This month we present part two of the story of Ewing’s involvement in the Revolutionary War written by Ewing resident, historian and guest columnist Larry Kidder. -Helen Kull
By Larry Kidder
Last month we left the American army retreating dejectedly across New Jersey in November 1776 toward Trenton Township, today’s Ewing. Their situation was desperate and the troops were deeply demoralized due to battles lost in New York, a lack of proper clothing and equipment, and large numbers of state militiamen leaving the ranks as their five-month tour of duty expired on Dec. 1. During the first week of December, the Continental army retreated through Trenton and crossed the Delaware River to Bucks County making sure no boats were left behind that the British could use to follow them and attack the main target of Philadelphia.
It was also a time of chaos for the men of the First Hunterdon regiment who were torn between protecting their families and staying with their disheveled militia regiment. After doing what they could to secure their families and property from the advancing British and Hessian soldiers, a number of Capt. John Mott’s Trenton Township militiamen, including Joshua Furman, William R. Green and David Lanning, crossed to Bucks County and formed make-shift companies with officers such as Mott. Furman and Green lived in farms on the property of today’s College of New Jersey. David Lanning, worked as a cooper at Captain Mott’s grist mill.
During the next few weeks, the militiamen often crossed back into New Jersey to harass the Hessian troops the British had stationed at Trenton for the winter. They helped make life so miserable that a Hessian soldier wrote in his diary that, “We have not slept one night in peace since we came to this place.” Some militiamen may also have gathered intelligence about Hessian outposts and movement patterns.
When the time came to carry out his plan to make a surprise attack on Trenton on Dec. 26, Washington called on militiamen from the First Hunterdon Regiment who intimately knew the area between McConkey’s Ferry (today’s Washington Crossing) and Trenton to guide his army on its march. Because his army consisted of troops from outside New Jersey and they had to navigate dirt roads with no street lights or street signs on a dark and stormy night, Washington ordered each of his brigades to “be furnished with two good guides.”
Captain Mott was one of several First Hunterdon captains ordered to march men to McConkey’s Ferry from their camp at Yardley and provide guides. New Jersey militia General Philemon Dickinson wrote to Washington on Dec. 25 that he had sent men, including Captain Mott, to meet with several of the Continental generals. He assured Washington that Mott was “a man that may be relied upon in every respect.”
Militiaman George Muirheid of Hopewell recalled years later that Washington selected Mott’s cooper, David Lanning, as one of three men “to ride in plain dress some distance before the army, with instructions to inform him of anything they might discover along the road of importance.”
Lanning had been captured in Trenton several days before the crossing, possibly on a reconnaissance mission. He proved to be resourceful and took advantage of a distraction to his guards to escape and made his way to the house of a prominent Quaker who took him in. The next morning he escaped from Trenton disguised as an elderly wood cutter and got back across the river in time to serve as a guide to Trenton.
Some men from Trenton Township remained at Yardley, unable to cross due to the ice conditions in that area of the river. Other First Hunterdon men not chosen as guides crossed with the army at McConkey’s Ferry, informally joined Continental units and marched with them to Trenton.
It is abundantly clear that a number of men living in the area of today’s Ewing Township (and buried in the Ewing Church Cemetery) played significant roles in getting Washington’s army to Trenton through the very difficult conditions on that Christmas night in 1776 and helped him win the crucial Battle of Trenton that helped turn the tide of the Revolution and ultimately secure our liberty.
To learn more about the militiamen from today’s Ewing see Larry Kidder’s recent book, A People Harassed and Exhausted: The Story of a New Jersey Militia Regiment in the American Revolution available at the Mercer County Library or for purchase at several local locations and online at Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.)
