Sussex County History Today: Daniel Talmadge and Nathaniel Wade

During this prelude to the actual 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence we are looking at some of our local people who put their possessions and lives on the line for freedom for America. These are Patriots of the United States.

Today we recognize Private Daniel Talmadge and Private Nathaniel Wade. Both died in the service of the country at the Battle of Minisink on July 22, 1779, as members of the Sussex County 2nd Regiment Militia.

Little detail is known of these young men. Much here is provided as a probable background for them by considering the contemporary local nature and the few available facts.

There were several members of the Talmadge family involved in the Revolutionary War. The name may have had several spellings, and the relationships are not directly known. One of the kin folk may have been the scout and alarm rider Thomas Talmadge, to be considered later.

The Wade family lived on a house with a fine view northward toward Franklin Furnace and Simpson’s Pass in today’s Hamburg area. The father was said to have been a carpenter and also to have worked at George Washington’s gunpowder creation mill near the Ford Mansion in Morristown.

The young men probably worked in the corn fields or labored felling trees and were Ready Militia, sometimes called Minutemen—carrying their muskets to their jobs and immediately available at the sound of musket fire or the ringing of church bells or bonfires.

Daniel picked up a musket, power horn, shot bag, one pound of powder, thirty-three balls and eighteen cartridges from a neighbor Mr. Clofas Latteer, in the Sparta Glen area. The two then went forth toward the barracks in today’s Hamburg. It is reasonable that they then went ahead with Major Meeker, who led an advanced party northward to pursue the enemy who were under the command of Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant.

At the ferocious Battle of Minisink 46 Patriot militiamen were killed. Their remains were not recovered until 40 years later. Their effort has been honored by a memorial alongside the Presbyterian Church in Goshen, N.Y.

Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Honest Ogden.”