Sussex County History Today: Sgt. Thomas Talmadge
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 Sgt. Thomas Talmadge.
The name has been shown in records as Tallmage, Talmadge, and Talmage. It is said that the family is related to the Wicks family near Morristown that let the Continental Army camp for the winter at Jockey Hollow. We recognized Daniel Talmadge who was a private in the 2nd Regiment of the Sussex County Militia and killed at the Battle of Minisink; he may have been a relative.
Sgt. Talmage was from a home that was about two miles up from The Clove, nestled beside the Clove Brook where sheep and cattle graze, in one of the loveliest of Wantage’s vales. His home was near where Westbrook made a grist mill in 1753 in Woodburn Glen.
He was sent as a lookout for a two-month time, to be a long-range scout along the Delaware River. Talmadge was stationed there to be able to alert the citizens of Sussex County in case an attack might come from the west. At that time period the region along the Delaware River was a fearsome place, and for years — since the French & Indian War—forts had been maintained along the river to help secure safety for those living there.
A day in July 1779, the scout, Sgt. Talmadge, was approached by a frightened boy from Minisink, who came running with a dire report. “Brant’s army, marching down the Delaware, is coming with a dread and wild array.” The boy probably knew where the scout was stationed, probably a place with a good lookout and in a secure environment, and a point where all could deliver messages.
So, with this fearful news Sgt. Talmadge came riding on his steed. He came over High Point Mountain, down the steep path from near the summit, down the trail along Colesville, down from The Clove, past the Titsworth fort and dwelling, onward to Decker’s, and then to Sharpsboro; all the while spreading the alarm.
The message he carried along on horseback was with great urgency. As a result, many men who were Minutemen, grabbed their muskets from a nearby tree in the field near their work, as they were to respond rapidly. For others, usually the older men, they ran to their log cabins to get their ammunition and guns. The men headed to their mustering point in the hamlet of Wallings (now Hamburg) to gather and build up their formations with their captains and majors and await the colonel’s arrival for a march to meet the enemy.
It was with importance that word of alarm for the raid was sounded, delivered widespread by Sgt. Thomas Talmadge. He did so in a very similar fashion as had Paul Revere in Boston earlier in the Revolutionary War.
As noted in the poem Woodburn, he yelled, “To arms! To arms! Or else the day you’ll rue. The Indians are in Minisink!”