The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 9

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

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From a brief mention made by Mickle, it appears that in their march on Fort Mercer the Hessians were guided by some country-

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men, who were afterwards fearfully punished for their treachery to America. He writes,-

"Donop pressed several persons whom he found along the route into his service as pilots, among whom was a negro belonging to the Cooper family, called Old Mitch, who was at work by the Cooper's Creek bridge. A negro named Dick, belonging to the gallant Colonel Ellis, and an infamous white scoundrel named McIlvaine, volunteered their services as guides. At the bar of the Haddonfield tavern these loyal fellows were very loud in their abuse of the American cause; but their insolence, as we shall see, was soon repaid. . Dick and McIlvaine, the guides, having been taken prison- ers by the Americans, were immediately hung within the fort for divers outrages which they bad committed. Old Mitch, the other pilot, lived until recently (1845) to tell to groups of admiring Cam- den boys how terribly he was scared in this mem- orable fight. Resolved not to bear arms against his country, and being afraid to run away, he got behind a hay-rick when the battle began, and lay there flat on the ground until it was over."

Mickle is a usually reliable chronicler, but there is no record to substantiate his state- ment as to the execution of Dick and Mc- Ilvaine.

FORTS MERCER AND MIFFLIN ABAN- DONED .- Waiting near Hog Island for the signal-gun of Donop's attack were the Brit- ish sixty-four-gun ship, the " Augusta," the " Roebuck " and two other frigates, the sloop "Merlin" and a galley. When that gun was fired they stood up the river with the inten- tion of cannonading the American positions, but were held back by the stubborn fire of Hazlewood's little squadron. The next morn- ing the battle was renewed, the British and American fleets and Forts Mifflin and Mer- cer all taking part. The British commander aimed to work his floating batteries into the channel between Mud (Fort) Island and the Pennsylvania shore, in order to shell Mifflin from its rear, but each effort was thwarted by the vigilance and the effective great gun ser- vice of the patriots. By noon the cnemy found that it was impossible to force the passage of the river by direct assault, and made prepara- tions to retire. A hot shot had pierced the

" Augusta " and set her on fire. Becomning un- manageable, she drifted towards the New Jersey shore and went hard and fast aground, her ship's company escaping to the other ves- sels. When the flames reached her magazine she blew up. The "Merlin " met with precisely the same fate, and at three o'clock blew up near the mouth of Mud Creek. The "Roe- buck " and her remaining consorts then gave up the fight and left the Americans the pres- ent masters of the Delaware.

But because the river was the only avenue through which Howe could be certain of re- ceiving supplies in Philadelphia, he again set to work to open it for his ships. By Novem- ber 1st he had erected on Province Island, a low mud bank between Fort Mifflin and the Pennsylvania shore, five batteries of heavy guns. On this side Fort Mifflin had ouly a wet ditch without ravelin or abatis, and a weak block-house at each of the angles. The British also brought to bear upon the fort four sixty-four-gun ships and two forty- gun ships, besides a floating battery of twenty-two twenty-four pounders, which was moved within forty yards of an angle of the fort. Lossing gives the following narrative of the bombardment that followed :

"On the 10th of November the enemy opened their batteries on land and water, and for six con- secutive days poured a storm of bombs and round shot upon the devoted fortification. With con- summate skill and courage, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith directed the responses from the ordnance of the fort. The artillery, drawn chiefly from Colonel Lamb's regiment, were commanded by Lieutenant Treat, who was killed on the first day of the siege by the bursting of a bomb. On that day the bar- racks alone suffered, but on the morning of the 11th the direction of the enemy's fire was changed ; a dozen of the strong palisades were demolished and a cannon in an embrasure was disabled. The firing did not cease until midnight and many of the garrison were killed or wounded. Colonel Smith, the commander, had a narrow escape. He had just gone into the barracks to write a letter to General Varnum when a ball passed through the chimney. He was struck by the scattered bricks and for a time lay senseless. He was taken across to Red

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Bank, and the command devolved upon Lieuten- ant-Colonel Russell, of the Connecticut Line. That officer was disabled by fatigue and ill health, and Major Thayer, of the Rhode Island Line, volunteered to take his place. Major Henry, who sent daily reports to Washington of the progress of the siege, was also wounded on the 11th, but he continued with the garrison. On the 12th a two- gun battery of the Americans was destroyed, the northwest block-honse and laboratory were blown up, and the garrison were obliged to seek shelter within the fort. At sunrise on the 13th thirty armed boats made their appearance, and during that night the heavy floating battery was brought to bear on the fort. It opened with terrible effect on the morning of the 14th, yet that little garrison of 300 men managed to silence it before noon.

"Hitherto the enemy did not know the real weakness of the garrison ; on that day a deserter in a boat carried information, of that fact to the British, who were seriously thinking of abandon- ing the siege, for they had suffered much. Hope was revived and preparations were made for a general and more vigorons assault. At daylight on the 15th the 'Iris' and 'Somerset,' men-of-war, passed up the east channel to attack the fort in front. Several frigates were brought to hear on Fort Mercer, and the ' Vigilant,' an East Indiaman of twenty twenty-four pounders, and a hulk with three twenty-four pounders made their way through a narrow channel on the western side and gained a position to act in concert with the bat- teries on Province Island in enfilading the Ameri- can works. At ten o'clock, while all was silent, a signal bugle sent forth its summons to action, and instantly the land batteries and the shipping poured forth a terrible storm of missiles upon Fort Mifflin. The little garrison sustained the shock with astonishing intrepidity, and far into the gloom of the evening an incessant cannonade was kept up. Within an hour the only two cannons in the fort that had not been dismounted shared the fate of the others. Every man who appeared on the platform was killed by the musketeers in the tops of the ships, whose yards almost hung over the American battery. Long before night not a pali- sade was left; the embrasures were ruined; the whole parapet leveled; the block houses were already destroyed. Early in the evening Major Thayer sent all the remnant of the garrison to Red Bank, excepting forty men, with whom he re- mained. Among these was the brave Captain (afterwards Commodore) Talbot, of the Rhode Island Line, who was wounded in the hip, having fought for hours with his wrist shattered by a mus-

ket-ball. At midnight, every defence and every shelter being swept away, Thayer and his men set fire to the remains of the barracks, evacuated the fort and escaped in safety to Red Bank, Altogether, it was one of the most gallant and obstinate de- fences made during the war. In the course of the last day more than a thousand discharges of can- non, from twelve to thirty-two pounders, were made against the works on Mnd Island. Nearly 250 men of the garrison were killed and wounded. The loss of the British was great ; the number was not certainly known."

Washington, shut up in his camp at Whitemarsh, could not send a man to the defense of Fort Mifflin, but he was now able to detach Huntington's brigade to join that of Varnum in New Jersey, and ordered General Greene with his division to oppose Cornwallis, who had crossed the Delaware from Chester to Billingsport, on November 18th, to attack Fort Mercer. Greene crossed at Burlington and marched toward Red Bank, but as he was disappointed in his expectation of being joined by Glover's bri- gade, and believing Cornwallis to be much superior to himself in numbers, he gave up the notion of a battle and marched off toward Haddonfield. Colonel Greene, thus abandoned to his fate, evacuated Fort Mercer on November 20th, leaving his artillery, ammunition and some stores for Corn wallis, who dismantled the fort and demolished the works. The latter received reinforcements until he had fully five thousand men, with whom he took position at Gloucester Point. Morgan's rifle corps joined General Greene, but the Americans were not strong enough to venture a regular attack on the enemy. The American fleet, no longer supported by the forts, sought other places of safety. On the night of November 21st the galleys, one brig and two sloops in the darkness stole cautiously along the Jersey shore past the British guns and arrived at Burlington in safety. Seventeen other craft were aban- doned by their crews and burned to the water's edge at Gloucester. The enemy were in unvexed possession of the Delaware from

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Philadelphia to the ocean. In 1872 the United States government purchased a hun- dred acres of the river front at Red Bank, and since then the vestiges of the embank- ments and trenches of Fort Mercer have been preserved.

SKIRMISHES AROUND GLOUCESTER .- Both General Greene and Lord Cornwallis retired from the Gloucester vicinage early in the winter, but before they did so some very interesting incidents occurred there and about Haddonfield, which are graphically described by Isaac Mickle and Judge Clement.

On the evening of November 25, 1777, General Lafayette, notwithstanding that he was suffering from an unclosed wound, came out from Greene's camp at Haddonfield with the intention of reconnoitering Cornwallis. His zeal carried him close up to the British lines, upon the sandy peninsula south of the outlet of Timber Creek, and he was pursued by a squad of dragoons. He reported the encounter to Washington in the subjoined language :

"After having spent the most part of the day in making myself well acquainted with the certainty of the enemy's motions, I came pretty late into the Gloucester road between the two creeks, I had ten light horse, almost one hundred and fifty riflemen and two pickets of militia. Colonel Armand, Colonel Laumoy and Chevaliers Du- plessis and Gimat were the Frenchmen with me. A scout of men under Duplessis went to ascertain how near to Gloucester were the enemy's first pickets, and they found at the distance of two and a half miles from that place a strong post of three hundred and fifty Hessians with field-pieces, and they engaged immediately. As my little reconnoitering party were all in fine spirits, I supported them. We pushed the Hessians more than half a mile from the place where their main body had been, and we made them run very fast. British reinforcements came twice to them, but very far from recovering their ground, they always retreated. The darkness of the night prevented us from pursuing our advantage. After standing on the ground we had gained I ordered them to return very slowly to Haddonfield. I take great pleasure in letting you know that the conduct of

our soldiers was above all praise. I never saw men so merry, so spirited and so desirous to go on to the enemy, whatever force they might have, as that small party in this little fight."

It was on this occasion that Morgan's Rangers drew from Lafayette the notable compliment : "I found them even above their reputation." They were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Butler. The Ameri- cans had only one man killed and six wounded, while the British lost about sixty in killed, wounded aud prisoners.

In the latter part of February, 1778, General Anthony Wayne came into Lower Jersey to gather cattle and horses for the American army, and Howe dispatched Colonel Stirling with two battalions to impede him.

Major Simcoe, with the Queen's Rang- ers, a very efficient corps of Tories re- cruited in New York and Connecticut, occupied Haddonfield, while Stirling re- mained near Coopers Ferry with a reserve. Simcoe occupied the main street with his troops, and sent detachments to destroy some barrels of tar near Timber Creek and seize a lot of rum on the Egg Harbor road east of the village. " Mad Anthony " quickly whirled his little command down toward the river from Mount Holly, and, in obedi- ence to Stirling's orders, Simcoe quitted Haddonfield by night in a storm of sleet and rain, and rejoined the reserve at Coopers Ferry, with Wayne only a few miles distant. Mickle says, --

"The next day (March 1st) a sharp skirmish ensued between the Spicer's Ferry Bridge over Coopers Creek and the place where the Camden Academy now stands. Fifty British, picked out from the Forty-second and the Rangers, having heen sent three or four miles up the direct road to Haddonfield, for some remaining forage, were met by Wayne's cavalry and forced to retreat to the ferry. The Americans followed up to the very cordon of the enemy. The British were drawn up in the following order : the Forty-second upon the right, Colonel Markham in the centre and the Queen's Rangers upon the left, with their left flank

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

resting upon Coopers Creek. Captain Kerr and Lieutenant Wickham were in the meanwhile em- barking with their men to Philadelphia, and as the Americans seemed disposed only to reconnoitre, Colonel Markham's detachment and the horses also started across the river. Just then a barn within the cordon was fired, and the Americans, taking this as evidence that only a few stragglers were left upon the eastern shore, advanced and drove in the pickets. The Forty-second moved forward in line and the Rangers in column by companies, the sailors drawing some three-ponnd cannon. A few Americans appearing upon the Waterford side of Coopers Creek, Captain Armstrong, with a com- pany of Grenadiers, was ordered to line a dyke on this side to watch them.

" Upon the right, in the neighborhood of the Academy and the Hicksite Meeting-house, a heavy fire was kept up by the Forty-second upon the main body of the Americans, who were in the woods along the Haddonfield road. The Rangers on the left, toward the creek, only had to oppose a few scattered cavalry, who were reconnoitering. As Simcoe advanced rapidly to gain an eminence in front, which he conceived to be a strong and advantageous position,1 the cavalry retired to the woods, except on officer, who reined back his horse and facing the Rangers as they dashed on, slowly waved his sword for his attendants to retreat. The English Light Infantry came within fifty yards of him, when one of them called out ' you are a brave fellow, but you must go away ?' The undaunted officer paying no attention to the warning, one McGill, afterwards a quartermaster, was ordered to fire at him. He did so and wounded the horse, but the rider was unscathed and soon joined his comrades in the woods a little way off."

This brave officer was Count Pulaski, who had command of the cavalry. In this skir- mish several of Simcoe's Rangers were wounded and Sergeant McPherson, of the Grenadiers, was killed. A cannonading was kept up from the eminence which Simcoe had occupied upon some of the Americans, who were removing the plank from Cooper's Bridge, but it proved harmless. So persistent were the efforts of the Americans to drive their enemies away from about Coopers Ferry, that a series of entrenchments was

1 About the crossing of the Camden and Atlantic and Camden and Amboy Railroads, formerly Dogwoodtown.

thrown up, extending from the creek west- erly toward the river, and the timber there- abouts was so cut as to obstruct the move- ments of troops coming from the interior. The position was also protected by the can- non of vessels lying in the river, and thus the British were saved from the abandon- ment of the place.

While Wayne was posted in Haddonfield some of his men made a reconnoissance of the British at Gloucester, and were discovered and pursued by a superior force. A running fight ensued, which lasted nearly from Gloucester Point to the American lines, but the British suffered much the greater loss. The most prominent man in this action on the American side was Colonel Ellis, of the Gloucester militia. Soon afterward the whole British force at Gloucester moved on Wayne at Haddonfield by night, but found only his empty quarters.

On this occasion occurred the daring ex- ploit of Miles Sage, a vidette in Ellis' regi- ment, who, with a comrade named Chew, as stated by Judge Clement :

"Detected the enemy's movements and rode in great haste to inform Colonel Ellis. Chew taking a shorter route and swimming his horse across Newton Creek, was the first to reach Haddonfield, and Ellis' regiment marched out just as the British marched in. The colonel was so corpulent that he fell behind his men, and but for the darkness of the night would have been taken prisoner.

"The intelligence brought by Chew created great consternation in the town, and every precau- tion was taken to mislead the enemy by putting out the lights in the dwellings and the families retiring to bed. A colored servant in the family of Mrs. Abigail Blackwood, widow of Samuel Blackwood, then living in Tanner Street, was sent with the children to their room and strictly enjoined to extinguish the candle. To gratify her curiosity, however, she placed it on the window ledge, which attracted the attention of the soldiers, who at once surrounded the house. John Blackwood, a son of the widow, then a lad, was captured, taken into the street and made to tell what he knew of Colonel Ellis and his regiment. While attempting, by the light of a few torches and surrounded by the excited soldiers, to show

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the direction of the retreating troops, Miles Sage rode up and asked the boy very much the same question he was endeavoring to answer the others. His reply was that they had gone, 'some one way and some another.' At this moment Sage discovered that he was in the midst of British soldiers, who at the same time noticed that he was an American.

"Sage at once put spurs to his horse, rode hastily into the main street and towards the northerly part of the village. He was fired upon as he vanished in the darkness, but escaped until he reached the upper hotel, where his horse was wounded and he fell to the ground. Before Sage could disengage himself from the saddle he was attacked by the guard, stabbed in various places about his body, and left for dead in the street. By order of a Scotch officer he was carried into a small building on the north side of the street near the present Temperance House, where he was attended by a surgeon of the army."

On examination it was found that he had thirteen bayonet wounds, and he was put in the care of some women, one of whom became the mother of Governor Stratton. Being besought to prepare for death, he exclaimed : " Why, Martha, I mean to give the enemy thirteen rounds yet." He lived to tell his grandchildren of his perilous adventure.

Simcoe had a narrow escape while halted at Haddonfield with his battalion. Says the same authority above given,-

"On one occasion, while resting his horse near the brow of the hill, opposite the present residence of William Mann, Major Simcoe heard the whist- ling of a rifle ball near him and saw two persons on the opposite hill. He ordered Lieutenant Whitlock to take a few dragoons and capture them. These persons proved to be John Kain (brother of Joseph Hinchman's wife) and Benja- min Butler, two young men who secured the loan of a rifle of Joseph Collins (then living on the farm now owned by Logan Paul) for the purpose of hunting. They had proceeded along the road as far as where Jacob Dodd now lives, from which point Simcoe was plainly in view, and could not resist the temptation of shooting at a British officer. After this exploit they thought best to return to the house, when Diana Collins, a daugh- ter of Joseph, discovered the dragoons' in pursuit and shouted to the young men to escape. Kain turned down the creek into the swamp and evaded

the soldiers, while Butler ran up the hill and secreted himself in the bushes, and but for his curiosity in watching the men and horses as they passed would also have escaped. He, however, left his hiding-place, went back into the road, was discovered, and after a hot chase captured. He was taken to Philadelphia, thence to the prison- ships at New York, and kept for a long time. Al- though not the guilty one, as Kain handled the gun, he suffered a terrible punishment, from the effects of which his health was never fully restored. He did not return for about three years, and when he visited the spot where he had secreted himself, found his hat that had been lost in the scuffle at the time."

The first British encampment at Coopers Point was made by General Abercrombie, who had his headquarters in the house that was afterwards bought by Joseph W. Cooper. The quarters of the Forty-third Regiment, Colonel Shaw, and several Highland and Hessian regiments were at the old Middle Ferry House, sometimes called English's. Mickle says,-

" The British lines reached from the Point down the Delaware nearly to Market Street, Camden, thence up to the site of the present academy at the corner of Sixth and Market Streets, and thence about northeast across to Coopers Creek. The re- mains of their redoubts were visible until a few years ago."

The same authority says,-

In March, 1778, soon after the retreat of Simcoe from Haddonfield, Pulaski, with a considerable body of Continental troopers, came close under the British lines to reconnoitre. The enemy, anticipating his approach, placed an ambush upon both sides of the road leading from the bridge to the Middle Ferry, in the neighborhood of the present Friends' meeting-house, under the com- mand of Colonel Shaw. As Pulaski approached, a good way in advance of his men, a stanch Whig, William West, mounted a log and waved his hat as a signal of retreat. Pulaski took the hint, hastily wheeled his men aud saved them from slaughter. About the same time a hot fight took place at Coopers Creek Bridge, where the Englishmen surprised a party of militia. Several of the latter were killed and the rest captured. Most of the Gloucester fighting men enlisted early in the war and were marched to Fort Washington, where they were taken and confined on board of

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

the British prison-ship ' Jersey,' through the horrors of which but few ever lived to return home. Most of the minute-men, therefore, who annoyed the British in the neighborhood of Philadelphia were very young. They fought bravely and sold their lives whenever they were overpowered as dearly as possible.

" Among the American Rangers who distin- guished themselves in forays in the west end of Newton, none were more eminent than John Stokes and Kinsey, or, as he was generally called, Taph Bennett. Stokes was a man of unconquerable energy, and some of his feats equal anything ever told of Jasper or MacDonald. He was continually hanging upon the lines of the enemy, and was in hourly danger of his life. His courage and activ- ity, however, could relieve him from any dilemma. He lived through the war to tell of his hair- breadth escapes at many a social party. Taph was a kindred spirit. Like Stokes, he had pricked many an Englishman who dreamed not of a rebel being within ten leagues ; and it is said he gen- erally cut off his foeman's thumb to prove his prowess to his comrades."

LOCAL INCIDENTS OF THE WAR .- The Tories and Hessians burned the houses of many staunch patriots in old Gloucester, among them the mansion of the Huggs, near Timber Creek bridge, and that of the Harri- sons, close to the Point. The Hugg family were punished in this fashion for having given two officers and several privates to the patriot armies. The women were as cour- ageons as the men. Mrs. Hugg, the mother of Colonel Joseph Hugg, met the intruders who were foraging in her poultry-yard. "Do you," she stormed at them, " call yourselves soldiers and come thus to rob undefended premises ? I have sons who are in Wash- ington's army. They are gentlemen and not such puppies as you." Within a few days her house and out-buildings were burned to the ground.

Most of the houses along Coopers Creek were sacked by the enemy, unless their occu- pants were Tories. A young British officer made a requisition at the dwelling of the Champions for their best horse. He got an unbroken colt, which threw him into a pond, and in revenge he had his men plunder the

house. An old gentleman named Ellis bur- ied his specie near his house at night by the light of a lantern to save it from the maraud- ers. The light betrayed him to the spies lurking about, and when he next visited the spot his treasure was gone.

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 9

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