Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Put Watts Into 'Em Boys!

There is a lovely historic church and small cemetery containing graves of revolutionary war patriots in Springfield, NJ, not too far from where we live.


The cedar-shingled church has been in existence since 1780.


It played an important role in the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Springfield when James Caldwell, Pastor of the Continental Army, threw Watts' Hymnals to his men to use as wadding in their guns. The rest, as they say, is history :)

 SPRINGFIELD 
THE FIRST BRITISH ADVANCE 
WAS STAYED AT THE BRIDGE
EAST OF THE VILLAGE , JUNE 7, 1780
THE BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD 
WAS FOUGHT JUNE 23rd. 
THE AMERICANS
UNDER GENERAL GREENE 
ON THAT DAY NEAR THE STREAM
WEST OF THE CHURCH
CHECKED THE ENEMY,
WHO IN THEIR RETREAT
BURNED THE CHURCH AND VILLAGE.
FROM THIS CHURCH
PARSON CALDWELL TOOK PSALM-BOOKS
DURING THE FIGHT AND FLUNG THEM
TO THE AMERICANS FOR WADDING,
CRYING, "PUT WATTS INTO 'EM BOYS."
ERECTED BY THE STATE OF
NEW JERSEY, A.D. 1905



The cemetery is located on an adjacent street in a quiet neighborhood. There are quite a few Revolutionary War soldiers buried there.

  THOMAS COOPER
NEW JERSEY 
SOMERSET COUNTY TROOPS
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
1745-1811

AARON HAND
NEW JERSEY
PVT MORRIS CO TROOPS
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
FEB 23 1764  JULY 27 1842

BENJAMIN MEEKER
NEW JERSEY
ESSEX COUNTY TROOPS
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
1746  1813

DANIEL VREELAND
PVT NJ MILITIA
REV WAR
1757  1828

CALEB WOODRUFF
PVT NJ MILITIA
REV WAR
1755  1834


HAVE A WONDERFUL 4TH! 




__________
Copyright 2016, Barbara Schaffer

3 comments:

  1. It's fun to hear the personal stories. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is the church built in wood ?
    It's rare in France to find again some ancient tombs like these. Thank you for this interesting historical story Barb !

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  3. Happy Fourth - Wonderful memorial post and photos

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