Colonel John Haslet |
Information on Colonel John Haslet
John Haslett (Haslet) was born in the townland of Straw (Bovevagh), Dungiven County, Derry / Ulster, Ireland, about 1727/30.
He was the son of Joseph Haslett, a merchant and a farmer of Straw, Dungiven County, Derry, and Ann Dykes of Maghera County, Derry. Joseph and Ann had a family of six children: John, William, James, Joseph, Mary, and Ann.
John, the eldest, studied at the University of Glasgow to become a Presbyterian minister and earned his M.A. in Divinity in 1749. He was licensed by the Derry Presbytery 1750, and ordained a minister at Ballykelly, April 21, 1752.
He married Miss Shirley Stirling, daughter of the Rev. Stirling from Walworth, Ballykelly, about 1750. They had a daughter Mary, called Polly, born about 1752. It appears from comparison of dates that Polly's mother died in childbirth. Polly was raised by her Uncle Samuel Haslett until 1765, when at age thirteen she followed her father to America.
John Haslet emigrated to America about 1757. He was commissioned as a Captain in the Pennsylvania Militia in 1758 and was a participant in the expedition against Fort Duquesne. He later settled in Delaware, where he served as a Presbyterian minister and began the practice of medicine. He became active in civil affairs, firmly believing in the importance of establishing independence and individual freedom.
He married Jemima Molleston Brinkle, the widow of John Brinkle about 1764.
In March 1767 John Haslet bought "Longfield", a tract of land consisting of about 250 acres west of Milford, Delaware, about where Route 407 intersects Roosa Road today.
From the earliest days of the American conflict, Caesar Rodney, representing Delaware at Continental Congress, encouraged John Haslet to work on raising troops. On January 19, 1776, Congress appointed him as Colonel of the First Regiment of the State of Delaware. The regiment was comprised of eight companies of about one hundred men each. After word came of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and when the fighting with the British began to heat up in August 1776, the Delaware Regiment, known as 'The Delaware Continentals', was ordered to report to General Washington at Amboy, New Jersey. There they were brigaded with Pennsylvania regiments and a Maryland regiment under command of Brigadier-General Lord Stirling. They first encountered the enemy at the Battle of Long Island, New York, which occurred in the vicinity of Brooklyn.
At the commencement of the Battle of Long Island, Colonel Haslet was sitting at a Court Martial in New York. He rushed to join his troops and made a strong stand that kept the Continental army from being enveloped and captured. After the withdrawal from Long Island, he led his regiment to victory over a corps of Tories at Mamaroneck, near New Rochelle, New York. Next they fought hard at White Plains, New York, and succeeded in delaying the enemy at Chatterton's Hill. His regiment then retreated into New Jersey, having suffered a large loss of men. On Christmas Day 1776, with less than one hundred men, Haslet's troops took part in the Battle of Trenton. Finally, Haslet led his men gallantly at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey, where he was a shot through the head by a British bullet and died January 3, 1777.
His body was first placed in the burial ground of the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By an act of the Delaware Legislature on July 1, 1841, his remains were disinterred and, accompanied by a military escort in the city of Philadelphia, moved to its final resting place at the Presbyterian Cemetery in Dover, Delaware. There Colonel John Haslet was buried on July 3 after impressive religious services.
On December 30, 2001, in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the Battle of Princeton, the State of Delaware dedicated a monument at Battle Monument Park in Princeton, New Jersey, to pay tribute to the life and sacrifice of a true hero, Colonel John Haslet.
"...among the foremost in services of danger. He was indeed a gallant officer..."
Washington Irving
Col John Haslett’s Children:
by 1st wife, Shirley Stirling Haslet:
Mary (Polly) b. c1752 Ballykelly Co., Derry, d.c1802 USA
by 2nd wife, Jemima Molleston Brinkle Haslet:
John (physician) b. 1768/1773 USA, d. probably in Maryland
Joseph (Gov. of Delaware) b. c1769 Kent County, Delaware, d. June 23, 1823
Ann b. c 1777 USA, d. March 26, 1823
Jemima Ann b. November 7, 1775 USA, d. July 16, 1821
Backgroung Music"Stars and Stripes Forever" By John Philip Sousa
References:
Michael Aemar Higgins, of Belfast, Ireland, a relative whose Great Great Grandmother Jane Haslett, was a relative of Colonel John Haslet.
Books:
A History of Delaware Through Its Governors, By Roger A Martin
History of Delaware 1609-1888, by J. Thomas Scharff, A.M., L. L. D.,Vol. 1, pp.209, 226, and 237.
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