Roger Morris (British Army officer)

Roger Morris (28 January 1727 – 13 September 1794) was a colonel in the British Army who fought in the French and Indian War. He was married to Mary Philipse,^[1] middle daughter of Frederick Philipse, second Lord of the Philipsburg Manor, and a possible love interest of George Washington. She owned a one-third share of the Philipse Patent, a vast landed estate on the Hudson River which later became Putnam County, New York.

Following their marriage Morris had a large country estate named Mount Morris (today the Morris-Jumel Mansion) built in northern Manhattan between the Hudson and Harlem rivers in what is now Washington Heights.^[2]

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[music playing] >> Steve Scully: The words of liberty as we read aloud the Declaration of Independence. And for that, it is my great honor to introduce to you a very distinguished group of individuals who will read the Declaration. First, as you heard from David Ferriero, the four descendants of our founding fathers, who are here today, Laura Belman, please stand, John Belman, Laura Murphy, and Michael Miller. [applause] Now of course, folks, we cannot have just the Declaration of Independence, because we had some grievances against King George, III. And so, for that, we have the leaders of the Second Continental Congress. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Thomas Jefferson, Mr. John Adams, and Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Now these three gentlemen know the words of the Declaration better than anyone else. Mr. Jefferson, of course, wrote the first draft. Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin, well, they made a couple of changes to it. And finally, to read the names of the 56 signers, those men who signed this grand declaration, we are happy to welcome Private Edward "Ned" Hector of the Free Black Colonial Soldier. He is a respected patriot and hero. He is a veteran of the Third Pennsylvania Artillery Company. He was noted, by the way, for his courage during the Revolutionary War. When he refused to let his wagon, his team, and his armaments fall into enemy hands. And he was quoted as saying, "The enemy shall not have my team. I will save the horses or perish myself." So we'll ask all of these folks to come up. And ladies and gentlemen, the Declaration of Independence. [applause] >> Laura Belman: In Congress, July 4, 1776, the unanimous Declaration of the 13 United States of America. When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes, which impel them to the separation. >> Jon Belman: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall see most likely to affect their safety and happiness. >> Female Speaker: Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. And accordingly, all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object event as a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. >> John Belman: Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies. And such is now the necessity, which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. [applause] >> Thomas Jefferson: He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. >> Benjamin Franklin: He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation until his assent should be obtained. And when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. >> John Adams: He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. >> Thomas Jefferson: He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. >> Benjamin Franklin: He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. >> John Adams: He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to cause others to be elected. Whereby the legislating powers incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the state remaining in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. >>Thomas Jefferson: He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of land. >> Benjamin Franklin: He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. >> John Adams: He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. >> Thomas Jefferson: He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. >> Benjamin Franklin: He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our legislature. >> John Adams: He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power. >> Thomas Jefferson: He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation for quartering large bodies or armed troops among us for protecting them by mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world, for imposing taxes on us without our consent, for depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury, for transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses, for abolishing the free system of English laws and in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render a debt once, an example, and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rules into these colonies, for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments, for suspending our own legislatures and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. >> Benjamin Franklin: He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us. >> John Adams: He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. >> Thomas Jefferson: He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. >> Benjamin Franklin: He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. >> John Adams: He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, who's known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of our ages, sexes, and conditions. [applause] >> Laura Belman: In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress. In the most humble terms, our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince who's character is thus marked by every act, which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. >> Michael Miller: Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our immigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity. And we have conjured them by the ties of our kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice, and to consanguinity. We must therefore acquiesce the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind enemies in war in peace, friends. >> Laura Murphy: We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions do in the name and by authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them, and that the great state of Britain is and ought to totally be dissolved, and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. [applause] >> Michael Miller: And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. [applause] >> Steve Scully: Thank you. Thank you very much to Laura Belman, to John Belman, to Michael Miller, descendants of the founding fathers of the Declaration of Independence, and to Laura Murphy from the Daughters of the American Revolution to Mr. Jefferson, to Mr. Adams, to Dr. Franklin, thank you. [applause] Those were the words heard 236 years ago. Send the message to King George. Private Hector will now read the names of the colonies and the signers of the Declaration of Independence. There were 56 signers, 13 original colonies. Now in colonial times, as you heard from the stage during the course of the morning, there is the traditional, well, how does it go? >> Audience: Huzzah? >> Steve Scully: Huzzah? So here's a test for all of you. After Private Hector reads the names of the signers from each of the states, 13 times, we want your approval. So let's just -- let's test it out. Let's hear a hearty Huzzah? >> Audience: Huzzah! >> Steve Scully: What do you think? >> Male Speaker: Didn't hear it at all. I tell you what. If you don't do a better job, you're going to go sing, "God Save the Queen." Let's try it one more time. On the count of three, one, two, three. >> Audience: Huzzah! >> Steve Scully: Okay, you can all stay Americans. [laughter] >> Edward "Ned" Hector: It will be my pleasure to read the names of these men who were said to be signing their death warrant. At the end of each, if you feel compelled to cheer for your particular state, don't hold back. First, to the president of the Continental Congress, John Hancock. Huzzah! Georgia, Button Gwinett, Lyman Hall, and George Walton, Huzzah! North Carolina, Williams Hoope, Joseph Hewes, and John Penn, Huzzah! South Carolina, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., and Arthur Middleton, Huzzah! Maryland, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Huzzah! Virginia, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, and Carter Braxton, Huzzah! Pennsylvania, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, and George Ross, Huzzah! Delaware, Caesar Rodney, George Read, and Thomas McKean, Huzzah! New York, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, and Lewis Morris, Huzzah! New Jersey, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, and Abraham Clark, Huzzah! New Hampshire, Josiah Bartlett, Matthew Thornton, William Whipple, Huzzah! Massachusetts, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, and Elbridge Gerry, Huzzah! Rhode Island, Steven Hopkins and William Ellery, Huzzah! Connecticut, Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott, Huzzah! Let's give them the ultimate of Huzzahs. Three Huzzahs. Hip, hip, Huzzah! Hip, hip, Huzzah! Hip, hip, Huzzah! Well done. [applause] >> Steve Scully: Private Hector, thank you. Very well done. Another round of applause. That was fabulous. Thank you. [applause] Ladies and gentlemen, before we conclude the program, a couple of reminders. If you want to view the Declaration of Independence or the charters of freedom in the building behind me, the Archives will remain open until 7:00 this evening. Also, there are a number of family activities during the course of this afternoon. Some people that we want to thank as we wrap up our program to the Foundation of the National Archives, to all of our special readers, to the distinguished guests here on the stage, to the American Historical Theater, and our founding fathers one more time, Dr. Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson. [applause] We would like to thank the Third United States Infantry, the Old Guard, and John Hancock Financial for their support of this program. And, of course, one final round of applause to the staff and volunteers of the National Archives, who have been putting this on for 30 plus years, thank you. [applause] On behalf of all of us here today, we wish you a wonderful Fourth of July. Enjoy the festivities around Washington, D.C. And before we let you go, it is my pleasure to re-introduce the lovely voice of Olivia Vote [phonetic]. [applause] [singing "America the Beautiful"] [applause] >> Steve Scully: Thank you all. Have a wonderful day. >> Male Speaker: Very nice. >> Male Speaker: Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Male Speaker: Congratulations. >> Male Speaker: Thank you. One -- we got to come up and see you. >> Male Speaker: Great job, thank you. >> Male Speaker: Terrific. [music playing]

Life and career

Morris was born in England on 28 January 1727, the third son of Roger Morris of Netherby, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and Mary Jackson, the fourth daughter of Sir Peter Jackson.^[3]

On 13 September 1745, he obtained a commission in the 48th Regiment of Foot. The regiment served at Falkirk and Culloden, and in Flanders. Morris came to America with General Edward Braddock and served as his aide-de-camp. He was wounded during Braddock's Defeat in 1755 near Fort Duquesne in western Pennsylvania.

Transferred to the 35th Regiment of Foot in 1758, Morris served in Fort Frederick in Nova Scotia; he led the Cape Sable Campaign against the Acadians. Morris joined the Louisbourg Grenadiers, a special corps made up of the Grenadiers of the 22nd, 40th and 45th Regiments,^[4] during General James Wolfe's invasion of French Quebec where he participated in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759. During the siege of Louisbourg, Grenadiers suffered a loss of fifty-five killed and wounded.^[5] In May 1760, Morris was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 47th Regiment of Foot shortly after the Battle of Sainte-Foy, and participated in General Jeffery Amherst's assault and capture of Montreal on 8 September 1760 ending French rule in North America.

Morris retired from the British army in 1764 and settled in New York City on the southeast corner of Whitehall and Stone streets with his American wife, Mary Philipse, nicknamed Charming Polly,^[1] whom he had married in 1758. Middle daughter of Frederick Philipse, second Lord of the Philipsburg Manor, she had been a possible love interest of George Washington,^[note 1] and owned a one-third share of the Philipse Patent, a vast landed estate on the Hudson River which later became Putnam County, New York.

Before wedding, a prenuptial agreement was composed that shared a life lease of the estate between husband and wife, transferred after their death to children.^[6] The Morrises became pillars of the local establishment since Roger Morris was appointed on the Governor's Council of the Province of New York. The following year after his marriage, Morris had a large country estate named Mount Morris (today the Morris-Jumel Mansion) built in northern Manhattan between the Hudson and Harlem rivers in what is now the Washington Heights neighborhood.^[2] Situated on Coogan's Bluff, its vista included lower Manhattan, the Hudson and its Palisades, the Bronx, Westchester, the Long Island Sound and the Harlem River.^[7]^[8]

American Revolution

Morris and his family lived in Mount Morris from 1765 until 1775, when the American Revolution began. A Loyalist, Morris went to England at the start of the war, while his wife and family stayed at the family seat, Philipse Manor Hall, in Yonkers.^[9] Between 14 September – 20 October 1776, General George Washington used the Morris mansion as his temporary headquarters. It later served as the headquarters of British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton, and the Hessian commander Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen.

Morris returned to New York in 1777, after the city had been captured by the British, and became the Inspector of the Claims of Refugees in the rank of provincial colonel serving until 1783;^[10] he and his family left for England after the British defeat in the Revolution.^[9]^[11] In 1779, estates of 58 prominent Loyalists, including the Morris home and Mary's share of the Philipse Patent, were confiscated by the Commissioners of Forfeiture according to the Attainder Act of 1779 passed by the Third Session of the New York Legislature on 22 October 1779.^[12]^[13]^[9]^[14]^[7] These were later sold by auction along with Morris's plate and furniture^[3] without compensation despite assurance of restitution in the 1783 Treaty of Paris that Revolutionary representatives had signed with the British.^[note 2] As many citizens of New York, however, still harbored strong resentment against the loyalists, the Provincial Congress effectively nullified that article of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 by an act of 12 May 1784.^[15]

After the war

It was subsequently shown in court that by prenuptial agreement the Morris share of the Philipse Patent was vested in their children and had not been reached by the bill of attainder.^[16] However, a gambit by millionaire John Jacob Astor provided something of a windfall for the Philipse-Morris heirs, but failed to bring him its desired long term rental income. In 1809 he bought the interest of the heirs of Morris for this property for £20,000 sterling and brought suit against the State. After Mary Philipse Morris died in 1825 Astor attempted to collect rents on the lands, but intermediate owners who had previously purchased lands from the NY Commission of Forfeiture refused to pay and Astor tried to evict them. A compromise was reached in 1828 when NY State agreed to compensate Astor for the reversionary rights, which, with costs, amounted to $561,500 when paid in 1832.^[16]^{[clarification needed]}^[note 3]

Morris died in York, England on 13 September 1794, at age 77. His wife died in York at the age of 96.^[17] A monument is erected over their graves at St Saviour's Church there.

Family

Morris had two sons and three daughters (two of whom reached adulthood) by the marriage. The elder son, Amherst Morris(died 1802), entered the Royal Navy, and was first lieutenant of the frigate HMS Nymphe, serving under Captain Sir Edward Pellew (later Viscount Exmouth), in her famous action with the French frigate La Cleopatre. He died in 1802.^[3]

The other son, Henry Gage Morris, also saw much service in the Royal Navy, and rose to the rank of rear-admiral. He afterwards resided at York and at Beverley, England. He died at Beverley in 1852, and was buried in Beverley Minster. He was one of the three heirs bought out by Astor with his sisters Joanna (Mrs. Thomas Cowper Hincks) and Maria^[18], and was father of Francis Orpen Morris the naturalist.^[3]

References

Explanatory notes

^ See The Washington legend for excerpts of letters from Joseph Chew to Washington during 1756-1757 concerning "Polly" Philipse.
^ Description of the Abstract of Sales, Commissioners of Forfeiture: "Article V of the peace treaty signed by Britain and the United States in Paris on September 3, 1783, insisted on the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects and to noncombatant loyalists. Tories who fought the United States were to be given one year to reclaim their property and leave the country. Payments were to be made to loyalists whose estates had already been sold. Article VI prohibited any future confiscations." See: Proceedings of the Commissioners of Forfeiture Summary
^ In 1809, John Jacob Astor bought the interest of the heirs of Morris for this property for £20,000 and brought suit against the State. The State to protect those who held title from the Commissioners of Forfeiture, passed a law, April 16, 1827, directing 5 suits to be prosecuted to judgment in the Circuit Court of New York for review and final decision. If against the defendants, the State agreed to pay $450,000 in 5 per cent stock, redeemable at pleasure; and if the decision included improvements that had been made by occupants, $250,000 more. Three suits were tried, each resulting in favor of Astor; upon which the comptroller was, by act of April 5, 1832, directed to issue stock for the full amount, with costs. The amount issued was $561,500. Few suits have been tried in the State involving larger interests to greater numbers, or which were argued with more ability, than this. See: French's Gazetteer of the State of New York (1860)

Citations

^ ^a ^b Simmons, Richard C. (1965). "Mrs. Morris and the Philipse Family, American Loyalists". Winterthur Portfolio. 2: 14–26. doi:10.1086/495749. JSTOR 1180449. S2CID 162240184.
^ ^a ^b "A Brief History of the Morris-Jumel Mansion". Morris-Jumel Mansion. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Chichester, Henry Manners (1894). "Morris, Roger" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 105–106.
^ "His Majesty's 40th Regiment of Foot: Hopson's Grenadiers (1755-1763)". MilitaryHeritage.com. Access Heritage Inc. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^ Henderson, Robert (1996). "His Majesty's 40th Regiment of Foot in North America 1717-1764". Militaryheritage.com. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
^ Ward, Harry M. (January 1999). "Morris, Roger". American National Biography. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0100636. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved 18 April 2018 – via Oxford University Press.
^ ^a ^b Morris-Jumel Mansion on the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation website
^ "History/Architecture". Morris-Jumel Mansion website. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c Morris-Jumel Mansion Interior Designation Report, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 27 May 1975.
^ Ryerson, Egerton. The Loyalists of America and Their Times, from 1620 to 1816; in Two Volumes. Toronto: Briggs, 1880.
^ "Morris–Jumel Mansion". Harlem and the Heights. New York Architecture. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
^ The New York Act of Attainder, or Confiscation Act.
^ New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S.; Postal, Matthew A. (2009). Postal, Matthew A. (ed.). Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1.
^ White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 561. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
^ Yoshpe, Harry B. The Disposition of Loyalist Estates in the Southern District of the State of New York. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939.
^ ^a ^b Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site and Museum website
^ Women of the American Revolution: Mary Philipse
^ Pelletreau, p. 178

Bibliography

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chichester, Henry Manners (1894). "Morris, Roger". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.