Between Peace and War

By Ralph Colfax

    New Jersey has been called the "Cockpit of the Revolution." Because of its strategic location between New York and Philadelphia, it was the arena for contending armies throughout the war. On its soil were fought the important battles of Trenton, Princeton, Red Bank, Monmouth, and Springfield, as well as scores of minor engagements and skirmishes. The civil population was constantly reminded that their state was a military frontier because of the bloody and cruel actions of the British and American armies and the Loyalists and Whigs.  The revolutionary cause did not command the loyalty of all the people of New Jersey. It may be questioned whether even a majority of citizens were affirmatively disposed toward independence.  A large segment of the population was not inclined to make a decision either way. Others risked their lives and fortunes to assert their loyalty to their sovereign. Some Loyalists took an extremely active role against independence. Hundreds of Jerseymen served in volunteer Loyalist regiments or the hated Loyalist bands that engaged in marauding and plundering. But the damage and destruction went beyond the physical havoc. Trade, and the economy in general, had been thoroughly disorganized. Educational institutions had all but gone out of existence, libraries has been plundered, and many of the most cultivated men in the state had fled into exile. For seven frightening years, from Washington's retreat across the state in 1776, to the official end of the hostilities in 1783, there was no peace for New Jersey.

    Late in August 1781, crossing the Hudson River three days apart and moving by separate routes until they converged at Princeton, the French and American armies under the Comte de Rochambeau and Washington hastened southward to Yorktown. There, with the invaluable aid of the French fleet, they secured a decisive victory that brought about the surrender of Cornwallis and his army. Thereafter, the British military position deteriorated quickly, until New York was the only important place in the United States that was still occupied. By mid to late 1782, political events in England had made it clear that Great Britain had no intentions of going on with the war. It was a long and often difficult year and a half from the surrender at Yorktown until Congress proclaimed an end to the hostilities.

1781
Oct. 19 Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
Oct. 27 In Trenton, the governor and legislature celebrate the victory at Yorktown with toasts, church services, and a cannonade
Dec. 13 Governor William Livingston proclaims this day a day of thanksgiving and prayers for the victory at Yorktown.

NOTE: William Livingston (1723-1790), reelected annually from 1776 to his death, was the first Governor of the State of New Jersey. Before moving to New Jersey in 1772, Livingston contributed to his family's prominent role in New York provincial politics. After graduating from Yale in 1741, Livingston studied law under James Alexander, whose liberal views greatly influenced his student. Livingston opposed the role of the Anglican establishment in New York politics, leading to clashes with the powerful DeLancey family. Livingston helped edit the Independent Reflector, which became a forum for his satirical prose aimed at halting the Anglican effort to create King's College in New York City. In 1758 the Livingston faction wrested control of the New York Assembly from the DeLanceys. Unable to unify their forces in the 1760s against Parliament's efforts to increase its colonial rule, the Livingstons were decisively defeated by the DeLanceys in 1769; three years later Livingston moved to Elizabeth Town, erected his mansion, "Liberty Hall," and assumed the role of gentleman lawyer and farmer. The colonial protest, however, interrupted his "retirement." In 1774 he was chosen a member of New Jersey's first delegation to the Continental Congress. Despite his moderate views toward independence, Livingston became a brigadier general of the militia shortly before beginning his remarkable tenure as chief executive. Livingston added great strength and experience to the new government during and after the war. In 1787 he attended the Constitutional Convention and strongly supported ratification of the new document.
1782 Loyalists, especially those who face charges of collaboration or treason, and many whose property is marked for confiscation, begin to leave.
Jan. 9 British troops and Loyalists raid New Brunswick, N.J. They occupy the town for one hour.
Feb. 2 Loyalists raid in Pleasant Valley, Monmouth County. They take prisoners who later escape at Sandy Hook.

NOTE: In New Jersey, Loyalists activities persisted and were stimulated by the Board of Associated Loyalists whose president was the former governor of New Jersey, William Franklin. The increased activities reached a climax in the spring of 1782, in the hanging of Captain Joshua Huddy, commander of a blockhouse at Toms River.

NOTE: William Franklin (1730-1813), a son of Benjamin Franklin, had been the Royal Governor of New Jersey 1763-1776. In June 1776 William was arrested by the New Jersey Provincial Congress and sent as a prisoner to Connecticut by the Continental Congress. In July 1778 he was exchanged for the Whig Governor of Delaware, John McKinley. For the balance of the war, Franklin lived in New York City directing Loyalist activities. In 1782 he left the United States to live out his life in England.
March 7 In the Ohio country, 96 Christian Indians of the Delaware (Leni-Lenape) tribe are massacred at Gnadenhutten, by American militiamen in retaliation for the terrorism committed by other tribes.
March 24 Loyalists attack the blockhouse in Toms River. Captain Joshua Huddy and his men surrender after their powder runs out. The village is burned.
April 1 Washington establishes headquarters at Newburgh, N.Y.
April 12 Peace talks begin
April 19 Netherlands recognizes the independence of the United States
Aug.-Nov. The conflict continues between Loyalists. Loyalists lead Indians against American forces and settlements in the West.
Sept. 27 Conference at the De Windt House, Tappan, N.Y., between General Campbell and Andrew Elliot, representing Sir Guy Carleton and Generals Heath and Knox, representing Washington, to try to effect a general exchange of prisoners.
Oct. 25 Loyalists, under Captain John Bacon, massacre Gloucester County militia, who are under Captain Andrew Steelman. Steelman's men had been resting on the beach in Barnegat after unloading the cargo of a British ship that had run aground on the Barnegat shoals.

NOTE: In the fall of 1782, a year after the battle of Yorktown, the Continental Army encamped in the Newburgh area at New Windsor for the last winter of the American Revolution. After seven years of war, the more than eight-thousand officers and enlisted men awaited news from the peace negotiators in Paris. On April 19, 1783, exactly eight years after the war began at Lexington and Concord, a Cessation of Hostilities was announced to the army.
Nov. 4 Elias Bouninot of New Jersey is elected president of the Continental Congress.
Nov. 30 Provisional treaty of Peace signed in Paris
1783
Jan. 20 Cessation of hostilities signed by British and U.S. commissioners.
Feb. 3 Spain recognizes the independence of the U.S.
Feb. 4

 

 

 Great Britain proclaims cessation of hostilities.

 
March 23 News of the Declaration of Cessation of Hostilities arrived aboard the "Triumph," a French armed vessel in Philadelphia. Sir Guy Carleton proclaimed end of hostilities in New York on April 8.
Mar. 10-15 Newburgh, N.Y. 

While peace negotiations were proceeding slowly, and while the Continental Congress debated policy, back pay was piling up, inflation as rampant and discontent was growing. The tension was brought to a head by the circulation of the "Newburgh Letters," two documents urging the officers to rebel and force Congress to meet their demands for back wages and pensions. General Washington summoned an assembly of his officers and, in a dramatic speech, broke the budding mutiny.
April 3 Captain John Stewart shoots and kills Loyalist Captain John Bacon
April 11 Congress proclaims cessation of hostilities
April 14 Governor William Livingston proclaims the official end of hostilities.
April 19 Newburgh, N.Y.

Washington ordered the cessation of hostilities to be read at noon and left for Ringwood to meet the Secretary of War for the purpose of making arrangements for release and exchange of prisoners.

NOTE: LINCOLN, BENJAMIN. 1733-1810. Militia officer (Maj. Gen.), Continental officer (Maj. Gen.), local official. Born in Massachusetts; was a farmer before the Revolution. Militia officer, 1755-1777; major general, Continental Army, 1777-1783; distinguished himself in organizing opposition to Bennington, Vt., raid, August 1777, and in supporting Gates at the battles of Saratoga; commanded the Southern Department, 1778-1780; commanded American troops in siege of Savannah, September-October 1779; was besieged and surrendered at Charleston, May 12 1780; served at Yorktown, where he accepted British surrender as Washington's representative; Secretary at War, 1781-1783.
April 26 About 7000 Loyalists set sail from the port of New York, heading for Canada.
May 4-6 Sir Guy Carleton meets with Washington at Tappan to arrange the evacuation of New York.
June 24 Congress flees from Philadelphia to Princeton, N.J. to avoid confrontation with a group of mutinous soldiers.
Nov. 9 General Washington established his headquarters at Rocky Hill, N.J. It was when in residence in the Bessien house at Rocky Hill that Washington drafted his Farewell Orders to the armies of the United States.
Sept. 3 The Treaty of Paris, ending the war, is signed in Paris by Great Britain and the U.S.
Nov. 1 Word is received of the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the Continental Congress at Princeton.
Nov. 25 New York City is evacuated by the British.
Dec. 4 Washington takes leave of his officers at Fraunces Tavern in New York City.
1784
Jan. 14 The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress.