The Journal of Lieut. John L. Hardenbergh of the Second New York Continental Regiment from May 1 to October 3, 1779, in General Sullivan's Campaign Against the Western Indians

4 October 1777

Battle of Germantown

Major Powell, with two hundred men of a regiment that had suffered severely at the battle of Germantown, having been ordered to Wyoming, arrived at Bear Creek about ten miles from that point, on the 19th of April.

Major Erkuries Beatty, was born October 9, 1759, son of Rev. Charles Beatty, who came to America from Ireland in 1729. He was an apprentice in Elizabethtown, N.J., at the beginning of the revolution, and served with the Jersey troops; was at Long Island Aug. 9, 1776, under General Sterling, and served as a sergeant at White Plains, Oct 28. He was commissioned an Ensign in the 4th Penn. regiment, with rank from Jan. 3, 1777; was promoted to Lieutenant May 2, and was engaged in the battle of Brandywine, Sept. 11th of same year. He was badly wounded at Germantown, but rejoined his regiment at Valley Forge in January, 1778. He was at Monmouth June 28 of that year, and shortly after accompanied his regiment to Schoharie, N.Y. He was with Col. Van Schaick in his expedition against the Onondagas in June, 1779, and with his regiment accompanied Gen. Clinton down the Susquehanna to participate in Sullivan's campaign, during which he wrote a Journal covering the period from June 11 to Oct. 22 of that year, of which the following is a part, the original of which is now in the archives of the New York Historical Society, to whose courtesy we are indebted for permission to make a copy. He was at the surrender of Cornwallis Oct. 19, was mustered out of service Nov. 3, 1783, and died at Princeton, N.J., Feb. 23, 1823.

28 June 1778

Battle of Monmouth

After the battle of Stillwater, which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne, and rendered fruitless the previous successes of the enemy along the Hudson, the regiment returned to Fishkill, and soon joined the army under Washington, then confronted by the British forces under General Howe, in the vicinity of Philadelphia. It shared the privations and sufferings of the terrible winter encampment at Valley Forge, (1777-8) the march to which of the half naked, half-starved, shoeless army might be tracked in blood through the December snows. It appears from an orderly book[5] found among the papers of Colonel, afterwards Gen. Henry Dearborn, also in the Sullivan expedition, that at Valley Forge, Hardenbergh was Lieutenant and Adjutant of his regiment and often served as Adjutant of the Day at Head Quarters. The whole encampment consisted of about eleven thousand troops; and when it was broken up the following Spring, upwards of three thousand men unfit for duty were left behind, under charge of Colonel Van Courtlandt, while his regiment proceeded with the main army, and participated in the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, winning commendation for bravery and good behavior in that hotly contested engagement.

Major Erkuries Beatty, was born October 9, 1759, son of Rev. Charles Beatty, who came to America from Ireland in 1729. He was an apprentice in Elizabethtown, N.J., at the beginning of the revolution, and served with the Jersey troops; was at Long Island Aug. 9, 1776, under General Sterling, and served as a sergeant at White Plains, Oct 28. He was commissioned an Ensign in the 4th Penn. regiment, with rank from Jan. 3, 1777; was promoted to Lieutenant May 2, and was engaged in the battle of Brandywine, Sept. 11th of same year. He was badly wounded at Germantown, but rejoined his regiment at Valley Forge in January, 1778. He was at Monmouth June 28 of that year, and shortly after accompanied his regiment to Schoharie, N.Y. He was with Col. Van Schaick in his expedition against the Onondagas in June, 1779, and with his regiment accompanied Gen. Clinton down the Susquehanna to participate in Sullivan's campaign, during which he wrote a Journal covering the period from June 11 to Oct. 22 of that year, of which the following is a part, the original of which is now in the archives of the New York Historical Society, to whose courtesy we are indebted for permission to make a copy. He was at the surrender of Cornwallis Oct. 19, was mustered out of service Nov. 3, 1783, and died at Princeton, N.J., Feb. 23, 1823.

PART OF BEATTY'S JOURNAL, 1779.

WILLIAM BUTLER was the second of five brothers, all of whom served with distinction in the Revolution and the succeeding wars. Their names were Richard, William, Thomas, Percival and Edward. Thomas, the third brother, is said to have been born in Pennsylvania in 1754, and Richard the elder in Ireland, so that William was either born in America, or came here from Ireland when very young. He was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel October 25, 1776, on the organization of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment. Immediately after the battle of Monmouth, in which he bore an important part, his regiment and six companies of Morgan's riflemen were sent to Schoharie County, New York, where he was actively engaged in protecting the frontier settlements from the marauding parties of tories and Indians. After the Wyoming massacre in 1778, as a part of the aggressive policy determined on by Washington, he marched to the Delaware, and descended that stream for two days, and from thence moved across the country to the Susquehanna at Unadilla in pursuit of the enemy, who fled at his approach. From here he moved down to Onoquaga, which was a well built town, with many good farm houses in the vicinity belonging to the tories, located on both sides of the river. He destroyed Onoquaga, and a Tuscarora town lower down, Conihunto eight miles above, and Unadilla, with the grist and saw mill there, the only ones in the valley, and forced the enemy to remove westward to the Chemung where they were found by Sullivan the next year. He was in garrison in the Middle fort of Schoharie during the winter, and in August, 1779, accompanied Clinton down the Susquehanna to Tioga point where he was transferred to General Hand's Brigade August 23d of that year. This was the Colonel Butler to whom General Sullivan entrusted the responsible duties of conducting this important expedition, second only in importance to that of the main army. Two journals give an account of Colonel Butler's march, viz., Thomas Grant, who appears to have been one of the surveying party under Captain Lodge, and George Grant, Sergeant Major of the Third New Jersey regiment, the latter evidently copied from some other journal.

PART OF GEORGE GRANT'S JOURNAL.

Colonel Dearborn was born in Hampton, N.H., in March, 1751. He was a captain at Bunker Hill, and accompanied Arnold in the march through the woods against Quebec, in which expedition he was captured. He was exchanged in 1777, and soon after was appointed Major of Scammel's regiment. At Saratoga he commanded a separate battalion under General Gates, and was afterwards at Monmouth, where he distinguished himself and the regiment by a gallant charge. In 1779 Colonel Scammel was acting as Adjutant General of the army, leaving Lieut. Colonel Dearborn in command of the regiment during Sullivan's campaign. He was at the siege of Yorktown in 1781, and afterward on garrison duty at Saratoga and West Point until 1784. He served two terms in Congress, was for eight years secretary of war under Jefferson, and in the war of 1812 was senior Major General of the army. In 1822 he was minister to Portugal, from whence he returned after two years' service, and died in Roxbury, Mass., June 6, 1829. After his death, his son, Henry Alexander Scammel Dearborn, collected and arranged the valuable papers of his father, transcribed the journals, which extended through the entire period of the revolution, and added important historical sketches, the whole making forty-five large volumes handsomely bound in morocco, the exterior approximating in elegance to the inestimable value of the material within. On the death of the son, all of these, excepting seven volumes, were taken apart, and the contents, made up of valuable autograph letters of the revolutionary period, scattered to the four winds by a sale at public auction. The original manuscript Journal of Sullivan's campaign fell into the hands of Dr. John H.S. Fogg, of Boston. The manuscript Orderly Book of Valley Forge, was purchased by John H. Osborne, Esq., of Auburn. The seven volumes, containing no autographs, were reserved at the sale and remain intact In one of these is the Journal kept during Sullivan's campaign, as transcribed by the son, of which the following is an extract: