USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Bethlehem > A history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1741-1892, with some account of its founders and their early activity in America > Part 53
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20 The memorial presented to the Continental Congress in behalf of John Bonn, Warden, by his attorney, Lewis Weiss, Esq., of Philadelphia, October 23, 1779, with the vouchers showing the items of expense, is yet in existence. The petition was read in Congress, October 26, and referred to the Board of Treasury and, November 6, it was passed over to the Chamber of Accounts, with directions to adjust the accounts and report. The petition draws attention to the fact that no claim for rent and no damages incurred by the 115 single men through the long stoppage of the various trades carried on in their house, was included in the accounts. These, as summarized, were the following : s.
J. C. Pyrlaeus, painting and glazing 188 15
d. 6
H. Gerstberger, mason work and whitewashing. 76 5
J. Y. Gebes, scraping and scavenging. 45
John Thomas, joiner work 21
George Schindler, carpenter work. 6
7 6 Anton Schmidt, locksmith work 9
Ludwig Huebener, potter, 8 new tile stoves 12
Total in Penna. currency, 358 8 0
The entire amount of war-claims known to have been presented by Bethlehem amounted to about £1750 Pa. The main items of other accounts were 17000 fence rails, 200 posts, 594} cords of fire-wood, 22 acres of buckwheat, some corn, hay, flax and other farm pro- ducts used by the army or destroyed. It would be interesting if the large sums paid out in militia fines and for substitutes could be definitely ascertained. They would be so much that these damages would seem a trifle by comparison.
1772-1778. 483
final cleansing of the house, after the repairs were finished, took place June 16 and 17. On June 27, the single men moved back into their house and, the next day, a service of thanksgiving and re-dedication was held. Then, gradually, the various trades were resumed and the building was restored to its former character, as nearly as the circumstances of the time permitted.
CHAPTER XIII.
THROUGH THE REVOLUTION TO ANOTHER RE-ORGANIZATION.
1778-1785.
The removal of the Continental Hospital in April, 1778, ended the period of greatest turmoil at Bethlehem. After that the village wit- nessed less of the parade as well as of the misery of war than during the preceding two years. Troops continued to pass through, from time to time, for several more years, but not in such large numbers, as before, and the danger of being overwhelmed by a turbulent in-rush gradually diminished. Once more a sensation was caused by rumors of an intended winter cantonment of troops in the vicinity and of another quartering of British prisoners of war upon the place, but neither of these things came to pass; and the theater of opera- tions did not again shift in such directions that there ever appeared any likelihood that the Forks of the Delaware might become a battle- field or be laid waste by the enemy in either a general advance or retreat.
Throughout the entire year 1778, however, Bethlehem continued to be frequently visited by persons conspicuous in the scenes of the time, both in military and civil office, and by distinguished foreigners, in official position as well as tourists and adventurers. Thus in Jan- uary, and again in May, General Gates and his wife spent a few days at the place, accompanied the second time by the famous Col. Ethan Allen, who had just returned from his English captivity and whose niece, Anna Allen, was subsequently a pupil in the boarding-school and died at Bethlehem in 1795. In January one of the visitors was the amiable and much-admired wife of General Green, whose two daughters were also placed in the Bethlehem school, in 1789. In February mention is made of the presence of General Thomas Con- way, notorious as the leader of the plot, with Gates and others, to displace General Washington at a time when the Congress was most discordant, demoralized and weak. General Edward Hand was also a visitor in that month and received the thanks of the Moravian
484
485
1778 -- 1785.
authorities for kind assistance given the missionaries in connection with their work in Ohio. Another guest at that time was the Ger- man General Frederick von Steuben, whose services were of much value to Washington. Besides these military officers, various promi- nent members of Congress and other men of importance enjoyed a sojourn of a few days at Bethlehem, from April to July. One of these was Chancellor Robert Livingstone, who on that occasion offered the Executive Board at Bethlehem five thousand acres of land to open a Moravian settlement on the Upper Delaware; a renewal of the former project in Ulster County, which had fallen through.
Others specially mentioned were Samuel Adams and John Han- cock again, and Governor Morris. With the name of the latter, gos- sip had associated a published address to the "Quakers and Bethle- hemites," says the diarist, and adds that this was the first time they had been publicly so styled and distinctly classed with the Tories. It would have enhanced the picturesque confusion of ideas about the Brethren if some romancer had given them that title after the hos- pital epoch opened at Bethlehem, and sprung the theory that now the problem of their origin and character had been solved in the supposition that they were an offshoot of the Franciscan Father deBethencourt's Hospital Order of the previous century, given that name with its insignia bearing a picture of the Nativity at Bethle- hem. It would have afforded a yet wider range for the imagination that has, produced so many wonderful modern stories about the Moravians. It would also have apparently vindicated the conclusion of those early north Hibernian settlers in the Forks, that they were Papists because they celebrated Christmas in a religious manner and even according to the new calendar. Such a theory about the "Beth- lehemites" would, moreover, have harmonized with that ideal of the Sisters' House of Bethlehem, under the erroneous impression that it was a convent, which, nearly forty years later, was put into beauti- ful verse by the beloved American poet Longfellow, while a youth of eighteen years, when his fancy was stirred by reading an incident associated with the presence in Bethlehem of another gallant foreign officer whose career in the American Revolution enters into the poetry of the sublime struggle, and around whose sojourn in the Moravian town a yet more romantic glamour has been cast than about that of LaFayette. On the afternoon of Maundy Thursday, April 16, in the spring of 1778, Count Casimir Pulaski came into the church where the congregation was assembled to hear the read-
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
ing of the second lesson of the day, the scene in Gethsemane. He was accompanied by "the well-known Col. Kobatsch." The latter is mentioned in the diary, January 24, as "a Prussian officer of Hussars who had long been living in retirement," but at that time was endeav- oring to raise and equip a troop for the Continental service and hoped to negotiate with the saddlers, glovers, founders, and other artisans of Bethlehem, to furnish him the necessary accoutrements, but found that in consequence of the lack of materials at the time and the demoralization caused by the occupation of the Brethren's House by the hospital, they would not be able to do it. He is mentioned again on July 31, as passing through from Easton "en route for Baltimore" with his troopers, equipped and armed.1
His connection with Pulaski seems to have commenced when the latter was, before this, preparing to recruit his legion, mainly, as some writers state, about Baltimore. On May 15, Pulaski is men- tioned again as coming to the church with some of his staff in stately
I This name is found spelled Kowatz and Kowats in public documents of the time. The Moravian diarist, more familiar with the orthography of such East-Prussian and Polish names than American civil and military officers, who often quite changed their form, prob- ably spells it more correctly.
So the name of Pulaski is spelled in the Moravian records Polasky and Pulawsky, either of which forms is probably more in accordance with the correct pronunciation and the original spelling than the current one. The pronunciation of these forms is somewhat as if spelled Pollotschky-like that of the more common modern name Palacky-or, the second, Pullofschky. When the Indian incursions in July, 1778, began to endanger the frontier of Northampton County, the Government of Pennsylvania, on consultation with the Board of War, appointed "Col. Kowatz" (Kobatsch) to guard the region, he having " under his command a small company of horse " at Easton. (Col. Rec., XI, 531.) Robert Levers, Esq., writing from Easton, August 25, 1778, to George Bryan, Vice-President of the Execu- tive Council, represents the appointment of Kobatsch as an " unhappy choice " because he was "totally inadequate to the important task of conducting military operations in an Indian country or in a country into which the savages may make inroads and devastations, he being as perfectly unacquainted with the country liable to be exposed to Indian ravages, as he is to the nature of the Indian manner of fighting." He says, "Col. Kowats in the Legion to which he belongs and for the service it is immediately raised may doubtless dis- tinguish himself," but fears the people in the upper part of the Minnisinks " will soon feel a heavy blow from the enemy," and adds : "That part of General Pulaski's Legion which remain with Col. Kowats at his headquarters at Fort Penn I humbly am of opinion cannot possibly render any service to the public in that very broken country but by way of ex- presses, and this is needlessly distressing that unhappy country to a very great degree." Pa. Archives, VI, 719. From all this it appears that in July and August, Kobatsch, instead of having proceeded to Baltimore, commanded that detachment of Pulaski's cavalry which ranged and guarded the Minnisinks.
487
1778-1785.
procession to attend the English preaching. He was in Bethlehem again later, during the time when a detachment of his legion was assigned to duty in near-by parts of New Jersey, before he went south to join the campaign in Georgia. It is stated elsewhere that he had previously visited La Fayette while the latter was lying wounded at Bethlehem, but the records of the place do not menton him at that time. Several times when there appeared to be danger of unruly troops disturbing the seclusion of the Sisters' House, this chivalrous son of Poland detailed members of his staff to guard its doors. The meagre references to him in authentic original records are tantaliz- ing. He carried with him from Bethlehem a handsome silk guidon which fluttered from the upright lance at the head of his legion when he fell at Savannah in October, 1779. It was embroidered in the Sisters' House. Tradition has it that the banner was tendered him by the sisters in grateful recognition of his gallant concern for their protection. This, however, is nowhere stated. The probability is that when examining the fine specimens of embroidery and other fancy work in the Sisters' House-where at that time such work of a high order was produced in abundance-and making purchases, as many another officer did, he specially arranged with those in charge to have such a guidon made. So much of sentiment may have attached to the transaction that he fancied the idea of having a ban- ner that had been made at that place ; and it is not beyond the bounds of probability that this Polish patriot, said to have been a nephew of Polish royalty, may have had some knowledge of the old heroic his- tory of the Unitas Fratrum associated with former struggles of his fatherland, and was aware of the historic connection of the Brethren at Bethlehem with that ancient Church. Some such associations
with the person of Pulaski may possibly also have entered the minds of the gentle women who designed and executed the work, and there is at least no evidence against the conjecture that, even if he asked to have it done for him and proposed to pay for the work, they may have declined the compensation and begged him to accept it as a token of appreciation in view of his manifest concern for their safety. The tradition that makes the idea to have originated with these sis- ters, credits Susan von Gersdorf, their Eldress or superintendent, with proposing it. Rebecca Langly, who had brought fine needle- work at Bethlehem to its highest point of excellence, is said to have designed the pattern. She was a young English woman of genteel breeding, good education and formerly opulent family. With the
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
work of embroidering the pattern the names of her sister, Erdmuth Langly, Julia Bader, Anna Blum, Anna Hussy, Maria Rosina Schultz and Anna Maria Weiss have all been associated.2
2 What is known about the banner is given in Lossing's Pictorial Field-Book of the Revo- lution, from which all writers since have gotten their data, apart from what is stated above. Lossing says : " Pulaski visited La Fayette while that wounded officer was a recipient of the pious care and hospitality of the Moravians at Bethlehem. When it was known that the brave Pole was organizing a corps of cavalry in Baltimore, the single women of Bethlehem prepared a banner of crimson silk, with designs beautifully wrought with the needle by their own hands, and sent it to Pulaski with their blessing. This banner was used in the procession that welcomed La Fayette to Baltimore, 1824, and was then deposited in Peale's
Museum, Mr. Edmund Peale presented it to the Maryland Historical Society in 1844, where it is now (1850) carefully preserved in a glass case." [It is still in the possession of that society.] " But little of its former beauty remains. On one side the capitals U. S. are encircled by the motto, ' Unitas Virtus fortior'; on the other, the all-seeing eye of God, in the midst of the thirteen stars of the Union, surrounded by the words, 'Non alius regit!' These designs are embroidered with yellow silk, the letters shaded with green. A deep- green bullion-fringe ornaments the edges. The size of the banner is twenty inches square. It was attached to a lance when borne to the field." Mr. Lossing gives a drawing of it. It is stated by other writers that when Pulaski fell in battle at Savannah, October 11, 1779, the banner was rescued by his First Lieutenant and given to Captain Bantalon, who even- tually took it with him to Baltimore.
In reference to Longfellow's " Hymn of the Moravian Nuns of Bethlehem at the Conse- cration of Pulaski's Banner," written before he knew that the Moravian sisters were not nuns, and when he supposed the banner to have been a large flowing flag, there has been published the following note written by the poet, in reply to an inquiry addressed to him by Gen. W. E. Doster, of Bethlehem, when the latter was a student at Yale :
CAMBRIDGE, January 13, 1857.
" Dear Sir :
The Hymn of the Moravian Nuns was written in 1825 and was suggested to me by a paragraph in the North American Review, Vol. II, p. 390, 'The standard of Count Pulaski, the noble Pole who fell in the attack on Savannah during the American Revolution, was of crimson silk, embroidered by the Moravian nuns of Bethlehem, Pa.' The banner is still preserved; you will find a complete account of the matter in Lossing's Field-Book of the Revolution. The last line is figurative. I suppose (in the poem) the banner to have been wrapped about the body, as is frequently done. Truly yours,
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW."
There is an accurate pictorial representation of the banner in colors, reduced size, in the Moravian archives at Bethlehem. A reproduction of it was carried, for the first time, at the head of the procession, followed by numerous historic flags and banners, by the Pennsyl- vania Society of the Sons of the Revolution at the unveiling, June 19, 1897 - anniversary of the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British in 1778- of the bronze tablet placed by them on the front of "Colonial Hall " - the old Brethren's House - of the Seminary for Young Ladies, at Bethlehem, to commemorate its use as a general hospital by the Conti- nental army, 1776 to 1778.
489
1778-1785.
In February of that year the diarist mentions a visit by the French litterateur Mons. de La Balm, who was collecting material for writ- ing American history. He made particular inquiry into the teach- ing, principles and institutions of the Moravian Brethren and the organization and establishments of Bethlehem, with which he was much pleased. His frequent response to statements and explana- tions was simply "bon!" Early in October, another foreign General in the continental service is mentioned as a visitor, the Chevalier de La Neuville, Army Inspector under General Gates. But more inter- est and importance was attached to the arrival, on November 25, of the first accredited Minister Plenipotentiary from France to the United States, the Chevalier Conrad Alexandre Gerard. He had arrived at Philadelphia, July 8, with the French fleet under Count d'Estaing. Silas Deane, who with Arthur Lee had been engaged with Dr. Franklin in securing the important treaty of February 6, between France and the United States, which was a turning point in the fortunes of the Revolution, and who had also arrived from France with that fleet, accompanied the Ambassador to Bethlehem. With them came also that courtly-mannered Spaniard, Don Juan de Miralles, unofficially representing his nation, which was then assuming an uncertain position towards the American cause. He was commissioned by the Governor of Havana to gather information and impressions, in order, as was supposed, to help the home gov- ernment to conclusions. Congress, although apparently a little dubious, felt constrained to show him all honor that was safe, and to make favorable impressions upon him in every way. This desire, with that of showing every possible distinction to the representative of the young Nation's new-made ally, who himself had taken a lead- ing part in shaping the treaty and had officially signed it, caused men at the head of affairs to take special pains to impress upon the Bethlehem authorities the importance of these persons and the desirability of treating them with marked respect. It was wished that they should appreciate all this and act accordingly, so that the visits of these men to this conspicuous and famous inland settlement, ill-spoken of by some minor public men, might be properly enjoyed. The letter written by Henry Laurens, President of Congress, to Ettwein, announcing them, reveals this desire.3
3 " MY DEAR FRIEND,
Mons'r Gerard, the Minister Plenipotentiary of France will be, provided he meets no obstruction on the Road, at Bethlehem on Wednesday the 25th inst about midday. This
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
That the French minister enjoyed his stay of three days and found the place and its institutions, and the neighborhood generally, inter- esting, was strongly testified, and was confirmed by the fact that he made another visit in June, 1779. Meanwhile, on January 5 of the last mentioned year, another party of a different kind, but of some note, arrived at Bethlehem, followed at intervals, on to the end of the month, by others on like footing. These were paroled officers of the British army captured at Saratoga, October 17, 1777, mostly of the Brunswick corps. On the 5th came General Frederick Adolph Riedesel, with his noble and devoted wife, who was sharing all the vicissitudes of camp and march and battle-field with him, and their three children, accompanied by their regimental chaplain, John August Milius. Madam Riedesel brought a letter of introduction from Gen- eral Gates, then inactive at Boston.4 They were followed on the 11th by General William Phillips, Burgoyne's famous artillery commander, who has been praised as a "brave and honorable soldier," and on the other hand criticised for "haughtiness and irritability." He was accompanied by several subordinates. Both the amiable and the
worthy character merits regard from all the citizens of these states, an acquaintance with him will afford you satisfaction, and I am persuaded his Visit will work no evil or incon- venience to your Community. Don Juan de Miralles a Spanish Gentleman highly recom- mended by the Governor of Havana will accompany Mr. Gerard. The whole suite may amount to six Gentlemen and perhaps a servant to each. I give this previous intimation in order that preparations suitable to the occasion may be made by Mr. Johnson (Jost Jansen) at the tavern and otherwise as you think expedient. My good wishes attend you all." (Then a few lines about other matters.)
" Believe me Dear Sir to be with sincere respect and very great affection,
Your friend and most humble servant,
Philadelphia 23 Novem. 1778.
HENRY LAURENS." Boston, Novemb'r 1778.
4 " DEAR SIR,
This letter will be delivered to you by Madame Riedesel, the Lady of Major General Riedesel, to whom I entreat you will show every mark of Civility and Respect in your Power. Wise reasons have determined Congress to direct the march of the Army under the Convention of Saratoga to Charlottsville, in Virginia. General Riedesel, his Lady and little Family, accompany the troops of their Prince. It is a painful and fatiguing journey at this season of the Year. I doubt not your Hospitable Disposition will render it as pleasant as possible, and that without my Recommendations, you naturally would indulge the senti- ments which influence the Gentleman and the Citizen of the World
I am Dear Sir Your affectionate
REV. MR. ETTWEIN of Bethlehem Penna.
Humble Servant,
HORATIO GATES."
491
1778-1785.
Borim
-
e
This Letter will be delivered to you by
Madame heidesel, The Lady of Major General Redesel , to whom I entreas you will she's every Mark of Civility and Respect in your Power ._ Wise
7 Reasons have determined Congress to direct the March of the Army under the Convention of Saratoga to Charlotteville in Virginia. General Redesel, his Lady and little &Family, accompany The Troops of their Prince -It is a painful and fatiguing Journey at this Season of the Year, I doubt not your Hospitable Disposition will vinder it as pleasant as possible, and that without my Recommendations, you naturally would indulge the Sentiments which influences the Gentleman. and the futizen of the World. 2 am ; Dear Sir
your affectionate Humble Servant Horatio Garez
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A HISTORY OF BETHLEHEM, PENNSYLVANIA.
harsh sides of his character are revealed by incidents of this time. His heart was so won by the little girls in the boarding-school at Beth- lehem that he dealt out five guineas in solid gold to them as a present. On the other hand, after the second stay of the party at Bethlehem, when they had to turn back for a third sojourn because negotiations for their exchange were suddenly interrupted, he had to be reproved by Madam Riedesel for the indiscreet rage to which he gave expres- sion amid dangerous surroundings. Then, on January 26 and the following days, came a body of Brunswick officers of General Riedesel's corps and were furnished lodgings at the request of Quar- termaster Robert Lettis Hooper. The diarist of Bethlehem mentions by name Major Just von Maibaum, Captain August Frederick Dommes, Captain Schlagenteufel, Lieutenants Vreda, Meyer, Bach, Goedecke, two young gentlemen, von Rantzau and von Boenicke, Captains of Horse, Stutzer and Schlagentruft and Chaplain Melz- heimer. They had several musicians with them and, not only engaged in much diversion among themselves, but gave the villagers the benefit of frequent serenades in appreciation of the comfortable and agreeable situation into which the fortunes of war brought them as prisoners. On the other hand, they, as typical Germans, did not cast away the religious traditions of their fatherland. By courtesy of the authorities, their chaplain conducted a service and preached a sermon for them in the chapel of the Brethren's House on Easter Sunday. They had also attended the services of the congregation on Palm Sunday and taken Communion during Holy Week. A little romance was also associated with their sojourn at Bethlehem, in that, on May 10, their Chaplain, Milzheimer, became the husband of one of the Bethlehem maidens.5
The middle of May, these paroled Brunswick officers left for Lan- caster. The end of November, 1780, certain of them came to Beth- lehem again from Reading and on December 1, finally left for New York. General Riedesel and his party, after a stay of only two days, started for Virginia, followed, on January 22, by General Phillips and other officers. On September 25 and 26, they were back in Bethlehem
5 He married Agnes Mau, a daughter of Samuel Mau, whom the Brethren at Bethlehem in 1742 released from service as a Redemptioner. Her mother was Anna Catherine Kremper, who in 1742 came to Bethlehem from South Carolina with Abraham Bueninger. Another daughter became the wife of David Bischoff, of Bethlehem, in 1781. Some of the Bruns- wickers, among them probably the chaplain, had their quarters at the home of this family. Remote family connections not expected, might be traced back to this marriage link, welded under such peculiar circumstances.
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