The Train to Nowhere: Abraham Lincoln's Ghost Train

From his White House in Washington – where it began –

they carried his coffin, and followed it nights and days for twelve days…

Bells tolling, bells sobbing the requiem

The salute guns, cannon rumbling their inarticulate fire

To Springfield, Illinois, the old home town

The Sangamon nearby, the New Salem hilltop nearby,

For the final rest of cherished dust.

And the night came with great quiet.

And there was rest.

-Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years

The Tip-Off:

I can’t tell you the first time I heard this story. It is fairly well-known in the area I grew up in, and since I was a true ghost story nut, history buff, and living about an hour from Springfield as a kid, it was inevitable for me to be drawn to it. I was even convinced for a bit, as a teenager, that I could hear the ghost train on the old railroad tracks that used to run on our property, although now I’m pretty sure the train would not have been on that route. It’s still a great story, though! J

The Story:

Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, was dead. A fractured nation, just beginning to find a sliver of hope in reunification after a bitter civil war, was plunged into collective mourning by an assassin’s bullet. Lincoln succumbed to his wounds on Saturday, 15 Apr 1865, six weeks after his second inauguration. His official funeral was held at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on 19 Apr 1865, after laying in state at the White House. (Supposedly fulfilling Lincoln’s prophetic dream about his death, but that’s another story.) However, Lincoln was not buried at the end of his funeral service, as is the custom today, nor is he buried at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., another popular misconception. After laying in state at the Capitol Building for another two days, Lincoln’s body, and the body of his son William (1851-1862), began a trek “back home” to Springfield, Illinois, which possibly continues to this day. (Neighbors)

Photo credit: Library of Congress

The train designated to bear the president’s body to its final resting place was not originally intended to be a funeral train. The new Pullman cars, with the engine “Nashville”, were supposed to have been the official presidential transport vehicle, much like Air Force One is today. Instead of moving Lincoln and his aides around the country to assess the post-war scenarios, however, the dark maroon cars (Pruitt) were decked with black bunting and American flags, and a portrait of the late president was fixed to the engine. (Associated Press) In addition to the funeral car carrying the Lincoln coffins, there were no fewer than six passenger cars for the president’s advisors and press, an officer car, and at least one baggage car. (Pruitt) Approximately 300 passengers accompanied the President and his second son on their final journey, including Cabinet members, a full honor guard of soldiers, and Lincoln’s eldest surviving son, Robert. (Neighbors)

Photo credit: McLean County Museum of History

On 21 Apr 1865, the procession began its somber journey into history. En route to Springfield, it would travel through most of the Northern states, covering over 1600 miles and passing through 40 cities. In larger cities, such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago, the train would stop. The coffin would then  be removed from the train and transported on a hearse to a public venue, such as a state capital, allowing both the public and private citizens to pay respects. (History.com) For smaller communities, the funeral train would slowly pass through, with weeping townspeople lining the tracks and waving American flags. (Associated Press) Regiments of Civil War veterans and active service members, some newly returned from war, would line up in parade formation and fire guns or cannon in remembrance. There are newspaper accounts of churches tolling bells, choirs singing funeral hymns, and other acts of mourning. (Daily Union Vedette)

Above: A schedule of the train's route for newspaper publication. Photo credit: The Lincoln Highway Museum & Archives

Left: A rough map of the train route. Photo credit: The News-Palladium

The train arrived in Springfield without incident, and, after much discussion between politicians and family members during the journey, the president was buried with his son in what is now the Lincoln Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery on 4 May 1865. (History.com) The engine that had carried the bodies was sold at an auction sometime after the funeral, and eventually made its way to Minneapolis. It was destroyed by a fire there in 1911. (Pruitt)

That should have been the end of the story. But it isn’t.

While there are many tales of Lincoln’s ghost haunting the White House or various places in Springfield, the story of the train may be the most inexplicable. By fourteen years, at the latest, after the original trek, the “weird story” of a phantom train annually traveling the funeral route was already well-established. An 1879 New York Sun article noted, with a large amount of skepticism, that there were “many trackmen and laborers along the (Hudson River Railroad) line who pretend to have seen the spectacle…it is said on that night (the anniversary of when the actual train would have passed through the area), every year, all the trainmen…hear and see and feel the spectre train rush by them.” The article went on to describe the experiences of the railroad workers, from seeing ghostly yellow train headlights rush toward them when there was no train on the rails, to hearing a train’s whistle and bell “strike terror to the hearts of those that hear them”.(New York Sun) An undated article in the Albany Evening Times has probably the most famous and most-quoted description of the event:

Regularly in the month of April, about midnight, the air on the tracks becomes very keen and cutting. On either side of the tracks it is warm and still. Every watchman, when he feels the air, slips off the track and sits down to watch. Soon the pilot engine of Lincoln’s funeral train passes with long, black streamers and with a band of black instruments playing dirges, grinning skeletons all about.

It passes noiselessly. If it is moonlight, clouds come over the moon as the phantom train goes by. After the pilot engine passes, the Funeral Train itself with flags and streamers rushes past. The track seems covered with black carpet, and the coffin is seen in the center of the car, while all about it in the air and on the train behind are vast numbers of blue-coated men, some with coffins on their backs, others leaning upon them.

If a real train were passing its noise would be hushed as if the phantom train rode over it. Clocks and watches would always stop as the phantom train goes by and when looked at are five to eight minutes behind. Everywhere on the road about April 27, watches and clocks are found to be behind.(Lewis)

Modern sightings of the train have been reported all along the route from Baltimore to Springfield, however, they appear to mostly cluster in New York around 26-27 April, Ohio around 28-29 April, and Illinois at the beginning of May. Oddly, descriptions of the event don’t deviate too much from the original 1800s articles; people report the feeling of wind rushing past on old tracks, hearing a train whistle or bell when no trains are visible, an odd headlight appearing and a distinct feeling of “other” in the air, and occasionally reports come in of seeing the engine itself. Some reports are that the air stills and warms, others are that it chills and whips. (Granato) Groups now gather in known sighting locations on the anniversary in the hopes of experiencing a bit of folklore and history and phantasma.(Neighbors)

There are no tragic accidents, ancient curses, or any of the usual ghost story origins, just a relatively ordinary train, with presumably quite a few very sad passengers aboard, so it is not quite certain what the reason for the spooky spectacle actually might be. The real train did complete its somber journey, but the phantom never seems to reach its final destination, as Springfield itself doesn’t appear to have many reports of the event. Lincoln is never "seen" on the train, just reports of soldiers and unnamed skeletons. Perhaps it is not the direct association with the death of President Lincoln that causes the haunting. It is very likely so much stronger than a nation’s emotions for one man, who was not nearly as universally admired at the time of his death as he is now. Perhaps the cause of the spectre is the entire collective mourning of the nation. Perhaps it was what the president’s death train represented. 

“They mourned for the President, and yet, the outpouring of sorrow was greater than for just one man. They mourned for every husband, father, son, and brother who died during the war. It was as though, on that train, all of them were coming home.”(Taylor)

Lincoln Tomb and War Memorial Photo Credit: Michelin Travel

Further Reading:

Troy Taylor has been researching stories and legends of Central Illinois and the Midwest since at least the mid-1990s. He has TONS of well-researched books in print, quite a few of which I read as a teenager, which probably did not help me sleep more soundly, but did pique my interest in “real” ghost stories with some historical basis, or at least a real oral tradition, behind them, rather than “scary” stories intended only terrify (which I don’t like at all). While Ghosts of the Prairie is the one cited here, he has another book called Haunted President that tells many more of the paranormal happenings surrounding the sixteenth president.

References:

Associated Press. "Pilot Recalls Somber Run of Lincoln Funeral Train." The News-Palladium 12 Feb 1930: 2. Newspaper article. 26 Feb 2020. <http://www.newspapers.com>.

Granato, Sherri. Haunted America: Lincoln's Ghost Train - Dead But Not Gone...Eerie U.S. Sightings. Amazon Services LLC, 2018. Ebook.

History.com Editors. Abraham Lincoln's Funeral Train. 27 Oct 2009. Blog post. 20 Mar 2020. <http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/president-lincolns-funeral-train>.

Lewis, Lloyd. The Assassination of Lincoln: History & Myth. MJF Books, 2000. reprint.

Neighbors, Joy. Lincoln's Phantom Train. 26 Apr 2013. Blog post. 03 Mar 2020. <http://agraveinterest.blogspot.com/2013/04/lincolns-phantom-train.html>.

New York Sun. "Yarns By A Train's Crew." Chicago Tribune 04 Aug 1879: 7. Online Archive. 26 Feb 2020. <http://www.newspapers.com>.

Pruitt, Sarah. Chemist Solves Lincoln Funeral Train Mystery. n.d. Blog post. 20 Mar 2020. <http://history.com/news/chemist-solves-lincoln-funeral-train-mystery>.

Taylor, Troy. Ghosts of the Prairie: History & Hauntings of Central Illinois. Amazon Kindle, 2016. ebook.

The Lincoln Funeral Train. McLean County Museum of History. The Pantagraph. Bloomington, 2013. Photograph. 26 Feb 2020. <www.newspapers.com>.

The Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives. "The Great Funeral Cortage: The Lincoln Funeral Train Route." n.d. The Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives. PDF. 3 Mar 2020. <http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/WHMC/WHMC-LFTR-01.html>.

"Train Schedule." Daily Union Vedette 28 Apr 1865: 2. Newspaper schedule. 26 Feb 2020. <http://www.newspapers.com>.

Watson, Elmo Scott. "Seventy Five Years Ago This Month The Whole World Was in Mourning for America's First Martyred President." The Pleasant Grove Review 12 Apr 1940: 3. Newspaper article. 26 Feb 2020. <http://www.newspapers.com>.

Disaster in the Devil's Jaws

“HONDA HAD CLAIMED SHIPS BEFORE, BUT ALWAYS ONE AT A TIME. ON 8 SEPTEMBER, THE VICTIMS ARRIVED IN A NEAT AND ORDERLY QUEUE.” (TRUDEAU)

View of Honda Point. Personal photo, March 2019

The Tip-Off
Stick tap to a former US Navy lieutenant that I worked with at Vandenberg and told me the story many years ago.

The Story
In a quiet, back area of Vandenberg Air Force Base, located in what is known as the Central Coast of California, sits a piece of shoreline with a rather nasty reputation. It is the entrance to the Santa Barbara Channel, a waterway between the mainland coast and the Channel Islands, and a well-used maritime route. Known locally as both Honda Point and Point Pedernales, the area has also garnered the nicknames "Jaws of Honda" or "The Devil's Jaws" from the sheer number of ships and sailors who have met their makers against the sharp rocks and swift currents. While there is always some danger, today's technology makes trekking this beautiful stretch of sea much easier for the tourists, whale watchers, and oil rig employees that make up most of the traffic now. Ninety-six years ago, however, it was the site of the worst peacetime naval disaster in US history.

It was 1923. The US Navy was still working on developing new strategies for combating the emerging submarine technology demonstrated by the German Navy during WWI. A new type of destroyer, the Clemson class, had been commissioned from 1919-1922, and were still being put through their paces. Clemson-class destroyers, also known as "four-stackers", were expected to be fleet escorts. (Friedman 40) These ships were ~314 feet long and 32 feet wide, slightly shorter than a modern football field (it's September, football is a thing), and about about 2/3 the width. Definitely not your modern aircraft carrier city-on-the-sea, but a pretty good sized ship. It had a top running speed of about 32 knots, or just under 37 miles per hour, and, when a full crew complement was authorized, carried 131 sailors per ship.

On 08 September of that year, Destroyer Squadron 11, a group of fifteen of these ships, became very grateful they were only running with about two-thirds of their men.(Trudeau) The squadron was to perform some training exercises off the coast of San Francisco with another squadron, then turn south and run down the coast to San Diego, with the intent of testing if the ships could maintain specific formations, radio silence, and a speed of 20 knots during the entire 430-mile, 19-hour trip. (Hoag 17) The ships were to travel in three side-by-side columns of five ships each for the majority of the run, with the U.S.S. Delphy leading the center column as flagship, then move into a single column in order to navigate the Santa Barbara Channel.

The radio silence order was to allow the crews to train communication between ships, as well as practice deduced reckoning navigation, rather than radio navigation. (Fun Fact: deduced reckoning is often shortened to what we hear as "dead reckoning" but is, in fact, written "ded. reckoning".) This means that navigators were calculating the position of the ship simply by using their course, speed, and last known location. (Glossary of Nautical Terms) For example, if the navigator knew they had been traveling at 20 knots for the last two hours on a southward course, he could factor in the correct effects of the current and winds, and work out that the ship should be at least X number of miles south of their previous location. This navigation technique was used partly due to the heavy fog that often covers the California coast, preventing the use of usual landmarks, and also because radio navigation, which was available and being trained by the Navy in 1923, was a relatively new technique, and not always trusted by sailors of that time. (Hoag 12) The officer who had taken over navigation of the Delphy, in particular, believed several of the radio bearings given to the ship over the course of the journey to be erroneous. (Trudeau)

There were some problems with using ded. reckoning in this particular instance, though. For one, a recent earthquake in Japan had slightly altered the currents in the Pacific, a phenomenon we know about and account for now, but was not well understood or communicated in 1923. (Silva 6) The ships were also likely not traveling at the navigator's calculated speed of 21 knots due to the choppy seas and strain of maintaining that speed on the engines. It is likely that they were really only traveling around 19 knots. (Trudeau) That’s only a difference of about three miles per hour, but over the course of several hours, that added up to being 8-10 miles off course – a big deal when you’re trying to make a relatively sharp turn into a narrower body of water. (Boyd)

Planned v. Actual Route. Photo credit: The Baltimore Sun

Unfortunately, there was no way for the ships' navigators to be fully aware of their errors until it was much too late. Around 4:27p local time, the ships dutifully maneuvered into their single-column formation for entering the Channel, unaware that several of them were lining up for their doom. At approximately 9:00p, near what is now called Pedernales Point, the squadron executed the fatal turn to the southeast, bearing 095 degrees, with the distance of about three football fields separating the ships from each other. 

Seven US Navy destroyers slammed onto the rocks of the Pacific Coast in less than fifteen minutes. The flagship, Delphy, was followed by the Young, then Chauncy, Nicholas, Woodbury, Fuller, and finally the S.P. Lee. Newspaper accounts of the incident describe the ships as "…piled up like sheep following a leader.”  The Delphy smashed directly onto the rocks of the coast, then was hit by the Young, who had been in formation around 300 yards behind. Chauncy then hit Young. Nicholas, Woodbury, Fuller, and S.P. Lee all tried to divert, but were much too late and also crashed onto  the sharp rocks of the Central Coast. The greatest immediate threat was to the Young, which “keeled over on her side in a minute and thirty seconds.” (United Press Leased Wire) 

The darkness, the oil filling the water, the deadly currents of the Jaws of Honda, and the razor-sharp rocks quickly began to tear the ships apart and create chaos. Adding further confusion was the fact that a completely unrelated ship, the S.S. Cuba, had wrecked off San Miguel Island just a few hours before Squadron 11 came into the area. One of Squadron 11's ships, the U.S.S. Reno, had been dispatched to help with rescue efforts for the Cuba, so luckily missed the rest of the squadron's disaster, but added to the confusion of radio distress calls being sent out. (Hoag 17) The seven remaining destroyers in the squadron were able to maneuver around the wrecks and rocks, after noticing the leading ships’ lights go out one by one. They were able to get into a position to deploy lifeboats and pick up survivors.  (United Press Leased Wire) The crew of another fishing boat in the area, the Nueva Roma, was able to work their vessel around the rocks and pick up an additional sixty sailors who had managed to get away from the sinking vessels but were stranded on an offshore rock. (Hoag 37)

The thunderous crash of the Delphy hitting the rocks was also enough to wake up the foreman of a local railroad station near the shore. John Giorvas has been credited as the first person on shore to realize what was going on after investigating the noise and seeing "unusual motions" in the water below the point. (Hoag 33) Despite the isolation of the area, Giorvas roused his rail crew, who spread the alarm to other nearby communities. Locals gathered on the top of the crags and lit bonfires to help light the area and provide warmth to the survivors who were slowly making their way out of the now dangerously oil-slicked water and up the cliff. Doctors from nearby towns were brought to the site to treat the wounded, and a special train was enlisted to take the more seriously injured from nearby Lompoc to the hospitals in Santa Barbara. Donations of blankets and medical supplies arrived on another train. A woman named Mrs. Charles T. Atkins is credited for organizing an immediate food drive, coordinating the cooking of meals and feeding survivors and rescuers through the course of the night. She was later quoted as believing she and the other volunteers had made “700 ham sandwiches, cooked many sides of bacon, lots of turkey, and plenty of bread and butter” during the rescue. (Hoag 36)

Thanks to the rescue efforts of sailors and civilians, 746 sailors were saved. (Hoag 35) However, as the morning of 9 Sep 1923 dawned, the full scale of the previous evening’s disaster became apparent. Fuller and Woodbury were stranded on the outer rocks of the Point, high tide submerging the ships. Nicholas and S.P. Lee were on the north side of the beach, their hulls punctured by rocks. Chauncy had gotten trapped upright on the inland rocks, with high tide covering all but about two feet of her hull. Young was submerged and on her side. Delphy was almost completely submerged and broken in half from Young’s impact. (United Press Leased Wire) 

Location of ships. Photo Credit: United States Navy (Channel Islands Dive Adventures)

Thirteen million dollars of US Navy ships and equipment lay broken and battered by the surf and surge (Trudeau), but more tragically, twenty three sailors lost their lives that night – two were knocked overboard off the Delphy, one from Chauncy reportedly panicked and threw himself into the ocean, and twenty brave souls who were trapped in an inner compartment had no hope of escape when the Young capsized. (United Press Leased Wire)

In the aftermath, eleven officers, including each of the wrecked ships' captains, the squadron commander, and the navigator on the Delphy, were recommended for court-martial by early November 1923, the largest number of cases ever brought together before a naval court. Three were ultimately found guilty of, among other things, "unskillful navigation." More importantly, though, a grand total of twenty three officers and men were cited for outstanding courage and performance in saving the lives of their fellow crewmen. (Trudeau) The last known survivor of the incident passed away in 2005. (Nelson)

Today, Honda Point seems peaceful, almost serene. The Navy chose to scrap the destroyers as much as possible, but the wrecks still sleep below the choppy surface of the water. The Chauncy was still visible, even at high tide, until at least 1976 (Silva 3), and the remains of a few of the other ships are supposedly still visible at low tides, although I was not able to confirm this myself. On the sixtieth anniversary of the event, in 1983, the American Legion created and dedicated a memorial for the disaster in the nearby town of Lompoc, using a propellor salvaged from the Delphy. (Silva vii) 

Honda Point Memorial, Lompoc, CA. Personal photos, March 2019

Another memorial was dedicated at Honda Point using the anchor from the Chauncy, however, since the area is now part of an active USAF base, and quite close to one of Vandenberg's famous rocket launch sites, it is difficult for the public to get access by land or sea. Natural erosion has also made the trek out to the memorial site quite treacherous. Base leadership has since donated the anchor to the Lompoc Valley Historical Society for preservation, and blocked off the footpath to all personnel. However, if you can get on base, and know the way to the memorial (which is very isolated and not well marked), you can work your way to a small clearing and view the site of the memorial from about 100 yards away. (I was in a skirt and heels the only day I was able to make it out to the site, and was not going to push my luck trying to get any closer to the plaque.)

Honda Point Memorial, Vandenberg AFB, CA. Personal photo, March 2019

Anchor from U.S.S. Chauncy, Lompoc Valley Historical Society. Photo credit: Karen Paaske

Honda Point has claimed numerous victims over the centuries, but there are no other recorded instances of ships lining up, with literally military precision, to be smashed on the rocks of the Central Coast. The wrecks, I am told, are fascinating to dive, if you can get permission to enter the area by sea, and are a true reminder that "natural forces and human error created a perilous journey that brought to light the strength, courage, and intrepid spirit of the brave 'tin can' sailors" who became trapped, some permanently, in the Devil's Jaws that night ninety six years ago. (Boyd)

Further Reading

The few books that have been written on the Honda Point disaster are, quite frankly, a bit dry, but extremely detailed and informative. Unfortunately, many are either out of print, or only available locally around the Central Coast. From those, I would recommend Maury Hoag's Jaws of Honda, which was cited heavily in this post, and includes many photographs that help capture the location and the time period. My other "favorite" reference for this post was Noah Andre Trudeau's article for Naval History Magazine, entitled "A Naval Tragedy's Chain of Errors", which broke down a lot of the maritime concepts for land-lubbers like me. I also was able to find quite a few contemporary newspaper and periodical articles detailing the disaster and resulting aftermath online. 

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Boyd, Ellsworth. "Devil's Jaw Crunches Seven Navy Destroyers." 03 Dec 2018. National Underwater and Marine Agency. Web Article. 04 Apr 2019. <http://www.numa.net/2018/12/devils-jaw-crunches-seven-navy-destroyers/>.

Channel Islands Dive Adventures. The Devil's Jaw. Channel Islands Dive Adventures. The Wrecks and Disaster of Honda Point & the 'Devil's Jaw'. n.d. Photograph. 29 Mar 2019. <https://channelislandsdiveadventures.com/california-channel-islands-diving/honda-point-wrecks/>.

Friedman, Norman. US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Revised edition. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. 2004. ISBN 1-55750-442-3.

Glossary of Nautical Terms. 21 Mar 2019. 27 Mar 2019. <http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_nautical_terms>.

Hoag, Maury. Jaws of Honda. Revised Edition. Maury Hoag, 2001.

Nelson, Valerie J. "Gene Bruce, 98; Last Known Survivor or 1923 Naval Disaster." Los Angeles Times 12 Dec 2005: B7. 4 Apr 2019. <https://www.newspapers.com/image/239752881>.
Silva, Joe. Honda Left Turn 095. Santa Cruz, CA: Joe and Mary Silva, ~1986.

Trudeau, Noah Andre. "A Naval Tragedy's Chain of Errors." Naval History Magazine Feb 2010. 29 Mar 2019. <https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2010/february/naval-tragedys-chain-errors>.

United Press Leased Wire. "Seven U.S. Destroyers Pile Up on Rocks of California Coast." Visalia Daily Times 10 Sep 1923: 1, 5. 25 Mar 2019. <https://www.newspapers.com/image/531632645>.

An Early American Cover Up

The Tip-Off

I came across this real-life spy story completely by accident. I was researching an area of New Jersey for some genealogy information, and one record simply noted "John Meeker - known Revolutionary spy". There was no other documentation for it listed in that record, but of course, you can't let the word "spy" go down without getting visions of Hollywood in your head. And the fact that he was confirmed as a spy made it seem like there was a bit more to the story, since generally spies don't want to be made known.

The Story

On 29 Sep 1777, while General George Washington was at Pennybackers Mill in Pennsylvania, he wrote to a Maj John Clark, Jr. General Washington, in the letter, confirmed that a John Meeker had delivered Clark’s letter to him, and that Meeker, John Hendricks, and Baker Hendricks, a pair of brothers, were to receive enclosed passports and be sent into New York (likely Staten Island, since that is nearest Elizabeth Town), posing as merchants and gathering intelligence on the British[2]. 

Unfortunately, it appears that quite a few citizens from the area, as a means for continuing their businesses and livelihoods, were continuing to trade with the British, to the point that the Governor of New Jersey, William Livingston, complained to Washington on 22 Nov 1777 that the British were becoming “plentifully supplied with fresh Provisions, & such a Quantity of British Manufactures brought back in Exchange as to enable the Persons concerned to set up Shops to retail them.” His letter was to inform Washington that he had issued warrants on 20 Nov 1777 for the arrest of three men and was hopeful that the law would catch up to them[3].

Those three men? John Meeker, John Hendricks, and Baker Hendricks[4]. The Hendricks brothers appear to have been arrested and sent before the New Jersey Council of Safety, similar to a bail hearing, on 3 Dec 1777. They posted a £300 bond each and were released on their own recognizance. John Meeker did not appear to the Council until 5 Dec 1777, but it is unclear exactly when he was taken into custody or how. Like the Hendricks brothers, it was “Agreed that John Meeker enter into recognizance with Tho(mas) Saffen his surety in £300 Each, to appear at the Next Court of Oyer & Terminer to be held for Essex[5].” The Court of Oyer & Terminer was literally the “hear and determine” court, which was the equivalent of both a grand jury for indictments and a trial court.

General Washington was informed of the men’s arrest via a letter from Elias Dayton dated 13 Jan 1778. At the time, Dayton was a colonel in the Continental Army and in charge of the 3^rd New Jersey regiment. He also was directed by Washington to organize an American spy ring in Staten Island[6], and the letter to Maj Clark referenced earlier indicated that Dayton had personally recommended Meeker and the Hendrickses for that purpose. Dayton vouched for the men’s work to Washington, and begged the general to step in to save their lives.

“I hold my self not only in justice but in honor bound to defend those much Abused persons, have Already entered into bonds for their Appearance at Court but fear my influence will be insufficient, and unless your Excellency will be pleased to interfere, they will be punished for serving their Country, and A Shamefull tryal for their lives conviction of haveing been to the enemy, condemnation in consequence, and the chance of A pardon, will be the only reward for their Servicess fatigues, and hazard of their lives in an enemys Camp, instead of thanks, and a pecuniary compensation at least[7].

Washington, who was by then famously camped at Valley Forge, received the letter from Dayton on the night of 19 Jan 1778, and the very next morning wrote to Governor William Livingston. In the letter dated 20 Jan 1778, Washington confirmed to Livingston that John Meeker and the Hendricks brothers were, in fact, “employed by Colo. Dayton last summer to procure intelligence of the movements of the Enemy while upon Staten Island, for which purpose I granted them passports allowing them to carry small quantities of provisions and to bring back a few Goods the better to cover their real designs.” Washington pointed out that the men couldn’t exactly defend themselves by letting the public know they were spies – they would then be completely useless to the Americans and likely targeted by the British – and flat out requested that Livingston put a stop to the trial[8].

Livingston, for his part, appeared to have been only mildly sympathetic to the men’s plight. Based on his response to Washington, it is not clear if the men admitted to being spies for the Patriots when they were arrested, and were not believed until Livingston received the letter from Washington, or if Livingston put what they said at their “Examination” together with the information from Washington’s letter. He grumbled slightly that “It also appeared that they had carried to the Enemy greater Quantities of Provision, than were necessary to disguise their design in going to the Island,” and that the general public wasn’t inclined to be merciful. He also informed Gen Washington that the current state law didn’t allow him to simply stop a trial. However, he did point out that the men had not actually been “charged with anything in particular, but will be tried for whatever shall then appear against them [at the Court of Oyer and Terminer],” and promised Washington that, should the men actually be convicted of anything related to their intelligence activities, he would make sure they were pardoned immediately[9].

It is unclear precisely what legal proceedings happened to the men after that, or what actions Governor Livingston took to ensure their safety. There is no known record of a trial, conviction, or pardon for any of the three men, and John Meeker and Baker Hendricks, at least, obviously survived the war. In a letter, again from Valley Forge, dated 2 Feb 1778, Washington thanked Livingston “for the interest you take in the affair of the two Hendricks and Meeker; and I have no doubt that the measures adopted are, considering all things, best[10].” It is likely that Livingston simply recommended that no charges be brought against the men, although, again, there are no records of them ever appearing in court at all.

John Meeker passed away 22 Nov 1802, at the age of 60 in Sussex, New Jersey. He does not appear to have ever applied for a soldier’s pension, and there is no documentation of him ever discussing his work for the Revolution. The preserved letters of George Washington, Governor Livingston, and the like in the national archives are, so far, the only way to piece together this story.

Further Reading

If you are like me and did a head tilt when confronted with the ideas of spies during the American Revolution, I highly recommend Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager's book George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved The American Revolution. It is a non-fiction account of the heroism of the Culper Spy Ring and their work against the British on Long Island, and is a great place to start researching the history of clandestine affairs on U.S. soil. Though the my story recounted above did not touch the Culpers, or at least, I have not yet found any evidence that the Staten Island ring and the Culper Ring worked together in any direct way, it was very helpful in understanding the type of information John Meeker may have been providing to the Continental Army and the risks he and the Hendricks brothers voluntarily assumed in support of a free country. 

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[2] “From George Washington to Major John Clark, Jr., 29 September 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-11-02-0370. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 11, 19 August 1777 – 25 October 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase and Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001, p. 344.]

[3] “To George Washington from William Livingston, 22 November 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-12-02-0350. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 12, 26 October 1777 – 25 December 1777, ed. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. and David R. Hoth. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2002, p. 354.]

[4] New Jersey Council of Safety. “Minutes of the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey.” Vol. 1, p. 164, entry for 20 Nov 1777. Published by John H. Lyon, 1872. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/minutesofcounci00newj/page/164 on 17 Feb 2019

[5] New Jersey Council of Safety. “Minutes of the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey.” Vol. 1, p. 169, entry for 20 Nov 1777. Published by John H. Lyon, 1872. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/minutesofcounci00newj/page/168 on 17 Feb 2019

[6] Mahoney, Henry Thayer and Marjorie Locke Mahoney. Gallantry in Action: A Biographic Dictionary of Espionage in the American Revolutionary War. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc., 1999. ISBN 978-0-7618-1479-5. p. 126.

[7] “To George Washington from Colonel Elias Dayton, 13 January 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-13-02-0182. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 13, 26 December 1777 – 28 February 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003, pp. 217–218.]

[8] “From George Washington to William Livingston, 20 January 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-13-02-0257. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 13, 26 December 1777 – 28 February 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003, p. 297.]

[9] “To George Washington from William Livingston, 26 January 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-13-02-0311. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 13, 26 December 1777 – 28 February 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003, pp. 352–354.]

[10] “From George Washington to William Livingston, 2 February 1778,” Founders Online, National Archives, version of January 18, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-13-02-0362. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 13, 26 December 1777 – 28 February 1778, ed. Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2003, pp. 441–442.]