Three Revolutionary Soldiers David Forman

TH REE REVO LUTI ONARY S O L D I E RS D AV I D FO R MAN , ( 1 7 4 5 — 1 7 97 ) J O NATH AN F O R MAN , ( 1 7 5 5 TH O MAS MAR H F R MAN S O , — ( 1 7 5 8 1 8 4 5 ) P R E F AC E . The second of the following three sketches , that of General ! Jonathan Forman , has been kindly contributed by his great grand S C . e . daught r , Mrs harles Fairchild of New York City The others are the work of the undersigned , who desires to record his Vir thanks for help of various kinds to Mrs . Robert Edmonds of F D a ginia , Miss Mary . y of Maryland , Mrs . John Moses and Mrs . N F F h . Weat erby of Trenton , J . , Miss Randolph of Freehold , E P N . G a . J . , Mrs . Dismukes of Columbus , , Mrs Josephine W M r F F t . Rogers of ashing on City , Thomas Screven of H M r M r . N . Savannah , . Marion Henderson of Elizabeth , J , B N M r Shon n ar d James Neilson of New runswick , . J . , . Frederic Y M r C N . of Yonkers , . , Worthington Ford of Boston , and to M r S . M r A H n M . D . Alle and . Hamilton of the epartment of State . ' The portrait o f G e ner al David Forman is from a crayon by M r Sharples , belonging to . James Neilson . There is a large and ‘ handsome portrait in oi by Peale , which belongs to General For ’ man s great ! granddaughter who also owns portraits of his wife and his daughters . The latter was found to be not so well adapted for reproduction . The portrait of Gen . Thomas Marsh Forman is from a min ia r M r M H tu e . owned by Henderson , who is a descendant , 1 8 and was painted in 7 9 . There are other portraits taken at other periods of his life . Unfortunately no portrait of General Jonathan Forman is known to exist . R L S R M C H A E FO AN . 1 7 9 Common Street , New Orleans . D AVI D F O R MAN . GENERAL D AVI D FO RM AN ’ S family Bible contains the ’ record of his birth , probably copied from his father s Bible . It ’ reads “ S u nday November the 3 d 1 7 4 5 three o c lock in the ” Morning was Born our Son David . In the Monmouth Democrat during the seventies appeared an article entitled “ Inci dents in the Life of Gen . David Forman . Compiled by Miss Anna ” M . s . Woodhull In it is contained a sketch written by Mis Malvina Forman , which is as follows 1 My dear father was born in New Jersey , Nov . 3 , 7 4 5 . His parents were Joseph Forman and Elizabeth Lee . His father “ w s was a wealthy shipping merchant of New York , after ard “ retired from business , and settled on one of his farms in Mon C o N . n mouth . , . J My father was educated at Princeto Col “ D e c 1 1 O n lege ; my mother was born in Maryland , . 3 , 7 5 . “ 2 8 th 1 6 the of February , 7 7 , my father was married to Miss E s Ann Marsh ( daughter of Thomas Marsh , q. , of Md . ) by the W ’ Rev . illiam Tennent . In consequence of my grandmother s “ M rs death [ Thomas M arsh] , my parents were married in “ E s Princeton , at the house of Ezekiel Forman , q. , the elder ’ brother of my father , who married my mother s elder and only “ I t hin k sister . my father left Monmouth , where he resided “ th 1 during the Revolution , on the 5 of February , 7 94 , and “ removed to Chestertown , Md . Gen . Forman left his own “ 1 0 1 6 house in Chestertown , Sept . , 7 9 , in order to attend to a O n large landed estate which he owned at Natchez , Miss . the 1 1 9th of March , 7 97 , while at Natchez , he had a stroke of apoplexy , and for three days continued in a state of perfect insen i ilit T a ra l sis P s b y . his terminated in apoplexy [p y ] by which his left side was deprived of all power of motion . In this situation fi ndin Au . 1 2 he continued till g , when g his health and strength r considerably imp oved , he went to New Orleans to take passage Au home . Finding a vessel bound for New York he sailed on g . 2 0 . His anxiety once more to embrace his family appeared to give supernatural strength both to mind and body . Fondly ra tifi e d cherishing the hope of having his wishes g , he was pro ceedin B t g homeward , when the vessel was taken by a ri ish n B I privateer , and sent i to New Providence [ ahama slands] As soon as the vessel was taken Gen . Forman abandoned the hope F his of again meeting his family , thinking rom then very feeble and debilitated state , he should be unable to bear the fatigue of t so long and circui t ous a route . This anxiety and disappoin 1 2 th ment proved too much for his languid frame , and on the of ’ 1 2 September , 7 97 , at o clock in the afternoon , he surrendered it his life into the hands of Him who gave , in the prime of his manhood , aged ’ Gen . David Forman s services in the Revolutionary War were important , and have never been adequately recounted . To do jus tice to his career would require more research than the present writer has been able to devote to the subject , but the notes here presented may serve in the lack of something better . u About the beginning of the Revol tionary War , in June , 1 6 7 7 , a brigade of militia was sent out by the State of New Jersey ’ W t to reinforce ashing on s army at New York . The celebrated patriot , Joseph Reed , was chosen Brigadier General but declined offi ce e the , whereupon Colonel Nathaniel H ard , who comman ded ! the Monmouth and Middlese battalion , became Brigadier , and D ! avid Forman , who was Lieutenant Colonel under Heard , suc o f o f c ee ded to the Colonelcy . The term service these troops was 6 . D e c . I 1 limited to , 7 7 After the disastrous battle of Long Island and the subsequent operations , Gen . Washington detached ’ t o ' su re ss Col . Forman s battalion and sent them pp a Tory rising in 6 2 1 . Monmouth , Nov . 4 , 7 7 D 1 6 Congress having authorized in ecember , 7 7 , the raising of sixteen regiments at large from the States , the command of one ‘ ofIere d D of them was by Washington to avid Forman in January , 1 l “ 7 7 7 . Gen . Stryker states in his pub i shed Roster that For man ’ s Regiment — the sixt een regiments were named after their — erse m en colonels though it contained some J y , was recruited prin c i a ll . p y from Maryland , and was never completely organized Such part as was organized , however , undoubtedly was in service , and 1 8 1 some time in 7 7 or 7 7 9, it was distributed among other com ’ ’ O flic er s 1 1 8 mands . Heitman s Register gives , 7 7 , as the o ffi cer s date of its disbandment , and says that and men were trans d ferred mainly to the New Jersey Line . But the ate given by D ereméer Heitman is hardly consistent with the date of a return of , 1 8 68 7 7 , showing but men from New Jersey in the regiment , ’ G n e . mentioned in Gen . Stryker s Roster . Stryker says also that D Gen . avid Forman of the militia resigned to accept the command of a regiment organized under the auspices of Congress . In this statement Gen . Stryker is undoubtedly in error , for on March 5 , 1 D 7 7 7 , avid Forman was chosen Brigadier General in the New N e w Jersey militia . Therefore he did not become General in the ‘ zz r Jersey forces until fi e he had accepted the Continental Colonelcy . Obviously , therefore , he could not , as Gen . Stryker says he did , resign the Brigadier Generalship to accept the command of For ’ i At man s Reg ment . least , so it seems to the present writer , f who has much hesitancy in di fering from Gen . Stryker , who was a an authority on Revolution ry history . 1 n In the summer of 7 7 7 Gen . Forman was e gaged in watch ’ ing and reporting t o C o ngre ss the movements of Lord Howe s fl ee t fi as it conveyed the British troops round from New York to the mouth of the Delaware River . Some time before the battle of ’ Germantown , Gen . Forman joined Washington s army with his ’ brigade of New Jersey militia . Together with Smallwood s M a ryland division , he was ordered to advance down the Old York ’ fla n k Road and attack the enemy s right . The guides misdirected the troops , so that they reached the objective point too late , and the flanking movement failed as did most of the American movements l on that day , and the batt e of Germantown , though perhaps not a V .

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