THE PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION, Volume II.
Illustrations, By Pen And Pencil, Of The History, Biography, Scenery,
Relics, And Traditions Of The War For Independence.
By Benson J, Lossing,
With Several Hundred Engravings On Wood, By Lossing And Barritt, Chiefly
From Original Sketches By The Author.
In Two Volumes.
Harper & Brothers, Publishers,
1 8 5 2.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
The first eight chapters of this second volume were the last eight
chapters of the first volume with the same illustrations and have not
been duplicated in this ebook of the second volume. DW
[[[Departure for the South.--Mode of Traveling.--Characteristics of the
Journey.--Interesting Associations.]]]
{216}
CHAPTER IX.
```"Thou desolate and dying year!
```Prophetic of our final fall;
```Thy buds are gone, thy leaves are sere,
```Thy beauties shrouded in the pall;
```And all the garniture that shed
```A brilliancy upon thy prime,
```Hath like a morning vision fled
```Into the expanded grave of time."
`````James G. Brooks.
```"That soft autumnal time
````Is come, that sheds upon the naked seene
```Charms only known in this our northern clime--
````Bright seasons far between.
```" The woodland foliage now
````Is gathered lw the wild November blast,
```E'en the thick leaves upon the poplar's bough
````Are fallen to the last."
`````John H. Bryant.
[Illustration: 9224]
N the 22d of November, 1848, I left New York to visit the Southern
portions of the old Thirteen States, made memorable by the events of the
War for Independence. Aware of the lack of public facilities for travel
below the Potomac, and not doubting that many of the localities which I
intended to visit were far distant from public highways, I resolved to
journey with my own conveyance, with an independence and thoroughness
not vouchsafed by steam or stage-drivers. I purchased a strong,
good-natured horse, harnessed him to a light dearborn wagon, stowed my
luggage under the seat, and, taking the reins, on a bright and balmy
afternoon departed on a _drive_ of nearly fourteen hundred miles. The
wisdom of my resolve was a hundred times made manifest, for, in some
portions of the South, horse, mule, or ox could not have been procured
to convey me to places of interest, lying scores of miles apart,
and scores of miles away from stage-routes. It was a lonely journey;
sometimes among mountains, sometimes through swamps, sometimes through
vast pine forests and over sandy plains, and sometimes amid the most
interesting natural scenery, even in mid-winter. It was to me a journey
of great interest; and the dreary days passed in riding from one
hallowed locality to another, after leaving the Appomattox, were all
forgotten when sitting down, pencil in hand, in the midst of some
arena consecrated by patriotism and love of country. Then glorious
associations would crowd thickly upon the memory, weariness and
privations would be forgotten, and the truthful heart would chant,=
```"Great God! we thank thee for this home--
````This bounteous birth-land of the free;
```Where wanderers from afar may come
````And breathe the air of liberty!
```Still may her flowers untrampled spring,
````Her harvests wave, her cities rise;
```And yet, till Time shall fold his wing,
````Remain earth's loveliest paradise!
`````W. J. Pabodie.=
[[[Perth Amboy.--Its original Settlement and Prospects.--Governor
William Franklin.]]]
{217}In succeeding pages I shall endeavor to impart to my readers some
of the pleasures and profits of this Southern journey, extended, after
leaving my horse and wagon at Camden, in South Carolina, to nearly
fourteen hundred miles further.
I left New York at three o'clock in the afternoon in the steam-boat
_Transport_ of the Camden and Amboy Rail-road Company. We passed out at
the Narrows at four o'clock between Forts Hamilton and La Fayette, and,
traversing Raritan Bay, on the southeast side of Staten Island, reached
South Amboy at twilight, where I remained until morning. This little
village is situated upon the bay, at the mouth of the Raritan, and is
the terminus of the rail-way from Philadelphia. On the north side of
the Raritan is Perth Amboy, * a pleasant place, a port of entry, and
a locality of considerable historic interest. It is about twenty-five
miles from New York, and ten from New Brunswick; the latter lies at the
head of steam-boat navigation on the Raritan. Upon this point the
first proprietors of New Jersey intended to build a city. "If the
Lord permit," they said, in their published account of the beauty and
fertility of that region, "we intend, with all convenient speed, to
erect and build our principal town, which, by reason of situation, must,
in all probability, be the most considerable for merchandise, trade, and
fishing in those parts. It is designed to be placed upon a neck or point
of land called Ambo Point, lying on Raritan River, and pointing to
Sandy Hook Bay, and near adjacent to the place where ships in that great
harbor commonly ride at anchor." It was called "a sweet, wholesome, and
delightful place and William Penn said, on taking a view of the land, "I
have never seen such before in my life." The town was laid out into one
hundred and fifty lots, many buildings were erected, and for a time it
was the commercial rival of New York. A city charter was obtained
in 1718. William Eier was the first mayor, and James Alexander--the
father of Lord Stirling, of the Continental army--was the first
recorder. Barracks for soldiers were built there in 1758--9, and were
first occupied by the English troops on their return from Havana in
1761.
Perth Amboy was the place of residence of Governor Franklin when the
Revolution broke out, and was the scene of many stirring events during
that war. ** It was in posses-
* This point, when first mentioned in the East Jersey records, bears the
Indian name of Ompage, of which Ambo or Amboy is a corruption. The white
settlement there was for some time called Perth, in honor of the Earl
of Perth, one of the proprietors; but the name of Ambo was so often
mentioned, that at last it was called Perth Amboy.
** William Franklin, the royal governor of New Jersey, was the only
son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was born in 1731. He was postmaster
of Philadelphia for a short time, and served as clerk of the House-of
Representatives of Pennsylvania. He was a captain in the French and
Indian war, and fought bravely, under Abercrombie, at Ticonderoga.
He visited England, with his father, toward the close of the war. In
Scotland he became acquainted with the Earl of Bute, who recommended him
to Lord Fairfax. That-nobleman appointed him governor of New Jersey,
and for a time he was very popular with the people. He was a decided
monarchist, and from the beginning of the disputes with Great Britain he
took sides against his father. He involved himself in quarrels with the
Legislature of New Jersey, and the people became very hostile to him
before the close of his administration in 1776. On the 23d of May of
that year, the first Provincial Congress of New Jersey commenced their
session at Trenton, and the royal government soon afterward ceased to
exist. A constitution was adopted in July, 1776. William Livingston
was elected governor in place of Franklin, and that deposed servant
of royalty, declared by the Congress of New Jersey to be an enemy to
liberty, was seized in his own house at Perth Amboy, and conveyed a
prisoner to Windham, Connecticut, at which place, and also in Litchfield
jail, he was confined for some time. [See p. 436, volume i.] On the
arrival of Sir Henry Clinton in America in 1778, Governor Franklin was
exchanged for some American prisoners, and released. He went to New
York, where he served, for a short period, as president of the Board
of Directors of the Associated Loyalists. In West's picture of the
Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain, in the year 1783,
Governor Franklin is a prominent personage-represented. A copy of this
picture will be found in another part of this work. Franklin went to
England at the close of the war, where he resided until his death in
November, 1813, enjoying a pension of $4000 per annum. He and his father
were reconciled in 1784, after an alienation often years. The doctor,
however, could not forget his political delinquency. In his will, after
devising to his son all the books and papers of his in possession of the
governor, and also all debts standing against him on his account-books,
he says, "The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of
public notoriety, will account for my leaving him no more of an estate
he endeavored to deprive me of." * Governor Franklin's wife died in
1778, just before his release from imprisonment. On a monumental tablet
in St. Paul's Chureh, New York, it is inscribed that, "compelled to part
from the husband she loved, and at length despairing of the soothing
hope of his return, she sunk of accumulated distresses," &e. His son,
William Temple Franklin, who edited his grandfather's works, died at
Paris in May, 1823.
* Sparks's Life of Franklin, 599.
[[[Dunlap's Recollection of military Affairs at Perth Amboy.--Journey to
Crosswicks.--Missionary Operations there.]]]
{218}sion of the British much of the time; and one of the many pictures
of life of varied hue there presented, is given by William Dunlap (who
was born there), in his _History of the Arts of Design_. "Here were
centered," he says, "in addition to those cantoned in the place, all
those [troops] drawn in from the Delaware, Princeton, and Brunswick; and
the flower and pick of the army, English, Scotch, and German, who had at
that time been brought in from Rhode Island. Here was to be seen a party
of forty-second Highlanders, in national costume, and there a regiment
of Hessians, their dress and arms a perfect contrast to the first. The
slaves of Anspach and Waldeek were there--the first somber as night,
the second gaudy as noon. Here dashed by a party of the seventeenth
dragoons, and there scampered a party of Yagers. The trim, neat, and
graceful English grenadier; the careless and half-savage Highlander,
with his flowing robes and naked knees, and the immovably stiff' German,
could hardly be taken for parts of one army. Here might be seen soldiers
driving in cattle, and others guarding wagons loaded with household
furniture, instead of the hay and oats they had been sent for.
"The landing of the grenadiers and light infantry from the ships which
transplanted the troops from Rhode Island; their proud march into
the hostile neighborhood, to gather the produce of the farmer for the
garrison; the sound of the musketry, which soon rolled back upon us; the
return of the disabled veterans who could retrace their steps, and the
heavy march of the discomfited troops, with their wagons of groaning
wounded, in the evening, are all impressed on my mind as pictures of
the evils and the soul-stirring scenes of war. These lessons, and
others more disgusting, were my sources of instruction in the winter of
1776--7." * [[November 23, 1848]] I left Amboy for Trenton, by the way
of Crosswicks, before sunrise the next morning. The air was clear and
frosty; the pools by the road side were skimmed with ice, and fields and
fences were white with hoar frost. The deep sand of the road made the
traveling heavy, yet, before the sun was fairly up, my strong horse had
taken me half the way to Spottswood, ten miles distant. I passed
through Spottswood, Old Bridge, Hightstown, and Cranberry, to Allentown,
twenty-eight miles from Amboy, where I dined. These villages have a neat
and thrifty appearance. Over the level, sandy country through which the
road passes, extensive peach orchards are spread out, covering hundreds
of acres. Crosswicks, ** the scene of some stirring events in the
Revolution, is situated upon a ridge on the left bank of Crosswicks
Creek, four miles from Allentown, and the same distance from the
Delaware Ptiver. The creek is in a deep ravine, here spanned by a fine
latticed bridge, erected upon the site of the old one of the Revolution.
It was settled by the Quakers in 1681, and was a place of sufficient
importance in colonial times to be once a meeting-place of the
Provincial Assembly. Among the Indians at Crossweeksung, Brainerd and
Tennant [[1748]] labored successfully, *** and the influence of the
Quakers upon that tribe was sensibly felt. Here a small detachment of
the American army was stationed after the first engagement at Trenton,
where the Hessians were captured; and here one division of the British
troops, marching from Philadelphia toward Monmouth, in June, 1778, were
pretty severely handled by a party of Americans. The troops of the enemy
marched in three divisions from Philadelphia: one by Mount Holly, one
through Columbus, and the third by Bordentown, on the Delaware, near the
mouth of Crosswicks Creek. Near the latter place was a draw-bridge, and
as the British attempted to repair it for the purpose of crossing, the
militia regiments of Colonels Frelinghuysen, **** Van Dyke, and Webster,
stationed near, rushed
* History of the Arts of Design, vol. ii.
** This name is derived from the Indian appellation of the plaee,
Crossweeksung, signifying a separation. The creek separates into two
branches not far from the village.
*** In less than one year after Brainerd commenced preaching among them,
he baptized no less than seventy-seven persons, of whom thirty-eight
were adults.--Allen's Amer. Biog. Dictionary.
**** Frederik Frelinghuysen was the son of Reverend John Frelinghuysen,
of Raritan, New Jersey. He graduated at Princeton in 1770, and when the
Revolution broke out he entered the military service of his country. He
was a captain of a militia company at the battle of Trenton, December
26, 1776, and, it is said, was the man who shot Colonel Rail, the
commander of the Hessians. He was afterward promoted to the rank of
colonel, which office he held during the war. He was a member of the
old Congress, and, under the administration of Washington, was a senator
from New Jersey. He was for a number of years one of the trustees of
Princeton College. He died in April, 1804, aged about fifty-two years.
Theodore Frelinghuysen, late United States senator from New Jersey, and
Chancellor of the University of New York, is his son.
[[[Skirmish at Crosswicks.--The Friends' Meeting-house.--Mrs.
Idell.--Bordentown]]]
{219}upon them, killed four and wounded several. The enemy left the
bridge at Bordentown, and, marching up to Crosswicks, attempted to
repair the bridge there, which the Americans had almost destroyed. *
[Illustration: 9227]
The alert provincials were ready to receive them; and from their station
on the Woodwardsville side of the creek, they poured upon the Britons
volleys of musketry, which, with a well-aimed shot occasionally from
an old six-pounder, effectually kept them at bay. Being re-enforced the
next day, the enemy repaired the bridge, crossed it, and pursued their
march toward Allentown. During the skirmish, one of the cannon-balls
fired by the Americans struck the north wall of the meeting-house and
lodged therein, where it remained until the building was repaired a
few years ago. The hole made by the ball is yet visible; the dark spot
between the sills of the two upper windows, on the right of the picture,
marks the place.
The American troops at Crosswicks, after the battle of Trenton, used
the meeting-house for barracks; yet, unlike the British soldiers who
occupied churches for a similar purpose, they neither defaced the
building, nor disturbed the society in their public religious duties'.
Every Wednesday and Sunday the soldiers withdrew, the benches were
properly arranged, and worship was held as usual.
During my brief tarry of an hour and a half at Crosswicks, I visited
the venerable Mrs. Idell, who was eighty-three years old. She clearly
remembered the advent of the Americans there, after the battle of
Trenton. She lived with her brother, two or three miles from the
meeting-house. Twelve American officers, on horseback, took possession
of his house while himself and family were in meeting. The parlor was
filled with equestrian accouterments, and she and two other children
"almost lost their wits by fright." The old lady was strong in mind but
feeble in body when I saw her, yet she was able to sit in their plain
old house of worship every meeting-day.
I left Crosswicks at four o'clock, and arrived at Trenton at sunset.
It was a pleasant drive of eight miles through a fertile country; the
well-filled barns and barracks, and the numerous haystacks, denoting
bountiful harvests. I passed a little northward of Bordentown, and had
an occasional glimpse of its spires above the brown tree-tops. As we
may not, in the course of our journey, approach so near this pleasant
village again, let us slacken our pace a little as we go over the crown
of the hill, from whence the vane of the Episcopal church is visible,
and consider its Revolutionary history.
Bordentown is "a city upon a hill," and "can not be hid." It is at the
elbow of the Delaware River, seven miles below Trenton, and from the
brow of the eminence on which it stands there is an extensive view of
that noble stream and the surrounding country. It derives its name from
Joseph Borden, an early settler. Here both the Americans and British had
military stores; and hither both parties, at different times, dispatched
small detachments to surprise and capture, or destroy them. Here a
strong body of Hessians, under
* An American named Clevenger, who had cut away the last sleeper of the
bridge when the enemy approached, was shot in the back of the head and
killed while retreating. He was the only man whom the Americans lost in
the skirmish.
** This view is from the shed in the yard, looking southeast. The
building stands in the center of a large square, is of imported brick,
and very spacious. The Quakers were numerous in this vicinity in the
time of the Revolution, and a large number of the present inhabitants
are members of that sect.
[[[Revolutionary Events at Bordentown.--Joseph Bonaparte.--General
Dickinson.--Trenton.]]]
{220}Count Donop, was stationed at the time of the battle at Trenton.
One of the several expeditions sent out from Philadelphia by the enemy,
in the spring of 1778, was for the purpose of destroying vessels which
were lying in Barnes's and Crosswicks Creeks at this place. Six or seven
hundred troops left Philadelphia about ten in the evening on the 7th
of May, and went up the Delaware in a flotilla consisting of two
row-galleys, three other armed vessels, and twenty-four flat-bottomed
boats. They had fair winds for ten miles of the way, * when a calm
ensued, and they were obliged to row the remainder of the distance. They
expected to reach Bordentown and perform their destructive work before
dawn, but they did not arrive there until late in the forenoon. Before
landing, they burned two frigates at the White Hills, a little below the
village, and afterward destroyed several smaller vessels. They landed
without much opposition, burned the residence of Joseph Borden,
committed some petty malicious trespasses, and then re-embarked. The
next day they proceeded up the river as far as Bile's Island, intending
to make a descent upon Trenton; but General Dickinson, ** and the troops
under his command, gave them such a warm reception, that they hastily
turned their prows southward. On their way down they landed at Colonel
Kirk-bride's farm, on the Pennsylvania side, burned his buildings, and
seized considerable property. A party of militia, whom General Dickinson
sent down the river, succeeded in capturing a sloop which the enemy had
filled with plunder, and took prisoners six men who were on board. The
marauders returned to Philadelphia with very little booty, and not a
particle of glory. ***
At Bordentown, from 1816 until 1842, Joseph Bonaparte, the ex-king of
Spain, and brother of Napoleon, resided. His park and grounds comprised
about fifteen hundred acres of land, which his taste and well-directed
expenditure of money redeemed from almost barrenness, and made
beautiful. His mansion was enriched with the most exquisite works of art
in painting and sculpture, for the gratification of himself and friends;
and while he was ever willing to display these for the pleasure of the
poor, his hand was open to their wants.
The sun was vailed, at its setting, when I arrived at Trenton, **** by
an ominous red vapor that betokened a storm. True to the "sign," the
morning following was lowery, and a chilly east wind made sketching in
the open air any thing but pleasant. I was busy with my pencil until
the rain began to fall at noon. At two o'clock the sun peeped out for
a moment, and smiled so pleasantly (yet deceptively) that I ordered my
horse, and, accompa-
* The distance from Philadelphia to Bordentown is twenty-six miles.
** Philemon Dickinson was a gallant officer of the Revolution. He was a
Whig of the truest dye, and entered the Revolutionary army at the outset
of the contest. Although possessed of an ample fortune, he cheerfully
hazarded it for the good of his country, preferring poverty with
liberty, to wealth with slavery. He was at the head of the Jersey
militia in the battle of Monmouth, where he displayed the greatest
bravery. He was a member of Congress from his state after the
establishment of the present Federal government, and in various civil
and military stations he discharged his duty faithfully. Twelve years
of the latter part of his life were passed in domestic retirement at his
seat near Trenton, where he died on the 4th of February, 1809, at the
age of sixty-eight years.
*** Howe, in the Historical Collections of New Jersey, page 101, records
one or two incidents of this incursion which were related to him by
a person who was a resident there at the time. He said the British
officers dined at the house of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence, who, with his family, was absent at the
time. A young lady, eighteen years old, named Mary Comely, provided
the dinner for them. While they were dining, she was informed that the
soldiers were robbing the houses of her mother and grandmother, on the
opposite side of the street. She went in, and stealthily cut a piece
from the skirt of one of the soldiers' coats. This she handed to the
commander, and by it he detected the thief. By this means the property
of her relations and some neighbors was restored. A Whig, in order
to save his property, slew a sheep, and made a good dinner for the
soldiers; but, before the meal was ready, the bugle sounded for the
troops to form in line. The dinner was partaken of by Colonel Baylor and
his light horse, who arrived toward evening.
**** Trenton is the capital of New Jersey, situated upon the east bank
of the Delaware, at the Falls, thirty miles from Philadelphia. The first
settlements were made by Quakers, on both sides of the river, about
1679. The region in the vicinity of the Falls was called by the
Delaware Indians, Sankhican, a name signifying gun or firelock, from the
circumstance that a tribe of Mohawks, who used guns, occupied that spot.
A purchase of a large tract of land lying on both sides of the Assanpink
was made by Colonel William Trent, of Philadelphia, in 1714, and from
him Trent Town or Trenton derives its name.
[[[M'Conkey's Ferry, where Washington crossed the Delaware.--Long
Bridge.--Capture of Forts Washington and Lee.]]]
{221}nied by the Honorable G. W. Smyth, of Belvidere, started for
M'Conkey's Ferry (now Taylorsville), eight miles above Trenton, the
place where=
```On Christmas day, in seventy-six,
```Our gallant troops, with bayonets fixed,
````To Trenton marched away,"=
and, with Washington, crossed the Delaware, on the memorable night of
that festival.
[Illustration: 9229]
We had ridden scarcely a mile before the rain came pattering down upon
our wagon-top, and when we returned at evening the storm had increased
in violence to that of a drenching summer shower. The road passes along
the bank of the Delaware, and on a bright summer day it must be one
of the pleasantest drives imaginable. There are several beautiful
country-seats on the way, with grounds tastefully laid out and shaded.
Two miles from Trenton is the State Lunatic Asylum, an immense building,
having nine quadrangles, and presenting a front of four hundred and
eighty feet. The feeder for the Delaware and Hudson Canal, and the
artificial channel made along the river bank for the production of water
power at Trenton, are crossed and paralleled by the road all the way to
Yardleyville, between which and Taylorsville the great dam constructed
to supply these streams stretches across the Delaware. Taylorsville
is on the Pennsylvania side, at M'Conkey's Ferry. A noble bridge, six
hundred feet long, here spans the river. It is supported by eight piers,
eighteen feet above the water when the stream has its usual depth. The
bridge is of timber, the piers of solid masonry, with an icebreaker
on the upper side. The view here given is from below the bridge on the
Pennsylvania side, looking northeast, and exhibits the Jersey shore
at the precise point where the American army landed, an event which
we shall consider presently. Mr. Taylor, an old resident of the place,
pointed out the spot, on each side of the river, where a log-house stood
at the time. The one on the Pennsylvania side was upon the site of the
_Temperance House_, in Taylorsville; that upon the Jersey shore was
exactly at the end of the bridge.
It was very dark when we reached Trenton in the midst of the storm. With
the feelings of the silly mortal who thought a brook would soon run dry
because the stream was so swift, I hoped for a bright morning because
the rain came down deluge-like. Let us turn from the present and commune
an hour with the past.
Fort Washington, on the east bank of the Hudson, near New York city,
fell into the hands of the enemy on the 16th of November, 1776, and
the garrison of nearly three thousand men became prisoners of war. The
skirmish at White Plains had recently [[October 28, 1776]] occurred, and
Washington, penetrating the design of the enemy to pass into New Jersey
and march to the capture of Philadelphia, had already crossed the Hudson
with the main body of the American army, after securing some positions
on the east bank, between Kingsbridge and the Highlands. He encamped at
Hackensack, in the rear of Fort Lee where General Greene was in command.
Lord Cornwallis crossed the Hudson at Dobbs's Ferry, with six thousand
men, on the 18th, and landing at Closter, a mile and a [[November,
1776]] half from English Neighborhood, proceeded to attack Fort Lee. The
garrison made a hasty retreat, and joined the main army at Hackensack,
five miles distant. All the baggage and military stores at Fort Lee fell
into the hands of the enemy. It was an easy conquest for Cornwallis; and
had he followed up this successful beginning with energy,
[[[Retreat of the Americans across New Jersey.--Decrease of the
Army.--Tardy Movements of General Lee.]]]
{222}there is every probability that he would have captured Washington
and his army. The latter commenced a retreat toward the Delaware when
Cornwallis approached, hoping to be sufficiently re-enforced by the New
Jersey and Pennsylvania militia to be enabled to make a successful stand
against the invaders at some intermediate point. But late reverses had
dispirited the militia, and Washington found his army diminishing at
every step rather than augmenting.
[Illustration: 9230]
By the last of November scarcely three thousand troops remained in the
American army. For three weeks he fled before Cornwallis across the
level districts of New Jersey. Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, and
Trenton were successively evacuated by the Americans and occupied by the
enemy. Often the music of the pursued and the pursuers would be heard
by each other, yet no action occurred. Arrived at Trenton on the 8th
of December, Washington and his army crossed the Delaware in boats.
The last one had reached the Pennsylvania shore just as one division of
Cornwallis's army, with all the pomp of victors, marched into Trenton.
This was about twelve o'clock at night. The British commander, with the
main body of the troops, halted within six miles of Trenton.
Washington had hoped to make a stand at New Brunswick, but was
disappointed. The service of the Jersey and Maryland brigades expired on
the day he left that place, and neither of them would remain longer
with the army. General Lee had been left at White Plains in command of
a detachment of the army, consisting of nearly three thousand men.
Washington wrote to him from Hackensack, requesting him to lead his
division into New Jersey immediately to re-enforce his melting army. Lee
did not heed the request, and the commander-in-chief finally sent him
a positive order to that effect. This order was repeated, and yet he
delayed; and so tardy was his march in the rear of the royal army, that
it was three weeks before he reached Morristown. It is evident from
Lee's conduct, and the tenor of his letters at that time, that it was
not so much a spirit of determined disobedience which governed
his actions, as a strong desire to act independent of the
commander-in-chief, and perform some signal service which would redound
to his personal glory. * He was as ambitious as he was impetuous and
brave. He had endeavored, but in vain, to induce General Heath, who was
left in command at Peekskill, to let him have a detachment of one or
two thousand men, with which to operate. Heath refused to vary from his
instructions, and it was well he did. Washington continued to urge Lee
to form a junction with him; yet, as late as the 11th of December,
two days after the passage of the Delaware, a letter written by Lee to
Washington, at Morristown, hinted at various contemplated movements, not
one of which referred to a junction of forces. This was the last letter
Washington received from Lee during his march. Two days afterward, while
pursuing his slow and reluctant progress toward the Delaware, Lee was
taken prisoner. His troops lay at a place called Vealtown, while he
lodged at Basking Ridge, nearly three miles distant, at the inn of a
Mrs. White, now a private dwelling, situated upon rising ground at the
southeast entrance of the village. Colonel Harcourt, at the head of a
scouting party of British cavalry, apprised of the position of General
Lee,2 made a furious charge upon his quarters on
* It was at this time that the close and confidential intimacy which
existed between Washington and Colonel Joseph Reed was disturbed by a
letter from Lee to the latter. It will be remembered that Reed was with
Washington at Cambridge during the siege of Boston, and was the most
confidential friend of the commander-in-chief. On the 21st of November
he wrote a letter to Lee, from Hackensack, in which, pointedly alluding
to Washington, he complained of the indecision of officers, at the
same time complimenting Lee for his opposite quality. This letter was
answered in a tone and spirit little calculated to command the respect
of Washington for either party. Reed had left camp before its arrival,
and, as usual, his letters were opened by the commander-in-chief.
In this way the latter became acquainted with its contents. Free
explanations were made, and mutual confidence was afterward restored,
which continued through life.
** Following the account of Wilkinson, in his Memoirs (who was with Lee
at the time), historians say that a Tory communicated the fact of Lee's
presence at White's Tavern to Colonel Harcourt. There is no positive
evidence that such was the fact; on the contrary, it is asserted, in the
Historical Collections of New Jersey, that one of the compilers of
that work was informed by Colonel J. W. Drake, of Mendham, that the
individual was a Mr. Mackelwraith, an elder of a Presbyterian church,
who was surrounded in the road by Harcourt and his men, pressed into
service, and compelled to show them Lee's quarters. When the assailants
arrived, the guard were sunning themselves on the south side of the
house, and were suddenly separated from their arms; hence the feebleness
of their resistance.
[[[Capture of General Lee.--Longevity of the Captor's Horse.--Biography
of Lee.--His Division commanded by Sullivan.]]]
{223}the morning of the 13th of December, dispersed the guard, and
captured the commander. * Lee had just finished a letter to General
Gates when the dragoons appeared. So sudden was the arrest, and so quick
was the departure, that he was hurried away on horseback, bare-headed,
nothing but slippers on his feet, and a blanket coat on his back, and
conveyed in safety to New York. General Sullivan, who was taken prisoner
at the battle on Long Island, in August previous, had been exchanged,
and was now with Lee's division of the army.
[Illustration: 8231]
On the capture of Lee the command devolved on Sullivan, and he soon
afterward crossed the Delaware and joined Washington.
General Lee was an able and efficient officer, and his loss, at that
time, was very severely felt. The estimation in which the enemy held
his services may be understood by the declaration, "We have taken the
American palladium." His disobedience is indefensible; yet, viewing
subsequent events in their various relations, that very disobedience was
probably instrumental in working out greater good than compliance would
* Mr. James the English novelist, now (1851) residing in this country,
informed a friend of the writer that he possesses a manuscript drawing
of Colonel Harcourt, and of the horse which he rode on that occasion.
The horse lived to the extraordinary age of fifty years.
** Charles Lee was born in Wales in 1731. He was the son of General John
Lee of the British army. He was a commissioned officer in the army of
George II. at a very early age (some say eleven years), and ardently
pursued military knowledge. He acquired many of the Continental
languages. He came to America in 1756, and distinguished himself in
the wars with the French and Indians. He dwelt, for a time, with the
Mohawks, and was made a chief of the tribe, under the name, in
the Mohawk dialect, of Boiling Water. In 1762 he bore a colonel's
commission, and served under Burgoyne in Portugal. After engaging for
a while in political strife in England, he went to the Continent,
and during three years, from 1770, he rambled all over Europe. He was
received with favor by the great, and finally became aid to Poniatowski,
kin" of Poland. For two years he basked in that monarch's favor, and
then went, with the king's embassador, to Turkey. From Constantinople he
went to Paris, and in 1773 again came to America. He became acquainted
with General Gates, and, through his persuasions, purchased a tract of
land in Berkley county, Virginia. Resigning a commission which he held
in the British army, he accepted one from Congress when the Continental
army was organized in the summer of 1775. He accompanied Washington to
Cambridge, and from that period until his capture in December, 1776, he
was engaged in very active service, particularly at the South. In May,
1778, he was exchanged for General Prescott, who was captured on Rhode
Island, and within a month afterward he was engaged in the fierce battle
of Monmouth. In that conflict he was disobedient to the commands of the
chief, and was arrested for his misconduct. His trial resulted in
his suspension, a verdict which gave general satisfaction, for it
was believed that he was aiming at supreme command. The verdict was
confirmed by Congress in 1780, and he left the army. He lived a while at
Berkley, morose and secluded. He finally went to Philadelphia, and
took lodgings in a house now known as the "Slate-roof House," once the
residence of William Penn, where he died, soon afterward, in poverty and
obscurity. His death occurred on the 2d of Oetober, 1782, at the age of
fifty-one. General Lee was a brilliant man in many things, but his life
exhibited a most perfect specimen of antitheses of character. He was bad
in morals and manners, profane in language, and neither feared or loved
God or man. He wrote his will a few days before his death, in which he
bequeathed his soul to the Almighty, and his body to the earth, saying,
"I desire most earnestly that I may not be buried in any church
or churchyard, or within a mile of any Presbyterian or Anabaptist
meeting-house; for, since I have resided in this country, I have kept so
much bad company when living, that I do not choose to continue it when
dead." His last words on his death-bed were, "Stand by me, my brave
grenadiers!" He was buried in Christ Church-yard, Philadelphia, with
military honors. Quite a large concourse of citizens attended his
funeral. Mrs. Mercy Warren seems to have formed a correct estimate of
Lee's character from her own observations on the occasion of his dining
with herself and husband at Watertown, while the army was at Cambridge.
In a letter to Samuel Adams, she speaks of him as "plain in his person
to a degree of ugliness; careless even to unpoliteness; his garb
ordinary; his voice rough; his manners rather morose; yet sensible,
learned, judicious, and penetrating." Such is the character of Lee which
I received from the lips of Mrs. Hamilton, who expressively called him
"a crabbed man."
[[[The Delaware between Washington and Cornwallis.--Weakness of the
American Army.--Gloomy Aspect of Affairs.]]]
{224}have done. Let us return to the consideration of the movements of
the two armies upon the Delaware.
Washington took the precaution, when he crossed the river, to secure
every boat and bateau, so that Cornwallis had no means for continuing an
immediate pursuit. The latter had intended to cross a portion of troops
early the next morning between M'Conkey's and Coryell's Ferry, for the
purpose of capturing a number of boats which the Americans had collected
on the Pennsylvania side. But these had been taken away, and he had
no alternative but to construct boats, or wait for the freezing of the
Delaware, so that he might pass his troops over on the ice.
Washington had but twenty-two hundred men under his command when
he crossed the river; and two days afterward, in consequence of the
expiration of the term of service of a portion of these, he had but
seventeen hundred--indeed, not more than one thousand on whom he could
rely. The proclamation of General Howe, mentioned on page 308, vol. i.,
[[November 30, 1776]] had been circulated freely in the Jerseys since
the day of its publication, and had produced wide-spread disaffection
to the patriot cause. * New Jersey was now in possession of a victorious
enemy, and nothing but the feeble barrier of the Delaware lay between
Cornwallis and his well-disciplined army, and Philadelphia, the
Federal capital, where Congress was in session. The public treasury was
exhausted, and the Congress bills of credit were beginning to be looked
upon with suspicion and disfavor. Hourly the American army was melting
away, and despondency was brooding over every patriot's mind. Clouds
and darkness were gathering thick on every side. The campaign had been
little else than a series of discomfitures, ** and the inefficient
provisions made by Congress for keeping up an army were manifest to all.
Distrust of Congress and of the army began to prevail in all minds,
and the sun of American liberty seemed about to set amid the clouds of
hopeless despair. Yet Washington was firm and undaunted. His faith in
the ultimate triumph of the Americans seems never to have burned with a
brighter and steadier light than at this dark moment. Although December
frosts were rapidly preparing a bridge over which the enemy might cross
the Delaware and march triumphantly to the conquest of Philadelphia and
all Pennsylvania, yet he was calm, determined, hopeful. When asked
what he would do if Philadelphia should be taken, he replied, "We will
retreat beyond the Susquehanna River, and thence, if necessary, to
the Alleghany Mountains." While there was a shadow of an army in the
field--while Congress maintained its sittings and unity--while a single
ray of hope for success remained, no thought of abandoning the righteous
cause was harbored in the mind of that great and good man. Already, in
the very darkest hour, he
* Among the prominent men who had espoused the Republican cause at the
commencement and now abandoned it, was Tucker, president of the New
Jersey convention which had sanctioned the Declaration of Independence,
and Joseph Galloway, a member of the first Continental Congress. For ten
days after the issuing of the proclamation, two or three hundred persons
a day came in to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown. Their
disappointment is mentioned on page 308, vol. i.
** Although the Americans had generally suffered defeat, yet, from a
summary of prisoners taken by each party, during 1776, given in Sparks's
Life and Writings of Washington (iv., 547), the Americans were quite
successful in making captures. The number of American prisoners taken
by the British was 4854; the number of British taken by the Americans,
2860; making a difference in favor of the enemy of 1994. In this
statement is not included the 431 Americans captured at the Cedars, but
includes the Hessians taken at Trenton. The number of American officers
taken was 304--staff 25; privates, 4101: total, 4430. In addition to
men, the Americans lost, according to Gordon (ii., 131), 12 mortars
and cannons of brass, and 235 of iron; 23,979 empty shells, and 17,122
filled; 2684 double-headed shot; a large quantity of grape-shot; 2800
muskets; 400,000 cartridges; 16 barrels of powder; a quantity of bar
iron; 500 intrenching tools; 4 covered wagons; 200 hand-barrows, carts,
crows, mantelets, chevaux-de-frize, &c.; 4000 barrels of flour, at
Forts Washington and Lee; baggage, tents, and a large quantity of other
stores.
[[[Putnam in Command at Philadelphia.--Reorganization of the
Army.--Adjournment of Congress to Baltimore.--The Quakers.]]]
{225}had conceived the masterly stroke of military skill which presently
brought forth such a radiant spark of hope and joy upon the frozen banks
of the Delaware. *
After passing the Delaware, the salvation of Philadelphia became the
object of Washington's greatest solicitude. He dispatched General Putnam
thither, who, with General Mifflin, commenced the erection of defenses
at different points around the city. Congress, now alive to the
necessity for the most energetic action, put forth all its powers. It
resolved to defend Philadelphia to the last extremity. A stirring appeal
to the people was adopted and sent forth, and a thorough organization
of the army was begun, in accordance [[December 11, 1776]] with a plan
matured by Washington and a committee of Congress, while the American
army was upon Harlem Heights, a few months previous. According to this
plan, all the hitherto scattered Continental forces were to be embraced
in one grand army, consisting of eighty battalions of seven hundred and
fifty men each, to be raised in the several states. Massachusetts and
Virginia were each to furnish fifteen battalions; Pennsylvania, twelve;
North Carolina, nine; Connecticut, eight; South Carolina, six; New York
and New Jersey, four each; New Hampshire and Maryland, three each; Rhode
Island, two, and Georgia, one. As an inducement for men to enlist and
supply the places of those whose term of service was about expiring,
liberal bounties were offered. ** A loan of five millions of dollars at
four per cent, interest was authorized.
On the 12th of December, Congress invested General Putnam with almost
unlimited power in Philadelphia, placing under his control all the
munitions of war in the city, and also authorizing him to employ all the
private armed vessels in that harbor for the defense of the place. On
the same day, under the advice of Putnam and Mifflin, Congress resolved
to retire to Baltimore, because Philadelphia, now being made the seat of
war, could not furnish that quiet so necessary to wise and dispassionate
legislation. *** A committee of three, consisting of Robert Morris,
George Clymer, and George Walton, was appointed to remain in
Philadelphia, to act in behalf of Congress, during its absence. That
body, pursuant to adjournment, reassembled in Baltimore on the 20th. The
Whigs in Philadelphia were in great consternation when Congress
left. They feared the Loyalists in their midst quite as much as the
approaching enemy. On the departure of Congress, the active Loyalists
assumed a bold tone; and General Putnam, who was sent thither to fortify
the city, was in daily expectation of an insurrection in favor of the
royal cause. Nearly the whole body of Quakers, though passive, belonged
to that party.
* In a letter to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, written on the 14th
of December, six days after he crossed the Delaware, he said, alluding
to the approach of Gates with a considerable force, "They may, in
conjunction with my present force and that under General Lee, enable us
to attempt a stroke upon the forces of the enemy, who lie a good deal
scattered, and to all appearanee in a state of security. A lucky blow in
this quarter would be fatal to them, and would most certainly rouse
the spirits of the people, which are quite sunk by our late
misfortunes."--Writings of Washington, iv., 220, 221. General Greene,
to whom Washington communicated his plans, wrote to Governor Cooke, of
Rhode Island, on the 21st, "We are now on the west side of the Delaware.
Our force is small when collected together; but, small as it is, I hope
we shall give the enemy a stroke in a few days. Should fortune favor
the attack, it may put a stop to General Howe's progress." Colonel
Reed wrote to Washington on the 21st, "Will it not be possible, my
dear general, for your troops, or such part of them as can act
with advantage, to make a diversion, or something more, at or about
Trenton?"--Ibid., 542, 543.
** Each soldier was to have a bounty of twenty dollars, besides an
allotment of land, at the end of the war, to all who survived, or to
the families of those who should fall in the service. The allotment of
a common soldier was to be one hundred acres; of an ensign, one hundred
and fifty; of a lieutenant, two hundred; a captain, three hundred; a
major, four hundred; a lieutenant colonel, four hundred and fifty; and
a colonel, five hundred. This allotment was to be extended only to those
who enlisted "during the war."
*** A rumor having gone abroad that Congress was about to disperse, that
body resolved that Washington should be desired to contradict "the false
and malicious report spread by the enemies of America," in his general
orders. The commander-in-chief, in a letter to the President of Congress
from Trenton Falls, written on the 12th, wisely declined publishing such
refutation, and gave good reasons for his course. It was a fortunate
circumstance," says Sparks (Washington, iv., 210), "that General
Washington did not publish this resolve to the army, for, the next day
after it was passed, Congress actually adjourned from Philadelphia,
to assemble again in Baltimore." The resolution was transmitted to
Washington by the secretary of Congress, but it does not appear among
the published proceedings of that body.
[[[Howe's Plans.--Injudicious Disposition of the British
Troops.--Augmentation of Washington's Forces.]]]
{226}In the mean while, Washington was preparing to strike the enemy.
General Howe, the commander-in-chief of the British forces, remained in
New York, and the operations in New Jersey were under the control and
direction of Lord Cornwallis. It appears from Howe's dispatches * that
he did not contemplate pursuing the Americans further than the Delaware,
but designed sending a strong force up the Hudson to meet Burgoyne, who
was to penetrate the country from Canada. Cornwallis urged the capture
of Philadelphia as a paramount measure, and Howe consented. Yet, with
all his vigilance and skill, the arrangement of the British army in
the Jerseys was not creditable to the sagacity of Cornwallis. It was
scattered in detachments along an extended line. A body of Hessians,
under Colonel Hall, was stationed at Trenton, and another, under Count
Donop, was posted at Bordentown.
The English troops were divided into a chain of cantonments, extending
from New Brunswick to the Delaware, and down that river to a point below
Burlington. Small detachments were also stationed at Black Horse and
Mount Holly. Cornwallis looked with such contempt upon the weak and
scattered forces of Washington, and was so certain of an easy victory
beyond the Delaware, where, rumor informed him, the people were almost
unanimous in favor of the king, that he did not regard great vigilance
as necessary. He had returned to head-quarters at New York; and so
confident were the British generals that the contest would be ended by
taking possession of Philadelphia, that Cornwallis had prepared to sail
for England on leave of absence. ** His military stores were chiefly at
New Brunswick, and there was his strongest detachment.
Lee's division, under Sullivan, and the regiments from Ticonderoga,
united with Washington on the 21 st. The increased pay of officers,
the proffered bounties to the[[December, 1776]] soldiers, and the great
personal influence of the commander-in-chief, had the effect to retain
in the service, for a few weeks at least, more than one half of the
old soldiers. The militia of Pennsylvania turned out with considerable
alacrity; and on the 24th, between five and six thousand Americans were
gathered around the standard of Washington. *** The commander-in-chief's
head-quarters were at Newtown, a little village on a small branch of the
Nesharning, two miles northeast from Bristol. ****
There were about fifteen hundred Hesssians and a troop of British light
horse at Trenton; these Washington determined to surprise. The posts
at Mount Holly, Burlington, Black Horse, and Bordentown were to be
attacked, at the same time, by the Pennsylvania militia, under Generals
Cadwallader (v) and Ewing, the former to cross near Bristol, the latter
below Trenton Falls; while Washington, leading the main body of the
Continental troops in person, assisted by Generals Sullivan and Greene,
and Colonel Knox of the ar-
* Parliamentary Register, xi., p. 260, 362.
** Ramsay says that Colonel Rail, being under some apprehension for the
safety of Trenton, applied to General Grant for a re-enforcement. That
officer, partaking of the confidence of others, said to the messenger,
"Tell the colonel he is very safe. I will undertake to keep the peace in
New Jersey with a corporal's guard."
*** By the adjutant's return on the 22d of December, the army of
Washington amounted to ten thousand one hundred and six men. Of this
number, five thousand three hundred and ninety-nine were sick, on
command elsewhere, or on furlough, leaving an effective force of four
thousand seven hundred and seven. To these must be added the effective
men of Lee's division and the Pennsylvania militia.
**** Washington occupied the house now (1848) owned by Dr. Lee, on the
west side of the creek; General Greene was at the large brick house, now
Hough's Hotel; and General Mercer was at Mr. Keith's, a little out
of the town. It is related that on the morning of the day when the
Americans marched to M'Conkey's Ferry, General Mercer told Mrs. Keith
that he dreamed, the previous night, that he had been attacked and
overpowered by a huge black bear. Mercer was killed by the British and
Hessians at Princeton a few days afterward, and those who knew of his
dream superstitiously regarded it, as a premonition of his fate.
* (v) John Cadwallader was a native of Philadelphia. He was a member
of the Pennsylvania Convention in 1775. He entered the army, and was
appointed brigadier by Congress in February, 1777. He participated
in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He
fought a duel with General Conway, the quarrel which led to it growing
out of the intrigue of that officer with Gates and others against
Washington. Conway was badly, but not mortally wounded. Cadwallader
removed to Maryland after the war, and became a member of its State
Legislature. He died on the 10th of February, 1786, aged forty-three
years. He was a gentleman of large fortune, and dispensed its blessings
with a liberal hand. He has many descendants in Philadelphia and
vicinity.
[[[Successful Diversion, by Putnam, in favor of Washington.--The
American Army cross the Delaware on Christmas Night.]]]
{227}tillery, was to cross the Delaware at M'Conkey's Ferry, and march
down upon the enemy at Trenton. The river yet remained quite free from
ice, and every thing seemed auspicious. Unknown to General Washington,
Putnam, who had been made acquainted with the design of attacking
Trenton, sent Colonel Griffin, with a body of four hundred and fifty
militia, across from Philadelphia into New Jersey, to make a diversion
in favor of the Trenton expedition. Griffin was instructed to proceed
to Mount Holly, for the purpose of attracting the attention of Colonel
Donop at Bordentown. He was ordered not to fight, but to retreat down
the river when the enemy should appear. This movement had the desired
effect. Donop, who should have been near enough to support Colonel Rall,
* moved against Griffin with his whole force of two thousand men; and so
dilatory was he in his marches after the retreat of the Americans, that
it was two days before he returned to his post. **
Christmas night was selected by Washington for the execution of the
enterprise. He well knew the German habit of celebrating that day with
feasting and drinking, and reasoned wisely on the probability of a large
portion of the Hessians being half disabled by intemperate indulgence.
The division with which Washington was to cross the Delaware consisted
of two thousand four hundred men, with twenty pieces of artillery.
At dusk they paraded [[December 25, 1776]] at M'Conkey's Ferry (now
Taylorsville), expecting to reach Trenton by midnight. The cold weather
of the twenty-four hours preceding put serious obstacles in the way. The
river was so full of floating ice that at first it was doubtful whether
a crossing could be effected at all. A storm of sleet and snow had
just commenced, and the night became excessively dark and dreary. The
perilous voyage began early in the evening, in boats and bateaux, but
it was nearly four o'clock in the morning before the little army was
mustered on the Jersey shore. *** Washington there separated his troops
into two divisions, one to march by the lower, or river road, the
other by the upper, or Pennington road. The distance to Trenton by each
highway was about equal. The commander-in-chief ordered both divisions,
immediately on forcing the out-guards, to push directly into the town,
that they might charge the enemy before they had time to form. To
surprise them before daylight was out of the question; sudden movements
and physical force must supply the place of strategy. Washington,
accompanied by Generals Lord Stirling, Greene, Mercer, and Stevens,
commanded the division on the upper road; Sullivan led that upon the
river road. Both divisions marched so silently that they were
not discovered by the enemy until within a short distance of the
picket-guards on the outskirts of the village. Each encountered the
out-guards at the same time, and a brisk skirmish ensued; the pickets
of the enemy firing from behind houses while retreating to the main body
into the town, closely pursued by the Americans. The Hessian drums beat
to arms, and in a few moments the disordered ranks were marshaled into
battle order by the brave Colonel Rall. Part of Washington's division
pushed down King (now Warren) Street, and a part down Queen (now
Greene) Street. Sullivan's division entered by the mansions of Colonels
Dickinson and Rutherford, through Second and Front Streets. By this
disposition of the patriot forces at the time of the attack, the enemy
were hemmed in by the Assanpink, or Assumpink (a considerable stream
running through the town), on the south, and the invading troops. At
the head of King Street, Captain Forest opened a six-gun battery, which
commanded the avenue. Captain William A. Washington, and Lieutenant
James Monroe, **** perceiving that the enemy were
* The name of this officer is spelled, by different writers, Rohl,
Ralle, Roll, Rhalle, Rhal, Rahl, Rawle, Rall.
** Gordon, ii., 152. Stedman, i., 231.
*** Among the most prominent and active men engaged in ferrying the
army, tradition has preserved the names of Uriah Slack, William Green,
and David Laning.
**** Captain Washington was afterward greatly distinguished as colonel
of a corps of cavalry in the campaigns of the South. James Monroe was
afterward President of the United States. Both officers were slightly
wounded while performing this exploit.
[[[The Battle in Trenton.--Colonel Rail mortally Wounded.--Capture of
the Hessians.]]]
{228}endeavoring to form a battery in the same street, near where the
canal feeder now crosses the way, rushed forward with a small party,
drove the artillery-men from their guns, and captured two of the pieces
just as the gunners were about to fire.
[Illustration: 9236]
These were the first decided movements of the belligerents at the moment
of surprise.
When Colonel Rhall had formed his men for action, he attempted to
advance and repel his assailants; but, being completely hemmed in, and
his troops panic-stricken, all was confusion.
[Illustration: 8236]
The Americans were pressing closer and closer, and with deadly aim were
thinning the Hessian ranks. At length a bullet mortally wounded Colonel
Rhall, and he fell from his horse, pale and bleeding. His aids and
servant bore him to his quarters at the house of a Quaker named Stacey
Potts, while Lieutenant-colonel Scheffer, his next in command, took his
place at the head of the troops. But all order was at an end. Seeing
their commander fall, the Hessians fled in dismay, the main body
attempting to escape by the road to Princeton. Their retreat was cut off
by Colonel Hand, with a body of Pennsylvania riflemen. The fugitives,
ignorant of the smallness of the force that stood in their way, and
having the enthusiasm of only the mercenary soldier, threw down their
arms and implored mercy. * The light horse and some infantry, in all
about six hundred, fled, at the first alarm, to Bordentown. These would
have fallen into Washington's hands, had not the
* Explanation of the plan.--This map shows the country around Trenton,
and the military operations there at the close of 1776 and commencement
of 1777. h shows the position of Hand's rifle corps on the 26th of
December, where they stopped the retreat of the Hessians; i, the
Virginia troops; k, the Hessians; wi, m, m, skirmishes, January 2d; n,
a, Cornwallis, January 3d.
** The warmest of the conflict took place near the junction of Warren
and Perry Streets, and the Presbyterian church in Second Street. The
enemy laid down their arms on the field between the Presbyterian church
and Park Place, then called the Old Iron-works.
*** This is a frame building standing upon Warren Street, opposite
Perry, near the corner of Bank Alley. The buildings on the left are also
of ante-Revolutionary origin. This house was a tavern at the time,
kept by Stacey Potts, the grandfather of Stacey G. and Joseph C. Potts,
Esqrs., of Trenton. In a pane of glass, in the front window on the left
of the front door, lower story, may be seen a hole made by a bullet,
shot during the battle. Colonel Rall died in the front room in the
second story, immediately over this window. It is related that
a daughter of Mr. Potts, who was at a neighbor's when the firing
commenced, was running toward her father's house, when a musket-ball
struck her comb from her head and slightly injured her scalp.
[[[Complete Victory of the Americans.--Washington's Visit to the dying
Rall.--Parole of Honor signed by the Hessian Officers.]]]
{229}ice and high wind prevented General James Ewing * from crossing the
Delaware at Trenton as previously arranged. The troops at Bordentown,
under Donop, might also have been captured if Cadwallader could have
crossed, with his force, at Bristol. He succeeded in landing a battalion
of infantry, but the ice on the margin of the river was in such a
condition that it was impossible to get the artillery across. The
infantry were ordered back, and the design was abandoned.
The victory of the Americans at Trenton was complete. They lost in the
engagement only two privates killed, and two others who were frozen to
death. The enemy lost six officers and between twenty and thirty men
killed, and twenty-three officers and eight hundred and eighty-six
non-commissioned officers and privates made prisoners. In addition to
these, many others were found concealed in houses and secured, making
the whole number of prisoners about one thousand. The trophies were six
brass field-pieces, a thousand stand of arms, twelve drums, and four
colors. Among the latter was the splendid flag of the Anspachers. **
As the enemy were in the vicinity in greatly superior numbers and
appointments, Washington thought it prudent to recross the Delaware,
with his prisoners and spoils, into Pennsylvania. At evening they all
marched to M'Conkey's Ferry, and reached the place of the American
encampment on the other side before midnight of the day of victory. ***
Just before leaving Trenton, Washington and Greene visited the dying
Hessian commander at his quarters, and, with a heart overflowing with
generous emotions in that hour of splendid triumph, the American
chief offered the brave Rall those consolations which a soldier and a
Christian can bestow. This kindness and attention from his conqueror
soothed the agonies of the expiring hero. The remembrance of the deed
seems to play like an electric spark around the pen of the historian
while recording it.
Well-attested tradition says that Colonel Rall and his troops were, as
Washington supposed they would be, yet under the influence of a night's
carousal after the Christmas holiday. On the morning of the battle, Rall
was at the house of Abraham Hunt, who _traded_ with friend and foe. Hunt
was sometimes suspected of being a Tory, but never of being a
* The name of this officer is variously given. Washington in his
dispatch to the President of Congress, wrote it Ewing; Marshall, in his
Life of Washington, spells it Irvine; Wilkinson, In his Memoirs, has it
Irvin; Botta, Irvin; and Gordon, Erwing. Ewing is the correct name. He
was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in 1736. He commenced his
military career under Braddock in 1755, and was with that general when
he was slain. He was a brigadier general of the Pennsylvania militia at
the commencement of the Revolution, but did not enter the regular army.
He was vice-president of the commonwealth, under President Dickinson, in
1782, and was several times member of the State Legislature. He died at
his country-seat, in Hellam township in March, 1806, aged seventy years.
** The regiments which surrendered were those of Anspach, Knyphausen,
and Rall. The flag here alluded to is in the possession of George
Washington Parke Custis, Esq., of Arlington House, Virginia, who has
deposited it, with the flag surrendered at Yorktown, and other relics,
in the museum at Alexandria, Virginia. Drawings, with descriptions of
these flags, will be found in another part of this work.
*** At the head-quarters of Washington, at Newtown, the captive Hessian
officers signed the following parole of honor. I copied it, with the
accompanying signatures, from the original among Gates's papers, in the
collections of the New York Historical Society.
*** "We, the Subscribers, Hessian Officers, made Prisoners of War by the
American Army, under Command of his Excellency, General Washington,
at Trenton, on the 26th inst., being allowed Our Liberty, under such
Restrictions as to place as may be from time to time appointed, do give
Our parole of Honour, that we will remain at the place, and within the
limits appointed for us by his Excellency the General, the Honorable
Congress, Council of Safety, or Commissary of Prisoners of War,
Peaceably behaving ourselves, and by no way Send or give Intelligence to
the British or Hessian Army, or speak or do any thing disrespectful or
Injurious to the American States while we remain Prisoners of War.
[[[Colonel Rail's fatal Carousal.--Names and Signatures of the Hessian
Officers attached to the Parole.]]]
{230}true Whig. He had invited Colonel Rhall and others to a Christmas
supper at his house. Cards were introduced, and play continued
throughout the night, accompanied with wine-drinking.
[Illustration: 0238]
A negro servant was kept as a sort of porter and warden at the door.
Just at dawn, a messenger came in haste with a note to Colonel Rall,
sent by a Tory on the Pennington road, who had discovered the approach
of the Americans. The negro refused admittance to the messenger, saying,
"The gemmen can't be disturbed." The bearer knew the importance of the
note, and, handing it to the negro, ordered him to carry it immediately
to Colonel Rail. Excited by wine, and about to "deal," the colonel
thrust the note into his pocket. Like the Theban polemarch, who, in
the midst of a convivial party, on receiving dispatches relative to a
conspiracy, refused to open them, saying, "Business to-morrow," Rall did
not look at the message, but continued his amusement. Soon afterward,
the roll of the American drums fell upon his drowsy ear. The rattle of
musketry, the rumble of heavy gun-carriages, and the tramp of horses
aroused his apprehensions, and by the time he could fly to his quarters
and mount his horse, the Americans were driving his soldiers before them
like chaff.' "Business to-day--pleasure to-morrow," is the motto of all
vigilance and thrift.
"We will also restrain our Servants and Attendants who are allowed to
remain with us, as far as in our power, to the same Conditions.
"Newtown, December 30th, 1776."