USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania in the olden time; being a collection of the memoirs, anecdotes, and incidents of the earliest settlements of the inland part of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 35
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Colonel Fanning's regiment, near King's bridge, consists of four hundred and sixty men of the British army. He was an American.
August 23d, Philadelphia. " To-morrow morning the continental army will march through this city. To proceed along Front street and up Chestnut street." They were headed by General Washing- ton, and said to amount to ten thousand, and immediately passed over the Schuylkill. Thence to the Brandywine battle.
September 23d. It is ordered by Colonel Lewis Nicola, a French- man, of the invalid corps, that all vessels in the Delaware go up the
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
Delaware to Burlington, and down the river to Fort island; and that all smaller craft go into Timber and Ancocus creeks; all disobey- ing would be destroyed. This to keep them from the British.
A gentleman arrived at New York, who came from Charleston, says that the crew of the Randolph frigate, in September last, being at sea, had a mind to rise on her, and carry her to New York, a ma- jority of her crew being British. The officers kept treble guards until they got into Charleston ; and at Hobcow, on the 8th of September, she overset, and lay full of mud the 5th of October, when he left there. There was then little hope of floating her again. (See No. 423.)
No persons are to be allowed to appear abroad in the streets from 83 o'clock to morning, without a lantern .- (A military law.)
The wood in the neck is all declared to be for the use of the king's woops, and to be reserved accordingly .- None to pass at the Jersey ferry without a pass.
Six ten-plate stoves are advertized-then a new thing !
Fishkill, October 23d. Last Thursday, one Taylor, a spy, was nanged at Hurley, who was detected with a letter to Burgoyne, which he had swallowed in a silver ball ; but by the assistance of tartar emetic he discharged the same-a witness against himself.
Burlington, January 28th, 1778. On the 19th inst. died Francis Fur gler, the hermit, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, who existed alone twenty-five years, in a thick wood four miles from Burlington, through all the inclemencies of the season without fire, in a cell made by the side of an old log, in the form of a small oven, not high or long enough to stand upright in or lie extended. It was supposed he in- tended this mode as a penance for some evil done in his own coun- try. He was a German-a Catholic, and was buried in the Friends' ground at Mount Holly .- (There was a hermit close to Mount Holly -perhaps the same case.)
Congress order a monument to be erected in North Carolina to the memory of the amiable and gallant General Nash, killed in German- town.
The tender of the Roebuck brings intelligence from the West In - dies, (of course a British account,) that the Yarmouth, Captain Vin- cent, fell in with the rebel frigate Randolph, of thirty-six guns, and a large ship of twenty guns and three long nines, on the night of the 20th of March. These mistaking the Yarmouth for a twenty- gun ship, ran alongside and ordered her to strike; at the same time the Randolph fired a broadside into her, which wounded twelve and killed five men. The Yarmouth returned the salute with seven of her lower tier, on which the Randolph instantly blew up, and every soul perished excepting five, who were saved on a piece of the wreck, and picked up by the Yarmouth five days afterwards. They informed that the intention of this fleet was to destroy the island of Tobago.
The Adams, and Hancock, vessels of war, have been taken after leaving France. The Raleigh has made her escape from the Ariadne.
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
A small expedition went to Squam, where they demolished the saltworks. There were probably one hundred houses, having each six to ten coppers-one of the houses constructed by Congress at a cost of £6000-all of which they destroyed.
The Virginia frigate, in going out of the Chesapeake, in April, got aground and was captured by the Emerald, and taken to New York
An expedition, of a brig and four galleys, went up to Bordentown and captured some stores, when the people set fire to the Washing- ton and Effingham frigates, two fine ships-two privateers, one large twenty-four-gun ship, and nine other ships, and fourteen or fifteen smaller vessels. It met with but little resistance by a hundred men. This occurred just before the British abandoned Philadelphia.
The paper of June 25th, No. 497, contains a long list of names attainted of high treason; that is to say, Tories gone off with the British.
Providence, July 4. Captain Barron, who sailed first lieutenant of the Boston frigate, we hear was lately killed in France, by means of a cannon accidentally bursting. He was an experienced and valu- able officer, and his death is much lamented.
June 24th. The state ship Defence, of Connecticut, commanded by Captain Smedley, and ship Volant, Captain Oliver Daniel, sailed from Charleston.
At Philadelphia, Wednesday, the 22d of June, an elegant evening entertainment was given at the City Tavern, by the officers of the army and some of the gentlemen of the city, to the young ladies who had manifested their attachment to the cause of virtue and freedom by sacrificing every convenience to the love of their country.
Philadelphia, July 25th, 1778 .- No. 509. The melancholy fate of the late worthy Captain Biddle, of the Randolph frigate, being as yet but little known, we give the following account of this unfortu- nate event, received in a letter from Charleston, dated the 29th of March last, to wit :- " Captain Clarke, of this place, yesterday re- ceived a letter from Captain Hall, of the Notre Dame, one of the fleet commanded by Captain Biddle, informing him that on the evening of the 8th of March, to the windward of Barbadoes, the fleet fell in with a large English ship of fifty or sixty-four guns : that about 8 o'clock the next morning the Randolph engaged, and handled her so roughly for twelve or fifteen minutes, that the British ship must shortly have struck, having lost her bowsprit and topmasts, and being otherwise greatly shattered, while the Randolph had suffered very little. But in this moment of glory, as the Randolph was veering to get on her quarter, she unfortunately blew up, and the whole crew perished .- One Fanning, of Connecticut, who arrived prize-master of a sloop taken by the Randolph, and which was converted into a tender for her, brought the letter, and confirms the account. Never was a man more sincerely esteemed or lamented than Captain Biddle."-[Simeon Fanning, above, a young midshipman then, was my uncle, and was soon after killed. His brother Joshua, was lieutenant of the Randolph, when she blew up.]
VOL. II .- 2 N
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
At a court-martial, Samuel Lyons, lieutenant of the Dickinson galley, Samuel Ford, lieutenant of the Effingham galley, John Wil- son, lieutenant of the Ranger galley, and John Lawrence, gunner of the Dickinson galley, were convicted of deserting to the enemy, and sentenced to suffer death. The execution to be on board the galleys in the river, opposite to Market street, on Wednesday the 3d of September. The officers to be shot, and John Lawrence to be hanged .- [Only the first two suffered ; the rest were reprieved.]
Young Mr. Bogert, son of Nicholas Bogert, of New York, mer chant, was inhumanly killed a few days ago, by the enemy in Jersey.
The ship Governor Hancock, of Massachusetts, engaged the Levant British frigate, and the latter blew up. Captain Hardy, of the former, was killed. Seventeen of the British, only, were saved.
In October, the British, five hundred strong, went up the Little Egg Harbour river on a marauding expedition, but were repulsed by Proctor's artillery and Pulaski's legion of horse.
On the 26th of September, 1778, Captain John Barry, in the Ra- leigh, fought two British ships of war, off Massachusetts, and finally, to save himself from capture, succeeded to run her ashore. He fought a remarkably severe and unequal fight, taking several broadsides from a sixty-four .- (See No. 542.) The British got off the frigate. It was called a noble and daring defence of Barry's.
The Black Prince privateer returned to Boston from a cruise, hav- ing taken and manned eight prizes. The Boston, the Ranger, and another cruising vessel of the United States, sailed from Nantz the 25th of August. These and many prizes are soon expected at Boston.
Charleston, October 13th. Captain Newton, in the General Moul- trie privateer, is returned from a cruise, with a prize of the Wasp brig of war.
December 2d, No. 554, contains a list of all the British vessels lost during the war.
Lord Byron having sailed with a fleet and transports from New York, said to be for the West Indies, Count d'Estaing's fleet sailed from Boston in pursuit. Dinners and parties were given to him and his officers, and parties were given on board the Languedoc to the ladies and gentlemen of Boston. Gay times, although afflicted with war and its evils.
La Fayette and other officers return to France from Boston, said, by the British, to have been recalled by their sovereign. But a let- ter of La Fayette's (since published) says, they returned because thev could not get commissions in our service.
Continental Money.
A gentleman has informed me, that in his youth he saw, in Phila- delphia, a stuffed Paddy, wholly covered with continental money pinned on it. He also stated that a fine large lot, a little north of Lombard street, on which are since built four or five large houses
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
(probably Barclay's row, in Front street,) was sold for £60! The money then had the current name of " shinplasters !"
A witty old gentleman, who kept an account of its rapid depre- ciation, used to say a fast trotting horse could not keep pace with it. An old merchant, who has preserved a scale of its depreciation, gave it as follows, to wit :
Value of 100 dollars in specie in continental money to wit :
Years, 1777
1778
779
1780
1781
January,
105
325
742
2934
7400
February,
107
357
868
3332
7500
March,
109
375
1000
3736
0000
April,
112
400
1104
4000
6.6
May,
115
400
1215
4600
June,
120
400
1342
6400
July,
125
425
1477
8900
August,
150
450
1630
7000
September,
175
475
1800
7100
October,
275
500
2030
7200
November,
300
545
2308
7300
December,
310
634
2593
7400
I give, from an original bill of my friend, Col. Allen McLane, a purchase of 1781-to wit :
Capt. A. McLane,
January 5, 1781.
Bo't of W. Nicoll,
1 pair boots,
$600
62 yds. calico, at $85 per yard,
752
6 yds. chintz, at $150 do.
900
4} yds. moreen, at $100 do.
450 50
4 handkerchiefs, at $100 do.
400
8 yds. quality binding, at $$4 per yard,
32
1 skein of silk,
10
If paid in specie, £18 10s. Received payment in full.
$3,144 50 for Wm. Nicolls, Jona. Jones.
I well remember seeing the Hessian prisoners (says an elderly gentleman) which had been taken at Trenton. I stood on the porch of Pemberton's house, in Chestnut above Third street. They marched up Chestnut street past the State-house, where Congress sat. They made a long line-all fine, hearty looking men, and well clad, with large knapsacks, spatterdashes on legs, their looks were satis- fied. On each side, in a single file, were their guards, mostly in light summer dress, and some without shoes, [in winter,] but step- ping light and cheerful.
Fireworks were exhibited on the Delaware during the war, some on ship carpenters' floating stages. The greatest show remembered was that of Arnold and the Devil, carried on a wheel carriage along the streets, and burned by the latter on Market street hill.
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
Jacob Ritter's Facts of the Prisoners at the Walnut-street Prison
"The British Provost," so called, in Philadelphia, was the same building since called the Walnut-street Prison. It was then newly constructed and unfinished. At that place there were about nine hundred Americans held as prisoners, under the charge of the infa- mously cruel commissioner, Captain Cunningham, then a wicked and passionate Irishman of about sixty years of age-a florid, full-bodied man. These prisoners were those captured at the battles of Brandy- wine and Germantown. Numbers of them died there of hunger and cold, and were daily carried out and interred in the Potter's field, now the Washington square, close by. It seems strange to me that a case of such suffering to our countrymen, effected chiefly by the malignity of such a wretch as Cunningham, should not have been more spoken of by Philadelphians. We had often heard of the sufferings of pri- soners at the New York provost under his control, but scarcely a Philadelphian of middle age has ever heard a word concerning our countrymen's sufferings at Philadelphia. This seems strange when compared with what I am now to relate from facts told me in May, 1833, by Mr. Jacob Ritter, aged seventy-six years, a German by de- scent, born near Quakertown, Bucks county, who was himself one of the inmates of that Golgotha and charnel-house in the time above mentioned-then a good man and true, and since, a public Friend.
He had been in the battle of Brandywine, and was found, while sick in a farm-house, by the Hessians, who beat and kicked him as a " rebeller," and bore him off to the city. At this place he and the others were three days and nights without any food. He saw one soldier who had eaten nothing till his fifth day, when he saw him get a piece of rye bread ; and he actually saw him gently topple off his seat on the prison steps, dead, while he was in the act of eating !
Mr. Ritter says, he was often wantonly beaten and bruised severely by the but-end of Cunningham's whip ; and at other times he was affectedly flattered and caressed, and offered many jingling guineas to join his majesty's service. He did not strike or abuse men's per- sons in the presence of other British officers, but on such occasions would content himself with grossly abusive language .*
On one occasion Mr. Ritter saw a poor starving Virginian, who had been several days without food, looking wistfully at some biscuits which had been sent to some newly-arrived citizens, prisoners, brought in on suspicion. Moved by compassion for the distress of the starving man, and almost forgetting his own similar need, he made out to slip unperceived to where they lay in a keg, and getting one, he gave .
* Cunningham was made a captain by General Clinton to save him from merited se- verity in case of his capture. He had been only a man of the ranks, and was deemed a kind of bully among the men when at New York before the war, where he got into a fight, in March, 1775, at the liberty pole-he there offending the people, they made him and his companion Hill to go down upon their knees and curse the king. They ex- claimed " God bless him," and they were beaten. This rankled in his breast ever after
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
to the man, at same time cautioning him not to eat it all, but to break it up finely, mix it with water, and then to make it a prolonged meal by tasting it for a whole day. He saw this man after his re- lease, then again a soldier, who told him he owed to his timely in- terference and advice the preservation of his life.
As the winter advanced, the prisoners became excessively cold. They had no extra coverings for sleeping, and the window panes be- ing much broken, (shivered to pieces by the blowing up of the Au- gusta man-of-war, at Red Bank,) the snow and cold entered therein freely. They huddled together for warmth ; but with that they also became common companions of their lice and vermin. He did not perceive any of our officers on furlough as coming among them as visiters ; and he did not know of any arrangement of any of our citi- zens as benefactors. He had seen soup brought for them, and set down at the prison door in vessels, which, when seen by Cunning- ham on his visit, have been kicked over, with a curse on the rebel dogs. On such an occasion he has seen the poor, starved prisoners, when near enough to profit by it, fall upon their knees and hands, and eagerly lap up the wasted liquid! On such occasions he has looked upon the monster with painful emotions, and wondered if in- deed the good God would suffer the transgressor to pass to the grave unwhipped of justice. At length his retribution day came. He was convicted of forgery in England, and came to an ignominious end.
Ritter had seen several pick and eat grass-roots, scraps of leather, chips, pieces of the rotten pump, &c., to assuage and abate their hun- ger. Those who had any friends in the city got to fare better, after they could contrive to let them know their wants. So he was helped by his aunt Kline, and eventually he got released, through the influence of friends pressing upon Mr. Galloway, the chief British agent, acting for the city police, &c. It was a common measure with Cunning- ham, when visiting them, to carry his large key, and to knock any one on the head with it who chanced to offend him. On one such occasion the struck person fell and bled, [often, perhaps, died.] Those who died, eight to twelve in twenty-four hours, were to be seen drag- ged by the legs along the floor to the dead carts. It was common to see several watching for the chance of rats from the rat-holes, which, when captured, were eaten, both for staying hunger, and also to make reprisals upon an enemy that often disturbed their sleep, and other- wise annoyed them.
At a subsequent conversation with Ritter, he told me, in answer to Inquiries, that their supply of provisions never became regular: for instance, they never had any issue of salt meat. Occasionally he has seen what seemed to have been a diseased beef or cow, brought dead in a cart, and shot down on the ground in all its dung, which was eagerly cut up-by some was eaten raw, and by some was cut in strips to dry and cure, as they had nc regular vessels for cooking. In his own case, after some days, he got an earthen porringer, in which he made some food by boiling, or simmering, some musty flour
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Occurrences of the War of Independence
in water : his fire was made of old shoes and bones ; (he once saw a load of chestnut come ;)-he thought he never ate any thing so good as it seemed. This example was followed by others : many borrowed his porringer. In one case of their eating the rotten wood and paint from the pump, they mixed it with pump water.
Some of them let down little bags or baskets from the prison win- dows to the street, to get a little contribution in that way ; but it was but little. They received potato skins in that way, and gladly used them. Once a small-headed man got his head out through the bars to beg ; and while in the act, and unable to draw his head in again, he was seen by Cunningham, who fell to whipping him.
He never saw or knew of any of the citizens of Philadelphia ever visiting the prisoners to relieve them. Of all the Friends in the city, he never knew or heard of but one that ever came there upon benevo- lence to help them. He knew of no relief extended to them by the ladies or women. His old aunt was a resolute woman, who either came to assist him, or sent relief by her little son. The only act of seeming gentleness he ever witnessed from Cunningham, was upon the winning address of a starving drummer boy. He begged him to consider his case of starvation, his youth, and his inability to do the British any injury. After some inquiries by Cunningham, he said he might go if he would kneel down and kiss the prison stone steps. He did it instantly and earnestly, and claiming his reward, the per- secutor let him go with a laugh. None of the American officers ever visited them. He did not know of any of the prisoners as driven to enlistment. There were times when Cunningham acted with pecu- liar bursts of passion, in such cases wantonly whipping, with his horsewhip, whoever came across his way. He did so particularly, when he heard of the disaster to Count Donop at Red Bank. He had his lodging rooms in the prison. His brother, a serjeant, was a moderate man.
In Poulson's paper of the 25th of August, 1834, is a confirma- tion of the foregoing account of Jacob Ritter, told on the occasion of the death of Captain Samuel Waples, of Accomac county, Virginia, who, it states, had been taken a prisoner, as lieutenant in the ninth Virginia regiment, at the battle of Germantown, and was confined in the common jail of the city of Philadelphia, where he suffered many privations, being kept for three days and nights without any kind of sustenance." He soon made his escape therefrom in the disguise of a Quaker, and succeeded in passing the lines, and in getting to Washington's camp at Valley Forge.
The wife of Benedict Arnold was a Philadelphian, a Peggy Ship. pen, and died on the 14th February, 1836, at Uxbridge, Mass., aged 83 [about the same time a sister of Major Andre, aged 81, died in England.] It seems a strange affair, that the wife of such a general should under any circumstances get back to America-to get, too, not to her own home, and with her nearest relatives, in Pennsylva- nia, but should go to Massachusetts-the same state where her first
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
ancestor, Edward Shippen, first mayor of Philadelphia, had been pub- licly punished in Boston as a Quaker! Col. Burr has said that her pride and ambition perverted her husband's integrity. Their only son and daughter (he being a British subaltern) went to reside in the East Indies, many years ago. Another account, in the London Spec- tator, in 1838, says that two sons are then in England-say James R. and Wm. F., aged 57 and 44 -and each receive a pension of £81 a-year. Arnold means, in German, a maintainer of honour! In the Museum, at New Haven, Conn., is the identical sign, once that of General Arnold. It is thus :
B. ARNOLD, Druggist, Bookseller, &c., from London. Sibi totique .*
He had been in London, but was born in Norwich, Conn., in January, 1740, and had been apprenticed to an apothecary in that city. He was engaged at New Haven in the trade of shipping horses and mules to the West Indies.
It might be further remarked concerning Mrs. Arnold, that she had been a Philadelphia belle, and the toast of the British officers while their army was in Philadelphia. She had been brought up in British affections-her own father, Judge Edward Shippen, was biassed on that side. Major Andre was intimate in the family, which led to a friendly correspondence between Miss Shippen and him. After General Arnold married her, he of course became acquainted with that fact, and encouraged its continuance. It was continued, until at last Arnold and Andre opened it more directly between themselves, under the names of Gustavus, for the former, and John Anderson, for the latter. The extravagances of Arnold produced the want of money; and probably the predilections of the wife for what was splendid in the British army, influenced them both to for- feit home and country for a splendid, but illusive hope !
An historical ballad of the proceedings of a town meeting at Phi- ladelphia, May 24, 25, 1779-by Stansberry.
[Mr. Stansberry, the author of the following satire, was a young Philadelphian, of the Society of Friends. He became what was called a tory, and went off with the British. After the peace, he settled in New York, kept a china store, and became secretary of an insurance company there. He wrote other pieces of fugitive poetry. He once kept his china store in Philadelphia, opposite to Christ church, in Second street. A daughter of his married John Stille, merchant, of Philadelphia. One of his sons settled in New Jersey, and has a family there.]
* For himself, for the whole, or for all
The first was his motto-for himself, indeed .
1
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Occurrences of the War of Independence.
CANTO FIRST.
'Twas on the twenty-fourth of May, A pleasant, warm, sunshiny day, Militia folks paraded, With colours spread, and cannon too, Such loud huzzas and martial view, I thought the town invaded.
But when, on closer look, I spied The speaker march with gallant stride, I knew myself mistaken. For he,* on Trenton's well-fought day, To Burlington mistook his way, And fairly saved his bacon.
With him, a number more appear'd, Whose names their corp'ral never heard,- To muster-rolls a stranger. To save their fines, they bore a gun, Determined, like the rest, to run At any glimpse of danger.
The great Mc Clenachan bestrode His prancing horse, and fiercely rode, And faith, he had good reason- For he was told, that to his sorrow, He, with a number more, to-morrow Should be confined in prison.
'Twas said, some speculating job Of his had so inflamed the mob, That they were grown unruly ;- And swearing by the " Eternal God," Such fellows now should feel the rod, Resolved to " come on coolly !"+
The people's majesty of laws, The proper, and the only cause, Now shone in all its glory : Morris the wise ; Arnold the brave ; The double Mason; Wistar grave- Confounded with the Tory.
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