In this Time of Public Distress
"When by the operation of divers acts of the British Parliament, the Americans are subjected to the universal control of a Legislature, in which they are not represented,"
The inhabitants of Bucks County chose to act.
On July 9, 1774 at the Newtown Courthouse Henry Wynkoop, Joseph Kirkbride, Samuel Foulke, Joseph Wilkinson, James Wallace, Joseph Hart, and John Kidd were appointed to represent the County at a meeting in Philadelphia on July 15th designed to create a Colonial Congress.
At the meeting it was resolved that,"It is the duty of every American, when oppressed by measures of Military, Parliament or any other power, to use every lawful endeavor to obtain relief to form and promote a plan of union...to be done in a General Congress to be composed of delegates."
In December of 1774, these leaders were selected to serve on a Committee of Observation, whose duty it was "attentively to observe the conduct of all persons" to ascertain whether or not they were favorable to the cause of liberty.
Who were these men? What tasks were they expected to perform as committee members and how did their role as leaders of the revolution in Bucks County impact their lives?
Henry Wynkoop (1737-1816)
Wynkoop was a statesman, a slaveholder, a judge, a patriot, and a Major
The Statesman
- Henry served in the Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania from 1760 until his death in 1816
- He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1764 and Associate Judge of the County Courts in 1765.
- He represented the County at the Philadelphia Provincial Conference July 15th, 1774
- He served on the State and County Committees of Observation and Safety
- He enrolled as a private in the Fourth Associated Company, Fourth Battalion,
- He subsequently gained the honorary title of Major
- He was a Delegate to the Continental Congress from 1779-1783
- He served as presiding judge of the Bucks County Courts from 1780-1789,
- He was elected a member of the First Congress of the United States in 1789
Henry Wynkoop was made Clerk and Treasurer of the Bucks County Committee of Observation and Inspection and in these roles was empowered to oversee many aspects of the Committee's work. He collected money for the relief of the rebels in Boston.
He oversaw the sub-committee that investigated those county residents who spoke or acted out against the "American Cause," exacting public apologies.
His role also put him in judgement of local businesses who sought to profit on war time scarcity.
Hessians at the Doorstep
His leadership position, at times, put himself and his family in peril.
In August, 1776, Hessian soldiers broke into the Wynkoop house in the middle of the night. The Hessians had been engaged by British officers to take prominent citizens, like Henry Wynkoop prisoner. Wynkoop only escaped capture by not being home, but his family felt the brunt of the attack.
"A kick against the door of a back entry sent the lock with so much force across the narrow space against an opposite door... Mrs. Wynkoop was greatly overcome by the shock"
"A brutal soldier proposed that she should be quieted by forcible means, but the officer spoke kindly to her, telling her not be alarmed, that she and the family should be well treated, that the only object of their visit was to convey Mr. Wynkoop to the city"
"After refreshing themselves with what they could find to eat and drink, they left, taking nothing more than a silver spoon, which one of the soldiers found and was remonstrated with by "Old Isabel," telling him he "musn't take that."
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Joseph Kirkbride (1731–1803)
Farmer, businessman, Colonel, slaveholder, public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society.
The Fighting Quaker
- At the age of 17, Kirkbride inherited his family’s farm and ferry business in Falls Township as well as its enslaved laborers.
- He joined the Anglican church in 1756 after the Falls Monthly Quaker Meeting disowned him
- He served as the county representative at the Provincial Conference in Philadelphia and on the County Committee of Observation in 1774
- In 1776, he was on the committee that prepared Pennsylvania’s new constitution.
- By 1776 his taxes suggest he was the second wealthiest man in the township.
- Kirkbride served as a colonel in the First Battalion of Bucks County and spent the next several years defending, what he described as, an “Intirely Open & Naked” country.
- He was a member of the American Philosophical Society
- He was friends with Thomas Paine
When, in May, 1775, the Committee of Safety recommended the people of the county to form themselves into military associations, Joseph Kirkbride was elected Colonel of the First Battalion of Bucks County Associators. He, John Wilkinson and Joseph Hart were the only elected Deputies to the Provincial Congress to serve actively in the Militia
Though his tasks for the Committee were many, it is for his military contributions to the war effort that he is most known. On May 9, 1777, he was appointed Lieutenant of the County, in which position he was active in collecting recruits, arms, and supplies for the use of the army; and in the repression of the Tory element in the county.
Battle of the Kegs
In November 1777, the British Navy sailed up the Delaware to seize Philadelphia. The rebels, led by Colonel Joseph Kirkbride, plotted a counter attack, filling 20 wooden barrels with gunpowder and flintlock exploders and loading the kegs into a whaling boat to travel downstream. Just before dawn, they set the kegs adrift.
When the first British barge pulled one aboard, it detonated, killing four sailors and injuring others. Immediately British ships fired at the barrels in an attempt to destroy the floating bombs.
News of the attack gave a much-needed morale boost to the rebellion. In Bordentown, Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, composed “The Battle of the Kegs”, a ballad which became wildly popular (sung to the tune of “Yankee Doodle”)
In May 1778, the British retaliated against Bordentown and "the rebel Kirkbride" sending 1,000 men on two gun ships and 20 flat-bottom boats to attack the Bordentown defenses and pillage the city. Buildings were burned and two Continental frigates and 27 smaller vessels were destroyed.
Kirkbride paid the price for his acts. The British torched his beloved home, Bellevue, as well as his tavern, all outbuildings and the ferry itself. Nothing was left standing, forcing Kirkbride to rebuild after the war across the river in Bordentown. Pictured here is the rebuilt home.
After the attack, Kirkbride writes to his superiors,"The Enemy having lately Burnt two Valuable Dwelling Houses with all my Out Houses of Every kind & sort, & a great deal of Furniture, Utensils, Corn, Hay, &c., & Intirely Dislodging my Family, is the Only apoligy I can offer your Excellency for my Impunctuality."
Kirkbride added, "Notwithstanding, I can say with Sincerity I had rather loose ten such Estates than be suspected to be unfriendly to my Country."
Samuel Foulke (1717-1797
Quaker, Elder and Clerk of the Richland Monthly Meeting, Pennsylvania Assemblyman
The Clerk
- Samuel was the eldest son of Hugh and Anne Foulke.
- He married Ann Grasly in 1743
- He was the clerk and an elder of the Richland Monthly Meeting, from its inception in 1742.
- He wrote many of their wills and acted as executor and administrator for their estates.
- He served in the Pennsylvania Assembly from 1761-1768,
- He kept a Journal of the Assembly
- Samuel and his three brothers, resigned their positions in the Meeting in 1778, and took the Pennsylvania Assembly Oath of Allegiance.
Image: Portrait of Samuel Foulke, William Parker Foulke Papers, 1840-1865, American Philisophical Society
Samuel Foulke served as clerk of the Richland Monthly Quaker Meeting for 37 years. During this time he also served on the Pennsylvania Assembly from 1761 to 1768, keeping a journal documenting his feelings toward the proceedings and the trouble brewing in the colonies.
His sympathy for the American Revolutionary cause was recognized and in 1775 he was selected as a leader of the County Committee of Observance and Inspection and he signed an Oath of Allegiance to the American cause.
The Quakers were against the war from the beginning. Their religious faith opposed all forms of violence. The meeting disowned all who supported the Patriotic or Loyalist cause. In 1775, when it became obvious that the Patriotic cause would become a military effort, Samuel Foulke stepped down from the County Committee of Observance and Inspection. However, despite being an elder of the Richland Meeting, and because he took the oath of allegiance to the Patriotic cause, he was still disowned by the Quaker Meeting.
Samuel Foulke was among a group of disowned Quakers who, in 1783, sought recompense from the Pennsylvania Assembly for their treatment and rights.
While the Quakers disavowed their members with both Patriotic and Loyalist alliances, the Society authorized support and tending of any in need regardless of their allegiances.
John Wilkinson (1711-1782)
Quaker, Farmer, and Justice of the Peace
The Patriot
- John was born in Wrightstown, Pennsylvania and raised a Quaker
- He married Mary Lacey on May 27, 1740.
- He later married Hannah Hughes
- He was chosen a representative in the Provincial Assembly in 1761, and served three terms,
- He was commissioned Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1764 until 1775
- He was a member of the Provincial Conference in July 15, 1774 and again in January of 1775
- He was appointed, August 25, 1775, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Battalion, Bucks County Associators
- He was a member of the Committee of Safety and of the Committee of Correspondence
- He was a member of the Constitutional convention to frame the Pennsylvania State Constitution in 1776
Image; John Wilkinson from the Dicenial Register of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution, 1888, 1898, p. 463
In 1775, as the revolutionary movement became more radical, the Associators were organized into a series of military units, with one company from each township. Like Samuel Foulke, many of the Quakers who had been serving on the committee quit, including John Wilkinson
To Fight or Not To Fight
He had been reared in the Quaker faith and believed in its principles. It became apparent that the Colonies would resort to bearing arms in defense of their rights. With his religious training and the pressure put upon him by his close associates in the Wrightstown Monthly Meeting, on July 21, 1775, he chose to resign his membership in the Committee of Safety, alleging "scruples of conscience relative to the business necessarily transacted by the Committee."
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His patriotism, however, got the better of his religious scruples, as the revolution became more embroiled. He rejoined the Committee of Safety, and was appointed, on August 25. 1775, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Battalion, Bucks County Associators.
This action caused him to be expelled from the Quaker Community in 1777.
According to his obituary, "His principals led him to believe that defensive war was lawful...he preferred the honest dictates of his conscience to his membership in the meeting and was for his patriotism alone expelled as unworthy of Christian fellowship."
James Wallace (1725-1777)
Commissioner of Roads, Church Trustee, County Coroner, Judge, and Politician
The Coroner
- James was commissioned early on to lay out County roads
- He served as an auditor to settle descendants' estates
- He was one of the Trustees of Neshaminy Presbyterian Church in 1767
- He was commissioned coroner of Bucks County from 1768-1773,
- He represented the County for the Provincial Conventions in Philadelphia, July 15, 1774, May 8, 1775, and June of 1776
- He was chosen to serve on the Bucks County Committe of Observence and Inspection in 1774
- His name headed the list of the Warwick Associators, organized August 21, 1775.
- He was appointed to learn the process of making saltpetre, explain it to the inhabitants of the county, and to receive and pay for it when manufactured
- He was commissioned one of the judges of the civil and criminal courts of Bucks County, March 31, 1777.
image: engraving of the manufacture of saltpetre, by Paul Revere
Science of War
At the meeting of the Committee of Safety, held January 22, 1776, James Wallace was made chairman of the committee appointed to go to Philadelphia to be instructed in the method of the manufacture of saltpeter, and by the same resolution was named as the "Officer to receive the Saltpetre which shall be manufactured in this County."
Saltpeter was an essential component in gunpowder. British blockades and import restrictions limited American access to this mineral until they found deposits in the Applachian Mountains. It was mined by Americans and knowledge of its production was vital to the American cause.
Washington's 13 Days in Neshaminy
Prior to 1762, James Wallace lived on leased land, but in that year he purchased from Andrew and William Long, his wife's cousins, some 300 acres in Warwick. It was upon this tract that the main body of Washington's army encamped for 13 days in August, 1777.
During the encampment of Washington's army at Neshaminy, from August 10 to August 23, 1777, while awaiting news of the destination of Howe's fleet, the main part of the Patriot army was encamped on the farm of James Wallace. The troops were pitching their tents throughout his land.
image above: Washington's headquarters in Neshaminy, the Morland House across the road from Wallace's farm.
The location, at the intersection of York and Bristol Roads was a good one. It was close to the southwest branch of the Neshaminy Creek. There was a church, a tavern and a mill nearby.
Washington set up his Headquarters at the nearby Morland House. Across the Old York road was General Greene’s headquarters. A short distance to the east on Bristol road, Lord Stirling’s division was stationed. Opposite Stirling’s division on Bristol road General Conway’s brigade of Pennsylvania troops was camped, and here, also, the cattle were pastured and slaughtered for the army’s use.
John Dyer, of Dyerstown visited the camp. His journal entry reads: “I saw the American army Encamped near or at the Cross Roads; consisting of about 11,000 men in Bucks County.
This was taxing for the locals who were imposed upon to supply the soldiers with flour for bread from the mill, butter, potatoes, cucumbers, beets, cabbage, milk, chickens, and eggs from their farms. Refuse was accumulating. By the end of the 13 days forage grew scarce.
Finally just before dawn on August 23rd, the main body of the American army began to pull out of the Neshaminy encampment. 11,000 ragged men left James Wallace's land and headed out the York Road toward Philadelphia.
Aprocryphal anecdotes suggest that the troops left Neshaminy carrying the newly adopted official American flag with its Stars and Stripes unfurled here for the first time.
The Birth of Old Glory" by Percy Moran, from the Library of Congress, 1917
John Kidd
Merchant, Insurance Agent, Slaveholder, Justice, Philosopher and Politician
The Merchant
- Joseph had had a long career as a merchant and importer in Philadelphia,
- He was one of six members of the partnership agreement of the first American marine insurance company.
- He was a member of the American Philosophical Society.
- He had been Captain of a company of Philadelphia militia in 1756, during the French and Indian War.
- In 1767, he bought an estate in Bensalem from Thomas Barnsley
- That year he was appointed a Justice
- He was one of the county's representatives at the convention of July 1774
- He was elected to the Bucks Committee that December, and was re-elected a year later.
- He signed up as a private in the Bensalem Associators in August 1775.
- In June of 1776, he served as one of the Bucks County delegates to the Provincial Conference.
John Kidd had a long career as a merchant and importer in Philadelphia before moving to Bensalem in 1767. He sold English, European and East Indian wares at his shop. His advertisements were often addressed to the "Ladies of Philadelphia."
He was an entrepreneur, as well, starting one of the first agencies for insuring shipping and merchandise in the County.
In 1767, he purchased an estate in Bensalem from Thomas Barnsley and, on relocating, immediately began to immerse himself in local politics. He was appointed a justice in that very same year.
By 1774 he was fully entrenched in his Bucks County life and was selected to serve on the County Committee on Observance and Inspection. One of the committee's main concerns was both in arming the Militia, and disarming those who might disagree with the American Cause.
Committee Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes of the Committee of Safety of Bucks County, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography
In April of 1776 the Committee issued an order to its delegates to purchase all the arms within their respective districts.
Collecting the guns was not always easy. One Mennonite from Bedminster Township, John Fretz, was quoted as saying to the collectors, "Yes, you can have my gun, but I'll keep hold of the butt end of it."
John Kidd was on the Committee to review the guns collected and ensure that the amounts paid for them were appropriate.
John Kidd along with Joseph Hart and Joseph Kirkbride were also appointed by the County to take and subscribe the Oath of Affirmation of residents who wished to declare their allegiance to the American cause.
Joseph Hart (1716-1788)
Farmer, Deacon, County, Sheriff, Justice, Chairman, Colonel, Politician
The Chairman
- Joseph was a leading member of the Southampton Baptist Church
- In 1746 he was ordained deacon
- In 1747 he was commissioned sheriff of Bucks County and he was appointed justice of the peace
- In 1764 he was commissioned justice of the quarter sessions and common pleas
- On January 16, 1775, a Committee of Safety was organized in Bucks, Pennsylvania, of which Joseph Hart was chosen Chairman
- He joined the Military Service on July 20, 1775
- He was elected Colonel of the Second Battalion Bucks County
- Colonel Joseph Hart's Bucks County Battalion of the Flying Camp was organized in 1776.
On January 16, 1775, Joseph Hart was chosen as Chairman of the newly formed Committee of Safety in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
In August of 1775, Hart requested an accounting of the total number of Associators (those who swore an oath of allegiance to the American cause) and the non-Associators (those who had Loyalist leanings or were neutral), in the county.
The Loyalists in that year were almost equal in number to the Patriots, showing the numbers of Associators at 1688 and of Non-Associators at 1613.
Among other duties, Colonel Joseph Hart was put in charge of recruiting and directing a Battalion of the Flying Camp from Buck's County in 1776. (A Flying Camp was a small but strong army which was always in motion, both to cover the continental garrisons, and to keep the adversary in continual alarm.)
Perth Amboy
Washington fortified an encampment at Perth Amboy, NJ. By August 20, six Pennsylvania battalions with a total of 2600 troops had reported, including Joseph Hart's battalion of 400 men.
Battle of Long Island
By August 21, the New York Bay contained the British Fleet, including 35 warships and 400 transports with about 35,000 troops.
The Flying Camp was constantly on the move, marching as much as 60-70 miles a day, some 300 miles in a week. From Perth Amboy they marched to Long Island.
A view of the Narrows between Long Island and Staten Island, with Our Fleet at Anchor and Lord Howe Coming In, by Lieutenant Archibald Robertson
During the ensuing Battle of Long Island, the continental forces fought 4 times their number. Afterwards many patriot soldiers lay dead and over 1000 Americans were taken prisoner.
On November 14 Joseph Hart's Flying Camp was ferried with the other troops across the Hudson to strengthen Fort Washington.
The entire garrison of Fort Washington came under fire with 2837 men being captured before mid-afternoon on November 16, 1776. The defeat at Fort Washington has been called the heaviest suffered by the American army during the entire war, and Pennsylvania Flying Camp battalions had borne the major burden.
This quote from a letter to Joseph from his brother, Oliver, dated March 24, 1778, shares the Patriotic sentiment embraced by these Bucks County leaders, and is a fitting end to this latest Bucks Bygone Byways Blog
"I am glad that you still take an active hand in the American cause. And hope you will never give up while you are able to serve your country. The situation of affairs in your state must be alarming and affecting. The policy of Britain, in the present controversy, would disgrace the most barbarous nation; and the conduct of the British Army in America, will remain in indelible characters of blood to future generations. Their cause is unjust and their measures diabolical. For my own part, I cannot face the ravages of their army without horror and indignation. I hope, however, that your property had not fallen into their unhallowed hands, but I had much rather sacrifice my all than that America should be enslaved."