T CHAPTER VII GUEST FAMILY OF NEW JERSEY HE Guests of New Brunswick, who flourished 1750-1800, were, according to their traditions, descended from the family of that name in Birmingham, England, where indeed at least one churchregister shows numerous entries of the patronymic. Henry Guest, a tanner, of New Brunswick, was an American patriot, whose fortunes suffered not a little at the hands of the British army during the war of the Revolution, as evidenced by a sworn inventory of damages, still preserved in the State Library at Trenton. But even war itself is sometimes enlivened by an amusing incident: 'Henry Guest, of New Brunswick, was a tanner, and was effectually curried by the enemy. In his inventory is an item of 122 Slaughter Hides from Fort Lee,' which just afterwards capitulated to the British. This item revives the recollection of an incident of the Revolution which I have heard related by my grandfather [the late Jacob Dunham, M. D., of New Brunswick]. The British had erected a fort on the east bank of the Raritan opposite New Brunswick, hard by the county-bridge, which overlooked and commanded the town. From this fort they were expecting the approach of a body of American troops by way of the road from Trenton and Princeton, and were vigilantly on the lookout. One night Mr. Guest, whose tannery was on the extreme westerly bounds of the town, at the intersection of what is now Liv ingston avenue and New Street, put out a large number of hides to drypossibly the identical ones above named-hanging them on his fences. When the sun rose next morning the British mistook these hides for the long-expected' rebels,' and opened a brisk cannonade across the river upon them. But the fire made no impression on the foe, who held their position with the greatest firmness and good order. No British veterans were more unflinching than they and the matter began to wear a serious aspect. It was not until spy-glasses were brought to bear upon them that it was discovered that they had been spending the fire of their Extract from "A Glimpse of "Seventy-Six,'" by Chas, D. Deshler, of New Brunswick, in Harper's Magazine, 1874. batteries for several hours [sic] upon a lot of 'recreant' skins. When this was ascertained there was a sudden cessation of hostilities, and the joke becoming widely known, caused great merriment at the expense of the 'red-coats' among all good patriots in the town." Among the papers possessed by a descendant of Henry Guest is an original and rather lengthy letter sent him by John Adams, dated at Quincy, February 5, 1811, addressed "Venerable Sir" and subscribed: "I am, Sir, your good Friend, John Adams." Henry Guest married a Miss Foreman, of English descent, and, according to old family-Bible records still extant, had issue: i William, born Dec. 17, 1753; died at Lansingburgh, N. Y., Feb. 20, 1826, aged 73 years; married and had one daughter (? Jane) who married a McNaughton and had one son Henry Guest McNaughton, last heard from (? ante 1868) near West Point, New York. He may, perhaps, have been identical with a physician, H. G. McNaughton, residing in Albany until a few years ago (circa 1898). ii Moses, born 1755; died 1828; of whom more hereafter. iii Henry (junior), born April 18, 1760; died at Albany, N. Y., July 9, 1820, aged 62 years; married a Miss Webster and had one daughter. iv A daughter, name unknown. The old Guest mansion was not long ago and probably still is standing in New Brunswick. A large mirror once hanging on its walls was a prized heir-loom in the possession of the writer's late venerable father. The second son, Moses Guest, born in New Brunswick, November 7, 1755; married June 28, 1792, Lydia, daughter of Peter (H.) Dumont and Mary (Lowe) his wife. Moses Guest, following his father's footsteps, became a fur-trader and tells us in his "Journal" of an overland trip to Montreal. He later acquired a trading vessel, and says he followed the sea until 1788, making numerous trips along our Atlantic coast and to some of the West India islands. On one occasion, the 로 supply of fresh-water for drinking having been exhausted, Captain Guest rigged up an apparatus to distill sea-water and thus saved himself and crew. During his initial voyage to Charleston, South Carolina, he carried letters of introduction to Henry Laurens and Dr. David Ramsay, remarking in his account: "The Doctor treated me with much civility, but from Mr. Laurens I experienced an affectionate attachment such as I had never before met with from any person in all my travels.” Moses Guest took an active part in the American Revolution. He was an Ensign in Captain Voorhees' Company, Third Middlesex Regiment, on Sept. 8, 1777, and subsequently was a Captain in the Second Middlesex Regiment. He was in immediate command of the small body of Jersey militia which captured, October 26, 1779, Lieut.-Col. J. G. Simcoe, the leader of the Queen's Rangers. The story of Simcoe's raid into Jersey from Staten Island is an interesting chapter in the history of the war of Independence. Captain Guest migrated from his native city of New Brunswick, September 29, 1817, "bound for Cincinnati." bound for Cincinnati." A part of the journey is described in his own words, thus: "October 29. Left Pittsburg this day, in a flat-bottomed boat; its length 30 feet, and breadth 12. The sides and one end were boarded up about six feet high, a space of about five feet being left open at the other end. There was a tight roof over the boat, which extended as far as the sides were boarded up, just leaving room for two oars, one on each side, for the purpose of steering, as our only dependence for getting on was the current; there was a fireplace on one side of the boat. A great proportion of the families which migrate to the Western country, descend the Ohio [River] in boats similar to the one here described." The "Journal and Poems" of Captain Guest issued from the press of Looker and Reynolds, Cincinnati, in 1823, and a new edition appeared in the following year. Captain Guest and Lydia (Dumont) his wife, of both whom excellent portraits exist, had, among other children, Lydia Jane Guest, born June 13, 1803, married John Mountain McPike, at Cincinnati, March 9, 1820, as duly shown by the official records. Captain Guest died in Cincinnati, March 22, 1828. NOTES. Numerous collections of manuscript letters, etc., relating to the Dumont, Guest, Halley and McPike families, in the Newberry Library (Genealogical Department), Chicago, partially listed below: Accession No. 89030 and catalogue No. E-7-M-239. Accession No. 89106 and catalogue No. E-5-H-1529. New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. XXIX, pages 100-102. EUGENE F. MCPIKE. CHICAGO. G DRAGOONS (Third Paper) ENERAL HOOKER strengthened the mounted troops, and of twenty-seven regiments of cavalry he made three divisions, and in one of these, under Captain Wesley Merritt (soon to be general of volunteers)—the Second Cavalry was to help to the great ends wrought by Gettysburg, for which the site was selected and the battle opened by General John Buford-still another captain of the "Second " -who said, as he prepared to face General Hill, leading the Confederate van, on the first of those hot, eventful days of July, that he had completed arrangements for entertaining him until Reynolds could reach the scene." The entertainment" begun that morning had many a change of cast before the end, and the powerful drama of dread war presented for three days by those mighty striving armies never for a moment lacked any of the elements of intense tragedy; and when the curtain of night closed the last act of this fierce battle, it ended finally the Confederate hopes for a fruitful invasion of the North and shrouded in the gloom of mourning many a hearthstone North and South. For only once in the history of our civilized warfare had a regiment suffered such loss as fell upon the First Minnesota, sacrificed to give General Hancock five minutes for reinforcements to save the day-rarely had a division lost as Pickett's did in a last desperate effort to retrieve the fortunes of war. The "Second" did its share in this great battle under Captain Rodenbough, and more than its proportional share in the days that followed, "for it was cavalry alone that presented any obstacle to the retreat of the Confederates." Merritt's brigade, to which the "Second" was attached, had in ten days, nine combats, such as Williamsport, Hagerstown, Boonesborough and Funktown, destroyed eight hundred wagons and captured three thousand horses and mules, and nearly five thousand prisoners. They were at it again at Manassas Gap (July 21-22) and August Ist were in the general cavalry engagement at Brandy Station, which |