Lewis, James A. Neptune's Militia: The Frigate South Carolina in the American Revolution, (Kent,OH: The Kent State University Press, 1999.)
Smith, Gerald. "Spanning Time: Early Settlers in Southern Tier were Revolutionary War Heroes", (Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, July 5, 2019.)
Pension Application of Joshua Mersereau S7224
As duly noted in the previous post, the Mersereau family definitely allied themselves with the "rebel" Cause at the outbreak of the American Revolution. This "true blue" allegiance would last through many difficult years and experiences for many within the family, not just Joshua Mersereau, the subject of these brief posts. Smith's article in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, dated July 5, 2019 and entitled "Spanning Time: Early Settlers in Southern Tier were Revolutionary War Heroes" briefly details the travails of the Mersereau family early in the war years. Prior to the beginning of the war, the article notes that:
"...John opened a successful tavern on Staten Island called the Blazing Star. John and Joshua also started the first line of stagecoaches to run between Philadelphia and Staten Island in 1756, and added the first post coach in the country and England."
The reader can easily infer from these few details that by the time of the outbreak of the American Revolution the Mersereaus were an important and prosperous family on Staten Island. But, the story continues:
"But the winds of war were looming. The Mersereau family was clearly aligned with the forces crying for independence from the control of George III. They stopped their stagecoaches and turned their horses over to the forces led by Gen. George Washington. They used their tavern as a base of operations for collecting intelligence on the movement of the British armies and navy. In 1775, Joshua helped raise a company of men to take across the border into Quebec. Joshua was now perceived as an enemy to the British. The British authorities in New York issued an edict in the early part of 1776 naming Joshua Mersereau as a "rebel", putting a price of 500 guineas on his head - dead or alive."
(Note: As clearly as the writer of this blog can make out, the Joshua Mersereau referenced in the above passages is Joshua III, the brother of John Mersereau and the father of Joshua Mersereau IV, the subject of this post.)
The second article, by a similar title and dated July 12, 2019, actually refers directly to the subject of this specific post - Joshua Mersereau IV. Early in the article, the reference is made that:
"As the British approached Trenton, Joshua and John Mersereau, and Joshua's son, Joshua IV, left New Jersey for Pennsylvania. On December 8, 1776, Washington retreated across the Delaware River after Nathaniel Greene was defeated at Fort Washington. The British were in pursuit of the colonial forces. Washington was certain they had stopped any British from following them. But, Mersereau pleaded with Washington to allow him to take several men back across the river for a second examination of the shore. When Joshua, brother John, and the rest arrived back in New Jersey, they found two large Durham boats that had been sunk close to shore, which would have allowed the British to raise the boats to cross. The Mersereaus took the British boats back across to Pennsylvania and hid them. They prevented the British from following Washington and his troops."
There is no way of knowing for sure if the younger Joshua Mersereau IV was with his father and uncle when they recrossed the Delaware River in search of boats that had been missed or overlooked in the first crossing. But, one can assume with the earlier reference to Joshua IV as leaving New Jersey for Pennsylvania that he was most likely accompanying them on this second crossing as an assistant in the search for overlooked boats. The paragraph closes with a direct statement that the efforts and patriotic diligence of the Mersereaus kept the British troops from further pursuit of Washington and his bedraggled troops and thus, by extension, saved the day at Trenton, NJ on December 25, 1776.
(Note: In fact, the "Pension Application of Joshua Mersereau S7224" clearly states that he was indeed sent with his father and brother to scout out any abandoned boats on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River and to bring them over to the Pennsylvania side of the river "...to prevent the British from pursuing...".)
The article continues with further accolades, both of a martial nature during the American Revolution as well as of a political nature with the cessation of hostilities between Great Britain and the newly independent United States of America. But, turning now to the subject of this specific post, Joshua Mersereau IV, we see that the younger Mersereau is not in any way disadvantaged by his more "illustrious" older Mersereaus and their endeavors for liberty. The surviving evidence may well have been composed and recorded by Joshua Mersereau IV himself and is primarily recorded in his pension application, "Pension Application of Joshua Mersereau S7224" but, this is not at all uncommon in this period of time in American history. But, the writer of this blog will allow the readership to decide for themselves regarding the veracity (as well as the humility) of Joshua Mersereau IV.
Joshua Mersereau IV appeared before a judge on June 5, 1840 "...aged Eighty years..." to file his pension application. If his birth date as recorded is correct - June 8, 1761, he was actually three days short of his seventy-ninth birthday. At that time, he was "...a resident of the Town of Lindley in the County of Steuben and [the] State of New York." Joshua Mersereau would submit a very detailed and quite lengthy pension application citing all of the military duties he participated in during the course of the American Revolution. He also used very few punctuation marks in the entire statement, especially periods. The writer of this blog has taken it upon himself to cite the individual duties and actions of Joshua Mersereau in the exact words of Mersereau but, in the form of a list with each duty/action being set off so that they can be easily discerned by the readership of this blog. The military duties and actions of Joshua Mersereau IV, exactly cited, are as follows:
"That he entered the service of the United States in the month of August 1775 as a recruiting Officer with the uniform of an Ensign, to enlist men for the New York State Troops for Capt. Jacob Cheeseman's Company under General Montgomery, and served until sometime in November then following, as such recruiting officer as aforesaid.
In December of the same year [1775] I served as a volunteer under Lord Stirling [sic, William Alexander, Lord Stirling] in an expedition to disarm the Tories on Long Island, about 8 to 10 days.
In April 1776, I became a volunteer in a Corps of Virginia Rifle men stationed on his[?] Staten Island commanded by Major Stevens [Edward Stevens] Capt. Otho Williams, and Lieut. Abraham Shepard,
In May of the same year, [t]he Corps above mentioned took 8 prisoners from a tender of the Asia Man of War which approached the shore,
...from the time I left the Corps on Staten Island, on the first of July in the same year, I was employed by General Washington in company with my Father and Brother in obtaining information of the intended movements of the enemy, and served in that capacity until the defense of Quackinie Bridge [sic?],
...joined General Washington's Army at New York and retreated to Brunswick [NJ],
...about the first of December [1776] we retreated to Princeton and thence to Trenton, and crossed the Delaware [River].
...after crossing the Delaware, I was ordered with my Father to examine the River and bring in all boats from the Jersey shore to prevent the British from pursuing & was engaged in that capacity for some days.
I was at the taking of the Hessians in December 1776 and at the battle of Princeton in January 1777.
I was engaged the remainder of the winter after the battle of Princeton in purchasing horses for temas in light horse for General Miflin [sic, Thomas Mifflin] I also purchases some for General Lafayette.
In May 1777, I repaired to the camp of General Washington. I was engaged under Lord Stirling in defense of his baggage which was attempted to be cut off, by an attack of General Howe on Lord Stirling's division.
In October 1777, I took charge of some public stores to be conveyed to Rutland and Boston, by order of General Mifflin who I think was then Quarter Master General. I continued in assistant commissary until April 1779,
...about this time [April 1779] I repaired to Elizabeth town, New Jersey and made arrangements for obtaining the Royal Gazette from New York for General Washington and Mr. Gerard the French Minister at Philadelphia & succeeded in obtaining said Gazette.
In the winter of 1780 I was in the Lord Stirling's expedition to Staten Island and was appointed a Guide to Col. Hazens [Moses Hazen] division, on a circuitous route to take position on the East and West of the Fort on Staten Island then called Fort Richmond. I was engaged in the attack on the blockhouse in which about 50 prisoners were taken.
In February following [1780] I was one of about 20 soldiers who captured Col. Jones and some 4 or 5 of his guard.
In the summer following [1780] the capture of Col. Jones, that he is in the summer of 1780, I was engaged under the command of Capt. John Story in an attempt to capture a British Colonel stationed on the South side of Staten Island. I was a volunteer in this affair has [as] in the capture of Col. Jones, under the command of Capt. James Patton.
In the fall of 1780 I was engaged on the lines near Elizabethtown in getting information, and was confined by sickness some months.
In the summer of 1781 I was engaged in the defense of Brunswick which was attacked by the enemy.
In the spring of 1781 I was engaged in the defense of Rahway under the command of Col. Marsh.
(Note: Joshua Mersereau must have made a slight mistake here due to these two entries being out of proper order. The rest of the account is properly ordered.)
In May 1782 the ship South Carolina having arrived at Philadelphia from Holland under Commodore Gilland [sic, Alexander Gillon], John Joiner [sic, John Joyner] Capt., I was engaged as a carpenter on board this ship at the time above stated & performed the duties of such stationed until she was repaired, which was by December of the same year. I was one of the crew of the ship when she sailed which was on or about the 21st of December same year, we was chased by 3 British Ships, the Diomede, the Aystrich [sic, Astrea] and the Quebec, we were captured, and in the battle I received a wound in my leg which has never since healed, I was conveyed with the rest of the crew of the South Carolina, to New York, and put on board of the Scorpion prison Ship. On or about the last of January I was permitted to retire on parole and remained a prisoner in that situation until peace was ratified by the treaty in 1784.
I entered the service while I resided in Elizabethtown in the State of New Jersey, as a volunteer, and was acquainted with all the Officers mentioned above besides several others, and I have a written license from General Washington, to pass all guards &c without prevention. That is was charged in the service of the United States in the various capacities above mentioned, from the time I entered the service in 1775 until the treaty of Peace, and that I have no documentary evidence of my revolutionary service --
[signed]
Joshua Mersereau"
Joshua Mersereau IV had been deeply and extensively involved in the efforts to free the American colonies of British overlordship. He began his service early in the war, recruiting soldiers into the company under Captain Jacob Cheeseman of the 1st New York Regiment of Foot. This regiment would distinguish itself in the close-in fighting that took place in Canada with Captain Cheeseman being killed alongside of General Richard Montgomery in the desperate New Year's Eve 1775 assault on Quebec. Mersereau would go onto serve in a Virginia rifle corps as well as a sort of "special operations" elite corps for abducting high-level British officers and delivering them to the patriot forces. He fought at both the battles of Trenton and Princeton, the crucial battles that saved the American efforts to gain their freedom in the American Revolution. He would spy and gather information for General George Washington and was well acquainted with numerous officers of the rank of General such as Howe, Stirling, Lafayette, and Washington. But, if one closely examines his birthdate - June 8, 1761 - Joshua Mersereau was very young when he first volunteered for work in the service of the United States of America. His first service, that of a recruiting officer with the rank of ensign for Captain Jacob Cheeseman's Company of the 1st New York Regiment of Foot, he was just reached his fourteenth year of age. By the time of the cessation of hostilities and the definitive peace treaty of 1783, he would only be twenty-two years old but, would have served as a assistant commissary of prisoners when he was only nineteen years old. He would claim to be in possession of "...a written license from General Washington..." that allowed him "...to pass all guards &c without prevention.". Yet, at the conclusion of his pension statement dated June 5, 1840, he would state that "...I have no documentary evidence of my revolutionary service.".
On November 11, 1854, a commissioner in the Pension Office recorded only "L. P. Waldo" issued a letter a statement outlining his reasons for rejecting the pension application of Joshua Mersereau IV. Joshua Mersereau IV would have been ninety-three years old at this point in time. The writer of this blog has only recently become aware of the existence of this document and feels that its contents require some investigation. Due to these cogent points made in Mr. Waldo's rejection of Joshua Mersereau IV's pension application, this document will be examined in the next post for its validity and, possibly, for Joshua Mersereau's truthfulness in submitting his pension application.