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NEW JERSEY CHAPLAINS IN THE ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION.

By REV. F. R. BRACE.

The principal sources of information from which these sketches of the chaplains from New Jersey in the War of Independence have been drawn, are Stryker's "Officers and Men in the Army of the Revolution"; "New Jersey Archives"; Sprague's "Annals of the American Pulpit"; Hall's "History of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton"; Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States; Dubbs', also Good's "History of the Reformed Church in the United States"; Griffith's "History of the Baptists in New Jersey," and Fenwick's "History of Salem."

There were twelve Chaplains from New Jersey in the War of the Revolution: Revs. Andrew Hunter, Jr., Philip Vickers Fithian, Samuel Eakin, Elihu Spencer, James F. Armstrong, James Caldwell, Alexander Macwhorter, Nicholas Cox, William Worth, John Mason. John Nevelling and Robert Blackwell.

I. REV. ANDREW HUNTER.

Rev. Andrew Hunter was a son of David Hunter, a British officer, and was born in Virginia in 1752. He was the nephew of Rev. Andrew Hunter, Sr., Pastor of the Presbyterian

Church in Greenwich, Cumberland County, New Jersey, one of the most enthusiastic advocates of the independence of the Colonies, and one of the celebrated tea-burning party at Greenwich, Nov. 22, 1774. He was graduated in 1772, from Princeton college, that nursery of so many sturdy opponents of the oppressive acts of the mother country. His theological studies were pursued under his uncle at Greenwich, and in June, 1774, he was licensed to preach, by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. After his licensure he was appointed a missionary to some vacant and newly-constituted churches in Virginia. The young man imbibed the patriotic spirit of his uncle and soon connected himself with the army. He was.appointed by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, June 28, 1776, chaplain of three battalions that were being raised under the commands of Colonels Van Cortland, Martin and Hunt, constituting Heard's Brigade, intended to reinforce the army at New York. It is said that before this he was with the brave fellows who marched to Canada, and who met with the fearful disaster at Quebec, when General Montgomery was killed. He was commissioned chaplain of the Third Battalion, Second Establishment, Continental Army, Jersey line, June 1, 1777; chaplain to General Maxwell's Brigade, June 15, 1777. This Brigade formed part of General Sullivan's force that marched from Elizabeth, May 19, 1779, up through North Jersey to Easton, and thence through the mountainous country of Northeastern Pennsylvania to the Wyoming valley to put a stop to the awful cruelties perpetrated by the Indians. On July 4th he preached a sermon to the soldiers to encourage and stimulate them in their hard work. After his return from this expedition he was commissioned Chaplain of the Third Brigade, September 26, 1780. This Brigade landed September 21, 1781, on the James river, Va., about five miles from Williamsburg, and was afterwards part of the army engaged in the siege of Yorktown. Before the march to the Wyoming valley, and while the Brigade was near Elizabeth, Mr. Hunter was taken prisoner in the night, on returning from the Governor's house, whither he had gone to give an alarm respecting the approach of a body of the enemy. He, however, made his escape. He was discharged

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