110. The Highlanders at Flushing. 111. The Light-Horse seize Woodhull at Jamaica. 112. Woodhull's dying declaration. 113. Elias Bayles, of Jamaica, carried off. 117. do. 119. Oyster Bay Committee break up. 120. Kings County Light-Horse cross the Sound. PART III. PETITION AND REPRESENTATION OF QUEENS COUNTY. 289-337. Incidents at North Hempstead. 338-367. Incidents at Hempstead. 368-430. Incidents at Oyster Bay. 431-480. British Proclamations relating to Queens County. 481-519. List of Troops that lay in Queens County. REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS OF QUEENS COUNTY. PART I. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT. 1. On the passage of the Stamp Act, the following proceedings took place in Queens county: To the Committee of the Sons of Liberty in New-York: GENTLEMEN :-By order of a Committee of the Sons of Liberty in Oyster Bay, we are to acquaint you, that at a meeting of the inhabitants, on Saturday, February 22, 1766, it was unanimously agreed and resolved I. That the person, crown and dignity of our rightful sovereign, King George III., with all his just and legal rights of government, we will, to the utmost of our power, support, maintain, and defend. II. That the liberties and privileges, which we as Englishmen have still enjoyed, particularly those of being taxed by representatives of our own choosing, and being tried by our own juries, we will also support, maintain, and defend. III. That the late Stamp Act is destructive of these our liberties, and is by us deemed to be arbitrary and unconstitutional; that as such, we will, to the utmost of our power, endeavor to oppose and suppress the same. IV. That the measures which you have taken, and the several noble efforts you have made, in vindication of the general cause of liberty, we do heartily approve of, and that with our lives and fortunes, we stand ready to assist you in the same. V. That the Committee now chosen, do signify these our resolutions to the SONS OF LIBERTY at New-York and elsewhere, as they may think proper; that the said Committee do for the future keep up appointed meetings, as may be thought necessary, at the house of George Weekes, in Oyster Bay, and maintain a correspondence with your Committee, in which we expect your concurrence.-Holt, March 6, 1766. The Stamp Act was soon repealed, and we hear no more of public meetings in Queens county, till the passage of the Boston Port Bill, when a number of persons assembled at the inn of Increase Carpenter, and requested Othniel Smith, constable, to warn the freeholders to meet at the Court House, to take into consideration the state of public affairs. 2. At a Town Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Jamaica, held in the Court House, on Tuesday, the 6th of December, 1774 : Resolved, 1. That by principle and interest we have been always heartily attached to the Royal House of Hanover, as the guardians of the civil and religious liberties of the whole British Empire; and that we esteem it our duty to render true and faithful allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Britain, as our only rightful sovereign; and to support and maintain the just dependence of the colonies upon the Crown of Great Britain, under the enjoyment of our constitutional rights and privileges. Resolved, 2. That it is our undoubted right to be taxed only by our own consent, given by ourselves or our Representatives; and that all acts made by the British Parliament, imposing taxes on the Colonies, are unjust, unconstitutional, and a manifest infringement of our dearest and most invaluable privileges. Resolved, 3. That we have esteemed it our greatest civil happiness and glory to have been born subjects to the Crown, and members of society under the most excellent Constitution of Great Britain; that we regard ourselves as one people with our mother country, connected together by the strongest ties of affection, duty, interest, and religion; and that we lament as the greatest misfortune** the unhappy disputes that have of late years subsisted between us. *** Resolved, 5. That we heartily sympathize with our brethren of Boston and the Massachusetts Bay, under their present unexampled sufferings; and that we regard the Acts of Parliament, under which they now groan, as cruel, unjust, unconstitutional, and oppressive in the highest degree, levelled not only at them in particular, but at the liberties of the other Colonies, and the British Empire in general. * * Resolved, 6. That we do most gratefully acknowledge the difficult and important services rendered to their country, by the late General Congress, held at Philadelphia, and that we do highly approve of the measures by them concerted for the public good of their constituents, and that we will use all prudent and constitutional endeavors to carry those measures into execution. Resolved, 7. That we do appoint for our Committee of Correspondence and Observation, the following gentlemen, viz: Capt. Richard Betts, Mr. Waters Smith, Rev. Abm. Keteltas, Dr. John Innes, Capt. Joseph French, Capt. Ephraim Bayley, Mr. Joseph Robinson, Resolved, 8. That this Committee do, in our names, present an address of sincere and hearty thanks to the worthy Delegates of this Province, for their cheerful acceptance and faithful discharge of the arduous and important trusts committed to them by their countrymen. Resolved, 9. That this meeting have as heartily approved of, and always been as ready to promote every prudent and constitutional measure for the redress of grievances, and the preservation of those invaluable liberties which have been infringed by the British Ministry and Parliament, as any of their brethren, and that it is not their fault that they were not sooner convened for this important purpose; and that they do highly resent and heartily disapprove of the conduct of the super visor, and any other person, by whose backwardness, ignorance, negligence, or remissness, this meeting has been so long delayed.-Gaine, Dec. 19, '74. * Two of the Committee declined serving: one was absent, and one left them in their meditations. + Lieut. Gov. Colden to the Earl of Dartmouth, Oct. 5, 1774: "A great deal of pains has been taken to persuade the counties to choose delegates for the Congress, or to adopt those sent by the city of NewYork. Several counties have refused. In Queens county, where I have a house, and reside in the summer season, six persons have not been got to meet for the purpose, and the inhabitants remain firm in their resolution not to join in the Congress." "The supervisor, Capt. Benjamin Whitehead, had received a letter from the New-York Committee, but on consulting with the leading men of the town, he concluded to take no notice of it." 3. January 19th, 1775. Address from the Committee of Correspondence of the Township of Jamaica, presented to the Delegates who represented this Province in the late General Congress : GENTLEMEN: We cheerfully embrace this opportunity of publicly acknowledging, in behalf of ourselves and our constituents, our most grateful sense of the arduous, faithful, and important services, you have rendered your country in the present alarming conjunction of affairs. Permit us to declare our hearty acquiescence in the prudent, just, and well-concerted measures, adopted by you at the last General Congress, held at Philadelphia, and to assure you, that we will exert our utmost endeavors to carry those measures into execution. We ardently pray that the Supreme Disposer of events ** may signally reward and succeed your noble and generous designs and efforts for the redress of our grievances, and the vindication of our injured rights and liberties. We joyfully anticipate the pleasure of seeing your names, and the names of your very respectable brethren of the Congress, enrolled in the annals of America, and transmitted to the latest generations, as the friends and deliverers of your country; of beholding your conduct and measures applauded |