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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 02/12/2003 5:35:38 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different veteran each Wednesday. The "ordinary" Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine who participated in the events in our Country's history. We hope to present events as seen through their eyes. To give you a glimpse into the life of those who sacrificed for all of us - Our Veterans.  To list previous Foxhole Threads or to add The Foxhole to your sidebar Click on the Logo
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Published in the Princeton Standard, May 1,8,15, 1863- author uncertain, but believed to be William Churchill Houston, a teacher at the College of NJ (Princeton University) from 1768 to 1783. A member of the Provincial Congress (1776), Council of Safety (1778), and Continental Congress (1779-1781)  Wednesday Dec[ember] 18th I went over the River to join Longstreets Company, found the Company and came back over the River with them the next Day, though I had not joined. The sun set just as we marched from the River after crossing, I marched with them till some time after dark, then took the road to Johnsons, missed my way some miles, got home next day about ten in the morning. Next day went to near Princeton within 1/2 a mile of the Enemy got a Gun and Accoutrements. As it was bad traveling, I sprained my ankle this day. Next day Sunday [ December 22], I came back to Amwell, intending on Monday to go over the River. But as the Amwell Militia were at this time coming back over River, I through persuasion staid and enlisted in the Amwell Battallion. Dec. 24th Went off immediately with the scouting Party Capt. Houston's. Took our Lodgings in the neighborhood. My ankle was very painful and the bottoms of my feet blistered so as some times while walking to make me cry out.... Next morning [January 1, 1777] we marched to Penny Town drew Rations and marched some miles further towards Trenton, and took Lodgings that night. Set out early next morning, towards Trenton, till sun 1/2 an hour high when we heard the Engagement begin towards Princeton,{actually, on January 3rd, 1777} we then immediately marched back to Penny Town waiting some time for Intelligence. Made two or three movements and lay in wait some time in the woods, for the Enemy; but they having got intelligence of us by some Tory, returned another road, and so escaped us, we then came to Levy Hart's took Lodgings, and cooked provisions. I laid about 3 hours with my blankets on cords. At 3 o'clock, set out for Penny Town, after a round about march we came to the field where the Battle was fought. I had a most dismal prospect of a number of pale mangled corpses, lying in the mud and blood. I felt gloomy at the awful scene. Returned in a rough tedious march to Hopewell. Such unpleasant marching occasioned my ankle again to swell and grow painflll....[see the Battle of Princeton following this opening]  Staid here in peace till Monday morning [January 20] we then received an Alarm and were ordered to march to Boundbrook, we arrived there between 11 and 12, then hearing that the Enemy was plundering at Millstone, we immediately marched for that place, being joined by a considerable body at Boundbrook we marched on till we passed Raritan Bridge , hearing several Cannon fired, while on the way. After crossing the Bridge, the Battallion I was in was taken off for the left wing, I crossed Millstone, some distance below the Bridge, wading through the water, more than knee deep. We immediately marched towards the road, and fired upon the Baggage Guard, who were retreated that way. They immediately left horses wagons and plunder, and returned with the greatest precipitation. The main body of the Enemy lay just over south of the Bridge . Before we crossed the River below, our main Body began the Attack at the Bridge with one Field piece and made the Enemy give way. They continued their fire upon the Enemy some time. Our wing, after driving the Baggage Guard, pursued on and flanked the Enemy. After a short engagement, finding ourselves greatly overpowered with numbers, we receivecl General Orders to retreat, having had 1 man killed and 2 wounded. and we had taken 2 of the Enemy prisoners. We then retreated back to the River, lest our retreat should be cut off. But finding the Enemy did not pursue, we rallied again, with as many of our men as we could collect, and marched on towards the Enemy the second time; but when we came in sight of them, they got possession of an eminence in the End of a clear Field, with one or more Field pieces and poured down theil Grape shot upon us briskly. Then finding it in vain to attack them with our little Body, under so great a disadvantage, we immediately retreated back and most of our men went over the River up into a clear field, to where our main Body had bv this time collected....[see the Battle of Millstone Following this opening] Sunday, Jan. 26th in the afternoon, we were alarmed and marched down to Raritan Bridge, then hearing the Alarm was false, we marched back again to Quarters. The cause of this Alarm was that some of our out Guard had fired upon a small party of Hessians, who had come ('tis thought) to disturb them. After this Alarm we remained quiet in our Quarters till Wednesday Feb. 5th, having no other duty to attend but the General's and the Ammunition Guard. This night we were ordered to march at 11 o'clock with the rest of Gen. Dikeson's Brigade and went within 1/2 mile of the Enemy's Quarters. The roads were now excessively muddy, so that we were over Shoes in mud and water; but towards morning it grew very cold and froze very hard. The design of this march was to take off the horses, wagons, fat Cattle and Sheep from the inhabitants to prevent the Enemy from getting any advantage of them. We got off a quantity of these Articles, and marched back (the road being now frozen hard) to Head Quarters. When we got home most of us were wearied and stiff, and our feet sore. We took some refreshments and rested about 2 hours, I being very weary and drowsy, had lain down and got in a sound sleep, when we were again alarmed to go and meet the Enemy, who were advancing towards Raritan. We immediately marched down to Raritan Bridge and there waited till our light horse came in, who brought us word that the Enemy had been up as far as Covenhoven's, had taken and destroyed a great quantity of grain and hay, drove off a great number of Cattle and were gone back. We then all came back to Quarters, and rested in peace that night....  This day June 19th we received Orders to march down to the lines. We marched at Sunrise, and took Quarters this night, below Morristown; Next day, came in to Bullion's Tavern, where we took Quarters, waiting for Orders. The Enemy had, some days before this, removed from Brunswick to Millstone, near the Court house, and it was thought would make an attempt for Philadelphia; This roused the Militia of all the neighbouring counties, and they turned out, with such spirit as will do them honor to the latest ages. Never did the Jerseys appear more universally unanimous to oppose the Enemy; they turned out Old and young, great and small. Rich and poor; Scarcely a man that could carry a musket was left at home. This soon struck a panic into the Enemy, for they could scarcely stir from their Camp, but they were cut off. They then fled with the greatest haste to Brunswick; but the Militia pursued them so closely and so warmly, that they made no stay here. On Sunday morning June 22nd they were driven out of the Town, and chased near to Amboy by the spirited Militia in conjunction with a small party of the English Troops. The Enemy, when they left Millstone and Brunswick, burnt several houses, strangled almost to death 2 or 3 women, and behaved in the most cruel, barbarous manner After the Enemy were driven from Brunswick, our Army took possession of the Town, and such of the Militia as were called out upon this Alarm, were discharged. Wednesday, June 25th part of Militia at Bullion's Tavern were discharged and part ordered to march next day for Pompton, which they did. Thursday, June 26th, the Enemy came out with their whole Body from Amboy and proceeded to Westfield , where they plundered and destroyed every thing before them, and distressed the Inhabitants in a manner before unheard of, but before they returned to Amboy numbers of them were cut off by part of our Army, and some Militia. They returned to Amboy, and on Monday Evening June the 30th 1777, they all left Amboy and went to Staten Island.
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Disregard that comparison if it's confusing as hell. LOL.
William Churchill HOUSTON (1746-August 12, 1788), public official and a New Jersey delegate to the Constitutional Convention, was born in the Sumter district of South Carolina, the son of Archibald and Margaret Houston, small planters. In the early 1750s, the family moved to Anson County in the North Carolina piedmont. During the mid-eighteenth century, a number of Presbyterian ministers, trained at the College of New Jersey (later, Princeton), established churches in the Carolina piedmont among the Scotch-Irish settlers and began schools. Houston probably attended one of these schools, most likely, Crowfield Academy, and was then sent on to Princeton. He matriculated at the College in the mid-1760s and graduated with the class of 1768; while a student, he helped support himself by teaching at the College's grammar school. Upon graduation, he became master of the grammar school; and in 1771, the College's trustees appointed him to the new professorship of mathematics and natural philosophy. When John Witherspoon, the College's President, obtained an orrery (an apparatus used to chart the position and motion of bodies in the solar system) from Philadelphia inventor David Rittenhouse, Houston was put in charge of the device. During the first years of the Revolutionary War, with Witherspoon active in the Continental Congress, Houston not only taught at the school but assumed many of the administrative responsibilities for the institution, and remained on the faculty, despite an active political career, until 1783.
It was probably Houston's connection with the College and John Witherspoon that drew him into politics as the Revolution approached. John Adams, who met him in 1774, applauded him as among the Sons of Liberty, and in the winter of 1775, he had traveled to Boston, possibly for the Continental Congress. In February of 1776, the New Jersey Council of Safety recorded his election as an officer in the Somerset County militia; he resigned that summer, to return to the College, but apparently took up his commission again in the fall, when British forces moved on Princeton, and may have seen active combat during the winter campaigns in central New Jersey.
Houston's most significant contributions to rebellion came not as a soldier, however, but as public official in New Jersey and in the revolutionary confederation government. In March of 1777 he was elected to the position of Deputy Secretary of the Continental Congress, serving under Charles Thomson, and continued in the post until September, when Somerset County sent him to the New Jersey General Assembly as one of its three representatives. He remained active in the Assembly, gradually gaining greater and greater committee responsibilities, until May of 1779, when he and Abraham Clark were elected as New Jersey representatives to the Continental Congress (replacing Frederick Frelinghuysen and Elias Dayton). He played a particularly active role in Congress through July of 1781, when he became seriously ill, and then served intermittently, through the winter of 1785.
Given Houston's professorship in mathematics and the natural sciences, it is not surprising that his most significant responsibilities were in dealing with the financial problems of the Confederation. Lacking the power to tax to raise revenue for the war effort, the Continental Congress printed ever larger quantities of paper money, offered bonds issues, and authorized agents to seize goods and pay in federal certificates. All these issues depreciated rapidly, and by the time Houston arrived at the Continental Congress, the Confederation faced a financial crisis as representatives desperately tried to find a way to continue paying for the war. Houston directed his energies to the financial crisis. He helped draft a report to the Congress in March of 1780 on the repayment of Loan Office certificates, and in May of that year, brought in a recommendation to allow certificates, issued by agents of the Commissary General for the seizure of provisions, to be used to pay taxes. In September 1781, Congress recognized his contribution by electing him Comptroller of the Treasury, a position he declined; and then in April of 1782, Robert Morris, the Superintendent of Finance, appointed him receiver of Continental taxes in New Jersey. Congress had authorized Morris to appoint state receivers to coordinate the collection of money paid by the States to Congress and in anticipation of authorization, that never came, to levy direct taxes. Houston held the position from 1782 to 1785, and judging from his papers, devoted a considerable amount of time to his responsibilities.
As the crisis of 1780-1781 subsided, and the victory of the revolutionaries seemed more assured, Houston, like many of those who had struggled to maintain the war effort and had become increasingly disillusioned with what they perceived in their fellow citizens as a corrupt pursuit of self-interest, became less active in the Continental Congress. His decision may have been quickened by poor health and by the fact that about this time he married Jane Smith, with whom he had five children. He had also taken up the study of law with Richard Stockton, and in 1781 was admitted to the bar and appointed clerk of the New Jersey Supreme Court. The next year he resettled in Trenton, became a leader in the local Presbyterian church, and began to practice law, litigating cases in the Hunterdon, Burlington, and Monmouth County courts. In 1782, he was among the lawyers who supported the East Jersey proprietors in their dispute before the New Jersey Assembly with the West Jersey proprietors over location of the division line between the two sections of the state. Still a member of Congress, but now less active, he was also appointed in 1782 to a commission to resolve the conflicting claims of Connecticut and Pennsylvania to the Wyoming Lands (the commission resolved the dispute in favor of Pennsylvania), and in his last term in Congress, took some interest in John Fitch's efforts to promote his plans to build a steamboat.
During the early 1780s, Houston wrote a number of brief essays on political and economic topics; some were probably crafted for law cases; others may have merely been private reflection on matters with which he was dealing in Congress. None were ever published. Among them were "Detached Thoughts on the Subject of Money and Finance" from January 1781 (arguing against paper money and price controls); "Whether it would be a good Policy to Erect Corporations of any kind in the State and if so of what kind?" from January 1782 (arguing against civic corporations); an "Essay on Taxation" from May 1782 (which denounced slavery and proposed greater taxes on luxury goods); and an extended opinion on free speech from March of 1784 (that argued that a statement was libelous only if it was intentionally false and clearly malicious.)
Houston was among the representatives sent by New Jersey to the Annapolis Convention of 1786 to consider how the States might cooperate in trade policy. From the Annapolis meeting came the call for a new convention to consider amending the Articles of Confederation, and Houston, along with David Brearly, William Paterson, and John Neilson, was appointed to the New Jersey delegation for the Philadelphia Convention of 1787--but now very ill, he left little mark on the meeting. (William Livingston and Abraham Clark replaced Houston and Neilson.) Shortly thereafter, Houston died from tuberculosis. His personal estate, land excluded, was inventoried at a modest but comfortable 355; he died owning a substantial law library and a young slave woman.
In sum, Houston was a second-rung public leader during an era of extraordinary circumstances. In the revolutionary politics and the state-building activities of that era, his accomplishments were not on the same order as those of New Jersey leaders such as William Paterson, John Witherspoon, or William Livingston--but he played key roles in guiding the College of New Jersey through difficult times and serving in the Continental Congress. While he left little in the way of a written legacy, Houston shared the sentiments, borne of his wartime experience, of those who worked to create a stronger, more centralized national government, and presumably, if he had lived longer, would have found a home in the Federalist Party.
Paul G. E. Clemens
Sources
The only extended biography of Houston is Thomas Allen Glenn, William Churchill Houston, 1746-1788 (1903), but this should be supplemented by the essay on Houston in James McLachlan, ed., Princetonians, 1748-1768: A Biographical Dictionary (1976), pp. 643-647. Houston's schooling is mwntioned in William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers (1846). On the question of Houston's service at the Philadelphia Convention, compare Glenn with Richard P. McCormick, Experiment in Independence: New Jersey in the Critical Period, 1781-1789 (1950), which is also extremely useful for placing Houston's many activities in the context of New Jersey politics. The Princeton University Library has the most significant collection of his papers; these deal with his legal practice, his activities as receiver for Continental taxes, and the settlement of his estate. Additional papers are at the New Jersey Historical Society, Trenton; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and the Rutgers University Library, New Brunswick. Houston's activities can be traced in several document collections: Edmund Cody Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress, 8 vols. (1921-1936); Carl E. Prince, et al., eds, The Papers of William Livingston, 5 vols. (1979-1988); E. James Ferguson, et al., The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781-1784, 6 vols. (1973-1984); as well as in the Journals of the Continental Congress, 34 vols. (1904-1937); and Votes and Proceedings of the New Jersey General Assembly.
Regarding the bathroom revolution: plant a field piece on the high ground of the Vanity and fire a rain of grapeshot down upon the Bathtub.
We advised this to make room for the low-threshold shower pan enabling the special needs grandchild's Hoyer lift to be rolled right into the line of fire from the water cannon.
Here's to Sgt. Paul Posti Sr. whose shoot-from-the-tail style lives on in the COWboys and girls of the Coalition Of the Willing.
Sam...you wanna dance? :) 
Happy Valentine's Day EVERYONE! :)
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