[[[Dunlap's Recollection of military Affairs at Perth Amboy.--Journey to Crosswicks.--Missionary Operations there.]]]

{218}sion of the British much of the time; and one of the many pictures of life of varied hue there presented, is given by William Dunlap (who was born there), in his History of the Arts of Design. "Here were centered," he says, "in addition to those cantoned in the place, all those [troops] drawn in from the Delaware, Princeton, and Brunswick; and the flower and pick of the army, English, Scotch, and German, who had at that time been brought in from Rhode Island. Here was to be seen a party of forty-second Highlanders, in national costume, and there a regiment of Hessians, their dress and arms a perfect contrast to the first. The slaves of Anspach and Waldeek were there--the first somber as night, the second gaudy as noon. Here dashed by a party of the seventeenth dragoons, and there scampered a party of Yagers. The trim, neat, and graceful English grenadier; the careless and half-savage Highlander, with his flowing robes and naked knees, and the immovably stiff' German, could hardly be taken for parts of one army. Here might be seen soldiers driving in cattle, and others guarding wagons loaded with household furniture, instead of the hay and oats they had been sent for.

"The landing of the grenadiers and light infantry from the ships which transplanted the troops from Rhode Island; their proud march into the hostile neighborhood, to gather the produce of the farmer for the garrison; the sound of the musketry, which soon rolled back upon us; the return of the disabled veterans who could retrace their steps, and the heavy march of the discomfited troops, with their wagons of groaning wounded, in the evening, are all impressed on my mind as pictures of the evils and the soul-stirring scenes of war. These lessons, and others more disgusting, were my sources of instruction in the winter of 1776--7." * [[November 23, 1848]] I left Amboy for Trenton, by the way of Crosswicks, before sunrise the next morning. The air was clear and frosty; the pools by the road side were skimmed with ice, and fields and fences were white with hoar frost. The deep sand of the road made the traveling heavy, yet, before the sun was fairly up, my strong horse had taken me half the way to Spottswood, ten miles distant. I passed through Spottswood, Old Bridge, Hightstown, and Cranberry, to Allentown, twenty-eight miles from Amboy, where I dined. These villages have a neat and thrifty appearance. Over the level, sandy country through which the road passes, extensive peach orchards are spread out, covering hundreds of acres. Crosswicks, ** the scene of some stirring events in the Revolution, is situated upon a ridge on the left bank of Crosswicks Creek, four miles from Allentown, and the same distance from the Delaware Ptiver. The creek is in a deep ravine, here spanned by a fine latticed bridge, erected upon the site of the old one of the Revolution. It was settled by the Quakers in 1681, and was a place of sufficient importance in colonial times to be once a meeting-place of the Provincial Assembly. Among the Indians at Crossweeksung, Brainerd and Tennant [[1748]] labored successfully, *** and the influence of the Quakers upon that tribe was sensibly felt. Here a small detachment of the American army was stationed after the first engagement at Trenton, where the Hessians were captured; and here one division of the British troops, marching from Philadelphia toward Monmouth, in June, 1778, were pretty severely handled by a party of Americans. The troops of the enemy marched in three divisions from Philadelphia: one by Mount Holly, one through Columbus, and the third by Bordentown, on the Delaware, near the mouth of Crosswicks Creek. Near the latter place was a draw-bridge, and as the British attempted to repair it for the purpose of crossing, the militia regiments of Colonels Frelinghuysen, **** Van Dyke, and Webster, stationed near, rushed

* History of the Arts of Design, vol. ii.

** This name is derived from the Indian appellation of the plaee, Crossweeksung, signifying a separation. The creek separates into two branches not far from the village.

*** In less than one year after Brainerd commenced preaching among them, he baptized no less than seventy-seven persons, of whom thirty-eight were adults.--Allen's Amer. Biog. Dictionary.

**** Frederik Frelinghuysen was the son of Reverend John Frelinghuysen, of Raritan, New Jersey. He graduated at Princeton in 1770, and when the Revolution broke out he entered the military service of his country. He was a captain of a militia company at the battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776, and, it is said, was the man who shot Colonel Rail, the commander of the Hessians. He was afterward promoted to the rank of colonel, which office he held during the war. He was a member of the old Congress, and, under the administration of Washington, was a senator from New Jersey. He was for a number of years one of the trustees of Princeton College. He died in April, 1804, aged about fifty-two years. Theodore Frelinghuysen, late United States senator from New Jersey, and Chancellor of the University of New York, is his son.

[[[Skirmish at Crosswicks.--The Friends' Meeting-house.--Mrs. Idell.--Bordentown]]]

{219}upon them, killed four and wounded several. The enemy left the bridge at Bordentown, and, marching up to Crosswicks, attempted to repair the bridge there, which the Americans had almost destroyed. *

The alert provincials were ready to receive them; and from their station on the Woodwardsville side of the creek, they poured upon the Britons volleys of musketry, which, with a well-aimed shot occasionally from an old six-pounder, effectually kept them at bay. Being re-enforced the next day, the enemy repaired the bridge, crossed it, and pursued their march toward Allentown. During the skirmish, one of the cannon-balls fired by the Americans struck the north wall of the meeting-house and lodged therein, where it remained until the building was repaired a few years ago. The hole made by the ball is yet visible; the dark spot between the sills of the two upper windows, on the right of the picture, marks the place.

The American troops at Crosswicks, after the battle of Trenton, used the meeting-house for barracks; yet, unlike the British soldiers who occupied churches for a similar purpose, they neither defaced the building, nor disturbed the society in their public religious duties'. Every Wednesday and Sunday the soldiers withdrew, the benches were properly arranged, and worship was held as usual.

During my brief tarry of an hour and a half at Crosswicks, I visited the venerable Mrs. Idell, who was eighty-three years old. She clearly remembered the advent of the Americans there, after the battle of Trenton. She lived with her brother, two or three miles from the meeting-house. Twelve American officers, on horseback, took possession of his house while himself and family were in meeting. The parlor was filled with equestrian accouterments, and she and two other children "almost lost their wits by fright." The old lady was strong in mind but feeble in body when I saw her, yet she was able to sit in their plain old house of worship every meeting-day.

I left Crosswicks at four o'clock, and arrived at Trenton at sunset. It was a pleasant drive of eight miles through a fertile country; the well-filled barns and barracks, and the numerous haystacks, denoting bountiful harvests. I passed a little northward of Bordentown, and had an occasional glimpse of its spires above the brown tree-tops. As we may not, in the course of our journey, approach so near this pleasant village again, let us slacken our pace a little as we go over the crown of the hill, from whence the vane of the Episcopal church is visible, and consider its Revolutionary history.

Bordentown is "a city upon a hill," and "can not be hid." It is at the elbow of the Delaware River, seven miles below Trenton, and from the brow of the eminence on which it stands there is an extensive view of that noble stream and the surrounding country. It derives its name from Joseph Borden, an early settler. Here both the Americans and British had military stores; and hither both parties, at different times, dispatched small detachments to surprise and capture, or destroy them. Here a strong body of Hessians, under

* An American named Clevenger, who had cut away the last sleeper of the bridge when the enemy approached, was shot in the back of the head and killed while retreating. He was the only man whom the Americans lost in the skirmish.

** This view is from the shed in the yard, looking southeast. The building stands in the center of a large square, is of imported brick, and very spacious. The Quakers were numerous in this vicinity in the time of the Revolution, and a large number of the present inhabitants are members of that sect.

[[[Revolutionary Events at Bordentown.--Joseph Bonaparte.--General Dickinson.--Trenton.]]]