Acadiensis/Volume 2/Number 4/A Brave Soldier of the Revolution

by William Odber Raymond (1853-1923)

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A Brave Soldier of the Revolution.

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HE name of Cruger—synonymous with Kruger, is not likely to excite much enthusiasm in the minds of the readers of Acadiensis. But there Krugers and Crugers. John Harris Cruger of New York was one of the most distinguished colonial officers that fought on are the side of the crown in the war of the revolution in America.

His ancestors filled prominent positions in public life, his grandfather having been for some years mayor of the city of New York, while his father was a member of the executive council of the colony. At the commencement of the revolution John Harris Cruger was himself a member of the executive council and treasurer of the city of New York and held other positions of public trust. He was popular with all classes. His wife, Anne de Lancey, was the eldest daughter of Brigadier General Oliver de Lancey. Equally with her husband and father she shared in all the vicissitudes of the war. In the month of November, 1777, she had a thrilling experience while visiting at Bloomingdale,^[1] her parents' home on Manhattan Island. The house was attacked, broken open, plundered and burned by a band of rebel marauders. Mrs. Cruger, her mother, her sister and a Miss Floyd were threatened with violence and obliged to flee for their lives clad only in the clothes in which they had risen from their sleep, and without either shoes or stockings. Mrs. Cruger tried to reach a British post two miles off to give the alarm, but unfortunately lost her way in consequence of her confusion and terror and the darkness of the night. The frost lay on the ground, and she had well nigh perished when in the morning she found herself near an inn, called "The Dove," seven miles from her father's house on the Kingsbridge Road. Here she was taken in and hospitably entertained by the loyal innkeeper, one Nicholas Staker.

Mrs. Cruger's father, Oliver deLancey, was a prominent citizen of New York who had served in the French war as commander of a body of provincial troops under General Abercrombie.

After the capture of Long Island by the British forces in August, 1776, General Howe appointed Oliver de Lancey brigadier-general with orders to raise three battalions of 500 men each for the defence of the island. The battalions were soon raised. The general himself was colonel of the first battalion, and his son-in-law, John Harris Cruger, lieutenant-colonel. George Brewerton, alderman of New York, and a gentleman who had served with distinction during the French war, commanded the second battalion and had as his lieutenant-colonel Stephen de Lancey, oldest son of the general. Gabriel Ludlow commanded the third battalion, and his lieutenant-colonel was Richard Hewlett, of Hampstead, Long Island.

The de Lancey battalions were organized "for the defence of Long Island and other exigencies." Under their protection Long Island became a secure asylum for the Loyalists, who flocked thither in great numbers from Connecticut and elsewhere, and of whom very many came to New Brunswick at the peace in 1783. The ramparts built by Cruger's men at Huntington, Long Island, are still visible.

In the autumn of 1778, Sir Henry Clinton sent the first and second battalions to Georgis under General Campbell. They arrived at Savannah on the 23rd December, and a few days later took part in an important battle in which the Americans were defeated with the loss of 600 men. During the engagement Lt.-Col. Cruger and his regiment, in conjunction with the British Light Infantry, gained the enemy's rear by a bye-path; their unexpected and impetuous charge threw the Americans into great confusion largely deciding the issue. In consequence of this victory, Savannah with all its stores, including seventy-one pieces of artillery and a quantity of ammunition, fell into the hands of the British.

In September following, Savannah was invested by the combined French and American forces. DeLancey's first and second battalions were with the defenders. Lt.-Col. Cruger was given charge of an important position and he repulsed the enemy in three several attacks. A fleet of transports had been sent from New York with reinforcements for the Savannah garrison, and Mrs. Cruger took passage in one of the vessels to join her husband. The fleet was separated by a tremendous storm, and the ship with Mrs. Cruger on board, being old and crazy, was given up by officers and crew as lost. She weathered the storm, however, only to be taken two days afterwards by a French man-of-war under command of the Count d'Estaign. The distinguished stranger took Mrs. Cruger on board his own ship and treated her with every kindness. The very next day the ship in which she had sailed from New York went to the bottom. During the siege of Savannah she remained on shipboard and heard every gun that was fired. Her anxiety for her husband's safety may readily be imagined. After the repulse of the allied French and Americans, Count d'Estaign generously sent Mrs. Cruger ashore under a flag of truce with all her possessions.

Lt.-Col. Cruger and his corps gained additional honor at the taking of Charleston by the British forces, May 12, 1780; and again their conduct was highly commended at the battle of Camden, where the Americans under General Gates were totally defeated with a loss of 2,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners.

The first and second de Lanceys, however, won their brightest laurels in the heroic defence of the post near Camden, known as "Ninety-Six."^[2] Lt.-Colonel Cruger was in command. His wife we are told "lived in the garrison, fared as the people did, was beloved by the soldiers, and caressed, esteemed and almost adored by the officers for her kindness and hospitality upon all occasions." The garrison at "Ninety-Six" included 150 men of deLancey's brigade, 200 of the New Jersey Volunteers, under Lt.-Col. Isaac Allen, and 200 militia under Colonel King. The defences were in a very unfinished state, and Cruger had only a few cannon and a scanty supply of ammunition. The garrison put forth every effort to strengthen their position, but were still quite unprepared for a siege when General Greene suddenly appeared on the scene with 4,000 men.

On the night of the 21st May, 1781, the besiegers broke ground and threw up two works within seventy paces of the fort. While they were engaged the next night in strengthening these works they were attacked by the garrison and every man bayoneted, the works demolished and even the intrenching tools carried off. The besiegers now proceeded more cautiously, and in the next ten days by incessant labor advanced their trenches nearly to the fort. Meanwhile they were harassed by the frequent sorties of the defenders.

At this juncture General Greene peremptorily summoned the garrison to surrender. Cruger replied that it was his duty as well as his intention to defend the post to the last extremity, and that the threats or promises of Greene were to him alike indifferent. The besiegers thereupon opened fire from their batteries and for several days bombarded the defences, at the same time pushing forward a sap and erecting other batteries, one of which was at a distance of only thirty-five paces from the abatis of the fort. Attempts were made by means of African arrows^[3] to set fire to the barracks. Cruger ordered the barracks to be unroofed thereby saving them from destruction, but exposing his officers and men to the night air and the inclemency of the weather.

As the siege progressed the garrison continued their night sallies, often with success. But despite their best efforts their position daily became more critical. On the 12th of June, the enemy's trenches were advanced to the stockade and a sergeant and six men attempted to set fire to the abatis. Every man was shot by the defenders. However, a few days later the concentrated fire of the besiegers rendered the outwork untenable and it had to be evacuated. The garrison thereby lost their water supply. Their sufferings now became extreme. A well was dug within the fort but no water could be found. It was midsummer and at such times the heat of South Carolina is excessive. The only way to obtain water was to send out naked negroes by night whose bodies in the darkness could not be distinguished from the dead logs with which the place abounded. In this way a scanty supply was brought from within pistol shot of the enemy's pickets. Cruger continued at all times the life of the garrison, encouraging them by word and example and exhorting them to die in the last ditch rather than surrender.

At length on the 17th of June, a brave Loyalist rode in broad daylight at full gallop through the enemy's picket line, amid a storm of bullets not one of which touched him, and placed in Colonel Cruger's hands a message to the effect that Lord Rawdon was in full march to raise the siege. When this good news was announced a shout went up from the defenders that reached the enemy's lines.

Greene, knowing he had no time to lose, stormed the fort next day. His "forlorn hope" gained the ditch followed by a strong attachment with grappling hooks to pull down the parapet. At this critical moment a party of Cruger's men, led by Captain French, and another of the New Jersey Volunteers, under Captain Campbell, dashed into the ditch at opposite ends, pushed forward with their bayonets till they met in the middle and cleared all before them. With astonishment and chagrin Greene saw his design foiled by the desperate valor of a mere handful of men. His soldiers could not be persuaded to make a second attempt. The next day he raised the siege and soon after Lord Rawdon arrived with the long expected succor.

The defence of a position so weak as "Ninety-Six" for more than thirty days with a force of only 350 Loyalist troops and 200 militia, is really remarkable in view of the strength of the besieging army. The little garrison had 1 lieutenant, 3 sergeants and 23 rank and file killed, while the besiegers lost 1 colonel, 3 captains, 5 lieutenants and 157 rank and file killed, besides the loss sustained by their militia, which was believed to have been much greater.

Just before the post was invested Lt.-Col. Cruger sent his wife to the house of a loyal Presbyterian minister, who lived about a mile from the fort. During the siege she heard nearly every gun that was fired, and her anxiety must have been extreme.

Lt.-Col. Cruger won fresh laurels at the battle of Eutaw Springs, where he commanded one wing of the British forces. His brave and devoted wife had barely time to quit the army ere the battle began. She sought refuge in the house of a Loyalist about half a mile from the field. Here again she heard every gun fired during the engage-ment.

Speaking of Lt.-Col. Cruger's conduct on this occasion, the Loyalist historian, Judge Thomas Jones, observes:

"If anything could add to the heroism of this amiable and loyal New Yorker, it is the active, spirited and judicious part he acted in the battle at the Etways, or Eutaw, in 1781, where his bravery, coolness, resolution, judgment and steadiness turned the fortune of the day in favor of the British, when the jilt was upon the point of abandoning them."

At the evacuation of Charleston in 1782, the first and second de Lancey battalions (now consolidated into one) returned to New York, whence at the peace the majority came to New Brunswick. They received a grant of a large tract of land at Woodstock, in the county of Carleton. They were the first settlers in that locality, and their descendants are numerous and respected citizens of Woodstock and its vicinity at the present day.

In all the hard fighting through which he passed, John Harris Cruger was never once wounded. At the evacuation of New York he went to England with his wife, where, as Judge Jones tells us, "they lived peaceably, happily and contentedly at Beverley, in Yorkshire, esteemed by the people, the gentry and the nobility."

W. O. Raymond.

1. Bloomingdale now lies in the very heart of New York city, but at the time of the revolution it was regarded as in the country.
2. "Ninety Six" is a town in Greenwood County, South Carolina. It was so named because it was ninety-six miles from the Sherokee Indian trading town of Keowec.
3. The African arrows were fitted to the bores of the muskets, the heads being armed with a dart, and combustibles attached, which were set on fire just before the arrows were shot at the buildings.