previous, was consumed by fire, and the Freeholders were authorized by the Assembly to rebuild the same, on or near the former site. The court house was also rebuilt at this time. An act was also passed to "suspend the prosecution of the County Collector of Cape May for a limited Time." What he had been doing is not known, but evidently the Legislature was not satisfied with him, and were trying to reprimand hin, without convicting him of crime. This year a new oyster law was passed to prohibit the taking of oysters from the beds from April 10 to September 1. Closely following this, on February 11, 1775. the last oyster act of the New Jersey Assembly, as the rulers over a colony of Great Britain, was passed. Under it no one was to take oysters from May 1 to September 1. Forty shillings was the forfeit, recoverable by action for debt, of which 26 shillings and 8 pence were to go to the informer. Burning the shells for lime was an offence, for which there was a penalty of three pounds. The last whaling record before the Revolution was the leasing by Aaron Leaming of SevenMile Beach on February 28, 1775, to whalemen for thirty days. The British Government, being unable to obtain any revenue from duties on the tea shipped to America, in 1773 resolved to accomplish by policy what was found to be impracticable from restraint. It effected an arrangement with the East India Company, whose warehouses were overstocked with that article for want of a market, by which shipments of tea could be sold to the colonists at prices with the duties less than had been charged before duties were imposed. The colonists adhered to their principles, and would take the tea at no price. Ship loads were sent to Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Charleston. From New York and Philadelphia it was shipped back. In the port of Boston the tea was thrown overboard by the colonists disguised as Indians, and the news of this action spread through the colonies and caused a great deal of argument. As was natural, there were some Tories in every province, and there were some in Cape May as well as anywhere else. Parliament closed the port of Boston on June 1, 1774. On the same day people assembled in all the colonies to pro test against the action of Parliament. On the approach of the tea ships to Philadelphia, the pilots who lived at Cape May, and operated on the Delaware, were warned not to conduct them into harbor. The Cape May pilots needed only a small excuse for refusing, and they let these merchantmen find their own way up the river. The Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania on October 16, 1775, paid Michael Dawson fo for carrying like instructions to the Cape May pilots. The necessity of a general Congress was now perceived throughout the colonies. On the 4th of September delegates from eleven colonies met in Philadelphia and organized into a Congress. They sent a petition of grievance to the colony agents in London to present to Parliament and the King. In the meantime British troops were arriving in America, mostly at Boston. Toward the close of the year news arrived of a proclamation of the King prohibiting the exportation of arms to America. Several of the colonies then began to prepare for their own defense by gathering up what cannon and ammunition they could get. Benjamin Franklin, who was Deputy Postmaster-General for America, was dismissed by Parliament for his sympathy with the colonists. His son, William Franklin, Governor of New Jersey, however, was a devout Royalist, and kept the New Jersey residents and Legislators in a quarrel with him the balance of his official life. In this State the Assembly appointed a committee of correspondence, which met in New Brunswick on May 2, 1775, and called a second provisional convention to meet at Trenton on the 23d of the same month. The British Government continued its coercive measures, and acts restricting trade with all the colonics were passed by Parliament. On the 11th of January, 1775, the New Jersey General Assembly met at Perth Amboy, and was attended by Jonathan Hand and Eli Eldredge as the members from Cape May. They voted for the presentation to the King of a communication stating grievances in which New Jersey was particularly interested. The Assembly met at Burlington on May 15th, and both the Cape May members were present. They voted with a bare majority of the members to reduce the salaries of the State officers, who were adherents of the King. New Jersey became a foremost State in resisting the organization of British tyranny. The second Provisional Congress met at Trenton on May 23, according to call. In the meantime important events had happened in Massachusetts and in New York. The battle of Lexington had been fought only a month before, and the news was just about getting to the distant parts of the colony. Thirteen days before Generals Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured Ticonderoga, and Crown Point was about being taken by the Americans. On the same day that Ticonderoga was taken the second Continental Congressmet in Philadelphia, and the news from there that they had voted that 20,000 men should take the field and that George Washington should be commander, reached New Jersey before the knowledge of Arnold's and Allen's conquest. The second New Jersey Provisional Convention was attended by Jesse Hand as delegate from Cape May. The convention directed that one or more companies of eighty men should be formed in each township or corporation; and imposed a tax of £10,000 on the State to support these organizations. The Congress re-assembled on August 5, and directed that fifty-four companies of sixty-four minute men each should be organized. The counties of Cumberland and Cape May were to have independent light infantry and rangers. There were about 2000 inhabitants in the county at this time. On August 16 the county's quota was raised to one battalion and one company of minute men. The Jersey companies were appointed by recommendation of the Continental Congress. The Cape May county battalion, which was raised in accordance with this call, was not officered until September 21, when the county election took place at the court house. The following were selected by the people: John Mackey, Esqr., Colonel; Henry Hand, Esqr., Lieutenant-Colonel; Eli Eldredge, Major; Thomas Leaming, Jr., Adjutant. Aaron Leaming, in his diary, from which these facts are gathered, said that besides those elected, there were then the following officers: "Nicholas Stillwell. "Enoch Stillwell. "Salanthiel Foster. "Captains James Willits, Jr., Jonathan Jenkins. "Frederic Otto, First Lieutenant; Joseph Edwards, Nathaniel Jenkins, John Newton, Second Lieutenants; Christopher Ludlam, Richard Matthews"-(here page is torn off). It is unfortunate for history that the old diary containing such valuable information should be torn at such a place. But putting these scraps with the roster of Adjutant-General Stryker, of New Jersey, there is some light given on the subject what offices these men filled and of those to which they were promoted. General Stryker's roster says: "John Mackey, Colonel. "Nicholas Stillwell, Captain, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel. "Henry Hand, Lieutenant-Colonel. "Enoch Stillwell, First Major, Lieutenant-Colonel. "Eli Eldredge, First Major. "John Hand, Second Major, First Major. "Thomas Leaming, Adjutant. "Nathan Hand, Quartermaster." The uniform of the Cape May minute men were to be "hunting frocks to conform as near as may be to the uniform of riflemen in the Continental service." The minute men entered into the following engagement: "We, the subscribers, do voluntarily enlist ourselves a minute man in the company of ———, in the county of Cape May, and do promise to hold ourselves in constant readiness, on the shortest notice, to march to any place where our assistance may be required for the defense of this and any neighbour colony; and also to pay due obedience to the commands of our officers agreeable to the rules and orders of the Continental Congress, or the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, or during its recess, of the Committee of Safety." These men took precedence over other militia, and were entitled to be relieved at the end of four months, unless in actual service. At this election at the court house, when the militiamen were chosen, Jesse Hand and Elijah Hughes were chosen as "delegates for the Congress," which was to assemble at Trenton. Leaming gives us the names of the "committee," chosen on that day also, which, no doubt, was the County Committee of Safety. The following were selected' as members of it: Joseph Corson, John McKay, Jose. Badcock, John Baker, Sylvanus Townsend, Jr., |