USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey : from its earliest settlement to the present time : including a brief historical account of the first discoveries and settlement of the country, Vol. II > Part 35
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In February, 1813, the Legislature of New Jersey passed an act for the organization of the uniform corps in this State, in which was provided, for its immediate defence and security, and for the aid and support of military posts of the United States, in places immediately in the neighborhood of this State, upon all sudden emergencies.
An effort was made to strike out this clause but it was decided in the negative, fourteen voting for and twenty-one against striking it out. At the same session they voted five thousand
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dollars for the protection of the maritime frontier of the State. On the 24th of February, 1806, Congress passed an act for organizing the militia of the States, and on the 18th of April the President issued a proclamation for one hundred thousand men.
July 6th, 1807, the President called on the Executive of this State to take effectual measures for having five thousand two hundred and twelve of its militia (being the quota of the State), detached and duly organized, armed and equipped according to law, and on the 9th of July, Peter Hunt, at that time the Adju- tant-General, issued his general order calling upon the militia of this State to fill the quota of men called for.
On the 14th, Captain Colt, of Essex, tendered the services of his company, and on the 20th Captain William Lawson tendered those of the New Brunswick Artillery.
On the 27th the following companies were tendered : Captains John Lambert, Jr., of Amwell; William Geary, Flemington ; Samuel Rogers, Allentown; Eli Eldridge, Port Elizabeth, Cum- · berland County ; Daniel Snowhill, Spottswood; Charles Carson, Cranberry ; William Voorhees, Hunterdon ; John Tuft, Salem ; John S. Holmes, Middletown; David Craig, Monmouth ; Wil- liam McGill, Hunterdon ; James D. Westcott, Cumberland ; William Ray, Salem; -- Pissant, Woodbury; Matthias Van Trackle, Middletown Point; Benjamin McCaceny, Chester, Morris County ; Benjamin Wardell, Monmouth; Isaiah Harrison, Salem ; Henry Bidleman, Sussex ; Charles Carmichael, Morris- town ; William Britton, Baskinridge, and Philip Holmes, Mid - dletown Point.
On the 3Ist of July, Samuel H. Berry, of Bergen, tendered his band of music, and was accepted.
. The order was that no company should be accepted that contained less than thirty-five men, and from that number to fifty.
On the 4th of January, 1808, the quota of New Jersey was organized in three brigades, comprised in one division, under command of Major-General William Helm.
Subsequent to this other companies tendered their services and were accepted and assigned to duty as United States Volun-
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teers, and performed service during the war, but mostly in this State, guarding the frontier coasts, of which New Jersey has a large quantity both on her eastern and southern border.
On the 15th of April, 1812, a requisition was made on the State for five thousand men, which were furnished and placed under command of Major-General Ludlow, and on the 31st of August the Adjutant-General reported to the authorities at Washington, that the quota of this State was filled.
On the 20th of August five hundred men of this quota was detailed to Fort Richmond on Staten Island, and on the 8th of September five hundred men were sent to Paulus Hook.
On the 11th of May, 1813, the following companies, com- prising two hundred men, were sent to Neversink Heights for service for thirty days or until relieved: Jersey Blues of Trenton, Captain James J. Wilson ; Captain Stephen S. Day, of Orange ; John I. Plume's Artillery, Newark ; Moses F. Davis' Rifles, Bloomfield ; William Ten Eyck's Rifles, Freehold, and Lieu- tenant James Ten Eyck's Rifles, Middletown Point.
July 14, 1814, another call was made when the following were accepted :
Artillery-Captains Kilburn, Orange; Golden, Hopewell ; Plume, Newark; Neilson, New Brunswick; Vandyke, Horse Artillery, New Brunswick.
Infantry and Riflemen- Captains, James J. Wilson's. Jersey Blues, Trenton ; Stephen S. Day, Orange ; Donlevy, Belvidere ; Lindsley, Essex ; William Ten Eyck's Rifles, Freehold ; James Ten Eyck's Rifles, Middletown Point; Holliday's Rangers, Morristown ; Mitchell's Rangers, Paterson Landing; Fair's Light Infantry, Hackensack; Garrison, Somerset ; Crane's Rifles, Caldwell ; Freas, Salem; Garrison, Salem ; Mackay's Rifles, New Brunswick ; Breese's Light Infantry, Baskinridge ; Scott's Light Infantry, New Brunswick ; Fell's Light Infantry, New Hampton ; Brittin's Fusileers, Chatham ; Carter's Rifles, Bottle'Hill; McKissack's Rifles, Somerset ; Davis' Rifles, Bloom- field, and Ball's Light Infantry, Bloomfield.
On the 31st of August the Adjutant-General reported the following companies organized and ready for duty :
Captains, Daniel Kilburn's Artillery ; Harrison's Rifles ;
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Lindsley's Rifles ; Mitchell's Rangers; Crane's Rifles; Ball's Light Infantry, of the County of Essex. Captains, Halliday's Rangers; Carter's Rifles, and Brittin's Fusileers, of the County of Morris. Captain Freas' Light Infantry, of the County of Bergen. Captains, Garrison's Infantry, Breese's Light Infantry, and McKissack's Rifle Corps, of the County of Somerset. Cap- tains, Fell's Light Infantry, and Donley's Rangers, Sussex.
Captains Neilson, Van Dyke, Scott, and Mckay's companies of New Brunswick, were ordered to hold themselves to march under orders from Brigadier-General William Colefax, who was in command at Paulus Hook.
New Jersey early furnished her quota of the troops for the war, in addition to which her militia was sent to Marcus and Paulus Hooks to guard the coasts.
Five hundred of the detachment of the militia of this State were stationed on Staten Island, under the command of Major Isaac Andrus.
The number of men called out and in actual service was about four thousand of non-commissioned officers and privates.
In addition to the pay and allowance of government, the State paid these men three dollars per month. They were in service generally three months, some detachments not quite so long and others longer, all of whom received not less than two months' State pay, the amount being in the aggregate $36,000.
General Jackson defeated Sir Edward Pakenham, the British commander at New Orleans, on the 8th of January, 1815, and on the 17th of February, the treaty of peace concluded at Ghent on the 24th of December, was duly ratified, and the next day publicly proclaimed by the authority of the President.
"Late on Saturday evening, February 11th, the British sloop- of-war Favorite, under a flag of truce, arrived at New York, and was the bearer of the treaty of peace. The whole city was soon in a state of joyous excitement, and the following Lord's Day gave fitting opportunity to thousands of pious hearts to offer their devout thanksgivings to the Prince of Peace for the happy return of that inestimable blessing. Everywhere the gladsome words of congratulation were offered one to another; illumina- tions lightened up the dark hours of the night; expresses rode
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with unabated speed in every direction; PEACE! PEACE! was the exulting cry; and the streaming banners floated on the breeze, the cannons roared, and the mirthful song was poured forth, to testify the universal joy which filled the hearts of all men, to know that the war was now at an end." *
On the 20th the President communicated copies of the treaty to Congress, and at the request of that body he recommended a day of thanksgiving for the return of peace.
The inauguration of Martin Van Buren, as the eighth Presi- dent, took place on the 4th of March, 1837, and his course during the first two years of his term not being such as to please many of those who were. members of the Democratic party, the elections began to show a falling off, as respected the administration, and an increased efficiency on the part of the opposition. Vigorous efforts were made on both sides to obtain the majority in Congress, and the result showed that the Demo- crats had a small majority of members elect, leaving out of view the six New Jersey members, whose seats were contested. This question could not but excite much interest, in view of the final settlement of it.
The Twenty-sixth Congress assembled on the 2d day of December, 1839; when in the House, a not very creditable dispute arose, and was protracted for three weeks, as to the . right to seats of the New Jersey members. These gentlemen were Whigs, and had certificates of their election from Governor Pennington, under the seal of the State; but it was contended that they were not elected by majorities of the votes, and so were not duly entitled to seats. On the 16th of December, R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, was elected Speaker, and the House was organized on the 21st. The President's message was re- ceived on the 24th. The committee in charge of the New Jersey question made a report in July, 1840, which gave rise to an angry debate. The Whigs refused to vote; but the question was decided by the rest of the House in favor of the Demo- cratic claimants, which gave the administration a majority, though too late in the session to be of any service. This was called Governor Pennington's " broad seal war."
* Spencer's " History of the United States," Vol. III., page 289.
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During the Presidency of James K. Polk, in 1846, war was declared with Mexico, and General Zachary Taylor was ordered to the Rio Grande, where he encamped opposite Matamoras. During this campaign New Jersey furnished a large quantity of troops. They were not, however, all raised under State authority, but were formed into companies, and admitted as volunteers in the United States service, and accompanied Gen- eral Taylor through nearly all his campaigns in that inhospitable clime, enduring the fatigues of the march equal to veterans, and performing good service for the country.
In addition to the companies that were received into the service of the United States by the War Department, a call was made on Governor Stratton on the 22d of May, 1846, for a volunteer corps, to consist of one Regiment of Infantry, where- upon the Governor issued his proclamation calling for that number. Each company to consist of sixty-four men.
In response to which, on the Ist of June, Captains David Pierson, commanding the Lafayette Guards of Newark; George V. Hankins, City Guards, Newark; Midrael McLear, Washing- ton Erina Guards, Newark; Joseph Shipman, Union Blues, Newark ; Jersey Blues, Trenton, and Jersey Guards, Burlington. And on the 25th of the same month, the Flemington Grays, of Flemington, I. N. Reading, Commanding; Union Blues, Newark, and City Guards.
Brigadier-General Godwin offered the Passaic Brigade, and on the 29th of May Captain Samuel Colt tendered a Battalion. Captains Joseph A. Yard and Samuel Dickinson, of Trenton, tendered full companies, which were accepted by the War Department.
The command of the army of the West, which was raised principally in Mississippi, was given to Colonel Phil. Kearney, of this State, who, about the end of July, with less than two thousand men, was at Bent's Fort, on the Arkansas, ready to march for New Mexico. Taking in convoy the annual " cara- van" of Santa Fé traders, he then set forth across the prairie; and after toils and sufferings on the part of his men quite as great as those endured by the other armies, on August 1Sth he entered Santa Fé. The Governor, Don Manuel Armijo, had
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intended to oppose him, but thought better of the matter, and abandoned the place. Four days afterwards, Kearney issued a proclamation, in which he announced that, the country now having become a part of the United States, the inhabitants were to consider themselves bound to obey the laws and submit to the regulations of the new Government.
The whole of New Mexico having submitted without a stroke, Kearney established a territorial Government, and appointing a Governor and other officers, set out, on the 25th of September, with less than a thousand men, for California. Having advanced nearly two hundred miles, he was met by an express from Cap- tain Fremont, in California, which led to Kearney's sending back most of his troops to Santa Fé.
Commodore Sloat, in command of the squadron of observa- tion, had been ordered at the breaking out of the war, " to take and hold San Francisco;" but before that order reached him, on the 7th of June, he heard of the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and the next day sailed for Monterey. With proclamations in Spanish and English, on July the 7th, just two days after Fremont's proclamation, Monterey was in his hands; and on the 9th San Francisco fell, and Sloat announced "henceforward California will be a portion of the United States."
Commodore Robert F. Stockton, of this State, succeeded Sloat in his command, and Fremont having formed a junction with him, entered Ciudad de los Angeles on the 12th of August, the Mexicans having fled. Stockton took possession of the country, and appointed Fremont Governor. Thus the conquest of Cali- fornia, like that of New Mexico, was effected without the loss of a single life in battle.
The administration had now come to the conclusion that a charge in the plan of operations against Mexico must be made. Taylor's line of attack was not likely to prove successful ; and hence, as our ships had possession of the sea, and an army could be thrown upon any point of the coast which might seem most suitable as a base of operations, it was resolved to seize Vera Cruz, and thence to march directly upon the capital. General Winfield Scott, another Jerseyman, was therefore once more summoned to the councils of the Government, and towards the
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close of November was invested with the office of "Commander- in-Chief of the American army in Mexico," for the purpose of carrying out this new programme of attack.
Scott devoted himself energetically to the needful preparations before leaving the United States, and among other measures, wrote immediately to General Taylor, that he should be under the painful necessity of depriving him of the best and most effi- cient troops under his command.
General Scott hastened at once to take command of the expe- dition. On the 18th of April, 1847, he routed Santa Anna from his position near Jalapa, captured that place and Perote, which . were abandoned to them without a blow ; the latter on the 22d of April, and with it a vast accumulation of warlike stores. On the 22d of May Puebla submitted to General Worth, and Gene- ral Scott fixed his headquarters there, where he remained until the beginning of August. Having been well reinforced, on the . 7th of August General Scott took the road to the capital of Mexico; and in four days the advanced division reached Ayotla, about fifteen miles from the city of the Montezumas. By this route, however, it was soon discovered that Mexico was inac- cessible ; a new road was therefore constructed to the south of that running direct from Vera Cruz ; and between the 15th and the 18th of the month, the army had rounded Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco, and reached San Augustin, on the Acapulco road, only eight miles distant from the object of its long journey.
As might have been supposed, the Mexicans made desperate efforts to defend their capital city. Scott captured El Molino del Rey, La Casa Mata, and on the 13th of September, the Fortress of Chapultepec, and on the 14th General Quitman advanced to the great square of the City of Mexico, and hoisted the American flag on the national palace, and about nine o'clock in the morning of the 14th, the Commander-in-Chief, attended by his brilliant staff, rode into the vast area in front of the vener- able cathedral and palace, amid the shouts of the exulting army, to whose triumphs his prudence and genius had so greatly con- tributed.
General Scott had now conquered a peace, and with it the cession not only of Texas, but of New Mexico and Upper Cali-
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fornia also, to the United States ; the payment, in consideration of this cession of territory, of $15,000,000 by the American Government, and of the claims of the citizens of the United States against the Government of Mexico to the extent of $3,250,000.
The treaty was immediately despatched to Washington, and ratified on the 10th of March, 1848, and by the Mexican Con- gress on the 30th of May ; and during the summer of 1848 our brave troops returned home. Peace was proclaimed by the President on the 4th of July, 1848.
The causes which led to the war with Mexico, and its glorious results and blessings to the country, may be summed up in a few words.
In April, 1833, a convention assembled at San Felippe, on the Brazos, in Texas, and declared the independence of that State or Province. Santa Anna, who had made himself Dictator in 1834, marched into Texas in the spring of 1835 in order to com- pel the submission of the inhabitants to his rule. In March, 1836, a number of delegates assembled at Washington, and a republican government was established, David G. Burnett being chosen first President. The victory at San Jacinto was gained by General Houston, April 21st, 1836, and application was made to be annexed to the United States. Houston was elected President of Texas. In consequence of the protest of the Mexican Minister at Washington, the question of annexation was postponed. In February, 1837, Congress, by resolution, recognized the independence of Texas, and established diplo- matic relations with it. At that time its population was about twenty thousand ; but from that date it rapidly increased.
General William Henry Harrison was inaugurated President on the 4th of March, 1841, and on the 6th of April of the same year he died, when the duties of the office devolved on John Tyler, the Vice-President.
Tyler's. administration was not a popular one, and being anxious to distinguish himself by something of moment to the country, he sought with eagerness to bring about the annexation of Texas ; and a treaty to this effect was arranged in April, 1844, between the Secretary of State and the commissioners on the part of the Republic of Texas.
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The Senate, however, rejected this treaty on the 8th of June, by a vote of thirty-five to sixteen. Mr. Benton immediately after the rejection of the treaty, introduced into the Senate a bill for the annexation of Texas, provided the consent of Mexico was first obtained.
The scheme of annexation was finally accomplished on the Ist of March, 1845, three days before the inauguration of James K. Polk, his successor.
On the 6th General Almonte, the Mexican Minister at Wash- ington, demanded his passports, and at the beginning of the following month the Mexican Government refused to hold any further communication with the United States Minister, on the ground that the annexation of Texas was an act of war against Mexico, and it was distinctly announced that the rights of Mexico would be maintained by force of arms. Matters re- mained in this state until the commencement of hostilities in 1846.
Captain Fremont on the 5th of July overthrew the Mexican authority in California, established an independent government there, and proclaimed it a Republic, with himself at the head of its affairs.
In reviewing the acquisition of new regions of country, which had been made during his administration, the President de- clared that they amounted to more than half as much as the entire territory of the United States at the time of his en- trance upon office; and it would be difficult to calculate these immense additions to the area of the country. He said this in part, because he had to announce the discovery of the incalculable gold mines of California,* and in part,
* The first discovery of gold was made (in digging for a saw-mill) in February, 1848, on the grounds of Captain Suter. The rumors of the finding of El Dorado, about which the early adventurers to the Western world had dreamed so frequently, immediately excited the attention of the whole com- munity, and from not only the older portions of the United States, but from almost every part of the world, the "gold diggings" were sought with an avidity and eagerness which the " auri sacra fames" of the poet can hardly adequately express ; within six weeks, during December, 1848, and January, 1849, more than a hundred vessels left the ports of the United States for California, and under the spur of excitement and making haste to get rich, a
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because it afforded so prodigious a field for the expansion of the population of the States, and gave to the Union so com- manding a position upon both the great oceans that extend to both the poles. And with a full sense of the lustre these events must shed upon his administration, the President said:
"The acquisition of California and New Mexico, the settle- ment of the Oregon boundary, and the annexation of Texas, extending to the Rio Grande, are results which combined are of greater consequence, and will add more to the strength and wealth of the nation than any which have preceded them since the adoption of the Constitution."
population was drawn to the Pacific coast with unexampled rapidity, and more various and extraordinary than had ever before gathered together in one region of country .- Spencer's History of the United States, Vol. III., page 458.
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CHAPTER XXXVII.
1820-1869.
Causes which led to the Rebellion of 1861-First companies in the field-First Regiments three months' Militia-Early arrival of New Jersey troops at the Capital-First Regiments three years' Volunteers-Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Regiments-Hexamer and Beam's Batteries.
F ROM the time of the admission of Missouri into the Union in 1820, and the agitation of the slave question upon its admission, an irrepressible contest existed until the question was finally settled by the proclamation of President Lincoln, for the emancipation of those held in slavery, to take effect on the first day of January, 1863.
This institution, peculiar to the South, together with the tariff question, upon which there were conflicting interests between the two sections, North and South, were the exciting causes of the late rebellion. The North were opposed to slavery, the South in its favor. The North wanted a high protective tariff to protect their extensive manufacturing interests; the South and West considered their agricultural interests injured by the tariff.
J. T. Headley, in his History of the Great Rebellion, speaking of the exciting cause of the Rebellion, says : " Our government is of a mixed character, and hence (the war) in some respects, unlike all others that have preceded it ; but like all civil wars in republics, it sprung from a faction who sought only political power. Those make a great mistake who suppose it grew out of a desire merely to perpetuate slavery. Slavery was used as a means to an end-a bugbear to frighten the timid into obedience and a rallying cry for the ignorant, deluded masses. The accursed lust of power lay at the bottom of it.
" The whole question may be stated thus : Southern politicians saw in the rapid increase of the free States, both in number and population, and the deep hostility to the admission of any more
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slave States, that the power they had so long wielded in the government would be broken.
"The only course left them was to set up an independent government. Though they might be weak at first, slave States could be added as circumstances should determine. To effect their purpose they would seize on the tariff, or slavery, or anything else that would unite the South. Calhoun tried the former and f. iled; they the latter, and succeeded. Thus it will be seen that the perpetuity and extension of slavery is a necessary consequence of the present (late) rebellion if successful; not its first cause-just as free trade would have followed the attempt of Calhoun to take the South out of the Union, had it succeeded.
"The great moving cause was the desire of power, slavery the platform on which they worked their diabolical machinery."
Hon. Edward Everett, in an address delivered at the Academy of Music, New York, July 4th, 1861, says :
" But the great complaint of the South, and that which is admitted to be the immediate occasion of the present revolt, is the alleged interference of the North in the Southern institution of slavery; a subject on which the sensibilities of the two sections have been so deeply and fearfully stirred, that it is nearly impossible to speak words of impartial truth.
"The Southern theory assumes that, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, the same antagonism prevailed as now between the North and South, on the general subject of slavery ; that although it existed to some extent in all the States but one of the Union, it was a feeble and declining interest at the North, and mainly seated at the South; that the soil and climate at the North were soon found to be unpropitious to slave labor, while the reverse was the case at the South; that the Northern States, in consequence, having, from interested motives, abolished slavery, sold their slaves to the South,* and that then, although the existence of slavery was recognized, and its protection guaranteed by the Constitution, as soon as the Northern States had acquired a controlling voice in Congress, a persistent and organized system of hostile measures, against
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