mous Sugar House, and in churches, without any provision for their comfort. They were fed on aliment the sight of which excited disgust. The sick were confounded with the healthy; and all were alike exposed to the most shocking defect of cleanliness, and to the outrages of the soldiers, and especially of the loyalists. A confined and impure air, together with unhealthy food, engendered diseases of which more than fifteen hundred perished in a few weeks. Some of the officers made prisoners were carted through the city, though wounded and nearly naked, for the sport of the populace; and some of them were caned for attempting to make some provision for their fellow soldiers who were dying of disease and hunger in their infected dungeons. But very few of the old families of our town, except those who opposed the liberty of their country, which did not make their contribution to this list of sufferers.

And where individuals escaped being made prisoners by the nightly marauding parties, led on by the tories, their cattle were driven off and killed, their barns and cellars were plundered, their wives and daughters were insulted, and, in many instances, their houses were demolished or burned. The English officers restrained from some of these excesses their own soldiers; but there seemed no restraint to the Hessians and the tories. And Eastern New-Jersey presented only the vestiges of havoc and desolation.

The winter of 1780, when Washington was encamped at Morristown, was one of severe trial to the

army, arising from the want of provisions and of pay. Rumors were rife among the British that the army was dissatisfied, that whole regiments were deserting, that the soldiers were in rebellion against their officers, and that New-Jersey was anxious to exchange her government, and to return to her allegiance to the crown. Believing these reports, Knyphausen was despatched with his mercenaries to New-Jersey, and on the 6th of June, under the cloak of night, landed at the Point with about five thousand men, from Staten Island. Early in the morning, he commenced his march to Morristown; but as he passed along he soon experienced the falseness of the reports as to the disposition of the people; for he was annoyed from every bush, and every wood, and almost every tree, as he passed along. He halted at Connecticut Farms, and as is stated, at the request of Governor Tryon, who was with him, he ordered the village, the church, and the parsonage, to be reduced to ashes. The Presbyterian church there, like many others in the country, was used as a barrack for the American army. It was on this occasion that Mrs. Caldwell was murdered. A refugee walked up to the window, and seeing her surrounded by her children, with an infant in her arms, deliberately shot her through the heart. Her murdered body was drawn from the house, and laid by the wayside, when the torch was put to her dwelling, which was soon in ashes. Having burned the Farms, he marched towards Springfield; but learning next morning, that

Washington had marched an army to meet him, he returned to the Point, greatly annoyed by little parties that every where concealed themselves. In about two weeks afterwards he marched again upon Springfield, with five thousand infantry, a large body of cavalry, and several field-pieces. After a brave resistance, conducted by Major Lee, Colonels Dayton, Angel, Shreve, Ogden, and Captain Walker, our men are repulsed. The English take possession of the town, and soon reduce it to ashes. The serious opposition he meets deters him from prosecuting his plans farther. On the afternoon of this day he returns to the Point, and during the night he passed over to Staten Island. There was a large bridge of boats across the water separating the Point from Staten Island; and on the following morning not a vestige of it is to be seen.

It was on this second march of Knyphausen upon Springfield, that the following incident occurred: As the main body had turned the corner opposite the present residence of Mr. Richard Townley, a few young men, in the very sight of the army, and within musket shot of it, captured the guard, and baggage, and horses, of a Colonel Fox. The baggage was afterwards sold at auction for upwards of one thousand dollars; and one of the four prisoners being a colored man, was taken to Philadelphia, and there sold into slavery. Among the individuals engaged in this exploit were Samuel Harriman, David Woodruff, Jesse Woodruff, Elihu Gale, Elihu Ogden, James Chandler,

Henry Inslee, and Mr. David Lyon, who yet survives, and narrates the event. And some of the plate of Col. Fox, bearing upon it the figure of a fox, is now in possession of the descendants of Mr. Harriman.

The following is among the most daring exploits of the Revolution. A colonel of the American army being taken prisoner, and there being no British officer of a similar grade in their possession with whom to redeem him, three men enter on the perilous enterprise of taking a colonel from the very midst of the enemy then stationed on Staten Island. They cross the Sound on a dark night, and as they approach the house where several officers were located, they find it strongly guarded. They steal by the guard, and take their stand near a window through which they can see what is going on within. Watching an opportunity, they suddenly enter the house, and putting a pistol to the breast of a colonel, order him to march out as their prisoner, threatening, in case of the least noise or resistance, to shoot him. They take him away from his companions, and through the guard by which the house is encircled, and deliver him safely in this town by sunrise the next morning. Mr. Henry Willis, whose death occurred but a few months since, was one of these three valiant men. This daring act was a matter of common talk even in the British court.

As early as 1758, whilst the French war was raging, we find an act of the Legislature of New-Jersey, directing Barracks to be erected in Burlington, Tren

ton, New-Brunswick, Amboy, and Elizabeth-Town, competent each for the accommodation of three hundred men. It was under this act that the Barracks were erected which for nearly a quarter of a century stood on the rising ground in Cherry-street, directly in the rear of the residence of Mr. Nathan Sayre. It was a building three stories high, and extending from the street to the river, facing the South. By an act of 1770, Edward Thomas was appointed Barrack Master. Up to the commencement of hostilities, it was occupied by the royal troops, but subsequently it was possessed by the continental soldiers. It was early reduced to ashes by the enemy. The First Presbyterian Church and the Court House were then thrown open for the accommodation of our soldiers; these, together with the Parsonage, which, when deserted by Mr. Caldwell, was converted into a hospital, were reduced to ashes. When Colonel Barber, with some of his scholars, deserted the Academy for the army, the building was converted into a storehouse. This also, after being plundered of its provisions, was fired by the enemy; and whilst burning, a Mrs. Egbert, whose death has occurred within two or three years, rolled out of it twenty-six barrels of flour, assisted by a few other females, at the risk of being shot down on the one hand by the British soldiers, and of being burned up on the other. These, with a few buildings towards the Point, are the only ones, as far as we can learn, that were destroyed during the war, in this town.