{"id":570,"date":"2013-07-29T06:01:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-29T06:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/?page_id=570"},"modified":"2013-07-29T06:01:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T06:01:49","slug":"reconnaissance-for-general-washington","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/revolutionary-war-times\/reconnaissance-for-general-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Reconnaissance for General Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morgan Memos \u2013 Reconnaissance for General Washington<\/h3>\n
\"Note<\/a>

June 26, 1778 Note from Capt James Morgan to General George Washington. Image Courtesy of the Library of Congress.<\/p><\/div>\n

I about fell out of my chair the other night while I was surfing!\u00a0 Well, that statement wouldn\u2019t have made any sense 20 years ago but it does now.\u00a0 I was on the <\/span>Library of Congress web site<\/a>, though I don\u2019t recall how I ended up there, and did the simple query, \u201cJames Morgan\u201d.\u00a0 The top four search responses left me astonished and speechless.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June 1778 in the midst of America\u2019s Revolutionary War against Britain, the British, under Lieutenant General Henry Clinton, were evacuating Philadelphia and marching toward Sandy Hook in order to get onto ships to sail across Raritan Bay to the British stronghold of New York City.\u00a0 General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the American forces, was determined that the British were not going to get away from the American forces without a fight and was looking for an opportunity to attack them.\u00a0 On June 28, he did just that but only after he had to relieve Major General Charles Lee of command.\u00a0 This battle, called The Battle of Monmouth<\/a>, occurred in present day Freehold – just 14 miles from Morgan, NJ.<\/span><\/p>\n

While there was no obvious victor in this battle, it is notable for a number of reasons: it was the last major battle of the war to occur in the northern states, it was the longest battle between the two main armies, it was the largest battle of the war in terms of the number of participants in a one day battle (over 21,000), and the legend of Molly Pitcher.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the days immediately surrounding the Battle of Monmouth, Captain James Morgan of the 2nd<\/sup> Regiment Middlesex County militia and the land owner of present day Morgan NJ, sent a number of reconnaissance notes to \u201cHis Excelency Genriel Washanton\u201d describing British activities on and around Raritan Bay.\u00a0 His property was the perfect place to observe the whole of Raritan Bay as from it one could see all of it – from the mouth of the Raritan River at Perth\/South Amboy, up the Kill Van Kull, across Staten Island, to Coney Island, Brooklyn, Sandy Hook and all down the Monmouth County coast line.\u00a0 Its location as the bay\u2019s central vantage point was essentially confirmed by the 1887 Raritan Bay Boundary Commission (see to-be-reposted write-up from March 21, March 25, and April 4, 2010) when the commissioners chose the point named \u201cMorgan 2\u201d as the vertex of an angle bisecting the bay.<\/p>\n

The George Washington Papers Collection at the Library of Congress<\/a> has four such notes from Capt. James Morgan to General George Washington available for viewing.<\/p>\n

Capt. Morgan wrote utilizing the high technology of the day, a quill, and while his handwriting is occasionally legible, it isn\u2019t always. There is no punctuation, the spelling is often questionable, and there are some grammatical issues. Regardless, it is absolutely thrilling to see these notes \u2013 especially knowing that at the time the British were on the move toward Sandy Hook in a coordinated effort to evacuate via water.\u00a0 No doubt Capt. Morgan saw a lot of nautical activity relating to this evacuation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though we haven\u2019t been able to fully and correctly transcribe all the notes yet, and I\u2019m not 100% certain in all cases the words we selected below are the actual words Capt. James Morgan wrote, this is what we have transcribed to date. Words we are unsure of are followed by a question mark.\u00a0 Words we can\u2019t decipher at all are represented by double question marks.\u00a0 Words in brackets are clarifications to what was literally interpreted\/written.<\/p>\n

Note 1 \u2013 Dated June 26, 1778<\/a><\/p>\n

South Amboy June 26th 1778<\/i>
\nSir this comes to in form you that the<\/i>
\nships in and smal bots is comin to ??<\/i>
\n?? and the Enemy is advencin? tord? Middle?[advancing toward Middle-]<\/i>
\nTown I am out of horses to send entligence? [intelligence?]<\/i>
\nfrom your Humbel Sarvant<\/i>
\nJames Morgan Capt<\/i>
\nTo<\/i>
\nHis Exaclency Genriel Washenton<\/i><\/p>\n

Note 2 \u2013 Dated June 26, 1778<\/a><\/p>\n

South Amboy June 26th 1778<\/i>
\nSir<\/i>
\nAccording to you order I have cut? down?<\/i>
\nall the bridges and this morning was on the<\/i>
\nshouer?[shore]\u00a0 and cnt see anny shiping or bots<\/i>
\nmor [more] then yesorday But a Hors? man from<\/i>
\nfreehold informs me the Enemey is thare? [there]<\/i>
\nand in ful? Body? so? no? move? But Remain<\/i>
\nyour Exelency most Humbel Servent<\/i>
\nJames Morgan Capt<\/i><\/p>\n

Note 3 \u2013 Dated June 27, 1778<\/a><\/p>\n

South Amboy June 28th 1778 Sunday after noon<\/i>
\nSir<\/i>
\nThis comes to inform you that there is three or four<\/i>
\nships now at the Huck [Hook, i.e., Sandy Hook] I think\u00a0 very ner [near] the shouer [shore]<\/i>
\nwith \u00ac?? of forty? sale [sail?]of ships? and ??<\/i>
\n?? in the ?? Iam in formed that there is<\/i>
\nagrat maney [a great many] flat bottom bots on the east side of Stat [Staten]<\/i>
\nIsland this morning\u00a0 I had a man in middeltown<\/i>
\nhe informed me thar [there] was no enmey thar [enemy there] yet on<\/i>
\nthe south side of the Island thare [there] is but one<\/i>
\narmed ?? and two? small bots The<\/i>
\n?? from the Hook? ?? ?? and<\/i>
\nRepars?? [repairs] in Very Much Sir iam [I am] your most<\/i>
\nHumble? Servent\u00a0\u00a0 James Morgan Capt<\/i>
\nTo<\/i>
\nHis Excelency Genriel Washenton<\/i><\/p>\n

Note 4 \u2013 Dated June 29, 1778<\/a><\/p>\n

South Amboy June 29th 1778<\/i>
\nSir this comes to inform you that a great quantity<\/i>
\nof small brigs and gunnery and boats came from<\/i>
\ntowards New York and went into the JseryShore? [Jersey Shore?]<\/i>
\nthis morning about two o\u2019clock I have came in from<\/i>
\nabout twenty eight ??<\/i>
\n?? four large ships stowed for York and sum[some]<\/i>
\nsmall ones in all eighteen at the same time five<\/i>
\nships coming from New York tords (towards) the huck (hook)<\/i>
\nthe germen? that is stationed? in Amboy Bay is there<\/i>
\nyet and on the south side of the\u00a0 Island there? is four<\/i>
\nsmall bots and they cross near us but don\u2019t come ashore<\/i>
\n?? but abot (a boat) landed a few men? at Ceesaquak? [Cheesequake?]<\/i>
\nBut as near by could ?? at the distance ?? ches what ??<\/i>
\nWith the bots. I have nothing more but Remain your<\/i>
\nHumbel Servent James Morgan Capt.<\/i>
\nFour oclock<\/i>
\nTo<\/i>
\nHis Exceleney Generil<\/i>
\nWashanton<\/i><\/p>\n

The movie \u201cThe Patriot\u201d is about an American family during Revolutionary War times where the son joins the militia and later the father, a soldier from an earlier war, gets reluctantly dragged into the conflict.\u00a0 Upon joining the militia, the father gets appointed to a senior rank and requests for his son to be put in his militia unit.\u00a0 As I watched it, I couldn\u2019t help but think about Captain James Morgan and his two sons, James and Nicholas.\u00a0 James Morgan, Jr., fought in his father\u2019s 2nd<\/sup> Regiment Middlesex County battalion and would, some 30 years later, become a Major General as well as a member of the House of Representatives.\u00a0 The Captain\u2019s other son, Nicholas, also served in his father\u2019s battalion but was killed during the conflict by the British while on patrol in the area.\u00a0 Can you imagine? Nicholas was buried in the family cemetery in Morgan<\/a> (Insert link).\u00a0 In later times both James, Sr. and James, Jr. would also be buried in the Morgan Cemetery next to each other and close to Nicholas.<\/p>\n

Here again, I reflect on sitting at our dining room table in 3rd<\/sup> grade and thinking that the Revolutionary War happened so far away from Morgan, NJ when in fact, it happened in my back yard and the largest one day battle of the Revolutionary War occurred less than 15 miles away.<\/p>\n

I had heard that James Morgan had personally known General Washington but you know how those stories usually go.\u00a0 While these notes don\u2019t provide evidence that Capt. James Morgan had ever personally met General Washington, their existence does prove that General Washington did at least know of Capt. James Morgan.<\/p>\n

If any of you are able to help figure out the exact wording for any portion of these notes, I would be enormously grateful and will update this posting and give you credit.\u00a0 Please provide your interpretation in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n

Originally posted on April 24, 2011.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morgan Memos \u2013 Reconnaissance for General Washington I about fell out of my chair the other night while I was surfing!\u00a0 Well, that statement wouldn\u2019t have made any sense 20 years ago but it does now.\u00a0 I was on the Library of Congress web site, though I don\u2019t recall how I ended up there, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":79,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-570","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/570\/revisions\/576"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}