Philip Johnston (New Jersey soldier)
Philip Johnston of the New Jersey militia died in battle at the head of his regiment at the Battle of Long Island on 27 August 1776. He was a graduate of Princeton University.[1] He was the subject of a debate in the United States Senate on 26 December 1836 concerning compensating his surviving heirs and children: Maria Scudder, Martha A. Lloyd, and Elizabeth Johnston.[2]
Military career
He was appointed to the rank
We hear that, in the late action on Long Island, Colonel Philip Johnston of New Jersey behaved with remarkable intrepidity and fortitude. By the well-directed fire from his battalion, the enemy was several times repulsed, and lanes were made through them, until he received a ball in his breast, which put an end to the life of as brave an officer as ever commanded a battalion. General Sullivan, who was close to him when he fell, says that no man could behave with more firmness during the whole action. As he sacrificed his life in defence of the invaded rights of his country, his memory must be dear to every American who is not insensible to the sufferings of his injured country, and as long as the same uncorrupted spirit of liberty which led him to the field shall continue to actuate the sons of freemen in America.
The day of the battle, August 27 was his thirty-fifth birthday.[4]
Children
At the time of the 1836 memorial to Congress, three of Colonel Johnston's daughters remained alive. One of them, Maria Scudder, had married Joseph Scudder, the son of Colonel Nathaniel Scudder, the only member of the Continental Congress to die in battle during the American Revolutionary War. Philip Johnston was the first colonel of the New Jersey militia to die in battle in the Revolutionary War and Nathaniel Scudder was the last colonel of the New Jersey militia to die in battle in the Revolutionary War.[2]
References
- ^ Lange, Gregg. Rally ’Round the Cannon: Lessons of Motivation and Desperation. Princeton Alumni Weekly December 1, 2016 https://paw.princeton.edu/article/rally-round-cannon-lessons-motivation-and-desperation Accessed April 29, 2017
- ^ a b 13 Cong. Deb. 123–127 (1837) Remarks of Senator Garret D. Wall of New Jersey on the floor of the Senate
- ^ Johnston, Henry Phelps; The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn, p112, 130
- ^ a b Johnston, Henry Phelps; The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn, p196
- ^ Johnston, Henry Phelps; The Campaign of 1776 Around New York and Brooklyn, p176, 205