#106 FOUR BROTHERS--BEZALEEL, THE YOUNGEST
Anna and Bezaleel Howe’s four sons--Timothy, Darius, Baxter and Bezaleel, all served in the American Revolution. I have used the book Four Brothers in the American Revolution by Herbert Howe as my source for the Howe biographies.
BEZALEEL
HOWE
Bezaleel was born November 28 1750 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He was named after his father who had suddenly died a few weeks before his birth. Since her husband died without a proper will, his widow struggled with legal and financial issues and and the town authorities warned her and her six children to leave town lest they become a local charge. Bezaleel and an older brother were later put under the care of an uncle where they worked hard for room and board. Young Bezaleel always rued his lack of formal education. At age 18, Bezaleel was released from his guardianship and he returned to his mother’s home, but does not seem to have really established himself. (ie. home, business, profession). It was noted that he did have a good singing voice.
To me, young Bezaleel comes across as a confident and self-effacing man, inclined to build up his actions or fault others. There rings a tone of entitlement in his story. I wonder how selective was his memory of his place in history.
It was on April 19, 1775 that the ”shot [was] heard round
the world”. Bezaleel enlisted the next day. Supposedly, he saw an old man
surrounded by his wife and daughters who hung about his neck, weeping bitterly…it
affected [Bezaleel’s] heart, he dashed up to the man and said “Give me your gun and
I will go for you and if the government ever gets able to give me a gun, I’ll
send the old thing back to you”. He used the gun at Bunker Hill where it
supposedly kicked and dislocated his shoulder.
Bezaleel enlisted with the New Hampshire Regiment and was stationed at Winter Hill during the siege of Boston. He was on the hurried march of Washington’s army to the defence of New York City when the company lost its cook. Supposedly known for his adaptability, Howe volunteered to bake the bread; all went well until one day a group of marauding Tories captured the oven full of well-prepared loaves.
Bezaleel’s first test of leadership came at the Battle of Long
Island, where when their captain deserted, he took command of the men, fought
all day and at night supposedly ran 25 miles. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant, a promotion
which he felt provoked jealously. “Several of the
wealthy young men in my company felt annoyed that I should have been promoted
from the ranks over them. Accordingly, one of them wrote the commandant that I
was a Tory and would desert at the first opportunity. It afterwards appeared
that orders were actually given to shoot me on the spot if I attempted desertion.”
But following a battle at Trenton and Howe’s supposed bravery, “the officers
repaired to the commander’s marquee to offer congratulations. With spirits not
much elated, I also went to make my best bow, but was greatly surprised on entering
the tent to have the General rise, extend his hand, give me a cordial greeting,
commend my bravery and say he would report me for promotion. Nothing more was
ever heard of me being a Tory.”
Howe was entrusted to carry important messages to Philadelphia
for Congress.
Howe fought at Ticonderoga where he, along with 17 other
officers, was wounded. He recovered in time to join Washington (also his two brothers) encamped at
Valley Forge. Of that, Bezaleel remembered, “The weather was intensely cold. A
detachment of British were moving around us and threatening us with attack. We
tore up our blankets and made cartridges and then the rascals never came. We
suffered intensely for want of clothing but there was no help."
The Regiment was at the forefront of the Battle of Monmouth, was sent to Connecticut for guard duty, marched back across New Jersey and joined the western army. In 1779, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and was described as a “vigilant, faithful and good officer.” The Regiment fought against Six Nations and Tories at Fort Niagara. In 1781, Howe was sent back to his home state, New Hampshire, to get recruits for the army. During this tour of duty in his home state, he reunited with his mother and sister for the first time in six years, but "they caught me around the neck and fell to weeping. They kept it up for so long that I told them if they did not stop, I would go away and never come back." Petulantly, Bazaleel left and he never saw his mother again. Anna likely died around 1790.
Bezaleel was with Washington's army when it marched south to Virginia. Howe was a sharpshooter in the Yorktown engagement. Here he earned recognition, when under heavy fire, he rescued his colonel’s valued war horse, mounted him bareback and with only a halter rode it to safety. His bravery in this last battle before the British surrendered, was noted by his superiors.
The Regiment returned to the Hudson. Men were idle and restless. “Howe felt he had been grossly insulted by the colonel and major of another regiment and challenged them both to a dual. But being a marksman of unusual ability who could pace off twenty paces, turn around and hit a coin nineteen out of twenty times, friends interposed” and an honourable resolution was reached. It was necessary to keep the rather fiery, hot-headed Howe busy with special assignments.
One of the most important came in March 1783, when under a flag of
truce, he carried special dispatches from General Washington to the British
authorities in New York concerning the formal cessation of hostilities. “Permit
the bearer, Lieut. Bezaleel Howe, to pass to the American lines unmolested.”
In September 1783, Howe was detached from his Regiment and assigned to the command of Washington's Life Guards. This unit of elite soldiers formed Washington's body guard. He required them to be sober, orderly, and well-behaved, clean, disciplined and of good character. Their height was to be between five feet eight inches to five feet teen inches. Since this was a unit of distinction, it was deemed necessary to represent the entire army by having men selected equally from each colony. Their job was to protect Washington as well as all the papers and money travelling with the Continental Army.
In September 1783, Bezaleel was
promoted to rank of Captain by brevet. (In military terminology, a brevet is a
warrant which gives commissioned officers a higher military rank for
outstanding service, without necessarily conferring the authority, privileges
or pay granted by that rank. The promotion would be noted in the officer’s title.)
He served as an aide-de-camp to George Washington.
Howe was in New Jersey at the army headquarters when General Washington tasked him with the Lifeguards' last mission--to transport the General’s goods to his home in Mount Vernon. (A story is told of Bezaleel accidently cutting his finger and Washington sending him to Mrs. Washington who bound the wound in balsam apple.”)
To transfer Washington’s goods to his home in
Mount Vernon, Captain Howe requisitioned six wagons under a guard of mounted
infantry. This was an important assignment and Washington instructed Howe, “You
will take charge of the waggons which contain my baggage and with the escort
proceed with them to Virginia and deliver the baggage at my house…As you know
they contain all my Papers which are of immense value to me, I am sure it is
unnecessary to request your particular attention to them—but as you have
several ferries to pass and some of them wide particularly the Susquehanna and
Potomac…I must caution you against crossing if the Wind should be high…The
Waggons should never be without a
Sentinel over them, always locked and the keys in your possession.”
Bezaleel was present on December 4 at the Fraunces Tavern, Broad Street, New York, when George Washington said farewell to a large company of his officers. In deep silence, the men watched as Washington took a glass of wine and in a solemn tone said, “With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.” Then Washington shook each man’s hand. Bezaleel remembered the intensity of this occasion all his life.
Fraunces Tavern, New York
Two weeks later, on December 20, Bezaleel was discharged from
the Continental Army. He had been in the army for eight and a half years,
served in many campaigns and fought in six major battles.
Significantly, he did not return to New England or to his mother’s hometown. He established residence in New York City and promptly received his Cincinnati Society credentials, a prized document signed by George Washington. The Society was founded by officers of the Continental Army to foster camaraderie, honour the newly-won independence and offer assistance to its members and families.
Bezaleel's first business venture in 1786 was as a grocer on Water Street, New York City ,but it was his military connections that opened up better opportunities. He was appointed a captain in the New York Militia. The next year he married Hannah Merritt and a daughter was born. Bezaleel backed out of a job opportunity in New Orleans (due to language issues) and returned to New York.
Washington appointed him an infantry Lieutenant and ordered him to go to New Hampshire to recruit troops for the Indian War in Ohio. He was successful in recruitment, and was promoted to captain in November 1791. He was successful in recruitment, and was promoted to captain on 4 November 1791. In 1792, Howe was ordered to West Point to supervise recruits for the Ohio campaign under General Anthony Wayne. He was afterwards transferred to New York where he served for about a year. This appointment brought him a home and a servant-slave, a $40 per month salary plus commissions on recruits, and a chance for advancement. Howe was promoted to major on 12 March 1795.
Then Bezaleel was offered a position in the Custom House with a $600 salary and the promise of $1000 when he was formally made an Inspector of the Revenue in the District of the City of New York; he held this position for the rest of his life. The New York Customs Service collected federal duties on imported goods to New York City and in the 19th century, this was the primary port of entry for goods to the US. (In 1853, it collected almost 75% of the custom revenue in the country; until 1913, the New York Custom House supplied two-thirds of the federal government's revenue. Because the salary of the collector was tied to the custom house's revenue, the NY Custom House collector earned more than the US President. The amount of money passing through the Custom House made working there a very sought-after position. Until the late 19th century, all employees were political appointments and as jobs were based on loyalty and political connections rather than merit, this patronage system often led to inefficiency and corruption.)
In 1798, a yellow fever epidemic hit New York. The first cases came to light at the end of July. Very little was known about the origins of yellow fever. Physicians speculated that it was born out of unsanitary condition in slums, or brought to North America from the West Indies. Some even hypothesized that it was caused by rotting coffee. By the end of the 18th Century, doctors started to speculate that it might be transmitted through mosquitos, which were often found in high numbers in infected neighborhoods. A reluctance to publicize the fever epidemic, however, was probably due to fear of business losses and to prevent a mass exodus from NYC. But within weeks, as the fever reached epidemic proportions, every resident able to do so had fled to the country side. Left behind were the poor and dependent, many made destitute by the death or incapacity of the household wage-earner.
Upon infection, most victims would experience headaches, followed by severe exhaustion, high fever and slowed heart rate. This period was followed by a remission stage and then by delirium. During the delirium stage, victims acquired a characteristic yellow hue on their skin and pupils. In final stages, a vomiting of black bile occurred, followed by death. Some 2100 New Yorkers died of the fever, close to 5% of the population. A local street carpenter, trying to keep up with the demand for coffins, hired two little boys to hawk the pine boxes around town on a hand wagon. Stopping at intersections, they sang out, “Coffins! Coffins of all sizes!”
Daughter Maria was sent out of the city but Bezaleel and Hannah stayed. Both caught the fever and, sadly, Hannah died.
In 1800, widower Bezaleel, aged 50, married Catherine Moffat, aged 25; she was the sister-in-law of one of his army friends. Catherine was a frugal and wise wife. “When the old army men visited the house, the bottles on the side board were not neglected especially when they fought over their battles for the fiftieth time. But the good wife was not lacking in mother wit and, as opportunity offered, always diluted the liquor with the best pump water the city afforded.”
Bezaleel was a risk-taker and by 1801, it seems, often short of cash (of course none of it his fault.) He backed an “honest friend” whose ship was wrecked. He lost a bank cheque, paid fines, gave to charity, had, he claimed, too many businesses, his family was sick. He owed taxes on 725 acres in upstate New York. His plea was “The many years that I have served our Country as a soldier its not made me ritch [sic] and to make a Comfortable living now is my only Care.” But despite all his “Casualties” (as he called certain of his experiences), he and Catherine lived comfortably enough, and brought up five children (three others died in infancy) on his salary from the Customs House. His two older sons—George, a watchmaker and silversmith—and John, a successful merchant tailor, helped with their father’s expenses. Also special was his nephew, Brigham, a successful grocer.
In 1818, Bezaleel, aged 68, applied for a war pension and was
approved for $20 a month. But this lasted only two years because Congress, more
fiscally-minded, now required pensioners to prove themselves indigent. “Such a
requirement for veterans of the Revolution” Howe declared, “was an insult.” He and
his old soldier friends paraded in protest but Congress was adamant, and Howe’s
pension ceased at the age of seventy when he most needed it. His title at the Custom House became “Temporary Inspector” but his salary was paid to the
end of his life, although he was incapacitated for months. This was in appreciation
of his 42 year military and civil service to his country.
Bezaleel’s membership in the Society of Cincinnati was very important to him. “He was invariably called upon for a song and a story at meetings and always drew much acclaim.” He loved to reminisce about his battles; he delighted in marching in formal processions with his fellow members. He participated in Washington's memorial service in 1799, at the funeral of Alexander Hamilton in 1804, at the banquet for Lafayette in 1824.
Bezaleel died in Manhattan on Sept 5, 1825, aged 74. Catherine, aged 94, died in 1849. On January 15, 1850, Bezaleel's remains were re-interred alongside Catherine's at Green-Wood Cemetery, Kings; County, New York. This cemetery was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006.
Bezaleel Howe
b. Nov 28 1750 in Marlborough, Middlesex, Massachusetts m. Hannah Merritt (-1798 ) on Nov 1787 in New York City m. Catherine Moffat (1755-1849) on February 15, 1800 in New York City d. September 3 1825 in New York City (my 2nd cousin 7x removed--Farnum-Netterfield line)
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