Rev. John Rosbrugh, the first U.S. Army chaplain killed in battle, was bayoneted 239 years ago in the midst of the withdrawal from the Battle of Assunpink Creek in the Revolutionary War.
In a 19th-century biography detailing the “life, labors, and death” of this “Clerical Martyr of the Revolution,” Rev. John Clyde emphasizes at the outset, “Amid all the light thrown upon his career socially, ecclesiastically, and politically — by tradition and historical record — nothing but the good he did lived after him, whilst the evil was interred with his bones — so far as known no blot rests on his fair name.”
‘Sabre slashes were made at his devoted head, three of which penetrated through the horsehair wig which he wore.’
Rosbrugh belonged to a Scottish family that migrated in the early 18th century to Northern Ireland. With his older brother William, Rosbrugh eventually moved to the American Colonies, settling in New Jersey, where at the age of 19, he married a woman named Sarah, who would tragically perish along with their baby during childbirth.
Although unable himself decades later to afford “that thorough education which was required of those who would enter the sacred office in his day,” the aspiring Presbyterian minister studied theology at the College of New Jersey — now Princeton University — with the help of financial aid and graduated in 1761.
Rosbrugh was ordained as a minister in 1764 at Greenwich Presbyterian Church in New Jersey.
The minister, whose recognition and responsibilities exploded in subsequent years, married again, this time to Jane Ralston of the Allen Township Presbyterian Church. Rosbrugh and Jane ultimately had five children — the eldest, James, would later serve as a militia captain in the War of 1812.
Long before his son would take up arms in defense of his country, Rosbrugh — “filled with the spirit of freedom” — decided to lead his congregants out of church and toward the battlefield.
According to Clyde, Rosbrugh assembled his congregation, urged them to satisfy the Continental Army’s request for reinforcements, quoted them Judges 5:23, and proposed that he join them as chaplain. The congregation was apparently keen to go — but only if he would be their commander. After some deliberation and receiving consent from his wife, Rosbrugh agreed.
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Gen. George Washington at the first Battle of Trenton. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
After penning his last will and testament, the minister “put a musket to his shoulder and marched out to the highway, and all fell into line and followed” Rosbrugh to join General George Washington in Philadelphia.
“The little boy James, rode the gray horse by his father’s side till they passed over the brow of the hill, just east of their home, as we suppose,” wrote Clyde. “Then the father took him from the horse, kissed him, and bade him go home to his mother, and be a good boy till he should return — he never saw his father’s face again.”
In Philadelphia, Rosbrugh assumed, as he intended from the start, the role of company chaplain and was replaced as commander by Capt. John Hays. The previous year, the Continental Congress authorized one chaplain for each regiment of the Continental Army with pay equaling that of a captain.
Rosbrugh’s tenure as a chaplain in Washington’s army was short-lived. Just days after the Battle of Trenton, where Washington — having just crossed the Delaware River — led a momentous victory against Hessian auxiliaries, the chaplain breathed his last.
Clyde noted that there are varying accounts of how the chaplain perished but held that the most trustworthy version has that the chaplain — whose company partook in the Battle of Assunpink Creek — unwittingly lingered behind at the eponymous site of the Second Battle of Trenton while the patriot army withdrew.
On Jan. 2, 1777, Rosbrugh tied up his horse outside a pub, then went inside for refreshments only to hear someone cry, “The Hessians are coming.”
The 63-year-old chaplain rushed outside to find that his horse had been stolen, then attempted to make his escape on foot, only to run into a small group of Hessians under the command of a British officer.
Clyde explained what reportedly happened next:
Seeing that further attempt at escape was useless, he surrendered himself a prisoner of war. Having done so, he offered to his captors his gold watch and money if they would spare his life for his family’s sake. Notwithstanding these were taken, they immediately prepared to put him to death. Seeing this, he knelt down at the foot of a tree and, it is said, prayed for his enemies. Now seventeen bayonet thrusts were made at his body, and one bayonet was left broken off in his quivering frame. Sabre slashes were made at his devoted head, three of which penetrated through the horsehair wig which he wore.
The stone monument erected in Rosburgh’s memory at Hanover Academy in Trenton states, “Clerical Martyr of the Revolution[.] Moderator of the Presbytery of New Brunswick 1776[.] Chaplain 3d Battalion Northampton County PA Militia December 25, 1776[.] Bayoneted to death by Hessians in Trenton January 2, 1777.”
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History, Hessians, Rosbrugh, Presbyerian, Chaplain, Chaplaincy, Religion, Christian, Faith, Revolution, Revolutionary war, War of american independence, George washington, Memorial day, Politics
