The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 7

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220

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ACTION OF NEW JERSEY .- The Governor misrepresented the temper of the people of New Jersey. On the reception of the news that the British Parliament had closed the port of Boston to all commerce, because of the throwing into the harbor of one of the

cargoes of tea, which the government was endeavoring to induce the people to accept by rescinding the export duty of 12d. per pound, while retaining the import duty of 3d. per pound, "the Colony of New Jersey broke out in a simultaneous blaze of indig- nation from Sussex to Cape May, and im- mediate measures were taken to organize the various counties into a combination of the friends of liberty which should secure promptitude and unity of action throughout the province." ]

The Boston Port Bill was appointed to go into operation June 1, 1774, and, in accord- ance with the recommendation of Virginia, the patriots observed it as a day of mourn- ing. On that day the Committee of Corre- spondence and Inquiry held at New Bruns- wick what was probably their first meeting, and, according to the authority of Dr. Mul- ford, in his "History of New Jersey," they replied to the communication that had been received from Massachusetts, expressed their sympathy with the people of Boston and condemned in strong terms the course of the ministry. A letter written by one of the members, under date of the 2d, says,-

"I returned yesterday from New Brunswick, where six of our committee met. We answered the Boston letters, informing them that we look on New Jersey as eventually in the same predicament with Boston, and that we will do everything which may he generally agreed on. We have signed a request to the Governor to call the General Assem- hly to meet at such time as his Excellency may think proper before the 1st day of August next. Our committee is well disposed iu the cause of American freedom."

Governor Franklin wrote to Lord Dart- mouth from Burlington June 18th,-

" I have likewise had an application made to me by some of the members of the House of Repre- sentatives to call a meeting of the General Assem- bly in August next, with which I have not and shall not comply, as there is no publick business of

1 Charles D. Deshler's address to the New Brunswick Historical Club, December 16, 1875.

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

the province which can make such a meeting necessary."

The disaffection of the Governor and his refusal to assemble the Legislature made it necessary for the people to speak out through the medium of their town-meetings. These were held in nearly all the counties at the call of leaders of the culminating revolution- ary movement. The purpose was to organize and direct the impulse of resistance to British encroachments, to acquaint the people with the total imperilment of their liberties and particularly to select delegates to a

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CONTINENTAL CURRENCY.

general congress of deputies from the several colonics, which the Virginia House of Bur- gesses had proposed should be held to form a plan of union and devise measures for the public welfare.

In June, 1774, William Peartree Smith, chairman of the New Jersey Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry, conducted a correspondence with the Massachusetts com- mittee, in which he tendered material aid for the people impoverished by the closing of Boston to commerce, and inquired whether it had better take the shape of clothing, provi- sions or cash. The Massachusetts men re- plied that cash would be most acceptable.

Dr. Fithian, in a communication in the Woodbury Constitution, says,-

"In the County of Gloucester committees were appointed in each of the townships to receive donations ' for the relief of our suffering brethren of Boston,' and a general treasurer (Joseph Ellis) was appointed, who was authorized to procure a place to store the provisions that should be furnished, and the sum of £534 in money was at one time ordered to be paid on account of subscrip- tions."

The first of these meetings for the purpose of electing delegates to meet in a General Con- gress was held on June 6, 1774, at Lower Freehold, Monmouth County, and the next at Newark, on the 11th. The latter meeting issued a circu- lar calling attention to the oppres- sive measures of Parliament, and set forth that as the neighboring colonies were prepared for a Con- gress, and as the New Jersey As- sembly was not likely to be in session in time to answer the end proposed, it was proper and im- portant that meetings should be held in the counties to appoint committees that would, in con- junction, act in unison with the sister colonies.

The County Committees thus chosen met at New Brunswick on the twenty-first of July, with seventy- two delegates in attendance, and organized by the election of Stephen Crane as chairman and Jonathan D. Sargent as clerk.1 Resolutions were passed declaring that the proceedings of

1 " There appears to be nowhere any record of a meeting held in Gloucester County to appoint delegates to the New Brunswick convention. Yet the county was rep- resented in that body by Robert Friend Price, if by no other delegate or delegates, and the tenable theory is that he at least was elected at some meeting of the cit- izens of the county, of which no mention is made in contemporary annals. Price's name occurs on page 103 of Griffith's "Notes on the American Colonies," as a member of the Committee that signed the credentials of the delegates to the General Congress.

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

Parliament with respect to Massachusetts, " so violent in themselves and so truly alarm- ing to the other colonies (many of which are equally exposed to ministerial vengeance), render it the indispensable duty of all heartily to unite in the most proper measures to procure redress for their oppressed coun- trymen, now suffering in the common cause ; and for the re-establishment of the constitutional rights of America upon a solid founda- tion." James Kinsey, William Livingston, John De Hart, Ste- phen Crane and Richard Smith were chosen to represent New Jersey in the Congress which met at Carpenters' Hall on Sept. 5, 1774. They joined heartily in its general declara- tion of rights and its recom- mendations for aid to the dis- tressed people of Boston. Their doings were approved by the General Assembly of the colony in January, 1775,1 in the face of the condemnatory message of Governor Franklin, who in- sidiously strove to provoke the jealousy of the Assembly by the argument that the New Bruns- wick convention had, by ap- pointing the delegates to the Colonial Congress, usurped the powers which belonged to the Assembly alone. The Assem- bly answered by re-appointing these very delegates, but they followed the recommendations of the Governor to present the crown with still another remonstrance against its impositions upon the colonists. Franklin saw that the day of reconciliation was past. He said in a supplementary message,-

'1" Such members as were Friends excepting only to such parts as seemed to wear an appearance or might have a Tendency to force, as inconsistent with their re- ligious principles."-Gordon's " History of New Jersey."

"It is now in vaiu to argue, as you have, with the mnost uncommon and unnecessary precipita- tion, give in your entire assent to that destructive mode of proceeding I so earnestly warned you against. Whether after such a resolution the pe- tition you mention can be expected to produce any good effect, or whether you have consulted the true interests of the people, I leave others to de- termine."

CO CARPENTERS HALL GY

CARPENTERS' HALL, PHILADELPHIA.

During the winter of 1774-75 Parlia- ment, in obedience to the crown and the ad- ministration of Lord North, and despite the warnings of Chatham and Burke, went on with a stubborn resolution to crush the col- onies. Boston was the objective-point of their repressive programme, and the battle of Lexington occurred on April 19, 1775.

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

On May 2d the New Jersey Committee of Correspondence met at New Brunswick, hav- ing been informed that " the embattled farm- ers " had fired the shot that was heard around the world. There were present Hen- drick Fisher, Samuel Tucker, Joseph Bor- den, Joseph Riggs, Isaac Pearson, John Chetwood, Lewis Ogden, Isaac Ogden, Abra- ham Hunt and Elias Boudinot. They in- structed the chairman

"To immediately call a Provincial Congress to meet at Trenton the 23d day of this instant, to consider and determine such matters as may then and there come before them ; and the several coun- ties are hereby desired to nominate and appoint their respective deputies for the same as speedily as may be, with full and ample powers for such purposes as.may be thought necessary for the pe- culiar exigencies of this province."

Gloucester County was prompt in its re- sponse to this notice. The proceedings were as snbjoined in Dr. Fithian's notes,-

"At a meeting of a majority of the Committee of Correspondence for the County of Gloucester, on the 5th day of May, 1775,-present, Samuel Harrison, chairman ; John Hinchman, John Cooper, John Sparks, Joseph Ellis, Joseph Low, Isaac Mickle, Joseph Hugg.

"In consequence of intelligence received from the Committee of Correspondence from New Brunswick, and at their request, the committee above named have taken the same into considera- ation, and do unanimously agree and think it our indispensable duty in this alarming crisis forth- with to request a meeting of the inhabitants of the county for the purpose of choosing members to meet at the Provincial Congress at Trenton on the 23d day of this instant, May.

" Ordered that the clerk get a number of no- tices immediately printed and disperse them throughout the country-that a person be sent express to Egg Harbour with part thereof and alarm the inhabitants of the consequence thereof and the necessity of a meeting.

" By order of Committee. "JOSEPH HUGG, Com. Clerk."

" Committee met pursuant to adjournment, on the 10th inst., at the house of William Hugg- present, Samuel Harrison, John Cooper, Joseph Ellis, John Sparks, Isaac Mickle, Doc. Vanleer, Joseph Cooper, Peter Cheeseman, Joseph Hugg.

"In Committee, ordered that every member of this Committee meet at the house of William Hugg, on the 18th inst., by 10 o'clock, A. M., and that notice issue for this purpose, to which time this Committee is adjourned.

" By order of Committee,

"JOSEPH HUGG, Clerk.

" At a meeting of a very respectable number of the inhabitants of this county, on the 18th day of May, 1775, pursuant to a notice from the Committee of Correspondence for that purpose.

" At said meeting the inhabitants taking into consideration the intelligence communicated from the Committee of Correspondence of New Bruns- wick, do nnanimously

" Resolve, That it is highly necessary that there should be a Provincial Congress held at the time and place appointed by the said Committee, and do unanimously

" Resolve and agree that seven persons be chosen for said service to represent this county.

" And accordingly Robert Friend Price, John Hinchman, Elijah Clark, Esqs., and Messrs. John Cooper, Joseph Ellis, John Sparks and Joseph Hugg were unanimously chosen to continue for twelve months, and any three or more attending said meeting to be a sufficient representation.

" Ordered, That the members attending from this county do use their endeavors, when met in Congress, to confirm and reappoint the delegates appointed by the General Assembly of this Prov- ince.

" Ordered, That the instructions drawn by Mr. Cooper for said Provincial Congress be taken by the members of this county to said Congress for their own guide-but not to be published.

" On the question being put, whether the Com- mittee of Observation be authorized to carry into execution the resolves of the Provincial Congress, ' and to perform such services as the emergency of the case may require, it was resolved nem con.

"By order of the county,

" Jos. HUGG, " Clerk."

These Committees of Observation and In- spection were formed in each county of the colony. Their title specifies the duties with which they were charged.

THE FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF NEW JERSEY .- The Provincial Congress assem- bled at Trenton on May 23d, 1775, the dele- gates in attendance from Gloucester County

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

being John Cooper, Elijah Clark and John Sparks. Resolutions were passed that one or more companies of militia be raised in each township or corporation, that all men between the ages of sixteen and fifty be enrolled by the committee, and that the officers of the requisite number of companies combine them into regiments. To meet the expense, ten thousand pounds of paper or " Proclamation" money was ordered to be raised, of which the proportion of Gloucester County was £763 88. 2d. This Congress sat eleven days, and was reconvened at Trenton on August 5th, in consequence of the battle of Bunker Hill and Washington's siege of the British forces in Boston. To this meeting there came, as the representatives of Gloucester, John Sparks, Joseph Hugg, Joseph Ellis and Elijah Clark. It was resolved to raise and organize a number of troops equal to about twenty-six regiments and to enforce the col- lection of ten thousand pounds tax ordered at the May session, it appearing that many obstacles had been encountered in the col- lection, and that in a great number of in- stances payment had been avoided or refused.

For this military levy Gloucester County was required to furnish three battalions, and she was placed third among the counties in precedency of rank, in which Essex was first and Salem second. Besides providing for this organization an armament, this Congress resolved to enroll four thousand minute-men, "who shall hold themselves in constant readiness, on the shortest notice, to march to any place where their assistance may be re- quired for the defence of this or any neigh- boring colony." Gloucester's proportion of this force was four companies of sixty-four men each. The August session lasted until the 17th, and before adjourning the Congress appointed as a Committee of Safety,-Hend- rick Fisher, Samuel Tucker, Isaac Pearson, John De Hart, Jonathan D. Sergeant, Azariah Dunham, Peter Schenck, Enos Kelsey, Joseph Borden, Frederick Frelinghuysen and John

Schuemau. When this Congress was not in session this committee wielded extraordinary and almost unlimited power as the executive brauch of the government.

THE SECOND PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF NEW JERSEY .- At its August session the Provincial Congress had provided for a new election of deputies from the counties, and under this provision Gloucester County chose John Cooper, Joseph Ellis, Thomas Clark, Elijah Clark and Richard Somers, who, with forty-five other delegates, formed the Second Provincial Congress, which convened in its first session, at Trenton, October 3, 1775. Further legislation was enacted for the col- lection of the ten thousand pounds tax by distraint and sale of the property of de- linquents, and for the enrollment in the militia of all able-bodied male inhabitants of the province, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years (except those whose religious prin- ciples forbade them to bear arms), their muster, equipment and instruction in military tactics under the command of proper officers. This law was singular in requiring that each enrolled man should provide himself with a musket, a sword, a tomahawk, a cartridge- box and knapsack. The raising of troops and the finding of funds wherewith to fit them out taxed the ingenuity of the Congress during this and the succeeding session of February, 1776, and on the 20th of that month a bill was passed for printing £50,- 000 5s. of fiat money, which it was ordered should pass current until December 21, 1791.1 For redemption of this issue, a sinking fund of £10,000 1s. aunually from 1787 to 1791 was provided, and an allotment of payments was made among the counties. Gloucester was assessed for £763 2s. 8d. each year for the five years.

The fifty thousand pounds was divided in- to equal parts to be expended by commis- sioners for the Eastern Division and the

1 This money was reckoned at 78. 6d. to the dollar.

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Western Division " for the use of the colony." William Tucker, Abraham Hunt, Joseph Ellis and Alexander Chambers were made commissioners for the Western Division. The commissioners were directed to purchase three thousand stand of arms, ten tons of gunpowder, twenty tons of lead, one thousand cartonch-boxes, medicine-chests and chirur- gical instruments, four thousand tents, two thousand blankets, a train of artillery to consist of twelve pieces, and axes, spades and other entrenching tools. They were also in- structed to furnish the troops with one month's subsistence, at one shilling per day per man, or provisions to that amount if necessary, provided that the expense did not exceed one thousand four hundred pounds in value ; and one month's pay for the troops when called into actnal service, provided that the Continental Congress did not make pro- vision for the same, and provided that the pay of such troops did not exceed four thou- sand pounds in value. The recruitment of the two battalions which Congress at its pre- vious session had ordered to be raised had proceeded successfully and with rapidity. Lord Stirling had been commissioned colonel of the command raised in East Jersey, and William Maxwell colonel of the West Jersey battalion, which was ordered to the vicinity of the Hudson River and mnstered into the Continental service in December, 1775.

THE THIRD CONGRESS OF DELEGATES .- In the meantime the old Colonial Legislature of New Jersey had been holding intermit- tent sessions and receiving protests from Governor Franklin against the doings of the Provincial Congress, which had, in fact, superseded it. He had prorogned it from December 6, 1775, to June 3, 1776, but the December meeting was its last. When the new or Third Provincial Congress met, in June, 1776, it declared that Franklin had " discovered himself to be an enemy to the liberties of this country, and that measures ought to be immediately taken for securing

his person, and that from henceforth all pay- ments of money to him, on account of salary or otherwise, should cease." Pursuant to these resolutions, and in compliance with the directions of the Continental Congress, Franklin was arrested and sent to Connecti- cut, where he remained a prisoner until the end of the war, when he sailed for England. He resided in that country until his death, enjoying a pension from the English govern- ment.

The Congress which niet in June had been elected in pursuance of the resolution adopted by its predecessor on March 2, 1776, "that there be a new choice of deputies to serve in Provincial Congress for every county of this colony on the fourth Monday in May, yearly and every year." Thus was established regular annual elections of depu- ties instead of the special elections called, as they had previously been, at the pleasure of Congress. Gloucester County eleeted as delegates John Sparks, John Cooper, Elijah Clark, Joseph Hugg and Joseph Ellis. The Congress convened on June 11, 1776, at Burlington, with sixty-five members, five from each of the thirteen counties. On June 28th there was submitted " a petition from the officers of the militia of Gloucester, appointed to raise men for the Continental service to reinforce the troops now in New York, set- ting forth that fifteen shillings a week is not sufficient to defray their expenses in enlist- ing said men, and requesting that this Con- gress would make such further allowance as may be reasonable and necessary."

ADOPTION OF THE FIRST STATE CON- STITUTION .- The Continental Congress, on May 10th, recommended to the Assemblies and conventions of the colonies to adopt such governments as should, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular and America in general. The preamble declared that every kind of govern- ment under the crown should be suppressed.

THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION.

On the 24th the New Jersey Congress ap- pointed Messrs. Green, Cooper, Sergeant, Elmer, Ogden, Hughes, Covenhoven, Symmes, Condict and Dick to prepare a draught of a Constitution, which was reported on the 26th and adopted on July 2d, two days before the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. In the pre- amble to that document it was declared

"That all authority claimed by the King of Great Britain over the colonies was by compact derived from the people and held of them for the common interests of the whole society ;

"That allegiance and protection are in the nature of things reciprocal ties, each equally de- pending on the other and liable to be dissolved by the other being refused or withdrawn ;

"That the King of Great Britain has refused protection to the good people of these colonies by assenting to sundry acts of Parliament, has made war upon them for no other cause than asserting their just rights ; hence all civil authority under him is necessarily at an end, and a dissolution of government has taken place. And also the more effectually to unite the people and to enable them to exert their whole force in their own necessary defense; and as the honorable, the Continental Congress, the supreme council of the American Colonies, has advised us to adopt such government as will best conduce to our happiness and safety, and the well-being of America generally ;

"We, the representatives of the colony of New Jersey, having been elected by all the counties in the freest manner, and in Congress assembled, have, after mature deliberation, agreed upon a set of charter rights and the form of a Consti- tution."

This Constitution fell somewhat short of a full assertion of independence, and contained a clause providing that if a reconciliation should take place between Great Britain and her colonies, the instrument should become null and void. Gordon, in his " History of New Jersey," attributes the introduction of this clause to the influence of Samnel Tucker, president of the Congress. He says, " The doors of retreat were kept open by the fears of the President, who, a few months after, claimed the clemeucy of the enemy, with whom this clause gave him an interest."

By this instrument the government was vested in a Governor, Legislative Council and General Assembly. The Council and Assem- bly were to be chosen yearly by the people, and they were in joint convention to annul- ally elect the Governor. On July 17th the New Jersey Congress ratified the Declaration of Independence promulgated at Philadel- phia, and on the next day it changed its own name to that of "The Convention of the State of New Jersey." An election for a Legisla- tive Council and an Assembly was held on the second Tuesday of August, 1776, and the members convened at Princeton on August 27th. In the Council, Gloucester was rep- resented by John Cooper, and in the House by Richard Somers and Robert F. Price. William Livingston was elected the first Gov- ernor under the new Constitution. The Leg- islature succeeded to the powers and functions of the Provincial Congress and the Conveu- tion of the State of New Jersey, and contin- ued to exercise those powers and functions as a permanent body.

NEW JERSEY AS THE SEAT OF WAR .- The movement of the British army, under command of General Howe, from Boston, by way of Halifax, to the vicinity of New York, the route of Washington's forces at the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776, the evac- uation of New York by the Americans and the capture of Fort Washington, on the Hud- son, by the British on November 15th-these were the events which led to Washington's retreat into New Jersey. With his dimin- ished columns he fell back to New Bruns- wick, where he hoped to make a stand ; but the terms of the New Jersey and Maryland Brigades and the Pennsylvania Flying Camp were about expiring, and neither arguments nor threats could prevent the men from dis- banding and returning to their homes. The remnant of the army, with Lord Cornwallis harassing its rear, arrived at Princeton on December 1st, and thence passed on to Tren- ton, where it crossed the Delaware into Penn-

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

sylvania on the 8th. Reinforced by Sullivan and Gates, Washington recrossed the Dela- ware on Christmas night and effected the surprise and defeat of Colonel Rahl's Hes- sian contingent of the British forces.

Although after the Trenton victory the American commander retired to his strong position on the Delaware shore, he had by no means relinquished his ambition to repossess Western New Jersey, and at once began prep- arations for a second expedition. He again marched to Trenton on December 30th. Gen- eral Maxwell, who on the retreat through the State had been left at Morristown with his brigade, including the Gloucester troops, was ordered to advance through New Brunswick, as if threatening an attack, and harass all

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 7

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220