FACes & PlaceS
LOCAL COLOR July 2005

We Did Our Part
by Evan Rees*

[Editor's Note: This article was written by Evan Rees in 2004 as part of the joint essay writing project of the New Hope Historical Society and the New Hope Solebury High School History Department. In 2005, Evan Rees was awarded the Francis Curley Memorial Scholarship by the New Hope Historical Society.]

An excerpt from a letter by Thomas Mifflin, quartermaster general of the Continental Army reads: “We have here 3 large Artillery Flats, [and] four Scows, each of which will carry a loaded Wagon with Horses, 4 flat boats each to carry 80 men.”1 He was writing of craft being gathered for a crossing of the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War, but this crossing was not that of the famed Battle of Trenton. This crossing was just one of hundreds made by the army across the Delaware, at the small town of Coryell’s Ferry, or the present day town of New Hope, Pennsylvania.

When one thinks of the war that our forefathers fought for independence the names of great battles come to mind such as Bunker Hill, Yorktown, Lexington and Concord. But for every hour spent on the field winning glory and fame there were literally hundreds of hours spent on making camp and feeding of the army, not to mention the interminable marches, which often times ended not in the discovery of enemy positions but in more marching.

Coryell’s Ferry was vital in both 1777 and 1778 in the frequent long marches that sent Washington’s army zigzagging across the river in search of their elusive foe. Washington made his headquarters near the town twice and from there issued instructions to his officers, detailing the configuration of baggage trains and the arming of his men.2 The diaries of officers that encamped there are peppered with references to local places.

In the journal of Colonel Israel Shreve of the 2nd New Jersey one can find mention of Ingham Springs, which is located outside of town along route 202. Driving away from New Hope on the right side of the road, in front of a new housing development, one can still see the home of Dr. Ingham. Shreve also mentions Buckingham Friends Meeting, located on Lower York road, then a main thoroughfare between Philadelphia and New York. He wrote: “Wensday 30th. marched at Day Light halted that night at ye meeting house 3 miles from Corrells ferry” and “thirsday 31st. marched at noon and Crossed Delaware, halted At Doctor Enhams.”3

The boats that were to take this vast army, its cattle, and its equipment across the River in 1776 were entrusted to Captain Daniel Bray, who stored them at an island downriver from the town called Malta. He used trees to conceal it from view and did so successfully.4

In 1776 earthworks were built at several fords and ferries long the Delaware River. It is entirely possible that there was a fortification built within the town proper, meant to guard the valuable ferry from British attack using a small redoubt and canon. According to William W. H. Davis, in his History of Bucks County, General Alexander occupied land at the “termination of York road,” which is across from the Parry Mansion site today. The general made his permanent headquarters at the historic Thompson Neely house and, using the troops stationed in New Hope, protected the town from attack.

By virtue of its location and strategic importance New Hope has been frequented by some of the great names in history. Other than General Washington both General Benedict Arnold, the famous hero and later infamous traitor, and the Aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton, father of the national debt, visited the town in 1777.5 Arnold was possibly there to clear up a rank dispute with the Continental Congress and was passing through on his way to Philadelphia. Hamilton was encamped with General Washington, having been promoted from an artillery officer.

New Hope, in its own small way, was just as important to the history of America as any battlefield or city. It served as a capillary pumping needed troops between the two isolated cities of Philadelphia and New York, allowing freedom to pass on its way unimpeded by canon or by water.

Endnotes:
1. W. Masters to Washington, 30 May 1777; Thomas Mifflin to Washington, 8 June 1777, George Washington Papers, Presidential Papers Microfilm (Washington, D.C., 1961), series 4, reel 42.
2. John U. Rees "'We ... wheeled to the Right to form the Line of Battle': Colonel Israel Shreve's Journal of 1777," The Brigade Dispatch, vol. XXII, no. 1 (Spring 1992), 7-16.
3. Myers, William Starr, Stryker’s battle of Monmouth. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1927. (p. 70)
4. Davis, William W. H. History of Bucks County. Pipersville: A. E. Lear Inc. 1905. (p. 193)
5. Davis, William W. H. History of Bucks County. Pipersville: A. E. Lear Inc. 1905. (p. 194)