Military Action By Outwater's Militia During The American Revolution
MILITARY ACTION BY OUTWATER’S MILITIA DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
Outwater’s Militia in Action: Known military activity by Outwater’s men in the Revolutionary War
At the time of the Revolution, Bergen County was considered “the frontier”, much like the American West was considered a century later. It was a major agricultural settlement which was admired for its productivity throughout the colonies. It had various militia companies formed decades before the war, hoping to protect the people from the French, Spanish, natives or others as required. When war broke out, those in the militia and otherwise had to determine which side deserved their loyalties. New militia companies were established based upon loyalties.
John Outwater was elected Captain of a Bergen County Company ordered by the State to be created in 1777, once Washington was victorious at Trenton and Princeton, thus encouraging such an action. The new company was formed in Hackensack, and it maintained watch over the area and south to present day Jersey City, particularly the rivers heading out to sea. At that time, the British army, composed of thousands of troops, along with a strong supporting navy, was quartered in New York City, a short boat ride away from Hackensack. The small group of militia had to content itself with harassing and capturing loyalist farmers and their boats containing food and cattle on their way down river to New York City. The aim by these farmers was to sell their stock to the British Army, which paid in hard currency (gold/silver). If Outwater’s men were successful, they were authorized to take what they captured to the Justice of the Peace in Hackensack and the plunder would be legally transferred among the men. It appears from the pension records of Outwater’s men, that the company was involved in this endeavor throughout the war. One Loyalist newspaper in New York wrote that Outwater’s
“is a band of murderers who paint their faces black and hide out in Berry’s Creek”.
“is a band of murderers who paint their faces black and hide out in Berry’s Creek”.
Bergen’s plentiful farms were subject to forage parties by the enemy throughout the war, as much food, cattle and horses were needed to support the large army in New York. The farms were stripped, leaving little for the inhabitants to subsist upon. Outwater’s men fought in skirmishes against these foraging parties, making the enemy pay for its incursions.
Outwater’s Militiamen were involved in defending against a major raid of about 2,000 British soldiers in September of 1777. After raiding Hackensack gathering cattle and other farm products, they moved toward Paramus, receiving only token resistance by small militia parties. Arriving at the Arcola section of Paramus, on Paramus Road, they were met by a Continental Line company led by Aaron Burr, which successfully pushed the British back to Hackensack. Multiple militia companies aided in this push and it was militia which tore up the planks over the New Bridge near Hackensack delaying the retreat. It is said that the British left, leaving most of their booty behind. But, a total of 400 cattle, 400 sheep and “a few horses” were taken.
The following is taken from "The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack valley" by Leiby
The burning of Hackensack- Capt. John Outwater wounded
Burning of Hackensack, March 22, 1780
On the evening of March 22, 1780, 400 British, Hessian and loyalist troops left Manhattan, invaded Bergen County and burned Hackensack. This incursion was different than the foraging expeditions conducted in the past. This one was for revenge.
Prior to March 1780, the British commander, Henry Clinton, resisted loyalist pressure to go into Bergen County and capture known “rebels”. However, he left for the campaign in Charleston, South Carolina and put his command into the hands of General Knyuphausen, who was not so resistant.
By midnight on March 22, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan MacPherson of the 42nd Highlander Regiment had reached Little Ferry on the Hackensack River. Taking boats, the troops landed and surprised Hackensack in the early morning of the 23rd. He pushed quickly through the town and stopped at New Bridge, intercepting anyone trying to escape. The twenty or thirty men under Outwater’s command were asleep in barns, barracks and houses, and were caught off guard. The enemy was under orders to attack every house pointed out by loyalist guides, and apprehend every man they found. Moving quickly, they smashed windows, and burned and looted homes. There was little Outwater’s men could do to prevent it.
It is said that Lieutenant Adam Boyd, of Outwater’s Militia, arose with the noise outside his home and mistook it for some friends. “What’s the matter, boys?” he asked while opening the upper half of his door. The reply was swift: “You damned rebel! We’ll show you what the matter is!” Boyd was fired upon as he ran to his back door pursued by several Hessians. He escaped capture, but his home was burned to the ground.
Outwater and his men rallied, got on horses and warned the Continental Line regiment at Paramus. Nearly three hundred militia men from various companies appeared at Paramus which caused the British to retreat back toward Hackensack and New York. Before they got to New Bridge, the militia tore up the planks on the New Bridge, delaying the British for about two hours. Many buildings were set on fire, but only the courthouse and two homes were completely destroyed. Fifty or sixty men were taken prisoner by the enemy, nearly every grown man. There were two American casualties: a boy, who had his teeth knocked out by a musket ball, and Captain Outwater, who was shot below the knee. Outwater refused to have the ball removed and was buried with it in 1823.
An eyewitness wrote that “the enemy had three or four waggons (sic) full of killed and wounded, their retreat was so precipitate, that when any of their dead and wounded fell off the waggons they did not tarry to take them up again.” The enemy forces had ten killed, seventeen wounded and eighteen missing.
Later that spring, General Clinton returned from Charleston. He was “furious” that Kynyphausen and been gulled into the “ill-timed…malapropos” action by the "ill-founded suggestion of a certain American governor and some other over-sanguine refugees.”
On the evening of March 22, 1780, 400 British, Hessian and loyalist troops left Manhattan, invaded Bergen County and burned Hackensack. This incursion was different than the foraging expeditions conducted in the past. This one was for revenge.
Prior to March 1780, the British commander, Henry Clinton, resisted loyalist pressure to go into Bergen County and capture known “rebels”. However, he left for the campaign in Charleston, South Carolina and put his command into the hands of General Knyuphausen, who was not so resistant.
By midnight on March 22, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan MacPherson of the 42nd Highlander Regiment had reached Little Ferry on the Hackensack River. Taking boats, the troops landed and surprised Hackensack in the early morning of the 23rd. He pushed quickly through the town and stopped at New Bridge, intercepting anyone trying to escape. The twenty or thirty men under Outwater’s command were asleep in barns, barracks and houses, and were caught off guard. The enemy was under orders to attack every house pointed out by loyalist guides, and apprehend every man they found. Moving quickly, they smashed windows, and burned and looted homes. There was little Outwater’s men could do to prevent it.
It is said that Lieutenant Adam Boyd, of Outwater’s Militia, arose with the noise outside his home and mistook it for some friends. “What’s the matter, boys?” he asked while opening the upper half of his door. The reply was swift: “You damned rebel! We’ll show you what the matter is!” Boyd was fired upon as he ran to his back door pursued by several Hessians. He escaped capture, but his home was burned to the ground.
Outwater and his men rallied, got on horses and warned the Continental Line regiment at Paramus. Nearly three hundred militia men from various companies appeared at Paramus which caused the British to retreat back toward Hackensack and New York. Before they got to New Bridge, the militia tore up the planks on the New Bridge, delaying the British for about two hours. Many buildings were set on fire, but only the courthouse and two homes were completely destroyed. Fifty or sixty men were taken prisoner by the enemy, nearly every grown man. There were two American casualties: a boy, who had his teeth knocked out by a musket ball, and Captain Outwater, who was shot below the knee. Outwater refused to have the ball removed and was buried with it in 1823.
An eyewitness wrote that “the enemy had three or four waggons (sic) full of killed and wounded, their retreat was so precipitate, that when any of their dead and wounded fell off the waggons they did not tarry to take them up again.” The enemy forces had ten killed, seventeen wounded and eighteen missing.
Later that spring, General Clinton returned from Charleston. He was “furious” that Kynyphausen and been gulled into the “ill-timed…malapropos” action by the "ill-founded suggestion of a certain American governor and some other over-sanguine refugees.”
Outwater vs. raider with Gunboat
Later in the spring a more important engagement took place a few miles south of the Hackensack courthouse. A British gunboat had come up the Hackensack to Moonachie Point, "plundered the inhabitants and carried off about twenty head of cattle." Captain Outwater collected his militia, "the cattle was retaken [and] the British routed with the loss of seven men killed and one prisoner." John Lozier, of Pompton, was an American casualty, shot through the thigh with a musket ball. "To stop the great effusion of blood from the wound [Abraham Vreeland] tore up his . . . shirt, with which the wound was dressed. . . . Lozier did not recover entirely from his wound till near a year later." Vreeland carried him out of the salt marshes where the action occurred, first to the home of George Doremus, about eleven miles from Pompton, and after Lozier had somewhat improved, back to Pompton.
Outwater vs. Fort Lee blockhouse
The late spring of 1781 saw the whole force of the Bergen and Orange County militia in battle array for the only time during the war, in action against a Tory blockhouse at Fort Lee. About a hundred Refugees from New York City had occupied the old site of the fort and commenced to build a blockhouse there, moving back and forth across the Hudson in small boats under the protection of British warships. The move was a mistake. The time was long past when the patriot militia would sit idly by while Tories laid down a base for marauding at their very doors. Colonel Dey, with part of his forces, including Blanch's and Huyler's companies, tried to dislodge them by frontal attack on May 15, 1781, and failed. Three days later the colonel, with Major Goetschius, brought down upon the blockhouse the whole patriot military force of the Hackensack valley, several hundred men. John A. Haring recalled after the war that "it was the only occasion during the whole of his service that Colonel Dey or Major Goetschius was in personal command of declarant. There were several skirmishes and a considerable number were wounded and taken prisoner on both sides 'till at last we dislodged them," General Heath to Washington, March 14, 1781, GW Papers LC.
The "London Trade"
There was little official fighting after Yorktown, but Tory and refugee raids into the Hackensack valley continued, and the illicit trade through the lines became bolder and bolder. Single farmers no longer carried a few pounds of butter to New York and a basket of salt back, commercial traders-both friend and foe now called them "London traders"-brought salt up the Hackensack by the boatload and country produce back in the same quantity. Where once a farmer would drive a fat ox into New York by night, hiding it in the woods by day, by 1782 "herds of cattle [were] driven to the enemy from all quarters of this and the neighboring state," local people told the state authorities. The militia, they said, were "too weak and too much worn down with service and suffering" to help stop either the raids or the London traders. By the summer of 1782 it was clear enough that the war had been won so that local Tories and neutrals were busy fortifying themselves against an American victory. Unfortunately there were patriots willing to help. Captain Elias Romeyn of the Bergen County militia was tried and convicted by a court-martial for taking bribes from Tories along the Hackensack, after threatening that he would make Whigs sweat for complaining about him, and even the most hard-shelled Jersey Dutchmen knew the war was won when Fort Delancey was torn down and the hated Van Buskirks and their friends took ship for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
In March, 1783, word of the Treaty of Paris of January 20, 1783, reached America, and the war was officially ended.
In March, 1783, word of the Treaty of Paris of January 20, 1783, reached America, and the war was officially ended.
Outwater vs. London Traders
Abraham Vanderbeek, "being ordered out on the bank of the Hackensack River to watch and detect London traders, at which place he discovered a boat in the said river of which he informed . . . [Captain Outwater] . . . when Vanderbeek, his captain and another of his comrades went with all speed to capture the same, on coming to it, the men had deserted and left the boat with twelve live sheep, which they took as a prize, which boat they towed up the said river and had the prize condemned." At another time Vanderbeek learned that a boat "on board of which was a quantity of salt" was coming up the Hackensack River ". . . in possession of London traders." Outwater, Vanderbeek and a few others went in pursuit of it, "but before they could come up with her they were informed that she had landed her salt at a private house in the neighborhood." They went to the house, seized the salt, and again took their prize before Justice Jacob Terhune to be condemned. Afffidavit of Abraham Vanderbeek, Pension Records, S1130.46 Bergen Petition for providing for the Defense of the Frontier of the County, Nov. 8, 1782 NJSL.4T 5 NJA (2) 430. Romeyn's troops were at the time "doing guard duty, and also to prevent illicit trade carried on (by a party called London Traders) with the British in the City of New York." Afffidavit of Abraham 1. Brouwer, Pension Records, V~37o7. 48 Almost two centuries later many of the most distinguished families of Canada proudly bear Hackensack valley Dutch names. See e.g. Wertenbaker, Father Knickerbocker, Chap 1l; Fraser, passim; LYT NYPL, passim; Blauvelt, Banta, Demarest, Ryerson, and other gcnealogies.49 Tory plundering parties were active almost to the day when the news arrived. "Near the close of the said war and but a short time before the news of peace arrived, a company consisting of thirty or forty men, under the command of Capt. John M. Hogenkamp composed of men of different companies, of whom the said John I. Blauvelt was one, marched into the state of New Jersey to a place called English Neighborhood, and not expecting to meet with an enemy, as peace was expected and it was thought that hostilities had ceased, was fired upon by a party of the British, Refugees and Tories, who lay in ambush, but fortunately all escaped unhurt but one man who was wounded in the knee and taken prisoner." Affidavit of John Blauvelt, Pension records W20721.
Suggested reading:
The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley, Adrian C. Leiby, Rutgers University Press, 1963.
The Revolutionary War in the Hackensack Valley, Adrian C. Leiby, Rutgers University Press, 1963.
Captain John Outwater and His Militia: Bergen County New Jersey 1776-1781, Robert J. Shanahan, Jr. 1981.