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Their son, my grandfather, John Mott, supposed himself to be a “Friend,” until about
thirty years of age, although he had lost his “birth-right” by marrying out of the
Society. It came about, however, that owing to this following circumstance, he became
a fully accredited Revolutionary officer. One bitterly cold Sunday in December,
1776, John Mott was forced to defend his family (a wife and three children) from
six marauding Hessian soldiers.They broke down the barricaded door with axes, but
were without firearms, as was the case with my grandfather (unless, indeed, tongs
and poker might be so classed).As a result three took to their heels, and the remaining
three were cast out over the door-sill dead.One of the two little girls, hidden
in the cellar, never forgot the tumult overhead – she living to be not much under
a hundred.
The following morning John Mott went to General Washington’s camp, near the Delaware,
and received from Washington’s “own hand” a lieutenant’s commission, authorizing
him to organize a company of recruits for the Continental Army. This he did at once,
equipping them at his own expense; and thereafter spent all his possessions in the
service of his country throughout five years and eight months, till conclusion of
peace.
Be it noted that his “saintly” mother, after having been taken by him through camp,
humbly confessed that the “carnal heart took pride and rejoiced in the protection
of a son who was tall and brave soldier.”The son would never apply for a pension,
although forced to support his third family (a wife and eight children, of whom
my mother was the youngest) by learning and practicing the tailor’s trade – nor
yet in a beggarly way, for he had apprentices. Hale and unbowed at seventy-seven,
he died, as did Washington, of quinsy and mismanagement.Shortly before his death
his sons and others saw him crossing the Mohawk river on the string-pieces of a
very long bridge in the process of building, but none dared follow.
The fact that his name does not appear on pension rolls makes it difficult to obtain
a complete record of his services.* We know that he fought at Brandywine and at
Germantown, and was much employed by Washington in secret service. He, himself,
related to my mother (then a child of nine), the story of his pursuit and capture
of a spy who was carrying important papers to the British.His older children stated
that he never spoke of the three Hessians whom he was forced to kill, without tears,
saying always that it seemed like murder.Yet after that, he fired with intent to
kill, upon a Hessian soldier, who was flaying a live cow for meat, after a manner
known to exist among his countrymen.(Pages 11-13)
*See Appendix I
Appendix I (Page 428)
By late advices from the War Department and from the New Jersey Adjutant-General,
we learn that three men of the State, named John Mott, served in the War of the
Revolution. The account given from both sources, of one of these three tallies with
our family traditions so far as they extend.
This one “was appointed first lieutenant in Captain Thomas Paterson’s Company of
Colonel Elias Dayton’s battalion of forces raised in New Jersey, February 8th,
1776, and re-engaged and promoted November 30, 1776. The records also show that
one John Mott (the same) served as a Captain in the Third New Jersey Regiment, commanded
by Colonel Elias Dayton, Revolutionary War.This name appears on the rolls of that
organization, for the period from February 14, 1777, to February, 1779; which shows
that he was commissioned November 30, 1776.”
My mother stated from remembrance of his conversation, that although persistently
calling himself a Quaker, he had felt that when necessity should arise he must be
ready to join in the defense of the State.This may account for the earlier lieutenancy;
but if we have him rightly located, his term of army service, whether as Captain,
private or secret and trusted agent, was exactly five years and eight months from
the date of re-organization for active warfare.He was therefore one of the Continental
Army, until the news arrived of the signing, at Paris, of the Treaty of Peace, when
forces were mustered out.
My honored Cousin Wesley Mott, only son of my Mother’s brother, Mayhew Daggett Mott,
writes to me of him:
“My own father has often told me about his terrible encounter with the six Hessian
soldiers, and his going to Washington’s camp and accepting an appointment under
him as lieutenant and afterward being engaged in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown.
Your mother, when I visited her forty years ago (in 1867) told me many additional
facts of great interest about grandfather Mott.
.” (Following are several non-Revolution related antidotes)
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In the official records of the local military organizations of New Jersey John Mott
is named on 9th February, 1776, as First Lieutenant in Captain Patterson’s
Company in the Third Battalion (Stryker’s Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary
War), but it does not appear whether this was his first or second or third
term of service.A little before this, on the 8th of December, 1775, the
First and Second New Jersey Battalions had been ordered to New York. On the 3rd
of May the Second and Third Battalions went up the Hudson in sloops, and thence
to Ticonderoga as reinforcements of General Sullivan, who, after the retreat of
the British from Boston on the 17th of March, 1776, had taken command
of the army which had retreated from Quebec. As Lieutenant John Mott was in the
Third Battalion he was probably in this expedition. The New Jersey battalions were
successively in Johnstown, German Flats, Fort Schuyler, Fort Dayton, and Ticonderoga
and Fort Independence.They were chiefly engaged in preventing Indian incursions.
But they all returned in time to take part in the campaign in New Jersey in the
autumn and winter of 1776-77 (See below).
…(Paragraph skipped)
But meantime a new army was being organized. New recruits were brought in, enlistments
were made for longer terms or “for the war” instead of for the previous short dated,
and Congress on the 12th of December gave Washington full power relative
to the army. Lieutenant Mott and his comrades under Sullivan had just return from
Ticonderoga.In the new organization of the New Jersey troops, John Mott was made
captain of the Fifth Company in the Third Battalion (19th November 1776),
and now the four New Jersey battalions constituted the “New Jersey Line” or Maxwell’s
Brigade.
But here, near his old home, Captain Mott’s local knowledge made him of great service
as Washington’s guide, in planning and conducting a new attack upon the British
in Trenton. Other farmers of the neighborhood were also called in. On the 20th
of December General Sullivan arrived with troops from near Morristown.On the 25th,
in the night, General Washington recrossed the Delaware and marched on Trenton,.Captain
Mott in the darkness of the morning carried a fusee on his shoulder to light General
Washington. The weather was stormy, and after they had marched about three miles
the Captain said to General Sullivan that the priming powder in the muskets was
becoming damp.. Sullivan replied: "Well, boys, we must fight them with the
bayonet." When Washington heard this he said: "Tell tem to
use the bayonet, and to penetrate the town, for the town must be taken! I
am resolved to take it!" As is well known he took the town and captured
a thousand Hessian prisoners.
Captain John Mott can be traced during the remainder of the war in the “New Jersey
Line” or Maxwell’s Brigade. On the 11th of September, 1777, they opened
the battle of Brandywine and afterward encamped near Germantown and formed the reserve
corps and left wing at the battle of Germantown….
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