Belleville in the Revolutionary War

 

Many people may not be aware of what happened during the American Revolution, right here in “Second River” – our own Belleville township.

For example, did you know:

  • George Washington marched along River Road with 3500 troops, right through what is now known as Belleville?
  • That Main Street was a major thoroughfare for troop movements during the war?
  • That the Belleville Dutch Reformed Church was a hotbed of local patriot militia, an important outpost and scouting location, and key to the defense of the Passaic River against raiders and invading British forces?
  • The Schuyler copper mine was at the time, the largest copper supply operation in the country?
  • That a valiant defense was waged by local patriots pouring into Belleville from neighboring communities, weakening and delaying an overwhelming British invasion force heading into New Jersey?

 

Well known local historian and prolific author Anthony Buccino has kindly given me permission to use his excellent overview of Belleville’s part in the Revolutionary War here on NutleyWatch.com.

The information here is taken from his “Belleville in the American Revolution” document. The document is adapted from Anthony and Andrea’s book “Belleville Sons Honor Roll”, and is a collaborative work from several authors and local historians. A full copy of the handout is linked toward the end of this post.

I hope you enjoy this very interesting look at some of our rich local history.

Please share on social media, and spread our strong patriotic pride in our community.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

~ Griff

 

Update: Coincidentally, Anthony Buccino informed me that this morning, the Belleville Historical Commission and Belleville Historical Society designated the former Dutch Reformed Church as a historic landmark, and that substantial restoration work had been completed. That is some great timing there, guys!

 

 

Belleville (Second River) in the American Revolution

 

retreatroute1
It might be time for new signs.

 

 

The Retreat Across the Jerseys

It was the second year of the Revolution, and the Declaration of Independence was but a few months old. Washington’s reverses in New York were disheartening. The battle of Long Island was lost on Aug. 27, 1776. Fort Washington fell Nov. 16 and Washington crossed to Fort Lee.

Cornwallis followed over the Hudson, and the Continental army was ordered to abandon Fort Lee and to retreat to the Delaware, “over the Essex Hills.” Thus began the memorable “Retreat across the Jerseys” when the patriot army under General Washington and the pursuing British under General Lord Cornwallis marched through the region which we now call Nutley. Washington had hastened from Fort Lee to Hackensack. To reach Newark the Passaic River must be crossed. The only available bridge was at Acquackanonck (Passaic) and the village was rumored to be a “Tory hotbed.” A detachment was sent ahead to hold the bridge and to send on stores and ammunition to Morristown by way of Great Notch. Orders were given to destroy the bridge as soon as the army had crossed. The patriots approached with the British often so near that “the sound of their bugles was heard.” Over the rude wooden bridge they tramped and that evening or the next day a force from the neighborhood destroyed the bridge with axes and saws and burned the approaches.

Washington spent one anxious night at Acquackanonck, Nov. 21, 1776. The next day, the 22nd, with 3,500 men he started for Newark along the River Road (along the Passaic River through Second River, now known as Belleville). Near the northern limits of our area, his forces divided, one column to continue by the River Road, the other to go “over the hills” to Bloomfield. There one brigade remained for several days while another went on to Orange and thence to Newark. Washington spent six days in Newark and on Nov. 28th, proceeded to “Brunswic” (New Brunswick). His headquarters in Newark are uncertain.

 

Pursuit of the British

Cornwallis pursued in two divisions. One came from Hackensack to Rutherford, and crossed the Passaic at the ford where Delawanna now is, camping there for several days. The rest of the British army followed Washington through Lodi and Wallington to the bridge to find it destroyed and 3,000 men on guard. They turned and crossed above Passaic Falls. Cornwallis spent a week between Passaic and Newark, a week filled with carousals and revels and forages extending widely inland. He took the River Road to Newark. “Their advance guards were entering the town by the time our rear got out,” wrote Washington from “Brunswic.” Flight of the British in 1778

There was another flight of soldiery through this region in 1778, after the battle of Monmouth, when the British were running before the Americans to reach the Hudson. Skirmishes took place at Belleville and at the restored Acquackanonck Bridge, the red coats escaping across it in the darkness. (A marker at Mill Street in Belleville Park commemorates the skirmish in that area between Sept. 12 and 14, 1777.)

 

The Raiders and Refugees

While the British were in possession of New York and Staten Island, no part of Jersey suffered more from raids than the banks of the Passaic. Farms were stripped of crops, cattle and sheep were driven off, and the defenceless inhabitants on their scattered farms were wantonly murdered in defending their property. So great were the terror and sufferings of the people of this region that a guard of the State Militia was raised for the “Defense of the Frontiers.” There was a guard house at Belleville and Captain Speer’s company was stationed there. John Vreeland (grandfather of Mr. Warren Vreeland of Nutley) was a River Guard who rode up and down the river bank on the lookout for raiders, or “refugees” as they were also called, British, Hessian or Tory. He carried two huge brass-mounted pistols, one of which is now in Mr. Vreeland’s possession, marked, “J. V. 1776.” Though he often shot to frighten “raiders,” only once did the young soldier actually kill an invader across the river.

 

Captain Abraham Speer

The most striking figure that we can summon from dim colonial times in this farm and woodland region is the young Dutchman Abram Speer. He was the eldest of five sons of John Speer of Second River, who owned a large estate in the center of that village and who was a descendant of John Hendrick Speer, an original grantee near Hackensak and also one of the Acquackanonck patentees. Abram (or Abraham) came over Third River seeking a wife. He found her in the daughter of one Wouterse or Wouters who had a blacksmith shop at Povershon. He was commissioned Captain in the Second Essex Regiment on May 28, 1777, and stationed at Belleville with this company to “guard the river.” It was his father who from the church steeple shot the “refugee” across the Passaic.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF NUTLEY, Elizabeth Stow Brown, 1907

 

 

Skirmish of Second River

In September of 1777 there was an engagement which is most frequently referred to as the “Battle of Second River”. It is for this engagement that a memorial plaque has been erected in the park. The British intended to expand their invasion with a larger force in central Jersey. But first, they had to pass through Second River and beneath the old church tower.

Eyes in the tower saw the advance and sounded the alarm. Under the direction of Captains Hornblower, Joralemon, Rutgers and Rutan, a defense was prepared. Skirmishes went on for two days. It began with an artillery barrage of our town followed by musket and cannon battles in the streets.

Sending for reinforcements, the American troops valiantly held their ground and managed to damage British General Sir Henry Clinton’s hilltop headquarters with a direct hit from a cannonball, which happened to be on what is now Franklin Ave. September 14th turned into an all-day pitched battle.

With patriot reinforcements pouring in from neighboring communities, front lines eventually took shape near to Mill Street and Union Avenue. The British forces, overwhelming in numbers, eventually broke through. But once again, the local militia had succeeded in delaying the advance and weakening the invading army.

A skirmish was recorded on Jan. 27, 1777, between British foraging party and large body of rebels, according to Battles and Skirmishes in New Jersey. That source says that on June 1, 1779, the militia captured a Tory named Lawrence as he enlists men for the British Army.

A large boulder also rests at the fork in the road between Union and Franklin Avenues on Mill Street as a landmark to mark the spot where the final shots of the Battle of the Second River were fired. A bronze plaque was placed on the rock in 1932.

Sources: Norman Price, Village of Second River author; Michael Perrone, Dave Hinrichs, The Belleville Times.
David C. Munn, Battles and Skirmishes of the American Revolution in New Jersey.

 

 

Dutch Reformed Church

Belleville, the old Village of Second River, was a hot-bed of patriot activity, not to mention the processing center for the Schuyler copper mine, then the largest copper supply in the country. In addition, Main Street was a major thoroughfare for troop movements going south to Monmouth, Princeton or Trenton, which must pass below the old Dutch church tower. We were high on the British “watch list”. Much attention was focused on our activities.

In our defense, the Second Essex Regiment, mainly men of the village, was charged with the task of defending the road, the river, the village and the tunnel to the mine. No easy chore was that. British troops were stationed across the river in Arlington watching the mine entrance. Homes along the river were within musket-shot range of British patrols along the Passaic. Going to the barn to milk a cow or fetching water from the well were life-threatening activities for local citizens. But watchmen and snipers stood guard in the old church tower and the guardhouse at the church had “minutemen” at-the-ready.

The old church tower served the patriot’s cause on numerous occasions. Several clashes of troupes occurred within sight of the tower, including the Battle of Second River. History tends to blur these various military actions into a single “Battle of Second River”, but it appears that there were several.

After the battle at Fort Lee, General Washington was in full retreat, trying to save what was left of his army. British General Howe was in hot pursuit, intent upon Washington’s capture and ending the Revolutionary War right here. But the militia men of Second River, together with the Second Essex Regiment and rear-guard detachments from Washington’s army were not going to let the war end in defeat here on our turf.

Source: Norman Price, Village of Second River author.

 

 

Sixty-five American Revolution veterans are interred in Belleville. It could be that no other town in the United States can make such a claim. The Rutgers buried here are related to Col. Henry Rutgers, whom Rutgers University is named after. George Washington’s army passed through Second River on its retreat from New York on November 22, 1776.

Soldiers of the New Jersey Second Essex regiments were posted here during the Revolution to watch for an English invasion from New York. Skirmishes occurred in 1779 and another in 1780. The American detachment that guarded Belleville or Second River was part of Jersey Militia raised for the “defense of the frontiers”. Its commander was Abraham Speer, a native of Second River who was commissioned Captain in the Second Essex Regiment on May 28, 1777. Speer’s guardhouse was near the ferry across the Passaic. Here was the spot most in need of defense against a possible surprise attack on Second River. Washington’s army retreating from Fort Lee crossed the Passaic River at Passaic and then proceeded down the west coast of the Passaic, knowing that the Americans at Second River would protect him.

He spent the night of Nov. 22, 1775, in Second River (Belleville) and then proceeded to Newark and points south. The British, under the leadership of General Cornwallis, was forced to stay on the east side of the Passaic and never did catch Washington. A watch was maintained in the belfry of the Dutch Reformed Church.

At the first sign of the enemy’s approach, an old mortar would be fired to rally the residents against attack. Watchfulness had to be doubled in winter due to the river freezing and they could walk across.

Colonel Philip Van Cortlandt commanded a New Jersey regiment in the Revolution. Minard Coeyman served under him.

Sources: Norman Price, Village of Second River author; Michael Perrone, Belleville Historical Society.

 

 

Philip Van Courtlandt

A hero of the Battle of Saratoga, Van Courtlandt served in Poor’s Brigade as Colonel of the 2nd and Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th New York Regiments. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1783. The son of Pierre Van Courtlandt of Courtlandt Manor in New York, and the husband of Catherine Ogden, whom he wed in 1762. The long-lived officer’s name was inadvertently omitted from the church plaque honoring the Revolutionary War veterans interred in Belleville’s Dutch Reformed Church Yard because he did not serve in a local regiment.

Birth: Unknown – d. November 5, 1831; American General, Revolutionary War.
Burial: Belleville Dutch Reformed Churchyard, Belleville, N.J. Plot: Van Courtlandt Crypt.
Source: Find A Grave; Bio by: Nikita Barlow.

 

Van Cortlandt

Stephen Van Cortlandt spied a British patrol coming across the Passaic River on the ice. He rounded up the half a dozen militiamen that were in the village at that time. They hid among the thick cedars near the river bank and made such a din that the invaders thought there was a whole army after them and retreated to the other side of the river. It is said that the Van Cortlandts could not draw water from their well without being shot at by the British on the other side of the river.

 

Van Riper

Cornelius Van Riper was a blacksmith whose shop was the place where slugs of iron were prepared in the absence of ball, having exhausted his supply of iron suited to this kind of shooting, he surrendered to the gunners first his hammer and then his sledge to be used in place of ball. The British discovering the kind of shot used, were heard to call out loudly to their comrades, “Get out of the way for God’s sake, before they send us the anvil.”

 

Speer

Captain Abraham Speer commanded the Second Essex Regiment that was stationed here at Second River. John Speer, the captain’s brother, was a look-out in the Reformed Church belfry when he spied a British officer across the river. He shot him and kept his watch and the brass buttons from his coat. On an occasion Captain Speer was informed just before daybreak five horses had been driven off by a party of refugee Tories. Speer, with two Vreelands and several other men, followed the tracks to the Hackensack. While considering whether they should continue into enemy territory, they spotted a rider farther upstream. One of the Vreelands fired and dropped the man, whereupon several other men, who had been hiding on the opposite bank, broke shelter and fled. The riderless horses neighed loudly and were answered from a thicket where the Second River men found the other horses.

 

Cadmus

Second River had its own female heroine in the wife of Peter Cadmus. A party of redcoats approached her homestead. She saw them coming so hid her two children in a large oven built in the side of the fireplace – admonishing them to keep very quiet. When she refused to give the British any food and wouldn’t tell them where the men were, the angry officer plunged his sword in her side. When the Cadmus brothers came home they found her bleeding heavily. The children heard their voices and came out of hiding. Mrs. Cadmus eventually recovered.

 

James Kidney

Captain James Kidney, Captain Henry Joralemon, Halmark Joralemon and Jacob Garland on a dark and winter night caught the British relaxing at a school house dance in Bergen Heights. They selected the highest ranking officer and a loyalist refugee and bundled them off to a waiting sleigh and brought them back to Second River (Belleville). For several generations the Joralemons proudly exhibited the silver-belted sword of the captured officer. Richard Kidney’s home near Smallwood Avenue for years had holes in his front door made by British bullets.

 

Rutgers

Anthony Rutgers was an artillery captain. He had six children and his eldest son Anthony constructed the first bridge over the Passaic River. Gerard and Robert Rutgers were both colonels. Col. Henry Rutgers, after whom Rutgers University was named, was a colonel and fought in the battle of Long Island. Harmon Rutgers was killed in the battle of Long Island on Aug. 27, 1776.

 

Hornblower

Josiah Hornblower at the time of the Revolution had acquired considerable property, was the father of a large family and had become a justice of the peace. He was an ardent patriot, and though too old to carry arms himself, he served the Revolutionary cause with advice, financial aid an as a member of the Provincial Assembly. He brought the first steam engine over to America in 1753 to pump the water out of Scuyler Mine. The British regarded Hornblower as a very dangerous man, and several times he barely escaped arrest. It was small wonder that he watched prudently from his porch as a rather large party of men were being ferried across the Passaic River by Robert Kip, his son-in-law. At first the score of strangers seemed inoffensive enough of Kip. They were dressed as farm laborers, and had a plausible reason for crossing. But in the middle of the stream they pulled pistols from under their greatcoats, primed them and got ready for action. Kip kept his peace until the ferry was near enough to the shore so that Hornblower, still seated on the porch, would hear his call. Then he dropped his oars overboard, rose to his feet, and shouted, “Father, the British!” History holds no record of what the British did to Kip. Hornblower had flown and his daughter, Kip’s wife, had been able to hide the family silver. The enemy searched and set fire to the house, but rain and neighbors extinguished the blaze before much damage was done.

 

Adapted from
BELLEVILLE SONS HONOR ROLL
Remembering the Men Who Paid For Our Freedom
Copyright © 2004, 2008 by Anthony Buccino and Andrea Buccino

 

Here is a link to the full PDF handout:

Belleville in the American Revolution

 

 

For further reading:

 

Belleville’s Part in the Revolutionary War, written by Mike Perrone

Revolutionary War Sites in Belleville NJ

10 things you didn’t know about the American Revolution in N.J.

 

 

About Anthony Buccino:

 

http://www.anthonybuccino.com/

http://www.bellevillesons.com/

 

 

 

About Griff 321 Articles
Lee "Griff" Dorry - Founder, watchdog, and public advocate. ♫ They've got strings, but you can see, there are no strings on me. ♫

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