A Year With George Washington
On January 27th, 1781, the mutiny of New Jersey troops ended with the ringleaders executed by firing squad.
General Washington had been beset with intractable problems since the very beginning of his being appointed Commander-in-Chief. He had suffered along with his army through unimaginable hardship. Some of his soldiers had reached their breaking point.
At the dawn of the new year, 1781, Washington received a letter from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne informing him that soldiers on the Pennsylvania Line had mutinied and killed one officer, Captain Adam Bettin, and severely wounded another, Captain Samuel Tolbert. A later draft of that letter describes the event.
“It’s with inexpressible pain I acquaint your Excellency of a total defection & General mutiny in the Pennsa line which suddenly took place between the hours of 9 & 10 OClock last evening, every possible exertion was used by the Officers to surpress it in it’s bud—but the torrent was too potent to be checked—Capt. Bitting has fell a Victim to his Zeal & duty—Capt. Tolbert & Liut. [Francis] White are reported Mortally Wounded—a very considerable Number of the Field & Other Officers have been much bruised & Injured by Strokes from Muskets, bayonets & Stones nor have the revolters escaped with Impunity—many of their bodies lay under our horses feet—& Others will retain with existan⟨ce⟩ the traces of our Espotoons & Swords—they finally moved from the Ground about 11. OClock at Night scouring the parade with round & Grape Shot from four field pieces, the troops Advancing in a Solid Column with fixed bayonet[s] produ[c]ing a defensive fire of Musketry in front flank & rear, during this horrid scene a few Officers with myself was carried with the tide, to the fork of the road, at Mount Kemble—but placing ourselves on that leading to Elizabeth town—& producing a conviction to the troops that they could not advance upon that route but over our dead bodies—they fortunately turned toward Princetown.”
The Pennsylvania troops, though fueled by the half-pint of rum rations, insisted they were “Not Arnolds,” referring to the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold, and had in fact rejected an overture from the British Commander General Sir Henry Clinton to join the British side. He promised them that they would be well-fed, clothed, and paid.
Still loyal to the American cause, they still had a host of grievances. Many of them had not been paid at all since they received the $20 enlistment bounty when they signed up. Additionally, they suffered from inadequate clothing, food scarcity, uncertain enlistment terms, and payments made to new recruits rather than to them.
Washington understood the underlying reasons for the mutiny; he had been pleading with the states to remedy the army’s decrepit condition since the war began, but more than that, he knew he could not allow mutiny to stand as a means to address a soldier’s discontent.
With Washington’s consent, General Wayne rounded up twelve of the main Pennsylvania instigators and marched them into a field to be executed by their fellow soldiers. A fifer in the army recounted the horrific scene.
“The distance that the platoons stood from [the condemned men] at the time they fired could not have been more than ten feet. So near did they stand that the handkerchiefs covering the eyes of some of them were set on fire . . . The fence and even the heads of rye for some distance within the field were covered with the blood and brains.”
After learning of the New Jersey lines’ following Pennsylvania’s lead, Washington sent a letter to each of the states’ governors informing them of the conditions that led to the mutiny, a summary of the events, and what he intended to do about the mutineers.
“I have ordered as large a Detachment as we could spare from these Posts to march under Major Genl Howe with orders to compell the mutineers to unconditional submission—to listen to no terms while they were in a state of resistance, and on their reduction to execute instantly a few of the most active, and most incendary Leaders.”
The New Jersey Mutiny, referred to now as the Pompton Mutiny, was smaller in scale than the Pennsylvania Line. General Robert Howe, whom Washington had sent to quell the disturbance, did as General Wayne had and lined up two of the ring leaders in front of a twelve-member firing squad. The revolt ended there.
Washington took no joy in taking the lives of desperate men who succumbed to desperate acts, but he had to make horrible decisions like these to prevent all they had fought so hard for from unraveling.
Washington’s spirits would be lifted when he received the news of Brigadier General Daniel Morgan’s brilliant victory at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina. The battle would come to represent the beginning of the end of the Revolution.
Circular to the States
Head Quarters New Windsor January 22nd 1781.
Sir
I have received the disagreeable intelligence that a part of the Jersey Line had followed the example of that of the Pennsylvania; and when the advices came away it was expected the revolt would be general. The precise intention of the Mutineers was not known, but their complaints & demands were similar to those, of the Pennsylvanians.
Persuaded that without some decisive effort at all hazards to surppress this dangerous spirit it would speedily infect the whole Army, I have ordered as large a Detachment as we could spare from these Posts to march under Major Genl Howe with orders to compell the mutineers to unconditional submission—to listen to no terms while they were in a state of resistance, and on their reduction to execute instantly a few of the most active, and most incendary Leaders. I am not certain what part the Troops detached for this purpose will act, but I flatter myself they will do their duty. I prefer any extremity to which the Jersey Troops may be driven, to a compromise.
The weakness of the Garrison, but still more it’s embarrassing distress for want of provisions made it impossible to prosecute such measures with the Pennsylvanians, as the nature of the case demanded—And while we were making arrangments, as far as practicable to supply these defects an accomodation took place which will not only subvert the Pennsylvania line, but have a very pernicious influence on the whole Army. I mean however by these remarks only to give an idea of the miserable situation we are in, not to blame a measure which perhaps in our circumstances was the best that could have been adopted—The same embarrassments operate against coercion at this moment, but not in so great a degree; the Jersey Troops not being from their numbers so formidable as were the Pennsylvanians.
I dare not detail the risks we run from the scantiness of supplies—We have received few or no cattle for some time past, nor do [we] know of any shortly to be expected—The salted meat we ought to have reserved in the Garrison, is now nearly exhausted, I cannot but renew my solicitations with your state to every expedience for contributing to our imediate relief. With perfect respect, I have the honor to be Your Most Obedt and Hble, servant.
Go: Washington
