291 
 
 MAP OF THE TIOIVITY OF MORBI6TOWU. NEW JtCSBY. 
 (From * MS. mmp by H. Er«kine, F.R.P., a»fd by llio army, mS-RO. N«nici io Ilalia lira not In the original.) 
 
 Dffcniher, ITTf!, and must not h(^. confonndod 
 with a second battle at tho same (iluco in 17S0. 
 On the '.'I'd of Doci^mbcr Colonfl Ford led 
 liis troops b.ick to Morristown, and from a state- 
 ment made by General Maxwell we learn that, 
 while on parade on the morninR of December 
 .'list, he was sei/.'*d with "a delirium in his 
 head ; that he was bonie off by a conple of sol- 
 diers, after whirh he never rose from liis bed. 
 
 of the Mount Hope property, which afterward, 
 under Fac'^ch, prodticed shot largely for our 
 army. Farly in 177ti, as I learn from a manu- 
 s<ri|)t in the New Jersey Historical Society, the 
 younfjer Ford nprccd with the Provincial Con- 
 >;ress of New Jersey '"to erect a jiowder-mill 
 for the makinp of ptinfiowder, an article so es- 
 sentially necessary at the i)re8ent time." The 
 Congress agreed to "lend him X'JOflO of the 
 
 During his illness a doulde guanl was mounted public money for one year, without interest, on 
 before liis door." He died on the 1 hh of Jan- his giving satisfactory security for the same, to 
 uary, 1777. and by command of Washington be repaid within the lime of one year in gooti 
 w;is buried with military honors. It is worthy merchantable powder;" the first installment of 
 of remark that this regrettcil ollicer was soon [ "one ton of good merchantable gunpowder" to 
 followed to the grave by his father, Colonel l>c paid "on the 1st of July next, and one ton 
 J.-r'ob Ford, Sen., who died on tho I'.ith of ' per month thereafter till the sum of X2(X)0 bt> 
 •frinuary, having been a leading citizen in Mor- paid." I have reason to infer that Colonel 
 .. County from the time of its organization. I Ford's "pood merchantable gunpowder" did 
 Colonel Jactib Ford, Jun., wasconnected with ' sTvice that winter at SpringficKI, Trenton, 
 an enterprise which proved of signal importance I'rinceton. and in many other places. This 
 to tho country during the war. Both he and j powder-mill at Morristown, projected and built 
 his father were men of large means. The Tion by Coloncd Ford, was an important affair, and 
 was an enterprising man, who some years l>efore deserves niention in connection with his name, 
 the war had erecteil several forges west of Morris- and es[»ecially as this mill was one constant 
 town for making iron. He was the first owner . temptation to the enemy to attempt to reach 
 
292 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 Morristown, and as constant a reason why the 
 citizens of Morris County so stoutly defended 
 their strongholds that it is said a detachment 
 of the enemy never did enter the county. 
 
 On the Gth or 7th of January, 1777, Wash- 
 ington reached Morristown, and took winter- 
 quarters at the Arnold Tavern. The house is 
 still standing, although somewhat changed since 
 it sheltered its most illustrious guest. It is on 
 the west side of the square, and is now owned 
 by William Duncan. In 1777 it was owned 
 by Colonel Jacob Arnold, the efficient com- 
 mander of a company of light horse, a detach- 
 ment of which was on duty as body-guard of 
 Governor Livingston. The Arnold Tavern at 
 that time was a two-storied house. The first 
 floor was divided into four rooms, a hall run- 
 ning from front to rear. The two rooms on 
 the soutli side of this hall were occupied by 
 Washington, who used the front room as a 
 general office and sitting-room, and the back 
 room for a sleeping apartment. Tradition 
 states that it was in this house he was so sick 
 with quinsy sore throat that serious fears were 
 felt lest he should not recover, and that he was 
 asked whom he considered most competent to 
 succeed him in case of his death. His reply 
 ])oiuted out General Greene as that man. 
 
 After the Battle of Princeton the enemy went 
 into winter-quarters at New Brunswick. On 
 reaching Morristown Washington wrote : " The 
 situation is by no means favorable to our views ; 
 and as sooia as the purposes are answered for 
 which we came, I think to remove, though I 
 confess I do not know how we shall procure 
 covering for our men elsewhere." And yet, 
 when we consider how easy the communication 
 was between Morristown and the posts on the 
 Delaware and Hudson, how easy the passes 
 leading into Morristown were to be guarded, 
 how admirable the position for gaining intelli- 
 gence concerning the enemy, and, moreover, the 
 fact that Morris County was settled with a high- 
 
 ly patriotic population, it may well be question- 
 ed whether Wasliington could have found a sit- 
 uation better adapted to his wants. 
 
 Let us glean a few facts from old books and 
 manuscripts, and also from eye-witnesses who 
 until recently were living to tell what they had 
 seen. These facts will show what was the con- 
 dition of things when Washington spent his 
 first winter here. The records of the courts 
 show that the pecuniary embarrassments of the 
 people were very great. The mass of the peo- 
 ple were Whig in sentiment and action. Thom- 
 as Millege, of Hanover, a wealthy land propri- 
 etor, had been elected sheriff of the county, but 
 writes in April, 177G, that he has scruples of 
 conscience about the oath of office. His scru^ 
 pies finally led him to join the enemy, and his 
 large estate was confiscated. I have before me 
 an old manuscript which states that after the 
 war Millege ventured back to Hanover, and 
 that the people apjiointed a committee of three 
 officers, who waited on him "without any cere- 
 mony, and told him that he must be out of the 
 place by sunrise next morning, and never be seen 
 in Hanover again, or he would be drummed out 
 of the county on a wooden horse. Before sun- 
 rise he went, and has not been seen here since." 
 
 The merits of the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence were sliarply discussed by the people, and 
 the late Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green remembers that 
 his father, widely known as Parson Green, held 
 "many an ardent controversy with an English 
 emigrant, a man of considerable ]iroperty, and 
 not a little hauteur, who had drunk deeply into 
 Toryism." This Tory was alarmed at a threat 
 of a coat of tar and feathers, and induced Par- 
 son Green to write for him " a humiliating 
 statement" to be read on the next Sabbath 
 publicly. This was done, the man standing 
 up while his confession of the sin of Toryism 
 was read from the pulpit. The man then 
 started for Morristown to have Dr. Johnes read 
 the same confession there during the afternoon 
 
 r^^^^^ll^ 
 
 THE FAESCH BOUSD. 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
 293 
 
 service ; but the Doctor declined to do it. I 
 state the fact to show how popular the Inde- 
 pendence cause was, wluch could compel a Tory 
 to such a humiliating step. In I'oquannock 
 township there were some beautiful farms bc- 
 lonKinjj; to the patriots, which certain Tories 
 exDCcted to get when conliscation should take 
 place. The patriots in that rcj^ion held long 
 and frequent consultations in the house of a 
 Mrs. Miller, whose sturdy counsels had great 
 weight with her neighbors. In Jlendham, 
 with very few exceptions, the people were pa- 
 triots. Captain Davitl Thonipson, a devout el- 
 der in the I'resbytcrian Church, and noted for 
 his eloquence in prayer, said, " We can look to 
 Jehovah when all other refuges fail ;" and the 
 Captain's wife declared to the numerous sol- 
 diers whom she entertained without charge that 
 " nothing was too good for the use of diose who 
 fight for our country !" In Whippany the res- 
 olute Anna Kitchol scorned to procure a Brit- 
 ish protection wlien urged to do so by a timid 
 deacon, "having," as she told him, "a hus- 
 band, lather, and five brothers in the American 
 army ! If the God of Battles do not care for 
 us, we will fare with tlie rest!" Well said, 
 brave Anna Kitchel! And she was not the 
 only brave woman in Morris Countj-. There 
 were hundreds who cultivated the fields, and 
 took care of the old and the young, whflc the 
 men were away to defend the country. 
 
 If we go among the mountains northwest of 
 Jlorristown, we find that Charles Iloif, the man- 
 ager of the Ilibemia Furnace, is urging Lord 
 Stirling to bring General Knox up, in order to 
 see if good c.innon can not be cast there. In 
 one letter he assured his Lordship that on a 
 certain day tliey did cast a cannon which " miss- 
 ed in the breach ; ail the rest was sound and 
 good." But if they made no cannon at Hiber- 
 nia they made large quatitities of ball and shot, 
 as they also did at Mount Hope. The jiowder- 
 mill at Morristown is making considerable (pian- 
 tities of " good merchantable guni)Owder," which 
 fact the enemy arc known to regard with but 
 little favor. And in order to increase the en- 
 emy's discimifort in thi'j respect, it is .said that 
 occasionally loads of kegs, apparently full of 
 powder, but in reality of sand, were ostenta- 
 tiously conveyed from the mill to the msiga- 
 zine, carefully guarded with soldiers. 
 
 Aiuong the remarkable men of .Morris Coun- 
 ty at that time was Colonel William Winds, 
 who had just led his regiment back from Ticon- 
 deroga. He was an eccentric man, with a voice 
 like thunder, greatly beloved by his soldiers, a 
 man of undoubted bravcrj- and patriotism, and 
 of whom many curious anecdotes are retained 
 in the popular memon,- to this day. The pul- 
 pit of the Morristown rrcsbytcrian Church was 
 occujiied by Dr. Tinjuthy Johncs, whoso con- 
 temiioraries describe hiiu as aniibl but oniincnt- 
 ly i>ersua<ivo priMichcr, and as a most ailmirable 
 pastor. Washington was a constant attcn<lant 
 on his preaching both winters ho spent in Mor- 
 ristown. Dr. Johncs was a decided patriot, 
 
 and did not exclude his views from the pulpit. 
 The Black River— now Chester— pulpit was oc- 
 cupied by the Kev. Mr. Woodhull, who not only 
 preaciied patriotism, but repeatedly represented 
 his i)eople in the Provincial Congress, i'arson 
 Green, of Hanover, a man of very uncommon 
 abilities, was also elected to the Provincial Con- 
 gress, and threw his influence very decidedly in 
 favor of his country. 
 
 These facts arc merely grouped together to 
 show what was the character and the condition 
 of the people when Washington came among 
 them. They were not as rich as patriotic, but 
 they did what they could, and their illustrious 
 guest repeatedly acknowledged his obligations 
 to them. 
 
 It is an interesting ta.sk to gather up the few 
 facts which yet remain descriptive of the situa- 
 tion of the army that winter. It is somewhat 
 singular that, in his works of Washington, Mr. 
 Sparks docs not even record Bottle Hill — now 
 Madison — or in any way mention the fact that 
 the principal encampment that winter was near 
 that place. The same is true of Lossing's 
 Field-Book of the Revolution, and of other 
 works. This hiatus can now be supplied from 
 authentic sources. About one mile and a half 
 from the present village of Madison, near the 
 road leading to Morristown, was the encamp- 
 ment in what has been called Spring Valley, 
 but the Indian name of it is Lowantica Valley. 
 The higlilands slope gracefully into a very fine 
 southern exposure, well protected from the 
 northern winds. Through this valley flows a 
 beautiful si)ring brook. The encampment was 
 on the property of one Isaac I'ierson, whoso 
 daughter-in-law still surs-ives at the age of 
 ninety years. The facts relating to this en- 
 campment have been gathered in a manuscript 
 by the Rev. Samuel L. Tuttle, pastor of the 
 Presbyterian Church of Madison. 
 
 A iargc part of the soldiers were quartered 
 upon the iuiiabitants in Hanover, Whippany, 
 Chatham, Madison, and Morristown. This 
 was done by c(jmraissioners, of whom Aaron 
 Kitchel, of Ilanovcr, wius one. This gentle- 
 man was a man of excellent ji.arts, and acted a 
 conspicuous part in the Rcvolutiouarj- War. 
 He had two houses, and gave uj) the larger one 
 to the sfddiers. Dr. Ashbel Green remembers 
 that his father's flxmily "consisted of nine in- 
 dividuals ; and, as well as can bo recollected, 
 A>urtcen ofticers ami soldiers were quartered in 
 the same dwelling." Mr. Uzal Kitchel, a wor- 
 thy farmer in Whippany, had twelve soldiers to 
 keep that winter. It is said that ho refused to 
 keep forty-one, tho ntmiber an officer wished 
 to billet on him. There w.os scarcely a house 
 in that entire vicinity in which soldiers were 
 not billeted ; and tho general spirit of the 
 IK'oj)le was well cxi>rcsscd by Mrs. Hannah 
 Tlmnjpson, wife of Captain David, when she 
 sai<l to certain hungry soldiers, " You arc en- 
 gaged in a good canso, and wo aro willing to 
 share with you what wo have as long as it 
 I lasts." Noble women, noble men were those 
 
294 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 who entertained the soldiers of Washington 
 that winter ! 
 
 While his officers were looking after the com- 
 fort of the soldiers Washington was not idle at 
 the Arnold Tavern. Frequently he rode to the 
 different ])oints where his soldiers were sta- 
 tioned to assure himself of their comfort. Fre- 
 quently with his suite he rode through Madison 
 aud Chatham to the brow of the Short Hills, 
 whence he could overlook all the country as 
 far as New York. Here he always kept a sen- 
 tinel, who had an alarm gun — named " The Old 
 Sow"^^and the materials for a beacon fire al- 
 ways ready. In addition to these duties we find 
 Washington conducting a stern correspondence 
 with Lord Howe concerning the cruel treat- 
 ment of our countrymen "on board the prison- 
 shi])s in the harbor of New York." He calls it 
 "barbarous usage," and says that "their miser- 
 able, emaciated countenances confirm" the re- 
 ports which the escaped prisoners bring back. 
 These letters did good, and taught his lordship 
 a lesson in humanity. There are other causes 
 of anxiety which trouble him. The term of en- 
 listment of many of the soldiers was drawing 
 to a close, and he entreats the President of 
 Congress, the various Committees of Safety, 
 and the Governors of the different States, to 
 send him men and munitions. On the 2Gth of 
 January he wrote: "Reinforcements come up 
 so extremely slow that I am afraid I shall be 
 left without any men before they arrive. The 
 enemy must be ignorant of our numbers, or they 
 have not horses to move their artillery, or they 
 would not suffer us to remain undisturbed." 
 
 At this point I may introduce a tradition 
 which probably is authentic. It is said that a 
 certain man was employed by Washington as a 
 spy to gain information concerning the enemy, 
 but it was suspected tliat he carried more news 
 to the enemy than he brought to those in wliose 
 employ he was. General Greene, who acted as 
 Quarter-Master General, occupied a small office 
 on the southeast corner of the public square, 
 where the store of Mr. William Lindsley now 
 is. One day Colonel Hamilton was in this of- 
 fice when the suspected spy made his appear- 
 ance. The Colonel had made out what pirr- 
 ported to be a careful statement of the condi- 
 tion of the army as to numbers and munitions, 
 making the numbers much more flattering than 
 the actual facts. Leaving this statement on 
 the table apparently by mistake. Colonel Ham- 
 ilton left the office saying he would return in a 
 few minutes. The spy instantly seized the pa- 
 per as a very authentic document, and left with 
 it for parts unknown ! It was supposed that 
 this trick did much to preserve the army at 
 Morristown from attack that winter. 
 
 The anxieties of Washington were to be in- 
 creased by the inroads of an unexpected and 
 dreaded enemy — the small-pox. It has been 
 supposed by some that this disease was intro- 
 duced into the American camp through the 
 agency of the British commander, but I have 
 seen no authority to confirm so harsh an opin- 
 
 ion. The Morristown bill of mortality shows 
 that, on the 11th of January, 1777, the widow 
 Martha Bull died of small-pox. On the 24th 
 Gershom Hatheway, and on the 31st Ebenezer 
 Weed died of the same disease. On the 5th 
 of February Washington wrote: "The small- 
 pox has made such head in every quarter that 
 I find it impossible to keep it from spreading 
 through the whole army in the natural way. 
 I have therefore determined not only to inocu- 
 late all the troops now here that have not had 
 it, but shall order Dr. Sliippen to inoculate the 
 recruits as fast as they come to I^hiladelphia. 
 They will lose no time, because they will go 
 through the disorder while their clothing, arms, 
 and accoutrements are getting ready." 
 
 Dr. Green, in his Autobiography, states that 
 the determination to inoculate the soldiers 
 " produced great alarm among the inhabit- 
 ants." Parson Green and some of his leading 
 parishioners had a conference with Washing- 
 ton on this subject, and so cogently did he de- 
 fend the measure that the Hanover Committee 
 "came back perfectly reconciled to the meas- 
 ure." The most of those who took the disease 
 in the natural way died. 
 
 If we examine the Morristown bill of mor- 
 tality, we find that in February the small-pox is 
 raging in that parish. Pastor Johnes attend- 
 ed eleven funerals among his own people in 
 February caused by small-pox, in March nine, 
 in April twenty-one, and in May eleven funer- 
 als produced by small-pox. These do not in- 
 clude deaths in the army from the same cause. 
 Some days Dr. Johnes attended two such fu- 
 
 : nerals; and on the 14th and 30th of April he 
 attended three each day. This terrible dis- 
 
 j ease spared no age or condition ; the little in- 
 fant, the mother, the father, the youth, the 
 aged, the free and the bond, perished before 
 
 I this destroyer. Sixtt-eight small-pox funer- 
 
 [ als did Dr. Johnes attend among his own peo- 
 ple that memorable year. And I may add that 
 putrid sore throat, and dysenterj', with other 
 diseases, swelled the deaths in that parish in 
 1777 to a sum total of two hundred and five, 
 which was one death to every one day and a 
 half tlie year through. The good pastor had 
 sorrow upon sorrow, and the bell, which still 
 strikes the hours in the old church, never was 
 so busy in sounding the death-knell as in that 
 fearful year of 1 777. 
 
 And so death carried on a warfare with both 
 soldiers and citizens that winter, but their faith 
 in God did not waver. It was a dark time ; 
 but they believed that "a good time was com- 
 ing." Washington was not an unmoved spec- 
 tator of the trials about him, which he could do 
 but little to alleviate. That winter, so far a-; 
 I can now learn, had but few of the gay assem- 
 blies common to the winter-quarters of an army. 
 Death rioted on every hand, and dancing and 
 death make not pleasant partners. In the 
 spring of 1777 the old church at Morristown 
 was used as a hospital for the army ; but prob- 
 ably not for small-pox patients, but for those 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
 20^ 
 
 sick of other diseases. This accounts for the 
 fact that before \Vashin;^ton left IMorristowii 
 tliat sjiriuj;, as traJilioii says, h(! attended \<n\>- 
 lic service several times in the open air. The 
 jdacc of meeting was in a grove immediately 
 hack of Dr. Johnes's house. It is said that on 
 one occasion he was occupying a chair wiiich 
 had been brought for his use when a woman 
 with a child entered the assembly. Wash- 
 ington seeing that she had no seat immediate- 
 ly rose and seated her in his chair. Indeed 
 there are many traditions which speak of the 
 unvarying courteousness of this great man while 
 iu Morris County, insomuch so that the ])eo])le 
 \iot merely regarded hira as the hero of Tren- 
 ton anil I'rinccton, but as the perfect gcntle- 
 miyi. It was during this spring also that the 
 fact occurred which is related by Ilnsack in his 
 Life of Clinton : '" Wiiile the American army, 
 under the command of Washington, lay in the 
 vicinity of Morristown, the service of tiie Com- 
 munion (then observed semi-annually only) was 
 to be ailminislered iu the I'resbyterian Church 
 in that village. In a morning of the previous 
 week the General, after his accustomed inspec- 
 tion of the camp, visited the house of the Kev. 
 Dr. Jolines, then pastor of that church, and 
 after the usual preliminaries, thus accosted 
 him : ' J^octor, I understand that the Lord's 
 Supper is to be celebrated with you next Sun- 
 day. I would learn if it accords with the can- 
 ons of your Church to admit communicants of 
 another denomination.' The J^octor rejoined, 
 ' Most certainly : ours is not the I'resbyterian's 
 t.tble, General, but the Lord's : and hence we 
 give the Lord's invitation to all his followers 
 of whatsoever name.' The General replied, 
 ' I am glad of it : 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 you on that occasion. Though a member 
 of the Church of England I have no exclusive 
 partialities.' The Doctor assured him of a 
 
 cordial welcome, and the General was found 
 seated with the communicants the next Sab- 
 bath." 
 
 Uu the 2d of March Washington wrote that 
 "(icncral Howe can not have less than ten 
 thousand men in the Jerseys. Our number 
 does not exceed four thousand. His are well- 
 disciplined, well-oflicercd, and wcll-ajipointtMl. 
 Ours are raw militia, badly oflicercd, and un- 
 der no government." The balance in this ac- 
 count seemed decidedly against him, and yet 
 his faith failed not. 
 
 Meanwhile the entire army has been inocu- 
 lated with suri)rising success. Divine Provi- 
 dence, smiling on the jdan, sent very favorable 
 weather, and suffered tlie disease by inoculation 
 to assume a mild type. When the campaign 
 oi)cned this enemy was not dreaded. Colonel 
 Ford's powder-mill has not been idle, but has 
 produced a respectable quantity of "good mer- 
 chantable jiowdcr." The blast furnaces at Ili- 
 bernia aiul M(mnt Hope have also funiished 
 some tons of hard balls and shot, and fitted to 
 strike hard blows when sent by good powder. 
 One memorable occurrence enlivened all hearts 
 at Morristown just as the camjiaign was oj>cn- 
 ing, and that was the news that two vessels had 
 just arrived from France with 24,000 muskets. 
 It was about the end of May that Washington 
 led his army from Morristown to engage in the 
 campaign of 1777, made memorable by the 
 bloody reverses at Chad's Ford and German- 
 town. 
 
 I pass over the intcnening time between 
 Washington's leaving Morristowm in May, 1777, 
 and his return to it in December, 177'.). The 
 duty of selecting the winter-quarters had been 
 committed to General Greene, who had reported 
 two places to tlie Commander-in-Chief — the one 
 at Aquackanock, and the other within four miles 
 of Morristown. Greene preferred the former, 
 and, from some manuscript letters, I infer he 
 was chagrined that Washington chose Morris- 
 
 Ti:i; loiii) MAN'^! 'N 
 
296 
 
 HAEPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 town. On the 7th of 
 December, 1779, he 
 writes to Governor 
 LiviuRston from Mor- 
 ristown that "the 
 main army lies within 
 three or four miles of 
 this place," and on the 
 15th he ordered Gen- 
 (^rals Greene and Dii- 
 portail to " examine 
 all the grounds in the 
 environs of our pres- 
 ent encampment for 
 spots most proper to 
 be occupied in case 
 of any movement of 
 
 the enemy toward us," the positions to be large 
 enough for the manoeuvres of ten thousand 
 men. 
 
 On the 1st of December Washington became 
 the guest of Mrs. Ford, the widow of Colonel 
 .Jacob Ford, Jun., and daughter of the excellent 
 pastor, Dr. Johnes. The fine old mansion was 
 built in 1774: in the most substantial manner. 
 It lies on the gentle elevation half a mile east 
 of town, and is in full view as you ap]iroach the 
 town on the railroad. The view from the house, 
 in every direction, is extremely beautiful. It is 
 a pleasing fact that this house, in which Wash- 
 ington lived one winter, has undergone scarcely 
 any change since he occupied it. The same 
 
 WABHINGTON' 8 BECKETABY AND CHAIB. 
 
 ANTIQUE OENAMENTAL TABLE USED BY WASHINGTON. 
 
 weather-boards which resisted the storms of 
 that severe winter are doing the same service 
 now. The spacious hall is the same as when 
 the manly form of Washington first stood there ; 
 not a plank has been changed, and the same 
 old double door that opened and shut for him 
 opens and shuts for you. "The widow Eliza- 
 beth Lindsley," the honored mother of Colonel 
 Jacob Ford, Sen., " lived almost long enough to 
 see this house built; and if we reckon her as one 
 generation, then we have the somewhat un- 
 American fact that seven generations of the 
 same family have lived in the same mansion ; 
 and, if nothing prevent, the old house is good 
 for another hundred years at least. Excepting 
 the matter of paper and paint, your eye rests on 
 the same cornices, casements, surbases, win- 
 dows, mantle-pieces, fire-places, and hearth- 
 stones that were there when Washington dwelt 
 there. I confess to be moved by very peculiar 
 feelings in visiting a place hallowed with asso- 
 ciations which gather around no other place in 
 this country. Take this old chair, which Wash- 
 ington once used, 
 and scat yourself by 
 this old secretary in 
 the hall at which he 
 often wrote ; or take 
 this plain little tabic 
 — a favorite with 
 Washington that 
 winter — on which he 
 is said to have writ- 
 ten many of those 
 noble letters which 
 issued from Morris- 
 town that winter; 
 look at the very ink- 
 spots on that table, 
 said to be spots left 
 by him, and then 
 read carefully the 
 letters which he 
 wrote in that house ; 
 let your imagination 
 bring back the past, 
 not only Washing- 
 ton but his dignified 
 wife, the brilliant 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
 297 
 
 SMALL U UITlNG-TAliLE. 
 
 Alexander Hamil- 
 ton, the recreant 
 Quaker but maRuif- 
 icent soldier, Na- 
 tiumicl Greene, the 
 stern Steulien, the 
 polished Koseiusz- 
 ko, the accom- 
 plished Stirling, the 
 noble Knox, and 
 perhaps, as an occa- 
 sional visitor there, 
 Benedict Arnold, a 
 Satan in Paradise, 
 and you have the 
 materials with which 
 to start your emo- 
 tions however lethargic they may be." 
 
 Several articles of furniture which were nsed 
 by Washington are still in tiie house. A chair 
 and secretary are in the hall ; a very pretty 
 parlor secretary is in tlic parlor; in one of 
 the upper rooms is the little table already re- 
 ferred to; and in the bedroom on the first floor 
 is the very mirror which hung in Washington's 
 bedroom. 
 
 On the 22d of January^ 1780, Washington 
 wrote to Greene; the Quarter-Master General, 
 that "eighteen belon^^ing to my own family, 
 and all Mrs. Ford's, are crowded together into 
 her kitchen, and scarce one of them able to speak 
 for the colds they have caught." Washington 
 occupied the southeast rooms on the first and 
 second floors. Back of the main house a log- 
 cabin was built as a kitchen for Washington's 
 
 family, and at the southwest end of the house 
 another cabin was built as a general office. 
 This was occupied by Colonel Hamilton and 
 Major Tench Tighlman. These buildings were 
 guarded by sentinels day and ni;^ht. In the 
 meadow, southeast of the house, were cabins 
 for the Life-Guard, said to consist of two hun- 
 dred and fifty men, under the command of Gen- 
 eral Colfax. 
 
 If wo pass toward Morristown we come to 
 the house once occupied by the jiastor. Dr. 
 Jolines. In the town itself, and just back of 
 the present building, was the old church, and 
 in its steejilc hung the very bell which still sum- 
 mons the people to the house of God. On the 
 west side of the public square was the Arnold 
 Tavern ; on the south side, where now is Wash- 
 ington Hall, was the old magazine, and oppo- 
 site that General Greene's office. Trobably 
 most of the private houses had military guests. 
 
 On the mountain ba( k of the court-house is 
 what is known as Fort Nonsense. There are 
 signs of work having been done here as if in 
 preparation for some kind of a fortification. 
 Ur Lewis Condict says that there are two ac- 
 counts given of this fort : the one is, that Wash- 
 ington designed to plant cannon there, with 
 which to command all the entrances to Morris- 
 town in case of an attack from the enemy ; the 
 other and more probable account is, that Wash- 
 ington, finding his troops needed exercise, both 
 for purposes ©f health and military subordina- 
 tion, set them to work at this fortification, as 
 if it were a matter of the utmost importance in 
 defending the stores, the people, and the armv 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 rORT NONSENSE. 
 
298 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 
 TUE OLD WIOKE H01TBE. 
 
 itself. Having answered its design, tradition 
 says that Washington asked one of his friends 
 what tlie useless fort should be named. The 
 reply was, "Let it bo called Fort Nonsense." 
 
 The principal encampment in the winter of 
 1779-80 was on the Wicke and Kimball farms, 
 about four miles southwest of Morristown. The 
 Wieke House is still standing, and has under- 
 gone but few changes. On the outside door 
 still hangs the heavy dog-headed knocker whicli 
 has often startled the family when the army was 
 encamped on the farm. An immense chimney- 
 stack occuj)ies the centre of tlie house, on three 
 sides of wliich are large fire-places. 
 
 The camps of the various brigades were scat- 
 tered over a tract of about two thousand acres. 
 Scattered over this the remains of manv chim- 
 
 ney foundations are still visible. They can be 
 traced for a considerable distance along the face 
 of the elevaticm, which is still known as Fort 
 Hill. This liill slopes stcejjly on the north, 
 east, and west sides. On the sunmiit there are 
 traces of huts, but no .signs of a jiarapet. The 
 top was probably leveled, so tliat the artillery, 
 in case of attack, could sweep the entire face of 
 the mountain. 
 
 Let ns now gather, so far as possible, what took 
 place that winter. Dr. Thachcr, in his Militan/ 
 Journal, says, that his brigade, on the 14th of 
 December, 1779, reached "this wilderness about 
 three miles from Morristown, where we are to 
 build log-huts for winter-quarters." At that 
 date the same witness says, "The snow on the 
 ground is about two feet deep, and the weather 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
 299 
 
 extremely cold. The soldiers are destitute of 
 both tents and blankets, and some of them arc 
 actually barefooted and almo,-it naked. Our 
 only defense aj^ainst the inclemency of the 
 weather consists of brushwood thrown together. 
 Our lodging last ni^ht was on the frozen ground. 
 'I'hose otHcers who iiave the privilege of a horse 
 can always have a blanket at hand. Having 
 removed the snow we wrappeil ourselves in great- 
 coats, spread our blankets on the ground, and 
 lay down by the side of each otiier, five or six 
 together, with large fires at our feet, leaving or- 
 ders with the waiters to keep it well sui)plied 
 with fuel during the night. We could procure 
 neither shelter nor forage for our horses, and 
 the poor animals were tied to trees in the woods 
 for twenty-four hours without food, except the 
 bark which they peeled from the trees." The 
 whole army set to work to build hut.s, but the 
 weather was so severe that the half-clad soldiers 
 suffered greatly. "In addition to otlier suffer- 
 ings," says Thacher, " the whole army has been 
 for seven or eight days entirely destitute of the 
 staff of life ; our only food is miserable fresh 
 beef, without bread, salt, or vegetables." 
 
 But lest some may think that tlie severit}' of 
 that winter has been exaggerated, let me glean 
 a few facts from the newspapers of the day. 
 The New Jersei/ Gazette, of February 9, 1 7tiO, 
 says: " The weather has been so extremely cold 
 for near two montlis past that sleighs and other 
 carriages now pass from this place (Trenton) to 
 Philadelphia on tlie Delaware, a circumstance 
 not remembered by the oldest person among 
 us." As early as December 18, 1779, an offi- 
 
 !.>x v^VSJ-"w-^^ 
 
 cer writes from Baskin Ridge that "the weather 
 is excessively cold ;" and a correspondent, who 
 writes to tlie (Inzetlc. about the exi)edition which 
 Lord Stirling led against the enemy on Staten 
 Island, states not merely that they crossed on 
 the ice to the island, but that one of the enemy, 
 being pursued, crossed "the Kills" to the Jer- 
 sey shore on the ice — a circumstance then re- 
 garded as unparalleled, but which has been done 
 this last winter. The Hudson River was frozen 
 so that foot-passengers and, as I have heard old 
 people say, even teams crossed on the ice from 
 Jersey City and Hohoken to New York. So 
 far as mere cold was concerned, that winter was 
 one of unparalleled and continuous severity. 
 Add to this the snow-storms, and we have a 
 winter awful to be encountered by an army so 
 poorly clad, housed, and fed as was ours. 
 
 On the 14th of December, according toThach- 
 cr, the snow was about two feet deep. On the 
 22d of that month an officer writes to the New 
 Jemcif (Jazetle that a snow-storm was raging. 
 But the great snow-storm began on the 3d of 
 January. The contemporary newsjiapers speak 
 of this storm as most terrific, and 1 have heard 
 old people describe it. Dr. Thacher has given 
 us a minute description too interesting to be 
 omitted. He says that 
 
 "On the 3il inst. (January, 17S0) we experienced one 
 of tlie niOHt tremondDiis snow-storms ever remembered ; 
 no man could endure its vioknce many minutes without 
 danger of his life. Several niar(|uees were torn asunder 
 and blown down over the officers' headd in the night, 
 and some of the soldiirs were actually covered while in 
 their tents, and buried like sheep under the snow. My 
 comrades and myself were roused from sleep by thj calls 
 
 
 rOBT UII.L 
 
300 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 of some officers for assistance ; their marquee liad blowu 
 down, and tliey were almost smothered in the storm he- 
 fore they could reach our marquee, only a few yards dis- 
 tant, and their blankets and baggage were nearly buried 
 in the snow. We (the otBcers) are fortunate in having 
 a supply of straw for bedding; over this we spread all 
 our blankets, and with our clothes and large fires at our 
 feet, while four or five are crowded together, preserve 
 ourselves from freezing. But the sufferings of the poor j 
 soldiers can scarcely be described: while on duty they 
 are unavoidably exposed to all the inclemency of the 
 storm and severe cold ; at night they now have a bed of 
 Btraw on the ground, and a single blanket to each man ; 
 they are badly clad, and some of them are destitute of 
 shoes. AVe have contrived a kind of stone chimney out- 
 side, and an opening at one end of our tents gives us the 
 benefit of the fire within. The snow is now 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 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, that 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 great- 
 est solicitude for the sufferings of his army, and is sens- 
 ible that they iu general conduct with heroic patience 
 and fortitude." 
 
 This storm, so graphically described, contin- 
 ued several days, and we shall not appreciate 
 the sufferings of our army if we do not remem- 
 ber that the huts, according to Thacher, were 
 not occupied until the middle of February. I 
 have conversed with the descendants of some 
 Mendham people who baked for the army. 
 They liad it from their ancestors tliat for sev- 
 ei al days access to the army, even from Mend- 
 ham or Morristown, was next to impossible ; 
 and an officer, under date of 26th January, 
 1780, writes to the New Jersey Gazette in a 
 merry style, as follows : 
 
 " We had a fast lately in camp, by general constraint, 
 of the whole array, in which we fasted more sincerely 
 and truly for three daijs than ever we did from all the 
 resolutions of Congress put together. This was occasion- 
 ed by the .severity of the weather and drifting of the 
 snow, whereby the roads were rendered impassable and 
 all supplies of provision cut off; until the officers were 
 obliged to release the soldiers from command and permit 
 them, in great numbers together, to get provisions where 
 they could find them. The inhabitants of this part of the 
 country discovered a noble spirit in feeding the soldiers, 
 and, to the honor of the soldiery, they received what they 
 got with thankfulness, and did little or no damage." 
 
 Published accounts and tradition alike declare 
 that Washington suffered acute distress in see- 
 ing the suflerini^s of his soldiers. He is said to 
 have forced his way to the camp both to cheer 
 liis soldiers and to learn, by personal inspection, 
 their wants. On the 8th of January he ad- 
 dressed a noble letter to "the Magistrates of 
 New Jersey," in which he uses the following 
 language: "The present state of the army, 
 with respect to provisions, is the most distress- 
 ing of any we have experienced since the be- 
 ginning of the war. For a fortnight past the 
 troops, both officers and men, have been almost 
 perisliing for Avant. They have been alternate- 
 ly williout bread or meat the whole time, with 
 a very scanty allowance of cither, and frequent- 
 ly destitute of both. They have borne their 
 sufferings with a patience that merits the ap- 
 
 probation, and ought to excite the sympathy, 
 of their countrymen. But they are now re- 
 duced to an extremity no longer to be support- 
 ed." This appeal met a warm response from 
 the magistrates and the people of New Jersey ; 
 for, on the 20th of January, Washington wrote 
 to President Witherspoon "that all the counties 
 of this State that I have heard from have attend- 
 ed to. my requisition for provisions with the 
 most cheerful and commendable zeal." To 
 " Elbridge Gerry, in Congress," he wrote, on 
 the 2itth of January, that "the exertions of the 
 mngistrates and inhabitants of that State were 
 great and cheerful for our relief." 
 
 It will add interest for one moment to de- 
 scend from "cold generalities" to particulars. 
 The camp was in the immediate vicinity of 
 Mendham, inhabited by one of the most patri- 
 otic communities. The spirit of that people 
 was properly shadowed forth in the actions and 
 words of Hannah, wife of Captain Thompson, 
 as she had the great kettle full of meat and veg- 
 etables for the hungry soldiers from the snow- 
 invested camp. When the poor fellows thanked 
 her, she said, "Eat what you want; you are 
 engaged in a good cause, and we are willing to 
 share with you what we have as long as it lasts I" 
 The potato bins, flour barrels, and meat barrels 
 of a great many r;ood farmers in Jlorris County, 
 besides those of David Thompson, of Mendham, 
 and Uzal Kitchel, of Whippany, were freely 
 drawn on to supply the wants of " the country's 
 defenders." The old people have t(jld me that 
 winter the poultry was not at all safe, even at a 
 distance of miles from the camp. Elizabeth 
 Pierson, second wife of Rev. Jacob Green, 
 ' ' particularly lamented the loss of a fat tur- 
 key ;" but the patriotic parson only showed how 
 the people felt when he consoled his wife for 
 her loss when he rather excused what the sol- 
 diers had done by quoting these words from the 
 Book of Proverbs : " Men do not despise a thief, 
 if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry." 
 It is said that the good man never smiled or 
 laughed ; but his eyes must have twinkled a 
 laugh over his own apology for the rogues who 
 stole the turkey. 
 
 Over on " Smith's Hammock," not far from 
 the Hanover Church, Mrs. Smith has assembled 
 the good women of the neighborhood to sew 
 and knit for the barefooted and barebacked sol- 
 diers on the Wicke Farm. In Whippany, Anna 
 Kitchel and her neighbors are doing the same 
 kind of good works. In Morristown "Mrs. 
 Counselor Condict" and " Mrs. Parson Johnes" 
 have gathered together their friends to engage 
 in the same business. It was so in all the re- 
 gion of Morris, and even in Sussex, and many 
 a blessing did these deeds of mercy bring down 
 on those who sent the clothes. Let the mem- 
 ory of those women never perish ! 
 
 And here let me place the capital upon the 
 unpretending monument I am raising to the 
 memory of these Morris County women of the 
 Revolution. On the 28th of December, 1779, 
 as we learn from Isaac Collins's newspaper, 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORIUSTOWN. 
 
 301 
 
 l.OBB STIRLING B MANSION. 
 
 Lady Washington passed thi-ongh Trenton 
 while '-the storm was raiding." 8ome pallant 
 Virginia soKlicrs, very ])roud of her, and also 
 of her husband, as Virginians, paraded in hon- 
 or of her, and escorted her on her way toward 
 Morristown. She spent New-Year's Day at the 
 Ford Mansion. She was not veiy beautiful, 
 but she was a verj- engaging woman, whose 
 dignity and affability of manners illustrated the 
 high position she held. She was a graceful 
 and bold rider, and when the weather beeamc 
 mild sometimes accompanied her husband in 
 his rides to the Wicke Farm or the Short Hills, 
 and until recently there were those still living 
 who remembered to have seen her riding on 
 horseback, and by tlie engaging courtesy with 
 which she bowed to the humblest soldier or 
 other person she chanced to meet, she won all 
 hearts to herself. IJut to my anecdote. It 
 was during this severe winter that se'vcral ladies, 
 who held high jHjsitions in Morris County soci- 
 ety, resolved to visit Lady Washington at the 
 Ford Mansion. Among these was "Madame 
 Htidd" — as she was called — the mother of Dr. 
 Hern Budd, who came near being hanged for 
 uttering counterfeit money, was prominent. 
 Madame Troupe was another, and they two 
 headed quite a circle in this call on the distin- 
 guished Lady Washington. As one of the la- 
 dies related the fact: "As we were to call on 
 so piand a lady we put on our l)est l)ibbs and 
 bfinds. So, dressed in our most elegant rutlics 
 and silks, we were introiluccd to her ladyship. 
 And don't vou think we found her knitting/, ami 
 
 ivith a specllcd (chccl) apron on ! She received 
 us very graciously and easily; but after the 
 compliments were over, she resumed her knit- 
 ting. Tiiere we were, without one stitih of 
 work, and sitting in state, while General Wash- 
 ington's lady was knitting stockin.^s for her hus- 
 band! Anil this was not all. In the course 
 of the afternoon she took occasion to say, in a 
 very pleasant m.nnncr, that at this time it is 
 very imi)ortant that American ladies should be 
 patterns of industry to their countrywomen, be- 
 cause the sei)aration from tlie mother country 
 will dry np the sources whence many of onr 
 comforts liave been derived. We must become 
 independent by our detennination to do with- 
 out what we can not make ourselves. While 
 our husltands and brothers are examples of pa- 
 triotism, we must be examples of tlirift and in- 
 dustry I And all this while her fingers gestic- 
 ulated by busily knitting stockings for her hus- 
 band I" 
 
 Straws show the course of the current, and I 
 have the copy of a pai>er which conveys to us 
 a knowledge of one fact which made that winter 
 almost unendurable. The original manuscri]it 
 is in the jiossession of Thomas liiddle, Ejq., 
 near riiiladeliiliiii. This j)apcr reads as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " Tlio suliscribcrs Rgroc to pay the sums annexed to 
 tlirir rcBpeclivo names, and an equal ((iiota of any fur- 
 ther expense wlilrh may bo IncurrcJ in the promofioi 
 and support of a danelng nwombly to bo hold in Morri»- 
 toivn lh« present winter of 178)." 
 
 The subscriptions to this paper ore headed 
 
302 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY IVIAGAZINE. 
 
 by the name of George Washington ; and it is 
 signed by thirty-four persons, among whom are 
 Generals Greene, Knox, Stirling, and Wilivin- 
 son, Colonels Hamilton, Erskine, Jackson, 
 Hand, Baron de Kalb, and others. But it was 
 not the names which excite so much attention 
 as tlie sum which is set over against each name, 
 which is simply "four hundred dollars," mak- 
 ing the round sum of thirteen thousand and six 
 hundred dollars "for the support of a dancing 
 assembly in Morristown this present winter of 
 1780!" These assembly balls were held at 
 ' ' O'Hara's Tavern, " which was probably the 
 building in which Washington had his head- 
 quarters in 1777. 
 
 I will frankly confess this subscription paper 
 produced an unpleasant sensation in my mind, 
 and no reasonings have as yet entirely removed 
 the sense of unfitness in the contrast of dancing 
 assemblies at O'Hara's tavern and the sufferings 
 of the barefooted, naked, starving soldiers in 
 the camp only four miles off. Just think of 
 what one of those men, who did not attend the 
 assembly balls, related. It was Captain Will- 
 iam Tuttle, who said, " There was a path which 
 led from the Wicke House down to the Jersey 
 camp, and I have often seen that path marked 
 with blood, which had been squeezed from the 
 cracked and naked feet of some of our sol- 
 diers who had gone up to the house to ask 
 an alms!" How they suffered there, with the 
 snow piled about tliem, with insufficient cloth- 
 ing and very scanty and poor food ! And yet 
 there was dancing at O'Hara's ! But it is not 
 my object to criticise this contrast ; for danc- 
 ing and dying, feasting and starvation, plenty 
 wreathed with flowers, and gaunt famine, bare- 
 foot and wreathed in rags, are contrasted facts 
 in other places than at Morristown, and at other 
 times than " the present wi^iter of 1780." My 
 
 object in mentioning this subscription paper is 
 to throw light on the currency of the day. Here 
 were thirteen thousand six hundred dollars sub- 
 scribed to pay the dancing-master and tavern- 
 keeper for a few nights' entertainment. Nom- 
 inally it is up to the extravagance of the mod- 
 ern Fifth Avenue; but if you will examine the 
 advertisements of the day you will obtain light. 
 For instance, here is an old newspaper which 
 publishes " One thoiisand co?)/2«e«^a/ dollars re- 
 ward for the recovery of my negro man Toney ;" 
 while, in the same paper, another man prom- 
 ises to give " Thirty Spanish milled dollars for 
 the recovery of his mulatto fellow, Jack." 
 The thirty silver dollars were worth as much 
 as one thousand continental dollars. The en- 
 tire sum subscribed by those thirty-four gen- 
 tlemen, in 1780, for assembly balls, was not 
 worth more than three hundred silver dollars. 
 Sparks says " forty paper dollars were worth 
 only one in specie." In the "Memorial of the 
 officers of the Jersey Brigade to the Legisla- 
 ture," in 1779, they say, "Four months' pay of 
 a private will not procure his wretched wife 
 and children a single bushel of wheat .... 
 The pay of a Colonel will not purchase the oats 
 for his horse, nor will his whole day's pay pro- 
 cure him a single dinner." I have seen a letter 
 from General Greene, the Quarter-Master Gen- , 
 eral, to his deputies, and their replies to him, 
 all of which speak of the state of the currency 
 as very nearly worthless. So that, upon the 
 whole, we may admire the brave officers at 
 Morristown, "this present winter of 1780," 
 ■U'ho, with "hungry ruin"' staring them in the 
 face, sought to relieve the severities of such a 
 winter with some of the gayer courtesies of fash- 
 ionable life. 
 
 There was but little fighting that winter. On 
 the 12th of January Quarter-Master Lewis had 
 
 
 
 •ymsBiTientuUs^iu 
 
 ,> to Tece've 
 
 SIX SPAA'lSe MttLED 
 DOLLARS . OT -th? 
 V»!u€ thereof inGOLD 
 or. SILVER accfrdiT.(f to 
 Rcsotution ot CO.V 
 GRESS pnUiiJit Ph = 
 luitJphict jVou-2.' I776"- 
 
 ^« 
 
 _ ^P 
 
 
 f.M.9.m?M mmf 
 
 OONTIJMENTAL MONEY. 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRTSTOWN. 
 
 803 
 
 orders to pathcr enoufjh sleds to convey Lord 
 StiiliiiR's detachment of 2.')0() men, on the 14tli, 
 tp Statcn Island; an expedition wliicli Isaac 
 Collins thoiij^ht wonld serve " to sliow the I5rit- 
 ish mercenaries with what zeal and alacrity the 
 Americans will embrace every o]iportiinity, even 
 in a very inclement season, to i)romotc tiie in- 
 terests of their country, by harassinj^ the en- 
 emies to their freedom and independence." 
 Diirinp; this expedition " the cold was intense, 
 and the limbs of about five hundred of the men 
 were frozen." On the nij^ht of 2i1th January 
 a party of the enemy crossed to Elizabethtown 
 and burned the Presbyterian Church, the Town 
 House, and "i)lundcrcd the house of Jcconiah 
 Smith." The same night another party " made 
 an excursion to Newark, surprised the guard 
 there, took Mr. Justice Iledden out of his bed, 
 and would not suffer him to dress ; they also 
 took Mr. Robert Niel, burned the Academy, and 
 went off with precipitation." lliviiifjton's Itoij- 
 al (iasette speaks of this Justice Iledden as " a 
 rebel magistrate, remarkable for his persecuting 
 spirit." 
 
 During this winter Lafayette was in France 
 interceding for his beloved America, and did 
 not reach this country until the last of April. 
 On the 1 tth of February Dr. Thachcr writes 
 in iiis journal, with evident exultation, that 
 " having continued to this late season in our 
 tents, experiencing the greatest inconvenience, 
 we have now the satisfaction of taking possession 
 of the log-huts just completed by our soldiers, 
 where we shall have more comfortable accom- 
 modations." In March he writes: 
 
 " Tlie present winter is tlie most severe and distressing 
 tl'.at wi- have ever erporicnccd. An immense body of 
 snow remains on the ground. Oiir soldiers are in a 
 wrttehed condition for want of clothes, blankets, and 
 shoes; and these calamitous circuniktanccs are accom- 
 panied by a want of provisions. It has several times 
 happened that the troops were reduced to one half or to 
 one quarter allowance, and some days have passed with- 
 out any meat or bread being delivered out." On the I8th 
 of March Washington wrote to Lafayette, that " the old- 
 est people now living in this country do not remember so 
 hard a winter as the one we are now emerging from. In 
 a word, the severity of the frost exceeded any thing of 
 the kind ever experienced in this climate before." 
 
 In examining some raannscripts in possession 
 of a distinguished Jersey man, I found some 
 letters from Joseph Lewis, Quarter-Master at 
 Morristown, to one of his superiors. In one 
 of these letters is the following significant pas- 
 sage: 
 
 The Justices (of Morris Connty) at their meeting es- 
 tablifhcd the following prices to bo given for hay and 
 grain, throughout the country, from 1st Diceinber, 1779. 
 to 1st of February next, or until the Regulating act take 
 place: 
 
 For hay, Ist finality £100 per ton — $2,'>0 
 
 2d quail y SO 
 
 SdqniOity 60 
 
 Hay for horso 24 hours $0 
 
 " per night ... 4 
 
 Wbcmt, p*r bunhcl 60 
 
 Hyc, per bushel 35 
 
 Com, per bushel 80 
 
 Buckwheat and oat<, pcrbshl. 20 
 
 _: 200 
 125 
 
 By putting tiiis price-current alongside of 
 the subscription for as.sembly balls, we have a 
 well-defined view of the difficulties which met 
 Washington in keejiing together some eighteen 
 or twenty tiiousand men, and at the same time 
 inspiriting them with courage to persevere in 
 the conflict with Great Britain. Quarter-Mas- 
 ter Lewi.s wrote to his superior, in January, 
 1780, that, if he can not be furnished with 
 money, he shall be obliged to leave Morristown 
 to escape the enraged soldiers. "We are now 
 as distressed as want of provision and cash can 
 make us. The soldiers have been reduced to 
 tiie necessity of robbing the inhabitants to save 
 their own lives." In Mi.rch, the distressed lit- 
 tle Quarter- .Master became pathetic, and wrote 
 to his superior: "I wish I could inhabit some 
 kind retreat from those dreadful complaints, 
 unless I had a house filled with money, and a 
 magazine of forage, to guard and protect me!" 
 And again he cries out, "Good God! where 
 are our resources fled? We arc truly in a most 
 pitiful situation, and almost distracted with calls 
 that it is not in our power to answer." 
 
 If we now return to the Ford IMansion, we 
 find that young Timothy Ford, son of Washing- 
 ton's hostess, has been a great sutTerer the whole 
 winter from a severe gunshot wound received 
 in a battle the previous fall ; and among other 
 pleasing courtesies, wc are told that every morn- 
 ing, as Washington left his bedroom, he knocked 
 at Timothy's door to ask " IIow the young sol- 
 dier had passed the night?" And every one 
 who saw these little attentions thouj;ht "how 
 beautiful they seemed in so great a man ! " " In 
 conversation, his Excellency's expressive coun- 
 tenance is peculiarly interesting and pleasing; 
 a placid smile is frequently observed on his lips, 
 but a loud laugh, it is said, seldom ever escapes 
 hira ;" and with this picture of him in mind, I 
 love to think of the great Washington standing 
 at the young soldier's door, with a kindly smile, 
 asking after his health. As for his labors, we 
 obtain some idea of these by recurring to his 
 correspondence, now with the magistrates of 
 New Jersey, now with Governors of the differ- 
 ent States, now with Congress, now with his 
 general officers — letters all full of wisdom; 
 many of them are sorrowful, as, with a winning 
 but energetic earnestness, he pleads for his sol- 
 diers, who are in want of shoes, blankets, bread, 
 and almost eveiT thing else but true patriotism, 
 of which they did not lack. lie jdeads for re- 
 inforcements, with which he hopes to bear the 
 cause of freedom on to victory. In these nu- 
 merous letters he sentls out the steady and val- 
 iant influences of his own .self-reliant spirit, to 
 infuse courage and hope into the hearts of his 
 countrymen from Boston to Charleston. I love 
 to associate these letters with the old secretary 
 and the little ink-stained table, which still re- 
 main in the Ford .Mansion. 
 
 Among the letters which Washington wrote 
 that winter from the Ford .Mansion was one to 
 " Mnjor-Ceneral Arnold," in answer to his let- 
 ter requesting " leave of absence from the army 
 
804 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 during the ensuing summer," for the bene- 
 fit of his health. Wasliington writes to him : 
 "You have my permission, though it was my 
 expectation and wish to see you in the field." 
 Then alluding to the birth of a son which Ar- 
 nold had communicated, he adds, " Let me 
 congratulate you on the late happy event. Mrs. 
 Washington joins me in presenting her wishes 
 for Mrs. Arnold on tlie occasion." How little 
 any of tlie parties to these felicitations could 
 anticipate the future ! Before that infant was 
 six mouths older his mother was raving like a 
 maniac over the infamy of her husband, and the 
 name of Benedict Arnold had become a stench 
 in the nostrils of eve y American patriot, and 
 is likely to continue so while the world endures. 
 But while the officers were trying to make 
 merry at O'Hara's tavern by indulging in dau- 
 cing, and while the soldiers were hungry and 
 shivering over on the Wicke Farm, and while 
 Washington was animating his countrymen with 
 the electricity of his own irrepressible hope- 
 fulness and energy, it is a happy circumstance 
 that the much-admired and the very admirable 
 Franklin has interested whole nations in Eu- 
 rope in our affairs, especially France and Spain. 
 In April, 1780, we find that the French Minis- 
 ter, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, and a distin- 
 guished Spanish gentleman, Don Juan de Mi- 
 ralle, representing the dignity of his Court be- 
 fore our Congress, passed through Trenton on 
 their way to the head-quarters at Morristown. 
 According to the New Jersey Gazette this was 
 on the 18th of April, and on the next day 
 "they arrived at head-quarters, in company 
 with his Excellency, General Washington. The 
 news of help coming from France was circulat- 
 ed through the camp, and made it more cheer- 
 ful ; and now that the French Minister was to 
 visit them, it seemed to the soldiers a proof 
 positive that the good news were true. So that 
 it was a great day in the Wicke Farm camp 
 when these distinguished foreigners were to 
 be received. Even soldiers who had neither 
 shoes nor coats looked cheerful, as if the good 
 time, long expected, was now at hand. Gen- 
 eral Washington has many plans to lay before 
 these representatives of two powerful allies, 
 and of course time did not hang heavily. On 
 the 24th Baron Steuben, the accomplished dis- 
 ciplinarian to whose severe training our army 
 owed so much, has completed his preparation 
 for the review of four battalions. This parade 
 was piobably somewhere in the vicinity of 
 Morristown. An eye-witness makes a large 
 draft on his stock of adjectives in describing tlie 
 review: "A large stage was erected in the 
 field, which was crowded witli officers, ladies 
 and gentlemen of distinction from the country, 
 among whom were Governor Livingston, of New 
 Jersey, and lady. Our troops cxliibited a truly 
 military appearance, and performed the ma- 
 noeuvres and evolutions in a manner which 
 afforded much satisfaction to our Commander- 
 in-Chief, and they were honored with the ap- 
 probation of the French Minister and all pres- 
 
 ent." Our enthusiastic witness forgot to say 
 whether Baron Steuben did or did not bring 
 forward on that brilliant occasion any of the 
 patriots who had no shoes or coats ; but prob- 
 ably they did duty in camp that day, while 
 those who were better clothed, but not belter 
 disposed, flaunted before sj^ectators their gay- 
 est war-plumage. 
 
 " In the evening General Washington and 
 the French Minister attended a ball provided 
 by our principal officers, at which were present 
 a numerous collection of ladies and gentlemen 
 of distinguished character. Fire-works were 
 also exhibited by the otficers of artillery." So 
 that doubtless that night of April 24, 1780, was 
 a very merry night ; rockets exploded in the 
 air, cannons occasionally roared like thunder, 
 and some verj' curious powder-inventions whirled 
 and snapped to the vast delight of thousands 
 who did not attend the ball. O'Hara's par- 
 lors were made as light as they could be with 
 good tallow-candles requiring to be snuffed, and 
 so, truly, 
 
 "All went merry as a marriage bell." 
 History and tradition are both silent as to what 
 were the opinions of Deacons Timothy Linds- 
 ley, and Philip Condict, and Matthias Burnet, 
 and especially good, patriotic. Pastor Johnes, 
 concerning these vanities. They were patriots, 
 and felt bound to rejoice with those tJiat re- 
 joiced that day ; but as Presbyterians, it is 
 doubtful whether any of them Avas at O'Hara's 
 that night. One thing, however, is certain, that 
 Pastor Johnes is feeling sad to learn that his 
 parishioner, Jacob Johnson, on whose death- 
 bed he has been attending so assiduously for 
 weeks, is passing through the article of deatli. 
 Jacob Johnson had been a bold rider in Ar- 
 nold's troop of light-horse, but a more noted 
 man than he was that same night entering " the 
 dark valley," and the cheerful light at O'Hara's 
 sheds no cheerfulness on the dying. The next 
 day Jacob Johnson died, which, to his little 
 children and his widow, was a much more in- 
 teresting event than another which occurred 
 the same day, when "the whole army j^araded 
 under arms," in order that the French Minister 
 may review them once more before he makes 
 report to his master, Louis Sixteenth. 
 
 From Dr. Thacher's Journal and the Neic 
 Jersey Gazette, we learn that "the distinguished 
 gentleman, Don Juan de Miralles," visited the 
 Short Hills on the 1 Oih or 20th of April, and 
 undoubtedly admired the magnificent prospect 
 there spread out before him. It was then, and 
 it is now, a paradisaical prospect, which, once 
 seen, is not to be forgotten. 'When Baron Steu- 
 ben, on the 24th of April, had arranged the grand 
 review of his battalions to the delight of Wash- 
 ington, De la Luzerne, and otliers, and that 
 night, while the fire-works were flashing their 
 beautiful eccentricities in the darkness, and the 
 sounds of music and dancing were heard at 
 O'Hara's, Don Juan de Miralles was tossing 
 with death-fever. Four days afterward he died, 
 and on the 29th of April his funeral took place 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
 305 
 
 flOtSB NEAK BA6KINQ BIDQE, IN WDIOU OENBHAI. LBB WAS OAPTUBED, IN ITTC. 
 
 iu a style never imitsited or equaled in Morris- | 
 town since. Ur. Thacher exhausted all his 
 expletive words in expressing his admiration of 
 the scene, and doubtless would have used more 
 if they had been at hand. Hear him : 
 
 "I ncconipanied Dr. Schuyler to head-quarters to at- 
 tend Iho fiinurul of M. de Miralles. The deceased was a 
 gentleman of hiph rank in Spain, and liad been about 
 one year a resident with our Congress from the Spanish 
 Court. The corpse was dressed in rich state and exposed 
 to public view, as is cui"tomary in ICurope. The coffin 
 was mo-ft iiplcndid and stately, lined throughout witli line 
 cambric, ami covered on the outside with rich black vel- 
 vet, and ornamented In a superb manner. The top of 
 the coffin was removed to display tlie pomp and grandeur 
 with which the b'ldy was decorated. It was in a splen- 
 di 1 full drens, consLiting of a ccarlct suit, embroidered 
 with rich gold lace, a three-cornered pold-lnced hat, a 
 genteol-cued wig, white silk stockings, large diamond 
 8h«o and knee buckles, a profusion of diamond rin'„'B dec- 
 orated the fingers, and from a superb gold watch set with 
 diamonds neveral rich seals were suspended. His IC.x- 
 celkiicy Cicnenil Washington, with several other general 
 officers, and mcmb.T.H of Congres-s, attended the funeral 
 B'^lcmnities and walked as chief mourners. The other 
 ofTictTt of the army, and nnmer-us respectable citizens, 
 formed a splendid procession extending alKiut one mile. 
 The pall-bearerB were six field-officers, and the coffin was 
 borne on the shouMers of four officers of the artillery In 
 full uniform. Minute-guns were fired during the pro- 
 cession, which greatly Increased the sulemnity of the oc- 
 casion. A .SjianUh priest jxTfomied service at the grave 
 in the Itoman Catholic fonn. The coffin was Inclosi'd 
 In a lx)X of plank, and In all the prifushm of pomp and 
 grandeur was deposit^id In the silent gravi', in the com- 
 mon burjlng-ground near the church at M.>rristo»n. A 
 guard is placed at the grave lest our soldiers should be 
 tempti'd to dig for hidden treasure." 
 
 This jHjm pons funeral, so pompously described, 
 was quite in contrast with tUc funeral proccs- 
 VoL. XVni.— No. 1U5.— U 
 
 sion which the pre\nous week entered the same 
 burying-ground. The numerous friends and 
 neighbors of Jacob Johnson made a long pro- 
 cession, but his oldest son, Mahlon, who still sur- 
 ^•ives, remembers that there was only one vehi- 
 cle on wheels at that funeral. Dr. Johnes and 
 the physician led the procession on horseback, 
 and the only wagon present was used to convey 
 the cotlin to the grave-yard. All the jjcople, 
 men, women, and children, either rode on horse- 
 back or walked on foot. At the house the pas- 
 tor drew heavenly consolation for the afflicted 
 from the Word of God, and at the grave dis- 
 missed the people by thanking them for their 
 kindness to the dead. And had Dr. Johnes 
 ofliciated at the funeral of General Washington 
 his services would have been just as simjile and 
 unostentatious. These two funerals make no 
 uninteresting features in the social life of ilor- 
 ristown when Washington si)cnt his last winter 
 : there. 
 
 I But more important matters than following 
 
 j a bcjeweled coi-pse to the grave are claiming 
 
 I Washington's attention. The time for opening 
 
 j the canij>aign is close nt hand, stores are to be 
 
 collected, many cavalr}- and baggage horses are 
 
 to be )>rocured, and a great many other things 
 
 ' to b^' done, the plans for which must be densed 
 
 j at head-quarters. It is true that Steuben has 
 
 brought the army into such discipline, as to the 
 
 manual exercises and the various evjlutions, as 
 
 was highly gratifying. An eye-witness sjiid, 
 
 " They fire with great exactness, and their ranks 
 
 arc pervaded with spirit and alacrity." Yet 
 
306 
 
 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 twenty thousand men in a single campaign 
 would eat much bread, wear out many clothes, 
 and burn up large quantities of ammunition, and 
 all these necessaries must be procured or the 
 "army must disband, and dreadful consequences 
 ensue — an event," says brave General Greene, 
 "I will not torture your feelings with a descrip- 
 tion of." For an insight into the difficulties of 
 Washington, before the campaign opened, let 
 me refer to some unpublished letters of Quar- 
 ter-Master Lewis. April 17, 1780, he writes: 
 "We are entirely destitute of forage, and every 
 thing to encourage the farmers to turn out. I am 
 therefore of opinion that we shall be obliged to 
 make use of arms to collect teams sufficient to 
 move the next division." April 20, he writes : 
 "The wages of teams are .£20 per day and found, 
 and £40 if they find forage." This was at the 
 time the Maryland troops were sent southward, 
 as I suppose, under Baron de Kalb. Lewis con- 
 tinues : " The distress we are reduced to for want 
 of assistance from some quarter is sufficient to 
 excite me to i)lead for relief from every quar- 
 ter." The poor Quarter-Master cries out in 
 distress to his superior, " Have you no words of 
 comfort to give me ? I am obliged to make 
 brick without straw, or, what is tantamount, I am 
 obliged to procure teams and necessaries for the 
 army withoitt money or any thing to do it with." 
 These petulant and desperate sayings of Lewis, 
 who was by no means a great man, are quite as 
 indicative of Washington's embarrassments as 
 the more dignified sayings of Robert Morris, who 
 was a great man. The problem to be solved 
 was how to pay for necessaries held at high 
 rates with money- nearly worthless — so nearly 
 •so, that the merry officers have to pay thirteen 
 thousand six hundred dollars for a little fun at 
 O'Hara's a few nights ; money so worthless 
 that "the pay of a colonel would not purchase 
 oats for his horse." That very spring Abraham 
 Clark " shuddered at the prospect before us," 
 when, with " a vigorous war to prosecute," "our 
 money is reduced almost to nothing, and still 
 depreciating with rapidity ;" so that " in the mark- 
 et a paper dollar is estimated at present at one 
 penny, and will soon be less than a half-penny 
 in all probability." 
 
 It is true that in February there was held " a 
 convention for regulating i)riccs ;" but that con- 
 vention coidd not change the unchangeable fact 
 that the army must have " 18,000 cwt. of beef 
 or pork, 10,000 baiTcls of Hour, 0758 bushels 
 of salt, 3.500 tons of hay, 30,000 bushels of corn, 
 oats, or buckwheat." It is true that an at- 
 tempt was made to legislate the price of pro- 
 visions, so that "flour should be four and a 
 half dollars per hundred, summer-fatted beef 
 five and a half dollars per neat hundred, etc., 
 etc." Yet suj)])osing those to be the prices of 
 the provisions, but the money was worth "in 
 market only one penny to the dollar," then it 
 Avould take nine hundred dollars to buy a bar- 
 rel of (lour, and even a gallon of rum would cost 
 one hundred and fifty dollars ! We quite fiiil 
 to comi)rehend tlie situation of our fathers with- 
 
 out taking up facts in detail. We think that in 
 our day jirovisions have attained to " starvation 
 prices ;" but it is not necessary to give a hand- 
 ful of bank-bills for a barrel of flour or seven 
 pounds of sugar. No doubt in "the Fifth Av- 
 enue" there are far more splendid parties than 
 our officers in "the present winter of 1780" had 
 at O'Hara's, and yet, nominally, it does not 
 cost so much "to yiay the fiddler" in the Fifth 
 Avenue as it did in Morristown not quite eigh- 
 ty years ago. 
 
 This may be regarded as a low view of patri- 
 otism, but it is a plain and apprehensible view. 
 I should like to know how rapidly our Govern- 
 ment would have carried on the late war with 
 Mexico if the currency with which the expen- 
 ses were to be defrayed had been made up of 
 " Michigan Wild-cat bills." Yet, in spite of 
 these circumstances, Washington's faith was 
 as steady as the magnetic needle. Although 
 "drained and weakened as we already are," 
 yet "we must make a decisive effort on our 
 part. Our situation demands it. AVe have 
 the means of success without some unforeseen 
 accident, and it only remains to employ them." 
 
 It was not wonderful that Frederic Freling- 
 huysen should speak of " the amazing expense 
 of attending Congress, and my inability to sup- 
 port it," on a per diem allowance of six shil- 
 lings ! It was not wonderful that the officers 
 of the Jersey Brigade should entreat the Legis- 
 lature for help, and that it required the match- 
 less influence of Washington to keep them from 
 resigning in a body. The enemy knew our 
 weak point, and smuggled into the different 
 colonies "cart-loads" of counterfeit bills. The 
 difficulties appalled even General Greene, who 
 wrote to Washington on the 21st of May: 
 "Had your Excellency been as much exposed 
 to the murmurs of the people and the com- 
 plaints of the officers as I have been, you would 
 agree with me in opinion that some healing 
 measures are necessary for both, before great 
 exertions are to be expected from cither." Well 
 said, brave cx-Quaker, not now a non-resist- 
 ant, but quite otherwise ! But where are your 
 "healing measures" to come from, when com- 
 mon sense says there is but one healing meas- 
 ure, and that is good hard money, of which 
 there is scarce none in the country? Greene 
 feared lest our affairs "grow worse and worse, 
 until ruin overtake ns;" but Washington said, 
 ho])efully, " We have the means of success, and 
 it only remains for us to employ them." "Very 
 few of the officers were rich," and therefore a 
 considerable number of them were "compelled 
 to resign their commissions." To complete the 
 trying circumstances of the case, the news reach 
 Morristown that the enemy at the South is car- 
 rying everything before him, and that Charles- 
 ton is taken. On Washington rested the almost 
 creative work of levying, clothing, feeding, and 
 l)aying an .army, without money ; of resisting 
 the disposition of desperate officers to resign 
 their commissions, and of counteracting the in- 
 fluence of defeat at the South, which "the wise 
 
 j»ij|' 
 
WASHINGTON AT MORRISTOWN. 
 
 30; 
 
 ones" prophesied would soon become defeat at 
 the North also. What an iron will it is that 
 moves the pen at that old secretary in the Ford 
 Mansion ! What prodigious courage and re5?o- 
 lution are traced on the calm, stern face which 
 bends over that table ! The doubting look and 
 take courage. Every where his letters speak 
 prophecies of success, and reproduce the spirit 
 of tiicir writer, North, East, South, and West. 
 As he stands among his Jersey officers, well- 
 nigh desi)erate by th<;ir worthless pay, he speaks 
 to them of the claims of their country ; they 
 forget themselves, their sufferings, their beg- 
 gary, and i)ut themselves new and living sacri- 
 fices on the altar of their country,' exclaiming, 
 •'We love tlie service, and we love our coun- 
 try I" The intluence whicli beguiled the Jersey 
 officers into such noble self-forgetfulness and 
 sacrifice for the sake of their country was act- 
 ing on thousands -in all parts of the nation ; 
 and it is in these facts we find such beautiful 
 illustrations of the influence which pre-eminent 
 greatness and virtue exert. 
 
 Amidst all the gloomy and depressing circum- 
 stances which are associated with Washington 
 t'.iat memorable season, there is an anecdote, ap- 
 parently trifling, but yet worthy to be told. The 
 late General John Doughty, of ilorristown, was 
 an officer in the Kcvulutionary war, and knew 
 Wasliington during both the winters he spent at 
 Morristown. He often told his friends that he 
 never heard of Washington's laughing loud but 
 once during those two Mintcrs. The exception 
 was one that took place in the spring of 1780, 
 when Washington had pm-chased a young, spir- 
 ited horse of great power, but whicli was not 
 broken to the saddle. A man in the army, or 
 town, who professed to be a perfect horseman, 
 and who made loud proclamation of his gifts 
 in that line, solicited and received permission 
 from the General to break the horse to the sad- 
 dle. Immediately buck of where the ruins of 
 the New Jersey Hotel now are was a large yard, 
 to which Washington and his friends went to 
 see the liorsc receive his first lesson. After 
 many preliminary flourishes, the man made a 
 leap to the horse's back ; but no sooner was he 
 seated than t.lie horse made what is known as a 
 "stilf leap," threw down his head and up his 
 heels, casting the braggart over his head in a 
 sort of clli])tical curve. As Washington look- 
 ed at the man unhurt, but rolling in the dirt, 
 the ludicrous scene overcame his gravity, ami 
 he laughed aloud so heartily that the tears ran 
 down his cheeks. 
 
 On the Cth of June General Knqihanscn nt- 
 temjjted to reach Morristown. He landed at 
 Elizabethtown I'oint, and proceeded as far as 
 Connecticut Farms; but General Maxwell, with 
 '• his nest of American hornets," set on the in- 
 vaders so furiously that they retreated hastily. 
 It was during this incursion that Mrs. CaldwcH, 
 the wife of the Key. James Caldwell, was wanton- 
 ly murdered, asherc|)itaphsays, "by the bloody 
 hand of a British ruffian," but in reality by a 
 refugee, who shot her "through the window of 
 
 a room to which she had retired for safety and 
 prayer, two balls passing through her body." 
 This wanton act sent a thrill of horror through 
 the nation, and was of sullicicnt importance to 
 occupy a place in Washington's correspond- 
 ence. 
 
 On the 10th of June Washington was nt 
 Springfield, New Jersey, not far west of New- 
 ark, at which place he had his head-quarters 
 until the 21st, except that one day he was at 
 Kockaway. One of his letters states that on 
 the 21st tho whole army, except two brigades 
 under General Greene, was slowly jiroceeding 
 toward the Hudson by way of Pompton. When 
 the enemy learned that our troops were on the 
 march they made another attempt to reach 
 Morristown. The unsleeping sentinels on the 
 Short Hills, on the 2;3d of June, detected the 
 signs of invasion, and gave the alarm. On that 
 day the Battle of Sjjringfield was fought, Knyj)- 
 hausen commanding the enemy, and Greene 
 our forces. It was on this occasion that tradi- 
 tion says that Parson Caldwell, whose wife had 
 been shot, was present inspiriting our troops. 
 Finding that wadding was needed, he gathered 
 up the hymn-books in the old church and dis- 
 tril)utcd them, with the significant direction. 
 "I'ut Watts into them, boys!" The arrange- 
 ments of Greene were consummate, and our 
 men acted valorously. Some whole companies 
 were cut to pieces. Washington was on his 
 way to Pompton when he received word of Knvj)- 
 hauscn's incursion, and taking "two brigades 
 of light infantry, he endeavored, by a forced 
 march, to get into tlie rear of Knyphau<en, and 
 prevent his return to New York ; and he would 
 have efl'ected his purjiose if the retreat of the 
 enemy had been delayed two hours longer." 
 The Kev. Jacob Green, of Hanover, was a spec- 
 tator of this liattle from the neighboring heights, 
 and as several soldiers testify in their pension 
 affidavits, the lion-roar of General Wind's voice 
 that day vied with the roar of fire-arms. Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel Bcnoni Hathaway — he was mas- 
 ter of the magazine of powder, and was afraid 
 of nothing but witches, against whose advances 
 he guarded himself by the rightly -adjusted 
 horse-shoe — was also there, having very unlaw- 
 fully broken from the ranks of his cowardly 
 General. He led forty jiicked men through an 
 un reaped rye-ficld. The standing grain con- 
 cealed the movement from the enemy. Sud- 
 denly bold Bcnoni's sharj) voice cried out 
 "Fire!" and a volley of well-directed bullets 
 scn.-ed as a sort of condiment to the enemy's 
 dinner. William Ball recorded it in his affida- 
 vit that he was a member of the same companv 
 with Lieutenant Timothy Tattle, under Gener- 
 al Heard. "General Heard seemed slow in 
 his movements toward the enemy, and Lieuten- 
 ant Tuttle invited all who were willing to face 
 the enemy to follow him. lie led us on jtast 
 the church and to the battle-ground, in the 
 hottest part of it." Ashbel Green was a mem- 
 ber of this brigade, and complains that he did 
 not get a shot at the enemy, "owing, as I con- 
 
308 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 ceive, to the cowardice of a certain Brigadier- 
 General who commanded us." Aftenvard he 
 charitably thinks the General acted from pru- 
 dence. 
 
 Benoni Hathaway was gi'eatly incensed at 
 the conduct of General Heard, and in tlie ar- 
 chives at Trenton may be seen the original 
 charges whicli he sent to Governor Livingston, 
 demanding that Heard should be tried. I sup- 
 l)0se he was not tried ; but the document de- 
 serves to be copied entii-e and -literally : 
 
 MoEKiSTOWN 15<A Juhj 1780 
 
 To his Exilencey the Governor 
 I send you in Closed Severel charges which I charg 
 15. D. Ilaird with while he comanded tlie Militare Sum 
 Time in jun Last at Elizabeth Town farms which I pray 
 his Exilencey would Call a Court of inquiry on these 
 Charges if his Exilencey thinkes it worth notising 
 from your Hum Ser 
 
 Benoni Hathaway Lut Coll. 
 To Exilencey the Governor. 
 This Is the Charges that I bring against General Haird 
 While he Comanded the Militia at Elizabeth town farms 
 sum Time in Jun last 1780 
 
 1 Charg is for leaving his post and Marching the 
 Trups of their post and Leaving that I'ass without aney 
 gard between the Enemy and our arraey without giving 
 aney notis that pass was open Betweu three and fore 
 Ours. 
 
 2 Charg is Retreating in Disorder Before the Enemy 
 without ordering aney Reargard or flanks out leading of 
 the Retreat Ilim Self 
 
 3 Charg is for marching the Trups of from advantiges 
 peace of ground wlieare we mit Noyed tliem much and 
 Lickley prevented thear gahiing the Bridg at Fox Hall 
 had not the Trups Bin ordered of which prevented our 
 giving our armey aney assistance in a Time of great 
 Distres. 
 
 4 Charg is for marching the Trups of a Bout one mile 
 from aney part of the Enemy and Taken them upon an 
 Hy mountain and kept them thear till the Enemy had 
 gained Springfeald Bridg. 
 
 List of evidence 
 Coll Van Cortland Capt. Nathanal Horton 
 
 Wm Skauk the Brigad Ma- Adjt Kiten King 
 
 jor Major Samuel Hays 
 
 Capt. Benjman Cartur Leutnaut Backover 
 
 This singular document does not speak very 
 much for Ilathaway's education ; but it shows 
 that, in common with many others, he could 
 wield tlie sword and rifle better than the pen. 
 This battle at Springfield was a sharply con- 
 tested action. Dr. Thacher, who was in one 
 of tlie brigades led back by Washington, says : 
 "We discovered several fresh graves, and found 
 fifteen dead bodies which we buried. We were 
 informed by the inhabitants that the enemy 
 carried oft' eight or ten wagon loads of dead 
 and wounded." As Ashbel Green's company 
 was pushing on in hot haste to tlie battle he 
 saw " the road in several places literally sprink- 
 led with the blood of our wounded countrymen 
 as they were carried to a distance from the bat- 
 tle-ground." On that day one Mitchel was di- 
 rected by his colonel to rescue a man who was 
 desperately wounded. As he was executing 
 the order the enemy fired a volley, and in after 
 years the old man said, "As the bullets went 
 whisht by my cars, I vow I was scared !" It was 
 on the same day that this man Mitchel was 
 scared again by hearing bullets whistling too 
 tiear his ears ; and he found at last that a Hes- 
 
 sian, concealed behind a barn, was firing at 
 him. Mitchel rushed on the German in great 
 fury, and the poor fellow cried out in broken 
 English, "Quarter! quarter!" But Mitchel, 
 enraged by the fellow's skulking way of fight- 
 ing, said, "I'll give you quarter!" and dis- 
 charged his gun at him, breaking his arm. He 
 then took his prisoner within the American 
 lines. This man afterward settled in Morris 
 County near his captor, Mitchel, and they 
 "were just as good friends as possible. Many 
 a time did they fight over the Battle of Spring- 
 field over a pitcher of cider." 
 
 But it is time to bring these desultory sketch- 
 es to a close. The in- 
 terest which is felt in 
 even slight things con- 
 nected with Washington 
 is a sufiicient apology for 
 inserting some traditions 
 and facts in tliis article 
 which have not been 
 published before. Some 
 years ago the writer was 
 well acquainted with a 
 large number of aged 
 people whose memory 
 was stored with incidents 
 pertaining to the Revo- 
 lution. Among these 
 were soldiers who had 
 fouglit and suffered in 
 tliatwar. Besides these, 
 in Morris County are 
 many fiimilies whose fa- 
 thers lived here during 
 that trying period, and 
 from these sources I have 
 derived many unwritten 
 traditions concerning 
 Washington while a res- 
 ident at Morristown. Be- 
 sides these I have in my 
 possession, or have had 
 access to many old man- 
 uscript letters and other 
 documents, which have 
 aided me in adding 
 some light to that inter- 
 esting period of Wash- 
 ington's life. 
 
 I may appropriately close this historical mon- 
 ograph with an original letter of Washington, 
 which has never yet been published, and which 
 is a very striking commentary on the difficulties 
 of his position the last winter he was in Morris- 
 town. It was found among some old papers in 
 the ]jo3session of Stejjhen Thompson, Esq., of 
 Mendliam, New Jersey, a son of Captain David 
 Tiiompson, who is referred to in this article. 
 It will be remembered tliat the great snow-storm 
 which caused such distress in the camp began 
 on January 3, 1780. The famine which threat- 
 ened the army caused Washington to write a 
 letter ' ' to the Magistrates of New Jersey, "which 
 is jiublished in Sparks's editions of the Writings 
 
 iiilir 
 
 ANCIENT KIFLK. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN AND HIS DAUGHTER. 
 
 aor) 
 
 of Washiiifiton. A copy of that letter was in- 
 closed in the letter which is now piihlishcd for 
 the first time. It is a valuable letter, as sliow- 
 inp; that Washington's " integrity was most 
 pure, his justice most inflexible." 
 
 " HBAD-QCAnTins, MoKKisTOWM, January 8, 1780. 
 
 "SiK, — The iirosiiudistrcs-ses uf tliu army, with which 
 you lire well acquaiiiteil, have (Ictunnined inu to call uinjii 
 the respective counties of the State for a proportiou of 
 grain and cattle, according to the abilities of each. 
 
 " Tor this puip"se I have addressed the magistrates of 
 every county to induce them to undertake the business. 
 This mode I have preferred as the one least incon- 
 venient to the inhabitants; but, iu case the requisition 
 should not be complied with, we must then raise the sup- 
 plies ourselves in the best manner we can. This I have 
 signified to the magistrates. 
 
 " I have pitched upon you to superintend the execution 
 of this measure iu the County of Bergen, which is to fur- 
 nish two hundred head of cattle and eight hundred bush- 
 els of grain. 
 
 "Vou will proceed, then, with all dispatch, and, call- 
 ing upon the Justices, will dclivor tlie inclo.-ed address, 
 enforcing it with a more particular detail of the suffer- 
 ings of the troops, the better to convince them of the ne- 
 cessity of their exertions. You will at the same time let 
 them delicately know that you are instructed, in case 
 they do not take up the business immediately, to begin 
 to impress the articles called for throughout the county. 
 You will press for an immediate answer, and govern your- 
 self accordingly. If it be a compliance, you will concert 
 with them a proper place for the reception of the articles 
 and the time of the delivery, which, for the whole, is to 
 be in four days after your application to them. The 
 owners will bring their grain and cattle to this place, 
 where the grain is to be measured and the cattle esti- 
 Riated by any two of the magistrates, in conjunction with 
 the Commissary, Mr. Voihea, wlio will be sent to you for 
 the purpose, and certificates given by the Commissary, 
 specifying the quantity of each article and the terms of 
 payment. These are to be previously settled with the 
 owners, who are to choose whether they will receive the 
 present market price — which, if preferred, is to be insert- 
 ed — or the market price at the time of payment. Imme- 
 diately on receiving the answer of the magistrates you 
 will -end me word what it is. 
 
 "In case of refusal, you will begin to impress till you 
 make up the (juantity required. This you will do with 
 as much tenderness as possible to the inhabitants, hav- 
 ing regard to the stock of each individual, that no family 
 may be deprived of its necessary subsistence. Milch 
 cows are not to be included in the impress. To enable 
 you to execute this business with more etTect and less in- 
 convenience, you will call upon Colonel Fell and any 
 other well-affected active man in the county, and en- 
 deavor to engage their advice and assistance. You are 
 also authorized to impress wagons for the transportation 
 of the grain. 
 
 "If the magistrates undertake the business, which I 
 should infinitely prefer on every account, you will en- 
 deavor to prevail upon them to assign mills for the re- 
 ception and prepanition of such grain as the Commis-sary 
 thinks will not be immediately needful in the camp. 
 
 '■ I have reposed this trust in you from a perfect con- 
 fidence in your prudence, zeal, and respect for the rights 
 of citizens. While your mea-surcs are adapted to the 
 emergency, and you consult what yon owe to the service, 
 I am persuaded you will not forget that, as we arc com- 
 pelled by nece.fsity to take the property of citizens for 
 the support of the army, on whom their safety depends, 
 you Khould be canful to manifest that we have a respect 
 for their rights, and wish not to do any thing which that 
 necessity, and even their own good, do not absolutely re- 
 quire. 
 
 "I am. Sir, with great respect and esteem, 
 " Your most obedient servant, 
 
 "G«. Washi.vqtos. 
 
 " P.S. Aft^r reading the letter to the Juflliccs you will 
 seal iL 
 
 •' LT. Col Pe Hakt." 
 
 ETHAN ALLEN AND HIS DAUGHTER. 
 
 [" she was a lovely, pious, young woman, whose mo 
 ther, then long in the spirit-land, had instructed her in 
 the truths of the IJible. When she was about to die, 
 she called her father to her bedside, and, turning upon 
 him her pale face, lighted by lustrous blue eyes, she said, 
 w ith a sweet voice : ' Dear father, I am about to cross 
 the cold, dark river. Shall I trust to your opinions, or 
 to the teachings of dear mother T These words, like a 
 keen arrow, pierced the recesses of liis most truthful emo- 
 tions. 'Trust to your mother 1' said the champion of 
 intidolity; and, covering his face with his hands, he 
 wept like a child." — Harper's Honthly for Soveniber.] 
 
 " rpHE damps of death are coming fast, 
 -L My father, o'er my brow, 
 The past with all its scenes has fled. 
 
 And I must turn me now 
 To tliat dim future that in vain 
 
 I^Iy feeble eyes descry : 
 Tell me, ray father, in this hour 
 
 In whose stern faith to die ? 
 
 "In thine? I've watch'd thy scornful smilo. 
 
 And heard thy withering tone, 
 "Whene'er the Christian's humble hope 
 
 Was placed above thine own ; 
 I've heard thee speak of coming death 
 
 Without a shade of gloom, 
 And laugh at all the childish fears 
 
 That cluster round the tomb. 
 
 "Or is it in my mother's faith? 
 
 How fondly do I trace 
 Through many a weary year long j.ast 
 
 That calm and saintly foce ! 
 How often do I call to mind, 
 
 Now she is 'neath the sod, 
 The place — the hour — in which she drew 
 
 My early thougiits to God! 
 
 " 'Twas then she took this sacred book, 
 
 And from its burning page 
 Read how its truths sujjjiort the soul 
 
 In youth and failing age; 
 And bade me in its jirecepts live. 
 
 And by its precejjts die, 
 That I might share a home of love 
 
 In worlds beyond the sky. 
 
 "My father, .«hall I look above, 
 
 Amid this gathering gloom. 
 To Him whose promises of love 
 
 Extend beyond the tomb? 
 Or curse the Heing who Jiath bless'd 
 
 This checkered path of mine ; 
 Must I embrace my mother's faith, 
 
 t)r die, my sire, in thine '(" 
 
 Tlie frown u[>on that warrior-brow 
 
 Pas.scd like a cloud away. 
 And tears coursed down the rugged check 
 
 That Howcd not till that day ; 
 '• Not — not in mine" — with choking voice 
 
 The skeptic made reply, 
 "But in thy motiier's holy faith. 
 
 My daughter, may'st thou die 1" 
 
 C. C. Cox. 
 
310 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 FOLLIES OF FASHION. 
 
 HOW strange is the origin of a fashion ! The 
 " abomination of wigs" was first adopted by 
 a Duke of Anjoii to conceal a personal defect ! 
 Charles the Seventh of France introduced long 
 coats to hide his ill-made legs. The absurdly 
 long-pointed shoes — often two feet in length — 
 were invented by Henry Plantagenet to cover 
 a very large excrescence he had upon one of his 
 feet. When Francis I. was obliged to wear his 
 hair short on account of a wound in the head, 
 the crop became the prevailing fashion of his 
 Court. Madame de Montespan invented the 
 rohp. hattantfi, or lyjoped skirt, to conceal an ac- 
 cident in her history; which, however, occurred 
 at such regular periods that peo]ile soon began 
 to guess the cause when they perceived the ef- 
 fect. Not least curious of all is the origin of 
 the long-fiishionable shade of yellow called Isa- 
 bella. When Ostend was besieged by the Span- 
 iards, the Infanta Isabella of Spain, in a lit of 
 injudicious patriotism, made a solemn vow not 
 to change her linen till the town was taken. 
 The besieged, either not hearing this vow or 
 else too rel)ellious to regard it, held out till 
 time, which sullies every thing, and possibly 
 perspiration, if, indeed, Infantas of Spain do 
 
 perspire, brought her Royal Ilighness's linen to 
 a color which needed a name. In a person of 
 her rank it could not be dhty ; and so it was 
 called Isabella, became the fashionable loyal 
 color, and was worn, so says the chronicler, 
 "with honor by all, and with convenience by 
 many" — making loyalty, so to speak, dirt cheap. 
 We have it on the best historical authority* 
 that the present prominence of the nasal organ 
 on the Israelitish face divine is owing, in great 
 measure, to the fact that, at one time, when the 
 propriety of abolishing that somewhat distinct- 
 ive feature was in debate in the Israelitish camp, 
 the tyrant Fashion came to its rescue. Here 
 is the account of the transaction — not in Ho- 
 meric verse, but as veracious as though it were : 
 
 " Says Aaron to Moses, 
 Let's cut off our noses; 
 Says Moses to Aaron, + 
 'Tis the fashion to wear 'em." 
 
 The gentle reader will perceive (on reference 
 to the first Jewish countenance he may meet) 
 that the plea was found quite unanswerable. 
 
 Wiiat might have been the result had it been 
 disregarded who can tell ? 'Tis certain that 
 
 * Mother Buncli. 
 
 t With the caution characteristic of a groat legislator. 
 
FOLLIES OF FASHION. 
 
 ail 
 
 very sad effects have ensued upon a failure to 
 pay proper lieed to the beliests of the niif^hty 
 potentate. Take, for instance, the Lili])iuian 
 na!;ion, who (as rciorded by their veracious his- 
 torian, Swift) dechircd war against the inhabit- 
 ants of Blefuscii, solely because the latter re- 
 fused to break their eggs at the same end which 
 Fashion dictated to the former as the proper 
 one for brcakaf:;e. Tlie Bi^-Endian rebellions 
 cost the monarch of Liliput not less than forty 
 first-rate ships of war, a multitude of smaller 
 vessels (the war beinj^ chiefly maritime), and 
 30,000 of his best seamen and soldiers; while 
 the loss of the Bi}:j-Endians — the rebels — was, 
 rightly, much greater. 
 
 So Louis the Eleventh of France had the te- 
 merity to crop his hair and shave his beard at 
 a time when Fashion dictated ambrosial locks 
 and flowing b?ard. What was the consequence ? 
 His Queen, Eleanor of Acquitaine, projierly dis- 
 gusted at such contempt of ajipcarances, rested 
 not till she procured a divorce, and married the 
 Count of Anjou, aftenvard King of England. 
 Is it too much to sujipose that the interminable 
 wars which foHowed upon this alliance were 
 brought about, primarily, by the injudicious con- 
 duct of King Louis? 
 
 Wiio will say, looking upon these and like 
 facts, that Fashion is to be contemned ; or that 
 her chiinges arc unworthy the historian's note 
 or the philosopher's attention ? As for the pop- 
 ular mind — that is, with its usual sagacity keen- 
 ly alive to any thing relating to so important a 
 subject as dress, as is at once proven by the 
 common remark, in every body's mouth, of 
 knowing a man by the style of his coat, or, as 
 Captain Cuttle would put it, "by the cut of his 
 jib." 
 
 First among fashionable follies — on the score 
 of absin-dity — come the trunk hose, which were 
 thought indispensable about the middle of Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign, and which were, in fact, a sort 
 of masculine counter-puff to the verdingale, 
 which then first began to swell the fair propor- 
 tions of feminine loveliness, taking the place of 
 the hoop of our day. The coat is what the 
 dandy of our times most prides himself on. 
 From the time of Henry VIII. of England, and 
 for the three succeeding reigns, his breeches 
 wore the objects of a young man's chief solici- 
 tude. Figure 1, rei)resenting James the First 
 of England in hunting costume, is taken from 
 a book devoted to various fasiiionaide methods 
 of killing time, published in the year 1(!14. It 
 will be seen that " the great, round, abominable 
 breech," as it was styled, tiien tapered down to 
 the knee, and was slasheil all over, ami covereil 
 with embroidery and lace. Stays were some- 
 times worn beneath the long-waisteil doublets 
 of the gentlemen, to keep them strai:.:ht and 
 confine them at the waist. In our illustration 
 the King is evidently incased in whalebone. 
 
 The fashion varied. We read of "hose 
 pleated as though thoy had thirty pockets;" 
 " two yards wide at the top;" and (date IG.'iS) 
 of " pctticoat-brccchcs, tied above the knee, 
 
 I'lGURE 1. 
 
 ribbons tip to the pocket-holes, half the width 
 of the breeches, then ribbons hanging all about 
 the waistband, and shirt hnmjinfj out" — which 
 last fashion may be said to have altogether died 
 out among our modern dandies. We read of 
 breeches "almost capable of a bushel of wheat;" 
 and of alterations which had to be made in tli« 
 British Parliament House, to afi'ord additional 
 accommodations for the meml)ers' seats. It is 
 related of a fast man of the time, that, on rising 
 to conclude a visit of ceremony, he had tiic mis- 
 fortune to damage his nether integuments by a 
 protruding nail in his chair, so that by the time 
 he gained the door the escape of bran was so 
 rapid as to cause a state of complete collapse. 
 
 A law was made "against such as did so 
 stuff their breeches to make them stand out: 
 whereupon," says an ancient worthy, " when a 
 certain prisoner (in these tymes) was accused 
 for wearing such breeches contrary to law, he 
 began to excuse himself of the offence, and en- 
 deavoured by little and little to disiliarge him- 
 self of that which he did weare witiiin them ; 
 he drew out of his breeches a pair of sheets, 
 two table-cloaths, ten napkins, four shirts, n 
 brush, a glass, a combe, and night-caps, with 
 other things of use, saying, 'Your worsiiips may 
 understand that because I have no safer a store- 
 house, these pockets do ser\-c me for a roomc 
 to lay my goods in ; and though it be a straight 
 prison, yet it is a store-house bigenough for them, 
 for I have many things more yet of value with- 
 in them.' And so his tlischargc was accepted 
 and well laughed at ; and tiicy commanded him 
 that he should not alter tiie furniture of his store- 
 house." 
 
 Figure 2 is an excellent representation of a 
 dandy of ]CA(\ from a very rare broadside print- 
 ed in that year. From the descrii)tion of his gar- 
 ments we Icaru that he wears a tall hat with a 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 432 788 3 % 
 
 V 
 
 i\,l 
 
 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
 
 Figure 2. 
 
 bunch of ribbon on one side and a feather on 
 the other, his face spotted with patches, two 
 love-locks, one on each side of his head, which 
 hang down iipon his bosom, and are tied at the 
 ends with silk ribbons in bows. A mnstache 
 encompasses his mouth. His band or collar, 
 edged with lace, is tied with band-strings and 
 secured by a ring. A tight vest is left partly 
 open, and between it and his breeches his shirt 
 sticks out. The cloak was in those days car- 
 ried upon the arm. His breeches were orna- 
 mented with "many dozens of points at the 
 knees, and above these, on either side, were 
 two groat bunches of ribbon, of several colors." 
 His legs were incased in "boot-hose tops, tied 
 above the middle of the calf, as long as a pair 
 of shirt-sleeves, and double at the ends, like a 
 ruff-band. The tops of the boots were very 
 large, fringed with lare, and turned down as 
 low as his spurres, which gingled like the bells 
 of a mon-ice-dancer as he walked." In his 
 right hand he carried a stick, which he "played 
 with as he straddled along the street singing." 
 
 With such boots ' ' straddling" was an ungrace- 
 ful necessity. A buck of those days, who was 
 probably not well up to the straddling dodge, 
 complains that " one of the rowels of my silver 
 spurs catched hold of the rulHe of my boot, 
 which being Spanish leather, and not subject 
 to tear, overthrew me !" 
 
 The love-lock worn by our beau caused an 
 immense sensation among quiet, staid people. 
 Mr. Prynne wrote against it a quarto volume, 
 called "The Unlovcliness of Love-locks," in 
 which he quotes a nobleman who, having been 
 scared from this vanity by a violent sickness, 
 
 " did declare the love-lock to be lAit a cord of 
 vanity by which he had given the devil hold 
 fast to lead him at his pleasure ; who would 
 never resign his prey as long as he nourished 
 this unlovely bush." 
 
 J'atchi'!!, mentioned above as one of the dec- 
 orations of our beau, were introduced about the 
 middle of the seventeenth century. The fash- 
 ion is said to have come from Arabia. Among 
 Eastern nations a black mole is considered a 
 " beauty spot," a fit theme for poetic raptures. 
 Hence those to whom Nature had denied this 
 boon endeavored to imitate it by means of black 
 silk and paste. In England, however, the taste 
 was arbitrary, and the excess to which it was 
 carried during the reign of Queen Anne was 
 as barbarous as comical. Pepys makes fre- 
 quent mention of the mode in his " Diary," as : 
 "My wife seemed very pretty to-day, it being 
 the first time I had given her leave [!] to wear 
 a black patch." And again : "May 5 — To the 
 Duke of York's Play-house : one thing of fa- 
 miliarity I obscn'cd in my Lady Castlemaine ; 
 she called to one of her women for a little patch 
 oif her face, and put it into her mouth and wet- 
 ted it, and so clapped it upon her own, by the 
 side of her mouth." 
 
 When at its height the patching mania must 
 have made curious havoc among the facial 
 charms of the fair daughters of Eve. Various 
 shapes were used. A satirical poet of 1G5S 
 says : 
 
 " Ilor patches are of every cut, 
 
 For pimples and for scars ; 
 Here's all the wandering planets' signs, 
 
 And some of the fixed stars 
 Already gummed, to make them stick, 
 
 They need no other sky." 
 
 This lady's face (Figure 3) is from a portrait 
 of a I'cigning beauty of those times, and may be 
 considered a fair sample of the fashion. She 
 has a star and half-moon upon the cheek, a cir- 
 cular mark upon her chin, and — marvel of mar- 
 
 FlGTJKB 3. 
 
 vels — a coach, coachman, and two horses with 
 postillions upon her forehead ! The last orna- 
 ment seems to have been a favorite, for the au- 
 thor of " God's Voice against Pride in Ap- 
 parel" (1683) says: " Methinks the mourning