Dealing with the requirements of a new state government
How much militia duty can they expect from me?
The Declaration of Independence not only made people reassess their devotion to “the cause” but also made them think, and debate, what should come next. The people of Trenton, like everyone else, found they disagreed whether the now thirteen states should continue in confederation, each act independently, or unite into one nation. As historian Joseph Ellis has pointed out, at this time “Beyond independence, Americans had no consensus on what being an American meant.” The colonials had started out believing that a smaller than desired Continental Army enlarged by contingents of militiamen for major battles, such as the one then shaping up in New York, could win the war. That belief was about to be tested, and the people of Trenton knew that they would be involved in the test.
Large numbers of troops and supplies coming through town greatly increased business at the two Trenton ferries. The government resolved on August 11 that troops in the service of the United States or any state, along with their baggage, ammunition, wagons, and other supplies would pay only one-third of the usual ferry fees. Although ferry operators would no doubt have appreciated receiving full fares, the troops and supply wagons represented a bonus to their normal business. Civilians supplying the army with provisions and other stores still paid full price because they were not part of the military and profited as usual from the ferried supplies.
The confusing situation for the militiamen and their families that began in July continued and an August 11 ordinance ordered alternate month active duty with the Flying Camp until further notice. Under this system, every Trenton militiaman would be away from home every other month serving in companies of men partly from the First Hunterdon – their normal comrades – and partly from the Third Hunterdon, whom they had not served with previously. Officers were likewise divided so that they commanded some men they knew and some they did not while the men served under some officers they knew and some they did not. They had to endure this situation that made them half-time farmers and half-time militiamen. At least about half the men in a “neighborhood” could help support the essential work of neighbors out on duty. Both civilian and military work suffered from the disorganization and unusual situations involved. The militiamen were caught between two potential disasters, a British victory if they did not turn out for duty and the ruin of their families if they failed to produce their crops or other products.
Due to a lack of muskets, men staying home during a given month were encouraged to loan their muskets to men needing them and then get them back at the end of the month. Multi-talented Trenton craftsman John Fitch, of future steamboat fame, knew the town’s guns so well that he took charge of organizing their use. Most men cooperated with his efforts to get enough guns together. An exception was merchant Alexander Chambers who refused Fitch’s requests for guns, as well as other items such as blankets and knapsacks that soldiers needed. Fitch had to work around him while dealing with other reluctant contributors. Fitch later noted that he, and the about twenty men working for him, armed and supplied more than fifty men of Captain William Tucker’s company “as compleat as ever” who then “marched out of Trenton” heading for their month long station at the New Blazing Star Ferry opposite Staten Island.
To increase the number of desperately needed muskets as rapidly as possible, on August 18 the state government resolved that “all the workmen of this State actually employed in the manufacture of firearms be excused from going out with the militia when called upon.” Trenton’s Benjamin Yard had been hard at work on muskets and on August 19 payment was authorized for 14 muskets and on August 21 for 19 muskets delivered to merchant and militia Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Hunt.
During August, Pennsylvania men assigned to the Flying Camp continued coming through Trenton, often lodging at the barracks overnight.
Quartermaster Reading Howell’s account book for August 25 to September 25 gives an interesting picture of the structure and life of a militia regiment serving in the New Jersey Flying Camp in two alternating divisions. During this month there were six companies making up a mixed battalion commanded by Colonel David Chambers of the Third Hunterdon Regiment. Three of the six companies were from the First Hunterdon, with one led by Trenton Captain John Mott and one by Captain William Tucker. Captain Mott’s company of about 63 men was stationed at the Old Blazing Star Ferry and Captain Tucker’s of about 54 men at the New Blazing Star Ferry, both opposite Staten Island.
For the new state government elected in August, Trenton merchant Samuel Tucker was elected Second Justice of the Supreme Court instead of to the Assembly. Militia General William Livingston was elected governor of New Jersey on August 27. Leading the militia had been a true challenge and he was ready for a change, but it might just prove to be equally exhausting, and he would still be multi-tasking.
One of Livingston’s first actions as governor was to pressure the legislature to revise the militia laws. As a general of the militia, he had developed a firsthand understanding of its flaws. However, his concerns about the law would never be addressed satisfactorily. One of Livingston’s first suggestions, one that was ignored, was to establish six-month tours of duty for the militia rather than one-month tours that rotated. When Livingston took office as the first Governor of the State of New Jersey on August 31, he issued several orders to be read to the militiamen in their camps at their next parade. These orders shed interesting light on the life of the militiamen serving alternate month tours in the Flying Camp opposite Staten Island and their creative efforts to get sent home before the end of their monthly tours.
The first order concerned illness. Up to that time soldiers who became ill made applications to their commander for leave to go home to recuperate. Now it was ordered that “every person indisposed so as to be unfit for Duty is to get a Certificate from the regimental Surgeon of his being unfit for Duty, & in that Case he is to be sent to the hospital.” Being ill was not going to get one sent home anymore. The other issue was that militiamen had been applying to their commander for permission to go home to get clean clothes. The men could not be spared from duty, so Livingston ordered, “whenever any twelve men living in a neighborhood want clean cloaths & will deliver a List of their names to the Colonel, the Colonel may give leave to any one of them to fetch a change of raiment for himself and the other eleven, & so the same of any greater Number.” This seems to be clear evidence that wives were not following husbands on their tours so there was not a corps of camp followers to do wash for the men. There is no mention of camp followers in the pension file applications, but there are indications that male family members sometimes made brief visits to the militia camps, perhaps to bring clean clothing. More likely than really being sick or in need of clothes, men probably were looking for a way to get home for a couple of days in the middle of their tour to take care of things on the farm.
Militiamen walking across the state to and from their monthly tours, or to get clean clothes, were often considered by civilians to be wandering vagrants who threatened the livelihood of the farmers of the state. Things had deteriorated since the virtuous citizen minutemen of Lexington and Concord had aroused public admiration for the militia. However, they were not as bad as the British and Hessian troops that would follow them across the State in December.