USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16
The American commander was now in a peril- ous position, from which nothing but a masterly and decisive movement could deliver him. To
15
170
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
[1777.
retreat across the Delaware was scarcely possi- ble, and to maintain his present ground would be to hazard the safety of his little army. He summoned a council of war. After some delibe- ration a daring scheme was planned to gain the enemy's rear, attack their forces still lingering at Trenton, and then destroy their baggage and stores at Brunswick.
Silently sending his own baggage down the river to Burlington, Washington hastened to put his plan into execution. To deceive the enemy as to his movement, fresh fuel was added to the camp-fires, and small parties were ordered to throw up intrenchments within hearing of their sentinels. These arrangements being completed, about midnight the army moved off by a circuit- ous route to Princeton. So noiselessly was the manœuvre executed that the enemy received no intimation of it until daybreak; while some of the American militia officers, having withdrawn to the rear to obtain an undisturbed sleep, were, on the following morning, totally ignorant of what had become of their comrades.
At Princeton three British regiments had pass- ed the night. Two of these were already on their march toward Trenton, when in the gray of the morning they encountered the American vanguard, composed of militia under the com- mand of General Mercer. A sharp action en- sued. The militia soon gave way, and while
171
SKIRMISH AT PRINCETON.
1777.] .
gallantly endeavouring to rally them, Mercer re- ceived a mortal wound. The check, however, was but momentary. Moving up rapidly with the main body, Washington, exposing himself to the full fire of the enemy, headed a fresh and erwhelming charge. The British were driven back, and the two marching regiments sepa- rated. The one in advance managed to regain the road to Trenton, and thus escaped ; the other fled hurriedly across the fields to Brunswick. Abandoning the pursuit, Washington pushed on to Princeton, where the third regiment had taken post in the college. At first they made some slight resistance, but the American artillery having been brought up, all further struggle was vain, and they yielded. A few, however, escaped by a precipitate flight to Brunswick.
The loss of the provincials in this spirited action was about one hundred men, including several gallant officers. One hundred of the enemy were slain, a large number wounded, and upward of three hundred made prisoners.
Scarcely was victory achieved when Wash- ington again found his situation one of extreme peril. His troops were exhausted by their night- march and the fatigues of battle. With the frozen sky of winter above them, many were barefooted, others destitute of blankets, and all thinly or imperfectly clad. Wholly unable to fight, retreat was barely possible. Yet Corn-
172
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777.
wallis was close upon them, with an army in every way superior. Hearing the roar of can- non at Princeton, he had immediately fathom- ed the intentions of the American chief. Anxiety for the safety of his baggage at once drew his attention to Brunswick. Breaking up his camp at Trenton, he pushed forward so rapidly that Washington but narrowly escaped his vigorous onset. Wisely abandoning his contemplated at- tack on Brunswick, the latter sought a less ex- posed situation, where his soldiers would be en- abled to find shelter and repose. The hilly country around Morristown offered many strong positions ; and, besides, a considerable force of regulars, and militia was there concentrated. Accordingly Washington directed his march to that place. Hastily constructing a number of rude huts, he there encamped for the winter, with the main body of the army; Putnam rest- ing with the right wing on Princeton, while Heath, in command of the left, took post in the fastnesses of the highlands. A continuous chain of cantonments kept open the communica- tion between these three points. Meanwhile Cornwallis went into winter quarters at Bruns- wick.
The triumphs at Trenton and Princeton fol- lowing one another so closely, and gained by an army that just before had seemed upon the point of breaking up, gave the highest confidence to
'1777.]
RAVAGES OF BRITISH TROOPS. 173
the American people, not only in the abilities of their commander, but also that their cause would be eventually successful. Nor was this feeling confined to the colonies. On the continent of Europe, Washington's masterly prudence received the highest commendation.
At home the hopes created as to the favour- able issue of the war were such as to wonder- fully revive the recruiting service, which had been previously attended with but unimportant success. Though the regiments called for were not filled up, still the organization of a new army proceeded with the fairest prospects.
But it was in New Jersey that public feeling had undergone the greatest and most favourable change, which, however, cannot be wholly at- tributed to the successes of Washington. Many of the people, doubtful or lukewarm as to the ultimate triumph of the patriots, had either re- mained at home, or accepted British protection. Yet neither their neutrality nor their protection had saved them from the ravages and plunder of the enemy, during their various marches through the state. Churches and other public buildings, as well as private residences, with all their furniture, were destroyed in the most wanton manner. Neither old age nor the weak- ness of womanhood protected from outrage. Children and infants, and gray-haired men and matrons, were stripped of their clothing, and
15*
.
174
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
[1777.
left to shiver in the cold of winter; while the violation of females, even of a tender age, added the last drop that caused the cup of their bitter- ness to overflow.
At once the country rose upon the invaders. The wanton outrages of the royal army effected that which the eloquence of Livingston, united with the entreaties of Washington, had all along been incapable of producing. The militia of New Jersey were aroused to shake off this apathy ; and from this period until the close of the anx- ious and weary struggle, no body of men ac- quired a more favourable reputation, or conduct- ed themselves with a greater degree of disciplined activity and spirit. Eagerly joining the parties sent out by Washington, or acting independently under their own leaders, they performed valu- able service in harassing the British outposts, and in breaking up the numerous bands of Tories that infested many portions of the state.
A few days subsequent to the fight at Prince- ton, Colonel Spencer, with some forty or fifty of the militia, surprised an equal number of Hessians near Springfield, and killed or captured the whole party. For his gallantry on this oc- casion, Spencer was rewarded with the command of a regular regiment.
About a fortnight afterward, General Dickin- son received information that some four hundred of the enemy were foraging in the neighbour-
175
ROUT OF A FORAGING PARTY.
1777.]
hood of Hillsborough. Collecting four hundred of the militia, to which were joined fifty Penn- sylvania riflemen, Dickinson hastened to cut the party off. They had just crossed the Mill- stone River, a stream uniting with the Raritan three miles below Hillsborough, when the Ameri- cans came up. The river was waist deep, and running rapidly; but the militia, heedless of the rushing waters, dashed forward with impetu- ous daring. Without unlimbering their cannon, of which they had three, the enemy fled pre- cipitately. So rapid was their flight, indeed, that the Americans could make but few prison- ers. Forty wagons, however, more than a hun- dred horses, and a numerous drove of cattle and sheep remained in their hands as the fruit of victory. The loss of the enemy could not be definitely ascertained, but they carried off many dead and wounded in their light wagons. That of the militia was trifling.
These brilliant though, perhaps, not very im- portant affairs, served to indicate the existence of a sturdier patriotism than the people of New Jersey had hitherto displayed. But, while gratified with such evidences of public spirit, Washington was pained to be compelled to issue a stern decree against " the infamous practice," common to both militia and regulars, "of plun- dering the inhabitants under the pretence of their being Tories."
176
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. F1776.
Another proclamation, as humane as it was politic, was, on the 25th of January, address- ed to those who had submitted to the British, or accepted their protection, requiring them, as the condition of a full pardon, to repair to the nearest general officer, surrender their protec- tion papers, and swear allegiance to the United States. They were, at the same time, discharg- ed from any obligations they might owe to the king.
Claiming that allegiance was due to the state, and not to the confederacy, one of the New Jersey congressmen objected to this proclama- tion on the ground that it infringed upon state rights. But Congress approved of it, and the legislature of the state presently passed an act framed in a similar spirit. Its results were speedy and cheering; people flocking in from all parts to submit to the authority of the con- federacy, and to engage in behalf of that great cause which had called it into existence.
Shortly after Washington had issued the pro- clamation alluded to, the assembly of New Jer- sey was again convened.
The first subject that pressed their attention was the passage of a new law to regulate the militia. Washington, through Governor Li- vingston, had repeatedly urged that " every man capable of bearing arms, should be obliged to turn out, and not be permitted to buy off his
177
COUNCIL OF SAFETY.
1776.]
services for a trifling sum," as was the case under the law then in operation. " We want men," said he, "not money." But the Quakers of West Jersey were numerous, and non-resist- ance was one of their most cherished doctrines. Believing that it would be useless, impolitic, and highly oppressive to attempt to force this class of persons to participate in measures directly at variance with the prime points of their religious creed, the assembly, in framing the new militia law, which they presently enacted, would modify this portion of it in no other way than by in- creasing the sum that was required to purchase exemption from military duty.
Prudent as the course of the assembly will now be regarded, the patriotic Livingston could not view it in a satisfactory light. But the keenness of his disappointment was afterward mitigated in some degree, by the ready concur- rence of both houses in his plan for a " Council of Safety," to consist of the governor and twelve of the representatives, with extraordinary pow- ers, to act during the recess of the legislature. This council was authorized to correspond with Congress and with other states, to perform the duties of justices of peace, to apprehend and imprison disaffected persons, and to call out such portions of the militia as they might deem ne- cessary to execute the laws.
Likewise, on the recommendation of Livings-
178
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
- [1776.
ton, another bill was presently passed, author- izing the confiscation of the personal .estates of all those who still adhered to the British interest ; yet allowing such persons a period of grace, in which, upon renewing their allegiance to the state, they might return and take possession of their property.
Many took advantage of this condition, and were restored to all their former rights and pri- vileges ; others, however, assembling in and around New York, endeavoured to make up for the loss of their estates by the fitting out of privateers, and by plundering expeditions into their old neighbourhoods. Nor did they stop with these. Deeply incensed against the more prominent patriots, they seized every opportunity to work them injury ; and, aided by secret friends, they were enabled to kidnap several of them, and carry them off to the prisons of New York. Re- taliation, of course, followed, with all the fierce- ness of a civil and partisan contest.
179
OPENING OF CAMPAIGN.
1777.]
CHAPTER XV.
Opening of the campaign of 1777-American stores at Peeks- kill destroyed-Skirmish at Boundbrook-Washington takes a strong position at Middlebrook-Howe's feint to draw him from his camp-Its ill success-Howe retreats to Amboy- Washington advances to Quibbletown-Howe returns to attack him-Is again foiled-Retires to Staten Island, and embarks for the southward-Perplexity of Washington in regard to his movements-Loyalists on Staten Island be- come troublesome-Sullivan's attempt against them-Howe lands at the head of Chesapeake Bay-Battle of Brandy- wine-Wayne surprised at Paoli-Howe enters Philadelphia -Clinton ravages East Jersey-Battle of Germantown- American successes at the north-Movements on the Dela- ware-American works at Byllinsport captured-Defences near the mouth of the Schuylkill-Donop assaults Red Bank and is repulsed-Re-election of Livingston-Dickin- son's attempt against the Staten Island Tories-Fort Mifflin evacuated and Red Bank abandoned-British in full pos- session of the Delaware-Skirmish near Gloucester Point- Washington goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge.
WASHINGTON had rested at Morristown nearly three months before the British began to give indications of activity. At length Howe open- ed the campaign in March, by sending a detach- ment of five hundred men to Peekskill, on the Hudson, where they succeeded in destroying a quantity of stores which the Americans had col- lected at that point.
At Boundbrook, in the neighbourhood of
180
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY. [1777.
Brunswick, a considerable American force had been posted to guard the upper valley of the Raritan. With the design of capturing this de- tachment, Cornwallis, on the 13th of April, sud- denly issued from his camp at Brunswick, with a large body of troops. The American guard not being sufficiently watchful, narrowly escaped a complete surprise. As it was, they lost twenty men, two pieces of artillery, and a small amount of baggage, before they could gain a safe position.
Washington was soon convinced that Burgoyne, who now commanded the British army in Cana- da, would attempt to force his way, by Lake Champlain and the Hudson, to New York. It was equally clear to him that Howe would en- deavour either to push up the North River or to capture Philadelphia. He therefore determined to make such a disposition of his forces that, by the different divisions being enabled to recipro- cally aid each other, any one of these expected movements might be counteracted. While St. Clair, with three thousand men, was left at Ti- conderoga, and Putnam, at the head of the east- ern levies, in the highlands, the commander-in- chief, with the main body of the army, scarcely eight thousand strong, shifted his camp to Mid- dlebrook, behind a range of commanding hills, about twelve miles from Princeton. His new position was one of great strength. From the
181
FEINT OF HOWE.
1777.]
heights in front a full view could be obtained of the country between Amboy and Brunswick, and he was thus enabled to observe all the important movements of the enemy in that quarter. A body of continentals and New Jersey militia, under General Sullivan, was stationed at Prince- ton. Arnold, in command at Philadelphia, was employed with Mifflin in preparing for its de- fence.
Hoping to draw Washington into a general engagement on ground more advantageous for himself, Lord Howe, on the 13th of June, march- ed out of Brunswick with a powerful army, ap- parently intending to force his way to Philadel- phia. Calling to his aid most of the. troops under Putnam, and ordering Sullivan to retire from Princeton to the more elevated and securer grounds of Rocky Hill, the American general drew up his army in order of battle on the heights fronting his camp, and kept a close watch upon the movements of the enemy. Meanwhile the militia had turned out in force, and with an alacrity they had not hitherto displayed.
Finding' his feint insufficient to draw Wash- ington from the impregnable position he occupied, and constantly harassed by small parties of the militia, Howe retreated with some precipitation to Amboy, whence he began to pass his troops over to Staten Island, from which, in accordance 16
182
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
[1777.
with his original design, he made preparations to proceed by sea to Philadelphia.
To cover the light parties that had been de- tached to annoy the retreat of Howe, Washing- ton moved with the main body of the army to Quibbletown; the van, under Stirling, having descended to the low grounds, yet a few miles nearer to the British. Howe immediately pre- pared to execute a skilful manœuvre to bring on a general engagement, in which, as the Ameri- cans were now situated, he was fully confident of obtaining a triumph.
Recalling the troops on Staten Island, he wheeled suddenly around, and made a rapid movement, in two columns, toward the heights and passes on the American left, which he thus hoped to turn. Happily Washington received early intelligence of the British advance. Pene- trating immediately the design of Howe, he fell rapidly back to his cherished position at Middle- brook. During this retrograde movement, Stir- ling encountered the right column of the enemy under Cornwallis. A spirited skirmish ensued, which resulted in the retreat of the Americans, with the loss of a few men and three field- pieces.
Baffled in his main design, and not choosing to attack Washington's present position, Howe withdrew to Amboy, and thence to Staten Island. Amboy, being thus abandoned, was immediately
183
INCURSIONS OF LOYALISTS.
1777.]
occupied by a division of the American army. On the 30th of June, leaving five thousand troops to hold New York, the British general embarked with sixteen thousand men for Phila- delphia.
Under the impression that Howe intended to push up the Hudson and co-operate with Bur- goyne, who was already in the neighbourhood of Ticonderoga, Washington marched leisurely toward the highlands ; but the British fleet pre- sently appearing off the capes of the Delaware, he retraced his steps through New Jersey and took post in the vicinity of Philadelphia.
Howe disappeared almost as soon as he was observed, nor was the fleet seen again until a month had nearly elapsed. Perplexed and anxious as to the final destination of the enemy, Washington remained at Philadelphia, indus- triously preparing for its defence.
Meanwhile the British troops left on Staten Island had rendered themselves highly obnoxious. About one thousand, or a third of their number, consisted of several loyalist or Tory regiments, which were stationed at various points on the coast nearest the Jersey shore. Thus posted, they made frequent incursions against the peo- ple of New Jersey, whom they plundered with- out the least scruple ; and, at length, in one of these marauding expeditions they carried off twelve of the most prominent patriots in that section
184
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
, - [1777.
of the state. A counter expedition, to capture the loyalist regiments, was immediately planned by Sullivan, who yet remained in New Jersey with his division.
With picked men from his own command, and a few Jersey militia under Colonel Frelinghuy- sen, numbering in all about one thousand, Sul- livan embarked for Staten Island, during the night of the twenty-first of August, and by dawn of the next day had succeeded in landing unperceived by the enemy. Two loyalist regi- ments were surprised, and many prisoners made ; but the alarm had been given, and a body of British regulars was hastening from another part of the island to intercept Sullivan's re- treat. In this they were partially successful. The American general had sent off his prisoners in a captured vessel. Discovering British uni- forms on the deck of this vessel, some of Sulli- van's boats took the alarm and fled. His re- embarkation was thus retarded so long that the rear-guard was attacked by the enemy, and, after an obstinate conflict, compelled to sur- render.
The total loss of the Americans in this affair vas one hundred and sixty-two. That of the British in killed and wounded could not be ob- tained, but the number of prisoners brought off , by Sullivan amounted to one hundred and forty- one, including eleven officers.
185
BATTLE OF BRANDYWINE.
1777.]
Sullivan had scarcely regained his camp when he received orders to join the main army. Having landed at the head of Chesapeake Bay, Howe was now marching rapidly toward Phila- delphia. Advancing to Wilmington, Washing- ton summoned the militia to his aid; but with all the reinforcements he received, the enemy was still superior, even in numbers.
At length, on the 11th of September, having retired behind the Brandywine, the American general there awaited the British army, sixteen thousand strong. His own effective force was but little more than eleven thousand men, many of whom were militia. In the battle that pre- sently ensued, the Americans unfortunately met with defeat. Nine days afterward Wayne. was surprised at Paoli ; and on the twenty-sixth of September, Lord Cornwallis, at the head of the British and Hessian grenadiers, entered Phila- delphia in triumph.
Meanwhile, retaliating Sullivan's attack on Staten Island, Sir Henry Clinton sallied out of New York with three thousand troops, and overran a considerable portion of the eastern section of New Jersey. Finding that the militia were as sembling, and threatened by a detachment of continentals, he at length returned to New York, having caused much annoyance and alarm, and plundered the inhabitants of their most valuable 16*
186
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
[1777.
live stock, with a loss of but eight men killed and sixteen wounded.
After the fall of Philadelphia, Washington encamped near the Schuylkill, about fourteen miles from Germantown, where the bulk of the British army was stationed. Here he awaited reinforcements. Dickinson and Livingston were busily engaged in arousing the New Jersey mi- litia. Having by his untiring exertions collected a force of nine hundred men, Dickinson was about to join the main army when he received intelligence of another threatened invasion from New York. Proceeding himself, with three hun- dred men, toward Elizabethtown, he directed the remainder, under General Forman, to cross the Delaware, and join Washington's camp.
Having received this and other additions to his force, Washington planned an attack on the ' British at Germantown. An attempt to execute this plan on the morning of the fourth of October, though begun with the brightest prospects of success, terminated in the most disastrous failure, with a loss on the part of the Americans of more than a thousand men.
As if to dispel the gloom occasioned by the defeat of Washington at Germantown, the most cheering intelligence presently arrived from the northern army.
Following up the capture of Ticonderoga, Burgoyne had moved on, gaining triumph after
1777.]
SUCCESSES AT THE NORTH.
187
-
triumph. Stark's success over Baum at Ben- nington, was the turning point in his career of victory. Its effect in reviving the drooping spirits of the Americans was truly magical. Rally- ing under the standard of Gates, they closed in from all sides upon the unfortunate Burgoyne. After the two battles of Behmus's Heights-the first resulting doubtfully, but the second in a de- cided American triumph-the British general endeavoured to effect his retreat to Fort Edward. His communications with that place being cut off, his provisions and supplies intercepted, and his fast-thinning army effectually hemmed in by a superior force, Burgoyne was compelled to surrender his whole army to Gates, on the 17th of October.
Meanwhile, after the battle of Germantown, Washington had retired to his old encampment on the Skippack. Though Philadelphia was lost, the Americans were yet in possession of the river below. They had fortified it with great pains. Howe's fleet was already in the lower Delaware, but safe communication with it from Philadelphia was next to an impossibility. The attention of both commanders was therefore almost wholly bestowed upon the Delaware; that of Howe to remove, and of Washington to maintain intact, the obstructions to its navi- gation.
The fleet having at length, with great difficulty,
188
HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY.
[1777.
reached Byllingsport, twelve miles below Camden, and captured the unfinished American works at that point, Howe concentrated his forces in the immediate neighbourhood of Philadelphia, pre- paratory to a vigorous assault on the remaining defences of the Delaware.
On a low island of mud and sand, just below the mouth of the Schuylkill, stood Fort Mifflin, held by Colonel Smith of the Maryland line. Opposite, on the Jersey shore, were the fortifica- tions of Red Bank, consisting of extensive outer works, within which was a boarded intrenchment, eight or nine feet high, protected by an abattis, and well provided with heavy artillery. Two Rhode Island regiments, under Greene, com- posed the garrison. In the channel between the two forts, large timbers, chained firmly together, and with iron-pointed projecting beams, had been sunk to obstruct the passage of the enemy's ships. There were, besides, in the river several small continental vessels, and a gun-boat battery belonging to Pennsylvania, all of which were under the direction of the brave and gallant Commodore Hazelwood. For the British fleet to reach Philadelphia, it was necessary to re- move these obstacles. Hoping that, if they could maintain their ground, Howe would be compelled to evacuate that city, the Americans prepared for a desperate and determined re- sistance.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.