Revolutionary Events at Bordentown.—Joseph Bonaparte.—General Dickinson.—Trenton.
Count Donop, was stationed at the time of the battle at Trenton. One of the several expeditions sent out from Philadelphia by the enemy, in the spring of 1778, was for the purpose of destroying vessels which were lying in Barnes's and Crosswicks Creeks at this place. Six or seven hundred troops left Philadelphia about ten in the evening on the 7th of May, and went up the Delaware in a flotilla consisting of two row-galleys, three other armed vessels, and twenty-four flat-bottomed boats. They had fair winds for ten miles of the way, * when a calm ensued, and they were obliged to row the remainder of the distance. They expected to reach Bordentown and perform their destructive work before dawn, but they did not arrive there until late in the forenoon. Before landing, they burned two frigates at the White Hills, a little below the village, and afterward destroyed several smaller vessels. They landed without much opposition, burned the residence of Joseph Borden, committed some petty malicious trespasses, and then re-embarked. The next day they proceeded up the river as far as Bile's Island, intending to make a descent upon Trenton; but General Dickinson, ** and the troops under his command, gave them such a warm reception, that they hastily turned their prows southward. On their way down they landed at Colonel Kirk-bride's farm, on the Pennsylvania side, burned his buildings, and seized considerable property. A party of militia, whom General Dickinson sent down the river, succeeded in capturing a sloop which the enemy had filled with plunder, and took prisoners six men who were on board. The marauders returned to Philadelphia with very little booty, and not a particle of glory. ***
At Bordentown, from 1816 until 1842, Joseph Bonaparte, the ex-king of Spain, and brother of Napoleon, resided. His park and grounds comprised about fifteen hundred acres of land, which his taste and well-directed expenditure of money redeemed from almost barrenness, and made beautiful. His mansion was enriched with the most exquisite works of art in painting and sculpture, for the gratification of himself and friends; and while he was ever willing to display these for the pleasure of the poor, his hand was open to their wants.
The sun was vailed, at its setting, when I arrived at Trenton, **** by an ominous red vapor that betokened a storm. True to the "sign," the morning following was lowery, and a chilly east wind made sketching in the open air any thing but pleasant. I was busy with my pencil until the rain began to fall at noon. At two o'clock the sun peeped out for a moment, and smiled so pleasantly (yet deceptively) that I ordered my horse, and, accompa-
* The distance from Philadelphia to Bordentown is twenty-six miles.
** Philemon Dickinson was a gallant officer of the Revolution. He was a Whig of the truest dye, and entered the Revolutionary army at the outset of the contest. Although possessed of an ample fortune, he cheerfully hazarded it for the good of his country, preferring poverty with liberty, to wealth with slavery. He was at the head of the Jersey militia in the battle of Monmouth, where he displayed the greatest bravery. He was a member of Congress from his state after the establishment of the present Federal government, and in various civil and military stations he discharged his duty faithfully. Twelve years of the latter part of his life were passed in domestic retirement at his seat near Trenton, where he died on the 4th of February, 1809, at the age of sixty-eight years.
*** Howe, in the Historical Collections of New Jersey, page 101, records one or two incidents of this incursion which were related to him by a person who was a resident there at the time. He said the British officers dined at the house of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who, with his family, was absent at the time. A young lady, eighteen years old, named Mary Comely, provided the dinner for them. While they were dining, she was informed that the soldiers were robbing the houses of her mother and grandmother, on the opposite side of the street. She went in, and stealthily cut a piece from the skirt of one of the soldiers' coats. This she handed to the commander, and by it he detected the thief. By this means the property of her relations and some neighbors was restored. A Whig, in order to save his property, slew a sheep, and made a good dinner for the soldiers; but, before the meal was ready, the bugle sounded for the troops to form in line. The dinner was partaken of by Colonel Baylor and his light horse, who arrived toward evening.
**** Trenton is the capital of New Jersey, situated upon the east bank of the Delaware, at the Falls, thirty miles from Philadelphia. The first settlements were made by Quakers, on both sides of the river, about 1679. The region in the vicinity of the Falls was called by the Delaware Indians, Sankhican, a name signifying gun or firelock, from the circumstance that a tribe of Mohawks, who used guns, occupied that spot. A purchase of a large tract of land lying on both sides of the Assanpink was made by Colonel William Trent, of Philadelphia, in 1714, and from him Trent Town or Trenton derives its name.
M'Conkey's Ferry, where Washington crossed the Delaware.—Long Bridge.—Capture of Forts Washington and Lee.
nied by the Honorable G. W. Smyth, of Belvidere, started for M'Conkey's Ferry (now Taylorsville), eight miles above Trenton, the place where