Andrew 1781
3 Jan 1781 Camp Pompton promoted Sergeant 24 Dec 1780 given
Furlough
Pompton Mutiny 20 Jan 1781
Prelude:
The Pennsylvania Line Mutiny, which occurred at Morristown January 1, 1781,
Nineteen Days Before the Pompton Mutiny [1]
In
the Revolutionary War era, armies did not generally fight in the winter, and
would take up winter quarters. In the winter of 1780-1781, General George
Washington headquartered at New Windsor, NY, while the Continental (American)
Army was spread out in small encampments which stretched along the roughly
sixty miles from West Point, NY, to Morristown.
As
winter 1780 approached, tensions were running high among the Continental Army
troops. They were angry about the lack of sufficient food, clothing, and pay. When they
enlisted, the soldiers had been promised that a new set of clothes and a blanket would be issued to them every year.
Instead, the realities of supplying the army through the difficult war years
had meant that these annual new clothes and blankets had not been issued. As
winter weather set in, the lack of these necessities took on a greater urgency.
General Anthony Wayne, who was in command of about 2,500
Pennsylvania troops that were encamped near Morristown, was well aware of the
situation among his men, which he described in a letter to Pennsylvania
Governor Joseph Reed on December 16: "the old worn out coats and tattered linen overalls, and what was
once a poor substitute for a blanket, (now divided among three soldiers,) is
but very wretched living and shelter against the winter's piercing cold
drifting snows, and chilling sleets. Our soldiery are not devoid of reasoning
faculties, nor are they callous to the first feelings of nature; they have now
served their country with fidelity for near five years, poorly clothed, badly
fed, and worse paid; of the last article, trifling as it is, they have not seen
a paper dollar in the way of pay for near twelve months." [2]
The
situation came to a head when about 1300 of the troops at Morristown mutinied
on New Year's Day 1781. Several officers were killed or wounded. The
mutineers set out on a march towards Philadelphia, where they intended to
demand that Congress take steps to relieve their situation. General Anthony
Wayne and two of his officers followed the mutineers, who never made it to
Philadelphia. They reached Princeton on January 3. Joseph Reed arrived in
Princeton the next day, and negotiations were conducted until a settlement was
reached on January 8.
The Pompton Mutiny - January 20, 1781
The
same winter, there were New Jersey troops encamped in the area known as
Pompton, which made up the area of modern-day Bloomingdale, Riverdale and
Pompton Lakes. On January 20, about 200-300 of the soldiers at Pompton
mutinied. They were likely emboldened by the concessions achieved by the
Pennsylvania Line Mutiny. According to eyewitness accounts, they were also
quite drunk. Unlike the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny, no blood was spilled. They
set out for the state capital at Trenton, where they intended to make demands.
Their march would take them through Chatham, where another army camp was
located, and they hoped to recruit more mutineers from among the troops there. [3]
While
the first mutiny had been dealt with leniently, General George Washington
decided that this second mutiny needed to be handled decisively, or the
mutinies could become a pattern which could spread throughout the Continental
Army. This time, there were to be no negotiations, and the mutiny was to
be put down strongly to discourage other troops from mutiny. On January 22, he
ordered Major General Robert Howe to march with about five-hundred troops from
West Point to Pompton to quell the mutiny. Washington's orders to Howe made
clear the seriousness of the situation: [4]
"You are to take the command of the
detachment, which has been ordered to march from this post against the
mutineers of the Jersey line. You will rendezvous the whole of your command at
Ringwood or Pompton, as you may find best from circumstances. The object of
your detachment is to compel the mutineers to unconditional submission; and I
am to desire, that you will grant no terms while they are with arms in their
hands in a state of resistance. The manner of executing this I leave to your
discretion. If you succeed in compelling the revolted troops to a surrender,
you will instantly execute a few of the most active and incendiary
leaders."
When
the mutineers reached Chatham on January 24, they found that none of the troops
there were willing to join the mutiny. They were convinced to march back to Pompton. [5]
Washington
rode down from his current headquarters in New Windsor, New York, to be closer
to the situation. He arrived at nearby Ringwood on January 26 or 27. However, he thought it best
not to involve himself directly in quelling the mutiny, and left General Robert
Howe in charge of the situation. [6]
General
Robert Howe and his troops arrived at Pompton on January 27. With the fate of
the Continental Army on the line, Howe treated these mutineers with a firmness
not seen with the Pennsylvania troops mutiny. Three of the mutiny's leaders
were selected to be executed on the spot by a firing squad made up of other
mutineers. The following eyewitness account of the grim scene was made by Dr
James Thatcher, a Continental Army doctor who was with Howe's troops: [7]
"Marched on the 27th, at one o'clock A. M.
eight miles, which brought us in view of the huts of the insurgent soldiers by
dawn of day. Here we halted for an hour, to make the necessary preparations.
Some of our officers suffered much anxiety, lest the soldiers would not prove
faithful on this trying occasion. Orders were given to load their arms: it was
obeyed with alacrity and indications were given that they were to be relied on.
"Being paraded in a line, General Howe
harangued them, representing the heinousness of the crime of mutiny, and the absolute
necessity of military subordination; adding that the mutineers must be brought
to an unconditional submission: no temporizing, no listening to terms of
compromise, while in a state of resistance. Two field-pieces were now ordered
to be placed in view of the insurgents, and the troops were directed to
surround the huts on all sides.
"General Howe next ordered his aid-de-camp
to command the mutineers to appear on parade in front of their huts unarmed,
within five minutes; observing them to hesitate, a second messenger was sent,
and they instantly obeyed the command, and paraded in a line without arms,
being in number between two and three hundred. Finding themselves closely
encircled and unable to resist, they quietly submitted to the fate which awaited
them. General Howe ordered that three of the ringleaders should be selected as
victims for condign punishment. These unfortunate culprits were tried on the
spot, Colonel Sprout being president of the court-martial, standing on the
snow, and they were sentenced to be immediately shot.
"Twelve of the most guilty mutineers were
next selected to be their executioners. This was a most painful task; being
themselves guilty, they were greatly distressed with the duty imposed on them,
and when ordered to load, some of them shed tears. The wretched victims,
overwhelmed by the terrors of death, had neither time nor power to implore the
mercy and forgiveness of their God, and such was their agonizing condition,
that no heart could refrain from emotions of sympathy and compassion.
"The first that suffered was a sergeant,
and an old offender; he was led a few yards' distance, and placed on his knees;
six of the executioners, at the signal given by an officer, fired, three aiming
at the head and three at the breast, the other six reserving their fire in
order to despatch the victim, should the first fire fail; it so happened in
this instance; the remaining six then fired, and life was instantly
extinguished. The second criminal was, by the first fire, sent into eternity in
an instant. The third being less criminal, by the recommendation of his
officers, to his unspeakable joy, received a pardon.
"This tragical scene produced a dreadful
shock, and a salutary effect on the minds of the guilty soldiers. Never were
men more completely humbled and penitent; tears of sorrow and of joy rushed
from their eyes, and each one appeared to congratulate himself that his
forfeited life had been spared. The executions being finished, General Howe
ordered the former officers to take their stations, and resume their respective
commands; he then, in a very pathetic and affecting manner, addressed the whole
line by platoons, endeavoring to impress their minds with a sense of the
enormity of their crime, and the dreadful consequences that might have
resulted. He then commanded them to ask pardon of their officers, and promise
to devote themselves to the faithful discharge of their duty as soldiers in
future. It is most painful to reflect, that circumstances should imperiously
demand the infliction of capital punishment on soldiers who have more than a
shadow of plea to extenuate their crime. These unfortunate men have long
suffered many serious grievances, which they have sustained with commendable
patience; but have at length lost their confidence in public justice.
"The success of the Pennsylvania insurgents
undoubtedly encouraged them to hope for exemption from punishment. But the very
existence of an army depends on proper discipline and subordination. The arm of
authority must be exerted, and public examples be exhibited, to deter from the
commission of crimes. The spirit of revolt must be effectually repressed, or a
total annihilation of the army is inevitable."
Although
Washington had seen it as necessary to deal decisively with the Pompton Mutiny
to avoid a breakdown of the entire army, he also recognized the truth of their
grievances regarding food, clothing, and pay. And so after the suppression of
the mutiny, Washington supported the recognition of their grievances. He wrote
in a letter to a committee charged with addressing the grievances of the
mutineers that "having punished guilt and supported authority—it now
becomes proper to do justice." [8]
There
is uncertainty about the exact location of the Pompton camp and mutiny, other
than it was somewhere in the Pompton area. The sign commemorating the Pompton
Mutiny pictured above is located on the Union Avenue side of Federal Hill in
Bloomingdale. There is a small paved area where you can park to view the sign.
Jan-Jul 1781 Camp Dobbs Ferry sick at Morristown
In July and August, 1781, during the seventh year of the war, Continental Army troops, commanded by General George Washington, were encamped in Dobbs Ferry and neighboring localities, alongside allied French forces under the command of the Comte de Rochambeau.[9] A large British army controlled Manhattan at the time, and Washington chose the Dobbs Ferry area for encampment because he hoped to probe for weaknesses in the British defenses, just 12 miles (19 km) to the south. But on August 14, 1781, a communication was received from French Admiral Comte de Grasse in the West Indies, which caused Washington to change his strategy. De Grasse's communication, which advocated a joint land and sea attack against the British in Virginia, convinced Washington to risk a march of more than 400 miles (640 km) to the Chesapeake region of Virginia. Washington's new strategy, adopted and designed in mid-August 1781, at the encampment of the allied armies, would win the war. The allied armies were ordered to break camp on August 19, 1781: on that date the Americans took the first steps of their march to Virginia along present-day Ashford Avenue and Broadway, en route to victory over General Cornwallis at the Siege of Yorktown and to victory in the Revolutionary War.[10]
No other Record for 1781 found
