USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The history of Newark, New Jersey : being a narrative of its rise and progress, from the settlement in May, 1666, by emigrants from Connecticut to the present time, including a sketch of the press of Newark, from 1791 to 1878 > Part 10
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90
DR. WILLIAM BURNET AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
the pleasures of a delightful home-life. After establishing a military hospital in Newark, he became Surgeon-General of the American army, and was stationed at West Point at the time of the discovery of Benedict Arnold's treasonable compact with Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander. It is also related, on good authority, that when the news of Major Andre's capture at Tarrytown was brought to the Point, the doctor sat at table while Arnold read the note from Lieutenant Colonel Jameson announcing the fact. Arnold preserved his countenance, but immediately excused himself and withdrew "to attend upon an urgent and important service." Very soon he was hurrying with all speed to the ship of refuge which lay at anchor in the Hudson, below the Point, and which, with singular appropriateness, happened to be named the " Vulture." The doctor's son, Major Ichabod Burnet, was an aid on General Greene's staff, and was selected to bear to André, after his conviction as a spy, the official announcement of his fate. He also attended the brave and handsome, but unfortunate British Adjutant-General upon his execution at Tappan. Dr. Burnet gave to his country, besides his services as a true and valued patriot, a posterity distinguished for its public and private worth. Jacob, one of his sons, settled in the North-Western territory when it had but 15,000 inhabitants, and when Cincinnati, where he made his home in 1796, contained but fifteen rough finished houses. Jacob served as a magistrate, a legislator, and, ultimately, as a United States Senator. Another son, David Burnet, achieved even greater distinction. After filling many important public trusts, he, finally, became the first President of the short-lived Republic, Texas, now a brilliant star in the constellation of American States. Dr. Burnet, himself, upon the close of the war, resumed his practice, likewise the pursuit of husbandry. He also filled the position of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and was President of the New Jersey State Medical Society. He died suddenly, in 1791, in his sixty-first year.
While it is true that the spirit of "the Sons of Liberty"-as Barré styled the youths of America who had, before the passage of the Stamp Act, shown a bold and determined front to tyranny- was abroad in Newark and had taken possession of the heads and hearts of a very considerable portion of the inhabitants, a due regard for truth requires it to be stated that, upon the actual outbreak of hostilities, and, later, upon the Declaration of Independ-
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WASHINGTON AND HIS ARMY IN NEWARK.
91
"THE TOWN'S MIND."-WASHINGTON IN NEWARK.
ence at Philadelphia, there developed itself in this town a by no means insignificant Tory or anti-Revolutionary spirit. Not alone were neighbors arrayed in bitter hostility against each other, but parents confronted children, and brothers, brothers. Division and discord drove apart more than one family. To the cause of the British King some of the townsfolk clung loyally, along with William Franklin, the illegitimate son of the illustrious printer- patriot and statesman, and the last of the royal governors of New Jersey. Others, the great majority, preferred their country to their trans-Atlantic King, and threw themselves with ardor into its cause. Indeed, ruled by " the Town's Mind," Newark was now, as from its foundation, a liberty-loving and tyranny-hating town.
On the evening of November 22d, 1776, just a little more than a month before his gloriously successful strategic movement on Trenton, Washington entered Newark with his retreating forces, some 3,500 strong. Pursued by the well equipped Cornwallis, hither the Commander-in-Chief came, saddened, but neither disheartened nor dismayed, despite the heavy misfortunes of the months preced- ing-the discomfiture at Long Island, in August; Kips Bay, in September ; White Plains, in October; and Fort Washington and Fort Lee in the middle of November. The shameful and humilia- ting cowardice of his troops at Kips Bay, the disastrous negligence of General Greene at Fort Lee, the jealousies and insubordinations of several of his officers, and the treachery of General Lee, constituted great drops in Washington's cup of sorrow; but, “his mind derived nourishment from adversity, and grew more strong and serene and pure through affliction." Sweet, indeed, were the uses of adversity ; and well may it be said, having Washington in our mind's eye, that :
" The good are better made by ill, As odors crushed are sweeter still."
It was well on towards night when the Americans crossed the Passaic at Aquackanonck, and moved down to Newark. Following slowly in pursuit came the British troops, with Earl Cornwallis at their head. Here Washington and the patriot army remained five full days, from the evening of the twenty-second until the morning of the twenty-eighth. ] Illustrative of the difficulty of obtaining original matter for this work, is the fact that careful and diligent research among ancient books and papers, in addition to extended
92
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS HERE.
inquiry among old and well-informed descendants of Newark patriots, failed to discover positively where it was that the central military figure of the Revolution established his headquarters during his stay in Newark-where it was that he held his councils, at whose table he ate or under whose roof he slept. One popular fallacy is, that the old stone house which lately stood on Washington street, near Court, and which was built by the Coe family, was the place. The delusion is dispelled by the simple fact that the house was not built until 1782-six years after Washington stayed here. It has been stated, also, that the General stopped at the Gouverneur Mansion, situated back from Mount Pleasant avenue, and facing Gouverneur street-the even yet picturesquely located house, immortalized as "Cockloft Hall," by Washington Irving, William Irving and James K. Paulding; likewise that he was the guest of the family of one of his officers, Captain Huntington, whose home was the house still standing on the south-east corner of Broad street and Eighth avenue. Possibly tradition is correct that both places were honored, at one time or another, with the presence of General Washington ; but, at the particular time in question, November, 1776, it is very unlikely that Washington, who was nothing if not cautious in the matter of providing against military surprises, would establish his headquarters in the upper portion of the town, com- paratively close to where the pursuing enemy might appear at any moment. The burden of probability, if not of proof, points to the old Eagle Tavern as the Washington headquarters in Newark. This hostelry occupied a site fronting on Broad street, and stood back on ground a little north of where the City Hall now stands. It was a large, rough stone two story house, with wooden outbuildings. On its sign was perched, within the recollection of old people, the national bird of freedom. Within the memory of many persons still living it was known and spoken of generally as "The Wash- ington Headquarters." After undergoing various changes, and serving at one time as a temporary Court House, it was torn down to give place to the City Hotel-the present City Hall. Strong color to the likelihood of this place having been what it was called, is the fact of its contiguity to the Macwhorter parsonage, and to the residence of Dr. William Burnet, President of the Town Committee of Safety, which stood on Broad street, near the north corner of Chestnut street. It is probable that while leaving his
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93
THE PRESBYTERIAN PATRIOT-PASTOR.
staff and military trappings at the tavern, Washington sojourned while here with his near and dear friend and compatriot, Alexander Macwhorter.
Unlike his Episcopalian brother, Rev. Mr. Browne, the Presby- terian pastor had not only warmly espoused the American cause, but had become a temporal as well as spiritual advisor of General Washington's. Dr. Macwhorter was one of those clergymen whose course gave cause for the undoubtedly truthful remark that " black coats were nearly as offensive to the British, as were the red-coats to the inhabitants." It is stated that upon the retreat of the patriot army from Newark, Macwhorter either accompanied it or followed soon after, proceeding to the American encampment on the Pennsylvania shore, opposite Trenton, in company with Rev. Mr. Vanarsdale, pastor of the Springfield Presbyterian Church. It is also stated that the Newark " black coat " was present upon the invitation of Washington, and assisted at the council which decided upon the memorable crossing of the Delaware, and the attack on Trenton. Previous to this, as early as 1775, Congress appointed the doctor its agent to visit his old district in North Carolina, with a view to bringing over the enemies of the Revolution to the Ameri- can interest; a mission in which he failed, as he himself had predicted to Franklin. At the time the British entered the town, his parsonage was rifled, and books and papers of value, including the old First Church records, were destroyed. Subsequently Dr. Macwhorter yielded to the solicitations of the gallant General Henry Knox, and accepted the chaplaincy of his brigade, which lay with the main army, at White Plains. In this service he continued, having Washington frequently as an auditor, and being sometimes the guest of that great man, until a severe domestic affliction summoned him to his home in Newark. Mrs. Macwhorter was almost killed by a stroke of lightning. Additional evidence of the deep interest this pastor-patriot took in the cause of his country, is furnished in the following extract from the ' Minutes of the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey"-proceedings of January 16th, 1778, there being present the famous Governor William Livingston, Colonels Fleming and Drake, and Messrs. Condict and Linn :
" A letter from the Rev. Mr. Macwhorter respecting the New Modelling of the Militia, was laid before the Board, Whereupon Agreed,
That the plan contained in the above letter be laid before and recommended by this Board to the Legislature at their next sitting."
94 WASHINGTON LEAVES AND CORNWALLIS ENTERS NEWARK.
The Newark Town Records, too, state that at a town meeting held March 9th, 1779, Joseph Riggs being Moderator, and Aaron Ogden Clerk, it was
"Voted that the Rev. Alexander Macwhorter, Mr. Chapman, Josiah Hornblower, Joseph Riggs and Lewis Ogden be a Committee to give such instructions to our Legislatures in this County from time to time as Occasion may require."
On the morning of the 28th of November, the sixth day after his entry, Washington departed from Newark on the retreat southward. Just as the American troops moved out, the advance guard of Cornwallis moved in from the north. Here, probably, the British troops tarried until the morning of December Ist, when they resumed the pursuit, and came within firing distance of the rear guards of Washington as the guards crossed the Raritan River at New Brunswick, destroying part of the bridge as they passed over. Cornwallis left in Newark a strong guard which remained till after the battle of Trenton. Meanwhile, from New York the British officers were writing to their friends in England : "Lord Cornwallis is carrying all before him in the Jerseys; it is impossible but that peace must soon be the consequence of our success." Nor were these military correspondents reckoning altogether without their host. Cornwallis was indeed carrying all before him. Not only was he forcing to flight the ill-fed, ill-clad, ill-accoutred and in every way scantily provided troops of Washington,-who while here in New- ark, had appealed in vain to Congress at Philadelphia, and to the State Legislature at Burlington, for stores and reinforcements,- but he was infusing new spirit into the Tory or Royalist element of the inhabitants, and driving to the verge of despair those noble men . and women who preferred the scant meal of herbs where freedom was, rather than the stalled ox-feast secured by slavish subserviency to a tyrannous power, and the renunciation of the inalienable rights of free-born people Bancroft declares that at this time the appeal of Governor Livingston to the colonels of the New Jersey State Militia, "could not bring into the field one full company," and that "the men of New Jersey, instead of turning out to defend their country, made their submission as fast as they could" to the brothers Howe, Lord and Sir William, who had published a new proclamation of pardon and amnesty to all who would within sixty days promise not to take up arms in opposition to the King. What wonder if large numbers of the masses signed away their birth-
95
"COUNCIL OF SAFETY " PROCEEDINGS.
rights for anticipated royal clemency, when examples were set by leaders like Samuel Tucker, who had been President of the Conven- tion which formed the first Constitution of the State, Chairman of its Committee of Safety, Treasurer, and Judge of the Supreme Court, but who, nevertheless, signed the pledge of fidelity to the British. In this connection, the following records, collated from the "Minutes of the New Jersey Council of Safety," are interesting, not only as furnishing valuable general information relating to the Revolutionary period, but as affording insight into local characteristics and occurrences :
(From proceedings of June 24th, 1777.)
Agreed, That Major Hayes or the Commanding Officer of the Militia stationed at Newark be ordered to remove from the County of Essex to the South side of Hackensack River in Bergen County in order to go into the Enemy's lines :--
The following Women, (with their children) being the Wives & children of persons, lately residing within this State who have gone over to the Enemy, to wit : Mary Longworth, Cath- arinc Longworth, Elizabeth Wheeler, Phoebe Banks, Mary Wood, Hannah Ward, Elizabeth Betty & Anne Clark, and make return thereof to the Governor and Council of Safety.
Agrecd, that Joseph Hedden Jun' Esq be appointed a Commissioner for the County of Essex for signing and inventorying the Estates & Effects of persons gone over to the Enemy, &c., in the room of Isaac Dodd who refuses to act.
Ordered that Isaac Ogden now in the Gaol of Morris County be removed for trial to the County of Essex in which he resides.
(From proceedings of June 30th, 1777.)
Pursuant to order, Major Haycs made Return of the Removal of the following Persons into the Enemy's lines ; to wit : Catharine Longworth, Mary Longworth, Elizabeth Batey, Hannah Ward & Mary Wood ; that Phoebe Banks had gone to New York by the Way of Hackensack, before the Order of Removal reached his Hands; and that Elizabeth Wheeler was in such Circumstances that it was judged her Removal would Endanger her Life.
(From proceedings of July 2d, 1777.)
Whereas Peter Dubois, John Robinson, Eliphelet Johnson, Thomas Cadmus Jr & James Nuttman, Stand Committed in the Common Gaol at New Ark, in the County of Essex, for the space of Six Months, by the order and Judgment of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the said county, for refusing to take the Oaths of Abjuration & Allegiance agreeably to Law, and whereas John McGinness and John Haveris were by order of the Same Court imprisoned for nine Months on being duly convicted of a Misdemesnor for attempting to go over to the Enemy ; & whereas Isaac Ogden, George Watts, & John Edison, are committed to the Gaol aforesd charged with High Treason ; and Also, whereas, Aaron Kingsland, Morris Hetfield, & Baker Hendricks are confined the first in the Gaol afsd, and the two latter in the Gaol at Elizabeth Town, being charged with Felony for uttering & passing Bills of Credit, Knowing them to be counterfeited, and altered ; And it being represented to this Board, that the vicinity of Newark & Elizabeth Town to Staten Island, and other places in possession of the Enemy, and the exposure to Incursions, render it necessary that the persons above named, should be removed to some more distant & secure place in the State,-The Board having taken the premises under consideration, do resolve & agree, that the Persons afsd be confined in the Common Gaol at Morristown, and that orders of removal be immediately made out & executed.
96
TIIE GAOLS IN MORRIS AND ESSEX COUNTIES.
(From proccedings of July 21st, 1777.)
The petition of Isaac Ogden, George Walts; and Aaron Kingsland was read, setting forth That they were removed from the Gaol of Essex to that of Morris by order of this Board; That from the difficulty of getting their provisions dressed, from the Stench & filth of the Gaol, the unhealthy state of the air of the town of Morris, and the prevalance of the Bloody Flux, and Camp Fever in said town, their lives are in great danger, and praying that they may be speedily tried for the Crimes of which they stand charged, and in the meantime that they may be remanded to the Gaol of Essex.
Agreed that Isaac Ogden, George Walts, and Aaron Kingsland be remanded to their former place of Imprisonment in the Gaol of Essex ; they bearing the expense of such removal.
(From proceedings of July 30th, 1777.)
Abraham Ogden presented a petition, to the Council, signed by Nicholas Hoffman, Abraham Ogden & Samuel Ogden, setting forth : That David Ogden Esq late of Newark, who on the 5th day of Jany went over to Jamaica on Long Island to recover his health, so far as to be able to return home; " Praying that the Sale of the personal Estate of the said David Ogden should "be deferred until the health of the said David Ogden will permit him to return to the State of .
"New Jersey, when by complying with the terms of the Act of Grace or such others as shall "then be thought proper, he may entitle himself to the protection & confidence of the Govt of "New Jersey."
The Council taking the above petition into consideration are of opinion that they cannot grant the prayer thereof without suspending the operations of An Act of the Legislature, which has made no such exceptions, but that if the said David Ogden can produce sufficient reasons why his present Estate though disposed of agreeable to Law, should be restored to him, Appli- cation for that purpose must be made to the Legislature of the State, in whom alone is vested the power of relieving him.
(From proceedings of September 12th, 1777.)
Whercas John Ogden, Smith Hetfield & John Willis of Essex County have gone over to the Enemy & left their families behind them
Agreed that Col. F. Frelinghuysen cause the wives of the said John Ogden, Smith Hetfield & John Willis and such of their children as are under age to be removed within the Enemies lines, or some place within their possession.
(From proceedings of January 20th, 1778.)
His Excellency was pleased to lay before the Board for their opinion therein, a letter from Co1 Seely, setting forth that some Tea & Sugar was sent to Mrs Boudinot from her friends at New York, and begging his direction in the premises.
Agreed That the said Tea & Sugar be delivered to Mrs Boudinot.
During that memorable European conflict, the end of which virtually eclipsed forever that dazzling French military meteor, the great Napoleon, little Belgium was the chief battle ground. Some forty years before Waterloo was fought, "little Jersey " was the Belgium of the Anglo-American conflict. Saying nothing of the battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth, here for seven long years was carried on no end of distressing and devastating skirmish- ing and foraging. No section of the State suffered more from the terrible ravages of war than Newark and its neighboring communities. Here was the Belgium within the Belgium. Indeed, the country in
97
BRITISH SOLDIERS IN NEWARK-JOSEPH HEDDEN.
this vicinity fared infinitely worse than the vicinages of any of the noted battle-grounds. When the war broke out, Newark and Elizabeth were flourishing places, the homes of thrifty and even wealthy families. The numerous farms were well stocked with horses, cattle, poultry and garden produce. To the troops of King George stationed in New York, where was there a more inviting and convenient raiding and foraging ground than this section? That they appreciated its excellence in this respect, is abundantly susceptible of proof. Nor was it alone the British troops who paid wolfish attentions hereabouts. Thieves and plunderers, in the garb of the scarlet-coated soldiery, vied with the latter in lawless diablerie. The outrages to which the inhabitants were subjected during the war have never been fully described. Indeed, the records are preserved of but very few examples. Among the noteworthy occurrences of the period, those giving a fair insight into the times, the manners, and the character of the men and women of the Revolutionary period, are the following :
The evening of January 25th, 1780, was marked in Newark and Elizabethtown by exhibitions of wanton cruelty and malevolence on the part of British soldiers. It was a bitter cold night, as may be judged from the fact that the North River was frozen solidly, so that a regiment of 500 red-coats, under command of Major Lumm, crossed over on the ice from New York to Jersey City-then called Paulus Hook-and marched out to Newark. On the same night there crossed over on the ice from Staten Island to Elizabethtown a smaller company of the enemy's troops, sent on the same errand-plunder and persecution. After committing all sorts of depredations, the least of which were robberies of barns and private dwellings, Lumm's party set fire to the Academy, a fine two-story stone build- ing located on the Upper Green, now Washington Park, close to Washington Place and Broad street. Meanwhile their colleagues conducted themselves similarly in Elizabeth, concluding their pro- ceedings by applying the torch to the First Presbyterian Church there. The flames of this memorable structure illuminated the hori- zon for miles around, and alarmed the Lumm soldiers, who, probably, mistook the fire for a movement of the Americans. At all events they beat a hasty retreat from Newark.
As they left the town, they vented their malignity on one of the most prominent patriots of the place, Justice Joseph Hedden, jr.
98
MRS. HEDDEN AND HER MARTYRED HUSBAND.
This gentleman came of a family noted for courage and firmness. His father, Joseph Hedden, senior, who lived to be ninety-six years of age, was wont to speak with pride of the fact that he had eight sons in the service of the country during the long battle for freedom. His son, Joseph, was a man of great nerve. By the proceedings of the State Council of Safety, already quoted, we find that Mr. Hedden was chosen "Commissioner for the County of Essex for signing and inventorying the Estates and Effects of persons gone over to the Enemy." He was chosen in place of Isaac Dodd, "who refuses to act." The position, as may readily be imagined, was one that demanded in its occupant absolute fearlessness and firmness. So well had Mr. Hedden fulfilled his duties, that he was pointed out by the persons who had "gone over to the enemy," as a New- arker worthy of the bitterest persecution. On the night of the twenty-fifth he happened to be at home-a rather rare family treat for an active patriot at the particular period we write of. As it was, but for illness Hedden would probably not have been home. His house stood on Broad street, near what is now Lombardy street, facing the "Upper Common," (Washington Park.) His married sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Roberts, lived on the other side of the "Common," about where the Second Presbyterian Church now stands. She saw the Academy ablaze, but no one dared attempt to quench the flames, even if a single bucket of water could have saved the building. Some one told her that the British were carrying off her brother. Over she ran, and entered the Hedden house by one door, as the soldiers were dragging her brother out by another. They had forced him from his sick-bed. Mrs. Hedden was in her. night-dress, which was stained with blood. It appears the soldiers- whether from sheer brutality, or eagerness to get on the retreat, will never be known-essayed to drag Mr. Hedden into the street with nothing but his night-clothes on. In her efforts to prevent this, and to get her husband properly clothed, Mrs. Hedden braved the bayonets of the cruel soldiers, and was severely but not danger- ously wounded in several places. Such was her noble anxiety for her husband, that she did not know she was wounded until her attention was drawn to her blood-stained garment by Mrs. Roberts. Meanwhile, the soldiers, with Mr. Hedden and other captives, started on the retreat, taking the route down what is now Centre street, and along River street to the old Ferry Road, (now the
99
THE FATHER OF A HOST.
Plank Road.) While passing the Bruen property-the same which now forms the junction of Market and Commerce streets-Eleazar Bruen is said to have passed to Mr. Hedden a blanket. The prisoner was marched, at the point of the bayonet, to Paulus Hook, and thence, across the ice, to New York, where he was thrown into the Sugar House. Here he was kept a considerable time. In consequence of his terrible exposure and hardships on the night of the ncursion, and of the cruel treatment he received in the Sugar House, Mr. Hedden's limbs mortified, and, when it was apparent that he could not live long, his friends were notified, and his brothers, David and Simon, were permitted to remove him to Newark. Hither he was brought and tenderly cared for, but to the effect only of softening his sufferings before death. He died on the twenty-seventh of September. His remains were interred in the old Burying Ground, but exactly where, a grateful and appreciative posterity has not yet taken pains to indicate. Upon Judge Hedden's grave-stone-the whereabouts or existence of which constitutes matter of conjecture-was cut the following inscription :
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