Rhode Island.--Stephen Hopkins, Martin Howard.

Pennsylvania.--John Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Peters, Isaac

Norris.

Maryland.--Benjamin Tasker, * Benjamin Barnes. **

** The committee consisted of Hutchinson of Massachusetts, Atkinson of

New Hampshire, Pitkin of Connecticut, Hopkins of Rhode Island, Smith of

New York, Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Tasker of Maryland.

*** The plan proposed a grand council of forty-eight members--seven from

Virginia, seven from Massachusetts, six from Pennsylvania, five from

Connecticut, four each from New York, Maryland, and the two Carolinas,

three from New Jersey, and two each from New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

The number of forty-eight was to remain fixed, no colony to have more

than seven nor less than two members; but the apportionment to vary

within those limits, with the rates of contribution. This council was to

have the general management of civil and military affairs. It was to

have control of the armies, the apportionment of men and money, and to

enact general laws, in conformity with the British Constitution, and not

in contravention of statutes passed by the imperial Parliament. It was

to have for its head a president general, appointed by the crown, to

possess a negative or veto power on all acts of the council, and to

have, with the advice of the council, the appointment of all military

officers and the entire management of Indian affairs. Civil officers

were to be appointed by the council, with the consent of the president.-

-Pitkin, i., 143. It is remarkable how near this plan, submitted by

Franklin, is the basis of our Federal Constitution. Coxe, of New Jersey,

who was Speaker of the Assembly of that province, proposed a similar

plan in his "Carolana" in 1722, and William Penn, seeing the advantage

of union, made a similar proposition as early as 1700.--Hildreth, ii.,

444.

* This name is differently spelled by different writers. Pitkin, in his

text (vol. L, p. 142), writes it Trasker, and in the list in in his

appendix (429) it is Trasher.

** Williams, in his Statesman's Manual, has it Abraham instead of

Benjamin. I have followed Pitkin.

Early Patriotism of Massachusetts.--Albany in the Revolution.--General

Schuyler's Mansion.--Return to New York.

304ices of government." This was the first proposition to tax the

colonies without their consent, and thus early we find Massachusetts

raising her voice as fearlessly against it as she did twenty years

afterward, when her boldness drew down upon her the vengeance of the

British government.

During the Revolution, and particularly after the British took

possession of New York-city, Albany was the focus of revolutionary power

in the state. There the Committee of Safety had its sittings; and, after

the destruction of the forts in the Highlands, and the burning of Esopus

(Kingston), it was generally the head-quarters of the military and civil

1777 officers in the Northern Department. There the captive officers of

Burgoyne's invading army were hospitably entertained by General Schuyler

and his family at their spacious mansion, then "half a mile below the

town."

The house is still standing, at the head of Schuyler Street, a little

west of South Pearl Street, upon an eminence some thirty feet high in

front, and completely imbosomed in trees and shrubbery. Within it the

Baroness Reidesel was entertained, and there occurred those events

mentioned by her and Chastellux, which I have noticed in a preceding

chapter (pages 91 and 92). It was the scene, also, of the attempted

abduction of the general by the Tory, Waltemeyer, when he robbed the

patriot of his plate in 1781, mentioned on page 223. There La Fayette,

Steuben, Rochambeau, and other foreign officers of eminence were

entertained, and there the noblest of the land, as well as distinguished

travelers from abroad, were frequent guests during the life of the

owner; and its doors were opened as freely when the voice of poverty

pleaded for assistance as when the great claimed hospitality and

courtesy.

We arrived in New York on the morning of the 1st of September. The air

was cool and bracing, the day was fine, and the lately-deserted streets

and shops were thronged with mingled citizens and strangers plunged as

deeply in the maze of business as if no forgetfulness of the leger and

till had occurred while babbling brooks and shady groves wooed them to

Nature's worship. There I rested a few days, preparatory to a visit to

the beautiful valley "On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming!". *

* This view is from Schuyler Street. The edifice is of brick, having a

closed octagonal porch or vestibule in front. It was built by Mrs.

Schuyler while her husband was in England in 1760--1. The old family

mansion, large and highly ornamented, in the Dutch style, stood nearly

upon the site of the present City Hall, between State and Washington

Streets. It was taken down in 1800.

Departure for Wyoming.--Newark and its Associations.--The old Academy.--

Trip to Morristown.

305

CHAPTER XIV.

"The sultry summer past, September comes,

Soft twilight of the slow, declining year;

All mildness, soothing loneliness, and peace;

The fading season ere the falling come,

More sober than the buxom, blooming May,

And therefore less the favorite of the world,

But dearest month of all to pensive minds."

Carlos Wilcox.

N the morning of the 12th of September I left New York on my second

tour. My chief destination was Wyoming, after a visit to a few

noteworthy places in New Jersey, of which Morristown was the first. I

was in Newark just in time to be too late for the morning train for

Morristown. Newark is beautiful and eligible in location, and a thriving

city; but it has only a few scraps of Revolutionary history, exclusively

its own, for the entertainment of an inquirer. The village contained

about one thousand inhabitants at that time. British, republicans, and

Hessians were alternately billeted upon the people; and, being on the

line of travel from New York to Brunswick and Trenton, its monotony was

often broken by the passage of troops. Political parties were nearly

balanced at the commencement of the war, and, when the Declaration of

Independence was put forth, many of the Loyalists left the place and

went to New York, among whom was the pastor of the Protestant Episcopal

Church of Newark. It suffered much during the war from the visitations

of regular troops of both armies, and of marauders. When Washington fled

toward the Delaware, in November, 1776, his army (three thousand in

number) encamped there from the 22d to the 28th. On that day Cornwallis

entered the town with a pursuing force. Both armies were quartered upon

the inhabitants. Cornwallis left a strong guard there, which remained

until after the battle of Princeton. Foraging parties and plunderers

kept the inhabitants in a state of continual alarm. On the night of the

25th of January, 1780, a party of five hundred of the enemy went from

New York to Newark on the ice, burned the academy, * carried off an

active Whig named Hedden, and would doubtless have laid the town in

ashes had not the light of a conflagration at Elizabethtown (the burning

of the Presbyterian Church by another party, unknown to the first)

alarmed them, and caused them to hasten back to New York. No other

events of much general importance occurred there during the war. It

seems to have been as famous in early times as now for its _cider_.

Governor Carteret wrote, in a letter to the proprietors in 1682, "At

Newark are made great quantities of cider, exceeding any we can have

from New England, Rhode Island, or Long Island." I left Newark for

Morristown at two o'clock, by rail-road, through a beautifully-

diversified region. The road passes above the upper verge of the sandy

plains, through a very hilly country, and makes some broad curves in its

way from Newark to Morristown, a distance, by the track, of about

twenty-two miles. Springfield on the left and the Short Hills

* In that building the collegiate school, now the College of New Jersey,

seated at Princeton, was held, while under the charge of the Rev. Aaron

Burr, the father of the Vice-president of the United States of that

name. This school was instituted at Elizabethtown by Jonathan Dickinson,

in 1746. He died the following year, and the students were sent to

Newark, and placed under the charge of Mr. Burr, who thus became the

second president of the institution. It continued at Newark eight years,

and was then removed to Princeton.

Arrival at Morristown.--Kimble's Mountain.--Fort Nonsense.--September

Sunset--The "Head-quarters."

306on the right, places of note in our revolutionary history, were

pointed out as we sped rapidly by, and, before memory could fairly

summon the events which made them famous, we were at the station at

Morristown, a quarter of a mile eastward of the village green. The town

is pleasantly situated upon a table land, with steep slopes on two

sides. On the west is a high ridge called Kimble's Mountain, two hundred

and fifty feet above the town, its summit commanding a magnificent

prospect of the adjacent country, and considerably resorted to during

the summer. It was upon the southern slope of this mountain that the

American army, under the immediate command of Washington, was encamped

during the winter of 1779--80; and upon the same ridge (which terminates

abruptly at the village), half a mile from the green, are the remains of

Fort Nonsense. It was nearly sunset when I ascended the hill,

accompanied by Mr. Vogt, the editor of one of the village papers. The

embankments and ditches, and the remains of the block-houses of Fort

Nonsense, are very prominent, and the form of the embryo fortification

may be distinctly traced among the trees. Its name was derived from the

fact that all the labor bestowed upon it was intended merely to

counteract the demoralizing effects of idleness. The American army was

comfortably _hutted_, and too remote and secure from the enemy to make

camp duty at all active. Washington foresaw the evil tendency of

idleness, and discreetly ordered the construction of a fort upon a hill

overlooking the town. There was no intention to complete it, and when

the winter encampment broke up in the spring the work was, of course,

abandoned.

From the mountain we saw one of those gorgeous September sunsets so

often seen in the Northern States, and so beautifully described by

Wilcox:

"The sky, without the shadow of a cloud,

Throughout the west is kindled to a glow

So bright and broad, it glares upon the eye,

Not dazzling, but dilating, with calm force,

Its power of vision to admit the whole.

Below, 'tis all of richest orange dye;

Midway, the blushing of the mellow peach

Paints not, but tinges the ethereal deep;

And here, in this most lovely region, shines,

With added loveliness, the evening star.

Above, the fainter purple slowly fades,

Till changed into the azure of mid-heaven."

As the warm glow in the west faded, the eastern sky was radiant with the

light of the full moon that came up over the hills, and under it we made

our way along the sinuous mountain path down to the village. I spent the

evening with the Honorable Gabriel Ford, who owns the fine mansion which

was occupied by Washington as his head-quarters during the winter

encampment there in 1779--80. It belonged to Judge Ford's mother, then a

widow, himself being a boy about fourteen years old. His well-stored

mind is still active, notwithstanding he is eighty-four years old, and

he clearly remembers even the most trifling incidents of that encampment

which came under his observation. He entertained me until a late hour

with anecdotes and facts of interest, and then kindly invited me to pass

the night under his hospitable roof, remarking, "You shall sleep in the

room which General Washington and his lady occupied." That certainly was

the proffer of a rare privilege, and I tarried till morning. Before

making further notes of a personal character, let us look at the

history.

Morristown was twice the place of a winter encampment of the division of

the American army under the personal command of Washington. The first

time was in 1777, after his brilliant achievements at Trenton, and the

battle of Princeton. When the fortieth and fifty-fifth British

regiments, which Washington encountered in that battle, fled, he pursued

them as far as Kingston, where he had the bridge taken up, and, turning

short to the left, crossed the Millstone River twice, and arrived at

Pluckemin the same evening. It had been his intention to march to New

Brunswick, to capture British stores deposited there; but his troops

were so exhausted, not having slept for thirty-six hours, and Cornwallis

was

Spirit and Condition of the Continental Army.--Place of Encampment.--

Free-masonry.--Inoculation of the Army.--Jenner.

307so near, that he abandoned the design and advanced to Morristown,

where he went into winter quarters. He had achieved much, far more than

the most sanguine patriot hoped for. At the very moment when his army

appeared upon the verge of dissolution, and retreating from town to

town, he struck a blow so full of strength that it paralyzed the enemy,

broke up the British line of cantonments upon the Delaware, and made

Cornwallis turn his eyes back wistfully to more secure quarters at New

York, under the wing of General Howe, the British Commander-in-chief.

Nor did Washington sit down quietly at Morristown. He had established

cantonments at various points from Princeton on the right, under the

control of General Putnam, to the Hudson Highlands on the left, at which

post General Heath was still in command, having been left there when the

American army fled from Fort Lee, on the Hudson, to the Delaware, the

previous autumn. He was in the midst of hills and a fertile country

teeming with abundance, but he did not trust to the strong barriers of

nature for his protection. Weak and poorly clad as was his army, he sent

out detachments to harass the British, and with such spirit were those

expeditions conducted, that, on or before the 1st of March, not a

British or Hessian soldier remained in the Jerseys, except at New

Brunswick and Amboy. Under the circumstances, it was a splendid triumph,

and greatly inspirited the friends of the republican cause. The martial

spirit of the people seemed to revive, and it was thought that the

thinned battalions of the army would be speedily replenished. New

courage was infused into the Continental Congress, the members of which,

alarmed at the rapid approach of the British to Philadelphia, then the

national metropolis, had fled to Baltimore, and held their sittings

there.

The American army was encamped in log huts at Morristown, and

Washington's headquarters were at the old Freeman Tavern, which stood on

the north side of the village green. In the Morris Hotel, a building

then used as a commissary's store-house, the chief often participated in

the rites of Free-masonry, in a room over the bar, which was reserved

for a ball-room and for the meetings of the Masonic Lodge. There he

conferred the degrees of the Order upon his companions-in-arms, and his

warm attachment to the institution lasted until his death.

Some writers assert that, toward the close of January, the small-pox

broke out violently in the American camp, and that Washington resorted

to a general inoculation of the army to stay its fatal progress. As Dr.

Thacher, who performed this service in the camp in the Highlands,

opposite West Point, at a later period, does not mention the

circumstance in his Journal, and as cotemporary writers are silent on

the subject, it was reasonable to conclude that such an event did not

occur at Morristown. But Dr. Eneas Munson, one of Dr. Thacher's

assistants, and still living in New Haven, has settled the question. I

wrote to him upon the subject, inquiring also whether _vaccination_ was

ever substituted for _inoculation_ during the Revolution. It was during

the preceding year that Jenner, a young English surgeon, had made his

famous discovery of the efficacy of _vaccination_. * It had attracted

the attention of Washington, for the soldiers of the Northern army had

suffered terribly from the disease in Canada during the spring of 1776,

and one of the most promising officers of the Continental army (General

Thomas) had fallen a victim to the loathsome malady. Dr. Munson kindly

answered my letter, as follows, under date of November 1st, 1849: "In

reply to your inquiries of the 30th ult., I can say that _vaccination_

was not practiced

* Edward Jenner, who was born in 1749, had his attention turned to the

subject of vaccination at about the beginning of 1776, by the

circumstance of finding that those who had been affected by the cow-pox,

or kine-pox, as it is popularly called, had become incapable of

receiving the variolous infection. Inoculation, or the insertion of the

virus of the common small-pox, had long been practiced. It was

introduced into general notice by Lady Mary Wortley Montague in 1721,

whoso son was inoculated at Constantinople, and whose daughter was the

first to undergo the operation in England. It was reserved for Jenner to

discover the efficacy and introduce the practice of vaccination, or the

introduction of the virus of the cow-pox, more than fifty years

afterward. It was first introduced into the British capital in 1796, but

met with great hostility on the part of the medical faculty. The triumph

of Jenner was finally complete, and his fame is world wide. Oxford

presented him with a diploma, the Royal Society admitted him as a

member, and the British Parliament voted him $100,000.

Proclamation of the Brothers Howe.--Disappointment of the People.--

Washington's counter Proclamation

308generally, nor at all, to my knowledge, in the American army of the

Revolution. At Morristown there was a partial _inoculation_, but it was

not general there. At the Highlands, opposite West Point, it

(inoculation) was general, and I assisted in it professionally. *

Vaccination was practiced by my father one year after the close of the

war of the Revolution." ** This is unquestionable authority.

When the British entered New Jersey, the proclamation of the brothers

Howe, offering a free pardon to all rebels who should lay down their

arms, and full and ample protection of person and property to those who

should take an oath of allegiance to the British crown, was freely

circulated. *** This proclamation was received by the people while the

American army was flying before the Britons, and general despondency was

crushing every hope for the success of the patriot cause. Its effect

was, therefore, powerful and instantaneous, and hundreds, whose

sympathies were with the Americans, timid and hopeless, accepted the

protection upon the prescribed terms. They generally remained in their

houses while the belligerent armies were in motion. But they soon found

their hopes cruelly disappointed, and those who should have been their

protectors became their worst oppressors. The Hessians, in particular,

being entirely mercenary, and influenced by no feelings of sympathy,

plundered, burned, and destroyed every thing that came in their way,

without discriminating between friend and foe. The people of all parties

were insulted and abused in their own houses, their dwellings were

rifled, their women were oftentimes ravished by the brutal soldiers, and

neither smiling infancy nor decrepit age possessed immunity from their

outrages. The British soldiery sometimes participated in these crimes,

and upon the British government properly rested the guilt, for the

Hessians were its hired fighting machines, hired contrary to the solemn

protests and earnest negative pleadings of the best friends of England

in its national legislature. But these enormities proved favorable to

the republican cause. Those who had received _paper_ protections

regarded Sir William Howe as a perjured tool of oppression, and the

loyalty of vast numbers of the disaffected and lukewarm, that burned so

brightly when recording their oaths of allegiance, was suddenly

extinguished, and their sad hearts, touched by the persuasions of self-

interest, felt a glow of interested patriotism. Washington January 25,

1777 took advantage of this state of feeling, and issued a counter

proclamation, commanding all persons who had received protections from

the British commissioners to repair to head-quarters, or to some general

officer of the army, to deliver up such protections, and take an oath of

allegiance to the United States. It nevertheless granted full liberty to

all such as preferred "the interests and protection of Great Britain to

the freedom and happiness of their country, forthwith to withdraw

themselves and their families within the enemy's lines." The reasonable

time of thirty days was allowed the inhabitants to comply with these

requisitions, after which those who remained, and refused to give up

their protections, were to be regarded and treated as adherents to the

king and enemies of the United States.

* In his Military Journal, p. 250, Dr. Thacher, alluding to the

inoculation in the Highlands, says, "All the soldiers, with the women

and children, who have not had the small-pox, are now under

inoculation.... Of five hundred who have been inoculated here, four only

have died." He mentions a fact of interest connected with the medical

treatment of the patients. It was then customary to prepare the system

for inoculation, by doses of calomel and jalap. An extract of butternut,

made by boiling down the inner bark of the tree, was substituted, and

found to be more efficacious and less dangerous than the mineral drug.

Dr. Thacher considered it "a valuable acquisition to the materia

medica."

** Dr. Munson's father was an eminent physician, and was for many years

the President of the Medical Society of Connecticut. He was a native of

New Haven, graduated at Yale College in 1753, and, having been a tutor,

he was a chaplain in the army on Long Island in 1775. He died at New

Haven in 1826, aged nearly ninety-two years. He was a practicing

physician seventy years. Being a man of piety, he often administered

medicine to the mind, by kneeling at the bed-side of his patients and

commending them to God in prayer.

*** General Sir William Howe, the commander-in-chief of the British

forces in America, and his brother Richard, Earl Howe, the admiral of

the fleet on our coast, were appointed by Parliament commissioners to

negotiate for peace with the American Congress, or to prosecute the war,

as events might determine. They issued a circular letter to all the

royal governors, and a proclamation to the people, offering pardon and

protection. This commission will be considered hereafter.

Opposition to Washington's Policy.--His Independence and Sagacity.--

Good Effect of his Proclamation

309Notwithstanding Washington had been vested by Congress with the power

Decembers 27,1776 of a military dictator, and the wisdom and equity of

the proclamation were not questioned, the Legislature of New Jersey

regarded it as an infringement upon state rights, that political

stumbling-block in the progress of the Revolution; and even members of

the Continental Congress censured the commander-in-chief. The former

claimed that each state possessed the exclusive power of requiring such

an oath, and the latter deemed the oath absurd when the states were not

legally confederated, and such a thing as "United States" did not exist.

But Washington, conscious of the necessity and wisdom of his course, did

not heed these foolish murmurs. His plan worked admirably, and hundreds

flocked to the proper officers to give up their British protections. The

state was purged of the most inimical Tories, and the ranks of the army

were so rapidly filled by volunteers and new recruits, that, when the

campaign opened in June, his force, which numbered about eight thousand

men when he left his head-quarters at Morristown, toward the close of

May, for Middlebrook (a strong position, twelve miles from the British

camp at New Brunswick), had swelled to fourteen thousand. He had

previously written to the republican governors of the several states,

urging them to adopt prompt and efficient co-operative measures, by

raising recruits and filling up the broken regiments. He also wrote

stirring appeals to Congress, but that body, acting under powers

undefined, and swayed by the jealousies of the several states

represented therein, was tardy and inefficient in its action. He was

obliged, in his public declarations, to magnify the strength of his

army, in order to encourage the desponding people and awe the enemy; and

this justifiable deception made his appeals less effective, for the

necessity did not seem so great as represented. These were trying

circumstances for the commander-in-chief, but his stout heart did not

despond, and his hopeful spirit saw brighter prospects in the future.

Morristown was again the head-quarters of Washington during the winter

of 1779-80 The campaigns for the season had been fruitless of very

favorable results to either party. The war had been carried on chiefly

at the extreme south, and in the vicinity of New York city, at the

north. Toward the close of the year, Sir Henry Clinton, who had

succeeded Sir William Howe in the chief command, sailed from New York

for Charleston, and the main body of the American army went into winter

quarters near Morristown. They re-

* This view is from the forks of the road, directly in front of the

mansion. The house is of brick, covered with planks, and painted white.

The rooms are large and well finished, and it was a fine mansion for the

times.

Winter Encampment at Morristown.--The Life-guard and their Duties.--

Pulaski and his Cavalry.--Effect of Alarum Guns.

310mained in tents until the 14th of February, when log huts were

completed for their use. Strong detachments were stationed at West Point

and other posts near the Hudson, and the American cavalry were cantoned

in the western part of Connecticut. Washington, as we have noted, made

his head-quarters at the residence of the widow of Colonel Jacob Ford,

who had commanded a regiment of Morris county militia during

Washington's retreat through New Jersey. It is situated nearly three

fourths of a mile east of the village green, on the Newark and

Morristown turnpike. The general and his suite occupied the whole of the

large building, exeept two rooms on the eastern side of the main

passage, whieh were reserved for Mrs. Ford and her family. The lower

front room, on the left of the door, was his dining-room, and the

apartment immediately over it was his sleeping-room while Mrs.

Washington was at head-quarters. He had two log additions made to the

house, one for a kitchen, on the east end, and the other, on the west

end, was used as the offices of Washington, Hamilton, and Tilghman. In

the meadow, a few rods southeast of the dwelling, about fifty log huts

were erected for the accommodation of the life-guard, whieh consisted of

two hundred and fifty men, under General William Colfax. In that meadow

Count Pulaski exercised his legion of cavalry, and his dexterous

movements were the wonder and emulation of the officers, many of whom

were considerably injured in attempts to imitate his feats. *

The main body of the army, as we have noticed, was encamped upon the

southern slope of Kimble's Mountain, beginning about two miles from

head-quarters, and extending several miles westward. They were

sufficiently near to be ealled into service instantly, if necessary

During the winter many false alarms occurred, which set the whole camp

in motion. Sentinels were placed at intervals between the camp and head-

quarters, and pickets were planted at distant points toward the Raritan

and the Hudson, with intervening sentinels. Sometimes an alarm would

begin by the firing of a gun at a remote point. This would be answered

by discharges along the whole line of sentinels to the head-quarters and

to the camp. The life-guard would immediately rush to the house of the

general, barricade the doors, and throw up the windows. Five soldiers,

with their muskets cocked and brought to a charge, were generally placed

at eaeh window, and there they would remain until the troops from the

camp marched to head-quarters, and the cause of the alarm was

ascertained. It was frequently the case that the attempts of some young

suitor, who had been _sparking_ until a late hour, and attempted to pass

a sentinel without giving the countersign, caused the discharge of a

musket, and the commotion in the camp. These occasions were very

annoying to the ladies of the household, for both Mrs. Washington and

Mrs. Ford were obliged to lie in bed, sometimes for hours, with their

rooms full of soldiers, and the keen winter air from the open windows

piercing through their drawn curtains.

The winter of 1780 was one of uncommon severity, and the troops suffered

dreadfully from a lack of provisions, clothing, and shelter. ** The snow

fell in great quantities, and the

* It is related that, among other feats, that daring horseman would

sometimes, while his steed was under full gallop, discharge his pistol,

throw it in the air, catch it by the barrel, and then hurl it in front

as if at an enemy. Without checking the speed of his horse, he would

take one foot from the stirrup, and, bending over toward the ground,

recover his pistol, and wheel into line with as much precision as if he

had been engaged in nothing but the management of the animal.

** Dr. Thacher, in his "Military Journal," p. 181, says, "The sufferings

of the poor soldiers can scarcely be described; while on duty they are

unavoidably exposed to all the inclemency of storms and severe cold, at

night they now have a bed of straw upon the ground, and a single blanket

to each man; they are badly clad, and some are destitute of shoes. We

have contrived a kind of stone chimney outside, and an opening at one

end of our tents gives us the benefit of the fire within. The snow is

now [January 6th, 1780] from four to six feet deep, which so obstructs

the roads as to prevent our receiving a supply of provisions. For the

last ten days we have received but two pounds of meat a man, and we are

frequently for six or eight days entirely destitute of meat, and then as

long without bread. The consequence is, the soldiers are so enfeebled

from hunger and cold as to be almost unable to perform their military

duty, or labor in constructing their huts. It is well known that General

Washington experiences the greatest solicitude for the suffering of his

army, and is sensible that they, in general, conduct with heroic

patience and fortitude." In a private letter to a friend, Washington

said, "We have had the virtue and patience of the army put to the

severest trial. Sometimes it has been five or six days together without

bread, at other times as many without meat, and once or twice two or

three days at a time without either.... At one time the soldiers eat

every kind of horse food but hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, rye, and

Indian corn composed the meal which made their bread. As an army, they

bore it with the most heroic patience; but sufferings like these,

accompanied by the want of clothes, blankets, &c., will produce frequent

desertions in all armies; and so it happened with us, though it did not

excite a single mutiny."

Sufferings and Fortitude of the Army.--Sterling's Secret Expedition.--

Extreme Cold.--Chevalier Luzerne.--Death of Miralles

311channels of transportation for provisions being closed, Washington

found it necessary to levy contributions upon the inhabitants in

neighboring towns. He applied to the magistrates for aid, apprehending

some difficulty in the exercise of his power, but the people cheerfully

complied with his requisitions, and the pressing wants of the army were

supplied. The chief was greatly annoyed by complaints of frequent thefts

committed by his soldiers; but such was the force of the first law of

nature--self-preservation--when the commissariat was empty, that the

severest punishments did not deter them from stealing sheep, hogs, and

poultry. Repeated warnings were given to the army, in general orders and

otherwise, against the marauding practice, yet many suffered the

inflictions of the lash, and in some cases of robbery the death penalty

was incurred. *

In January, Major-general Lord Sterling, with about fifteen hundred men

in sleighs, set off at night on a secret expedition, ostensibly to

procure provisions, but really to attack the enemy in their quarters on

Staten Island. They passed over on the ice from Elizabethtown about

midnight. It was a starry night, and the weather was extremely cold. The

enemy had notice of their approach, and the object of the expedition was

defeated. They captured some blankets and stores, and then returned to

camp about daylight. The snow was three feet deep on the ground, and so

excessive was the cold, that five hundred of the party were more or less

frozen. ** A retaliating movement was made soon January 27, 1780

afterward by the enemy. A party attacked the American picket guard, and

carried off a major and forty men. Two or three enterprises of a like

nature were all that varied the monotonous round of duties until the

arrival at head-quarters of the Chevalier de Luzerne, the minister from

the French government. He succeeded M. Gerard, the April 19 first

minister sent to the insurgent colonies from France, and had arrived in

Philadelphia the September previous. He was an accomplished and highly

honorable gentleman, and was received with much regard by the commander-

in-chief. Don Juan de Miralles, a distinguished Spaniard, accompanied

him; and during their visits the military education which Baron Steuben,

the celebrated tactician, had imparted to the army was several times

displayed in reviews and difficult evolutions. Luzerne remained some

time at head-quarters, and a ball, which was attended by Washington and

his lady, all his officers, Governor Livingston and his lady, and many

other distinguished persons, was given in his honor, at the Morris

Hotel. Miralles, in the mean while, was seized, at head-quarters, with a

pulmonic fever, and died on the 28th. The religious ceremonies of the

funeral were conducted by a Spanish Catholic priest, and the body was

interred with great pomp in the common burying-ground near the church in

Morristown. *** A guard of soldiers was placed near the grave, to

* Dr. Thacher says (Military Journal, p. 182) that whipping with knotted

cords, which often cut through the flesh at every blow, applied to the

bare back, was the most common punishment. The drummers and fifers were

made the executioners, and it was the duty of the drum major to see that

the chastisement was well performed. The soldiers adopted a method which

they said somewhat mitigated the anguish of the lash. They put a leaden

bullet between their teeth, and bit on it while the punishment was in

progress. They would thus often receive fifty lashes without uttering a

groan or hardly wincing.

** So intense was the cold that winter that New York Bay was thickly

frozen over, and large bodies of troops, with heavy cannons, were

transported on the ice, from New York city to Staten Island, a distance

of nine miles.

*** Dr. Thacher has left a record of the burial. "The deceased," he says

(page 188), "had been about one year a resident with our Congress, from

the Spanish court. The corpse was dressed in rich stale, and exposed to

public view, as is customary in Europe. The coffin was most splendid and

stately, lined throughout with fine cambric, and covered on the outside

with rich black velvet, ornamented in a superb manner. The top of the

coffin was removed, to display the pomp and grandeur with which the body

was decorated. It was in a splendid full dress, consisting of a scarlet

suit embroidered with rich gold lace, a three-cornered gold-laced hat,

and a genteel cued wig, white silk stockings, large diamond shoe and

knee buckles; a profusion of diamond rings decorated the fingers, and

from a superb gold watch, set with diamonds, several rich seals were

suspended. His excellency, General Washington, with several other

general officers and members of Congress, attended the funeral

solemnities, and walked as chief mourners. The other officers of the

army, and numerous respectable citizens, formed a splendid procession,

extending about a mile. The pallbearers were six field officers, and the

coffin was borne on the shoulders of four officers of artillery, in full

uniform. Minute guns were fired during the procession, which greatly

increased the solemnity of the occasion." Dr. Thacher adds, "This

gentleman is said to have been in possession of an immense fortune, and

has left to his three daughters, in Spain, one hundred thousand pounds

sterling (half a million of dollars) each. Here we behold the end of all

earthly riches, pomp, and dignity. The ashes of Don Miralles mingle with

the remains of those who are clothed in humble shrouds, and whose career

in life was marked by sordid poverty and wretchedness."

Mutiny at Morristown.--Excuses for the Movement.--Injustice toward the

Soldiers.--Policy and Success of Wayne.

312prevent its desecration in search of hidden treasure, until the body

could be removed to Philadelphia.

Morristown was the scene of the only serious and decided mutiny in the

American army during the Revolution. It occurred on the 1st of January,

1781. The whole movement, when all the circumstances are taken into

account, should not be execrated as a military rebellion, for, if ever

there was just cause for men to lift up their strength against

authority, those mutineers possessed it. They had suffered every

privation during a long, and, in many respects, disastrous campaign, and

not a ray of hope appeared in the gloomy future. Their small stipend of

money was paid irregularly, sometimes not at all, and generally in

Continental bills, which were every day becoming more valueless. The

frequent promises of Congress had as frequently been unfulfilled, and

the illiberal interpretations which the officers gave to the expressed

terms of the enlistment of the soldiers produced great dissatisfaction.

It was stipulated in those terms that they (the soldiers of the

Pennsylvania line, who revolted) should serve for three years, or during

the war. The soldiers interpreted these words to mean that they should

be entitled to a discharge at the end of three years, or sooner, if the

war should terminate. This was doubtless the spirit of the agreement,

but the officers read it otherwise, and claimed their service until the

conclusion of the war, however long that time might be. This was the

principal cause of dissatisfaction, and a quarrel with the officers led

to open rebellion.

The Pennsylvania line at that time consisted of about two thousand men,

and was stationed at the old camp-ground near Morristown. The three

years' enlistment had expired with most of them. A bounty of three half

joes (about twenty-five dollars) had been offered to new recruits, while

the pay of these veterans of three years' service was not increased.

There was still due them their pay for twelve months, and nakedness and

famine were their daily companions. The officers had murmured somewhat,

and the soldiers, hearing the whisperings of complaint, took courage and

spoke out boldly. They appointed a sergeant major their commander,

styling him major general; and in the evening of the 1st of

January, on a preconcerted signal, the whole line, except a part of

three regiments, paraded under arms without officers, marched to the

magazines, supplied themselves with provisions and ammunition, and,

seizing six field pieces, took horses from General Wayne's stables to

transport them. The officers of the line collected those who had not

joined the insurgents, and endeavored to restore order, but some of the

revolters fired, killing a Captain Billings and wounding several others.

The mutineers then ordered the minority to come over to their side

immediately, or suffer destruction by the bayonet, and the command was

obeyed.

General Wayne was in command of the Pennsylvania troops, and was much

beloved by them. He exerted all his influence, by threats and

persuasions, to bring them back to duty until their grievances should be

redressed. They would not listen to his remonstrances, and, on his

cocking his pistol, they presented their bayonets to his breast, saying,

"We respect and love you; often have you led us into the field of

battle, but we are no longer under your command; we warn you to be on

your guard; if you fire your pistol, or attempt to enforce your

commands, we shall put you instantly to death." Wayne appealed to their

patriotism; they pointed to the impositions of Congress. He reminded

them of the strength their conduct would give to the enemy; they

exhibited their tattered garments and emaciated forms. They avowed their

willingness to support the cause of freedom, for it was dear to

Final Adjustment of Difficulties.--Emissaries of Sir Henry Clinton.--

Patriotism of the Mutineers.--Fate of the Emissaries.

313their hearts, if adequate provision could be made for their comfort,

and declared their intention to march directly to Philadelphia, and

demand from Congress a redress of their grievances. Finding threats and

persuasion useless, Wayne resolved upon a line of policy that proved

effective. He supplied them with provisions, and, with Colonels Stewart

and Butler, officers whom they greatly respected, marched with them to

prevent their depredating upon the inhabitants, and to draw from their

leaders a statement of their claims and wishes. They reached Princeton

on the 3d, and there a committee of sergeants submitted to Wayne, in

writing, the following demands: First, a discharge for all those,

without exception, who had served three years under their original

engagements, and not received the increased bounty and re-enlisted for

the war. Second, an immediate payment of all arrears of pay and

clothing, both to those who should be discharged and those who should be

retained. Third, the residue of their bounty, to put them on an equal

footing with the recently enlisted, and future substantial pay to those

who should remain in the service. General Wayne was not authorized to

promise a full acquiescence in their demands, and further negotiations

were referred to the civil authority of the state of Pennsylvania.

Intelligence of this revolt reached Washington and Sir Henry Clinton on

the January 3,1781 same day. The head-quarters of the former were at New

Windsor, on the Hudson, just above the Highlands; of the latter, in the

city of New York. Washington called a council of war, and, as the extent

of the disaffection was unknown, it was determined to have one thousand

men, drafts from the several regiments in the Highlands, held in

readiness to march at a moment's notice, to quell the rebellion, if

called upon. The council heartily approved of the course pursued by

General Wayne; and Washington, whose patience had often been severely

tried by the tardy movements of Congress, was willing to have that body

aroused to activity by circumstances which should demand immediate and

undivided attention. Sir Henry Clinton, mistaking the spirit of the

mutineers, thought to gain great advantage by the event. He dispatched

two emissaries, a British sergeant, and a New Jersey Tory named Ogden,

to the insurgents, with the written offer that, on laying down their

arms and marching to New York, they should receive their arrearages, and

the amount of the depreciation of the Continental currency, in hard

cash; that they should be well clothed, have free pardon for all past

offenses, and be taken under the protection of the British government;

and that no military service should be required of them, unless

voluntarily offered. Sir Henry requested them to appoint agents to treat

with his and adjust the terms of a treaty; and, not doubting the success

of his plans, he went to Staten Island himself, with a large body of

troops, to act as circumstances might require. Like his masters at home,

he entirely misapprehended the spirit and the incentives to action of

the American soldiers. They were not mercenary--not soldiers by

profession, fighting merely for hire. The protection of their homes,

their wives and little ones, and the defense of holy principles, which

their general intelligence understood and appreciated, formed the motive

power and the bond of union of the American army, and the soldier's

money stipend was the least attractive of all the inducements which

urged him to take up arms. Yet, as it was necessary to his comfort, and

even his existence, the want of it afforded a just pretext for the

assumption of powers delegated to a few. The mutiny was a democratic

movement; and, while the patriot felt justified in using his weapons to

redress grievances, he still looked with horror upon the armed

oppressors of his country, and regarded the act and stain of treason,

_under any circumstances_, as worse than the infliction of death.

Clinton's proposals were, therefore, rejected with disdain. "See,

comrades," said one of the leaders, "he takes us for traitors. Let us

show him that the American army can furnish but one Arnold, and that

America has no truer friends than we." They immediately seized the

emissaries, who, being delivered, with Clinton's papers, into the hands

of Wayne, * were tried and executed as spies, and the reward which had

been offered for their apprehension was

* When they were delivered up, the insurgents stipulated that they

should not be executed until their own affairs were compromised, and, in

case of failure, that the prisoners should be delivered when demanded.

Mutiny of the New Jersey Line.--Prompt Action of Washington.--Success of

Howe.--Illustrations of Washington's Character.

314tendered to the mutineers who seized them. They sealed the pledge of

their patriotism by nobly refusing it, saying, "Necessity wrung from us

the act of demanding justice from Congress, but we desire no reward for

doing our duty to our bleeding country!"

Congress appointed a commissioner to confer with the insurgent troops at

Princeton. The result was, a compliance with their just demands, and the

disbanding of a large part of the Pennsylvania line for the winter,

which was filled by new recruits in the spring. Thus "terminated," as

Thacher remarks, "a most unfortunate transaction, which might have been

prevented had the just complaints of the army received proper attention

in due season."

The wisdom of Washington's precaution in having a thousand men ready for

sudden marching orders was soon demonstrated. About the middle of

January a portion of the New Jersey line, cantoned at Pompton, *

followed the example of the Pennsylvania mutineers, and revolted. The

chief resolved not to temporize with them, and ordered a detachment of

five hundred men, under Major-general Robert Howe, to reduce them to

subordination. Howe reached their encampment, after a fatiguing march of

four days through deep snow, on the 27th of January. His troops were

well armed, and, parading them in line, he ordered the insurgents to

appear in front of their huts, unarmed, within five minutes. They

hesitated, but a second order, as promptly given, made them obedient.

Three of the ringleaders were tried and condemned to be executed on the

spot. Two of them were shot, and their executioners were twelve of the

most prominent of their guilty associates. The other one, less guilty,

was pardoned. Their punishment was quick and terrible, and never were

men more humble and submissive than were the remainder of the

insurgents. General Howe then addressed them effectively, by platoons,

and ordered their officers, whom the mutineers had discarded, to resume

their respective commands. The hopes of Sir Henry Clinton had been again

excited, but the emissary whom he sent to the revolted troops, hearing

of the fate of the others, played false to his master, by going directly

to Howe and delivering the papers into his hands. Revolt, that followed

so closely upon Arnold's treason a few months before, was thus

effectually nipped in the bud.

I have said that I spent an evening at Morristown with Judge Ford, the

proprietor of the head-quarters of Washington. I look back upon the

conversation of that evening with much pleasure, for the venerable

octogenarian entertained me until a late hour with many pleasing

anecdotes illustrative of the social condition of the army, and of the

private character of the commander-in-chief. As an example of

Washington's careful attention to small matters, and his sense of

justice, he mentioned the fact that, when he took up his residence with

his (Ford's) mother, he made an inventory of all articles which were

appropriated to his use during the winter. When he withdrew in the

spring, he inquired of Mrs. Ford whether every thing had been returned

to her. "All but one silver table-spoon," she answered. He took note of

it, and not long afterward she received from him a spoon bearing his

initials, G. W. That spoon is preserved as a precious relic in the

family. His tender care for the comfort of Mrs. Ford was often evinced.

On the occasions when the alarms, which we have noticed, were given, he

always went to her room, drew the curtains close, and soothed her by

assurances of safety. And when her son, a lad of seventeen, was brought

home from the Springfield battle, seriously wounded, his first care in

the morning was to inquire after the sufferer. ** Washington's moral and

religious feelings were never blunted by

* Pompton is a small town upon a fertile plain on the Pompton River, in

Pequannock county.

** The wounded lad recovered, and afterward became a distinguished

lawyer in a southern pity. A remarkable instance of Washington's

remembrance of persons was related to me, as having occurred in

connection with the wounded boy. Many years afterward, when success had

crowned his professional industry with wealth, and two daughters had

nearly reached womanhood, he was returning south with them in his

carriage, after a visit to his friends at Morristown, and stopped at

Mount Vernon to see the retired chief. Reasonably concluding that

Washington had forgotten the boy of 1780, he had procured a letter of

introduction. When he drove up to Mount Vernon, Washington was walking

upon the piazza. He went to the carriage, and as the servant of Mr. Ford

threw open the door, and he stepped out, the general extended his hand,

and said, with all the confidence of a recent acquaintance, "How do you

do. Mr. Ford?" Eighteen years had elapsed since Washington had seen his

face, and the boy had grown to mature manhood.

Prohibition of Gambling.--Washington's religious Toleration.--Anecdote

of Colonel Hamilton.--Room occupied by Washington.

315the influences of the camp. While at Morristown, he observed that

gambling was frequent among the officers and soldiers. This growing vice

he arrested by prohibition and threats of punishment, put forth in

general orders. It is related that he called upon the Rev. Dr. Jones,

the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Morristown, on learning that

the communion service was to be observed in his church on the following

Sabbath, and inquired whether communicants of another denomination were

permitted to join with them. The doctor replied, "Most certainly; ours

is not the Presbyterian's table, general, but the Lord's; and hence we

give the Lord's invitation to all his followers, of whatever name."

"I am glad of it," said the general; "that is as it ought to be; but, as

I was not quite sure of the fact, I thought I would ascertain it from

yourself, as I propose to join with you on that occasion Though a member

of the Church of England, I have no exclusive partialities." Washing ton

was at the communion table on the following Sabbath.

General Schuyler was with Washington during the winter of 1780. His

head-quarters were at a house (still standing) a few rods eastward of

the rail-way station. A portion of his family was with him, among whom

was his daughter Elizabeth, a charming girl, about twenty-two years of

age. Colonel Alexander Hamilton, who was Washington's aid and military

secretary, was smitten with her charms and accomplishments, and his

evenings were usually spent with her at her father's quarters. Mr. Ford,

then a lad, was a favorite with Hamilton, and, by permission of the

chief, the colonel would give him the countersign, so as to allow him to

play at the village after the sentinels were posted for the night. On

one occasion he was returning home, about nine o'clock in the evening,

and had passed the sentinel, when he recognized the voice of Hamilton in

a reply to the soldier's demand of "Who comes there?" He stepped aside,

and waited for the colonel to accompany him to the house. Hamilton came

up to the point of the presented bayonet of the sentinel to give the

countersign, but he had quite forgotten it. "He had spent the evening,"

said Judge Ford, who related the anecdote to me, "with Miss Schuyler,

and thoughts of her undoubtedly expelled the countersign from his head."

The soldier lover was embarrassed, and the sentinel, who knew him well,

was stern in the performance of his duty. Hamilton pressed his hand upon

his forehead, and tried hard to summon the cabalistic words from their

hiding-place, but, like the faithful sentinel, they were immovable. Just

then he recognized young Ford in the gloom. "Ay, Master Ford, is that

you?" he said, in an undertone; and, stepping aside, he called the lad

to him, drew his ear to his mouth, and whispered, "Give me the

countersign." He did so, and Hamilton, stepping in front of the soldier,

delivered it. The sentinel, seeing the movement, and believing that his

superior was testing his fidelity, kept his bayonet unmoved. "I have

given you the countersign; why do you not shoulder your musket?" asked

Hamilton. "Will that do, colonel?" asked the soldier, in reply. "It will

for this time," said Hamilton; "let me pass." The soldier reluctantly

obeyed the illegal command, and Hamilton and his young companion reached

headquarters without further difficulty. Colonel Hamilton afterward

married Miss Schuyler. She still survives him (1849), and at the age of

ninety-two years is the attractive center of a circle of devoted friends

at Washington city, her present place of residence.

I passed the night under the hospitable roof of Judge Ford, and in the

room which Washington and his lady had occupied. The carpet upon the

floor, dark and of a rich pattern, is the same that was pressed by the

feet of the venerated chief nearly seventy years ago; and in an

apartment below were a looking-glass, secretary, and book-case that

formed a portion of the furniture of the house at that time. * The room

fronts south, and, the sky being

* Since my interesting visit, Judge Ford has been taken from among the

living, and these relics will doubtless lose their value, by being

separated and distributed among the family. I have preserved drawings of

the articles here named. Judge Ford expressed his surprise that the

mirror was not demolished, for the room in which it hung was occupied,

at one time, by some of the subalterns of the Pennsylvania line, who

were sons of some of the leading men of that state--gentlemen by birth,

but rowdies in practice. They injured the room very much by their

nightly carousals, but the mirror escaped their rough treatment.

View of an Eclipse of the Moon.--Reflections.--Finances of the

Revolutionary Government.--Emission of Bills of Credit

September 12, 1848 perfectly 316clear, I had a fine view, from the

window, of an almost total eclipse of the moon, which occurred at about

midnight. As from that interesting observatory I watched the progress of

the obscuration, and then the gradual enlightenment of the satellite, it

appeared to me a most significant emblem of the political condition of

America, and the cause of the patriots, at the time when, from the same

window, Washington, with anxious eye, had doubtless gazed upon the same

moon in its silent path-way among the stars. It was the gloomiest period

of the war. For many months the bright prospects of the patriots were

passing deeper and deeper within the penumbra of British power and

oppression, and, at the beginning of 1780, only a faint curve of light

was seen upon the disk of hope; the eclipse was almost total. _Financial

embarrassment_ was the chief bane of the patriots, and the expected

antidote of rebellion for the Loyalists and the king. Let us here take a

brief view of the financial affairs of the Revolutionary government.

When the Continental army was organized, in June, 1775, and other

methods of defense were adopted by the General Congress, the necessity

for providing pecuniary means for defraying the expenses, demanded and

received the most serious attention of the delegates. The colonies,

deprived, in a great measure, of all commercial intercourse with other

parts of the world, by the unwise and oppressive policy of the mother

country, a paper medium seemed to be their only resource. It was a

blessing at the beginning, but proved a curse in the end. To place it

upon a footing that should command the public confidence, and to secure

it from depreciation, was important and difficult. The New York

Convention, foreseeing the necessity of such a measure, had already

considered the subject, and a committee of that body had reported

suggestions a few weeks previously. They proposed three distinct modes

of issuing paper money. First, that each colony should issue, for

itself, the sum which might be appropriated to it by Congress. Second,

that the united colonies should issue the whole sum necessary, and each

colony become bound to sink its proportionable part; and, third, that

Congress should issue the whole sum, every colony be bound to discharge

its proportion, and the united colonies be obliged to pay that part

which any colony should fail to discharge. The convention preferred the

last mode, as affording higher security to those who should receive the

paper, and, of consequence, as likely to obtain more ready, general, and

confidential circulation. It was also believed that it would be an

additional bond of union to the associated colonies. *

The Continental Congress adopted, substantially, the last proposition,

and, in the course of the session of 1775, three millions of dollars

were issued in bills of credit, and the faith of the confederated

colonies was pledged for their redemption. ** This sum was appropriated

* Pitkin, i., 347. Records of the New York Convention.

** The resolution providing for the first emission of bills was adopted

on the 22d of June, 1775, and was as follows: "Resolved, That a sum not

exceeding two millions of Spanish milled dollars be emitted by the

Congress in bills of credit, for the defense of America." On the next

day the committee appointed for the occasion reported and offered

resolutions (which were adopted) as follows: "Resolved, That the number

and denomination of the bills to be emitted be as follows:

_Numb--bills--Amount_

49,000 8 $392,000 49,000 7 "343,000 49,000 6 "294,000 49,000 5

"245,000 49,000 4 "196,000 49,000 3 "147,000 49,000 2 "98,000

49,000 1 "49,000 11,800 20 "236,000 Total, $2,000,000

Continental Paper Money.--Form of the Bills.--Devices and Mottoes.--Paul

Revere and contemporary Engravers.

317among the colonies according to the supposed number of the

inhabitants, including negroes and mulattoes, and each colony was to pay

its proportion, in four equal annual payments.

The several Colonial Conventions were to provide, by taxes, for sinking

their proportion of the bills, and the bills themselves were to be

received in payment for such taxes. Two general treasurers were

appointed, and it was recommended to each colony to appoint a treasurer.

The amount of the first emission was two millions of dollars.

"Resolved, That the form of the bills be as follows:

CONTINENTAL CURRENCY.

No.------------Dollars.

This bill entitles the bearer to receive-------Spanish milled dollars,

or the value thereof in gold and silver, according to the resolutions of

the Congress, held at Philadelphia on the tenth day of May, A.D. 1775.

"Resolved, That Mr. J. Adams, Mr. J. Rutledge, Mr. Duane, Dr. Franklin,

and Mr. Wilson be a committee to get proper plates engraved, to provide

paper, and to agree with printers to print the above bills." *

* The paper on which these bills were printed was quite thick, and the

enemy called it "the pasteboard money of the rebels." The vignettes were

generally, both in device and motto, significant. The one most prominent

in the engraving represents a beaver in the slow but sure process of

cutting down a tree with its teeth. The motto, "Perseverando--by

Perseverance," said to the colonists, "Persist, and you will be

successful." I will notice a few other devices and mottoes of bills

which I have seen. A globe, with the motto, in Latin, "The Lord reigns;

let the earth rejoice." A candlestick with thirteen branches and

burners, denoting the number of states; motto, "One fire, and to the

same purpose." A thorn-bush with a hand grasping it; motto, "Sustain or

abstain." A circular chain bearing on each link the name of a state, an

emblem of union; motto, "We are one." I have in my possession a coin,

made of some composition resembling German silver of the present day (of

which the following is a fac-simile the proper size), bearing the same

device on one side. On a three dollar note is a device representing a

stork struggling with an eagle--the feeble colonies warring with strong

Great Britain; motto, "The result is uncertain." This bill is dated

eighteen days after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

A majestic oak-tree; motto, "I SHALL FLOURISH THROUGH AGES of ages." A

hand planting a young tree; motto, "For posterity." A boar encountering

a spear; motto, "Death, or life with decency." A harp, denoting harmony;

motto, "Large THINGS ARE CONSONANT WITH small ones." A figure of

Justice; motto, "The will of Justice."

* The plates were engraved on copper by Paul Revere, of Boston. Himself,

Nathaniel Hurd, of the same city, Amos Doolittle, of New Haven, and an

Englishman named Smithers, in Philadelphia, were the only engravers in

America at that time, Hurd engraved as early as 1760. Revere began a

little later. In 1766 he engraved a picture emblematic of the repeal of

the Stamp Act. This, and a caricature called The Seventeen Rescinders,

were very popular, and had an extensive sale. He engraved and published

a print in 1770, representing the "Boston Massacre," and in 1774 he

engraved another of a similar size, representing the landing of the

British troops in Boston. In 1775 he engraved the plates, made the

press, and printed the bill of the paper money ordered by the Provincial

Congress of Massachusetts. Doolittle was at Lexington and Concord, and

made drawings and engravings of the skirmishes at thoso places. The

sketches were made on the morning after the engagements, and were

engraved during the summer of 1775. Mr. Doolittle assisted in re-

engraving the battle of Lexington on a smaller scale, in 1830, forty-

three years afterward, for Barber's "History and Antiquities of New

Haven." A copy of it, by permission, la inserted in this work.

New Emissions of Continental Bills.--Plans for Redemption.--Counterfeits

issued by the Tories.--First coined Money

318On the 25th of July the Continental Congress ordered the issuing of

one million of dollars more, * and from time to time new emissions were

authorized, to meet the demands upon the treasury, until, at the

beginning of 1780, the enormous sum of two hundred millions of dollars

had been issued, no part of which had been redeemed. While, the amount

of the issues was small, the credit of the bills was good; but when new

emissions took place, and no adequate measures for redemption were

exhibited, the people became suspicious of those frail representatives

of money, and their value began to depreciate. This effect did not occur

until eighteen months from the time of the first emission had elapsed.

Twenty millions of the Continental bills were then in circulation,

besides a large amount of local issues by the several states. It was now

perceived that depreciation was inevitable, and Congress proposed, as a

substitute for further issues, a loan of five millions, at an interest

of four per cent. A lottery was also authorized, designed to raise a

like sum on loan, the prizes being payable in loan office certificates.

These offices were opened in all the states; the rate of interest was

raised from four to six per cent., but the loans came in very slowly.

The treasury ran low, the loan offices were overdrawn by the

commissaries' drafts, the issue of bills was reluctantly recommenced,

and ten additional millions were speedily authorized. During the year

1778 sixty millions and a half were added to the issues already made.

The commissioners in France (see page 86) had been instructed to borrow

money there, but as yet they had been unsuccessful.

Various plans were proposed at different times to sink those issues of

bills of credit, but none could be put into efficient practical

operation. The several states issued paper money independently of the

Continental Congress; and the Loyalists, aided by Sir Henry Clinton, in

the autumn of 1778 sent out large quantities of counterfeits of the

Continental emissions of May 20th, 1777, and April 11th, 1778, and

scattered them as widely among the people as their means would allow. **

Under these circumstances, Congress felt the necessity of making an

extraordinary effort to sustain the declining credit of the bills, by

making some provision for their actual redemption. On the 2d of January,

1779, it was "Resolved, That the United States be called on to pay in

their respective quotas of fifteen millions of dollars for the year

1779, and of six millions of dollars annually for eighteen years from

and after the year 1779, as a fund for sinking the emissions and loans

of the United States to the 31st of December, 1778, inclusive." It was

provided that any bills emitted by order of Congress prior to 1780, and

no others, should be received in payment of those quotas. A period of

five months was given for taking out of circulation the emissions which

had been counterfeited, during which time they were to be received into

the public treasury in pay-

* As the signing of so many bills would require more time than the

members could spare from public duties, Congress appointed twenty-eight

gentlemen to perform the duty, allowing each one dollar and thirty-three

cents for every thousand bills signed and numbered by him. It was

necessary for each bill to have the signature of two of them.

** See page 662, Vol. II.

Depreciation of the Paper Money.--Confusion in Trade.--Foreign and

Domestic Debt Specie Value of the Bills.

319ment of debts and taxes, and also into the Continental loan offices,

either on loan or to be exchanged for other bills of a new tenor,

bearing interest at five per cent., and redeemable in specie within six

years. The old bills thus called in were to be destroyed. *

This effort, like its predecessors, was unsuccessful. Prices rose as the

money sank in value, and every branch of trade was deranged. In several

states laws limiting prices were still in force, and the rapid

depreciation of the bills threw all contracts into confusion. The amount

in circulation on the 1st of September, 1779, was a hundred and sixty

millions. Congress resolved that the issues should not exceed two

hundred millions in the whole. The loans prior to the 1st of August,

1778, the interest of which was payable in bills on France, were seven

millions and a half. The loans contracted since were more than twenty-

six millions. The debt abroad was estimated at four millions. Only three

millions out of the sixty millions of paper dollars already called for

from the states had been paid into the public treasury.

Congress was powerless to stay the downward tendency of the paper

currency. It continued to depreciate and prices to rise. Early in 1780,

forty paper dollars were worth only one in specie. ** The commissaries

found it extremely difficult to purchase supplies for the army, for the

people refused to exchange their articles for the almost worthless

paper. Direct taxes had been unsuccessfully tried to replenish the

treasury, and, as supplies could not be obtained, a speedy dissolution

of the army and abandonment of the rebellion seemed inevitable.

Congress was obliged to open new resources for the supply of the army,

and required each state to furnish a certain quantity of beef, pork,

flour, corn, forage, and other articles, which were to be deposited in

such places as the commander-in-chief should determine. The states were

to be credited for the amount at a fixed valuation in specie. This

scheme was utterly

* Journals of Congress, vol. i., p. 5.

* Value of $100 in Specie in Continental Money.

1777. 1778. 1779. 1780. 1781. January......$105 $325.....

$742.....$2934.....$7400 February..... 107 350..... 868..... 3322.....

7500 March... 109 370..... 1000..... 3736..... April... 112

400..... 1104..... 4000..... May 400.. 1215.....

4600.. June... 120 400..... 1342..... 6400..... July

425..... 1477..... 8900.. August....... 150 450..... 1630.....

7000..... September.... 175 475..... 1800......7100.. October......

275 500..... 2030..... 7200..... November.... 300 545.....

2308..... 7300..... December.... 310 634..... 2593..... 7400..

* Captain M'Lane was the father of the late Secretary of the Treasury.

Unjust Financial Law.--Washington's Deprecation of it.--Hopes of the

Tories.--Cipher Writing of the Loyalists.

320impracticable, from the want of authority to enforce the demands, and

the distance of several states from the army, and Congress speedily

abandoned it. The several states were then recommended by Congress to

pass laws making paper money a legal tender, at its nominal value, for

the discharge of debts which had been contracted to be paid in hard

cash. Such laws were enacted, and many dishonest debtors took advantage

of them. Although the bills were passing at the rate of twenty for one,

they were made a lawful tender, and debts were discharged at a cheap

rate. It was one of the most unwise and unjust acts committed by

Congress during the war. The honest and simple were defrauded, and the

rogues were immense gainers. * The people justly raised a great clamor,

while the friends of the king greatly rejoiced in seeing the growth of

what they deemed the canker-worm in the seed of rebellion. **

Among the most prominent evils arising from the rapid depreciation of

the paper was a spirit of speculation and fraud, which excited unfounded

jealousies and suspicions. The

* Washington opposed the measure from the beginning as iniquitous,

unjust, and fraught with the direst evils. He was a considerable loser

by it. While at Morristown, a respectable man in the neighborhood was

very assiduous in his attentions to the chief, and they were generally

reciprocated. This man paid his debts in the depreciated currency, under

the law, and the fact became known to Washington. Some time afterward

the man called at head-quarters, but the general hardly noticed him.

This coldness was observed by the officers, and La Fayette remarked,

"General, this man seems much devoted to you, and yet you have scarcely

noticed him." Washington replied, smiling, "I know I have not been

cordial; I tried hard to be civil, and attempted to speak to him two or

three times, but that Continental money stopped my mouth."

** Rev. Charles Inglis, who was rector of Trinity Church, in New York,

from 1777 until 1782, and, after the peace, was made Lord Bishop of Nova

Scotia, in a letter to Joseph Galloway, the great Pennsylvania Loyalist,

then in London, thus writes, under date of December 12th, 1778, in

reference to the immense issues and the depreciation of the bills of

credit: "The fee simple of the thirteen United States is not equal to

this sum, which is still increasing. I therefore think it utterly

impossible to support the credit of this money; and were there nothing

else, this would be sufficient to destroy the rebellion, if Britain

would hold the places she now possesses, and keep a moderate number of

cruisers on the coast. The mode of securing French debts, by which the

colonies became mortgaged for the fripperies of every French peddler, is

another embarrassing article on this head, which must prove ruinous to

America."

* Daniel Coxe, a member of the king's council of New Jersey, and a

refugee in New York, writing to Galloway, under date of February 14th,

1779, says, "The current depreciation of their money now at Philadelphia

is fifteen for one; and the' there are clubs and private associations

endeavoring to support its credit, nothing will do, nor can any thing,

in my opinion, now save 'em on this point but a foreign loan, and which,

though they affect otherwise, I think they can not negotiate any where

in Europe, unless all the moneyed nations are turned fools; and if they

can not command a loan, and are prevented from all remittances and trade

southward, they must sink, never again, I hope, to rise......In short,

they never were so wretched and near destruction as at this moment, and,

unless some unforeseen event takes place in their favor soon, I firmly

expect the next summer must end their independence and greatness.....For

God's sake, then, encourage every degree of spirit and exertion all you

can, and quickly; a good push, and they go to the wall infallibly." Such

was the tenor of the letters sent to England by the Loyalists from 1778

until 1781. The financial embarrassments of Congress gave Loyalists and

friends of government strong hopes that it would accomplish what British

arms had failed to do. It may be here remarked that many of the letters

which passed between the Loyalists here and their friends abroad were

written in cipher, so that, should they fall into the hands of the

patriots, they might not be read, to the disadvantage of the writers and

their cause. I here give, for the gratification of the curious, an

alphabetical key, and a fac-simile or two lines of the cipher writing,

copied from one of the letters of a distinguished Tory, together with

the interpretation.

Charge against General Greene.--Excitement throughout the Country.--Riot

in Philadelphia.--Convention at Hartford

321rapid rise in prices was unjustly attributed to extortion on the part

of public officers, and even General Greene, who acted as quarter-master

general, was accused of enriching himself at the public expense, because

he received for his salary a percentage on all moneys disbursed, and the

depreciation made the nominal amount vast. Individual speculators and

monopolizers were the extortioners and the oppressors of the people, and

of them Washington said, in a letter to President Reed, "I would to God

that some of the more atrocious in each state were hung in gibbets upon

a gallows four times as high as the one prepared for Haman." It was

remarked, "that while the honest and patriotic were impoverished, rogues

and Tories were fast growing rich."

Toward the close of the summer of 1779, the country was greatly agitated

by the existing financial embarrassments. Meetings were held in the

chief cities on the subject. In Philadelphia, party feelings, growing

out of the currency question, became so strong and decided that a riot

took place under the very eyes of Congress. A committee had undertaken

to regulate the prices of flour, rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, salt, and

other articles of general use. Robert Morris and other leading merchants

refused to conform to the regulation. Wilson, Clymer, and Mifflin, with

their friends, were threatened with banishment to New York, as abettors

and defenders of the Tories. They armed themselves, and repaired to

October 4,1779 Wilson's house. A mob, with fire-arms and two cannons,

approached. Some shots were fired, and one of the defenders of the house

was killed. A man and a boy of the mob were also killed. The mob were

about to force the door, when Reed, the president of Congress, appeared

with some cavalry, and partially restored order, but it was necessary

for the citizens to turn out and patrol the streets. It was several days

before quiet was restored. In the midst of this general excitement a

convention of the five Eastern States October 20, 1799 was held at

Hartford, and Congress, unable longer to disguise the fact that its

bills of credit were permanently depreciating, approved of, and

recommended, a plan elaborated by that convention, to regulate prices on

the basis of twenty paper dollars for one of specie. This measure

partially quieted the public mind. Before the end of the year the two

hundred millions were emitted, and the press was stopped. * At that time

the depreciation stood thirty for one, and was constantly increasing.

The diversion of labor from agricultural and other industrial pursuits,

the destruction of grain by the belligerent forces in various parts of

the country, combined with the embarrassed state of the finances of

government, which we have briefly considered, threatened famine and

general bankruptcy; and during the winter and spring of 1780, when

Washington had his quarters at Morristown, the hope of the patriot was

suffering an almost total eclipse; it was the gloomiest period of the

Revolution. The financial operations which subsequently occurred will be

noticed hereafter, such as long drafts on the United States

commissioners abroad, and foreign loans.

We have made a wide but necessary digression in turning aside to view

the financial affairs of the patriots at the period under consideration.

Let us resume our journey and historic annotations.

I left Morristown for Springfield in the early morning train. The air

was September 13, 1848 cool and bracing, and I had a pleasant walk of

about a mile from the station, at the foot of the Short Hills, to the

pretty village lying in the bosom of a fertile plain near the banks of

the Rahway River. The trees upon the surrounding hills were beginning to

assume the variegated livery of autumn, not from the effects of frosts,

but of a long drought, yet on the plain every thing was as green as in

June, except the ripening maize. I sought for the "oldest inhabitant,"

and found him in the person of the venerable Gilbert Edwards, who was a

half-grown boy at the time of the battle of Springfield, and sold apples

to the American soldiers when they came down from the Short Hills to

oppose the invasion of the enemy under Knyphausen, the German general.

** He kindly accompanied me to the place

* Pitkin, Marshall, Ramsay, Gordon, Sparks, Hildreth.

* General, the Baron Knyphausen, was a native of Alsace, then one of the

Rhenish provinces. His father was a colonel in the German regiment of

Dittforth, in the service of John, Duke of Marlborough. The general was

bred a soldier, and served under Frederic the First, father of Frederic

the Great of Prussia. The twelve thousand German troops hired by the

English government, for service in America, were placed under his

command, and the Hessians were led by the Baron de Reidesel. He arrived

with his troops, under convoy of Admiral Lord Howe, in June, 1776, and

was engaged in the battle of Long Island in August following. He was

also in the battle of Brandywine, and commanded an expedition to

Springfield, New Jersey. For some months during the absence of Sir Henry

Clinton at the south, Knyphausen was in eommand of the city of New York.

He was about sixty years of age, possessed of a fine figure, and was

remarkably amiable and simple-minded. La Fayette used to tell an

anecdote concerning him, on the authority of British officers. The

passage to Ameriea was very long, and one night, while playing whist in

the cabin, Knyphausen suddenly turned to the captain and said, with an

air of much sincerity, "Captain, ain't we hab sailed past America?" He

died on the frontiers of Germany toward the close of the last century.

Battle-ground at Springfield.--Invasion by General Knyphausen.--

Clinton's Designs.--Plan of the Springfield Battle.

322where the principal engagement occurred, which is on the right of the

present turnpike leading from Springfield to Elizabethtown, and a few

rods westward of the Rahway. Nothing now remains upon the spot to

indicate military operations, for no works were thrown up on the

occasion.

The battle was the result of an unexpected invasion. The knoll on which

the Americans were posted, then covered with apple-trees, is now bare,

only a few stumps remaining; but on the eastern slope a few of the trees

are left, venerable in form and feature, and venerated for their

associations. One of them is pictured in the engraving. It bears several

scars of wounds inflicted by the cannon-balls of the approaching enemy.

They are "honorable scars," and I bespeak for the veteran a perpetual

pension of respect.

On the 6th of June, 1780, General Knyphausen, then in temporary command

of the British troops in New York during the absence of Sir Henry

Clinton at the south, dispatched Brigadier-general Mathews from Staten

Island with about five thousand troops, who landed at Elizabethtown

Point. He had been informed that the American army at Morristown was

much dissatisfied, and ripe for mutiny and treason, and that the people

of New Jersey were ready to join the royal standard as soon as ample

protection should be guarantied them. Influenced by these opinions,

Knyphausen ordered Mathews to march toward Morristown, but the

annoyances which he met with on the way soon undeceived him. He turned

the village of Connecticut Farms, and advanced on Springfield, but,

being informed that Washington had sent a force to oppose him, he

wheeled and returned to Elizabethtown. Many of his soldiers were cut off

during the recession, by small parties of Jerseymen concealed behind

fences, rocks, and bushes. On reaching Elizabethtown Point, he

intrenched his forces within the old works thrown up there by the

Americans, where they remained about a fortnight.

In the mean while, General Clinton arrived from the south, and

determined to carry out the plan arranged by Knyphausen, to capture the

stores at Morristown, and, if possible, draw Washington out from his

strong position among the Short Hills, into a general engagement. He

also took pains to mislead Washington, by em-

* Explanation of the Map.--The stream with branches, and running in a

southerly direction, is the Rahway River; a is the house (still

standing) of Mrs. Mathews, near which the enemy formed for battle; b,

the site of Byram's Tavern, at the foot of the first range of hills; c,

the Springfield and Elizabethtown turnpike; d, the Vauxhall Road; e, the

first position of the brigades of Stark and Maxwell, near the mill and

north of the rail-road; f, Shrieve's regiment at the seeond bridge; g,

the mill; h, post of the Americans, on the hills in the rear of Byram's

Tavern. The other localities are printed on the map.

Washington deceived by Clinton.--Second Invasion under Knyphausen.--

Disposition of opposing Troops.--The Battle

323barking troops in transports on the Hudson, as if an expedition was

intended against "West Point. Washington _was_ deceived by this

movement, and, with a considerable force, marched toward the Highlands,

leaving Major-general Greene in command at Springfield. Clinton,

perceiving the success of his stratagem, crossed over to Elizabethtown,

with Knyphausen and additional troops, and at break of day on the 23d

the whole army, consisting June, 1780 of about five thousand infantry, a

considerable body of cavalry, and from fifteen to twenty pieces of

artillery, advanced toward Springfield. They moved in two columns, one

on the main road (the present turnpike) leading to Springfield, the

other on the Vauxhall Road, leading to the principal pass among the

Short Hills, a series of high ridges at the head of the Springfield

plains. The Americans were under the immediate command of Greene. The

right column of the enemy, on the Vauxhall Road, was opposed by Major

Henry Lee with his cavalry, and some pickets under Captain Walker, and

the left was confronted by Colonel Dayton, of the New Jersey line. * The

remainder of the American troops had been posted upon the roads leading

to the different passes over the mountains, and it was with considerable

difficulty that they were collected in force at Springfield to oppose

the enemy concentrating there. The latter, after maneuvering to gain the

flanks of the Americans, formed upon a gentle eminence on the eastern

side of the Rahway, near the house of Mrs. Mathews, which is still

standing. Colonel Angell, with his regiment, was posted in the orchard

upon the knoll west of the stream, with a single field piece under the

charge of Captain Littell, to defend the bridge; and Colonel Shrieve's

regiment was drawn up at the second bridge, in the rear of the town, to

cover the retreat of the Americans, if such a movement should become

necessary.

Lee's dragoons, and the pickets under Captain Walker, were stationed at

the Vauxhall Bridge, and the militia were drawn up on the flanks,

principally under the command of General Dickinson, of New Jersey.

The first attack was made by the enemy upon Lee's force at the Vauxhall

Bridge, and the Americans were repulsed. At that instant the British 1

>* Vv troops near the first Springfield Bridge moved to attack Colonel

Angell in the orchard. Captain Littell played his artillery so briskly

and well, that he kept the enemy east of the bridge for some time; but

bringing their artillery to bear, they pressed forward, forded the

stream (which is there only about two rods wide), and drove the

Americans from their position and across the second bridge. The

artillery of the British, being leveled too high, did but little

execution, except among the branches of the apple-trees, and the

Americans retreated with very little loss.

The enemy were warmly received at the second bridge by Shrieve's

regiment, but overwhelming numbers obliged the gallant little band of

Americans to fall bak and join the brigades of Maxwell and Stark upon

the hill. The situation of the patriot army was now critical. The enemy

was pushing vigorously forward on the Vauxhall Road, leading in

* Elias Dayton was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, in 1735. He joined

the army during the French and Indian war. He was a member of the corps

called "Jersey Blues," raised in 1759 by Edward Hart, the father of

John, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. With that

corps he fought under Wolfe at Quebec. He was one of the Committee of

Safety at Elizabethtown at the beginning of the Revolution; in February,

1778, Congress appointed him colonel of a New Jersey regiment; and in

1782 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He was in several

of the principal battles of the Revolution, and had three horses shot

under him--one at Germantown, one at Springfield, and one at Crosswick

Bridge. He was the first president of the Cincinnati of New Jersey, and,

during the life of Washington, enjoyed the warm personal friendship of

that distinguished man. He died at Elizabethtown in 1807.

** This sketch was made from the left bank of the Rahway, at the site of

the old bridge. This is now the rear of the house, but, at the time of

the battle, the road was upon this side of it, which formed the front.

The deviation of the road is indicated in the map by a dotted line

Remains of the abutments of the old bridge, where the British crossed,

may still be seen.

Partial Retreat of the Americans.--Burning of Springfield.--Retreat of

the Enemy.--Colonel Barber.--Connecticut Farms.

324their rear, and their numbers were too small to guard the several

passes through the mountains, and have a respectable force engaged in

battle. Greene accordingly ordered the main body of the army, except the

two brigades already mentioned, to take post on the hills in the rear of

Byram's Tavern, and detached the regiments of Colonels Webb and Jackson,

with one piece of artillery, to check the advance of the enemy on the

Vauxhall Road. The movement was successful, and that important pass was

secured.

The Americans were now advantageously posted, and General Greene was

anxious for an engagement; but Knyphausen saw his own disadvantage, and,

after setting fire to the village, began a retreat toward Elizabethtown.

Greene ordered out detachments to extinguish the flames of such houses

as were not within the reach of the enemy's cannon, but their efforts

were of little avail. The church, and every house and barn in the

village but three, were burned. One of the latter now stands close by

the tavern of Mr. Reynolds. It is a very well built house, and exhibits

an orifice in the northwestern gable, made by the passage of a cannon-

ball. The parsonage was saved, and in it the congregation worshiped

until a more convenient place was supplied.

As soon as the village was fired, the enemy began their retreat. Captain

Davis, with one hundred and twenty men and large parties of militia,

fell upon their flanks and rear, and kept up a continual fire upon them

all the way to Elizabethtown. The retreat was so precipitate that

Stark's brigade, which was put in motion, could not overtake them. At

midnight the enemy began crossing over to Staten Island on a bridge of

boats, and by six o'clock in the morning they had evacuated

Elizabethtown and removed their bridge. * The loss in killed and wounded

has not been fully given on either side. Lieutenant-colonel Barber, in

his return to General Greene, reported thirteen Americans killed, and

fifty-eight wounded and missing. In this report was not included the

return of Davis's detachment and of the militia that pursued the enemy

to Elizabethtown. The militia had twelve wounded and none killed. The

loss of the enemy is unknown. The newspapers of the day put down their

loss in the skirmish at Connecticut Farms and vicinity, two weeks

previous, at one hundred and fifty killed, and as many wounded. Colonel

Barber, who acted as deputy adjutant general on the occasion, was

particularly recommended for his activity, by General Greene, in his

report of the engagement. ** General Washington, on hearing of the

movement of the enemy toward Springfield, sent a re-enforcement, but it

was too late to save the town. Greene, in his report, says, "I lament

that our force was too small to save the town from ruin. I wish every

American could have been a spectator; they would have felt for the

sufferers, and joined to revenge the injury."

After much difficulty, I procured a conveyance to Elizabethtown. Mr.

Meeker, a resident of Springfield, seventy-four years old, kindly left

his plow, and in a light wagon took me thither, by the way of

Connecticut Farms, a small village now called Union, lying four miles

northwest of Elizabethtown. Almost every building in that village was

destroyed by the British invaders while on their way to Springfield, on

the 6th of June, 1780. An event occurred there at that time, which

excited the greatest indignation throughout the country. The family of

the Rev. James Caldwell, the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at

Elizabethtown, and an ardent Whig, had removed to Connecticut Farms as a

place of greater security, and occupied the parsonage. Mrs. Caldwell was

the daughter of John Ogden, of Newark, and was greatly beloved for her

piety and benevolence. When she heard of the

* Report of General Greene to the commander-in-chief.

** Francis Barber was born at Princeton in 1751, and was educated at the

College of New Jersey. He was installed rector of an academic

institution connected with the First Presbyterian Church at

Elizabethtown, in which situation he remained until the commencement of

the Revolution. He joined the patriot army, and in 1776 was commissioned

by Congress a major of the third battalion of New Jersey troops: at the

close of the year was appointed lieutenant colonel, and subsequently

became assistant inspector general under Baron Steuben. He was in

constant service during the whole war, was in the principal battles, and

was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He was with the

Continental army at Newburgh in 1783; and on the very day when

Washington announced the signing of the treaty of peace to the army, he

was killed by a tree falling upon him while riding by the edge of a

wood.--Rev. Nicholas Murray.

Murder of Mrs. Caldwell.--Her Murderer Identified.--Timothy Meeker and

his Sons.--His Idea of a Standing Anny.

325approach of the enemy, and the people fled from the town, she

resolved to remain, trusting in Providence for protection. When they

entered the village, she withdrew, with her infant in her arms, into a

private apartment, and engaged in religious devotions. A maid, who had

charge of the other children, and accompanied her to the private

apartment, saw a "redcoat soldier" jump over the fence into the yard,

and told Mrs. Caldwell that he was approaching the window. Mrs. Caldwell

arose from a bed on which she had been sitting, and at that moment the

soldier discharged his musket at her through the window. It was loaded

with two balls, both of which passed through her body, and she fell

lifeless upon the floor, in the midst of her children. * It was with

much difficulty that her body was saved from the conflagration that

ensued. It was dragged into the street, and lay exposed for several

hours in the hot sun, when some of her friends procured liberty to take

it to the house of Captain Wade, on the opposite side of the road. Her

husband was at the Short Hills that night, suffering dreadfully from

anxiety respecting his family. The next day he procured a flag and went

to Connecticut Farms, when he found the village in ruins and his wife no

more. That cold-blooded murder, as well as the wanton destruction of the

peaceful village, changed many Tories to Whigs, and helped to confirm

the settled hatred of the well-affected and the patriots against the

British government, whose military officers winked at such atrocities.

On our way, Mr. Meeker related some interesting facts concerning his

family. His grandfather was a stanch republican, and had eight sons and

four sons-in-law in the Continental army, who were remarkable for their

physical strength and moral courage. The father of Mr. Edwards, the old

gentleman who went over the Springfield battle-ground with me, was one

of the sons-in-law. One of his sons (Mr. Meeker's father) lived up among

the Short Hills, and was a substantial farmer. A conversation which he

had one day with General Dayton, at Elizabethtown, well illustrates the

political character of many of the yeomanry of that period. While a

portion of the standing army, under the administration of the elder

Adams, was at Elizabethtown, Mr. Meeker went to General Dayton to pay

his direct tax, in hard cash, for the support of the army. "Of what use

is your standing army?" asked Meeker. "To support Congress," replied

Dayton. "Ay, to support Congress indeed," said the old man, bitterly.

"To support Congress in taking away our liberties, and in altering the

Constitution so as to place men in public offices for life. I fought for

freedom through the war for nothing (his Continental money was

worthless), and now I want to pay for my land and be _independent_

indeed, but tax upon tax keeps me poor. I could at any time raise one

hundred men among my neighbors upon the Short Hills, say privately to

your standing army, 'Come and help us'--and they would come, and we'd

march to Philadelphia and take your Congressmen from their seats. We

will not have a standing army. Disband it."

"Our standing army," said Dayton, "will intimidate the British."

"Look ahere, General Dayton," said Meeker, while his eyes sparkled with

emotion, "you are well acquainted in London. Write to your acquaintances

there, and tell them that Timothy Meeker is dead, and that he has left

seven sons, every one of whom is a stronger man than he. Tell them we

are seven times stronger than before, and that will intimidate them more

than all your standing armies, that suck the life-blood from the

people." Such was the logic of New Jersey farmers in 1798, and our

government soon acted in accordance with it.

We reached Elizabethtown at about noon, and having ample time before the

departure

* Such is the current history, and the diabolical act was fixed upon "a

British soldier." Some believed that the occurrence was a mere accident,

resulting from the cross firing of the combatants, but there is ample

evidence that it was a deliberate murder. A correspondent of the Newark

Advertiser says that "there is evidence of a very direct character,

which affixes the guilt of murder of the poor lady to a particular

individual."

"A very respectable citizen," he adds, "lately deceased, who was a

witness of the scenes of that day, says that a man named M'Donald, from

the north of Ireland, who had been in the employment of Mr. Caldwell, or

of his family, was the person who committed the atrocious deed. This

man, from some unknown cause, had conceived a violent enmity against his

employer, and it was in this manner he satiated his revenge. The witness

to whom reference is now made, further declared that he saw M'Donald

after the murder, and heard him avow it, saying, at the same time, that

'now he was satisfied,' upon which he joined and went off with the

enemy."

Burial-ground at Elizabethtown.--Caldwell's Monument.--Dickinson's

Tomb.--Boudinot's Vault.

326of the evening train for Middlebrook, my next tarrying-place, I

visited the several Revolutionary localities in the vicinity.

The burial-ground of the First Presbyterian Church, on Broad Street, was

the chief attraction within the village, for therein repose the remains

of many distinguished men of the Revolution. The church that occupied

the site of the present one was burned on the night of the 25th of

January, 1780, together with the academy (which stood upon the ground of

the present lecture room) and the court-house. A notorious Tory named

Cornelius Hetfield fired the church with his own hands, and was heard to

lament that the "black-coated rebel," as he called Dr. Caldwell, the

pastor, was not burned in his pulpit.

Near the Broad Street front of the burying ground stands the monument

erected to the memory of the Rev. James Caldwell and his wife, by

citizens of Elizabethtown. It is a handsome marble obelisk, which, with

an inscribed pedestal, rests upon a granite base. On the left in the

picture are seen a recumbent slab, and also an upright one. The former

is of brown stone, and covers the grave of Jonathan Dickinson, * the

founder of the College of New Jersey, now located at Princeton; the

latter is of white marble, and is sacred to the memory of Margaret Van

Pelt, a grand-daughter of Mr Caldwell. On the west side of the cemetery,

in the rear of the church, are several vaults shaded by a venerable oak,

among which is that of the celebrated Elias Boudinot, who was president

of Congress in 1782, and an active patriot during the Revolution. Of him

I shall have occasion to write hereafter. A little south of Boudinot's

vault is that of General Dayton, just mentioned, and in the vicinity are

the graves of General Crane, an active patriot of the Revolution;

Colonel Barber, already mentioned; Moses Ogden, a young American

officer, who was killed at Connecticut Farms when that settlement was

burned, and of several others of colonial and Revolutionary eminence,

among whom is Governor Belcher.

* Jonathan Dickinson was born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, April 22d,

1688. He graduated at Yale College in 1706, and two years afterward

became the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Elizabethtown, New

Jersey, where he continued nearly forty years. He was the cotemporary of

Whitfield, Brainard, Edwards, and the Tenants. He was chiefly

instrumental in organizing the academy at Elizabethtown, which was

chartered as the College of New Jersey in 1746. He was made its first

president, but the institution did not long enjoy the advantages of his

care, as he died on the 7th of October, 1747, aged fifty-nine. The first

commencement of the college was in 1748, when six young men graduated,

five of whom became ministers of the Gospel.

** The following are the inscriptions upon the Caldwell monument: East

Side. "This monument is erected to the memory of the Rev. James

Caldwell, the pious and fervent Christian, the zealous and faithful

minister, the eloquent preacher, and a prominent leader among the

worthies who secured the independence of his country. His name will be

cherished in the church and in the state so long as Virtue is esteemed

and Patriotism honored."

** West Side. "Hannah, wife of the Rev. James Caldwell, and daughter of

Jonathan Ogden, of Newark, was killed at Connecticut Farms by a shot

from a British soldier, June 25th, * 1780, cruelly sacrificed by the

enemies of her husband and of her country."

** North Side. "'The memory of the just is blessed.' 'Be of good

courage--and let us behave ourselves valiant for our people, and for the

cities of our God, and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight.'

'The glory of children are their fathers.'"

** South Side. "James Caldwell. Born in Charlotte county, in Virginia,

April, 1734. Graduated at Princeton College, 1759. Ordained pastor of

the First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethtown, 1762. After serving as

chaplain in the army of the Revolution, and acting as commissary to the

troops in New Jersey, he was killed by a shot from a sentinel at

Elizabethtown Point, November 24th, 1781."

* This is an error, as will be perceived by reference to the text.

Death of Mr. Caldwell.--Execution of his Murderer.--Mr. Caldwell's

Funeral.--His Orphan Family.

327The death of Mr. Caldwell, which occurred a little more than a year

subsequent to that of his wife, was regarded as a foul murder. He was

shot upon the causeway at old Elizabethtown Point, by an American

sentinel named Morgan, who was hung for the deed. The circumstances are

substantially as follows. At the time of the occurrence the Americans

had possession of Elizabethtown, and there was established there a

commissariat of prisoners, under the superintendence of Major Adams. To

facilitate the business for which the commissariat was established, a

sloop made weekly trips between the Point and New York, then the

headquarters of the British army. Passengers with a flag, and also

parcels, were frequently carried by this vessel, and a strong guard was

placed at a tavern on the shore, having one or more sentinels upon the

causeway that extended across the marsh to the wharf On the 24th of

November, 1781, this vessel arrived at the wharf, having on board a Miss

Berlah Murray (afterward Mrs. Martin Hoffman), who had permission to

visit her sister (Mrs. Barnett), at Elizabethtown. Mr. Caldwell went

down to the sloop in his chaise to receive her, but she was not there.

He went on board the vessel, when a small bundle belonging to her was

placed in his charge, with which he started for his vehicle. James

Morgan, a sentinel on duty upon the causeway, ordered Mr. Caldwell to

deliver his bundle to him for examination, as his orders were not to let

any thing of the kind pass without strict scrutiny. Mr. Caldwell told

him it was the property of a lady, which had been placed in his charge,

and refused to give it up. The sentinel reiterated his demand, when Mr.

Caldwell turned from him, and, it is said, went toward the vessel to

leave the bundle, rather than subject it to the inspection of the

soldier. The latter, probably irritated by disobedience of his orders,

and, it may be, by words, leveled his musket and shot Mr. Caldwell dead

upon the spot. Opinions were, and still are, various as to the motive of

the sentinel. Some justify him as acting in strict obedience to his

orders; others believe him to have been bribed to murder the active

patriot when the first opportunity should offer; and others, again,

simply condemn him for exceeding the spirit of his instructions. Morgan

was arrested, the coroner's inquest brought in a verdict of willful

murder against him, and he was tried, found guilty, and executed at

Westfield on the 29th of January, 1782. He was taken to the church,

where a sermon was preached by the Rev. Jonathan Elmer, from the words

of Jeremiah, "O, do not this abominable thing which I hate and

immediately after the close of the services the prisoner was hung. The

place of his execution is about half a mile north of the church, in

Westfield, and still bears the name of Morgan's Hill. A local

controversy has arisen upon the subject, which seems to turn more upon

the _inferences_ of the several writers than upon the material facts

here given. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" Cotemporary

records form the best umpire in such cases, and correct history, the

_patient_ in question, is not likely to suffer from such a disagreement.

The death of Mr. Caldwell, a pious and eloquent minister, and such an

active patriot, made a powerful impression on the public mind, and there

was "a voice of mourning" wherever his eminent virtues were known. It

was Saturday afternoon when he was shot. His body was conveyed to the

house of his friend, Mrs. Noel, whence it was buried the following

Tuesday. "Many," says Dr. Murray, "were ignorant of the tragical deed

until they came to church on the Sabbath; and, instead of sitting with

delight under his instructions, there was a loud cry of wailing over his

melancholy end. There was a vast concourse assembled to convey him to

his tomb. The corpse was placed on a large stone before the door of the

house of Mrs. Noel (now the residence of Miss Spalding), where all could

take a last view of the remains of their murdered pastor. After all had

taken their last look, and before the coffin was closed, Dr. Elias

Boudinot came forward, leading nine orphan children, and, placing them

around the bier of their parent, made an address of surpassing pathos to

the multitude in their behalf." *

I rode down to Elizabethtown Point, a place famous in the annals of the

Revolution.

* Notes on Elizabethtown, page 77. The funeral sermon was preached by

Dr. M'Whorter, of Newark, from Ecclesiastes, viii., 8.

Old Elizabethport.--Ancient Tavern and Wharf.--Fortification of the

Point.--Naval Expedition.--Franklin Stove

328The distance is about two miles, and so nearly adjacent are the

houses along the road, that it may be said the village extends all the

way to the Point. The old wharf or landing is about three quarters of a

mile northeast of the present bustling port, and only a solitary

dwelling, the traces of the eauseway, and the apparition, at low water,

of some of the logs of the ancient wharf, constitute the remains of the

Revolution there, exeept slight indications of the works thrown up by

the Americans in the rear.

Making a journey in a direct line through some shrub oaks and a field of

tangled buckwheat, I visited and sketched the old tavern, now the

property of Mr. Isham, of New York, where many of the stirring scenes of

the Revolution occurred. There American and British officers were

alternately quartered, from 1776 until the close of the war, and in that

house the corpse of Mr. Caldwell was laid while a wagon was procured to

convey it to the town. In front of it is a flat shore, overflowed at

high tide, across which was a substantial eauseway about seventy-five

rods in length, with a wharf at the end. Here was, the landing-plaee of

troops passing and repassing to and from Staten Island, closely

contiguous; and from this wharf extended the bridge of boats over whieh

the British retreated after the battle of Springfield. There Washington

embarked in the barge prepared to convey him to New April 24, 1789 York,

to be inaugurated the first President of the United States, and in the

old tavern he breakfasted that morning.

When the British fleet appeared off Sandy Hook with the troops of

General Howe, in June, 1776, great alarm spread through New Jersey; for,

as the Americans then had military occupation of New York city, it was

supposed the enemy would land on the Jersey coast. Governor Livingston,

at the head of the New Jersey militia, established his camp at

Elizabethtown Point, and caused a fortification to be constructed by

digging ditches and throwing up breast-works, whieh extended from the

old to the new Point, and on which a few cannons were mounted. These

works were never of any material use, and hardly a vestige of them

remains.

From the Point several water expeditions were fitted out, for the narrow

and tortuous channel, and low, marshy shore protected the place from the

visits of large vessels of war. One of these expeditions was under the

eommand of Elias Dayton and William Alexander. The latter is better

known in our history as Lord Stirling, and was Governor Shirley's

military secretary at Albany twenty years before. Informed that a

British transport and provision ship was on the coast, the Committee of

Safety at Elizabethtown ordered four armed boats to attempt its capture.

They came in sight of the vessel about forty miles from Sandy Hook. The

men in the boats were all concealed under hatches, except two in each,

unarm-

* This view is looking eastward. In the distance, on the right, is seen

a vessel, at the entrance of Newark Bay, and the land beyond is the high

ground intervening between it and Jersey City. In one of the rooms of

the old tavern is a Franklin stove, which has probably been a tenant

there ever since it came from the foundery. I gave a sketch of it, not

only because it is a relic of the time, but because it doubtless shows

the form of the stove as invented by Dr. Franklin in 1742,* before an

"improvement" was made. On its front, in raised letters, are the words

"Ross and Bird's Hibernia Foundry, 1782." Ross had a foundery at

Elizabethtown in 1774, as appears by the inscription upon the dinner-

bell of Sir William Johnson, now in the belfry of the old Caughnawaga

Church at Fonda. See note, page 233.

* Franklin says, in reference to this invention, "Governor Thomas was so

pleased with the construction of this stove, that he offered to give me

a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of years; but I

declined it, from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such

occasions, viz., that, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions

of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by an

invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generally." A London

iron-monger made some alterations, which Franklin says "hurt its

operation," got a patent for it there, and made a small fortune by it.

Capture of a Provision Ship.--Privateering.--London Trading.--"Liberty

Hall."--Designs against Governor Livingston.

329ed, who managed the oars. The enemy mistook them for fishing vessels,

and allowed them to come along side. At a preconcerted signal, the

hatches were raised, the armed Americans poured upon the deck of the

ship, and in a few minutes she was their prize, hardly a show of

resistance having been made. She was taken in triumph to Elizabethtown

Point, where her cargo was landed. This exploit was performed in the

summer of 1775, soon after the battle on Bunker Hill. Some privateering

expeditions were fitted out here and at Amboy during the war; but, with

the exception of the invasion already detailed, there were few military

operations there. There are a few blemishes in the general good

character for Whiggery, claimed by Elizabethtown. During the war there

was a great deal of "London trading," or supplying the enemy with

provisions and other things, carried on there. The high price paid by

the British on Staten Island tempted even the most ardent Whigs to put

money in their purses by the traffic. Many took their pay in British

goods, and actually opened stores in the village with articles thus

obtained. Governor Livingston, alluding to the practice, said, "The

village now consists of unknown, unrecommended strangers, guilty-looking

Tories, and very knavish Whigs."

Having an hour to spare on my return to the village, I walked out to old

"Liberty Hall," the former residence of Governor Livingston, now the

property of Mr. John Kean. It is a fine old mansion, imbowered in shrubs

and overshadowed by venerable trees. It is situated upon the left of the

Springfield Turnpike, beyond the Elizabeth Enver, and about three

fourths of a mile north of the rail-way station in the village. Governor

Livingston was an active partisan, and during the whole war was

continually employed in public duties or in wielding his pen in favor of

the Republican cause. For this reason he was extremely obnoxious to the

enemy, and particularly to the Tories, whom he cordially hated and

despised. Several attempts were made to abduct him, but they were all

unsuccessful. It was also said that Sir Henry Clinton offered a bounty

for his life, if he could not be taken alive, and that a prominent Tory

of New Jersey had been solicited to assassinate him for a price. Of this

Governor Livingston accused Clinton, in a letter. The latter did not

deny the charge, but, in a very discourteous reply, said, "Had I a soul

capable of harboring so infamous an idea as assassination, you, sir, at

least, would have nothing to fear; for, be assured, I should not blacken

myself with so foul a crime to obtain so trifling an end." Sir Henry,

however, thought the "end not too trifling" to fit out an expedition for

the express purpose of capturing the "rebel governor." It was midnight,

on the 28th of February, 1779, that a party of British troops, sent by

Clinton from New York, landed at Elizabethtown Point, and,

* Some time after the death of Governor Livingston this property was

purchased by Lord Bolingbroke, who, under the assumed name of John

Belesis, ran away from England with a daughter of Baron Hompaseh, a

German general. She was at a boarding school there, and Bolingbroke had

a wife living. He married the girl here. She died in England in 1848.

The grandmother of the present proprietor, Susan, the daughter of Peter

Van Burgh Livingston, bought the farm of Lord Bolingbroke, and it has

been in possession of the family ever since. Her first husband was John

Kean, a member of Congress from South Carolina from 1785 to 1787, and

was first cashier of the first United States Bank, chartered by an act

of Congress passed February 8th, 1791. Her second husband was Count

Nicmccwicz, a Polish nobleman.

Scenes at "Liberty Hall."--Spirit of Governor Livingston's Daughters.--

Sketch of the Life of Livingston

330marching directly to "Liberty Hall," burst open the doors, and

shouted vociferously for "the damned rebel governor." Fortunately, the

governor had left home some hours before, to pass the night with a

friend, a few miles distant. After becoming convinced that he was not

there, they demanded his papers. Those of the greatest importance (his

recent correspondence with Washington, and with Congress and the state

officers) were in the box of his sulky, in his parlor. This box the

officer in command was about to seize, when Livingston's daughter

Catharine, a girl of great spirit and presence of mind, represented to

him that the box contained her private property, and appealed to his

courtesy as a gentleman and a soldier to protect it for her. A guard was

placed over it, and she then led the men to the library, where they

filled their foraging bags with worthless law papers. After threatening

to burn the house, they returned to Elizabethtown, burned one or two

dwellings in the village, and then departed for New York. *

Mr. Sedgwick relates a tradition connected with the family of Governor

Livingston. At the time of the invasion, when the village of Connecticut

Farms was burn ed, Governor Livingston was absent from home on official

duty. The family had spent the day in great alarm, for immediately in

front of their dwelling the smoke and flames of the conflagration of

that village were distinctly seen.

Late in the evening several British officers came to the house, told

them that then-troops were retreating, and proposed to pass the night

there. The family felt secure from marauders while such protectors were

present, and retired to bed.

About midnight they were aroused. The officers were called away, and

soon afterward some exclaiming, "God! it's Mrs. Caldwell, that we killed

to-day!"

Drunken soldiers rushed into the hall, swearing that they would burn the

"rebel house." There were none but women in the house. The maid servant

fastened herself in the kitchen, and the ladies of the family locked

themselves in another room. The ruffians discovered their hiding-place,

and, fearing to exasperate them by refusing to come out, one of the

governor's daughters boldly opened the door. A drunken soldier seized

her by the arm, and at the same moment she seized him by the collar with

a force that alarmed him At that instant a gleam of light illumined the

hall and fell upon the white dress of the lady. The soldier staggered

back, They soon left the house.

* Sedgwick's Life of William Livingston, p. 322.

** William Livingston was descended from the old Scotch family of that

name, whose first representative in this country was Robert, the "first

lord of the manor" upon the Hudson. He was born in November, 1723, and

graduated in Yale College in 1741. He was well educated, and possessed

many solid as well as brilliant attainments in law and literature. He

early espoused the cause of the colonists, and, having removed from New

York to New Jersey, was elected a delegate to the first Continental

Congress from that state. In 1776, after the people of New Jersey had

sent Governor Franklin, under a strong guard, to Connecticut, Mr.

Livingston was elected chief magistrate of the state; and such were his

acknowledged talents, and republican virtue, and the love of the people

for him, that he was annually elected to that office until his death. In

1787 he was a delegate to the convention that formed the Federal

Constitution; and, after being actively employed in public life for

almost twenty years, he died at "Liberty Hall," near Elizabethtown, July

25th, 1790, aged sixty-seven years. The silhouette here given is copied

from one in Sedgwick's Life of Livingston, which he says was probably

taken from life, about 1773. The Livingstons are descended from a noble

Scotch family. Lord Livingston, afterward Earl of Linlithgow, was one of

the custodians of Mary, Queen of Scots, while in Dumbarton Castle in

1547. The great-grandson of the Earl was John Livingston, a pious Scotch

minister who fled from persecution, and went to Holland. He was the

common ancestor of all the Livingstons in America. His son Robert, the

first "lord of the manor" of Livingston, in Columbia County, New York,

came to America about 1675, and from him all the family in this country

have descended. They were all remarkable for their patriotism during the

Revolution: and for sixty years afterward the Livingstons were among our

prominent public men.

Arrival at Middlebrook.--Place of the Encampment of the American Army.--

Howe's Stratagem.--Skirmishes

331I left Elizabethtown in the cars, at about three o'clock, and arrived

at Middlebrook, a pleasant little village on the Raritan, toward sunset,

passing on the way Scotch Plains and the thriving town of Plainfield.

The road passes over an almost level country, and, though the soil is

light and sandy, thrift appeared on every side. Middlebrook and

Roundbrook lie close together, and are included in one village. Here,

toward the last of May, 1777, Washington encamped his army, after

breaking up his cantonments at Morristown. His troops rapidly augmented;

and when, in June, General Howe began to show some disposition to open

the summer campaign, the American army mustered about fourteen thousand

effective men. They were strongly posted upon the Heights of

Middlebrook, in the rear of the village, near the place of the winter

encampment in 1778-9, which will be presently noticed. Washington

suspected Howe's design to be to make an attempt to capture

Philadelphia. He concentrated the Northern forces on the Hudson; a

strong division under Arnold was posted on the Delaware, and a

considerable force was under his immediate command at Middlebrook.

General Howe had encamped at New Brunswick, ten miles distant, and

endeavored to draw Washington out from his strong position, into a

general engagement upon the plains. But the chief would not hazard a

battle while his forces were so divided. Howe remained two days at New

Brunswick; but, concluding that Washington was too strongly posted among

the hills to be attacked with impunity, the British commander sought to

accomplish by stratagem what he had failed to do by open and obvious

movements. For this purpose June 14,1777 he advanced rapidly toward

Somerset Court-house, feigning a design to cross the Delaware. Failing

to draw Washington from his post by this maneuver, he made another

feint, a few days afterward, which succeeded better. He suddenly

retreated, first a June, 19 toward New Brunswick, (a) and then to Amboy,

(b) and even sent some detachments [b June 22] over to Staten Island.

Partly deceived by these movements, and hoping to reap some advantage by

harassing the British rear, Washington sent strong detachments after the

retreating enemy, and also advanced with his whole force to Quibbletown

(now New Market), five or six miles from Middlebrook. This was exactly

what Howe desired to accomplish, and, accordingly, on the night of the

25th, he suddenly recalled his troops from Staten June Island and Amboy,

and early the next morning marched rapidly toward the American lines,

hoping to cut off their retreat to Middlebrook, and thus bring on a

general action. Washington was too quick and vigilant for Howe, and

reached his strong position again. The advanced guard of the British

fell in with Lord Stirling's division, and a warm skirmish ensued. On

the approach of Cornwallis with a considerable force, Stirling retreated

to his camp with inconsiderable loss. Other skirmishes ensued, but

neither party suffered much. At Westfield the British forces wheeled,

and, marching back to Amboy, passed over to Staten Island, leaving the

Americans in the quiet possession of New Jersey.

It was on the gentle slope from the plain to the steep acclivities of

the mountain in the rear of Middlebrook, that seven brigades of the

American army were _hutted_during the winter of 1779--80. After the

battle of Monmouth, (c) the American army crossed the c June 28,1778

Hudson River, and took post chiefly in Westchester county. The head-

quarters of Washington were at White Plains. In the mean while the Count

d'Estaing had arrived at Sandy Hook with a French fleet; but, being

unable to pass the bar with his heavy ships, to attack Lord Howe in the

bay, he sailed eastward to co-operate with General Sullivan in a

proposed attack upon Newport, on Rhode Island. Of this expedition, which

proved unsuccessful, I shall hereafter write.

Washington continued at White Plains until late in autumn, suspecting

the design of Sir Henry Clinton to be to make a movement eastward. Sir

Henry gave currency to the reports that such were his intentions, until

Washington moved his head-quarters to Freder-

Clinton's Operations in New Jersey.--Disposition of the American

Forces.--Encampment at Middlebrook.--Pluckemin.