as far as Millstone, doing a considerable amount of
damage, and partialis accomplishing the object for
which they came. This expedition is usually men-
tioned as ''Simcoe's raid," because tile exploit was
performed by a force of men under command of Lieut-
Col. Si n i.ci,, of ill' British army. The account of it
given below is drawn partly from Simcoe'a own report,
and partly from a narrative of the affair written bj
the late Hon. Ralph Voorhees,
The force tinder i mand of I ol. Simcoe on this
expedition consisted of men belonging t.> a somewhat
celebrated corps known as the "Queen's Rangers,"
which was mostly made up of native Americans,
Tories, enlisted into the corps in Westchester Co.,
N. Y., and in neighboring portions of Com ticut.
Col. Simcoe had assumed command of this body in
1777, and afterwards brought it up to a condition of I
excellent discipline and great ellieienex . The strength
of the force detailed from the " Uangers" lor this par-
ticular service was about eighty men, who, embarking
at Billop's Point in the night of the 25th of October,
were landed at Elizahethtow n Point at about three
o'clock in the morning of the L'r.th, when, the column
having formed and moved out a short distant d the
road, Simcoe announced to his officers the object of
the expedition, which was to proceed swiftly to Van
Veghten's bridge over the Raritan (near the present
railway-station of Finderne , there to destroy a
number of flat-boats which Washington had left in the
river at that point, 1 and, having done this, to cross
the river and proceed to Mill-tone, take the Amwell
road, and follow it till they eame to a house at a corner
of a road diverging from it to the south and leading
into tin- Princeton road running from that place to
New Brunswick. Their object was thus to make a
Circuit around New I'.nin-w ick , BO a- !•• avoid Contact
with any American troops that might he stationed in
the vicinity of that town: hut after pa-sin
Brunswick, ami having arrived at the heights on
which stood the "Grenadier Redoubt" i which had
been built by the British during their occupancy of
the place in 177ii ami 1777 , the) were "to discover
themselves" to the American militia for the purpose
of inducing the latter to follow them, in whicl
they were to retreat to South River Bridge, which they
were not to destTO] or to crOSS, hut to form an ambush
near its western approach in which they were to l.e
supported by a bodj of British infantry which had
been ordered to that place, under command of Mai.
Armstrong), for the purpose of entrapping ami, if
possible, capturing their American pursuers. This,
in brief, was the general plan of the expedition.
* Fifty boats hud 1 d built, hj Washington!! ordera, on iti" Delaware,
ami haule I across dgoon tho >
ltarltati. Thoy waro intend ogtoNev fork, and
were capable of carrying aoronty men each i\ third of them
now remained at the bridge.
Setting out from BlizabethtOWn, the raiders pro-
ceeded to tjuihhlctown (afterwards known a- New
Market without any notable incident except thecap-
t ii e. ofa prisoner. " Capt. Sanford'a men forme. 1 the
advance-guard, the hussars followed, andStewarfs men
wen- in the rear, making, in the whole, ahont eighty.
A Justice Crow was soon overtaken: Lieut.-CoL
Simcoe accosted him roughly, called him 'Tory.' nor
se it" believe his excuse when, in the American
idiom for courtship, he said ' he had only been a-spark-
ing,' but sent him to the rear-guard, who, being
Americans, easily i iprehended their instructions
and kept up the justice's belief that the party was a
detachment from Washington's army. Many planta-
tion- were now passed by, the inhabitants of which
« i re up. and whom the party accosted with friendly
salutations. At Quibbletown, Lieut. -Col. Simcoe
had just quitted the advance-guard to speak to Lieut.
Stewart.f when, from a public-house on the turn of
the road, some people came out with knapsacks on
their shoulders, bearing the appearance of h rebel
guard. Capt. Sanford did not see them till he had
pa— ed by, when, checking his horse to give notice,
the hussars were reduced to a momentary halt oppo-
site the I se. Perceiving the supposed guard, they
threw themselves oil' their horses, sword in hand, and
entered the house. I.ieiit.-( 'ol. Simcoe instantly made
them re nut. but they tailed to discover some thou-
sand pounds of paper money which had been taken
from a passenger, the master ofa privateer, nor could
he stay to search for it. lie told the man 'that he
would be answerable to give him his money that
night at Brunswick, where he should quarter,' ex-
claimed aloud to his party, 'that these were not the
Tories they were in search of, although they had
knapsack-,' and told the country people who were as-
sembling around 'that a party oi' Tories had made
their escape from Sullivan's army, and were trying to
get intoStaten Island, as Cliff (who had been defeated
near this very -pot. taken, and executed i had formerly
done, and that he was -cut to intercept them.' The
sight of .lust ice Ci-,,w would probably have aided in
deceiving the inhabitants; but, unfortunately, a man
personally knew Lieut.-Col.8imi .and an express
wa- -.in to Governor Livingston, then at I'.run.-wick.
a- soon a- the party marched.
"The party was now conducted by a country lad
whom they fell in with, and to whom Capt. Sanford
being die— e.l iii red and w iihoiit hi- ch.ak | had been
introduced a- a French officer. He gave information
that the greater part of the bout- had been -.lit on to
Washington's camp, but that eighteen were at Van
Vector's [Van Veghten's] bridge, ami that their
horses were : ,i ; , f: m ,i about a mile from it. He led
the party to an old camp of Washington's, above
t" Lieut Stewart wae anal . inrtitan roralUt,
aatTely known aa 'Tory Jim.' If hi olaedaoy-
whereaboul Boand Brook or Barltan, it would not bar* bean well fbr
him."— Br, I
7fi
HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
Bound Brook.* Lieut.-Col. Simcoe's instructions
were to burn these huts, if possible, in order to give
as wide an alarm to the Jerseys as he could. He
found it impracticable to do -so, they not being joined
in ranges, nor built of very combustible materials.
He proceeded without delay to Bound Brook, whence
he intended to carry off Col. Moyland; but he was
not at Mr. Van Horn's.! Two officers who had been
ill were there; their paroles were taken, and they
ordered to mark ' sick quarters' over the room-door
they inhabited, which was done ; and Mr. Van Horn
was informed that the party was the advance-guard
of the left column of the army which was commanded
by Gen. Birch, who meant to quarter that night at his
house, and that Sir Henry Clinton was in full march
for Morristown with the army."
From Bound Brook the raiders proceeded rapidly
to Van Veghten's bridge, where "Lieut.-Col. Simcoe
found eighteen new flat-boats upon carriages; they
were full of water. He was determined effectually to
destroy them. Combustibles had been applied for,
and he received in consequence a few port-fires;
every hussar had a hand-grenade, and several hatchets
were brought with the party. The timbers of the
boats were cut through, they were filled with straw
and railing, and, some grenades being fastened in
them, they were set on fire. Forty minutes were em-
ployed in this business. The country began to as-
semble in their rear, and, as Lieut.-Col. Simcoe went
to the ' Dutch meeting,' where the harness and some
stores were reported to be, a rifle-shot was fired at
him from the opposite bank of the river." The dis-
patch which had been sent to Governor Livingston at
New Brunswick had had the desired effect. The
Governor had sent out express-riders to alarm the
country, and the people were preparing to give the
marauders a warm reception.
The " Dutch meeting" mentioned in Simcoe's nar-
rative was the old edifice of the church of Raritan,
built in 1721. It stood on the north side of the river,
about six hundred yards below the bridge. This
church-building they burned, together with a few
military stores which it contained. They then re-
turned, crossed the bridge, went to Millstone, and
there burned the Somerset County court-house:]: with
its contents. That building stood about twelve rods
west of the present Millstone bridge. They burned
also a house and shop belonging to Cornelius Lott
(valued at six hundred and twenty pounds ten shil-
lings and eleven pence), and at the same time a house
and kitchen belonging to William Cox. From thence
the troopers followed the Amwcll road towards New
Brunswick, intending, when they should come to the
house above mentioned as (supposed to be) standing
i In. of t lie .im;i mi pui' ills >â– [ Wnslii niton's ni'iiiy limine, the preeedhig
winter; nituaten 1 on the hillwhle eiint of Chimney Kuck.
f Col. Moyland bafjmarried a daughter of Philip Van Horn, andlt waa
supposed he might ho found there on a visit to his wife.
{ October 27, 177'J.
at the corner of the junction of the Amwell road with
the highway leading to the Princeton road, to take to
the right. The house they were looking for was that
of Garret Voorhees, which had stood at the place
named, but had been burned two years before by the
British. The guide which they had impressed at
Quibbletown supposed he knew the place perfectly
well, but he was ignorant of the fact that the house
had been burned, and he therefore unwittingly led
them astray. So they continued, in consequence of
this mistake, to follow the Amwell road until they
came within two miles of New Brunswick.
" Alarm-guns were now heard, and some shots were
fired at the rear, particularly by one person, who, as
it afterwards appeared, being out a shooting, and
hearing of the incursion, had sent word to Governor
Livingston, who was at Brunswick, that he would
follow the party at a distance and then give a shot,
that he might know which way they directed their
march. Passing by some houses, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe
told the women to inform four or five people who were
pursuing the rear ' that if they fired another shot he
would burn every house which he passed.' A man
or two were now slightly wounded. As the party
approached Brunswick, Lieut.-Col. Simcoe began to
be anxious for the cross-road diverging from it into
the Princeton road which he meant to pursue, and
which having once arrived at, he himself knew the
by-ways to the heights he wished to attain, where,
having frequently done duty, he was minutely ac-
quainted with every advantage and circumstance of
the ground. His guide was perfectly confident that
he was not yet arrived at it; and Lieut.-Col. Simcoe
was in earnest conversation with him, and making
the necessary inquiries, when a shot, at some little
distance, discovered there was a party in front. He
immediately galloped thither, and he sent back
Wright, his orderly sergeant, to acquaint Capt. San-
ford ' that the shot had not been fired at the party,'
when on the right at some distance he saw the rail-
fence (which was very high on both sides of the nar-
row road between two woods) somewhat broken down
and a man or two near it, when, putting his horse on
the canter, he joined the advance men of the hussars,
determining to pass through this opening, so as to
avoid every ambuscade that might be laid for him, or
attack, upon more equal terms, Col. Lee (whom he
understood to be in the neighborhood, and appre-
hended might be opposed to him), or any other party,
when he saw some men concealed behind logs and
bushes between him and the opening he meant to
pass through, and he heard the words 'Now, now!'
and found himself, when he recovered his senses,
prisoner with the Americans, his horse being killed
with five bullets, and himself stunned by the violence
of his fall."
An American party under command of Capt. Guest
had formed an ambuscade, near De Mott's tavern, two
miles west of New Brunswick, and upon the advance
BUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IX THE REVOLUTION.
of the British Bangers had fired upon them, killing
the colonel's borse and taking Simcoe himself prisoner
in the manner above stated. Thi remainder of the
party were pursued by the Americans, one of whom,
Oapt. Peter G. Voorhees, in hi- zeal advanced ahead
of In- men, and in attempting to leap a fence at
- road, at the head of Town lane, his horse
became entangled, ami tin- British, on coming up,
fell upon Hi in and hacked him must terribly with their
sabres. Be was taken to New Brunswick, and died
there a few hours afterwards. II'- was a brother-in-
law-of Col. John Neilson, and v. a- a young man i
highly esteemed. Be was a brave officer in the regu-
lar army, having entered it at the i tmenci menl of
the war. At the time of his death he was a captain
in the Firs! Regiment of New Jersey Continental
troops, commanded by ( k>l. ' tgden.
Col. Simcoe was concealed, during the nighl suc-
ceeding his capture, in a store-house in New Bruns-
wick t" prevenl the enraged people from killing him
in revenge for the cruel treatment which Voorhees
had received al the hands of the British troop-. Be
was removed from thence to Burlington, where be re-
mained a prisoner until exchanged.*
After Simcoe was taken prisoner his demoralized
eommand made all haste to reach the appointed ren-
dezvous at South River bridge, where they found the
infantry, under Maj. Armstrong, who had c e
promptly up, as agreed, and had taken two American
pris ST8, — Dr. Ryker and Mr. John Polhemus. The
advantages thej had gained by the expedition were
hardly great enough to outweigh the loss of their
leader,— a result which rami' from their guid
norance of the fact of the pre\ ions burning of ' ferret
Voorhees' house. Otherwise they would have taken
the circuitous route intended by them, would have
probably arrived at South River in safety with their
commander at their head, and might have succeeded
in drawing the Americans into their ambush and
capturing them, as contemplated in the original plan.
In the memoirs of ( !ol. Lee the celebrated " Light-
Horse Harry") the following opinion is expressed in
• "When I ol 31 Iionov
; to tho ground and rendered Insonslble, Ja - Scl iman.of
flew Brunawlck, invod lit life by Ilinuting il-H.. Ui
dierof the militia who sttomptod to itab him ; no mil
..I in Jonathan Ford Morrie, aftei Ho, then h
student of medicine In Now Brunawlck, blc I lilm, and odmlnl I
i res aa could I btoinod Hi » i tin a la! mtoNi - B
and proporly carod for, flo recovered and wn nxlonhis
Qommand again, and was present with hta < â–
Sno r'a Ordinary, on Jann 1U' r, Jurj .
sly, 1778, and at Oyetoi Bay, Long Island, 1778 79, where Ihero was liter-
uliy a'noal of Torlce,'ot wh William Frank â–
.I,,,, i, wnecl H lei thi H i ilutl a,
Oanadn, and » rote to Inquire foi Uie young man who had -• kindly an. I
humanely assisted him ol DoMotl cond Ume,
toDl Uor maolf, thanking him foi Ills attentions, and offering him
ii. hum .in. hi ... i provided ho won Id \i-n him In
Oanada, whl. Ii Di Morris e« sd m Eng-
land in 1806, and bos .i mural monu nl with lereral t ulptu
In Exeter Cathedral, executed bj Elaxman, the nunous Kngllih sculp-
tor." — I>r. .llirn/i.Mii
reference to the Simcoe expedition, and the manner of
its execution :
"This enterprise waa considered Ihe hand-
be th town
Point t.. South Amboy, fifty-five mil.-, in the course of the night and
morning, passing through s m
nol more
than eight or nine Dfllos from the legion of Lee, i.i- lasi point of danger,
mi. I which became Increased from the debilitate i condition to which liis
'. ..a i- very extraordinary,
Lieut.-! ol '.
..I Uie night, stopped at a de] â– ' "i mragi i 11 mtinontal
i waked up the commissary
about midnight, drov age, and g»Te the
usual vouchers, signing the nemo of the legion quartermaster without
ivered by Hi.- American i ■> ... . .mmi— ary or libi assistants.
I irps woe theaame, — green coatees and leathei
—yet the snecen of the stratagem was astonishing."
About the 20th of December, 1779, the army went
into winter quarters,— the northern division, under
command of < ten. Beath, locating on the east Bide of
the Hudson below West Point, and the main body,
with the commander-in-chief, at Morristown. No
events of importance pertinent to the history of Som-
erset and Hunterdon Counties urred in the year
which succeeded. The dispatches and orders of Wash-
ington during that time were dated from "Head-
quarters Morristown," "Headquarters Springfield,"
"Headquarters Rockaway," "Headquarters Rama-
paugh," " Eeadquartersl Irangetovi a," " I [eadquarters
mar the Liberty Pole," and from several other plai • -.
Many of these mention great scarcitj of supplies
for the army, the slowness with which new troops
were furnished by New Jersey, the necessity of im-
i date drafting, the hardships endured by officers
of the army on account of the depreciation of
the currency, which rendered their pay insufficient
for thiir barest necessiti: i, the alarming c nditisn cf
the affairs of the country, and other similar su
During the year (in January, 1870) Lord Stirling
commanded a partially successful expedition toStaten
bland; a British force of about five thousand men,
under Gen. Cnyphausen, crossed (June 6th) fr
Staten island to Blizabethtown Point, and a. Ivan 1
towards the interior, but wasdriven back to the Point ;
again, on the 23d of June, a larger force, under Sir
Henry Clinton, advanced from the same place to
Springfield and burned the town, but, being resolutely
m.t by the Continental troops and the Jersey militia,
deemed it prudent to retire, which he 'ii<l the Bame
day, and crossed back to Staten Island. On the tth
of July the ladies of Trenton met in thai town " for
the purpose of promoting a subscription for the relief
and encouragement of those brave men in the Conti-
nental army who. stimulated by example and regard-
less of danger, have so repeatedly Buffered, fought, and
bled in the cause of virtue and their oppressed coun-
try, and, taking into consideration the scattered situ-
ation of the well disposed throughout the state who
would wish to contribute to bo laudable an undertak-
ing, for the purpose of the convenience of such and
18
HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.
the more effectually to carry their scheme into execu-
tion, unanimously appointed Mrs. Cox, Mrs. Dickin-
son, Mrs. Forman, and Miss Cadwallader a commit-
tee whose duty it was immediately to open a subscrip-
tion and correspond with the ladies, hereinafter named,
of the different counties throughout the State, request-
ing their aid and influence in the several districts,"
the ladies so named to form a committee to promote
subscriptions. The committee for Hunterdon County
were Mrs. Vice-President Stevens, Mrs. Judge Smith,
Mrs. Charles Cox, Mrs. R. Stevens, Mrs. Hanna, Mrs.
Lowery, Mrs. I. Sexton, Mrs. B. Van Cleve, Mrs.
Col. Berry, Mrs. Dr. Barnes; county of Somerset,
Lady Stirling, Mrs. Gen. Morris, Mrs. Col. Martin,
Mrs. Attorney-Gen. Paterson, Mrs. R. Stockton.
In the same month (June, 1780) a large force
of French troops arrived, under Gen. Count Ro-
chambeau, to take the field as auxiliaries of the
Americans, and to operate under the orders of Wash-
ington, who thereupon projected a joint attack
on the British, in New York, but afterwards aban-
doned the project. On the Hudson the most notable
events of the year were the culmination of Arnold's
treason and the capture of the unfortunate Maj.
Andre. Early in December the American army went
into winter quarters.
In the summer of 1781 the American army and its
French allies concentrated on the Hudson River, for
the purpose, as it was understood, of making a com-
bined attack on the British in the city of New York.
They remained in the vicinity of Dobbs' Ferry for
about six weeks, during which time Washington aban-
doned the project (if he ever entertained it seriously)
of attacking the city, and resolved instead to moye
the armies to Virginia to operate against Cornwallis.
He, however, concealed his new plan, and wrote letters
containing details of his pretended object to move
against the city, intending that these should fall into
the hands of Sir Henry Clinton. The result was as
he had intended it to be. The letters were intercepted
and taken to Clinton, who was completely deceived by
them, and, continuing to watch the American force on
the Hudson, failed to reinforce Cornwallis, as the latter
had requested him to do. Meanwhile, Washington
completed his preparations, and in the latter part of
August crossed the Hudson at Verplanck's Point with
the American and French armies, and marched rap-
idly across New Jersey to Trenton, some of the troops
[passing through the Ramapo valley and Morristown,
and others passing the Ringwood Iron-Works. The
French forces took the route by the Hackensack val-
ley to Newark and Perth Amboy, at which place they
built ovens, constructed boats, collected forage, and
made other movements indicating an intention to
move on New York; but these were suddenly aban-
doned, and the march was resumed to Trenton, where
all flic forces arrived before Clinton was aware of the
significance of the movement. The American columns
which took the upper route must have moved through
Somerset and Hunterdon, though the points which
they passed in their march through these counties are
not precisely known.
Crossing the Delaware at Trenton and the neigh-
boring ferries in the morning of September 1st, the
armies marched on towards Philadelphia, which city
they passed through on the 2d, and on the 14th of
September reached Williamsburg, Va., from which
point Washington and Rochambeau went on board
the French flag-ship the " Ville de Paris," in the York
River, and there, with the French admiral, Count de
Grasse, concerted the plan of the campaign which
ended in the surrender of Lord Cornwallis with his
army at Yorktown on the 19th of October.
The march of Washington's forces from the Hudson
on their way to Yorktown in August, 1781, was the
last movement of an army across the territory of Som-
erset and Hunterdon Counties during the Revolution-
ary conflict, unless we may count as such the return
of the New England and New Jersey troops, a few
months later, after the surrender of Cornwallis ren-
dered their presence in Virginia no longer necessary.
The commander-in-chief, however, passed this way
several times afterwards before the close of the war,
the most memorable of these visits being made in the
autumn of 1783, under the following-named circum-
stances : The preliminary articles of the treaty of
peace between the United States and Great Britain
were signed on the 30th of November, 1782, the treaty
to take effect on the 20th of January following. The
cessation of hostilities was formally proclaimed on the
19th of April. Then arose the question of how the
army could be disbanded in safety, for Congress was
without means to pay the soldiers, and there was, on
that account, a general dissatisfaction among both offi-
cers and men, and this was accompanied, in some
quarters, by open threats of mutiny and violence. A
band of Pennsylvania troops who had been discharged
at the expiration of their term of service without re-
ceiving their full arrears of pay became violent and
insubordinate, and in spite of the remonstrances of
their officers a body of thenl marched from Lancaster
to Philadelphia with the avowed purpose of forcing
from the Continental Congress (which was then in ses-
sion in that city) or from the Executive Council of the
State a redress of their grievances. There were only
about eighty of the malcontents, but on their arrival
in Philadelphia, on the 20th of June, they were joined
by other soldiers in the barracks of the city, by which
means the whole number was increased to about three
hundred, and with this augmented force they moved
to the State-House, where both the Congress and the
Council of the State were assembled. They proceeded
at once to place guards at every door, and their leaders
sent in a written message to the president and Council
of Pennsylvania, to the effect that if their demands
were not acceded to within twenty minutes the infuri-
ated soldiery would be marched into the building and
HUNTERDON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES IN THE REVOLUTION.
ee upon both bodies. The threat was not, how-
ever, carried into execution, and the mutiny was finally