tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post7618828045967733058..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Richard Stockton and the Creation of a LegendUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-14236832803108076812008-09-18T13:04:00.000-05:002008-09-18T13:04:00.000-05:00And it was such a useful, reassuring story, too! T...And it was such a useful, reassuring story, too! <BR/><BR/>The Stockton family later insisted that they knew details of how the British had dug up two of their three chests of family silver. I’m not at all sure how they knew. <BR/><BR/>Young Richard and an enslaved man were said to have been at Morven when the British army arrived. But I doubt they stayed long enough to watch all the destruction the family later blamed on that army.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-10345683033636289052008-09-18T10:47:00.000-05:002008-09-18T10:47:00.000-05:00After reading the discussion on Boston1775 of the ...After reading the discussion on Boston1775 of the destruction of Stockton's house and goods -- those bad British! the poor mistreated patriot! or not! -- I picked up _The Winter Soldiers_, by Richard Ketchum. (Ketchum states that he is writing from original sources, although he gives little documentation since he is writing for the general public.) Ketchum is very clear that Stockton's signing of an oath of loyalty to the King, which took place before the battle of Princeton, came as a great shock to persons who had admired him for being an (earlier) signer of the Declaration of Independence, as you have stated. As far as the destruction of buildings and property in Princeton after the battle nearby, Ketchum says that it was begun by American troops, who believed that the town was a nest of Tories -- partly, perhaps, based on Stockton's change of heart. So the story of the good Americans vs. the terrible British takes another hit.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com