Biographical Sketches of New Jersey Officers listed in Journals of the Military Expedition of Major General John Sullivan (1887) Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Donna Bluemink http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ******************************************************** JOURNALS OF THE MILITARY EXPEDITION OF MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN AGAINST THE SIX NATIONS OF INDIANS IN 1799 WITH RECORDS OF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS Prepared Pursuant to Chapter 361, Laws of the State of New York, of 1885. by Frederick Cook, Secretary of State Auburn, N.Y. Knapp, Peck & Thompson Printers 1887. ------------------------------------- The Following BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE OFFICERS appear as a preface before each officer's journal. -------------- [3] LIEUT. WILLIAM BARTON. William Barton, Lieutenant in General Maxwell's New Jersey Brigade. Journal published in the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Vol II, 1846- 7. The editor states that the journal commences on the 11th May, 1779, "but as Lieut Barton passed the greater part of the succeeding three weeks on furlough at his own home, there is little recorded in it during that period of general interest, and that portion is consequently omitted. What follows embraces the remainder part of the manuscript, except some unimportant or uninteresting details." From June 8 to October 9, 1779. -------------- [42] MAJOR JOHN BURROWES. Major John Burrowes married Margaret, daughter of Judge Samuel Forman and Helen Denise, his wife, both families living at Middletown Point, (now Matawan), N. J. He was brought up as a merchant, entered the continental army at the beginning of the war, and came out a Major with a high reputation, having been in several engagements and had many narrow escapes. He was much with General David Forman (who was nicknamed "Black David") and gained from the Tories—who were much afraid of both—the sobriquet of "Black David's Devil." His wife died, leaving three children, of whom the daughters, Mrs. Jacob W. Hallett and Mrs. Sidney Breeze of Oneida, N. Y., survive. After the war, Major Burrowes went to Georgia, and was never heard from after starting on a journey into the interior at an unhealthy season. Of Mrs. Burrowes' sisters, Eleanor Forman married Philip Freeman, the poet, Catharine married Benjamin Ledyard, of New London, Conn., who was later a merchant in New York city, and later still, County Clerk, at Aurora, N. Y. The brother Jonathan Forman married Benjamin Ledyard's sister Mary, who "went over her shoe tops in blood" in the barn where the wounded lay, the morning after Arnold's descent upon New London, where her uncle, Colonel William Ledyard was killed after his surrender. The only surviving child of General Jonathan Forman (who served throughout the war in the New Jersey line and later went to Cazenovia, N. Y.), Mary Ledyard Forman, married Henry Seymour and was the mother of Horatio, and John F. Seymour, of Utica, N. Y. Captain John Burrowes was Major in Spencer's Fifth New Jersey Regiment He was formerly of Forman's Regiment. By general orders of June 26, 1779, Colonel Spencer was directed to join Maxwell's Brigade and "the companies of late Forman's Corps will join Spencer's Regiment." The following is from a copy of the journal made from the original manuscript by Mrs. Elizabeth Breeze Stevens, a granddaughter of Major Burrowes, living at Oneida, Madison County, N. Y., and has been carefully compared by George G. Barnum, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of Buffalo Historical Society, with a copy in the archives of that society. The original manuscript, in the possession of Hon. Breeze J. Stevens, Madison, Wis., a son of Mrs. E. B. Stevens, has been mislaid, -------------- [53] DR. JABEZ CAMPFIELD. Dr. Jabez Campfield, Surgeon in Spencer's Fifth New Jersey Regiment, from May 23 to Oct. 2, 1779. He was a resident of New Jersey and has grand children living. One of them resided a few years since at Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, N. Y. Published in the Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, Vols. 3 and 4, 1873, pp. 115 to 136, from the original presented to the Society, by Edmund D. Halsey, Esq.; also in the Wyoming County (Pa.) Democrat, Dec. 31, 1873, Jan. 28, 1874. -------------- [81] DR. EBENEZER ELMER. Dr. Ebenezer Elmer, Surgeon in second New Jersey Regiment. The following is a literal copy of his journal, made by Rev. David Craft, from a verbatim copy in the hands of Lyman C. Draper, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of Historical Society, Madison, Wis., printed in the "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society," Vol. II. pp. 43-50. -------------- [107] SERG'T MAJOR GEORGE GRANT. George Grant, Sergeant Major in the Third New Jersey Regiment Journal published in the Wyoming Republican, July 16, 1834, from the original furnished by Thomas Gordon, of Trenton, N. J., which has since been destroyed by fire. Republished in Hazard's Register (Pa), Vol. XIV, pp. 72-76. -------------- [267] LIEUT. SAMUEL M. SHUTE. Journal of Samuel Moore Shute, Lieutenant in Second New Jersey Regiment. The original manuscript has been in the Elmer family since the death of Dr. Shute, in 1816, and was accidentally discovered during the centennial year, by a relative. It is now in possession of William E. Potters, Esq., of Princeton, N. J. The journal of the expedition, with the exception of a very little, is complete and contains some incidents which are nowhere else to be found. Although some of it is very indistinct, having apparently been wet by exposure, yet it has been accurately deciphered by General John S. Clark, Auburn, N. Y., who, with the assistance of Judge A. S. Thurston, Elmira, N. Y., carefully compared his copy with the original, August 25, 1879. The following is taken from the literal copy made by General Clark, who says, that the reference notes were evidently made at about the same time as the journal, and could very properly be incorporated with it. In one or two instances, some doubt appeared as to the proper reference, but on a careful examination he reached the conclusion that they referred to the subjects as herein indicated.