the erection of beacons and the keeping of express-
riders in constant readiness to convey intelligence in
case of alarm from invasion or other causes, but no
important action is found having special reference to
Hunterdon or Somerset Counties. They saw fit, how-
ever, to call an extra session of the Provincial Con-
gress, as appears by the following extract from their
minutes, dated January 12th, — viz. :

" This Committee received several resolutions and determinations of
the Continental Congress reelecting raising one new battalion in this
Province, erecting and establishing a Court of Admiralty, advising the
forming some useful regulations respecting the Continental forces raised
in this Colony ; which requisitions, together with many other important
concerns, render the speedy meeting of the Congress of this province
absolutely necessary. This Committee have therefore appointed the
meeting of said Congress to be at New Brunswick on "Wednesday, the
thirty-first day of this instant, January."

The Congress accordingly met at the time and place
designated, and commenced business on the 1st of
February.

The recruitment of the two battalions which Con-
gress at its previous session had ordered to be raised
had proceeded successfully and with rapidity. Lord
Stirling, having been commissioned colonel of the
First or Eastern battalion, had taken with him to it
several of the officers and a considerable number of
the men of the Somerset County regiment of militia,
which he had previously commanded, and he found
very little difficulty in filling the ranks of his new
command. Col. Maxwell's (Western) battalion was
recruited with nearly equal facility. In the last week
of November (1775) Stirling established his head-
quarters at Elizabethtown to fill his battalion to the
maximum, six companies of it having previously
been ordered to garrison the fort in the Highlands on
the Hudson River. Lieut.-Col. Winds was soon after
stationed, with a part of the battalion, at Perth Am-
boy. Col. Maxwell's battalion was ordered to the
vicinity of the Hudson River, and both the Eastern
and Western battalions having been filled, or nearly
so, were mustered into the Continental service in De-
cember.* It does not appear, however, that they
were fully armed and equipped when so mustered, as
is shown (at least in regard to the Western battalion)
by the following action taken by the Provincial Con-
gressf at New Brunswick, on the third day of its ses-
sion, Feb. 2, 1776, — viz. :

"Whereas, The Continental Congress have ordered Colonel Maxwell's
battalion to march to Canada as noon as the men can be furnished with
arms and other articles absolutely essential ; and whereas, arms are ex-
tremely scarce, and imbed impossible to bo procured in time for the
equipment of said battalion without making application to the several
Oountiei in this Province: Resolved, That the Committees, or other public
bodies, in whose hands any of the New Jersey Provincial anus and

* These two battalions were the first troops of New Jorsey which actu-
ally took the Bold. Lord Stirling was of Somerset County, and one of
its leading citizens, while Gen. Maxwell bore nearly the same relation
to Hunterdon County, although he resided a short distance outside her
boundaries.

| Hinutosol Hie Provincial Congress ami Council of Safety, 1775-76,
pp. 341, 842.



accoutrements are deposited [are requested ?] to deliver the same to the
commanding officer of said battalion, or his order; of whom they are
required to take vouchers, with the valuation of said arms, etc., there
under written; and that this Congress will either immediately pay for
said arms, agreeable to appointment, or replace them as soon as possible,
whichever the said Committees or public bodies shall think most proper.
"This Congress do, in the most strong and explicit manner, recom-
mend to every private person who has arms fit for immediate use to dis-
pose of the same for the purpose above mentioned."

And the Congress, on the same day, ordered to be
sent " to the commanding officers and chairmen of
the several county committees in the province" a cir-
cular-letter in these words :

"Gentlemen, — The late repulse at Quebec} requires every exertion of
the friends of American freedom, in consequence whereof Colonel Max-
well's battalion is ordered to march forthwith, and the Continental Con-
gress have applied to our body urging the greatest dispatch in procuring
arms and necessaries for this expedition. Therefore, in pursuance of the
aforesaid application, we request you, gentlemen, to use the utmost dili-
gence and activity in collecting all the public arms belonging to your
county, being your proportion of the Provincial arms unsold. Dispatch
in this case is quite necessary, as, no doubt, the arms are distributed in
the hands of the associators, it will be necessary that every officer do his
part. The value of the arms will be paid in money, or the number be
replaced, and the expenses of collecting and forwarding them punc-
tually discharged. We put you to this trouble with regret; but the ne-
cessity of the measure must apologise. You will have the arms collected
in your county valued by good men and sent to Burlington or Trenton,
under the care of such officer of Colonel Maxwell's battalion as may be
the bearer hereof."

That some of the arms for the New Jersey battalions
were supplied by New York appears from the record
of the proceedings of the Continental Congress, which
body on the 2d of January, 1776,

" Resolved, . . . That the hundred stand of arms supplied by the
Colony of New York for the New Jersey Battalion be paid for by the
Convention of New Jersey ; and that, in order to enable the said Conven-
tion to make such payment, as well as to furnish such of the men belong-
ing to the said Battalions as are yet unprovided with arms, the further
Bum of one thousand dollars be advanced to the said Convention, and
that the price of the arms be deducted out of the wages of the privates
belonging to said Battalions."

That a great scarcity of ammunition as well as of
arms existed among the men of the two battalions
appears by the following extract from the minutes of
the Congress, dated February 1st, — viz. :

"Lieut.-Col. Winds informed this Congress that ho was stationed at
Perth Amboy with a part of tho Eastern battalion of tiie Continental
forces raised in this Colony, and that he was destitute of ammunition,
and thought it not improbable he might soon have occasion for a supply.

And this Congress being informed that the Ci ty of Somerset had a

quantity of powder in storo, and tho County of Middlesex a quantity of
lead,— in consideration whereof: Ordered, That Mr. President request
the Chairman of the Committee of Somerset to furnish Colonel Winds
with four quarter casks of powder; and that he also request the Chair-
man of the Committee of tho County of Middlesox to furnish Colonel

Winds Willi 150 | ids of lead ; ami that the said powder and lead shall

bo replaced in some convenient lime."

The Committees promptly acceded to this request,
as appears from the minutes, dated February 10th,
—viz. :

"On a requisition from Lord Stirling, tho Committee of Elizabethtown
have furnished him with six thousand cartridges, Somerset county four



\ The unsuccessful assault on the defenses of that, town, in the morn-
ing of Dec. 31, 1776, by tho American forces under Montgomery and Ar-
iel. I, in which the ftrst-named gallant officer lost his life and tho latter
was severely wounded.



IIUXTKIUMiX AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IX THE REVOLUTION.



30



qnartoi casks of powder, W Ibrldge a considerable quantity, mi. I

Brnnswics > hundred and fifty wolglit of lead. Ourmllltla

Illy uuppUed with ammunition ; those who have granted the above sup-
plies are therefore verj desirous that they be immediat

This extract is from a communication Bent by the

Provincial ( 'ongrcss on tin- date named to the Conti-
ncntal Congress asking lor " ten tons of gunpowder
and twenty Ions of lead, or as much as may lie spared,"
out of a large quantity reported to have then re-
cently arrived at Philadelphia. The request was
granted to the extent of half a ton of powder, and

out of this the quantity borrowed of Somerset < 'otinty,

Brunswick, Woodbridge, and Elizabeth was replaced.

In consequence of the unfavorable result of the
military operations in ( 'anada, and tin- strong proba-
bility (indicated in letters IV Gen. Washington to

Congress) that Gen. Howe intended to evacuate bis

uncomfortable position at Boston and move his forces
thence by sea to New York, as also the knowledge

that Sir Henry Clinton had embarked from England

on a secret expedition, whose probable destination
was NViv York, a greater degree of activity wa- in-
fused into military measures in general, and especially

in i hose ha\ ing reference to the defense of the middle
colonies. The Continental Congress having resolved
In January, 177U. that it was necessary to raise a num-
ber of additional battalions, assigned the raising of
one of these to the province of New Jersey, and
recommended to the Provincial ( 'ongrcss that it should
lake immediate steps to that end. Accordingly, on
the 5th of February, the last-named t longress passed

a resolution tO raises battalion, in additioii to the two

previously raised, to be enlisted, organized, and offi-

ccreil in the sa manner I except thai each of LtS

eight companies should be composed of seventy-eight
instead of sixty-eight privates), and, like the others,

to be em ployed ill t lie ( 'out i nental service, t ' pan}

officers for the battalion were appointed by the Con-
gress of New Jersey, but the field-officers were to be

appointed and commissioned by the I Ion ti nental I 'on-
grcss. The Provincial Congress also resolved, Feb-
ruary 13th,
"Thai Ool, Dunbar, who lives In tho I • toi n Dlvl

bo roi -nun led to the II I, tl.l

wall qualified t" be appointed i ' commissary with Col. !.-■« rey, who

Uvm in Woe! Jersey, f"i the Third Batt i li a, now raising, and inch as
mIii.ii in- raised In (but Colon] m thi

Col. Low rev was a resident of Flemington, Hun-
terdon Co., and, receiving the appointment of com-
missary, performed most valuable services to the

American cause during the war.

The rapid progress made in raising the Third Bat-
talion is indicated by the follow ing extract from a let-
ter written by President Tucker to the Continental

( '.ingress on the 2 tth of February, "lily nineteen clays

after the passage of the n solution ordering the bat-
talion to be raised, -viz. : " 1 am likewise to request
that commissions may be sent for the officers of the
Third Battalion, as some of the companies are already

lull and others in a fair way."



The ever-present difficulty — scarcity of arms — was
an obstacle to the new battalion, as it had been in the
cases of the others, and of all troops being raised at

that time. This i- made apparent by the tenor of a
letter sent by the New Jersey Congiv-s to the Conti-
nental Congress, dated February 10th, from which is
quoted the following :

"Gknti.f.mrn, — Sensible of tho Importance that the battalions raised in
this Provlnco should bo us speedily as possible furnished with anna, we
collected for the supply of the Fast and Becond Battalions all the arms

in fbrssrvlce thai could I btalned in thi- Province. We have therefore

no rcaonrco ofpnrridlng arms for the Third Battalion but from .air own
manufactories, or importation. Howaoon they can be manufactured in

uncertain; and we havi D at prospect of receiving them from

abroad, lint, being Informed that two thousand stand nave lal
imported, and that they are within your disposal, we shohM be glad that
part of them may be ordered for tin- use of the Third Battalion, uui,— i
bnmodiate publlo service call- for them. We beg leave to
whether it would not be advisable to clothe tin- battalions now
raising in uniform, deducting the axpence attending it out of the men's
wages. . . ."

The pressing need of blankets for the troops is also
shown by this entry on the congressional minutes
dated March 1st :

"This Congress, sensible of tl stroma scarcity of blanket- now

wanted for Continental forces, '1" t num-iei it to all the inhabitants of

tills colony who may have any good blankets that they can possibly spare
to dispose of the sa to the commissary on reasonable terms for the use

of said fo]

< in the 13th of February, Congress resolved " that

a train of artillery, consisting of twelve pie.

immediately purchased for tin- use of this Colony";

and on the I'd of .March an ordinance was passed di-
recting that two complete artillery companies be im-
mediately raised for the defense of the colony, "one

to be stationed in the Eastern and one in the Western

Division thereof, . . . to be disposed of in this I

a- i he ( 'ongrcss, Committee of Safety, Tirigadier-I i' n-
eral of the Dm i m to w hi h th, v R \ cti\ sly belong

shall direct ; each i pany to be commanded by a

Captain. Captain-Lieutenant, first and Second Licti-
tenants; and t.. ron-i-l of a Fire-worker, four Ser-
geants, tour Corporals, one Bombardier, and fifty
-. all ot' whom arc to be able-bodied free-
men, and lo be enlisted for one year. Unless BOOner

discharged." The commissioned officers appointed

for these companies were Frederick Frelinghuvseii

captain. Daniel Neil captain-lieutenant, Thomas

Chirk first lieutenant, and John Heard second lieu-
tenant ot' the Eastern Company, and Samuel Hugg

captain. Thomas Newark captain-lieutenant. John

Westcott first lieutenant, and Joseph Dayton
lieutenant of the Western Company. -V company of
riflemen was also ordered to be raised, to be joined to

Col. Maxwell's Set 1 Continental i battalion. And

tiller] company t
pamod Aug. SI, 1776, ordering the i
thorn bain

1 him and men by him enlisted fori

tillcry, \vi> i upon his resignation." — -Hot. 7Vvr. C<mg^



40



HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.



it was ordered (February 3d) that, as Lord Stirling,
previously colonel of the First Regiment of militia in
the county of Somerset, had been appointed to a com-
mand in the Continental army, "Stephen Hunt, Esq.,
be colonel, Abraham Ten Eyck, Esq., lieutenant-colo-
nel, James Linn, Esq., first major, and Derrick Med-
dagh, Esq., second major of the said regiment, and
that their commissions be made out accordingly."

In view of the probability, as before mentioned,
that Gen. Howe was about to move his army to oc-
cupy New York, and the expected arrival, by sea, of
a force under Sir Henry Clinton, a considerable num-
ber of Continental and provincial troops had been
ordered to that city, and among these the battalion
of Lord Stirling, who received orders to that effect
about the 1st of February, and moved his command
from Elizabethtown to New York on the 5th and 6th
of that month.* On the 15th of February the Con-
gress of New Jersey received a communication from
the president of the Continental Congress, dated Feb-
ruary 12th, asking this province to send a force of
minute-men to New York. Its tenor was as follows :

" Gentlemen, — The arrival of troops at New York, the importance of
that place to the welfare of America, and the necessity of throwing up
a number of works to prevent our enemies from landing and taking post
there, render it necessary that a number of troops should immediately
join Maj.-Gen. Lee; I am therefore desired to apply to you, and request
you would, with all possible expedition, Bend detachments of your
minute-men equal to a battalion, under proper officers, and well armed
and accoutred, to New York, there to be under command of Gen. Lee.
Your approved zeal in the cause of your country gives me the strongest
assurance that you will with alacrity embrace this opportunity of giving
aid to your neighbors, and that your people will cheerfully engage in a
service by which they will not only render a very essential service to
their country, but also have an opportunity of acquiring military skill
and knowledge in the construction of field-works and the method of
fortifying and entrenching camps, by which they will be the better able,
when occasion calls, to defend their rights and liberties."

Upon the receipt of which the Provincial Congress
resolved unanimously,

" That the above requisition be complied with, and that detachments
of minute-men, properly accoutred, equal to a battalion in the Continen-
tal service, be immediately made, and marched to New York, under the
command of Charles Stewart, Esq., colonel, Mark Thompson, Esq., lieu-
tenant-colonel, Frederick Frelinghuysen and Thomas llenderson, Esqrs.,
majors."

But again the scarcity of arms presented a serious
difficulty, and this time it proved an insuperable ob-
stacle to the desired movement of the troops, as is ex-
plained by the following extract from the minutes of
the Continental Congress, dated February 22d, — viz. :

"A delegate from New Jersey having informed Congress that the regi-
ment of militia ordered by the Convention of that Colony to march to
the defense of Now York, in consequenco of the resolve of Congress of
the 12th of this month, were not sufficiently armed, and that they could
not bo furnished with arms unless the Congress supplied them, and as



* In a letter addressed by Lord Stirling to the president of Congress,
dated Now York, Feb. 10, 1770, he says,—

"Sin, — On the 14th instant I informed you of having received Gen.
Lee's orders to march with my regiment to this placo. I accordingly
marched the next morning with four companies from Elizftbethtown,
and arrived here the next day, as soon as the ice permitted us to cross
Hudson's Elver. The other four companies followed the next day."—
CoUcctums of the New Jmey UMciricul Society, vol. ii. p, 120.



this Congress have not arms to spare, — those they have being necessary
for arming the battalions in the Continental service : Therefore, Resolved,
that the march of said battalion of militia be countermanded."

One week after the marching orders to the New
Jersey minute-men were thus countermanded, the
several organizations of minute-men in the colony
were disbanded by action of the Provincial Congress,
which on the 29th of February passed an ordinance
in which it was directed

"That all the minute-men heretofore embodied in the several parts of
this Colony be immediately dissolved, ;unl incorporated with the militia,
in the several companies in the district in which they respectively reside,
as though such minute-men had never been raised. . . ."

The principal reasons for this action, as enumerated
in the preamble to the ordinance, were that large
numbers of the members of minute-men organiza-
tions had enlisted in the Continental service, thereby
greatly reducing the companies and battalions, and
so placing them in a condition in which they could
not " answer the design of their institution," and that
"our defense, under God, chiefly depends upon a
well-regulated militia." Thus the "minute-men"
organizations of New Jersey ceased to exist, never
having had an opportunity to perform any of the
peculiar services for which they were formed.

The Congress of New Jersey adjourned on the 2d
of March, 1776, having previously! passed an ordi-
nance, in which it was " Resolved and directed, That
there be a new choice of Deputies to serve in Provin-
cial Congress, for every County of this Colony, on the
fourth Monday in May yearly, and every year," thus
establishing regular annual elections of deputies in-
stead of the special elections called, as they had pre-
viously been, at the pleasure of Congress.

The elections were held at the time specified, and
resulted in the choice of Philemon Dickinson, John
Allen, Samuel Tucker, John Hart, and John Mehelm
for Hunterdon, and Frederick Frelinghuysen, Wil-
liam Paterson, John Witherspoon, Jacob R. Harden-
bergh, and James Linn for Somerset County. These,
with fifty-five deputies from the other counties, assem-
bled in Provincial Congress at Burlington, and organ-
ized on the 11th of that month by electing Samuel
Tucker, of Hunterdon, president, and William Pater-
son, of Somerset County, secretary.

At this session a great amount of business was
transacted, a large proportion of which was included
in the measures taken for raising, organizing, and
forwarding troops. These measures will not be
noticed in detail here, but the most important of them
will be mentioned incidentally in succeeding pages,
in connection with the military events of which the
year 1776 was so fruitful. But the most notable
action taken at this session was that which transformed
New Jersey from a colony into an independent State
by the adoption of a State constitution on the 2d of
July. And it is worthy of note that when the vote
was taken upon the immediate adoption and confirrna-

t February 28th.



FIUNTKKDON AND SOMKRSET COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.



II



tinii of this constitution, John Mehelm, who voted for,
and William Pateison, who voted against, thai prop-
osition, were the only members of the Hunterdon and
Somerset delegations who answered the roll-call of
deputies.

On the 17th of July the < '(ingress i-.-it i ti ■ •■ I the I ><•<-
taxation of Independence by the adoption of this
resolution, — viz. :

'â–  II /,. , , ..... The II rable Continental Congress liavo declfl

lonlei Free and Independent States: We, the Depatiee "f New
.1.-1 -.- \ in Provincial Congroiw assombled, <\" resolve and deolare thai we
will support the freedom and Independence ol the said States with our
Uverand fortunes, and with the whole forco of Now Jei oy."

And on the following ihiy it was liy the -; bnd\

"JiMoliW, Thut thls^House from henceforth, Instead of the style and
eiir ..! dr* ei.,\ in. mi i >m ji < -s -i s. â– -.'. .I. ist.y, do adopt and assume the
Btylo und title of the Convention <>f tin- st;it.- . .r New Jersey ."

On the same day (July 18th] an ordinance was

passed defining the eriiue of treason against the State

hi' New Jersey, and making it punishable "in like
manner as by the ancient laws of this State," — that
is, by the infliction of the penalty of death.

The old eiilnnial Legislature of New Jersey had held

its sessions and (nominally) exercised its functions in ,

177.") until the 6th of December in that year, when

Governor Franklin prorogued the Hon-., and this
proved tube its dissolution. The Governor, who was
notoriously inimical to the American cause, issued

his |iriiclamatiim in the following .May, calling a ses-
sion on June 20th, but this was met by prompt action
on the part of the Provincial Congress, which, on the
14th of June,

" Ilexolvnd, Thut in lie. <>|iiiii-.n ..I tlii> r-tii-n-. Hi- l'i . .. 1 -ii n .. I i t

Willi. mi Franklin, late Governor of New Jei , 1 â–  i date on the
thirtieth day of May last, in the name of tin- King ol Great Britain,
appointing a i ting <.i the General Assembly t-> bo li<-i.l on tin- twen-
tieth 'ii.\ -I this Instant June, ought not to be oboyi i."

This action had the de8ired effect; the colonial
Legislature never reassembled. On the llith of June

the I long '

" Bttohnl, That in il pinion .>f this Oongran the laid William

Franklin, Bsqulro, by Buch proclamation, has actedln direct oontempt

an. I violation -i tl Ive ol the Continental Con - of thi

• ■i Hay last Thai in u plnl f this Congress the gold William

Km nk I in, Esquire, I in- disc ivorod him ell to be ><â–  1 di mj to the libertlei

ol tl ii. ; oni i that mi u ur ..n^lit t.. bo inn liately taken Ibr

â– souring tin- person of the said w llliani Franklin, Hsquiro."

On the same day orders were issued to Col. Na-
thaniel Heard, of the Firsl Battalion of Middlesex
militia, to wait on the ( lovemor, to offer him a parole,

by which he was to agree to remain quietly at Prince-
ton, I '.on lent, i wn, or on hi- farm at Kaueoelis (which-
ever he might elect), ami, in ea-e of hi- refusal to
Sign llii- parole, to arrest him. On the 17th, Col.

Heard and Maj. Deare proceeded i" Lmboy, waited
on He- Governor, offered him the parole, and, upon

his refusal to sign it, surrounded hi- house with a
guard of sixty men to hold liim prisoner until further
Orders were received from Congress. The orders

came to remove the Governor to Burlington, and he

was accordingly taken there. Upon examination he



was adjudge.] a violent enemy to hi- country and a

dangerous pi rson, and he was then placed in custody