{"id":958,"date":"2011-03-20T17:26:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-20T21:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/?p=958"},"modified":"2024-11-19T13:07:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T18:07:44","slug":"white-hall-recruiting-station-1775-1781","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/white-hall-recruiting-station-1775-1781\/","title":{"rendered":"White Hall Recruiting Station, 1775-1781"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Jonathan M. Hoppock<\/em><\/p>\n

Democrat-Advertiser, 24 October 1901<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The White Hall Tavern in Headquarters, NJ<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This old building, erected in 1758 at Head Quarters, now Grover, standing on the corner of the road on the farm at present owned by Smith Skinner, was, between the dates given above, used as a recruiting station.1<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 As shown by papers in possession of the writer, Captain David Jones, of the Continental line, was the recruiting officer, and at this point, when the alarm was given that the then hated minions of King George had made a landing at Paulus Hook (Jersey City) or Amboy, would assemble the patriotic old citizen-soldiery, armed with the flint-locks, home-made bullets and powder horns, and from thence hasten to the front to assist the great Washington in beating back the invaders.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Although the enlistments made here were for a short term only, yet mainly through the efforts of these old heroes was this part of our State kept free from invasion. At Trenton, Princeton, Somerset Court House and Monmouth nobly and well they did their duty. At the last named battle, under their gallant leader, General Maxwell, they were assigned the duty of opening the fight, and were highly complimented by the Commander-in-Chief for their bravery on that bloody field.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Though the names of many of these old heroes have never been recorded, and their deeds have been kept alive by tradition only, yet we find from the census of 1840 that eight of them as pensioners were still living in the Township, their names and ages being stated at that time as follows: William Dilts 86, Elijah Hummell 84, Tunis Case 79, Andrew Butterfoss 81, James Underwood 77, William Geary 85, Daniel Ent 83, and Samuel Barber, 84.4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

These old heroes have long since been gathered to their final resting place, and the old mansion at which they assembled at their country’s call is fast falling into decay, but should not places like these, made sacred by the acts of the men of ’76 be marked by tablet or monument?5<\/a><\/sup> What nobler soldier ever “from the woodland sprung?” What greater results ever achieved by all appeal to arms?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
White Hall Tavern, shortly before it was demolished<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Footnotes<\/strong>:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Jonathan M. Hoppock Democrat-Advertiser, 24 October 1901 This old building, erected in 1758 at Head Quarters, now Grover, standing on the corner of the road on the farm at present owned by Smith Skinner, was, between the dates given above, used as a recruiting station.1\u00a0 As shown by papers in possession of the writer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,5,59,227,255],"tags":[82,28],"class_list":["post-958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amwell-township","category-delaware-township","category-headquarters","category-jm-hoppock","category-opdycke-families","tag-taverns","tag-the-revolution","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15560,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions\/15560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodspeedhistories.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}