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<title>John Lacey</title>
<author>William Plumer</author>
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<p>The Plumer Project</p>
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<pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2024-12/plumer_vol5_005.jpg" n="1"/>
<head><title>John Lacey.</title></head>
<p><lb/>Was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on the 4th Febru=
<lb/>=ary 1755. His great grandfather emigrated from the isle of
<lb/>Wight in England, among the earliest of those who settled with
<lb/>Penn in Pennsylvania. The family, from the first emigrant
<lb/>down to the subject of this memoir, were Quakers, & chiefly de=
<lb/>=voted to agriculture.</p>
<p><lb/>When young he received only an imperfect English education,
<lb/>which in after life he felt & regretted, & which he endeavored
<lb/>to supply, as far as he was able, by his own industry & application
<lb/>to private studies. At the age of fourteen he was taken from school
<fw>[Nov 15, 1830]</fw>
<pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2024-12/plumer_vol5_006.jpg" n='6'/>
<fw>1814</fw>
<fw>John Lacey.</fw>
<lb/>& employed occasionally on the farm, but principally in
<lb/>tending a mill, which his father owned. Here he devoted his
<lb/>leisure moments to reading & study & with the aid of borrowed
<lb/>books acquired a decent stock of useful knowledge.</p>
<p><lb/>In this manner his time was principally occupied, till the dis=
<lb/>=putes between Great Britain & the colonies assumed a serious as=
<lb/>=pect. Many of his nearest connections, & most of the Quakers, the sect
<lb/>to which he then belonged, were in favor of the claims of Great Bri=
<lb/>=tain, but he zealously espoused the cause of his country, & united
<lb/>with those who prepared to resist the oppressive measures of the
<lb/>parent country. A volunteer association of young men was for=
<lb/>=med in the county, to learn the use of arms, & he was unanimous=
<lb/>=ly chosen their captain.</p>
<p><lb/>On the recommendation of the general congress, several battal=
<lb/>=ions of troops were ordered to be raised in Pennsylvania, for the
<lb/>defense of the country; & the 5th of January 1776, congress appointed
<lb/>him a captain. In about twenty days after he received his commission,
<lb/>he enlisted his full compliment of men; & was attached to the fourth
<lb/>battallion commanded by col. Anthony Wayne; & were directed to ren=
<lb/>=devous at Chester-from Chester they were soon ordered to New
<lb/>York, & from thence towards Canada. About this time a misunder=
<lb/>=standing arose between the colonel & himself; but he continued to
<lb/>serve out the residue of the campaign; during which he was
<lb/>selected by general Sullivan to go express into Canada, with com=
<lb/>=munications to general Arnold; tho a hazardous undertaking,
<lb/>he effected it to entire satisfaction. When the army went into
<lb/>winter quarters he sent in his resignation, accompanied with
<lb/>a detailed statement of his reasons for a proceedure so little congenial
<lb/>with his wishes, & his original views, but which existing circumstances,
<lb/>in his opinion, imperiously required him to adopt.</p>
<p><lb/>On the 22d of March 1777 he was appointed an officer, with the
<lb/>rank of lieutenant colonel, to organize & class the militia of Pernsyl=
<lb/>=vania, to call out the classes, & fine those who should prove de=
<lb/>=linquent. On the 6th of May following he was appointed lieutenant
<lb/>colonel in the militia.</p>
<p><lb/>After the British had taken possession of Philadelphia, a draft was
<lb/>made on the militia of Bucks county to releive those whose time of
<lb/>service had nearly expired, & being & anxious for active employment
<lb/>he solicited & obtained command of a regiment, from the officer whose
<lb/>term it was to take the field. Having collected between three and
<fw>[Nov 19, 1830]</fw>
<pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2024-12/plumer_vol5_007.jpg" n='7'/>
<fw>1814</fw>
<fw>John Lacey.</fw>
<lb/>four hundred men, he marched from Newtown, & in the beginning
<lb/>of November joined general Potter's brigade at Whitemarsh. While
<lb/>on this tour of duty, he was engaged in frequent skirmishes with
<lb/>parties of the enemy, & in one of some severity near the gulph
<lb/>mills on Schuykill, from which he had a narrow escape, in
<lb/>consequence of his perseverance in rallying & encouraging the
<lb/>troops, in the face of a superior force. General Washington, in
<lb/>his orders of the next day, commended him for his conduct on that
<lb/>occasion. After this affair he commanded a detactment of militia
<lb/>on the eastern side of the Schuykill till the close of the campaign.</p>
<p><lb/>His active exertions in suppressing intercourse with the Bri=
<lb/>=tish, & breaking up the iniquitous traffic of their adherents, had
<lb/>by this time so strongly excited the tories & disaffected, that they
<lb/>menaced him with personal vengeance; but a spirit so determi=
<lb/>=ned, & devoted to the service as his, was not to be influenced by such
<lb/>considerations.</p>
<p><lb/>On the 9th of January 1778, he not being then quite twenty three
<lb/>years of age, the government of Pennsylvania appointed him a
<lb/>brigadier general. Without delay he repaired to his post, & had
<lb/>an important duty to perform, on the lines, while the British
<lb/>occupied Philadelphia. The utmost vigilance was required,
<lb/>to cut off the intercourse of the tories with the city, & to watch
<lb/>the movements of the enemies parties, who denounced vengeance
<lb/>against him, & declared they would have him, dead or alive.
<lb/>He was incessantly employed in this service, till the middle
<lb/>of May, at the head of a fluctuating body of militia, whose force
<lb/>sometimes amounted to five hundred men, but was
<lb/>frequently reduced to half that number. On the first of May, ow=
<lb/>=ing to the misconduct of the officer commanding the scouts, his
<lb/>camp was surprised, by a strong detachment of the British, con=
<lb/>=sisting, according to their own accounts, of four hundred light
<lb/>infantry, three hundred rangers, & a party of light dragoons,
<lb/>under the command of colonel Abercrombie. He was assailed
<lb/>on all sides, about daylight, & was for a short time, in a perilous
<lb/>situation. He determined on a bold expedient, & hastily forming
<lb/>his little band, he fought his way thro the enemy, with the loss of
<lb/>twenty six killed, & an inconsiderable number of wounded, &
<lb/>prisoners.</p>
<p><lb/>A number of hazardous enterprizes in the vicinity of the
<lb/>enemy's outposts, requiring great address & dexterity in the
<fw>[Nov 16, 1830]</fw>
<pb facs="https://leaf.bucknell.edu/sites/default/files/2024-12/plumer_vol5_008.jpg" n='8'/>
<fw>1814</fw>
<fw>John Lacey.</fw>
<lb/>execution, were undertaken by him, at the request of gene=
<lb/>=ral Washington; & were performed, for the most part, with
<lb/>success, & always to the satisfaction of the latter. The command=
<lb/>=er in chief imposed upon Lacey an unpleasant duty, to be
<lb/>performed among his neighbors & relations-the derangement
<lb/>of their grist mills, & the destruction of grain, forage, & other
<lb/>private property, to distress the enemy by preventing him from
<lb/>drawing supplies from that part of the country. This painful service
<lb/>he executed reluctantly, but impartially, in all cases.</p>
<p><lb/>After the British had evacuated Philadelphia, he was elected a mem=
<lb/>=ber of the general assembly, from the county of Bucks, & took his seat
<lb/>in November 1778. The next year he was elected to the council,
<lb/>of which he was a member for the three succeeding years.
<lb/>In 1780 general Washington apprehensive that the enemy
<lb/>again intended to invade Pennsylvania, general Lacey was ordered
<lb/>to Trenton, New Jersey, with a brigade of the militia; & continued
<lb/>in the service most of the time till october 1781. He was an officer
<lb/>of a remarkable fine, martial appearance, of a determined, en=
<lb/>=terprising character, devoted to the cause of his country.
<lb/>During his last command he married a daughter of colonel
<lb/>Reynolds of New Jersey, & shortly after removed to that State,
<lb/>& settled at the village of New Mills, in Burlington county,
<lb/>where he became largely concerned in iron works. He was for
<lb/>many years an active & useful citizen, having been member of
<lb/>the legislature, justice of the peace, & judge of the county court where
<lb/>he resided.</p>
<p><lb/>In the latter part of his life he was much afflicted with the
<lb/>gout, of which he died February 17th 1814 aged fifty nine years.</p>
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