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N the 22d of November, 1848, I left New York to visit the Southern portions of the old Thirteen States, made memorable by the events of the War for Independence. Aware of the lack of public facilities for travel below the Potomac, and not doubting that many of the localities which I intended to visit were far distant from public highways, I resolved to journey with my own conveyance, with an independence and thoroughness not vouchsafed by steam or stagedrivers. I purchased a strong, good-natured horse, harnessed him to a light dearborn wagon, stowed my luggage under the seat, and, taking the reins, on a bright and balmy afternoon departed on a drive of nearly fourteen hundred miles. The wisdom of my resolve was a hundred times made manifest, for, in some portions of the South, horse, mule, or ox could not have been procured to convey me to places of interest, lying scores of miles apart, and scores of miles away from stage-routes. It was a lonely journey; sometimes among mountains, sometimes through swamps, sometimes through vast pine forests and over sandy plains, and sometimes amid the most interesting natural scenery, even in mid-winter. It was to me a journey of great interest; and the dreary days passed in riding from one hallowed locality to another, after leaving the Appomattox, were all forgotten when sitting down, pencil in hand, in the midst of some arena consecrated by patriotism and love of country. Then glorious associations would crowd thickly upon the memory, weariness and privations would be forgotten, and the truthful heart would chant,

"Great God! we thank thee for this home

This bounteous birth-land of the free;

Where wanderers from afar may come

And breathe the air of liberty!

"Still may her flowers untrampled spring,

Her harvests wave, her cities rise;
And yet, till Time shall fold his wing,
Remain earth's loveliest paradise!"
W. J. PABODIE.

Perth Amboy.

Its original Settlement and Prospects.

Governor William Franklin

In succeeding pages I shall endeavor to impart to my readers some of the pleasures and profits of this Southern journey, extended, after leaving my horse and wagon at Camden, in South Carolina, to nearly fourteen hundred miles further.

I left New York at three o'clock in the afternoon in the steam-boat Transport, of the Camden and Amboy Rail-road Company. We passed out at the Narrows at four o'clock between Forts Hamilton and La Fayette, and, traversing Raritan Bay, on the southeast side of Staten Island, reached South Amboy at twilight, where I remained until morning. This little village is situated upon the bay, at the mouth of the Raritan, and is the terminus of the rail-way from Philadelphia. On the north side of the Raritan is Perth Amboy,' a pleasant place, a port of entry, and a locality of considerable historic interest. It is about twenty-five miles from New York, and ten from New Brunswick; the latter lies at the head of steam-boat navigation on the Raritan. Upon this point the first proprietors of New Jersey intended to build a city. If the Lord permit," they said, in their published account of the beauty and fertility of that region, "we intend, with all convenient speed, to erect and build our principal town, which, by reason of situation, must, in all probability, be the most considerable for merchandise, trade, and fishing in those parts. It is designed to be placed upon a neck or point of land called Ambo Point, lying on Raritan River, and pointing to Sandy Hook Bay, and near adjacent to the place where ships in that great harbor commonly ride at anchor." It was called "a sweet, wholesome, and delightful place;" and William Penn said, on taking a view of the land, "I have never seen such before in my life." The town was laid out into one hundred and fifty lots, many buildings were erected, and for a time it was the commercial rival of New York. A city charter was obtained for it in 1718. William Eier was the first mayor, and James Alexander-the father of Lord Stirling, of the Continental army-was the first recorder. Barracks for soldiers were built there in 1758-9, and were first occupied by the English troops on their return from Havana in 1761.

Perth Amboy was the place of residence of Governor Franklin when the Revolution broke out, and was the scene of many stirring events during that war." It was in posses

1 This point, when first mentioned in the East Jersey records, bears the Indian name of Ompage, of which Ambo or Amboy is a corruption. The white settlement there was for some time called Perth, in honor of the Earl of Perth, one of the proprietors; but the name of Ambo was so often mentioned, that at last it was called Perth Amboy.

2 William Franklin, the royal governor of New Jersey, was the only son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was born in 1731. He was postmaster of Philadelphia for a short time, and served as clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. He was a captain in the French and Indian war, and fought bravely, under Abercrombie, at Ticonderoga. He visited England, with his father, toward the close of the war. In Scotland he became acquainted with the Earl of Bute, who recommended him to Lord Fairfax. That nobleman appointed him governor of New Jersey, and for a time he was very popular with the people. He was a decided monarchist, and from the beginning of the disputes with Great Britain he took sides against his father. He involved himself in quarrels with the Legislature of New Jersey, and the people became very hostile to him before the close of his administration in 1776. On the 23d of May of that year, the first Provincial Congress of New Jersey commenced their session at Trenton, and the royal government soon afterward ceased to exist. A constitution was adopted in July, 1776. William Livingston was elected governor in place of Franklin, and that deposed servant of royalty, declared by the Congress of New Jersey to be an enemy to liberty, was seized in his own house at Perth Amboy, and conveyed a prisoner to Windham, Connecticut, at which place, and also in Litchfield jail, he was confined for some time. [See p. 436, vol. i.] When Sir Henry Clinton took chief command in America in 1778, Governor Franklin was exchanged for some American prisoners, and released. He went to New York, where he served for a short period as president of the Board of Directors of the Associated Loyalists. In West's picture of the Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain, in the year 1783, Governor Franklin is a prominent personage represented. A copy of this picture will be found in another part of this work. Franklin went to England at the close of the war, where he resided until his death in November, 1813, enjoying a pension of $4000 He and his father were reconciled in 1784, after an alienation of ten years. The doctor, however, could not forget his political delinquency. In his will, after devising to his son all the books and papers of his in possession of the governor, and also all debts standing against him on his account-books, he says, "The part he acted against me in the late war, which is of public notoriety, will account for my leavng him no more of an estate he endeavored to deprive me of."* Governor Franklin's wife died in 1778.

per annum.

* Sparks's Life of Franklin, 599.

Dunlap's Recollection of military Affairs at Perth Amboy.

sion of the British much of the time; and one of the many pictures of life of varied hue there presented, is given by William Dunlap (who was born there), in his History of the Arts of Design. Here were centered," he says, "in addition to those cantoned in the place, all those troops] drawn in from the Delaware, Princeton, and Brunswick; and the flower and pick of the army, English, Scotch, and German, who had at that time been brought in from Rhode Island. Here was to be seen a party of forty-second Highlanders, in national costume, and there a regiment of Hessians, their dress and arms a perfect contrast to the first. The slaves of Anspach and Waldeck were there the first somber as night, the second gaudy as noon. Here dashed by a party of the seventeenth dragoons, and there scampered a party of Yagers. The trim, neat, and graceful English grenadier; the careless and half-savage Highlander, with his flowing robes and naked knees, and the immovably stiff German, could hardly be taken for parts of one army. Here might be seen soldiers driving in cattle, and others guarding wagons loaded with household furniture, instead of the hay and oats they had been sent for.

1848.

"The landing of the grenadiers and light infantry from the ships which transplanted the troops from Rhode Island; their proud march into the hostile neighborhood, to gather the produce of the farmer for the garrison; the sound of the musketry, which soon rolled back upon us; the return of the disabled veterans who could retrace their steps, and the heavy march of the discomfited troops, with their wagons of groaning wounded, in the evening, are all impressed on my mind as pictures of the evils and the soul-stirring scenes of war. These lessons, and others more disgusting, were my sources of instruction in the winter of 1776-7."1 November 23, I left Amboy for Trenton, by the way of Crosswicks, before sunrise the next morning. The air was clear and frosty; the pools by the road side were skimmed with ice, and fields and fences were white with hoar frost. The deep sand of the road made the traveling heavy, yet, before the sun was fairly up, my strong horse had taken me half the way to Spottswood, ten miles distant. I passed through Spottswood, Old Bridge, Hightstown, and Cranberry, to Allentown, twenty-eight miles from Amboy, where I dined. These villages have a neat and thrifty appearance. Over the level, sandy country through which the road passes, extensive peach orchards are spread out, covering hundreds of acres. Crosswicks, the scene of some stirring events in the Revolution, is situated upon a ridge on the left bank of Crosswicks Creek, four miles from Allentown, and the same distance from the Delaware River. The creek is in a deep ravine, here spanned by a fine latticed bridge, erected upon the site of the old one of the Revolution. It was settled by the Quakers in 1681, and was a place of sufficient importance in colonial times to be once a meeting-place of the Provincial Assembly. Among the Indians at Crossweeksung, Brainerd and Tennant labored successfully,' and the influence of the Quakers upon that tribe was sensibly felt. Here a small detachment of the American army was stationed after the first engagement at Trenton, where the Hessians were captured; and here one division of the British troops, marching from Philadelphia toward Monmouth, in June, 1778, were pretty severely handled by a party of Americans. The troops of the enemy marched in three divisions from Philadelphia: one by Mount Holly, one through Columbus, and the third by Bordentown, on the Delaware, near the mouth of Crosswicks Creek. Near the latter place was a draw-bridge, and as the British attempted to repair it for the purpose of crossing, the militia regiments of Colonels Frelinghuysen, Van Dyke, and Webster, stationed near, rushed

1748.

just before his release from imprisonment. On a monumental tablet in St. Paul's Church, New York, it is inscribed that, "compelled to part from the husband she loved, and at length despairing of the soothing hope of his return, she sunk of accumulated distresses," &c. His son, William Temple Franklin, who edited his grandfather's works, died at Paris in May, 1823.

1 History of the Arts of Design, vol. ii.

This name is derived from the Indian appellation of the place, Crossweeksung, signifying a separation The creek separates into two branches not far from the village.

3 In less than one year after Brainerd commenced preaching among them, he baptized no less than se". enty-seven persons, of whom thirty-eight were adults.-Allen's Amer. Biog. Hist. Dictionary.

Frederic Frelinghuysen was the son of Reverend John Frelinghuysen, of Raritan, New Jersey. He