By Larry Kidder
Ewing can be quite proud of its role with respect to “liberty” as the year-long celebration of New Jersey’s 350th comes to a close. Ewing resident, historian and guest columnist Larry Kidder provides the details in this month’s Ewing Then and Now column. –Helen Kull.
When the American Revolution broke out, today’s Ewing Township in Mercer County was the rural area of what was then Trenton Township in Hunterdon County. Men supporting the Revolution took over the government from royal authorities and set up a system to fight for independence.
The militia law passed by these rebels, who first protested British laws and then fought for independence, required every physically and mentally capable man between the ages of 16 and 50 to provide himself with the necessary military equipment and sign up with his local militia company.
Trenton (including today’s Ewing), Hopewell, and Maidenhead (Lawrence) townships formed the First Hunterdon County militia regiment. Men living in what is now Ewing signed into Captain Robert Hoops’ and Lieutenant John Mott’s company. Mott owned a good sized grist mill complex on land that is now part of the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital. After Captain Hoops was appointed Brigade Major for a state militia regiment formed in June 1776, Mott became captain of the company.
June 1776 was a frightening time for the people of New Jersey. A large British army was expected to invade New York City and set up their military headquarters. British and Hessian soldiers began to occupy Staten Island on June 30, and from that time until the end of the war in 1783, New Jersey was threatened with attack from across the Arthur Kill. The Continental Army’s first priority was defending New York City, and state militia regiments were created to help defend it.
Because so many New Jersey militiamen were in New York, General Washington organized what he called the Flying Camp to defend the state. To be composed of militiamen from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland and stationed in eastern New Jersey, this Flying Camp was to defend against attacks from Staten Island, to provide reinforcements if needed for New York, and to defend against any British effort to march across the state to attack Philadelphia.
However, the organization plan for the Flying Camp failed and New Jersey militiamen ended up providing much of the manpower for it. This included militiamen from the western part of the state and Captain John Mott’s Company.
The Flying Camp law instituted a rotating duty system with each regiment and company divided into two equal halves, so that the militiamen were out on duty every other month.
So, Captain Mott was out every other month, but his company consisted of half his regular men and half of men from another company. Half of the militiamen from Trenton Township were out one month and the other half the next month.
For each month on duty, Mott and his men had to march clear across the state to posts that had been established opposite Staten Island between Elizabeth and Perth Amboy. Their one-month tours of duty did not include their travel time coming or going.
Most of Mott’s men were farmers, and they were not happy about being called away from home in the summer and fall when it was time to harvest vital crops such as hay and wheat. To minimize the impact, some sons substituted for their fathers or, if apprentices, for their masters. Others hired themselves out as substitutes for men who didn’t want to serve for various reasons, including farming. A man could also pay a fine in order to stay home to farm.
That fall proved to be among “the times that tried men’s souls” because of frequent militia duty and the terrible defeats the Continental army experienced in New York. The army found itself, along with the Flying Camp militia, retreating through New Jersey in November 1776 towards Trenton Township, with the British and Hessians close behind.
Next month we will see how the militiamen from today’s Ewing helped turn things around during the Ten Crucial Days of 1776.
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