DURING that memorable European conflict, the end of which virtually eclipsed forever the dazzling French military meteor, the great Napoleon, little Belgium was the chief battle ground. Some forty years before Waterloo was fought, "little Jersey" was the Belgium of the Anglo-American conflict. Saying nothing of the battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth, here for seven long years was carried on no end of distressing and devastating skirmishing and foraging. No section of the state suffered more from the terrible ravages of war than Newark and its neighboring communities. Here was the Belgium within the Belgium. Indeed, the country in this vicinity fared infinitely worse than the vicinages of any of the noted battle-grounds. When the war broke out Newark and Elizabeth were flourishing places, the homes of thrifty and even wealthy families. The numerous farms were well stocked with horses, cattle, poultry and garden produce. To the troops of King George stationed in New York, where was there a more inviting and convenient raiding and foraging ground than this section ? That they appreciated its excellence in this respect, is abundantly susceptible of proof. Nor was it alone the British troops who paid wolfish attentions hereabout. Thieves and plunderers, in the garb of the scarlet-coated soldiery, vied with the latter in lawless diablerie. The outrages to which the inhabitants were subjected during the war have never been fully described. Indeed, the records are preserved of but very few examples. Among the noteworthy occurrences of the period, those giving a fair insight into the times, the manners, and the character of the men and women of the Revolutionary period, are the following:

The evening of January 25th, 1780, was marked in Newark and Elizabethtown by exhibitions of wanton cruelty and malevolence on the part of the British soldiers. It was a bitter cold night, as may be judged from the fact that the North River was frozen solidly, so that a regiment of five hundred red-coats, under command of Major Lumm, crossed over on the ice from New York to Jersey City then called Paulus Hook-and marched out to Newark. On the same night there crossed over on the ice from Staten Island to Elizabethtown a smaller company of the enemy's troops, sent on the same errand -plunder and persecution. After committing all sorts of depredations, the least of which were robberies of barns and private dwellings, Lumm's party set fire to the Academy, a fine two-story stone building located on the Upper Green, now Washington Park, close to Washington Place and Broad street. Meanwhile their colleagues conducted themselves similarly in Elizabeth, concluding their proceedings by applying the torch to the First Presbyterian Church of that place. The flames of this memorable structure illuminated the horizon for miles around, and alarmed the Lumm soldiers, who, probably, mistook the fire for a movement of the Americans. At all events they beat a hasty retreat from Newark.

As they left the town, they vented their malignity on one of the most prominent patriots of the place, Justice Joseph Hedden, Jr. This gentleman came of a family noted for courage and firmness. His father, Joseph Hedden, senior, who lived to be ninety-six years of age, was wont to speak with pride of the fact that he had eight sons in the service of the country during the long battle for freedom. His son, Joseph, was a man of great nerve. By the proceedings of the State Council of Safety, we find that Mr. Hedden was chosen "Commissioner for the County of Essex for signing and inventorying the Estates and Effects of persons gone over to the Enemy." He was chosen in place of Isaac Dodd, "who refuses to act." The position, as may readily be imagined, was one that demanded in its occupant absolute fearlessness and firmness. So well had Mr. Hedden fulfilled his duties, that he was pointed out by the persons who had "gone over to the enemy," as a Newarker worthy of the bitterest persecution. On the night of the twenty-fifth he happened to be at home - a rather rare family treat for an active patriot at the particular period we write of. As it was, but for illness Hedden would probably not have been home. His house stood on Broad street, near what is now Lombardy street, facing the " Upper Common," (Washington Park.) His married sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Roberts, lived on the other side of the "Common," about where the Second Presbyterian Church now stands. She saw the Academy ablaze, but no one dared attempt to quench the flames, even if a single bucket of water could have saved the building. Some one told her that the British were carrying off her brother. Over she ran, and entered the Hedden house by one door, as the soldiers were dragging her brother out by another. They had forced him from his sick-bed. Mrs. Hedden was in her night-dress, which was stained with blood. It appears the soldiers - whether from sheer brutality, or eagerness to get on the retreat, will never be known - essayed to drag Mr. Hedden into the street with nothing but his night-clothes on. In her efforts to prevent this, and to get her husband properly clothed, Mrs. Hedden braved the bayonets of the cruel soldiers, and was severely but not dangerously wounded in several places. Such was her noble anxiety for her husband, that she did not know she was wounded until her attention was drawn to her blood-stained garment by Mrs. Roberts. Meanwhile, the soldiers, with Mr. Hedden and other captives, started on the retreat, taking the route down what is now Centre street, and along River street to the old Ferry Road, (now the Plank Road.) While passing the Bruen property - the same which now forms the junction of Market and Commerce streets - Eleazar Bruen is said to have passed to Mr. Hedden a blanket. The prisoner was marched, at the point of the bayonet, to Paulus Hook, and thence, across the ice, to New York, where he was thrown into the Sugar House. Here he was kept a considerable time. In consequence of his terrible exposure and hardships on the night of the incursion, and of the cruel treatment he received in the Sugar House, Mr. Hedden's limbs mortified, and, when it was apparent that he could not live long, his friends were notified, and his brothers, David and Simon, were permitted to remove him to Newark. Hither he was brought and tenderly cared for, but to the effect only of softening his sufferings before death. He died on the twenty-seventh of September. His remains were interred in the old Burying Ground, but exactly where, a grateful and appreciative posterity has not yet taken pains to indicate. Upon Judge Hedden's grave-stone-the whereabouts or existence of which constitutes matter of conjecture-was cut the following inscription:

It is a no less curious than amusing fact that this "father of a host," immediately upon rising every morning, and before dressing, took a generous draught of pure Jersey distilled liquor.

The royal version of the incursions described appeared a few days afterwards, in Rivington's Royal Gazette, published in New York, January 29th, and ran as follows:

On Tuesday night the 25th instant, the rebel press at Elizabethtown were completely surprised and carried off by different detachments of the King's troops.

Lieut. Col. Buskirk's detachiinent-consisting of about 120 men from the 1st and 4th battalions of Brigadier General Skinner's brigade, with 12 dragoons under command of Lieutenant Stuart-moved from Staten Island early in the night, and got into Elizabethtown without being discovered between the hours of 10 and 11. With little resistance they made prisoners: 2 majors, 3 captains and 47 privates, among whom were 5 dragoons, with their horses, arms and accoutrements. Few of the rebels were killed, but several were wounded by the dragoons, though they afterwards escaped.

Major Lumm, of the 44th Regiment, marched from Powles Hook about S at night, having under his command the flank companies of that regiment, with detachments from the 42nd Anspach and Hessian corps in garrison in this city, and passing the rebel patrols on the banks of the Passaic, reached the town of Newark unperceived by the enemy, about an hour later than Col. Buskirk's arrival at Elizabethtown. Small parties were instantly posted to guard the principal avenues to the town, and Major Lumm seized possession of the Academy which the rebels had converted into a barrack. A momentary defence being attempted seven or eight of the enemy were killed. The remainder, consisting of 34 non-commissioned officers and private men, were taken prisoners as were likewise a rebel magistrate remarkable for his persecuting spirit, and another inhabitant. The Captain who commanded in Newark made his escape. The Lieut. is said to be killed.

The services were performed without loss. The following are the names of some of the rebel officers brought to town on Tuesday last, from Newark: Joseph Haddon, a magistrate and commissioner for the loyalists estates in New Jersey; Mr. Robert Natt, an acting commissary. From Elizabethtown : Maj. Eccles, of the 5th Maryland regiment; Col. Bett, of the 4th Regiment, from Prince George Co.; Mr. B. Smith, son of Peartise Smith; Maj. Williamson and his brother.

The operations of the Lumm and Buskirk commands appear to have been simply of a piece with the practices which had been carried on for years by the officers and soldiers in the service of King George. Writing from Newark, on the 12th of March, 1777, a few months after the battle of Princeton, a highly respected citizen gave the following report of the local situation to Rev. William Gordon, the Congregationalist minister at Roxbury, Massachusetts:

The ravages committed by the British tyrant's troops in these parts of the country are beyond description. Their footsteps are marked with desolation and ruin of every kind. The murders, ravishments, robbery, and insults they were guilty of are dreadful. When I returned to the town, it looked more like a scene of ruin than a pleasant, well-cultivated village. One Thomas Haves, as peaceable and inoffensive a man as is in this State, was unprovokingly murdered by one of their negroes, who ran him through the body with his sword. He also cut and slashed his (Hayes') aged uncle in the same house, in such a manner that he has not yet recovered from his wounds. Three women of the town were basely ravished by them, and one of them was a woman of near seventy years of age. Various others were assaulted by them, who happily escaped their lewd purposes. Yea, not only the common soldiers, but officers went about the town by night, in gangs, and forcibly entered into houses, openly inquiring for women. As to plundering, whigs and tories were treated with a pretty equal hand, and those only escaped who were happy enough to procure a sentinel to be placed as a guard at their door. There was one Captain Nuttman, who had always been a remarkable tory, and who met the British troops in the Broad street with huzzas of joy. He had his house robbed of almost everything. His very shoes were taken off his feet, and they threatened hard to hang him. It was diligently circulated by the Tories, before the enemy came, that all those who tarried in their houses would not be plundered, which induced some to stay, who otherwise would have saved many of their effects by removing them. But nothing was a greater falsehood than this, as the event proved, for none were more robbed than those that tarried at home with their families.

"Justice John Ogden, whom you know, had his house robbed of every thing they could carry away. They ripped open his beds, scattered the feathers in the air, and took the ticks with them; broke his desk to pieces, and destroyed a great number of important papers, deeds, wills, etc., belonging to himself and others; and the more he entreated them to desist from such unprofitable and pernicious waste, the more out- rageous they were. They hauled a sick son of his out of his bed, whose life had been despaired of some time, and grossly abased him, threatening him with death in a variety of forms. The next neighbor to Mr. Ogden was one Benjamin Coe, a very aged man, who, with his wife, was at home. They plundered and destroyed everything in the house, and insulted them with such rage, that the old people fled for fear of their lives; and then, to show the fulness of their diabolical fury, they burnt their house to ashes. Zophar Beach. Josiah Beach, Samuel Pennington, and others, who had large families were all at home, they robbed in so egregious a manner, that they were scarcely left a rag of clothing, save what was on their backs. The mischief committed in the houses forsaken by their inhabitants, the destruction of fences, barns, stables, the breaking of chests of drawers, desks, tables, and other furniture; the burning and carrying away of carpenters' and shoemakers' tools cannot be described.

"With respect to those who took protection and their oath, some of these they robbed and plundered afterward; but the most general way in which they obtained the effects of such people, was by bargaining with them for their hay, cattle, or corn, promising them pay, but none whatever received anything worth mentioning. I might have observed that it was not only the common soldiers who plundered and stole, but also their officers; and not merely low officers and subalterns but some of high rank were abettors and reaped the profits of their gallows-deserving business. No less a person than General Erskine Knight, had his room furnished from a neighboring house with mahogany chairs and tables; a considerable part of which were taken away with his baggage when he went to Elizabethtown, Col. M'Donald has his house furnished in the same felonious manner, and the furniture was carried off as though it had been part of his baggage. But there is no end of their inhuman conduct. They have not only proved themselves cruel enemies, but persons destitute of all honor; and there is no hope of relief but by expelling these murderers, robbers and thieves from our country.

According to these statements, Captain Nuttman was quite advanced in years, at the time of the Revolution, and, though having held a captain's commis- sion in the Provincial militia, was altogether a very inoffensive man. His sympathies were doubtless with the British, but it is not believed that he was at all demonstrative. It is quite true that he and his family were plundered one night by the British, and another night by ghouls wearing the garb of patriots - illustrators of Dr. Johnson's definition of patriotism - the last refuge of scoundrels. Once they despoiled Captain Nuttman even of his silver shoebuckles, and his wife of similar buckles and the gold rings on her fingers. The fact that his home was situated in the midst of a beautifully cultivated property on the banks of the Passaic, about where the Zinc Works are now located-the house is still standing- would seem to throw considerable doubt on the statement that he "met the British troops in the Broad street with huzzas of joy." As shown by the Council of Safety records, (July 2nd, 1777) Captain Nuttman was among those of Essex who refused to take the "oaths of Abjuration and Allegiance agreeably to Law," and was removed to the Morristown jail. He is not named in the proceedings of July 21st, 1777, among those whose petition to be removed back to Newark was granted by the Council. This is explained by descendants, who state that Captain Nuttman was liberated by express order of General Washington, probably because of the captain's age and inoffensiveness. A chair of the Mayflower pattern, belonging to the captain, is among the memorials at Washington's home and resting place, Mount Vernon, a gift from a grand-daughter of "the remarkable tory," now residing in Newark. This chair, like another belonging to the Camp family, is said to have been used by Washington on one occasion, but where, when, or under what circumstances, are matters about which even the donor of the memorial is uninformed.

Newark, as it is now bounded, does not share that halo of Revolutionary battle-field glory and renown which distinguishes other parts of New Jersey; but Newark as it was bounded at the time of the great struggle for independence, furnished a part, at least, of one of the most heroically fought minor fields of the Revolution-the battle of Springfield. Up to 1793 the village of Springfield, as now embraced geographically, was partly in Newark and partly in Elizabethtown, yet all in Essex County at that time. The winter of 1779 and '80, as already remarked, was one of great severity in this section of country. The rivers and streams were mostly frozen solid, and snow covered the ground to the depth of several feet. Hence desultory movements of both British and American troops were seriously interfered with. Upon the opening of spring, however, a decided change took place in military operations. Washington's army lay encamped at Morristown. On the first of June, 1780, his whole command numbered three thousand seven hundred and sixty men. He had just received intelligence of the fall of Charleston, under General Lincoln, before the combined forces of the British naval and military commanders, Admiral Arbuthnot and Sir Henry Clinton. Such was the condition of affairs in New Jersey, that refugees insisted that the people, weary of the terrible ravages of war, and of the compulsory requisition of supplies, were eager to return to their old British yoke. The royalist generals wrote to England that so great was the disaffection among the starved and half-clothed American officers and men, that one-half of them were ready to desert to the English, and the other half ready to disperse. The moment for replanting the British standard in the Jerseys was considered opportune. As events proved, nothing was more fallacious; a serious, quiet and undemonstrative attitude was mistaken then, as oftentimes before and since, as a popular willingness to sacrifice the dearest principle of life, human liberty. But the movement to replant proceeded, and under the leadership of a Lieutenant General, the Baron Knyphausen, the Hessian commander.

At Connecticut Farms was stationed the Jersey brigade, under General Maxwell, and at Elizabethtown were three hundred more Jersey militia. On June 6th, Knyphausen's troops, numbering about 5,000, moved from Staten Island to Elizabethtown, the intent being to surprise Maxwell's force, and, this succeeding, to push on to Morristown and attack Washington's camp there. His advance guard met a very warm reception from the Jerseymen under command of Colonel Dayton. By his greatly superior force Knyphausen compelled Dayton to retreat. The latter was joined by the people, who spiritedly flew to arms, and was enabled to seriously harass Knyphausen's troops on their march to the Farms. The British came provided with seven days' provisions and ample war materiel. Upon reaching Connecticut Farms, the smiling village was reduced to ashes, the church being given to the torch, likewise every dwelling in the place except one. The houses had previously been rifled and plundered, after the manner already described. Nor did the fiendish spirit of the hireling soldiery stop there. Hannah Caldwell, the lovely daughter of Justice John Ogden, of Newark, and the amiable and beloved wife of Rev. James Caldwell, sat in her room at the parsonage, whither she had some months before removed for greater safety, from Elizabethtown. With her were her children, one a nursling in her arms. The maid apprised Mrs. Caldwell of the approach of a red-coat. "Let me see! Let me see!" cried her two-year old boy, as he ran to the window, followed by his mother. At that moment she was shot dead. The parsonage was fired, and it was with difficulty that the body was snatched from the flames. Mr. Caldwell was then at the Short Hills, near Springfield (now Millburn). Quite accidentally, the night following, he heard of the wanton and inhuman murder of his wife. By chance he overheard two men speaking of the tragedy He questioned them and learned the facts. Next morning he repaired to the Farms, and found his. worst information realized. It may well be believed that, in the words of a Revolutionary chronicler, the cruel murder of Mrs. Caldwell and the wanton destruction of the village produced a strong impression on the public mind, and "served to confirm still more the settled hate of the well-affected against the British government."

Maxwell retreated from Connecticut Farms to strong ground near Springfield. Here he arrested Knyphausen's approach. A regiment of Hessians, commanded by Colonel Wurmb, attacked him repeatedly. Thrice did Maxwell's men charge upon the Hessian yagers with fixed bayonets, and retreated only upon the arrival of British reinforcements. Fifty of the yagers were killed or wounded. Washington, meanwhile, having been promptly advised of the enemy's movements, advanced with the main body of his troops to Maxwell's aid. Upon discovering this, though his command was nearly double that of the Americans, Knyphausen turned back to Elizabethtown Point, leaving the Twenty-second English regiment at Elizabethtown. An American detachment followed in pursuit next morning, drove the Twenty-second from Elizabethtown, and returned unmolested. The gallant Colonel Dayton " received particular thanks" in general orders, and the bravery of the Jersey troops was liberally praised by the Commander-in-chief himself.

Battle of Springfield. -We come now to the battle of Springfield. The movement of some British troops. up the Hudson River excited Washington's suspicion that the design of the enemy was to get in his rear. He, therefore, moved his camp to Rockaway Bridge, where it arrived on the twenty-second of June. The post at Short Hills he confided to the care of two brigades. under command of Major-General Greene. Early on the morning of the twenty-third, Knyphausen's command, consisting of two compact divisions, and numbering about six thousand infantry, cavalry and artillery, moved from Elizabethtown Point to Springfield. Such now was the American esprit de corps, that the King's troops had to fight their way almost inch by inch. The enemy's right column, before it could drive Major Lee's dragoons from one of the bridges. over the Passaic, was compelled to ford the stream,. His left column was stubbornly resisted by Dayton's, Jersey regiment, and by its overwhelming numbers alone was Knyphausen's force able to press on. General Greene prepared for action, but Knyphausen feared, or at all events failed, to engage him, though Knyphausen's troops were drawn up and had begun a heavy cannonade. At Springfield they made a stand of several hours' duration, and, after reducing the town to ashes, and plundering its people of their effects, began their retreat to Elizabethtown Point. As upon the retreat from Connecticut Farms, the British flanks and rear were greatly annoyed with a galling fire from the American skirmishers the whole way back. The total loss of the British was unknown, though fifty more of the Hessian yagers were killed or wounded; the latter including one colonel, two captains and one lieutenant. The same night Knyphausen recrossed to Staten Island.

General Greene said, in his report of the action to the Commander-in-chief: "I have the pleasure to inform your excellency that the troops who were engaged behaved with great coolness and intrepidity, and the whole of them discovered an impatience to be brought into action." He added that" the good order and discipline they exhibited in all their movements, do them the highest honor." With regard to the object of the enemy's expedition General Greene confessed himself at a loss to determine. "If," said he, "it was to injure the troops under my command, or to penetrate further into the country, they were frustrated. If the destruction of this place, it was a disgraceful one." "I wish," said he in conclusion, "every American could have been a spectator; they would have felt for the sufferers, and joined to revenge the injury."

Washington, himself, in communicating the result to Congress, made the following remarks:

The conduct of the enemy giving us reason to suspect a design against West Point, on the 21st, the army, except two brigades and the horse, (left under the command of General Greene, to cover the country and our stores,) was put in motion to proceed slowly towards Pompton. On the 22nd it arrived at Rockaway Bridge, about eleven miles from Morristown. The day following the enemy moved in force from Elizabethtown to Springfield. They were opposed with good conduct and spirit, by Major-Generals Greene and Dickinson, with the Continental troops and such of the militia as had assembled. But, with their superiority of numbers, they of course gained Springfield. Having burnt the village, they retired the same day to their former position. In the night they abandoned it, crossed over to Staten Island and took up their bridge. I beg leave to refer Congress to General Greene's report for particulars.

The enemy have not made their incursion into this State without loss. Ours has been small. The militia deserve everything that can be said, on both occasions. They flew to arms universally, and acted with a spirit equal to anything I have seen in the course of the war.

CHAPLAIN CALDWELL. -one American, in particular, bore a part in the fight at Springfield, which richly deserves to live in history, there to be grouped with the brave and true of all times and of all nations. He came of a lineage ennobled, not by kingly favors, but by the patent of the Great Creator - a lineage distinguished in an older hemisphere for a devotion to faith and principle which rose sublimely superior to all considerations of worldly honor, ease and comfort. He was of French Huguenot stock, which sought shelter in Scotland after the revocation of the Edict of N antes ; but which soon had to fly thence to Ireland, owing to the cruel persecutions of Claverhouse. His name-it deserves to be spoken with reverence, and written, as it is, in letters of veneration - was JAMES CALDWELL. Caldwell was a Virginian by birth, his parents having come to the New World from the County Antrim, Ireland, in the early part of the eighteenth century. He was born in 1734, and was educated for the ministry under the tutelage of President Burr, ere yet Princeton College had removed from Newark. He graduated in 1759. Two years later he was ordained by the Presbytery at New Brunswick, and installed as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at Elizabeth. A year after this, in 1763, he married Hannah Ogden. In character he greatly resembled William Emerson, the patriot-divine of Massachusetts, who considered that love of God and love of Country were twin-born offspring of the true man. Caldwell, like Emerson, Macwhorter and other Revolutionary period preachers of the Gospel, believed that there were times when it was righteous to fight as well as pray-when it was not only justifiable but a duty to turn the temples of the Most High into forts and towers for the defense of His people. When therefore the issue was made between England and America, Caldwell took his place at once on the side of his native land. Almost to a man and woman, his church - to its everlasting honor be it said - sustained him. He became, in June, 1776, chaplain of the Jersey Brigade, under Colonel Dayton. Mentally and physically he was a man of great force and courage. He was of middle stature, but strong frame ; had a pensive placid cast of countenance, which lit up with expressiveness under excitement. His voice was of a silvery tone, and capable of great power. As a preacher he was persuasively eloquent; as a patriot he earned the love and admiration of the people and the soldiery, likewise the esteem and confidence of Washington and other leaders in the field and council. While the army was in camp in Morris County, Chaplain Caldwell acted as Deputy Quarter-Master General with quarters at Chatham. Such was the respect in which he was held by the people, that his appeals for provisions for the troops were never made in vain. His activity was proverbial in and out of camp. One day he was preaching a sermon to the troops,-a sermon teeming with love of country as well as love of God; another he would be collecting or distributing stores as commissary. Denoting the manner of man he was, as well as the character of the times, is the fact that oftentimes the warrior-priest placed a pair of pistols on his desk beside the Word of God, so as to be ready for any sudden appearance of the enemy. Over his office door at Chatham were the letters "D. Q. M. G." It is stated that on one occasion he found his friend, Abraham Clark, a New Jersey signer of the Declaration of Independence, looking wonderingly at the letters. Mr. Clark said he was striving to comprehend their meaning. "Well, what do you think they mean?" asked Caldwell. "I cannot conceive," replied Clark, "unless they mean Devilish Queer Minister of the Gospel!"

And now to the part Chaplain Caldwell bore in the battle of Springfield. Throughout the engagement he displayed great ardor and conspicuous courage, which, it is safe to assume, lost nothing of its determination by his recollection of the wanton slaughter of his wife a few weeks previously, as already described. In the midst of the fight, while the men of the Jersey Brigade were contesting every inch of ground with Knyphausen's troops, the gun wadding gave out. At this moment, upon being apprised of the situation, Mr. Caldwell hastened to the Presbyterian Church, near which the Americans were stationed, and soon returned, as the well authenticated tradition states, with his arms full of Dr. Watts' hymnbooks. He hastily distributed these to the soldiers, saying: "Now put Watts into them, boys ! give 'em Watts!" With such a spirit and such an example on the part of the man of God, it is not surprising that the laymen fought with a degree of gallantry richly deserving the commendation of Washington and Greene ; or that the loss on the British side that day was out of all proportion to that of the Americans.

The fate of the knightly priest was equally tragic with that of his lamented wife, and if possible more wantonly cruel in its enactment. He was intimately acquainted with the Murray family, residing in New York. The Murrays had endeared themselves to the Jersey people by their kindness to Jersey prisoners held in New York. Under protection of a flag of truce, on November 24th, 1781, Miss Beulah Murray visited Elizabethtown, to spend a season with some relatives there. Mr. Caldwell met her with his carriage at the Point. After seating her in it, he returned to the ferry-boat for Miss Murray's small bundle. While it was being examined, a brutal soldier named James Morgan, who was off duty, ordered Mr. Caldwell to stop, and, leveling his musket, deliberately fired. Mr. Caldwell dropped dead, shot through the heart. Two days afterwards he was buried in Elizabethtown, in presence of a large heart-wounded con- gregation. Rev. Dr. Macwhorter, of Newark, delivered the funeral oration. All New Jersey wept bitter tears over the bier of the " rebel high-priest." Morgan, the murderer, was arrested, tried, and hanged by Noah Marsh, High Sheriff of Essex County. The execution took place at Westfield, then in Essex County. Morgan was a hard-hearted wretch, as shown by his calling, with an oath, to the sheriff to hang him quickly, and not keep him "shivering in the cold" - the day of execution being a bitter cold day in January, 1782. Various motives have been ascribed to the murderer. The most probable one is that Mr. Caldwell had excited Morgan's ire because he had not, as Quarter-Master General, tendered the fellow his pay regularly, and that in a drunken frenzy he saw Mr. Caldwell and murdered him as described. On the trial, a witness named Samuel Hicks testified that he had overheard Morgan say he would " pop Caldwell over," for the reason stated.

In the church which Caldwell served as pastor at Elizabethtown, handsome marble monuments were erected, many years after, in memory of the murdered pastor and his wife. The epitaph on Mr. Caldwell's marble sets forth that he was "the pious and fervent Christian, the zealous and faithful minister, the eloquent preacher and a prominent leader among the worthies who secured the liberties of his countrv." It prophetically adds: "His name will be cherished in the Church and in the State, so long as virtue is esteemed or patriotism honored." Mrs. Caldwell's epitaph speaks of her as having been "cruelly sacrificed by the enemies of her husband and her country." Caldwell's name has been given to one of the towns of Essex County. Nor has the poetic spirit failed to find in his character a fit theme for versification. The following well-conceived and neatly turned lines are from the pen of Bret Harte"

CALDWELL, OF SPRINGFIELD.
Here's the spot. Look around you. Above on the height
Lay the Hessians encamped. By that church on the right
Stood the bold Jersey farmers ; and here ran a wall -
You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ball;
Nothing more. Grasses spring, waters run, flowers blow,
Pretty much as they did a century ago.

Nothing more, did I say? Stay one moment; you've heard
Of Caldwell, the parson. who once preached the Word
Down at Springfield? What ! No' Come, that's bad; why, he had
All the Jerseys aflame ! And they gave him the name
Of '' The Rebel High Priest." He stuck in their gorge;
He loved the Lord God-and he hated King George.

He had cause, you might say ! When the Hessians that day
Marched up with Knyphausen, they stopped on their way
At "The Farms," where his wife, with a child in her arms,
Sat alone in the house. How it happened none knew
But God and that one of the hireling crew
Who fired the shot ! Enough-there she lay,
And Caldwell, the chaplain, her husband, away!

Did he preach? Did he pray? Think of him, as you stand
By the old church to-day; think of him, and that band
Of militant ploughboys! See the smoke and the heat
Of that reckless advance, of that straggling retreat!
Keep the ghost of that wife, foully slain, in your view -
And what could you, what should you, what would you do

Why, just what he did! They were left in the larch
For the want of more wadding. He ran to the church,
Broke the door, stripped the pews, and dashed out in the road
With his arms full of hymn books, and threw down his load

At their feet! Then, above all the shouting and shots Rang his voice: " Put Watts into 'em-boys, give 'em Watts!"

And they did. That is all. Grasses spring, waters run, flowers blow
Pretty much as they did ninety-six years ago.
You may dig anywhere and you'll turn up a ball;
But not always a hero like this-and that's all.

Among the families pre-eminently true to the cause of America were the Allings, the Balls, the Baldwins, the Beaches, the Bruens, the Burnets, the Camps, the Congers, the Condits, the Cranes, the Coes, the Heddens, the Hayeses, the Johnsons, the Macwhorters, the Meekers, the Penningtons and the Wheelers.

ALLING.-The following Revolutionary reminiscence of the Alling family is preserved: John Ailing, a great-grandson of Deacon Alling, who came to Newark from New Haven, in 1698, and settled here, was a hearty hater of red-coats. He held the position of lieutenant in a company of Minute Men. Early one morning a detachment of British soldiers was observed moving up Market street. The lieutenant hastened into his house, (which stood in from the northwest corner of Broad and Market streets) and warned his wife to conceal herself with the children. With his gun he returned to the street, and lay in waiting for the approach of the enemy. From his hiding place he popped off a couple of the red-coats; but leaving his position, he drew from the enemy a volley, and fled to the orchard under a shower of whistling bullets. In an upper chamber sat his grandfather, who witnessed the flight. "Run, John!" cried the venerable Newarker, and John did, and escaped. "Shall I shoot the old devil?" said a redcoat to his officer. With more humanity than was wont to possess the natures of his brother officers, when making unceremonious visits to the Jerseys, the officer replied : "No; he's too old to do us any harm." Another of the Allings, Joseph, served with distinction as a captain in the Jersey Brigade.

WHEELER. -Of the Wheeler family, e'en "if Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise," there still stands a memorial. It is anything but ambitious, anything but worthy the estimable name it recalls.  It is the dilapidated remnant of the once proud Wheeler mansion, situated on the northeast corner of Market and Mulberry streets. It now forms the central part of a group of cheap buildings. The venerable pile has a history. It dates back to 1769, when its erection was begun by Captain Caleb Wheeler, a brother of James. It took seven years to build it. In the summer of the memorable year 1776 it was completed and occupied by the Captain's family. At that time it was accounted one of the great houses of the Province. Captain Wheeler, its owner, was a man of large substance. Soon after the settlement of his family in it, the British began their incursions into New Jersey. Captain Wheeler and a Mr. Williams, a neighbor, whose dwelling stood about where the Central Methodist Church now stands, had agreed that whoever should first learn of the approach of the British should apprise the other. Very early one morning "the beat of the alarming drum" roused Mr. Williams. He sprang from bed, partially dressed, and hurried to arouse the Wheelers. " Run for your lives ; the British are coming ! " he shouted, adding : "Go to your hiding places, and I will go to mine." Before he could make good his intention he was shot dead ; a British spy murdered him. Meanwhile Captain Wheeler secreted himself in the centre of a hay-rick, while his wife and children hid away in a safe part of the house. Along to the hayrick, which stood on what is now Clinton street, moved several soldiers. Repeatedly they thrust their bayonets through the hay, remarking that "if the d--d rebels are in there, they are dead by this time." The Captain's clothing was pretty well pierced, but he escaped without a scratch. His family were unscathed also. The Wheeler house was rifled and despoiled, however, and the beautifully laid out grounds overrun after the malicious manner already depicted. During the war the dwelling, thanks to the sterling loyalty of its owners and occupants, was a house of refuge for many a disgusted deserter from the British ranks. It became noted as such, and more than once was visited by British officers in search of fugitive soldiers. Never once were they successful, however; the runaways always found a secure hiding place where Mrs. Wheeler and her children eluded royalist search on the occasion described. Once a French officer, in the British service, made his appearance at the Wheeler house in search of food and shelter. He had deserted from the British army, he said, having "revolted at the idea of fighting against so noble a cause as that of the American, and against so noble a people as the Americans." He was hid away for several days, and finally made his escape to France. The Wheeler property here referred to was occupied in 1884, by George W. Van Ness, as a news room and stationery store, corner of Market and Mulberry streets, Newark.

CAMP. -Of the Camp family there still exists a memorial which recalls the days of the Revolution. It is in the form of an antique piece of ordnance, a six-pound iron howitzer. This cannon, according to the well authenticated records of the family, was given in charge of Captain Nathaniel Camp by no less illustrious a personage than George Washington. It was at the time the American army was encamped in New Jersey, and when Newark was subjected to frequent depredatory visits from red-coats and refugees. One day, as the tradition has it, General Wash- ington visited Newark, and stopped and dined at Cap- tain Camp's house, which was built in the year 1737, and stood on the southeast corner of Camp and Broad streets. The General promised to send the cannon to Newark, and he did. In speaking of the subject, the descendants of the Captain dwell with pride on the most trifling incidents of the visit-how His Excellency had his charger hitched to the fine buttonwood tree in front of the Camp house, and how he heartily enjoyed the ham and eggs prepared for him by the Captain's good dame. The chair the General sat in is still preserved, like the cannon, as a most precious memorial, and has been made to serve the cause of Christianity at church fairs, by charging a fee for its momentary occupancy. Captain Camp commanded an artillery company, but whether any active service was performed by the cannon in Newark-beyond firing national salutes upon each recurring Fourth of July -is not certain. During the war of 1812 the cannon was in possession of an artillery company, commanded by Captain John I. Plume, stationed in Newark. Subsequently it was restored to Captain Camp's keeping, and was among the Revolutionary relics exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition. Henceforth it will form one of the interesting memorials at the Morristown "Washington Headquarters." Upon its breech "Old Nat" - the name given the cannon by the 1812 military-has the following inscription:

N. C.
1777
4018
[The last four figures are thus translated : four hundred, no quarters, eighteen pounds.]

CONGER. -The Conger family was worthily represented in the army by Lieutenant Samuel Conger. The type of man the Lieutenant was is revealed by an incident. When the war closed, the country considered the subject of bestowing pensions on its heroes. Lieutenant Conger was asked if he wanted one. Promptly he replied: "No; I want no pension - at least not as long as I can shoot a shuttle." He was a weaver by occupation, and disdained to ask government support.

BRUEN.-Caleb Bruen held a Captain's commission in the patriot army. Like Captain Nathaniel Camp, he possessed the confidence of Washington. He somehow gained also the confidence of the British officers, but, at the risk of an ignominious death on the gallows, turned this confidence to the great advantage of his country. Because of the intense suffering and privation to which the American soldiery of the Pennsylvania line were subjected by the force of circumstances, some of the officers and men conceived the idea of revolting. Hearing something about the matter, the British sought to foster the disaffection. A correspondence was opened between the recreant American officers and the British. Somehow, Captain Bruen became possessed of the secret, and was chosen to carry the traitorous correspondence. Waiting till the plot for revolt was ripe, the Captain secretly placed the important dispatches before General Washington. The treason was nipped in the bud, the Commander-in-chief being enabled, by Captain Bruen's action, to pluck the flower of safety from the nettle danger. Captain Bruen, in the soi-disant char- acter of a British spy, next boldly entered the British lines and was arrested. He was charged with exposing the plot. The letters were demanded, but of course not forthcoming. They were accounted for by the Captain in this way: He was suspected, he said, by the Americans, and, in order to save himself and his secrets, he destroyed the letters. His explanation was received with doubt, and he was thrown into the Sugar House at New York, and confined there till the close of the war. He was then brought home, but in a condition as helpless as an infant. After careful nursing, extending quite a long time, he fully recovered his health, and lived to a ripe old age.

BALDWIN AND OTHERS. -The Baldwins, like the Burnets, were represented in the Revolutionary cause by a surgeon-Dr. Cornelius Baldwin.

The Balls, by Stephen, who was hanged by the loyalists because of his "extreme rebel disposition and conduct;" and Samuel, who was killed in the action at Connecticut Farms.

The Johnstons, by Rev. Stephen, a graduate of Yale College in 1743, who removed to Lyme, Connecticut, and, it is stated, "was a distinguished religious and political writer, who did much to advance the cause of freedom in the Revolutionary period."

The Beaches, by Josiah, who was shot in the engagement near Scotch Plains, June 26th, 1777; and by Zophar, who served first as a sailor and then as a soldier.

The Cranes, by Joseph, who was mortally wounded while making a gallant "forlorn hope" assault on Fort Delancey, at Saltersville, a post on Newark Bay held by the British.

The Condits, by Colonels David and Ebenezer.

The Hayeses, by Major Samuel, "a true whig, vigilant and active `in the times that tried men's souls."

The Wheelers, by Captain James, who died on March 12th, 1777, having served with distinction in the Revolutionary army, and who, as a descendant of Newark, was "worthy of a more honorable monument than the edifice stealthily and illegally erected on the burial place of the family."

CAPTAIN LITTELL. -The space from Lexington to Yorktown is dotted with daring and interesting exploits of Jersey militia and minute-men in the immediate neighborhood of Newark. The central figure of quite a number was Captain Littell, who appears to have been a bold, daring, dashing "Son of Liberty," a man of handsome and imposing personal appearance, endowed with great resoluteness, and a stranger to fear. The Captain seems to have been a decided favorite with the fair sex. A volunteer company, thought to have been under his command, was provided by the patriotic women of Newark and vicinity with uniforms of a description which not only distinguished them among their fellow-patriots but which has served to furnish Jerseymen ever since with an appellation of which they are justly proud. The uniforms consisted of tow frocks and pantaloons dyed blue. To these is ascribed the origin of the name "Jersey Blues."

On the very day the British force under Cornwallis abandoned Newark, a company of Waldeckers was dispatched towards Connecticut Farms on some particular service. Captain Littell and his brave spirits speedily followed. Dividing his small force into two sections, the Captain placed one in ambush in the rear of the Waldeckers, and then suddenly appeared in front with the other and boldly demanded the enemy's surrender. Not being able, owing to the nature of the ground, and the approach of night, to determine the size of Littell's force, the Waldeckers sought to make a retrograde movement. Instantly they were assailed in flank as well as front, and were so thoroughly demoralized that they surrendered without having fired a shot. Exasperated over the affair, the great inferiority of Littell's force becoming known, the British commander ordered out a large body of Hessians to wipe out the affront. Again, thanks to his thorough knowledge of the ground, his intrepid spirit, his marvellous skill at ambuscading, likewise the esprit and gallantry of his Blues, Littell completely discomfited his enemy. After goading and injuring him severely at several points, he finally, by an adroit manoeuvre, drew him into a swamp and compelled him to surrender again to greatly inferior numbers. This defeat was still more mortifying to the hireling General, and this time he determined to make short work of "the rascally clever rebel crew." A troop of horse was ordered out; but they were only more successful than their predecessors in that, thanks to their horses, they were able, after being routed, to make good their escape! A fourth attempt was made to put a summary end to the career of the bold Captain and his gallant little band. This time a force of three hundred men was ordered out, and placed under the leadership of a noted Tory, one familiar with the country, and, as supposed, with Littell's movements. He was to receive a large reward for the capture of Littell and the destruction of his band. Guided by their American mercenary leader, the Hessian troops secretly stole to the neighborhood of Captain Littell's house. A large number surrounded it and began a, storm of musketry against the dwelling, the design being to destroy the lion in his lair. It happened, however, that the Captain was elsewhere. He appeared presently on the scene, but under circum- stances the enemy did not dream of. He had with him his own men and another body of volunteers. He attacked the house-storming party in the rear with such vigor, that, stunned and terror-stricken, the Tory-guided expedition fled precipitately; not, however, until its renegade conductor was picked off by a shot from Captain Littell's own musket, nor until the whole body suffered terribly from Littell's ambushed force. At the time of the march of Knyphausen from Elizabethtown to Springfield, Captain Littell, with a company of artillery, proved a very lion in the path of the Anglo-Hessian commander.

PENNINGTON.-The well known Newark names of Pennington and Ogden are likewise written in illuminated characters across the pages of American Revolutionary history. The Pennington family were represented in the war by William Sandford Pennington, a great-grandson of Ephraim Pennington, one of the Milford company of original settlers. William Sandford was born in Newark, 1757. He was domiciled with his uncle, Mr. Sandford, a farmer, and was to have inherited his uncle's property. On the breaking out of hostilities, despite the fact of his uncle being a pronounced Loyalist, and of a threat of disinheritance if he joined the Rebels, young William warmly espoused the Revolutionary cause. The gallant stripling - he was still in his teens - flung away his tempting heirship, and entered the patriot army. According to the family traditions, his first service was as a non-commissioned officer in an artillery company. It is stated that in one of the engagements young Pennington was found by General Knox loading and firing a piece of artillery almost alone, and with such gallantry and signal bravery that Knox procured his promotion on the field of battle as First Lieutenant of Artillery. He was commissioned Lieutenant of the Second Regiment of Artillery, April 21, 1780, taking rank from September 12, 1778. A private journal kept by him from May, 1780, to March, 1781, affords us at once an insight into the character of the young lieutenant, and some interesting incidents :of the Revolutionary period. During the greater por- tion of the seven years' war the Lieutenant was stationed with a park of artillery in the neighborhood of West Point. Once, while visiting his home here, he had to conceal himself in a hay-rick, for fear of being surprised and captured by refugees. He appears to have been an eye-witness, or was in the neighborhood, of the execution at Tappan of the unfortunate Major Andr6, the victim of Benedict Arnold's treachery and the inexorable demands of martial law. In his journal Lieutenant Pennington made this feeling entry:

MONDAY, 2ND OCTOBER, 1780-This day at twelve o'clock, Major Andre, Adjutant-General of the British army, was executed as a spy. He behaved with great fortitude. Although self-preservation and the laws and usages of nations justify, and policy dictates the procedure, yet I must conceive most of the officers of the army felt for the unfortunate gentleman.

Monday, 22d, we received information that the Jersey line had followed the example of Pennsylvania in mutinying, in consequence of which a detachment of artillery, consisting of three 3-pounders, to be commanded by Captain Stewart, was ordered to parade immediately. I was ordered to join the above detachment, vice Ailing.

25th - This day the detachment marched to Smith's Cove, and halted for the night.

26th - This day we marched to Ringwood and joined a detachment of Major-General Howe.

Saturday, 27th-This day the above detachment marched atone o'clock, and at daylight surrounded the Jersey encampment near Pompton, where the mutineers were quartered. No other terms were offered to them but to immediately parade without their arms. General Howe likewise sent them word by Lieutenant-Colonel Barber, that if they did not comply in five minutes, he would put them all to the sword; rather than run the risk of which they surrendered. Upon this the General ordered a Court Martial in the field to try some of their leaders ; three of whom, Grant, Tuttle and Gilmore, were sentenced to suffer death. Grant, from some circumstance in his behavior, was pardoned. Tuttle and Gilmore were immediately executed. The mutineers returned to their duty and receiveed a general pardon.

February 8th - This afternoon an entertainment was given by Lieutenant-Colonel Stevens, of the Second Regiment, his excellency, General Washington, the Marquis do Lafayette and families, and the officers of the park of artillery. His Excellency and the Marquis left us at dark, upon which we immediately opened a ball, and spent the evening very agreeably, but lamented the absence of the ladies of our acquaintance who would have graced the ball had they been there, and rendered the entertainment perfectly consummate. Mrs. Stevens was the only lady that graced the assembly.

The Lieutenant was present, it is thought, at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and left the service with the brevet rank of Captain. Upon the declaration of peace he carried on hatting and afterwards commercial business in Newark. He was of a very active turn of mind and took a deep interest in public affairs, warmly espousing the political principles of Thomas Jefferson, as did also his brother Samuel. On his tombstone was inscribed a Latin inscription, which, translated, runs as follows:

This marble is erected to the memory of a man imbued with sacred lore and no less experienced in all human knowledge. From his earliest youth he was dedicated to holiness - a strenuous advocate of the Christian faith, and second to none in devotion. Of easy manners - humane in his conduct - an exemplar of every charity-adorned with a thousand virtues his modesty concealed.