indeed, many thought that the plan of General Howe, after his army had fully gathered, was to entrench him- self first in New Jersey, then seize or block the Hudson River and work east, and, having the Continental forces thus'cooped up on Manhattan Island, to deal leisurely with them there. To a certain extent this was the policy of the British leaders, but the news brought by their spies of the condition of affairs on Long Island seemed to present a chance of ending the war by a single coup, and so the mighty force was directed against that place with results which for a time caused the utmost gloom in the patriot ranks.
Mr. Henry P. Johnston, in his interesting monograph on "The Cam- paign of 1776," says :
"In William Livingston, her new Governor, New Jersey found a patriot and civil leader of the right stamp for the emergency. Part of the year he acted in a military capacity and directed the movements of the militia in the vicinity of Amboy and Elizabeth. As the Tory element was very considerable here, the State found the same difficulty experienced by New York in raising troops for the army, but she furnished a good proportion. Her three Continental regiments under Colonels Dayton, Maxwell and Winds were in the Canada army during the present cam- paign. In the spring and summer the State sent several detachments of militia under Lieutenant-Colonels Ward and Cadmus and other officers to assist in fortifying New York. In answer to the last call of Congress, the Legislature voted to raise a brigade of five battalians to be known as 'New Levies' to serve until December Ist, and to each man that would enlist a bounty of three pounds was offered. The command of the brigade was given to Colonel Nathaniel Heard, of Woodbridge, now promoted to a State brigadier. The colonels were Philip Van Cortland, whose regiment was recruited in Bergen, Essex and Burlington counties; David Forman; with four companies from Middlesex and four from Monmouth ; Ephraim Martin, with four from Morris and four from Sussex; Philip Johnston, with three from Somerset and four from Hunterdon, and Silas Newcomb, with men from Salem, Gloucester, Burlington and Cumberland."
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According to Johnston, the New Jersey troops at the battle of Brook- lyn numbered 1,594, under the officers above named as Battalion Chiefs, with Nathaniel Heard as Brigadier General and Peter Gordon as his Bri- gade Major. Lord Stirling with his regulars (First New Jersey Conti- nentals ) had early in the strategic movements been stationed at the Battery on Manhattan Island.
With the arrival of the British forces on Staten Island, emissaries were at once sent throughout New Jersey to gauge the state of public sentiment there, to spread the news that the royal forces were gathering in strength, to wheel the indifferent or doubtful into line for the loyalist cause, and to promote as far as possible a general feeling of dis- satisfaction with the Provincial government. These emissaries, mingling with the resident and the refugee Tories, soon made the entire State seem like a hotbed of opposition to the Continental movement, and gave the impression, not only to the British, but also to the Continental leaders, that the position of New Jersey in the crisis had become decidedly doubtful, to say the least. The local patriotic leaders, however, were not dismayed; the records and letters they have left show that they fully understood the hollow- ness of the loyalist sentiment which suddenly found voice when Staten Isl- and became a British camp. They fully appreciated the danger and gravity of the situation, but they knew also that their policy and aims were fully sustained by the great majority of their people. It seems a pity that so many of our modern historical writers should dub New Jersey as disloyal to the cause of liberty, when, in reality, the very opposite was the case. New Jersey, in fact, was for a time the victim of circumstances. Prac- tically, when the British took possession of Staten Island, she was helpless; she had to wait for developments, and every shouter for King George who could escape from Manhattan Island took refuge on her soil. Her military force was trifling, ill-armed, ill-drilled and with but .dim ideas of what warfare meant, and her picked men were absent fighting, or ready to fight, under the orders of Washington. Yet, when the fighting did commence, the New Jersey troops rendered as good an account of themselves as did the representatives of any other State in the army of the Colonies.
Jersey could only, under the circumstances, hold her own and await developments from the moment that Howe's army took possession of Staten Island. The wait was not a long one, for as soon as events began to move they hurried along with grim alacrity. On August 22d the British forces began landing on Long Island, on the 27th the disastrous battle of Brooklyn was fought, and on the night of the 29th-30th the Continental troops effected their retreat from Long Island-one of the most extraordinary achievements of the war -- and so brought to a close
...
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an episode in the story of the conflict which was full of gloom to the patriots. Washington then held New York City, but with a victorious and well equipped hostile army getting ready on Long Island for another engagement, the bay of New York completely in the possession of British vessels, and with the chances of a movement of the naval and military forces any day that would completely hem him in, he foresaw from the moment that the battle of Brooklyn was lost that the retention of Man- hattan Island was impossible. His idea was that the British would land in force somewhere above Hell Gate, seize the Harlem, and so cut off any chance of retreat into the open country, while their ships would effectually prevent his passage across the Hudson should he seek to concentrate his force in New Jersey. Of course there was a chance that he might defeat in battle on Manhattan Island any attack which might be made; but that chance seemed too remote, when he thought on the odds, and Washington never cared to sacrifice his troops needlessly. His caution in this respect, which looks sublime to us at this distance, often exposed him to censure at the hands of some of his officers and of argumentative patriots gener- ally who knew all about the art of war on paper. As he was situated, however, he could only watch and wait until he could make up his mind as to what the next move of the enemy should be. That soon became evident, for as he saw them steadily mass their troops along the Long Island coast, he was convinced that their main plan was to surround him and force a battle, or rather, as they hoped, a capitulation. Still he determined to hold out at New York as long as possible, and so not only add to the efficiency of his own forces, but prevent the enemy from enjoying until the last mo- ment the moral advantage which would certainly result from the abandon- ment of such an important strategic point. But day after day only showed him the necessity of retreat, and on September 12th he called a council of war, at which evacuation was fully determined upon. The movement was at once begun ; the military stores were removed across the Harlem River, and the main body of the Continental army took possession of Harlem Heights. Putnam was left in New York City with some 4,000 men, but his stay was brief. On the 15th the British effected a landing at Kip's Bay, at the foot of what is now East Thirty-sixth street. The conduct of the Continental troops in the confusion caused even by that long antici- pated event, was such that Washington, who had been attracted back to the city by the noise of tlie firing, ordered the immediate retreat of all of Putnam's force, and indignantly exclaimed, "Are these the men with whom I am to defend America!" But soldiers need to be trained to their busi- ness, and a General who knew nothing of real warfare, and militia fresh from the workshops and the fields, only half drilled, were bound to make a
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poor showing, when suddenly brought face to face with the veterans of many wars. After a while all this changed. The British seizure of New York City was quickly effected, and before nightfall their advance lines. spread out beyond its then limits to the old village of Bloomingdale, while Washington's forces lay encamped between King's Bridge and Manhattan- ville.
Then followed several weeks of skirmishing and maneuvering, in all of which the Continental troops held their own pretty well, while their leader showed himself at least the equal of any of the British generals in all the finesse which military tactics"had then evolved. But, practically, that brief campaign in and north of Manhattan Island was from the first doomed to have but one ending, and Washington, fully aware of this, was simply playing for time, which at that juncture was his great auxiliary. The point which both sides were attempting to solve was whether the Hudson River, guarded as it was by Fort Washington on the Manhattan side and by Fort Constitution or Fort Lee on the Jersey shore, with Put- nam's device of placing obstructions in the stream itself, would bar the. passage of the British war vessels, and whether it was possible to throw troops sufficient in rear of the Continental army to intercept its supplies and bar its retreat. On October 9th it was made painfully evident that the Hud- son defenses were practically useless so far as the advance of the British fleet was concerned and, that ascertained, Howe prepared to put in opera- tion his final coup and occupy the territory behind Washington's army. But the Patriot leader was too watchful to be caught in such a trap. He opposed the landing of the British at Throgg's Neck long enough to per- mit the safe removal of his main army and supplies to White Plains, re- taining on Manhattan Island only Fort Washington. Howe at once saw that this new disposition meant the destruction of his scheme, and he ven- tured to force the fighting. The result was the engagement on October 28th, known as the battle of White Plains. That action is generally spoken of as being a drawn battle, but the practical results were in favor of the British, for Washington felt impelled to move his force to North Castle, where he took up a position which was deemed impregnable. At least that was the judgment of Howe's officers, and that General then determined to capture Fort Washington and so have control of the whole of Man- hattan Island and of one of the banks of the Hudson. To offset this new move Washington moved part of his force across the Hudson and gave orders to General Greene to evacuate Fort Washington and Fort Lee as soon as possible. It appears to have been his plan to draw the enemy away from New York, and by taking up a strong position near West Point to give battle on his own terms. In fact, it seems that he left his army at
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this juncture in search of new headquarters. While the Chief was absent, Greene received orders from Congress to defend Fort Washington to the last extremity, and naturally he was in a quandary between the conflict of orders, so he resolved to consult Washington again. But the British did not give him the opportunity. On November 15th they attacked the fort in force and captured it. While the engagement was on, Washington, who had returned from his reconnaissance, watched its progress from Fort Lee, and is said to have wept as he saw the Hessians mercilessly butcher many of his troops. It was a sad blow to the Continental cause-some fifty patriots killed, one hundred and fifty wounded and three thousand made prisoners, as well as the loss of a great quantity of arms, ammuni- tion and stores. It brought to a close the momentous campaign in which New York City was the center, in a manner that was most disheartening to the Continental cause, although the experience gained, as events turned out, was not without good results. But the campaign, although marked by brilliant leadership, seemed to be one dreary succession of losses. Long Island was captured, Manhattan Island was won, and the British were con- fident of a speedy cessation of hostilities or an easy triumph over the Con- tinental troops. On the 19th of November Lord Howe sent 5,000 men across the Hudson from Dobbs Ferry, effecting a landing about five miles above Fort Lee, and New Jersey for a time became the seat of war.
With the capture of Fort Washington, the evacuation of Fort Lee without more delay was decided upon, and the removal of its stores was just begun when word was received of the landing of the British, where- upon Washington ordered the place to be at once left to its fate. The British move was skilfully planned with the view of hemming the Con- tinentals between the Hudson and the Hackensack, and although this was frustrated by Washington's activity, the capture of Fort Lee, with its cannon and stores, was rightfully regarded by Lord Cornwallis and his forces as an auspicious opening of a fresh chapter in the war. Besides, Washington's new position between the Hackensack and the Passaic was. still a perilous one, although he had no doubt he could meet any move that might be made by the enemy so far as maneuvering was concerned. His great fear, however, was the immediate massing of the British forces on the new battle ground, and his main object in lingering along the Hackensack was that he might there be joined by rein- forcements, for which he was in the most urgent need, and for which he had dispatched messengers in all directions. He had left General Charles Lee at North Castle with 7,000 men, but that erratic soldier did not seem disposed to leave his safe quarters and run the risk of passing through what had now, indeed, become "the enemy's country."
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