History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372

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These American soldiers were placed in jails, churches, sugar houses and other buildings, and held as prisoners of war for many months, some of them not having been released until three years after their capture. The stories of their treatment if they could be given in detail would rank among the most sorrowful ever recorded on the pages of history. They were given an insufficient amount of food, were obliged to remain in cold, damp rooms without any privileges of outdoor exercise. Many of these gallant sons of Pennsylvania died from the horrors of British prison pens and others contracted diseases from which they never recovered. The treatment of the British and Hessian prisoners by the Americans formed no comparison to the treatment of Colonel McGaw's men while they were held prisoners in New York and Long Island.

Owing to the absence of official doc- uments, a complete record of the casualties in Swope's and McAllister's regiments can- not be given. From various sources of in- formation the following facts have been ob- tained. Among the prisoners captured at Fort Washington were Colonel Michael Swope, Major William Bailey, Surgeon Humphrey Fullerton, Captains Michael Smyser, Jacob Dritt, Christian Stake, John McDonald, Henry Clayton, Henry Lewis, Lieutenants Zachariah Shugart, Jacob Holtzinger, Andrew Robinson, Benjamin Davis, Lieutenants Clayton, Robert Patton, Joseph Welsh, Ensigns Jacob Barnitz, Jacob Morgan and Jacob Meyer, and Adju- tant Howe.

The following soldiers served in Captain

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Stake's company and were taken prisoners Pennsylvania for a pension, stating in his at Fort Washington: Sergeant Peter Haack, Sergeant John Dicks, Sergeant application that his property had been sold to support his family during his long im- prisonment. Henry Counselman, Corporal John Adlum, David Parker, James Dobbins, Hugh Dob- John McKinley, of Lower Chanceford Township, the great-grandfather of William McKinley, served in the Sixth Battalion, York County Militia, and marched with it to join the Flying Camp in 1776. bins, Henry Miller, John Stroman, Christian Stroman, James Berry, Joseph Bay, Henry Hoff, Joseph Updegraff, Daniel Miller, Jacob Hake, Jr., Henry Shultz, William Lukens, the mulatto cook.

The casualties of McAllister's regiment as far as could be obtained were the follow- ing: Captain McCarter, shot through the breast and died five days after the battle; Captain Nicholas Bittinger, the ancestor of the Bittinger family in York and Adams Counties, held as a prisoner of war in New York for several months; Lieutenants Wil- liam Young, Joseph Morrison, Hugh King, Shannon, Henry Bittinger, Ensign Thomas Reed, Private Charles Wilson.

The battle of Fort Washington was fought largely by troops from west of the Susquehanna River from York and Cumber- land Counties. About one-half of the en- listed men of Swope's and McAllister's regiments were Pennsylvania Germans who

fought gallantly before they would sur- outbreak of the Revolution, he was on the render the fort to the enemy.

Captains William Scott, John Jamison, Thomas Campbell, Lieutenants Samuel Lindsay, Henry Bear, Joseph Morrison, John Irwin, John Findlay, Godfrey Myers, Matthew Bennett, of York County, were prisoners of war on Long Island, in August, 1778.

Among the soldiers belonging to Swope's

regiment, who died in New York prisons, on the British at Trenton, General Ewing, were Sergeants Peter Haack and John in command of the Pennsylvania Militia, Hicks; Privates Hugh Dobbins, Henry Hoff, David Parker. They were buried in Trinity churchyard, New York, in the same hallowed ground in which were interred the remains of Alexander Hamilton and many other noted Revolutionary soldiers. Cap- tain McCarter, of McAllister's regiment, who was mortally wounded at Fort Wash- ington, was also buried in Trinity grave- yard.

Gerhardt Graeff, a captain in the Flying Camp, was taken a prisoner at Fort Wash- ington, and died in captivity. Almost his entire company became prisoners of war at Fort Washington.

GENERAL JAMES EWING, who com- manded one of the divisions of the Flying Camp, was born in Manor Township, Lan- caster County, August 3, 1736, of Scotch- Irish ancestry. His father emigrated from the north of Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1734. The son received a good education. During Forbes' expedition to Fort Du- quesne in the French and Indian war, he entered the provincial service and was com- missioned lieutenant, May 10, 1758. He was a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania from 1771 to 1775. At the

Committee of Safety for York County, and on July 4, 1776, was chosen one of the two brigadier-generals of the Pennsylvania As- sociators, out of which was formed the Fly- ing Camp. He commanded one of the di- visions of the Flying Camp in the campaign around New York City during the year 1776. In December of that year, when General Washington had planned an attack

was stationed at a point a few miles below Trenton. It was intended that his division of troops should cross the Delaware to New Jersey on Christmas night at the same time that Washington was crossing a short distance above Trenton, where the stream was narrow. Owing to the width of the river below Trenton and the floating ice, Ewing was unable to cross until after the victory had been won at Trenton. General Sullivan commanded a body of men near Bristol, and was also unable to cross the river on account of the obstructions. Some days later, both these commands took posi- tion in New Jersey and acted as a reserve at

Benjamin Davis, who served as lieuten- ant in Captain Smyser's company, was held as a prisoner of war during the whole period of the Revolution. He owned a fulling mill in York County and 186 acres of land. In March, 1781, he applied to the State of the battle of Princeton. After the war,

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

General Ewing returned to his plantation in justice of the peace in 1764; judge of the Hellam Township, about two miles west of Orphan's Court in 1767; member of the Pennsylvania Assembly from 1768 until the opening of the Revolution; member of the committee of correspondence at York in 1775, and the same year was chosen major of the First Battalion of York County Militia, commanded by James Smith, signer of the Declaration of Independence. When Smith became a member of Continental Congress, Major Swope was elected colonel of the First Battalion of militia. In the Wrightsville, where he followed the occu- pation of a farmer. His character, promi- nence and ability won him recognition at the hands of his fellow-citizens and he was frequently called upon to serve in high posi- tions of honor and trust. Immediately after the war, he was chosen a member of the Su- preme Executive Council of Pennsylvania and was vice-president of the Council, a position corresponding to lieutenant-gov- ernor, from November 7, 1782, to Novem- summer of 1776, when the militia was called into active service, Colonel Swope took his battalion to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and at this place recruited from the different battalions of York County militia, the First Pennsylvania Regiment in the Flying Camp, whose history is given in the preceding pages. At the battle of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, Colonel Swope was taken prisoner, together with most of his regiment. He, with other officers, was con- fined in New York City until June 23, 1778, when he was released on parole. His parole ber 6, 1784. The following year he served as a member of the State Legislature, where he was active in securing the passage of laws relating to the material development of the state. The state constitution of 1790 made the Legislature composed of two bodies, Senate and House of Representa- tives, and from 1795 to 1799, General Ewing represented York County in the State Sen- ate, being one of its most influential mem- bers. It was during this period that he be- came deeply interested in the navigation of the Susquehanna River, advocating the con- was cancelled by special order on the 8th of struction of a channel in the centre of the August, 1779, and he was required to return river through the Conewago rapids and ex- to prison in New York, where he remained, tending from Harrisburg to the Chesapeake with some fellow-prisoners, until he was Bay. When the subject of making Wright's finally exchanged for a British officer of the Ferry the seat of the United States govern- same rank, at Elizabeth, New Jersey, Janu- ary 26, 1781. He then returned to York on foot, a distance of 170 miles. Before leaving prison, the American agent, Lewis Pintard, gave him a large supply of Continental money to pay his expenses on his return home. At this time, Continental money had become almost valueless, and Colonel Swope exchanged seventy-five dollars in currency for one in specie. ment was discussed in Congress, he was one of the strong supporters for the selection of the west bank of the Susquehanna, at Wrightsville, as the place for the national government. General Ewing was a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church and was prominent in the councils of that church. He had served as vice-president of the State during the same period that John Dickinson was president, and when Dickinson College

Colonel Swope first began business at was founded at Carlisle, in 1783, he was York as an inn-keeper. In 1783, two years chosen a member of the first board of after his return to York from his experience trustees of that institution. He died at his home in Hellam Township, near the Sus- quehanna River, March 1, 1806, at the age of seventy years. as a prisoner, he was assessed as a store- keeper, with merchandise and real estate valued at 1,119 pounds. He then had a family of five persons. He owned silver- ware to the amount of thirty-two pounds, a pleasure carriage and one slave. In 1782, he was commissioned one of the court justices for York County.

COLONEL MICHAEL SWOPE, one of the heroes of Fort Washington, was born at York about 1748, son of George Swope, one of the commissioners who laid off York County in 1749. Early in life, Colonel Swope became one of the most influential citizens in the town and county of York. He was elected coroner in 1761 ; appointed Revolution.

Colonel Swope was first married to Anna Maria, daughter of Casper Spangler, of York. She died sometime before the In 1777, when Continental

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Congress came to York, his second wife, of York County Militia. During the fall of Eva Swope, rented their home, on the south the same year, he received the commission as colonel of a battalion of Minute Men, formed out of the militia of York County. In July, 1776, when Congress issued a call for ten thousand troops. Colonel McAllister marched with his battalion through Lan- caster and Philadelphia to Perth Amboy, N. J. At this point, when the Flying Camp was organized under the command of Gen- eral Hugh Mercer, he was chosen colonel of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment. Colo- nel McAllister commanded his regiment in the campaign around New York City and the expedition to Staten Island. Later in the campaign, Colonel McAl- lister's regiment took part in the defense of Fort Washington, where he lost a large number of troops who became prisoners of war, including two of his captains. In the campaign of 1776 he was present with his regiment, under General James Ewing, sta- tioned below Trenton on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, when Washington side of West Market Street, to Jolin Han- cock, president of Congress. This building was then known as the President's house, and the rental of it for the use of the presi- dent of Congress, was paid by. the govern- ment. Hancock resigned his office two months after Congress came to York and returned to Massachusetts. In February, 1778, when Baron Steuben came to York to offer his services as an officer in the Ameri- can army, he occupied the Swope residence for a period of three weeks, with his retinue of attendants. Meantime, he received the led commission of a major-general and pro- ceeded to Valley Forge to drill the army in the tactics he had learned while serving under Frederick the Great of Prussia. In 1785, Colonel Swope removed from York to Alexandria, Virginia. After going there, his business affairs at York were conducted by Colonel Thomas Hartley, who disposed of his real estate.

COLONEL RICHARD MCALLISTER, captured the Hessians in Trenton on Christmas night.

who commanded the Second Pennsylvania Regiment of York County Troops in the Flying Camp, was born in 1724. He was a son of Archibald McAllister, who came to America from Scotland in 1732. About 1745 Richard McAllister moved from Cum- berland County to the site of Hanover, where he purchased a large tract of land. On February 23, 1748, he married Mary, daughter of Colonel Matthew Dill, who commanded a regiment in the French and Indian war, and whose son, Matthew, founded Dillsburg. In 1750, Richard McAl- lister was a candidate for sheriff of York County against Colonel Hance Hamilton, who resided near the site of Gettysburg. The election was so close that it was con- tested and the Provincial authorities com- missioned Hance Hamilton. In 1763, Rich- ard McAllister founded the town of Han- over and soon became one of the leading citizens of York County. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Committee of Ob- servation and Safety for York County. In June of the same year he served as a repre- sentative in the Provincial Conference, which met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadel- phia, and in January, 1776, he was a mem- ber of the same body. In 1775 he was com- missioned colonel of the Fourth Battalion

After the expiration of his term of service in the Flying Camp, in 1777, McAllister re- turned to his home at Hanover, and in March of this year he was elected by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, county lieutenant. This office required him to see that the six different battalions of the militia in York County, which then included Adams, were drilled and disciplined ready for service in the field when they were re- quired to defend their state against the in- vasion of the British foe. He was successful in this position and on several occasions issued calls for certain classes of the militia to march from York County to the army under Washington. During the years 1783-84-85-86, he was a member of the Su- preme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, which, under the state constitution of 1776 to 1790, was the Executive Body in the state government. During the years that he served in this body, he was also a member of the Council of Censors, whose duty was to look after the interests of the confiscated estates of Pennsylvania Tories. Colonel McAllister early in life took a prominent part in the legal affairs of York County. He was commissioned justice of the peace and justice for the court of common pleas in

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

March, 1771. He was a member of the first State Constitutional Convention in the year 1776, and on February 17, 1784, became presiding justice of the York County Courts. On June 30, 1791, he entertained President Washington for a few hours while passing through the town of Hanover on his way to Philadelphia. He died at Hanover at four o'clock in the evening, Oc- tober 7, 1795. His remains were first buried in the graveyard, belonging to Emanuel's Reformed Church of Hanover, of which he was a member and one of the leading con- tributors during its early history. About 1870 his remains were removed to Mount Olivet Cemetery in the suburbs of Hanover, where they now lie, and on every succeed- ing Memorial day commemorative services are held at this tomb by the. Grand Army Post of Hanover. Colonel McAllister had eleven children. His eldest son, Abdiel, commanded a company in Colonel Irvine's regiment in the first expedition to Canada, in 1775. and during the campaign around Philadelphia took part in the battle of Brandywine, when this regiment was com- manded by Colonel David Grier, of York. Archibald McAllister, another son, born Boston, when the port of that city was closed by the British. He joined the Conti- nental army as a captain in Colonel Michael Swope's regiment of York County Volun- teers, and was captured by the enemy in the engagement at Fort Washington, north of New York City, on the 16th of November, 1776. Several months of distressing im- prisonment followed, during which time he was unremitting in his efforts to alleviate the sufferings of others, and bold and ani- mated in the advocacy of his country's cause. After his release and return home, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania from York County, and from that time to 1790 was seven times re-elected to the same position. From 1790 to 1795 he represented his county in the State Senate, being the first person from York County to fill that posi- tion under the State Constitution of 1790. Here his warm attachment to our political institutions enabled him to act with honor to himself and his constituents. After the war, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and kept a tavern a short distance west of York. He died in the year 1810, and his remains are interred near those of 1756, commanded a company in the battle his father in the graveyard of the First Lutheran Church of York. He left three sons and four daughters, viz .: Peter, Eliza- beth, Sarah, Jacob, Mary, Michael, Susan.

of Germantown, in 1777, and also in the engagement at Monmouth, New Jersey, in 1778. Matthew, a younger son, born 1758, became first United States district attorney of Georgia, judge of the Superior Court of the state and mayor of Savannah during the war of 1812.

Colonel Julian McAllister, one of his sons, commanded a regiment in the Union army during the Civil war.

ENSIGN JACOB BARNITZ, who was twice wounded at the battle of Fort Wash- ington, was born åt York in the year 1758. He was the son of John George Carl Bar- nitz, who came to this country about 1745, first settled in Baltimore and later removed to York. Jacob Barnitz grew to manhood in his native town and was a boy seventeen years old when the first troops left York to join the American army at Boston. The same year, he enlisted and trained with the First Battalion of York County Militia under Colonel James Smith, in Captain Stake's company. He marched with the battalion to New Jersey, and when Colonel

COLONEL MICHAEL SMYSER, in early days written Schmeiser, who served with distinction as a captain in the Flying Camp, was born in 1740, a few miles west of York. His father, Matthias Smyser, came from Germany in 1731, at the age of sixteen, and when he reached his manhood, became one of the earliest settlers of York County in the vicinity of Spring Grove. Michael Michael Swope organized the first regiment Smyser was thirty-five years old when the of Pennsylvania troops for the Flying Camp, Jacob Barnitz, at the age of eighteen, was made ensign or flag bearer, a com- missioned officer with the rank of second lieutenant. He participated in the cam- paign around New York City, and carried the flag of his regiment when the British Revolution opened. He became one of the early citizens west of the Susquehanna to organize in opposition to the English gov- ernment. He was one of a committee of twelve from York County, who raised money in 1775 to send to the inhabitants of

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attacked Fort Washington, November 16, made prisoner at Fort Washington, and 1776. Colonel Swope was commanding the outposts, and when he was driven back by the approaching Hessians in large numbers, the flag bearer was the target of the enemy's balls. While falling back toward the fortifi- cations, Ensign Barnitz was wounded in both legs and left on the field. He lay where he fell during the night and the next day, as the evening closed, a Hessian soldier approached and was about to bay- onet him, when a British officer, who chanced to be near, took pity on him and thus saved his life. He was then thrown on a wagon and taken a prisoner of war to New York City, then in the hands of the British, where he remained fifteen months, suffering from his wounds. After his ex- change, 1778, he was removed on a wagon from New York City to his home in York. He partially recovered from his wounds, and in 1785 was appointed register and re- corder of York County, serving continu- ously until 1824, a period of thirty-five years. Ensign Barnitz, a name which he always retained, carried a British ball, re- ceived at the attack on Fort Washington, for thirty years, but the shattered bone lengthened, and in 1806 he was compelled to undergo amputation.

Soon after the war he married Mary, daughter of Archibald McLean, the noted surveyor of York. Their eldest son was Charles A. Barnitz, an eminent lawyer and member of the Twenty-third Congress. Their second son was Lieutenant Jacob Barnitz, a gallant soldier of the war of 1812, who bore a distinguished part as an officer of volunteers at the battle of North Point. Ensign Barnitz died April 16, 1828, at the age of seventy years, and his remains now rest at a spot north of Zion Lutheran Church of York. Shortly after the close of the war, under act of Congress passed June 7, 1785, he became a pensioner and received up to the time of his death, the sum of $3,- 500, as a reward for his valor and patriotism during the Revolution.

The British ball which he carried in his leg from 1776 to 1808 was presented to the Historical Society of York County in 1904 by his granddaughter, Miss Catharine Barnitz.

underwent a long captivity. When the lines of the American forces were attacked by the enemy, previous to the capture of the fort, Captain Dritt, with a party of men chiefly from his own company, was ordered in ad- vance to oppose the landing of the British, who came in boats across Harlem Creek, below King's Bridge. He defended his position with great bravery, until, having lost a number of his men, and being nearly surrounded by the Hessians on one side and the British troops on the other, he retreated into the fort with difficulty and was there captured with the garrison. After the war Captain Dritt resided on his plantation in Lower Windsor Township, near the site of East Prospect and was engaged in trans- porting goods and merchandise in a large ark down the Susquehanna River from its upper waters. He kept up an interest in military matters and about 1800 was com- missioned a brigadier-general in the state militia. He lost his life by an unfortunate accident. On December 19, 1817, he crossed the Susquehanna to the site of Lit- tle Washington and went to the Marietta Bank, where he obtained five hundred dol- lars. When he returned to the east side of the ferry, where his son Colonel John Dritt resided, the latter advised him not to cross the river to his home. He was accompanied by a young man named Griffith. They en- tered a boat which was capsized in the mid- dle of the stream when it came in contact with a large cake of ice. Many fruitless efforts were made to recover the dead body of the old soldier. Three months after the drowning, the body of General Dritt was found lying along the banks of the Chesa- peake Bay near the mouth of the Susque- hanna, by some colored slaves. The body was identified by some silver shoe buckles which he wore. His remains were interred near the site where they were found.

CAPTAIN NICHOLAS BITTINGER, who commanded a company in McAllister's regiment. and was captured by the British at Fort Washington, was born in Alsace, Germany. He came to America with his parents and became one of the earliest set- tlers in the vicinity of Hanover. In 1743, he was one of the council for St. Matthew's congregation west of the Susquehanna.

CAPTAIN JACOB DRITT commanded Church, at Hanover, the second Lutheran a company in Swope's Regiment. He was

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

During a vacancy in the pulpit, Nicholas Philadelphia through Princeton and Tren- Bittinger was elected to conduct religious ton, and on December 8 crossed the Dela- ware with his entire army, numbering about four thousand men of the eleven thousand or more that crossed with him to New York city after the battle of Long Island. services and read sermons. At the opening of the Revolution, he was chosen a member of the Committee of Safety for York County, and in 1776, upon the organization of the Flying Camp, took command of a Meantime Schuyler and Gates came down from Central New York with seven regi- ments and prepared to join him at head- quarters at Newtown, Bucks County, a few miles southwest of Trenton. General Israel Putnam was put in charge of the defenses at Philadelphia. At this time in the war, both General Howe and Lord Cornwallis, who had followed Washington to Trenton, decided to return to New York, leaving a small detachment of troops near Trenton, believing that they could resist any attacks of the shattered army under Washington. company of sixty-eiglit men. He fell into the hands of the enemy at Fort Washington and was held a prisoner of war for nearly fifteen months. When Captain Bittinger entered the service, he had reached the age of fifty years. His eldest daughter was the wife of John Clark, major of McAllister's regiment. Captain Bittinger accumulated considerable property, and at the time of his death, in 1804, owned several farms a short distance north of Hanover. His remains were buried in the Lutheran graveyard at Abbottstown. Several of his descendants, including the late Rev. Joseph Bittinger and Rev. John Quiney Bittinger, became promi- nent clergymen in the Presbyterian Church. Hon. John W. Bittenger, president judge of the York County courts, and Dr. Joseph R. Bittinger, of Hanover, are also descendants of Captain Bittinger.

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 34

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1372

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372