The First American Army - Bruce Chadwick [127]
Seely erected a Liberty Pole in front of his inn and hosted a large crowd there to celebrate the news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. For Seely, the Revolution was not just a celebration; he was eager to fight. Seely applied for a commission in the Continental Army when the war began and was so intent on obtaining one that he had several influential members of the community sign a petition recommending him. It read, “He is an honest man firmly attached to the liberties of his country.”6 He was not given a commission in the regular army, so he won himself the job of captain in the Morris County militia. His ability as a recruiter, administrator, and a superb marksmen who could train others to shoot well earned him a promotion to colonel in just three months.
In the summer of 1776 he took the militia to New York, where they joined George Washington’s army in what turned out to be a series of debilitating defeats. Seely and the militia left New York with the army when it fled across New Jersey toward Pennsylvania that fall. They broke off from the main force and went home to Chatham when the army reached New Brunswick and their period of service was up. The head of any militia company or regiment during the Revolution led a dual life, military and personal. Seely, for example, was required to live with the militia when it was ordered into service by the governor to serve with the Continental Army, usually for a period of only a few months. On duty out of the county, but still in New Jersey, the Morris militia lived in the army camp.
The militia resided in their own homes when the militia remained in service to protect northern New Jersey, which was usually the case. Seely’s function changed during those in-county periods. He lived at his residence but spent several days each week working on militia business. He recruited new men, visited troops stationed at lookout posts, conducted all militia administrative business, and procured clothing, food, and munitions for his men. He was also responsible for obtaining clothing and food for New Jersey prisoners housed on the notorious British prison ships in nearby New York harbor. Seely was in charge of all repairs to army fortifications in the area and in 1779 worked feverishly to repair a series of tall, wooden, pyramid-like towers, filled with dry brush, built to be lit and serve as beacons to warn the army at Morristown that the British had invaded the area. As the captain and then colonel, he sent troops off on assignment out of the county while he returned home. He worked as a liaison between the army and local courts on crimes involving soldiers and frequently dined with judges. He was named to a joint committee that settled civil disputes between the soldiers and local residents. These disagreements often involved unpaid loans and goods or tools that were borrowed but not returned or damages to property. From time to time, he served as one of the judges on a court-martial board. As the local militia head, he was sometimes asked to suggest honest merchants with whom the army could do business. He also knew from army sources when certain military goods would be auctioned off to raise extra revenue for the army. He went to the auctions, hunting for bargains. Sometimes he brought friends, such as Shepard Kollock, who at Washington’s behest would become a newspaper publisher.7
At the same time that they tended to army affairs, militia leaders ran their own businesses or farms; in Seely’s case, his inn. Seely spent just as much time on his personal