From Historic Houses of New Jersey by W. Jay Mills, 1902
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
ONLY a few rods north of the point
where the road from Somerville
to Raritan crosses the tracks of
the Central Railroad is a large
and peaceful-looking frame dwelling. It was erected in the spring
of 1778, by William Wallace, a
gentleman of fortune, and was in its day considered almost palatial for that section of the
country. In the following memorable winter and spring
it was selected by General Washington as a head-quarters
for himself and family. Undoubtedly it was fortunate
for his country that Washington came there that winter
of 1778, and did not heed the urgent advice of friends
to give up active service in the Jerseys for the comforts
of Philadelphia. A brilliant move in the chess game of
the Revolution would most likely have been spoiled had
he chosen otherwise.
In an unpublished letter, written by General Greene
to Major More Furman, dated Bound Brook, December 2, 1778, we obtain a glimpse of the inner workings of the army and the great chief's coming.
He says:
I am sorry to find our prospect of forage is very indifferent; however, we must do the best we can. A supply must be had by one
means or other. If we are obliged to draw forage at a greater distance
we must, and use the more industry. I believe we shall put directly in
back of Bound Brook, below the mountain. I am only waiting for His
Excellency's approbation, who is expected at this place to-morrow.
His excellency arrived and did approve, and shortly
afterwards his "lady"joined him at the Wallace House.
She, too, must have been pleased with the things more in
her own sphere, – the comfort of the house then nearing
completion, its large rooms and pleasant furnishings.
Later we read of the general obtaining from New Brunswick a table-service of queensware, that frail and aristocratic product of Wedgewood's skill, and six silver candlesticks. General Greene's foraging expedition grew
more and more successful to require such luxuries for
the table appointments.
The old set of Wedgewood, found through the help
of Lady Stirling, would tell us many interesting tales if
it were in existence and could speak. We would hear
of General and Mrs. Knox and their friendly squabbles,
– for both were very fleshy, and tradition says Mrs.
Knox always wanted to be thought smaller than her
jolly husband; of the then "brave" Benedict Arnold,
who ate from them, dreaming of the beautiful face of
his fiancee, Miss Shippen, at her father's great house
in Philadelphia; of gray-eyed Mrs. Greene, who must
have often neglected her viands, served on them, in her efforts to rival young Alexander Hamilton at brilliant
repartee, and many others in a list too long to
enumerate.
Social intercourse abounded in the military community
scattered over the Raritan Valley that winter. The Van
der Veer Mansion, at Pluckamin, surrounded by "the
whole park of artillery," the head-quarters of General
Knox; the Van Veghten House, near what is now Finderne,the head-quarters of General Greene; and the Staats
House, at Bound Brook, the head-quarters of Baron Steuben, all opened their portals to the flower of the army
which met so often at the Wallace House. Many were
the impromptu dances after Mrs. Washington's stately
dinners. What a delight the winding Wallace staircase, overlooking the wide hall, was to flirting couples!
We can imagine the cherubic Miss Ricketts, a friend
of General Livingston's daughter, ogling over its thin
balustrade in true Juliet fashion at brave Captain Lilly,
who was Mrs. Knox's pet Beau Brummel, and that
"lovely little hussy," Miss Sallie Winslow, of Boston,
one of the young ladies she had in charge, frolicking
about the rooms in a wild manner, disturbing the placid
Mrs. Washington and many of the company. Perhaps
the most interesting and notable social event occurring during the time Washington occupied the Wallace
House as his head-quarters was the celebration in honor
of the anniversary of the French alliance. It was given
at Pluckamin, by the officers of the army, under direction of General Knox. That pompous and always seem-
ingly satisfied gentleman wrote to his brother, ten days
after it was over:
We had at the Park on the eighteenth a most genteel entertainment, given by self and officers. Everybody allows it to be the first of
the kind ever exhibited in this State at least. We had about seventy
ladies, all of the first, too, in the State. We danced all night ; between
three and four hundred gentlemen; an elegant room. The illuminating
fireworks, etc., were more than pretty.
The fete should really have occurred on the sixth of
the month, but was delayed until the eighteenth by
Washington's absence in Philadelphia. It was attended
by all the army officers in that part of the country, the
Jersey gentry, and many prominent persons from other
States, who dared the dangers of travelling in that period.
A large temple or pavilion was erected, supported by thirteen adorned arches, to represent the thirteen States. In
front of it in the evening, and before the dancing com-
menced, Colonel Stevens showed his original talent for
entertaining by giving exhibitions of fireworks. General Washington arrived at the pleasure-ground early
in the afternoon. He was soon followed by the ladies
of the Wallace House, a body comprising some of
the finest of that " circle of brilliants," the least of which,
according to an old-time society reporter from the Pennsylvania Packet, was more valuable than the stone the
king of Portugal secured for his Brazilian possessions.
First came Mrs. Washington, in a coach drawn by
four horses, accompanied by the fabulously rich Henry
Laurens, of South Carolina, the former president of
Congress. Then several coaches bearing bevies of lovliness in the persons of the governor's daughters, several
young ladies from Virginia visiting Mrs. Washington,
the wives of prominent officers, and presumably Lady
Stirling, with her charming daughter Kitty, the latter
in delightful anticipation of the coming meeting with
her handsome and distinguished lover, William Duer,
ex-member of Congress from New York. After all the
guests had arrived, the celebration was inaugurated by
the discharge of thirteen cannon. Then followed a
sumptuous dinner, after which fireworks were displayed,
and the company repaired to the military academy,
where, to the music of a large number of fiddlers, they
danced till dawnlight. General Washington opened the
ball with Mrs. Knox, and a very imposing couple they
must have made. The same reporter, who compared
the lovely ladies of the Washington circle to "a circle
of brilliants," gives us a glimpse of how the belles and
gallants acted in the ball-room in one of those very real
descriptions which sometimes flash forth upon the antiquary from dry columns of old newspapers and equally
dry chronicles in old letters. He says:
As it is too late in the day for me to follow the windings of a fiddle,
I contented myself with the conversation of some one or other of the
ladies during the interval of dancing. I was particularly amused with
the lively sallies of a Miss ––. Asking her if the roaring of the
British lion, in his late speech, did not interrupt the spirit of the dance
'Not at all,' said she; 'it rather enlivens, for I have heard that such
animals always increase their howlings when most frightened. And do
you not think, you who should know more than young girls, that he was
real cause of apprehension from the large armaments and honorable purpose of the Spaniards?' 'So,' said I, 'you suppose that the King of
Spain acts in politics as the ladies do in affairs of love, smile in a man'
face, while they are spreading out the net which is to entangle him for
life.' 'At what season,' replied the fair, with a glance of ineffable archness, 'do men lose the power of paying such compliments?
I do not recollect that I have ever been more pleased on any occasion, or in so large a company. There could not have been less than
sixty ladies. Their charms were of that kind which give a proper determination to the spirits and permanency to the affections. More than
once I imagined myself in a circle of Samnites, where beauty and fidelity
were made subservient to the interest of the State and reserved for such
citizens as had distinguished themselves in battle. Is it that the women
of Jersey, by holding the space between two large cities, have continued
exempt from the corruption of either, and preserved a purity of manners
superior to both? Or have I paid too great attention to their charms
and too little to those imperfections which observers tell us are the natural
growth of every soil?
If a gentleman of Pennsylvania could thus eulogize
the fair women of Jersey, what must their own statesmen
have thought of them? It is safe to say that many a
heart was lost that gala night to those "charms which
give a proper determination to the spirits." Many arms
were linked closer after the candles burned low and
the ball was over and the guests came out in the
cool night air, sweet with the odor of spring-touched
woods.
We must leave them there with their stately good-bys, and perhaps sly kisses behind fur-tippets for those
youthful ones who sought the protecting shadows of
the columns of the thirteen States, and follow the Father
of his Country as he and his aids tuck some of the
sleepy jewels into their coaches. Now the coachmen
crack their whips, the horses start, and over the Somerset highway they fly with only the fading stars to light
them to the Wallace House. It is still standing at the
turn of the road as they found it then. The quaint interior has been restored by the patriotic men and women
of New Jersey, and that company of the long ago would
know it if they came trooping back to-day. In the
hall which echoed to the tread of so many heroes the
presence of the immortal Washington still lingers, and
on the old stairway one pauses to hear the laughter of
the "cherubic Ricketts."
