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 6
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"General .Washington's return of the killed, wounded, and missing was : killed, one Lieutenant-Colonel, Bonner, of Penn- sylvania, and one Major, Dickinson, of Virginia, both distin- guished officers, and much regretted ; three Captains, two Lieu- tenants, one Sergeant, and fifty-two rank and file. Wounded, two Colonels, eight Captains, four First-Lieutenants, two Second-Lieu- tenants, one Ensign, one Adjutant, eight Sergeants, one Drummer, and one hundred and twenty rank and file. Missing, five Sergeants, one hundred and twenty-six rank and file. Some of the missing dropped through fatigue and hardship, since come in. Artillery, killed, one First Lieutenant, seven Matrosses, one Bombadier. Wounded, one Matross. Six horses killed, and two wounded.
"Among the British killed, wounded, and missing, were Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. H. Monckton, Second Battalion Gren- adiers; one Captain, two Lieutenants, four Sergeants, fifty-six
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rank and file, killed; three Sergeants, and fifty-five rank and file died with fatigue ; one Colonel, one Lieutenant-Colonel, one Major, seven Captains, five Lieutenants, seven Sergeants, and one hundred and thirty-seven rank and file wounded ; seven Ser- geants, and sixty-one rank and file missing, of the British.
" Germans, one rank and file killed, eleven rank and file died with fatigue, eleven rank and file wounded, making a general total of one Lieutenant-Colonel, one Captain, two Lieutenants, and fifty-seven rank and file, killed ; three Sergeants and fifty- six rank and file died with fatigue ; one Colonel, one Lieutenant- Colonel, one Major, seven Captains, five Lieutenants, seven Ser- geants, and one hundred and forty-eight rank and file wounded ; seven Sergeants, and sixty-one rank and file missing.
"The names and rank of the British officers returned killed, wounded, and missing, were: Royal Artillery, Lieutenant Vaugn, killed ; First Grenadiers, Captain Gore, of the Fifth Company, killed ; Second Grenadiers, Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. H. Monckton, of the Fifth Company, killed (commanding the battalion); Lieutenant Kenedy, of the Forty-fourth Com- pany, killed ; First Grenadiers, Captain Cathcart, of the Fif- teenth Company, Captain Breton, of the Seventeenth Company, Captain Willis, of the Twenty-third Company, wounded ; Second Grenadiers, Major Gardner, of the Tenth Company, Captain Leighton, of the Forty-sixth Company, Captain Powell, of the Fifty-second Company, Lieutenant Gilchrist, of the Forty-second Company, Lieutenant Kelly, of the Forty- fourth Company, Lieutenant Paumier, of the Forty-fifth Com- pany, Lieutenant Goroffe, of the Fifty-second Company, wounded. Foot Guards, Colonel Trelawney, Captain Bellew, wounded. Fifteenth Regiment, Captain Ditmas (attached to the Second Grenadiers), wounded. Marines, Lieutenant Desbo- rough (attached to the Second Grenadiers), wounded. Queen's American Rangers, Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, wounded.
"Until midsummer the British lay at Philadelphia. While here, the British General, Sir William Howe, had been super- seded by Sir Henry Clinton. Intelligence that a French fleet had sailed to intercept the British army in the Delaware, led to the evacuation of Philadelphia. With eleven thousand men,
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Clinton marched from that city, crossing the Delaware on the 18th of June, 1778. His course was across New Jersey, and by way of Amboy, to reach New York. The aim of Washington was to thwart his progress, retard the march, destroy the enemy in detail, and if no opportunity offered for less perilous enter- prise, to bring on a general action. His force was nearly equal to that of the British, and he crossed into the Jerseys about the same moment. By the 22d of June the whole of the Americans were on the eastern bank of the Delaware, and in a condition and position to offer the enemy battle. But upon the policy of this proceeding much discussion ensued among the American Generals. Charles Lee, and most of the foreign officers-indeed, a majority of the board of war-were decidedly against fighting. Wayne and Cadwalader were as decidedly for the arbitrament of the sword, and their opinions were enforced by those of La- fayette, Greene, and Hamilton, who without urging battle at all hazards, were disposed to follow up the enemy closely, protect the country from his ravages, and seize upon whatever chances might seem to promise a favorable issue for bringing on the final encounter. Lee, whose faith in British valor was only surpassed by his utter want of faith in the steadiness of the Americans, was opposed to any risks, however partial, which might result in conflict. Fortunately Washington had been authorized by an express vote of Congress, which had been ascribed to the advice of Greene, to exercise his own discretion in regard to the deci- sions of his council. It was an advisory body only, whose opinions he might follow, or not, under the guidance of his own judgment. The opinions of Lafayette and Greene determined ยท his resolve against the suggestions of the majority. 'You wish me to fight,' said he ; and the orders soon followed which led to the battle of Monmouth.
"He had approached this place, following his enemy with a close but watchful step, when he came to the conclusion that the moment for action had arrived. Lafayette, meanwhile, had !en detached with a strong body of troops, instructed to hang upon the British rear, and, with discretion, to act, if circum- sances should encourage him to do so. Other detachments, riflemen and militia, were in advance of him and on his flanks.
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To protect his enormous baggage-train* from these parties, Clinton placed them under Knyphausen, with a very strong escort, while he united the rest of his force in the rear to check the too close approach of the parties by which it was threatened. The interval between the force of Knyphausen and that by which the rear was accompanied, suggested to Washington the idea of concentrating his assault upon the latter. It was ad- visable to hasten the attack accordingly before the enemy should reach the high grounds of Middletown, about twelve miles distant, where he would be measurably safe. A strong detachment, under Lee, was sent forward to join Lafayette with instructions to engage the enemy and keep him employed until the rest of the forces could be brought up. Lee, ranking La- fayette, took the command, upon the junction of their separate detachments. In pursuance of orders, he proceeded to engage the enemy, but not seemingly with any desire to bring on the action in earnest. A very short trial of strength found him in full retreat, exhibiting a degree of misconduct which the world esteems to have been wilful, and to have been prompted by that incendiary spirit, engendered in the cabal of Conway, f the object of which was to baffle the enterprises of Washington, lose him the confidence of the country and thrust him from the eminent position which he enjoyed. In this purpose, however, Lee only wrecked himself. He was already retiring from the field of Monmouth, when Greene, in command of the right wing, approached the scene of action. He had been ordered to a particular position in the rear of the enemy's left, but the change of circumstances which followed upon the hasty flight of Lee, forced upon him the necessity of using his own dis- cretion in the choice of another position; and here it was, according to the common opinion, that he rendered the most signal service in checking and repelling the pursuit of the British, which must otherwise have proved irresistible. Wash- ington, on first meeting with Lee in full retreat, indignantly
* Twelve miles long.
t This cabal was composed of Generals Thomas Conway, Gates and Mifflin, and Samuel Adams, and others in Congress, and was a direct and systematic attempt to ruin the reputation of Washington.
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reproached him with his conduct, and commanded him to face about and engage his pursuers at all hazards, while he brought up the main body of the army to his support. Aided by a sharp fire from the artillery of the first line, Lee was enabled to obey these orders. He turned about in good earnest, and, after a spirited but not prolonged conflict, he retired in good order from the field. It was during this conflict that Greene appeared with his column. A movement of the enemy which threatened Washington's right, caused him to order Greene to file off from the road to Monmouth, and while the residue of the army pushed directly forward to win his way into the wood in the rear of the Court-house He was already on his route, in obedience to his orders, when foreseeing, from the flight of Lee, that Washington must now be exposed to the whole weight of the enemy's attack, he suddenly resolved to adapt his own progress to the altered circumstances of the field. He did so, and took an advantageous position near the British left.
" This movement, as he had foreseen, diverted their attention from the fire of the American army to his own division. A most furious attack followed, but was encountered by a cool determination which showed the value of the winter discipline which the army had undergone at Valley Forge.
"The artillery of Greene's division was in charge of General Knox, and, well posted upon a commanding situation, poured in a most destructive fire upon the assailants. Seconded by the infantry, who steadily held their ground, and gave volley upon volley from their small arms, with equal rapidity of fire and excellence of aim, the advance of the enemy was checked. Repeated efforts of the British served only to renew their diMippointments and increase their losses. Their shattered battalions, which had been greatly thinned by the murderous volleys, were at length withdrawn from the field, and were frally driven back, under the united advance of Greene's and Wayne's infantry, with great loss, to the position which they f:st occupied when Lee began the attack. Reconnoitered in ta position with all their strength concentrated for its defence, Washington perceived the fruitlessness of any renewal of the auch. The American army retired accordingly, and slept
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upon their arms that night; Greene, like his commander, taking his repose without couch or pillow on the naked ground, and with no other shelter than a tree beneath the broad canopy of heaven. Nor was this shelter sought or this repose found, until the wounded had been placed in due keeping, and every soldier who had fought in his division had been solaced with the best food that the camp supplied. With the dawn of morning the enemy was gone. They had halted only long enough for a slight rest and refreshment, and then silently stole away with such rapidity as, when their retreat was made known, put them beyond the chances of pursuit. If the Americans did not win a victory at Monmouth, they acquired many advantages from the combat. Their conduct betrayed the effects of dis- cipline and service, showed large improvements in both respects, and led to larger hopes and expectations from their continued exercise. Lee's disobedience of orders, assuming a discretion which the result did not justify, was probably the true reason why a complete victory had not been obtained; yet, if Lee lost the victory by his disobedience, it is quite as certain that Greene's departure from orders insured the final safety of the army, after the first disaster had endangered it. His quickness, the excellence of his judgment in the choice of a new position in the moment of exigency, and the firmness with which he maintained it, greatly contributed to raise his reputation.
"The cloud of war continued to pass to the northward. Clinton reached New York in security, while Washington in- clined to the left, in order to defend the Jerseys and secure the passes of the Highlands. The American forces were now in a condition to attempt offensive operations. Their conduct . at Monmouth had inspirited the hopes of the people, and the arrival of a French fleet under Count d'Estaign, which was decidedly superior to that of the British, encouraged them to the boldest enterprises. An attack of the combined troops of France and America was planned against the British forces in Rhode Island."*
As soon as Washington heard of the arrival of the French
* Life of General Greene, by William Gilmore Sims, page 67.
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fleet he detached General Sullivan to Rhode Island, and La- fayette was sent with a reinforcement to join Sullivan. Greene soon followed Lafayette.
"When Washington had marched about five miles to support the force in advance at Monmouth, he found the whole of it, five thousand in number, retreating by Lee's orders, and with- out having made any opposition of consequence. Shocked and astounded, Washington rode up to Lee and demanded what all this meant. Lee answered with warmth, and unsuitable lan- guage."*
Lafayette, speaking of this battle, says: "Never was General Washington greater in war than in this action. His presence stopped the retreat. His dispositions fixed the victory. His fine appearance on horseback, his calm courage, roused by the animation produced by the vexation of the morning, gave him the air best calculated to excite enthusiasm."
On the ninth day after the battle Congress unanimously re- solved " that their thanks be given to General Washington for the activity with which he marched from the camp at Valley Forge in pursuit of the enemy ; for his distinguished exertions in forming the line of battle ; and for his great good conduct in leading on the attack and gaining the important victory of Mon- mouth, over the British grand army under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton, in their march from Philadelphia to New York."
It is probable that General Washington intended to take no further notice of Lee's conduct on the field of battle; but the latter could not brook the expressions used by the Commander- in-Chief at their first meeting, and wrote him two passionate letters. This led to his being tried by a court-martial at his own request. The charges exhibited against him were : First. For disobeying orders in not attacking the enemy on the 28th of June agreeably to repeated instructions. Secondly. For mis- behavior before the enemy on the same day, by making an un- necessary, disorderly, and shameful retreat. Thirdly. For disrespect to the Commander-in-Chief in two letters. t
* Irving's Life of Washington, Vol III., page 428.
+ Chief-Justice Marshall, speaking in Lee's defence before the Court, says :
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After a tedious hearing before the Court, of which Lord Stir- ling was president, Lee was found guilty, and sentenced to be suspended from any command in the armies of the United States for the term of one year; but the second charge was softened by the Court, which found him guilty of misbehavior before the enemy by making an unnecessary, and in some few instances, a disorderly retreat.
Congress, after some hesitation, approved the sentence of the Court, and Lee, deeply chagrined, left the army never to join it again. He finished his career in Philadelphia, October 2d, 1782; a career marked as much by folly and impiety, as by ability and superior military knowledge .*
'As the army approached within a few rods of where the British were stationed near a barn, Wayne ordered his men to pick out the officers, upon which they poured in a deadly fire, when almost every British officer fell, among whom was their leader, the gallant Colonel Monckton. The spot where he was killed is marked to this day by an oak stump in the ploughed field about eight rods northeast of the old parsonage. A des- perate hand-to-hand struggle then occurred for the possession of
" He suggested a variety of reasons in justification of his retreat, which, if they do not absolutely establish its propricty, give it so questionable a form as to render it probable that a public examination never would have taken place could his proud spirit have stooped to offer explanation, instead of outrage, to the Commander-in-Chief."
* Mr. Sparks, in a note, mentions a curious incident in the life of General Lee. By order of Congress, while the army was at Valley Forge, Washington was directed to administer the oath of allegiance to the general officers. The Major-Generals stood round Washington, and took hold of a Bible, according to the usual custom; but Lee, just as the oath was about to be administered, withdrew his hand deliberately twice in succession. The action was singular and remarkable, causing a smile from the other officers. On Washington's inquiring the meaning of his conduct, Lee remarked, " As to King George, I am ready enough to absolve myself from all allegiance to him, but I have some scruples about the Prince of Wales." This odd reply caused a laugh, and for a time interrupted the ceremony. It was, however, resumed, and Lee took the oath with the rest. The subsequent conduct of Lee at Monmouth, gave rise to a suspicion as to the patriotism of the officer next in rank to Washington; probably, however, the whole matter was only an illustration of Lee's well-known eccentricities .- Spencer's United States, page 15.
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his body, in which the Americans finally succeeded, and the grenadiers were driven back and did not, it is believed, again advance beyond the fence.
" During the action Morgan lay with his corps at Richmond's (now Shumar's) mills, three miles south of the Court-house, where he had for guides Colonel Joseph Haight, Tunis and Samuel Forman. For some unknown reason he did not partici- pate in the events of the day. He was waiting for orders in an agony of indecision, walking to and fro for hours within sound of the conflict, uncertain what course to pursue. Had he received directions to attack the enemy in the rear with his fresh troops, when exhausted by fatigue and heat, their whole army might have been taken.
"Comparatively few of the Americans were killed on the west side of the brook ; those in the vicinity of the barn suffered severely. A most desperate part of the conflict was in the vicinity of where Monckton fell. There the British grenadiers lay in heaps like sheaves on a harvest field. The British dragged the corpses by the heels to shallow pits dug for the purpose, and slightly covered with earth, and as many as thirteen were buried in one hole.
"The day was unusually hot, even for the season, and both armies suffered severely ; the British more than the Americans, because in their woolen uniforms, and burdened with their knap- sacks and accoutrements, while the latter were divested of their packs and superfluous clothing.
" The tongues of great numbers were so swollen as to render them incapable of speaking. Many of both armies perished solely from heat, and after the battle were seen dead upon the field without mark or wound, under trees and beside the rivulet where they had crawled for shade and water. The countenances of the dead became so blackened as to render it impossible to recognize individuals. Several houses in Freehold were filled with the wounded of the enemy left on their retreat in care of their surgeons and nurses. Every room in the Court-house was filled. They lay on the floor on straw, and the supplications of the wounded and the moans of the dying presented a scene of
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woe. As fast as they died their corpses were promiscuously thrown into a pit and slightly covered with earth .*
"One Molly Pitcher, or as she was called, Captain Molly, rendered essential service to the Americans in the battle. - She was of masculine mould, and dressed in a mongrel suit, with the petticoats of her own sex, and an artilleryman's coat, cocked hat and feathers. The anecdote usually related of her is as follows: Before the armies engaged in general action, two of the advanced batteries commenced a severe fire against each other. As the heat was excessive, Molly, who was the wife of a cannonier, constantly ran to bring her husband water from a neighboring spring. While passing to his post she saw him fall, and on hastening to his assistance, found him dead. At the same moment she heard an officer order the cannon to be re- moved from its place, complaining that he could not fill his post with as brave a man as had been killed. 'No,' said the intrepid Molly, fixing her eyes upon the officer, 'the cannon shall not be removed for the want of some one to serve it ; since my brave husband is no more, I will use my utmost exertions to avenge his death.' The activity and courage with which she performed the office of cannonier during the action, attracted the attention of all who witnessed it, and finally of Washington himself. She wore an epaulette, and was ever after called Captain Molly.t
Lossing, in his "Field-Book of the Revolution," thus men- tions Molly Pitcher : "She was a sturdy young camp-follower, only twenty-two years of age, and in devotion to her husband, who was a cannonier, she illustrated the character of her countrywomen of the Emerald Isle. In the action (battle of Monmouth) while her husband was managing one of the field- pieces, she constantly brought him water from a spring near by. A shot from the enemy killed him at his post; and the officer in command, having no one competent to fill the place, ordered the piece to be withdrawn. Molly saw her husband fall as she came from the spring, and also heard the order. She dropped her bucket, seized the rammer and vowed that she would fill the
* New Jersey Historical Collections, pages 341, 342.
New Jersey Historical Collections, page 342.
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place of her husband at the gun and avenge his death. She performed the duty with a skill and courage which attracted the attention of all who saw her. On the following morning, cov- ered with dirt and blood, General Greene presented her to General Washington, who, admiring her bravery, conferred upon her the commission of Sergeant. By his recommendation her name was placed upon the list of half-pay officers for life. She left the army soon after the battle of Monmouth, and died near Fort Montgomery, among the Hudson Highlands. She usually went by the name of Captain Molly. The venerable widow of General Hamilton, who died in 1854, told me she had often seen Captain Molly. She described her as a stout, red-haired, freckled-faced young Irish woman, with a handsome piercing eye. The French officers, charmed by the story of her bravery, made her many presents. She would sometimes pass along the French lines with her cocked hat and get it almost filled with crowns."
The same writer visited the locality of Forts Montgomery and Clinton on the Hudson, where Molly Pitcher ended her days, and there found old residents who "remembered the famous Irish woman called Captain Molly, the wife of a can- nonier who worked a field-piece at the battle of Monmouth on the death of her husband. She generally dressed in the petticoats of her sex, with an artilleryman's coat over. She was in Fort Clinton with her husband when it was attacked in 1777. When the Americans retreated from the fort, as the enemy scaled the ramparts, her husband dropped his match and fled ; Molly caught it up, touched off the piece and then scampered off. It was the last gun the Americans fired in the fort. Mrs. Rose remembered her as Dirty Kate, living between Fort Montgomery and Buttermilk Falls, at the close of the war, where she died a horrible death from syphilitic disease. Wash- ington had honored her with a Lieutenant's commission for her bravery in the field of Monmouth, nearly nine months after the battle, when reviewing its events."
Near the battle-field of Monmouth stands the First Presby- terian Church of Freehold, erected in 1752, one hundred and twenty-five years ago. It is yet occupied and in good preserva-
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tion. The writer visited this church a few years ago, and saw in the clapboards covering the ceiling, quite a number of bullet holes, mementoes of the battle. In this church, Whitefield, Daniel Brainard, and the two Tennents, have poured forth their eloquence.
At the time of the battle, a person, while sitting on a grave- stone in the yard, was mortally wounded by a cannon ball. He was carried into the church and there died. His blood stained the floor, which remains perfectly visible to the present day, a melancholy memento, in this house of God, of those dark and troublous times. Colonel Monckton lies buried within six feet of the west end of the church. He was a gallant officer, and of splendid personal appearance.
"Superadded to the other horrors of the Revolutionary war in this region, the pines were infested with numerous robbers, who had caves burrowed in the sides of the sand hills, near the margin of swamps, in the most secluded situation, which were covered with brush so as to be indiscernible. At dead of night these miscreants would sally forth from their dens to plunder, burn, and murder. The inhabitants, in constant terror, were obliged for safety to carry their muskets with them into the fields, and even to the house of worship. At length, so numer- ous and audacious had they become, that the State Government offered large rewards for their destruction, and they were hunted and shot like wild beasts, until the close of the war, when they were almost entirely extirpated.
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